It wasn’t long before the first ships broke free from the chaos and saw them. Those on board stood on their decks, waving both arms and shouting for help.
Under any other circumstances, helping them would have been a priority, but Asteria had already given her orders, and the flights didn’t waste time splitting into six groups with a rearguard watching everyone’s back, flying against their true enemy.
The wyrms didn’t take long to notice and react.
Dark shadows burst from the river, and the first wave of wyrmlings attacked within seconds. The drakes took longer to leave the ships full of tasty morsels behind, allowing their lesser kin to break themselves against the witches before finally taking flight.
Orion’s unit, the rearguard, was the only group to stay at a high altitude, though even they descended to hover over mid-stream, exactly where the winds channeled through the Belt made flight nearly impossible for non-magical creatures and prevented the wyrmlings from swarming them, as they risked getting in each other’s way.
Their job wasn't particularly glamorous, but it was still essential; they would be the ones to plug any holes that opened in the net they were casting, come to the rescue of any flight at risk of being overwhelmed, and interfere if they had a clear path to a ship in danger of sinking, though that wasn't their main goal.
“Don’t let yourself be distracted by their sheer numbers,” Pauline said, eyeing the approaching mass of teeth, claws, and wings. “While fighting so many of them is still dangerous, it is the drakes and sea serpents that are hiding among their midst that you need to pay attention to. They only need one moment of distraction to bite clean through any shield you might summon, so don’t approach them carelessly.”
Orion had already cast [Light Exoskeleton] and even a barrier that he was maintaining at a low intensity for now, routing them through the CC to stay alert, but he had no intention of going near those very sharp teeth.
“I’m good, you don’t have to worry about that,” he said, earning a snort.
His hand slipped into his pockets, grateful that the seamstress in Silverpeak had enchanted them to hold more than normal fabric could without ripping or feeling uncomfortable, and he began preparing the gravity sleeves, fully intending to shoot pebbles at the approaching mass. However, he was preempted as three flights swooped down to handle it.
The first group painted silver runes in the sky as they descended, and the moment they drew near, they unleashed their power all at once, reflecting the fires below and tainting them with light mana, causing the unlucky first few wyrmlings to screech as they met their deaths.
The second flight faced a rising wyrm, a mature one based on its appearance, and began casting freezing spells from all directions, finishing their run with a massive bolt of light that shattered its scales like glass.
A flash of exotic mana came from the third, and an adult wyrm collapsed inward with a terrible noise.
“Get ready,” Pauline said, eyeing a particularly resilient sea serpent that was chasing down two witches.
Orion lifted several pebbles at once, now confident enough to use [Gravity Cannon] without all the laborious preparation he’d done at first.
The sea serpent hissed out a breath of caustic mist, threatening to swallow the poor witches, as they were too far from the rest of the flight to rescue them.
“Now!” she roared, and a beam of pure darkness shot from her hand, slicing through two wyrmlings without slowing and finally smashing into the serpent.
It roared as its lifeblood spilled freely into the river from the massive wound she had inflicted, and Orion saw Pauline prepare another attack but couldn’t focus on her, as his own projectiles hummed with barely restrained power, and he released them, directing them into the center of the flock.
The pebbles vanished with a bang, and a wyrmling died immediately, its chest compressing inward as the stone passed through with little resistance, while its closest kin lost half a jaw and spiraled down in a wild arc that threw two more off course.
Orion was already tossing the next pebble when the first carcass hit the river, causing water to splash up, and soon, three more were plunging into the depths of the river.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
+17,900 Exp
It’s getting slower. I guess figuring out how their scales work means that even with a new spell, I can only earn so much exp.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
It was still nothing to scoff at, and even if it hadn’t been, Orion wouldn’t have hesitated to kill more wyrmlings. They seemed especially sadistic, even among monsters, and that was proven once more when he noticed a group of them abandoning the aerial fight to dive onto a merchant ship that was doing its best to escape west.
He warned Pauline, who had just finished dispatching the sea serpent with the help of the two witches it had been trying to eat, and she grunted, taking aim at the boat. “There is something else beneath it,” she muttered.
Orion inspected the water and saw that indeed, that was the case.
Vorash — Terror of the Frozen Flock
Class: [Abyssal Sea Serpent] [B-rank]
Level: 124
Mind: 156
Attunement: 803
Body: 921
Traits: Abyssal Pressure [B-rank]; Tidal Rupture [A-rank]; Leviathan Scales [B-rank]; Serpentine Momentum [B-rank]; Mana Manipulation [C-rank]
It was another sea serpent, but unlike the one Pauline had just killed, this one was at least five times larger. Its dark shadow was big enough to easily cover the entire barge, and more, even without breaking the surface.
“You handle the wyrmlings, I’ll take care of the big boy,” Pauline said, and while Orion complied and started crafting new gravitation sleeves for his pebbles, he knew it wouldn’t be so easy this time.
The more I learn about Behenien’s flock, the more I wonder how they managed to move undetected from the northern sea into the Belt. Even if they avoided the Tower of Ambition, there are dozens of mid-sized settlements along the way, and that’s not to mention the Twilight Hordes controlling the northern bridge over the narrowest part of the Belt, or the Crimson Wheel keeping a tight grip on their stretch of the river.
Yet, at the same time, he couldn’t understand what benefit the adventurers and vampires would gain from letting Behenien through. A flock of dragons was an extremely dangerous thing, akin to a natural disaster, and while it was technically possible that they had made a deal with it, it was impossible to predict what would happen once they passed through. Not to mention the consequences that would befall them from the affected factions.
“[Gravity Cannon],” he called, more to do something than out of any real need.
The pebbles shot down into the wyrmlings just before they could fall on the panicked sailors, burrowing through several of them at once. A moment later, he released the second barrage, taking full advantage of the chaos the first had caused, and then a third, smaller and more accurate one, to eliminate the last few who had escaped unscathed.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
+21,530 Exp
The sailors looked up with shocked faces, still holding harpoons and spears, waiting for an enemy that would never come.
They didn’t have time to relax, however, as the shadow lurking beneath their ship grew even larger until its head finally broke the surface.
Vorash was a colossal beast, and its open maw alone could have easily swallowed many of the wyrmlings at once. The men on board screamed in utter terror, yet were stunned again as the faint grey sunlight filtering through the sky was obscured, and night fell upon them.
Watching Pauline work her magic was truly impressive. Orion could follow the flow of her mana easily enough, as [Hypotheticism] let him perceive even what was likely to happen, but he couldn’t honestly say he could mimic her actions.
She was simply too experienced at managing such a slippery element. His only attempt at shadow magic was [Haunted Night], and that was only tangential compared to the nullification effect it had on light magic.
Pauline wielded the shadows as if they had real mass, crafting wicked spikes to pierce Vorash’s tough scales and fluffing them into a foam that entered the snake’s gills, trying to suffocate it.
Of course, such a powerful beast couldn’t be stopped by mere lack of oxygen, and it fought fiercely, trying to destroy the ship and the bindings at the same time. However, more witches had already noticed by then and lent their help, striking through the darkness at perfect moments to land lasting wounds, again and again, until even the mighty terror was brought down by a thousand cuts.
Even Orion managed to shoot down a few [Gravity Cannons], poking one of its eyes out with more than a little glee.
The great serpent convulsed, tearing its own scales apart under the immense pressure, yet there was nothing it could do to survive such a prolonged assault. Before long, its body went limp, ironically causing more damage to the ship this way than when it had been alive.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
+37,000 Exp
Yeah, I didn’t do much, I know. But even that little help was enough to gain as much exp as discovering a new spell. That’s… I guess the sheer difference in raw power between Vorash and me is just that big.
A second sea serpent, smaller but clearly determined to make them pay, came up from the depths, angling toward the ship with the intention of capsizing it and feeding on its contents, before retreating into the river.
“Again,” Pauline said coldly, eyeing the monster with contempt. It had waited until the larger serpent was dead before showing up, which didn’t speak well for its courage, but Orion couldn’t bring himself to care.
On the other hand, he cared a lot about earning exp, so he shot two pebbles into the roof of its mouth when it opened to bite down on the ship, one to break the palate and one to smash the braincase.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
+43,000 Exp
Level up!
He used the euphoric rush from the newly added attributes to assess the battlefield.
They were clearly winning. The witches flew in tight formations, and whenever a drake tried to break them up, they were met with waves of war spells coming from all sides. Wyrmlings fell in great numbers whenever a flight passed, and still that was nothing compared to the slaughter Asteria and Candra were unleashing near the city, where the flock was densest.
Orion took aim at a particularly large wyrmling that had caught his scent and wouldn’t be shaken. It dodged his first shot with a twist of cunning he didn’t see coming, but it didn’t manage to close the distance before the second shot could hit.
“[Gravity Cannon],” he said again, and tore through its chest.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
+18,900 Exp
The tide kept shifting. The drakes dove again, clinging to the water, and letting the wyrmlings take the brunt of the witches’ fury.
It was almost enough to let him think it was over. Almost.
A deep, low rumble came from beneath, so deep it made Orion’s bones shake. The Belt trembled, and the city’s wards flexed as if a giant had pressed a fist into their dome. Barges skidded on their own wakes, and wyrmlings faltered and collided like birds hitting a sudden cliff.
“Up!” Pauline snapped, already rising in the air. Reflexively, Orion followed a beat later, while everyone looked down.
The river swelled.
It climbed until it resembled a hill made of water. Wyrmlings surged with it, thrashing, until the dome finally split.
It was massive, monstrous, yet eerily familiar at the same time. Orion only needed one look to know the matriarch of the entire flock had finally taken to the field.
Behenien shouted her anger and pride, destroying two ships that had been unlucky enough to be close enough to be caught by the currents she’d created with her appearance with just the sound.
