Aozaki Aoko [592-594] (Patreon)

Chapter 592: The Chardalyn Crystal Dragon

When Aoko and her companions returned to the White Lady Inn, half of the building had already been destroyed by the dragon's attack. Edgin dug the halfling innkeeper out from the wreckage of the bar. Aoko cast a spell to heal his serious injuries, and the man gasped back to life.

"Master Edgin!" the innkeeper exclaimed, overjoyed when he saw Edgin. "I knew you'd come back to save us!"

"How's the rest of the city?" Edgin asked after calming the excited innkeeper. "Any idea about the casualties?"

"I don't know!" the innkeeper replied, still in pain. "I just heard a roar, then saw a blinding light fall from the sky and blow up the Smelly Trout Tavern next door. I was so scared I hid under the bar, but I still got knocked out... until you saved me."

"Get out of Easthaven as soon as you can!" Edgin patted his shoulder. "And let the other residents know—don't stay here. That dragon's after all of Ten-Towns!"

The halfling nodded quickly, hurriedly dug up his stash from under the bar floor, and handed Edgin a bag of gold as thanks for saving his life.

Edgin didn't refuse. This was no time to be polite. He gave the innkeeper some final instructions, then left with the others.

As soon as Aoko stepped out, she saw a gang of gray dwarf bandits charging toward them. She found it puzzling—were these duergar really out looting at a time like this?

But with the current strength of Aoko's group, the duergar were no match at all. They dispatched them in a flash. Holga even smashed the skull of a would-be invisible ambusher with a single punch.

"What's with these duergar?" Simon asked, confused. "Are they trying to loot Chardalyn shards from the townsfolk now? Are they that desperate?"

"Chardalyn shards...?" Aoko rubbed her smooth chin and stared at the black dragon circling in the sky, as if she'd just realized something important.

"Is it possible the duergar are working with the dragon?" Edgin mused. "Remember the letter from that duergar named Sunblight at the outpost?"

"Which part?" Holga asked. "There was a lot in that letter."

"The part about their father, Xardorok Sunblight," Edgin recalled. "They were gathering Chardalyn shards to summon something... a demon, maybe?"

"I think you're close to the truth," Aoko said, squinting at the dragon. "What do you think the armor on its body is?"

"Dragon scales?" Simon guessed. "It's not gemstones, is it? Gemstone dragons are legendary; if it was one of those, the city would already be rubble."

"No, it's not a gemstone dragon," Aoko shook her head. "But it is a Chardalyn Crystal Dragon. That's why Xardorok Sunblight was gathering so much Chardalyn: he wanted to use this dragon to rule Ten-Towns. Its sustained activity depends on a huge supply of Chardalyn."

As they spoke, the Chardalyn Crystal Dragon made a wide turn in the sky and dove straight toward them, its jaws gathering radiant energy—clearly planning to strike Easthaven again.

Aoko stopped talking, raised her staff, activated the Arcane Reservoir of the Midnight, and launched a 9th-level spell at the dragon:

Maximized Meteor Swarm!

Enhancing high-level spells with metamagic is a signature move of metamagic, and as a legendary one, Aoko used it with ease.

Four flaming meteors, trailing long tails, crashed down from the sky, straight onto the dragon's flight path.

From Aoko's angle, she could see a duergar riding on the dragon's back, frantically issuing orders. But the dragon, in its frenzy, ignored its rider and just wanted to roast the people below.

The duergar tried again to force the dragon to obey, but its berserk mind couldn't handle multitasking. The dragon didn't even notice Aoko's spell racing toward it.

A thunderous explosion echoed in the sky. Two of Aoko's meteors hit the dragon's back—one turned the duergar rider to ash, the other struck its left foreleg, tearing a claw off which crashed into a house below.

The dragon let out a pained howl. Its armor shattered, its once-impressive magic resistance now almost useless before a legendary mage's spell.

Shards of Chardalyn flew everywhere, raining down like a storm across Easthaven.

But this didn't kill the beast. The dragon flapped desperately, barely regained altitude before crashing, and soared back into the sky, narrowly avoiding a crash landing.

"It's trying to escape!" Edgin shouted. "That way leads to Targos!"

"I'll chase it!" Aoko said, flying up. "You all handle the duergar—I'll take care of the dragon!"

With that, she vanished through a Dimension Door, reappearing atop the dragon's battered back, standing firm as if rooted there, leaving her teammates gaping below.

"What should we do?" Doric asked. "Help the people in town?"

"The duergar rider Aoko just killed must've been their leader!" Edgin bit his nails. "The rest are just headless chickens. Adventurers and guards can handle them—we need to help Aoko!"

"Simon," Edgin turned to the young warlock, "can you teleport us to her?"

"You're kidding!" Simon replied. "Even if I could target a fast-flying dragon, the Chardalyn antimagic field—wait..."

Halfway through, Simon remembered he could actually teleport everyone onto the dragon, because Aoko was carrying a communication stone he'd made, which happened to have spatial localization.

Chapter 593: 

No matter how the Chardalyn Crystal Dragon struggled, Aoko forced her feet to stick to its back using magical circuits, steady as a space marine in magnetic boots.

The dragon's back was a mess from her Meteor Swarm. The largest wound, where Xardorok Sunblight had been, was now a crater.

From that crater, instead of blood and flesh, something like animated magma—living runes—oozed out, along with elemental creatures made from this stuff and Chardalyn shards.

They crawled from the wound, swarming toward Aoko.

Even for a legendary metamagic magus like Aoko, riding on the dragon while fending off these mobs was no easy task.

So she cast two Isaac's Greater Missile Storms, pelting the elemental creatures with force missiles and scattering Chardalyn fragments everywhere.

As she cleaned up the adds, a flash of teleportation appeared on the dragon's back—Simon had brought the other four.

"How did you get here?!" Aoko asked, startled. "Aren't there still duergar in town?"

"We're here to help. Edgin couldn't just watch the dragon fly toward his hometown..." Simon tried to explain, but the dragon suddenly rolled violently, flinging both Chardalyn elementals and Aoko's teammates off its back.

Aoko instantly cast a Bigby's Hand and snatched the four out of the air, pulling them back.

"Since you're here, be careful!" she shouted over the wind. "Fix yourselves to the dragon's back, deal with the mobs—I'll force the dragon to land!"

They nodded. Doric turned into an owlbear and gripped a crack in the dragon's back. Simon pulled out a spider leg from his kit and ate it, casting Spider Climb on himself.

Edgin tied himself and Holga together with a rope, anchoring it to a chunk of Chardalyn. As a bard, he didn't need to fight up close or at range—just stand and buff.

Holga, a barbarian, couldn't fight well off solid ground, so she stayed with Edgin, guarding him as he played.

More elemental creatures poured from the dragon's wounds. Aoko's teammates drew them off, while Aoko used brute-force flight magic to keep pace with the dragon, no longer needing to concentrate, just burning raw mana as long as possible.

But time was short—she had to force the dragon to land before it could devastate Edgin's hometown.

So she bombarded it with ray spells, weakening it. The dragon tried to counter with its breath, but Aoko's speed matched its own, thwarting its attempts.

Targos appeared on the horizon. The dragon would reach Edgin's home soon—Aoko had to act.

"Bigby's Crushing Hand!"

A massive force hand appeared and slapped the dragon hard, dazing it and knocking it out of the sky.

Simon rushed to Edgin and Holga, cast Feather Fall, and Holga chopped the rope, sending the three drifting gently down.

Doric calmly let go, transformed into a hawk mid-air, and soared away.

Aoko's mighty slap had disabled the dragon's flight. It crashed into a hill near Targos, detonating its Chardalyn and flattening the hill in a magical explosion.

Aoko hovered, observed, then used her communication stone to signal her team. They decided to regroup at Edgin's house.

…

Half an hour later, the last to arrive at Edgin's yard was Edgin himself—even Holga had run into Simon halfway and gotten a lift.

"Guys, I think Targos could be in trouble," Edgin said, wiping his face with a rag his wife Zia handed him. "I found a swarm of Chardalyn elementals gathering near the dragon crash site."

"Targos's militia lost a few recently to bandit attacks," Zia worried. "We don't have enough people to defend the town from those monsters... we can't have Holga patrolling every day, right?"

"Actually, you could turn this into an industry," Aoko suggested, sipping ginger tea. "Chardalyn's valuable, and dragon corpses can be mined for a long time. Adventurers will come to dig for treasure—just provide services, and you'll make a fortune!"

Aoko's idea wasn't random. Targos couldn't monopolize the dragon's body, but if they served treasure hunters, they could profit handsomely.

Edgin's eyes lit up as he brainstormed with his wife, who looked reluctant—probably debating whether to invest their savings.

That wasn't Aoko's concern.

The team stayed at Edgin's house for a few days. Soon, a messenger from Easthaven arrived in Targos, looking for the heroes who defeated the dragon.

Chapter 594: All Parties Must End

Aoko hadn't expected, after returning from god-slaying in Ythryn, that she'd get another Dragon Slayer incident. 

After a few days enjoying Zia's secret pies and feeling the changes in her legendary body, a messenger from Easthaven found Aoko.

The messenger invited Edgin and his companions to Easthaven for gratitude and recognition. Aoko was more curious—how did they know it was her group who slew the Chardalyn Crystal Dragon amidst the chaos?

Edgin brought Zia, Kira, and the others to Easthaven.

Once there, staying in the half-repaired White Lady Inn, Aoko found out: Edgin's halfling apprentice the innkeeper had spread tales of their deeds to the spokesperson evacuating citizens.

From this angle, Edgin's teaching was impressive—at least in news-spreading, the halfling was a qualified bard, fleeing faster than a Hong Kong journalist.

The Easthaven spokesperson took the dragon attack very seriously, and was deeply grateful for Aoko's team saving the city.

On behalf of the city, he gave them the highest honors at a public banquet, awarding each a mithril-and-gold medal.

They also got a sum of gold, but Aoko wasn't interested in money and exchanged her share for rare books from the city library.

Young Kira, never having visited Easthaven before, was fascinated by this lawless city. Having grown up with her unreliable dad, she'd taken part in plenty of his thefts. After her godmother went to prison, she'd been stuck in boring Neverwinter Castle.

So she begged her dad to show her around, wanting to see the local masters and their glorious deeds. Edgin was about to agree but backed down after a death glare from Zia, giving Kira a stern lecture instead.

Kira, dissatisfied, ditched her parents to hang out with Holga, feeling that her godmother got her. Zia was very polite to Holga, and even if Holga spoiled Kira, Zia didn't stop her.

Seeing this, spokesman Waylen was amazed at Edgin's ability to manage both Holga and Zia in harmony, and hoped to learn his methods for managing his own secret lovers after the banquet.

He apparently forgot how sneaking off to see a lover once got his legs broken by his fierce wife; now all he could think of was a bright future.

Aoko, meanwhile, had no interest in the fine cuisine of this edge-of-the-world city. She took a glass of wine onto the balcony, watching the clear night sky and planning her next steps.

As she considered how to say goodbye to Edgin and the others, Simon and Doric arrived on the balcony, holding hands and drinks.

"Oh, I didn't expect anyone else here," Simon said, scratching his head. "What's up? Not a fan of parties?"

"Maybe I never could be," Aoko shrugged. "I'm more interested in my new books than the banquet."

"Are you leaving?" Doric, ever-intuitive, sensed something. "When?"

"Not immediately," Aoko replied after a pause. "I need to go back to Neverwinter, tidy up my house, at least make arrangements for my butler Bernard."

Bernard was the construct butler from the Underdark wizard tower. Aoko admitted he was excellent; while she lived in Neverwinter, he handled everything, letting her focus on magic research. The only problem: Bernard couldn't cook—she had to handle meals herself.

Aoko had debated whether to take Bernard with her when she left Faerûn, but decided to leave him, since she'd probably return sooner or later, and her house needed care.

"...I see," Simon said after a pause. "You're going back to your home plane? Will you ever return to Faerûn?"

"Of course I will—I'm a cleric of Mystra," Aoko smiled. "I just don't know when."

"Oh, and if you're ever in Neverwinter, you can stay at my house. I'll tell Bernard."

…

The next day, Aoko teleported back to Neverwinter, stocked her library with books from her imaginary space, and reinforced her house's wards with Netherese spells she learned from Iriolarthas.

Bernard seemed a little down about her leaving, but Aoko was glad to see it—she saw this as the butler's evolution from a construct to a living being: he'd gained emotions.

"Take care of yourself and my house, Bernard," Aoko said. "Time flows differently between worlds. For you, I might not be gone long, or it could be much longer. But I'll come back—see you next time."

Bernard bowed formally, but when he looked up, his mistress had already vanished from the world.