Chương 81: 81, loop 2 part 35

The dragon burned. And I let myself believe the fight had been finished. Smoke rose from my golems. Their flames spread beyond the dragon into the grass, spreading and spreading and spreading. Being on the incline and still below ground level blocked most of the heat. But I could still feel it making its way toward us. The grass started curling inward as the flames spread, more of the black smoke rising.

"Please tell me it's over," Finn said. He lifted his head, trying to see past the incline.

"Dude, come on, just cast [Wideview]. It's not that hard a spell."

"I refuse to use it on principle."

"That's my line, you thief. And since when do you have principles about the spells you cast?"

"It's the spell you use just so you don't have to put in effort."

"All the more reason to use it. It saves time." Unfortunately, while we were bantering, the dragon stood up from the wreckage on its front legs. Its right wing was completely ruined, the fire having burned through at an insane rate. But it still struggled to its feet. The fire was quickly spreading beyond our hiding spot. So I dragged Finn up and away. We skimmed along the back of the incline, almost low enough to hit the grass. Smoke followed.

I could still see the dragon through [Wideview], but a lot of my vision was obscured.

"Where are we going?" Finn asked me.

"Obviously, somewhere with less smoke." He paused.

"That's a pretty short list, dude."

"Yeah, but there's still a list, and I'd rather not be barbecue." The damage kept getting worse. An entire leg tore off from the beast as it tried to escape the flames. It was, honestly, a wonder the thing was still standing. And then it fucking cheated again. It took its least damaged leg and thrust it into the earth once more. It pulled the roots out of the ground and drank once again. It was clear it was taking something from the tree.

Though whether it was its life force, or mana, or even something related to the soul, I wasn't sure. As the roots decayed, the dragon recovered. It shuddered, and suddenly a burst of sap covered the dragon as it restored its blackened carapace. The flames winked out all at once. And it was suddenly covered head to foot in the stuff. That was frustrating. This was why I didn't do big plans. When they failed, you were left holding the wreckage, looking like an imbecile.

"Could you maybe ask them to do that again?" Finn asked me as we watched our golems flail around uselessly. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You watched the same thing I did, right? Including the part where it dove its fucking leg into the ground and undid my hard work?"

"Uh, yeah, Laz, of course I watched it, but it can't do that forever, right? So let's just try it again." Unfortunately, the golems were spent—at least the magically damaging parts. Though, I commanded them to grab the dragon, hoping against hope they'd at least be able to stall it. But it didn't matter. The dragon shook itself free, sending the sap flying as well as my golems. It tried to lift off the ground and take flight, but it didn't get far. So instead, it started limping toward the tree.

All at once, the forty-six Flags turned their heads in the direction of the tree. It was as if they were the cavalry and a horn had sounded the charge, Flag? Is that you? I spoke through the tether. You're a little late to the party, but I'll take all the help I can get. And it was true. I wasn't going to say no to desperately needed help. But he kept ignoring me. Instead, the Flag clones all started walking in creepy unison. All forty-six of them. Not a one out of step.

"Laz? What are you doing?"

"Nothing. I'm not in control of Flag. He's his own person."

"Okay, sure, but can't you get him to stop?"

"He hasn't responded to me at all since we left the entrance." Flag. Talk to me, buddy. What's your plan? But nothing came back. One of the Flags walked across the flaming grass. Even though fire brushed up against his wooden legs, he didn't look down. And the fire did nothing—which made sense, given that the Flag clones were most likely water-based like mine had been.

"Should we stop them?" Finn asked me. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Eh, doesn't matter at this point."

"Okay, but what if Flag dies?"

"Eh, he's made of stone. He'll be fine." And then shit got crazy. The remaining ape-men started to charge the dragon. It was clear they were hoping they'd be able to press the advantage. They held their spears aloft, screaming an unnatural sound, ready to attack. And then it was like the world stopped. Every single ape-man was staring at their hands in shock or disbelief, because their spears suddenly started floating. And then flying forward, faster and faster.

I glanced at the army of Flags, and everything became clear. For whatever reason, Flag and his compatriots had the ability to silently cast. And they seemed to have access to way more mana than they should've. I glanced at the red tether, still trying to inch its way towards me. It was closer than it had ever been. Still, I just floated out of reach, my gold tether lengthening at the pace it always had. The red tether continued its slow march instead. The clones were casting [Army of Things].

And if that had been all they cast, it would have been insanely impressive. There were now hundreds upon hundreds of the spears floating in the air, all aimed for each ape that had held them. No, the impressive part came next. Half of the Flag army raised their stubby mannequin arms and cast [Enflame]. Each spear was like a match had been lit, orange and yellow adding to the already catastrophic battlefield. The spears, once they were on fire, all slammed down against the apes.

Each one went through wings and eyes and chests before slaughtering every single last ape. To call it a slaughter would have been to do an injustice to the level of abject death and mayhem. Well, I thought they would have gone for the dragon first, especially given how close it was getting to the tree, but the plan was effective. Finn closed a hand around my arm. I looked over, expecting him to point out something, or at least make a move. However, instead, he just started talking.

"Why the fuck would he go after the apes first? The dragon's the bigger threat."

"Well, I don't know. Maybe he figured, since he stole their weapons, they'd be sitting ducks—I mean, sitting apes."

"They were helping us."

"You know, I'm aware." Across the field, spears were slamming into the last of the apes.

"I don't like this, Laz. I don't like this one bit." Several apes got wise to the killings of their friends and tried to dodge, weave, or otherwise protect their lives. But Flag was merciless. Within a minute, there wasn't a single ape left on the battlefield. The fire still spread, turning into a spectacular ring that now wreathed the battlefield. But Flag and friends were undeterred. The spears rose out from the bodies and then sped off once again. We had to start moving.

The smoke from the fire was getting so thick we'd lose the ability to breathe. Of course, we'd also lose our hiding spot. We flew over to the smoldering corpses of the apes. Hopefully, the fact they'd all been killed would leave us some protection from the spiders still jumping around the battlefield. We settled behind a particularly gnarly root that bubbled up out of the ground. A few apes had tried to use it for cover, but it had been for naught.

The burnt-hair smell made me gag, so I pulled my collar up over my nose. The tree and dragon were both visible from our position, as were all forty-six Flags. I sent Flag a message. Flag? That was amazing. But you gotta take out the dragon before it destroys the tree. The limping dragon finally put a paw against the tree. And it was clear it was now absorbing directly from the source itself. I guess it had decided that roots hadn't cut it when it came to mass healing. And I didn't blame them.

I wasn't even sure if they were actually roots or just some other weird parts on the three-hundred-foot-tall tree. But strangely, it was like Flag didn't care. All this time, I had assumed he was working for the tree, but maybe I had been wrong after all. I tried to focus in on the faint outline of the red tether and where it was leading. But Flag and friends were so far away and so scattered that I couldn't really tell where it began and where it ended.

Instead of charging after the dragon, Flag sent the spears chasing after the hundreds of spiders that now dotted the area. Poor things. They didn't stand a ghost of a chance. When the first wave of spiders fell, the dragon suddenly roared. Its nostrils flared and sent out dozens more eggs. After it had healed itself up, it turned and flew forward faster than it had been before. The tree drooped slightly, as if it had a little bit of its luster stolen away. The spears made quick work of the new spiders.

A few even caught the eggs midair.

"Commander. Where are they? I want more." Axe was turning around, back and forth, shocked to find that there were no spider treants left to slay.

"I had nothing to do with this, dude."

"You promised me death."

"I did, but, uh…" I just gestured.

"I only managed to kill four." He turned in a slow circle before coming back to our new hiding spot.

"I wanted more."

"Take it up with management." Finn turned towards me.

"Are you trying to get Axe killed? Don't send him over there."

"Wasn't my intention. I just wanted to aim his ire at the forty-six Flags instead of me."

"Well, he's starting to walk towards them, you idiot." Axe marched through the mud.

"The dragon remains. It is almost a tree. I will slay it."

"No, Axe. Wait." But he didn't listen—at least at first. It was a moot point, because Flag finally made his move against the dragon. The flaming army of spears slowly encircled the space, waiting for the dragon to get close to Flag. The dragon reared back before sending a gust of wind in the direction of the closest flaming spears. The spears kept circling closer. The dragon rose into the air. And that was when whatever was controlling Flag made its move.

All of the spears— literally all—flew forward at once, piercing the dragon from every conceivable angle. The beast roared and screamed, lit ablaze once more. And it was clear it was trying to land, to break into the ground again for that unholy healing. But multiple spears went through the legs, cutting off the dragon's ability altogether. Spear after spear after spear ran through the monster. Finally, with a last pitiful gasp, it dropped down dead. The impact of the dragon's corpse flattened the ground.

Mud sprayed across the field, putting out some of the fire. For a moment, I couldn't see a thing through the damn smoke. My entire expanded vision was obscured. Then, like a candle being put out, every bit of fire vanished at once. I didn't even know what spell could do that, other than maybe [Gust], but there wasn't any wind whatsoever. All at once, the spears dropped to the ground, as if they had never been flying at all. And in unison, every Flag turned to face me.