One-Up - Part 3

"The elven youth are so much more respectful," Azador whispers to Palo as the two knights watch the noobs get fucked in the ass by the Symbols of War.

And the mass of muscles twitches as he snorts softly, making so much noise in his bulky armor that it's almost un-elven. "Well, these are humans and dragonkin. What did you expect?"

Azador's eyes narrow at another young man that he just gave advice to as the fool decides to humiliate his opponent by stabbing the Symbol in the balls… except that Symbols of War don't have balls.

The senior knight sighs softly, trying not to visibly facepalm. "After seeing the fourth one get gutted? A bit of sense in their jar heads? No offense to you, Your Highness," he adds and glances at me.

I have a small issue with what he said, so I politely reply, "None taken… but I don't really like terms like 'clay' and 'jar' being used to refer to humans, just as much as I don't like the terms 'lizard' and 'mustch.'"

Azador takes a couple of seconds to process my subtle chiding, then lowers his head respectfully and cautiously states, "Very kind of you, Your Highness. I'll watch my tongue."

Palo glances at him curiously, then promptly continues, "There are many hot-blooded elves, but the dungeons in the High Forest are merciless, so they usually die very quickly. That's why you don't see many in Escanso."

The old knight unhesitatingly returns to his normal demeanor and replies, "But their numbers must be very small in comparison to that of other races."

And I add, "Adventuring attracts a rather unique type of person, and the most common temperament will always be the humble farmers and laborers."

We hear a cry of pain and turn our gazes just in time to watch as another noob eats shit.

"Then I guess the desire to get gutted like cattle is seemingly attractive to adventurers considering how they like to ignore our advice," he flippantly remarks as he pats his flowery beard.

"There is a considerable number of them that seem to be masochistic," I wry add.

And Palo remarks with a sympathetic tone, "I can't blame them. Half of these Symbols seem like they'd be amazing partners in bed… if only they didn't wish to kill us."

Azador gives him a concerned look, but I smirk suggestively and confess, "I also can't deny that I find the female Symbols of Mankind attractive."

And the grandpa chuckles softly. "There's a joke here that I'm not courageous enough to make about you and how you converted Her Highness Aoi," Azador amusedly states.

Is it really a joke if it's the truth?

"I certainly do wish to 'convert' more female monsters in the future. Imagine the day that we can solve our differences through a sex battle," I wonder with a dreamy tone.

"Well, the dryads already do that," Palo suddenly remarks, and we both immediately turn to him in surprise.

"How do you know that?" Azador hesitantly inquires.

And the bodybuilder smirks smugly like a Chad as he brags, "Just a benefit of wandering the High Forest instead of growing roots on your ass in Escanso."

But the old knight assumes a very elven, prideful smug expression. "Don't try to brag about that sort of thing to me, child. I know every brothel in Escanso and also which establishment caters to whatever fetish you may have. I can even refer you to specific corners on the third level if you want something more 'intense.'"

That catches me off guard, and I reflexively blurt out, "The Chimeras fuck in the streets in plain sight. What are you actually doing that it needs to be hidden on the lowest level?"

He awkwardly averts his eyes as his smugness takes a hit, only to meet with Palo's teasing pair, which helps him recompose his elven pride. Then he clears his throat and hesitantly explains, "There are certain things that you can do with [Blood Magic] and [Slavery Magic] that can be quite… 'stimulating,' but the legality of them is 'questionable' purely because of regulations, so you need to go to the right places to see them being offered in the open."

And we're both impressed with how "cultured" Azador is.

"The Vamiro flowers in your beard, did they grow from monster blood, or something else?" Palo bemusedly asks.

But the old fart simply grins like a villain.

--

We continue to slowly climb the Steps while keeping the buffed Symbols at bay. Then evening arrives, and though nobody besides those with clocks know of it, the hunger for dinner is enough to tell them that we've been in this place for too long. This phase is for the adventurers, so we hold back our desire to hurry them and continue babysitting, but we make sure everyone at least eats a snack.

And they all also get a turn on the frontline, but due to sheer numbers, the adventurers remain fighting the longest, and then they even get a second turn, which they loudly complain about. Yunia gives them a tongue ass-fucking, reminding them that they need to fight for their Experience, and she's so rough on them that they turn from spoiled brats into whipped simps. They're becoming so obedient that I feel our control over them is nearing absolute.

I just wish there weren't so many noobs who get shit on by the Symbols on steroids… If we were to let the Bestowers live, the monsters wouldn't get buffed regularly, but then the Bestowers would make the Blight phase a lot more "Blighty," and the occasional gutted noob is better than that shit. If we had enough priests, we could weather the Blight, but our strength lies elsewhere, so we use the most optimal strategy for our army.

The desolate remains of the settlement gradually disappears in the darkness as we go further and further up, and the Blessing of Light is also drained from the Steps as the Symbols follow after us. Soon, the Great Steps begins to look like it's floating in the absolute darkness, steadily being consumed by the encroaching Darkness as we flee from the never-ending horde of twice-risen monsters.

And as we're (metaphorically) driven further and further away from the Realm, other forces start to become able to exert their power upon us. The men start to get twitchy and jumpy, and even we feel a mounting discomfort, even though we've killed all the Bestowers we could see.

We see movement in the darkness. Puffs of mist that quickly dissipate, a thunder strike that lights up some clouds, debris flying about, a faraway explosion, a glint from the reflection of something very large that briefly enters the edge of our Lights.

"This feels like an underwater horror story," Lina remarks through [Bind].

"Sometimes the types of books you've read concerns me," Ciel replies and glances at our little wife.

"What do you mean?"

"You've read too many books in secret from your parents."

"Is that bad?" She hesitantly asks.

"A child needs an adult to explain things and comfort them during the harder parts."

"Well, aside from the nightmares, I grew up fine… I think." But she starts losing confidence in her own words with each second.

And Ciel doesn't feel like she needs to reply.

But we're soon put back into combat mode as we sense stray mana with an odd, "hateful" flavor coming from the Darkness, and everyone tenses up as we realize what's coming.

I immediately crack the whip, "Alright, you helpless whelps and weed brains! Get the fuck off the frontline while we deal with this shit!"

"Aye aye, sir!" A cheeky adventurer shouts and jokingly salutes.

Ciel uses her best announcer voice and guides the adventurers back to the top while Nohopu and Alcander bring the Lordsguard back down.

"Your Highness, allow me to deal with these," Aisco requests and points to the reanimated Symbols.

I glance at him worriedly, but the dude has [Fire Magic] at 81, so I won't get in his way. "Do as you wish."

"It'll take all of my mana, so keep me safe afterward."

"You just want to do this to get out of having to fight," I tease and flash a smirk.

But he unashamedly admits, "Yes. It's also a great opportunity to push my abilities to the limit."

I hold back a grin at the audacity of this fucker. "Alright, then, you lazy bastard. Make it worth it."

"Always." Then he moves to the edge of the Step and raises his anime-like fire staff.

"Should we be concerned about the safety of our men?"

"I'm no amateur," he flatly replies, then starts gathering his mana.

I concernedly insist, "You did come from a mercenary company with an appallingly high number of Wicked."

Just a hint of distaste seeps into his voice, but then the characteristic elven smugness overpowers it. "My comrades were fools who let their emotions fuel their flames. I, on the other hand, have one singular desire: to destroy everything."

Ok…

Then his eyes gloss over, and he begins chanting with an awfully dreamy tone, "I dream of a candle, a single, insignificant flame in an endless field of dried leaves. A drop of poison falling towards a crystalline lake. The smallest amount of quantifiable violent destruction almost touching the bottom of a tower of glass. And the Realm stands still as the fire starter threatens to unleash chaos.

"I simply give it a push, let it fall, and two extremes collide. Nothing more is necessary from me, so I shall stand here and watch as the fire spreads and consumes it all. This… is my [Pyromaniac's Wish]."

Lines of fire shoot out of his anime-like staff like lightning and envelop each of the Symbols, tying them up like ropes, and then the monsters burst into flames and collapse, writhing as they try to overpower their fiery bindings.

Ignoring the horrifying way in which it kills, what's curious about this spell is that I definitely felt both [Lightning Bolt] and [Fire Whip] in it, though there's also quite a lot of its "structure" that I have no idea about.

And to the benefit of my "Sanity," the Symbols seem to quickly pass out, so I guess Aisco isn't that completely heartless.

"Hgnh…" He moans in a way that I really didn't want to hear, so I immediately leave to search for Nohopu and tell him to keep Aisco protected since he has no MP left.

--

With no more Symbols (that we can see) chasing after us, we start a quick march up the Steps, and just a couple of minutes later, the last phase of Trox Mael fully starts.

Purple roots suddenly start growing all over the Steps, coming from far below us, and the Blessings of Sanctuary and Light are quickly drained, then the Steps themselves crumble into dust and fall into the darkness.

The girls and I can [Fly], but hardly anybody else can, so we increase the pace and watch the roots closely to keep them at a stable distance. There's no point in trying to outrun them; we just need to last long enough.

And after a good ten minutes of light jogging, the entire Steps shakes as a boom echoes from far above us, and then we see large pieces of debris falling down, but the Steps above protect us from them, so there are no injuries.

The purple roots stop growing, so we calmly continue up after regaining our balance, and we soon reach the source of the loud noise. The endless tower has been sheared off, and now there's only the flat surface of the center column of the Great Steps for us to climb onto.

It's an arena. A boss fight arena.

"You know what's coming, boys!" Hana shouts, trying to cheer up the men.

"Fuck yeah!" A couple shout back.

"Fortifications!" Bell-end orders his handful of Earth mages.

The column is very thick, so it can comfortably hold our entire army, and the moment the last person climbs onto it, a deep rumbling starts, but then we realize it's a laugh. A very low, sadistic laugh. All of the wereanimals immediately turn towards the source, and we start to turn our formation around to prepare for the dramatic entrance.

Then a growling male voice slowly echoes, "Tremble in fear, puny humanoids…"

"He always says the same thing," Alissa hears Nikolas wryly remark to the Lordsguard.

The first things we see are two small yellow dots far in the distance, but then the dots increase in size, becoming circles, and then the circles reveal themselves to be eyes… vertical-slitted, dragon eyes.

Its stare is chilling, and it's like a sadistic predator that likes to play with its food staring down at its cornered prey. But the more we stare, the more we sense an endless depth to it, like that of a high-level person, it's just that it's so inconceivably powerful that it feels like trying to find the peak of an endless tower. And it humbles me.

My small amount of fear gives way to awe, and I don't think that's the intended effect, even though it humbles the dragon within me. I've lost my fear of battles and monsters in general, so all that's left is the awe at the size of the thing that's coming at us.

And the eyes continue to increase in size until they're the size of damn mansions, and then we see the glint of dark scales. But the glint continues down endlessly, a hint of the true size of the being before us.

After being assaulted by three of the four worst nightmares of Man, we finally meet with the last one, which is also the most powerful of them all. The End, not just death, but the End Of All Existence.

Lightning crackles in the Darkness, revealing a draconic outline that rivals that of mountains. This Ender, the first dragon, The Annihilator, The All-Consumer, The Nemesis, The Hand and Child of the God of Destruction.

He's also the father of all Symbols of Might, so he's technically my daddy.

"FOR I AM YOUR END…!" Ender roars, his voice so loud that our bones quake. Then he opens his city block-sized mouth, revealing white teeth the size of towers, a pink tongue larger than a multi-lane highway, and a psychedelic black-hole-like sphere at the back of his throat. Then he envelops the whole Steps with his mouth in an instant and bites.

A number of people squeak in fear, but we hear a loud ringing as Ender's teeth are stopped by a sphere of semi-transparent light that envelops the Steps. Sanctuary has left our bodies to protect us from Ender, but that means that we're now vulnerable to other things.

Black spears stab the sphere, and they're all stopped, except for two, which pierce the Blessing and push black, smoky tendrils in. One yellow dragon eye immediately grows from each of their tips, then large, toothy mouths also appear, which open up as wide as double doors and release a stream of Symbols onto the platform.

The men stand at the ready, weapons forward and comfortably positioned in their fortifications, but the monsters don't attack yet, so we allow their numbers to grow.

Then two shiny dragons with mirror-like scales come out and land behind the horde. Strong and muscular bodies, dignified postures, extremely fearsome gazes, and a powerful presence that contrasts greatly with the creatures of Darkness before us. These are Symbols of Might, fake ones, but they look just like the real thing, and they're technically my "siblings."

But the sight of them makes the dragon rattle in its cage at the offense of seeing cheap imitations created by the dungeon. And I instinctively get a boner as I imagine myself dominating them because Symbols of Might can also be female.

"The array!" I order, and the men start flickering the [Monster Repellent] enchantments. The effect is instantaneous as every monster roars, and even the smoky one-eyed tendrils tremble in rage.

Then a few more black spears pierce the Blessing, and streams of monsters pour in, but not more Symbols.

That's good enough for me, though.

My siblings eagerly paw at the floor, leaving grooves in the cement with their claws just like mine do. Then they roar to intimidate us, and the monsters follow, but even all their roars combined is nowhere near as powerful as Ender's, and just our Lordly presence is enough to keep our men from cowering in fear.

But now that the cinematic is over, the final battle begins!

Gify, play the FF7 boss theme.

"Gih…! Gih guh guh, gih guh guh, gih guh guh, gu guh, gu guh guh…!"

And I'm so excited that I instinctively give a speech, "YOU KNOW YOUR ROLES, YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO, YOU KNOW THAT WE CAN SURVIVE THIS! SO FUCKING GRIP YOUR WEAPONS TIGHT, AND POINT THEM AT THE ENEMY! THIS IS WHY YOU'RE HERE, AND YOU SHALL NOT FALTER, FOR THE GODS ARE WITH US… AND THEY SHALL GIVE US STRENGTH!" I end my speech with [Godly Language], and our Light shines brighter as we're all filled with holy fervor!

I spread my wings wide, not even knowing when I shifted into my dragon form, then I launch towards the Symbol of Might on the left. It seems to have a sleeker and less spiky frame, which means it's likely a female.

My sister rears up on her hind legs, and I crash into her, and we lock into a wrestle for control. She's bigger, but not by much, so I can still get some leverage if I play it smart.

We bite each other's throats, and our defenses are so high that we don't actually do any damage, but we still violently shake our heads as we each try to rip off chunks of flesh from the other.

Spears and swords try to stab me in the back, and they manage to damage my fleshy wings, but I don't need them for this anyway, and nothing else is damaged.

The fight for supremacy, the desire to dominate, and the wild emotions, it all makes me euphoric. If not for the pain, it'd be just as good as Ravaging one of the wives.

But I've never been like this before. This is definitely something new, which is rather scary, so the human observes from afar, never fully out of the picture. And the dragon doesn't care as long as he's allowed to rampage to his heart's content.

My sister starts to overpower me and forces me to roll over onto my side. Then she begins to press me against the floor while she increases the pressure of her bite on my neck, scratching the scales and threatening to break them.

But I've never been one to play fair.

I harden my neck with [Mana Body], then I cast [Telekinesis] on myself to help me stand up on my hind legs, and I see my sister's eyes open wide in surprise as I easily get myself out of that unfavorable situation.

"RRRRUUUU!" She lets out a muffled roar, and her strength gains a boost, trying to finish me off, but I cast [Entangling Vines] on her feet, and when she tries to push me back, only her upper body goes forward, so I move out of the way and let her fall.

She remains stuck to me due to her bite, so I cast [Earth Bullet]s on her face repeatedly while I pull back, and I manage to slip out of her grasp. Then I prevent her from biting me again by biting back just under her jaw.

"RRRRRRRRAAAA!" I roar as I cast [Gravity Crush] on my own mouth to increase the pressure of my bite.

I'M THE REAL ONE!

My sister writhes violently, trying to escape from me.

I'M THE SUPERIOR ONE!

She roars in pain and rage.

I'M THE FATHER OF DRAGONS!

I feel a violent power well up in the back of my throat.

AND I'M FUCKING INVINCIBLEEE!

[Chaos Breath] launches out the moment her scales crack. The breath hits her, and I feel my snout disintegrate as a wave of pain makes me reel back.

But the life in my sister is snuffed out instantly, so I just turn around, not interested in seeing the carnage because there's something else that needs my attention.

"Gih!" Gify exclaims in my soul space.

You can't be serious…

Someone is casting [Gate].

The overwhelming exhaustion washes over me, making it hard to even stand, and I can't fly with my wings right now, so I just cast [Telekinesis] on myself and float up while I wait for my body to reconstruct itself. The advantage of a fake body is how easily it can regenerate while I still have mana.

The Symbols of War try to jump onto me and keep me down since their weapons do nothing to me, but Roxanne brainsplodes them, so I rise unimpeded and look over the battlefield.

The girls and Alissa's parents are engaging my brother, who's still standing and only lightly wounded, even though he's constantly being barraged with attacks. Everyone else is still fighting with fervor as the monsters surround them. The arena is filled to the brim as the Symbols occupy every free spot on the platform, more taking their place the moment any spot is freed up as they continuously fall to my army on godly steroids.

I search for the mage casting [Gate], and when our eyes meet, the color drains out of his freckled face, and he starts chanting faster.

My body finishes regenerating, and I snarl angrily as the fire of rage starts to clear the exhaustion I'm feeling.

Not yet…

Swords, daggers, and spears are launched against me, only to plink harmlessly off my mirror-like scales, though they do bother me a bit with their constant poking.

Then someone grabs Ted from behind, and she's sucked into their [Item Box].

YOU INSOLENT WORM!

I instantly shoot forward as I cast both [Rush] and [Haste] on myself, my bottomless fury clearing away the exhaustion instantly.

Jarn [Equip]s a [Gate] Scrubber and activates it. Then the [Gate] mage freezes in realization and lets his spell fizzle out.

The mages see me coming and clear out, but the thieving little kitten doesn't move until it's too late, so I crash into her like a truck, and she's sent tumbling along the stone floor. She's instantly knocked out, which is a small mercy considering her limbs are now bent in the wrong directions, though she isn't dead.

"THESE THIEVES SHALL BE DEALT WITH LATER!" I roar as I summon a nature elemental, who immediately binds the thief and the mage together.

Then I summon Ted again, and my little teddy bear floats back to Gandalf's side, who's seemingly still like a statue as he stares at me, though I don't know if it's from fear or confusion.

I find Fran and Armaa Bro, but they're both busy fighting on the frontline, so they don't seem to be related to this. Bell-end is paying attention to me, and he's telling his men to not interfere.

Once our eyes meet, I see him stutter and swallow heavily, but then he immediately turns his attention back to the battle. I find it unlikely that he's involved in this, but it's always good to reinforce the idea of who's in charge here.

The message has been sent, and we still have a horde to grind through, so I return my focus to the battle. My brother is being a stubborn lizard and refusing to die, so I spread my wings and fly up because I don't feel like using another Breath to kill this one.

The last Blessing that we're given is a hidden one. In the face of an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, there's only one thing that humanoids can do to survive: unite.

This Blessing is like [Weaverism] because it subtly connects our minds, allowing us to fight as one in ways we never could before. And with that coupled with my godly steroids, even the Symbols of War are nothing more than goblin fodder.

I fly down and cast [Telekinesis] on myself to increase my weight…

GRAND SLAM!

I turn on my side at the last moment as I crash into my brother.

There's not even a single moment of hesitation. Aoi grabs his head and presses it against the floor with the weight of her whole body, Alissa and Léonne blind it with arrows, Hana and Yunia lift the scales and stab him right in the foreleg joints, and then Lina starts cracking the scales under his neck.

My brother begins to resist and writhe, so Roxanne casts [Explosion] in his brain, but even then, his resistances are so high that he only gets mildly stunned.

And that's all the help we needed as it gives Aoi and me the chance to grab his head and pull it backward, exposing the underside of his neck. Even a Symbol of Might can't resist concentrated attacks while completely immobilized, and everyone, even Jacques with his longsword, attacks the weakened scales.

Though the bastard still lasts for a good while, he eventually stops resisting, and then Aoi and I suddenly find ourselves holding his decapitated head.

Other dragon variants appear, but the true bosses are both dead, so now all we have to do is continue to farm the Symbols. This battle was supposed to last longer, but Lords heavily tip the balance of power, and the Dungeon Master of the Labyrinth isn't the kind that tries to compensate for things like that.

Once the last monster finally falls, just Alissa and Léonne are enough to deal with the one-eyed, mouthed, smoky tendrils before we have to deal with "phase two" and the boss fight "mechanics."

I'd like to explore a scenario dungeon like this another time, but with only the girls and me, just for the challenge.

Then the Sanctuary sphere explodes outwards, destroying Ender's head, but even that would never be enough to kill him.

--

--

Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

Prince PreownedFIN.

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