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Chapter 158: Prelude to Grim. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2021-03-25 22:44:46 +0000 UTC<[Music Resonation (Moderate)] [Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Moderate)] [Sanctified Blaze] [Stage Fever (Moderate)] [Various Spell Buffs] [Insatiable Glutton] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
Scattered around the entrance of the cave, my scale-dust was ready to detonate at any time, especially with the flames roaring from [Dragon Fire]’s fire arena effect so close to the scale-dust. Preventing the dust from exploding prematurely required me to spend mana on [Aerokinesis] and [Pyrokinesis] to keep the heat from detonating it.
But, the result was quite worth it, almost as if I had a demolition fetish. The moment any peaceful option was off the table, I snapped my fingers and caused all my scale-dust to go boom. The shrill cries of goblins and kobolds echoed at first but were quickly muffled by how intense the explosion was. Making the grimgarian choose either to suffocate or to retreat back from where they came from was a pretty aggressive idea, but better than nothing.
Smoking them out in the first place was a pretty good plan from Saori, something that I should have thought of myself, but didn’t. It drew them out from their cave, so I didn’t need to fight them inside their territory where they had the advantage with ambushes, traps, and other devious shenanigans, and brought them into my playing field — outside where the sun shone.
Strange, I still feel quite a lot of signals. Did my blast not hit them?
Honestly, it was hard to believe that any of those goblins, kobolds, or orcs could survive my scale-dust explosion without fireproof armor or something. Even then, I don’t think it should be sturdy enough to survive a point-blank explosion.
And my doubts were immediately answered as the smoke faded away. Two giant trolls with shamanic accessories and clothing appeared, both holding their staves and hands up in the air. A wall of water stood before the grimgarians, shielding them from my explosion, even as the water was boiling and evaporating away.
““GRAAAARRGHHH!”” the two trolls screamed out in agony, dropping their staves as they stared at their carbonized hands.
[Dragon Fire] had the effect of reducing all water and ice spells’ effectiveness by 50%, a trait literally created to counter my weakness to those elements. Sure, the trolls might have protected their companions, but it didn’t mean my attack didn’t affect them at all. A few goblins and kobolds did burn to death, while some orcs had pieces of armor melted into their skin. [Water Wall] wasn’t a hard counter to my firepower anymore.
Tch, of all the things to find, trolls? And two troll shamans?
The last time I met a troll shaman was when Saori and I rescued Tasianna. He was able to use both earth and water magic in order to protect himself against fire, the element trolls were the weakest against since it hampered their natural regeneration power, the source of their superior endurance.
Back then, I was only a C rank and had only recently gotten used to fighting with my dragonewt body and scale-dust. With how I am now, I could beat the past me easily. Still, I didn’t like the fact that two C rank troll shamans were here, supporting the grimgarian army like this. The last time I had to fight one, it was guarded by five troll warriors and it was able to do some really annoying things, including shooting me with a mana cannon.
Saori was right, jumping into this rescue mission without any information would have been idiotic. It would have sucked so much if I had to fight these things inside the cave where my explosions could just suddenly create a cave-in. In a way, Saori’s plan stopped me from making the most basic of mistakes most novice adventurers make — entering a monster’s cave.
Yeah, fuck caves! The last time we entered a troll’s lair, the mountain caved in!
“Ggugniak! Attack!” a blue hobgoblin shaman shouted once the explosion died down. It was the same one who woke up all the grimgarian from my [Draconic Aura].
The first ones to charge forwards were an E rank hobgoblin and a number of echikobold spearmen. The G and F rank goblins and kobolds were cowering behind them and trying to sneak back into the cave to avoid fighting, but they were found by their taller companions and pushed forwards to their death. I wasn’t exaggerating with that point.
[Dragon Fire]’s automatic flame attack targeted any of my enemies within the flame arena and scorched numerous grimgarians as they rushed towards me. Any who didn’t die to my song’s effect were mowed down with [Wind Cutter]. A level two wind spell with my stats was enough to slice their heads off. Quick to cast and deadly. They stood no chance before my non-stop casting.
In the back, I could see an orc warrior and hobgoblin shaman shouting commands in whatever language they were using before ending it with a“Ggugniak!” Before the explosion, the orc warriors as well as the more seasoned hobgoblins and echikobolds looked like savages as they rushed at me in rage, but now all of them seemed to have recovered their bearings. The trolls’ [Water Wall] gave them a chance to get back their focus and catch a second wind, huh?
With renewed discipline, the grimgarians used the time gained by the fodder they sent out first to act as a distraction to enter into formation and advance. Tall, brawny orc warriors clad in armor any newbie warrior from the adventurer guild would be jealous of held their shields up to form a shield wall as they moved, protecting the more vulnerable members from my arena’s flames.
The troll shamans’ hands had recovered to the point where they could carry their staves again, as well as taking out talismans from their belt. With two catalysts, they began reciting what seems to be a fire-warding spell. Meanwhile, a couple of hobgoblin shamans led by that same female hobgoblin shaman from the start began reciting dark elemental spells.
They sent out [Dark Bolt] and [Dark Slash] attacks at me to catch my attention while using a custom spell called [Black Wall] to block any attacks targeting the flank of the unit. They were organized, and it showed when they blocked and outmaneuvered my attacks.
Flinging a few weak wind and earth spells at them did nothing as the orcs’ shields and the shamans’ magic walls kept them at bay. The moment I realized this, I decided to switch over to my more impactful spells.
“Lightning Bolt! Lava Ball! Banishment Beam!” Lightning, lava, and holy clashed against the shields of the orcs. Pain coursed through their bodies as the lightning was conducted through their metal armor, the heat of the lava melted through their shield and gauntlets, and the laser beam of light pierced through the [Dark Wall] and bored a hole through their armor and flesh alike.
As I bombarded them with multiple spells, the frontline began to falter as their members died. Although there were more orc warriors behind the ones who died, the grimgarians did not advance forward with this same strategy. No, the reason for that was ‘cause their reinforcement had finally arrived.
“Wrooooo!” The howl of wolves escaped the cave’s entrance, and numerous wargs riders emerged. The cave entrance itself was quite wide, even if it was barely tall enough to let a troll enter without having to duck through.
“Ggugniak!” Aside from the warg riders, more grimgarians appeared, as well.
I did not know how many of these grimgarians were stationed inside this cave, but regardless of how many could come out, my [Dragon Fire] arena made it quite cramped for my enemies. Nevertheless, whether they were sweating while trying to circle around along the edge of the flames or by forcing their way through their comrades, they did not hesitate to charge forward with religious zeal, shouting something about Marsven and Aurena.
With the help of the warg riders and the reinforcements, the shield wall dissolved and their members spread apart to reduce the number of casualties my spells could cause. As I bombarded one target with spells, a warg rider or orc barbarian would rush at me when I had my back to them. However, with skills like [Detection Sensor] and [Foresight], these tactics couldn’t work.
Either through [Terra Wall] to obstruct their attacks or simply by dodging them, I always came out of them unscathed, but that was when the echikobold archers and the spellcasters initiated their set of attacks. Arrows and spells shot me, among which were water and dark elemental spells.
“Panzer!” A brown magic circle appeared on my body as I saw the incoming attacks before purple flames erupted around my body. My custom spell [Panzer] was made with [Corrosive Fire] as the spell base, which meant the flames had the same properties as an earth spell when they cooled down and formed a crystal. And this crystal was obsidian.
“Clink” and “Dum” were the sounds of arrows and spells being blocked by an obsidian armor covering my entire body. The appearance of the armor was designed similarly to the dragoon armor from the same game my white mage robes came from, and it gave me an entirely different vibe now that my adventurer outfit and crimson scales weren’t visible. Only my robe, part of my hair, the underside of my tail, my claws, and my mouth were visible.
My [Draconic Barrier] could block most conventional attacks easily, including arrows; however, due to my natural weakness to water and dark caused by [Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] and [The Light] respectively, it made my barrier unable to fully block spells or attacks infused with those elements. That’s where [Panzer] came into play. Named after the German word for “shell” and inspired by the tank of the same name, this armor was made to complement my defenses when I was wearing my robes or idol outfit.
As I was retaliating against the archers and mages, an orc barbarian and berserker pair came charging at me, holding their axes high in an attempt to cleave me in half. They might have looked imposing, but their movements were too slow to catch me.
Twisting my body around, I took out my [Bonepecker Bladeclaw Spear] from my storage and pinned the barbarian’s leg into the ground with it before jumping on the berserker’s back. Leaving the spear below, I dug my left set of claws deep into his shoulder to stabilize myself to then rip his skull in half with my right. As blood was spraying from his exposed head, I instantly used my tail to decapitate the barbarian.
The extremely gory display seemed to have scared the hobgoblins and echikobolds, causing their morale to wane. Noticing this, I jumped off the tall orc’s back and pulled out my spear before throwing it into the head of a warg, killing it instantly and sending it tumbling on the ground with its rider. I then used [Wind Blast] to close the distance between us before ending the warg rider with his own spear.
“Time to end this. Purple Flash!”
[Dragon Fire]’s strength lay in imprisoning enemies in an arena, preventing their escape and reducing the effectiveness of all water and ice elemental attacks, not in the random flames attacking those trapped in the arena. So, with everybody stuck in a single area, what was the best course of action then? Of course, a large AoE — area-of-effect — attack.
“Symphonie des Feuergottes!” A huge red magic circle immediately materialized in the sky, attracting the attention of all my enemies. The threat of an incoming grand spell was clear to all the mages and seasoned grimgarians.
“Tusul!” as my spell was about to be unleashed, the hobgoblin shaman from the start suddenly called over the rest of the hobgoblin and goblin shamans to her. With a single command, each shaman raised their hand to the sky, an onyx ring shining on each of their ring fingers.
My intuition was telling me something was off, as using [Mana Eyes] showed me they were concentrating their mana into those rings. Using [Pyrokinesis], I commanded the flames produced by the arena to target them while also conjuring up some [White Fire] to interrupt whatever they wanted to do.
Unfortunately, it seemed I underestimated the sheer religious fervor of the grimgarians as orcs, goblins, kobolds, and trolls suicide jumping in between my fire and the shamans. It protected the shamans even as it was also the last action of their lives.
In the meantime, my spell circle glowed bright red for a second, before an inferno cascade fell upon us. However, that was when the rings on the shaman’s hands cracked and a large amount of shadow or whatever black thing it was came flowing out of them, shooting itself into the air to form a massive black shield.
The black shield and my spell clashed against each other, where the inferno sea leaked from the side of it; unfortunately, it went completely outside the arena and began burning down the forest.
Oi, I planned not to set a wildfire again! Verdammt!
Clicking my tongue, I turned my gaze over to the leading hobgoblin shaman and materialized a brown magic circle under her; the spell [Terra Wall] burst from the ground and sent the shaman into the air and over to me. She shrieked as she flew through the air at first, but then clapped her hand together and began reciting or praying. As a purple magic circle formed in front of my hand, our eyes crossed each other.
She was the one who triggered her grimgarian brethren to attack me simply ‘cause I had my white robe, and I could kinda understand it due to the fear the lizardmen had for Aurena. Humans didn’t see grimgarians as people, but monsters… well, I treat them the same way, although I know the truth. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume these grimgarians were fighting me simply ‘cause they hated Aurena.
Enemy or not, the moment I saw the sheer fear she had in her eyes, instead of her religious hate, was when it felt like something tugged on my heartstrings. The memory of the kobolds and orcs I’d encountered in the Belzac mountain came rushing back into my head, reminding me what I did back then.
However, hesitating before somebody who would not show me the same courtesy would be foolish. I stomped out the empathy I would have had and shot out my spell. Lightening appeared before my fingertips and roared towards the hobgoblin, shocking her mid-flight. Her screams of agony eventually died out as she crashed onto the ground next to me, tumbling lifelessly further away from me like some fallen debris.
As that happened, the black shield above me seemed to tremble a bit, breaking apart to let my flames through. It would seem that removing that one shaman from the group made the spell unstable. However, despite what happened, my [Symphonie des Feuergottes] did not reach the ground. And so, I did not get my spell’s buff.
Are you kidding me?! I wasted all my mana for nothing?!
I guess this experience did teach me that my custom spell wouldn’t provide me its valuable buff if the inferno sea couldn’t reach me. I’d have to be more careful in the future, but how should I have expected that those shamans could create that black shield or that it was strong enough to block my spell?
However, for the price of being able to conjure that spell, the skin of those hobgoblin shamans seemed to have changed from blue to purple. Was it arcane corruption? They dropped their staves and collapsed on the ground like stringless marionettes, breathing heavily as they struggled to push themselves back up, but, unfortunately for them, their bodies wouldn’t let them. In exchange for protecting the army, they sacrificed themselves.
I should take them out.
Conjuring up multiple [Terra Wall]s under the shamans, I attempted to fling them into the sky for an easy kill, but it seems the grimgarians caught up to my plan as the trolls picked the shamans up before my walls materialized. Without further ado, the army once again let out a rumbling war cry, invigorated to see my [Symphonie des Feuergottes] fizzling out against the shamans’ black shield, and they charged forwards once again.
I need to check out those rings. How did they do that?
With spells, claws, tail, and my spear, I began to massacre any grimgarians who came forward to fight me. Honestly, even with my [Draconic Aura] activated the whole time, only the impish goblins and kobolds would cower from a physical confrontation, instead, preferring to fight me with bows, rocks, or whatever they could find. The orcs and trolls, on the other hand, fought even more brazenly.
Despite the small arena, the trolls and orcs fought without care of anybody in their way. A troll shaman would bash an orc with its staff, shooting it like a baseball off to the side, but the orc would then return back into the fight showing no signs of damage due to their high defense and armor. With the orcs and trolls rampaging, it made sense for the warg riders, hobgoblins, and echikobolds to focus on ranged attacks if only to avoid getting in the way.
I was slowly and efficiently getting rid of all my enemies, receiving very little damage thanks to my [Panzer] armor, as I presumed there should be a boss-commander leading this army. Sure, I was surrounded and outnumbered, but I really didn’t want to build up my arcane corruption before the boss fight. Under the sun, I could recover my Mana and Stamina tirelessly, but arcane corruption couldn’t be erased quickly once it was built up, even with my dragorade.
The orcs and trolls were defending well against my spells using their armor and counterspells, but the number of orcs was still dwindling the longer we fought. I then took a sip of dragorade to slow down the accumulation of arcane corruption, before noticing that they were trying to trap me with a shield wall now in order to stop my dodging.
As a troll shaman swung his giant staff at me, I used [Wind Blast] to propel myself like a rocket into the air before staying up there with [Air Walk]. Arrows and water spells were shot at me, but my barrier and armor took care of it. I was tanking them, in other words.
Remembering how Faron did it, I held my spear just like he did and stomped the air, shooting myself towards a troll shaman. With gravity on my side, I pierced the troll’s eye with my spear before using its flappy skin to rebound back into the air, where I snapped my claws together to have my hand catch on fire. I then turned the flames into purple and slammed my fist into the ground, where the flames exploded and blasted every orc and troll around me away.
Purple flames were burning brightly on their skin as its fumes entered their noses. The troll shamans quickly cast a water spell to douse the orcs, but the corrosiveness of my flames already affected them. Although the flames died out, the orcs began to cough and tremble before falling onto the ground
Their green skin began to turn purple while their eyes cried blood. It was as if a virus was corroding their bodies, killing them from the inside. The troll shaman panicked as their spells couldn’t stop the agony the orcs were feeling until they stopped moving entirely.
Slow and efficient… I really am turning into the villain, huh?
The rest of the grimgarian army cried out in fear as they saw the tall, massive orcs die in one quick swoop. The trolls finally showed fear as they looked at me, mumbling “Marsven” and “Night Father” all the time. I expected the toxic fumes from my [Corrosive Flames] would also take them down, but maybe the dosage was too low? Fumes were more dangerous if I failed to control the spread with [Aerokinesis] compared to its fire and liquid form, so I just used a minor toxin to prevent killing off nature.
As I was preparing to end this whole fight for real, the sound of a horn suddenly came from the cave.
You have to be kidding me…
The stomping of steel boots, the rattling of armor, the grunts of excited warriors. All of this was accompanied by the sound of a war horn, causing the discouraged goblins and kobolds to cheer in joy. That was when the next wave of enemies came out.
<High Orc: The superior evolution form of the orc. A green beast of muscles and power, strengthened by constant training and a lifestyle of brutality. Able to wield an assortment of weapons with the intelligence of a humanoid, these demi-humans can act not only as warriors but also as commanders and tacticians with enough aptitude. Rank C>
Orcs wearing bulky armor as thick as steel plates came out of the cave’s entrance, banging their long halberds on their tower shields. If I had to compare the armor from these orcs with the ones I had just killed, then it was like comparing a knight to a common footsoldier. Instead of shining like Antonio’s armor, the orcs’ were black and spiky, to the point they looked like edgy dark knights or something.
Once these high orc knights came out, another set of high orcs showed themselves; however, these were roaring as loud as they could, as if they were trying to flaunt their prowess before they fought. Helmetless, these orcs had their scarred faces fully displayed while holding their axes and dual swords into the air, cheering like gladiators.
<Bleak Hobgoblin: A hobgoblin whose skin changed into grey to hide in the darkness better. With a body similar to humans, these hobgoblins had their mischievousness and nimbleness increased even further while now possessing an intelligence similar to blue-skinned goblins, although they have significantly inferior mana pools.. Rank D>
<Druidic Echikobold: An echikobold with scutes growing on their skin, in addition to their normal fur. Although smaller than other demi-humans, echikobolds are more attuned to nature compared to their brethren, making them fantastic monster tamers. This evolved version of the echikobold possesses the ability to temporarily gain the power of any monster blood they consume. Rank D>
Archers. More hobgoblin and echikobold archers, but unlike the ones I’d fought up until now, their armor and weapons looked like they had monster parts added to them instead of solely metal. Hidden from view with the help of the high orcs, it was like these guys weren’t even there.
“Black Orc Knights!” one of the orc knights shouted.
“““Orc Scar-Champions! Haruh! Haruh! Haruh!””” multiple helmetless high orcs cheered simultaneously.
“Deadeye Night Goblins-Gobbos…ehek ehek ehek ehek…,” with a disgusting, skin-crawling cackle, the presence of those hobgoblins began to disappear.
“““Night Mother Druids!””” the echikobolds roared before drinking a red liquid from a wooden bottle, which I presumed was blood. “KriiiiiKRAAAAHHH!” Their shrieks sounded feral.
However, that wasn’t all. My [Detection Sensor] noticed more signals approaching.
“Bluuuuuuuuuuerrrrrghhhhhhh!” towering over all of these elite grimgarians were trolls wielding two humongous hammers. Instead of armor, two massive poles were stuck on their backs, each holding flags. “Troll Carnage-Bearers! Gruuuuarghhh!”
“Haruh! Haruh! Haruh! Haruh!”
“Ggugniak! Ggugniak! Ggugniak!”
…Urgh. Scheiße…
I had my parallel minds stop playing [Dragon Fire] and instead had them turn on [The Will to Fight and Survive]. In my head, the arena was far too small now for me to actually gain the advantage, especially now that I had to deal with a brunch of elite grimgarians and a few troll shamans. I needed the space and a song to increase the power of my fire attacks. There was no need for an arena now.
Humanization.
<[Humanized (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
I also needed more firepower.
Also, there is a very good reason why I had to stop creating heat and smoke. Except for the boss of this army, I think I lured out everybody Saori had scouted with her [Shadow Snake] spell. She didn’t mention how strong they were, so I was a bit surprised to see this many elite fighters.
So, with nobody to lure out anymore, it would be best to stop flooding the cave with smoke; otherwise, Saori, Tasianna, Cernust, and Antonio might suffocate. It was also a signal for them to hurry the fuck up.
I bought enough time for you guys, no? You guys better have saved those three!
In the meantime, let’s hope these guys can give me the next level up!
“KriiiiiAAAARRGHHHH!”
“““NIAKASH BAAL’AK! HARUUUUUUUUUUUH!”””
*************************************************************
“M-Miss Saori, what should we do?”
“This is the worst outcome...”
“F-For honor… I cannot sully my house’s honor with my death!”
“…”
The earth quaked with his every step. Towering above even the massive trolls, the beast standing before us had the form of a giant man. A chiseled body even by Greek standards, this massive beast slowly strode forward from the darkness, equipped with not only intimidating armor but also a giant axe. On his head, he had blue hair long enough to reach his shoulders while two small horns adorned his head like a Japanese oni.
With his four large tusks, his mouth opened and he spoke, “Champion of the Ogre King. High Ogre Commander of this Grimgarian Battalion. In honor of our Night Father, God Marsven, and Night Mother, Goddess Edna, I declare a battle for your freedom. In service of our Progenitor, Goddess Kronnaz, I shall swing my axe upon Goddess Aurena’s followers.”
“…I assume we cannot talk this out, Sir?”
“Vul’grim Beastslaughterer. Fight for your freedom, wolfkin. Niakash baal’ak.”
Oh…………....Kuso…
<High Ogre: An evolved form of the mighty ogre, one of the many children borne by the Goddess Kronnaz. Although lacking the power of a subordinate goddess, these ogres were blessed by this evolution due to their power and strength, incomparable to the already brutish ogre. Now able to incorporate more sophisticated battle techniques in their already savage fighting style, these ogres are the perfect example of brains and brawn combined into one body. Rank B>
