novelraw Chapter 92: Air-to-Ground, The Importance of Air Superiority
Chapter 92: Air-to-Ground, The Importance of Air Superiority
The night sky was dyed crimson by blazing flames.
Garoth's wings trailed streams of scorching fire behind him, carving a trajectory like a crimson comet across the heavens, sparks from wing scales grinding against the air forming a stellar rain around him.
He circled slightly.
The fiery streams at his wingtips gradually dissipated as his body hovered high above, looking down upon the ogre territory from his vantage point.
As the flames and shockwaves slowly faded,
A devastated landscape of charred and shattered earth was revealed.
The ogre territory looked as though it had endured artillery bombardment - the ground pockmarked with countless horrifying craters, branching fissures radiating outward like fractured tree limbs, making the entire terrain appear on the verge of collapse.
One by one, ash-covered ogre warriors climbed to their feet, their bodies looking singed and smoke-blackened.
Their injuries weren't severe since few explosions had landed directly on them - most had struck the ground nearby. While the resulting flames and shockwaves were powerful, they weren't enough to seriously wound elite ogre warriors.
The Gluttonous Ogre Karu, his life force burning like a furnace, also stood up.He emerged from the ruins of his collapsed throne.
His steel-cast muscular body bore only insignificant wounds - the Explosive Scales that hadn't hit him directly had done little damage.
"Ogres, you invaded my territory and challenged my authority."
Garoth's draconic pupils narrowed into dangerous slits.
"That attack was merely a warning."
"Grovel before me, swear fealty, and I shall pardon your insolence - granting you the chance to become my vassals. Or... you can scream yourselves to ashes in the flames."
The dragon's thunderous voice rolled across the sky to ogre ears.
Common ogres exchanged uneasy glances, their expressions fearful as they recalled the recent bombardment, finding the dragon before them terrifying.
But the elite warriors and sorcerers surrounding Gluttonous Ogre Karu
showed no fear at all, simply turning their gazes toward their massive leader.
Karu dusted himself off roughly and boomed:
"Your attacks can't even make me flinch. The Bonegnaw Clan won't submit to some puny dragon."
Garoth's eyes narrowed further, his wings lifting once more.
"You seem to misunderstand the meaning of 'warning'."
With a powerful wingbeat, dark crimson flames erupted from his crystalline wingtips like a volcanic explosion.
The red iron dragon's body carved a scarlet arc across the night sky as he dove toward the Bonegnaw Clan.
This time, the ogres were prepared.
Elite warriors hefted nearby boulders or gripped spears, drawing powerful bows to launch ground-to-air counterattacks.
Boulders, spears and bolts shot skyward toward Garoth.
The two-headed ogre sorcerer possessed dual-casting abilities - its two heads chanting different spells simultaneously to construct two distinct magics.
A gray-black mist sprayed from its left mouth, coalescing into an ominous sigil before vanishing into the air, while its right arm crackled with electricity that gathered at its fingertips before lashing outward.
Weakness Curse!
Chain Lightning!
The curse locked onto Garoth through line of sight, forming a dull gray glow across his scales - but this radiance vanished almost instantly.
Dragons naturally possessed exceptional curse resistance.
Having adapted to the Cliff Serpent Dragon's fire curses, Garoth's resistance had increased dramatically - rendering common curses completely ineffective.
Facing the barrage of projectiles,
Garoth casually flicked a wing, his body pivoting sharply midair with an explosive burst of flame to evade everything at near ninety-degree angles - even the fastest Chain Lightning could only chase his wake without ever connecting.
"Get down here!"
Gluttonous Ogre Karu roared, his arm muscles bulging as he hurled a massive metal warhammer like a cannonball at Garoth.
Garoth spread his wings, effortlessly sidestepping the projectile.
Though powerfully built and seemingly unsuited for speed, his Celestial Comet Wings' evolution now made his mobility surpass even his strength.
Air-to-ground combat,
Coupled with terrifying speed and explosive power,
Garoth held absolute superiority.
In the blink of an eye,
He streaked across the sky, diving once more over the Bonegnaw Clan.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The second wave of Explosive Scales came even denser.
Scales glowing like branding irons tore through the air with piercing shrieks before raining down again upon the ogres.
This time, the ogres displayed astonishing tactical prowess.
Where a Gluttonous Ogre led an ogre clan, while their intelligence remained dull, warriors gained instinctive combat wisdom from their leader's influence - tactical understanding blooming spontaneously.
Elite warriors swiftly formed a circular defensive formation.
They interlocked steel tower shields overhead into a metallic dome.
Explosive Scales slammed against the shields with deafening booms, flames rolling as shockwaves bloodied the outermost warriors' noses and mouths - yet the formation held firm.
At the formation's center stood ogre sorcerers
casting enhancement spells to further boost their warriors' strength and defense.
"Caught unprepared the first time, yet able to respond so effectively the second... This clan's ogres differ completely from ordinary ones. Judging by their properly-sized equipment, they must have alchemists among them - wilderness metal ores are plentiful, but crafting proper arms would be difficult without alchemical skills."
Garoth grew even more interested in the Bonegnaw Clan.
Of course, the Gluttonous Ogre remained his primary target.
All the clan's transformations stemmed from the Gluttonous Ogre's emergence.
Karu dealt with the Explosive Scales even more effortlessly - almost grotesquely so.
It opened its cavernous maw and inhaled violently.
Air currents swirled like a tempest, sucking all incoming scales into its gullet!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunderous explosions echoed from its stomach, its belly repeatedly distending and contracting before Karu finally belched sulfurous fumes, having completely consumed the flames and shockwaves.
"Not enough to fill me up, little dragon!"
Karu slapped his distended belly with resounding thumps.
Having successfully countered Garoth's second assault, its confidence soared, considering the dragon no real threat.
Garoth's expression remained unchanged as he wheeled about for another diving strike.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The third wave of Explosive Scales rocked the defensive formation violently.
Ogre warriors' arms trembled fiercely, skin splitting as blood seeped steadily from their noses and mouths - their sorcerers' healing and enhancements couldn't keep pace with the attack frequency.
Before they could recover,
The fourth and fifth bombing waves arrived in succession as Garoth soared past.
Explosions erupted one after another, fireballs rising like miniature suns from the earth as thunderous detonations continuously shook the ground.
Lacking effective ground-to-air countermeasures, the Bonegnaw Clan could only endure passively.
Since his goal was subjugation rather than annihilation, Garoth controlled the scale intensity of his bombardments.
Yet even so,
By the seventh wave,
Most ogre warriors were bleeding from all orifices, arm bones snapping as they could endure no longer - blasted away as their formation disintegrated completely. The central sorcerers didn't even require further attacks, having already exhausted their mental energy and magic power, collapsing like mud.
Gluttonous Ogre Karu's belly was distended to bursting.
Having consumed too many explosions, it had reached its short-term limit.
Facing the seventh bombardment, it could no longer devour the scales - its slowed reflexes insufficient for evasion, leaving it to endure the impacts directly. Its iron-tower body became studded with sharp scale fragments, flesh torn and skin blackened with burns.