Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 246: Clash of dragons

BOOM!

Fires sparks up in the air as a few stony rocks falls down onto the ground and falls with great shaking.

The group look at awe from the ground as the dragon attack Arial and each one of their clash produce sparks that can even be seen from the ground.  

Gust of wind formed when they attack each other which in turn, turn to gale. Storms of fire formed around their battle.

Scratches fill the wall surfaces from the missed dragon claws and Arial sword strikes, leaving a deep gash on either side of the cavern walls.

Once in a while the cavern trembles when the dragon tries to whip its tail to Arial, bringing down large boulders of rocks to crash into the ground.

The second level of the cavern ceiling has already been destroyed by the dragon but Arial keep using the wall surface which is narrow, maneuvering himself, jumping around using his Wind God technique to fight in equal ground with the dragon.

He must not let this advantage be taken away from him. Narrow, means he can push the dragon down if he attacks it from a high position.

It also could help him block the dragon from flying to the third layer.

With one of the dragon eye blind, the dragon finds it hard to judge the direction and the distance between it and him

It keeps trying to claw him and using its tail against Arial as Arial keep attacking the dragon without rest.

The group observes the battle, their pride and self-esteem shattered. They could not believe that one human could stand tall fighting a dragon by himself.

One of the Orc speak

'Luckily we did not get involved in the war against human.'

'Yes, that would be terrible' one of them nodded.

'If we did, imagine, how could we defeat the humans. If one of them could even fight in equal ground with a dragon, imagine a thousand of them.'

They shudder thinking such scenario

'Orcs will be hunted into extinction don't you think? I still remember the scary stories of The Great Avenger Levitia my grandmother used to tell me' The others nodded.

The Kobold also agrees. In their hearts they are grateful that their King signs the treaty.

'We have a wise King' one of the Kobold chimed in.

Other nodded in agreement.

Of course these orcs and Kobolds don't know that not many humans possess Arial strength or internal energy.

But to them, they only understand strength and their conclusion is made because they believe Arial is a young man and surely they are people stronger than him.

Not to mention this group has never venture outside the Dark Lands. If they did, they will realize a person like Arial is rare to find.

Velamina look and believe she has found the man of her prophecy. The prophecy rings in her ears.

'Peerless under the sky' she muttered.  

With every strike, the cavern shakes with great trembling and the dragon are forced down every time by Arial forceful strike until the dragon reached near the first ceiling it broke.

It enters the range of the archers. Velamina noticed this stroke of luck and she do not intend for it to go to waste. She yelled.

'NOW!'

Velamina ordered the archers to shoot their arrows. They quickly and fiercely shot their arrows.

Barrage of arrows fly toward the dragon.

The dragon uses its wing to deflect the arrows but some of it penetrate it chest and it roar in defiance.

The dragon then breathe fire to the top ceiling, as a gigantic fireball spew out from its mouth and with great speed, the fireball broke the third layer while fiery stones crumbled from above and fall to the ground.

The sun from outside penetrated the dark caverns and light emerges. The blue sky can be seen from the ground.

The dragon has managed to destroy the third layer. The group now is confident. The dragon is losing. It is trying to fly away.

Below, the ground group scrambled themselves away from the falling stones.

Velamina instruction and the Elves water barrier and Earth Wall really saved many lives from being crumbled by the fiery stones.

Arial dodge the falling stones and he even have to avoid the arrows of his own groups, barrages of arrows that is aimed at the dragon open spot.

Arial jumped in mid-air and once again he produces a powerful strike.

So powerful it created a sound wave that blew all the archers near the hills while the Orcs, Kobold and Dwarves had to shut their ears with their hands.

'He is a Conqueror. A man born under the star of the Conqueror' the word slipped out of Velamina lips.

The third ceiling was destroyed just a moment ago from the dragon breath but Arial manage to bring the dragon down with his incredible strike.

It was like thunder is rumbling every time they clashed.

Storm, thunder and fire.

And the sun is shining down Arial figure from the top of the cavern, creating a feeling of seeing something divine, like the Advent of Angels or a descent of a God onto the mortal world.

For the third time in the battle, the group stood frozen, some rubbing their eyes looking at Arial lone figure beating the dragon down from the top.

The sun on his back, the sound of his sword strike and the roar of the dragon, they are transfixed on the true power of their commander.

A man that rivaled the dragons.

Only a few men in history ever reach such level of power. The Four Brothers and Levitia and his companion come to mind.

The young man they are seeing right now, is on the same path of these great men.

'Unbelievable' they uttered the words again.

That is all they could say. They have never seen such domineering power, or such imposing pressure.

The killing intent of both of them, the dragon and their commander is suffocating.

'Look' Velamina said to the Kobolds.

'That is an existence you rarely seen. Blood of Light is in him.' The kobold and the Orc nodded, admiration in their eyes.

At that time, the group fears, admiration, envy and awe turned to reverence.

Arial is on the air using the downward force of his sword strike to force the dragon down.

Arial knows he could not let the dragon pass him.

If the dragon manages to get outside, it will fly away or worse, burn them from the sky, and blast him and his group straight to the High Heavens.

Every strike requires him to use considerable internal energy.

He fears that the cavern could not handle both of their battle and he fears that the cavern will collapse on itself because of their intense fighting.

Even he realizes this is the first time, he uses his full power and the blade is helping him. He notices that.

Blood is flowing from his arm, black blood.

The poison is reacting wildly since he is using an enormous amount of internal energy to fight the beast, his hand is numb after all the strikes he employed but he could not stop.

He must not stop. He will not stop. Else he would lose. And losing man dying. And he now has too much to lose

So, he did not stop. He continues striking at the dragon. His strike is like a storm. Fast and merciless.

Then luckily the elves began attacking the dragon with barrage of arrows which help Arial to take a little break as he jumps around the wall surface dodging the tail whip and fire from the mouth of the dragon.

It is at this time he executed the Heaven Punishment style.josei

The motion of his swordsmanship is smooth and moved freely on his hand, free as the cloud, unpredictable like the winds.

He attacked at the wounds of the dragon, the chest, slashing the dragon eyes countless time, inflicting pain while the dragon roar and spouted fire but since its accuracy dropped Arial maneuvered himself around the dragon with full confidence.

He runs around its neck, and then jump to the caverns wall before kicking the wall and once again catapulted back and executes another attack.

He did this a few times before he changes the pattern of his attack.

Even though, the dragon look like it is getting weaker, he could not take it easy or lax down his guard. This is a dragon after all.

On the ground, the group admiration deepened as they are preparing to attack the dragon when it falls to the ground.

Arial movement did not leave their eyes, but few could really see him. He was too fast for them to see.

They looked left; he is already on the right. They look right, he is on the left. Only a flash on the corner of their eyes indicates that their commander has changed his position

And when Arial executed his style the Kobold looked more in awe.

The mysterious sword movement, freely connecting attack, and smooth but unpredictable connecting actions.

He was like a storm, unceasing to strike, merciless and terrifying. Arial shine even more. And this is when it happens.

The black blade of the Shadowslasher begin emitting dark aura around it and this time the crowd of spectators in the ground is more shocked and gasped in disbelief.

Now every strike that Arial employed is more powerful, creating a shock wave every time it strikes, breaking the dragon scales and inflicting real injuries to the dragon.

The dragon scale failed to block the strike.

It was like woodblock and Arial is chopping it with ease. A scale that is said to be stronger than diamond is effortlessly destroyed by Arial strike.

'He destroyed the scale' one Dark Elves said looking upwards as the dragon scale keep peeling off and the group dodge the falling scales.

Blood of the dragon fall like rain as the people on the ground is drenched with droplets of the dragon injuries.

'He….is winning' Velamina said, her voice is shaking. Seeing his prowess one might even say he didn't even need his army.