Chapter 17: Chapter 16: Commotion

[White Fang Clan]

The next morning Darganth and Allaire woke up due to the sound of shouts coming from the deck. Making their way through the now chaotic corridors, they reached the deck of the ship just to find an even more chaotic scene.

The tribesmen that had been on deck were currently either lying scattered around, unconscious or dead, or were fending of barrages of attacks. These barrages consisted mainly out of different projectiles formed out of water, with four giant squid like arms also made from water striking against the defenders from time to time. The attackers themselves hadn't even left the safety of the ocean and already dealt considerable damage with only these attacks.

Turning to Allaire, he saw that she had already activated her external aura. Looking at him she gave him a nod. Bringing his arm around her waist, he activated his own aura before flying towards the horizontal wooden beams holding the sails in place. Landing on there, he let go of Allaire before flying even higher.

Now that she had a high position, allowing her better lines of fire, she could help him in attacking the enemy. Searching through the water, he found over a dozen magic beasts evolved from fish. While they weren't a species he knew of, he was quite sure that the water projectiles were an innate ability and not formed by elemental control. This meant that he would not have to worry about them using the water as weapons, making it possible to get under water without being attacked from all sides.

Making the decision to first target the four that formed the tentacles, he cast a spell and shot eight icicles towards them. Surprised by their pry being able to retaliate, only one of the four managed to bring their construct between him and the attack. The others were hit directly by both projectiles, leaving them no chance for survival.

When the others noticed three of them being killed, the attacks on the tribe instantly lessened. Instead these projectiles now shot towards Darganth. Creating a flame shield around him, he waited for the attacks to hit it and evaporate. In the ensuing smoke screen, he returned to his true form, before teleporting next to the beast that had survived his attack.

The fish were all looking hopefully at the smoke where he was just a second ago, when an arrow struck at one of them. While they were distracted due to Allaire's shot, they didn't notice Darganth killing the last of the four construct creating ones among them. Before they could even realize that they have lost another one of theirs, Darganth was already in their midst.

Despite the trouble they caused the tribe, they were still only first ranks. When they finally realized the danger they were in, it was already too late. Those that stayed were ripped apart by Darganth's claws and teeth, while those that fled were targeted by Allaire. Without even a sliver of chance the beasts on this side of the ship were killed.

Just as he reached back to the surface, the attacks of those on the ships other side became even more numerous. By the time he reached into the air, the deck of the ship was filled with holes where high pressure water projectiles hit. Looking up to Allaire he found her also under attack, with some of the attacks sometimes coming directly towards her, while others would have flown past her, but curving towards her.

Luckily the attacks were, while numerous, quite weak and lacked the power to punch through the protection external aura provided. But it still decreased the frequency and accuracy with which she could fire her arrows.

Despite this the tribe had by now managed to mount a defense as the third order warriors managed to lessen the pressure on them upon their arrival. With less attacks striking them, the other warriors were able to start counterattacking. While the water slowed their attacks, they still forced the beast to dodge.

Flying towards this other group, Darganth saw just how large the number difference is. While his initial search had found only a bit over a dozen beasts in total, now he found himself looking at over thirty of them. While most were still only in the peak of first rank, three among them were at the second rank with one of those even at the second order. This combined with their terrain advantage would make this a difficult fight, even for him.

The oceans were a dragons largest weak point in terms of environment, with even the few existing species of water dragon being less dominant in their environment compared to the rest of dragon-kind. The oceans weakens most elements of a dragons breath, turns their wings into unnecessary targets and impacts their speed heavily as well as limiting them nearly completely to bite attacks. The only thing not against them here was the fact that due to their ability to sustain themselves on just their mana heart, they had no problem breathing.

As Darganth still had no mana heart, he had to remain cautious during his attack. Hovering in the air, he fired small scale spells while searching for a good attack plan. While he initially would find the occasional beast that became too daring, allowing him to attack it without much danger, after the third time such behavior stopped.

After nearly ten minutes of this, the battle had slowed down considerably. While the beasts started running out of mana, the tribe had to conserve their arrows and other ammunition. By now Allaire had also come back down from the sail, having used up most of her arrows. As she didn't find any more good targets with the enemy’s having retreated further from the surface, she focused on protecting her tribesmen.

Darganth was meanwhile still busy thinking of a way to attack the fish as efficiently as possible. He knew that transforming himself into an aquatic life form would reduce his physical power by so much that the increase in mobility wasn't worth it. By now it looked more and more as if the best course of action would be to escape. While the ship was moving slower than the beasts could, this wasn't a problem stronger wind couldn't solve.

Looking back to the ship and noticing most of the tribe to be in no state to continue fighting, he made his decision. Sending one last large volley of attacks towards the beasts, he cast a wind magic spell. Confirming that the ship was picking up speed, he let himself fall into the water while preparing a teleportation spell.

He planned to throw the beast off their trail to ensure that they wouldn't catch up after he ended his spell. Waiting for them to reach him, Darganth cast a psychic spell that disoriented them and decrease the chances of them catching up. Just as the group reached him, he vanished with his previous position now being filled with a poison to cloud their senses. The closest fish didn't even have a chance to react before it spread to them and while a few that had been further away escaped its effect, they were too few to launch any serious attack.

Arriving on the deck of the ship, Darganth was greeted with the sight of a few members of the tribe shouting at Allaire. Getting over his initial irritation over this situation, he noticed that the group seemed to have formed around the two Zalek brothers and quickly pieced together the reason for this.

“What is this about?” He asked while walking closer.

“Nothing you have to be concerned about.” One of the brothers retorted. Ignoring him, Darganth looked towards Allaire.

“They want me to teach them how to reach the second rank.” This made him shake his head with a sigh.

“And your selfishness made you decline, something that will cost lives. Even one more second rank individual could have saved some of our tribesmen and just because you two decided that you don't want to share your power we have to suffer?” The other brother shouted.

“Desmond, I would rather die than to allow you and your brother even an ounce of power more than you currently have.”

“This is arrangeable” The brother said after Allaire's outburst. This caused their group to warily look towards Darganth.

The brothers completely ignored this, instead taking a step towards her but being stopped by ice keeping their feet on the ground.

Before they realized what was going on, Allarie already had two arrows knocked on her bowstring, aiming towards them. This was something Darganth had taught her and while she still wasn't able to fire two arrows accurately during a fight, hitting stationary targets was easier. When the surrounding group realized this development, they quickly took a step back. They wanted her to teach the others how to reach the second rank, not fight her or Darganth.

“What do you think you are doing? Attacking fellow members of the tribe is a grave crime!”

“What I wanted to do for years, Richard. Besides, do you really think that either of you should give lectures about not committing crimes? Ever since I first rejected you, you instead targeted my friends hoping to pressure me like that way.” Realizing her intention, he turned to Darganth.

“You promised to protect us, now deliver on this promise!” He shouted before turning to Allaire, “Lets see how brave you will be once your lover personally rips you apart. Maybe I can still get a turn with you before.” At this he started laughing. When he realized that even after multiple second Darganth hadn't moved, he looked around in irritation.

“Why are you doing nothing! You are supposed to protect us during our crossing.” He shouted in anger.

“I said I will protect the tribe, not every single member of it. Your life and death is completely in Allaire's hand and it doesn't look good for you.” This caused his anger to also extend to Darganth.

“A beast will always be a beast. No matter how much you dragons try to deny it, you are just overgrown lizards who think too highly of themselves.” Richard spat, not realizing the danger they were in.

Even Darganth's visible anger that followed his words didn't made him realize his mistake, though his brother slowly did.

“No matter what you want to do, the tribe still needs us. Should we die the crossing will get even more dangerous.” Desmond said after finally realizing the danger they found themselves in and trying to calm the situation.

“Why would that be the case? Loosing two first ranks and gaining a second rank individual is an increase in fighting power in my book.” Someone outside of the crowd suddenly said. Turning around, the group and the two brothers found the speaker to be Elstan.

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Hearing those words even Richard started to grow nervous. The entire reason they found the courage to act this brazen was that they thought themselves invaluable to the tribe. While Elastan was far from powerful enough to stop either Darganth or Allaire directly, his opinion was highly respected by the tribe andthey believed that this would at least stop Allaire, which would, by extend, stop Darganth.

With their last hope gone, they decided to take drastic measures. Before the tribes destruction, their father had given them a magic item with a summoning spell engraved. While they didn't know what it would summon, it would avenge them by likely destroying the ship. Maybe it could even save them but their hopes for this were rather low. Taking out one small marble each, they infused it with their mana.

Looking toward Darganth and Allaire, they formed a maniacal grin before her arrows pierced their hearts. Still managing to stay alive a second or two due to their aura still flowing, they noticed that Darganth also had a smile on his face while laughing lightly. With their last strength they looked towards the pearls, noticing them to shine in a white light before collapsing.

The tribe meanwhile grew concerned. While they didn't know what kind of magic item it was, they realized instantly that it was one. While most started to panic, the more experienced among them looked towards Darganth and, seeing him being completely indifferent, they started calming the rest.

“While this isn't something dangerous, you all should still step back a bit. Don't know who exactly this is going to summon and I doubt you want to get knocked around by his or her wings.” This caused them to back of nervously.

While there are many species with wings and uncountable number of ways for others to acquire some, when combined with the knowledge that they are summoned this leaves only two likely possibilities. While there are other species, the three well know ones that can be summoned are Angels, Demons and Elemental Spirits. Among them only Angels and Fairies, a sub species of Elemental Spirits, are known to all posses wings.

Among Demons only some have them, mainly those of more powerful species, while other Elemental Spirits rarely even have a truly physical body. As the brothers mana pool was far too small and Darganth seemed to be unconcerned a powerful demon was highly unlikely.

Waiting what felt like an eternity, the tribe watched as the two orbs suddenly shot to each other, before fusing while emitting a blinding light. This sphere of light suddenly started to expand until it reached a diameter of nearly three meters. By now they were sure that the summonings target was an angel.

Standing around it in silence, the tribe jumped back when the sphere suddenly collapsed. Standing in its place was a man who looked exactly human, besides the two white wings on his back. He was covered from head to toe in armor, with his helmet hiding his face. The tribe became stunned by its design, loosing themselves in the majesty the angel excluded.

“I was summoned to deal with such a weak group? Shouldn't have expected more when it took two summoners to open the portal, despite using a treasure.” The man said, his disappointment clear. This brought at least Elstan out of his shock.

“Sir angel, I implore you to spare us. The two men who summoned you are far from righteous and a force for good such as your kind has no need to listen to them.” He said while falling to his knees. Should a fight break out, the probability of the ship being destroyed would be high.

Seeing Elsan's reaction, Darganth started to laugh. This caused the tribe to look towards him questioning and confused. The angel meanwhile raised an eyebrow at him.

“Angels being a force for good is the best joke I heard today. No, they care only for order and in this case it means fulfilling the reason why they were summoned. You could beg all you want, he wouldn't care for it.”

The tribe became shocked by these words. While they were far from friends with him, during their journey they have learned that Darganth would not act against them if they didn't do so first. So they doubted his words to be a lie.

“It is rare to hear of someone not believing in the myth of my kind being purely good among mortals. And you seem to be certain, as if you have witnessed it personally so I ask you, what are you? Because while I can't see through it, I know that this form of yours is a mere disguise.”

“Has the angel races standard for education fallen this far that you don't even know which race uses this form to proclaim their true identity even in humanoid form? Let me give you a clue.” With these words Darganth completely stretched his wings that he had kept folded behind his back while letting mana flow through his entire body without using aura. This caused his eyes and the edges of his scales to glow slightly, causing the scales outlines to become clearer due to the pattern of azure and silver lines forming around each.

While the angel fell into thought for a moment, he soon stepped back half a step with the shock clearly visible on his face. With speed they couldn't even follow he took on a defensive stance, positioning his wings as shields in front of him, leaving only a small gap between them. His hands were in a boxing position, ready to stop a strike at any moment.

With a shake of his head Darganth moved his wings back behind him. Seeing that he seemed to have no intention of attacking, the angel also lowered his guards slightly but still kept his wings around his sides. This made it clear that he didn't trust Darganth, as the wings were an important factor during fights for angels, dragons and the demons that possessed them. This was due to them being far more durable than those of all other species, allowing them to be used as shields or to strike without risking significant damage.

“What is a dragon doing here?”

“You are in a world that is dragons territory and are irritated by a dragons presence?”

“What you are doing here, on this ship?”

“Traveling to the central continent, need to visit someone at the dragon peaks.” This caused the angel to raise an eyebrow.

“A young dragon.” He said after a moment, to which Darganth nodded.

“And you are only an angel of the first tier, with an aura cultivation still in the first rank. Your fighting power may be similar to the third or fourth rank, but you should calm your aura before doing something you would regret.” Darganth suddenly said.

Being seen through caused the angel to frown. When he had noticed that Darganth was only a young dragon that hadn't even formed his dragon heart he had already planned to attack. While he had a lower rank in aura cultivation, his physique as an angel was superior enough to offset this. While their physical body was far from that of adult dragons, against such a young one he was confident in his victory.

“Getting nervous? I know that you wanted to attack me to ensure that you fulfilled your part of the summoning deal and I also know that even a one winged angel is equivalent to the third rank even without aura or magic. But focus on this world, notice anything?” Despite his annoyance at him knowing this much, the angel did as Darganth told him, after all he knew that he could always attack him later.

At moments like these he was happy over one of the few advantages his kind had over dragons. While they would grow far more powerful even without training, angels and demons would mature far faster, reaching adulthood at twenty. Once a dragon would reach adulthood they would be an opponent few among them could face, but during their growth they were far more vulnerable.

This long growth phase was a large part of why dragons were the only species whose rank is categorized by their age. Other species who are able to fight above their rank simply due to their kinds innate power nearly always age far faster. Mythical rank beasts for example normally take under two years to mature with few outliers, though they reach only a strength somewhere in the third rank once they do. Further increases require them to reach a higher rank.

While a mature angel or demon would have about the same strength, they matured slightly slower than humans, taking about twenty years. Beast also held the advantage of having an easier time reaching the rank of their species, though compared to dragons who simply age to the mythical rank and beyond this was far less impressive.

Angels and demons on the other hand had to train or get elevated to a higher tier. Getting elevated to a higher tier meant that they would gain a more powerful body, similar to what happens when beasts evolve. But in contrast to beasts, they couldn't elevate themselves, instead it was only possible for it to be granted to them by someone of a higher tier.

In the case of angels this was mostly done as reward for exemplary deeds and gave them an additional pair of wings for each tier, while demons mostly fought for it. As demons consisted of many kinds of subspecies, there wasn't an easily recognizable trait for each tier. Instead each species of demos had one or more path they could follow, though most would develop wings only at the fourth tier.

While thinking about this, the angel still expanded his senses. After a while he noticed two things in short succession, the first causing him to frown while the second made him shudder in fear. Retracting his sense, he looked at Darganth with gratitude.

“The Locis live here?” He asked to which Darganth nodded.

“That makes it easier. I must thank you for warning me, a fight would have likely resulted in me getting ripped to shreds by them. But that makes me wonder, how is a demon able to operate here?” The last part caused Darganth to look at him in confusion.

“I have found the presence of a demon in the direction you are currently sailing to. While my first reaction would normally be to call support, I think it would be better to let them deal with it.” The angel explained.

Saying this he took flight, leaving behind a confused tribe and Darganth, who was in deep thought. With a demon being able to evade the Locis around, he would have to change his plans slightly and investigate this matter before making his way to the mountains.

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