[Kataryna’s point of view]

 Looking at this battlefield where the smoke trails of those fires rose high into the sky made me wonder just how long had it been since I last found myself pointing my blade at an army?

Around me, I had allies and friends, in front of me, I had an enemy I could freely strike down. They were all dragons who maybe had families somewhere, who were maybe kind and honest, who had dreams and felt the world like I did, but in a war, they were just slabs of meat who would not hesitate to kill me if I didn’t kill them first.

Did I have to feel bothered by this or worried or sick?

When one first steps onto the battlefield, they should...

If they felt joy or happiness when they took another dragon’s life, then they were not soldiers acting upon orders, they were monsters. A soldier would lay down his sword if given the order to do so, but the other would continue to pursue a quest drenched in innocent blood.

Closing my eyes, I could hear my allies talking among each other; the superiors giving orders and their subordinates following them. For now... there were no sounds of clashing swords.

We were preparing for the imminent attack. The one which was impossible to avoid, at least not with the cards we were currently holding in our hands.

On this battlefield, the dragons would be the one to show their might and the dragonesses their wisdom, but me and my friends weren’t part of the norm. We were dragoness who could also fight not just lead.

Speaking of which, Alkelios told us while we were heading here to stick within 100 meters of him during our battle to receive a bonus of strength from him. It was true, while I stayed by his side, I felt stronger, faster, capable of wielding more magic. The sensation I got from him was one of safety? That too, but it was also receiving a rush of energy, a spike of adrenaline while holding the feeling that I could do more than usual, that I could push my limits further and further.

All of us who were Alkelios’ friends felt this...

At the same time, I witnessed it myself how fast everyone grew in power. He said it was just ten times the normal rate, a ridiculous value, but in reality, it was far more.

How would it be best for me to describe this buff of his? If a dragon could train for ten years and attain just 100 Power Numbers, then in that time, he would experience moments of slow, normal, or fast improvement rate.

Well, Alkelios’ buff simply broke through this concept. Every single drop of life force we received from a monster or every time we trained our skills it was like doing it at maximum performance and fastest improvement rate, no matter how our actual states were. I could kill an injured Dayuk by accident and receive the experience equal to one obtained after a life and death battle with it. If this was not enough, then all of this was amplified by ten times.

It was ridiculous, but thanks to this, I, who did not increase in Power Number for who knew how many decades, also became stronger.

The ones who showed the highest improvement, however, were of course Iolaus and Seryanna. Both of them went through a hellish regime of training in which they pushed themselves beyond their limits. They did not take the boost for granted and instead thought of it as if it was never there in the first place.

At this rate, those two would become Breakthrough-ers in a year or maybe two? Mentally speaking, they were already close to this state. Seryanna also had a nice boost thanks to the fact that she was a Superior Draconian of the High Flame.

Still, all of them could most likely handle a Breakthrough-er on their own. Just because one reached Power Number 1000 did not mean that they had the strength to back up this status and if you didn’t train properly, it was normal for your skill to rust.

“What are you thinking about?” Seryanna asked me as she approached me from behind.

She was wearing the armor made by Alkelios together with a weapon made by him. It was a ridiculous item that could heal the wearer and offer incredible defense. Above all, it was designed both to improve Seryanna’s skills and be used by her personally. I could not even fit in the darn thing, let alone use it.

Her weapon was called [Drachenkrieg]. I had no idea what the name meant, but neither did Alkelios. Apparently, when he made a very powerful weapon, its name was given by the gods just like the ancient rumors said. It was the same with my weapon, a two-handed longsword with the name [Ledyanoy Potseluy], but if I were to guess, maybe it meant Ice Kiss?

Alkelios told me he was reminded of the time I kissed him when he made it, but this sword, when held, emanated a cold aura which for me was warm to the touch, but for anyone else it was biting cold. It was indeed like an Ice Kiss, warm when shared with your beloved and biting cold when given to a foe. This weapon could also amplify my ice magic, but I could also feel it synchronizing with my lightning magic. When I tried to use an elemental combo spell, I channeled it through the blade perfectly and it was cast faster than I ever could before.

Seryanna’s sword was similar in regard to fire, but I understood that if completely unleashed it would turn everything around her into a fiery inferno where only she could step safely.

I also received an armor from Alkelios. It was blue with white plates here and there, unlike Seryanna’s which was a mix of red and black, but just like hers, mine boosted my defenses by a ridiculous number as well as made it incredibly easy for me to move in. I relied a lot on my speed for my attacks, and this armor was perfect in this regard. It could also boost my elemental magic as well, allowing me to use ice or lightning body strengthening techniques.

To be honest, I felt like my power had doubled, at the very least, with his gifts.

“About this war... and Alkelios.” I replied to Seryanna.

“It’s his first, isn’t it?” she said as she stepped next to me and looked into the far reaches of the battlefield.

“Depending on how he will act and feel after this, we will know for certain whether we need to tame a monster or heal an injured saint.” I told her.

“Heh. Alkelios is no saint, he won’t have problems killing dragons, but what I’m worried about is how he will react towards the human if he shows up.” she scoffed and closed her eyes for a second.

“I’m just glad he isn’t one of those idiot noble children who tremble in their tents yelling back at the soldiers and saying that in wars dragons die. Or if you kill someone, they die... Heh, it’s like claiming you just discovered that water is wet or fire burns.” I shook my head.

“I guess you heard the baron’s son wailing in his tent?” she asked with a wry smile.

“Unfortunately, yes. So, I decided to freeze him up to his neck and then tell him that if he doesn’t want to fight he can stay like that until the end of battle, but if the enemies breach through and they end up killing everyone he cares about back in his home town, he should know that it could have been all his fault.” I snickered.

“Isn’t that a bit over the top?” she asked me.

“Nah! Over the top would have been to freeze him completely and then give his father an ice pick to get him out.” I shrugged.

“You should come in. The King is ready to share his battle strategy with us. It needed to be revised after we saw what the enemy did to these fields. The Queen’s already taking measures of importing more food from the nearby kingdoms and boosting the productions in the unaffected areas.” she told me.

“Is she now? Well, it’s a good thing she’s taking measures in regard to dampening the damages done as much as possible, however...” I said and then narrowed my eyes towards the enemy line “who would have guessed that Dankyun managed to gather 364000 dragons to fight for him?”

“And six Breakthrough-ers...” Seryanna pointed out.

“It’s not that bad, we have ten on our side and you could be considered to be the 11th.” I showed her a smile.

“I wonder about that.” she made a wry smile.

“Have more confidence in your power.” I told her and then walked over to the Headquarters Tent.

 

[Alkelios’ point of view]

 It was a good thing I revised my skills earlier. The values in my friends’ stats were impressive and mine were downright ridiculous, however, I still did not have the confidence that we could get out of this fight unscratched.

In the first place, this was a war. Anything could go wrong no matter how powerful one was. A single moment of distraction was enough to make even a Breakthrough-er succumb to the blade of a simple, ordinary soldier. All they had to do was to get close enough and be ready to strike, to land a blow in that exact moment.

Back on Earth it was the same thing. It was called the Stray Bullet Effect or something like that. Basically, people ended up getting injured or killed by stray bullets that went flying all over the place because of a shootout or an accidental unload of the neighbor on the other side of the town. Actually, I heard the same thing about a certain military shooting range in Romania where the bullets flew over the protection wall and landed in the backyards of civilians, breaking stuff and leaving holes there. Luckily, no one died yet, and thanks to the media, the army was forced to make amends.

Because I didn’t want something like this to happen and I feared my friends getting seriously injured or killed during this war, I made several Luck-based wishes meant to keep them safe from stray arrows and spells.

If a normal soldier from Earth heard me, he would have probably laughed in my face and told me that I was worrying too much. Death on the battlefield was unavoidable no matter the side you were on, and this was one of the risks you had to take when you went in. To hope or pray for no losses was an idealistic point of view which was never to come true.

Yet, I still pursued that ideal with the power of my Luck.

When I landed back on the ground, I walked over to the Headquarters Tent where a strategy meeting was going to take place. All of my friends were already there, and they wore the armor and weapons I made for them. They were thankful for them and quite impressed when I told them what they could do.

“Alkelios, you are the last to arrive.” said Feryumstark who stood on the opposite side of a big table with the big map of this area spread on it.

Unlike me, all of the dragons and dragonesses here were in their humanoid form, not their half-beast form, which forced me to look down at them from above.

“I apologize, I went to have a look from the sky at the enemy’s force.” I told him as I made a respectful bow in front of him and everyone else there.

It was never polite or a wise thing to have your superior wait on you.

“No need to apologize, but tell me, how do things look from up there?” he asked and narrowed his eyes at me.

Queen Elliessara was also here, standing next to him together with Princess Elleyzabelle. The Prime Minister Elovius was back at the capital. During this time of war, having no one in power at the center of the state would be absolutely foolish.

I closed my eyes for a second and told him “Using a boosted version of ‘that’ skill, I could wipe out a big majority of their force, but this would only result in me damaging the area to the point where a full-scale reconstruction would be needed as well as poisoning the lands for decades to come. Do you wish me to use it?” I asked as I opened my eyes and looked straight into his.

“No.” the Queen promptly replied in his stead.

“I agree with my wife on this one, but I would also like to hear everyone’s opinion on this one.” said the King as he cast his gaze on all those present here.

“If this dragon has such a terrifying power, then why don’t we just toss a weaker version of that attack on them as a warning? It would lower their morale and boost our forces’.” a dragon with dark-brown scales and a full-plate Dregaryum armor suggested.

This dragon with a fierce gaze and a two-handed sword sheathed on his back went by the name of Reyades Undrakan. He, just like all the other six here, was one of the many Breakthrough-ers under the King and Queen’s command.

“Because this area is part of the kingdom’s granary. If we win this war, the crops will reemerge in one year or two and the losses would be recovered, but if I use this attack, then the respective area will have no chance of recovering for decades to come.” I replied, showing my desire not to use the [Itsy Bitsy BOOM!].

No matter how good a nuke would be to win an easy war, if I had no means of taking care of the fallout it would be the same as poisoning my own land. Besides, there were innocent in these areas and maybe not all soldiers in that ridiculous army came to this battlefield by will. I could imagine Dankyun conscripting the local able dragons into his forces while taking the weapons and armors from the dragoness fighters.

“I don’t see the problem? Can’t we just not plant there?” Reyades asked scratching the back of his head.

“If we can’t find a way to win without relying on Alkelios’ powerful spell and harming our own lands, then it would be best not to claim we are proud dragon warriors who uphold to honor and justice!” Feryumstark declared.

“Sigh, his Majesty has always been someone who would prefer not to employ underhanded means unless absolutely necessary.”

The one who spoke was Leone Sylvara, a dragon of the wind element with light-green scales, a beautiful long silver hair tied into a bum at the back, and who wore long blue robe. He was this kingdom’s communication specialist.

Underhanded means? Well... you could say that it is indeed a cowardly way to attack... Although when in war, does one really need to care so much about the means used to end it? Wouldn’t even the slaughter of thousands of innocents be then justified as an unfortunate casualty by the victor? I mean, I did use it on that insect army and did not really feel any guilt about it, but that was an army in the middle of a wasteland... I thought as I tried to find inside of me a reason to use it.

In the end, this wasn’t a wasteland with an alien-looking army in the middle of it... There were cities and towns nearby, villages with innocent dragons living there, hoping and praying to the gods for this war to not take away their loved ones. Killing them in cold blood or destroying their means of survival by irradiating these plains was not something I could do...

“I do agree with this decision. In a matter of strategic war, it is indeed wise to poison the enemy’s supply of food and water, but in this case, they are invading on our lands. Poisoning our own supplies would be the same as granting them a temporary win.” said the dragoness standing on the left side of the Queen.

She had long silky black hair that went down all the way to her waist and contrasted her pure-white scales. As a dragoness of the light element, she was well renown healer, or at least so she claimed.

Ah yes, this land does not belong to Embryger. Those settlements are part of Albeyater in the end. I thought as I let out a sigh of relief in my mind.

I was happy I had found another reason not to use my skill.

“I would prefer to win this war through steel and blood, not some spell that seems to do more harm than good.” scoffed Moros Onias.

This dragon had gray scales and was a double elemental: Ice and Earth. He was the type to let his swords do the talking, that was why when he first met me, he immediately requested a duel with me. I respectfully declined. Fighting against an allied Breakthrough-er right before a war started wasn’t what one would call smart.

“I too agree with Onias here, no matter how much my words surprise me.” Berros Mandrakea let out a sigh and then squinted his eyes at the dragon in question.

This guy was a vanguard all in all. His big build, tough armor, large shield, and spear as a weapon made him to be one who was most suited at taking the brunt force of an attack. He was a dragon with brown scales, which pointed out the fact that he was of the Earth element.

“I don’t really care as long as I get to chop off some heads and let my summons go wild! Hihi!” said Mendeles Unvar.

This dragon was of the Water element, and his blue scales were shiny and well maintained. Mendeles was as he said, a dragon who specialized in summoning magic, which he reinforced with long range spells. What had me worried about him was his rather childish personality. Despite being a rather old Breakthrough-er, he behaved more or less like a 12-year-old, however, Feryumstark assured me that when it came to battle, he was quite the sneaky dangerous little devil. He was not a dragon who should be underestimated because of this.

“As for me, I’m more curious about what this strong dragon can do in bed.” said Novias Oshika with a soft purr in the tone of her voice.

Her armor left little to the imagination. Her green scales and voluptuous body could bring out any man’s inner desire, but this was exactly her purpose. Oshika was a seductress of the Wind element, who used the sweet caress of wind to entice dragons and dragonesses alike in order to make mistakes during their battle and leave an opening through which she could land a fatal strike. I was also told that she was also quite good with range attacks and binding spells. She could bring to a halt thousands of dragons if she wanted to and then strike them mercilessly with her ranged magic.

“Watch it!” Seryanna glared at the dragoness as she placed her hand on the hilt of her sword.

“Oh my, the wifey is scary! But...” Oshika winked at her “I don’t mind a threesome with you.” she purred.

“You should stop it unless you want to find out how it’s like to be both frozen and cooked alive.” Kataryna glared at Oshika.

“Everyone, please calm down.” Feryumstark said and the two dragonesses turned their backs at each other with a loud ‘hmph!’. Seryanna chose to ignore her as well. “Good, now Brekkar, what is your point of view in all of this?” he asked.

“I do believe, your Majesty, that the rest of us are going to follow Alkelios’ judgment on this one. He knows his skill better than anyone and if he firmly claims that it would do more bad than good to us, then I oppose the use of it.” the red-scaled dragon said with a nod of his head.

“I see... In that case, the vote has been given. Alkelios, you are to use this skill of yours only and only if it is our last resort. I don’t want to destroy and poison my lands to such a degree either. It would have been something else if we were talking about the enemy’s territory.” Feryumstark said and then let out a sigh.

“Speaking of which, what happened to the human invasion?” asked Sylvara.

“Yeah, I heard about it too. The only reason me, Leone, and Malavan returned from our quest to find a cure for the Queen was because of the [All-Call] he said.

I see, so there was a group that was sent to find a cure after all. I did think of it as a bit strange that there was no one looking for it, but didn’t they get the memo that a cure had been found? I thought and then I asked “How did that go?”

“Lots of dead ends, unfortunately.” he said shaking his head.

“I have the recipe if you want it.” I shrugged.

“What?” the man looked at me with big eyes.

“We are going off-track here. Speak of my cure later, now let us focus on this battle. Also, I did send several letters to you three, but thanks to some spies, they never reached you it seems.” Elliessara said as she unfolded the fan she held in her hand and looked at Leone Sylvara.

“I have heard of this as well... But nonetheless, it is most fortunate that someone found a cure, but in regard to the human invasion, I am wondering whether or not it was a distraction to keep our forces separated?” Sylvara asked in a calm tone of voice, but his tail was wagging like that of a happy dog.

“That is exactly what happened.” said Feryumstark.

“With the sudden mobilization of our army on two separate fronts, I to had to write a lot of letters and gather a lot of proof to be sent to the neighboring countries. The last thing we would want would be to end up attacked by them as well because they believed we had started an invasion campaign.” Elliessara explained.

“Your Majesty, but how can you be sure those letters will reach the destination?” Verona asked.

“As a matter of fact, they already reached their destination. I had made use of Kataryna’s flight speed for this.” she replied in a calm tone of voice.

“You sure made me fly a lot...” the silver-scaled dragoness let out a sigh.

“Once I found out that my letters never reached their target, I had to change my strategy. For this, as I said before, and I will reinforce this statement once again in front of everyone here, Kataryna Greorg, I am indebted to you.” said Elliessara as she gave her a nod.

“Sigh, don’t bother.” Kataryna shrugged.

“Your Majesties, what is the plan of attack?” Brekkar asked, making sure the conversation wasn’t side-tracked again.

If this was a meeting between regular dragons, this meeting would have reached the main point long ago, and their Majesties would have done all the talking so far, however, everyone here was a Breakthrough-er or not far from it. Our general state of mind and the way we saw things was rather leaned back.

“Let us do a small recap of our enemy’s forces. They have six confirmed Breakthrough-er. One of them is a mercenary from Ozur; two were sent by the faction in Embryger; one is from the vassal state Novarak; one is a wandering mercenary without a home country; and the last one is from Olvia. However, these are only the known and confirmed Breakthrough-ers reported by our spies. I have reasons to presume that Dankyun and his men may have brought others or he himself is now a Breakthrough-er.” the King explained as he placed a wooden carving in the form of a dragon soldier on the map.

“I heard we were up against 364000 dragons. How do you wish for us to fight against them with our 26000?” asked Brekkar.

“Attacking head-on would be a mistake. They can overwhelm us with sheer numbers, and this was probably what they were aiming for from the beginning.” Feryumstark replied.

“I wonder if my history will repeat itself?” Kataryna wondered with a smile on her lips.

“It is possible, but I want you and Alkelios to take care of the Breakthrough-ers. You two will form a Breakthrough-er Hunting Team. The Draketerus sisters together with Brekkar’s apprentice will aim for the dragon Commanders of the enemy’s army. As for me and Brekkar, we will form a group and act as the Generals of this army as well as Commander and Breakthrough-er Hunters.” he explained.

“What about the rest of us?” Undrakan asked.

“Reyades Undrakan, Leone Sylvara, and Malavan Verona will act as the guards for the Queen of Albeyater Kingdom. They are to defend her with their lives and if things turn to worse, you are to retreat with her to Drakaria and enforce a defensive strategy.” Feryumstark ordered in a firm tone of voice.

“As you wish, your Majesty!” all three of them replied at the same time and saluted.

Why do I feel like my group is receiving a different treatment when compared to these other Breakthrough-ers? Or maybe we aren’t that used to orders or the standard procedure? It could be this as well... I thought.

“Berros Mandrakea, Mendeles Unvar, Novias Oshika, and Moros Onias, you four are to advance and support our army of 26000 which will be separated in four different groups. Do not engage in battles with Breakthrough-ers unless absolutely necessary. The Hunters will try to take them out before they become a problem for you. In this battle, we hold a disadvantage in soldier numbers, but we hold and advantage in Breakthrough-er numbers.” said Feryumstark as he looked at all of them.

“As you wish, your Majesty!” all four of them replied at the same time and saluted, just like the previous three.

“Erm, if you wish, your Majesty, I could offer my mass-produced armors and weapons to our army’s commanders and more important officers?” I offered raising a hand up.

“That would be helpful. You have already proven yourself to be an excellent blacksmith and enchanter!” Feryumstark praised me and nodded.

“Indeed, them dragonesses do have some fine weapons and armors. Yours too is quite the impressive beauty!” Unvar pointed out and then let out a sigh.

“They are my best work so far.” I replied.

“But is it wise to do a change of gear so late? Will they be able to use it to its maximum potential?” wondered Sylvara.

“They will have to, although, true, it would have been better if you did this earlier.” said Brekkar.

“Sorry, it just occurred to me.” I replied as I scratch the back of my head.

Dragon claws made very very good back scratchers.

“It is better if they have a sturdy sword in battle even if they aren’t fully used to it yet than to have it break after the first strike.” pointed out Unvar with a nod of his head.

“Then I see no problem with having our Commanders and Captains change their gear. As such, I call this meeting adjourned! May the gods watch over us and guide us on the path to victory!” declared Feryumstark in firm tone of voice.

“May victory be with the Albeyater Kingdom!” we all replied in a loud tone of voice and saluting the King and Queen.

After I left the tent, I visited every commander and captain in our army and gave them each an armor set, and a weapon made by me. They were far superior to what they had until now and was supposed to keep them safe against most attacks around levels 500-700. I doubted they would be able to face off against a Breakthrough-er though. There was little to no chance of that happening.

Regarding the armor and weapon, I did tell every dragon and dragoness I gave it to that it was a loan from the Albeyater Kingdom and not to think of it as a present or gift. When this war was over, if his Majesty judged that it was alright for them to have it, then I didn’t mind if they gave me the materials for it as payment. Of course, I wasn’t worried that they might not accept this offer. Once they saw my loaned items in battle, they were certain to place orders even for more! Turning this into a nice profit and then getting myself a big pile o’ gold to sleep on didn’t sound that bad. Well, I just hoped no annoying little dwarfs would drop by to steal my treasure.

And then, not long after I equipped the last commander, I heard the sound of the horn which announced the incoming attack of the enemy.

“So, it has begun...” I said as I flew over to where my friends were.