The reaction to the appearance of the beastkin king was immediate. Despite being a physical fighter he was well known for his ability to decimate armies due to his extreme focus on Strength and Endurance. This left him as slow for a physically focused champion but a single swing of his weapon would usually not just kill but decimate multiple elites, and that was before he gained the hammer in his hands.
None of the melee fighters were able to charge the king as the traps were still there but the response came in the form of spells. All the champion casters aside from Aranor were already casting. Ajax even took out his bow, thinking the barrage of spells would make for a good cover; he used Shadow Mana and aimed for the king’s remaining eye.
Three spells were launched along with Ajax’s arrow yet they all proved equally useless as the king swung his hammer only for one of the runes on it to light up.
“He baited us.” Aurexion growled as he took a good look at the weapon, it was something only he recognized. “That’s a converter.”
The king’s swing stopped awkwardly in mid air in a fashion Ajax was familiar with from his use of Void Mana, but the massive wind storm that followed was unexpected as it intercepted the three spells and the arrow Ajax launched. While it didn’t block the spells it was enough of an obstacle to them that he was able to get out of the way unharmed. The same could not be said for the army caught between the clash of the spells with the wall of wind.
“What’s a converter?” Ajax asked, annoyed his arrow had also been knocked off course by the wind.
“A very particular enchantment that as far I know can only be extracted from the dungeon.” Aurexion explained. “Something that allows physically focused fighters a way to use specific elemental magic. The hammer still looks like it was only from around a level two hundred floors or so, it should only be able to use two maybe three elements depending on how good the conversion is. Make no mistake however he can still use it as a regular hammer. The ability to choose the use at any point in the swing is its strength. I want that hammer.”
Ajax was surprised to hear that from Aruexion. He could feel it through their bond that the dragon didn’t want the hammer as a collection piece for his hoard but rather as a weapon to use himself.
The clash of spells and the death of easily a thousand soldiers marked the start of the real battle as close to fifty champions joined the fight. Fifteen on the side of the Republic and more than twice as many from the beastkin.
Ajax didn’t like it but he knew it was too early to empty out his Mana and Stamina by using [Absolute Body Enhancement] and as much as he had gotten more durable with the addition of his new Skills he was still a bit of a glass cannon without his Pseudo-Mythic boost when it came to fights between champions. Instead he decided to focus on being a support and let Aurexion be the main fighting force of the partnership. Ajax kept his bow and while he stopped infusing too much Mana into each arrow he kept firing while also using his oldest Legendary Skill [Mana Syphon] on as wide an area as possible.
For now Ajax could be safely ignored with just a bit of extra caution on the part of the enemy champions and an annoyance for their mages, Aurexion on the other hand was a completely different beast. It was clear the beastkins still didn’t have an answer to dealing with the dragon as it took flight and approached the battlefield.
Having had time to adapt to humanoid battles Aurexion was more than smart enough to know that actually entering the battle was not the most important thing for him to do. His melee fighting style and mobility through flight could let him kill a caster or maybe two before he was pinned down in such a chaotic fight but considering the number of champions involved that wasn’t his focus.
“Maybe he’ll get a new flying Skill.” Ajax said under his breath as he watched his bond dodge the spells that were thrown at him.
Despite being outnumbered more than two to one the beastkin were the ones being pushed back and this was mainly due to the threat of Aurexion’s dragon’s breath not letting the beastkin properly use their number’s advantage to overwhelm their opponents. Everyone knew exactly what would happen if Aurexion could line up even four enemy champions for his breath attack.
The first few minutes of the battle both sides were feeling each other out as they waited for the soldiers to clear out, nobody crossed the midpoint into melee and with the Republic and Gryndor’s champions sticking close enough that melee combat was still not possible. Mages on the other hand were engaged in a close battle as spells flew from both sides meeting in the middle.
The deadlock was broken as the beastkin high general himself took the field, his runic armor different from the one he used mere days ago when Ajax had last seen him. Where before he was there to help his own forces retreat Ajax expected he was now armed for something else, this became all the more obvious as he lead the charge towards Aranor’s location with champions following behind him.
Aranor was a clear target and once the charge started Aurexion started to move as well, the spells targeting him not more than a small annoyance as no mage would willing use too much Mana this early in the fight, not only could the spell miss but too much Mana might turn them into a target and none of the beastkin mages were confident in their spells winning out in a clash with Aurexion’s breath.
“No, you don't, you overgrown lizard.” A roar filled with anger filled the sky as the beastkin king himself jumped towards Aurexion. “You’re already responsible for a number of deaths among my champions so I’ll deal with you myself.”
Aurexion’s eyes widened for a moment as he saw the physical fighter willingly jump towards him but who was he to overlook such a foolish mistake, using his wings expertly to twist his body in mid air and line up a tail swipe that should sent to large humanoid crashing into the ground even if met the blow with a swing from his hammer.
What Aurexion didn’t expect however was the blast of wind coming from a small wind explosion similar to the previous one the king unleashed with his hammer that blasted the king out of the way of his attack.
“I’ve had time to practice wielding my hammer or I wouldn’t have challenged you in the air.” The king taunted as a second wave of wind sent him towards Aurexion’s back.
“Yet you still overestimate yourself.” Aurexion countered.
Aurexion’s body was too large and his movements in the air took too long for him to move himself out of the way but he still managed to bring one of his claws around to intercept the beastkin. As much as he prided himself on his sturdy scales he didn’t yet know what other elements that hammer could bring out so he wasn’t willing to risk it, nor did he know how strong the humanoid was.
The clash between the hammer and claw resounded over the battlefield and to the shock of both fighters the blows seemed equally balanced and simply canceled each other out. Aurexion was shocked by how strong the lion beastkin was as despite the swipe coming as a reactive defense he still put a lot of power and weight behind it.
The king however was equally shocked to find out how big the difference in raw strength was between him and the dragon. Sure he wasn’t on the ground and he couldn’t really put all his weight behind the blow but the dragon had been in a much worse position and still managed to equal his blow despite being under level one hundred.
With all momentum stopped Aurexion had a chance to gain the upper hand, his wings flexing to bring his body around again but a well placed fireball to the face blocked his sight. Ajax was watching the aerial battle from below and the bow in his grasp creaked a little as he knew he couldn’t help his bond from so far away.
“Aurexion can handle himself.” Evelyn pointed out from beside Ajax. “Aranor needs your help more.”
As much as he wanted to disagree, Ajax knew Evelyn was right. Even with a mage and the enemies strongest physical champion working together Aurexion would be fine, the same couldn’t be said about Aranor now that with Aurexion constrained the enemy champions could attack together without the threat of being burnt to a crisp.
Cloaking himself in Shadow Mana Ajax stopped firing arrows and moved to be ready to support Aranor once the enemy made it close to him.