I Guess I'm a Dragon Now (Part 1)

Conflict

Rapidly approaching the battle and the bird-like creatures that were dive bombing the Demon King's army, Ergen soon learned that the creatures were actually normal griffins roughly the size of tall horses as he descended onto one of them and trapped both the creature and it's rider in his jaws. Meanwhile, below them, Asal's army shielded itself from a magic bombardment by casting what looked like an incredibly strong barrier over themselves. The spells erupted against the barrier, blasting a shock wave through the surrounding air and surprising all of the griffins around Ergen while he threw the dead one from his mouth and headed towards his next target. Thankfully he was used to sudden bursts of wind now, far more than the griffins were apparently as he was able to kill two with his claws before the rest of them recovered.

Seeing some kind of light grow brighter on the right side of his peripheral vision, Ergen coated the right side of his body with ice just in time as a large fireball hit him, knocking his wings slightly out of sync before he recovered and chased after the offending rider of the griffin that had attacked him. Though, as he chased after it, Ergen now found himself under assault from every direction as the griffin riders had halted their assault on the army beneath them to solely target him. Fire and chunks of both ice and rock were continuously pelting Ergen's ice armor, making it difficult for him to even fly correctly until he started becoming annoyed with their assault.

Opening his mouth to take a deep breath of air, Ergen turned towards where most of the griffin riders were coming from before he released his ice breath towards them, freezing several dozen of them instantly before the ones that were farther away managed to break off of their course and escape the deadly cloud shooting towards them. Unintentionally, the frozen griffins turned into a hail of deadly comets that shattered on the ground directly in front of where Emric's cavalry had been attempting to charge. Razor sharp shards of the fallen creatures flew through the air, cutting apart both horse and knight alike before the horses behind the initial victims tripped on the bodies of their comrades. And as they did, the cavalry's line shattered, ending the attack that had about to smash into the side of the Asal's forces.

"Keep fighting the griffins, I'll keep watching for Emric!" Sera yelled from Ergen's back, though he was already in the process of flying low to avoid the creatures. Thankfully their attacks stopped when he started flying over the enemy army, though that didn't stop the mages and archers on the ground from now filling the sky if a storm of projectiles which thankfully mostly missed him. And as the attacks that actually did hit him were merely blocked by his ice armor, Ergen continued his pace, hoping to out-fly the griffins that he thankfully appeared to be faster than. He couldn't turn sharply to engage them because he didn't know if Sera would be able to handle such a thing, and he regretfully had to instead gain quite a bit of a lead on them before he turned around and breathed more of his ice breath into the group that had been chasing him. Over half of the remaining griffins fell, and their commander must have ordered their retreat because now the griffins had turned around and were starting to run away.

"Chase them down! The more we kill here, the less that they can harass us later down the road!" Sera yelled, and Ergen supposed that she was right as he didn't want these guys messing with him while he would eventually be trying to fight Emric. Speaking of which, just where was the Hero King? Wasn't he supposed to be leading his own front lines?

With those thoughts pushed aside for now, Ergen continued to chase after the griffins, biting them and cutting them with his claws every opportunity he found. Eventually, only five griffins were left of the original numbers and Ergen finally had to let the others escape as he once again found himself being barraged by the ground troops that were attempting to protect their air forces. And with a short stream of ice breath that was blocked by the mage's barriers, Ergen finally left them and circled around so that he could rejoin Asal's army.

Thankfully Emric's forces pulled back after Ergen had ruined their cavalry charge, allowing Asal's forces a temporary reprieve. And now Ergen landed near the center off the army near the command position where Sera departed from his neck immediately, which Ergen was thankful for it as fighting was difficult when he had to worry about her safety along with his own.

"What happened? We weren't supposed to make contact with their army until tomorrow!" Sera demanded to know as soon as her feet hit the ground. "And where is Emric?!"

"We don't know where King Emric is, but it's strange to say the least that he isn't leading his army in this confrontation." One of the officers waiting around the generals answered. "And as for the bad intelligence, it appears Emric only used a small force of mages to mask his travelling through the burning forest while his main force went around the fire. They caught us completely off guard!"

"But now we have the advantage, seeing as their surprise attack has been broken." Farell spoke up as his horse walked closely to where Sera was standing. "Both of you, well done in dealing with the griffins and breaking the cavalry charge. You managed to buy us the time we needed in order to finalize our position."

"What are the enemy forces numbered at?" Sera asked.

"At first glance, twenty-thousand." Farell replied. "But who can tell just what Emric has hidden up his sleeve?"

'Why are a bunch of humans giving all of the orcs, beastkin and giants a problem?' Ergen wanted to ask himself. After all, the Demon King's army seemed larger than the Hero King's while he had been looking at it from above. And seeing as they were being dumb enough to actually stand out in the open and risk fighting in an open field, wouldn't the monsters normally have the advantage in such a case? However, unfortunately, Ergen's unspoken question remained unanswered as they continued to speak in front of him.

"At least until the griffins attack again, just try to keep yourselves hidden while we handle their army." Farell ordered towards Sera and Ergen. "Seeing as Emric isn't here, the longer he doesn't know about you two, the better."

"Scout!" One of the nearby soldiers suddenly yelled, and a horse sprinting as fast as it could soon appeared, riding between two columns of soldiers before it finally approached the command position and one of the nearby officers rode forward on their own steed to meet him. And as everyone around Ergen seemed to wait for whichever news the man brought, he busied himself in looking overs his legs and wings to check for any damage that might have been inflicted from the mages and archers.

"King Farell, we have news from the enemy's rear lines!" The officer suddenly ran forward towards Farell, though by now the other generals and Asal had joined them.

"What is it?" Asal asked.

"The scouts report that the Hero King's army is in full retreat!" The officer replied, which left Ergen curious as the army was still clearly standing in front of them.

"Tsk. Illusion magic... they got us." Farell glared as the enemy soldiers before looking towards the officer again. "Tell the mages to use wind magic to test if the enemy army is illusions or not. We have to be sure!"

"Yes sir!" The officer replied, and he immediately rode off towards one of the groups of people in the middle of the army. And it wasn't long after he reached them that Ergen heard over a thousand voices chanting at once before what looked like a shock wave suddenly erupted from the mage's position and slammed into the enemy army. Or at least, it would have if Emric's army was actually there as the entire illusion seemed to be dispelled as soon as the magic hit it.

"Send scouts forward to check for enemy positions and prepare our men to march!" Asal ordered.

"This... is strange... Emric has showed no intentions of slowing his invasion until now, and to actually call a retreat..." One of the generals near Asal stated with suspicion.

"He could be leading us to another battlefield where he has the advantage." Another spoke.

"I'm well aware of the risks, but he leaves us little choice other than to follow him." Asal sighed before setting his determined eyes on the horizon. "Everyone, prepare to move. We'll continue chasing him to Ligan's capital if we have to!"