CHAPTER 1114: RETALIATION

Aesa grimaced. Her ice-blue scales were still gleaming clean even after cutting through hordes of rotting monsters and it reflected the tower and its pulsating red veins.

She looked up and immediately sensed it. Something vile was hiding there.

All four of them felt it.

Krono, the Time Dragon, furrowed his brow and tried once again to use his Time power to gauge the danger waiting inside the tower when they got in, but the interference persisted. His sight remained clouded and blocked by the same disruptive force that had haunted him since they began this journey to hunt this creature.

Eccar, the Earth Dragon, didn’t waste time thinking about that. His fists clenched and his eyes burned with the simple intent to destroy whatever stood in their way, including of course, the tower itself.

But Erend was different. His mind was racing on something unsettling.

"Why hasn’t it come out yet?" he thought. "It must know we’re here, four of us Dragonborns. But it still hides."

The only explanation that made sense was that the entity was relying on the tower for protection, or perhaps something more.

"I think that tower has its own power," Erend said.

The others turned to him, considering his words for a brief moment. Slowly, they all nodded, the same realization dawning across their faces.

"This creature wants us to go inside," Eccar growled. "It’s waiting for us to fight on its turf. That way, it can use every advantage it has against us."

"Isn’t that the risk we already accepted when we came here?" Aesa replied, her voice calm and cold as frost.

"Right," Krono said. "Then we destroy everything in our path!"

For once, Krono allowed himself to be reckless. The entity’s interference with his Time power had provoked him beyond measure. It was a direct challenge that he had no patience left to tolerate.

He wanted to kill whatever this thing was who dared to stop his sights for so long.

"I like that," Eccar said with a feral grin.

Krono moved first.

His body surged forward with a burst of golden light, splitting the air with raw speed.

The others followed close behind. But before they reached the base the tower let out a piercing shriek that tore through the air like a living thing’s shriek.

The soundwave rippled across the battlefield, shaking the ground and forcing the Dragonborns to halt. It wasn’t just a sound. It was like a will of power screaming to keep them away.

The tower was alive.

But the four Dragonborns didn’t care. They reinforced their ears and minds with Magic energy, their auras flaring against the sonic assault.

The shriek faded, unable to stop them.

Then the tower retaliated. The air cracked and volleys of black stone projectiles burst from its walls like jagged spears.

The shards flew at blinding speed, but none of the Dragonborns even tried to dodge.

They all just charged straight through it. The moment the black stones struck their bodies, they shattered into dust, unable to pierce their scales or break their advance.

The shriek above roared again. The Dragonborn’s step shook the ground as they closed the distance to the tower.

The tower trembled again, and a deep, grinding noise reverberated through the air as if it was furious at their approach.

Black fragments burst from its surface and flung like molten shards of glass toward the four Dragonborns.

Krono deflected one with his forearm, the impact cracking the air and scattering dark dust, while Aesa’s ice shields formed in midair, shattering as they absorbed the next barrage.

Eccar raised both hands and the ground before them rose into a thick wall of stone that took the brunt of the next strike.

But then the tower changed its attack.

The black stone that made up its structure began to twist and reshape, flowing downward like liquid shadow. From that mass emerged towering creatures.

Monsters sculpted from stone and hatred were raised, their bodies covered in jagged spikes, their eyes burning with strange fire.

Then the earth around the tower began to move as well. Bones long that were long buried beneath the cursed soil rattled and around the tower base lifting themselves from the dirt.

Some of them reformed into beasts like wolves, wyverns, and serpents of white and blackened bone, but the others rose taller and were shaped like men, though much larger. They were giants armored in the corroded remains of ancient war gear with their rusted blades still gleaming faintly with some old lingering power.

They all roared as one and surged toward the four Dragonborns.

Krono cracked his neck, his golden eyes narrowing. No need for his power yet, he decided.

His scales rippled across his body and he met the charge with brute force, smashing a stone monster into fragments with a single blow. The shockwave from his strike hurled several skeletons back, bones scattering across the ground.

Aesa moved gracefully, frost spreading under her feet as she swept her arms outward.

Spikes of ice erupted from the ground and impaling a wave of bone beasts and shattering their forms into glittering shards. Her expression remained calm and focused. Her moves were deliberate and sharp.

Eccar thrust his hand forward, the ground convulsing under his command. Pillars of rock burst upward and crushing the nearest undead giants, then shattered into boulders that rolled through the horde.

His aura of power flared steady and powerful, the earth answering his call like an extension of his will.

Erend’s eyes burned red as sparks flickered across his arms. Lightning surged around him, coiling and snapping as his black and red scales shimmered.

He thrust his hand forward, unleashing a torrent of thunderous lightning energy that tore through the advancing monsters.

Then fire followed to devour the broken remains in a blaze.

But even as their combined power tore through the first wave, the tower continued to move and groan. More shapes formed along its base. More stone soldiers and more undead champions rising from the battlefield that had once surrounded it ages ago.

Eccar glanced up. "It’s trying to drown us in its army!"

Lightning, ice, earth, and flame clashed against shadow and bone as the endless battle raged beneath the tower’s looming presence.

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