The Abyss’s Floor (2)
The roar of the true dragon reverberated through the city.
The defenders on the silver walls unleashed a barrage at the approaching dragons.
Boom! Boom!
Arrows launched from crossbows bounced off the dragons’ tough scales, and cannonballs were swept aside by sudden gusts of wind, missing their targets.
With the defenders’ attack rendered ineffective, the distance between the dragons and the walls was now a mere kilometer.
The dragons needed only a single breath to unleash the magic gathered in their maws.
It was too short a time for the soldiers on the walls to evacuate.
――――!
―――!!
Hundreds of dragon breaths swept over the silver walls.
Though primitive, these spells perfectly embodied the fundamental purpose of magic.
Flames and frost simultaneously melted and froze soldiers, while torrents and storms tore apart and crushed the remnants.
The protective barrier atop the silver walls was shredded by the overwhelming wave of magic.
Aaaah!
Rick! Rick! Save me!
With the barrier failing, there was no way mere soldiers or knights could withstand the onslaught.
In a single exchange, the victors and the defeated were clearly decided.
A voice boomed from within the city.
Two figures soared above the silver district.
In the blink of an eye, they shed their human forms, casting massive shadows as two true dragons.
The larger of the two, with eyes gleaming a greenish-brown, shouted.
We just regained our freedom from the Dragon God! Have you already surrendered your names again?
…First Roar.
Do not call me by that name! I am Kylebercus Arburn! Unlike you, I chose true freedom!
As he finished speaking, magic swirled around him like a vortex.
Ancient runes glowed on his brass-like body, and a rough wave emanated from his emerald-like horns.
━━━━━━!!
There was no visible explosion or deafening noise.
The breath, extending silently in a straight line, swiftly swept over the dragons perched on the walls.
Death spread along the path of the greenish-brown line.
A head, feasting on charred corpses, thudded to the ground, and a dragon attempting to escape the breath was split in two, plummeting down.
Slaughtering your kin! How can you…!
Nonsense! Did you even flinch when the Dragon God took away your names?
The air rang with the clash of two pairs of dragons.
A blue-scaled dragon bit into the wings of the black dragon known as the Shield, while the greenish-brown dragon and a yellow-scaled dragon clashed horns head-on.
「Domain Unleashed: The Royal Armament of Resentment」
As dragons collided and magic surged beneath the turbulent sky, a massive steel golem slowly rose in the city.
Hundreds of cannons aimed at the dragons that survived Kylebercus’s breath.
A dwarf, perched on the golem’s shoulder, waved his hand with fervent eyes.
Boom! Boom!
The bombardment pounded the walls.
Shattered stone fragments flew, mingling with crushed scales and flesh.
Hovering in the sky, Dalen suddenly looked up.
With that simple motion, his focus shifted from the dragons, allowing him to take in the city’s panorama.
For the glory of the War God―
Annihilate the minions of hell!
To the north of the silver walls, the paladins led by Edgar Reinhardt clashed with demons.
To the east, the transcendents of the Golden Palace and the Silver Knights held the line, while to the west, Sienna and knights from the Kingdom of Knights fought off the monsters.
Fight! Fight!
Uwaaaaah!
Wherever the battle raged, the high orc and chieftain Tarum charged in.
This way! Follow the vine path!
Everyone, stay orderly!
Shania Philopon, creating a temporary escape route with vines, helped evacuate residents with the Bronze Guard.
‘…’
Dalen’s consciousness could not only survey the entire battlefield at a glance but also focus on each individual skirmish simultaneously.
Perhaps due to this surreal perspective, the sight of the city slowly crumbling felt like an illusion viewed through a monitor.
Thump.
Yet, for some reason, his heart tightened at the seemingly illusory scene.
Was it because his near-omniscient view bore witness to every tragedy on the vast battlefield?
Thump.
A soldier’s neck pierced by a frogman’s spear. A comrade, screaming in anguish over a fallen friend, drove a blade into the frogman’s heart.
But even he was torn apart, armor and all, by a nameless tentacled monster, and the earth magic of the Elgaia Tower buried the scene beneath the ground.
Thump.
His gaze shifted to the mage who cast the spell. The sword of the knight guarding her broke, and a blind shard, imbued with aura, pierced through her protective spell and fragile body beneath.
The spell she had been preparing in agony went berserk. Stalagmites erupted, exploding and tearing apart dozens of mages and knights, including the knight with the broken sword and the mage herself.
Thump.
Corpses piled upon corpses.
Death covered more death.
The pervasive loss allowed no room for common weeping.
The fear threatening survival brought forth shrill screams, and the anger of losing family and friends resulted in cries with no destination.
Thump.
Yet the battle continued. There was nowhere to retreat.
The Golden Palace, the Mage Tower Alliance, the Merchant Guild’s apprentice knights, elven refugees, self-armed citizen militias, and mercenaries hired for a few silver coins.
All gathered for their own reasons, they fought with their lives on the line against the hellish army that stretched to the horizon.
The battle that began at dawn showed no signs of abating by dusk. Darkness enveloped the flickering torches, only to be replaced by the rising sun once more.
The unnaturally fast passage of time and the omniscient view made it feel like a game, but the absence of a keyboard and mouse was a decisive difference.
There was no pause button in reality.
‘…’
Scenes and moments flashed by as if time had accelerated, and the Abyss’s body drifted slowly, sinking into the void.
The besieged forces of the labyrinth city were steadily retreating. At this rate, the fall of the silver district was inevitable.
Once the silver district fell, the golden district would be next, followed by the platinum, the Golden Palace, the twenty-six halls, and finally the city’s core.
Even with the outcome clear, there was nothing to be done.
All he could do was glare at the silhouette of the evil god, shrouded in a veil, slowly approaching the city from the edge of the horizon filled with the army of evil.
In the boundless helplessness between mind and body, Dalen felt a strange sensation from the Abyss’s body.
―Thud.
A sensation as if his foot had touched something. Something solid and flat supported his sole.
The floor? He had never heard of a floor in the Abyss.
Even as he thought this, his limp body managed to find balance. Then, with the faint vision left in his body, he saw something glimmering in the distance.
Stumble.
Instinctively, he took a step forward.
Forcing his weakened legs to move, he stretched out his emaciated arm.
How many laborious and tedious steps did he repeat? Before he knew it, he had reached the source of the glimmer.
It was a small, stone-like object. Dalen’s body, kneeling weakly, slumped over the stone.
And then.
[It’s time to wake up.]
His vision brightened.
Whiiiiish…
The biting wind. The blizzard obscuring his view.
Rumble!
The sky was filled with dark crimson clouds, and beyond them, glimpses of a sea of multicolored lightning.
“…”
Against the backdrop of this all-too-familiar realm, the backyard of a cabin littered with tools for dismantling prey came into view.
Dalen slowly, cautiously lifted his leg.
Thud―
Snow piled on his leather shoes fell softly.
Crunch.
The snow beneath his newly made footprints crunched pleasantly.
Crunch. Crunch.
Dalen rotated his shoulders and arms, tilted his neck side to side, and took a few steps.
[You have retrieved the body of the fallen god from the Abyss. You inherit its abilities.]
Before he could even adjust to the sensation of regaining his lost body, letters appeared in the air before him.
[Inheritance Rewards: Strength +15, Dexterity +12, Stamina +13, Perception +13, Intelligence +11, Magic +14, Black Thunder (Unique), Crimson Flame Dance (Unique), Convenient Flow (Unique), Wind Moon Pavilion (Unique), Earthly Harmony (Unique), Encompassing Ghost…]
The list seemed endless.
Before I could even process it all, the words at the top began to fade, replaced by new ones that filled my vision once more.
―――――――
Name: Dalen