 |
| A Centaur Lord from Parthenia, the land Quazar Gykkos-Assis lived. |
However, the troubles are far from over. After the
Paladins bailed out safely from the crashed Aurora,
they still have to land as close as possible to the gates of Kraal’Thragon.
CRASSH!
‘Nghieeh!!’
One
pegasus got shot on the neck with an arrow, and falls straight to the ground
along with the rider and passenger: Hernan.
‘Eleviant!’
Iris immediately catches Hernan with the Levitation
spell, but the rider falls too far for any wizard to catch and joins his
steed in death.
Chris
and Dejan relay the order to the others by speech and signs, and they all
descend at once to follow Iris and Hernan. The goblin, orc and skeleton archers
shoot more arrows at them. The Paladins block the arrows and shower the enemies
with Fireballs, Frost Arrows, projectiles
and the like, and they finally touch the dry ground again.
‘AAAGH!’
This time a griffin rider gets shot and falls from his steed. Chris immediately
dismounts and pats Acavela, his partner. ‘Thank you, my friend. I think I must
walk from here on. Go home safely with your mate here.’
And
then, he shouts to the riders, ‘All riders, go back now and assist our friends
in Crypton! Tell Rael’charon about our progress! Now, go!’
‘Aye,
Sir!’ Acavela the red griffin and the riders on the ground immediately take off
and withdraw with their comrades on air.
Now
It’s eleven against eleven thousand, and the Paladins fight so fiercely like
they never did before. They’re outnumbered, but the brutes are clearly
outmatched.
Desmond
breaks five skeletons, a ghoul and two goblins with a Megaton Impact, earth-reinforced blow, shouting, ‘We must push
forward! We can’t stay on like this!’
Agustina
the ‘statue-faced’ only responds with ‘An
Jokul’me Fyasch!’ and sends a huge wave of Blizzard towards the gate. The enemies are swept away and the
Paladins charge through, but soon they’re surrounded again.
Robert
sends a horizontal Dragonfire Slash, splitting
a group of enemies by the torso, saying, ‘Spells and attacks alone won’t be
enough. We must conjure something extra powerful to open the path for us.’
‘Conjure,
you say?’ Hernan responds, ‘Oh, I know! An
Petra Aschi!’
A hexagram
portal appears in front of the Escudian fencer, and SPLASSH! A huge creature
comes out from it as if a dolphin jumps out from the sea. The Paladins
immediately recognizes it at once as the blue-scaled sea serpent-like Ancient
Blue Dragon, the Leviathan Petra.
‘HARRR!
How dare you summon me just as I’m halfway across the Petravia Ocean?’ The
Leviathan sounds and talks like Eidos, but it’s all coming out from his ego
fulfillment and his human counterpart’s past as the Old Man of the Sea, the
strangler, the legendary menace of the Petravia Ocean.
Hernan,
of course, practices his courtesy as Petra’s ideal partner by responding,
‘Pardon me, O’ Great One. We’re in dire need of your help. Please lend me your
strength, because before you now stand the enemies that will surely satisfy you
– throngs of them!’
Arrows
and weaons start raining on the dragon. He doesn’t get hurt even a bit, yet
it’s enough to make him aware of the situation around him before seeing it with
his one huge eye in the middle of his face.
‘This
big a challenge... And all I need to do is to protect you and your friends
until you all go safely into that castle, right? You read my mind and I yours,
partner. Shall we begin?’ Petra’s eye flashes with excitement.
‘Ready,
fellow Paladins?’ Hernan shouts.
‘Lead
the way, Great Petra,’ Cristophe answers, slashing through three ghouls and two
goblins with the Ten-Point Chain Slash skill.
Naturally,
Petra wastes no time. ‘FHHOARHHH!’ From its mouth comes a huge Tidal Wave that sweeps all enemies
frontally. And then he moves, encircling the group of Paladins, forming a Dragon Wave that serves as a protection
field, covering their advance.
‘Move
as one, push forward to the gate! Watch out for attacks from above!’ Chris
leads the small group that walks step-by-step with an accurate, uniform timing.
Hence they go too fast or too slow, they will be trampled by the one who
should’ve been their shield.
As
a living being, the Leviathan doesn’t depend on the aura contact with his
partner. He just moves on and on like a whirlpool, and the group soon comes to
a halt.
Iris
stares at the gate with awe, saying, ‘So, the Dark Gate of Kraal’Thragon is
really the last line of defense at all. Look at those carvings on the black
wall and the gargoyles – they’re not just for decoration.’
Carol
nods, adding, ‘And the guards: dracolichs, trolls, abomies, lichs... and of
course, a demonic general. Looks like we have to use maximum force even to get
past this gate alone.’
‘...Or,
we can get an extra help. An Algaban
Aschi! Robert holds his Dragon Saber Grimlock
up. A hexagram portal appears out of the blue and an enormous, eagle-beaked
red dragon comes out from it. The Ancient Red Dragon Algaban stares down at her
rival and peer.
Petra
looks up at her, saying, ‘Well, well. Looks like we’re fighting side-by-side
this time.’
FWOOM!
Algaban immediately gets into action by scorching a dracolich that attacks her,
and then she says, ‘Or rather, up-and-down. You break the gate and I’ll burn
all enemies around it.’
‘Why
can’t it be the other way around?’ The Leviathan protests, and is answered with
a fire breath from above. ‘Okay! Okay! I got your point! Sheesh, what a pain!’
‘I
heard that!’ says Algaban with a roar. She then burns some more guards, a task
more important and urgent than continuing her dispute and argument with her
perfect opposition. The Paladins, of course handle the enemies from the back.
BAAMM!!
BAMMM! BAMMM!
The
blue serpent rams into the massive, gigantic gate one, two, three times,
leaving barely a single dent on the ultramassive barrier.
And
then he stops as though an idea just struck him, turning towards his partner,
saying with telepathy, Hernan, I need
your help on this.
Hernan
looks puzzled, responding, Huh? Me?
Breaking the gate? But how?
I’ll transfer my full power to youand the Albatross.
You only have to concentrate that popwer
on the tip of your sword and hit that gate one time on one point. Hurry, we
must try this!
Hernan quickly
comes between Petra and the gate. A streak of blue light shoots from Petra’s
enormous eye, surging into Hernan’s body like electricity. He never feels this
much energy before and as a medium, his body has limits. So, he channels this
excess force into the tip of his rapier as instructed, aims, and...
‘HEEAAAHH!!!’
The
Escudian fencer swings his sword with all his might and thrusts straight at the
gap between the left and right doors – seemingly the only weak spot on the
gate.
BLAAAARSSHH!!
The blow goes in forcefully and accurately, but the door still won’t budge!
Hernan
is sweating hard with desperation. Just as he’s about to push himself over the
limit, suddenly he feels two hands on his shoulders transferring energy. The
fencer turns his head back and sees Robert!
‘We
can’t rely on Petra alone. We, the Paladins must lend a hand,’ says the
white-haired man with a smile of a newborn soul. Behind him comes his soulmate
Carolyn, also supplying mana energy, smiling the same way as Robert is, as
though they’re two of a kind.
‘Vadis
gave my life back, and I’ll help as much as I can as a token of gratitude.’
Tina
comes behind Carol without a word, and Desmond behind her, saying ‘We’ve come
this far, and we’ve got to move on.’
Kyflynn
presses his hands on Desmond’s shoulder, his face looks serious but relaxed.
‘So, we’ll be damned if we just sit back and sweep the critters, while our
friends are doing their best.’
Two
cold gauntlets rest on the night elf’s ahoulders with a stream of non-elemental
energy. A cold, dignified voice comes, ‘If we stop here, all we’ve worked on
will be for naught and we’ll lose the things we want to protect.’
Another
stream of power comes from the Heir of Vadis, Cristophe with a face full of
determination, saying, ‘Glad you understand, Lord Adler. We humans cannot
change fate. We can only do our best to find our destiny. So, here we, go, the
best of our combined forces. HEEAAAHH!!’
FWOOSSHH!!
Chris transfers a huge mass of energy through Adler, and the Viscount amplifies
it with his own. The force gets stronger and stronger through the other five
Paladins, and as it reaches Hernan it gets compressed, concentrated and...
BLAA-DAAAMMMMM!!!!
 |
| Sample Image: Chiron the Centaur from Greek Mythology |
End
of Chapter 19
Navigation:
Previous Page: The Juggernaut - Part Two
Next Page: Chapter 20
Image Sources:
Centaur Lord: http://art.alphacoders.com/galleries/by_sub_gallery/1050/Centaur
Chiron the Centaur: www.superstock.com
Note to author: Script pg 300/313 chapter20
