Starfire blossomed across the pearlescent surface of the water, igniting the oil elemental with fresh flames. Horrific gurgling sounds rung out across the waves as the elemental released the closest thing it could to a cry of pain. The corruptant reared back from the base of the oil rig, moving away from the pair of dragons, only for a barrage of gunfire to tear through its oily form.
With Smaug’s intervention, the Syntech fleet had managed to get into firing range relatively unscathed. Though flecks of filth were sent splattering across the waves, the rounds were relatively ineffective against the living sludge, only serving to enrage it. Morphing its face through its body and to the other side, the grimacing, burning elemental gathered its oily mass together. It bulged out for a moment before bursting forward, racing back towards the fleet as a tsunami of filth and flame.
“Coward!” Karakul roared, taking off after her foe. Smaug, still cleaning himself off after his close encounter, simply scoffed and committed himself to doing the
important work of destroying the oil rig. He wasn’t going to belittle himself by chasing after the elemental like a pet chasing a toy. The thing would probably burn itself out before it could reach the fleet anyway.
These were Smaug’s thoughts, at least, up until the elemental released a strange, reverberating cry across the area and, in response, a series of small boats shot out from the rig, much like the suicide vessels that he had stopped before. Frustrated, the firedrake lashed out at the nearest with his tail, clipping the boat and decapitating its unmade pilot in the process. He expected the vessel to erupt into a violent explosion at the impact, but on the contrary, it simply popped open and spilled a fresh slick of oil onto the water.
Confused, the reluctant bond and pilot pair paused a moment to consider what exactly the plan was there. The oil clearly wasn’t enough to do much serious damage on its own, and even if it was ignited like the elemental, it probably wouldn’t do enough to sink Syntech’s battleships.
No, even if it was ignited… like the elemental. The
oil elemental.
Smaug snapped his head in the direction of the fleet, sudden clarity falling over him. The boats weren’t weapons, they were fuel. The elemental needed more oil to replace its burnt-up mass, and once the boats had provided it, it was going to use the last of its strength to crush the Syntech forces. The living oil knew that it couldn’t win against an embodiment of flame and fury itself, so it was going out with a blast to stall their advance.
The firedrake growled as he took off in reluctant pursuit of the boats, quickly disposing of the slowest vessel with a jet of flame. This was a waste of his time, but he supposed that he needed the meddlesome ships to carry him between points of interest.
“Shade!” he called out to Karakul as the boats began to slowly but surely outstrip him, widening the gap in the race towards the oil elemental. “Make yourself useful and destroy the vessels!”
The firedrake scanned the smog-filled sky, visibility ruined by the smoke coming from the burning elemental, for his tentative ally but was surprised to find her missing. There was no way that the brute would run from the fight. Had she finally gotten herself killed again?
As it turned out, Karakul was far from running from the fight, but that was exactly the issue. Hot on the elemental’s trail, the reforged dragon was almost close enough to reach her foe when she realised that something was wrong. Deep within her chest, Eszter was suddenly wracked by a violent, hacking cough, clutching at her mouth and throat desperately. Though the gaps in the contraption on Karakul’s chest were small, they weren’t small enough to keep out the clouds of cloying smoke they were flying through.
“Pull up!” she gasped, panic overwhelming rage. “We need to get out of the smoke.”
“What?” Karakul rumbled, confused. “Smoke is no impediment to a dragon.”
“This isn’t just normal smoke.” the dragonkin choked. “It’s oil fumes! This is really bad, we can’t breathe too much!”
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the larger dragon let out a frustrated growl before doing as she was told, fanning out her wings to suddenly slow her flight and allow the elemental to speed ahead, taking its smog trail with it. Within Eszter’s cocoon, fresh air began to gradually replacing tainted filth, though the demi-dragon could still feel a foul, cloying weight in her lungs.
“Shit.” she grunted, hacking and coughing a couple more times. The pair watched helplessly as the elemental rocketed towards the fleet, its support boats about to race under them. “We need to deal with these things, quickly!”
Karakul responded with a wordless howl, swooping down and crushing the first boat with a claw before smashing another with her tail. Smaug wasn’t far behind, lagging but not out of the race, managing to catch another oil carrier with a jet of flame. This particular vessel did not catch alight properly, nor did it explode for a good dozen seconds before its time finally ran out and it erupted into a corrupted fireball.
Though the dragons were mowing through the boats, there were just so many that it was too hard to say be sure that they could save the fleet. Just as Eszter was growing desperate, believing that this endeavour would fall to dumb luck, the delayed eruption gave Shallan a sudden stroke of genius.
“Light the boats but don’t destroy them!” Smaug’s voice called, undoubtedly after no small amount of verbal sparring between the two.
Karakul turned to her ally with a dumbfounded look on her face which was matched by Eszter within her chest. The reincarnations of Yucatan could hardly believe what they were hearing. Why wouldn’t they destroy the boats? Still, though, they obliged.
Working together, Smaug and Karakul swept their breath weapon’s across the waves, grazing each vessel just enough to set it alight rather than destroying it. Mindlessly devoted to their task, the unmade crew stared absent-mindlessly at the fire as they continued straight ahead, headed inexorably for their master.
Half a dozen flaming boats managed to reach the oil elemental, sinking into the sludge mass of the creature and plunging inside to provide it with their vile payload. The elemental allowed itself a foul grimace as its plan reached its conclusion and it prepared to lay waste to Syntech’s forces, even as they fruitlessly continued to open fire in an attempt to repel it.
Then, a boat detonated from deep within the beast.
Then another.
Then another.
A violent chain reaction ripped through the oil elemental, first through the fresh oil provided by the boats and then through the corruptant itself. The elemental had proven itself supernaturally resilient to flame thus far, managing to hold itself together long enough to approach the fleet in the first place. This, however, was simply too much. With enough force to level a city block, the creature detonated, going up in flames.
The Syntech crews began to celebrate, but the bonds knew better. After a moment, they both spotted their foe, or what remained of it. A blob of oil about the size of a man with a shocked face upon it, seemingly struggling to comprehend the sudden destruction of its body.
“Hmph.” Smaug scoffed. “Neve-”
“Never stood a chance!” Karakul crowed triumphantly, much to the firedrake’s chagrin.
“Yes… precisely. I presume you can handle that clean up.” he groaned before turning around to complete their ultimate goal here. Decommissioning that oil rig. Permanently.
“Hmph? No, that can be your job!” the dragon queen snapped before turning to race him back to the rig. “The glory of destroying that keep shall fall to Yucatan!”
As the dragons bickered, the elemental core soared through the air before hitting the water with a ‘plop’. Desperately, it raced towards the remains of the nearest boat destroyed by the dragons but not set blaze. As it reached the smashed vessel and began to reabsorb the oil, the seething corruptant began to mentally plot a course, jumping from oil patch to oil patch until it could reach the rig.
And its revenge.
