I Received System to Become Dragonborn-Chapter 1225: Opposing

Dark clouds stretched endlessly across the sky, swallowing the horizon in every direction.

They were not natural storm clouds. They were Zerathul himself, his presence blanketing the world in a vast suffocating veil.

The atmosphere changed for the worse under his influence. It became heavy with warped energy that pressed into the lungs and flesh. Breathing became laborious for every living creature beneath that sky, as if the world were being slowly strangled around them.

Erend felt it immediately.

This wasn’t just pressure. This was domination.

"We can’t wait," he realized grimly. "If this continues, the world won’t survive long enough for a proper fight."

Yet there was one blessing. Their bodies were at their peak already. The Dungeon World had restored them completely. Their wounds were healed, their exhaustion erased, and their minds sharpened.

Despite the relentless battles they had endured not a single one of them carried fatigue now. They were in the best condition they could possibly be in.

Which meant there was no excuse to hesitate.

As Erend climbed higher, the battlefield in the sky became clear.

Thar’Zul-Vekar was locked in a violent clash against the dark clouds. Vast surges of opposing power collided, sending shockwaves rippling through the sky to all directions. But even from a distance, Erend could see the truth.

Thar’Zul-Vekar was being pushed back.

What was worse, threads of Zerathul’s power were beginning to seep into Thar’Zul-Vekar’s form, darkening their aura and corrupting their movements. The resistance was weakening so the balance between them was tipping fast.

"This is bad," Erend thought sharply.

If Thar’Zul-Vekar fell, or was fully overtaken, then the last barrier against Zerathul’s power and this world would collapse. They have to arrive quickly.

Erend snapped his gaze to Eccar and Aesa.

"Fly faster. As fast as you can!" he said. His voice cut through the rushing wind.

They responded instantly, wings flaring wide as they surged forward.

Then Erend turned his head back toward King Gulben and the others flying behind them.

"We’ll go first!" he shouted. "Follow when you can!"

King Gulben met his gaze and gave a single, firm nod. Nothing more was needed.

With a thunderous beat of their Dragon wings, Erend, Eccar, and Aesa accelerated sharply, tearing through the sky as they climbed toward the collapsing front line.

The three of them arrived like three stars with different lights among the dominating darkness.

Thar’Zul-Vekar hovered at the center of the storm of dark clouds, their vast body no longer radiant as it once was.

The ancient forest god’s form flickered unevenly, light and shadow tearing at each other across bark-like skin and vine-wrapped limbs. Roots of green-gold power struggled to hold shape while black veins of foreign energy crawled through them, pulsing in rhythm with the surrounding clouds.

Their movements were slower and labored now, every clash with the darkness costing them more than the last.

They were on the brink of being corrupted!

Erend did not slow when he realized that.

The instant he reached effective range, power surged through his body. Lightning screamed into existence around his arm, compressed and sharpened until it became a single devastating lance.

Fire wrapped around it to stabilize and adding the force within.

He hurled it.

The lightning lance flew through the sky in a blinding streak, crossing the distance in a blink of an eye before slamming into the dark clouds.

BOOM!

The impact detonated with a thunderous explosion that ripped a hole through the storm.

Black vapor scattered violently and the countless massive tentacles recoiled, thrashing as scorched fragments dissolved into nothing.

The sky itself seemed to shudder.

A moment later from everywhere at once, a voice rolled out.

"So you finally came."

Zerathul’s layered and distorted words echoed from the clouds, carrying amusement, hunger, and cold certainty.

The darkness churned as if pleased by their arrival and closing in again, reforming faster than Erend thought.

Erend did not bother to answer. Neither did Eccar or Aesa.

Eccar had already moved. Golden light flared beneath him as earth answered his call even in the open sky.

Massive spears of condensed stone and mineral formed instantly, reinforced by dense gravity and a radiant earthen Magic aura that shimmered like molten gold. With a sharp motion he sent them forward.

Aesa followed in the same breath. The temperature plummeted around her as ice manifested in precise lethal symmetry.

Dozens of crystalline lances formed around her. Their surfaces gleaming with pale blue light that reflected the storm. Frost spread outward from her wings as she released them.

The earth lances hit first. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

They punched deep into the dark clouds and detonated with crushing force. Shockwaves rippled outward, tearing apart layers of corruption and forcing the storm to recoil again.

A moment later, the ice lances followed. It was also exploding into a blinding spectacle of light and freezing energy.

Entire sections of cloud crystallized in the middle of their moves before shattering apart, fragments falling away like blackened snow.

The sky lit up.

For the first time since they arrived, Zerathul’s presence faltered. The pressure eased slightly, just enough for Thar’Zul-Vekar to react.

They straightened, drawing in what strength they could. Their Magic forest light flaring weakly but defiantly as the corruption within them resisted the sudden disruption.

The seepage slowed, the dark veins receding a fraction.

Erend saw it clearly.

This was the opening the ancient forest god needed.

Without pausing, he surged forward again, lightning and fire already gathering around his body. His focus locked on the roiling mass ahead.

They were not here to trade words. They were here to tear Zerathul out of the sky before the world suffocated beneath him.

Fortunately, they had arrived before it was too late and Thar’Zul-Vekar got taken by the corruption.

Thar’Zul-Vekar finally saw Erend clearly through the torn clouds and bursting light, and relief washed through them like rain after a long long dry season.

A faint smile formed as their strength finally gave way. Their body began to fall back, drifting away from the front line as the pressure loosened.

"They arrived in time," they thought weakly. "Just in time."

If they had been any later, Thar’Zul-Vekar knew the truth all too well. Zerathul’s power had already brushed their core and the glimpse of that fate still lingered like a nightmare in their mind.

To be taken by that monstrosity was not death, but something far worse.

Now, at least, that end was no longer present in front of them that the force to oppose Zerathul had arrived.

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