Chapter 278: Felling a Dragon (V)

Chapter 278: Felling a Dragon (V)

Chapter 278

Felling a Dragon (V)

It wasnt long after the first roar that the second came, though it was much weaker and higher-pitched. And after the second so did the third and the fourth and the fifth... all of the Wyverns seemed to be screaming, as though relaying why they were unable to come to the Dragons aide.

Standing in front of one such beast, Ethan swallowed a mouthful; though they were just Wyverns, they were terrifying still, nonetheless. Two-tailed creatures were almost twenty feet long, their wings, when wholly open, spanning nearly twice that, their heads long and narrow, eyes slanted at an angle that made them especially menace-looking, and a single horn that stood erect from the top of their heads, curling back like a helix.

They were the domes of the sky still, the terrifying presences that would have easily washed over the mankind before the Towers fell. Standing tall against one such behemoth was already a challenge, let alone dozens of them. And yet... he couldnt shudder and he couldnt cower. It was either this or facing a Dragon, a behemoth among the behemoths.

He understood it more and more, with each passing day, why this group sported the strongest individuals-- it wasnt that they were the luckiest, far from it-- it was that they were the most insane, the most ludicrous, the ones most willing to stare into the engulfing fires and just... walk right into them. The difference between him and them, though, was that he would have died-- many, many times over... but they didnt. In fact, they only grew stronger and stronger.ViiSiit novelbi/n(.)c/(o)m for latest novels

Get ready, Emma warned from the side, her warhammer already at a ready, glistening in the splendorous crimson. I cant have you slacking off this time. Our necks are on the line.

... yeah, Ethan affirmed, gripping the daggers even more tightly.

Relax, a calm, seemingly indifferent voice spoke from next to him, startling the boy. Glancing sideways, he saw Daniel, a black-clad lad and the groups sole other Assassin, a legend among legends at that. He had a look in the eyes of someone who didnt fear death, as though they werent facing Wyverns but just everyday, ordinary birds. Us Assassins cant be like the Paladin skullheads who are all about getting amped up and roaring about like madmen.

The wings of fire had obtained several extra hues within them, not to mention the increasing number of halos that had begun appearing behind him. Each held a static spell, a buffered version, like a bomb that he could light up with a fuse that was his Mana. It was exponentially difficult to use, especially since it was a combo of six different created Spells working in perfect concert to maintain the equilibrium, but he had to push whichever direction he could.

He had lost his human form in the process, becoming a featureless, human-shaped fire of endless colors, edgeless. He shone like a star of his own-- perhaps one far less bright than the Dragons, but a star nonetheless.

A brief silence and stillness emerged between the two, as though the time itself froze beneath the weight of their Mana. It was so brief, however, that a normal persons concept of time wouldnt be able to capture it. And then... it all erupted.

The Dragon fired off a tidal wave of fire that spanned over a mile toward Cain, the infernal wave swiftly shaping into a set of a hundred coiling Dragons diving toward him. On the opposite end, Cain roared from the top of his lungs and summoned an equally impressive, five hundred yards wide circle that began to rotate and spit out Mana in the form of liquefied light due to the sheer abundance. A hum and a silent quake later, the circle spun until all the colors bled into one.

It fired off a quasar-like beam that illuminated the entire world, boring through the coiling Dragons and destroying them all within a nanosecond, venturing forth toward the Dragon itself. In the meantime, all the other battles were forced to stop, partly because of the blinding light and partly because of the Mana spillage that was so severe it disrupted Spells over ten miles away, on the ground.

Ethan was just about to lunge forward and use Wyverns own shadow to attack it from the back when he realized... the skill didnt set off. It almost felt like before the Towers fell, before there was magic and before he was an Assassin. He felt... human.

He wasnt alone in the feeling; in fact, the stronger one was in terms of the connection to their Mana, the more severely they were impacted. The worst off was Senna, especially because of how deeply she recognized the connection with Mana during her last trial. It was so severe, in fact, that she received an outright backlash, forcing her to kneel and vomit a mouthful of blood.

That wasnt the most terrifying part, however; though others were clearly impacted by the spillage, all to the varying degrees, to her it was more than just that. She could... see it. Perhaps see was too strong of a word, as she merely caught a glimpse of something. But it was more than enough. It felt like staring into the eldritch nightmares entirely unprepared. Forgoing the Manas quality, the sheer quantity was... Immeasurable, she was certain. It was likely that even if the entire world pooled together their Mana reserves theyd be unable to reach such a mass.

She knew, however, it wasnt just raw output that was the culprit; she was well aware that, even if Cains Mana was quite a few degrees higher than everyone elses, it wasnt nearly this insane. There were many more things here at play beyond the simple, raw Mana capacity. She looked up from her knees at the tiny silhouette within the world-encompassing light. It danced there like the tiny flame on top of the dying wick... yet it endured, against all odds. It seemed sturdy, somehow, more so than weak. All else aside, she realized that he was blowing a lot of hot air claiming she, or anyone else, would eventually surpass him.

Rather than being bitter, she smiled instead, her heart swelling up with pride. After all, that up there, that tiny figure standing opposite a Dragon, unwavering in the midst of the flames that could end the world, was her dad. He, as always, remained a shield against the fire and the rain and the thunder and all else. Once again, all she could do was guard his rear and stand in awe at what his tiny figure was able to accomplish.