56.1. The Day Monsters Attacked - Part 1

I'm staring at the heligorr and, surprisingly, my panic mitigates. I still can't believe it but I instinctively know what I have to do. I take a deep breath and with a little focus, I'm pretty sure I can point towards the source of that disturbance we're all feeling.

My Celestial nature kicks in full force, ready for a battle. My Emperor's nature follows, ready to give orders. I don't have time to analyse the situation or ponder how such a thing is even possible. All I know is that we have to stop it.

"You three stay here to protect my partner," I assign two guards and Cien, "the rest departs immediately," I command and my voice is absolutely firm. Just in case, I release my mana to make Celestials obey me without protests. Not that I really need it, the idea of not listening to their Emperor doesn't even cross their minds.

"Ryuu!" Erik clutches my hand, terrified. He's slowly realising what I'm about to do. He twitches when he tastes my mind. I'm not making even the tiniest effort to feel more human to him right now but he doesn't let go of my hand. I love him for that.

"Your Majesty, we're ready when you are," Liana addresses me with my title but this time I don't mind, it feels appropriate. Her eyes are burning with readiness.

"Emi, Deminas, Twyla, Werden," I turn to other race rulers. "Do you know where to go? Can you feel its direction? It's not very far. We'll try to hold it until you get there."

They all nod, swiftly instructing their own forces.

"Love!" Erik shouts at me desperately when I push him to the guards. It breaks my heart because I promised him I won't do it again but there's no other way.

"I need to keep you safe," I whisper. "I'm sorry, but you won't be of any use in a battle. Try to keep everyone calm here, please."

We have to go, a second lost might mean another innocent civilian killed. Windows in these super modern air-conditioned buildings usually can't be opened so I decide to shatter them with telekinesis. The delegates scream but I safely steer the shards away. Then I jump, spread my wings and take off with one mighty flap.

I love you and I'll come back to you, I send Erik one last thought before we're out of range.

Our coordination is perfect. We immediately form a neat squadron with me, Liana and Gotrid in the centre and there's no hesitation in the minds of my subjects. Questions will have to wait, now we need to focus solely on the quest awaiting us. Despite confusion and disbelief, I find myself feeling excited for the upcoming battle and so are my friends.

I'm really grateful to Cien that she forced me to eat so much in the morning. I'll need those calories. Dammit, I shouldn't have skipped dinner even if I didn't have any appetite yesterday. I make a quick promise to myself to eat better in future. It never occurred to me before that my eating peculiarity could jeopardise anything. But it can, I see it now.

I look at Gotrid flying next to me and he looks back with a mixture of excitement and fear. I feel both relieved to have him by my side and worried that he might get hurt. Still, there was no chance he would listen to me if I ordered him to stay with Erik. Celestials have to obey my commands unless it concerns my protection and I bet he would justify it as being there to protect me.

My love, whatever happens, Gotrid sends me his thoughts. I hope you understand that our priority is to protect our Emperor. Should the battle go wrong, we'll do anything to get you to safety.

Noted, I answer to calm him down because I was expecting it anyway.

"Shit, it's really a heligorr!" Miruel shouts when the monster becomes visible.

"Damn, it's huge!" Taranah gasps for air.

The monster is as big as three elephants but this is where the similarity ends. Its mouth is full of spiky teeth in three rows, it has four eyes, two in front, two at back, black thick skin, six legs and a shell on its back. Its pincers resemble a crab but only remotely.

I see several police cars around it. The police officers are firing at the monster and trying to get people to safety. But their weapons have little effect, bullets cannot pierce its thick skin and even thicker shell and even if they hit its legs, they don't do any damage.

"Vermiel, fly to the police and tell them to get out of here," I order. "Miruel, Taranah, shield the civilians. The rest of us will focus on dealing damage."

"Heligorrs are vulnerable to ice, they hate the cold," Gotrid recalls. "If they're the same as in the game..."

"We also hate the cold," Liana reminds everyone. "Let's be careful with our spells. We're not losing anyone, do you understand? And protect our Emperor at all costs!"

We descent and it's as if the monster can sense our mana. It looks up, stops attacking civilians and turns its attention to us.

"Acid spit!" Taranah warns us because he recognises heligorr's posture.

Fortunately, it cannot reach that high but as the spit drops down again, it starts falling onto the police officers. Vermiel quickly casts a protective shield above them, shouting to get the hell out of here. They finally start running away.

I make sure that there's no chance I might hit humans accidentally and cast the biggest ice spike I can at my current level. I send it falling on the heligorr and it lands on its hard shell with a loud thud but except for angering the monster and scratching its shell, it doesn't do much.

"We need to attack its head," Liana suggests. "The shell is too hard to break with our current skills."

Everyone starts conjuring smaller ice spikes and throwing them on the monster's head. They hit more often than not and the heligorr seems to hate the cold but we still don't do much damage. We try aiming at those four eyes but it's as if its eye lids are iron.

And then the heligor takes a nearby car into its pincers and throws it at us, just like that. We're hovering fifty metres above so it seems impossible but the car reaches us and shatters two of our shields. One of the royal guards gets thrown away because of the shock wave but, fortunately, she manages to catch her balance again.

We try to distract it by flying around in circles and while the heligorr does have four eyes, it has only two front pincers it can use to grab things. Still, our shields keep shattering one by one. In the game, a heligorr was a level 20 monster found in dungeons as a floor boss. No easy task for beginners.

Unlike the game, however, we can be much more flexible here. We're not bound by pre-programmed environment that won't allow certain things and we can combine our skills in creative ways. I'm confident we can defeat it.

Li, look out!!! I warn her telepathically because the heligorr spits again in her direction while she's trying to help Taranah get a human from under the rubble. The heligorr is smarter than it looks. We were trying to make it busy but it still went after our momentarily weakest link.

Liana's eyes widen when she hears my telepathic message but she evades in time and creates a shield above Taranah who finally manages to telekinetically lift the debris and free the person underneath.

I realise that I revealed my little secret just now but I had no other choice, Liana wouldn't hear me otherwise, it was too noisy to shout. And I don't mind really, what's some stupid secret in comparison to saving my best friend? At least I could test that it works with my Viceroy as well because I wasn't sure.

"Oh no!" Vermiel cries because he spots smaller figures starting to crawl from behind the building to our left.

"Filandras?!" I open my mouth, shocked by another type of monster appearing.

Filandras are rat-like monsters, not really that dangerous but quite big and they always attack in huge numbers. We're safe from them in the air but there're still people scattered around the place, too hurt to move or trapped. Filandras might be mere pests for Draconians but serious threat for humans who have no means to defend themselves.

Just as I'm about to panic that we won't be able to save everyone, I hear a battle roar and it's lovely music to my ears. Emi and her pack arrive, running faster than a car in city traffic. They got here just in time!

"Aefener, focus on the heligorr, keep it busy and leave filandras to us!" she shouts at me. "The Dragonkin should be here in five minutes, they aren't such fast runners."

I feel relief that I can focus on the heligorr again. In the game, a medium-level Dragonkin with a hammer could crack its shell but no such luck here. We need a different strategy. It would be handy if I could lift off the heligorr so that it can't do any damage with its legs and pincers but the monster doesn't even budge when I try. It must weigh at least 12 000 kilos.

"What about sucking all air around its head?" Gotrid suggests when another ice spike of his gets shattered, just scarring its skin a bit. We're gradually becoming exhausted, we have to end it quickly or we'll run out of mana.

"It can hold breath for hours," I shake my head. "I'll try to freeze its head completely in one go but you'd need to hold it for at least three minutes while I'm preparing the spell. I'm afraid it'll focus its attacks on me when I do. I suspect it can sense when we activate our mana circuit."

"Protective formation around His Majesty!" Gotrid commands the fleet, gets in front of me and casts another shield just in case. He becomes my last line of defence. I just hope it won't come to that.

I take a deep breath and start casting the spell. I'm not sure if I can actually manage to pull it off because ice barrier is a level 20 spell but I need to try. I should have enough mana so it's just a matter of whether I can channel it efficiently and create such an elaborate transfiguration symbol with my current level which is about 15 at the moment.

In the game, the system wouldn't even let you attempt a skill above your level but there's no such limitation here. The only limitation now is our own mana capacity, channelling technique, knowledge of a specific spell and the ability to execute it properly. Which is, in fact, much harder than in the game even though one limitation disappeared.

Celestials are elemental mages. We can control any element except for the earth which is the Earthborn territory, obviously. But while we can freeze the water, we have to be aware that it's still our racial weakness and not let it get too close to us. Even the transfiguration symbol that materialises as a hologram in front of me gives off chilly air that makes me uncomfortable.

I get startled when one of the shields around me breaks because the heligorr does focus all its attacks on me now but Miruel has two more in place and is immediately restoring the broken one. I have to trust my friends and not be distracted.

That's the problem with complex magic—it requires a long preparation and absolutely no interruptions. I focus again and the symbol gets stronger. I decide to put two more minor transfigurations inside to strengthen it and feel my mana being quickly depleted. Can I finish the spell before running out of fuel?

I chew my lip. I do have much bigger mana capacity than the rest of Celestials but my problem is that I just don't eat enough. I don't have any fat I could burn. Although my very body cells are full of mana—and that's what makes me the embodiment of magic I guess—it would endanger my life to channel it from there so I have only my mana circuit just like any other Celestial. Or... not?

Wait a second! Gotrid and the others claimed that my mana in monstruous, they can't mean the mana in my cells, right? Oh, I'm so stupid! There's another source, an outrageously rich one. My wings! Unlike normal Celestials, I have the unique ability to store mana my circuit produces in my feathers! How could I forget about it?

I try harnessing that power, channel it to strengthen the spell and... it does work! The transfiguration symbol finally shines bright blue as it should and is ready to deploy.

"Now!" I shout at Gotrid who makes an evasive manoeuvre so that he's not in the way and I throw the spell at the heligorr.