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| Sargathos the Dracolich (Dragon Lich or Draco Lich) |
And here they come! A great flock of harpies along with
winged demons, imps and giant bats are flying in high speed towards the city!
The enemies are fewer from the north and south because the griffin riders
intercepted them. But they are still far too many, a great number of them spot
Chris and attack! There’s no escape!
Avariel, I need your help right now, desperation
invades Chris’ mind. But, I’ve heard that
you were severely injured from your battle with Arachus, so you won’t be able
to use your powers in a year or so. Guess I have to rely on my own power alone
now.
Avariel’s telepathic answer comes almost
instantly. That’s right, Chris. You’re
Vadis’ Heir and the power you need is already inside you all along. Just use
it. Unleash the divine power within you.
Cristophe’s aura grows stronger and
stronger. The dark monsters fly closer, and...
Genesis Supernova!
Long range rayblasts shoot to all angles and
directions, tearing the blue sky with slash-and-thrust hyper combo with great
accuracy. The skill displays some sort of a Big Bang, the genesis of universe
from one great planet that exploded and scattered, forming stars and planets.
The beginning of all creations came with an
ultimate destruction, and that’s what happens to all who are strong and
numerous enough to challenge the Heir of Vadis.
Chris and
Acavela fly here and there, and many monsters fall in their passing.
CRRASSH!
CRASH! CRAKKH! ‘SHAA!!’
Shrieks of
severed monsters fill the air, though many are already dead before they can
even shriek. The death count is – for curious minds – hundreds.
The beastly
monsters’ instincts tell them at once to move away and attack the city instead,
and Chris just steers his griffin steady in the air after finishing his move.
However,
something tells him to... watch out!
A Dark Bolt comes very quickly and Chris
blocks it with the Shield of Faith. PYAAARSCH! He feels a shiver on his hand
and turns his griffin back, facing the opponent who shot him.
‘My, my,
hiding your face behind your helmet this time, Your Majesty?’ comes a familiar
voice from a familiar face, a fiendish foe, the Succubus Queen. ‘You know, how
many times we stumbled upon each other already? This must be fate, no?’
‘I’d say
it’s an ill match, and today I shall purge that illness,’ Chris answers.
‘Well, I’d
love to, but you see, this time I brought along a friend who is itching to have
a spar with you.’
The
she-devil blows a strange whistle, and from the air behind her comes a creature
that resembles a dragon with a man-like skeletal face. His body looks strange
too, more like a skeletal centaur with skeletal dragon wings. Long thorns cover
his body like a porcupine, and his blackened skin signifies a powerful, dark
being. His four arms are swiping menacingly with long, beastly claws. One thing
for sure, it’s really a huge monster created solely as a killing machine: a
fusion of man, dragon and lich – mandracolich.
‘This is
Sargathos, defiler of the pure, devourer of fleshes. He came all the way from
the underworld with multitudes of his minions to help the Dark Overlord get rid
of Vadis’ Heir.’
The
mandracolich adds, ‘And now that I’ve found you, my primary target, I’ll gain
my satisfaction by adding your head into my collection!’
Chris
prefers fighting the she-devil than this overgrown necro-monster, because he
knows the she-devil more, but the opponents don’t give him a choice.
‘Well, you
two, enjoy your play!’ The Succubus Queen flies away in high speed. Cristophe
tries to chase her, but the mandracolich blocks his way, saying,
‘I’m your
opponent. Trying to run away, coward?’
‘Coward.’
Sargathos is going to eat that word as his opponent turns in a blitz and
slashes rapidly to chop his head off – and misses! He taunts again, ‘You need
much more than that to finish me off!’
To that,
Chris only says, ‘That’s just a warm-up.’ And he zooms again to his foe.
CLANK!
CLANK!
The
mandracolich’s skeletal arms are as tough as steel, blocking each and every
blow Chris delivers without much effort. On the other hand, the Heir of Vadis
moves extra-cautiously, observing this new foe he never had an info before.
From that
first impact, he knows that he cannot hurt this mandracolich directly. He must
first search for a weak point, a way to hit it and exploit it for his benefit.
And then he realizes that the mandracolich is observing him as well, aiming for
the same thing but with a different method.
‘Humph,
this is far less than I expected. Vadis’ Heir is a cowardly weakling who knows
nothing but hit-and-runs. I really should thank Vadis for choosing this idiot,
so I’ll be his nemesis.’
Chris is
about to ignore Sargathos’ taunts when suddenly a question pops up from his
mouth.
‘I must say
mandracolichs are fascinating, strong creatures. I’m just curious, are you one
of a kind?’
‘I don’t
know if there’s another like me in Eternia, but in the underworld, there are
some of my kind and I am the strongest one.’
‘So, how come
you became a mandracolich? Wasn’t that... hard to attain?’
‘Is that a
trick question? Or, are you considering on becoming a mandracolich yourself?’
‘That
depends on your answer.’
The
duelists fall silent for a while, just exchanging blows. And then, the
size-wise superior duelist stops his attacks and speaks. Chris listens and be
on guard.
‘Very well.
As you can see, a mandracolich is an undead, so that means you must be dead
first before you become one. Also, you must do or put something in your body to
transform into the shape you want. For instance, to be a headless you must die
by beheading. To become a shade you must be a zealot, performing lots of
rituals before sinking yourself in the Pool of Souls to separate your body and
your soul, whereas your soul becomes a shade. Without doing so, you might
become just an ordinary ghost instead.
In case of
a mandracolich, you must drink a dragon’s blood straight from a fresh dragon
corpse and make sure you are near a lich or a powerful necromancer whenever
you’re slain or dead. So, when you transform, voila! A mandracolich it is. But,
the chance is still fifty-fifty, though. So, not many opted to be a
mandracolich, except perhaps, the dragon slayers.’
‘Were you a
dragon slayer, Sargathos?’
‘Yes, I happened
to be one. I don’t remember my name in the past, but I know I once killed a
dragon, drank its blood and ate its heart raw. And then its mother took revenge
and killed me in a fight, and a necromancer just happened to be around to
convert me. So, here I am, more powerful than I was and I’ll ever be.’
‘Hm, do you
remember what were the dragons look like?’ Chris asks out of curiosity.
‘The dragon
I killed was a little red dragon with a white mane and its mother was a
gigantic red dragon. Both of them had a unique resemblance: their heads were
like eagles, with beaks and all.’
Chris reacts on hearing that. The mandracolich
can’t see the surprise on his face, but his body language shows it all.
Algaban... and her whelp. The necromancer
who turned him must be Zal’fira, and she has been targeting Algaban for years
to realize her twisted plan.
She must’ve been using this man to hunt Algaban’s whelp
and sneaked in when the dragon went out and killed the man who killed her whelp
to steal some treasures, but failed and barely came out with a few trinkets.
She transformed this man into a mandracolich and gained an ally, but their lack
of knowledge about dragons made them forget about one big mistake...
Oh, yes. I know what to do now. I guess I owe you one this
time, Robert.
‘Hey, are you listening to what I’m
saying?’ The mandracolich snaps. Cristophe is on guard all the time and he
doesn’t listen to any more of his opponent’s blabbering. ‘Are you a relative of
those dragons or what? Anyway, that’s all I have to say. Thanks for listening,
but you won’t have the slightest chance to become a mandracolich because I’m
going to send you straight to hell, right here and right now.’
‘Says who I
want to become a mandracolich? I said that depends on your answer, and whatever
your answer is, mine is always one: I’d rather die and cross over to heaven or
hell than to live a half-life in eternity as a cursed undead!’ This time Chris
shows his true potential as a negotiator, and those words really have an effect
on the mandracolich.
The winged centaur-dragon-like monster is really angry now.
He roars at the top of his voice and shouts, ‘HOW DARE YOU MAKE A FOOL OF ME,
acting like a stupid fool?! Now I shall double my satisfaction by beheading you
and burn your body down to crisp!’
Chris just
answers coolly, ‘Just shut up and bring it on.’
‘HRROOAAAA!!!’
The mandracolich opens his mouth and shoots a big Fireblast at Chris. The young Emperor evades it on time. The fire
just grazes the back of Chris’ armor, yet leaves no mark on that divine
heritage.
Working
together as one unit, Acavela flies forward, spiralling in high speed as his
partner slashes through the enemy with a random combo of Rocky Road of Righteousness. Acavela flies from all angles,
following the original sword movements with great accuracy, while the slashes
and thrusts become more complex, random and unpredictable.
The way of righteousness is never an easy
one, always full of uncertainties and unexpected turns.
Still, Sargathos wouldn’t become an alpha
mandracolich without a great deal of intelligence, cunning and overwhelming
power in the package. So, in yet another timely maneuver, he whips Acavela and
Cristophe with his long, skeletal tail. BASSHHH!! The master and griffin are
thrown quite a distance. The divine aura protects them from pain and Acavela
darts again!
Chris
boosts his aura to the desired level, and this time multiplies the speed of his
attacks to a godly level with the Speedy
Strikes of Diligence. His sword dances around rhytmically, and the
mandracolich’s big limbs can’t keep up with his speed. Chris spots an opening
on the mandracolich’s chest and thrusts one-time with added power, but
something blocks it. It’s not the lich’s hands or legs, but his tail!
‘Now it’s
my turn! HROOAAHHH!!!’
Sargathos
blows a big fire! Chris tries to avoid it and flies away with Acavela, but the
opponent keeps on pursuing him with that fire breath.
Hmmm... something’s really odd. The way that
monster attacks, he always targets my right, sword-hand side. Hmm, maybe I can
use it for my advantage. His own tactic will backfire at him!
FWOOM! Suddenly, a great claw of fire comes
from his back, blocking all exits and BLASSSH!! It engulfs Chris and Acavela.
Both griffin and man scream in pain.
The fire
gets hotter and hotter. The temperature rises twofolds, eating away their
protection aura, inflicting some damage in process. At the brink of being roast
man and griffin, FWIISH!! Chris swipes his sword everywhere, extinguishing the
fire around him. The blade of Excalibur emits
pure white glow, creating a visual effect of an angel protecting with his Shielding Wings of Love. The sphere of
fire bursts until it gradually vanishes, and Chris is free from the torture!
‘So this is
what hell feels like. Now it’s your turn to feel the pain of Divine Judgment!’
Saying so, Chris rushes with Acavela
towards Sargathos. The mandracolich blows a myriad bolts of fire that spreads
and bends like homing missiles, each of them is like an arrow sharp enough to
pierce any godly armor. Before any of it hits the opponent, Chris and Acavela
disappear!
The
mandracolich keeps on firing and tries to follow his opponents’ movements
through his heat-seeking firebolts, and before he has a chance to do so, net of
razor-sharp strings of light comes!
Image Source:
Dracolich by rollespill.elvishproductions.com
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