Dragon Gods Reign

Chapter 274: Double fight

[Ouroboros' End]Overlooking the battle in front of the wall, Darganth watched it unfold with satisfaction.

On the ground, the army had done well to recover from the chaos the mythic ranks' arrival had created. From the ogres, that had been expected. They not only survived in the harshness of the wilderness but thrived there despite the presence of powerful beasts. The lessons of such an environment, while not exactly the same, did still prove to be useful in the battle. Compared to the humanoids around them, allies and enemies alike, they quickly showed themselves much more capable of discerning which enemies could be brought down with a coordinated effort and which had to be avoided.

This awareness also extended to attacks of mythic ranks, both stray ones that shot out from fights and ones targeted at their formations. Against both, the ogres suffered noticeably fewer casualties even when accounting for their lower numbers.

That didn’t mean that the humanoid soldiers from the town weren’t effective in their own right. Their later entry into the battle meant they were still well rested when they clashed with the town’s already battered formations. The results of this were overwhelming. Across nearly the entire front line, the smuggler forces were being pushed back, with only scattered pockets that were supported by unopposed mythic ranks managing to hold the original line.

Enabling this was the fact that while the fight between the mythic ranks was going well, it wasn’t nearly as one-sided as the clash between the armies. While the town had a slight edge in numbers, since the first day of the battle it has shown again and again that the smuggler, on average, outclassed them. Even in two-on-one situations, they often held out for a while, largely neutralizing the numerical difference.

Still, Darganth watched in amusement, not overly worried about the fact that both sides were suffering near-equal casualties. Instead, his focus was on finding the strongest enemies for when he would join the fighting. Officially, he did so to quickly take care of the largest threats, though all in his group knew that this plan was in large part motivated by his disinterest in facing lesser foes.

It was through this that Darganth saw the spatial mage teleport behind Serania. Noticing almost immediately how well she coordinated the assault that followed with the time mage, he smirked as an idea came to him.

Turning to the rest of their group, he took a second to warn them of his intentions. “I’ll join Serania, the pair she is fighting looks competent. The rest of the plan stays the same. Melidra, you’ll just have to decide when to enact it yourself. But until then I’ll still keep a low profile as best I can.”

Only waiting a moment to make sure none had any opposition to the change, Darganth teleported away a second later.

Arriving in the middle of the fight without forewarning, he slashed the enemy spatial projectile apart before pressing the attack against the two mages. Letting flames gather around the tip of the spear he wielded, Darganth sent a crescent slash of flames at the farther of the two enemies while dashing toward the closer one.

With the flames creating a distraction, he had a moment where he only had to worry about the time mage. Quickly closing the gap, he started his offensive with a predictable yet potentially devastating swing of his spear.

Yet, the time mage proved that Darganth wasn’t wrong in his estimate of his power. Faster than even many aura users could manage, he turned out of the weapon’s path with minimal effort, his eyes continuously tracking the blade’s movements as it passed just centimeters away from his body. Almost certainly, both were enabled by accelerating his own timeflow.

The counterattack that followed only further cemented the idea. The spear hadn’t even passed his hips yet when the mage’s hands turned into a blur and repeatedly slammed into Darganth’s chest. Though lacking the strength that would be behind an aura user’s strikes, the sheer volume of impacts made up for it. Raining down even as the skin on the mage’s knuckles broke open, and the strikes left splatters of blood on Darganth’s shirt, the strikes followed Darganth’s every movement and kept up the onslaught.

Recognizing that he won’t manage to move away from the attacks after the second attempt, Darganth switched tactics and let his entire body ignite. The effect was immediate. The moment the first spark flashed across his skin, the strikes stopped.

Reaching out, Darganth then attempted to catch the retreating mage. Not surprised when he felt his hand only pass through empty air, he quickly unleashed a burst of flames in a second bid to stop his retreating enemy.

However, by then the spatial mage had already recovered. Already doubtful that such a weak attack would even scratch the other mage, he let out a brief sigh of disappointment when he sensed the spatial magic that gathered to his right and pulled back without even waiting for the result.

“Want to take over the fight?” Serania asked as he came to a stop next to her.

“No, just thought I’d join you for this.” Darganth said.

“Any particular reason why we’d both spend our time dealing with those two, or did you just want to?” Serania asked, eyeing the two mages opposite them cautiously. Seeing that Darganth had intervened shortly after her battle with them had started, he first thought had been that she had found herself in a situation where she was hopelessly outmatched.

However, no matter how she looked at it, she felt not remotely enough power from their foes to believe that they could threaten her life. Defeat her, maybe. Probably even, at least with the two of them working together. But killing her would require overcoming every protective measure her equipment was enchanted with, including one that Darganth had imbued into it that would teleport her to a set location if she suffered what would otherwise be a lethal strike. A location that, currently, was within the tower they were using as base.

As such, she almost expected it when he confirmed the second possibility. “It looked interesting. The two of them appear to be quite used to fighting together, so I thought, why not match that. When else do we get the chance to fight side by side in a real battle? And I mean actually side by side, not just in the same battle.”

“And here I was worried that I had overlooked something about them. Though I’m unsure how long they’ll hold out against both of us, so I don’t know how well it will go.”

“I’ll hold back. Maybe even completely forgo using space and time magic, at least for the beginning. We’ll just have to see how that goes if you’re also in on it.” Darganth said.

While Serania might not relish the act of fighting for the sake of it like Darganth, the possibility of enabling that for him brought a smile to her lips, “If it pleases you, gladly.”

With a grin, Darganth let his magic surge. The flames that had receded to only cover his shoulders and upper back burst forth once more, filling the sky behind him with a bright orange glow that cast a massive shadow of his figure onto the battlefield.

At his side, Serania’s readiness expressed itself no less impressively. From the clouds above, a narrow funnel of raging winds slowly expanded toward her. In stark contrast to Darganth, this completely obscured her form, with only the regular flashes of lightning making glimpses of her visible through the dark storm.

Opposite them, their enemies watched this development with a frown. Glancing toward one another, they exchanged a wordless look before nodding and turning toward Serania in unison.

But before either could start moving, Darganth’s amused voice echoed out to their right, “Wrong choice.”

Along with those words, the air ignited around them. Appearing out of nowhere, a single spark erupted between them, causing a cascading wave of explosions that consumed both mages in an instant. Slamming into their shields, its pressure pushed the mages away, sending the two of them flying in opposite directions.

Slowly, Darganth emerged from the fiery aftermath of the explosion, the still-burning air not fazing him in the slightest. At the same time, Darganth’s figure faded from its original position as he dispelled the illusion now that it had served its purpose.

Serania then followed up on this opportunity and took aim at the spatial mage. As she did, two draconic wings made of lightning manifested on her back, their glowing hues visible even through the storm shrouding her and giving her target a brief forewarning before a surge of electricity erupted from her.

“Lightning dragon’s bite.” Serania intoned.

Taking the form of a draconic head with its maw wide open, formed from pure lightning, the resulting spell burst out of the storm and streaked toward the mage. Slamming into the barrier its target threw up in response, the maw dug its teeth into the silver shimmer of spatial magic and bit down. But thought pressure caused cracks to shoot across the barrier, it held firm long enough for the mage’s response to manifest.

“Flying blades.” The mage chanted, causing a volley of five spatial constructs in the shape of swords to manifest in front of her outstretched arm. Flying through the spatial barrier holding back Serania’s spell unimpeded, they then tore through the latter when they slammed into it. And even as the lightning construct scattered, its energy discharging into the air in violent but ultimately ineffective arcs of electricity, the spatial constructs flew on.

Heading toward Serania, the mage’s attack then got caught in the storm that surrounded her. Under her control, its raging winds shifted slightly, preventing them from simply parting around the sharp edges of the blades and instead catching their flat sides. The resulting impacts threw her opponent’s spell far off course, causing it to fly past somewhere to her right.

Just then, a shockwave erupted between Serania and the spatial mage. Only a second later did Darganth and the time mage come into view, with the former using his spear to block a strike from the pitch-black staff his opponent was wielding.

A mere moment later, both combatants once again blurred as they moved apart. As he came to a halt, Darganth’s red fire aura shifted to the light green of the wind element, further enhancing his speed at the cost of raw strength and allowing him to keep up, if barely, when the time mage shot forward in the same instance.

Raising her staff, Serania rapidly went through her repertoire of enhancement spells before aiming a selection of them at Darganth. “Thunder steps. Lightning reaction. Storm king’s wings.”

Immediately, the dynamic between Darganth and his foe shifted. Before, he had only managed to keep up with his faster opponent thanks to his superior skill. Now, not only did his physical speed catch up, but the rate at which he perceived his surroundings grew, stretching every second to an even greater degree than a mage’s perception and mental processing time already did.

Hoping his opponent would underestimate the extent of the change, Darganth promptly feigned an offensive to draw out an attack. The moment he shifted his spear into a striking stance, his opponent did as hoped and jabbed his staff at his chest. Already braced for this, Darganth took the hit without as much as a twitch of his lips and reached forward.

His fingers closed around one of the leather bands holding his opponent’s chestplate in place. With a tug, he dragged the mage closer before delivering a sudden headbutt that caused the man’s head to snap back.

Letting go as his opponent was sent reeling by the strike, Darganth pressed the attack while the mage was still disoriented. Flying after him, he used the fact that the mage had dropped a few meters of altitude in his hasty escape to deliver a kick to the face. Feeling his opponent’s head give in under the impact and snap to the side, he shifted his remaining momentum upward and delivered an upward kick with his other leg amid the tight loop he flew.

Halting in a horizontal position with his head facing his opponent, Darganth then accelerated forward. With both hands on his spear, he pointed its tip at the time mage as he rocketed toward the man.

But before his strike could connect, the spatial mage’s voice echoed out. “Wave shift.”

The effect was immediate. Sensing the wave of spatial magic balloon outward for just a fraction of a second before it washed over him, Darganth felt space all around him shift. All throughout the almost three-hundred meters wide sphere the mage’s spell encased, distances expanded and shrunk.

Included in this were the two meters separating Darganth and the time mage. In an instant, these expanded into almost thirty meters, causing Darganth’s strike to fall short of its target by far.

Coming to a stop, Darganth observed the new battlefield. Not only had the spatial mage’s spell completely warped the distances in the affected area, but these changes were also not permanent. Like waves, areas of spatial expansion and contraction shifted around, with each change happening rapidly but not instantly. Instead, a smooth curve surrounded each high and low point of the warping, moving along as these centers of each effect shifted around inside the spell’s area. Furthermore, when two of these overlapped, their cumulative effect applied to any one point in space, causing some of the curves to be significantly steeper when a point of expansion and a point of contraction passed close by one another.

But while Darganth quickly identified how the spell functioned, his foes didn’t leave him the time to start predicting the shifts. Exploiting a sudden narrowing of the space between them, both mages resumed the fight by launching a coordinated wave of attacks at Darganth.