3055 Engine Starts (Part 1)
The enchantments giving life to the Elemental Lord burned, the power he had painstakingly acc.u.mulated leaked, and the d.a.m.n ochre Griffon hammered at him with a heavy mace the moment an opening in his defenses appeared.
With her 40 meters (132') of height, Rethia was half the size of Argantyr. Yet the Davross of her mace and the Life Maelstrom boosting it and her physical might more than made up for it.
On top of that, after infusing her husband and his twin sister with the silver lightning as well, the Flames of their combined attack reached the destructive power of a natural disaster.
Bringing the Elemental Lord down wouldn't have been difficult for them, especially with Surtr's and Rethia's children helping them from the backlines. Their Origin Flames pierced through Argantyr's barriers while Life Maelstrom overloaded them.
Their combined effect caused entire sections of the Elemental Lord's pseudo cores to collapse. It triggered a domino effect that if not contained would have turned him back into a pile of rock until the damage was repaired.
Under the relentless storm of white fire and silver lightning, Argantyr could only run toward the nearest mana geyser and hope. Hope that after extending his Divine Right array's area of effect to his current position, he would become strong enough to counterattack.
'Why is this happening to me? With all the lost cities and monster tides on Jiera, what did I do to anger not one but three white cores and their entire offspring?' He thought.
After what remained of his host's shattered mind reminded Argantyr of his latest ma.s.sacres, the Elemental Lord clarified: 'I mean, what in particular?'
Then, the attack stopped as suddenly as it had started. Rethia, Surtr, and Sinmara just kept following the lost city from a distance to ensure he wouldn't change his course.
"That should give him enough time to recover before he reaches the mana geyser." Rethia the Wind Griffon said.
"Thanks for the help, dear." Surtr nuzzled his scaly snout against her feathered neck.
"Don't be silly, my love." She tenderly preened his scales with her beak. "Lith is your little brother. Helping a member of your family is the least I can do. But if you really want to compensate me for my help, I'm sure I can think of something."
"Mom! Get a room or something." A male Griffon gagged at Rethia's feline purring.
"Yeah. We've come here to help your friend. Not to get scarred for life." A female Dragon grunted in embarra.s.sment.
"Spoilsports." Surtr scoffed. "What's wrong with the pa.s.sionate, carnal love your mother and I share?"
Before he could finish the phrase, a ma.s.s Blink brought his brood back to their respective homes, leaving behind only the echoes of the collective Divine Beasts' dry heaving.
"Normally, I would kick your lovebird a.s.ses for rubbing your happiness in my face but this was pure genius." Sinmara was impressed by her twin's cunning. "Your charade made the kids leave without asking a single question.
"I had prepared a complex explanation to send them away, but I doubt they would have bought it. Even if they did, I expected them to question me once they had the time to think about it. Now, instead, I bet they will never want to talk about this ever again."
"Oh, yes. It was all planned." Surtr emitted a low growl of pleasure as Rethia picked his scales.
"G.o.ds, seriously?" Sinmara blushed so hard that the Phoenix of Darkness became red for an instant.
"No. We were pulling your leg." Rethia chuckled while the Dragon of Light laughed his a.s.s off at his sister's expense.
"I can't believe you fell for it." He said. "Of course it was a ruse. We know our children. They are brilliant, headstrong, and bigger prudes than you are. No matter how complex a spell or powerful an artifact we might find.
"We just need to kiss once to make our children run away like their souls depend on it. And don't worry, they'd rather die than mention today's events. Lith's and Solus' secret is safe."
While in the sky Sinmara inwardly swore revenge, on the ground Argantyr kept running wondering why his a.s.sailants had suddenly changed their minds.
'It doesn't matter. My wounds are healed and the mana geyser is almost in sight. Once I add its power to my Divine Right array, those three white cores will regret crossing my path.' He thought.
When his sensory arrays perceived the ma.s.s Blink, the Elemental Lord slowed his pace.
's.h.i.+t! They can't be stupid enough to dismiss their army. This must be a trap. I bet that the flight of violet cores is waiting for me at the geyser while the white cores plan to strike at me from the back.
'They herded me like a lamb and I let them!' He conjured as many Spirit Spells as he could keep at the ready while absorbing the increasingly abundant world energy to replenish his countless pseudo cores.
Much to his surprise, there was no Divine Beast near the mana geyser. Just a very short lost city, barely over 40 meters (132'). Life Vision confirmed to the Elemental Lord that it wasn't just a golem.
It had a life force, a mana core from a living host, and it drew power from the mana geyser below. The unknown lost city's design was modern and so were its enchantments.
Thousands of runes surrounded its power core and flowed into each other, forming a symphony of magic.
Old runes, instead, worked on a single enchantment each and couldn't overlap between them, making the structure of Argantyr's pseudo cores rough and precarious.
If not for the power of the Forbidden Magic animating the lost city, so many different spells would never fit together. Compared to the newcomer, Argantyr felt like a fossil.
'I see now. The white cores knew that if two lost cities were to join forces, they had no chance of victory.' He thought. 'I must thank the runt before kicking his a.s.s. I need that geyser and as long as he occupies it, I can't expand my Divine Right array.'
"Nice to meet you, brother. I'm Argantyr the Elemental Lord. Who are you?"> [AN: translated from the ancient Torin language.]
"Nergal, the City of Light."> Lith replied, using an enchanted pin made by Sinmara to understand his enemy. "Why are you thanking me and what are you doing on my turf?">
"Your turf?"> Argantyr's laugh was like the grinding of stones in an avalanche. "Nothing is yours unless you have the strength to defend it and you don't. Since your presence played in my favor, I'm going to give you a chance, brother.">
The makers of a cursed object would rarely survive their success. Living legacies referred to each other as siblings only as terms of endearment since they were all unique individuals.
There was no love or kins.h.i.+p between them.
"Get out of my geyser without making a fuss and when those three white cores chase you, you have my word I'll hold them back. For a while.">
"Your mana geyser?"> Lith echoed, keeping his charade to not let the lost city understand that their fight was planned as well as their meeting. "Pray tell, brother, what if I don't leave *my* mana geyser?">