Chapter 684 Retreat Interference
'I can't risk it…'
The very fabric of Adrien's plan hinged on the fickle trust of the Dragon Generals. Yes, he always had contingencies, but it wasn't something he could just afford to use in such a scenario.
'If there is an obvious pitfall, it's best I avoid it altogether.' He sighed to himself.
Adrien already suspected that Ce'phas must have had a similar goal in mind when he told Adrien to go with the Commanders. The General probably wanted some form of slip-up so he would finally be able to fight Adrien.
He wasn't taking the bait, though.
'I already used Enchanted Items with Recording Magic to capture everything going on here and report back to the Generals in the Camp… just so they can see what's going on.'
He constantly observed the Items too, ensuring that they remained unaffected and consistently sent the occurrences of the battlefield to the Generals in real time. All three of them had to be carried along on everything, not just relying on his anecdotes.
'It's possible that the Commanders end up giving biased reports regarding me and this entire event, so this is meant to provide the raw and objective report on the issue.'
Even with all of these precautions, it was too dangerous for him to give an order that would end in the death of any Commander.
Now wasn't the time for any kind of action.
"We are retreating…" Adrien turned to the Commander the moment he spotted the death of his last Undead Dragon.
The battle was over: they lost.
"We'll return to the Camp and give our reports to the Generals." He could see the annoyed faces of the Dragons. Their pride meant a great deal to them, and this crushing defeat served to badly damage their ego despite they not being participants of the frenzy.
Adrien ignored all of that, though.
'I most likely saved your lives.' He thought to himself, preparing his Spatial Magic. 'You're welcome.'
~Bzzzztzz~
"Huh?" Adrien raised an eyebrow as he realized something rather unsettling.
'Why isn't it working?'
Just now, at that very moment, he tried using Spatial Magic, but found it failing. Never before had his Spatial Magic failed to such an extent, which meant something.
'There's some kind of interference!' Instantly having widened eyes upon making this discovery, he turned towards the Dragon Commanders and yelled at them.
"Spatial Magic isn't working! We're going to have to rush out of here as fast as—"
~WHUUUUSH!~
~WHOOOOOM!!!~
~BWOOOOOMMM!~
Several projectiles began to fly in the direction of the stationary Dragons high in the sky.
From arrows to blazing boulders, to several Spells and elemental attacks; all of them charged at the stunned Commanders with breakneck speed.
'How were they able to spot us?' Adrien's wide eyes bulged even further as the thought manifested in his head.
The moment he realized the Spatial interference, he already knew the chances of being spotted were high. It was why he wanted to quickly warn the Commanders of the harm, prompting them to flee.
But… it seemed he was too late.
'[Absolute Magic Interference]. [Collapse].' These two Skills were instantly activated the moment Adrien thought of them, completely stopping the multifarious attacks before they could reach the Commanders.
[Absolute Magic interference] dealt with all of the Spells, while [Collapse] destroyed the projectiles that were approaching.
In essence, he was able to protect his allies.
"T-those bastards!"
"Did they just fire at us?"
"Fools! Do they not recognize that—?"
"We're retreating!" Adrien yelled out, his voice containing a rather agitated vibe that none in the room had ever experienced before.
The moment they felt the paradigm shift in the mood surrounding them, they obeyed his words and raced away from the battlefield.
It felt shameful to run. All the Dragons agreed.
But… they swallowed their pride and sped off, following Adrien who was at the forefront of the charge.
It didn't take long before he halted, though.
"What is this…?!" He muttered, staring around him in confusion as he stared at his hands, and also around him once again.
"Why did you stop?"
"What's going on now? Are we not retreating?"
"Talk to us! You're leaving us in the dar—!"
~SQUELCH!~
Before the last Commander could complete his words, a golden blade pierced him in the chest.
The glowing weapon came out of nowhere, and it instantly ripped his heart apart, tearing through muscles and bones within a fraction of a moment.
"G-gurgh…?!" The Dragon Commander's pained face contained confusion, displaying absolute shock in his eyes.
Blood spurted out of his eyes, lips, nostrils, and ears, as he just floated there… absolutely stunned and dying as a result of the attack.
"N'alsi—!"
~BOOOOOOM!~
He exploded as soon as his name was called, turning into nothing but chunks of mincemeat and sprayed blood. Even his entrails were blasted off as chunks—some splattering all over the other Commanders, while others descending into the still battlefield.
All the Grand Elementals stood there, their faces raised to look at the Commanders. The Elemental General also remained in its position, not budging one bit.
None of them seemed to be responsible for the assault.
They merely watched.
'T-this is…?!' As Adrien tried to process the information he was being dealt with, one of the Commanders held him by the collar and drew him close.
She had a spiteful look on her face, while the others looked around them with wary expressions, all of them ready not to be caught by surprise like their fallen comrade.
"Why did you stop?! It's because you stopped the retreat that he's dead!"
Adrien could see that the Commander was upset. She was the one always assigned to him, with the pink hair, tail and horns.
He decided to overlook her actions and explain.
"Why don't you try. Try to escape…"
Adrien stretched his hand towards the direction that they were flying in, but after a brief attempt to do so, his arms went nowhere.
The pink-haired Dragon Commander let go of his collar and also attempted to move in that direction, but despite seemingly making progress with flying, she didn't seem to be leaving her current position.
… Almost as if the distance to cover was endless.
"We can't escape." Adrien concluded, looking out to see the next wave of projectiles approaching them.
"We're stuck."
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
What do you think will happen next, folks? Want to make a guess?