Ascension of the Nephilim

Dragons were among the strongest beings that ever existed. Even in the secret history of the gods and the fallen, Kyros knew that the Dragons were involved in the Heretic Wars as this strong beast was able to cross the gaps and threaten gods and fallen.

The formation of a Brimstone Beast to have dragonic form meant that the Brimstone energy had devoured an actual dragon.

"That's a Drake... Great. It can fly and have powerful breath attacks."

"Oh... Is that a Wyrm? It'll be tough to penetrate through the thick defenses of those!" Lea saw another form.

"Let's hope that since it's made of Brimstone, it's weaker than a real dragon scale." Listrel frowned.

"Relax. They are Brimstone beasts. Whatever hardness or strength the scale of the dragon was, it was purged and devoured and turned into Brimstone. So it will be weaker than the real thing. But it's still a tough thing to kill." Kyros sighed.

More dragons were formed. Soon, eight dragons that were Drake, Wyrms, and long, serpentine dragons, were formed from the Brimstone.

The attacks of the archers kept on hitting the various Brimstone Beast that was charging. The cycle continued that even though many of the giant Brimstone Beasts with great defenses fell, more would rise at the back, and the archers could tell that another Brimstone beast may soon rise from the fallen giants that had just been slain.

"What do we do? It looks like it's never-ending!"

"No. Each beast we kill eats up a lot of Brimstone energy. I would say that only about half of the original energy is retained. The best way to think about this battle is to imagine more than two times the enemy. But brace yourself. Those dragons seem to be on the move now." Kyros watched the dragons move closer to the tree.

Suddenly, the dragons opened their mouths to prepare for a breath attack.

"A breath attack at that distance?" Kyros frowned. They were still so far away, and given the nature of brimstone power, such attacks could only travel a short distance.

"ROAR!"

The dragons delivered a terrifying roar, and a powerful eruption of lava shot out of the mouths of each beast and created a wave of lava that flew over the skies and shielded the numerous giant brimstone beasts from the falling arrows.

The timing was precise, and the volcanic spew blocked the incoming arrows and landed on the ground beyond the giant beasts.

The lava flowed at the ground, and the giant beast could move faster as the rain of arrows had ceased.

Another round of arrows was fired, but the dragons shot yet another round of lava and shielded the brimstone beasts again.

The army of Brimstone moved faster, and as they approached the pool of lava, the lava began to move inside the brimstone beasts and was strengthening and enlarging them!

"How is this possible?!" Aubrey shouted as they saw the giant beast becoming even bigger.

"The dragons are using the lives of others. This is a way to transfer energy. Looks like I was wrong. What we should think is that we are not fighting an army. But imagine a large energy pool. Those dragons are formed from the Brimstone Energy that made up the beasts, and it was all transformed into that lava blast. Our arrows still managed to deplete some of their energy, but by using the pure energy of lava, it is now able to shield and strengthen the beasts."

"Then what do we do?" Aubrey asked.

"Relax. We still have our ground team, remember? It's time for those ballistae to get into action." Kyros smiled and held on to a vine used as a communication channel within the tree.

"Logon. It's time to bring those babies to work!" Kyros ordered.

Logon was situated at the bottom and heard the commands of Kyros.

"Yes, Lord Miracle! Bring out the babies- I mean, Ballistas!"

Several massive ballistae were brought to the front.

The strange contraption was another of Kyros's own designs. This was the freedom he didn't have in the previous wars. Then, there were too few resources to create such weapons of warfare. But now, the elves were excellent wood artisans and carpenters, and some managed to even retrieve their plant powers with the guidance of Kyros, who immersed himself into the tree itself.

The Elven Druids channeled their power into the ballista.

Numerous archers poured out force energy into the large wooden pikes loaded into them.

The Master bowmen used their ballistae and locked on the gigantic marching creatures that had reached deep into the shadows of the World Wood Tree.

TWANG! TWANG!

The loud sounds of the massive arrows being launched echoed out. The design on the arrow, and with the assistance of the Quick Bow archers, aided these arrows to have a spinning motion, and it flew and drilled through the giant Brimstone Beast, piercing them with ease.

The arrows continued to have terrifying force as they continued onward, piercing and killing numerous more beasts.

Histerion was surprised at the sudden attacks that broke down the numerous giants that were close by.

Logon was amazed at the power of the arrow that managed to pierce through and kill the giants. He and his men started to grow confident. In their battles against the Brimstone Beast, they had always been losing. Now, they had the ability to attack and kill the hordes even while they were a distance away. And now, those arrows they just sent out killed the strongest Brimstone Beasts with just one arrow!

Those giants would have been the strongest forms of Champion-level beasts! And yet a single arrow slew them!

"Brimstone Beasts! Do you dare to purge the woods of the elves?! The Woods will fight back! Men! You have heard it was said that we could fight fire with fire! But now, we shall fight fire with wood! This is how strong the Woods are! So let's honor our home by killing as much as possible!" Logon ordered.

"Raise the ballistae aim! We aim for the dragons!" Logon declared.

The elves aimed and raised direction where the ballistae aimed. The arrows were aimed straight at the beast when they attacked the beast. But now, the arrow was pointed towards the sky above.

Archers had the experience of always shooting at a higher angle to make their arrows strike a moving object. So using the ballista was a satisfying feeling for these archers as if they had a wonderful toy to play with.

"Fire!" Logon ordered just as he saw the dragons shoot out another wave of fire in the air to block an incoming tide of arrows.

TWANG! TWANG!

The ballistae roared, and the arrows flew to the sky and began to plummet down.

The dragons were out of breath and quickly shot out whatever lava they could spew to attack the falling wood.

But the wood endured the burning flames.

STAB!

The arrows stabbed at the brimstone core heart of the dragons, and the form of the brimstone dragon began to break.

"Marvelous weapons. This wood is indeed admirable." Histerion smiled as he observed his numerous dragonic beast die.

"So even with this, it won't be easy? I guess it's time to ramp up my offenses. I guess I have to accept that the Nephilim can kill many of my forces despite having such weak allies..." Histerion smiled, and his invisible power began to ripple out.

At the top, Aubrey cheered at the deaths of the dragons.

"They were killed! Amazing! We can wipe them all out! We might not even need to cut down the tree!" Aubrey cheered.

Kyros shook his head.

"Calaminus, say the words which was the turning point in the tale of the Two Towers."

"My pleasure!" Calaminus laughed.

"Is this it? Is this all you can conjure, Histerion?" Calaminus imitated Theoden.

p ROAR!

As if those words triggered the sudden change, various roars echoed throughout the region.

Suddenly, the Brimstone Beast began to morph into different creatures.

The slow-moving giants had smaller forms but quicker speed. But unlike before, where it required many others to die to begin the change, this happened instantaneously.

"Oh... This is new." Kyros watched.

Suddenly, the speed of all Brimstone beasts changed. Suddenly, there were flying creatures at the center of the battlefield, and they were able to evade the raining arrows.

Even the ballistae attacks began to miss.

"What's happening?!" Aubrey was stunned.

Kyros closed his eyes to sense the area.

"I understand now. Brimstone purges everything. But it also locks up the souls. They are literally hell. And right now, the dominant souls that made up the Brimstone are shifting. It eats a lot of energy, but in this scenario, going with this strategy is better for Histerion."

"Then... we can't predict what they will be?"

"Yes. Flying, underground, everything... oh look! Some have indeed moved underground! I was wondering when they would bring this out." Kyros pointed to a certain location.

"Lord Miracle, what now?!" Aubrey asked. They had already shown their aces and had no more to counter this change.

"What now? We fight. Did you really think it would be easy? I could help you all fight fire with wood, but the real battle starts now. Each step we take is a step to survival. Honestly, I sort of knew this would happen. Brimstone Beasts don't have a permanent form since the start. So whenever Histerion or a Brimstone General is around, this could happen. Instant transformation by the shuffling of souls."

"So we're finally taking action?" Listrel asked.

"Yes. Time for us to get to the front line." Kyros smiled.