The crystal domes that once crowned the corridor lay in shards, their fragments scattered like fallen stars. The cold light of distant stars filtered through these architectural wounds, playing on the viscous pools of blood, giving them a metallic, almost unreal sheen. The air was thick with a nauseating stench: charred flesh, muscles melted by fiery blasts, and the acrid scent of white-hot metal.
And in the midst of this apocalyptic scene, a silver tide raged.
Thousands of dragons.
Their scales glinted like shards of broken glass, reflecting the black lightning that streaked the atmosphere. Their membranous wings, taut as war sails, beat with savage frenzy, stirring gusts laden with bone dust. Their eyes, glowing orbs filled with primal intelligence, were fixed on the intruder.
Valzaroth.
He advanced, slowly, methodically. His boots, forged from a resilient alloy, crushed the remains of his previous victims with a wet crunch. Torn wings, still twitching with nerve spasms. Shattered skulls, their blue brains scattered like jelly. Glutinous entrails, coiled around fragments of broken armor like dying serpents.
His halberd, a monstrosity forged from abyssal steel, crackled with dark lightning. The serrated blades vibrated, hungry for fresh flesh, each notch on their surface oozing a black mist that corroded the air.
One final strike.
The ten-meter-tall crystal door, adorned with draconic glyphs, shattered under the impact. The shards became projectiles, impaling a dozen dragons that had drawn too close. Their piercing cries mingled with the roar of destruction.
Valzaroth stepped into the cavernous chamber, his black armor dripping with blue blood.
"Vermin."
A single word, roared in a voice that shook the foundations.
The dragons attacked in waves.
The first line dove, claws extended, jaws gaping. Their fangs, as long as swords, dripped venom that made steel bubble. Valzaroth did not move.
A black bolt erupted from his halberd.
The energy uncoiled like a titanic serpent, thick as a tree trunk, and pierced the swarm.
*BOOM.*
A hundred dragons exploded simultaneously.
Their bodies disintegrated into a rain of bloody chunks. Scales flew like shrapnel, impaling their own kin. Wings were torn off, spinning before igniting in the residual black energy. Heads, severed clean, rolled on the ground, their jaws still snapping in post-mortem reflex.
The survivors screamed, not in fear, but in blind rage. They charged, forming tactical squadrons: some attacked from the air, others in low flight, targeting the armor's joints.
Valzaroth smirked.
"You think you can stop me?"
A whirl of his halberd.
An arc of black lightning swept the space.
Dragon after dragon was cut in two.
The upper halves of their bodies slid, revealing smoking entrails before gravity took its course. Organs splattered the walls, staining the fluorescent blue runes. One dragon, still conscious despite its missing lower half, tried to crawl toward him, its claws scraping the floor.
Valzaroth crushed it with a stomp.
With a lateral thrust, three dragons were impaled at once, their bodies skewered like kebabs, then hurled against a column that shattered under the impact.
He spun, a circle of black lightning that reduced thirty dragons to pulp, their limbs scattered within a twenty-meter radius.
The ground trembled. Blood formed pools so deep that Valzaroth left footprints as he walked.
And yet…
A rumble echoed from the chamber's depths.
A silhouette emerged from the darkness.
Valzaroth smiled.