FVN Chapter 358: Chapter LXXXI: Escalating Once Again
Chapter 358: Chapter LXXXI: Escalating Once Again
Chapter 358: Chapter LXXXI: Escalating Once Again
(Minthara's POV)
The pitiful little worm trashes around, squealing like a stuck pig as the dragonrending curse makes him even weaker to the trap it was stuck in, the stones now easily penetrating the scales from within.
Furious shouts flatten the ground around me but Reyvin makes sure to lead Alduin's aim away from me while annoying the bastard as much as he could.
In a blink I am already standing before the freshly revived dragon, Sahloknir. Not that the name mattered as wicked grin twists my face, he won't be needing it for much longer.
Without a hint of warning or wasting any time on taunts I heft Dovakren with both my arms, its weight settling within my grip perfectly, and swing at its head. The worm twists on sheer instinct and places his wing in my way, bolstering it with a claw so that I could not simply cut through his attempt at defense.
Dovakren's enchantments burst into life and my wicked grin turns outright deranged as flesh and bone part like so much parchment and both are torn off in a gout of dragon's blood.
Sahloknir wails in pain, shuddering and twisting and trying to roll away but my body had already shifted into another swing, my arms twisting with perfect precision so as to keep the momentum from my previous strike going.
The dragon's eyes widen in a panic but it is already too late as my hammer lands and its head is split in two, bathing me in its blood and brain matter, and a moment later its soul as well.
My soul demands that I roar out in triumph but I hold myself back, twisting around just in time to see Aludin exclaim at the loss of his servant and get stabbed by Reyvin's knife, which was now shrouded in his own divine aura.
My soul was far less enthusiastic about something so dangerous to myself but all I could do was grin in approval as the aura surged and slammed into the deceptively tiny wound in World Eater's neck.
My eyes blinked on their own due to the light show and in the next instant I saw a massive burst of blood and even some bone shower Reyvin's previous position, his paranoid mind no doubt making him dodge just in case as he appeared above Alduin, his staff already pointing down and searing the World Eater's back with disintegration magic.
Akulakhan was not far either and the giant automaton was already stabbing the dragon's back leg with his glaive, doing more damage with the force of the strike than the actual blade of the weapon as the leg twisted to deflect the blow almost on its own.
Said leg lashed out in the next instant, smashing into Akulakhan and sending him sprawling back, burying him in a nearby mound but likely leaving him undamaged.
I was already moving the next moment, a whirlwind sprint on my lips as I appeared in front of my hated enemy already halfway through a devastating swing. It would have landed as well had I not been distracted by the sudden appearance of distant roars, the split second of hesitation was all Alduin needed to twist to the side and bat my strike away, his claws bending awkwardly at the contact but still managing to redirect the force away from his face.
Before I could bring my hammer down again he had already managed to recover enough to shout "BO VEN LOK TIID!"
I tried countering his rapid movement by shouting "TIID KLO UL!" And damn near stopping time itself but even slowed down to a comparable crawl he was already outside my reach and attempted to freeze Reyvin who was barely moving at all.
Decision quite easily made I rushed to him and pulled him out of the way just in time for my shout to end and the ground behind Reyvin's previous position to be turned into a flat piece of ice.
"I really need to find a way to counter that bullshit." I hear Reyvin curse "Think we can down him before he manages to heal?" He asks me with a grin.
An expression I return as he grabs my shoulder and we both appear above the World Eater, his form already twisting around to counter our assault, but far too slowly to actually manage it as Reyvin foregoes any form of damage to blast his eyes with the brightest beam of light I had
ever seen.
My fall took me a split second, another rapid "TIID KLO UL!" Leaving my throat as time slowed down once again. Alduin was already going through his own words, leaving me with a mere three seconds to act.
And act I did as my hands blurred, aided by the winds and empowered by ironflesh, I slammed Dovakren into his spine again and again and again, shattering scale and breaking bone, twisting the so called god below me with the sheer might of our blows.
He was already falling hurtling to the ground when his head painfully twisted and a wordless roar sent me hurtling at Reyvin's stunned form, both of us thrown off balance by the sudden strike for a whole two seconds.
Just enough for the World Eater to make some distance and Reyvin to teleport us to the ground, standing across the heavily wounded dragon who was glaring at us like we had just killed his entire menagerie of pets.
Good.
(A certain old tyrant's POV)
Ah, mother's skies were so pleasant today, the clouds caressing my aging scales a boon to the body, the mind and the spirit. A satisfied hum leaves me as I twist and turn through the delightfully fluffy concentration of floating water, just what I needed for a good morning's wash.
A pair of roars joins my elder brother's wails of pain. It would seem that even in his arrogance he had not forgotten the use of strategy and planning.
A pity, truly. Still, I could not help but anticipate a good bout of true Tinvak.
The Dovahkiin was talented but still far too young to hold proper conversation.
Here is to hoping my younger siblings could keep up then.
(Zarok's POV)
Another of the undead falls lifelessly to the ground as I bisect its head, stopping it from skewering Hilderbrand's flank and opening the way to a tired Tiberius.
The swordswoman calling herself Delphine rushes to my side and stops another duo of the more powerful undead from ganging up on me and buys me enough time to turn and face them, our combined might soon bringing them down and opening our way to face even more of the shambling fuckers and their idiotic mortal worshippers.
Still, for all our ability to cut them down in droves my men were falling all around me due to fatigue and bad luck. If nothing changed we would soon be overwhelmed.
And then, as if summoned by my words, the living enemy back lines begin to shift in what I could easily tell was panic as what I could barely identify as a bunch of hunched clawed pale undead threw themselves at them with reckless abandon, slashing, gouging, cutting, and outright devouring some of them.
I almost pitied the poor fuckers who were still alive as a maw with far too many teeth buried itself into their bodies and took chunks of meat out, and soon what were once boisterous challenges and battle cries was replaced with shrieks of terror and wails of pain.
And there, in the corner of the cavern, sitting on a gods damned armchair and munching on a sweetroll sat the necromancer, completely uncaring for the butchery happening around him, only really pausing his meal to write down something in a large book in his lap.
I wanted to curse at the bastard but you don't shit where you eat so I just grunted my irritation and continued butchering the fuckers lucky enough to get to die by an actual weapon.
And then those dragons I conveniently managed to make myself forget about roared once again, reminding of why exactly I was panicking like a whelp.
A pair of them, a smaller blue one and a red one, both of the bastards the same ones from Windhelm. A part of me was quite gleeful at the lack of the third dragon, the same one who murdered my men and got himself devoured for the trouble.
A much larger part was doing its best to convince me to run the fuck away as the blue one was heading straight for our damned position!
My heart sank then, as I saw a distant cloud twist and another much larger grey dragon burst from its confines, the familiar roar of "FUUUS RO DAH!" Thundering across the battlefield and to my surprise smashing into the blue dragon, swatting him away as if he were a fly and launching him across my line of sight and straight into a nearby empty hill, straight up burying the poor bastard alive.
"Oh, it would seem that Her Ladyship did converse with the hermit after all." The old man Esbern muses, his tone belonging more in a library than on a battlefield.
I gave him a look, which he of course ignored because fuck common sense I guess, and promptly decided this was not within my paygrade. Maybe smashing another dozen skulls will make me forget the day's insanity?
Oh who was I kidding, I was going to be dreaming about this for years.
I miss the slums...
(Back to Partysnacks and Odahviing)
"Now that the whelp has been dealt with." Paarthurnax's voice is as calm as a still pond as he turns to Odahviing "Would you care to indulge this old Dovah with some Tinvak, Zeymah?" The crimson warlord would forever swear to all those who asked that he did not gulp in fear at
the kindly old dragon's question.
(Reyvin's POV)
"Don't give him time to recover!" I snap and replace my staff with Auri-El's Bow, the shinning arrow in my grip charging up with a good third of my Magicka reserve.
Minthara does not hesitate, calling out a whirlwind sprint and appearing below Aludin's jaw
already swinging up.
Predictably, the big black and burned dodges to the side and exactly into the path of my
magically guided arrow, his instincts saving him from losing an eye as he tilted his head down
banishing Alduin to what I vaguely recognized as Sovengarde from the imagery gathering behind the suddenly existent portal behind him.
He ranted and raged against his father's 'game' something which I tangentualy agreed with
him on but saw no reason to voice it as he was pushed further and further back. Though the particular threat of "YOU MAY HAVE TRICKED BORMAHU INTO BANISHING ME BUT HOW WILL YOUR PITIFUL VILLAGES FARE WITHOUT THEIR DEFENDERS?" Apparently Minthara was feeling just as petty as her ancient sibling and decided to send him on his way with another dragonrend, jut for good measure.
How nice of her to give me an opening.
Before Alduin was forcefully banished, a comparatively tiny speck of mettal whizzed next to
his face, the unassuming little sliver of light tapping against the dragon's massive crimson eye and promptly turning it to unhealable mush as the Mortal's Razor exploded with power
and neatly bounced back toward my grip.
Heh.
I turn to the far too smug looking General Tullius and grin "If you were a woman I would fall
in love!"
The man's lip twitches in amusement, doubly so as I feel Minthara smack my shoulder just hard enough to make me wince but not enough to outright break it.
I glare at the pouting woman and roll my eyes "Right then, is the fighting outside finished?"
Tullius nods "Your colleague is chasing down whoever remains of the cultists, him and a group of... particularly enthusiastic soldiers. They should be hunted down in mere hours." "Good." I nod, my shoulders slackening a bit.
"You did hear the World Eater mention other attacks, yes?" The General probes a moment
later.
"Yeah, yeah." I wave him off "Just catching my breath."
Suddenly I feel the telltale tingle of restoration magic affecting me from behind and I turn to
see a slightly shy Minthara casting a rather advanced heal spell on me, one which could in fact
remove fatigue.
I couldn't help myself then I smiled and began messing with her hair, promptly earning
myself a shove and a swift flight to the nearby palisade wall.
I looked up to the expressionless helmeted form of Akulakhan's face "My master, I do believe
you should research the meatbag concept of self preservation once we return to your grand
halls."
I flip him off.
(General POV)
Atop a majestic balcony, three figures sat across each other divided by an ornate table crafted
by a grandmaster and topped with bottles of wine expensive enough that even those numbered amongst the nobility could only brag that they had heard it existed. All of them took measured sips, enjoying each moment as the magically lightened winds
shuffled their opulent robes and one particularly eye caching pointed hat. The shortest of their number, his eyes having been closed for an hour now, finally snaps his
gaze open, the red orbs revealed shining with excited light "The time has come, colleagues mine!"
The old Nord man beside him sighed tiredly before nodding to himself and slowly getting up "I really enjoyed my retirement you know." He shakes his head "But I guess if a man wishes to
live forever he shall also fight forever." He cracks his neck, snaps his fingers, and a wave of
immensely powerful Magicka roils off his form. What was once a kindly old man swiftly transforms, his spine straightening and his shoulders
losing their slouch, the grey hair and beard he was so proud of regaining its vibrant black
sheen and his once tired grey eyes becoming alight with icy blue. "Ahhh" Tolfdir takes his first truly clear breath in centuries "How I missed the feeling of
youth."
Savos quickly hides his surprised gape, chuckles and then he too rises from his seat "Why play
the 'crotchety old fart' as Phineas would put it then?" The youthful man who had replaced Tolfdir smirks and winks "An experiment." "Lie not to yourself colleague mine, you enjoy teaching far too much and wanted to keep the
students at ease!" Shalazar squeaks, suddenly standing at the backrest of his armchair. "Guilty." Tolfdir chuckles.
Shaking his head in amusement, Savos turns to the south and casts a quick spell, the distant
skies becoming clearly visible to him as he observed a trio of large hurtling forms charging
straight at the city below them "They are coming."
"Indeed!" Shalazar claps his hands excitedly "What a foolish bunch the lizards make" He giggles "Powerful their shouts may be but a wizard that makes them not!" "And I am sure the resident wizard lizard will be more than happy to show them where they
are lacking." Savos muses as he summons his staff.
Their conversation is interrupted as Tolfdir stretches his rejuvenated muscles, the sound the
action makes akin to grinding stones as a somewhat wild grin spreads on the ancient mage's
face "Last one to make a kill pays for the drinks." He challenges.
By the time he received Savos' cocky nod, Shalazar had already disappeared.
AL DU IN Destroyer Devourer Master
SAHROT RAH SLEN = Might God Flesh
BO VEN LOK TIID = Fly Wind Sky Time
Youth is just a state of mind.
This pearl of wisdom will now cost you all your stones.
No takebasies!
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