Twelve
Both of the defensive walls that’d been constructed to keep the invading army of Fathinos out had failed. Nick hadn’t been able to be the bulwark for his nation. The last time the wall fell, he’d been forced to retreat to preserve his soldiers.
Now, he was moving into the breach himself to cause as much mayhem and trouble as he could, so that his people could retreat in better order.
He was able to finally engage rather than sit in the back again while his soldiers fought.
The current situation was sickening to him and he couldn’t tolerate it despite knowing that it was the best course of action.
Nothing mattered at all to Nick in this moment as he rode down enemies atop a Dragon.
His poleaxe’s spiked top slammed through the helmet of someone, bent partially and came back up. Levering it with the spring that came as it tore through whoever that was, Nick brought his weapon up high.
Cal slammed through hordes of enemies and just ran right through them. Angling toward the breach itself and bodily slamming, shoving, and knocking foes in every direction.
As it happened, Nick brought his poleaxe down and to the side. Catching two people with the hammer-head. Only to let it coast backward with the strike then swing it forward, both of his hands grasping and holding tight to the end of the polearm.
The axe-blade took someone’s head off at the neck and part of a skull as it rebounded upward.
Ronnie was directly beside them, charging through the ranks of enemies with just as much ease as Cal did. Though Nick could see Ronnie’s head darting down, then back up, and down again.
Each time their head went down, they bit someone, often a head, and came back up. Sometimes with said head, a piece of armor, or a chunk of flesh.
Barreling through them, Nick brought his weapon up, sucked in a heavy breath, activated Dragon’s Might, then Fire Breath, and let loose into the enemy from nearly atop them.
Nick found his Fire Breath was able to reach the soldiers much easier than his weapon. If he was going to ride Cal regularly, he’d need to get a poleaxe with a double or triple range to it. His was large as it was, but not long enough for cavalry work.
“Impressive! Me too!” shouted Cal who turned their head and used their skull as a battering ram against people, while blowing fire out to the opposite side Nick was breathing fire.
“Yes!” shouted Ronnie who started billowing out flame directly in front of themselves. Completely unbothered by the heat and fire that ended up mostly washing over them even as they cooked everyone who was in front of them.
The two Dragons seemed to be having the time of their lives and Nick couldn’t but help feel a touch similar to them, though he had a great deal of fear for his life.
Snapping his mouth shut as he ran out of breath, he slid back firmly into the saddle and swung his poleaxe around again. The hammer-head slammed through someone’s face.
Then a massive spear was thrust toward Nick from ahead of him. It was easily ten foot and pointed right at him. It was two feet longer than his poleaxe.
Just what I needed.
Casting End of the Line into his spatial backpack, Nick braced himself and kept his eye on the spear as it came toward him. Cal was rushing headlong and fast so things were happening at insane speeds.
Then it was being thrust at him and he had to act.
Nick squirmed to the side and snapped his arms together around the spear.
He wanted the damn thing.
It felt awkward as hell to do what he did, but he didn’t have an easier way of getting said weapon. In wrapping his arms around it, it was his best chance to keep it.
Even if it looked dumb as hell.
The spear passed by him, the shaft rode up into his arms, and Nick found himself partially pulled down by the weight of the person trying to keep the spear.
Except with Dragon’s Might, it went the opposite way.
The spear bent, and the wielder, was pulled off the ground and partly into the air.
Only for Cal to snap their head out to the side, take a massive bite out of the person who had held the spear, and deducted an arm, a leg, and most of the person’s torso from the whole of their being.
Which caused them to release the spear.
Nick spun the big spear around with one hand using Dragon’s Might, couched it in the lance rest, and wrapped his arm around it. Holding the rein’s with the left hand.
With a bang, the front of the spear blasted through someone’s chest and sent them into their comrades. Causing the weapon to bind, bow, then flick outward as it was forcefully pushed past the soldier.
The crushing weight of Cal’s charge, Nick stuck hard in a saddle, the lance rest, and the stirrups, made him more like an immovable object.
Except Nick had a fear. The way the spear bent made Nick feel deeply nervous about how long it’d last. If it was a cheap weapon it was going to break on the next strike he imagined.
Whipping the spear around in a wide arc, using the full length of it, Nick slammed the haft across multiples of enemies.
Only to realize he had more weapons at his disposal.
Grasping the basic spells he’d purchased in the ledger, Nick pushed hard into the ‘Flame Mine’ spell and scattered it behind himself. Trying his best to cast it as soon as it was available. Burning away his massive mana in huge swathes as the spells activated.
Dropping flat as a paper yet as wide as a boulder sized spells of flame that would only react when someone walked over them.
Which givne the press of bodies would be almost instantly.
Nick ran out of mana quickly after casting dozens of mines. Only to whip the spear around as Cal decided I was a great time to throw out another breath of fire. Washing down another group of people.
As if they were suddenly rushing out of a forest, Nick found Cal running across open fields. The press of enemies suddenly gone.
Ahead of them were corpses, the open fields, and enemies distantly on the horizon.
Staring at them, Nick felt like they mattered more than the soldiers.
With that thought, he spurred Cal somewhat roughly and pulled on the rein.
“Wh-what? Oh. Oh! Yes! Let’s go! Yes, yes!” Cal shouted, speeding up quickly as he reoriented with Nick’s urging.
“Yes, yes! They look valuable!” Ronnie called out. “I want to bite them!”
“Why do you want to bite everything?” Nick called out, looking at Ronnie.
“Because-because it’s new! Everything is new to me! I want to bite everyone and everything! Taste it all and see how it feels! What I can eat!” Ronnie called back.
“Ronnie got lost once,” Cal said in a quieter voice. One that likely wouldn’t reach Ronnie. “Was real hungry when I found’em. Days later. They’ve been a bit ‘hunger’ drives me since then.”
Nodding his head, Nick could relate. There were more than a few people he knew that were never the same after going through a hunger spell.
“I’ll feed you a cow when we get back if you bite expensive people’s heads off!” Nick offered to Ronnie.
“I’ll bite them!” Ronnie called and began speeding ahead of them. Sprinting faster than Cal and pulling out ahead of them.
“Awww, I’m slower cause of you, Nick!” Cal whined.
Nick wasn’t really sure what to do with two semi-adult Dragons, but it felt a lot like dealing wiht Jessie all of a sudden. It wasn’t that bad.
He just had to bribe them.
“I’ll give you a cow if you bite expensive people’s heads off, too, Cal,” tried Nick.
“No cow! I like shiny things! Like coins! Or metal! Or your eyes!” Cal countered.
“Can’t give you my eyes, but the metal and coins, I’ll make sure to help fill out your hoard!” answered Nick.
Cal grunted at that, but clearly could go no faster. Ronnie was only continuing to distance himself ahead of them.
The enemy had clearly spotted Nick and company and were actively shooting spells at them. Quite a few of them seemed to be last-promotion level spells.
A lightning bolt, a sideways tornado, an actual fire elemental.
None of it mattered though.
Ronnie and Cal were too fast. They dipped from side to side, or in Cal’s case once, jumped over a lightning bolt. Letting zoom past without hitting anything.
It did give Nick an idea though.
Whipping out a mana potion from his pack he drained it, whipped the empty bottle over his shoulder, and then started to build up ‘Hell Storm’. An end profession spell that normally couldn’t be cast due to mana requirements.
Nick had no such limitations given his broken levels and classes. He started working the spell up with the designation as what he assumed was the enemy command group in front of himself.
He chose fire because it would do less to him as a Dragon-kin and nothing at all to Ronnie or Cal.
Especially if I break the distance and just fucking offload this shit right into their damn faces!
Fucking damn bastards invading my land.
My ancestral home.
My den.
The last thought came like crackling fire inside of Nick’s mind. The wall was lost, but he wanted to make the enemy pay that pound of flesh that was owed.
He was going to collect.
Ronnie reached the group first, dodged several attacks, jumped and flapped his wings, then landed amongst their number. His head snapped down and came back out with the upper half of a thrashing man locked in his teeth.
Only to dart back out with a flap of his wings, carrying the upper half away with him.
Multiple spells, arrows, and bolts, chased Ronnie out. Several struck him and Nick wasn’t entirely convinced that the Dragon didn’t actually get injured.
Then Cal rode straight into the enemy once again. Letting Nick steer him by spur and rein like he was a true warhorse.
He exhaled fire to his left and Nick did the same to the right even as he built his spell.
As he did so, he realized that Dragon Might hadn’t faded yet. It’d lasted far long than he’d expected it to and then some.
The dual flames washed over shields, people, and turf alike. Causing damage, destruction, and people utilizing special defensive charms and weapons.
Except Cal hadn’t stopped. Nick hadn’t tried to halt him and had kept his spurs set in.
The Dragon blew through them and bowled them over.
Glancing to the rear, Nick watched as Ronnie came in right after, snatching up someone with their mouth and biting off an arm and as houlder, then flinging it to the side. Followed up by torrent of fire from his mouth.
Nick ran out of breath at that point and closed his mouth and whipped his spear around to clobber a young woman upside the head. Knocking her flat to the ground with the blow.
As Nick, Cal, and Ronnie cleared out the back of the group since it wasn’t that large, Nick turned around, and let loose with the Hell Storm spell. Cast straight the position they were all in without a care at all.
Massive pillars of fire, comets from barely ten feet above, and flashing balls of fire appeared all over.
Casting it from a height was the only way to do it safely.
Nick wasn’t feeling like he wanted safety at all.
Immediately he felt the heat of the area go up to a point that felt as if he were in an actual furnace. His ancestral armor responded and did what it could for him, but it began to blacken and scorch. The leather of his gauntlets started to smoke and smoulder, yet didn’t catch fire.
The heat felt like it was burning Nick’s lungs out from the inside but he only called up a second casting of the spell.
He pulled at the rein and guided Cal with his spurs, sending the big horned Dragon in at an angle to the group.
Ronnie had no such desire for a non-direct approach and blasted into the enemy again. His head coming down to once more catch someone.
This time it was at the hip, and took someone’s leg with it in the bite and whip of his head.
He sent the armored man spinning through the air, minus a leg, and spurting blood like some sort of grizzly ruptured wine-skin.
Cal shot out a strange burp of fire as he turned his head. It looked to be more heat than fire somehow, but it definitely had a reaction.
The Hell Storm got brighter where that attack went and the fire grew brighter.
Nick launched the second spell, letting loose with another Hell Storm, and pulled to the side. His mana bar was empty, his lungs felt burnt, his skin felt oddly crispy, and he wasn’t sure he had hair anymore.
Much like the first, Nick had attacked without bothering to designate a safety area. I twas launched from point blank and without height once again. Just about dropping it right atop the previous one.
Wheezing out a breath, Nick pulled out a healing potion and downed it, chugging it down as he led Cal away from the massive apocalypse of flame and burning. Guiding him once more with spur, rein, and thighs.
“This was so much fun!” Cal shouted. “But I really didn’t think about how soft my scales are compared to them. That hurt way more than I thought it would.”
“Yeah, I’m bleeding,” said Ronnie with a loud laugh. “But this is what mom said about becoming adults! She said this is when humans tend to start doing things too like this!”
Wheezing, Nick tossed the empty potion to the side and angled Cal right back toward the massive enemy force in the breach. He felt pretty wretched right now and not at all like he could go through that again.
“I did say that and yes, it is like being a human,” Angelique said as she landed beside them and began running as well. “You forgot the part where I said that this is also where most humans would get hurt, it seems. Though… it seems like you’re both ready to be classified as adults.
“It only took you forty years each, that’s rather impressive if I’m being honest.”
Forty years old each? Damn. No wonder she was adamant about the current clutch. That’s a long investment period and the starting point is likely the hardest.
“Just so, my boy,” Lucian agreed. “These two really are like… nineteen year olds. Leaving the home for their first adventure. Don’t let Angelique spook you. She’s glad they’re trusting themselves to be part of your team. You’ll keep them safer than they would themselves.”
“— bit his head off!” Ronnie was saying excitedly. “Nick said he’d buy me a cow if I did it a lot. I bit off about forty heads in total!”
“I cooked a lot of people. I was amazing,” Cal stated. “I’m ready for a mate and for my hoard. I will gladly take my hoard from you, mother. I’ve demonstrated I’m suitable to travel.”
Angelique’s large head tilted to the side and it was clear she was eying her kid
“Me too! I’m ready!” Ronnie shouted.
“We’ll talk about it later. For now, depart,” Angelique ordered. “I want to see if you can fly our Dragon King away safely. The gryphons are coming. Lord Lucian and I shall handle this.”
“Oh. Alright. Yes. I will carry our Dragon King away,” stated Cal, their wings slid out, and they launched themselves into the air.
Nick dug into the saddle, held on, and gently bent the spurs and rein to assist in guiding Cal upward, but also toward the distant secondary camp.
“Ah! Yes. Thank you. That way? Okay!” Cal shouted excitedly, turning to Nick’s directioning.
“I get to be the mount next time,” Ronnie demanded. “I’m faster and more agile anyways. You’re too big for this and you’re just gonna get huge like dad.”
“Shut up,” Cal growled and looked a the other Dragon.
Who literally did an aerial circuit around Cal, flipped over, then zoomed off.
“Definitely going to put a saddle on Ronnie to fly around on,” Nick confessed. “Though you’re clearly my land Dragon, Cal. You sent those guys flying in every direction.”
As they continued of into the sky, Nick looked backward.
His two spells were still going off. People were trying to escape the zero range he’d set it to. They’d have to run for a good bit to get outside of the massive circle that it was going off in.
“Ground Dragon? Ground Dragon. Yes! I’ll be much more like my father,” Cal agreed. “It’s clear I’m who you should choose when it comes to fighting on the ground or amongst a crowd. Ronnie is better suited for aerial combat or when things must be quick. That’s reasonable.”
“Isn’t it though?” Nick asked more to himself.
He was looking at the last wall of Dolphen, broken and breached.
There were a mass of enemy bodies pressed to the inside of it and stretched almost the entire length of the wall.
Once again, they’d taken extreme losses, and even now were taking losses. The indirect fire mercenaries will still firing into the enemy
Lucian and Angelique were doing strafing runs. There were more than a few last promotion soldiers dropping spells and abilities on the enemy
It just wasn’t enough in the end though.
It just wasn’t enough.
Dolphen had been invaded and the enemy was spreading out into the fields beyond the wall.
The defense had failed and the invasion was now happening.