Chapter 40

Corrupted Victory

The first thing Lykan thought when he was still struck by the malevolent burst of energy from the great psychic dragon was that he still needed to train further. Despite all his efforts, his abilities to control and use different forms of energy were still not at their maximum. Even with his ability to control and manipulate energy there was still much that he could do to improve.

Fortunately, while what made it through his defenses was enough to momentarily pause the flow of mana throughout his body, causing him to fall almost immediately. He knew it was only a matter of focusing quickly enough to regain altitude before he fell completely to the ground.

Added to this problem was the fact that the giant body of the dragon was also falling forward and it was easy to see that he would need to move quickly.

Fortunately for Lykan his body was only locked up for a second. During that second both his body and the body of the dragon began falling. Given the wings of the great beast that provided resistance, Lykan was able to fall slightly faster. This was important, for as soon as he regained the ability to move. He began pulsing his mana quickly throughout his body.

Pain shot through his body at the constant starting and stopping of energy, but he focused through the pain. Instead focusing on the circulation of mana and the want to try to glide off to the side.

Still the falling dragon was massive, so large that it blocked out the sun with its massive wings and large frame. Even gliding out and away, the massive right wing of the great beast managed to wrap itself around Lykan. Lykan at this point was still not light enough to fly or float, but his decreased weight made his maneuvering easier. Knowing that he just had to get away, rather than strike at the great beast Lykan rotated his body so that his feet were against the underside of the wing. Then with all of his might he jumped off, using quick step to jump horizontally away as the two of them, man and beast, continued to fall.

As their bodies became untangled Lykan watched the last blazing yellow eyes stare at him angrily. Before he had a chance to even think about his actions, Lykan notched and fired an arrow.

The movement to strike at the monster was instinct, one brought on from centuries of trying to get away from great beasts.

“Ahhh!” The monster hissed, as its second glowing eye extinguished with another iron arrow thrust deep into its eye. So focused was the beast on the arrows blocking both of its eyes, that it failed to realize where it was.

BOOM!

Lykan stared at the broken beast for a second. He took in first one deep breath and then another. His powerful mind able to split apart different actions needed. Part of his mind focused on circulating mana, which allowed him the ability to hover in the air. While the rest of his mind watched the great beast below.

Lykan waited for a notification from the gods, but nothing came. At first he thought he hadn’t killed the beast. That he had somehow missed, but the beast didn’t move.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Finally Lykan convinced himself that the kill had likely been distributed between both himself and the hundreds of men and women on the Deadalist. Those people deserved the full credit for the kill, and as such he was okay with them taking it for themselves. In his mind all he did was redirect one blow and then get out of the way of a falling beast that was already damaged.

Comforted by his own rationalization, he let the energy in his body circulate faster and faster, causing him to rise quickly. Soon he was eye level with the ship.

He made eye contact with the captain and the helmsman.

“You all okay?!” Lykan shouted, not sure if anyone could hear him over the whipping wind.

Sure enough he couldn’t hear anything from inside the ship, other than seeing the people vigorously shake their heads and pump their fists into the air triumphantly.

A sigh of relief left Lykan, as he realized he had managed to arrive just in time.

Giving a big thumbs up, he watched the ship until it began to turn away.

Seeing that the great capital class ship was returning to base, Lykan turned to take in the scope of how the rest of the battle was going.

He began to move back towards the ship that housed the rest of his classmates, when his worst fears had been realized.

“RRROOOOAAARRR!” A sky shaking roar of defiance was let out by the mighty beast down below.

Lykan turned to look down at the massive beast, and was shocked to see that its broken body was snapping itself back into place. The bones that had been crushed into dust, were now slowly but surely being fixed at an alarming rate of speed.

Looking at the beast Lykan was shocked. He sat there so long that the Deadalist had begun to turn about again, to face him. Realizing he had been frozen in fear, Lykan shook himself. Then realizing he must do something, he placed his bow over his shoulder and withdrew his sword.

As soon as his hand touched the grip, his mind was soothed as the sword helped him focus.

Pulling the sword free was an act of active defiance against orders, in the cause of needing to do what was right.

The blade pulsed with deep blue energy, his energy. Or at least the energy of his soul.

Gripping the blade he felt his body expand as the blade became an extra appendage to his own frame.

Nodding to the blade he did what he needed to do, he dove downward.

His body used his own ability to direct its movements while flying to go fly down at an incredible rate of speed.

Bloop.

A sound came from overhead.

A quick glance from Lykan let him know that something black and round had been dropped.

He turned his attention away from the item, as he continued to fly down and direct his decent towards the great beast.

Just as he was about to make his killing descent, the word bomb ran through his mind for a second. His split mind picking up on the item that it had seen and trying to draw a conclusion to what it could be without too much time spent. As soon as his lightning quick mind came to that conclusion he was too close to the beast.

Rather than pull up and away from the blind beast, Lykan decided to make sure the bomb hit its mark.

Swooping in low and away, he course corrected and pulled up his decent just enough to strike at the rising left wing of the great dragon. Raising his blade up in front of him, he angled his body so he was one continuous line from his outstretched sword to his toes. Everything was in perfect alignment as he used the speed and momentum of his descent to drive his strike forward.

Skkrreettt.

There was a sickening tearing sound, as his sword cut and tore its way through the thick hide of the beast’s wings. There was a bit of resistance, but just when it felt like his speed might not be enough his blade began to heat up. Lykan felt his blood boil from the attack, as his entire body seemed to come alive with the intense energy.

The heat was enough, as the leathery wing cut and then quickly tore its way free.

“Arrghh.” The dragon let out, but Lykan was already flying out and away as quickly as possible.

He kept going, until finally a wave of sound and energy rippled across the sky throwing him forward and causing him to stumble in the air.

Panting.

Lykan turned, to see that the bomb had landed relatively close to the beast. Blast marks and scorched ground covered the area. The dragon for its part looked defeated.

Again, Lykan waited, each breath he took, caused him to rise higher and higher as he knew he needed to get back to the rest of his classmates.

He spared a glance up, to see that the capitol class ship had not only dropped a bomb on the dragon, but had fired a salvo into the flock of dragonlings that were still wreaking havoc on the front line ships.

Lykan was tired, the thrill of battle had taken its toll on him. Also he was sore from having been bounced around by so many forces. Right now he just wanted to get back onto the ship and rest.

“RRROOOOARRR!” The dragon let out another roar of defiance.

Lykan looked down and was shocked to see that the charred and broken body of the beast was slowly mending itself back together.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Lykan said out loud. The only reason he allowed such thoughts to be spoken was he knew no one was close enough to hear him. It was a bad habit, one that would likely lower morale if his fellow soldiers heard him, but he was frustrated and tired.

“Well, looks like we have one option.” Lykan said, staring at the sword in his hands.

With his words, the sword began to glow brightly, as once again the burning heat that had gone through his body when he pierced the wing began to flow through his sword and his body together.

“Let’s do this.” Lykan said, as he dove forward in a method that looked like he was diving into a pool of water.

The ability to maneuver and fly were nearing second nature to Lykan. He could tell that his skill levels were either up a level or would soon be up a level from all his combat and deeds. Still he focused those thoughts away. Instead he focused on the one true target. The sole reason he was still unable to rest, even after so much fighting.

Lykan focused on the long slithering neck of the beast. Coming in from an angle, it was easy to sneak up on the blind beast. Or so he thought.

Just as he was making his final approach, the dragon twisted as if sensing the monumental force of energy that was coming right at it. Still Lykan was not deterred. Rather than going left and being cut off, he quick stepped to the right, towards the fully exposed right side of the beast’s winding neck. Then with a massive strike, he sliced into and through the beast’s neck.

The heated blade cutting through the pulsing neck of the beast as if it was nothing more than a piece of string. The blade went through cleanly, causing a jet of black blood to spray violently into the air. Lykan tried to move out of the way of the caustic material. He tried to arrest his momentum, but it was for naught.

In the end he was covered in the corrosive blood that burned through his clothes and into his skin wherever it touched.

“AHH!” Lykan let out a cry of pain as his body moved on instinct away from the cursed blood.

It was cursed, that much Lykan knew just by contact with the caustic material.

He could feel the way the dark energy tried to burrow its way into his body. Fortunately for Lykan he had high resistances to the blood, thanks to his magical affinities.

Unfortunately for him, his clothes did not, as his clothes were still being torn apart and eaten away by the energy flowing from the blackened blood.

Panting.

Lykan landed a few feet away and began stripping off the outer layers of clothes that still had the caustic material that burned to the touch. Fortunately the majority was on his upper body, while the few drops that had managed to land on his legs were already out of energy.

Lykan watched the beast, his mind still reeling from the fact that he still hadn’t received confirmation of the kill. This time he was all but certain he would gain contribution from killing the vile beast, he had removed its head after all.

As he turned to look he saw something horrible.

The blood that had been so caustic against his own skin was now pulling the dragon skull back to its body.

“NO!” Lykan shouted as he began charging forward, letting his body fly forward with his sword once again held out at full extension. This time he speared the skull and dragged it a few dozen meters away before dropping it to the ground. The he waited. He watched as the black ooze that sprayed from the dragon’s stump of a neck tried to create a head. Just as the head tried with its last traces of dark energy to create a connection to the body.

The entire display was revolting to watch and made Lykan want to vomit from the sight.

Still Lykan watched in horror as the two halves of the beast fought on for life for the next few minutes. Until finally the dark energy that had been infused with the dragon dissipated.

As soon as the beast died, Lykan looked up to see that whatever spell had been over the flock of youngling dragons also broke, allowing the ones that remained to run away.

Lykan for his part looked at the dead dragon, then waited for confirmation of their death.

The notification from the gods took only a minute.

He was greeted with the flashing screen:

Blessing Bestowed: Corrupted Dragon Slayer

Corrupted Dragon Slayer (Cataclysmic - Early): You managed to slay a legendary dragon who was filled with the full corruption of a calamity stone. As a reward the gods have granted you plus five to all attributes.

Lykan’s mind registered the notification, then with the last traces of his consciousness he looked for a bare spot of land that did not have corrupted dragon blood nearby and the promptly collapsed to the ground.

Darkness and exhaustion had overtaken his mind.