With the new powers and horde size granted to him by the relics given to him by the dwarves, Zephyr was convinced that he could conquer Greenvale by himself without assistance. But alas, he did promise Luna that she could come with him to Greenvale, so the invasion went by much faster than he had hoped. Not that the opponents he was facing did help with that, give a lazy halfling masterwork dwarven gear, and he's still just a lazy halfling! The halflings of Greenvale were just as filthy and disgusting as the ones in Mellow Hills. Dirty dishes piled taller than Zepher, half-eaten or rotten food lying around everywhere. It was enough to make him feel sick. The only upside was that Luna was starting to unleash her inner evil. The moment she saw elves being enslaved to tend crops, she lost it. Ice flew from her staff like arrows into the hearts of every halfling she spotted, and her rangers made as much sport of hunting down the fleeing vermin. By the time castle Grumguard was secured, the halflings had surrendered unconditionally.
"Is it just me, or was this conquest just unsatisfying?" Zephyr said as he stepped into the throne room.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I've never felt more alive!" Luna said, almost bubbling with the thrill of her first conquest.
"You're just saying that because you don't know what it's supposed to feel like. A real battle is one where you don't know who's going to win in the end. If your not being pushed to your limits, then what's the point?"
"Seeing the looks on the runt's faces when you light their spouses and children on fire?" Luna asked, clearly not seeing the point of what Zephyr was trying to say.
"You're still getting used to embracing your dark side. Once you get over the initial rush of doing everything your peers told you you shouldn't, you'll see what I mean." An already dull situation was made all the worse when Gnarl had to contact him.
"Master, you are needed back at the tower!"
"I swear if this is another betrayal, I'll-"
"A dragon is attacking the tower, sire! It's after our- I mean your gold!" Zephyr's eyes grew wide with shock. Then his mouth formed a wicked grin. A dragon had not been seen in over a hundred years. The fact that one showed up to fuck with him specifically was a great honor in his mind.
"I was starting to think that nothing would ever challenge me! This is just what I needed! On my way to deal with the lizard!" Turning to make his way to the nearest tower gate, Zephyr saw the look of horror on Luna's face. It was almost precious.
"I take it you've just eavesdropped on that conversation?"
"HOW COULD YOU BE EXITED ABOUT FIGHTING A DRAGON!?" Luna's horrified question answering Zephyr's own.
"As I said, challenges are hard to come by. Now, unless you wanted to join me, you can secure the regen for integration into my dominion."
"Far be it from me to get in the way of your suicide. The moment we elves can say we rule ourselves, the better." Zephyr just rolled his eyes. He did not have time to discipline the snobby elf; he had a dragon to slay.
...
Stepping through the tower portal, He almost lost his footing from how the tower shook.
"Gnarl! What's the situation!?"
"The dragon is sieging the upper parts of the tower. And before you ask, mistress Rose is safe in the forge. The succubi are doing their best to try and handle the beast, and it seems the reds fire had no efect on the big iguana." Zephyr willed an entire horde of minions to him, about seventy now because of the newly acquired relics. Sprinting up the stairs, he managed to get onto the roof of his tower, the crown top making it look like the perfect arena. The succubi landed next to him, panting hard. Zephyr had never seen them this worn out.
"Report." He commanded them.
"The creature is massive. It is more than big enough to swallow even you whole, sire." Demona said between pants.
"We have barely been able to scratch it, let alone hurt it!" Jill said, panic clear in her voice. With an ear-splitting roar heralding its approach, the monster landed before them. The green monster was twenty feet tall from foot to shoulder, over twice that from snout to the tip of its tail. Its massive wings and enormous maw were both intimidating, but the most noticeable feature was its belly. A plate of diamonds fused together with what looked like Durium, making the creatures' most famous weak spots impossible to attack.
"SO, YOU ARE THE INFAMOUS OVERLORD ZEPHYR?" The dragon asked, looking him up and down, clearly unimpressed by what it saw.
"Indeed I am, beast. And by what name should I know you? So that I know what to put under your head when it's mounted to my wall!" The beast let out a laugh that shook the tower.
"MY, ARNT WE FULL OF PLUCK TODAY!? YOUR KILLERS NAME IS ISHACRA, BUT SOON ALL WILL KNOW MY NAME AFTER I TAKE YOUR TOWER AS MY LAIR." It then shot a concentrated beam of fire at Zephyr, who quickly blocked it with his shield spell. The dragon then took to the air and began to make strafing runs of the tower top.
"Aim for the creature's wings!" Zephyr said as he lined himself up to hit the dragon with one of his new spells. As Ishacra was coming in for another carpet flaming, Zephyr used his new shock spell to hit the beast in the face with a thunderbolt. It crashed down on the tower roof, and the moment it did, the minions swarmed. Reds fired into its eyes to keep it blind. Browns started taring at the wings to keep it from taking off. And the greens were slipping their punching blades under the dragon's scales, drawing first blood. The blues did as much as they really could, healing minions and keeping out of the dragon's attack range.
"OFF OF ME, YOU INSECTS!"
"This is what you get for attacking my tower, dumb ass!" Zephyr yelled as he started to swing his ax into the beast, shattering scales with every strike and making openings for his forces to attack it.
"ENOUGH!" Ishacra screamed as it got up, batting minions and succubi away with its tattered wings.
"MY WOUNDS WILL HEAL, WHAT I DO TO YOU WILL NOT!" swinging its massive tail and unleashing its terrible fire breath, it killed over half of the minion horde. Zephyr did not let up the attack. What he couldn't dodge, he weathered. Blasting lighting bolts and hacking away at the massive monster, Zephyr could tell that he was on the verge of killing the beast.
"Look's like someone bit off a little more than they could chew. Any last words before I make a decoration out of you!?"
"MORE THEN I CANE CHEW? YOUR BEARLY A MOUTH FULL. LET ME SHOW YOU!" The monster then lunged its massive head forward, snapping its jaws down around Zephyr, then quickly lifting its head up and swallowing him. The crushing presser of the throat muscles forcing him down was so strong that without his armors regeneration, his bones would have splintered. He soon found himself in the cramped, gooey, and all-around nasty-smelling stomach of the creature. It was so constricting that he could not even swing his ax, and if it were anyone but him in that belly, this would be the end. But he had a little trick up his sleeve, the infernal shield spell. Activating it, the whole world started shaking and convulsing around him, letting Zephyr know that it was working. Soon he was able even to begin taring his way through the otherwise constricting small belly space. Finding the other side of the stomach armor, Zephyr kicked it as hard as he could, walking out of the dragon's now gaping gut.
"Told you." Zephyr said smugly as he walked away from the limp corpse of the once fearsome dragon.
(Hello, this is your one true king, MRGOBLINKING7! Sorry that this took longer than usual to get out. I'm moving out of state, so uploads will be very chaotic and unpredictable. Hope you all have a wonderful life, my little goblins!)