Chapter 258: Convergence and the Ghost Dragon
My name is Akatosh,
Well...... Dragon Wars?
—4E, 201, Moon of Fire, 10th, 13:07 -
The blizzard raging near Wintercastle lasted less than a day, and just after noon, the clouds had completely cleared, and even the wind had completely stopped, and Barbas was throwing himself into the snow outside the inn like a real earth dog - or could it be said that the play was too deep?
Many farmers and hired hands began to clear the snow, but only in necessary places such as roads, rooftops, wells, and fields with hardy crops, and almost all the travelers who were blocked by the sudden snowstorm yesterday were leaving as quickly as possible, and even if anyone noticed that Arthur, who was obviously in the most anxious at the time, was not in the queue, they would not be unnecessary.
"Wow!" Babas seemed to have had enough, shook his fur and snapped up a path behind the inn that he hadn't had time to sweep.
"Hmm...... This height should be sufficient, but the problem is that jumping straight away might throw you off, but you can't take off first, and there are still a lot of residents in Winterhold outside. ”
At the end of the path was a plaza—or half—the other half had fallen years earlier to the bottom of the abyss that Arthur was looking at at the moment.
Although the Nords were generally more bold and open-minded, or rather lacking in heart, they could not easily ignore the terrible disaster of the "Great Collapse", and not many people were willing to approach the edge of those cliffs, so Arthur's search for a place to take off did not go unnoticed.
Accidentally delayed by a blizzard for a whole day, if the three Farkas brothers braved the snow to advance, Arthur's side would definitely be late if they followed the original route by land, and thus gave those silver-handed vampires a chance to detect and react, so, the only option was-
"Wang! The humans in Wintercastle are busy clearing the snow and don't pay attention to this side, as long as you don't fly high. Barbas flicked his tail.
"Okay," Arthur waved for Ella and Ladia to step back, then whispered, "Kaan Drem Ov!" ”
His body glowed red, its outline blurred, then grew larger and deformed, and Arthur eventually transformed into a giant red dragon prostrate on the ground.
"All I can say is that this color is too conspicuous in the ice and snow world, and if you were white, you wouldn't be able to spot it even if you flew directly over Winterhold." Ella, who had seen Arthur's transformation several times, climbed up with ease.
"Well, so where are the armor and packages?" Lydia, who saw the transformation process up close for the first time, was slightly stunned, and then learned Ella's movements and climbed onto the dragon's back.
"Probably becoming a part of the body? At least I haven't seen anyone turn into a werewolf and their clothes disappear. Ella noticed that Lydia didn't seem to need help, so she reached out and pulled Barbas up.
"[(Dragon's language) Hold steady.] Arthur unfurled his dragon intent and glided straight down the edge of the cliff after running two steps, only to regain flapping his wings to stabilize his altitude when he was sure that he would not be seen by Wintercastle's men.
Entering the scope of the "Great Collapse", the group could feel the care of the Mage Academy for Wintercastle - the wind that came from the Sea of the Dead, with a salty smell and water vapor, could not be felt by Winterhold at this moment.
"I guess the Mage Academy must have noticed the Baron—" Lydia said loudly as the wind howled, grasping the dragon scales.
"They already knew—why else would they tell us the 'straight distance' from Winterhold to Sgrammer's tomb?" Ella responded.
Babas's whole dog lay on the dragon's back and didn't dare to move.
Sgramer's Tomb is located on the seashore in the far north of Skyrim Province, and it is also the landing settlement where Sgramer originally set foot on the continent of Tamarel with 500 heroes, but due to thousands of years of sea erosion and the impact of the Great Collapse, its location is gradually approaching the seaside, if the current situation does not change, this Tomb of Heroes will sink into the sea of the dead within two hundred years.
On the extension of the road from Wintercastle to Sgrammer's Tomb is another important location, the "Septin's Inspired Forward Base", Arthur recalls the books that Zela Pesh lent him, all written by a man named "Septin Inspired Sigris".
The man was a genius in a way, and he came to a conclusion based on the Elder Scrolls materials that have appeared in history and are well documented, as well as the leaked reading records of the Platinum Tower, the Empire's authority on the Elder Scrolls, as well as folklore from all over the world.
The so-called "Elder Scrolls" are things that were born the moment the world was created, and they record all the information about the past, present, and future of the world, and what can be read from them can be completely determined to be true, but whether that information is useful, whether it meets expectations, and whether it can pay the price of reading information is unknown.
Since they have more than one copy, and even if the answer is not found in one of the scrolls, it is not certain that there is no other scroll either, so they are collected by forces that consider them valuable, threatening, or simply curious.
At the end of the book, the author admits that he had discovered the Elder Scroll in one of the ruins of the Forge Mo, but had to give it up because he was not qualified to read it, and that he was now studying a treasure trove of knowledge left by a dwarf in his forward base in order to decipher the scroll.
So, all Arthur has to do now is to go to Sgramer's Tomb to join up with Pharkas and them, reforge the Witch Slad, and in the meantime find an opportunity to stop by the forward base inspired by Septin to ask for clues about the ruins, and find a chance to explore after completely destroying the Silver Hand.
If nothing else.
——13:45——
"Hell! Fakas! This is the third time I've said this in two days, can't you stop getting into trouble all the time? My dear brother! Wells grumbled loudly as he ran wildly in the snow.
"I'm just asking for directions after escaping the damn dwarven ruins! Who knew that guy dressed like a nobleman would be a vampire! And a dragon was summoned! Not to be outdone, Farkas responded.
"The province saves the strength to quarrel." Wilcas walked with ease, and could still look back at the sky: "That guy is just a summon, let's wait for it to disappear on its own." ”
Choke—With a loud roar, a deathly dragon flame swept by, and the rings that had been prepared for it quickly dodged its path.
It was a miserable undead dragon with many broken scales, revealing the skeleton in its body, and its body was covered in a black translucent film of light, which made it look even more eerie.
"What did that guy say, 'Give you humans a taste of the wrath of plans always being ruined,' but I don't remember ever having a plot to sabotage that vampire - it's a member of the Silver Hand?" Farkas glanced back at the dragon, then ran faster.
"Just as we can't tell the faces of ghouls, vampires probably don't have a good time distinguishing between humans." Wilcas replied as he ran, "There must be some hero who has exposed and sabotaged its vicious plot." ”
"I just wish that hero would fall from the sky now-"
Touch! Thundered!
As the ghost dragon prepares to pounce on it next, a huge red dragon pounces from a distance, slamming it into its head viciously, and both dragons crash to the ground in the snow at the same time.
"Look, you want the hero." Wilcas and his brothers paused, then pointed at the red dragon.
"Are you alright? Why did you come across it here? See the summoner? At this time, Ella, who was lowered by Arthur in the air, slowly landed.
"A vampire mage," replied Wilcas, "has fled after leaving this dragon behind." ”
"Even if it was unintentional, but the whereabouts have been completely revealed, and we will have to rush to Sgramer's tomb as soon as Arthur finishes the battle." Lydia said, looking at the battlefield.
The ghost dragon broke away from the red dragon's pounce and flicked him by the tail, and the red dragon raised its wings to block the whip, and then leaned over again to knock down the ghost dragon who lost its balance after using its tail.
"[(Dragon) Why are you again! "The two dragons fought for two rounds before the other party found out that it was Arthur.
"[I also want to ask this sentence,] Since Arthur was in dragon form at this time, he could already understand and answer the dragon language: "[This is the second time we have met, Duneville, but you are still at a disadvantage. 】”
They continued to fight as they argued, with Duneville flapping his broken wings in an attempt to breathe, and Arthur dodged and swung his claws to make a huge cut in Duneville's shriveled wing, nearly breaking off the wing.
"[(Dragon) Hehe, it's useless, I don't use physical strength, and no matter what kind of damage I take, as long as I re-summon it, it will be back to the same as before.] Although the wings were badly damaged, Duneville's movements seemed to be completely unaffected, and he was still making mocking remarks.
"[What about the psychological damage? Arthur spoke, and before the other party could respond, he directly waved his claws and tore off the half of the tattered wings.
The huge wings turned into white bones as they detached from the ghost dragon's body, and they fell heavily to the ground, stirring up a large cloud of snow.
"[(Dragon) You, you dare! Ghost Dragon Duneville roared in rage.
"[(Dragon) It stands to reason that your current state should be dead, but I can't absorb the dragon soul, which only proves that there is 'something' protecting you," Arthur turned his attack to the wings and scales of the ghost dragon: "I don't know what it is, but if I hit you hard, I can probably weaken its effect.] 】”
Sneer-sss
The ghost dragon's own various soul-specific magic was somehow completely ineffective, and the whole battle was completely one-sided.
While dodging the ghost dragon's claws and breath that might pose a threat to him, Arthur focused on calling out Duneville's wings, scales, and other parts that might fall off, and in a few turns, he almost turned a barely dragon-like "ghost dragon" into a "bone dragon".
"I didn't know Arthur had such a murderous side." The members of the comrade group who were watching the battle from a distance fell into a stupe, and Farkas muttered.
"After all, he's a hunter." For some reason, Ella looked like she was honored.
"[(Dragon) The next time we meet, it will be your death! "When Dunaville's summoning time finally ended, it threatened viciously.
[(Dragon) What a coincidence, I think so too. Arthur snorted, watching the nearly shattered ghost dragon disappear into the emerging magic array.