?The swarm of dragons that came numbered in the thousands. They all had obsidian scales like Azzarilth. The worst thing was, these dragons didn't look like they were newly born offsprings. Their appearance was that of adult dragons.
The reason for this was that this was not a brood produced after Azzarilth was freed. Even with the Eldritch Beholder's secret technique, only her kind could grow that fast. Dragons took an extremely long time to mature aside from their abysmally low birth rate.
The Eldritch Beholder's secret technique helped Azzarilth solve her birth rate problem but she couldn't do anything about their slow maturing process.
This incoming swarm was the brood that the Eldritch Beholder helped Azzarilth make during the ancient war. At that time, Azzarilth's brood had just been laid. She hid them away because they couldn't hatch yet. Hence, this brood didn't join the ancient war.
After the Eldritch Beholder and Azzarilth were sealed by Broidrireg, this brood inside Azzarilth's secret lair was forgotten by time. It continued to grow inside their eggs through the millennia. Without Azzarilth, they couldn't hatch.
Master knew about this brood because he knew the backstory of the ancient war. Game-wise, the lair where the brood was located was an area players would have to go to find the clue to Azzarilth's whereabouts. When they entered this area, a nearby egg would hatch and they would have to fight the dragon that came out. They would have to slowly progress through the area and slay the dragons one by one until they found the clue to Azzarilth.
The dragons that were hatched due to the presence of intruders would be in a weakened state. This allowed a small band of adventurers to progress through the area, albeit very slowly. These dragons were unnatural products, to begin with. They needed the eldritch beholder and Azzarilth to help them hatch if they were to have their full power.
This was what Master had done. When Master borrowed the Eldritch Beholder from Mistress to lay brood near Dritzuut, he also brought the Eldritch Beholder to Azzarilth's secret lair. There, the eldritch beholder used an enchantment to prepare the brood to hatch. All the brood needed then was their mother's presence.
Only after those preparations were done that Master went to negotiate with Azzarilth and made her his country guardian.
After Azzarilth agreed and was released from her seal. She flew directly to her secret lair. There, she saw that Master was true to his promise. She had been staying in that lair to help her brood hatch since then. She only flew to Dritzuut after the last of her brood was hatched.
The brood exited their lair with her but their speed was much slower. Azzarilth arrived in Dritzuut first while her brood was still making their way. Now, they had also arrived.
By that time, much of the Allied forces had breached through the wall. Master's divine earth titan had run out of duration. The zombie horde was also mostly routed due to the enemy's overwhelming number. Thus, the Allied forces were able to send their soldiers into the capital. The battle mostly took place inside the capital.
The Allied soldiers looked up at the swarm of dragons that suddenly filled the sky. The sight caused the soldiers' hearts to fill with dread. They dreaded if this insane number of dragons would make them their targets. Their fear was proven when the dragons started diving down toward them.
The dragons were not true dragons, though. Despite being born from Azzarilth, they were not through a natural process. They were classified as draconic monsters. Similar to the dragons that adventurers encountered in the wilderness. They couldn't speak. They just attacked based on instinct and if Azzarilth commanded them. Even so, Azzarilth considered them her rightful offspring. Her madness and desire made her blind to reality.
As mature dragons, these dragons ranged from level 70 to level 85. The lowest grade was special elites. Most were rare elites. Plenty within the swarm were mythical grades.
Though their number was much fewer than the Allied forces, each of them was formidable. One could take on thousands of soldiers on their own. The high-level officers in the Allied forces immediately turned their attention to these dragons. Otherwise, the low-level soldiers would be decimated.
Jack, who was going through the streets of Dritzuut under the invisibility spell, looked up at the dragons.
'So, this is Master's trump card all along,' he thought. If he hadn't gone with John's suggestion and waited. This brood would have arrived before they broke the wall. Then, it would be even harder to lay siege to the capital. He was glad that he had trusted John's advice. But even so, these dragons would cost them many casualties.
He hastened his speed. He had to hurry to save Jeanny and the others. Once he did, he would bring them to attack the throne room. If he could destroy the throne before Master arrived, this should affect the enemy's native soldiers. When that happened, they would have only the enemy players, the beholders, and those dragons to worry about.
*
The battle had been a sure win before the swarm of dragons arrived. The enemies had been forced out of the battlement and were now fighting on the streets of the capital. But with the dragons' arrival, the battle had returned to a stalemate. The enemy soldiers adjusted their formation to harass the Allied forces while they were busy with the dragons.
Some guilds had summoned their guild armies when their forces breached the capital. The rest also summoned their guild armies when the dragons attacked. They had to go all out now.
Outside the capital, a legion of 10,000 vampire soldiers stood watch. In the middle of this legion was Horatio, the Sangrod emperor. Unlike the other sovereigns, he didn't have the habit of involving himself directly in a battle. He stayed out here while his army fought inside the capital. He also chose to not hide inside Jack's mobile fortress because he didn't want to appear relying on his ally and also because the mobile fortress mostly fought on the front line as it did now against the Eldritch Beholder.
His country's war table was also the only one outside of the mobile fortress. Darius Armand was next to him operating the war table. Saint Jonathan was also there with them.
As Horatio watched the dragons attacking their forces inside the capital, he heard his soldiers warning him about an incoming force.
Horatio turned in the direction where his soldiers were warning him. In that direction, he saw an incoming force. Leading that force was someone he knew well. Archibald Silas, a Marcus loyalist and the former relic marshall of the Sangrod Empire.
