BXBX NOVEL Chapter 90 Closing The Rift (2)
Eluard continued amidst the silence.
"As I have said before… the kidnapped northerners will be used as a sacrificial to summon a powerful demonic dragon entity with the use of two frost dragon eggs that he stole from…"
Harrtugg Naaw was taken aback, "What? I thought there were four of them? What about the other two?!"
"I…", Eluard hesitated, \'Should I tell him the truth?\'
The subject was a little personal and sensitive. He thought that Harrtugg Naaw would hate him for it.
His silence annoyed the frost dragon, "Brat, I\'m asking you!"
Arahon and Elder Flock sent a glare toward the frost dragon.
"Lower your voice, Harrtugg Naaw. We may be friends but I will not be merciful to those who dare to aggress against my benefactors…", the flame dragon warned.
"Stop it. I\'m sorry but…", Eluard pleaded, "…the other dragon eggs were destroyed by me."
"I didn\'t have a choice and would rather have it decimated than let the demonic creatures use it."
Despite the rational reasoning employed in Eluard\'s actions, Harrtugg Naaw still couldn\'t believe that he lost his children without even hatching them.
Worse, the remaining ones were used in an unholy way that he couldn\'t fathom to imagine the results of their summoning.
Everyone glanced at his face, awaiting his reaction to Eluard\'s words.
A tear formed in his eyes which was a rather peculiar occasion coming from an emotionally cold species.
"My- my children…!"
On all fours, the frost dragon knelt on the ground, gripping his fists and gritting his teeth in unexplainable anger.
"Why, why me?! Why my children?!"
The skies with their already dark and dreading atmosphere turned colder as a winter storm began to brew.
"Hoho.", Elder Flock laughed mockingly, knowing fully well what was up in Harrtugg Naaw\'s mind, "Don\'t tell me you\'re going to act angry now that your dragon eggs were stolen under your incompetency?"
"You fucking elder, how dare you call me incompetent?!", Harrtugg Naaw threatened.
"Harrtugg Naaw, now is not the time to act egoistically!", Arahon advised, "Cruel and harsh the elder\'s words may have sounded, but it is the truth."
"You, of all people here, should realize how much you have fucked up from the beginning."
"First, you let some nobody steal your eggs and you didn\'t spare any effort in retrieving them back to your possession."
"Second, you let your anger control yourself, giving the demonic creatures a chance to enter your mind and manipulate it as they endlessly desired! You even said that you were unaware of it not until I smacked you in the head!"
"And lastly, this young man who destroyed the stolen eggs is not to blame for what happened. Whether you like it or not, destroying the stolen dragon eggs is far better than having them all in the hands of the demonic creatures!"
"If you still have a mind behind that skull of yours, use it to cool your head off and think for once!"
Arahon lashed out, venting the hidden frustration welling under his head for the past few hours. He then pointed at the frost dragon with a cold glare.
"Everyone here has a reason to persecute you. You have no respectable grounds in acting like we have oppressed you and your kind."
"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself. You\'re just a victim of your incompetency, nothing else."
The long jarring speech pulled Harrtugg Naaw out of his crazed state, breaking the brewing storm from above. His mind cleared up and was now basking in shamefulness of his recent actions and behavior.
\'How… how can I be…?\'
\'I killed my children on my own… I killed thousands of people under my order…! I am truly… incompetent!\'
Several memories flashed on him, instantly filling up the regret flowing inside his heart and wishing how he could have done better.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
Sparked with rage out of self-blame, the frost dragon pounded the earth with his small yet powerful draconic fists. Whimpers could be heard from the shivering body of the once dignified Harrtugg Naaw.
He no longer looked like a powerful entity, but more of a lost brat that was in dire need of help.
"How can I…", he stuttered.
"You must want to make up for it, don\'t you?", Eluard finished the words the frost dragon could barely say.
Harrtugg Naaw didn\'t flinch, yet he didn\'t deny his words either. Eluard shrugged and let it be. He wasn\'t going to insist on forcing the frost dragon to speak up.
After all, the two of them weren\'t different from one another. He was also unable to rescue the corrupted northerners from the firm grasp of the demonic creatures.
If either one of them succeeded, probably the demonic creatures would have a harder time executing their plans. Unfortunately, Eluard didn\'t have the luxury to dwell too much on his regrets.
"I\'m not going to repeat what I have said earlier. The answer to your question is already there."
"I-is that so…", Harrtugg Naaw was relieved and slowly stood up. He knew what the brat from the academy meant and that was to take on the full might of the demonic dragon that was about to be summoned.
Eluard sighed, somewhat amazed at how Harrtugg Naaw could control himself after experiencing a very bad day. He pointed his left index finger at Arsolo Stronghold and spoke.
"The enemy is holed up here in Arsolo Stronghold. They are led by a powerful demonic creature named Mahiista. He is… on his base strength, is simply at the rank of a karagero."
"However, before everyone judges this bastard, he has a hidden power that we from the academy would term as a demonic carnation."
Everyone was intrigued by this information. Despite knowing about the demonic creatures for a long time, it appeared that there were certain things they were unaware of.
The four students, except for the studious Jinmu, felt the same thing as well.
\'A demonic carnation, huh? No wonder senior brother Kai lost to the enemy.\', Jinmu silently remarked.
"A demonic carnation allows specific demonic creatures to power up in several ways, either through intellectual enhancement or raw strength enhancement."
"They are categorized into five, and to cut it short, Mahiista\'s demonic carnation multiplies his strength up to a hundred times."
"A-a hundredfold?", Elder Flock was dumbfounded.
What kind of power-up was that?
Even he, with the combination of some magic-instilled paryus scrolls, magical enhancement from his peers, and the assistance of a radiant knight\'s chivalric will, there was no way such methods could compare with Mahiista\'s demonic carnation.
Eluard observed their reaction and just like them, he was puzzled about it as well, though he had a suspicion that the multiplication of strength was restricted dependent on its user\'s actual strength.
Given a particular scenario, it would be extremely illogical for him to multiply his 1 million demonic symbols a hundred times and then suddenly find himself among the most powerful entities in the Otherworld.
"Do not fret, however.", Eluard tried to comfort their chaotic minds.
"Do not… fret?", Arahon was speechless, "Brat, how are we supposed to battle a powerful enemy like that?!"
"He won\'t be reaching the rank of a Henderral, I assure you.", Eluard replied, "I faced that monster earlier. Luckily, I managed to escape from him through various means."
Elder Flock mused, knowing that this young brat must have used some precious treasures given by the academy master for him to survive that ordeal.
"If that is the case, then there is no need to worry at all. I will face this monster by myself.", the old man confidently declared.
"What about the rest of the enemies? Is the Siegfried Clan included?", High King Garron asked.
Eluard shook his head, "I don\'t know if the demonic creatures included them in the sacrificial ritual or not."
"Though I have a feeling that their role in this incident is to oppose High King Garron and take over the throne of Norva Assili. The demonic creatures won\'t easily throw them away."
"Moreover, the northerner army is still intact. Someone needs to face the brunt of the betrayed northerner army.", Eluard gave his honest remark.
"I see. Is there anything else?". Elder Flock wanted to be sure.
"The remaining nuisances are the demonic beasts flowing out of the rift above, and the smaller demonic creatures roaming around the area.", Eluard glanced at Harrtugg Naaw and continued, "Though with the help of the magical beasts and my juniors, this won\'t be too much of a problem compared to the first few."
"That settles everything.", Elder Flock added.
"What about me?", Arahon pointed at himself.
"You will be assisting the frost dragon, sir…", Eluard was at a loss.
"Arahon, call me Arahon."
"Sir Arahon then…", he said while scratching his cheek, \'Damn it, I almost slipped up.\'
Just as they were having a good discussion, the heavens roared again, reminding them of the existence of the rift above their heads.
"We need to move, now. If any more of the demonic beasts spawn out, we will be heavily outnumbered long before we could reach the Arsolo Stronghold.", Eluard reminded.
"Mr. Kai, we can close the rift with the help of my student, Emilia.", Elder Flock commented. He, however, didn\'t comment on the fact that she could teleport them directly into Arsolo Stronghold.
First, they didn\'t know the current state inside that place. Second, she won\'t be able to use the greater spatial translocation spell as there was too much of a weight Emilia would need to brunt against during the transportation process.
Add to that was the still unconscious northerner army who seems to not have any signs of waking up soon. Their participation was a must in order for their retaliation to be proven successful.
"She can close the rift?", Eluard was surprised, originally thinking that she must be at an archmage level to close such a huge gap.
"Don\'t underestimate me, brat from the Heavenly Magic Academy.", Emilia snorted, "Give me a few hours, and things will get better."
"No, that\'s too long. Mahiista will be able to regroup at that point and further strengthen their defenses.", Eluard worried.
There was no way they could stop the rite, but a long delay may put them in a dangerous position. That was because Mahiista could simply deploy a new strategy, making all of their preparations into futile.
"You can\'t blame me! I\'m just a grandmaster wizard!", Emilia argued. Why was this man asking for too much?
A thought passed through Eluard\'s mind, jerking him in place.
"No-! There\'s another way!"