Sara had faced a monster stampede before, most of the veteran militia had, but she would be lying if she ever claimed she wasn't even a little afraid everytime. A stampede was a scary thing, and only the craziest souls could stare one down and not blink.
When she saw the vanguard of the horde approaching, she felt that familiar shiver go down her spine.
It begins.
Turning towards Loki, Sara expected to see the same look of trepidation and determination. Instead, she found a look of grim resolve on the stranger's face, the look of someone who knows they're in over their head.
"What's wrong, Loki?" Sara found herself asking, though she was sure she wouldn't like the answer.
"There's a tyrant behind this," Loki said,
"A tyrant?" She exclaimed, "What do we do?"
"Focus on the horde, I'll figure out what to do about the dragon." Loki directed
Sara gulped, as her body broke out in a cold sweat. As a child she had heard tales of dragons, fearsome beasts of great power, like the great guardian dragons of the east, or the terrible feral dragons of the south. She'd even heard of dragon knights, who rode them into battle.
The thought that she would be facing one of those things in this battle, made her very nearly piss herself in terror. How in the hells were they supposed to fight a f@£king dragon?
Then, all of a sudden, Loki bellowed a thundering war cry as she lifted her staff in the air.
Her cry sent a shock through every militia member on the line. If those monsters got through them, they would ravage their village and put their people in even more danger. Their men, women and children will be subjected to the wrath of the monsters and that damned dragon. They would NOT allow that to happen!
"For Rondel!" Sara decreed, drawing her sword with all the conviction she had within her.
"FOR RONDEL!!" Thundered the many warriors that stood at her side as they surged forwards.
* * *
[War Cry]. A skill that allowed one to rally their forces, increasing their morale and combat ability when faced against a superior enemy. Truly a skill that fit a Commander.
Loki felt fortunate to witness it first-hand as Sara directed her small army at the oncoming horde.
The fighting was brutal, swords, axes and hammers made quick work of whatever monsters came at them, but there was a ridiculous amount of monsters facing them.
Loki did her part as well, using her staff with devastating effectiveness. Although it was made of wood, Loki was able to reinforce it with [Trace].
Loki dodged monster attacks wherever she could, and even delivered her own counterattack, but she still was able to completely avoid damage altogether, her anima was dropping steadily, and even her HP was slowly being chipped away. Every once in a while, she would throw an IED into the horde, just to sow chaos among them. Loki was also aware of Sara's position throughout the battle. Something about the older werebeast woman had piqued the titan's interest and she was now vested in her.
As the fighting went on, Sara was aware of people dying around her, and whenever she came across someone who couldn't be saved she made sure that those they didn't suffer long. That was her burden and responsibility as commander.
Observing the reactions of the horde, Loki determined that they were under the influence of mind-control, nasty stuff, most likely from the tyrant dragon. [Iron Will] made Loki immune to such powers, but she was not sure about the rest of the militia, especially now that most of the monster horde was being dealt with.
She needed to act soon.
"Alright, you lizard f@£k, I know you're watching," Loki sneered at a monster, "I'm calling you out; let's do this."
A deafening roar shook the forest, followed by loud thumping, the sound of something large quickly approaching.
The tyrant dragon emerged from the forest, crushing a nearby monster under its clawed feet, with an overwhelmingly oppressive aura, it was no wonder all the monsters in the region went into a frenzy and started to stampede. It was a superior dragon by the look of it, gleaming green and black scales, with four large metallic horns, and a long serpentine body, ending in a tail covered in large quills. Strangely, the wings on its back seemed to have been shredded beyobd repair, which explained why it was on skulking through the forest. It glared with murderous intent so potent, it sent many to their knees, monsters and werebeast milita alike, though it's focus was squarely on Loki.
"F@£k me, you're bigger than I hoped." Loki muttered to herself as she appraised it;
[STATUS]
Name: Aarem-Marro (named beast)
Race: superior dragon (tyrant)
Age: 234
Sex: female
Karma: chaotic evil
Attribute: poison / mind
Condition: enraged
Level: 596
HP: 84.25%
Anima: 71.62%
[SKILLS]
Apex Predator; Adamantine Skin; Cannibalism; Domination; Dragon Breath (corrosive); Dragon Invulnerability; Dragon Sense; Frenzy; Greed; Heat Resistance; Hostility; Flight; Intimidation; Killer's Joy; Natural Armor; Quill Projectiles; Survival of the Fittest; Telepathy; Tyrant's Buff;
[TITLES]
Tyrant Dragon; Spawn of the Great Devourer; Exile of the East Dragon ; Horror of Croyt; Beast of Dajhev; Great Destroyer; Realm Menace;
The two of them glared at each other, and Loki could sense the tyrant trying and failing to break her mind which just added to it's frustration.
The tyrant whipped it's tail around, launching its quills out at shocking speed. Luckily, it wasn't a wide-area attack, so only the monsters that were near it were struck, however it also seemed to be aiming for Loki.
"C'mon, that's just not fair." Loki complained as she started to run as the tyrant quickly readied for another volley.
Loki knew she couldn't outrun the dragons attack, but she could lure it away from the militia and give them time to get away. Which was why she was not expecting another presence to show up right behind her, or to be shoved to the ground as the dragon shot out its quills again.
When she looked up, she saw Sara standing above her, with several large quills stabbed into her body.
"No!" Loki yelled, catching the other woman and she collapsed, "why would you do that?"
"I... couldn't... let you get hurt..." Sara struggled to say
"I could take it, you can't," Loki chided
"You don't... know that," Sara replied, flashing her an annoying smirk.
Now angered by this unexpected turn of events, Loki stood and turned to the dragon.
"You want a bite of me, eh, you big bitch?" Loki taunted raising her hands wide, "come have a taste then."
The enraged dragon shot its long neck at her, chomping down on the spot she had been standing.
"No!" Sara cried quietly, as the dragon raised its head and roared victoriously, only to start choking a moment later.
The tyrant was hacking and coughing spurts of dragon fire as something –or someone— had apparently been lodged in its throat. After a few minutes of trying to regurgitate its last meal before finally succeeding, puking up one steaming humanoid figure, covered in digestive juices and other stomach content.
Loki was disoriented from her ordeal, she was covered in stuff she'd rather not think about and smelled worse than she'd care to imagine. She wiped her face and looked up at the dragon.
{You reek of divine starlight,} it snarled in her mind,
"So you can communicate," Loki said, "you're just a bitch, then?"
It growled, examining her, {your kind is myth and legend, you should not be,}
"You know of me?" Loki demanded, "tell me!"
{You should flee, little fallen thing,} it said, mockingly, {before I decide to devour you once more. The taste of starlight is quite... addicting.}
It was clear to Loki that it didn't intend to elaborate further.
"I hope you like spicy food, then," Loki said,
{What do you mean?} it demanded, uneasy
"Nothing, I just left a few presents in your gullet on my way out." Loki said innocently
A few moments later, the sound of muffled explosions could be heard coming from inside the dragon, causing its long neck to bulge.
As if in a final act of revenge before death, the tyrant dragon screamed at Loki, which incidentally led to an upchuck of bloody viscera and other gory chunks of innards all over her.
While it's scales were tough as adamantite, its insides were still vulnerable, and were now pretty much mush, even though its exterior was still intact.
After barfing all over Loki, it collapsed to the ground dead.
"F@£k you, you f@£king piece of s#!t lizard bitch!" Loki yelled annoyed to be covered in more dragon sick. In her tirade she slipped on some dragon guts and fell flat on her back.
With the death of the tyrant dragon, the few remaining monsters were free of it's control and took the opportunity to flee. Despite suffering heavy casualties, the militia were victorious.
Loki ignored their cries of victorious celebration as she heard a chime go off in her head;
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SUBJUGATED A TYRANT SUPERIOR DRAGON! YOU HAVE GAINED 5,000PNTS FOR YOUR EFFORTS! YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED 11 ANIMA DROPS FOR YOUR SERVICE! YOU HAVE EARNED THE TITLES [TYRANT SLAYER] [TROJAN WARRIOR] YOU HAVE GAINED PROFICIENCY IN SEVERAL SKILLS! YOU HAVE LEVELED UP[X10]!]
[YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE SKILLS [SYNTHESIS] AND [GREY SHIFT]!]
[YOU HAVE A NEW MESSAGE!]
She then opened the new message on her system;
[CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING YOUR QUEST, SLAYING THE TERRIBLE DRAGON TYRANT AND DEFEATING THE MONSTER STAMPEDE. AS PROMISED, I WILL NOW GIVE YOU FENRIS' LOCATION. AND, AS A BONUS FOR A JOB WELL DONE, I'LL THROW IN 4 OTHER GOODIES, A GIFT FROM ME FOR SUCH AN ENTERTAINING SHOW.
MORE QUESTS WILL COME AROUND FROM TIME TO TIME WITH ADEQUATELY COMPELLING REWARDS. GOOD JOB.
-ADMIN 0]
Then another window prompt came up;
[YOU HAVE BEEN GIFTED 5 REWARDS FROM ADMIN 0!]
"I'm really starting to hate you, Admin 0," she sighed to herself, she was in desperate need of a long hot bath.