56 SIEGE OF UR
"...Eh?!" Aiko jumped out of her seat and slammed the table with both of her palms in surprise. "Are you absolutely certain, Yue-san? An army of three or four thousand monsters… I have to tell the town officials immediately so the people can start evacuating!"
Ivan remained seated as Aiko dashed out the door along with her students and the templar knights. He sighed as he slumped back in his chair, Yue had just explained the circumstances of the situation Ur is facing right now. However, she left out one important detail, under the request of Ivan.
"...Ivan, are you sure we should refrain from telling her that the dark mage might be who she's looking for?" After making sure no one was around to listen, Yue turned to Ivan. Even Tio who sat on the table alongside them was curious as to why he withheld the enemy's information from an ally.
"I'm sure if we told her that the one stirring up all this trouble is Shimizu she'd absolutely refuse to leave this town. She'd wait here for him just so she can talk to him. I have no idea how twisted this bastard is but if he's willing to incite a mob of monsters to attack a town, and a dragon to kill investigators, then I will not risk the chance of Aiko potentially getting killed by him just because she let her guard down against a student. Even if she had a band of heroes with her and knights I'm sure she'll see the situation as hopeless, she'll be evacuating with the villagers to Fuhren."
"Mhm, we must stop them here... Or our home will be destroyed."
A force that large was not just to attack some tourist town by a lake, if Ivan had to guess Ur would just be its testing ground before taking the battle to Fuhren. And what stood between Ur and Fuhren?... Well, it's their home under construction. Forget the last stand that might take place at Fuhren, what was most important to Ivan and Yue was the workshop they paid a lot to have built.
If these monsters ravage Ur, it wouldn't be long until they reached the workshop that the builders were busy with. No matter what he couldn't allow these monsters to live after setting foot in Ur. A sentiment shared by Yue, and Tio who wanted to atone for her actions.
"Oi, Tio. Are you sure you want to join us in this battle? I know I'm the one who poisoned you and all but with the enemies' numbers being so high our chances aren't quite good. If you promise to leave without any bloodshed then I'd be willing to give you the antidote right now."
As for Tio breaking her word, Ivan never doubted her vow for a second. On their walk here he learned a lot about the dragonmen from Yue who admired their way of living. Such as them being a race of totally loyal and justice-seeking warriors that bring peace to the earth. While he trusted Yue's words there was still a part of him that was a little guarded against Tio.
"I must refuse~ I have made an oath to atone for my actions. If I can't even uphold that then I am a disgrace to my entire race. This is why I shall join this fight no matter the outcome. And I myself have a little payback to give to that dark mage…" Her eyes glinted with the familiar cruel gold as she brought up the Shimizu.
It would seem falling under the control of some kid really damaged her pride as the princess of the dragonmen. Seeing no further point in prying Ivan decided to leave her alone, to him it'd probably damage her pride even more if she fled the battlefield.
'Maaaa~ it's her life anyway. If she wants to go down fighting thousands of monsters then so be it.' Ivan thought inwardly as he brought up their next steps. What was important is that absolutely no one remained in the town. So long as these people have no hope then they'd flee without hesitation. That would leave the whole town to become the three of them' playground. Without having to worry about holding back or hiding secrets they'd be able to go all out. That's even applying to Tio who doesn't wish to transform into a dragon in front of others.
As her mission held utmost importance to secrecy the last thing she wanted was to expose that the dragonmen still lived. Especially after all of the efforts, her people went through to make sure that secret was held. With that in mind, the three of them got out of their seats and went outside the inn to assist with the evacuation.
It only took an hour after Aiko ran to warn the town officials that the info spread to the people. Screaming, crying, laughter, the three heard it all as they walked down the streets. The laughter belonging to those in denial, thankfully they snapped out of it when their loved ones pressured them. But aside from all that, the panic that ensued was truly sorrowful.
In two hours the townsmen all gathered in the center of town and loaded up their most essential belongings, then themselves. Ivan and his team made the excuse that they were going to head in another direction as they split off from the caravan after dumping Will. He sighed as it was likely the builders would stop their work the moment the caravan reached them. With their speed, it should only take the caravan four hours to reach Ivan, by then night would fully descend and the battle would commence.
Ivan and the others awaited the horde at Urdea lake. If they were going to be battling for a long time then he planned on utilizing the lake to cause mass destruction. He stuffed his hand into his satchel as the ring on his finger glowed green. Then under the eyes of Tio and Yue, he pulled out a multitude of rings and accessories.
Each accessory acted like a battery, full to the brim with mana for the wearer to use. He had ten rings just in case, each was imbued with mana crystals. Yue and Tio divided the rest equally, though it was mostly decided that Tio would get the most considering she held great area of effect capabilities as a dragon. She would need those rings and accessories as the cost of upkeep for her dragon transformation was quite high. Something about each movement costing mana, a problem she didn't need to worry about when sleeping.
Ivan made sure he had potions at the ready as he prepared to use the ice giant for this fight. Though it was quite a powerful move it did have three glaring issues: One, it costs a lot of mana to maintain form. Mana that flows through his blood like veins. Two, the longer the fight goes on the more blood he loses, this drawback is lessened so long as there is a lot of water nearby. In which case blood would only be needed when repairing a lost limb or any other damage. And lastly, three, it's fucking cold!
Being submerged in a beast made of ice was certainly a cold process. However, if he attempted to warm it up even a little the ice would melt, therefore the ice giant would lose form. He laughed wryly as he was going to make sure that when the workshop was up that his next set of armor was going to be completely insulated and cold resistant.
RUMBLE RUMBLE
Light peeked over the horizon as the four hours of waiting finally went by. Aiko and the villagers would likely be in the safety of Fuhren by now. Ivan alongside Yue and Tio got up from his seat, the rumbling sound was getting closer. Which meant that the horde was almost here.
RUMBLE RUMBLE
An intensity so strong it shook the ground. He stared at Tio, feeling the situation was a bit off.
RUMBLE RUMBLE
Clouds of dust flew into the air as Ivan could finally see the enemies before him. Only there was one problem—
"Hey, Tio. You said three to four thousand right…?"
"Y-Yes, I was quite sure of it when I first laid eyes on the army… It would seem they've grown considerably since I last checked."
Three thousand? Four thousand? Try sixty thousand instead. To Ivan, he was completely convinced that Shimizu couldn't have mustered a force like this in such a short time, at least not alone. He was reminded of Ishtar's words as the force got closer and closer, the day he and his class arrived in this world Ishtar had told them about the balance between humans and demons. And how that balance was broken the moment it was revealed that the demons found out how to tame monsters.
Ivan let go of his balance and fell into the lake backward, Tio ran forward to transform into her dragon form, and Yue stood back with her eyes closed ready to launch a magic attack. With a flash of light, a giant made of ice appeared with red lines coursing through its body, next to it stood a dragon with jet black scales and cruel gold eyes.
It would surely be a surreal sight to anyone from Earth.
"Heavensfall." Yue made the first move as a ball of darkness descended on the monsters that stood at the storefront. Hundreds of four-eyed wolves were crushed under its weight before exploding into a red mist. Yue drank a vial of Ivan's blood before retreating to repeat her spell.
For now, a dragon stood before Yue and the swarm of monsters. It swung its tail with enough force to turn the monster to paste. Any that survived the tail swing were left disabled as almost every bone in their body was ground to dust. She ascended into the air before launching her favorite flamethrower attack.
Thousands of monsters turned to ashes on the spot. Using her telepathy Tio asked Ivan for her next orders. And while he couldn't respond the same way just looking at the ice giant's gestures were enough to tip her off, she flew down before wrapping Yue under her huge body. Closing her eyes as they were likely to be harmed in this attack.
Ivan swung his left arm deep into the lake, throwing massive amounts of water into the air. All the monsters that had encircled Tio were impaled with icicles that transformed from the water midair. Tio on the other hand suffered no damages as the icicles failed to even pierce her thick hide of scales.
Once she was sure the raining ice spears had ended she released her defensive hold of Yue, who held her hands into the air as dark clouds of thunder appeared. "Draconic Thunder," she muttered aloud.
A dragon made of lightning descended from the clouds as it flew to the ground swiftly to meet the monsters. The monsters were left hopeless as the dragon guided by Yue's gravity magic swam through their horde like a fish in water. Leaving nothing but ashes in its steps. Any monster that even tried attacking it was incinerated the moment they made contact.
After a few minutes, and tens of thousands of monsters dead, Yue released the spell as she felt her mana reserves get low. She pulled another vial from Ivan's blood out of her pocket before downing it all. Seeing this Tio took the moment to stand before Yue and protect her while she mustered up her next spell.
That was when the flying monsters had made it to Ivan's ice giant. He swung his arms as the beastly pterodactyls circled him like vultures. The ice spikes launched by his wailing pierced the wings of any that got close. However, as time went on the number of them grew to the point where they stuck to his body like fleas without him being able to resist. The few hundred monsters pecked at the ice to get to him.
Seeing no other option Ivan closed his eyes as some of his blood sporadically spread throughout the ice giant's body. The blood glowed a bright crimson before spikes all over the body shot out of ice and his blood.
And like that he became like a strip of spikes that people put on their houses so birds don't perch. More monsters flew in his direction as he just spun the ice giant's body like a blender, each monster that entered the range was torn apart and destroyed in seconds.
Meanwhile, on the outside of the lake Yue finally emerged from Tio's protection. She held her arms in front of her as she fired a spell she felt would help out Ivan greatly. "Frost Prison." An orb with a diameter of fifty meters appeared on the battlefield, any monsters caught in its encasing were turned to ice within three seconds, none having time to notice their situation as their blood froze cold.
However that wasn't the end as the orb slowly grew in range the longer it went on, seeing that Ivan understood Yue's message as he walked out of the lake and towards the orb. Kicking his feet as the monsters swarmed his legs. Ivan crouched down to the ground when he was at its center, and without a word, his water transmutation circle appeared on the ice giant's palms using blood.
BANG!
The orb exploded as all the cold within spread out for hundreds of meters, freezing tens of thousands of monsters in the process. Ivan kept his hands to the ground as he made his next move, large caverns with spikes at the bottom opened up from the floor all coming from Ivan like a spider web. Any monsters outside of the ice attack range fell to their deaths before getting impaled by those stone spikes.
With this new form of his, Ivan found that his transmutation range had increased exponentially. He thought it perhaps had to do something with his mass, that his range likely multiplied the larger he became. With another press of his hands the ravines of death closed up as the surface of the land became smooth again.
This entire time the three of them weren't just attacking randomly, as they knew with the monsters' numbers they'd run out of mana and supplies before even clearing three-fourths. So their attacks target the leader of each species of monster that attacked. They found it highly unlikely that Shimizu and even the demons would be able to casually amass a force this large so quickly. The likely situation was that all they did was control the leaders and the rest followed. Meaning the moment all of the monster leaders were dead the rest of the monsters would flee.
In which case, there was only one left. Tio took to the skies as Ivan remained with Yue to protect her, even placing Yue onto his shoulder as she shot down at the monsters clawing at his legs. Tio spotted the last leader as she lunged down swiftly, intending to crush it under the weight of her draconic body.
SPLAT!
The monster's eyes popped out of its head briefly before it was turned into paste.
"...."
Suddenly, all of the monsters on the field turned silent as they stopped attacking. Then without a sound, they all turned heel and ran toward the mountains. Among this group of fleerers was a large pterodactyl-like monster. Tio turned to it as she noticed the figure lying on its back, attempting to avoid being seen.
She flapped her mana imbued wings before taking to the sky once more, in no time at all she hovered right above the frightened pterodactyl monster. The boy on its back shivered violently as he held his arms in front of him, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he begged for his life.
However she only glared at him silently from above, all with her cruel gold eyes. Her pupils elongated and her teeth grew sharper. Without a word, she opened her large maw as Shimizu felt the temperature rise significantly. Then—
BOOM!
Just like that both Shimizu and the pterodactyl monster were incinerated without a trace.
Ivan sighed as he dissolved his ice giant form, taking a towel from his ring as he dries himself off. 'How the hell am I going to explain this to Aiko-sensei?' That's when he came to the conclusion he wouldn't. From the moment he found out Shimizu was the dark mage he was worrying about what to do with him when they caught him. While they didn't know each other at all he was sure he'd hesitate for Aiko's sake.
As for why he'd hesitate and not refrain from killing him, well it was because Shimizu had simply seen too much in this fight. Whether it be his transmutation, Yue's magic, or Tio's dragon transformation all of that was not to be known. So in the end he felt that Tio made the right choice.
He let Yue support his body as they walked in Tio's direction, with this their workshop was safe and Tio's responsibility was fulfilled. All that was left was to follow after the likely awakened Will and report back to Fuhren's guild branch.
They smiled under their masks as Tio ran up to them before they could meet her.
Pulling a vial from his waist, Ivan presented it to Tio.
"Here, your duty and promise have been completed. So I shall hold up my end of the bargain and hand you the antidote. I want to thank you for fighting alongside us, these monsters dying here meant more for us than you understand."
Yue nodded to Ivan's words, as if the monsters managed to make it to the workshop it'd likely be destroyed in the battle. Their dream of opening a business out in the outskirts would end there until they had it rebuilt, not counting that if the monsters took over Fuhren then there'd be no one left to rebuild it.
Tio took the vial before dropping it to the ground
SHATTER
Ivan stared at the food-colored dyed water before turning back to Tio who had flashed a large grin.
"Ohohoho~! It would take a lot more than a serious tone to deceive this princess. We dragons are incredibly sensitive to what enters our bodies, I knew the instant I drank the 'poison' that it wasn't real~"
Ivan smiled wryly as his deception had been seen through. Though he was glad she wasn't upset and instead understood his intentions to discern her credibility.
"Now then, as compensation for deceiving me, you shall allow me to join your team~!" However, it was these words that frightened him more than if she were to attack him in her dragon form.
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Hey so today I've put up a poll on pat.reon regarding the future development of this story. Anyone is welcome to put in a vote without being a member as I'd like the response of any of you that have an opinion. I am encouraging that those of you that do vote give me an explanation as it'll help me reach a conclusion. Once again, those of you that wish to have a say in the development of the story are welcome to vote on pat.reon for free. Link below:
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Hell yeah, we can move onto the workshop now. Might be spending quite a bit of time with this next arc. So as a compromise I'm going to do three thousand word chapters when it starts. Once again the workshop arc isn't going to be next chapter, you'll know when it's time because I'll put "Workshop" in the title.
Thank you all so much for reading and your amazing support, I wish you all a great evening! See you guys later~!
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