A ripple of fear ran through the battlefield. Striga was panting, the soldiers were bewildered, and Donis was now laying on his back.
'Was I wrong? Is this how I die?' he thought to himself.
Striga rushed to Donis without wasting a single extra breath of time. She picked him up and even though she knew it would hurt him, she cared more about his life rather than whatever he felt right now. She dashed towards to grouped up soldiers for some sort of solace.
As the dust cleared, everyone could see the queen was still alive and standing letting out a deep yet pained roar. Her massive body was boiled and charred in places. Still she stood and still she posed a massive problem. Striga had never recounted a monster of such vitality. It was truly frightening for her.
Everyone's morale dipped low. How could it not? The monsters were dead, yet the queen still stood while they were gasping for breath and trying to recharge whatever mana they could. It felt hopeless, but they couldn��t stop now.
Donis checked her stats from Strigas shoulder saw that she was just under a fifth of her health, which was still about 800, but he didn't know how he could convey it to the rest of them. Right now they probably feared that the attack did nothing but anger the queen.
He debated with himself whether or not to reveal even more about himself to Striga or to try and survive this keeping as many secrets as possible. Debate he did, though he came no closer to figuring out how they're going to survive.
"St.. Striga.. I need you to trust me.. Don't ask how, or why okay?" sighed Donis through his teeth, trying to keep the pain back. Though each second that passed Donis's shoulders and bones were mending at a visible speed thanks to his Draconic Blood.
"I don't know why you keep holding on to these secrets, but okay, shoot kid," she spoke haggardly.
With a hesitant pause, "The queen is below a fifth of her health, and she's not regenerating right now. I thi.. think the attack has messed her up more than she lets on," said Donis. With each breath he took, he looked better and better.
Donis could actually feel his bones setting back into place slowly, which was agonizing, but it showed the real power of his Combat Job. He was able to sit back up after what he said to Striga, who had stopped being surprised at this point.
"You sure about this Donis?" she asked after a brief moment.
"Sure," he said.
"Alright," Striga said as she stood up.
"Men, the queen here is on her last legs. That last attack nearly killed her. Look, she's still kept her distance. She's scared. This is the final stretch of the fight. Don't give up now!" shouted Striga, trying to rekindle whatever morale was left in the soldiers.
There was a low murmur washing over the soldiers. If what she said was true, then they still have a chance. They weren't fully convinced, but the queen had stood still since the sand had cleared out. As moments turned into dozens of seconds, the soldiers began regaining their confidence.
"THE QUEEN IS INJURED, SHE CAN BE KILLED," one of the men belted out.
A smile placed itself nicely on Strigas lips. She got them. She knew they would be there to fight it out. The last thing she needed was deserters at the most critical point of the fight. After telling the men she'll go to scout it out, Donis was strong enough to stand again.
"Lord you're one tough kid, you know that right?" she laughed.
"Yeah, it's the dragon in me," wheezily laughed Donis.
"Alright, stay put, I'm going to go and check this bitch out," she said as she started sprinting towards the queen.
The queen in question wasn't faring well at all. The closer Striga got to the queen the more she realised that what Donis said was true. It didn't look like she had much left in her. The lightning may have fried more than her insides. To Striga, it looked like the lightning had fried her circuitry and disabled her movement.
The Sandracon queen had been staring directly at Striga the entire time, unmoving. She let out a few roars, but made no attempt to lunge, nor to dive under the sand. Not that she could, she was surrounded by wet glass all around her – some of it still scorchingly hot.
Striga cast [Dark Lightning] from a distance and hit the queen square in the chest. The queen roared in anguish but did nothing else in retaliation. Hope erupted from the soldiers and Striga alike. Upon closer inspection, it looked like the queens legs were entirely encased in the glass below her, locking her position.
Upon this realisation, Striga called out to her men.
"Men, throw EVERYTHING you have at her. She's locked into place, and even my lightning attack damaged her this time. She's weak!"
Hearing the command, the soldiers obeyed with pleasure.
A torrent of spells flew at the queen. A cascading spectrum of colours and sounds crashed into the queen unrelentingly. Donis threw out his long distance spells and infused them with Void Mana, hoping it would pierce the now softened body of the queen.
The spells crashed into the queen hard. They pierced, skewered, burned, and cut chunks out of her flesh. Donis looked at her stats and saw the queens health dropping rapidly. Victory was finally in sight for them all. He didn't even care about how the [EXP] will work out, he just wanted this to all be over, he's had enough of battling for one day.
The queen was on the last sliver of health. A fiery bolt screamed through the air from behind the group of and exploded on top of the queen creating a fiery explosion of unseen magnitude. A giant fireball engulfed the entire area around the queen creating a mushroom cloud that rose high into the air.
Killing her.
Everyone turned around to look at the person who had such a spell in their arsenal and didn't use it until now. Whatever bastard didn't go all out here truly deserved some serious hatred.
It was a single man that stood atop a sand dune. Horrigan.
"Well done gentlemen, we'll take it from here," he spoke in his usual mocking tone.
As soon as he finished his words, a series of highly geared soldiers ran from behind him and secured the area. Some of them were healers and immediately rushed to help the most wounded. The rest went to collect the fallen bodies of the Sandracons.
Striga stood there with her eyes locked onto the fat man. Anger beginning to boil. She flashed through the sandy battlefield, locking eyes with him once again.
"Horrigan. Where the fuck were you? 20 men to fight these monsters?" Striga barked.
"You guys all seem alive to me, no?" smiled Horrigan.
"You're such a fucking cunt. You could have the lives of everyone here on your head. How would you sleep then?" shouted Striga, ready to punch Horrigan in the face.
"Men fell in their line of duty? Happens all the time in this business,��� said Horrigan.
"You're disgusting," spat Striga.
"I'm still the captain of the militia and the only real form of law, so you will listen to me. You will be rewarded for your assistance in my kill for the queen tomorrow. Come collect it early if you wish to be rewarded at all. Dismissed," spoke Horrigan as he waved her off and continued to the body of the queen.
Striga nearly popped a vein with the sheer amount of anger that was boiling within her. Donis guessed if she was a Dragonfury Mage she'd be able to pop out spells far far easier than him. Though he wouldn't want to image the chaos Striga would be if she were one. She's already terrifying enough.
Striga stormed off and picked up Donis onto her shoulder. Even though he protested and promised her he was fine enough to walk, Striga kept him up on her shoulders.
Back at the town of Baoruin, the duo were sat across from each other on some couches in a nice little inn they found. They served hot food and tepid drinks, not unpleasant, but after being out all day in the heat it was a welcome sight.
"So, boy. Are you going to tell me your secrets, or are you going to just keep revealing them as we go along?" she said as she downed an entire pint of ale.
"Aaaah.. I told you no questions!" he sighed.
"Yeah right, as if I'm going to listen to a suicidal little dragonling like yourself," she laughed.
"Point taken," he said.
"I'm not going to share them with anyone, nor the RI. You're safe with me. I promise you this," she said softly.
"You're not very good at keeping promises Striga," he laughed softly.