POV General Laszlo:
The tall stone wall loomed above the forest like a line splitting it in half, throwing its shadow over the landscape.
A tall man with a moustache sat on the horse’s back, staring at it. His brown Mongolian-looking lamellar armour was battered with shiny metallic nits of silver, signifying his high rank.
The sound of horses stomping the ground came from behind him as numerous mounted riders advanced through the thick forest. Bows hung from their shoulders, protected by the wide plates of their lamellar armour.
All their faces were hidden under the fully masked metal helmets.
“Soldiers! Foreign powers led by the evil dragon have taken a piece of our land! And we will not tolerate it for as long as we are the Khaftan raiders, the kings of horses and mounted war!”
The general’s eyes swept through the ranks of his soldiers, especially stopping at distant and separate groups with various equipment, blades of their weapons glinting under the sunlight passing through the green canopies of the trees.
‘Immortals…’ He didn’t trust them after their recent betrayal, but at the same time, he couldn’t deny their usefulness, ‘As long as I keep them far from the main formation and send them in the first line to attack, there should be no problem.’
Suddenly the sound of wings flapping resonated through the forest, making the trees sway and move. The horses stomped and loudly neighed while their riders paled.
‘The dragon is coming!’
The vast shadow briefly passed above their heads before a large beast descended from the clouds. Its majestic body, clad in the black armour of metal and volcanic stone, shone in the light of white-bluish magma glowing within its cracks and cavities.
“Graaah!” The beast’s roar shook with the forest, sending vibrations through the soil under their feet.𝒪𝚟xt.𝐜𝚘𝑚
Its wingspan was wide enough to easily cover a small palace, making the mounted warriors look weak and insignificant.
The mixed feelings of fear, confusion, and ridicule filled the general, his eyes looking at the beast as if he doubted what he saw, ‘That’s it? Yes, it is large and powerful-looking, but the rumours described the dragon as large enough to crush an entire city. Were they just e…’
He couldn’t even finish before the beast landed on top of the wall, folding its crystalline wings back on its back.
“Groahhh!”
“Graaah!”
“Groar!”
More than a dozen of growls responded from behind the wall, each strong enough to make the ground shake and the clouds swirl in the wind.
Like the first, the four more beasts rose into the air, all their golden eyes locking with the general and his armies. The thick ash clouds spread, making it impossible to see further than a few meters forward, as if the darkness had devoured the day.
For the first time, the general felt true terror as he realized how much he underestimated the dragon, ‘It wasn’t the dragon, but just one of their lackeys! In that case, how terrifying is the dragon?!’
Without hesitation, he stilled his voice and yelled as loudly as he could, “Retreat! Retreat behind the river! We will regroup!”
He wasn’t a suicidal idiot; he wanted to live and knew his soldiers also wanted to live.
‘The moment the dragon occupied the land, we lost it.’ His kingdom was small. It was so small that some refused to even call it a kingdom. And he, a general, was sure that they would lose even if the entire kingdom moved like one and attacked the dragon with all their forces.
‘We need more forces for our attack. Our only hope is to summon elementals of the almighty wind god, as all the countries are occupied with demons!’
POV Vesuvius:
Darkness filled the entirety of the dragon’s vision, the familiar feeling of crossing between worlds all over his scales.
Ding!
//
You have entered the dungeon: The Well of Xerxses
Recommended level: 10-180
Type: Stable, Unique, Legendary
//
The world around him slowly brightened up, revealing a huge cave-like space.
Its tall, dark stone ceiling was littered with billions of glowing white crystals, making it look like a starry night sky. The tall and wide pillars and stalactites stood hundreds of floors high and supported the ceiling so vast that it could pose for the sky.
Roads and cities spiralled around them, lit up by the same glowing crystals. Buildings, castles, and palaces were chiselled into the stone walls and stalactites.
As far as the dragon’s golden eyes could see, there was only the endless cave. It was so expansive and ginormous that even the huge dragon felt small within its interior as he stood on the ground, small rivers of phosphorescing water flowing beneath him.
The dragon flapped his wings and shot up toward the ceiling, his eyes scanning the dungeon.
‘Why is this called well when it looks more like a giant cave? Maybe the well is hidden somewhere here?’
Vesuvius was sure the system wouldn’t just randomly name it like that.
‘I should probably find that well. Maybe it is a clue.’
Stable dungeons were different as they were massive in scale, and there were no specific objectives to encourage exploration to find hidden treasures.
As they were also permanent, they had a unique ability to regenerate and respawn their monsters, the respawn time depending upon the monster’s strength.
‘Sadly, the rewards diminish significantly after the first kill, and artefacts are just a one-time thing. That is why I must be first here.’
The huge circle of spinning rainbow light, looking like a vortex within a lake of rainbow glowing water, rippled, and a wide and long squaric formation of kobolds fully decked in their black armours marched out of it, the thousands of their steps echoing between the cave walls.
Their long polearms shimmered in the lights of their enchantment, their eyes glimmering in the dim light of the grotto.
At once all of them fell on their knees, genuflecting below the dragon, their eyes glowing with zealotry and reverence.
The tall draconic knight in his draconian form, with long claws and the stature of a bipedal dragon and the pair of huge crystalline wings on his back that lead them, stabbed his sword into the ground, the runic blade digging into the stone without any resistance while he lowered his head.
“Secure the perimeter of the portal, my minion!” The dragon growled his orders.