All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 242: A Very Proper And Well Mannered Dragon

Bee watched as the disturbance pushed its way through the ranks of men and demons. Even from this distance, she could feel its aura. A movement next to her caught her attention, and she realized that she had gotten distracted. While she had frozen, the rest of the fight was still continuing along. Just the few seconds she had spent staring off into the distance had allowed a ladder to land on the wall.

She hurriedly expended some energy to clear it. The move was inefficient, but she was in a hurry. Then she turned and screamed "HEY!" at Archibald.

The dragon's companion was holding a section of the wall himself but still turned to look at her even as he cut down another attacker. She pointed towards the disturbance. His eyes flicked over. He squinted slightly and looked back at her, nodding his acknowledgment.

That was enough for Bee. Something had to be done. But they were so busy holding the wall already. What could they do?

"She turned and yelled down to the Nighty Knight below. "Aiden! Tell Felix I need reserves here, fast!"

A few moments later, some of the reserves charged up the wall to take her spot. As they flooded up onto the landing, she spent a little bit more time and energy knocking away foes to give them enough breathing space to set up. Two more ladders went down with scouring strikes and a thrown potion.

That settled, Bee jumped down inside the wall and ran along the base of it until she reached Archibald's section. Scrambling up the stairs, she joined the man to talk.

"Do you know what that is?" She asked as she whacked a demon away with her broom. Archibald held this area with no problem alone, but Bee still wanted to feel useful.

"I'm gonna be honest with you. That feels a lot like a Lieutenant." Archibald admitted. "It was very good at hiding its aura though. I'm surprised you were able to spot it at such a distance."

Bee grimaced. "How could you miss it? it's like– I can feel it everywhere. It's just this constant pressure on my Holy Aura."

"You have the Holy Aura skill?" Archibald asked, impressed. Even as he talked, he was still fighting as Bee stood behind him. She wanted to lend him some help, but honestly, it didn't look like he needed or wanted it. Instead, she gladly took the rest.

"Yeah, got it a few levels ago," she said, not wanting to reveal exactly what level she had gotten it at. It was still a massive amount of trust for her to tell him exactly what skills she had in the first place.

"Well, that would explain it. Holy skills and demons don't really mix. But yeah that means this is going to get a whole lot harder," Archibald grunted and flung his latest opponent off the wall. The man went crashing into the soldiers below.

"We don't have much choise but to go fight it and drive it away." Bee said. "I don't see how we can hold the wall while it attacks them. We have to try and handle it before it destroys our defenses. It's pretty much our only hope."

Archibald shrugged, but Bee could tell from the set of his shoulders that things were grim. "I don't know how we're going to beat it. Archimedes isn't here to capture it, and I couldn't defeat one on my own even when I was at full power. I think the best we can do is slow it down."

Bee winced. She could only imagine how well that would work. Still, she repeated herself. "We have to try to drive it off. Otherwise…"

Bee paled when she realized Void wasn't here to help them, either. Could they really face down a demon Lieutenant without their god to back them up? Was their faith strong enough? Would that even matter?

Even in the heat of the battle, she bowed her head, closed her eyes for a second, and sent off a quick prayer to Void. She asked for its presence and its blessing in the coming fight. Opening her eyes, she looked up, hoping to find that her god had teleported there somehow. A little black disk ready and willing to save the castle and its followers. But there was no such luck.

—

As I zoomed above the vast expanse of sapphire oceans, something strange happened. My Spray Bottle suddenly fired.

It didn't shoot much liquid. Barely a spray of water that the wind quickly whisked away, that was all. But still, it confused me. How had that happened? Was there a bug in my programming? Could any of my mutations fire off randomly like that without my input?

I dedicated a processor to reviewing my firing mechanisms for different mutations and scanning for software bugs. However, I tried not to worry too much. It was just a small spray of liquid, after all. Nothing too bad.

Funnily enough, the action reminded me of something the humans did occasionally. Something they called a "sneeze."

Contemplating what it might mean, I continued my speedy return home.

---

"Void should be back soon. Void always shows up in time." Bee said, the burning faith inside her making her feel warm again. With conviction, she continued. "I've called up soldiers to take over this wall for you. We are going to go out. Is there anyone else worth bringing?"

Archibald looked around. "You said Tony fought with you last time? He might be able to help, maybe Arthur and Susan as well. But we also just might be sentencing anyone we bring with us to death."

"Arthur and Susan are needed to hold the wall." Bee said, "I don't think we can take everyone out and fight. Maybe we can bring Tony, and he can help keep some of the auxiliaries off of us and prevent the demon from getting reinforced. Even as things are though, we'll be on a time limit. They'll have trouble holding the wall for long without us."

Archibald nodded. "That's probably the best idea we have. It should keep him reasonably safe. Grab him, and I'll join you as soon as my reinforcements arrive."

Bee nodded and ran off to go get the farmhand-turned-warrior. She found Tony a little way down, holding his own small section of the wall, using his heavy club to great effect. Its momentum was perfect for sweeping soldiers off the wall and preventing them from getting a foothold. Each time he swung, she could see the air warping around him as some sort of skill activated. Even hits that should have only sent someone stumbling sent them careening off the wall in a tumble of limbs.

She jumped up and quickly finished off all those around him before kicking down the ladder that he was working toward. "Tony. Something as big is coming. Archibald and I are going to go out to meet it, and we're going to need you to keep the rest of the army off our back while we handle the big guy. Are you up for it?"

Tony turned to face her, snarling with battle rage. Then, something in his eyes changed as he recognized her, and his expression mellowed. "Bee." He breathed in and out for a second. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

Just as she prepared to answer Tony's question, a shadow passed over the wall. Bee feared the worst as she looked up. However, rather than some demon or skill, she instead found herself staring at a massive figure flying through the air.

Overhead, a massive red-scaled dragon swooped low over their position, less than twenty yards away from her. And then the world shook.

Flames didn't so much as billow out of the beast's maw. Rather, they were ejected with more force than all of the catapults they had made combined. When the fire struck the ground, Bee watched the shock wave ripple through the earth and felt the wall flex under her feet.

The dragon soared forward, blasting a huge line clear through the enemy army, heading directly toward where she felt the ominous presence approaching. And still, it continued on. The dragon flew low along the road, blasting the enemy army with gouts of molten fire. The world seemed to pause as everyone on the battlefield simply stopped and stared Into the distance.

Bee could barely make out the back of the through the trees. At least, what remained of the trees that hadn't been instantly vaporized. As the flames reached it, they cut off suddenly, and the dragon banked up to circle around before starting another pass. This time, the fire came back towards them.

At this point, the enemy came to their senses. The attack on the wall was completely forgotten as their archers turned to launch waves of arrows up at the dragon as it flew back over them. However, most just missed and fell amongst their own troops, causing even more chaos and mayhem as soldiers dove to take cover.

That didn't help any in the path of the dragon. The second torrent of flame turned everything in sight into a sea of fire that expanded forward.

Frozen in awe, Bee suddenly understood where the term "mopping up one's enemies" came from. It truly looked like the dragon was simply pushing a broom along the floor, gathering all the dust into one massive pile as it went. Its second pass came back just slightly offset from the previous line of smoldering rocks, carving a new trench through the kingdom's army.

This time, they could only run in one direction as a massive column of melted rock and burning dirt split the army in two. As they ran, the dragon's fire chased them, consuming them whole and pushing the rest into a frantic scramble into the forest.

The titanic red beast neared the wall, soaring closer and closer. The heat of its flames felt intense even from this distance. All around, Bee heard the shouts of soldiers retreating along the wall or scrambling for cover. Screams of terror echoed up from below where the castle's inhabitants fled into the building, uncertain whether they'd be spared. Bee found herself fixed to the spot, unable to do anything but watch as the dragon kept coming without even slowing.

It cut off its breath right as the path of molten ground was about to touch the wall. It banked above them as she and Tony looked up in awe. Ruby scales glittered in the sunlight as it came around for another pass.

Suddenly, there was a new disturbance a little ways down the wall. Archibald was running and shouting something at the top of his lungs. Bee had a little trouble making out what it was, but she had caught the last few words at least. "...big stupid lizard!"

"Huh? What is he yelling about?" Bee swiveled her attention back as she noticed something in the center of the first glowing path. Rather than the destruction she'd expected, a singular figure stood on a small circle of completely untouched ground.

She looked at it more closely. The thing wasn't actually standing. From this angle, it almost looked human-sized as it uncurled and stood up to its full height. She realized that this was not some ordinary demon that managed to survive the onslaught.

Archibald was right again. This was a Lieutenant. What else could have survived such an assault?