Soaring Battle
Soaring Battle
From what Var Agus could see and hear, the creature was at most a minute away. He gulped silently.
This defining life moment… it was terrifying…
But with the beast in sight and the lizardmen at the ready, the showdown had to commence.
"Turn the ships! Commence fire!" The current distance was more than enough to land shots on the imposing creature.
"Fire!" "Fire!" The lizardmen shouted one after another, their voices were soon drowned out by the sounds of deafening explosions. Cannonballs cut through the sky and landed on the gigantic blood mass. The muffled sound of an explosive collision followed alongside a short rain of blood.
The lizardmen didn't pay this any mind however, they started to quickly reload.
"We don't have enough rounds to last awhile, make them count! Aim steady!" A lizardman cannoneer instructed with vigor as he fired his own shot.
The banging explosions may or may not have drowned out the lizardman's voice but the enthusiasm of their few ships skyrocketed.
"We! We are doing something!" Someone exclaimed happily seeing explosions in the distance.
"Huh?" But their exclamations soon became quiet after an extremely peculiar sound entered their ears.
It was a nasty and viscous sound… The sound of sloshing?
"Keep at it!" But there was no time to waste, they had to keep at it no matter what!
"Right…!" The lizardman's words of assent were forced back down his throat by the sight of a red spear darting past their person. They shuddered uncontrollably having felt the coldness of death brush past them.
"Ah…" The more harrowing sight however was before them, one dead and others…!
"Woah!" The ship was being rocked back and forth by the hammering of bloody spears.
The earlier sloshing had clearly been the beast charging a vicious long-range attack!
Not too far off, Var Agus had jumped out of the ship and was currently trying to circle around for a good angle towards where he remembered the gauntlet was located. He was forced to swim by the circumstances and was nearly drowning in the turbulent water when suddenly…!
"Urgh…!" He felt something grab his leg and pull him down into the murky water. The blinded Var Agus did what any man would do in his circumstances and flailed helplessly at his binding.
Soon enough he was released and he swam back to the surface. He had cut whatever was gripping him using the divine spear amidst his flailing but...
"Ah!" It was impossible for him to see what was underwater.
Something punctured past his leg before once more gripping tightly to him. Var Agus instantly felt his blood draining from his body. The beast had found him!
Var Agus didn't know how the beast knew his position considering he had deliberately stopped moving forward and only tried to circle the beast yet…! He was being attacked! The only explanation was that the beast was able to see him all along.
Var Agus performed another desperate swing at the murky water. He felt little to no resistance but the tentacle was cut seamlessly. Nevertheless, the damage had been done, Var Agus could still feel a weakness in his body. He felt… lethargic.
"No, no!" This was supposed to be a defining moment, why was he dying so soon?!
Another bloody tentacle lunged at his position.
"God! Help me!" Var Agus shouted at the top of his lungs. The water surrounding Var Agus then quickly turned bright. A shocking current expanded out with the spear as an epicenter.
"Argh!!!!" Var Agus shouted feeling the brunt of the electric attack. His lethargic body was suddenly awoken by fear.
On the positive side however, all the bloody tentacles in the immediate area were disrupted by the rampant and destructive lightning element.
The blood beast which had previously been treating Var Agus as nothing more than a short snack suddenly felt a much greater threat from him. Var Agus could feel the currents in the water growing restless as tentacles rushed from the main mass towards him at high speed.
Var Agus couldn't see what was under the murky water but just by the movements he could safely claim… there were too many!
It was here when Var Agus was feeling helpless that he felt a mass enter the water directly beneath him.
"Huh?" Before Var Agus could even react to what was beneath him, he felt his body flying out of the water surface.
Following his apparent leap, a flurry of tentacles shot out after him with a big splash. Var Agus' eyes widened as time seemed to slow down. He was flying!
Regaining his wits, Var Agus gripped tightly onto his spear with one hand and swung it fearlessly at the dashing attackers.
"Eat it!" Var Agus shouted as he swung, matching his vigor, the spear let out an electric arc. Blood started to rain into the murky water as the tentacles deformed and separated from the blood beast following the electric shock.
Var Agus suddenly felt his heart flutter, this was what being loved by God should feel like!
Having sliced away the assailing tentacles, Var Agus finally had the leisure to look down at his mount. It felt cold and rough to the touch yet that only assured Var of the creature's sturdiness.
Noticing the increasingly distant ground, it could be said that the creature's wings, whose scales shone under the sunlight, were just as strong and powerful.
'Var Agus, it's good that you are still alive, try to take down the blood beast from up in the sky' A transmission then came from Var's God, Ed just as Var was taking in the legendary attributes of the lizard creature he was provided.
'Huh?' Var Agus was stunned by the transmission, however.
'The target is too small!' Not just that but there was no way Var Agus still knew where the gauntlet was located given how high up in the sky he was.
Ed did foresee this happening but…
'In that case, you'll need to create an opportunity to kill it from up close' His original plan of a spear from high up in the sky was a little too unrealistic. Seeing as Var Agus was unwilling to follow this plan in its entirety Ed could only suggest the back-up plan.
'Huh? Up close?!?' Var Agus didn't seem to like this plan either judging by the tone.
Still, Var Agus looked down at the ground with reluctance. There he could see a barrage of bloody tentacles waiting for his eventual return to the ground hoping to make quick work of him.
'Yeah, the pseudo-dragon I gave you has the earth element and is also dead, you can shock the beast without worries' Ed didn't just choose any random lizard, he chose one that had good synergy with the spear he made for Var Agus.
For Var Agus however that didn't seem to make things much better.
"Sigh..." Var Agus then let out a sigh. Since there was no other way around it, he had to fight from closer up!
Thanks to Var Agus unwillingly acting as a distraction the lizardmen ships were still afloat. Nevertheless, there were already sacrifices.
'If I also need to become a sacrifice so be it' Var Agus thought to himself. It would be fair to his subordinates if they didn't finish the beast then and there!
Var Agus gripped tightly onto the dragon-like creature's neck and laid down.
"Let's go down!" He instructed while still gripping his spear with one hand. The pseudo dragon understood and immediately dove towards the perilous tentacles that awaited them.
The spear in Var's hands lit up with anticipation lighting up the misty sky.
The lizardmen who were dying down at the water surface suddenly felt their morale take a large boost.
"Don't give up!" "We can finish this thing!" The lizardmen spurred themselves on having seen Var Agus' brave actions as well as the blessing of their god in action.
***
"Hey! Did you see that?" Dakgu said pointing out the sky. Being so familiar with lightning, Dakgu couldn't have missed such an electrifying display.
"We are close!" Just as an orc shouted this the sight of the bloody tentacled beast was plain for the orcs and lizardmen to see.
"This...." This was their enemy. The lizardmen, divine blood warriors or not, felt demoralized. The orcs however though stunned by the visage felt a bit giddy… What a large target!
"Hahahah!" "We can die here but we will die fighting a good fight!" The elite orcs were easy to please.
Unlike the easy to please orcs however, Sharog was frowning. The deathly aura that the creature exuded made her question if it was a mistake to volunteer for this trip.
Ever since Sharog's arrival in the swamp, apart from the brilliant cavern, every location was disgusting and deathly. They had encountered many monsters in the water, some fleeing from something, others out for blood.
Whatever the case, the marshland was not a place for orcs. Even right now as they stood they were neck-deep into the water. They had encountered deeper areas in water too but that was besides the point.
Sharog's point was that they weren't lizardmen and they couldn't do much in this environment. Could they actually offer any help? Or were they just going to sacrifice their lives needlessly?
Sharog as the vice-leader of Sanctuary could not sit still knowing this.
"All of you should stay back" Sharog was willing to go forward and fight as a mage but she couldn't let the elites die for nothing! In fact, even Dakgu who was a mage was mainly reliant on close combat. Could she really allow him to fight such a thing!?
The battle with the beast had just started but Sharog was having second thoughts on how they could assist.