Chương 86: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 86 - The Pursuit of the Sakura Players

The building ahead was the evil Black Dragon's lair. Their destination. The end of the line. The players had stopped wondering why the surrounding forest hadn't burned. The BOSS was right in front of them. It was time to fight or die.

"This is the territory of the great Black Dragon, Su Nian · Votrus · Stupak! The land I rule!" Just as the players were bracing to charge. A dragon roar hit them like a thunderclap rolling in from the edge of the world. The System immediately began translating the harsh, unfamiliar Draconic.

"Welcome to my territory, lowly insects!" Whoosh. Whoosh. Wings beat the air. A Black Dragon, eight meters long with a wingspan of thirteen, erupted from the Dragon's Nest and landed on top of it with a resounding CLANG. He held his head high, chest out. His pale golden eyes were filled with cold authority and killing intent, deep and lightless as an abyss. Every player in the clearing felt it, a pressure settling over their chests like a physical weight, making it hard to breathe.

"Damn it. So this is — the aura of an evil dragon?" Yamaguchi Mura Chicken's expression darkened. Then, almost immediately, a wild grin split his face.

"Only by slaying such a powerful enemy can the bloodline of my Yamaguchi family be elevated!"

"Challenging the strong has always been the way of us Sakura warriors!" Su Nian couldn't make out what the lead Sakura Island player was muttering over there. It didn't matter. The players were fish in a barrel. He turned his head and issued the order to the Gnolls and Kobolds waiting inside the towers.

"Flame Arrow Towers — fire at will!" Flame Arrow Towers? The Sakura Island players tensed. That name screamed city-defense structure, the kind that showed up in strategy games and wrecked you if you didn't take it out first. Powerful, dangerous, priority target. They swept their eyes across the clearing. Nothing. No towers anywhere. The only remotely suspicious things were those five strange "big bamboo shoots" jutting out of the ground. Someone threw an Appraisal Art. [Ordinary vines, ordinary leaves] Hmm.

Try again. Throw a few more. [Flame Arrow Tower (Operated by Kobolds)] There it was. The Sakura Island players stared at the bamboo shoots, then at each other, then back at the bamboo shoots. The realization clicked into place all at once. Those ridiculous-looking things were the Flame Arrow Towers. They gave themselves a mental pat on the back for figuring it out.

"Yamaguchi-san! The Flame Arrow Towers — they're the bamboo shoots!"

"Yoshi! Already knew!" Yamaguchi Mura Chicken gave a single nod, utterly unbothered. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"We have nearly two thousand powerful warriors. Those are five towers."

"As the name implies, Flame Arrow Towers are towers that shoot flaming arrows."

"Priests and mages, shield up. Nothing to fear!" The instant he finished speaking, a whoosh cut the air and an arrow the thickness of a baby's arm grazed past his ear. It hit a nearby tree with a BOOM and buried itself deep in the trunk. Yamaguchi Mura Chicken's mouth opened. He swallowed. His expression flickered, and then he sneered.

"Gentlemen. Exactly as I predicted. This arrow is even more pathetic than expected. Thick and long, and that is its only feature. Utterly without merit!" The players exchanged glances. The arrow wedged in the tree did look pretty ordinary. A little thick, sure. So what? There were nearly two thousand of them standing here. What was one oversized arrow going to do? Then came a soft, crisp snap. The back end of the arrow split open.

Hisssss, Sickly green gas blasted out in a wide fan, like someone had yanked the pin on a fire extinguisher.

"Poison gas, move! Cover your mouths!" Yamaguchi Mura Chicken was already moving before he finished shouting. He grabbed the nearest player by the collar and dragged them back as the cloud expanded behind them. The Kobold-operated Flame Arrow Towers did not stop. Five towers. All firing. Simultaneously. Arrows of every variety screamed across the clearing into the massed Sakura Island formation, and then the world became BOOM after BOOM after BOOM, overlapping and continuous.

Poison gas rolled in choking green waves. Feces and urine splattered in every direction. Fire rained from above in intermittent sheets. The Sakura Island players went from a coordinated army to a screaming mob in about four seconds. This was an [ordinary] Flame Arrow Tower? Ordinary?! Were they sure this wasn't a rocket battery? In the middle of the explosions, Yamaguchi Mura Chicken danced.

There was no other word for it, spinning, leaping, cutting left, cutting right, weaving through pillars of fire and drifting smoke with footwork that would have been genuinely impressive if it weren't for the expression of absolute panic on his face. He looked like a little swan doing ballet. A very frightened, very filthy little swan. He finally threw himself behind a large tree and pressed his back against it. He dragged a hand across his face. It came away reeking.

Suppressing the urge to retch, he turned and bellowed at the chaos in front of him:"Baka! Stop running! Are you mages or not?! Are you priests?! What happened to your shields?!"

"Right, right, we're mages now, not civilians! Shields! Everyone, shields!" The reminder snapped them back. Shields went up across the formation, and immediately the splash damage dropped off. It wasn't comfortable, but as long as they weren't taking a direct hit, they could hold their footing. The priest players scrambled to safer positions and started throwing heals onto the mages and warriors. Slowly, shakily, the Sakura Island players got their feet back under them. Confidence trickled back.

Maybe they could still push. Maybe they could counterattack. Then, from the direction of the Dragon's Nest, the Black Dragon spread his wings. He rose. And dove. Massive. Fast. Trailing an aura of crushing force like a falling mountain.

"All units, alert! The Black Dragon!"

"Concentrate fire!"" HISSSS-ROAR," The dragon's breath had been building. It released all at once as Su Nian screamed into his dive, a searing line that swept from the front of the Sakura Island formation straight through to the back. A single pass. Wall to wall. He pulled up, gaining altitude. A scatter of Fireball spells and Ice Spikes came arcing toward him. He slipped past them with easy, practiced movements. The few he didn't bother dodging rang off his thick scales without leaving so much as a scratch.

From up here, looking down at the small stretch of forest before the Dragon's Nest, the dragon's breath had left a jagged line of sickly green fire burning across the ground, a wound carved into the earth. He didn't give them time to breathe.

"Anna, hit them with Light spells first. I'll follow with another dive and breath. They're ready for me this time, let's run a combo." Su Nian spoke as he banked through the air. The small girl on his back tilted her head.

"Anna will do whatever big brother says." Her voice was soft and sweet. A gentle smile sat at the corners of her mouth. Her pink lips parted in a quiet chant; her small hand rose and swept outward, and several glowing orbs materialized and began orbiting her like satellites.

"Here we go."

"Okayyy~" Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, They called them Light spells. The effect was closer to flashbangs, except relentless, and free of charge. The orbs dropped one after another into the Sakura Island formation, and the world below turned solid white. The players lost visual on the Black Dragon completely. But they could hear the wings. Getting louder. Getting closer. The dragon's roar rolling toward them like a wave. And then the breath came. There was no seeing it. No targeting it.

No countering something you couldn't find. The Sakura Island players broke. Some hurled spells blindly, Fireballs and Ice Spikes firing in random directions, clipping allies instead of enemies. Some just ran, crashing into trees, dropping into trap pits, colliding with each other. It wasn't over yet. From the bushes, creeping out in a low, quiet line, came the Blaze Rabbits. Simple weapons in hand, knives, spears, clubs, whatever they'd been given. The Light spells hadn't touched their eyes.

They looked out at the scene in front of them: nearly two thousand humans, stumbling and shrieking and running in circles like they'd forgotten which way was up. Bugs Bunny's muscle-knotted rabbit face pulled into a slow, vicious grin. Red light pulsed in its eyes. It turned to face the assembled Blaze Rabbit brothers, raised one furry paw, and drew it deliberately across its throat. ➤ Next: Total Annihilation