Even this far from the Elitrean territories, the bloody desert was too damn hot. With no cloud cover in sight, the sun was relentless as it beat down on the dunes and the cracked dirt of the wasteland. As the cargo train raced through the desert on its rails, the guards lounging and patrolling on top of its metal roof couldn’t tell what was worse—that unrelenting sun, or the vibrations of the train cars and the cargo stored away inside of it as it hurtled on towards its destination.
“My bones ain’t gonna be able to take much more of this rattling,” one of the guards complained to a nearby compatriot.
Roas paid it little attention from where he sat on the edge of the train, just above the big Trigen Pharmaceuticals logo painted on the side of the machine. The baggy tan shirt he wore whipped about in the wind, and he kept Lancel clasped firmly in his hand.
“You know it’s a thirty-six hour ride,” one of the other guards said gruffly, barely heard over the noise of the train.
Roas frowned. That much was true—Mesia’s briefing said that this mission would be uneventful, but unusually long. Trigen Pharmaceuticals had close dealings with the Emeraude group, and, fearing an attack from the Dagenais corporation or one of its subsidiaries after the the assault on Kasuto, had wanted increased protection for one of their cargo transports, one that carried vital medical supplies needed in the more war-torn areas in the civil war.
The pay had been good, and Emil Valare had snapped it up, and here Roas found himself, staring out across a sun-blasted desert with the wind and the rattles of the train rushing in his ears as it raced from Elitrea to other parts of Exavil.
Mesia’s face suddenly appeared in front of Roas on a holographic screen, along with an overhead radar image. “I’m detecting a meteorological disturbance in the immediate area,” she told him as he opened one eye to view her. The map, highlighted in blues and whites, showed an increasingly large area blanketed in a static-y white color to the south, off the left side of the cargo train. “It looks to be a sandstorm, and it looks to be on a direct course with the transport.”
“Is it going to be a problem?” Roas asked, sitting up fully—now that he was sitting upright, he could see it—a splotch of brown and tan off on the horizon, whipping about furiously. The phenomenon seemed to be expanding, like some sort of writhing creature.
“I don’t think—wait,” Mesia cut off, the sound of something on her terminal carrying over the window. She frowned. “I’m picking something up. There seems to be movement within the storm.”
Roas looked about, seeing that the other guards on top of the train were also gesturing to the sandstorm and mobilizing, arming their weaponry and shouting out commands to one another. He frowned. “The others have picked up on that too,” he remarked. Lancel chimed from his wrist, detecting his thought processes.
“Main system: Engaging combat mode.”
“I’m reading high energy levels within the sandstorm, Roas,” warned the operator. “Be on your guard.”
Roas nodded, raising his Device into the air. “Roger that. Lancel, let’s go! Set Up!”
“Drive Ignition!”
Green light blazed around the mercenary for a brief moment, soon clearing and revealing his Barrier Jacket to the others with him atop the train. A few of them glanced in his direction, having had little contact with magic before. Roas himself noted some changes; the coat and tabard covering his bodysuit had darkened considerably, and his left arm had a metal band around the upper arm, proudly emblazoned with a symbol he couldn’t quite make out. He shot a look down at his Device as it formed around his arm, knowing it was Lancel that made the changes to his Barrier Jacket.
No time to remark on that now, though. The train was heading into a curve, and beginning to intersect with the sandstorm. The guards began swearing as they were plunged into the maelstrom, the sands pelting against their uniforms and getting into their armor and weaponry. The vehicle shuddered along the tracks as Roas’ senses went on high alert.
“Shit. Can’t see a thing in this mess,” one of the men nearby grumbled. “Hey, mage! You got a handy spell to deal with this crap?”
“Not my specialty,” was Roas’ reply as he opened up a window to analyze the surrounding area. The autobarrier of his Jacket kept the storm from bothering him overly much, but it couldn’t help any of the regular men guarding the train with him. Channeling, a runic circle appeared beneath his feet.
“Detection,” Lancel announced as several orbs materialized around Roas, spreading out at his silent command. The train car shuddered once more, harder than the last time, but the mercenary ignored it as the map window began to clear with the spell.
He couldn’t see much in his mind’s eye as the information was relayed back to him. There was a definite magical disturbance in the air, but it was only enough to prevent him from figuring out where the source of movement came from.
The train shuddered again as it raced along a straightaway, and Roas’ thought processes ground to a halt.
He spun about, looking over the side of the train car, staring at the ground as it went rushing by. The train shuddered again, more violently than before.
“Shit! Mesia, it’s under the ground!” he exclaimed.
“What?! Roas, be careful! I’ll alert the others!”
It went too late—something lithe and brown arced up over the machine, smashing a guard in the chest with such force that he was thrown from the car over the other side. He hit the ground and quickly disappeared as the train raced off. Shouts rose up within the defense crew.
“What the hell was that!?”
“Shit!”
“Where’s it coming from?!”
“Look out!” Roas shouted as another tendril shot up through the sands, its scythe-tipped end laying open one man’s armor and chest. More shot up from the sands, but by then Roas was on the move, his Device reconfiguring into its Slasher Form. His magical energy burst around the blade, forming an emerald sheathe as he pulled the trigger.
“Riser Sword.”
Bluish-purple ichor splattered both metal and guard as the fired blade sliced through the tentacles, hurling the writhing ends into the air. Startled guards stumbled back, barely regaining their footing in time as the bits and blood was scattered. Roas waved his hand through the air, forming Napalm Shots around the edge of the train, then threw his hand down, launching them into the sands. Explosions tore up clouds of sand, and the ground shuddered as something shifted beneath it, something massive burrowing away from the convoy.
Roas brought up a screen to check the area. Something had forcibly dispelled his Detection array, causing him to curse. “Mesia, can you track it?”
“I’m working on it. Something’s jamming the signal, though,” she told him. “Be careful. I think something’s wrong.”
The ground shuddered beneath the train once again. At this rate, it’d tear apart the tracks and wreck the train. “You can say that again,” Roas growled, dispelling the window. They were approaching a turn when the machine sped up, trying to outrace whatever was chasing them underground—it seemed to be working. Roas took to the air, and the train raced away beneath him, allowing him to reach the back cars of the train in short order. He forced himself back down from the improvised jump, landing among a few other guards that were nervously aiming their guns over the edge—they’d taken casualties back here too.
Roas sent more Napalm Shots over the edge, detonating the sand and forcing their… assailant, whatever was, back. Sand was being kicked up in an alarming manner, hundreds of small eruptions bursting up beneath the ground. But it was pulling back; the train was outpacing it. Roas marched past the guards, looking down onto one of the flatbed cars and the large drums tied down to it. “What’s in the containers?” he demanded, grabbing the nearest person by the shoulder and spinning him about to see what he was pointing Lancel at.
“What? Fuel. Spare fuel in case something went wrong.”
“Something has gone wrong,” Roas said, letting him go and dropping down onto the deck with a loud clang. “We’re using them.”
Lancel shifted forms, its blade swinging up and locking into place. “Slasher Form.”
He swung, severing the cabling holding the fuel drums in place. Their weight shifted instantly, the train’s run along the curving tracks quickly shaking them off their holding racks. Roas helped it along, lifting up a booted foot and slamming it hard against the base barrel, causing a chain reaction that sent the rest of the fuel drums hurtling off the train, scattering into the sound with great metallic clangs as they banged against one another. Roas grinned ruthlessly as they bounced straight for the mass that was chasing them through the sands.
Lancel reverted back to its Cannon Form as he took aim and gathered his mana, running the calculations through his head. Pale green light formed in front of the Device, gathering strength. A green hue formed in the mercenary’s vision as he locked on to the damaged barrels, and pulled the trigger.
“Aura Strafe.”
The beam lanced out and struck the center barrel almost immediately, and the reaction was instantaneous. Fuel ignited, causing fire to burst out in all directions. Shrapnel tore into the other barrels, exposing the fuel. It quickly burst into a massive explosion, the shockwave nearly dislodging the guards from their posts atop the train.
An unearthly shriek tore through the air as something massive, sinewy and brown, erupted from the explosion. Sunlight gleamed off of massive plates of chitin that surrounded the ring-like mouth of the creature, a flailing mass of tentacles whipping about along the beast’s spine. It writhed in the air before crashing down into the sand, giving Roas a perfect view of the thousands of teeth lining the inside of its mouth, and the glaring yellow eyes that stared right back at him.
For a brief, panicky moment, the mercenary could swear that the creature knew he had been the one to cause the explosion.
It shrieked again, and a hundred different tentacles dove into the ground in some kind of alien scooping motion, pulling the gigantic worm at speeds that didn’t seem possible for its massive girth.
“What the hell is that thing!?” a younger guard shrieked, terrified at the sight of the creature.
“Mesia, what’s going on?!” Roas demanded, gathering up more projectiles. “Are these things native to this planet!?”
It was a moment before the woman responded. “They’re rare, but Scarlet Dragons can be found on Exavil, Roas!” Mesia said, her voice in a hurry. “But this one seems too far from where they typically reside!”
“That means it’s a trap,” Roas growled.
Red-brown carapace undulated through the sands, propelling the beast forward at the train. As its sucker-like mouth burst from the ground again, it let out another horrifying screech.
“It’s coming!” someone shouted.
“Take it down!” another commanded, probably their captain. All at once, men raised up their mass drivers and opened fire, sending flechettes hurtling at the beast, punching into the creature’s thick carapace. Roas manifested more magic bullets and hurled them at the beast, hoping to do more damage. It barreled through the explosions as if they were nothing. Within moments it had caught up to them, throwing its sinewy body against the train. The vessel rocked on the tracks, causing Roas and the other guards to stagger with the movement.
“That thing’s going to wreck the train if it keeps that up!” the man’s voice shouted over someone’s transceiver. “Get that thing away from us, you idiots!”
The captain who had shouted approached Roas, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You better have a plan to kill that thing, mage!” he yelled to be heard over the rush of the train. “This thing can’t take much more abuse!”
This didn’t sound like the usual anger of someone catching another screwing up on the job. The mercenary stared back, frowning. “There’s a problem,” he said over the wind. It was not a question.
The captain nodded. “Some of that medical crap in this train is volatile,” he explained to him. “And Medical Mechanica is paying me enough money to make me care about what happens to it! If that monster ruptures something in there, we’re all dead, mage!”
Roas turned away from him, nodding. Little wonder why the company had wanted a mercenary mage for an escort. Once more he lifted up his Device.
“Napalm Shot.”
“Fire!” Roas shouted, pulling the trigger on Lancel. Green bullets shot through the air at the Scarlet Dragon’s body, only for various blurs to flash up from the side of the train, slapping the shots away. Roas watched in surprise as they hurled past, off into the desert, his control over them disrupted. What the hell just happened!? he thought in shock. Since when did creatures like this have that much power over magic?
The creature roared, its head rising up over the transport before it lunged at the mercenary, teeth skittering in its mouth as it tried to devour him. Biting off a curse, Roas took to the air, shooting up over the creature’s mouth before accelerating to keep up with the train—and the worm—before both could leave him in the dust. From his new vantage point, he could see as mass driver flechettes pounded away at the Scarlet Dragon’s hide, and the beast shrugged it off, pulling away from the train. Seeing his chance, the mercenary hurled more Napalm Shots down at the beast. Explosions kicked up sand as the beast growled and dove, burying itself once more.
He brought up a holographic screen to communicate with Mesia. “Is it leaving?” he asked, keeping his eyes down at the train.
“Seismic activity suggests otherwise,” replied the operator. “It’s likely searching for a new angle to attack from.
“Any idea on how to kill this thing then?”
There were several moments of silence on her end as she brought up information on the beast from the extranet. In that time, Roas saw clouds of sand beginning to kick up near the train again, further up and on the opposite side. He accelerated and landed among the middle cars, and he and the men nearby turned their attention and weapons onto it.
“Scarlet Dragons have tough carapaces, but magic should be able to pierce through it,” Mesia soon informed him. “Try using Lancel’s blade to cut into it at various locations. An attack that damages enough of its body all at once should kill it!”
“Here it comes!”
The creature erupted from the sands once more, tube-like mouth open in a skittering roar as it pulled its bulk through the dunes towards them, numerous tentacles diving in and out of the sands to pull it along. Its head lurched forward obscenely as it closed in on the train.
Lancel’s blade swung up and locked into place, becoming alight with green-colored magic as the other guards lifted up their mass drivers and opened fire. The beast ignored the shots chewing into its caparace and lunged into range, throwing its head and its tentacles forward at them. Roas shot into the air to meet them head-on, swinging his Device and slicing through the offending limbs as he shot past the creature’s face. Bits of chitin hurled through the air as the blade carved a long gouge through it, and the beast shrieked—a battle cry, or pain, Roas couldn’t tell—but it made the guards cringe from the noise.
The mercenary swung back around to attack again, racing at the creature’s back. More tentacles shot up from beneath the carapace to meet him, and he swerved through them, channeling and throwing a volley of Napalm Shots at the beast’s head. The Scarlet Dragon’s was engulfed in a pale eruption of light, but soon burst out of it with a roar, shoving its head down back into the sands. Its body writhed as it followed, arching and smashing into the train car. The unearthly sound of torn metal rent the air as the vessel rocked on its tracks, its frame being torn open by the creature’s serrated carapace. One unfortunate guard staggered and was thrown from the rooftop, disappearing into a cloud of sand and writhing tentacles before the train settled and straightened out.
Roas shot forward, accelerating to keep up with the train as it came around another bend in the tracks. Sweat rolled across his face as he flew, zeroing in on the disturbance in the sand that informed him of the next attack. The worm burst up from the ground with a roar, well ahead of the train, and began flexing its body in waves, causing its unusual crest and spines to expand unnaturally. Roas spat dust out of his mouth and channeled, forming a runic circle under his feet and gathering energy in front of Lancel as it returned to Cannon Form.
He pulled the trigger. “Aura Strafe.”
Green light lanced out at the beast, moving too fast for it to dive back beneath the safety of the desert sands. It smashed into its thorax, erupting into a brilliant explosion that quickly swallowed the Scarlet Dragon. Within moments it reappeared, snarling and unharmed as it charged at the train. Tendrils shot through the air at Roas as he banked away, scoring him twice across his side before he could escape. “What the hell!?” he exclaimed as he saw the beast scrape against the side of the traincars before disappearing beneath the sand again. “That didn’t even phase him!”
“Roas, I detected a shield being cast at the last moment when you attacked!” Mesia’s voice alerted him.
“Someone’s covering for that thing?” Roas demanded, looking ill at the thought of the creature having mage back-up.
Mesia shook her head negative, though. “No, Roas, I detected it coming from the Scarlet Dragon! It’s actually casting spells!” she told him.
“What? That’s impossible!”
“Something’s not right here, Roas. Be careful!”
The mercenary bit off a curse and accelerated to catch up with the train, glancing at its side to check the damage. The machine was built tougher than he thought, but it wouldn’t last very long if the worm continued to attack. And if it was using magic…
“Slasher Form.”
Lancel’s blade flipped and locked into place just as the beast erupted from the sands, and Roas was already hurtling down to meet it head on. He swung hard, throwing all his strength into a cutting blow at the creature’s eye, only for it to meet a blue-white shield in the familiar runic crest of Mid-Childa. Thunder crashed as the blade struck, trying to pierce through, but it was to no avail—clawed tentacles were swooping in, and the mercenary pulled back and spun, cleaving through them before they could get close. The beast lunged forward, its body squirming rapidly beneath the mercenary as more of its tentacles rushed up to attack.
He ducked and weaved, evaded the bladed instruments and shot into the air as the Scarlet Dragon burrowed past. Roas generated more Napalm Shots and hurled them back down at the worm, trying to harry the beast into retreating. But it only pushed on, shrugging off the explosions as it hurled its tendrils at the mage and the guards. This time he could see the shields it generated to defend against the attack. This… something like this couldn’t be a Scarlet Dragon.
What in the hell was he fighting against?
Suddenly, half of the tendrils that flailed about the creature went rigid, their bladed ends all aimed outwards. Warning bells went off in Roas’ head; something changed. He banked away from the creature, diving towards the sands. And just in time, too: brilliant lances of energy burst up from the tentacles, tearing through the sky at the area he had just been in.
“Tch!”
This thing was showing off new abilities by the minute. He had to kill this thing, and quick, or else it’d tear the whole damn train apart. Roas threw himself forward, accelerating past the Scarlet Dragon and its attacks, leaving exploding Napalm Shots in his wake as he twisted through the beast’s own projectiles. Lancel shifted forms and he suddenly decelerated, his form slipping past the rampaging beast and the train as his magic-sheathed blade ripped into its carapace, too fast for the worm to react—it screeched in rage, disengaging and diving back underneath the sand. Roas quickly accelerated once more, rushing to catch up with the speeding train, preparing for the next counterattack—he could see the transport shuddering from the quakes of the Scarlet Dragon’s movements beneath the ground.
But instead of the worm bursting up from the sound with a shriek, tentacles instead shot upwards, ensnaring him around a leg. He let out a curse and twisted about as more shot around his waist and throat, binding him in place as the worm followed up after it—looks like he’d finally pissed it off enough to get it after him directly. “You—little—!” he choked out as another limb wrapped around his arm and Lancel, constricting painfully to make sure he couldn’t cut his way free.
“Roas! Look out!” Mesia’s voice screamed over the communications.
His gaze shot up just in time to see the more of the tentacles hurtling in; he threw all his energy into flight to try and break free. The bladed limbs tore into his barrier jacket and into the flesh of his side, narrowly missing a fatal blow. How had he…? Ah, right—the creature was still giving chase to the train; it couldn’t devote all its energy into holding him down to kill him. “Let go you little bastard!” he snarled, yanking with his right arm, trying to free himself. Twice more the beast struck, lashing out with the serrated tips on its tentacles to lay open his Barrier Jacket and the skin beneath. Blood seeped into the magically-woven fabrics, causing it to stick uncomfortably to his wounds.
Gunfire suddenly cut through the air beside him, and mass driver flechettes smashed into the side of the Scarlet Dragon near where it held Roas captive. He bit off a curse as one of them came uncomfortably close to his head, and pulled, wrenched—then got the wind knocked out of him as something exploded in front of him. The rocket threw fire everywhere, burning through several of the tentacles and cauterizing the wounds before they could spray ichor all over him. His body rocked back from the shockwave, narrowly protected by his autobarrier, and renewed his struggles—within moments, Lancel came free and channeled.
“Riser Slash.”
The energy sheath blazed through the tendrils surrounding his legs and waist, and Roas was free, pulling away from the enraged beast to land on the train, where the guards were busy reloading their bazooka for the next attack. The Scarlet Dragon was wounded, its carapace gouged and torn, its tentacles incinerated, but it showed no sign of giving up the chase. It lunged again, and its ridged shell once more cut into the train, causing it to rock on the tracks and force everyone to regain their balance.
“How the hell are we gonna kill that thing?!” one of the guards demanded, his nerve lost at fighting such a menacing creature.
“Lancel,” Roas said, bringing the Device up to bear. “Think we have a shot at Mesia’s plan? Hitting it enough spots all at once?”
“Affirmative, comrade.”
A runic circle burst out from beneath him. “Then let’s go!” Roas shouted, generating Napalm Shots around him. He hurled them forward, detonating them around the worm’s face and warding it off from its incoming attack.
“Hold it off!” he ordered, generating more projectiles. “Keep it from attacking again!”
Another rocket was launched at the beast, and it exploded harmlessly against its magic shield. Flechettes and Napalm Shots followed after it, detonating into a massive wall of energy. The rampaging worm recoiled from the attacks, releasing a screech that was cut off as it burrowed into the sand once more to escape the heat. The ground rumbled beneath the train, causing everyone to try and retain their balance once more.
“Damn thing won’t give up, will it!?”
“They don’t pay us enough for this shit.”
“Quit your bellyachin’! Get ready for when that thing comes back!”
I have to kill it now. If the train takes any more damage, we’re all dead. What can I do? Roas pondered. His grip on Lancel tightened as he mentally scanned through all of the ranged spells he knew of. There was only one that he knew that could kill the creature in a single attack. Void Cascade… Can I use it, though?!
No, it wouldn’t work. The amount of mana he’d need to build up was too much for the time they had. He couldn’t be sure that he’d get a direct hit on the beast without obliterating the train in the process, if the wild track path didn’t ruin his aim in the first place. He clenched his teeth in frustration. There had to be another way!
The ground shook once more, causing the damaged transport to shudder beneath everyone’s feet. The beast was returning. Roas brought his Device up, ready to attack, when the beast suddenly lurched up from the sands beside the train car he stood on. Its body arched over the transport, nearly slamming it off of its rails as the serrated edge of its carapace tore into its side and out through its roof. A mass of shell and flesh followed as the beast dove into the sand on the other side of the transport, and the guards began to flee, screaming curses and pleas as they tried to get to the car further up. Roas cursed as he realized what the Scarlet Dragon was trying to accomplish and took to the air, grabbing the guard captain by the cuff of his shirt.
Just in time, too. The man’s curses were cut short as the worm burst up once more, its teeth skittering and its tentacles writhing as it lunged over the train, clearly going in to constrict it. “The hell is it doing!?” the captain demanded.
“It’s going to destroy the train,” was the mercenary’s reply. He landed and threw the captain back onto the train car, ignoring his squawk of indignation as he channeled his magical energy into more spells. A dozen Napalm Shots manifested around him just as the beast dropped its weight down upon the machine.
The scream of torn metal obliterated their hearing, and the men standing on the train were thrown off their feet by the shock of creature landing atop the train—many bounced off the metal roof, falling into the sands below and disappearing in the wake of the Scarlet Dragon’s onslaught. The tracks underneath were torn to shreds as the remainder of its coiled body still pushed through the dunes, forcing it along with the now-slowing train.
Roas was lucky to take to the air when he did. Nearly half of the men had been thrown off in that attack. From his vantage point, he could see the captured train car beginning to buckle as the beast constricted. Metal screamed where the undamaged part of the train’s wheels bit into the tracks, the sound piercing through the survivors’ skulls. Shakily, they took up arms again, aiming and open firing at the creature. The rounds bounded uselessly off of more Round Shields it summoned, and shrieked in an alien manner. Roas dove forward and thrust Lancel forward, hurling his spells at the beast to break through its defenses.
The attack did little more than anger it, and once more, it freed some of its tentacles. Particles of magic gathered into its own projectiles, and soon waves of energy were hurling through the air, forcing the mercenary to duck and weave around them. He channeled more Napalm Shots, hurled them at the beast, but to no avail—even as it turned itself into a massive anti-air flak cannon, the Scarlet Dragon diverted none of its magical reserves from its shields; an impossible feat.
At this rate, he had two options. But if I miss with Void Cascade, we’re screwed, Roas thought. It was too big a risk.
Beneath him, the train lurched—up ahead, the main engine picked up speed, trying to prevent the beast from slowing it down further and derailing the whole thing; it was a miracle it hadn’t toppled already. Roas was left no other choice.
A communication to Mesia opened up. “What’s in the car that bastard’s crawling over?!” he demanded, causing her to jump.
“W-What?”
“The car, Mesia! They told me there’s dangerous chemicals on board; are they in there or not?!”
Mesia swallowed and looked down at her screens, her hands flying over the keyboard as she used the Leganza shuttle’s sensors to scan the train. “Yes, they’re in there and the car behind it! Roas, what’re you doing?”
Roas ignored her question as he flew backwards, keeping pace with the train. “Lancel, get ready! We’re killing that thing right here, right now!”
“Roger, comrade!”
Roas switched directions, bolting forward—his autobarrier deflected a stray energy blast and he dove around a second, swinging his Device out to his side. Lancel reconfigured, its form molding itself while the underslung blade swept around into its Slasher Form. Roas calculated and channeled, generating a Riser Slash and using it to smash away another projectile.
The beast’s face lunged, its teeth chattering as it tried to swallow him whole. It only bit into a section of the forward car, tearing a chunk of metal away as he dove and dug his feet into the front of the next car. Twisting around, he swung his arm, and the train lurched once more, suddenly pulling free as its coupling was severed in twain.
Tentacles hurled in at its prey, and one clawed end tore through his autobarrier and barrier jacket, sending blood flying into the dust before Roas could escape and give chase after the train. Cursing and gripping the wound, Roas accelerated, twisting himself around and away from the worm’s return fire. Within moments, he was back at the train, which was rapidly pulling away from the Scarlet Dragon. The beast screamed in rage as it began to untangle its body from the train, but Roas would have none of it.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he growled, landing atop the back of the train. A runic circle burst out from beneath his feet, and Lancel reconfigured, its blade swinging back underneath his arm. Energy gathered around a targeting ring in front of his Device’s barrel, and Napalm Shots burst up around it. “Time to die, you son of a--!”
“Aura Strafe!” Lancel announced, and he pulled the trigger. Two dozen Napalm Shots swarmed around a piercing lance of green light that crossed the distance in an instant. The beam punched through the front end of the car, and the Napalm Shots shot under and around the Scarlet Dragon, foregoing exploding against its shields uselessly in order to slip into the ruptures the beast had made of its frame. They all came together and detonated.
The result was instantaneous—the entire train car was completely obliterated in a spectacular explosion of green light and yellow-orange fire. The Scarlet Dragon screamed once, cutting off a second later as the shrapnel from the train cut through its shields and its carapace, mincing its body into pieces. The shockwave further mulched its soft insides, sending bits of metal and hunks of orange-gray meat hurtling through the air.
A cry of victory and survival rose up from the other guards as they saw the beast’s death. Their captain was sent muttering at the loss of his men and the destruction of a good portion of the train and the supplies carried within, and Roas remained silent, glaring at the column of smoke that was quickly disappearing into the horizon.
A communication screen appeared once more, and Mesia’s face appeared before him, frantic. “Roas! Are you alright?” she asked, distraught. He nodded to her.
“I’m here. That thing’s dead, and the train’s intact. Mostly.”
That made her wince. There was little doubt in either of their minds that Leganza Tech Enterprises would have to cover the cost of the damages and the lost equipment and supplies.
The guard captain was coming up behind him. “What the hell was that thing, mage?” he demanded, looking angry—he’d lost a lot of good men in that fight. “I’ve heard of those worms before, but I ain’t ever heard of one of them doing crap like that!”
Roas shook his head. He had no answer for that—all Scarlet Dragons had innate magical ability, but more often than not their Linker Core was small and with their questionable sentience, their magical talent and was so poor most people were certain they couldn’t even use the most basic of spellcrafting. Certainly nothing on the level of what that… thing… had accomplished. It wasn’t natural.
"Mission complete," Lancel spoke, text scrolling across its interface crystal. "System switched to normal mode."
The train rattled beneath their feet as it hurtled on to its destination, leaving Roas and Mesia with plenty of questions, and no answers in sight.