章節 13: Fire and Ash
Like a dream dissipating into nothingness at the first light of the approaching day, the memory collapsed into absence. The scene shifted in seconds, and Xander was thrown into the middle of a battlefield.
The Dreamwalker's eyes widened, and his throat ran dry as he beheld the dreaded sight before his eyes. Hundreds upon hundreds of Headless Paladins were galloping across the Plains of Azola, riding on their armored stallions.
Flying above the horsemen were Death Stalkers, nimble black wyverns with forked serpentine tongues. These fell monsters were heralds of Shamura and brought death wherever they went.
For a moment, Xander froze in place, his heart racing inside his chest and his palms cold with sweat.
The blaring of battle horns finally shattered the Dreamwalker's stupor, rousing him into action. He turned around and saw heavy tanks rolling onto the battlefield from the other side. They were followed by a mob of angry young men, screaming and charging into battle with their rifles in hand.
It didn't take Xander long to realize what was happening. Shamura's army had invaded the real world, and the Imperial Army of Merantis was throwing everything it had in its arsenal to stop her minions.
Xander quickly held up his right arm and made a fist to bring up his system display. The same objective was displayed on the glowing white panel.
[Objective: Navigate your way through the carnage.]
"And how the hell am I supposed to do that? I don't have any weapons!" Xander cried out in frustration.
Almost instantly, a weapon materialized before him. It was a slender steel dagger with a pointed tip and a curved ivory handle.
"Is this some kind of twisted wish fulfillment? What the hell am I gonna do with a bloody knife?"
With the two armies closing in from both sides, Xander had no option but to grab the dagger as a last resort.
To test if the blade had any kind of hidden enchantment, Xander slashed the air from left to right and stabbed straight down the middle, but nothing happened.
"You've gotta be kidding me!"
Xander wasn't one to panic easily, but the dire situation made him freak out. He was sure he was going to get trampled by the horses or flattened under the steel treads of the rumbling battle tanks.
Suddenly, his system panel split in two and displayed a new choice.
[Choose your allegiance:]
[1. Shamura's Shadow]
[2. The Imperial Army.]
Xander didn't know if the memory was playing a trick on him or if his system was trying to help him out. With time running out of his hands, he was forced to make a choice based on his gut instinct.
[Allegiance selected:]
[The Imperial Army of Merantis.]
[Bonus Objective: Repel the opposing army.]
A bright white flash blinded Xander, his feet were lifted off the ground, and he felt a mysterious energy enveloping his body.
When Xander opened his eyes again, he was sitting on top of an armored Griffin, flanked on both sides by dozens of other Griffin Riders armed with enchanted spears emitting sparks of lightning.
Xander realized that by choosing the Imperial Army, he had now willingly become a participant in this battle. He had been assigned to the Thunder Guards, the country's most elite aerial raiding unit that was composed of veteran Beastmasters and other highly skilled Mystics.
A piercing whistle brought the straying Griffins back into formation. Xander clutched the reins of his beast and looked down. The tanks had already started engaging the Headless Paladins.
The lush green field was being peppered with explosions as the tanks fired their main cannons. The dark cavalry units charging into battle were taking a heavy beating from their opponents.
It seemed like the Imperial Army had the situation under control and was going to crush the horsemen with ease. But things quickly took a drastic turn.
A wall of fire erupted on the battlefield, splitting the lush green plain into two halves. The lightly armored tanks on the frontline tried to push through but soon realized it was a terrible mistake.
As soon as the flying Death Stalkers spotted the armored vehicles crossing into their territory, they struck them with dark energy bolts from above. The tanks were blown to smithereens, and the fallen crewmen were raised from the dead and transformed into walking corpses enveloped in faint green miasma.
The re-animated bodies soon turned against the living and started hobbling across the battlefield in search of prey. Rifles raged in the distance as the infantrymen fired at the shambling corpses. But despite being riddled with bullets they refused to go down.
Xander watched in horror as the undead pounced on the human soldiers like hungry hyenas and started tearing at their flesh. The soldiers in the front led a bayonet charge to push back the drooling corpses while the ones at the back started retreating.
"Those wyverns are killing our ground troops. We need to take them down! Men, prepare to charge!"
Hearing the Captain's words, Xander was roused from his stupor. He followed his companions as they flew into battle, riding on their Royal Griffins.
The Death Stalkers saw them coming from a mile away and flew into the dark black clouds for cover. But the Griffin Riders didn't give up. They followed their prey like eager hawks, pushing through the cloud cover.
Spears whizzed across the sky, electrifying the clouds below. Some wyverns were impaled by the shiny iron tips and crashed to the ground while some kept flying with punctured appendages.
To evade their pursuers, the Death Stalkers used their camouflage ability to blend in with the clouds, but the Griffin Riders hurled lightning bolts from above, zapping the fleeing wyverns.
Xander was riding behind his companions when all of a sudden a Death Stalker took him by surprise and bit into his Griffin's feathered chest. The hybrid tried to shake it off, but the Stalker's teeth dug into its flesh like sharp hooks.
"Let go of it, you freak!" Xander jabbed the wyvern with his spear, zapping it with electricity. As the shock coursed through its slender body, it was forced to loosen its jaw and let go of the Griffin.
Before the wyvern could flee to safety, Xander turned his Griffin around and hurled his spear at the nimble flier. It pierced the wyvern's back, going straight through its belly, and it instantly turned to ash.
"The skies are clear! Regroup, men!" the Captain's voice resounded across the sky like a brass bell.
Xander and the other riders turned their Griffins around and joined their leader above the clouds.
"Our brothers on the ground need our assistance. Let's send those foul ghouls back to their graves!"
"For Cynthia!" the men cried out in unison and prepared to swoop down.
Riding the strong eastern winds, the Griffin riders charged down from the sky like divine retribution, their spears ready to purify the undead with heavenly lightning.
But before they could rain down their righteous fury, a wave of fire swept across the sky, reducing them to ash in the blink of an eye.
Xander barely managed to escape the inferno, but his Griffin's tail feathers were burnt to a crisp just from the heat.
Shading his eyes from the bright flash, Xander peered through the gaps between his fingers. As the Dreamwalker parted his eyelids, his throat dried up in fear.
Hovering a few hundred feet above the ground was a three-headed Crimson Dragon.
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