I picked up the leader by the head. He was unconscious but I woke him up quickly after kneeing him in between his legs.
He was awake but had no strength to reach. It seemed I crippled him or just injured him so much that he still couldn’t move.
I changed the two front arms into the rifles and stuck it to the heads of two draconian and shot them through the head. I removed the swords from their tails and then stuck them through the chests of the next two. The last one, I put a grenade down his throat and killed him from the inside. With these five killed while the leader watched, the lizard was sweating. I removed all my swords from the remains and sheathed them.
I grabbed the draconian by the shirt and began dragging him.
“Come everyone. Bring the girl as well.” I ordered.
We returned in silence to the ship. I then ordered to remove the hooks but leave everything else since we were going to return.
The ship was unhitched, and it took off.
I began flying around the whale and soon we were out over the sky flying next to the whale.
I then lifted the lizard and took him to the back of the ship.
“Punishment for attacking my sister. Slow, painful death.”
I simply let him go and he fell down and soon vanished into the clouds.
You killed in self-defense.
Warning. If you kill using cruelty of such levels again, penalties will be dealt.
I aimed the ship back over the whale and we returned to the base area and hooked up again.
With the ship back safely I called everyone. There was a deadly silence on the ship.
“Ask her what happened?”
Bulk breathed deeply to calm down. “Ok then. Um miss, can you please tell us who you are and what's going on?”
The girl was pale and trembling while hugging Nova.
“I have no name. We only get names when we reach adulthood.” she said.
“So how do your people call you?” Ena asked.
“We just call one another by getting close and call out.” she said.
“Then we should call her Greer like that cool super woman that looks like her.” Nova said simply in a very familiar fashion to the time she ‘adopted’ the elementals.
The boys all looked from one another before we all started to laugh.
“Hey Techno she even reads Marvel comics?” Bulk asked laughing.
“She is really attached to me and read most of the stuff I did. I have a downloaded collection so she had access. She knows them better than me.” I replied.
“Damn she would be a girl any nerd would love when she grows up. To know more about comic book heroes than a boy, this is just too good. Also don’t point that mini-gun at my face. I wouldn’t dare try to go after her since she is still a kid and because I know what you would do to me.” Victor said.
“Siscon.”
Bam!
A firmly planted punch connected to Bulk’s face before a heavy foot landed on it and started to grind it into the wooden floor.
“Let's forget about this and go back to talking about the girl.” I said.
The girl was hiding even more behind Nova. Nova was grinning and then after hugging the girl she began gently petting her head and scratching near her ear and chin. It took the girl by surprise. That said it soon made a smile and her tail started to gently wave. A small smile appeared on her face.
“Nova please stop, or we won’t learn why she was running.” I said.
“Okay Bro.” She stopped and the girl looked sad while sitting with expectant eyes.
“If you answer quickly, we can let her pet you more.” Bulk said.
The girl’s eyes lit up and the previous fear was gone.
“What were those things and why were you running?” Brock asked.
“They are draconians. They appeared some months ago and began fighting our tribe. We have lived peacefully here since ancient times. When the draconians appeared, they began killing the old and enslaving the young. They consider us more like animals and want the young for pets.” Greer said.
In moments we were all pissed off.
“There are about 40 of our previous 400 remaining. I was out hunting for some small bits of food when they found and attacked me.”
My gears were rattling, and the steam was pumping faster. A low whistle was sounding from all our pipes.
“Do you know where they are living?” Victor asked.
The girl nodded and stood up. She walked to the front of the ship and we followed her. She looked around then pointed towards the front of the whale.
“At the front of the great land.” she said.
We all look out towards the space.
“Get ready.” I said and I turn around before walking inside with Yasha while Asura began to load some of the weapons on to the deck of the ship.
The robot clockwork put several weapons on the top deck ready to use.
The ship was unhitched and left the plateau with some weapons defending it. We headed over the location Greer pointed at.
We were going to make sure they learned their place.
Greer PoV
Wow... that big six arm guy was scary strong. And really scary.
He and this tiny group wanted to fight an entire race to get by my tribe. We flew over the forest.
Even from far away, we could already see the iron walls that the draconians built from the Great One’s minerals.
I wondered how they would break it down.
As we drew close, I saw a lot of figures appear in the sky.
“HEY BRO THEY ARE COMING!!” Nova shouted.
I looked back at the girl who was sitting on the strange robot.
“Okay! Get working all of you!”
I was wondering what happened but then I noticed a change in the other robots.
The dwarf man came out and set up a weapon on the middle of the deck.
I noticed that the ship was turning at an angle and the robots were arming the weapons.
I heard a sound from below and put my head out and looked at the side of the strange boat.
Being pushed out were large metal barrels. Three of them.
“Ehehehe let’s get all those kitties back!” Nova said.
As one, all the robots fired. I had to cover my ears because the sound from the noise of all the shooting was too much.
I forced myself to stand and look out only to become wide eyed.
From the dozens of draconians flying around, a good number were falling injured. Those in the back had some magic circles floating under them as they cast their spells.
I looked back on the ship just in time to see the robots setting up a strange tube that was aimed upwards.
They dropped a fist sized black ball inside and then connected two hoses from an opening on their side to the tube.
After a moment steam began to appear from a few pipes as pressure built and then it happened. They pressed a button and with massive pressure the ball was shot far into the air.
I followed the ball with my eyes and saw it approach the draconians that were preparing magic.
Just as it got over them it exploded.
BOOM!
A moment later, I felt a shock wave from the explosion. It hit me and left me weak for a moment. When I looked back I saw all the draconians falling. Some didn’t have wings anymore, some were missing arms, other legs. Some were even missing half their bodies.
I then saw the two fire elementals fly out. They shot out torrents of flames at the draconians which was a match for the dragon kin’s own breath. The difference was when they were attacked with the same attack in turn.
Instead of being hurt they absorbed the fire before it even reached the ship. They ate it all with greed for more fire. No matter how many attacked with fire, it was absorbed by the two beings.
This crew is made of monsters. The leader which seems to be both demon like robots, a rhino robot monster, three elementals, a dwarf and the scariest girl who is the
one controlling all these lesser robots. They are all monsters, with technology surpassing their opponents. They mercilessly attack destroying all of them without breaking a sweat.
“This is just like the boss said. Real monsters.” I thought while trembling.
CHAPTER 12 Crushing Pride
Draconian Leader PoV
What’s going on? A minute ago our sentries sent the alarm saying a ship was coming our way. The order to go investigate who it was was sent out only to have them fire at us.
My mouth went dry when I flew up to see. Our tribe had 780 draconians. We are one of the noblest races but even we know when we are beat.
As the ship got closer, I turned pale. I’ve heard stories of them which are passed down from our ancestors. Beings that were the best at warring without using magic.
The clockworks, machines that held the highest technological power. If you combine them with dwarves, they could gain power beyond most races.
Their only restriction was that they don’t have living being’s regeneration, thank god. They are weak when low classed but if they can upgrade, they become fierce.
To have a ship full of them as well as several elementals helping them was a true nightmare.
I flew down and started giving orders of retreat. We couldn’t fight them, I needed to lower our losses so we would retreat and see their demands.
As I gave the orders to retreat my daughter approached.
“Father, what is going on?” my daughter and the tribe’s princess asked.
“Clockworks, they are attacking for some reason. Help send the call for retreat and let them land. It’s best we not confront them, they are monsters of war with the best weaponry.” I explained.
“Use magic to blast them.” she said with pride.
“SILENCE! DO NOT!!! ATTACK THEM! They are beyond our power. This ship seems ready for battling powerful enemies. We can’t beat them even with our numbers and weapons.” I shouted.
She went silent and the order was given. 200 of our men died because of that attack, but we retreated inside, and the gates were left open as a sign of giving up. I stood at the front as the ship followed the elementals. They fired two hooks to the ground and lowered the ship some but left the ship in the air anchored to the whale.
From the lower side of the ship an opening appeared. I saw many small human sized clockwork jump down. When about 10 were down, three large robots jumped down. On one of them had two people riding.
The group walked over, and the smaller clockwork came armed with weapons raised.
I walked up and bowed showing respect.
“May I ask what the reason for your attack was?” I asked.
A horned beast type clockwork walked up and shouted, “Release the tiger people you are enslaving and we won’t kill off the draconians!”
I looked up shocked but then I noticed the tiger man behind the clockwork sitting on the back of the other robot.
I looked at all of them and turned a bit pale. They were already upgraded to higher ranked clockwork. One was even demon shaped with six arms while one was an animal clockwork. This wasn’t an enemy we could just randomly confront.
“Why do you want to free them? They are simple animals.” I asked.
I instantly noticed a change in the sound coming from them. The amount of steam they were releasing became much faster and the gears were rattling.
“We will say it once more. Peacefully release the tiger people or we will attack.” the same clockwork said but his voice much more grave.
I heard the sound of several weapons getting armed coming from the ship and started trembling. Then the worst possible thing happened.
Suddenly my daughter ran out and shouted, “Why should we listen to buckets of bolts like all of you? We are the proud draconians. We don’t fear simple robots like you!”
“Wow she reminds me of the nasty girl you hate bro.” the smallest robot on the bigger one with the tiger man child said.
A sudden whistle from the demon one caused me to shut my ears, but I turned around and slapped my daughter.
“Silence!” I hissed that with rage in my voice enough to make her shrink back.
When I looked back the demon was also yelling at the clockwork girl. I calmed down a bit seeing how the clockwork wasn’t a mindless killer.
It would be better to release those animals and try to surprise attack them again after the clockwork left.
“We will do as you say. We will let them go. Just don’t attack anymore.” I said.
“Never show your face again near Greer and the others. Ugly old man.” the small clockwork said.
Veins appeared on my head but I headed back.
I gave the orders and the slaves were brought out and released.
The ship lowered and touched down allowing the tigers to enter. There were 80 slaves all young tiger men. They were easiest to train so we killed the adults while we kept the kids alive.
“That’s all of them right?” the beast clockwork asked.
Before I could respond the demon nodded and they turned around. It was then I noticed several robotic bugs crawl from under me and run towards them.
I was lucky, if we had kept anyone, we might have been killed.
They climbed in followed by the clockwork robots and the hooks were retracted before the ship was retracted.
The ship lifted above the trees, flew over the village and began doing a slow turn as it moved forward. I was trembling as I watch our near extinction experience had just passed.
As the ship left my view I slumped down putting my hand to my chest.
“Why did you comply so readily?” my daughter asked.
“We can’t win against them. They have scout machines inside without me noticing until they pulled them out. If we had kept any slaves, we would have died.” I explained to my stubborn child.
She finally realized how dangerous they were. It was a good experience for her to learn early on. She was too hot headed so it was best to learn about it then.
I went back inside and started breathing to calm down. I gave the orders to repair any structural damage.
Princess PoV
Father is too much of a coward. There is no race better than draconians. I won’t let any of the others say otherwise.
I had to prove that draconians are the strongest. I would start by beating the clockworks that the guys always made so much fuss about.
Waiting for night to fall, I took flight and started to look for their base. I found them at the central plateau after two nights of searching. The tiger people were being put to training to fight. I saw a dwarf with a strange robot that was letting out lots of smoke.
I saw them smithing and several tiger people crafting using the parts he was making. Soon i figured out what it was. On some of the training tiger people, they had a basic skeleton of a power suit that dwarves have.
I frowned seeing that.
I feared that getting technology would make them too strong. Now I needed to take care of it soon before they got too strong.
I returned home to sleep, to succeed I needed to be at my best.
The mining and rebuilding was going well. We were reinforcing the walls just in case they attacked again. We were trying to make machine weapons, but we didn’t know how to make it without a model.
I fell into bed and went to sleep.
Half way through the night I heard sounds of battle. I jumped out of bed and ran out.
“Father! What is all this… Oh my god!” I exclaimed.
Outside, all over the place, were dungeon monsters attacking the town. Bats of many types were all over the place. Many of the rock monsters were all over the ground and digging their way under the walls and started attacking.
“We are being attacked by the monsters. Run Annabeth. Please ask for help from the clockworks. I’m sure they can help!” my father shouted.
“Why do we need to ask for help! We are strong!” I shouted.
“We are strong b
ut not against these numbers. There are three dungeons full of minion monsters attacking. Hurry and get help or else we will all die.” I frowned and started crying but I spread my wings and started flying.
On my way out, I started to get attacked by the bats. I easily evaded them but several still hit me. They clawed my right side and my left leg. I still flew away but now I had a group of monsters behind me.
I now understood why father said we needed them. These were abnormal monsters, already level 150. We were only level 100 at best.
I flew as fast as possible while getting a few scratches on the way. As I neared the place they were based at, I couldn’t stop or I would be caught so I did the only thing I could. I rushed in.
I saw the robots on the edge of the cliff raise their weapons so with a strong flap I rose upwards. At once I heard the bullets flying. They hit all the monsters injuring them and changing their target to them.
I was hit on the right leg, but I flew over the base before I let myself drop from exhaustion. I used my wings to slow down as best as I could before I crashed right onto the deck of the ship.
My vision was blurry but I saw the large metal feet of that demon.
“Help... monsters are... attacking us.” That was all I could say before everything blacked out.
Techno PoV
At my feet was the girl that made Nova say something that pissed me off.
She was scratched all over but also had bullet shots.
“Guys get her inside and bandage her up. Get the weapons ready guys. We are going hunting. A new hunting ground has showed up. Let’s go enjoy the prey.” I said.
“Hey! Not enough sets of armor are made for the tigers yet!” Victor shouted.
“Those who have it will be on the land. Those who don’t will use guns to attack from the sky.” I replied.
With that everyone got on and the weapons were loaded all over the top deck and some were prepared on the lowest deck. We would open the hatch to drop off the people. Asura, Bulk and Nova would go down with some clockwork robots and fight below. The rest were going to blast the air monsters.
The Return Page 10