Chương 24: Akai vs. Kytlmyne
Akai flew above the poisoned ground being carried by crows.
"I just needed to distract you and your guards from noticing some dragonslayers setting up their poison gas around you."
Kytlmyne continued to cough, but as the treants were unaffected they started to run around looking for where the poison was coming from.
Akai listened to what the crow was saying. The crow in Miura's voice said, "Captain Halido and his men aren't outside of the forest, yet. My magical shielding should protect them from the poison, but they need time to get out."
Akai nodded and at that moment, Kytlmyne's eyes turned green with rage and shot hundred of vines from the ground up towards Akai. The crows weren't agile enough to dodge any of the vines, so they let go of Akai.
As Akai fell, the crows melded together forming a black blade made of feathers and darkened steel in the black dragon's hand. Another flock of crows flew in and melded into a helmet around Akai's face. The helmet would protect him from breathing in the poisonous gas.
As Akai fell, he slashed away at the vines. The vines began to surround Akai, but he cut them down as he descended. Underneath him was a treant ready to strike at it's falling foe. Akai readied himself. The walking tree swung an arm made out of branches at the black dragon. As the tree swung, Akai took his blade and slashed at where the tree's fist would be. The treant's hand splintered, but still pushed Akai back.
Akai dropped down to the ground still holding his sword.
Kytlmyne tried to move his wings, but to no avail. The poison ate away at him, as he continued to cough up more and more blood.
As Akai touched the floor, the ground beneath him began to shake. He looked down as thorny vines began to grab his ankle. He cut the vines underneath hims and jumped away as more vines started growing from the dirt. He landed on a sturdy branch of an oak tree. As he did so, the tree began to move. The branch turned into an arm and grabbed Akai. A nymph inhabited the tree and began to control it's movements. Akai took his sword and cut the branch.
He continued to run and jump around, dodging vines as they sprung up.
During his fight, flocks of crows started to plunge themselves into the poisonous air. They dove downwards like arrows and shot at the treants, vines, and the ancient dragon.
As this happened, another flock of crows swooped in and grabbed Akai. As Akai ascended, more vines sprung out towards him. Akai slashed and struck the oncoming waves of vines as he ascended away from the green gas. He flew higher up with the help of more and more crows to replace the ones that died from breathing in the gas.
From his black feathery helmet, he heard Miura's voice. "The dragonslayers are out of the forest."
Hearing this, Akai slashed faster and faster against the vines. Soon, he was outside of the green cloud. As he exited the green gas, huge flocks of crows gathered nearby being controlled by Miura to sacrifice themselves. The vines also left the green gas only to be attacked by crossbows.
Akai looked and saw Captain Halido alongside other dragonslayers being dragged by crows.
"How are you holding up, Akai!?" the captain asked while shooting bolts of arrows at the vines, cutting them. The other dragonslayers there also continued to barrage the cloud from above. They shot arrows down underneath into the green cloud of poisonous gas.
"This wasn't part of the plan. But I'm glad you guys are here."
Their arrows struck treants and many of them fell. Kytlmyne defended himself by creating a barrier of vines around him. Though the barrier, itself was weaker than usual, as he was unable to breathe properly. The arrows shot through the weakened vines and struck Kytlmyne. The ancient forest dragon was stuck where he was.
Kytlmyne's eyes grew tired and weak, but he was not dead, yet. He wouldn't allow himself to die. Especially not to some humans.
Kytlmyne coughed out more blood and gave out one loud roar.
With the last of his strength as he was getting impaled by arrows, he muttered, "I hope you all suffer. Especially you, Akai. Especially you."
With this, the ancient dragon laid down as more arrows struck him. The vines that were being controlled by him fell to the ground and instantly rotted away. The nearby trees began to rot away. The soil turned to poison with the gas. The flowers and grass turned black. The surviving treants cried as they were being shot at from above and slowly rotting. The nymphs began to cry as they tried to wake Kytlmyne. They tried to heal the ancient dragon's wounds, but with no results.
The cloud became too dense to see through as the dragonslayers continued their barrage.
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Away from the forest, Miura smiled with malicious intent. "Everything is happening smoothly. A new, brighter future will await us."
Nera slowly walked towards Miura. The green gas was able to be seen from where they stood.
Nera began to worry and asked, "What is happening? I thought they were here to hunt some monster. Is that the work of the creature? "
As she turned her head to Miura, she saw that the woman's face contorted with a smile as she watched the forest. Nera's heart pounded in fear from Miura's grin. A green cloud rose from the forest and continued to rise.
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The cloud rose and with it, the crows began to lift the dragonslayers further away from it. The ground beneath had the most concentration of the gas, but as it rose the poison dispersed into the atmosphere. As it dispersed, it no longer had the potency to kill anybody.
The dragonslayers stopped their barrage as they watched the ground beneath them. The gas started to disappear leaving behind blurry silhouettes. Akai watched. As the poison dispersed, they could see Kytlmyne's body surrounded by dead vines and treants. The nymphs disappeared. Hundreds of dead vines and crows laid on the dirt. The surrounding trees near Kytlmyne died and collapsed.
There was silence from the forest. They couldn't hear any animals down in the woods. Only the caws of the few crows remaining that lifted the dragonslayers.
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The crows descended slowly into the dead forest area. As they reached the ground, there was still some green gas hovering above the dirt.
The other dragonslayers looked in awe at the size of the dragon. From above, it didn't look very large, but now that they were on the ground, it made them realize that they killed a dragon the size of the one near Troll's cave without any loss.
"Seems your plan worked, Akai. I was a little hesitant to bring over our entire supply, but the payoff was quite worth it," Halido said, but Akai wasn't listening. Akai dropped his sword and it shattered into black feathers. He took off his helmet and he dropped it to the ground. It too shattered the same.
Akai approached Kytlmyne's corpse walking over the dead vines, treants, and crows. Akai slowly walked over and took his hand near Kytlmyne's head. He laid his hand on the corpse and it was cold. He looked over the body emotionlessly and Kytlmyne was indeed dead.
He still knew that there were more dragons that he needed to kill. He didn't feel any satisfaction. He only felt that this was the just the beginning.
"It's not over, yet," he said as he began walking away from it.
He looked at the other dragonslayers and all of them smiled.
"We're going to get drunk tonight, boys!"
"This was a great hunt, Akai!"
"I can't believe we were able to kill that!"
In one moment, they cheered. The silence of the forest broke as the cheers of the dragonslayers resonated. They yelled triumphantly in unison.
Akai closed his eyes and smiled. Captain Halido came up to Akai and grabbed him up.
"Woah! What are you doing!?" Akai yelled in suprise flailing his arms.
"Let's all cheer for our new dragonslayer! We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Akai!"
With that, the other dragonslayers cheered for their new comrade. Akai blushed and felt embarrased by the cheers.
As they walked away from the forest in triumph, they held Akai high in the air.
"You can let me down, now. I still feel a little pain," Akai said, but was drowned out by the noise of the cheering dragonslayers.
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