(AUTHOR'S NOTE: this chapter is basically to give the story a little bit of it's lost spice. Basically, the majority of the chapter is fighting. Everything between the X's are just fight scenes. Everything else I would advise reading. Also, there are probably going to be some minro spelling errors but just disregard them. I promise the real story picks back up in the next chapter. Sorry if these chapter seems a little pointless, but regardless I hope you enjoy!)
Chapter 12: Battle At The Portal
Draggo and Drake's group raced through the forest with great haste. They had to reach the portal to the Emerald Dream before that nefarious warlock Nal did. When they arrived, several large demons patrolled the immediate area. Two large green dragons were sprawled across the ground, their bodies savagely mutilated. Fenron and Tygra cringed at the despicable sight. Standing before the portal stood Nal. He was channeling a black energy at some vines that were keeping the portal closed.
"Nal! I'm going to was my blade in your blood!" hollered Draggo as he swooped down ahead of the group towards the gnome. Nal turned back for a moment, acknowledging the orc, and then returned his attention to the portal.
One of the pit lords nearby threw himself between Nal and Draggo, soaring upwards at the orc. Frostwing latched his fangs onto the pit lord's throat and bit down hard, blood gushing from the wound. The pit lord roared angrily and began to pry the dragon from his throat. The demon managed to rip Frostwing from his neck and grip him tightly in his hand. The pit lord then raised his mighty lance and swung it down at the dragon. Draggo reacted quickly and blocked the blow with his shield. Harnessing his anger, Draggo took out his blade and slashed off the demon's hand, dropping him and his dragon to the ground. Draggo quickly got to his feet and ran past the shocked demon towards Nal.
Draggo roared and leaped at the gnome. The image of Frin's smoldering corpse resonated through his mind giving the orc a surge of near supernatural strength. When Draggo attempted to slay the gnome, Nal quickly turned and held up his hand, a small black barrier acting as a shield. Dragons Strike clashed against the surface, a combination of blue and black energies swirling around the wall and blade in a maelstrom of power. Ultimately Nal shoved his hands forward and knocked Draggo back.
Before Draggo could get up, a wrath guard was approaching the orc with axe held over his head. The demon brought it down, but Draggo managed the grab the blade with his hand, his plated armor taking the brunt of the blow. He then gripped the blade tightly and yanked the demon to the ground and climbed on top of the stunned demon. His fists bombarded the demon's face like a meteor shower of anger and fury. The bladed edges of his gloves slashed and crushed the demon's face into an unrecognizable mass of bloody remains. Draggo rose to his feet to see more demons encroaching upon him. He quickly began to grab his shield and sword, but a sorcerer standing several yards behind him blasted him from behind with a spell, sending the orc to the ground and his weapons soaring. His only form of defense were his fists.
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The rest of the expeditionary group had already begun to battle the demons that initially guarded the portal. Drake was the first to notice Draggo's predicament.
"Quickly, someone get to Draggo!" called out Drake as he looked around the battlefield. Everyone was occupied with fending off the demons. He knew if he had any chance of saving his friend he would have to slay every demon between him and Draggo.
Drake was in a battle with two large dread lord brutes. They assaulted the young paladin with a flurry of unrelenting claws and nefarious shadow attacks, but the paladin managed to persevere. One of the dread lords lunged at Drake with it's fangs bared menacingly; Drake responded by impaling the demon with his sword. The demon seemed unaffected and pushed itself through the blade, grasping Drake by the throat. It lifted him up in the air, an easy target for the other dread lord who was already charging at the defenseless human.
Before the demon reached him, a blast of light fell from the heavens and knocked the demon to the ground. The blast had come from Sylvia, who had been standing nearby. The dread lord quickly began to rise to it's feet and charged at Sylvia. The priestess was not specialized for battle, but for support. She blasted the demon with spells, but they couldn't even slow his advancement. Sylvia looked in horror as the beast approached her growling viciously.
Drake summoned the light as a golden ray of light erupted from his hands, temporarily incapacitating the demon holding him. Drake ripped himself from the demon's grip and then ripped his sword upwards out of the demon slicing it in half. He quickly turned and ran for Sylvia. He protected her with a shield of light just as the demon launched a shadowy spell at Sylvia. The spell sizzled on the surface of the shield before evaporating. Drake soared through the air with his sword held high above his head. He landed on the ground, plunging his blade into the chest of the demon on the way down. The sword began to grow brilliantly as Drake surged the Light through its blade. The demon howled in agony as light erupted from his eyes and mouth. The demon was then obliterated into a hazy mist.
"Stay close to me, Sylvia. Back me up and we'll get through this!" ordered Drake. Sylvia was shocked at the tone of his voice. The once calm and tact Drake had become a commanding heroic general.
"Uh,, y-yes sir." gasped Sylvia. Drake nodded and charged back into the fray Sylvia close at his back.
Nearby, Kataya and Crether were surrounded by sorcerers. Each demonic magister's hands were engulfed in some kind of mystical entity. The demons fired their spells sporadically. Kataya was a powerful mage and could counter any spell known to the mortal realms and then some. Crether was as swift as the northern winds, and just as elusive. His skillfully drifted across the ground like a specter of death as he executed the sorcerers mercilessly.
Crether was fired at from several different directions by sorcerers. He quickly dropped a small bag on the ground causing a smog to shroud the rogue. When the spells collided within the smog, the black smoke was blown away showing nothing…not even remains. Crether appeared behind one of the sorcerers and sliced the spell caster into bloody chunks in mere seconds. More spells darted at Crether, but the rogue leaped out of the way. While suspended in the air, Crether spun his body around, launching throwing knifes at the ministers. The spinning blades dismember the sorcerers, quickly bringing them to their demise.
Crether killed several more demons before one of the sorcerers latched onto his back and dugs its claws deep. The rogue brutally jabbed his blade into the demon on his back, but the sorcerer was determined. While Crether was distracted a rain of fire fell upon him. Crether began to burn, along with the sorcerer, who was keeping the rogue grounded. Crether managed to rip the spell caster from his back and soared into the air out of the flames. Crether was reaching for more knives when a shadow spell hit the rogue in mid air. Crether dropped to the ground with an intense thud.
Kataya let out an annoyed sigh and then faced the demons who were circling her and chanting. Kataya clenched her fists momentarily as flames began to burst from the creases of her fingers. When the mage opened her fists, two torrents of flames bellowed at, shooting outward several feet. Kataya spun around, roasting the sorcerers two slow to cast a spell to protect themselves. One of the demonic sorcerers countered with a fire spell of it's own, but the sorcerer was outmatched. As the flames reached Kataya, she gracefully caught the flames in her palm and twirled it around, tossing it to her other hand. The flame was redirected and sent back at the sorcerer with twice as much power. A large wall of darkness interpolated itself between the demon and the flame, but the flames exploded on contact, taking the demon along with it.
Kataya was firing a combination of fire, frost, and arcane spells, when several sorcerers began to chant in unison. Kataya was concerned and saw the demons making odd hand gestures. Suddenly, the demons chanting howled and the ground surround Kataya turned black. Tentacles of shadow shot out from the ground and wriggled in the air before attempting to wrap themselves around the mage. Kataya twirled to the left as the first tentacle missed her barely, then she pivoted right, this tentacle close enough to cut off some of her hair. Kataya quickly acted as she noticed she would not be able to avoid the third tentacle. She encased her fists in sharp jagged ice just as the tentacle reached her. She sliced it at the tip, forcing the tentacle to recoil as if it were in pain.
Kataya snickered for a moment, reveling in her victory before one of the other tentacles wrapped itself tightly around the mage. Kataya's eyes began to glow white as arcane energy began to resonate from her body, pushing the tentacle off, but the shadowy figure was relentless. It only tightened it's grip. Kataya looked on in horror as another tentacle came in for the final blow.
Before Kataya could meet her demise, Crether intervened and glided through the air, awaking from his stupor only moments ago. His blades shredded back and forth through tentacle, chopping it down to pieces that evaporated into a black haze. Kataya created a large arcane bubble around herself and finally broke the tentacles titanic grip on her. The mage landed gracefully next to the rogue who was cautiously watching the crowds and what remained of the tentacles.
"Thank you for the assistance my ally…" said Kataya in an almost suggestive and sensual tone. Crether merely replied by staring at her blankly. Kataya frowned for a moment and then studied the crowd.
"Hold on!" ordered Kataya as she grasped Crether's wrist. Kataya blinked the two high into the air, avoiding several spells fired upon them by the sorcerers. Kataya engulfed herself and Crether in a floating bubble of arcane energy and began to chant words and twirl her hands. Kataya recited the last words of the spell with emphasis as a large arcane symbol appeared on the ground around the sorcerers. Before the demons knew what hit them, arcane energy erupted from the symbols lines, eradicating the sorcerers. Kataya sloppily brought the bubble to the ground as she and Crether stumbled out of it. Crether turned to the mage who was breathing heavily, exhausted from the immense spell.
"You do good thing…" rasped Crether in a distant voice. Kataya merely grinned as she attempted to get to her feet.
Drek'val and Neluun were two fierce shamans. Although Drek'val had not had time to fully mend his wounds, he was still a powerful adversary. His fighting style was very unique. His fist blades were released as the blades lay on the ground, connected to his fist by a chain. Using his troll like dance moves, Drek'val swung the blades around in a flurry of dancing blades.
Several brutish dread lords were storming at the troll when Drek'val began to nimbly glide across the ground. Drek'val called upon the flames to accompany him in his dance of death. One by one, the demon were charred and dismembered. More demons began to assault the troll, but Drek'val was prepared. The shaman raised a totem from the earth that engulfed itself in flames. Suddenly, a large flaming elemental crept forward and threw it's hands in the air. Before the demons could assess the situation, the elemental was bustling through the crowd, smashing and burning the demons. Drek'val looked over his shoulder at Neluun and snickered in a snide manner.
"Real shamans come from da Horde." chortled Drek'val. Neluun was not impressed.
Neluun began to spin around at monstrous speeds, gathering up the air around him in a cyclone. The shamanistic tornado cut through the crowd with winds strong enough to slice through flesh. Neluun ceased his attached and looked around. Many demons were dead, but more were alive. Four dread lords hurled themselves at Neluun, but the draenei lifted himself high up on the air. A thundercloud began to form above him and his eyes glowed like lighting. A bright flash of electricity surged from the thunder cloud, striking Neluuns large crystal mace like a lighting rod. Neluun came down like a meteor smashing his might hammer into the ground with immense power. Electricity surged out around him, zapping all of the demons surround them. A large crater surround the draenei, electricity still surging through his body. Neluun slowly turned to Drek'val, his eyes still sparking.
"You know nothing of being a true shaman you mongrel." bellowed Neluun. Drek'val snarled as his chain wrapped around the neck of a demon and severed it's head.
Fenron and Tygra were both in bear form staring down their opponents with Longshot mounted ontop Betsy his hand on her canons. Tygra initiated the battle. She pounced onto a nearby dread lord and began to tear away at its pale dry flesh. The demon attempted to rip the druid from his body, but Tygra was a monster. A nearby wrath guard swung his sowrd at Tygra's back hoping to get an easy kill, but Fenron grasped the blade within his jaws and snapped it in two. The demon snarled and swung his other blade at Fenron. He sidestepped the attack and knocked the demon to the ground with one powerful swipe of his paw. Longshot began to fire the cannons into the oncoming crowd of demons. The explosions blasted groups of demons into the air.
Betsy's cannons soon ran out of ammo and Longshot quickly began to reload the large projectiles into the firing chamber. He was quickly alerted to oncoming danger by a cautious growl from Betsy. Longshot turned and saw a wrath guard with a large broadsword held high over his head. Longshot reached for the gun on his back. He realized he didn't have enough time to get a shot off so the dwarf simply blocked the attack with the large blade attached to the end of his blade. The force of the blow knocked the dwarf from his mount onto the ground behind Betsy. The bear roared in distress and attempted to retrieve her master, but she was soon overrun by demons and was forced to focus her attention on her own safety.
Longshot was lying on his back using all of his strength to hold off the demons blade. The demons black eyes wrapped themselves around the dwarf attempting to force him to abandon all hope, but Longshot was more resilient than that. His dwarves pirde is what he used to keep himself alive. Lonsgot reached for one of his side arms, a powerful pistol and placed the barrel on the demons forehead.
"Nighty nigh ya dirty scoundrel!" chuckled Longshot as he blasted the demon off of him. Longshot quickly jumped to his feet and looked around. Large burly demons towered above the dwarf, but once again, he was not intimidated. Longshot began to spray bullets across the the wall of demons, slaughtering many of the murderous beasts. Whenever one would come close, Longshot would roll out of the way of their attacks and cut them down with the blades he had attached to his weapons.
During one of his close encounters a abnormally large dread lord smacked Longshot's rifle from his hand. Longshot attempted to grab his other rifle, but the dread lord pumped his wings, causing a guts to knock Longshot on his back. The dread lord leaped at longshot and thrust his long gruesome nails at the defensless dwarf. Longshot spread his legs out, barely avoiding the long claws of the demons that tore through the earth like a drill. Longshot quickly ripped two pistols from his leg holsters and began to blast the demon with a flurry of large high powered bullets. The dread lord stepped back and faltered slightly, but soon regained his composure and roared at the gnome that was causing him a large deal of frustration.
"Persistent one arent ye!? No worry, I be havin something special for you!" said Lonsghot in a near sadistic tone. Longshot emptied the clips from his pistols and reloaded his guns with a special large red bullet. Longshot was beginning to aim his pistols when the dread lord thrust his arm forward firing a large shadowy blast of demonic energy at the dwarf. Longshot dove to the right, avoiding the blast and firing a shot from both of his pistols. The red bullets bolted through the air and exploded upon impact, leaving a large gaping hole in the demons chest. The dread lord snarled before collapsing onto the ground.
"C'mon! I'll kill the whole lot of ya, ya bloody bastards!" antagonized the dwarf as he began to blast away at more demons.
Meanwhile, Tygra and Fenron were deep in combat. Tygra had reverted to her feline form and was a divine beast of death. Her sleek an majestic appearance contradicted her ferocity. The two druids were hacking away at a group of demons when two portals burst from the ground. The druids looked on in anticipation as large demonic hell hound creatures stepped out snarling. The demons were voracious looking creatures with jagged spikes lining their back and exceptionally long fangs and teeth. Their pelts were blood red and their eyes were a deep ominous white. The monsters roars' echoed throughout the forest as they charged the druids.
Tygra roared just as voraciously and pounced onto one of the demons. The two engaged in a duel of fang and claw, evenly matched. The hell hound managed to get on top of Tygra and wrapped its mandibles around her throat. Tygra moaned in agony, feeling the demons fangs protrude deep within her neck. Fenron charged over and smashed the demon with his large horns, removing him from Tygra. Tygra painfully rose to her foot and saw the Fenron had his own troubles. Three hellhounds were latched onto him and clawing away at his flesh. Fenron savagely attempted to beat the hounds off of him, but they were determined to shred the druid to pieces. Tygra began to assist her partner and tear away at the demons latched onto Fenron. The two druids eventually managed to remove all of the hounds from Fenron, although both had been weakened.
In the fray, the druids had managed to kill several of the hounds. In the end, it was Tygra and Fenron versus four hell hounds. Each side roared as the two charged each other and dug their claws and fangs into their foes' flesh.
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Drake looked over the crowd of demons encroaching upon him and Sylvia to see Draggo, still engulfed by demons. The orc was still fending off his demon's with his bare hands. Frostwing flew over head growling in distress due to in its inability to assist his master.
Draggo heaved heavily as he glared at the demons who all had sadistic grins sprawled across their faces. Draggo's ears caught the sound of foot steps from behind. Draggo pivoted around and caught a blade of a wrath guard just before it collided with his head. Draggo grabbed the sword with both hands and swung the demon around knocking down every demon iin a five yard radius of his body. He then slammed the wrath guard onto the ground, leaving him as a broken heap. Draggo felt a sharp pain surge through his leg as he fell to the ground. Another wrath guard had smashed it's axe into his leg. Draggo fought through the pain and swung his arm at the demon's legs, knocking it flat on it's back. Once the demon was incapacitated Draggo leaped on top of the demon and unleashed a shower of power packed hay maker punches onto the demon, smashing it's armor like rotten fruit. While Draggo was getting to his feet a dread lord delivered a powerful blow. Draggo's helmet was knocked clean off of his head and Draggo soared backwards crashing onto the ground.
Injured and exhausted, the orc attempted to get to his feet, but he soon found himself being lifted in the air with the dread lords hand pulling him up by the top of his head. Draggo began to wind up for a punch, but more demons quickly restrained the orc from attacking the dread lord. It was over. He was defeated.
The dread lords face was contorted in an odd way due to his malicious grin and sadistic expression. The demon whispered something in demon tongue before tightly squeezing Draggo's head. Draggo was a proud and strong warrior. He did not plead for his life nor did he scream and cry in agony. He merely glared at the demon with anger as he endured the pain. He would not give this demon the satisfaction seeing him squirm
Suddenly, the demons tight loosened and his malicious grin turned into an angered snarled. Draggo could faintly hear a high pitched whistle as the dread lord winced strangely. A sharp, jagged, well crafted arrow burst through the dread lords chest forcing the demon to growl in pain. Several flying daggers followed instantly killing several of the demons restraining Draggo. With their power over him diminished, Draggo burst from the demons grip and smacked them away like meddlesome flies. Draggo then ripped the arrow from the dread lords chest and thrust it deep into it's skull. The dread lord snarled and hissed something in demon tongue before falling on his face. Several other others were protruding from the dread lord's back. Draggo looked beyond the crowd of boisterous demons and saw three figures: a troll a blood elf, and an orc. The orc and the blood elf were charging into the crowd while the troll stayed back and fired arrows into the crowd.
"Father! Hold on! Help's on the way!" called out the orc. He threw one of his swords over the demons heads and into Draggo's hands. Draggo sneered almost sinisterly as he turned to the crowd. He poised himself for combat before charging head on into the crowd.
Blade in hand, Draggo soon fought his way back to his sword and shield. The weapons seemed to revitalize him. Draggo took his revenge upon every single demon, cutting them down like worthless cattle. Draggo met his son and the elf in combat.
"Defiant as ever I see. Couldn't follow your old man's orders and stay home?" said Draggo in a fatherly tone.
"Don't start with me dad. We both know I just saved you from you demise." chuckled Draggar.
"True, but how many times have I had to pull your ass out of the fire?" asked Draggo in a triumphant tone. Draggar remained silent.
"Well, you wouldn't be a Dragonblade if you always did things by the books. C'mon. Let's clean this place up." snarled Draggo as he charged back into the army of demons.
Within moments, Draggo, Draggar and Haldamir had cleared out the demon force guarding Nal. Behind them, the rest of the group had managed to kill their demons as well. Draggo began to charge the gnome ready to rid the monstrosity from the world when a bright green flash burst from the portal. Draggo covered his eyes from the brilliant lush light. When the light died down Draggo uncovered his eyes and gazed upon the portal. A swirling green mass of energy swirled like a whirlpool within the marble structure. Nal cackled manically as he turned to face his adversaries.
"Behold the power that is the Burning Legion! We will not be stopped! We can not be stopped! The Legion will conquer all!" boomed the demonic gnome. A black shadow crept out from under Nal's feet and zipped across the earth like the shadow of a fish under the water. The shadow then reached the dead dragons that had once protected the portal and wrapped itself around them The dragons were absorbed into a black orb like object and lifted into the air. In an instant, to horrific beasts burst from their shadowy wombs.
Though the creatures resembled dragons, they were mere shadows of their former selves. Their verdant scaly skin had become coarse, black, and rugged. Their eyes were but shadows, one being unable to know what they are looking at. Their wings were torn and broken, but somehow the monsters managed to keep themselves suspended in the air. Twisting menacing spikes erupted from their bodies, particulary around their heads.
"What have you done to them!?" cried Tygra at the sight of the travesty that had befallen the dragons.
"I transcended them. I brought them to their…potential…Do not fret. You shall all soon meet your true potential…Whether it be in life or death!" sneered Nal as he began to walk towards the portal. Draggo roared in the aggravation of Nal's arrogance. He took up for his final charge upon the gnome, but destiny would once again intervene. One of the shadow dragons dove down and crashed onto the pedestal between and Nal and Draggo. The beast roared, but made no move.
"Finish him…" hissed Nal as he entered the portal. A moment later, the monster was charging at Draggo, it's mouth lined with voracious drooling fangs wide open. It smashed one mighty paw down that Draggo managed to block with his shield. The shadow dragon continued to beat down on Draggo until he was caught off guard by the other shadow dragon and was knocked back several yards. Draggo painfully pulled himself to his feet as his allies surrounded him.
"Rest Draggo, you're in no condition to fight these behemoths. Leave this one to us." ordered Drake. Draggo proudly ignored Drake and stood tall gripping his weapons tightly with unwavering resolve.
"No. As long as the taint of that bastard Nal flows courses through these poor souls veins' I will relinquish them of their curse…For Frin's sake." grumbled Draggo as he staggered to the front of the warrior.
"Father stop! You once told me a wise warrior knows when to fall back." pleaded Draggo as he placed his hand firmly on his father's chest holding him back. Draggo looked into his son's eyes with a look that Draggar had never seen. For the first time in Draggar's life, though he had known the towering mass of muscle and power as a kind gentle soul, he saw his father as such a harsh soldier. In the deepest confines of his minds there was even part of him that feared his father in that moment.
"A never said I was wise warrior." grumbled Draggo. Even Frostwing he was nearby seemed to grumble at his master's brash action. Draggo stared down the oncoming shadow dragons and charged. He released a determined howl with his allies at his back. They had to kill these shadow dragons as quickly as possible. The longer the dwelled here, the closer Nal got to obtaining the final piece of Ghal'Rok'Gor.