Chapter 46: War Never Changes [MOON]

 

“What a pain, to think it would be this difficult to kill you,” complained the Demon Queen.

 

The Demon Queen had regrew her wings that I cut off earlier when she tried to attack Rose. These demons really do have amazing regenerative powers. I certainly do envy them that they do not need to care about their wellbeing and can just continue fighting. Only their brain is their weak-point that they have to protect. Imagine if they were to use it for good instead.

 

The Demon Queen launched thorns from both her arms towards me which I blocked with Inazuma. As I was getting pushed back, she summoned a pillar of thorns to slam me against. I held Inazuma one handed and used my left hand to summon my spectral cloak to protect me. Rend is my best choice of defence that can protect me fully now. The Demon Queen slammed me against her pillar of thorns which broke apart. I landed on the floor with a smirk on my face.

 

The Demon Queen was pissed at my expression. She scratched her wrists and threw her blue blood all over the floor. The blood started to form into many sort of blades and daggers which she launched all of them at me. I crouched low and made sure that my spectral cloak was covering me as much as possible. All the blades and daggers bounced off my cloak. I exhaled a soft “phew” beneath my breath. Thank goodness I learned Rend otherwise I would be a pin-cushion by now. It is would had been tough to fight this Queen without Rend and Sunder at my disposal.

 

I stood up after she was done. Her facial expression started to grow more pissed off. “Persistent little insect!” she spat. I took a short opportunity to shift my focus to the window. It is night now. The interior of the throne room were brightly lit due to the many torches and braziers around. I thought of destroying them but I remembered that the Paladin Lord is fighting here with us. I guess I cannot use darkness to my advantage then. No matter, the weather is still on my side today.

 

Loud rumble can be heard approaching closer. The Demon Queen turned her head slightly as though she was paranoid by the sound of the thunder just now. I lifted my hand and she immediately lifted her arms to defend herself. I started chuckling as I managed to trick her. Her face turned dark blue with anger.

 

I lifted my left hand once again and this time called down a bolt of lightning. Play time is over, I must lob her head off and end this war.

 

***

 

We just can’t seemed take this brute down! No amount of punishment seems to be able to injure the Dragon Lord long enough for us to bring him down. We directed the army to handle the demons that kept coming to attack us. We had to move them as far away from the Dragon Lord as possible to avoid more unnecessary casualties. Only the cannon bearers remained but they were only a few of them. The Dragon Lord’s rampage had destroyed many of our cannons. Who would had known that it would be this difficult to defeat this brute. It would seemed as though the Dragon Lord had retained some of his sanity which made him even more dangerous.

 

We are running out of options now. The Dragon Lord had been steadily healing himself from all the damage that he had received thus far. While I am tempted to keep him alive to study his blood, it is just not worth if more casualties arises due to the idea of keeping him alive. How are we going to bring him down?

 

“Fire!” shouted the Elementalist.

 

We are resorting to using cannons exclusively to slow him down. There is one more trick up my sleeve but it takes a toll on my body even with Combat Fury active. I guess we have no choice now as we are running out of ideas to bring him down. I casted Combat Fury once again and walked closer to the Dragon Lord. The Elementalist saw me and wanted to stop me from going closer but understood my intention after I gave him a small nod.

 

I focus all my power onto my axe and enlarged it to its maximum size. Swinging this once or twice is fine for me but subsequent swings will definitely be pushing my muscles to its limits. Imagine the idea of continuously holding a heavy weighted barbell and swinging it around.

 

The Dragon Lord noticed that I was approaching closer and readied himself to slam his enormous arm on me. But I was ready. I gripped my axe three times my size and swung it at the Dragon Lord. I got a direct hit on him that made him flinched. But that is not going to be enough. I need to bring him down.

 

I strained my muscles and went for another swing in. And then a third and fourth. All my attacks are making contact with him but I just can't bring him down permanently. Even with my enormous axe, all it did was just causing flesh wounds and pushing him aside at the most. None of my swings are capable of dismembering or doing heavy damage to him. My biceps and triceps are screaming right now. I kept telling myself “Just one more swing to bring him down” but that did not happen.

 

My muscles failed me. I lost grip of my axe and it flew backwards and landed with a huge thud. I have no control over my hands right now as they are shaking and felt like it was burning. The Elementalist took over after seeing that I had strained myself by asking the cannons to be fired once more. After seeing that the Dragon Lord was still unfazed by the cannons, he leaped up and somehow managed to stabbed his dagger into the neck of the Dragon Lord. He tried to cut through the neck but the Dragon Lord grabbed him and tossed him onto a building. Shit! Is he still alive?!

 

As I was looking to where the Elementalist landed, the Dragon Lord grabbed me and slammed me onto the ground. Ugh! Blood came out of my mouth as the impact was horrendous. The ground caved in from the impact and I was now in a daze. The Dragon Lord slammed me once again and I felt something snapped. I guess I am going to be a cripple from now on. My beloved, I am so sorry.

 

Shouts of people screaming “Stop!” can be heard but I was slipping in and out of consciousness. The Dragon Lord released me and got ready to pound me with his fist. I guess this is the end of the line for me. His fist came close to my vision as I resigned to my death. All of a sudden, the Dragon Lord disappeared completely from my vision. W.. what just happened?

 

I tried to gain some semblance on what just happened but it was dead silence. Someone in a brown hood came upon my vision to check on me. Who is this person?

 

“Seems like you broke your right arm. Well done, your instinct protected yourself from certain death,” he said.

 

“W… what?” was all I was able to muttered out.

 

I was still in a daze and felt no pain whatsoever. I tried to lift my right hand but it was not responding. I lifted my other hand instead to rub my forehead. I can still feel my arm muscles burning but I ignored it. I lifted myself to stand up with the help of my left hand. Thank Odin that I am not a cripple. I had to stop myself from falling unsteadily by gripping on to something. Finally gaining some semblance, the sound of fighting can be heard above me. I had to climb the small crater that the Dragon Lord slammed me into.

 

Upon reaching the surface, I saw someone fighting the Dragon Lord alone. He was nimble enough to avoid all the attacks and fought with his fist. He was even capable of bringing down the Dragon Lord with just a palm strike. Is this who I think it is?

 

A hooded figure came up to me and asked whether I was alright. Her voice sounds young. I told her that I’ll live and that she should checkout on the Elementalist instead. She told me that someone is already tending to him. He’s unconscious but alive. Now that is a good news that I am willing to take.

 

The brown hooded figure was done fighting with the Dragon Lord. I thought the Dragon Lord was dead but I saw him shaking a little on the ground. The brown hooded figure came up to me and said “It is done. He won’t be able to move for some time. Be sure to use tear-resistant ropes and lots of them to tie him down”.

 

“Are you.. Peter Borage?” I asked him.

 

“The one and only. I was not supposed to be directly involved in this war but circumstances had changed drastically. I believe the city is currently being invaded by demons, am I right?” he asked me and I quickly nodded.

 

“Just as I feared. I will need to close the summoning circles around the city. It would seemed that the Queen is no ordinary demon for her to be able to use such powerful spells,” he sighed.

 

“My lord, as much as I wish to help you, I do not know the locations of the summoning circles. I am sorry to disappoint you,” I said to him honestly.

 

“Please, just call me Peter. And I can find the summoning circles on my own. I trust that you can handle the situation from here, Viking Lord? Make it the utmost priority to tie up that brute. His paralysis will not last long due to his size,” he said. How did he know that I am the Viking Lord?

 

He called over one of his hooded henchman and whispered something to him. The henchman was shocked and replied him with a “What? No!”. Peter then gave him a simple “There is no time!” and the henchman resigned himself to Peter’s request whatever it may be.

 

Peter rushed ahead leaving the henchman with me. He came up to me and asked for my orders. I was stunned by his sudden request. I thought he knew what he needed to do. I told him that we needed high tensile ropes to tie down the Dragon Lord and medical care for those wounded. He nodded and called someone over to look at my wounds. I told him to focus on those that is close to the brink of death first as those should have higher priority over other injuries.

 

I sighed loudly. I’m so sorry, Zen. I can’t come over to help you. Both the Elementalist and I are down for the count. I hope Rose and Lily are helping you out in the castle with whoever you are fighting with.

 

***

 

Rose had closed about three circles by now. It would seemed that she is getting the hang of casting the spell as her chanting speed is getting quicker each time. The adventurers are running all around looking for the next summoning circle as many of them are hidden in places that are least expected. Once found, either they shout as loud as they can or find Rose who is waiting for them to find it in one agreed location. I stayed with Rose as I am in no condition to be running with my injured foot. What I can do right now is to help Rose pinpoint anyone shouting that they found a summoning circle and lead her to where they are.

 

Both of us sat on the floor as we were tired from everything that has happened until now. How I wish the war would just end. It had been night for quite some time now and I am craving for a soft comfy bed. While I can see much better in the dark compared to humans, I am still too tired and weak to be able to be on full alert. Just when I thought of that, a hooded figure ran towards our direction. Is it an adventurer? He stopped just short in front of us.

 

“Is there a reason for two lovely ladies to be sitting on the floor at this hour and situation?” he asked calmly.

 

“We are waiting for someone,” said Rose.

 

“A bit odd to be waiting for someone in the middle of the war. There are demons all around us. Seek shelter immediately. I can see one of you are injured while the other is on the brink of collapse,” he tried to shoo us somewhere else.

 

“Please don’t disturb us! We are waiting for adventurers to find the summoning circle so we can close them!” I shouted. I am tired and in pain now and I do not have the mood nor wished to be disturbed by this stranger right now.

 

“Oh, why didn’t you say so? I am on my way to close it myself. Do follow me if you wish. I’ll point one to you where you can close it while I close the another. Two will be quicker than one,” he said.

 

“Y.. you know how to close a summoning circle?” asked Rose.

 

“Of course. I was the one who invented the spell in the first place. Come, follow me quickly,” said the stranger.

 

“Wait, who are you? For all we know you might be some demon in disguised. Identify yourself, please,” I said to him more politely now as I was starting to feel that this person is giving off a very peaceful aura.

 

“Ah right, where are my manners? I am Peter Borage. Founder of the City of Heliotrope Ixia. And I don’t believe I can be a demon in disguised when someone had casted Revelation some time ago. The spell last for at least twenty four hours and you cannot put on any mask to hide your face. If I’m not mistaken, even beauty mask are affected too,” he said as he put on a thinking face.

 

“EHHHHHH??!!” both Rose and I shouted.

 

“Y.. you’re Peter Borage? Zen’s teacher?” gasped Rose.

 

“Hmm? You seems to know about me and Zen. Ah, hang on, let me take a guess. Ah, you must be Rose. I take it that you were the one who casted the Revelation spell earlier? I suppose you must be Lily then,” he said while looking between the both of us.

 

“Zen told you about us? What makes you think that I was the one who casted Revelation?” asked Rose curiously.

 

“He said that you were special. That you were capable of doing things beyond his understanding. And that you were destined for greatness. Based on that, and that fact that he said that you were under the Light Guild, I took a guess and seems to be right. Not many people are capable of casting intermediate spells in the first place,” he said with a smile.

 

Rose started blushing. Did Zen not told her about that before? To have one of the great powers inform her about this, I am certainly jealous. Zen had never thought of me that way before sadly. He must think that I am the weakest in the group.

 

“Enough chit-chat for now, we have an important mission. The fate of the city depends on us. Let’s go,” said Peter as he head towards a direction.

 

“How do you know where to go? We had been looking for more for the past few hours but we can’t seems to find them even though we tried trailing the demon’s footsteps,” asked Rose.

 

“Ah you see, I have a.. special condition that allows me to see magic concentration. It sort of highlights through my vision. Even from afar, I can see multiple circles around the city and two powerful beings inside the castle,” he said.

 

The both of us followed behind him and I raised the question on why shouldn’t he be heading towards the castle to help Zen or the two guildmasters fighting as he knows that there are two powerful beings there? He said to have faith in them. He had taught Zen all that he needed to know about fighting a strong opponent. He will come out on top, on that he had his utmost faith.