Dragon Sorcerer 2- Chapter 61 (Patreon)

Chapter 61- Fighting to Learn

As the battle raged on below, Nico and Reegor prepared to unleash their full might upon the relentless onslaught of monstrous enemies. They only held back to be able to maximize the target. Nico knew that while the enemy had been fought to a standstill in a war of attrition, they would lose.

Now, though, he had to focus on this one battle. Magical energies crackled around them, their combined powers a formidable force against the darkness that threatened to consume the land. And as the horde continued to pour forth from the depths, Nico and Reegor flew a loop using dragon fear to contain the enemy in a dense grouping. Nico felt an overwhelming determination to protect his world from the nightmare that had been unleashed. This was his world and none would take what was his as long as breath remained in his body.

Nico knew that he could dominate the aerial battlefield with his incredible agility and deadly precision. His breath weapon, a brilliant bolt of lightning, sowed devastation into the heart of the monstrous swarm whenever it fired forth from his great maw. The electric discharge tore through the creatures, leaving behind charred and smoldering carcasses.

Nico also employed a more physical strategy, swooping down to snatch up one of the twisted beasts in his powerful talons. With a mighty flap of his wings, he carried the unfortunate creature high into the sky before releasing it. Its struggles against him meant less than nothing. He thought it must have once been some type of elephant but now it was a mutated. He sent it plummeting down upon a cluster of its monstrous brethren; the impact crushing them beneath its massive form.

The dragon's powerful tail served as another potent weapon, the force behind his sweeping strikes was enough to shatter bones and send monsters flying through the air. His scales glinted in the sunlight as he twisted and turned, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.

Meanwhile, Reegor, astride Nico's back, summoned the elements to aid them in their fight against the ever-growing horde. With a series of incantations and gestures, he called forth potent acid rain that sizzled and burned upon contact with the grotesque monsters. The corrosive downpour ate away at their twisted forms, their agonized shrieks filling the air. The sheer scope of the spell would have been impressive to any but an elder wyrm such as Draconis. Nico’s mind within the dream saw just how high the summit of power must be if a mere human could create a half-mile wide swath of destruction with a single spell.

Reegor's command of the elements was not limited to just acid rain, though. He conjured whirlwinds that tore through the monstrous ranks, their howling winds scattering the twisted creatures like leaves before a storm. Fireballs erupted from his hands, their explosive power incinerating those caught in their path. Storms of hail and ice pelted the battlefield, shards of frozen fury piercing the monstrous horde with deadly precision. Each attack combined to shred the enemy and cull their numbers.

To further bolster their forces, Reegor used the powers of his epic class, spirit-caller. He called and the spirits of the elemental world had no choice but to answer him. He called upon the spirits of the elements, channeling their power into formidable elemental warriors. These beings of air, water, and earth fought beneath Nico and Reegor, their powerful forms clashing with the monstrous tide.

As the battle wore on, however, Reegor's reserves of mana began to wane. The great gem within the harness on his chest faded as the last of the mana was drained out of it. His incantations grew weaker, his elemental allies less potent, and the enemy gained a moment of respite.

Nico said, “Do it.”

The barbarian asked, “Are you sure my friend?”

“I have spoken, haven’t I. This is battle, nothing can be held back.”

“I have too much respect for you to take from you without your consent.”

“Ah, consent. Yes, that must be added to the bond. That might make it more palatable to some of my kind. But enough talking. Destroy our prey.”

Nico couldn’t see Reegor smile, but he felt it through their bond. The spirit-caller reached out through the bond and then drew upon Nico's own reserves, tapping into the dragon's incredible wellspring of energy. This was perhaps the greatest power of the new bonds which were being formed. It was Allinor’s addition, as the god of magic was needed to find a way for the raw magic within a dragon to be tapped.

It was a lot for Reegor to handle. Nico heard the human scream and the power never meant for a human coursed through him. This was the power of the dragon, power which shaped the world around them to their will. Though risky, this act allowed Reegor to maintain their assault on the monstrous horde.

The enemy was being burnt, crushed, and drowned by the raw might of an elder wyrm and his bonded companion. This prompted desperate tactics as several of the creatures were launched into the air by the larger amongst them. Those unlucky few reached out with their claws and fangs, finding purchase on Nico's scales.

The dragon roared in pain and surprise as the twisted monsters clung to him, seeking to bring him down from the sky. They were too small to do much damage, but it would add up over time. Nico’s outrage was even greater than his pain though, as he fumed at the arrogance of such monsters to touch his person. Reegor, undeterred by the precarious situation, leapt into action, spear in hand.

As the mutated monsters clung to Nico's back, Reegor found himself in the midst of a fierce battle that was unlike any he had experienced before that day years ago when he was called to meet with Draconis. The dragon's enormous form soared through the sky, creating a treacherous battlefield of hard scales and large bony spikes that protruded from his back. Some of these spikes were taller than a man, providing both obstacles and opportunities for Reegor as he fought off the relentless assault from the mutated creatures.

The twisted monsters scrambled and clawed their way across Nico's back, their grotesque forms seeking any opportunity to attack Reegor. Their malformed limbs, razor-sharp claws, and gnashing teeth made them formidable opponents, each eager to tear into their greatest foe in this world and just as happy to shred the human upon his back.

As they charged at him, Reegor deftly maneuvered around the bony spikes, using his spear to parry and counter their strikes. He grasped one of the protrusions with a single hand and then spun around it, driving his spear into the chest of a mutated which had once been some type of wolf.

His True Rider skill gave him freedom to move around upon the rapidly moving battlefield which was Nico’s back. His bond with the great dragon fed him information about how the dragon was going to move so that the two were in sync and Reegor could capitalize upon every turn, twist and dive Nico made.

The sounds of their screeching cries and the clash of spear against claw filled the air, creating a cacophony of violence amidst the howling winds that buffeted them as they soared through the sky. Reegor smiled as once again he stood tall and never felt the wind whipping about, which was threatening to hurl their attackers from Nico’s back. The wyrm would have no doubt claimed this was because the world moved around a dragon, not the other way around.

It was enough to bring a smile to the barbarian’s lips despite the chaos surrounding him. Reegor fought with a calm and measured determination, his movements precise and fluid as he dispatched each monstrous foe. His deep bond with Nico allowed him to remain firmly in place, his body instinctively shifting and adjusting to the dragon's movements even as he battled the monstrous creatures.

In addition to his spear, Reegor called upon his magic to aid him in this desperate fight. Arcs of electricity danced from his fingertips, stunning his enemies and giving him the opening he needed to drive his spear through their twisted flesh. He smiled at that even as he smelled seared flesh. His companion always approved of using electricity.

The battle was fierce and unforgiving, and though Reegor fought with all his strength and skill, he could not entirely escape injury. The mutated monsters managed to land several glancing blows, leaving shallow cuts and bruises across Reegor's body. Yet, the dragon knight remained undaunted, using his agility and magic to weave through the deadly maelstrom of claws and fangs that threatened to consume him.

As the fight raged on, the number of mutated creatures began to dwindle. Reegor's spear pierced through the hearts of his monstrous foes, and his spells left them writhing in pain and confusion. With every enemy defeated, their lifeless bodies plummeted from Nico's back, falling hundreds of feet to the ground below with a sickening thud.

Finally, as the last mutated monster fell, Reegor found himself standing victorious upon the battlefield that was Nico's back. He was battered and bloodied, but the bond between dragon and rider fed him the strength needed to stand tall. Together, they had faced the nightmarish onslaught and emerged victorious, proving the strength and resilience that came from their unique connection. In fact, it was the draconic ferocity which Reegor gained from that bond which had allowed him to prevail not only here but in many battles before this.

With the immediate threat vanquished, Reegor tended to his wounds while Nico continued to soar high above the carnage below. The battle was far from over, but now Reegor could turn his full attention to the monsters beneath them. Their foes had undoubtedly celebrated when his elemental barrage had been stalled, but Reegor knew his companion too well. Nico was fighting this battle on more than one level.

Nico, meanwhile, continued his deadly aerial assault, his lightning breath and powerful tail strikes wreaked havoc among the monstrous ranks. The air crackled with electricity as bolts of lightning seared through the sky, the brilliant flashes illuminating the grotesque forms of their enemies. The deafening thunder that followed drowned out the cacophony of the battle below, leaving a temporary silence in its wake before the clamor of combat resumed.

Reegor's elemental allies fought with unwavering determination, their forms shifting and adapting to the chaotic nature of the battle. The air elemental carved through the horde like a living cyclone, its whirling winds reducing the twisted creatures to a scattered collection of broken limbs and shattered bones. The water elemental surged forth like a tidal wave, its crushing force sweeping away the monstrous ranks and leaving them floundering in its wake. The earth elemental, a hulking mass of stone and soil, plowed through the enemies like a living avalanche, its powerful fists reducing the twisted forms to little more than a red smear upon the battlefield.

The smell of blood, burning flesh, and the acrid stench of the corrupted creatures filled the air, a noxious reminder of the violence that had been unleashed upon the land. The ground below was littered with the broken and lifeless forms of their enemies, their grotesque bodies a testament to the ferocity of the battle.

Then the battle reached that moment which Nico had been waiting for. The monsters had likely thought this was all about trying to bring the dragon down, but they should have known better. All of the elemental forces unleashed had covered up for the greater magic being worked in the background.

At the beginning of the battle, the sky had been clear with little moisture and only wispy clouds, but now it was full of thick, black storm clouds roiling with fury, waiting to be unleashed. Some of the ogre shamans realized, but it was too late. They would all taste why he was called the Storm Wielder. They’d thought to bring a dragon down from the sky, well now a dragon would bring the sky down to them.

Nico reached out and flexed his will with a mind older and more powerful than any other mortal in all the world. That was what it meant to be Draconis. The wind, water, lighting all answered him and fell in a torrent. Even water, when it travels faster than an arrow, becomes a weapon.

The fury fell, and the sky opened up. Hundreds of bolts of lighting all filled the air and for a single instant any eye which was open was seared blind by the surge of light. Not that the monsters had to suffer their impairment for long as the plasma in the air killed everything that moved. Anything that was left was shredded by tiny drills of water and the wind swept the remains up, swirling it into a pile for easy removal. It wouldn’t do to have any of that contamination left.

Nico gasped. Wielding the storm was his birthright, but it still took something out of him each time.

Together, the dragon and dragon knight soared into the sky, leaving behind the shattered remnants of the monstrous horde. They had won this battle, but Nico knew that their war against the horrors of chaos was far from over. He would continue to fight and protect this world. It was his, but he was a strange dragon and felt a small tug of concern for those lesser beings who also called this world home. His mind raced with curiosity. He had new ideas for how the bond might be improved.