Chapter 2043 First Blood (Part 3) During the plague of Kandria, Small Wolrd had been used to isolate the entire region and keep the information blackout to keep panic from spreading. Now its range was much smaller and both Lith and Ufyl could see with Life Vision that the Royal Artifact had placed around them several different arrays. Some were offensive while others were defensive and even their area of effect changed according to their purpose. The battalion and Lith were shielded by several barriers whereas Ufyl was in the middle of the Freezing Coffin array. 'That's why I feel so weak. The spells of the mages aren't enough to overpower the heating system of my armor. It's all because of that damn magical formation!' One of the Dragon's heads looked at Lith, noticing he had almost recovered. Knowing there was no time to lose, another head activated a Spirit Blink that brought Ufyl outside the Freezing Coffin array but not the Small World. A Warping array moved the whole battalion at the same time while several magical hidden magical formations exploded below the Dragon's feet like landmines, blowing his legs to bits. The Royals had explained to their most trusted officials what an Awakened could do and how Life Vision couldn't spot inactive arrays. Varegrave and his battalion had come early to Belius' plains to prepare the field in advance with Small World. When Lith had called Berion, he had informed the colonel of the Dragon's weak points, giving him the time to adjust his strategy. The traps conjured stone spikes that struck at Ufyl's legs before exploding with the violence of a tier four spell. Each one of them wasn't much, but the array unleashed dozens of that at a time. To make matter worse the thermal shock weakened the Adamant. The heat brought the Dragon no respite from the chilling cold as his feet were blown apart, making him fall head first on the ground. Ufyl felt humiliated by a human forcing him to kneel like a dog. It was the first important task that Thrud had entrusted him after bestowing upon him the glory of becoming a true Dragon and he was letting her down. He roared in outrage and breathed Origin Flames from six of his heads while the seventh used his breathing technique to recover. Varegrave activated the barriers, stopping the flames in their tracks. Yet the Origin Flames attacked not only the magical defense but also the entire field of arrays conjured by Small World. Ufyl unleashed one burst of fire after the other, destroying the runes faster than Varegrave could repair them.𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶 Small World had its own energy source, protecting its wielder from mana overload, but due to the symbiotic relationship required to control such a complex device, every damage the artifact took appeared as a wound on the colonel's body. His eyes and ears started to bleed, needing the help of his second in command just to stand up. Ufyl roared in triumph and unleashed a volley of emerald bolts against the army mages, decimating them. Dragon Eyes had revealed to him that Tyris' artifact had no weak points but it had limits. Small World has no defensive mechanism that could stop Spirit Magic and it had been devised to be used by a fake Awakened. The burden that using it against a Divine Beast was too much for a regular human. Lith Spirit Blinked behind the Dragon and breathed a burst of Void Flames that was met by Ufyl's Origin Flames. The Dragon's seven heads looked in every direction at the same time, making it impossible to take him by surprise. 'Oh, shit!' Ufyl thought as the two Flames clashed in front of his face due to the gap in speed. Their energy clashed for a second before exploding, burning one of his heads off. 'One down, too many to go.' Lith ignored the other heads and lunged with War at the Dragon's heart. Alas, the blade clashed against an emerald and gold barrier made by overlapping a spirit barrier and a hard-light construct. Full Guard warned Lith the moment Iata entered its range but Life Maelstrom made her faster than he could react. Her head rammed at his chest while her tail aimed at his blade, making the Tiamat's seven eyes go wide in horror. He activated the spirit barrier of his armor, but the acid sizzled on the point of impact compromising its integrity. "How could you let yourself be cornered by a pup and a few humans?" Iata sent him a bolt of silver lightning that multiplied the Dragon's abilities tenfold. At the same time, she hammered at Lith's barrier with her claws, horns, and spells at the same time. "Said the one who almost got herself killed by just the pup!" Life Maelstrom made fire fusion strong enough to warm Ufyl and return him to his full strength. He imbued part of it inside his equipment, becoming immune to cold, and a bit into each of his seven heads, producing as many bursts of silver Origin Flames. 'At least I've lasted far longer than the two seconds I promised you, Lith.' Varegrave thought as the mystical fire ravaged the Small World and with it his body. 'I leave the rest to you.' The colonel coughed out a mouthful of blood, feeling his consciousness fade away. Lith was trapped inside his barrier, forced to focus on defense and wait for an opening to breathe Void Flames. Fighting Iata while she was empowered by the Maelstrom would have been foolish, he needed to bring her to his level with the Cursed Flames first. The problem was that the Sekhmet knew it as well and was always wary of his mouth and wings. The seven bursts of silver Flame suddenly disappeared into thin air as a second smaller seven headed Dragon tackled Ufyl. Earlier Lith had called Faluel as well, asking for reinforcements. She had come as fast as she could after shapeshifting into her battle form, yet she had kept herself at a distance until the moment was right. With her 20 meters (66') of height, she was a good head shorter than Thrud's Divine Beasts and even though she now looked like a Dragon, her abilities were still those of a regular Hydra. Faluel had waited for an opportunity to strike that had never come. She had stepped in because she knew that once Varegrave died, Lith would've had no chances against two Divine Beasts alone. Her seven heads bit the Dragon's, injecting them with her powerful acid and evening the field. Also, she had shapeshifted the Hands of Menadion into the form of five stone helmets, each crowned with a gemstone of a different color. The heads wearing them stretched their necks to keep a circular formation and be ready to use the Hands to instantly conjure arrays. 'How can a mere Hydra damage the armor that the Queen bestowed upon me? And while it's empowered by Life Maelstrom at that!' Ufyl's mind was in chaos but the answer to his question was quite simple. During the tackle, she had used the tier four Forgemastering spell, Clean Slate. It had short-circuited the power core of the artifact, making it temporarily lose its imprint. By neutralizing his equipment, she had made up for the gap in mass and bloodline abilities.