Chapter 38

Letter of the Law

Lykan had intended to follow the rules given to him without question, they had been given with his safety in mind after all. The rules were simple, go up, observe, then come back. Should anything happen in the air he was not to draw his sword as it would do no good up there. Yet, there was a problem with the order, especially when a monster was able to bypass the protection runes in place and knock out the entire crew.

Lykan spent the first few seconds after the initial debilitating blast from the giant psychic dragon placing everyone into harnesses. Thereby securing his fellow classmates from possible harm from rolling around on a ship that seemed to be listless in the air. Judging by how the guards and other soldiers around him were also passed out, he figured it was likely safe to assume the pilots were also passed out. His mind raced through possibilities of what he should do.

His orders dictate that he sit-still, but he could already hear the scampering sounds of a few of the beasts breaking onto the ship.

Skitter, skitter, clank.

Not only were dragons on overhead but they were running around free and unchecked.

“SCREEEECH!”

With that one cry multiple monsters all started scampering to the same location overhead.

Lykan found himself pausing, though he knew he needed to act. Especially as he seemed to be one of the few people who were still conscious. His maxed-out absorption and the runes of the ship seemed to have been enough to avoid any damage from the initial psychic blast that had debilitated an entire ship of seasoned experts.

Lykan paused, not wanting to be written up for disobeying orders. Then a thought hit him, as he realized he was only commanded to not use his sword. With that thought in mind he removed his bow from around him and prepared to go hunting.

The narrow passages were almost too small for even the psychic dragons to move around. Most were the size of a medium sized dog, but their wings made it so they easily could take up more than the entire hallway. When Lykan got to the upper floor he was disgusted by what he found.

Soldiers and crewmen alike were still knocked out, being devoured by what had to be the children of the great beast that came before.

“SCREEEECHHHH!” The monsters hissed and fired off their debilitating screams immediately upon seeing Lykan. These were the young, they used too much power in their screams as they didn’t quite know how to limit the force of their strikes. Such knowledge came with time and practice, instead they did what most children do expend all their energy right away.

The shock waves of energy flew forward, only to be sent back. This time Lykan was ready for the strikes to come and was able to act accordingly. As soon as the shock waves of force got to within three meters of Lykan he had enough time to gain control over the multiple flows of energy and send them back to their owners.

The two psychic dragons dropped to the ground in a disabled heap of dragon scales.

Using the time to work on his archery, he pulled back his orcish war bow. At least the design had been made to resemble the orcish war bows, though his was black as midnight. It was made from the bones of the poison dragon he had slain not too long ago. When he had put in the simple request for a bow, the king ordered that the finest of ingredients be used to make the bow. Thus, the bow he now possessed, that was intended to help him improve a skill he recently got from the same ordeal. Killing dragons, whether big or small was always a way to improve oneself quickly.

Even these tiny psychic dragons glowed with a copper to Lykan’s eyes.

Thunk. Thunk.

Two quick arrows later and the two lightly glowing dragons stopped glowing. With that Lykan ran forward quickly pulling his iron arrows out from the dragons, then continued around the next corner. He knew that there were far more dragons than the mere twenty arrows he had in his quiver. He also knew that he was now expected to pay for any more arrows he got, which was why he tried to be judicious in their use.

He surged forward.

In his mind he knew that if worse truly came to worse he could draw his sword and defend himself in a second. But he also knew that psychic dragons were not close-range attackers, they liked to strike and disable their targets from a distance, meaning that unless he charged one of the beasts he would not get close enough to strike. Thus, the bow was the perfect weapon against such creatures.

Lykan followed the sounds of monsters skittering up ahead. Their giant claws making deep scratching sounds against the metal hallways. Fortunately for Lykan he had exceptional hearing, even now his hearing and senses were one and a half times more sensitive than the standard human maximum. Thanks to his accolades that had been bestowed to him by the gods for his different feats, he now had Attributes that had not been heard about in centuries.

“SCREEECH!”

The next wave of dragons found him. This time just like last time Lykan found the sources of power and quickly redirected them back to their origination points. Sending magic back was easy, especially as most spells and attacks were meant to be as cost effective as possible. This meant that there were often no safety mechanisms in place to prevent the spell from being taken over and sent back to the original caster. This was odd as the strands of mana that tied the spell to the caster were already there and formed, thus sending the spell back to its origination point was a simple process. Well simple for Lykan at least as his ability to control and manipulate energy were both at the Sage tier level.

In a way it almost felt too easy to kill these baby dragons who had been doing nothing other than following their mother to a meal source. Lykan had seen the dark storm cloud of psychic dragons coming. It was clear that for whatever reason they had produced too many dragons and were now trying to expand out into other territories for food. Still, Lykan had a duty and an obligation to protect not only this country but his fellow soldiers.

Thwick. Thunk.

Two more disabled dragons were killed at point blank range. At least it was point blank range for archery. For any other attack and this would be well out of range of all other weapons Lykan was skilled with. After the tenth such kill Lykan got the notification he had been hoping for.

Skill Base Plus Modifier Rating Bow Master Novice + (Bronze) Beginner

To many Lykan would appear to be running at full speed. This was because he normally hid his full abilities from others. Now with everyone knocked out and him being the only known line of defense for his classmates and crew Lykan went full speed. Running as fast as his legs would carry him, retrieving the iron arrows that to this point only had minor nicks in them from repeated use against these baby dragons.

“AARREGGHHAARR!” A powerful deafening screech came from behind Lykan.

It was clear from the sound that it was the same monster who had disabled their ship. It was also clear that the dragon had taken up position further back behind their formation. Before him was the disabled wall of ships that even now desperately tried to recover to mount a solid defensive front from the onslaught of dragons that surged forward.

Lykan turned, to only see a metal wall. The wall was the same direction that the dragon’s roar had come from. It was also the same direction that the capital class ship was. Dathney. The word went through his head, as he realized someone he had known was back there. Looking around quickly he found the opening in the hull of the ship that the dragons had used to climb through.

Going to it Lykan popped his head out and was instantly assaulted by three psychic dragons who had apparently been waiting for their turn to enter. Not even paying the three strikes any attention he redirected the blast back to their origination point and then looked back, past one dragon to see the giant matriarch fighting with the brave crew of the capital class ship on a deck at the top of the blimp.

“Focus.” Lykan said to himself as he began circulating his massive reserves of mana quickly throughout his body. Within seconds he felt the pull and tug of wind currents around him pulling him up and out of the side of the ship.

A brief moment of doubt and hesitation took him, as he looked down and realized just how high up he was in the sky. He didn’t know for certain, but it was easily a few hundred feet down. A fact that was emphasized by the three now falling psychic dragons. Dragons that had been disabled by their own attacks that were rebounded back upon them. Still Lykan didn’t have time to think about what ifs, he knew he needed to act.

Two members of the royal family were also on the capital class ship, and while its hull and body were reinforced to withstand a lot of abuse, he knew that the ship could not withstand such attacks indefinitely. Also, the fact that a dragon landed on the ship was always a bad sign. They were nearly impossible to get rid of, especially as most guns were mounted in such a way to point away from the deck, not towards the deck.

Before Lykan had a second to think about what he was doing, he was already out and moving. His weightless body flowing forward like a cloud. A very slow-moving cloud, at least to Lykan’s perceptions of movements.

He was just a beginner at the art of Aerial Movement, meaning that he was lucky he could choose which direction to head in.

So, he floated ever forward. Psychic dragons saw him as an easy meal, sending torrents of energy at him in an effort to knock him out. From this height it was a simple tactic for the psychic dragons to kill off birds by disabling them and letting them plummet to their deaths. Then going down to eat the pieces that survive the impact. In fact that was the primary hunting method for the young, their smaller sizes made it so the killing of a single cardinal would last them a day or more.

Thus, many of the beasts were surprised to see their fellow flock members fall and plummet to their deaths, rather than the slowly moving bird that dared mock them by its very existence.

Finally, Lykan got close enough that he could fire his bow at many of the dragons that just chose to hover for some strange reason a few dozen meters away from the capital class ship.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

With three quick arrows, three of the distracted dragons plummeted to their deaths. The others, who were barely less than a dozen turned as one to lock eyes on the new target. With a path open Lykan continued to glide forward.

Even in the air Lykan was not afraid of the dragons striking. Again, they were all scavengers, at least that was the way Lykan had begun classifying the creatures.

“SCREECH!” As one the remaining dragons who had been waiting on scraps from the main kill all turned towards Lykan. Then just like the others, a simple push back caused the balls of psychic energy that were hurtling towards Lyakn to double back.

Unfortunately, there were too many, and a few hit Lykan causing him to drop slightly as his body took in energy that was not in an excited state. Seeing the strikes land the few that managed to hit Lykan all began to descend rapidly, wanting to be the first to grab a piece of him. But they all stopped as only their fellow dragonlings fell from the sky.

Lykan for his part quickly redoubled his Meditation efforts and caused the energy to circulate rapidly through his body letting him once again rise up to his previous height. As he did, he also steadied his bow and took aim at the now confused dragons who looked around wildly for the food that should be falling to its death.

Thwick. Thwick. Thwick.

From this distance the targets were large and spread out. The wings easily the size of the bed he slept upon each night. Even with them in a near constant motion their flight paths were predictable and had to stay within a certain range of motion. This was why Lykan didn’t aim for the dragon’s head, or a smaller target that might pose a problem to hit, especially with his admittedly limited skill with the bow. Instead, he fired for the wings, the only things keeping these three monsters in the fight.

Each arrow struck the wing, tore a hole through the leathery appendage before pulling themselves free from the leathery confines. One thing Lykan realized from all his flight training was that flight was tough, even the slightest unbalance would make it near impossible to achieve lift and flight. Thus, when Lykan aimed for the wings, he expected gravity to take care of the rest.

He watched as the last three dragons fell to the ground, their wings torn and folding uselessly against their bodies as they fell and spiraled wildly to the ground.

Shrieks of pain filled the sky as the last three still conscious dragons cried out in pain and agony.

Hearing their cries, the mother who had been in pitched battle with the crew of the capital class ship turned to see a human floating in the air.

“RRRROOOOAAARRRRR!”

It let out a deafening roar of challenge.

Lykan for his part just pulled back his orcish war bow to its full distance, notched an arrow, took quick aim and fired.

Thwoosh.

The arrow hurtled forward at a deafening speed. Even on the confines of the ship Lykan had never pulled back the bow to its full distance, even against the six he had shot out of the sky earlier there was no point. But here, he needed the iron arrow to cover the distance quickly.

Just as with the babies, he shot out from the sky, Lykan aimed for the wing. While this beast was likely strong enough to withstand a few slight tears in its wing, Lykan wanted its full attention focused on him.

Thunk.

The arrow landed right in the giant leathery wing of great beast. While the pups’ wings had been the size of beds. Her wings were the size of small buildings. Large and nearly impossible to miss, even from the distance that Lykan was away.

With that the great beast jumped into the air. Its entire consciousness focused on snuffing out the insect that was Lykan Vita. An insect who dared to pretend like it belonged in her domain, the sky.

Within two and a half beats of its massive wings it was up and off. Dried blood and wounds marred a few parts of her body, but she was still able to fly. Easily able to overcome the one metal arrow that was in her wing from Lykan, as she had already sustained more damage from the capital class ship it was in the process of disabling.

Lykan only drew back his bow to its full length, another iron arrow notched as he waited for a shot to present itself. He didn’t dare waste an arrow on the thick scale filled belly of the beast, nor the massively large wings that already sported multiple rips and tears. Instead, he focused on the beast’s face.

Calming himself he took in a deep breath and held.

Lykan waited, for even now as the beast was charging for him, he knew the beast was a scavenger at its very heart. The queen of the scavengers maybe, but a scavenger none-the-less.

He knew she like all the others would fall back to her tactics. Just when he thought she would try to swallow him instead, she reared back he head. Torrents of mana flowed from her core and surged forward up her spine and to her mouth. Then with a deafening roar she let loose so much power that she all but glowed for a second upon release. She released a blast so powerful that the same blasts could and would disable defensive ships that were designed with mental protection runes. This was the same level of blast she had used to disable most of the crew of the capital class ship, the Deadalus.

At the same time that the beast released her pent-up burst of energy, Lykan released his arrow at point blank range, right into the eye of the great beast.

Such an attack was overkill for one measly human. The blast of energy surged forth, and instantly Lykan knew it was too much. At least more than he could direct back. While Lykan was a Sage at Control and Altering of magical energies, this behemoth of a psychic dragon had long ago mastered her killing art. In the end only nine tenths of the force was able to be redirected back. Leaving a full tenth of the powerful blow to hit and strike Lykan.

The surge of energy was too much for his body to handle. He felt his body falling, at the same time the large behemoth that had been hovering above him also began to fall, an arrow sticking out of its golden right eye. The normally glowing left eye that glowed with a keen form of intelligence went dim as its own mind went blank from the strike. In a second the battle went from Lykan clearly losing, to no one winning as both bodies began to tumble through the sky.