The swarm of angels blasted straight through the clouds, their bodies burning in white holy flames and looking like a swarm of comets.
All their weapons were pointed forward, like the lances of knights.
“Die!” The dragon’s growl resonated through the entire mountain that used to be the wyrm’s territory.
Then the neon-red rays of energy and lighting bolts descended upon the advancing angels while brightly glowing, their light passing through the thick volcanic vapor.
They were cutting through the angels and leaving behind only motes of light.
Yet, the winged beings of light continued their fanatical and suicidal charge without fear, the flames enveloping their bodies intensifying with each meter they passed.
The dragon’s red glow of his eyes brightened even more, the magma in his armor changing to creepy red color. The power of the curse surged and circled through his veins.
”Don’t let anyone escape!!!”
The black mass of smoke in their path swirled, and golden and neon-red light radiated out.
Suddenly, hundreds of sharp blades of neon-red cursed magma shot out of the smoke, with red arcs of lightning jumping and sparking between them. The magic letters engraved on their glowing surfaces pulsed.
The sky was submerged in red colors, like during the sunset.
𝑂𝑽𝐿xt.𝗇t
Before they could even move, the blades pierced through their formations, exploding in small explosions of red that sent blazing-hot cursed liquid flying in all directions, making it look as if there was a whole battery of anti-air guns.
Everywhere it landed, the soil and ground died and turned black, the poison, curses, and radiation killing everything they came into contact with.
The explosions constantly flashed in the sky, and all the angels got shredded, their remains falling down like snow of light.
Ding!
//
Quest accomplished!
Rating: A
Reward: Instant Level UP; Ultra rare catalyst: 1 x Sun Disk of a solar wyrm; 1 X Fragmented holy halo of dominion authority; 1 x Vial of a dominion authority blood; Various lesser angelic and wyrm materials;
//
Ding!
//
You are now level 91
All stats increased!
+5 stat points
+1 ability point
//
There was nothing left but the smoke and the dragon hiding within it.
Finally, the whispers calling for revenge quieted, and the cold, icy sensation vanished from the dragon’s chest. His eyes lost their red color, returning back to their golden one.
For the first time he realized his mistake, ‘I should have been more careful… I disintegrated their bodies, which were full of treasures and rare material… if it wasn’t for the system, I would be screwed and now I lost a lot from my reward….’
Luckily, the system was programmed to be as engaging as possible. It partially compensated for the over-eager players destroying their potential loot with reckless and flashy attacks.
The dragon shook his head in regret, but then his eyes pulsed with new eagerness, ‘They must have their hoards hidden somewhere around here!’
POV The Old Ambassador:
The ambassador straightened in his chair. He sat back in the black office of marble and dark stone.
A refreshing herbal scent rose from a small cup on the silver trail on the large table carved out of a piece of polished black marble.
The young elf, with her long blonde locks and curving, shiny horns, sat in the chair opposite him.
He knew that she was likely older than she looked, but he still felt awkward facing someone so childish.
She sipped from the cup she cradled in her small hands and spoke in her childish but refined voice, “Uhhh, if you want to ask for our assistance, we are sorry, but we will not send any help to fight the demons. Our own resources are already stretched to protect our own….”
He nodded as he had already expected it, “That is not the matter I wish to discuss. I came to warn you not to make any rash decisions. There is someone who wants to destabilize this entire region.”
The elf looked straight into his eyes, something within her eyes awakening fear deep within his soul, but he kept his cool, “You have to see it… someone summoned the demons and pitted the vampire that his majesty slain and his majesty against each other. They are also pitting the Church of Light against His Majesty. Call me a madman, but this seems like a conspiracy to me….”
‘They attacked the dragon’s city, probably hoping for them to go berserk and attack the surrounding countries… but it failed, so they resorted to summoning demons.’
It all felt so obvious to him, but the elf just looked at him with a perfectly empty and neutral expression as if she didn’t even care.
“It is not our problem. Whatever force you are talking about is not our concern. Human countries and churches will always hate us… we made the decision to secure our own borders. We are no longer planning to deal with humans. “
It all sounded reasonable, but he felt nothing but disappointment knowing that the mysterious culprit had at least partially succeeded and stopped the extremely powerful dragon from joining the war against the demons and them.
POV Another old man: The Old Archduke:
A fire flickered within a fireplace in a small but cozy room. Pelts of various animals were spread over the stone floor like a carpet.
There were no windows, so the only light was the flickering glow of the fire.
The skull trophies of monsters of various sizes hung from the walls, covered in blue wallpaper with small silvery ornaments.
The old, former archduke sat tiredly in a posh armchair. He felt tired, with his knees and back hurting. No matter how much he tried to escape it, his age was slowly catching up to him.
But on his old, wrinkled face was a faint smile.
“I am glad that you are alright….” After a long time, he finally saw his only granddaughter sitting in the chair opposite him.
He carefully looked at her, his eyes moving from her white hair to her feet. His eyes especially lingered on her two long horns poking between her silky hair.
Finally, he breathed out in relief, ‘She looks healthy… No, she looks healthier than ever before.’
She was always a sickly girl who often fell sick, which worried him as the only close family he had left were her and her mother… ‘No, she is gone… It’s just her now.’
“Grandpa… you look tired.”
He wanted to hug her, but his old aristocratic upbringing stopped him. His whole life, he was taught that showing emotions was a weakness and a potential opening for his enemies to use.
“Don’t worry about me. I just had a hard month.” It was true. The whole administration was in shambles again.
From one day to the next, the dragon decided to change everything. The ranks were shifting as the new council of ministers, and their advisors were named.
The concept of noble domains was shifted from hereditary to a new system built around immortal administrators that could be shifted between different territories based on need.
Everything belonged to the king, and the administrators were just managing and taking their portions of the province’s earnings as compensation and motivation.
‘It is like the legendary empire that once ruled this continent. They also had one all-powerful Emperor and appointed provincial managers… Then the corruption slowly rotten it from the inside.’
However, the concept of land given by the king as a reward still existed to a much lesser degree, like the territories belonging to the ancient wyrm that safeguarded a large portion of the border. They were just rarer.
‘It is just a way how to redistribute the land again to the new king’s own, proven, and loyal people. But they couldn’t just throw the old nobility away, as that would create even more chaos. So they created this system and slowly transitioned it.’
He got advisory work for the new council of ministers, and the administrative rights over a large portion of his former archduchy, so he was privy to a lot of information.
‘Normally, there would be a rebellion if a king proposed something like this, but who would dare to rebel… The idiots who dared are already dead.’
He felt it was only a matter of time until they finished cleaning their central kingdom and moved to fix the mess known as the outer kingdom.
“Grandpa… maybe you should…”
“No, don’t worry about me.” He already felt at peace seeing his granddaughter doing so well; that was all he needed.
‘She is healthy and has a promising future… But is it still her?’
“I heard that you are in charge of training the new war mages of the new royal army.”
“Yes… it just isn’t what I expected. I thought it would be like an academy with cheerful students. Instead, it feels more like a military base…”
“Hahaha”
‘She is still her.’ His last concern vanished. Until now he was worried that his granddaughter was gone, replaced by someone new just looking like her, ‘She is different, but it is still her.’