Massive, brightly glowing projectiles of pure mana flew in the sky, looking like azure blurs glowing in intense azure light.
The mana and air around them rippled under the energy radiating out of them.
They were quickly closing towards the dragon that had opened his mouth, ready to unleash his breath.
Finally, a thick and concentrated beam of blue, concentrated magma burst out of the dragon’s mouth, blasting through the sky towards the nearest ship.
The crystal embedded in the centre of the small ship pulsed brightly, all the magical circuits on its board flaring up. A blue barrier rose and enveloped the whole ship in a bubble.
Everyone on its board froze, only seeing everything around them turn blue before perishing.
In the meantime, the bolts of destructive mana reached the dragon, blinding him with their bright azure light. They hit him from multiple directions, the blue lines drawn on the sky connecting with his body.
All of that happened in just a second, the mortals on the ground only seeing blue flashes in the sky.
The blue beam of magma from the dragon’s mouth hit the barrier, the magma splashing in all directions.
The beam of magma was blasting against the barrier, a web of cracks and fissures spreading through its surface. Finally, it burst apart, exploding into millions of shrapnel of light that slowly fell towards the distant ground, moving here and there in the winds as if they were feathers.
Simultaneously the energy of the mana bolts from the canons enveloped the dragon and drowned him in the sea of pure energy. The remains of his armour vanished, turning into dust.
His pitch-black scales were flashing and glowing, waves of his mana passing through them as the energy surging around him clashed with mana charged in his scales.
“Grah!” Vesuvius growled in pain, his scales burning and itching as if he had stuck his whole body into a colony of angry fire ants.
The beam emitting out of his mouth stopped, vanishing from the sky as suddenly as it appeared.
The ships hit by it crashing towards the ground. It was split in half, flames engulfing it, slowly devouring its wooden structure. The screams of its crew were resounding through the sky.
The energy of bolts around the dragon finally dissipated, revealing his whole body covered in brushes.
His shiny scales lost their lustre, their whole surface littered with small cracks and bents. Massive holes and fissures were made in the crystal material of his wings, causing him pain with each flap.
His pain and anger clashed against each other, his veins and bones aching after they conducted the immense amount of mana needed to suppress the attack.
The ships on the horizon kept their position, the glow of their canons once again intensifying as they prepared for another attack.
Vesuvius grit his teeth, pushing back all his pain and focusing on his anger, his anger magic resonating with it.
The skies rumbled above him. There was no sun as it was hidden under the clouds of smoke and ash.
The lightning flashed across the sky, the arc of electricity splitting it into multiple shards. Tiny droplets of water were spreading everywhere like a morning mist.
Thunders loudly rumbled, reflecting the dragon’s rage and pain.
He focused now more than he ever did, both his central brain and sub-brain working at their full power, controlling the immense amount of mana flowing into his glands, horns and crystals.
The lightning circulated all around his body, the water forming streams that slowly got woven into a massive web that sprawled the whole sky.
‘I will smite them all at once.’ He felt, no, he was sure, that if he tried shooting down the ships and attackers on the ground one by one, he would fall first, so he decided to instead focus on a single powerful attack.
He also couldn’t just sweep through them with a single beam as he needed to focus at least for a few moments to burn through their mana barriers.
His regenerating body ached as more light flashed across the ground. A barrage of projectiles shooting towards him, propelled to immense speed by the magic behind them.
The dragon awkwardly flapped his still-injured wings as he accelerated, making a large spiral in the sky. His lighter body, without armour, compensated for his injuries.
The lights flew all around him, some exploding and sending shockwaves and bursts of pain through his body, while others missed him and kept ascending higher into the sky, piercing through the layer of dark clouds and vanishing.
‘Their attacks are too accurate. They must be somehow locking on me. I am radiating so much energy that it should be easy for them.’
Vesuvius opened his mouth with sharp teeth, and a spike of super-concentrated magma launched out of them. It turned into a blur as it shot towards one of the ships while the dragon kept getting closer and closer.
He flapped his wings even more desperately, and loud explosions shook the sky as he accelerated even further in the direction of the ships.
His mind was focused on controlling the storm around him, but he still realised that getting closer was advantageous for him.
‘They will have to be more careful with their aim, to avoid friendly fire. I also can likely through them.’𝒪𝐯𝐋xt.𝗇t
He kept ascending higher and higher to get out of the reach of the primary weapons of the ships. However, they nimbly turned after, tilting their hulls and keeping their weapons aimed at him.
His sharp sense immediately noticed that their glow intensified slower than before, ‘Huh, their weapons are charging longer now. They must have redirected some of their energy to tilt the ships.’
More blue lights glowed on the boards of the ships, smaller staffs sticking from the sides of their hulls aiming towards the dragon.
The blue lights flashed, small bolts of mana launching out, loudly howling as they pierced through the air.
Vesuvius tilted his wings, rolling to the side and the blue bolts of mana passed by him, vanishing into the horizon. However, the large rods pulsed once more, the enormous bolts of mana shooting so fast that they drew lines across the sky, all heading straight towards him.
Vesuvius closed his mouth and eyes, bracing for upcoming impact as he redirected a portion of his mana from his horns into his scales.
The energy bolts exploded all over him and engulfed his whole body in energy. His scales were bent and deformed. The runes glowed even brighter than before, their surface flashing in the light of mana. The dragon gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain erupting all over his body.
In the meantime, the storm intensified, the lightning constantly striking between clouds and the dragon’s crystal horns, wings and spikes. The loud rumbling and banging of thunder repeatedly echoed through the whole barony.