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Chapter 96: Dragon Slayer 1

The militant and dynamic black woman stood on one of those platforms. She overlooked two thousand kobolds sweeping around to outflank the Ride-or-Die Guild from the east. Among the kobolds’ numbers, there was a disproportionate amount in the Level 40s with unique classes.

Just like the main force barreling down from the north, the eastern attackers used wooden bridges laid over the ditches to make their way across quickly. Seeing Naomi by herself, the leading kobolds pointed up and laughed at her.

“Is that a human woman?” snarled a kobold in the Level 30s. “It is! It is! Get up the wall and get her! We will make her scream!”

“Get her! Get her! Get her!” chanted the kobolds in the Level 20s.

“Make her scream! Make her scream!” chanted more of the lower kobolds.

Zarian felt sparks of Naomi’s disgust resonate through her and slightly into him. But only for a brief moment. Then all that remained was a cool and calculated rage, followed by a strong current of malicious intent.

Unfortunately for the kobolds, Naomi had the right armaments staged for her to respond with violence instead of words.

Melon-sized iron balls, uncommon quality.

Each one had a simple enchantment. They provide a bigger impact on landing. It wasn’t an insane boost, but the bigger the impact, the bigger the damage.

They didn’t have cannons to load the iron balls into, unfortunately. That was too complicated for Hannah to make on a short notice. However, they did have someone who was suited to act like a cannon.

Naomi scooped up one of the iron balls from a large crate nearly as tall as her. She walked over to the platform’s edge and planted a foot on the crenellation block.

From every angle where a spectral spider lurked, as well as from Naomi’s view-point, Zarian observed how she juiced herself up with all of her abilities and cocked back the melon-sized iron ball.

Psionic Affinity, Physical Phenom, Juggernaut Hitter, Little Giant, Tranquil Mind, Overclock, Psychokinesis, Adrenaline Jolt, Willful Might, Wondrous Speed, Mystic Toughness, and even Summon Wizard Hat. Her little witch hat rested crookedly on the back of her head.

She used almost every viable trait and skill while pushing her three best stats, Willpower, Strength, and Agility. Thus, her body flooded with psychic power, physical power, and the heightened and willful control of both.

Then she threw her first iron ball. By the time it left her hand, the throw emitted a whooping shockwave that sounded like a howitzer cannon from a modern artillery battery.

The iron ball blurred out of sight before striking the nearest bridge that three dozen kobolds were crossing to get over a ditch. She struck so hard she hit the bottom of the ditch with an explosive thump and sent kobolds flying, their bodies crushed and mangled.

A geyser of mud, blood, and loosened spikes rose in the fallen bridge’s place before the debris and bodies rained down. The kobolds on the eastern front lost their humor.

The explosive attack slowed their rush forward. They were so shocked they staggered about in confusion. With their hesitation, Naomi pushed her High Intimidation trait to the max.

Every kobold who looked up at her visage came away with greater fear. Better yet, Naomi didn’t even have to move from her position to collect another melon-sized iron ball.

The spectral spiders brought another to her.

Without looking away, she reached down and grabbed the ball from the spiders and hoisted it up over her shoulder. Then she cocked back and repeated the action again.

Another shockwave whooped aloud. Another bridge burst apart, flinging kobolds, alive or dead, as geysers of mud, spikes, and crushed bodies rose before raining down.

Naomi picked up the pace. Now she really sounded like a salvo of artillery cannons. She was the hammer, and the kobolds were the nails.

Opposite of Naomi’s artillery hammering of the eastern kobolds, Bianca radiated like she was the third sun of Corma. She had with her the human skeleton Glowy, a Level 43 Runic Showman.

Glowy was more helpful than Windy, Flamer, Hasty, and Warper. Glowy had the Enhance Light skill, making Bianca’s light abilities even stronger while she siphoned light from the suns and empowered herself with good +3.

Windy, Hasty, and Warper were rattling with uncontrolled fear while staying close. Flamer crossed his burnt arms in front of his rib cage to act like he wasn’t scared. They could feel the deadly immensity of Bianca’s power.

Glowy didn’t seem to care and was completely at the whims of the Light Princess. The skeleton was happy to lend more and more of his skill to make Bianca stronger despite the real threat of being close to a good +3 monster of a young woman.

Thankfully, Bianca accepted their aid and presence gracefully. She directed the excess light into a basketball-size miniature sun hovering above her head. Despite its size, it was so bright it shone upon most of the ramparts and the ground floor of their fort.

Zarian felt Bianca’s elation, glee, and hint of crusader madness. She was deep in the folds of good alignment, but at least she directed it everywhere else other than against Zarian.

The kobolds didn’t seem to understand Zarian and his skeleton’s wariness. One kobold in the Level 30s yelled out while jabbing a decently made spear toward the Light Princess.

“Don’t let her scare you! She’s nothing but all flash! If she makes us blind, then we go slow and still reach the wall!” the kobold leader said.

The kobolds in the Level 20s and below chanted. “All flash! All flash! Reach the wall! Reach the wall!”

Bianca deigned them with a smile.

Then she unleashed her charged-up attack like she was the gates of the shining heavens opening up and sending down a smiting beam. A searing bright laser radiated instantly between the miniature sun above Bianca’s head and the moist ground below.

All the moisture close by steamed away and raised a wavering wall of haze. The same happened on the ground as the beam struck close to the kobolds before readjusting in angle and direction.

The moment it touched the kobolds, they combust into boiling flesh, flaming furs, and overcooked organs exploding out of orifices.

Bianca’s beam of radiance and good +3 sliced around at a casual but consistent pace, hounding the panicking and screaming kobolds.

She set their bridges on fire while cutting straight through them and collapsing them into the ditches. She followed the largest group of runners who were trying to move in zigzagging patterns between the staggered ditches.

With a quick pass up and down their lines, she burnt them up, though she didn’t always kill them immediately because of how fast she moved her smiting beam around. The survivors fell screaming and writhing in the dried mud, their muscles stiffening from being overcooked as they struggled to breathe through liquidated lungs.

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While the beam was small and had a lot of ground to cover, Bianca could keep it going this way. She had the help of her Light Affinity, Lesser Smite, Aura Charge, Wondrous Princess Regality, Searing Flash Array, Refraction, Tranquil Mind, Adrenaline Jolt, Wondrous Speed, and Summon Wizard hat. The last skill topped her head off with a feathery fedora as a bonus.

Additionally, her Wonder stat was the highest among everybody in the Ride-or-Die Guild, higher than even Zarian’s. Having the good +3 alignment and Glowy’s Enhance Light skill were overkill, but Bianca was clearly not someone who wanted to hold back while having a politically correct genocide.

Zarian felt her giddiness and joy as she went smite-happy on the kobolds who were trying to take the western part of the fortress.

Was it kind of messed up? Maybe. But who was Zarian to judge? The stronger or more OP his party members became, the happier he felt.

He only hoped things between him and Bianca could stay this way. And if they couldn’t, he would figure things out. Granted, he already had some ideas of what he would do, but that was neither here nor there.

Zarian’s Fractured Mind could wander sometimes when he wasn’t too focused. He didn’t need much focus to cause mayhem and destruction against an inferior force, hence why he split his mind in four parts.

One part watched over Naomi. Another part watched over Bianca. The third part watched their rear. The last part orchestrated the destruction of the northern forces of seven thousand rushing down at the front of their defenses.

The real challenge was to break the main attack without overshadowing his young soldiers and acolytes too much.

First, Zarian uncrossed his arms.

By now, the soldiers and acolytes were busy drawing and firing the heavy bows. None of them noticed his small shifts until his Parasite Cloak flapped like a muffled thunderclap.

One teenager looked back and told their nearest comrades. Then more looked back in awe and thrill. To them, Zarian uncrossing his arms meant he was going to work more of his dark wizardry miracles.

While their adoration and praise were nice, they were getting too distracted. They needed to kill more.

“Roland,” Zarian grunted.

“Keep shooting, you lot! Don’t disappoint our lords and ladies!” Roland shouted.

The Garden Officer Cadet lacked Naomi’s High Intimidation, but at least he got his point across. The soldiers and acolytes refocused on shooting their arrows, getting kills, and grinding up their levels. They also provided an adequate distraction for when Zarian cast a spell through his Grimoire of Black Magic 102.

A great flash of ghastly dark green light shone from over the gatehouse’s rooftop.

Two hundred and fifty skeletons rose from the mud where Zarian had left them last night.

He didn’t need more than that because each skeleton was Level 46 and many times stronger than most of the kobolds. They were still basic skeletons, but they attacked with a frenzy that crushed one kobold per blow.

They punched through skulls. They kicked rib bones into smithereens. They used discarded weapons against the kobolds. More importantly, the skeletons recognized the bridges as problems and jumped at them.

With only a few strikes, the skeletons clobbered the bridges into splinters. They sent heaps of kobolds falling into the yawning ditches and the spike pits at the bottom.

The skeletons came out okay, able to separate themselves from the spikes with no problem. They maneuvered past the arcane webbing without getting entangled as kobolds bled out like slaughtered pigs while webbed down.

Still, that wasn’t enough to slow the advancing kobolds adequately. Zarian was tempted to make it rain down dark javelins, but that would cheese the game too much.

Holding back is honestly challenging. And kind of frustrating.

This was the reason he didn’t want to grow too fast or he would have to contend with his own power being too much. The spirit of the event was to raise his own guild, as temporary as it was.

But the damn wolf kobolds threw too many forces and wildcard factors at them. It was getting harder to battle within reasonable margins that were decently challenging without getting out of control.

It felt more like Zarian was waiting for the other shoe to drop while trying not to pull the trigger too heavily.

Then he got angry with himself when he realized he was being dumb. He was a wizard. He had a vast variety of spells that could help.

He only needed to get creative.

The evil alignment nagged at him like always. It wanted him to go all out, to use outright destruction, to crush the will of everyone, friend or foe, and subjugate them all. It wanted him to be the narcissistic asshole.

Zarian refused.

I’m in control. I’m more than my power. I’m more than the evil alignment. I’m a wizard!

Zarian launched into the air with a flap of his massive Parasite Cloak. With another flap, Para transformed into great leathery wings similar to a dragon.

Twin jets of darkness shot from Zarian’s feet for thrust. He drew a gigantic shadow over the north wall, over the soldiers and acolytes, catching their attention of admiration and thrill once again, making Roland’s job harder.

Then Zarian was past the safety of the anti-air barrier. The kobolds in the Level 40s unleashed their long-range attacks.

Flaming javelins punched up into the sky, followed by ice spears, acid bolts, sonic orbs, and even heavily thrown stones. More and more ranged attacks launched hard into the sky, most missing widely.

A few drew close to hitting until Para shifted her wings and maneuvered Zarian out of the way. She was in control of flight maneuvers while Zarian concentrated purely on spellcraft with his Fractured Mind.

The basic skeletons he had down on the battlefield were now engaged in melee fights with kobolds in the Level 40s. More kobolds drew close to the walled lane leading toward the gatehouse, which might get Stony involved if the kobolds reach him.

Zarian would rather not have the giant involved too much, not unless there was no choice, since that would make a low-level game like this too easy.

Zarian grunted as he put emotion and aura into the first folktale spell from the Grimoire of the Dread Mire Hell Gator. He turned the ground into a quicksand-like pit that reached farther out than any he conjured before.

Then he doubled it with another Quagmire Pit next to the first.

A thousand kobolds fell with a splash and a struggle in the conjoined pits, blocking their chance of reaching the lane. They cried out as they fought to free themselves from the swampy pitfall, but most who were far from the edges wouldn’t be able to escape.

The more they thrashed, the more the doubled Quagmire Pit slurped them down. The kobold advance slowed further, but that wasn’t enough for Zarian.

One more. I can do one more.

So far, Zarian had only shown he could use two spells simultaneously. Spells worked differently compared to skills. They seemed to rely more on the user to cast them with little help from the System, unlike alpha skills or even beta skills. But with enough aura and a masochistic attitude, Zarian figured this was the perfect time to break his mortal limits even further.

Zarian circled a heavier amount of aura through his Fractured Mind. He maintained the Raise Advancing Skeletons spell. He maintained the doubled Quagmire Pit spell.

Then he pushed himself like never before to use a third spell simultaneously. Zarian felt his limits crush down on his own mind. He hesitated for a scant moment. Then he smashed through head first with a mind-tearing roar!

Hands out-stretched, he lit them on fire. Black and gray flames blazed around his hands and up his arms.

As blood leaked down his nostrils, Zarian pushed against the boundaries of the System, his Fractured Mind feeling like it was on the verge of ripping. He maintained the other spells while intensifying his Black Fire spell.

Then he gathered the black and gray flames into a small bead between his shaky palms before unleashing a massive torrent that was as thick as a human man was tall. The massive gout darkened the sunny morning and doused the battlefield beneath him in Black Fire.

The black and gray flames didn’t cling to much of anything that was inanimate. It didn’t even care about aura.

The moment the black and gray flames touched a living creature with vitality, the flames latched on and wouldn’t let go, not without superior magical force to wash it away. None of the kobolds had the right stuff to fend off Zarian’s Black Fire.

The flaming gout rained down uncontested with a huge and mystical downpour, covering thousands upon thousands in black and gray flames. The shocking display of wizardry power stunned everyone bearing witness, as if they were watching the act of a dark god.

Before they could come to grips with Zarian’s actions fully, he cut off the Black Fire spell. He even cut off the double Quagmire Pits. As the ground returned to normal, the kobolds that were still alive rose to the surface, along with their dead.

Zarian and Para spiraled downward from the air before the Parasite Cloak folded her wings and returned to her usual form. Zarian landed in a crouch in front of Stony’s seated form. He wiped away the blood from under his nose and let out a satisfied sigh.

“Three different spells at the same time,” Zarian said. “Nice.”

Who said I can’t still grow and challenge myself? He thought with a chuckle.

“Need any help, milord?” Stony asked.

The Level 105 Wall Crusher Master made for a convenient doorman and doorway. His gigantic body plugged up the obvious way in. Any other gaps past him were easily filled with stone cubes from Hannah’s cube maker skill.

Zarian thought about it, then shook his head. “You’re doing a great job as the door to the gatehouse, Stony. Keep it up.”

“Yes, milord!”

“Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to go on a mini frenzy.” Zarian walked toward the kobolds who were making their way down the lane.