Furious was feeling irritable, confused and somewhat fearful.
Those were the closest thing that described what he felt. The rest were beyond words. He never thought he would have those feelings after so long, especially after his personal anniversary day at the mushroom forest replica.
It appeared after his talk with Charcoal, and it had only gotten stronger since then.
Furious was doubting himself. That was something he had not felt for a very long time. He never doubted himself ever since he could peek into the future - it was hard to doubt himself when he knew the outcome before it even happened.
It meant that the feeling came from something else. Considering it happened after that day, it was easy to guess.
He was growing too attached to Charcoal.
'I have taken every precaution to prevent this.' Furious pondered the situation. 'I shouldn't feel guilt over this. How did this happen?'
He had centuries of experience controlling his feelings and emotions. Such thing was necessary when commanding millions of dragons. There were difficult decisions he must make during the war. He could not afford becoming sentimental in fear of making the wrong decision.
Furious thought Charcoal would not be any different. He was one dragon amongst many that come before him.
There were some differences, such as his persistence and willingness to do what he thought was right. While he could blame that to his Haddock attribute, his characteristic greatly reminded him of someone else.
It reminded him of his late son.
'That's not an excuse. I modelled him after my late son.' Furious mentally frowned at that. 'I had no problems with it until recently. Something must have changed.'
There was that thought of outside influence. There was a possibility that someone learned what he had done to Charcoal. It was the risk that he already foresighted.
However, such risk was almost non-existent, as long there was no other greater alpha dragon involved. Especially someone previously involved with his late son.
Furious thought that it could be something else; something related to himself. Perhaps it was something within his own psychology. He still remembered the day when his son died. It was the worst thing a father could experience - the feeling of grief and anger were still fresh in his mind.
At least, until Charcoal came to his life.
'He filled the void when my son left.' Furious realised. 'He's healing my wound simply by existing.'
He should have known. It was the consequence of his own choice. While he expected some form of attachment, he never thought of them becoming incredibly personal. Charcoal was adopted; he was not his son from the past.
And yet, his heart thought otherwise.
"This place is empty."
"Hrr?" Furious snapped out from his thoughts. The greater alpha dragon was in his smaller form. He was meditating in his private sleeping place when he heard something familiar. 'Charcoal?'
"You're right. It's perfect for a backup roost."
The second voice was female. Furious looked around to see the source of the sound. His private sleeping place was a simple cave clearing.
There were some trinkets there and there, such as mural of his late mate, as well as his personal mushroom collections. At the north side was a cave path, which led to his main chamber.
He remembered the cave ventilation - his sleeping room was connected to another cave clearing, which had an exit to the open. The cave path that provided ventilation was in his ceiling, which was rather small.
Furious remembered blocking them off with rocks and boulders, leaving some gaps for air to come through. It seemed that Charcoal had dug and found that cave clearing.
Not long after, he heard purring echoed throughout his sleeping chamber. Realising what they were doing, Furious began to wonder. Forgetting his thoughts earlier, the father dragon hopped into the ceiling cave path. He crawled through the small space, before finding the exit under him. It gave him visual as to what was happening there.
Charcoal and a female Night Fury - presumably Toothless - was cuddling in the middle of the cave clearing. The two dragons had their limbs wrapped around each other. Charcoal was on his back; his neck wrapped around hers. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Furious felt pride. There was no doubt about it - Charcoal really caught himself a female. They were truly in love with each other. They looked like the same age as well. It reminded him that Charcoal was an adult dragon. Just like his time in the past, they would have hatchlings at some point in their lives.
Unfortunate for them, Furious was feeling rather impish. He poked his head out to call them out. "Charcoal!"
"KRAA!" The two young love dragons quickly scrambled away. They looked around for the source. There did not seem to be anyone else around them.
That greatly amused Furious. "Up here."
Charcoal and Toothless looked up to see the greater alpha dragon at the ceiling. The young male dragon flustered, while the dragoness was deeply embarrassed. Charcoal was outraged to see him there. "Dad, what are you doing up there?!"
"This clearing leads to my roost. I blocked the entrance with rocks, so dragons don't nest here." Furious answered the question. He was incredibly amused by their reaction. "If you really want a roost in Dragon Island, you could've asked."
Charcoal winced at that. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough to see my future daughter-in-law. I can see why you fell in love with her." The father dragon answered the question. "I must say, I approve of your choice. If you plan to nest there, make sure not to get too rough on your first time. I do need my sleep."
Charcoal was deeply embarrassed. "DAD!"
"Hrr- krr..." Furious laughed at that, before pulling his head back. Satisfied with his teasing, the father dragon retreated into his sleeping area. His thoughts from before were all forgotten. He imagined future grandhatchlings flying around his nest.
Meanwhile, Toothless and Charcoal were recovering from their embarrassment. The dragoness was the first one to speak. "Was that your dad? The greater alpha?"
"When he's in smaller form, yes." Charcoal mumbled, before turning around to leave the place. "Let's find somewhere else. I'll close the entrance."
Toothless could not agree more.
Few days later, it was the day of the dragon raid.
The Lava-Lout Tribe lived in the middle of a volcanic lava flow. They were protected by a large lava gate made of stone and metal. It split the flow and protected their village from the burning, hot lava.
At the barrier, there were several contraptions, which was used to obtain gold from the lava. There were some stacks of gold there at the centre, including a large chest, presumably filled with gold.
Other than the barrier, the village itself was massive - there were multiple sections spanning half of the island. They were strongly fortified as well.
Most of the structures, including the Great Hall, were made of stone. Some were even reinforced with metal cages, presumably to prevent dragon from burning through.
Some parts of the village had high watch towers made of stone, mostly within high grounds around the mountain. There were assortments of ballistae - both large and small - mostly placed around the edge of the villages. Overall, the whole place looked more like a war compound than a village.
Other than that, the whole place was fully packed with humans. That was not surprising, considering that they were having a large festival.
Thousands of people roamed the street, dancing and celebrating their gold harvest. There were food and assortments of things to fill their bellies. The docks were also full of ships, acting as second home for visiting guests.
"General, the air groups are ready."
Charcoal snapped out of his thoughts. The Night Fury was observing the Lava-Louts from neighbouring island with Toothless. It was more of a small cliff island, which they had cleared from humans and their structures prior to the attack.
Glancing at the side, Charcoal saw Henry the Woolly Howl there. "Is everyone ready?"
"Not yet. We're still looking for their armouries." Henry gave his report. "We need to make sure they can't get more weapons during the raid."
Charcoal remembered their reconnaissance throughout the months. "Did they build more?"
"Yes sir." The Woolly Howl nodded. "They were expecting attack from humans, sir."
The Night Fury general looked back at the sight in front of him. It was to be expected. The more people around the village, the more panic it would cause during an attack. "We can know where their weapons are from where the humans went running to." Charcoal gave his suggestion. "Your group should handle this. Use that information to hint the strike group of their whereabouts."
"Yes, sir."
The three dragons fell silent. Charcoal hummed a bit as he observed the village from distance. "... did we get the final number on humans at the island?"
"Only rough estimate, sir." Henry gave his report. "Over twenty thousand humans within the island."
The Night Fury general grimaced. His army was mere fraction of the enemy they were about to face. Considering the sheer difference in number, it sounded like suicide. Charcoal pondered the plan that they made together. The army contributed their all, but it felt like was not enough.
"Hrr..." Charcoal exhaled his breath. "... what about you?"
The Woolly Howl blinked at that. "Sir?"
The Night Fury general glanced at him. "How do you feel?" He clarified his question. "Are you ready for the dragon raid?"
There was a long pause. Henry straightened himself a bit. "... It's the best plan we have, sir." He admitted. "We pray the skies that we see it through."
"Let us not disappoint our ancestors, then." Charcoal turned around and began walking into the forest. "I'll assess the rest. Make sure your group is ready."
"Yes, sir." The Woolly Howl nodded, before taking off and flew away.
Toothless followed the male Night Fury walking through the forest. "Charcoal, do you think it's a good idea for us to stay behind?" She expressed her concern. "I know we're medics, but we can do a lot in the sky."
"They were the ones that insisted us back here." Charcoal glanced at the dragoness. "You can change that if you have better ideas."
The two dragons arrived at a massive forest clearing. The place was packed with dragons and all sorts of things.
The first thing to note were massive piles of barrels and tree trunks, stacked neatly on top of each other. Those were the so-called Bomberry Bombs that the air group came up with, and there were plenty of them.
The second thing to note were the dragons. They were wearing some sort of harness made of vines, which were used to hold up those bombs. Everyone was busy mounting bombs onto them, careful as not to trigger the bombs within. It was tense for everyone, considering they were handling explosive materials.
"Alright." Charcoal called out, getting their attention. "Everyone ready?"
"Yes, general..." Dragons chorused, somewhat distracted.
Ronald the Dramillion landed next to the dragon general. "Sir, we have a problem with visual." He expressed his concern. "Some of our dragons can't see well in the dark. We can't be precise on where to drop them."
"Hrr..." Charcoal frowned. That sounded like friendly fire about to happen. "We can tag our target area with fire from oil barrels. But we need a first clear visual to happen..."
Another dragon landed nearby. It was Henry the Woolly Howl. He rushed to the Dramillion. "Ronald, I-" But then he noticed the two Night Furies there. "General."
The Night Fury general glanced at him. "Did your group found more target shrouded in complete darkness?"
Henry straightened himself. "Y- Yes, sir. We found multiple armouries shrouded in darkness."
"... we need to consider brightening the sky." Charcoal pondered. It was rather risky, since dragons could be seen as well. They would become easy target in the sky. "Maybe a flash?"
"It would put everyone in danger." Ronald expressed his concern.
"Not at the start of the raid." Henry suggested. "We do it once and see everything before the flash is gone. We just need to fly higher for the first run to avoid the light."
"We need a longer flash to do that." The Night Fury general pondered once more. "And it needs to cover the whole village. I don't know any dragon that can do that."
"I don't think dragons can memorize that far." The Dramillion admitted. "We'll be fine on the ground. It's the strike group you need to worry about."
Toothless took a step forward. "I have an idea." She declared, getting their attention. "But it needs us in the sky instead of here."
Charcoal, Ronald and Henry glanced at each other. After some time, the male Night Fury turned to face the dragoness. "Alright, Toothless." He finally decided. "What do you have in mind?"
Roughly half an hour later, and after some discussion amongst other group leaders, both Toothless and Charcoal were finally in the air. The two Night Furies were on field duties, making sure that dragons could see the ground at specific point in time. They get to see the village from the sky.
"Look at those humans." Charcoal commented as he looked down at the village. "There's so many of them. I wonder how many the air groups can get in one bombing run."
Toothless thought about something else. She was rather averse at the topic of killing humans. "What are we waiting for, exactly?"
"We're waiting for the underwater strike group to give a signal." The Night Fury general answered. He was still looking down at the village. "They're currently trapping the anchored ships with bomberry bombs, so the humans can't escape."
It was a devious invention, created by one of the strike groups. The Scauldrons would stick bomberry bombs onto the hulls underwater. The triggers - which was a pair of dry bomberry shells inside - would be connected onto the docks with vines underwater.
It was tested to be incredibly effective at sinking ships, should they tried to escape. Any survivors could easily be dealt with by other tidal class dragons.
"Speaking of." Charcoal saw something not far from the island. A flock of Scauldron briefly resurfaced their wings from the water, giving them signal. "They're done. It's time."
"See you on the other side." Toothless chirped, before breaking off to the side.
Charcoal flew to the other side, heading to the opposite end of the village. He mentally calculated the spot, before taking a deep breath. The black dragon willed something to his mana circuits, before firing his plasma blast.
Boom! Boom!
Instead of the usual blue colour, the plasma blast was white with blue outline. The ball was slow and dim. Charcoal turned around and flew away from the village. Glancing to the opposite side, he noted that Toothless was flying away as well. The white with purple outline plasma ball she fired was at the opposite end of his.
After some time, the two plasma balls lost their outlines.
Bang! Bang!
They exploded and the sky suddenly went bright. The two lights illuminated the entire village, giving lights to previously unknown places shrouded in darkness. The whole village looked up to see the light spectacle. They thought that it was part of the event, considering that there was nothing else in the sky.
Roughly one minute later, the lights finally died down. Toothless and Charcoal had just regrouped to see the show. The humans were still looking up to the sky, searching for the source of those lights. They were amazed by the whole thing, wondering what those were.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Suddenly, explosions rang throughout the village. The whole place suddenly lit up in flame. It was filled with balls of fire at some point, they thought the forest was on fire. Humans screamed as they ran around in panic, while the guards were trying to figure out what was going on.
Eventually, they did. Dragons poured in from all direction; Monstrous Nightmares, Gronckles and Deadly Nadders - all flew in and began burning people along the streets of the village. The guards tried to rush into their armouries and fortifications for better equipment, only to find them in rubbles from earlier onslaught.
In short, it was a slaughter. The first hour saw everything burning and exploding, as dragons went to destroy them.
The weapon emplacement humans brought out had no chance to be used. They were quickly bombed by dragons from the air group. Any metallic fortifications were destroyed the same way.
"Skies above..."
Charcoal glanced to the side. Toothless was flying alongside him, watching the whole thing unfold. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just..." The dragoness seemed rather speechless. "You usually see this destruction two hours into the raid. We did this in five minutes."
Charcoal understood what she implied. "The power of bomberry bombs." The male dragon realised the implication. "They are much stronger than gunpowder. They are our response to their crossbows and ballistae."
BOOM! BOOM!
The ships at the docks finally detonated, exploding in balls of fiery fire. The two Night Furies stayed silent as they watched the whole thing unfold.
There were plenty of screaming from down below as dragon army marched in to kill everyone. It was clear that the dragons were winning.
However, the first sign of something went wrong was the forest. It was on fire, creating thick fogs all over the village. Charcoal was concerned about this. While they had Snow Wraiths able to see through the fog, the air groups would not be able to use their bombs. "... maybe the Snow Wraiths can lead them to the targets."
"That reminds me." Toothless realised. "They keep mentioning Snow Wraiths seeing through smoke, but do they know how they actually see?"
That was a good question. Charcoal decided to ask. "How do they see?"
"From what I remember, they sense and see heat around them." The dragoness explained. "Everything is hot down there. Unless they mutated, I don't think those dragons can see through hot smoke."
"... It was the Snow Wraiths themselves that insisted." Charcoal was deeply concerned. He wondered what their plan was. "They wouldn't tell us false information. They are part of us."
"General! General Charcoal!"
Glancing at the side, they noticed Ronald the Dramillion rushing to fly towards them. After he arrived, Charcoal felt something had gone wrong. "What happened?"
"It's the Snow Wraiths!" Ronald exclaimed. There was panic in his voice. "They are flying away to cross the border!"
Harald the Dramillion knew by instinct that he could not trust the Snow Wraiths. They kept too many things to themselves. He did not want to accuse anyone without proof, which was why he remained silent.
However, it seemed that his instinct was correct.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Whoa!" Harald yelped as he dodged some exploding ice bolts. There were other dragons as well, fighting amongst the burning and collapsing buildings around the Lava-Lout villages. The humans were mostly taken care of, and most Snow Wraiths had fled, meaning that it was all one powerful Snow Wraith they had to face.
"Agatha, on your left!" The Dramillion roared.
The female Deadly Nadder leaped to her right as she fire-blasted the opposing side. The magnesium fire almost struck a Snow Wraith trying to sneak up on her. Agatha cursed at her aim. "Shite."
"GRAA!" The Snow Wraith leaped to attack. Agatha barely dodged to the side. She flapped herself into the air. Claws at the ready, she dashed and poised to strike. The white dragon backed off from her claws, but that provided enough distraction from one of her dragons to attack.
Boom!
A Gronckle had struck its side. The Snow Wraith flinched from the explosion, before turning to glare at the boulder dragon. The white dragon fired three successive ice bolts at him. He widened his eyes-
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Gronckle had no time to dodge the incoming ice bolts. They exploded right on his scales, knocking the boulder dragon back. The bulldog-like dragon crashed into a burning wooden house, putting him out of the fight.
The Snow Wraith turned his focus at Harald, before ducking to dodge fire from Agatha. The white dragon refocused to the Deadly Nadder, who he considered the weakest of the group. Harald realised its intention. He shot another fire blast to get his attention.
The Snow Wraith jumped over the fire blast. He leaped to claw the bird-like dragon. Agatha fired spine darts from her tail, which struck true to his chests. That did not deter the Snow Wraith however, as he collided and pinned her on the ground.
Before he could do anything, the Dramillion tackled him off the Deadly Nadder. The two dragons rolled on the ground, wrestling dominance over the other, before stopping with the white dragon on top.
Harald quickly raised his forelegs as the Snow Wraith tried to reach for his neck. Agatha rushed to tackle him off, but the white dragon slammed his tail against her body, throwing her away. Clear of his prey, the Snow Wraith worked his way to claw through his neck. The Dramillion desperately held his hindlegs together, covering the vital part of his body.
"KRAAA!" BOOM!
Large blue explosion struck the Snow Wraith, blowing him off from the purple dragon. Charcoal had finally arrived and landed between them. The Night Fury was incredibly angry as he faced the white dragon with a snarl. "KRAAA!"
The Snow Wraith quickly got up to face the newcomer. He was about to roar until he saw who that was. "General Charcoal!"
"You dare called me general after attacking our own!" Charcoal snarled. "You could have run before we start, but you had to do it in a raid!"
"We never wanted this! Your greater alpha forced us to fight!" The white dragon roared back. "We just want to go home!"
"Then you should have done it long ago!" The Night Fury general roared, before charging a plasma blast. "DIE!"
The Snow Wraith barely leaped away from the plasma blast. He recovered from impact and looked around for his opponent. Realising that the black dragon was gone, he quickly moved to take off when something crashed onto his back. Charcoal used his momentum in his attempt to pin down the white dragon.
Meanwhile, Toothless arrived on the scene. Ignoring the fighting happening nearby, she rushed over to Harald the Dramillion, who seemed to be in a lot of pain. "Where does it hurt?"
"Everything." Harald breathed out. "... mostly my legs."
The dragoness assessed the situation. There were lacerations going deep through his scales, including some around his face and neck. The most alarming part was his forelegs - it looked like multiple bite wounds that went deep into his bones. The Dramillion was losing a lot of blood.
Toothless quickly went to work. Her paws shimmered green as she woven her mana to heal. "Skies above, don't die on me now." She cursed under her breath. That stopped the bleeding and closed most of the wounds. It looked like his scales were stitching together.
However, some parts seemed to coagulate. Toothless recognised the symptom. There was not enough mana for him to heal. They need to move the wounded for better treatment. She looked around for signs of the younger Dramillion. "Where's Ronald?"
"We're here!"
Several dragons landed close to her. Ronald the Dramillion was there - having summoned one of the strike groups to help. Hartman the Monstrous Nightmare, the leader of the group, quickly took notice on the fighting dragons. "What the-"
BOOM!
"GROAAA!" The Snow Wraith let out a pained roar as he crashed onto the ground. His left wing was missing. His body was covered in all sorts of scratches. It was obvious who was winning the engagement.
Charcoal landed not far from him. There were some injuries, such as scratch wounds on his scales, but nothing life-threatening. One of his paws was holding the white wing. "This island will be your grave." The Night Fury general declared. "I will make sure of that."
Realising that he had no chance, the Snow Wraith dashed forward for a desperate charge. He took a deep breath to overcharge his ice breath. Right on the last moment, Charcoal jumped and flipped over him. He focused on his own fire and-
BOOM!
Charcoal gracefully landed after firing his shot. The Snow Wraith did not even have the chance to fire his own. The white dragon limped as he slowly turned around to face his opponent. A long white tail fell from the air in front of him. It was obvious whose limb it was.
Eventually, the Snow Wraith collapsed from pain and exhaustion. Charcoal nodded his head, before approaching the rest of the group. "Report."
Most of the dragons were in awe. Toothless was the first one to respond. "He's stable for now, but we need to move him to safety."
Charcoal turned to face the Monstrous Nightmare. "Hartman, work on that while I sort this out."
"Y- Yes, sir!" Hartman nodded, before rushing orders to his dragons. "You heard them! Get moving!"
While dragons were busy moving the wounded Dramillion, Charcoal focused on the younger one. "Ronald, where are your group?"
"They're tracking down the rest of the Snow Wraiths, sir."
The Night Fury general scowled at that. "Ignore the Snow Wraiths." Charcoal commanded. "Your dragons are supposed to help strike groups on the ground."
"We are sir. But-"
"We're fine, general!"
The dragons turned their attention to the newcomers. Agatha the Deadly Nadder and her Gronckle were heading towards them. The dinosaur dragon was limping, while being supported by the boulder dragon. "The humans are sorted for now, but we don't have much time."
Charcoal decided to ask. "What's the situation?"
"We managed to get most of the humans before the Snow Wraiths decided to defect." Agatha gave her report. She winced a bit from her injuries. "Unfortunately, that gave the rest of humans some time to hole themselves at the mountain."
The mountain was the source of income for Lava-Louts. It was also naturally defensible against both humans and dragons. As such, they were heavily reinforced against invasions. One of the critical tasks for the air groups was to prevent the humans from running into the mountain part of the village.
It would be almost impossible to take them out once they were there.
As such, it was the worst-case scenario.
"We'll just have to improvise then." Charcoal decided, focusing on the Dramillion. "Ronald, you're in charge of all air groups now. I want every bomb we have falling on that mountain section."
"Yes, sir!" Ronald the Dramillion exclaimed, before taking off into a flight.
"And Hartman." Charcoal stopped the Monstrous Nightmare, who was about to take off. "Tell everyone to get ready to evacuate."
That confused Hartman. "What's the signal?"
Charcoal then looked at the massive lava dam at the mountain, which was visible from where they were. "Do you see that wall over there?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm going to blow it up." The male black dragon explained. "The lava will wipe the village clean."
The Monstrous Nightmare widened his eyes. It was where most of the human defences were. Such plan was reserved at the end of the raid, where most of the defences were destroyed. While they had done their job, it was not enough to make the lava dam safer for most dragons to attack.
It was too dangerous to attack.
Hartman straightened himself. There was admiration in his eyes. "It's a pleasure to serve you, sir."
"Pleasure is all mine." Charcoal nodded. "Now go."
The red dragon finally took off into the sky, followed by the rest of the dragons. That left Toothless and Charcoal alone. The male Night Fury turned to face his partner. "Toothless."
"How's your injury?" The dragoness asked, concerned.
"Not enough to stop me." Charcoal grunted. "We're going to do something risky. You can back out if you want."
"I'm not leaving you." Toothless decided. There was determination in his eyes. "We planned this together, remember? Every bit of it. I want to see them through."
Charcoal exhaled his breath, before nodding. "Then let's get this done."
The two dragons took off into the air, before disappearing into the night sky.
While most of the villages were burning down to the ground, the mountain section was surprisingly untouched. Humans were running around to scrap whatever was left - ballistae, crossbows and so on. They had invested most of their defence on the mountains as it was a naturally defensible spot.
Against humans, that is.
For dragons, they had to be creative. Instead of directly coming from the fortified area, they went from other directions to exploit known weaknesses. The scout dragons worked overtime to find its flaws and inform other groups about them.
Human soldiers were forced to turn their giant ballistae around, shooting down dragons without anything protecting them. The said dragons were busy burning down the whole place, prioritising those crewing weapon emplacements.
While the fighting was happening, dragons suddenly dispersed to leave the area. Having fought dragons for six hours straight, they realised what was about to happen. "INCOMING!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions rocked the place, as the air group dragons dropped their bomberry bombs. Any large emplacements and fortifications were blown into smithereens.
There was no further damage on the rock buildings, however, as it was thick enough to endure the impact. Humans hid and covered their ears as explosions rattled their very ground.
After some time, the explosions died down. Dragons swooped back in to kill and destroy what remained. The humans were all holed up in the buildings, using whatever emplacement was left to protect the gates and doors. It was a stalemate, but dragons could fly mostly unchallenged for now.
Toothless and Charcoal had been waiting for that opportunity in the sky. The male Night Fury decided to speak through telepathy. "Toothless, do you see the gate?"
Looking at the gate on the lava dam, it was a massive thing made of stone of sort. It had four giant metallic hinges that allowed them to swing open, controlling the flow of the lava. The dragoness took note of its full appearance. "The one we're about to blow up. Yeah."
"The gate has four hinges that they use to lock them in place." Charcoal explained the mechanism to her. "They are dragon proof metal - very resistant to dragon fire. It takes two overcharged shots to take them out, so we must do this together."
"Let's do this!" Toothless mentally shouted. Both dragons snapped their wings, diving down towards their targets. Loud, piercing shrieks filled the air around them as they flew down to their targets.
"KRAAAAA!!!" BOOOOOM!!!
Two white plasma blasts hit the first hinge on the top left side. The explosion was so big, it shattered the whole latch into pieces. Metal shrapnel went flying all over the place, destroying all sorts of things down at the village. The humans were horrified; dragons realised what they had to do to succeed the assignment.
Toothless and Charcoal climbed back up in the sky. The two dragons were a bit exhausted, having overcharged their shot to destroy one hinge. "That... that was all our shots in one."
"No, we can't stop now. We need to keep going." The male dragon encouraged. "I'll recharge your shot with my mana."
"No, no." The dragoness stopped him. "I can do it myself. We need to get our dinner after this."
"Let's get the second one done then. Top right." Charcoal took a deep breath as he focused on recharging his shots with mana. He felt his fire-sack rumbled as mana circuits did the work. It made him slightly exhausted, indicating empty mana reserve. "Ready?"
"Ready!"
"Dive!" Both dragons snapped their wings, diving down towards their targets. Loud, piercing shrieks filled the air around them as they flew down to their targets. The humans ran for cover, while some dragons began to cheer.
"KRAAAAA!!!" BOOOOOM!!!
Massive explosion rocked the whole dam. It shattered the second latch on the top right. The Vikings most likely realised what they were attempting, since they began pulling out ballistae from shelter despite dragons surrounding them. It would be their fight for survival.
The two Night Furies quickly flew away before getting spotted. They slowly climbed back up in the sky, while also recovering from exhaustion.
Looking down, Charcoal noted that the humans were busy fighting with swords and axes, pushing dragons away from the weapon emplacements. The ballistae were left pointing up, presumably waiting for them to make another dive.
"We ran out of time. They have ballistae waiting to shoot us." Charcoal decided, looking around the sky. He spotted something from afar. "The air groups are coming for another bombing run. It would be our chance."
"Charcoal, I ran out of mana. It's starting to pull my energy." The dragoness protested. Her exhaustion was clearly visible. "Can we wait until they finished their run?"
The male Night Fury noted that the dragons were retreating to avoid bombing run. At the same time, the Vikings were pushing the ballistae back in. "No. We need to do this now." Charcoal responded. He focused on recharging his shot. That sapped most of his strength. "Just one more. Bottom right."
"Right..." Toothless mentally steadied herself. Her will was the only thing keeping her from collapsing. "Ready!"
"Dive!" Both dragons snapped their wings, diving down towards their targets. Loud, piercing shrieks filled the air around them as they flew down to their targets. At the same time, the air groups dropped their bombs. The Vikings rushed to get their ballistae out, but it was too late.
"KRAAAAA!!!" BOOOOOM!!!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The plasma blasts blew the hinges instead of shattering them, signalling that it was weaker than the earlier two. That did not matter, however, as the last hinge snapped from holding the gate. There was so much pressure behind the lava dam, the gate was being pushed out from its frame.
KREEEEEEEEEE!!!
Vikings began shouting and running to the opposite direction. They saw the whole gate started to fall right onto structures underneath. Dragons that saw the whole thing were quick to evacuate. They did not want to get struck by whatever was going to crush the humans.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
The enormous gate literally crushed the entire mountain section of the village. Fountains of lava began pouring down throughout the island. It became obvious that there was a massive pressure building up underneath the active volcano.
Dragons were fleeing en masse as lava began consuming everything on its path.
Both Toothless and Charcoal were utterly exhausted. Their flight was incredibly slow. The two dragons watched the whole thing unfold. The dragoness looked utterly relieved. "Skies above... we did it..."
"The gate was holding back enormous pressure." The male dragon felt relieved as well. "For a second, I thought we had to do the fourth one."
"... I don't think I can do a fourth one." Toothless admitted, before noticing something bubbling at the volcano. "Wait, is that supposed to happen?"
Charcoal focused on where his partner was looking. It was normal for volcano to bubble, but the size and rate seemed to be abnormal. "No, we released the pressure. It's..." That was when the male dragon realised something dangerous. "It's about to erupt!"
The Night Fury general pushed himself to fly towards the returning air group. "RUN!" He roared, getting their attention. "IT'S GOING TO BLOW!"
BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!
As if on cue, the volcano quite literally exploded with a deafening bang. Massive amount of lava erupted out from the volcano, sending everything flying up high in the sky.
Dragons roared in panic as shockwave propelled them away from the island. The turbulence was so strong and sudden, some dragons started falling from the sky.
It was a disaster of apoplectic proportion. There was a massive pillar of lava beaming into the sky, spreading hot liquid all over the place. The sky was bright with orange light and the island was reduced to nothing but pouring lava. It was as if the gods themselves saw fit to punish them for their heresy against nature.
Dragons quickly fled the place, even those at nearby island, as lava began raining down from the sky. Most fell into sea water, causing explosions due to rapid evaporations. There were panic across the sky; dragons moved to avoid the falling lava drops.
Amidst the panic, Charcoal looked around for his partner. "Toothless?" He tried telepathic connection. There was no response. "Toothless!"
Looking down, the Night Fury dragoness was falling from the sky. She did not look conscious. Charcoal dove down to catch the falling dragon. Dodging around the raining lava, he pushed himself in desperation to catch her. Once he was close enough, Charcoal reached for her claws; turned her around; and latched onto her wings.
That did the trick. Her wings naturally spread as Charcoal held onto her body. He wrapped his tail around hers, pressed their fins together, before pulling up from their dive. The male dragon gritted his teeth; he felt incredible strain on his wings. He was pushing himself at that exhausted state.
Eventually, they levelled in altitude. It was not the end of the danger, however, as they were close enough to the sea water. The raining lava caused explosion upon impact with water. Charcoal remained steadfast as he manoeuvred around lava rain and its explosion. He felt himself starting to black out.
'No. Not now.' Charcoal gritted his teeth. 'Get to land, and then die.'
Reaching the resupply nest island, the male dragon used their momentum to glide upward. They landed right on the cliff, before collapsing there. Charcoal quickly turned over the female dragon, checking for her condition. There were no visible injuries, and she was still alive. That was a good thing.
It seemed that Toothless was too exhausted when the shockwave struck. She did not have enough mana to put up Body Reinforcement, meaning she took a full brunt. Her body was not strong enough to endure the shockwave, either. It knocked her unconscious and she fell from the sky.
Charcoal cursed himself for pushing themselves too far. He should have thought of something else before committing; he should have known the risk. The dragoness had only been a soldier for two months, and she pulled far more weight that she could handle.
That almost killed her.
'Not everyone wants to risk their life.' Charcoal thought as he pressed his paws onto her chest. They began to shimmer green as he concentrated to check for internal injuries. 'She did it with no question asked, all because of me.'
His analysis came mostly clean, but there was abnormality on her lungs. There was some sort of trauma there, as if it was in shock from prior event. Charcoal quickly worked on alleviating that problem with his mana. Pushing through exhaustion, he used the last of his reserve to ensure that she was healed.
Eventually, she pulled through. Charcoal could feel her breathing normally after that was done. At the same time, his adrenaline ran out, and exhaustion finally kicked in. The male Night Fury simply collapsed right next to her, feeling glad that she was finally okay.
His last thoughts were hoping for her recovery, before falling unconscious.
Few minutes passed, but the lava rain was still going. Some of the groups forced themselves to return to find any survivor. It was the scouting groups that found the unconscious black dragons. "They're here! We found them!"
"By Thor..."
At a small place close to the Lava-Lout Island, there was a small island with flooded cave entrance facing the larger island. The flooded cave entrance was a natural harbour - a ship could dock there without much preparation. There was a ship inside bearing no insignia on its sail.
At the dry rocky surface within, several Vikings were watching the slaughter unfold. They were using spyglasses to observe the island at distance. However, they had unexpectedly witnessed the destruction of Lava-Lout Island. Considering that the whole island was covered with lava, they doubt there was any survivor.
Stoick and Gobber were there as well. The blacksmith had been describing enemy's weapon when dragons attacked. "... I guess the Lava-Louts aren't going to be trouble now." He commented, before collapsing his spyglass. "I doubt they'd recover from that."
"They had been reselling foreign weapons to their allies." Stoick commented as he observed the island with his spyglass. "It makes sense that they use those weapons against dragons."
It was in line with patterns he saw throughout Barbaric Archipelago. According to what he heard before, Vikings allied to Lava-Louts came out better after dragon raid, mostly because of the new weapons they got. It helped that dragons were often focused on stealing food instead of killing them.
This time, the intent was clear.
"What ye mean by that, Stoick?"
The chief turned to look at Gobber. "It means that dragons knew the Lava-Louts are the cause." Stoick gave his reasoning. "They destroyed the main source of new weapons."
Another Viking decided to comment. "Dragons aren't smart enough for that."
"Maybe. But you've seen what they did with those barrels." The chief responded, staring at the group. "Those were common dragons carrying them. They knew where to drop them. They were coordinated in this raid."
"How do we deal with this then?" Gobber questioned. "Our next dragon raid could be worse."
Stoick hummed as he stroked his beard. He pondered for the solution on that matter. "We need to do more to stop our food from getting stolen." The chief decided. He looked deep in thought. "Preferably hiding them. Dragons are less likely to raid if the village look like don't have much food."
"Haven't we been securing and hiding our food?" Kevlar the hunter Viking spoke up. "It worked for a while, until they found our stash."
"We'll find a better way." Stoick shrugged his shoulder. He collapsed his spyglass and pocketed it. "Right now, we have good news. The Lava-Lout Island has been destroyed. There will be no war."
The Vikings nodded amongst themselves. They muttered their agreement. They were relieved that it was over, even though it was dragons who destroyed their enemy. They were happy that luck was on their side. Those back at the village would also be relieved to hear that.
"So!" The chief put his arms at his hips. He was much cheerful than before. "We're off to mainland. It should take us two days to get there."
The Vikings was happy to learn that. Stoick continued speaking. "We'll be staying there for a month to search for the Black Scale." He explained their plan, before pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket. "And uh... some errands for the village. Anyone wants to add more to the list, say them now."
Everyone began speaking all at once. The chief quickly interrupted. "Slow down! Slow down!" He exclaimed, silencing them. "One by one. Hoark, you first."
While everyone was conversing amongst each other, they did not notice movement in the water. It was brief, but nobody noticed them. After some time, it stopped, leaving the group alone.