26 Dragon Slayers

Fort Washington

Month 6, Day 24

1:23 P.M.

Captain Henry Donnager stared at the charred target in front of him. He was practicing with his new N25 pistol, testing its limits before it had to be recharged. This time around, it took about 150 shots at 50% charge before the energy in the weapon was depleted. For some odd reason, the weapon used up unexpectedly more energy the higher the charge was.

"Very interesting," Dr. Tesla commented. "Last time around you were able to fire 350 shots at 25% charge. Next experiment, we will repeat the 25% charge test, and see if the decrease is a result of crystal deformation or something of the like."

Donnager looked at him confused.

"Ah, it might be simply wear and tear on the device. The next experiment tomorrow will determine this."

Donnager nodded before returning the weapon to the armory, where he placed the depleted gun on a designated charging station. Such stations were recently designed in order to boost the natural regeneration rate of the weapon. As he walked back to his quarters, he ran into Ambassador Perry, who seemed to be in a rush to be somewhere.

"Hey Perry, something going on?" Donnager asked.

"Ah, Henry. Just the man I was looking for. Quickly, follow me to General Harding's office. There's been a situation." Perry replied, a grim look on his face.

Donnager heeded the man's suggestion, and as they jogged toward the general's office, he asked Perry about the so-called situation. "Charles, what's going on?"

"I was in the communications room talking with Sindis when an communications officer informed me that we received a distress signal from a group of people identifying themselves as a Mekkanese diplomatic convoy. We received their communication via several radio and magical frequencies, so it seems that they are actually Mekkanese. Their SOS message described them as under attack by monsters, and given your team's expertise regarding such matters, I thought it would be best if you accompanied me while I brief General Harding."

"Well. That's a lot to take in. Sounds like a good ol' quest," he replied, smiling. All of his games on MMORPG games like World of Warcraft would culminate in his moments on this planet.

After a minute, they reached General Harding's quarters. Harding, seeing the looks on the two men's faces, grew concerned. "What's wrong?"

Ambassador Perry replied, "General, we picked up an SOS on radio and magical comms from a group claiming to be a Mekkanese diplomatic convoy. They're about 80 miles east of our position, past Fort Sool."

"Can we establish any communication with them?"

"The communications officers tried but they couldn't get a secure connection."

"Alright. If this convoy really is from Mekkan, then we're going to have to rescue them." Picking up a phone from his desk, he relayed new orders to some flight personnel. "This is General Harding. We have just received news of a Mekkanese convoy in need of our assistance. As such, I am authorizing an emergency rescue operation; Lieutenant Colonel Keyes, I need you to get a Chinook ready for Terra Squad and Alpha Team within 15 minutes. Take an escort of four helicopters; we don't know what kind of monsters we're dealing with here. If they're enough to pose a threat to the Mekkanese, then we know damn sure that guns might not be enough."

He then placed the phone down and turned his attention back toward the two men in front of his desk. "As you have heard, Captain, I would like you to lead the rescue operation. I'm sending Terra Squad as backup, since they're second when it comes to terrain familiarity around these parts. You leave at 1350 hours. And Ambassador Perry, I need you to get things ready on the base; once we rescue those diplomats, I want them to be able to relax and experience a warm welcome."

—

By the time Donnager arrived at the armory, the remaining combat members of Alpha Team, alongside Terra Squad, were already there, gearing up. Terra Squad selected larger caliber rifles, notably the SCAR-H, in order to have increased stopping power against the monsters. Ever since the Site Beta One incident, new types of ammunition have become available to the servicemen stationed at Fort Washington. Armor piercing rounds were dispersed amongst the warriors. Considering General Harding's warning, the members of Terra Squad and Alpha Team also packed explosives, anti-material rifles, and rocket launchers.

Donnager selected one of the looted N109 energy rifles and a N25 as his sidearm. Based on previous experiments, it seemed as if the low power settings on the N109 were on par with the highest settings available on the N25 energy pistol. So far, almost everything in this world has proven to be susceptible to small arms fire. Even the Spyders back in Site Beta One couldn't handle sustained barrages from their weapons. Donnager could only imagine how effective a fully charged N109 would be. He reckoned that it was powerful enough to fully vaporize a tank, maybe even a small bunker.

Satisfied with his loadout, he secured his equipment and walked toward the rest of his team, who were waiting for him by the door.

"Nice choice of guns ya got there, Captain," Alex said.

"Thanks, Sergeant. Maybe one day you'll get one of these yourself."

"Boys and their big guns," Sarah said, shaking her head.

"And our big, long sticks," Jones said, acknowledging the large scepters that he and Kelmithus wielded.

Everyone laughed as they headed over to the tarmac, where their helicopter awaited.

—

"All systems check!"

"Okay Big Bertha, you're cleared for takeoff. Good luck!"

"Thanks, control. See you in a bit."

The Chinook's blades began to pick up speed, rotating with enough angular velocity in order to produce the necessary lift for ascension. Once in the air, the vehicle tilted and rushed toward the Woolsol Forest.

A few minutes into the flight, the pilots picked up a radio transmission coming from Woolsol Forest.

"Help! I am a Mekkanese Diplomat and my team requires assistance! We are under attack by a flame dragon!"

"Hey, lemme get that radio," Donnager said as he walked up to the cockpit.

The pilot nodded and handed him the radio.

"This is Captain Henry Donnager of the United States Army. We have received your request for assistance and are on our way to support. What's the situation?"

"This is Legateur Prion Bonaparius, I am the legateur of the Mekkanese Diplomatic Team. We were attacked by a legendary beast: a flame dragon! The dragon has retreated for the time being, but our shield is at less than 20 percent capacity. We have no way of fending it off! Our guns cannot pierce its armor!"

Donnager then looked at the pilot. Covering the radio with his hand, he communicated his concerns to the pilot. "We need to warn Command; I don't think our helos would be very useful against this dragon."

The pilot nodded, and began contacting Fort Washington in order to request for reinforcements, particularly for air superiority fighters. Meanwhile, Donnager returned to his conversation with the legateur. "Okay Legateur, we have just called for reinforcements in order to deal with the beast. Just sit tight, and we'll be there in about 20 minutes."

The transmission ended after the Mekkanese man conveyed his understanding. Kelmithus then popped up, "A flame dragon?! Are you all mad? The Divinian Empire could barely even slay one! It took them hundreds of lives and dozens of aircraft!"

Donnager smirked. "Too bad they've never heard of good old American firepower. What can you tell me about the dragon?"

"It is enormous. It has a wingspan similar to one of your large transport planes, and it has incredibly thick armor. The material is so great that the famed Sword of Infergath, which is made of it, can cut through any other sword!"

Donnager thought about this. Such material could be very useful in producing new technologies. Body armor and weapon components could benefit from a new durable substance. If the scientists back home could synthesize the material, they would be able to mass produce it. He would need to relay this information back to base once they deal with the threat.

"I see. Reynolds, make sure our reinforcements know what they're dealing with. We should land about a mile out, behind some foliage so as to not attract the attention of the dragon."

The pilot nodded. "Roger that, sir."

As they approached their landing zone, the rescue teams heard a roar in the distance. Everyone looked out of the closest respective windows and saw a sight that none of them ever expected to see in real life. A fire breathing dragon was laying waste to a section of forest, presumably where the Mekkanese diplomatic team was hiding. Their helicopter touched down, with four Apaches hovering above them. As the rescue teams exited their vehicle, a radio communication came in.

"Please! Hurry! Our shields can not withstand another assault! The beast has left us for now."

"We're about a mile away. Hold on," Donnager replied.

"Okay," he addressed his and Wilkes' teams. "I want a perimeter set up around that convoy; everyone should have launchers or anti-material rifles. Remember, we might be fighting what is essentially a flying tank, but it is biological so it still has weak spots. Aim for the face and anything else that seems unprotected."

"I've been through a lot of missions," Wilkes said, tossing his cigarette. "But none of them ever had me slay a dragon. This'll fit nicely into my record."

The other elite operatives under Wilkes' command laughed, amused by the concept of not only being slayers of powerful terrorists, but also of dragons.

"I get your enthusiasm, Wilkes. However, our objective is to rescue these folks. We don't want to engage the dragon unless it comes for us; the dragon is currently away, so that gives us about 15 minutes to get the Mekkanese to our choppers."

"Sir, how long till our fighters get here?" Ryan asked.

"Reynolds?"

The pilot radioed Fort Washington to get an estimate. "About 35 minutes, sir."

"Let's hope we won't need them. Alright people, get moving!"

—

"Hey, over here!"

Donnager looked toward the source of this voice, finding two vehicles with a vintage appearance and a peculiar device mounted atop the more extravagant one.

"What's that thing?" he asked, pointing to the device.

The man who identified himself as a 'legateur' responded, "Ah, it is our shield generator; it is one of our Mark 2 models. It has sustained us for about five attacks from the flame dragon. Moving after each attack buys us a little bit of time, but the dragon doesn't seem to have difficulty tracking us." The legateur turned around and gestures toward his people. "As you can see, the dragon's attacks have left us battered and in need of assistance. This convoy initially had four vehicles, but two were taken out in an attempt to preserve my life. They valiantly distracted the beast and allowed us to escape. Unfortunately, we only carried with us rifles and pistols, as we never expected such an attack." The man hung his head as he finished his tale.

"I see," Donnager replied. "Well, we've got a helicopter on standby, about a mile out. Are your vehicles functional?"

"Yes, they are. And… helicopter?"

"It's a type of rotary-winged aircraft. It is our way out of here, but we need to hurry if we want to escape while the dragon is away doing… whatever a dragon does."

The man nodded before issuing orders to his people. Everyone was about to depart before a radio communication interrupted their progress. Sarah conversed with her radio before reporting to her commanding officer.

"Sir, we've just received word from our E-3, they're saying that they picked up an unidentified radar signature 5 miles north of our position. Apparently the thing just popped up. They think it was resting in a patch of forest before it shot into the sky. It's now heading here at about 150 miles per hour."

"So we've got about two minutes till it gets here."

"Yes. And our fighters are still 15 minutes out."

"Damn. All teams, maintain perimeter defenses! We need to hold the fort for three minutes, or at the very least force the dragon to retreat!"

The next couple of minutes as they waited for the dragon to arrive was tense. The Chinook and its escorts had left when they received the warning from the E-3 AWACS aircraft. Given the unknown nature of the dragon threat, it was deemed too risky to have any rotary winged aircraft near the dragon. Sure enough, the pilots were right. As the dragon came closer to the Mekkanese convoy, it gained speed, ultimately surpassing 300 mph as it used its claws to grab the shield device from the roof of the fancy car.

"Open fire! Everything you got!"

"Holy shit, that thing is huge," Alex muttered as the shadow of the beast blocked the sun from all of them.

Fire erupted as it flew away and tossed the device somewhere into the forest. Several missiles were locked onto its glaring heat signature. As the missiles approached, the dragon breathed fire upon two of them, but was unable to circle around in time to eliminate the third missile coming from behind. The third missile hit the beast's left wing, tearing off a small chunk. Seeing an opportunity, Donnager began charging his N109 at maximum power.

"Cover me! I'm gonna blast it to hell!"

"Sir, it keeps avoiding our missiles!"

"That's ok, if the missiles can't be used as weapons, use them as distractions. Maybe we'll get another lucky hit."

The dragon roared in pain before smashing its tail into one of the Mekkanese vehicles, sending it hurtling toward an unfortunate Mekkanese guard. It was at this moment that the charge on Donnager's rifle hit 100%. At the same time, the dragon blew a heavy gust of wind toward Donnager by flapping its wings, slightly disorienting him and causing his aim to falter. As a result, the N109 shot only struck the tip of the dragon's wing. The remainder of the charged energy projectile flew past and vaporized a dozen trees a few hundred feet away. A small blue mushroom cloud rose from the impacted area.

Some of the combatants spared a few milliseconds in order to gaze upon the awesome power of the ancient weapon that Donnager wielded before returning to their duties. Donnager himself began charging another blast. Aside from lucky hits from missiles, the only weapons that seemed to be effective were the anti material rifles that the Americans brought with them and the magic casted by Kelmithus and Dr. Jones.

Without access to their own rifles, the two magic users harnessed metal ores buried beneath the ground, and implementing the science of electromagnetism into their magic, accelerated these metals to ridiculous speeds. The makeshift railguns created by the magic users easily shattered the dragon's armor, creating numerous weak spots that could be further exploited by the forces wielding the AMRs. Distracted by a hail of bullets and magically accelerated rocks, the dragon was unable to counter a missile coming from a clump of bushes.

BOOM!

"Direct hit!"

The missile exploded on the dragon's right wing structure, effectively neutralizing its maneuverability in the air. Understanding that staying on the defensive wasn't working, the beast went on the offensive and incinerated the last car with its fire breath, causing the vehicle's engine and gas tank to explode.

"Agh!" Donnager yelled, having been hit on his legs.

"Sir!" Richard reacted as he rushed to his commanding officer in order to provide medical attention.

"Don't worry about me, get back in the fight!"

The dragon lashed out in a circle, using its tail to strike multiple people, sending them flying. Donnager, ignoring the pain in his legs, rolled to the side before the tail could hit him. Having gained a short respite from the dragon's attempts to kill him, he slunk back behind a tree and began charging his weapon. Meanwhile, the dragon continued to take hits from various explosives and projectiles, creating many cracks in its armor.

20%.

Enraged, the beast charged at the nearest team shooting at it: three Mekkanese soldiers. In one swift motion, all three men were ripped apart by the jaws of the dragon. Donnager's eyes widened from the sight; not even the horrors he had seen in his tours and special missions could compare to what he had just witnessed now. He looked over to his other team members, seeing Alex cursing and Kelmithus dropping his staff. It was as if time slowed down as he watched his friends and fellow combatants react to the tragedy before them. The dragon turned its attention to Kelmithus, identifying him as an easy high value target.

"Run!" Donnager yelled.

50%.

The beast bit down on Kelmithus.

"NO!" the members of Alpha Team cried in unison.

Fueled by vengeance, the American forces pummeled the dragon with their weapons, tearing through the weak spots created by Kelmithus earlier. Donnager looked at his weapon. 90%. He took aim at the dragon's chest, at center mass. Unbeknownst to him, the dragon sensed something wrong as the weapon hit 100%. An intense blue bolt flew from the barrel of Donnager's weapon as the dragon jumped into the air. For the dragon, it was a stroke of luck as the blast only managed to take out its tail and lower limbs.

"Gotcha now…"

Sensing defeat, the dragon ascended and began its retreat. The missile attacks during the battle managed to cripple it and hinder its maneuverability, but they didn't render the beast incapable of flight. As it retreated, the men on the ground began to tend to their wounded. The Mekkanese convoy suffered the most casualties, having received less training and combat experience than the American rescue teams. On the other hand…

Donnager looked around.

His team's medic, Richard Yu, was helping those who were injured by the dragon's tail attack. Many of them suffered broken ribs due to the sheer impact force of the hit. Thankfully, the tail weighed considerably less than the dragon itself and thus the kinetic energy transferred was manageable.

Sarah Hayes, his communications officer, was currently informing command of their situation. Upon closer inspection, he realized that she was crying. Kelmithus became a close friend to the members of Alpha Team over the past month, especially to the scientists back on the base. He realized that he would need to tell them what happened, since he is the commanding officer of this force. He realized that he would need to tell Kelmithus' daughter what happened.

No, this can't be possible, he thought. Was there any way to save him? He couldn't bear to imagine what it would be like for Sari, after learning that she lost her father. He remembered seeing the two so happy together when they reunited after the intense moment back at Site Beta One. Who knew that it was for the last time?

Before getting too lost in his train of thought, he was snapped back to reality by Richard.

"Sir, I found Jones and Kelmithus! They're unconscious!"

"Huh?"

"Just come!"

Donnager followed the sergeant. His jaw slightly dropped once he viewed the miracle before him.

"What… how? We all saw him…"

"I don't know, sir. But I think we will get answers from them once they wake up. For now, we should get the other injured into the Chinook." He pointed toward the Chinook that was just landing.

"Okay. Alright everyone! Let's get the hell outta here!"

Quickly, everyone hurried into the vehicle. Once everyone was inside, it took off. Inside, everyone was shocked to see Kelmithus there; many of them saw him eaten by the dragon. Suddenly, loud roars outside caused everyone to look out. A group of 6 of F-15 Eagles raced past the Chinook and its escorts, chasing after the injured dragon. The Mekkanese survivors were stunned, particularly the legateur, who had never seen such powerful aircraft.

"How fast can they go?" Bonaparius asked.

"A bit over twice the speed of sound, around 1800 miles per hour," Donnager answered.

"How is that possible?"

"Well…"

—

"Hitting afterburners. Let's show the damn thing that we own the skies!"

Major Adam Gryffin navigated to the panel on his right, where the engine controls were located. Coordinating his movements with the other pilots, he activated the afterburners, bracing himself as he became subject to extreme G-forces due to the massive acceleration.

"Bandit is 10 klicks out. Arming sidewinders," he said over the tactical network.

"Roger. Target locked," another pilot replied.

"Standby…"

Adam wanted his squadron to get closer before they fired, at least 5 kilometers. The dragon may be injured, but he wanted to assure a kill on the damn thing. If they were successful, their squadron might even be nicknamed "The Dragon Slayers", which they all joked about during the mission briefing.

"Engage on my mark. Five, four, three, two, one… Fox Two!"

"Fox Two!"

Two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles streaked from the belly of each fighter. Twelve missiles in total raced toward their target at a speed of nearly a kilometer per second. Five seconds after deployment, they made contact with the unsuspecting foe, who was too busy tending to its own wounds to realize the threat from behind.

"Target hit. It's signature is gone," a pilot said.

"Roger. Move in to confirm the kill."

Adam directed his squadron toward the last known location of the dragon before their missiles made contact. Noticing smoke coming from a small clearing within the forest, they slowed down in order to investigate. Sure enough, it was the dragon, or rather, pieces of it.

"Looks like we did a damn fine job boys. Let's head home, Dragon Slayers."

——

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