aircannonsinc Page 168
Page 168
She wielded six abyssal weapons simultaneously, sword energy, axe blades, and spear shadows weaving into a web of death. But strangely, these attacks lost most of their power the moment they touched Cyric. The Lost Dragon's complete immunity to negative energy rendered the abyssal lord's prized attack methods powerless.
"Restrict it! Quickly!" Elminster roared, floating in the air and chanting incantations, unleashing one restrictive spell after another, forming a massive magical net to try and trap Cyric. Elasdra's Silver Moonlight, Kelburn's Black Staff Arcane, Lyra's Barrier—everyone was doing their utmost to stop this mad dragon.
But the effect was minimal. The power originating from the River Styx within Cyric gave it extremely strong resistance to most magic, and its status as a quasi-god made it difficult for mortal spells to truly affect it.
"Hold on!" Storm Silverhand gritted her teeth, silver flames blazing in her hands. "We just need to buy time!"
The addition of the goddess of magic's chosen ones gave the six-armed serpent demon a chance to breathe, but then the incompetent teammates were never absent.
The Lord of Curses, the Abyss Lord of Obiris who had just used the Annihilation Orb to repel Razorfang, ignored the ongoing battle and turned to charge into the Tanaris demon army. Its massive head split open, and countless worm-like larvae poured out of the crack, cascading like a waterfall onto the elite troops of the six-armed serpent demons.
Upon contact with a demon, these larvae immediately burrow into its body, greedily draining the host's mind and power. A high-ranking succubus was drained into a dried-up corpse in just a few seconds, after which the larvae emerged from the corpse, transforming into pure negative energy and flying back into the main body of the curse.
"You bastard of Obiris!" the Thousand Blades Queen screamed in fury, "How dare you devour my legion!"
The long-standing feud between Tanaris and Obilris erupted instantly. Ignoring the pursuing Cyric, the Thousand Blades Queen casually used a high-level teleportation spell to appear before the Lord of Curses in an instant. Six weapons, imbued with the wrath of the abyss, slashed down.
The Lord of Curses remained calm and composed. With a slight tilt of its rune-covered head, a massive force field instantly unfolded, making the Thousand Blade Queen's attack seem to have struck an invisible wall.
"Foolish newcomers," the voice of the Lord of Curses echoed like a chorus of countless vengeful spirits, "you Tanari have merely stolen our thrones, yet you dare to be so insolent before the true Lord of the Abyss?"
The two abyss lords instantly became locked in combat, unleashing a barrage of blasphemous spells and abyssal techniques. The aftershocks of the battle tore the surrounding demon legions to shreds, but none of them cared about the lives of these cannon fodder.
Meanwhile, Cyric, the Death Hunter, roared with excitement. What could be more delightful than two prey killing each other? Without hesitation, it pounced, ready to wipe out both abyss lords in one fell swoop.
Casaloz, transformed into lightning, appeared on the battlefield at the opportune moment. Its objective was clear—to continue harassing Cyric and prevent him from having the opportunity to actually capture any of the Abyss Lords.
A new clash has begun between the Lost Dragon and the Elemental Iron Dragon. Tail to tail, claw to claw, mouth to mouth. Each collision unleashes a shockwave infused with the power of death and chaotic elements. The two abyss lords, not to be outdone, unleash the furious grudges of their two eras. Meanwhile, they also attack the dragons around them, and Cyric has no reason to abandon his prey.
The battlefield, so chaotic that even the chosen ones of the goddesses of magic could not intervene, had completely degenerated into a carnage.
As the battle progressed, the madness in Cyric's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a terrifying, cold, mechanical rationality.
"So it was you!" Cyrek's reason seemed to return briefly for a moment. It stared intently at the multicolored elemental dragon's body, its eyes blazing with tangible hatred. Its voice was no longer a simple roar, "Katharos! I finally remember!"
Casalos, the murderer who killed it, the culprit who brought it to this state—everything became crystal clear at this moment! All the old and new grudges surged into its heart at this instant.
"You destroyed everything I had!" Cyric roared, his voice filled with unbridled hatred. "Now, I'll let you taste death too!"
Cyric completely abandoned his hunt for the Pit Lord, focusing all his attention on Casaloz. He was going to tear this damned iron dragon to shreds! He was going to make it experience true death!
It slowly raised one of its front paws, making a simple yet threatening gesture—a gesture that seemed so awkward for a humanoid creature compared to the instinctive movements of a dragon.
It was a pointing gesture, so simple, so awkward, yet it sent a chill down the spines of everyone on the battlefield, including the Abyss Lord.
An aura otherworldly was manifesting in Cyric, a power beyond the comprehension of ordinary beings. Even though he was merely a pseudo-god with zero divine rank, the gap between gods and mortals remained as vast as an insurmountable chasm.
The Hand of Death!
This is a divine power that only a god with the authority over death can wield. With just a flick of the finger, the life force of any living thing within sight can be extinguished instantly. There is no possibility of dodging, no room for resistance; as long as the caster and the target are in a straight line, death will come as promised.
Casalos sensed danger the moment Cyrek raised its claws. Every scale on its body screamed a warning, and an unprecedented sense of impending death emanated from the depths of its dragon soul.
Time seemed to slow down at that moment, as everyone watched Cyric's claws slowly point at Casalos, and the shadow of death gradually enveloped the colorful figure...
28. In full swing
"Why is this guy getting more and more idiotic?"
Casalos's gaze pierced through the churning clouds above Hellgate Fortress, locking onto Cyric's eyes, burning with the aura of death. The Lost Dragon's claws slowly rose, the movement towards Casalos simple yet menacing, like Death wielding its scythe. In that instant, all sound in the world was swallowed up, leaving only the faint cracking of the air, as if space itself trembled under the pressure of the hand of death.
However, unlike the others who trembled under the oppressive pressure of the Death Star that enveloped the entire battlefield, Iron Dragon was not greatly affected by Cyric's instant-death divine power attack on him. It dared to confront Cyric head-on even after realizing that he possessed divine power, which naturally meant that it was confident in its ability to win.
It's seen plenty of divine power.
It's true that divine power has incomprehensible effects on mortals, but it also depends on who uses it. What good would giving Cyric, who is either driven by his lost dragon instincts or a madman controlling dragons, do?
With such a long preparation time and such a straightforward attack at this distance, who could this mindless, lost dragon possibly hit...? Hmm, it seems...
Casalos's four-elemental body suddenly performed a bizarre maneuver in mid-air, chaotic elemental flows forming a spiral trajectory on its surface, the massive elemental body drawing a high, graceful arc in the air. It wasn't dodging—given the near-light-speed trajectory of the Hand of Death, and considering the geometric relationship between angular and linear velocity, maneuvering to evade was pointless.
Cyric's dragon claws remained in that awkward, humanoid pointing posture, the darkness gathering at their tips absorbing all the surrounding light. It was pure nothingness, a denial of existence itself. Even the abyss lords felt that soul-chilling power, the utter annihilation.
"The time difference is 0.7 seconds," Casalos calculated silently in his mind, while adjusting his flight path. He lost speed during the high-angle spiral climb, like a foolish snail trying to climb a grapevine.
"Are you crazy?" Raketooth glanced at it and screamed, "Climbing will make it a sitting duck!"
"Something's not right." Although Ilminster was also in the midst of the fierce battle, his combat experience gave him a vague sense of something. "Casaros isn't the kind of dragon that would make such a basic mistake."
The next moment, Cyric's Death Hand was finally unleashed. Red lightning, enveloped in a dark "light," tore through the void, plunging the world into absolute darkness, as if the entire world had been swallowed up by this attack. The oppressive feeling emanating from divine power made everyone present feel suffocated, even the Abyss Lords who were engaged in fierce battle involuntarily stopped their movements.
The trajectory of that attack pierced right through the path Cyric had pointed to in an instant, leaving a clearly visible mark—it perfectly followed Casalos's original flight path...
However, when the light returned, everyone was shocked by what they saw.
Casalos continued to fly slowly along its original trajectory, as if the thrilling scene from just moments ago had never happened. It even had the leisure to flick its tail, looking relaxed and carefree.
"How is this possible?" Storm Silverhand's eyes widened, the silver flame in his hand dimming slightly in shock. "Death Hand is a guaranteed hit!"
"Look over there!" Lyra Silverhand's exclamation made everyone turn their heads.
The Crimson Calamity, the abyss lord temporarily imprisoned by Casalozian using an elemental cage, the infernal blood demon that had just been frantically struggling to break free, was now completely still. It remained in a punching stance, its muscles still bulging, but all traces of life had vanished.
Even more bizarrely, its body was rapidly petrifying. Its once molten, fiery skin turned grayish-white, the wounds that had been constantly cracking and healing solidified forever, and the churning magma blood turned into lifeless stone.
With a deafening roar, the colossal statue formed from the Abyss Lord collapsed. Its hundreds-ton body shattered into countless tiny particles, scattering across the battlefield like a gray blizzard. The dust, still imbued with the corrosive power of the Abyss, hissed as it fell to the ground.
"Time reversal!" Elminster realized, his white beard standing on end. "It used time reversal to change its position!"
The old sage's judgment was entirely correct. The instant Cyric unleashed the Hand of Death, Casalos reverted to its position from half a second prior. At that moment, it was precisely between Cyric and the Crimson Calamity.
The Hand of Death's attack path is a straight "ray." Once its original target "disappears," it naturally strikes the next target on the same straight line—the Abyss Lord trapped in the Elemental Cage. (The remaining text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the main topic.)
"Use the enemy's power to kill the enemy," Shaving exclaimed admiringly. "Another one of those crooked ideas."
"Roar!"
Cyric roared in fury, a sound filled with rage, resentment, and deep hunger. It needed to devour the abyss lords to sustain its existence, but now it had destroyed a third of its "food" with its own hands.
Reason was completely consumed by rage—or perhaps Elminster's relentless spells had finally broken through the Lost Dragon's magic resistance. Cyric abandoned all skill and strategy, pouncing on its nearest prey like a true beast. It now had only one thought: to capture the remaining Abyss Lords before its strength was exhausted.
Each Abyss Lord is nourishment for its advancement, and there must be no more losses.
The atmosphere on the battlefield changed dramatically. The people, who had been struggling to breathe under the pressure of divine power, finally saw the dawn of victory.
The remaining two Abyss Lords—the Six-Armed Serpent Queen and the Lord of the Giant Skull Curse—also made a rational choice at this moment. They finally realized that, compared to racial hatred, the lost dragon that wanted to devour them was the real threat.
"You bastard of Obilris," the Thousand Blades Queen said in her seductive voice, "how about a temporary truce?"
"Hmph, a successor of the Tanaris." The Lord of Curses' enormous, rune-covered head turned slightly. "For the sake of our common enemy, I can temporarily spare your subordinates."
The cooperation between the two abyss lords immediately changed the course of the battle. Instead of attacking each other, they joined forces with the chosen ones of the goddess of magic to suppress Cyric.
The change was immediate. Without the interference of the Abyss Lord, the chosen ones of the Goddess of Magic could finally unleash their full power. With a wave of his hand, Elminster unleashed several high-level restrictive spells simultaneously, compressing Cyric's movement to its limit. Elasdra's dimensional anchor locked the Lost Dragon's position, preventing it from using any teleportation abilities.
Casalos seized the opportunity to climb into the sky, using this brief respite to recover his severely depleted physical and magical energy. The continuous high-intensity battles had taken a heavy toll on him, and even his elemental body was beginning to show signs of instability. The four elements were clashing violently within him, requiring constant harmonization to maintain balance.
On the ground battlefield, the situation had completely turned in favor of the allied forces. Without the command of the Crimson Calamity, the demon legions utterly collapsed. The steel legions of Deepwater Territory, like precise war machines, used textbook tactics to divide, encircle, and annihilate the remaining demons.
Tracked golems led the way, their massive metal bodies crushing everything in their path. A barrage of fire from dragon-blooded kobolds blocked the demons' retreat, each dragon striker hitting its target with pinpoint accuracy. Half-dragon warriors cleaned up any stragglers, their greatswords easily slicing through the demons' defenses.
More importantly, reinforcements from the Silvermoon Federation finally arrived.
Tens of thousands of fully armed allied troops surged out from behind the steel defenses, rushing onto the battlefield like a flood bursting its banks. Elven archers rained down arrows that blotted out the sun, each arrow imbued with the holy power to ward off evil. Dwarven heavy infantry formed an impenetrable shield wall, their battle cries echoing through the heavens. Human knights, meanwhile, launched a flanking charge, their lances forming a forest, unstoppable in their path.
"Good job, brothers of Deepwater Territory!" shouted an elven commander from Silvermoon City. "Leave the rest to us!"
The real battle was still in the skies. It rejoined the fray, engaging in a new round of fierce combat with Cyric. This time, the situation was completely different.
The Thinker's quadruple aura still enveloped the battlefield, but it began to adjust its effects more strategically. The previously evenly distributed buffs started to tilt towards key targets—the Queen of a Thousand Blades received a significant speed boost, allowing her to better evade Cyric's attacks; the Lord of Curses' spellcasting abilities were enhanced, making each of his spells more precise and powerful.
The war song of the Tidecaller also changed its rhythm. It was no longer a simple buff, but began to disrupt Cyrek. Those dreamlike notes danced around the Lost Dragon, each carrying a confusing and disorienting effect. Cyrek's perception began to falter, and his once precise attacks now missed by mere millimeters.
With just five full-force breaths, Casalos could slay this false god with blazing flames.
Everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction, however... an unexpected event still occurred.
This is inevitable. To kill this lost dragon, it would take five full-force breaths, which would take far too long, enough for the contingency plans prepared by the masterminds behind the creation of this dragon to take effect.
The sky suddenly darkened, and a huge shadow enveloped the entire battlefield. It wasn't a cloud, but another colossal dragon.
A dragon made of bones!
"Qislindo!" Elasdra shouted the name through gritted teeth, silver flames burning fiercely around her.
The white dragon demigod lich descended from the sky, its body, composed of countless bones and frost, shimmering eerily in the sunlight. As one of the most powerful dragon liches within the Dragon Cult, Qislindo's appearance immediately shattered the newly formed balance.
"We meet again, Mystra's little pets." The white dragon lich's voice was like a chilling wind from the Ice Age. "It was truly my fault for not freezing you all into ice sculptures last time in Silvermoon City."
Elasdra was the first to charge forward. Last time Silvermoon City was attacked, her city would have been nearly destroyed by this dragon lich if the battle hadn't been interrupted. The High Lady of Silvermoon City unleashed her full power, the silver fire bestowed by Mystra transforming into a rain of light that showered down on the white dragon.
Kelburn and Lyra, the couple, followed closely behind. They worked in perfect harmony, one responsible for restraint and the other for attack. The power of the black staff was fully displayed in Kelburn's hands, leaving deep cracks in the air with each swing.
Although Elminster was still concerned about the situation in the abyss, he knew he couldn't let the white dragon lich run rampant. The old sage opened his never-ending spellbook, and one by one, ancient spells that had been lost for ages were unleashed.
Kelburn and Lyra, the couple, followed in tacit agreement, while Ilminster, though reluctant, knew the priorities.
Razor arrived later—the demigod lich's pile of instant-death spells were extremely malicious to any mortal. Only the chosen ones of the Goddess of Magic could rely on Mystra's blessings and endless spells to fight against this disgusting thing. The prerequisite was that Razor, which used the biting ability of toothed dragons to absorb the body's essence, strengthened its own body to an absurd degree, and was also a dragon meat shield of the chosen ones of the Goddess of Magic standing in front.
The only correct strategy at present is for the five chosen goddesses of magic to besiege the White Dragon Lich. The brilliance of magic illuminated the entire sky, and the collision produced a deafening explosion that resembled a curtain of light under the shroud of the blasphemous barrier.
This turn of events made Casalos's situation exceptionally difficult. The chosen ones of the goddess of magic who had originally helped it suppress Cyrek were now all engaged in fighting the Qislin, leaving it to face alone a maddened, lost dragon of the false god—Storm Silverhand had somehow gotten into a fight with the Six-Armed Serpent Demon, the Lord of the Giant Skull Curse was happily feasting on a buffet since no one was paying attention to him, and worms were rampaging through the Tanaris demon horde driven back to the central front by the Deepwater army. The Treants, Dwarves, and the Lord of the Three Pigs, unable to join the aerial battle, continued to assist the Deepwater army.
Cyric's attacks grew increasingly frenzied. Having lost its mind, it fought purely on instinct, each strike imbued with destructive power. An aura of death swirled around it, forming an ever-expanding domain. Anything enveloped by this domain felt its life force rapidly draining away.
Casalos had no choice but to fight back with all his might. Under his control, the elemental body constantly changed form—sometimes transforming into raging flames to evade attacks, sometimes coalescing into solid earth to withstand impacts, sometimes dispersing into flowing water to avoid being locked on, and sometimes transforming into howling winds to counterattack.
However, such intense combat drastically increased its energy expenditure. While the power of the four elemental lords was immense, maintaining this level of elementalization required enormous mental strength. Casalos could feel his limits rapidly approaching.
Just at this critical moment, unexpected reinforcements appeared.
The Golden Dragon Druid realized that Casaloz was too exhausted to fight Cyrek alone, so it had no choice but to withdraw from the battle and flap its golden wings to join the fight with Cyrek. Although Eros Krujipala had a very high Druid level, it was not a Grand Druid after all, and it was just an old dragon. It was really too weak to join the battle between Casaloz and the Lost Dragon, but it still joined the battle without hesitation.
The power of nature flowed around it, transforming into emerald halos that enveloped Casalos. These blessings from the earth, though limited in effect, at least slightly alleviated the pressure on the Iron Dragon.
Fortunately, with the addition of the Silvermoon Federation army, the ground front was completely stabilized. The two bronze dragons, who had been maintaining the aura and war song, realized they had to change tactics and followed the gold dragon to join Casalos, forming a four-on-one formation. Even so, the outcome of this battle was still very pessimistic.
The Thinkers and Chanters are most effective in large-scale warfare, but their involvement cannot completely suppress Cyric and give Casalos the opportunity to kill him, unlike the Chosen of the Magic Goddesses. While the demigod lich's title of "demigod" is merely a false one rather than true divine power, he is not someone that the Chosen of the Magic Goddesses can easily defeat.
On the battlefield, there are two Abyss Lords who are enemies, not friends.
Storm Silverhand could barely hold on under the Thousand Blade Queen's frenzied attacks, while the Lord of Curses was devouring Tanaris demons to quickly recover itself. Once it had eaten its fill and joined the battle, the balance would soon be broken—as for which side it would tilt to, that would depend on who the Lord of Curses wanted to beat up at that time. Even the pseudo-Laplace's demon couldn't predict this chaotic and ridiculous behavior.
The portal to the abyss remains, and demons continue to pour forth from it. Without an ironclad defense, the combined forces of Deepwater Territory and the Silvermoon Federation cannot hold out for long. Moreover, no one knows whether a fourth Abyss Lord might suddenly appear.
The longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous the situation will become for Faerûn...
"You little rascals, it seems you're having a lot of fun." A clear, cold voice, like the light of Suren, rang out on the battlefield, determining the final outcome of the battle.
29. The strongest
The portal to the abyss was like a wound tearing through reality, from which twisted demonic figures continuously emerged from a vortex of dark purple energy. However, just as the Crimson Calamity turned to dust, the once-stable portal suddenly trembled violently.
The three quasi-divine forces that were maintaining this interdimensional passage suddenly lost one-third of their support.
On the other side of the abyss, a slender figure floated in the void composed of pure chaos. She was surrounded by a silvery-white radiance, like a star burning in endless darkness. That was Silverfire—the primordial power bestowed upon her chosen ones by the goddess of magic, maintaining a perfect form of order even in the most chaotic core of the abyss.
The name Celinesh is legendary in the long history of Faerûn.
As the last bastion of glory after the decline of the Elven Empire, she was once the guardian of the Comantho Forest, one of the creators of Misdranor, and a legendary mage who revived the long-lost ancient art of magic locks in Faerûn. In Elvish, "Silynshi" means "guardian of magical secrets," and her very existence is the greatest secret in the history of Faerûn's magic.
Over six hundred years ago, when the nobles of Comantho slaughtered each other for the position of High Overlord, she left the Material Plane in despair and sorrow. Those elven brethren who had once built Mysdranor together revealed their ugliest sides in the face of power. The death of Elavie Irisel was the final straw that broke her spirit—the student she had personally taught, the heir who should have inherited the position of High Overlord and led Comantho to glory, had died at the hands of her own kind.
She could have become the Grand Ruler; the Crown Sword recognized her qualifications. But she chose to leave, taking with her the divine sword that symbolized her dominion and the Diamond Tower she had created, disappearing into the skies of Faerûn.
Over the years, she has traveled through the outer planes, occasionally offering guidance to certain individuals at crucial moments—such as helping Elminster escape Hell during a turbulent year. But she has never truly returned to the Material Plane, not until today.
The tremors of the portal gave her a sense of opportunity. The passage, which originally required suppressing the power of three Abyss Lord-like deities to close, was now being held up by only two forces. More importantly, she sensed a familiar aura emanating from the Prime Material Plane—the power of the new Goddess of Magic, and some other somewhat unexpected presences.
"It seems the time has come."
The sun elf murmured to herself, her voice unusually clear in the chaotic abyss. She slowly closed her eyes, and the silver fire around her intensified, forming a perfect spherical shield. When she opened her eyes again, a resolute light shone in those once gentle eyes.
Six hundred years of wandering, perhaps it's time to come to an end.
A surge of silver light erupted, causing the entire Abyss plane to tremble. The demons that had been wandering in the distance scattered in terror, and even the most frenzied Abyss creatures dared not approach this pure, orderly radiance. Silinxi's figure gradually faded in the light, and the next moment, she transcended the dimensional barrier, stepping once more onto the land of Faerûn.
Or rather, they stepped into the void above Hellgate Castle.
Her appearance came without warning, like the first rays of sunlight suddenly piercing the darkness of an abyss. Everyone was stunned by this sudden change. The chosen ones of the goddess of magic, who were locked in battle with the white dragon lich, the deepwater army that had just repelled the demon legion, and the abyssal creatures preparing for a new attack.
But Casalos was the first to react.
"It's finally here," Tielong thought to itself. It had already deduced this possibility—it also had people above it, and under the current circumstances, it had to ensure that this possibility would come true.