Mitriaria (chapter 36)
#37 of Stories
The army reached its final destination. Everyone was anxious to see what would happen beyond the
mountain range, in the enemy territory. They had descended a stony path and arrived at a dry area
crammed with cracks and loose stones. They had to go down a steep hill to get into the outer area of
the kingdom. In the distance, they could see the immense black castle of the king.
'I'm feeling sick. So much anxiety makes me feel under the weather,' Yeran said while breathing
deeply.
'Have a bun in the oven?' Dersaco asked her.
'You wish, little faggot,' she chuckled.
'I know you're razzing me, bitch.'
'Someone's trying to provoke me... '
'Not at all.'
'Somebody has to be to the fore today. I wonder who will be.'
'Is that some sort of wager?'
'Maybe.'
Commander Yarmoc observed the horizon and thought he saw a swarm of bees flying towards
them, but in reality, it was a horde of black dragons and riphonts that had just left the castle. In a
couple of minutes, they would be there.
'Prepare the machines to attack. The enemies are coming,' commander Yarmoc notified the warriors
of the heads-up. 'By hook or by crook we must kill them all,' he declared and deployed his regiments.
The yetis got the catapults and the elephants got the trebuchets to launch heavy stones whereas the
archers prepared to release a volley of shafts. Mitria and Ribin spearheaded the arrows rain in ten
intervals of time. They created an imaginary barrier to calculate the distances the enemies were. Once
they crossed beyond, the attack wave would depend on the grassels.
'How many dragons do you see?' Demitrius asked his pet.
'Three million at least.'
'We won't be able to fight them all.'
'We have to wait for them. Have your sword ready.'
The stones were launched and the arrows were shot. The riphonts and the dragons who were hit
and slashed, started to tumble down. Then the battalions advanced fast and charged the enemies with
their swords in hand. The butchery of battle commenced and everything converted into a
pandemonium.
The ogres lacerated and mutilated the enemies, smashing their bones and shredding their flesh.
Litres and litres of blood they spattered over the ground, aside from feathers and scales. The strikes had
to be synchronised and very fast to avoid the dragons spat their fire and incinerated them. Ribin and
Aliarus moved forwards and began to slay the dragons at an amazing speed. Their abilities to slaughter
had no comparison. They jumped and dodged their attacks with ease. All their movements were
carefully calculated.
'The dross goes first. I wonder what else they have in the castle,' Dersaco said.
'I hope it's something stronger than dragons. I almost feel commiseration for them,' Yeran added.
'It looks like someone wants to defy me again.'
'What are you guys talking about?' Lizaru interrupted. 'Aren't you planning to do something risky,
are you?'
'Of course not. We're just talking and--' Yeran added with certain vacillation.
'Yeah, we were just saying...' he exchanged a glance with the wolfess.
'We're waiting for the right moment to strike, aren't we?'
'Yes, we are.'
Lizaru noticed both were nervous and could not pretend they were not. As it had befallen before,
they were eager to see who the stronger one was. The wolfess had replaced Jakso, becoming Dersaco's
favourite challenger. Without even realising, he had started to become obsessed with her. The same
thing he used to feel for the wolf, now he felt for her. As a proud belligerent male, he could not permit
a random female made him feel inferior in the battlefield.
The legions of sakles and setreks formed a defensive line to keep the enemies away from the small
creatures. The generals and marshals guided their warriors to the glory.
'It's time. Let's go,' Oncina said and ascended with the grassels behind him. The main rank of ogres
followed his lead.
In the sky, another brutal battle began. Demitrius unleashed his power and created an eight-metre
long whip useful to maim black dragons. While the red dragon spat fire, his rider ripped the enemies
apart with Krashinatske. On the ground, the fallen dragons were surprised by ogres with their axes and
swords.
Several riphonts were able to escape from the chaotic confrontation and headed towards the
defensive line. As there was too many of them, Dafrini had to interpose. He stepped forwards and
concentrated all his energy in one single strike. A golden aura covered his body and his horn twinkled
for a moment; a powerful force field covered his surroundings. He shot a massive electrical sphere that
sucked all the riphonts, dragged them back almost six kilometres away and then exploded generating a
noisy bang. That demanding technique had consumed almost all his energy so he had to step back.
Goren noticed many dragons were dodging the ogres to penetrate from the sides, aiming to attack
by surprise. He called his allies to disperse half on the right and half on the left. Yaks, bison and
anteaters moved quickly to different directions, with the same objective. With the golden gloves, the
short young warrior punched the dragons as they got close. He pushed them so hard that made them
collapse on the soil.
Once the defensive line was broken, the hunters marched on the black wave. Llamas, camels and
onagres followed Lizaru and charged all together. The number of black dragons was excessive and
there was no way to stop them. The tigress used her two techniques to confuse them and then jumped
over them. Dersaco and Yeran remained still, waiting the appropriate moment to swing into action.
When all the protection barriers were saturated, the canines went to fight. Both ran towards the
enemies and confronted them. Yeran used the axe and the blue-bladed sword to tear at the dragons,
bounding repeatedly to shun their bites. Dersaco impaled them faster than never, he took a sword from
the soil and used it to gash them.
Smaller creatures, much weaker than the others, opted to encroach on the battle. As they were not
strong enough to wield heavy weapons, they threw poisonous darts with a blowpipe. The fairies were
present to attend the injured, to heal their wounds whenever possible.
'This is endless,' Demitrius complained. 'There's still many of them flying around.'
'We have to keep fighting.'
'I'm starting to feel tired.'
'I have an idea. Hold on to me!'
Oncina planned to use a technique Zander had showed him during the last challenge. He left his
rider on the ground and flew directly towards the black dragons. His scales turned golden for a moment
and he incremented his speed. His body became a blazing mass of energy that burnt everything he
touched. He tried to approach as many dragons as he could to get their attention.
A bunch of ninety nefarious black-skinned monsters went for him and he released a scorching shock
wave that turned them into cinders. Fatigued the red dragon felt after using that technique so he
descended with slowness.
Aflame with exhilaration, the canines showed no mercy at any time. Both, chuffed about the
pressure, felt that battle was perfect to show the best they had. All their magnificent movements were
imperceptible, their brutal strikes were lethal and their rapid evasive actions were prodigious. In no way
would they give in. Their extreme cruelty seemed to be needless, but to daunt each other it was suitable.
A black dragon caught Ribin with his tail and held his left leg so that the others mauled him. He
wrenched himself away and ascended before the other three dragons touched his body. Aliarus
appeared on the scene and dismembered them before they took off. With a long spear, Ribin gouged
the attacker's eyes out and pierced his jaw.
Another flock of riphonts encroached and overran the terrain. In a second, the bedevilled gryphons
reacted in a violent way. They concentrated to perforate the enemies' flesh and pluck them hard. The
bloodstorm the Real Soldiers undertook by disembowelling the rivals was ruthless. Gutted like wild
pigs, the grotesque crows' bodies remained on the ground. Unlike the other warriors, they were
unharmed even after having fought against some of the toughest opponents. The scourge of war was
noticeable, many had ended up seriously hurt and several had fallen down.
Mitria, forced to use her powers, resorted to her best techniques in order to clean the area for her
fellow Arkadians. Blue flames and magic beams she produced with her hands and shot as many places
as she could, aiming with precision. Forty-five black dragons she managed to kill and thirty-three
riphonts she burnt alive.
Demitrius and Goren joined her and defended the weak creatures. Goren used his pole and
Demitrius used his sword to attack. Both hurled themselves at the wounded dragons that were irritated.
They soon killed the last remaining monsters and then joined the ogres to keep murdering the tougher
dragons. The shocking massive genocide seemed to be interminable.
The merciless warlords confronted the rivals, exterminated all of them with promptness and walked
on with calmness. No matter how many dragons were roaming, they had to bump them off before they
escaped from the battlefield.
Lizaru, Dersaco and Yeran did away with almost one-thousand and six-hundred dragons. Amongst
the three, the hard-hearted wolfess had been the one who more enemies had killed. The coyote felt
impotent before her and it was unavoidable to rise to the bait. Although Yeran did not intend to wind
him up, the reaction was expected. He considered it was idle to lament at that stage of the clash. Lizaru
was contented to see him unhurt.
After an eternity of having been fighting, the countless hordes of flying invaders eased off and
everyone felt relieved for a moment. The conflagration had not finished yet, but the first part of it was
done.
'The path is clear. We can keep marching,' commander Yarmoc shouted and everyone followed his
lead.
All the warriors took their positions back and prepared for more entertainment. They had not been
over the hump yet; the hardest part was about to come. The Arkadians gathered behind the main rank
of ogres and congratulated one other on fighting so hard.
'I thought this would more difficult, but now I realise the odds are in our favour,' Demitrius said.
'Don't bubble over,' Oncina whispered from behind and approached him. 'This was just the
beginning. Nobody knows what's beyond the kingdom.'
'We killed millions of dragons in a single day. Don't you see how strong we are?' he insisted.
'Daikron has many more slaves.'
'Whatever he has inside his castle, I'm ready to see,' Goren added.
'We had a lucky day I guess,' Mitria murmured.
'I think so,' Dafrini said.
The group had to keep walking many more kilometres to reach the castle. The imminent battle was
going to be the most epic struggle of all times.