Chapter 370: [Vol. 6 pt. 49]

“Oho? You seem to have reeled in quite the catch!” Fraydranth’s booming voice echoed over the landscape as she circled around the serpent’s head. “I am impressed that mere mortals were capable of catching such a prize! However, it would appear that you may be having some difficulties.”

Fenrir would have said something back to her if it wasn’t for the fact that he was now busy with the others fighting the monsters approaching from the beach. Now that the smaller serpents were killed, in addition to most of the traps along the beach being spent, the incoming waves of enemies grew exponentially. It started to look as if each subsequent wave was twice as large as the one that came before it, and that was a major problem if true.

It wouldn’t be long before they were overrun. The sooner that they finished dealing with the latest wave, the sooner the next wave would arrive. Yet, when they tried to delay the finishing of a wave to buy some time before the next one arrived, it didn’t work. All that did was stack the waves of enemies on top of each other.

Fortunately, Fraydranth was not the only member of the reinforcements.

“We have arrived, our friends!” GG shouted before landing on the ground with the rest of his draconic villagers following after him. “We arrived as quickly as we could.”

“You couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Things are getting risky here,” Fenrir explained. “Olly will explain it to you and give you orders.”

“You are not leading our forces?”

“Olly’s always been my second-hand man and the best at battle strategies. Trust me, you’re in better hands taking his orders than mine.”

“Oh, Fenny, you flatterer,” Oleander said with a bashful smile before giving Fenrir’s side a gentle punch. “Don’t worry. I know I might not look like a serious leader, but I know a thing or two about strategies and giving orders.”

“Who am I to judge by appearance?” GG asked Oleander. “I simply thought that Fenrir would like to have the glory of leading for himself!”

“I’m good without any of the glory,” Fenrir said. “But I am going to go do something important. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

GG and Oleander both looked confused, and that confusion only managed to grow as Fenrir ran off from the beach toward the backlines where all of the ranged support was.

“Corwin!” Fenrir shouted as soon as he saw Corwin. Fenrir couldn’t have gotten luckier as Rock was there, too. Both Corwin and Rock were working to transport various ammunitions from the stockpiles to the players manning the cannons and other long-range siege weaponry. “Rock, Corwin, come here.”

“Is something the matter, Fenrir?” Corwin asked, still holding onto the ammunition that he had picked up. Rock was the same, albeit with a cannonball held in her mouth.

“Listen.” Fenrir lowered his voice. “I want both of you to head to safety. We’re doing our best to hold them off, but if they reach this backline, both of you are in danger. There are going to be way more enemies than we planned for at this rate. So, go gather the NPCs in the village and—”

Corwin sighed and resumed what he was doing. “Here you are!” he said to one of the players manning what was essentially an organ gun.

Even Rock left Fenrir behind to be concerned to drop off the cannonball she was carrying at the foot of the player manning it.

“Good girl,” the player said, giving Rock a quick head rubbing before loading his cannon.

The message that the two meant to send to Fenrir was clear. But, after he looked over his shoulder to the beach, he struggled even more to accept their wish. There were only around a hundred players in total on the beach now that GG and his villagers arrived, and there were three times as many monsters rising up from the shallow water to approach them. The situation only grew worse when Fenrir looked around at the ammunition stockpiles and noticed that they were already beginning to run low.

The plan of essentially funneling the monsters into a meat grinder where they were held back and mercilessly slaughtered by the dozens via ranged support was working, but it wasn’t going to work forever. Every player who got killed was lost until the next day. Meanwhile, the enemy had a seemingly infinite amount of reinforcements to replenish their ranks.

It was only a matter of time before they got overrun.

Not only were Rock and Corwin in danger, but so was Shogun and the other NPCs who moved into the village behind the fortress. There were only a few more NPCs who had moved in since the first two did, but Fenrir did not want to lose a single one of them. They would never return if they died here.

While Fenrir fought with whether or not he should try ordering Corwin and Rock to leave again, Corwin placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “I am aware that you know the truth, Fenrir. I understand that this battle may be fun and pleasurable to the rest of you while being real and deadly to Rock and I… but neither of us are leaving. We are all a part of the same group, are we not? To leave now would be to abandon you. Worse, it would make us different, and that is the last thing that either of us want. This is our home now and we wish to defend it just as you all are, and we do not want to be treated differently because of who – because of what we are.”

“But what if you die?” Fenrir asked.

“Then we die at the sides of those who we care about and have lived our daily lives together with.”

As much as Fenrir may have wanted to shout that their deaths could be easily avoided and that they would have plenty more time to spend together with everybody if they survived… what Corwin said to Fenrir repeated itself in his head.

They didn’t want to be treated differently.

Even if this was just a fun raid battle to all of the players while being a life-or-death battle to Corwin and the other NPCs, all they truly wanted was to be treated as equal partners. To run away from danger while everybody else faced it directly would only serve as a reminder that they were different – that they were others.

In a way, Fenrir was the one discriminating against them the most. At the moment, at least. He wanted to deny them of their willingness to die with everybody else in order to protect them.

“Damn it, Corwin,” Fenrir said with a lowered voice. “How long have you been this cool for?”

“Perhaps you have rubbed off on me.”

“I think Olly’s the only one who’s been rubbing anything onto you.”

Corwin’s cheeks quickly turned red. “Fe-Fenrir! Now is… not the time to bring up such a thing. Especially around others!”

Fenrir gave Corwin’s back a quick smack and smiled. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking of how you’d feel about this. I won’t make the same mistake again. Just keep in mind that, even if I’m not forcing you to leave, you’re still not allowed to die. The most important order you have is to stay alive no matter what it takes. Understand?”

“I promise you that dying today is not my intention, and I am sure that it is not her’s, either.” Corwin reached down to pet the top of Rock’s head, and she barked in response to back him up.

“You really are a cool guy.” After giving Corwin a bit more praise, Fenrir turned his attention to Rock. “And you’re a good girl. A very good girl. The best girl.”

Each phrase of praise that left Fenrir’s mouth caused Rock’s tail to wag harder and faster than the phrase before it.

“Also, good job transporting the cannonballs instead of eating them. I’ll make sure to get you some as a snack once we’re done with all of this, alright?”

Rock barked and jumped up to lick Fenrir’s face.

“Onii-wan, if it wasn’t for knowing that Rock loves cannonballs, I’d be accusing you of animal cruelty right now,” Saya chimed in.

“Sounds like you want to experience some animal cruelty yourself later,” Fenrir teased back at her.

“I – wha-what kind of line even is that?! Do you seriously think that was smooth?! One, I’m not an animal! Two, I’m not some extreme masochist! Three, you don’t use animal cruelty to try and be smooth!”

“Yeah, not all of them can be a hit.”

“At least you understand that it was a complete fail.”

“I’m not a narcissist. I can admit when I screw up and use one of the worst lines ever.”

“Good. Now, go back to saving the world and all that.”

“Pffttt. It’s not that epic. Besides, how am I supposed to fight if you don’t cheer me on first?” Of course, Fenrir was already on his way back to the frontline regardless of whether he would receive any cheerleading or not.

“Fight on, onii-wan.”

“That’s all I get?”

“I guess that I – o-onii-wan… you might want to look up.”

Fenrir did as suggested and looked up. What he saw was the beginning of what would prove to be one of the grandest duels in all of Fantasy Tales Online as Fraydranth finally went on the offensive. He wouldn’t get to watch too much of the battle because it would be above his field of view when fighting at the frontline, but he still made sure to watch it up until he reached the frontline.

Fraydranth grappled onto the side of the serpent’s body, her fangs sinking deep into its flesh right below its head. Her wings flapped to keep them upright rather than tackling the serpent into shallow water, for she knew that fighting in the air would be far safer than fighting on the ground. On the ground, the serpent would be able to use the rest of its body against her. In the sky, the serpent could only use its head and it couldn’t even use that as long as she was careful in how she approached it.

Then, with her fangs still sunken into the side of the serpent’s body, everybody on the ground noticed that it grew brighter. Upon looking up at what was happening, they saw flames erupting from around where Fraydranth bit the serpent. She was trying to melt its scales and flesh away while biting onto it.

But just because Fraydranth didn’t want to take the serpent to the ground didn’t mean that the serpent wouldn’t take Fraydranth to the ground.

After releasing a shrieking cry that caused all players to cover their ears, resulting in a few of them dying from the aquatic monsters taking advantage of the distraction, the serpent twisted its body around so that Fraydranth’s back was aligned with the ground before slamming itself downward. Since Fraydranth was the one latching onto the serpent and had her back pointed down, she was the one who got sandwiched between the shallow waters and the serpent’s heavy, muscular body. This forced her to release her mouth from its neck as well and caused everybody on the ground to lose their footing as if there was an earthquake.

That was only the beginning of the serpent’s retaliation. Fraydranth found herself vulnerable on her back as the serpent raised its head over her. She may have been massive, but not even her size could compare to the serpent’s. As the serpent opened its mouth as wide as it could go, revealing the rows of sharp fangs each one larger than the buildings below,  Fraydranth realized that the serpent could swallow her whole if it truly wished to. Either that, or it could easily rip her apart.

And due to being on her back, there was no way for her to escape in time. All she could do was try to spew more flames at the serpent as it lunged at her with an open mouth.

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“Fraydranth!” Fenrir shouted. He was so focused on what he feared was about to happen to Fraydranth that he didn’t even hear the enhanced chanting of Azalabulia nearby.

“—Launch!” Azalabulia ordered, causing just a single explosive bolt to appear above her that traveled toward the serpent’s head with incredible speed. It was similar to the spell that she used to give Fraydranth her massage, but only a single shot instead of many of them, and it traveled far faster. Her spell managed to nail the serpent directly in its left eye before exploding. At the same time, a beam of highly pressurized water came from the river and shot into the vulnerable, inside of the serpent’s mouth.

The serpent closed its mouth just before it had an opportunity to kill Fraydranth, but they were not able to stop it quickly enough to prevent any damage at all. Fraydranth’s back, right leg was caught within the serpent’s mouth and torn away from her body as the serpent lifted its head back into the air.

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Ilo’s and Azalabulia’s combined attack may have saved Fraydranth’s life, but not before she suffered significant damage.

This time, GG and his villagers were the ones to shout Fraydranth’s name out.

Fraydranth tried to roll back onto her front but struggled to do so, and now a wave of monsters approached from the water to head directly for her.

“Fenrir!” GG shouted. “We must go to her!”

Fenrir looked over to Oleander. They were barely managing to hold the enemy back now with GG’s help, and now he wanted to break off some of the forces to go and protect Fraydranth while she recovered.

“We’ll fall back to the fortress,” Oleander said. “GG, go help her out!”

Without saying another word, GG and those with him flew over to Fraydranth as quickly as they could to form a new line of defense between her and the monsters.

“Give the order, Fenny,” Oleander said as he dug around in his satchel for a certain reagent.

“Alright,” Fenrir replied. “Everybody! We’re going into phase two! Fall back to the fortress!”

Oleander ran over to Azalabulia’s side. “Ready?”

“Isn’t – isn’t this too soon?” Azalabulia asked. “If we go into phase two now, then…”

“We have to. Are you ready?”

Azalabulia gulped and nodded.

“Come on, I need the dramatic and super awesome Aza, not the nervous and flustered Aza. Or,” Oleander narrowed his eyes at her, “is Bahamut too weak to take out the trash?”

“Bahamut? Too weak?!” And just like that, Oleander managed to bring out Azalabulia’s roleplaying self. “There are none stronger than Bahamut! Even this serpent of the world is nothing when compared to Bahamut’s raw power! As the Wielder of Bahamut’s Cursed Flame, I will prove to this reality that none will defeat us for as long as I wield Bahamut’s power!” Azalabulia took a single step toward the approaching enemies, holding her staff up into the air before twirling it around and slamming its bottom into the ground. “Now is the time to prove that Bahamut not only grants the power to destroy, but to protect! I, Azalabulia, the Dark Sorceress of Twisted Flames, the Breaker of Reality, the One Who will Set the World Ablaze, the Protector of Smiles, the Explosive Massager of Dragons, and the Wielder of the Cursed Flame of Bahamut, will create an impenetrable wall that none may overcome! Cursed Flame—”

“A-Aza,” Oleander said, looking up at the serpent above.

When Azalabulia looked up, she saw that it looked just like Ilo did before it shot its pressurized water beams. “Cur-Cursed Flame of Bahamut… First and Final Wall – Wall, Ultimate…”

“Aza! We need that wall!”

“Verse – Rise, Bahamut’s Flame, and Take Shape!”

Just as the serpent shot its extreme beam of pressurized water, a mighty wall of black flames rose in front of all the players on the beach to protect them from the approaching enemies.

But the wall was only meant to protect against enemies on the ground, not from what might have been the serpent’s most powerful attack.

“Everybody! Fall back!” Oleander shouted.

Fenrir copied Oleander’s shout before noticing that Azalabulia wasn’t budging. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you retreating?”

Sweat rolled down Azalabulia’s face as she looked to where the serpent’s attack met her wall. “If… if I don’t stay here to maintain it, it’s not going to last. You should run back.”

“And what about you? You think I’ll just leave you here?”

“I’ll be useless after putting all my mana into this… so it doesn’t matter if – I die after this. I can respawn tomorrow.”

“I’m not letting you miss the rest of this fight. If I have to carry you back myself, I—”

Fenrir cut himself off when he saw the water penetrate the wall of flames in the corner of his eye.

The beam of water carved a path in the sandy beach directly toward them. If it hit them, they were both going to be instantly killed. There wouldn’t even be anything left of them if they died, and there was no way that they would be able to escape in time given how fast the beam was approaching them and how wide it was.

All Fenrir could do was wrap his arms around Azalabulia in a desperate attempt to protect her.

“It would be awfully selfish of me if I always made you do all of the saving, my hero!”

Fenrir opened his eyes and saw Nell land right in front of them. She didn’t waste any time and raised her arms out toward her sides to create the same barrier that she once used to defend herself against Azalabulia’s most powerful attack.

“The Eastern Serpent’s attack versus the Northern Serpent’s defense… let us see which is more powerful,” Nell said, staring directly up at the serpent. Then she looked at Azalabulia and Fenrir with a bright smile and asked, “How was that? I have been practicing lines for such a moment! I felt rather silly during my duel with you, Azalabulia, so I have made sure that I will not be unprepared to say such things again!”

Azalabulia raised a very tired hand to give Nell a thumbs-up as she more or less became jelly within Fenrir’s arms.

“It would appear that the serpent and I are an even match… at least in this regard,” Nell said. “Unfortunately… I believe it has a greater source of power to draw from. I will not last much longer, my hero. Everybody else has fallen back, so please take Azalabulia and run while I hold our foe back!”

“You can be badass when you want to be, Nell,” Fenrir said.

A soft red painted itself on Nell’s cheeks. “Do not get too used to this! After all, I much prefer being the one being saved rather than being the one doing the saving.”

“How are you going to get out of here?”

“Look behind you, my hero.”

Fenrir turned to look behind him and almost jumped when he saw Eva standing right there.

“Eva’s taxi service, at your service,” Eva said. “Don’t worry. As soon as you and Aza are safe, I’ll be picking Nell up and putting all my strength into a single burst of speed fast enough to get free from the beam. So, you might want to hurry and get Aza out of here.”

“I won’t waste any more time then. Both of you better meet us back at the fortress in one piece,” Fenrir said, picking up Azalabulia to run out of the barrier with her back toward the fortress.

“Ah… I wish I was in her position right now,” Nell said.

“I can princess carry you out of here if that will make you feel any better,” Eva suggested.

“Oh! Yes, please. That does sound absolutely wonderful.”

“Eva’s princess carrying service, at your service. You ready? They’ve got enough distance already, and I can tell that this is wearing you down.”

“I am ready when you are!”

“Then stay perfectly still for me.” Eva walked over to the edge of the barrier before crouching down and lining herself up perfectly with Nell. Eva braced her feet against the ground as she extended her wings outward. She was only going to have a single try to pull this off. What she needed to do was grab Nell, interrupting the barrier, and get out from the beam’s path all within about one second at most. “Alright, three… two… one!”

Eva launched herself forward directly into Nell, scooping the serpentine woman into her arms which interrupted the barrier. It was the fasted that Eva had ever moved before, and hitting into Nell with such speed was enough to hurt her, but it was what needed to be done.

Just as with Fraydranth, they succeeded, but not without taking damage.

Eva managed to get her and Nell to safety, but she ended up crashing into the sand when she lost balance from the back half of her tail being vaporized by the extremely pressurized beam of water.

“Are – are you alright?!” Nell asked Eva, holding her within her arms.

Eva looked behind herself to check out the damage. “I’ve done way worse to myself. It’ll heal.”

“That… is rather anticlimactic.”

“Right, you like drama. Uh… I – I don’t know if I’ll be able to go on?”

Nell patted the top of Eva’s head. “Let us save the drama for another day. Worry not, for I do enjoy teaching others. I will turn you into a drama queen in no time at all!”

“Thanks. But uh, I don’t think I can fly like this. I can’t balance at all in the air when my tail is hurt.”

Nell and Eva looked up together. Aza’s absence meant that her wall of flames was gone, and that meant that the enemies could once more freely approach them.

“Then it is a good thing I have wings as well! Please, do try not to move too much. I am horrible at balancing in the air myself,” Nell said as she scooped Eva up into her arms this time. “How uncharacteristic of me… being the savior twice in a single day! I deserve no short amount of horrible treatment after this to restore the balance.”

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