Published at 29th of July 2022 9:00 am

Chapter 537 - Divine... Mount?

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Though the battle ahead of them would be tough, now that Var Agus was provided an opportunity he became resolute. This moment where he gripped the flawless white spear… it felt like a turning point in his life.

“Times like these form legends…” Var Agus muttered to himself remembering the tall tales he learned from young. Most of them were about the hydra and its magnificent deeds but there were a couple about the shamans that served the hydra.

Yes, this was a chance for Var Agus to prove his worth and leave behind a legacy.

“Everyone!” Var Agus roared at a volume very much unlike him.

This roaring shout reached the ears of all those present. Everyone whether on board or not became silent and turned to look at Var Agus who acted as a leader for the entire race.

After shooting a couple of sideward glances and confirming that everyone was paying attention to him Var Agus began his heartfelt speech.

“In front of us is potential safety and behind us is a monster, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we won’t make it” Var Agus said causing the lizardmen who heard this to become shocked. They knew it was the case but… why be so blunt!?!

If the leader was hopeless then…

Before the morale had a chance to drop however, Var Agus continued his speech.

“But…! Our mushroom god has not abandoned us!” Var Agus said as he slammed the butt of his spear onto the ship’s floor. The sound of the wood breaking into a hole caused some who witnessed the event to audibly gasp.

“This is our lifeline, and it is also proof of our God’s benevolence” The lizardmen immediately became excited having witnessing an ounce of the spear’s immense power..ᴄᴏᴍ

“But unfortunately, we won’t make it” It was too bad that Var Agus once more caused their hearts to drop into a chasm of despair.

“We won’t make it without sacrifices” Var Agus then added. He didn’t say a word more, he simply gauged the reactions of the lizardmen.

They seemed to be complicated reactions. These lizardmen were suddenly faced with reality so it made sense. But most of all, they were told that there would need to be sacrifices.

Sacrifices.

“I’ll be a sacrifice then” A lizardman parted out from the crowd on board and said.

“No!” “You can’t!” That lizardman had a family.

The other lizardmen saw this scene and looked at one another.

“I don’t have a family, I’ll be one of your sacrifices” “I’ll be a sacrifice” “If I am going to die I’ll die saving lives” The lizardmen started to volunteer one after another.

“Mom, you can’t!” Be they a mother, a father, a son or just another one of the crowd, the lizard people volunteered one after another.

Var Agus was surprised by their virtue, but he didn’t have time to listen to everyone volunteering slowly.

“I don’t need all of you, I just need enough people to man the ships and shoot at the beast. The rest of you leave the ship and continue marching towards safety” Var Agus instructed.

His words were heard but they weren’t heeded. The families of some were not willing to leave behind their significant others to be sacrificed.

“Chief! Why?” Not just significant others, but even some chiefs from other tribes volunteered to take part in the suicidal battle.

“If Var Agus is risking his life why should I sit back?” The chief in question said before turning away from his residents.

‘Var Agus, let’s beat that thing” The chief said offering Var Agus a hand.

“For sure, Yot” Var Agus replied. Before swiftly turning away from the crowd and looking towards the beast. It was at most a few minutes away from their position.

“Well, let’s hurry and get the jump on it!” Var Agus raised his spear and declared.

The sound of sobbing and cheering mixed together to create a mournful rallying cry.

***

Elsewhere, back in the crypt, Ed was left with mixed feelings. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

‘Let’s hope that’s enough’ He thought to himself while absorbing the bleak atmosphere of the crypt.

Before Ed, the chosen future scholarly skeletons were patiently waiting for him to continue his lesson on alchemy and arrays.

Ed’s instruction skill had gone up twice thanks to these teachings but he no longer felt like continuing from where he left off.

‘A, you should meet the marching lizardmen in about 2 or 3 minutes, try to hurry!’ Ed was too worried about the situation of the lizardmen to continue his teaching. He was instead pounding his mind for new ideas to beat the beast.

‘We can’t go any faster, the water level has risen and the current has become too strong!’ A shouted back in transmission to Ed who was not shocked to find out his conditions.

‘Damn it…’ The link skill would soon enough once again leave cooldown, Ed had thus far only passed to Var Agus small things but…

‘It’s not like I can send A anything to help…’ As far as Ed could tell he had done all he could. Now it was just a matter of waiting for Var’s notice that he had the right angle and for Ed to transfer his strength to him. From thereon, whether the plan would work was left up to fate.

‘Actually… hold on…’ There was still something Ed could do to increase the odds of Var Agus surviving. He hurried back onto the system space and looked through the storeroom.

‘Here you are!’ Ed exclaimed seeing the resplendent hydra scales. While a hydra’s scales were definitely not comparable to that of a dragon, how far off could they be? They were still pretty darn strong!

Ed then continued to frantically look through the storage racks for parts. He wanted to create a new creature. This creature had to be semiaquatic.

‘With the hydra’s scales…’ The creature was guaranteed to be strong enough to withstand any of the gauntlet beast’s attacks.

‘Hm…’ But no matter where Ed looked, he saw a clear lack of large aquatic monster parts. While the marshlands had a lot of aquatic life, most of them were not very large creatures.

But fortunately, this didn’t put a damper on Ed’s intentions. There was still another ideal method of travel. The air!

The marshlands waters were currently being obstructed by large waves and even if the creature he created was able to traverse it easily the odds would be stacked against Var Agus. Who knew if he would be able to hold on? What if he held but lost his spear?

In contrast, using a flying mount was a much safer alternative. Ed could try passing the creature to Var Agus through the assembly room and instruct it beforehand to hide him in the sky.

‘The gauntlet beast has no real method to attack the sky’ Even if one were to assume that the beast did possess an aerial attack, Var Agus and the fake dragon would still be good.

The tough scales could tank a shot in the worst-case scenario and in the best with so much room to move the attack would be cleanly dodged.

Another positive of this aerial approach was gravity.

With the help of gravity the spear throw would become a lot more powerful and that was without the need for Ed to share his strength whatsoever. The only concern from such a height would be accuracy but Ed did give the spear the pinpoint skill.

How much correction the spear would provide on its own was unknown. The task became harder and harder the further up they travelled after all.

‘Hmm… That makes me wonder though…’ How high would his fake dragon be able to travel? Did the dungeon have a ceiling to it?

From Ed’s understanding the answer should be that a ceiling did exist. Yet, the dungeon did simulate a real planet in more ways than one.

‘Never mind that, let’s focus’ How high the creature would be able to fly would depend on the skills he gave it and the parts he used.

The first step was finding an ideal body.

‘Let’s use this monster’ There were a lot of different monsters in the cavern and in the marshlands and as the home of the lizardmen there were also lizard monsters.

The one Ed was looking at right now was none other than the petracerta. This monster had the appearance of a giant iguana with stone gray skin. It was a sturdy creature that would never in a million years fly under normal circumstances.

With this creature as the main body and legs, the next part was the wings. By popular dragon demand they had to be bat wings. Ed didn’t know how a good an idea this was but…

‘Var Agus has the right to look cool’ Ed’s reasoning was definitely not that he’d be keeping the false dragon mount after Var Agus used it.

With the main components selected, Ed could now toss them into the forge and merge them with the hydra scales. Attaching the individual scales would not only be time-consuming, but it would also be pointless.

‘What if they fell off later?’ Applying them like that would be like using some sort of armor. Ed wanted the creature to have these tough scales as if by nature.

Ed then silently watched the spirit smith and the forge do their work. The fake dragon would soon soar!

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