City of Sin Book 5, Chapter 59

Fighting A Legend
As the purple flames finally flickered away, the only remains of the shadowspear knight were what looked like a bunch of vaguely humanoid wax. A bunch of the knights nearby had been thrown to the ground, but only two or three had suffered any serious injuries. By the time they struggled back up, Nyra had healed most of them to their optimal state.
Stardragon’s face contorted with surprise. His strike had been meant to destroy the entire squad, but there was only one casualty in the end while most of those remaining were perfectly fine. He had only seen this sort of defensive strength on one kind of soldier before, those the enemies called rune knights.
Richard sighed with relief, waving the Twin of Destiny to summon a bolt of lightning from the sky. Stardragon’s eyes widened in surprise as the impact hurt far more than he expected, but he still shrugged off the spell without issue. His brows wrinkled as he turned towards Richard, preparing to flash over and kill the enemy commander.
However, a loud roar suddenly shook the sky. Kaloh’s enormous body rushed through a newly formed portal, and the red dragon immediately shot a breath attack in Stardragon’s direction.
“The Dragon Mage!” Stardragon shouted in annoyance; this was evidently not the first time he had dealt with Lina. Kaloh was only level 19, but the dragon was a pain to deal with when backed by a grand mage.
As Stardragon flashed out of range of the dragon breath, he suddenly felt his movements slowing down. Richard, Demi, Lina, and Zendrall had constantly bombarded him with Stall spells until one finally succeeded. Kaloh simultaneously surged with added power, swooping down on him like a bird of prey.
Man and dragon struggled in the air, equally matched for a period of time. Stardragon constantly dodged Kaloh’s claws and teeth, waiting for the effects on him to end, but just as he assumed he was alright Lina finished her second grade 9 spell. Dozens of javelins were lit aflame with draconic fire as the rune knights launched them towards Stardragon at full force. His heart almost stopped beating for a moment as he saw the shadow of death looming over him; every javelin had the strength of a saint’s full-power strike, and they had all been enhanced by draconic flames!
The javelins formed beautiful arcs in the air as they shot towards their target. No longer arrogant, Stardragon shook off the curse and started to flee, but the javelins curved their paths as they remained locked onto him. He screamed with rage, zipping through the sky in a big arc in a bid to exhaust the energy driving their tracking functions.
However, it was at this point that a number of arcane and divine spells flashed out from the battlefield below. His purple aura flickered as he was hit by a a barrage of attacks. Richard suddenly waved the Twin of Destiny once more, bringing a thick bolt of blood lightning down from the sky. This lightning had been boosted to grade 9 and further augmented by his abyssal flames, and when it crashed down it ripped right through Stardragon’s aura and tore into his back. Stardragon roared with pain, and the moment of stagnation was enough for the javelins behind to catch up!
Face pale, Richard put his staff back down and stared at the enemy who was almost buried by the spears. Even a legendary powerhouse in the style of Klandor’s totem warriors wouldn’t find it easy to shrug off a lightning bolt of that calibre that had been boosted by Sacrifice. Just that single blow was enough to dissipate half of Stardragon’s aura.
A deafening roar thundered through the battlefield as purple flames exploded from Stardragon’s location, blowing away most of the javelins that had almost struck him. Still, about ten javelins that had been at the back managed to pierce through this improvised defence and left him leaking blood. The draconic flames instantly burnt up his clothes, and half of his braided beard was ripped apart as well. His protective aura was flickering in and out of existence, clearly about to collapse.
Starting to breathe roughly, Stardragon suddenly widened his eyes in surprise as the remaining half of the rune knights took out their own javelins. This time it wasn’t Lina enchanting the attack, but Flowsand’s Metal Storm. The new batch didn’t have the power of the draconic flames, but it flew much faster and threatened to pierce right through!
Kaloh roared out once more, launching another breath attack before diving down on the enemy. Countless spells were launched from underneath, almost drowning Stardragon in resplendent light. However, in the middle of all this, his eyes widened at the sight of a grey orb of energy floating towards him. He immediately chose to flash a hundred metres away, bearing the brunt of some of these attacks just to escape. Most of the spells and all the javelins continued to follow.
Down below, Nyra tutted in annoyance. The grey orb of light wasn’t specifically eye-catching, but its time-warping power was so great that any decent powerhouse would notice it. It was easy to avoid, but if it struck, the disruption to space nearby would immediately restrict one’s ability to act.
Stardragon smashed away several of the incoming javelins, restricting the injuries he sustained, but now he wouldn’t dare approach Richard’s party. Only a minute had passed since the battle began, but his heart chilled at the sight of the enemies standing firm while he was bleeding all over. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined the enemy would amass so many of their rune knights.
It was at this point that the earth began to tremble, the hundred warriors summoned by Stardragon finally entering the battlefield. The saints from the fortress were on their way as well. Every one of these soldiers approached three metres in height, towering over both the rune knights and the shadowspear knights; in that respect, they were quite akin to the barbarians of Klandor. Their skin was thicker and warmer than normal as well, evidenced by just how little they wore despite the freezing cold.
These warriors maintained thick beards and long, braided hair, carrying heavy weapons like greatswords, battleaxes, and two-handed hammers. Not one of them had a shield, but their murderous aura made it obvious that it wasn’t a problem in battle. The most striking of all were the strange patterns of various colours snaking all over their bodies. Some were of all manners of beasts, but the others made no sense.
Richard recalled what Senma had told him about the local warriors of the plane. Their characteristics were quite similar to barbarians, born tall, strong, and unafraid of the cold. They were said to have the bloodline of the ancient frost giants, with each warrior carrying the totems of their clans to obtain extra power. They were to this plane what rune knights were to Norland, except not as extreme. Most were between level 12 and 15, with their totemic activations giving them one additional level of power. Stardragon was the only one on the plane capable of commanding a platoon of an entire hundred.
Stardragon started circling around the rune knights, maintaining great distance as his subordinates rushed in. However, Richard just sneered and sent a mental command to the shadowspear knights who hadn’t yet moved. These elites were about equal in level, but even in a ten-to-ten fight, the shadowspears had a clear advantage because of their coordination. Now Richard’s troops outnumbered the enemy three to one, the only outcome of this collision would be a harvest of lives!
Stardragon’s expression was calm at first, but then his eyes bulged in shock as his soldiers were slaughtered one after the other. Despite his caution, he had never assumed that even the regular knights of this new army would outpower his absolute elites!