Chapter 242: A Very Proper And Well Mannered Dragon
Bee watched as the disturbance pushed its way through the ranks of men and demons. Even from this distance, she could feel its aura. A movement next to her caught her attention, and she realized that she had gotten distracted. While she had frozen, the rest of the fight was still continuing along. Just the few seconds she had spent staring off into the distance had allowed a ladder to land on the wall.
She hurriedly expended some energy to clear it. The move was inefficient, but she was in a hurry. Then she turned and screamed "HEY!" at Archibald.
The dragon's companion was holding a section of the wall himself but still turned to look at her even as he cut down another attacker. She pointed towards the disturbance. His eyes flicked over. He squinted slightly and looked back at her, nodding his acknowledgment.
That was enough for Bee. Something had to be done. But they were so busy holding the wall already. What could they do?
"She turned and yelled down to the Nighty Knight below. "Aiden! Tell Felix I need reserves here, fast!"
A few moments later, some of the reserves charged up the wall to take her spot. As they flooded up onto the landing, she spent a little bit more time and energy knocking away foes to give them enough breathing space to set up. Two more ladders went down with scouring strikes and a thrown potion.
That settled, Bee jumped down inside the wall and ran along the base of it until she reached Archibald's section. Scrambling up the stairs, she joined the man to talk.
"Do you know what that is?" She asked as she whacked a demon away with her broom. Archibald held this area with no problem alone, but Bee still wanted to feel useful.
"I'm gonna be honest with you. That feels a lot like a Lieutenant." Archibald admitted. "It was very good at hiding its aura though. I'm surprised you were able to spot it at such a distance."
Bee grimaced. "How could you miss it? it's like– I can feel it everywhere. It's just this constant pressure on my Holy Aura."
"You have the Holy Aura skill?" Archibald asked, impressed. Even as he talked, he was still fighting as Bee stood behind him. She wanted to lend him some help, but honestly, it didn't look like he needed or wanted it. Instead, she gladly took the rest.
"Yeah, got it a few levels ago," she said, not wanting to reveal exactly what level she had gotten it at. It was still a massive amount of trust for her to tell him exactly what skills she had in the first place.
"Well, that would explain it. Holy skills and demons don't really mix. But yeah that means this is going to get a whole lot harder," Archibald grunted and flung his latest opponent off the wall. The man went crashing into the soldiers below.
"We don't have much choise but to go fight it and drive it away." Bee said. "I don't see how we can hold the wall while it attacks them. We have to try and handle it before it destroys our defenses. It's pretty much our only hope."
Tony turned to face her, snarling with battle rage. Then, something in his eyes changed as he recognized her, and his expression mellowed. "Bee." He breathed in and out for a second. "Sorry, what'd you say?"
Just as she prepared to answer Tony's question, a shadow passed over the wall. Bee feared the worst as she looked up. However, rather than some demon or skill, she instead found herself staring at a massive figure flying through the air.
Overhead, a massive red-scaled dragon swooped low over their position, less than twenty yards away from her. And then the world shook.
Flames didn't so much as billow out of the beast's maw. Rather, they were ejected with more force than all of the catapults they had made combined. When the fire struck the ground, Bee watched the shock wave ripple through the earth and felt the wall flex under her feet.
The dragon soared forward, blasting a huge line clear through the enemy army, heading directly toward where she felt the ominous presence approaching. And still, it continued on. The dragon flew low along the road, blasting the enemy army with gouts of molten fire. The world seemed to pause as everyone on the battlefield simply stopped and stared Into the distance.
Bee could barely make out the back of the through the trees. At least, what remained of the trees that hadn't been instantly vaporized. As the flames reached it, they cut off suddenly, and the dragon banked up to circle around before starting another pass. This time, the fire came back towards them.
At this point, the enemy came to their senses. The attack on the wall was completely forgotten as their archers turned to launch waves of arrows up at the dragon as it flew back over them. However, most just missed and fell amongst their own troops, causing even more chaos and mayhem as soldiers dove to take cover.
That didn't help any in the path of the dragon. The second torrent of flame turned everything in sight into a sea of fire that expanded forward.
Frozen in awe, Bee suddenly understood where the term "mopping up one's enemies" came from. It truly looked like the dragon was simply pushing a broom along the floor, gathering all the dust into one massive pile as it went. Its second pass came back just slightly offset from the previous line of smoldering rocks, carving a new trench through the kingdom's army.
This time, they could only run in one direction as a massive column of melted rock and burning dirt split the army in two. As they ran, the dragon's fire chased them, consuming them whole and pushing the rest into a frantic scramble into the forest.
The titanic red beast neared the wall, soaring closer and closer. The heat of its flames felt intense even from this distance. All around, Bee heard the shouts of soldiers retreating along the wall or scrambling for cover. Screams of terror echoed up from below where the castle's inhabitants fled into the building, uncertain whether they'd be spared. Bee found herself fixed to the spot, unable to do anything but watch as the dragon kept coming without even slowing.
It cut off its breath right as the path of molten ground was about to touch the wall. It banked above them as she and Tony looked up in awe. Ruby scales glittered in the sunlight as it came around for another pass.
Suddenly, there was a new disturbance a little ways down the wall. Archibald was running and shouting something at the top of his lungs. Bee had a little trouble making out what it was, but she had caught the last few words at least. "...big stupid lizard!"
"Huh? What is he yelling about?" Bee swiveled her attention back as she noticed something in the center of the first glowing path. Rather than the destruction she'd expected, a singular figure stood on a small circle of completely untouched ground.
She looked at it more closely. The thing wasn't actually standing. From this angle, it almost looked human-sized as it uncurled and stood up to its full height. She realized that this was not some ordinary demon that managed to survive the onslaught.
Archibald was right again. This was a Lieutenant. What else could have survived such an assault?