Dragon Gods Reign

[High order territory]

While Darganth and the others were fighting against the main forces under Lucius and Isaiah, Alorick was preparing to lead his organization into battle. For that purpose, he was moving at the helm of a small squad, trying to find a way through the enemy lines and into the city.

A similar picture repeated itself in irregular intervals all around the city, with some having already succeeded or given up. Most of the latter groups were already retreating, not willing to risk the exact thing their plan was supposed to prevent and be caught out in the open once the fight escalated.

Throughout the following hour, these two groups grew in number. As the information where the vampire and monster lines were thinnest spread, more and more groups followed the paths laid down by other teams.

At the same time, word also spread among the intelligent monsters. Constituting most of the army's elite force, they reacted quickly to intercept as many of their men as possible.

Some did this by hiding at the edge of their troops, ambushing the teams as they approached to teleport over the army. Others, mostly those more skilled in using mana, instead chose to directly prevent them from teleporting by interfering with the surrounding mana. But whether it is by increasing the difficulty or by wounding the mages, both approaches had some success in preventing their men from reaching the city, often also bringing them to retreat.

Soon Alorick's group was one of the last ones to still be stuck outside the city despite consisting of most of their elites. The reason for this was the individual currently shadowing them from amidst the undead horde.

Standing there was one of the two vampires leading the army, constantly following their movements all the while being ready to act as soon as Alorick did.

“Soon we'll have to decide what to do with our admirer, I doubt they'll delay much longer.” One of the three aura users of their group said.

“Finally someone comes around and agrees with me.” A heavily armored woman said in response.

“Yeah, no. I just said we need to act, not that we need to go through with your idea. And frankly, I am even against that specific idea.” The first man said.

“Did any of you give a better one? No? Then don't complain about me.” The woman said with a scoff.

Shaking his head at their squabbling, Alorick stepped in before it could escalate further.

“Shut up, both of you.”

His order caused the two aura users to quickly shut up, to the audible relief of the last two members of their group.

“Good, then we can talk about the original matter. Any ideas?”

As the group fell silent at the question, they continued to walk parallel to the lines of undead at some distance. Only the occasional worried glances towards the enemy lines interrupted the routine, much to Alorick's displeasure.

After enduring the lack of progress in their situation for a minute, he let out a frustrated sigh before coming to an abrupt stop.

“So nothing, great.”

“Not nothing, I just don't know whether it would truly be a good idea.”

Hearing the only early third rank of their group speaking up, the four others all turned to him.

“Saying it won't hurt and it will do more to get us forward than silence.” The first aura user said.

“Honestly, I would be fine with just a decent plan. Being constantly watched by that vampire while walking in the open just sends shivers down my spine.” The third aura user said.

Hearing their supportive words and seeing Alorick nodding at him, the man started explaining.

Listening attentively for about half a minute until he was finished, the rest looked around between them with unsure looks.

“It's better than Myra's idea, but I agree with your assessment of whether it is a good plan.”

The man's words were quickly followed by the woman in question retorting to his jab at her.

“Hey, he had more time to refine it.” Myra complained.

“I say we should try, how about you boss?” The last of the aura users said, ignoring the first two.

Remaining in thought for a few more seconds even after being spoken to, Alorick directly turned towards the man.

“Are you sure you want to do this Goddard?” He asked.

“Yes sir, getting you into the city is the priority.”

Hearing his resolute answer, Alorick nodded in acknowledgment.

“Then we'll do it, as much as every missing bloodline sorcerer will hurt. Especially considering that the rest are part of the order and I don't know how much we can trust them.”

“If all works to plan I can still try to thin out their reserves.” Goddard said.

“Don't underestimate them, so make sure you have the leeway for it. If not, don't do it, we'll find a way to manage even without your help.”

“Understood.”

With this confirmation, Goddard stepped forward and ignited his phoenix flames across his arms. Thrusting both his hands forward, he unleashed a torrent of fire at the undead lines.

This sudden move came as a slight surprise to the vampire standing amidst the troops, resulting in a delay in her response that allowed the flames to still partially reach their target.

“Watch out, I'll start now.” Alorick shouted to the three aura users.

Forming a half circle around him, they got ready to protect him right as Goddard started sprinting towards the enemy lines.

At the same time, about a dozen monsters of all kinds came rushing out from behind the wall of undead. Baring their fangs, about half of them rushed to keep Goddard occupied while the rest headed straight for Alorick.

Swinging his arm before him in response, Goddard shot out a beam of flames from it that left a wall of fire between himself and the approaching monsters. Using the time he gained from this, he turned towards the other monsters.

Mimicking a claw with his fingers, he swung his hand in the direction of the monster furthest toward Alorick. With his motion, a phoenix claw made out of pure flames shot out from his hand, following his movements in an elongated arc.

Reaching its target in the blink of an eye, it scraped along the carapace as it failed to pierce through it. Shortly before the attack fully slid off of the monster it came to a sudden stop as the claws managed to dig into the armored plate.

Pressing down for a second, the talon finally cracked holes in it before descending onto the giant centipede-like body of the monster. Once it did so, it easily cut through its far softer flesh, tearing three cuts into its side and ripping off one of its many legs

Shrieking in pain due to this, the monster quickly swung around and changed its target to Goddard. Amidst its sprint, a dark purple substance started dropping down from below the monster's carapace. Wherever the viscous liquid met the ground it did so with a sizzling sound.

Shuddering in nausea from the vicious feeling of the acidic substance, Goddard directly made the decision to keep the monster at a distance. Gathering his mana, he launched a series of red beams from his fingertips and at the monster.

Two of these struck the centipede's back with a shallow angle, barely doing more than leaving a trail of a singed carapace in its wake as their energy was scattered along a far too large line. Of the remaining three, one failed to hit the main mass of its target, instead tearing through a couple of legs on the monster's right side.

Despite the damage this did, it wasn't what caused the centipede to screech in pain. This was instead caused by the last two beams that managed to strike directly at the monster's head. Of these, the less impactful one exploded when it struck one of the pincers. With practically no delay, the second beam followed this up by striking a bit further left.

Burning through the monster's body as it dug deeper into its body, the beam soon silenced the centipede's outcry when it exploded about a third down its length. Doing so with enough force to break apart the segments of armor that grew on its back and stretched out over its legs. As a result, the acidic substance inside its body was also flung tens of meters in all directions, along with small bits of the body.

“Urgh.” Shuddering at the pungent smell that filled his nose, Goddard had to remind himself that the battle wasn't over to keep himself from throwing up.

Using the moment of reprieve this brought him to look over to the rest of his team, he saw two monsters being pushed back by the aura users. The other three that had rushed towards them were meanwhile still a couple hundred meters away, with one even having been caught in the acid explosion.

Seeing Alorick's spell only half complete, he understood that he would have to block the vampire for just as long as the flame wall did. Once the portal closed behind his allies, the vampire would no longer have a chance to reach them before they made it into the city. Not only were the nearly two kilometers of distance to the wall impossible to cross quickly, but the defenders already on the walls would make it more difficult to do so.

Still having this priority in mind, Goddard turned towards the edge of the flaming wall he had created. Momentarily toying with the idea of doing so again, he quickly dismissed it again when he calculated how low this would bring his mana pool.

Thus getting ready to stop the vampire another way, he made two flaming phoenix wings spring to life from his back. Spreading them full to the sides, he took a moment to focus before abruptly swinging them forward.

Coming to an abrupt stop, the two wings released hundreds of feather-like projectiles each. Cutting through the air at high speeds, the flaming swarm flew straight towards the vampire.

Noticing this, the vampire acted quickly and let a massive amount of blood flow out from his arms. Gathering it into a barrier before him, he gritted his teeth when he felt the projectiles impacting it and burning through a large chunk of the blood used in it.

A fraction of a second later the feathers that had flown past the barrier struck the ground, leaving only an elongated half-circle behind the blood wall where they didn't land. Realizing that they curved towards him, the vampire was suddenly glad that he had formed a barrier that was larger than necessary.

Retracting the remaining blood back into his body, he saw the full extent of the attack. The two monsters that had been close to him were both lying a few dozen meters away, nearly a hundred burning holes in each of them.

In addition, the ground around sixty meters around him was now covered in these burning feathers, making moving around for him and the monsters difficult.

Looking up to the bloodline sorcerer that had caused all of this, the vampire found Goddard rushing towards Alorick's group in an attempt to maybe still reach the portal in time. Held a few meters above ground by the flaming wings that grew from his back, he used a concentrated beam of fire from his feet to move.

Reacting quickly to the realization that he would arrive with the rest soon, the vampire gathered blood for a second time and formed it into a spear that rested in his hand. Taking a few steps back, he dashed forward and launched it at Goddard.

Noticing the projectile aimed at him, Goddard was just about to steer starkly to one side to avoid it when it suddenly curved upwards. Looking ahead, he saw Alorick standing in front of the completed portal, one arm stretched out in his direction.

“Get here, now!” Alorick shouted, making Goddard aware that he would keep the portal open for a bit longer.

Rushing towards him, he shot through the portal before even starting to slow down. Landing after a couple more meters of flight, he turned around to the approaching rest of his team.

“You've got some tricks, why didn't you lead with that? Would have given us far less worries about you.” The female aura user said.

The other two joined in on this with a strange mix of praise and scolding for him. Unsure how to react, he looked helplessly at Alorick.

“Give him some slack, he's still new. Besides, I think we've got a couple of matters at hand that require attention.

His words brought his team back to the present. Looking along the wall they were standing on, they saw at least fifty soldiers rushing towards their position, with a handful that had been stationed near where they stood running away from them.

“Feron, try negotiating with them, the rest of us will get ready just in case.” Alorick ordered.

Quickly moving into position, they waited for the soldiers to arrive.