A skeletal dragon roaring through a thick fog is a sound few would manage to forget, should their lives after such an encounter be any longer than a couple of minutes.

Sizzy's dragon rushed into the streets, carefully leaping over smaller roads, trying to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. After all, there was no telling where exactly could they have been keeping the imprisoned civilians. While she tackled the front lines, Glavas stayed back and watched. He saw a few people moving through the fog around the dragon's feet, but he figured that those would soon be dealt with, either by teeth or claws. Instead, the hunter focused his attention elsewhere - on the rooftops. The wizards and strategists were using the mists to hide, but sometimes, an attack or two clearly showed where they were hiding.

A hired mercenary was reloading his crossbow. The bolt he pulled out of his quiver had a small vial of acid attached to it. He hoped that it would be strong enough to melt the bones and damage the integrity of the necrotic construct.

A chain blade flew through the air, once again propelling the hunter forward. The mercenary just inserted the bolt into his crossbow and was lifting the weapon up to fire, when he suddenly tasted blood in his mouth. He tried to take a breath, but couldn't. No call for help could escape his slit throat either. He fell to the ground, gurgling blood, almost unaware of where the blow came from. His memory only showed him a dark smudge flying past him.

Finally, Glavas felt himself getting used to the chain blades. They were indeed fascinating weapons. Even though he still didn't know how to use them as perfectly as Veloc, his skills were improving with each person he killed. The mercenary dropped without Glavas even setting foot on the ground. He instead tossed out the other blade and changed his trajectory, quickly flying by a hostile spellcaster, who, just like his colleague, barely noticed what took his head off.

After three turns in his aerial fighting style, Glavas finally landed. His legs almost immediately buckled beneath him and he had to roll to mitigate some of the force from the fall. For a second, he stumbled as he got back up.

"Okay... flying hard. Let's not do that again," he mumbled to himself and quickly looked around, searching for more enemies.

A faint "Ping!" could be heard as a small metal orb landed near the hunter, bouncing against a lamp post.

"Huh? That's... Clive's?" Glavas thought and picked it up. The sphere was a lot heavier than he expected and was significantly bigger than those he saw before. A direct hit with something like this wouldn't just render a person unconscious, but outright crack their skull.

"Glavas!" the ball suddenly spoke. "I have managed to free the prisoners in your near vicinity. Everything up to the yellow line up north is free of people. Go nuts!" the message suddenly ended and the ball melted into a silver puddle right in Glavas' hand.

A smile appeared on the hunter's face. With a few throws of his chains, he took off into the air once again, pulling himself towards Sizzy until he pretty much crashed into the dragon.

"Glavie? You okay?" Sizzy asked.

"Clive said there are no more prisoners here. No holding back!"

"But... their houses–"

"They can always rebuild! I don't give a fuck about buildings. Show me what this dragon can actually do!"

For a moment, Glavas could swear he could see the monster smiling, despite the lack of any facial muscles.

"Heh, then you better hold on!"

The destruction and mayhem that followed could have been used as a prime example of why some people feared the dragons for their immense strength. Sizzy grabbed hold of one of the buildings and immediately crushed it into rubble, which she then sent flying towards Ruun's followers and mercenaries with a single sweep. The shower of debris managed to crush quite a few and completely shattered any sign of a decent formation they may have had. Those occasional unfortunate souls that tried to sneak up underneath the dragon were either swept away by its tail before they could even get close enough or were crushed beneath its giant back legs. As the skeletal dragon rushed forward, getting closer and closer to the entrance to the mountain, more and more people tried to use the tall buildings to their advantage, dropping onto the skeleton from above in a feeble attempt at striking its spine. Few of them have managed to land. Those who were not swept away by the massive wings were then shot out of the air by Glavas' gun. Additionally, if someone here and there managed to get lucky enough to land, they would still have to deal with the hunter sitting atop the massive dragon, who served as its guardian from the tiny pests.

Sometimes, a few people got lucky on the ground as well, when they managed to dodge the dragon's stomping legs. Unfortunately for them, usually, an elven hunter, using the dragon's ribcage as a place to swing from, quickly liberated the survivors of their life privileges.

"Cool weapons," Sizzy said amidst the havoc.

"Yeah. They... I got them from a friend."

"Nice! You have to introduce us at some point then!"

Glavas didn't respond. He wished to avoid the explanation that if it wasn't for him, Veloc could've still been there.

Those who tried to run and hide in the warehouses and maybe restock on supplies were then also rather unlucky. Usually, they had no idea what happened to them. They only heard a few clinking noises here and there, as enchanted metal balls struck their legs, dropping everyone to the ground, before going for the knockout blow aimed at the backs of their heads.

"Well, I certainly did not expect a dragon," Clive said to himself and sipped his coffee. "I better get out of here before I get stepped on," he continued without a shard of fear in his tone.

In the meantime, Marion and Miora were looking at the dragon ahead of them as it clawed its way through their allies and all the hired forces they had managed to gather. Despair held both their hearts in its firm grasp, unwilling to let go. There was nothing that could've been done. An expert on knives and an ex-member of an organised crime gang were indeed a formidable duo, but neither of them had any chance at taking down such a massive beast, let alone while it was being assisted by Glavas.

"Marion?"

"Yeah?"

"What now?" Miora asked, kneeling on the ground, her knives still resting in her hands.

"I... I don't know."

"What can we even do?"

"Nothing."

"I don't want to run though."

"Neither do I. We have to help master Ruun somehow."

"How? The dragon is not even alive. There is no blood I can draw from it. No poison I can push into its body. It's all pointless."

Marion suddenly straightened his slouching back. An idea passed through his mind like a bright flash, sending off a few more sparks of hope.

"You got an idea?" Miora asked and her own enthusiasm returned, albeit ever so slightly. "You do, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. That thing is a work of a necromancer, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, we don't have to kill the creature then. Just the one who created it."

"The girl from Elkif!"

"Yes! And our portals should still be able to reach it. And since I already made a portal to the funeral parlour, I won't need to make any preparations or calculations. I can just recreate it with the same parameters as before!"

"Yeah! So we get there and kill her, turning the odds against the hunter!"

"Exactly!" Marion exclaimed and immediately began carving symbols onto one of the walls with his knife.

"And are you sure you know the coordinates?" Miora asked.

"I wanted to memorise them to be able to make an escape portal when Ruun went there the first time. Hopefully, I can still recall them. If not... well, then we will at least have a way out of this mess."

"And abandon Ruun?"

"Well, I don't know the coordinates back here. It will be a one-way trip regardless. Either I get it right and we take care of that dragon, or we fuck it up and end up somewhere else with no way to get back home." Marion paused for a moment. "Or I'll open it to someplace dangerous and we'll die. That's also a possibility."

"Nah! You've got this!" Miora stood up and placed her hand on his shoulder. A couple of seconds later, her fiancé finished carving the last of the symbols.

Cold air filled the street as a milk-like substance emerged from the runes, flowing and gathering in the middle of the written circle, expanding more and more until it finally formed a layer of thick, bubbling liquid. The portal was up and ready.

"So, ready to go?" he asked and gently grabbed Miora by her hand.

"You bet. Let's finish this!" They both exhaled in a feeble attempt at easing the weight on their hearts and stepped through the portal. The chill of the magic made them both shiver. The moment they stepped out, they had no idea where exactly they were. The brief period of disorientation made them unable to fully recognise anything but the smoke coming from their mouths as they breathed.

"Are we here? Did we make it?!" Miora yelled at her partner.

"Shhhh! Quiet, we don't know exactly where we could be." Marion found a stable object to lean against until his vision returned. To his pleasant surprise, he soon realised that he was standing right next to a window.

"Look!" he whispered at Miora as soon as his eyes spotted the person outside. "There she is!"

Miora wobbled her way over to Marion and looked outside. "Oh yeah, I can see that. What is all the stuff around her though?"

"I think it's some bone structure that allows her to control her magic over such a long distance."

"Huh... Looks a bit like a bone throne."

"Yeah. Kinda makes me want to sit on it."

"Well, after I kill her, you'll be able to." Miora rolled up her sleeve and grabbed her knife by the tip.

"You know we can just walk up to her and stab her, right? Her consciousness is probably completely channelled into the dragon. You don't have to throw it."

"It's faster this way. Besides, I'm great at throwing knives. Just open the window for me."

Marion did as she asked and grabbed the handle of the window, however, it was old and rusty, refusing to move even an inch under the dwarf's grasp.

"So? What's the holdup!"

"It's stuck!"

"Then get it unstuck!"

"I'm trying!"

"Keep at it! But stop rattling it so much! She'll hear you."

"I'm not rattling. You are! And she is busy with the dragon, she won't hear a thing."

"Really? Because that sound is... Wait, that's not you?"

"No, that's you!"

Shivers ran down Miora's spine as she finally got the idea to turn around. "Marion! What are those things?!" she yelled when he noticed the countless indescribable bone constructs shuffling their way into the room from every nook and cranny. They were small, but in such large numbers, they felt more than intimidating.

"Oh! It's probably just necrotic golems to help around the house. Ignore them, they are harmless."

As if one of the golems heard him, it made a sound that reminded Miora of a little bird sneezing. What followed, however, were not-so-nice screams of Marion, as three little bone darts jammed themselves into his hand.

"They are aggressive! Run!" Miora shouted, picked up the unfamiliar metal container lying on the table beside her, and tossed it through the window, shattering it. "Out! Now!"

Marion wasn't going to wait around. They both leapt through the window and fell right into the puddle of mud below it.

"Now! Go kill the... girl," Marion said but froze the moment he lifted his eyes and saw the truly gigantic ensemble of elves that finally began to come out of their hiding, each holding the first object they could find that would even remotely classify as a weapon. In the very centre of this crowd stood a tall, muscular woman with a massive axe resting on her shoulders.

"See guys, I told you Sizzy would attract some guests from the demon's little book club. Welcome to Elkif, you two bastards. Don't worry, your burial has been arranged."

Soon, the streets of Elkif were filled with screams. Partially those of the almost-newlyweds, as countless arrows, bolts, and spears found their way into and through their bodies. Much louder screaming, however, came from the army of locals, who were not willing to let some invaders take the life of one of their neighbours. Marion and Miora managed to run about a block away, before an arrow jammed its way into the man's calf, dropping him to the ground.

"Run! Get out of here!" he called out to his fiancée, who, however, refused to leave him behind. Seeing that pulling him out of there was impossible, she grabbed her knives and turned around, determined to take out at least one of the elven barbarians. The spear that rammed itself deep into her skull, however, forced her to change plans quite a lot.

"MIORA!!!" Marion screamed and grabbed her hand. As makeshift weapons and various sharp objects found a way to take even his life, he lay his head next to hers.

The commotion finally quieted down only after the dwarven couple fell, caught in a final embrace, staining the ground with their blood.