บท 598: Superficial Sacrifices

*CRRKKKCK!*

Derflinger digs deeply into the nape of the dragon he was standing on, severing its spine and allowing it to fall lifelessly to the distant ground below.

"Man, this is stupidly easy..." Michael mutters as he looks around for his next target, he'd killed at least twelve dragons so far yet none had noticed his massacre as of yet... They were more concerned with dealing with other dragons or trying to wipe out the ground forces, as opposed to the silent ghost that none sensed until it was too late.

They'd need to use aura sense to actually find him if he was trying to hide, which is funny since he'd managed to stand on the back of one dragon completely unnoticed as if he were a tick or flea.

"Maybe pat yourself on the back after the battle, partner! There's still a war to win if you haven't forgotten!"

"Right... Hey, is that Darth?" he questions as he spots a dragon with a shadow tightly holding onto its head.

"Yep..." Derf mutters, unsure of how the familiar had gotten a lift to the sky in the first place... He certainly hadn't been in Michael's show.

The dragon roars and tries to shake the shadow off, only for Darth to throw itself directly into its maw, forcing itself up its throat.

"Huh, that's creative..."

The dragon, taken completely off-guard by this strategy flails uselessly until it loses consciousness from a lack of air. Michael tags it with an arrow from Auriel's Bow to make sure he gets its soul, and once it hits the ground Darth crawls out of its mouth and begins looking for another enemy to deal with.

"Partner! Incoming!" Derflinger warns, allowing Michael to spot the smaller-than-average dragon flying toward him.

"Krivaan Do Dii Fron, Hi Fen Aus Fah Enook Laas Hi Lost Ku-"

*Thud!*

He interrupts its rant with a Wynningbaldr-enhanced punch to its scaly face, sending it spinning out of control with its brain matter evaporating in the wind.

...

"Nevermind..." his sentient sword grumbles at how easily the beast had been defeated.

"Cheer up, there's still a bunch of lizards left to deal with." he says while flapping his frost wings and speeding towards the next target.

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*ROOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!*

A dragon belches flames across a crowd of soldiers, covering them in the napalm-like substance and leaving them to their painful and agonizing doom. Armour, shield, or not, even with the few fire resistance spells and enchantments that'd been applied to most of the force, there was little that could be done for those in the direct line of fire.

Fortunately, their sacrifice was not in vain as Surtr bellows a Dragonrend shout at the giant lizard, sending it to the ground tumbling randomly towards him.

He readies Wuuthrad and places himself at a right distance, then chops the battleaxe into the skull of the passing dragon like a star baseball player.

He loses Wuutrhad momentarily however as it gets stuck in its skull, forcing him to draw his dragonbone sword as multiple draugrs approach.

"BROTHER! NO!" Vilkas' anguish roar echoes from where dragon fire had been spewed, making it obvious to Surtr just what'd happened... What he didn't expect however was for a large one-armed Werewolf to appear and start decimating any draugr that dared get near it...

"So the rumours were true... Fuck, dogs have been running the Companions!?" he growls and releases his frustration out on the draugr before collecting Wuutrhad from a soldier who'd helpfully retrieved it for him...

*Thook!*

A draugr arrow rids Surtr of the young man, killing him and creating just another body to add to the pile. He turns towards the offending enemy with anger clear on his face, "RUTH DIIL KIINDAH BONU! TUMAH WAH VIIZ AHRK VIIR!" he roars which causes a shockwave, causing hundreds of draugr to simply start disintegrating.

Unfortunately, two vampires also get caught up in it, their pale skin paling further as blood rapidly begins seeping from all of their orifices. They drop to the ground unconscious not long after, all the blood they'd stolen fleeing from their bodies and leaving them completely comatose.

"BETRAYAL! HE KILLED KALIXUS and GARINA!! BETRAYER!" a nearby vampire loudly hisses, drawing the attention of even more.

Surtr scowls at them, "THERE WILL BE CASUALTIES IN WAR! WE CAN RECTIFY IT AFTER ALDUIN IS DEAD!"

"NEVER! I WON'T FIGHT FOR A COWARDLY CREATURE LIKE YOU!"

"REST IN PIECES THEN!" Surtr exclaims, splitting the vampire in two with his axe before turning a glare at everyone watching. "ONWARDS! TO THE PORTAL! TO SOVNGARDE!"

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Nahkriin observes all of this from his precipice, quickly determining that their odds of victory were dwindling faster than the now crimson sunlight. "VOTH ZEY FRON DO UN DROG, VOS MII DRUN BAH AHRK NAHKRIIN WAH DAAR VONIZRAAD JOOR!" (WITH ME KIN OF OUR LORD, LET US BRING WRATH AND VENGEANCE TO THESE INSIGNIFICANT MORTALS!)

The Dragon Priests voice echoes over the battlefield, turning the heads of everyone including even the draugr. Then, as if scheduled and planned, they all begin chanting a string of words... "DINOK ATH SULEYK LAAS SIL VASIK!"

A few of Paarthurnax's dragons attempt to stop this, but even after killing a dozen more dragons, the chant continued unabated. One complete, a purple mist manifested and quickly started manifesting on the battlefield.

Knowing that it was likely seriously bad news the mages scramble to create a defence for it, they do this in short order, creating huge faintly shimmering shields that encompass a great portion of the army... But even so, it doesn't cover everyone.

Those behind the shield are horrified as they watch their friends and brothers in arms pale, thin, and quickly become desiccated husks, their life force stolen by whatever the strange purple mist was.

Then, collides with the magical shield, quickly beginning to create splintering cracks in it, as if the mist were hammering countless ebony hammers into it.