Chapter 216 - [A Mountain Of War And Death] 1/?: Casually Killing A Few Dragons
-----
Foraging within the vast forest a group of charismatic-looking people explored the greenery. The sun shined brightly in a golden hue, bathing with its light the beautiful scenery.
??
Packed with many essential things, Ervas and Veronica alongside a large group had settled into an expedition towards the mountains that surrounded the Devil Forest, looking for a small adventure while getting stronger through the exploration of the two labyrinths within the mountains, and at the same time, while grabbing in a few allies, such as the Bear-kin and Harpy Tribes.
The group consisted of Ervas, Veronica, Jason, Aqua, Charlotte, Ismene, Amelia, Anna, Acathea, Pekorina, Pekoran, Gaius, Alesia, Leonidas, and many more, especially a ton of monsters, mostly all of the tamed monsters of Veronica and Ervas.
Of course, Spirits such as Shade and Gaia were always with their masters, so they were usually not counted because they would always stick to the pair.
The group, however, did not simply travel around the forest, as it was far too inefficient, yeah, it was very pretty indeed, but it was not what they were aiming for.
So instead of exploring the forest until reaching the mountains, Veronica had decided to shapeshift into a gigantic, almost ten meters long train-like structure, that flew purely through the use of the No Attribute Magic Spell 'Levitate', alongside her and Ervas Mana, it was an easy Job to fly through such long distances without worrying much.
"Woah, everything from above looks so pretty!" said Amelia, as she glanced through the skies over the vast Devil Forest, glancing at the beautiful horizon and the approaching mountains.
Veronica had designed her new transformation to be almost exactly like a train would be, with several sits, and many windows for everyone to look outside to not get bored, the breeze was rather strong today, giving the place a cold and relaxing feeling.
"T-This is a bit terrifying, peko! What if we fall?!" asked Pekorina.
"Come on, Pekorina, you still fear heights?" chuckled Acathea.
"I don't fear heights, peko!" said Pekorina with a bit of fury in her blazing eyes.
"Now, now, don't get all pumped up, my daughter, Ervas-sama and Veronica-sama said that we should take it easy for now until we reach our destination," said Pekoran, who had taken a smaller size, only resembling a two-meters tall Living Armor.
"Yeah! Relax for a bit, Pekorina," said Amelia.
"Girls, come here, lunch is ready!" said Ismene's voice as the girls glanced at the south of the giant floating Train, there were several Ervas made out of phantom cooking food and distributing it in bento boxes.
"Please serve yourself," they said.
"Ah, Ervas' cooking is so good!" said Leonidas.
"I am starving…" said Goliath.
"Hey, you're an Undead, you don't even feel hunger," said Gaius.
"Well, then… I just want to eat, maybe out of anxiety," said Goliath as he began to dig in an extra-large bento box for him.
"Oh yeah, I get that I am incredibly anxious as well, I haven't talked to my dad in… I think years since I left the place…" said Gaius.
"Don't worry man, you won't be alone on this," said Goliath.
"You're very reassuring for an Undead, Goliath," said Gaius with a smile.
"Yeah? That is what they say, haha!" laughed Goliath as he drank some ale.
"These bento boxes are awesome, I like the compact sizes, it let me eat a ton!" said Leonidas.
"Leonidas, you're once again eating too much, save some more for the younglings," said Alesia, reprimanding the Ghoul man.
"But Ervas-sama said that I could eat as much as I wanted!" said Leonidas.
"Yeah? Well, I guess…" said Alesia as she sighed.
"Men always like to eat a lot, Alesia, you should already know this by this point…" said Ismene at Alesia's side.
"Yeah, I guess I should stop caring…" said Alesia.
"Where is Veronica by the way? Well, I know we are inside of her… but she usually shows up as her Soul or Phantom" said Anna.
"Ah, she's with Ervas' main body in the front of the train, they seem to be planning things-"
CLASH!
Suddenly, as the party was enjoying a nice lunch, a loud clash resonated within the train, the train, Veronica, barely shacked though, as she possessed the 'Rough Road Travel' and 'Comfort Maintenance' Skills in her, which let her interior be comfy and almost unhinged by exterior obstacles or impacts.
However, the loud crashing sound was still heard, as the walls vibrated a bit through it.
"Veronica! What is going?" asked Anna with a worried voice.
Veronica's voice resonated through the entire train.
"Ah, don't worry, some slight annoyances got in the way, but we are handling it with Aqua, and the rest," said Veronica's voice.
"Obstacles…?" asked Ismene, Alesia, and Anna.
Just what kind of obstacle could even generate such a loud clashing sound into Veronica's armor body to the point of generating vibrations?
Meanwhile, from outside of Veronica's interior, a ferocious battle between giant monsters unfolded. An enormous reptile with a long, snake-like body and a giant jaw with two flashing golden eyes and covered in emerald scales emerged from within the clouds of the almost clear sky.
Roaring with fury, the monstrous behemoth released thunder sparks towards Veronica alongside tornadoes, impacting her greatly!
CLASH! BOOM!
"GROOOOWL!"
From within the clouds, more of these creatures heard the creature's roar, emerging to help it out.
"Huh? Are those Rank 9 Windstorm Dragons and Thunderstorm Dragons?! We hit a jackpot!" said Veronica, completely unaffected by the enormous attack that fell upon her.
"Hm, let me help you out, Nyarlathotep, Cthulhu, Shoggoth, go!" said Ervas as he appeared atop Veronica's train-shaped body, the three otherworldly monsters emerged from within the accessories on his body and flew at great speed towards the nearest Windstorm Dragon, entangling it with their tentacles and amorphous bodies, while releasing magic and mental attacks one after another!
"OBJBJBJ!"
"BILILILI!"
"SHOOOOGH!"
The Windstorm Dragon tried to counterattack by throwing off wind blades, cutting off the creatures into pieces!
Flash! Flash! Flash!
"GROOWL!" roared the Windstorm Dragon with a triumphant tone, only to find out that the entities quickly regenerated!
"Aura of Healing," said Ervas, conjuring a Life Attribute Dead Spirit Magic, using the help of both Gaia and Alraune, an aura of incredibly healing properties covered most of the vicinity, only affecting those that Ervas wanted to.
Such powerful regenerative abilities were not just his healing, as the three otherworldly monsters were able to easily regenerate even if cut down into pieces due to their unique psychologies. Even Cthulhu who was the least shapeshifter and amorphous of the three survived by only letting its tentacles be cut off, regenerating them in an instant afterward.
"Growl?!" roared the Windstorm Dragon in confusion, as the three otherworldly monsters leaped over it once again, entangling it with their vicious bodies and beginning their counterattack!
"GRRRYARR!" roared Thunderstorm Dragon as it flew to help out who seemed to be its ally, only to find itself stopped by an enormous and floating mass of water carrying a giant, five meters tall, armored spider atop its body.
"Mommy said that we have to dispose of you, so die without annoying our trip, gishi!" said Charlotte as she fiercely released a large web of her metallic spider threads, covering the Thunderstorm Dragon almost completely!
"GROWL!" roared the Thunderstorm Dragon in confusion as it tried to blow the thread with its thunderstorm breath, only to find that the thread was incredibly tight around its entire body!
"Come here!" said Charlotte, pulling the dragon towards her as she bared her fangs, biting the Dragon's flesh as she even penetrated its hard scales.
"GRRRYARR! GROWL!" roared the Thunderstorm Dragon in pain, Aqua quickly helped Charlotte in retaining the creature as it expanded its liquid body around like tentacles while beginning to immediately digest the creature as well, slowly dissolving its scales…
"I've never tasted Dragon meat, I wonder how it will be, gubo!" said Aqua.
"GGRRRYYARRR! GRRYARR!" cried the Thunderstorm Dragon, quickly falling into despair as its thunder attacks seemed to not affect the two at all… the creature quickly realized that both of them were covered in some kind of special magic that decreased Thunder damage into them…
"Foo, foo," said a tiny cloud floating over Aqua, Sylphid helped out the pair by conjuring the 'Wind Attribute Damage Resistance' Spell into both Aqua and Charlotte, with Veronica's Mana, it was able to constantly conjure it without having to worry over the high consumption rate that it was needed for the magic to resist a Rank 9 Thunderstorm Dragon's attacks.
To the other side of the sky battlefield, Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, and Shoggoth had already finished off the Windstorm Dragon with utmost ease, gaining a great flow of Experience Points, immediately bringing the corpse back to Ervas.
"Thanks, we'll make this for dinner," said Ervas with a smile, extending his hands into spectral claws and petting the three adorable otherworldly entities.
Across the battlefield, another Windstorm Dragon struggled to survive as it was being showered in countless spheres of darkness and fireballs of several meters of height.
"Grroowl!" it cried.
"You're not getting away…" said Legion, conjuring countless spells over the flying behemoth while Ozgeth became dozens of Dark Bullets that began to tear down the giant draconic creature through the air.
"To think that we can use Dead Spirit Magic without even needing our lords!" said Ozgeth.
Both Ozgeth and Legion were using Ervas and Veronica's Dead Spirit Magic to convert themselves into spells without the need for their command, unleashing powerful attacks one after another.
"Such strength… Do I even have to do something myself?" wondered Veronica.
"Their power is due to our Strengthen Followers Skills effective them twice, which almost doubles all of their stats while being below our command," said Ervas.
"Yeah, I know, we'll steamroll the dungeons I guess," said Veronica with a chuckle.
The Windstorm and Thunderstorm Dragons roared in pain and anger as they were caught one after another by a myriad of beasts commanded by the split souls, some of them were eaten straight away while others would serve as ingredients for tonight's dinner.
-----