Chapter 56: Next Wave

Day 3, fourth month of the vermilion calendar, year 2016.

It was the day, thirty days after Leon had seen it, and now he had to wait for it to come. He had estimated how many minutes it would take before it happened.

Leon was worried, worried about how much destruction this would cause. He believed that somehow it would be far worse than whatever had happened in the first few waves.

"Seems you are still worried," Sophia said and stood beside Leon, looking in the same direction, the both of them standing at the center of town. For the sake of ensuring that nothing was suspicious, they refused to gather with the party and did their own thing.

When the timer struck zero, Leon grabbed his staff and stood. He waited for the next wave of undead that would come and cause havoc.

He was wrong.

A massive explosion ripped up from where the pillar was. It sounded like the sky was rendered, and everything was destroyed in its wake.

"What the hell?" Leon muttered in shock. Nothing of this sort had ever happened before. What could this possibly mean now?

Not long after, the sound of a dragon’s roar cut through the sky. It was gut-wrenching and heavy. Many people passed out in seconds as they heard it.

A massive shadow showed in the sky. A massive bone dragon flew into the air. It blocked the sun, it sent fear into the hearts of all that saw it.

"This... this is bad," Leon managed to mutter.

"We have to find a safe place," Sophia said. They all felt that one single dragon of this size was too much to face, but before they could even move, another one shot out and circled the sky with the first.

"A second one?" Sophia asked in shock.

"That’s not all, look." Leon pointed in the sky, and there was a massive eye. It had demonic-like winds coming from behind it. The eye was entirely black and had a red pupil that looked everywhere at the same time.

Suddenly, a powerful red blast shot out of the eye and came in their general location.

"Move!" Sophia grabbed him and dashed for a corner fast. They got out of the way fast enough. The blast slammed into the ground. It exploded everything into bits. Massive rocks flew in every direction.

"What the hell is happening?" Sophia asked. She looked outside and saw that even the dragons had begun attacking as well, and their flames were destroying everything that they touched.

"Seems this is the biggest of the waves and strongest," Leon said.

"Tch, if the empire wanted, they would have gotten rid of all the pillars, even if it meant destroying the lands around it," Sophia said.

"So what are you saying?" Leon tried to confirm.

"Someone has been hindering it. It must be the reason why this had been going on for so long. There is no way the empire is incapable of solving this," she said and then pulled him so they could run deeper.

"The war with the demonic monsters was probably the first step to it."

A blast of flames slammed into the path in their front and started rushing their way.

Leon pulled her back and got in front. He pointed his staff at the flames and cast a massive ice wall. He knew that the flames of a dragon would be immense, so he poured everything into ensuring that it covered himself and her with a large wall of ice.

The flames slammed into it and immediately started melting through at a terrifying rate. Even with how many that he made, he was still extremely stunned when he saw how much of it was melting.

"The flames are so intense." He gritted his teeth and poured his all into the spell. He managed to keep it going for a long time until the flames stopped.

"Phew." He let out a deep breath and relaxed.

"That’s dragon flames for you, the shrine’s flames known, and these ones are not as powerful as that of a real dragon," Sophia said. She looked ahead and saw all the flame, stepped up and slashed with her scythe, causing a massive blast of wind that quenched it all.

"With a majority of the empire’s force stopping the demonic monsters, very little is left to protect the empire, to be honest."

"Are the demonic monsters that big of a deal?" Leon asked.

"Yes, they are. You know it is because the empire asked all its nobles to help the fight. They do not do that unless it is a really massive issue.

The empire has the greatest fighting force in all of humanity, and even then had to look to their nobles." She moved ahead as she explained.

"So you are saying the pillars and the demonic monsters are somehow working together?"

Leon asked.

"Yes, they are. They are made to ensure that we, the empire, is completely occupied, and that way they could do more damage."

"Damn, that’s a lethal plan," Leon replied.

"Yeah, but I’m very sure that it is nowhere near the final plan. Something larger is lurking, and because we are all so concentrated on the demonic monsters and the pillars, we are unable to see whatever it is that is lurking and waiting for us," she said and then dashed across a road. Leon got ready to dash across, only for a blast from the eyes to come from above and slam into the ground.

He saw a kid crouched over in the corner, bawling her eyes out, and the attack was about to get to her.

Leon gritted his teeth and dashed toward her. He moved fast with wind propelling him, barely managing to grab her before the blast passed by. He slammed into the ground but ensured that he covered and protected her until he stopped.

Sophia came over fast. She helped him get up and set the kid down.

"We can’t leave her here," Leon said.