One week later:
POV ???:
The flags waved in the wind across the lush green pasture. The lines of soldiers in shiny armor that reflected the noon sun above their heads and the glowing crystals of the mana cannons were spread from one side to the other.
An officer in his heavy plate armor and long purple cape watched over the sky when suddenly a storm appeared from behind the horizon, quickly closing towards his location.
"It is here, wait and prepare for..." His words froze before he could even finish them as the pair of huge black and gold wings burning in black and purple flames covered the entire horizon.
"Graaaaah!" As if doomsday had come, the entire region shook under the mighty roar, and the sun in the sky vanished beneath the layer of pitch-black smoke, making it even darker than a night.
"Fire! Fire with all you have and pray for your souls!" The man's frantic order resounded through the battlefield.
Immediately thousands of bright blue rays crisscrossed across the sky, bringing back the light. Barrages of glowing mana bolts and giant ballista bolts pierced through the thick clouds, everyone watching and praying with bathed breaths.
The black darkness with golden lightning and bright golden and purple flames exploded out of the dragon's form and spread out like a giant bubble.
The beams, bolts, and arrows vanished within the mass of energy like fire sparks within a sea.
'It is over, not even...' Suddenly dozens of small figures rose into the sky, propelled by the force of their magic power. Their swords and spears brightly shone, and their capes of dragon scales bringing hope.
"They are here! The legendary dragon slayers, we are saved!"
Behind them, hundreds of winged immortals rose into the sky, joining the great attack, with glowing salvos of magic projectiles launching across the sky.
Just as he regained hope, the pointing fingers of the soldiers and their voices extinguished it while still in the cinders.
"Why are the dragon slayers going in the opposite direction?"
"They are running away..."
The ground shook below them as if an earthquake had come, "So you have accepted my invitation. How kind of you!"
Suddenly a pair of ginormous eyes, blue and gold, appeared in the background of the flashing storm of lights and darkness.
A bright light lit up in the sky.
POV Vesuvius:
The lightning struck from everywhere, with the arcs dancing and flashing across the battlefield, the voltage so high it looked like a sea of electricity.
The dragon horns pulsed once, not even needing to think as the arcs of electricity moved with intelligence, jumping from one enemy to another.
Ding!
//
Your winter soul is now level 17.
Your winter soul is now level 20.
...
Your winter soul is now level 38
All stats of the winter soul increased! X 19
+95 stat points
+19 ability point
Evolution is available.
//
Instantly everyone turned into ashes, the soldier on the ground, the winged warriors in the sky, and the mana cannons spread over the horizon. It was all gone, only the verdant green pasture with clouds of ash left behind.
The power of undiscriminating destruction was imposing, but what he considered even scarier was his power to selectively destroy his enemies without turning his future lands into fields of molten stone.
'Now is the path for my forces all over the continent open.' He never even considered the lowly mortals as a threat. Instead, he happily invited them to attack him.
'Fools, so many powerful warriors that could kill many of my minions and kin just died here.'
Hundreds of runes flared into life with a single thought as the teleportation magic array formed around him. He didn't even have to cast or even channel his mana, all he needed to do was the intention to cast it, and the complex system within him took care of the rest.
'Next stop the Luminarie.'
The space warped, and the dragon vanished.
POV ???:
"You are under arrest for illegal construction of teleportation array! Step down viscount Thesius and accept your punishment or we will be forced to use violence."
"It is the day! It is the day of our master's arrival! You are all fools!" The old man shouted like a madman, his eyes shining as he waited on the mansion's rooftop.
The two youngsters watched from behind his back, standing on the same roof as their life turned upside down.
"Grandfather, stop this madness!"
"We are so screwed... of course, the Ministry of Magic would have a way to track down unauthorized teleportation arrays..."
Even with all of it, the old man only burst into laughter without worry, "Haha, don't worry... His Majesty will arrive soon! Bow for your own good."
Immediately powerful hands showed them from behind, pushing them to kneel.
The hooded and robed shadows loomed behind them, their horned, lizard-shaped helmets glinting in the shadows of their hoods. The metal clanged with each of their moves, alerting them of the armor likely hiding beneath their robes.
"Attack the mansion!" At once, dozens of soldiers rushed forward, the chainmail armor audible scraping against each other.
"Fire!" The black figures standing all over their lawn pointed their stupidly decorated polearms, and the next moment bright and brief rays of fire burst toward the incoming soldiers.
The explosions of heat sent them cowering on the lawn.
She could only watch in horror as their armor melted before they could even scream.
"Ahhh!"
'They were the lucky ones.' Her terror only grew as she looked at the screaming soldiers burning in flames as they trashed and rolled all over the lawn of their mansion while the black shadows dashed straight into their broken ranks, the glowing blades swishing through the air.
The next moment an immense amount of mana burst from the mansion below her feet, and the entire sky flared up with spinning magic circles and rings.
'This is bad... whatever Grandpa summoned will eat us and the entire city.' Just the size of the rings and the amount of mana that even she, a mundane woman, could feel made her realize the power of the incoming demon.
POV Vesuvius:
The landscape twisted, and the dragon manifested straight above a sprawling metropolis.
The houses, roads, and buildings stretched for kilometers, with multiple layers of tall walls splitting them into different districts.
Grandiose white palaces and a tall white cathedral stood in its center, their white wall towers showing the peasants the power.
'Luminaris... the biggest city on this continent. Considered to be its cultural capital and the main city by the players.'
Without delay, the dragon's domain moved, and a giant pillar of lightning and the solar corona, so thick it dwarfed even the empire state building, descended from the sky.
The monumental white cathedral lit up with a massive barrier of light erected around it. More blue barriers popped up, and the city walls lit like a giant magic array.
'Pathetic...' With a single thought, the ground shook and rumbled, his domain penetrating and bypassing the barriers as it dug into the magic array engraved in the walls.
They flickered out of existence the next moment, and the giant beam of lightning and solar corona struck straight into the cathedral's center.
Ding!
//
Your winter soul is now level 39
Your winter soul is now level 40
...
Your winter soul is now level 45
All stats of the winter soul increased! X 6
+30 stat points
+6 ability point
Evolution is available.
//
The beam didn't stop as it kept striking over and over, digging deeper and deeper into the ground like a giant laser drill. The entire city glowed under its light with the constant thunders making all the windows shatter.
Finally, it dissipated, revealing a deep black hole like a giant well, with its walls still brightly glowing from the heat.
'Great, one more threat is gone.' Even Vesuvius didn't dare to underestimate the Church of Light, expecting them to summon another angel.
'With the main cathedral gone, all their relics and highest echelon should be also gone. That should make it impossible to summon powerful enough angels on short notice.' It hurt the dragon's mind, knowing he likely just burned immeasurable wealth, but he wouldn't risk facing armies of angels swarming all over him.
'Now, I own the entire continent. What is one single cathedral filled with dangerous things to it.'
Heavy rain descended upon the city extinguishing all the remaining fires as the dragon flapped his wings and hovered above the hole that remained after the cathedral.
Like a golden sun, a golden portal opened behind him, the golden rays passing through the clouds.
"Graaah!" The next moment the armored forms of the war draconids and swarms of dracodactyls swarmed out, the flapping of wings resounding through the entire city.
The runes once again lit up around the dragon, the space warping around his as he moved towards his next destination.
POV ???:
Three players in the same brown leather hunting clothes stood in a small town square, staring at a signboard with paper slips pinned on it.
"Hey, boss Hugo, look at this. Hunting down forest wyverns. The rewards are high." One of them pointed at the board, their eyes moving toward where his finger pointed.
"Are you sure about that? That sounds hard."
Suddenly the sky darkened, and heavy rain descended without any warning. The haze of white clouds quickly submerged the entire square as everything turned silent. The dogs and even the birds on the roofs lose their voices.
All three immediately drew their weapons and turned with their back against each other, their eyes scanning around through the heavy atmosphere.
"I have a bad feeling about this..."
"Welcome, your new lord! Me the great wyrm Fumlitus!" A pair of golden eyes lit up in the thick haze, and a giant silhouette easily larger than a family house emerged in the sky.
"What is that raid boss doing here in the town?!" The panic swept through them as they watched the clouds of steam thicken with each passing second, obscuring the wyrm.