Overwhelming Firepower

Alexander woke up in an unknown place. He was in a forest, and the sky above him was blood red. It was at this moment that he had a massive headache as memories started flooding in.

’That’s right, a dragon suddenly attacked a nearby village. No one would come to help them as the war with Inevir had intensified. So I came here with the others to deal with the dragon. After that, I don’t remember how I woke up here, and why the sky is red.’

Alexander slowly pushed himself up. The moment he moved, pain spread through his entire body. His armor was cracked, his left arm felt numb, and blood dripped from a wound near his forehead.

It was then that he noticed the entire forest was burning as smoke filled the air. Alexander forced his body up as he was worried about his companions.

”Mina!”

His voice came out hoarse, but it was loud enough that anyone nearby would hear it. Yet no one responded.

Alexander gritted his teeth and staggered forward. Every step sent pain through his body, but he ignored it.

The ground beneath his feet was blackened, and the trees around him had been bent in strange directions, as if something had twisted the whole forest with invisible hands.

”Cael!”

Alexander called out another name, but the same as before; no one answered.

”Ryan!”

”Nina!”

”Catherine!”

Alexander shouted the names of the companions who came with him, but none of them answered.

Only the crackling of burning wood replied. Yet even in this situation, Alexander believed that they were alive. They had to be.

Mina was a stubborn one. Ryan would always laugh, even when injured. Nina was too proud to fall quietly. Catherine, with her unique senses, would never get hit that easily. Cael would not collapse unless his body had truly reached its limit.

Alexander firmly held onto that belief as he staggered deeper into the burning forest. As he continued forward, he saw a large mountain, but as the smoke cleared away, he was surprised to see an adult dragon dead.

Alexander was sure that before he lost consciousness, they were unable to defeat the dragon or deal significant damage to it.

Alexander then shook his head as he pushed those thoughts aside. For now, he needed to focus on finding his companions.

He walked past the dragon’s corpse. The closer he got, the more wrong it felt. The dragon had not been killed by swords, spears, bullets, or magic.

Its body was twisted in ways that made no sense. Its neck was bent backward, its wings were folded into unnatural shapes, and several of its scales had been peeled away as if something had casually torn them off with invisible fingers.

This was a nearly adult dragon, part of the most powerful species in the world. A true adult dragon was said to stand near the realm of certain deities, and even a nearly adult one was a calamity beyond ordinary armies.

Despite his worry for his companions, he was also worried about what being could have done this, and if it would affect the village that was nearby.

Alexander stopped walking and started thinking whether he should continue looking for the others or head back to the village to see if they were alright and had evacuated properly.

As he was about to unconsciously grip his sword, he finally noticed that it was not there; the broadsword his father had gifted him was not there. He was weaponless at the moment.

Despite his sense of loss, he had no time to look for his sword or his companions. The citizens had no way to defend themselves against whatever had done this to the Dragon.

Alexander clenched his empty hand. It didn’t take long for him to make a decision and head back to the village. He trusted Mina and the others; he knew his friends were strong enough to survive this.

If they were still alive, they would also be thinking the same thing. The villagers came first.

Alexander forced his injured body to move faster. Every step sent pain through his legs, and his cracked armor dug into his skin. He decided to remove it since it was pretty much a hindrance at this point.

The moment the damaged armor fell to the ground, his body felt lighter, but not better. His ribs still ached. His left arm was still numb. Blood still dripped down the side of his face. Even so, Alexander continued forward.

With a bit of effort, it didn’t take long for him to arrive at the village. But the moment Alexander saw it, his steps stopped.

It wasn’t burning to the ground, nor was there any scent of blood. Yet he felt the entire place was deeply eerie. It was quiet; the sound of people crying, laughing, or even talking could not be heard.

’Had they evacuated?’

Alexander thought, but found it weird, since a few days ago, when they arrived in the village, the villagers were adamant about leaving. Saying that if they left their homes, they would have nothing, and wouldn’t be able to live anyway, so it was better to die from the dragon’s fire.

Wondering about that, Alexander continued forward.

The village road was empty. Doors were left open. Stalls had been abandoned with food still sitting on them. A wooden bucket rolled slowly across the ground, even though there was no wind.

Alexander could not help but stare at it for a few seconds. Everything felt wrong, incredibly wrong. Alexander gritted his teeth and continued forward. He needed to see if anyone remained.

”Is anyone there?” Alexander’s voice was slowly returning to normal as he spoke, but no one answered. As he walked forward, he finally saw someone.

It was the old lady who refused vehemently to leave. As this village was her home, the memories of her husband remain here.

The old woman was sitting on the chair, looking at the blood-red sky with a creepy grin on her face.

”Grandma?”

Alexander carefully approached, but there was no response. He waved his hand in front of her, but she still remained motionless, simply looking at the red sky. She was alive and breathing, but nothing more.

As he was about to leave, the old lady suddenly spoke. ”The sky opened.”

It was a weird feeling; she was not talking to him, it felt like she was talking to herself or something above the sky.

”We prayed for any deity to have mercy and help drive out the dragon, and he responded to our prayers.” That was all the old lady said and stopped.

”Who answered?” Alexander asked, but the old lady no longer responded.

Her eyes remained fixed on the blood-red sky, and the smile on her face stretched just a little wider.

Alexander felt a chill crawl up his spine. He slowly stepped back, then turned toward the deeper part of the village.

No, it was not a village anymore. As he moved forward, the wooden houses became larger, the paths wider, and the small settlement seemed to stretch into a town that should not have existed here.

The streets were filled with people. At first, Alexander felt relief. Then he stopped as he noticed something odd. The villagers were not moving.

Some stood in the middle of the road, staring upward with empty eyes. Some knelt with their foreheads pressed to the ground, whispering prayers that did not belong to any temple Alexander knew.

Others lay motionless, their bodies twisted toward the sky as if something above had pulled the life out of them without leaving a wound.

It was as if they had been drained of their blood, which made it look even worse, but even in this state, they were smiling as if in ecstasy.

Alexander gnashed his teeth in anger. Even though they were dead, it did not mean you could desecrate their bodies like this.

Alexander wanted to at least bury them properly, but the second he touched them, the surrounding people started screaming in a high pitch, hurting his ears.

He staggered back and covered one ear; the screams did not stop. They rose higher and higher until they no longer sounded human.

Then, all at once, they became laughter. Every corpse-like villager turned their head toward him. Their eyes were empty, yet their mouths stretched into the same ecstatic smile.

”The sky opened,” they whispered together.

Alexander enveloped himself in his aura mantle. He did not know what happened to these people, but it was obvious they were being affected by something, and he wanted to save them.

Alexander stepped forward, and the village stretched again. Houses leaned into crooked towers.

The dirt road became black stone, wet though no rain had fallen. Far ahead, in the center of the impossible town, the villagers gathered in circles.

Some were dead. Some were laughing. Some were praying with tongues that split and curled like worms. Then Alexander saw his companions.

Mina hung from a tendril of black flesh, her chest barely rising. Ryan lay beneath broken stone, one hand still twitching toward a sword that was no longer there.

Nina’s eyes were open, but she only stared at the sky. Catherine knelt with blood on her lips, trembling as if hearing something no one else could hear. Cael alone still held his sword, though he was on one knee.

Above them, the blood-red sky opened wider. What appeared above the sky was an eye, a giant eye. Behind the eye, beyond the red sky, was something indescribable.

Just gazing upon it made Alexander’s head hurt as if someone was beating his head like a drum. That being behind the eye was not something one should look at.

Alexander’s aura flickered around him. Even when facing the dragon, Alexander had never felt so small. Still, even with this unknown being, Alexander stepped forward to protect everyone.