A flick of his tail sent the Flood Dragon champion flying. Without pausing, Long Wang trampled the roaring creature underneath his talon, crushing him to the ground. The Flood Dragon champion wasn't without bite, however. He stabbed with his blade, causing Long Wang to retract his bleeding claws. Tempestuous storms of water battered the Flood Dragon champion, who sliced through the waves with his sword.
Long Wang clamped his jaws down, using a bite attack. The Flood Dragon champion parried the fangs with his sword, only to be hit by a crunch. He withdrew, but Long Wang followed in pursuit before unleashing a dark pulse that battered the Flood Dragon champion. When the Flood Dragon champion endured the dark pulse, Long Wang released a Shadowy Wrath that bathed his howling opponent in black flames. The Flood Dragon champion raised his shield to block the spell, the black flames washing over the defensive equipment and scorching its once gleaming surface.
Having returned to his original form (though not size) and boosted by my summon support spirit arrays, his elemental techniques and attacks had been amped further. The Flood Dragon champion found himself cornered now, pushed completely onto the defensive as he desperately blocked, parried and deflected the water and dark attacks from Long Wang. He made good use of both his sword and shield, but was forced to use both completely for defensive purposes because he was unable to even counterattack.
I could leave that battle to him. There was one other Flood Dragon champion left, and he was charging at my aquatic armada, determined to break them. One of the Colossal Crabs was hurled aside when he intercepted with a Crab Hammer, only to be flung when the Flood Dragon champion slammed his spear against the pincer. Twirling the haft about, he smacked the spear against the Colossal Crab and used his weapon as a lever to swat him aside. Lightning seared across the courtyard when the Little Anglers and Lantern Fishes redirected their electricity toward him, but he caught the thunderbolt with the tip of his spear and earthed it to the ground by planting the base down.
Smart. I didn't think he would be able to pull that off.
Realizing that his brethren were falling by the dozens as the spirit arrays glowed and hurled another barrage of elemental spells at them, the Flood Dragon champion pivoted on his foot and thrust his spear forward. He didn't throw his weapon like a javelin, but instead used it as a conduit for his water techniques. A spinning vortex of water drilled forward in a deadly arc at the fairy sisters who were handling the spirit arrays.
I understood his intention. As long as he eliminated the operators of the spirit arrays, he would be able to prevent more casualties to the Flood Dragon soldiers under his command. Despite the efforts of my summoned spirit beasts, the spirit arrays wielded by Sylvie and Silvia were doing the most damage. That made sense because they counted as Mystic ranked fairy spirits. And though I hated the idea, they technically could be counted as my "summons" because they were contracted to me.
Much like Sora and Luna being contracted to Rein Shroud and being his "tamed" ultimate species in Beast Tamer. It was kind of weird when you thought about it because their human forms made it hard to perceive them as "beasts" but they still weren't humans in the end. They were…uh, ultimate species, and thus justified the whole beast tamer thing.
Too bad I didn't have a cat girl (or girl with cat ears), but I did have a dragon butler. And technically, I currently have a three-tailed fire fox as well, with Xiao Huo leaping from Flood Dragon soldier to Flood Dragon soldier and setting them alight with her flames. She didn't count as a "god" spirit or demigod or whatever.
Oh, whoops. I needed to focus on the battle.
Before I could rush over to help, Sora…ahem, I mean Sylvie was weaving arcane patterns with her hands and conjuring a circular barrier that blocked the drilling water. The elemental whirlpool hammered into the glowing shield of runes before splashing harmlessly across it and spilling downward to pool at her feet. Meanwhile, Silvia continued to activate the spirit arrays to support the retreating ghost and wood type spirit beasts, as well as the water type spirit beasts. Da Hai and Xiao Ke covered the retreat, allowing the Colossal Crabs, Little Anglers and Lantern Fishes to take a brief reprieve.
We didn't have reserves, though, so this might be bad. I cursed myself for the oversight, even as I raced forward to engage the Flood Dragon champion in combat. He spun around and thrust his spear at me, but I twisted my body away before countering with a slash from Azure Dragon. He spun his spear about to deflect my blade and retaliated with a riposte that I parried with Azure Frost.
"Are you sure the dungeon master himself should be fighting at the forefront?" he sneered, twirling his spear about and knocking me back. I ducked under a vicious stabbing motion that would have impaled my chest, and then scissored my swords underneath his guard. He brought the shaft of his spear down to swat aside my blades, and then deftly flicked his spear about to slash at my head, only for me to retreat out of range of the long weapon.
"It's called leading by example," I retorted, parrying another strike and countering with a riposte of my own. "My troops are more likely to follow somebody who's not a coward, and my presence inspires them. Boosts their morale. I can't say the same for your Flood Dragon army, though."
The Flood Dragon champion's draconic snout contorted in fury and he hammered his spear downward, causing my knees to buckle despite catching the heavy shaft with my crossed blades. "How dare you insult our king?!"
"…I, uh, never said anything about your king, though?"
That wasn't true, actually. I was insinuating that he was a coward. The Flood Dragon champion didn't bother with a reply and continued attacking, delivering a barrage of short, swift strikes. I evaded a few of the thrusts while parrying the others, but clearly I was being overwhelmed by his speed and power. A mere human trying to contest a venerable Flood Dragon in physical combat?
Well, I wasn't just a "mere human." I was a Mystic ranked cultivator, just like him. Perhaps I was one minor stage lower – advanced to his peak – but it wasn't a big shock that I could match him blow for blow.
In any case, it wasn't my goal to defeat him instantly. I knew I wasn't that strong. Instead, I dragged him out into a stalemate for a larger strategic purpose.
The siege towers glowed and came to life once more. Now, the reason for my summoned spirit beasts falling back was apparent. They weren't just taking a much needed breather, but they were also avoiding getting hit by friendly fire. The Flood Dragon soldiers froze when they realized they had fallen into the trap.
Sylvie and Silvia had kept the majority of them at bay with their spirit arrays, saturating the front with relentless volleys of lightning bolts, icicles, wind blades and fireballs, leaving craters in the once lovely courtyard. However, the sacrifice of the courtyard had allowed my spirit beasts to pull to a safe distance while pinning the Flood Dragon soldiers in place.
Then the siege towers spoke as one, hurling concentrated lances of devastating qi across the cavern. Entire companies of Flood Dragon soldiers vanished once more, and this time, even a single Flood Dragon Behemoth was unable to withstand the tightly focused beams of plasma, its hide melting and half of its immense body melting under the sheer heat.
"Fuck!" the Flood Dragon champion swore under his breath as he stumbled, his scales smoldering from the heat. He had been between me and the siege towers' attack, and so he had taken the brunt of the superheated impact. He staggered, and I seized the opportunity to strike. However, his instincts were excellent and he deterred me from closing in with a slash of his spear. After forcing me to a retreat, he whirled his spear about and slammed the haft against the ground so that he could lean on it. Panting in pain, he glared up at the siege towers. "If we don't do anything about those, our army will be wiped out before long!"
Already, over half of their army had been decimated, and yet my side had yet to lose more than 5% of our effective fighting force. The siege towers, spirit arrays and formations had played a huge role in that, not to mention the ghost type of a good number of my spirit beasts.
From afar, the Flood Dragon King watched silently, fuming with unspoken rage. His claws curled tightly, gouging chunks out of his ivory armrests. Qi radiated in such violence that his throne began to crumble, yet his pride would not allow him to charge straight into battle. Instead, he stayed where he was, but I could sense a mystical reverberation. Internal communication?
He was sending out an order to forces unseen. Feeling another sense of urgency rise within me, I charged at the wounded Flood Dragon champion, hoping to finish him off before reinforcements arrived. However, I was too late.
There was a huge rumble, and then the walls of the cavern collapsed and shattered as something dug through them. Several gargantuan creatures burst out of the subterranean walls and clawed at the siege towers. My Construction Crabs in one of the closest siege towers scrambled away in panic as a Siege Flood Dragon rammed into the structure they were manning. The defensive fortification was demolished almost instantly, the horns of the Siege Flood Dragon spinning wildly as they drilled into the reinforced material.
"Damn it!" I realized in horror that the tide of the battle had been turned. If the siege Flood Dragons succeeded in razing all of the siege towers, my dungeon would fall apart. We wouldn't have the firepower to continue bombarding the Flood Dragon army into oblivion. Thinking fast, I redirected several of my forces. "Guardian Golems, Tree Revenants and Pumpkin Wraiths! Hold off the Siege Flood Dragons! Do not let them destroy the remaining siege towers!"
"What of the Flood Dragon Behemoths, boss?" One of the Guardian Golems responded in a low, thunderous rumble that passed off for his language. Indecipherable to humans, but as a summoner, I could understand him.
"Leave them to Sylvie and Silvia." I turned my head to the fairy sisters. "Activate all remaining spirit arrays and immobilize the Flood Dragon Behemoths! Delay them for as long as possible!"
"We will do our best, but we won't be able to slay all of them even with the spirit arrays," Sylvie warned.
"That's fine! We just need to buy some more time!" I glanced at the system's notification window. There was less than thirty minutes before the upgrade to my dungeon would be complete. I didn't know what the upgrades would bring, but I was banking everything on them. They were our only hope to turn the tables on our opponent.
"Hah! You've lost!" The Flood Dragon champion crowed. "You have no other reserves, and you have run out of cards to play! You should have surrendered right from the start! That way, you would have a painless death!"
"Oh, shut up," I snapped, parrying his spear with Azure Dragon. The blow knocked my sword out of my hand, and I was forced to jump away as he followed up with a thrust. Landing on the shaft of his spear, I then leaped off it and propelled myself upward and above his head. The Flood Dragon champion spun around to pursue, but I was already out of range.
Not waiting for his response, I drew Obsidian Drake and notched Azure Frost. Before I even landed, I already fired the sword-turned-arrow at the stupefied Flood Dragon champion. He bellowed and stabbed his spear forward to meet the projectile head-on, only to vanish in a freezing nova that shattered him into a few thousand fragments.
I landed a few meters away, skidding to a stop as snow drifted slowly in the vicinity. With a gesture, I recalled Azure Dragon, which picked itself off the ground and flew to my right hand once more. rising to my feet, I took a deep breath and shook my head.
"They never learn, do they?"
Then again, I had annihilated the vanguard force, so they evidently didn't have the chance to evaluate my fighting style, techniques or tactics. No wonder they ended up falling to the same tricks. Though the Flood Dragon King was smart enough to hold those Siege Flood Dragons in reserve for my siege towers.
Not wasting any time, I began running toward one of the Flood Dragon Behemoths. The Siege Flood Dragons were being held off by my Mystic ranked spirit beasts, which meant there was nothing keeping the Behemoths' rampage in check. Jumping onto one of them, I decapitated it with a stroke from Azure Dragon, causing its half-frozen head to fall and shatter on the ground.
"Only the size is impressive, huh?" I muttered, already turning to the next one. It was currently immobilized by golden chains from one of Sylvie's spirit arrays, and I obliterated it with an Azure Frost arrow. As its frozen form broke apart and crumbled into fragments, I was already turning my aim toward a third, but…
"Whoa!"
Before I could summon another Azure Frost, a sudden earthquake shook me off my perch from the headless corpse of the first Flood Dragon Behemoth I had slain. While I hastily regained my balance, I raised my head and caught sight of the source of the tremors. My eyes widened in dismay when I saw what had just entered the battlefield.
The Flood Dragon King had lost his patience. With a single leap, he had crossed the distance between my dungeon and his sedan throne in a single bound and landed in the center of the devastated courtyard. His immense bulk heaving as he slowly rose to his feet, he slowly turned to me, furious qi radiating from his silhouette like a violent storm.
"You…" He growled, pointing a claw at me. "I'm going to flay you alive and hang your skinned body, still screaming, from the gates of my dungeon for eternity…as a warning to all those who dare conceive the thought of defying me."