[Ouroboros' End]
With a flick of his arm, Darganth flung the dead aura user from the claw, not deeming her mana to be worth being devoured as most of it had already escaped her body with the destruction of her heart. Though to outsiders, or at least to those who couldn't read the expression on his draconic facial features, the disappointment he held over this miscalculation of his only made him seem even more dismissive of his enemies.
And from what he saw when he swept his gaze across the gathered crowd a moment later, there were certainly a few among the remaining enemies that caught his expression. In response, they unconsciously backed off, with Darganth even sensing one of the two men who had survived the earlier eruption relatively unharmed trying to break out into a sprint and run away, only for the other one to catch him before he could.
Ignoring these two men behind him, Darganth turned to what he guessed was the highest-ranking person left among his enemies. Briefly gauging the mage in question, he found himself surprised when the man found the courage to conjure a pillar of rock and rise to eye-level with him.
"It is quite foolish to cast magic for something so insignificant when I could've struck you down the moment I saw your mana flare." Darganth said.
Letting out an amused huff in response, the man was just about to retort something when Darganth spoke again, "Don't take that as an invitation to speak. You've made the mistake of harming my sister, and I'm very protective of my family, so in my eyes, you're all dead men walking. For most of you, that will soon also be reality, as any mercy I have for you will depend on the information you provide about your boss and organization. And you're lucky, because you're the first one to get the chance to prove your worth."
With the end of those words, Darganth slowly let more and more of his presence leak into his surroundings. At the last word, he then abruptly flared his mana, shattering the stone pillar before him and sending the mage back to the ground where he, along with his colleagues, was forced onto both knees by the dragon's fear that suffused Darganth's presence.
"Now then, what will you share with us?" Darganth asked, his lips curling up in a dangerous grin.
In the brief moment the mage before him hesitated, various shouts came at Darganth from all sides, "You want to conquer the wilderness, right? I know who the predominant power is. I can even show you where you can find them." "The outposts. How about a list of our outposts? They are fortified encampments we use to store some of our wares." "Forget about them, I and I alone can tell you about the artifacts our boss wields." "Forget about that liar, nobody knows that. I, on the other hand, I...uh...I can give you a list of our upcoming shipments."
Grinding his teeth as the chaotic hail of words reached his ears, Darganth lifted one of his front legs, raising it just enough to ball the fingers on its claw to a fist and slam it onto the ground.
"Enough!"
With his shout, the chaos around him immediately ceased. In the ensuing silence, Darganth swept his gaze across the crowd, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he studied every individual smuggler.
"I'm glad that all of you want to make yourself useful. As such, let me ask, would one of you happen to know the true purpose behind your attack? Maybe you've heard something about a distraction, or…" Having kept a close eye on the smugglers during those words, Darganth trailed off at the end as he caught what he was looking for.
Immediately committing the four men whose expressions changed to fear instead of confusion or surprise to his memory, Darganth didn't even bother letting them explain. By knowing that their force was only a distraction and hiding it even after his offer, any chance for mercy they might've had evaporated.
The three men and one woman in question seemed to recognize this a short moment later. And though all four flared their mana the moment this fact settled, two of the men had reacted ever so slightly too late and were still caught in it as a pillar of flames shot up from beneath each of their feet.
Meanwhile, the other two managed to avoid at least this first attack. Though before they could get far, their bodies stiffened and sank to the ground, their eyes open and their mind awake, but their body unable to listen to their commands.
Turning toward Venrie, Darganth smiled slightly as he saw her raised hand pointing in the rough direction of the two. When she then met his eyes, they communicated wordlessly, with but a nod from Darganth being needed for Venrie to understand his intent. Watching her then twist her wrist in an abrupt motion, he only briefly turned to the two smugglers to watch their life-force being wrung out of their bodies and seep into the ground, draining them of life and giving rise to a field of rapidly growing flowers in the meters around their bodies.
Afterward, Darganth turned his attention back to the crowd, "Now then, does anyone else have any information about harm that might befall my family or friends?"
To his surprise, his question was met with laughter from the mage. Though intermixed with the pained coughs due to the harsh landing he had suffered after Darganth shattered the pillar on which he stood, his amusement was clearly audible.
"To think you'd still think about that proves that you have no idea of the situation you're in. Whatever happens with our boss' plans, none of us will live long enough to see whether they succeed or fail. So spare yourself the trouble of interrogating me, because I know that you can't promise us our lives, not with the commotion our fight has caused and the savages roaming nearby." The man said, his tone completely carefree despite the dire words.
Surprised and intrigued by what he had to say, but also recognizing that the mage wasn't likely to give him further answers, Darganth let his gaze wander over the rest of the crowd as he spoke, "This is the easiest way to a chance at survival you'll get. What is he talking about?"
Whether it was the promise of survival or his tone, Darganth's words immediately received the reaction he had wished, "It's ogres, they attacked us just a few hours ago. They constantly roam the wilderness, avoiding only conflict with very few tribes and beast herds. We've lost many outposts to them, and even the boss gets beaten back by them regularly ever since the hooded man joined them a few years ago. That's all I know lord dragon, I swear."
"Not so hard, is it?" Darganth said to the mage before turning back to the man who had spoken, "Fine, you can go. Just know that if you so much as bother me again, I'll have your head."
Briefly showing a hint of surprise on his face, the man in question only hesitated for a brief moment before jumping to his feet and backing away. At first keeping his head lowered toward Dargant as he walked backward, he turned around near the edge of the clearing and sprinted into the forest.
At the same time, Venrie rose into the air, hovering forward to float next to Darganth before speaking, "It seems like the high-ranking ones' suspicions are correct. I can sense the mana signatures of a small group of ogres approaching. Still a few minutes away for what I'd expect based on the radiance emitted by their presence, but pretty assuredly making their way toward us."
"I feared so." Darganth said with a sigh, "I'll clean up here and then we'll take a look at our alleged doom." He said with some mockery in his tone.
At the mention of 'cleaning up', the nearby smugglers who overheard it paled. Glancing around and reading their colleagues' reactions, they let their mana flare up almost in unison. But even with this coordination, their efforts were all for naught.
Just as the first smuggler finished pushing himself onto his feet, Allaire let go of her bowstring. Striking the man before he had a chance to run, the arrow found its mark in the gap between his breastplate and arm protection. Lodging itself deep in his shoulder, the arrow then released a burst of blackish-gray smoke when the protruding portion of its shaft was snapped off by the man's next motion.
Before the smuggler could then take a second step, dark, veiny lines started to crawl up the side of his neck. Stumbling as he felt the right side of his body lose its strength, the man had a brief moment where he remained conscious, during which he saw the rest of his colleagues being annihilated.
Most prominently among these was Jennia rampaging through three of the opponents Sonita had faced, her six heads moving around chaotically as she had them encircled by her lonesome and was assaulting the aura users from all sides.
Further at the edge of his field of view, he saw Vika standing near the blood-drained husk of the mage she had been fighting, with floating blobs of blood hunting one of the two aura users on her part of the battlefield. Meanwhile, all that was left from the other aura user was a smoldering corpse that laid at the center of the scorch mark of a lightning impact.
On the opposite side of the battlefield, he only saw the flashes of fire and felt its heat washing over him. What he couldn't see was Sonita standing there, covered head to toe in flames and with a pair of flaming wings extended behind her back, launching one Fireball after another at the two remaining opponents on her side of the battlefield.
Lastly, Alicia was diving at the two men remaining in the formerly forested area Darganth had passed through. Appearing as a mere blur of darkness as she passed through an area of the skies where no passing universe was close enough to be visible, she tore through the two smugglers with gravity magic and her claws.
At the same time, Allaire landed next to her target. Already having readied a second arrow, she approached the man with the string drawn back.
"P-Please, I didn't want to-" He started only to be cut off by her words.
"Had you attacked just anyone, I might have been willing to listen to your excuses and possibly let you live with just the curse of my arrow as punishment. It would've been enough to ensure that you're unlikely to ever be a threat to us again. But you helped in the attempt to kill my sister-in-law, and that isn't something I have any mercy for. The only offer I'll make you is the promise that it'll be swift if you remove your helmet." Allaire said.
Weakly turning to look at her, her target briefly froze at the sight of her merciless expression. Recognizing the futility of fighting back with the right side of his upper body all the way to the hips completely unresponsive, he reached up with his left and pulled back the hood of chain-mail that covered his head. Closing his eyes afterward, he only heard the sound of a bowstring being loosened before darkness followed.
Turning her attention toward the rest of their group, Allaire saw that the others were also finishing their fights. Compared to before, the enemy had lost four comrades, something that, combined with the losses suffered during the earlier fighting and the disadvantageous position in which they had started, meant that their group was quickly overwhelming them.
So overwhelming was their advantage that Venrie didn't even see it necessary to act as their safety net during the fight. Instead, she was already preparing the clearing for the arrival of the ogres their enemy had spoken of. To that end, she was manipulating the grass and other small plants that covered the ground to sprout up, causing wooden pillars to grow skyward while interwoven blades of grass gathered between them to form a temporary palace.
Once this building was taking shape, Darganth slowly walked toward it. Shrinking down even further until he stood at merely ten meters long, he vanished into the palace.
Following after her husband, Allaire too joined him and Venrie in the interior a few moments later. Finding Darganth lying down at the far end of the building with his front legs folded before his torso and his head raised, she was briefly surprised that he seemed to be intent on staying in his true form for these negotiations.
Spotting her confusion and correctly guessing its source, Darganth explained, "Ogre culture is pretty straightforward in some regards. They value power, mainly in the form of physical strength, and see size as an indication of it, so my true form will help us to be taken seriously without us having to demonstrate our power in a fight first."
"Refreshingly simple way to avoid trouble." Allaire said before letting her gaze trail up and down his form, "And honestly, I could get used to seeing you hold court in your true form. It's imposing."
Walking closer to him as Darganth let out a small chuckle in response to her words, Allaire took her seat on one of the thrones to his side. Relaxing into it, she started stroking across the membrane of Darganth's left wing that was lazily placed against the side of his body. Like that, she then prepared herself for the wait until the ogres arrived.