Dragonlord

Ep 199. Warmonger. (6)

Ep 199. Warmonger. (6)

‘Am I dreaming?’

It wouldn’t reach.

No matter what he did, it wouldn’t reach.

Be it firearms, explosives, or even the dagger he held in his hand…

The items that the Creator herself had made – items that were ever close to ‘perfection’ – were helplessly fading to dust at the touch of a single ray of light.

Staring at his dust-turned equipment, the elf let out an empty laughter.

“Are you finished? I expected more from a deity’s servant.”

“…”

Whether he was finished or not didn’t matter. With all his weapons seemingly evaporated from his hands, there really wasn’t much left to do.

And soon, the elves began to exchange glances with each other, avoiding the dragonlord’s gaze in unison.

‘...We need to retreat.’

Be it Denon’s soldiers, or their guild’s hunters, or even mages who were silencing their firearms, the shadowguards had been confident in the ability to handle what came their way.

But the black-horned woman before them was beyond their realm of thought.

While single-handedly subduing one of them, the woman’s magic had precisely incinerated their equipment, right on the mark. Had she wanted to, it should’ve been easy for her to aim for their heads, not their firearms.

So, no matter what happens…they had to make their escape, and notify their liege of the new threat.

With similar thoughts in mind, the elves soon began to exchange small nods with each other.

A team of four shadowguards had remained behind in Kavir. Although one had been captured already, three more of them yet remained.

And thankfully, those three were currently surrounding the dragonlord from various angles. If they were to turn and flee in unison towards opposing directions, then there was a good chance at least one would make it out.

In moments, the three abruptly turned their backs against Serenis.

With their eyes fixed on the distant walls of Kavir, the elves began to speed towards the surrounding desert. But…

“Not so fast!”

With the voices of two mages ringing in unison, one shadowguard soon found himself surrounded by enormous, magicked ice pillars. The spell’s ice reached far above his head, trapping him in place before crashing down upon their target like an avalanche.@@novelbin@@

Another shadowguard found herself being showered by a rain of mana bullets – and in the brief moment she spared to take cover, a swift kick to the gut that followed would send her sprawling backwards.

And, as for the last one…

“…”

Serenis seemingly stood idle as she the black-clad figure shrunk into the distance.

And, once the elf was at a sufficient distance, the dragonlored wore a faint smile as she raised her hand into the air.

Orbs of light began to form above her head – much like the spell she’d use minutes ago.

Only this time, it didn’t end with one.

As one formed, another two would take its sides; as the two formed, another four would as well. The prismatic spheres continued to multiply in number until they had practically swallowed Kavir’s skies whole.

Even as he ran, the shadowguard watched in horror at the spectacle unfolding in the distance behind him.

His fears only grew when the orbs began to crackle.

A thunderous noise shook the dense desert air. One by one, the orbs began to brighten like heated irons – until each one began to fire rays of light, striking the deserts like small meteorites.

And, to the shadowguard’s dismay, the craters in the sand were growing rapidly closer as the magicked rays seemingly chased after him.

It hardly took any time until the shadowguard turned his back once more. With his feet carrying him as fast as he could possibly manage, he continued to run for his life for another few minutes. Sounds of exploding sands continued to hammer into his ears as he ran, denying him any form of respite.

“…”

After a while, Serenis only withdrew her spell when the elf had completely disappeared from sight. She stared at the distant path of craters she’d formed, following their trail eastward to where the elf had disappeared to.

A thin smile formed over her lips as she looked into the distant horizon.

…Which was in stark contrast to her brother’s open jaw.

“…What the hell was that…?”

“Hm?”

Hearing Patrick’s voice, Serenis finally turned back to face her brother and Iris. Each one had made over to the rooftop Serenis was standing on, each dragging an unconscious elf in their hand – which were soon piled on top of the one that had been choked unconscious by the dragonlord.

“Are you trying to destroy the whole desert or something?”

“Patrick, you cannot ‘destroy’ a desert. A land becomes one when it is destroyed.”

“…That’s beside the point. That was complete overkill.”

“But I didn’t kill anyone.”

“…? You didn’t?”

“No.”

Squinting, Patrick stared at his sibling’s indifferent expression for a moment longer.

He then looked beyond Kavir’s walls – towards the desert Serenis had been blasting at.

A trail of craters stretched into the distance. And not just small craters, either – entire dunes had seemingly been paved out. It was almost like a massive riverbed that was devoid of any water.

“…You’re telling me that they got away from…that?”

“They did.”

While Patrick looked to the dragnolord with an incredulous expression, she still didn’t seem bothered one bit.

If anything, she seemed relatively amused at her sibling’s reaction.

“Speaking of magic...you’ve improved, haven’t you? I see you’re wielding your new spell rather proficiently now.”

“It’s not like I was slacking off while you were away.”

Serenis beamed a warm, proud smile as Patrick shuffled in place from the sudden recognition.

“But do not grow overconfident, Patrick. A small respite, and Light will surpass you before you are even aware.”

“…Sure, sure. Look, can we just get to these guys instead of me? What are you gonna do with them?”

Soon, Patrick shifted his attention from his sibling to the three elves.

Or to be precise, three unconscious, equipment-less, and professionally bound elves.

Oh, and Iris. Who had made them like that in the first place.

“…What? Got a problem?”

“Oh, nothing. Just…admiring how you’re trying to be an enforcer outside of our own country. Didn’t think you’d have brought binding prisms along.”

“Of course I did…wait, did you not carry around your prisms during duty?”

“Nope. Kept ‘em shoved in my office.”

“Is that why you kept using ice instead to bind people?!”

“Hey, it worked fine!”

“…”

As the two mages broke into another argument, Serenis’ gaze face eastward once more.

‘They changed their direction.’

Outside Kavir was an expansive desert. To change one’s direction would mean that the individual had a clear goal in mind when doing so.

In general, Karia lied to the east. But to their immediate east, there was…

“Hey!”

Before she could finish her thoughts, Serenis snapped back to reality as Patrick called to her, one hand placed on her shoulder to seemingly shake her awake.

“No reason to pout. We got 3 out of 4 – that’s decent. One of them’s bound to know where the deity is, so you probably don’t need to worry much.”

“…I never did pout. Nor am I worried.”

“Oh, really?...Sorry. Kinda hard to tell with your face now.”

“Light was just fine reading my facial cues.”

“…You like her more than you like me, don’t you?”

“I like a lot of things more than you.”

“Hey, what the hell?! After all that cooking I do for you without even a thank-you?!”

With a loud sigh, Iris rose to her feet, shaking her head at Patrick.

“Oh, pipe down. She gave you a lifetime’s worth of money, the least you can do is cook her food.”

“…”

And once her words had swiftly put her friend to silent mode, Iris then began to address Serenis once more.

“Serenis. You referred to these elves as Letherien’s servants…how did you know?”

“I did not.”

“…I beg your pardon?”

“I did not know whether they were truly related to a deity or the like. I no certainty that what I was saying was true.”

Though, when none of the elves had bothered to deny her, Serenis’ suspicions had turned to certainties.

“…Then…about the last one…you let them flee on purpose, did you not? You could’ve struck them down if you wished. I don’t understand why you’d choose to to let your assailants flee.”

“…”

A brief pause followed as Serenis retraced her memories.

If this deity of creation was anything like the warmongers of her own era, then this was the most effective measure in drawing them out.

“…Surely they wouldn’t tuck tail and flee,” Serenis concluded simply. In fact, she was almost certain that they wouldn’t.

In her experience, those who seek war of their own accord had often carried one of two reasons for doing so: power, or entertainment. But being a member of the Twelve, there was hardly any chance that Letherien needed more power;  hence, entertainment was the most sensible answer.

Serenis had learned how to toy with such individuals hundreds of years ago.

And if this deity was anything like her behemoth sibling, they’d understand the incoherent message their messenger was likely bringing to her this very moment.

‘I am here. Come challenge me.’