Chapter 324: Dragon Slayer’s End
He leaped thirty feet into the air with his heavy boots slamming violently onto the jagged moving scales of Talira’s massive, ascending tail.
Gideon had successfully mounted the dragon mid-flight.
He grabbed onto one of her massive tail spikes with his left hand to secure his grip, while holding the heavy greatsword tightly in his right.
He began rapidly scaling her massive body as she climbed higher and higher into the sky.
Talira felt the human crawling up her spine like a persistent agonizing parasite.
"RAHHHHHHHH!"
She roared in profound annoyance as she executed a violent, high-speed aerial barrel roll, attempting to throw him completely off her back.
’Why the hell is this human still on my back?!’
The extreme G-forces and dizzying centrifugal motion threatened to snap Gideon’s grip entirely.
But he held on with terrifying obsessive willpower.
His muscles screamed in agony and his scarred face twisted with effort, but he slowly continued to climb up her massive spine.
Talira realized rolling simply wasn’t working.
Her Combat Growth kicked into overdrive as she didn’t just rely on her fire anymore.
’I have to ue wind...’
Talira channeled massive amounts of compressed, emerald-green wind mana directly into her own scales.
Suddenly, the ambient air surrounding her entire massive body began to violently shred and slice in every conceivable direction.
Razor-sharp, high-velocity wind-blades erupted directly from her scales, forming a chaotic tornado of pure cutting force entirely around her spine.
"GHK!" Gideon grunted in sudden, agonizing pain.
The razor-sharp wind blades tore brutally through the weak points of his heavy mythril armor.
Deep bloody gashes opened rapidly across his exposed arms, his thighs, and his scarred cheeks.
His blood sprayed wildly into the rushing wind as Talira continued her vertical ascent, dragging him higher and higher into the freezing, oxygen-deprived upper atmosphere.
The volume of damage was rapidly overwhelming his durability as he was bleeding heavily.
His stamina was rapidly draining from the extreme altitude and the continuous shredding wind blades.
But his obsession kept him going. He absolutely refused to let go.
Through sheer willpower, he finally managed to drag his battered, bleeding body all the way up to the base of Talira’s massive neck.
Gideon planted his heavy boots securely between two of her massive spinal spikes.
He raised the heavy Dragon-Bone Greatsword high above his head with both hands, aiming the glowing lightning-charged tip directly at the vulnerable, softer scales located right at the base of her reptilian skull.
If he drove the blade deep enough, he could sever her spinal column and instantly kill the beast, securing his legacy forever.
"This is for my father!" Gideon screamed into the roaring wind. His pale gray eyes were wide with bloodthirsty triumph.
"THIS IS FOR MY CLAN!"
He began his final, executionary downward thrust but before the heavy bone blade could even touch her scales...
HUMMMMMMM.
A blinding celestial light suddenly illuminated the dark, storm-filled sky directly above them.
Gideon froze mid-swing with his eyes snapping instinctively upward.
High above the massive dragon, hovering completely effortlessly in the freezing, thin air of the upper atmosphere, was a single glowing figure.
It was Aeliana.
The evolved Astrea Archon of the Stars floated gracefully in the sky.
Her pristine white robes fluttered lightly in the fierce wind as her long starlight-blonde hair flowed perfectly around her shoulders.
Her voluminous chest heaved gently with her calm breathing, giving her a stunning, shapely hourglass figure that radiated an effortless grace.
Her luminous cosmic green eyes looked down at Gideon with an expression of terrifying coldness.
Her newly acquired Spatial Constellation Drift passive allowed her to bypass gravity entirely.
She was effectively floating on the edge of the spatial wind currents, turning her into an untouchable orbital cannon.
’Heh...’
Aeliana simply raised her slender right index finger, pointing it directly down at Gideon’s chest.
PCHOOOOOM!
A compressed microscopic beam of pure, destructive starlight mana fired instantly from her fingertip.
The Arcane Piercer traveled at the literal speed of light.
The starlight beam slammed directly into the center of Gideon’s heavy, dragon-scale chest plate.
The anti-dragon armor was completely useless against high-tier celestial magic as the compressed beam easily punched a clean smoking hole straight through the thick mythril.
It bypassed his physical durability entirely, striking his sternum with the force of a falling meteor!
"GAAAAAH!" Gideon screamed in agonizing shock.
The massive impact instantly shattered several of his ribs and blew him violently off of Talira’s neck.
He lost his grip on his greatsword.
The heavy weapon remained embedded harmlessly in the outer layer of Talira’s scales as Gideon’s battered, bleeding body was launched completely backward into the open empty sky.
Talira felt the agonizing parasite finally removed from her neck.
She instantly ceased her violent aerial maneuvers as the chaotic shredding wind blades stopped instantly.
She looked up, her massive glowing golden eyes locking onto the small, beautifully floating form of Aeliana.
The dragon let out a soft, low, highly appreciative rumble from deep within her massive chest.
Aeliana offered a gentle elegant smile. She floated smoothly downward to land perfectly on the flat broad top of Talira’s massive reptilian skull with her boots touching the dark scales.
"You fought very well, Talira," Aeliana spoke.
Her soft voice easily reached the dragon’s ears through a spatial transmission, completely ignoring the roaring wind.
"But I think it is time we finally put this annoying little bug in his place," Aeliana declared.
Talira let out a terrifying roar of agreement.
The massive dragon folded her wings tight against her body and entered a steep dive.
Gideon was currently in a chaotic, completely uncontrolled freefall. He was plummeting rapidly back toward the battlefield below.
He was bleeding heavily from the wind blades with his chest completely crushed and smoking from the starlight impact.
He desperately tried to align his body, reaching out frantically with his hands, but he had no magic to save him as he was completely helpless in the air.
Talira easily caught up to his falling body.
She didn’t use her fire breath.
’That would be too easy...’
She simply utilized the multi-ton mass of her rapidly descending body.
WHAM!
Talira aggressively swatted Gideon’s falling body entirely out of the sky with the broad flat side of her massive crimson wing.
The impact sent Gideon spinning violently out of control, crashing down toward the Umbral Basin like a broken, discarded ragdoll.
KRA-THOOOOOOOM!
Gideon slammed brutally into the shattered bedrock of the central clearing.
The catastrophic impact created a massive fifty-foot crater, sending a massive cloud of dirt and stone shrapnel soaring high into the air.
A few seconds later, Talira landed heavily at the edge of the crater.
The sheer weight of her body shook the entire battlefield, completely silencing the surrounding infantry skirmishes.
With a brilliant flash of bright crimson light, the massive dragon rapidly condensed, transforming smoothly back into her humanoid form.
Talira stepped forward with her scale-armored tail swishing angrily behind her boots.
Aeliana floated gently down from the sky, her boots lightly touching the bedrock exactly beside Talira.
The Astrea Archon of the Stars folded her hands gracefully in front of her waist, looking down into the deep crater.
Gideon lay perfectly still in the center of the crushed stone.
He was on the verge of death.
His heavy mythril armor was completely shattered. His chest was crushed inward, and he was bleeding profusely from dozens of deep lacerations.
He couldn’t move his arms and he couldn’t lift his head.
His pale gray eyes stared blankly up at the sky with his breathing incredibly ragged and wet.
His greatsword, the legacy of his entire clan, was nowhere to be found...
He had failed.
Talira walked slowly down into the crater, stopping right at the edge of his broken body.
She looked down at the Dragon-Slayer who had obsessed over killing her and the man who had caused her so much immense pain during the aerial battle.
Aeliana stepped up quietly beside her, her cosmic green eyes calm and entirely unbothered by the sight of blood.
"He is at your mercy, Talira," Aeliana stated softly, her voice echoing perfectly in the quiet crater. "He hunted you specifically. It is your right. Do you wish to execute him?"
Talira stared down at Gideon’s bleeding, ruined face.
She thought about the Warden’s Eye.
She thought about her mother’s rotting corpse. She thought about the endless cycle of hatred and violence that had consumed her entire life until Aeliana had freed her.
Talira let out a slow breath with her glowing golden eyes narrowing.
"No," Talira stated firmly.
Her voice carried a deep surprising sense of maturity. She looked away from Gideon in pure disgust.
"My Lord and everyone showed me kindness when I deserved none," Talira spoke proudly, standing incredibly tall. "I will not let this pathetic little human drag me down into his miserable cycle of revenge. He is already broken. Let him crawl back to his army and live the rest of his pathetic life knowing that a dragon chose to spare him out of pity. I will be the bigger person."
It was a beautiful and incredibly dramatic speech of personal growth and absolute forgiveness.
Aeliana listened to the entire speech with a gentle supportive smile on her beautiful face.
"That is wonderfully spoken, Talira," Aeliana praised her softly. "You have grown so much since we first met."
Then, Aeliana casually raised her right index finger, pointing it directly at Gideon’s head.
PCHOOOOOM!
A high-velocity beam of destructive starlight mana fired instantly from her finger.
It blew a massive smoking hole straight through the center of Gideon’s skull.
The Dragon-Slayer’s body jerked exactly once, then went completely, permanently limp in the mud. He was instantly dead.
Talira froze entirely.
Her golden eyes widened in utter shock.
She slowly turned her head, looking at Aeliana with an expression of pure bewilderment.
"Wha... what?!" Talira stammered, pointing a violently shaking gauntlet at the headless corpse. "I... I just gave a whole speech about sparing him! I said I was going to be the bigger person!"
Aeliana lowered her hand gracefully, delicately tucking a stray strand of starlight-blonde hair behind her long elven ear.
Her cosmic green eyes blinked with innocence.
"I know," Aeliana replied. "And it was a very lovely speech. But if we let him live, he would just go back, train harder, unlock some new tragic power-up, and come back stronger to try and kill you again in a few months."
Aeliana offered a small chilling smile.
"And I most certainly would not like that," Aeliana concluded simply. "It is far more efficient to simply execute him now while he cannot defend himself."
Talira stood there, completely dumbfounded by the terrifying ruthlessness hiding behind the High Elf’s gentle beautiful smile.
Aeliana stepped forward. She reached out with her delicate hand to gently tap the tip of Talira’s nose.
"You are very cute when you try to be noble, though," Aeliana giggled softly.
Talira’s pale cheeks flushed a deep burning crimson.
She opened her mouth to aggressively argue, but found herself completely at a loss for words against the woman’s logic.
However, before either of them could say another word, the atmosphere in the entire central clearing underwent a terrifying shift.
The light of the morning sun vanished completely.
The sky above them didn’t just turn dark.
It was forcefully overwritten by a deep and infinitely vast shade of dark purple light.
Aeliana and Talira both snapped their heads instantly toward the western quadrant of the battlefield.
The ambient mana in the air was completely suppressed.
The people in the Umbral Basin felt as though they had been forcibly locked into place by an overwhelming pressure.
A single and terrifyingly serene voice echoed directly into the minds of every single combatant on the field.
"Mind’s Eye."
...
The central battleground of the Umbral Basin had been completely reduced to a chaotic unrecognizable wasteland of torn bedrock, shattered ice, and burning craters.
The heavy scent of boiling blood, and scorched earth hung in the freezing air.
The sky above was a swirling unnatural vortex of gray ash and updrafts, painted in violent, flashing hues of crimson, sapphire, and pink from the continuous apocalyptic clashes of powerhouses occurring in every single quadrant.
The ground trembled continuously.
KRA-THOOOOOM!
Another massive shockwave ripped through the western tree line, blowing away the lingering fog and sending a dozen heavy infantrymen tumbling helplessly across the mud.
Yet, directly in the exact center of this hellscape, a strange surreal bubble of quiet anticipation had formed.