My Dragon Cultivation System: Rise Of An Empire

Aeron stood over a hill, a little farther from the walls of Dorch, looking at the thousands of bone hydra before him. Then his eyes shifted to the walls, where soldiers stood in defense, and generals were placed in strategic positions. At the center of it all was Nyella, with General Kasim and Ser Devic beside her. In front of the gate stood a few nomad soldiers, their weapons in hand.

He looked at both armies and asked himself if they could really hold them off. But something felt strange. The hydra stood completely still. Then, suddenly, they began to move in perfect unison. Aeron frowned when he saw that, but he had no time to think much about it, the soldiers were already moving forward.

As the enemy drew closer to the gate, the nomads triggered their traps. Ballista bolts and trebuchets were ready. Massive trebuchets, already loaded with stones, hurled their deadly weight into the enemy lines. Boulders crashed down and crushed the monsters beneath them. Some of the stones had been lit with fire, and when they struck, fire burst across the battlefield, and burned through the first lines of bone.

Again and again, the trebuchets hurled their load, and more hydra fell, scattered in pieces. For a moment Aeron had hope. Perhaps they had a chance. But then, the piles of stone and fire ran out. The trebuchets were empty.

But the hydra pressed on, much closer now, and the nomads switched to their ballistae. Bolts the size of spears flew through the air, tearing down row after row. It reduced their numbers, but not enough. The hydra was too many, and after a while, the bolts were finished.

The nomads had run out of weapons, and now only their swords remained.

"Fall back!" one of the leaders shouted. "Open the gates!"

But the gates of Dorch were massive, built of stone and iron. They slid open slowly, too slowly. Behind them, the hydra were advancing with terrifying speed.

Then from the flanks came other nomads on horseback, carrying burning swords. They swung the flaming blades, driving the hydra back for a moment and buying time for the retreating soldiers to slip inside the gate.

Aeron saw it all and was amazed at how strategic the fight had begun. He mounted Draco and flew high, moving behind the endless army of hydra. He kept flying, farther and farther, but the more he went the more terrified he became. The line of the undead troops stretched without end. At last, when he reached the far side, he whispered to himself, "No way. No army in this world can fight this."

Meanwhile, the hydra reached the gates of Dorch. They scratched and pounded against the walls. They were not men, they did not understand how to bring a gate down. But still, they surged forward in hundreds, slamming against the barrier. And Aeron knew if they kept swarming like this, it was only a matter of time before the gate gave way.

The generals on the walls began shouting their orders. First, the soldiers dropped rocks and stones from above, crushing the bones of the hydra below. The heavy thuds broke many apart, but it did not stop more of them from coming. They only kept moving forward, stepping on the broken ones, and as they piled up, the hydra grew taller, climbing over the dead to reach the wall.

Soon the soldiers ran out of stones. They switched to resin-soaked logs, throwing them down and setting them on fire. Flames lit the night as the logs crashed into the enemy, burning skeletons and blackening the ground beneath.

But still they came.

The hydra climbed on top of each other, crawling higher and higher.

From the rear, Aeron attacked with Draco. The dragon swooped low, unleashing torrents of fire, burning huge numbers before rising back into the sky. Again and again, Aeron stooped low to burn, then flew back, then stooped again. The flames lit the plain red, and for a while, he thought it was working.

But then he saw something that froze him.

The hydra that had been burned did not turn to ash. Instead, their bones only darkened, turning black. They did not crumble, they did not fall. The fire was changing them, but not destroying them.

Aeron's chest tightened. "No… no, this is not possible. Something must be behind this," he whispered.

Still, he pushed Draco harder, burning heavier and coming closer to them this time. The fire was, hotter, but the hydra kept advancing, untouched.

By now it was only halfway into the night, and the soldiers on the wall were already running out of weapons.

Below the walls, the crushed and burned skeletons only made things worse. The survivors climbed on top of the fallen, piling higher and higher until they reached halfway up the wall.

Nyella, standing on the ramparts, saw this and shouted, "We cannot keep going like this! We need more stones to push them back!"

General Kasim shook his head. "There are no more stones, Princess."

Nyella froze as her mind was racing. Then she shouted, "Use the people. Get them to gather more!"

Orders spread quickly, and soon the people of Dorch, together with the nomads inside the walls, rushed to gather stones from the streets, the buildings, anywhere they could find. They passed them up to the soldiers, who hurled them down at the hydra. At first, it worked. The enemy was pushed back, their ranks shattered again and again.

But the longer it went on, the weaker the people grew. Their arms trembled, their hands bloody from carrying heavy rocks. And still, the hydra piled higher. The more that were crushed, the more their bones created a path for others to climb.

The defenders pushed with all their might, but the enemy swarmed in endlessly. At last, the first of the hydra reached the top of the wall. Soldiers struck them down and pushed them off, but more came, and soon they were climbing in massive numbers.

"Form a strong defense line!" the generals shouted. "Hold them! Push them back!"

The soldiers locked shields and fought with everything they had. Swords against bones, the air full of groans, and the night became a blur of fire and blood.

At one point, the hydra forced its way to a corner of the wall. Soldiers surrounded them on both sides, striking fiercely to push them back. But then, instead of fighting, the hydra did something strange.

They hurled themselves forward. One after another, they threw their own bodies over the wall, crashing down into the kingdom.

The screams below rose at once.

The creatures had landed inside Dorch. They first attacked the people who had been helping carry stones and killed them without mercy. There was chaos in the streets. Men and women ran in every direction, children cried out, and the kingdom was thrown into panic.

Aeron, still in the sky with Draco, turned and saw it all. The sight froze him. His heart pounded as he remembered the dream he'd been having, the terrible dream of a massacre.

And now, it was no longer a dream. It was real.

"..."