Alger dove at breakneck speed, using the red dragon's massive, lumbering size to his advantage. He aimed to skim past its flank, strike, and wheel around into the blind spot behind it.
"True Strike."
A purple magical radiance flickered within Cassius's vertical slit pupils, allowing him to see right through Alger's flight path. His powerful claw swiped out along that exact trajectory.
"Igor!"
Alger clamped his legs tight and wrenched the giant eagle's reins, forcing its body violently to the right. Executing a sharp turn in the middle of a high-speed dive, he barely managed to evade the swipe.
*Whoosh—*
The sound of displaced air tore behind him.
Alger steered the giant eagle to one side, his brow furrowed tightly and his heart pounding against his ribs.
He looked up into the distance. The dozen or so surviving Eagle Guards had not yet escaped beyond sight, and wyverns were shrieking as they pursued them.
*I have to hold out at least until they've completely escaped,*
Alger muttered to himself.
He had just brushed against the gates of death. The monster before him was extraordinarily agile—scarcely resembling a genuine red dragon—and it seemed capable of anticipating his attack angles. Ordinary feints and harassment tactics would hardly work.
Cassius, meanwhile, had grown intrigued by this remarkably mobile giant eagle knight.
*Annoying as a fly.*
*Still, not a bad unit type.*
He watched the giant eagle circle at high speed and exhaled a breath of sulfurous heat.
Alger continued circling, trying to find a flaw in the red dragon's defenses. Finally, he spotted a blind spot in its vision.
*Right there!*
Undaunted, he dove down at top speed once more.
Gripping his silver sword with both hands, Alger put the full momentum of the dive behind a strike aimed at the red dragon's torso.
*Clang—*
Not only did he fail to harm the red dragon, but the recoil jolted his arms numb.
The scale struck by the blade turned a lustrous gold; the blow felt as though it had landed squarely against solid metal.
"Body of Storm's Echo!"
Cassius let out a low hiss. Lightning abruptly erupted from his claws, rapidly coating his entire body.
Alger instantly pulled back his sword to retreat, but the electrical current had already conducted along the silver blade into his body and surged into the giant eagle.
A piercing eagle shriek rang out.
The giant eagle's feathers bristled and stood on end, its entire frame wreathed in dense arcs of electricity. An agonizing jolt coursed through its flesh, followed immediately by total numbness and weakness.
*It's clearly a red dragon. How could it...*
As a warrior, Alger possessed a sturdy constitution. Though in pain, he wasn't severely injured by the fleeting current.
With great effort, he kept the giant eagle steady to prevent it from losing balance and plummeting. Yet each flap of its wings crackled with electricity, forcing him to minimize its movements and glide at low speed through the air.
*A spellcaster!*
This red dragon was a spellcaster!
And that lightning was definitely not an innate draconic spell—it had been learned!
Alger's heart sank. Facing a dragon mage or dragon sorcerer was the worst nightmare imaginable.
He turned his head, only to see the red dragon baring its sharp teeth in a grin, its golden pupils glowing with an unsettling light.
Alarm bells rang furiously in his head. He instinctively tried to shut his eyes, but he couldn't outpace the speed of magic.
"Phantasmal Force!"
A heavy, scalding-hot iron chain coiled around Alger.
He desperately wanted to believe it was an illusion, but the searing agony wracking his body could not be faked. Without specialized mental discipline, resisting such psychic suggestion was nearly impossible.
And the more the victim believed in the illusion conjured by Phantasmal Force, the more real and rational it became.
Now, in Alger's eyes, his flesh was covered in charred burn marks, and the chains even blazed with roaring fire.
Dragged down by the phantom weight, he and the giant eagle plummeted together.
"No! No!"
"This is fake!"
"I haven't avenged them yet. How could it end..."
"...right here?!"
Alger roared, his throat raw and hoarse.
Enduring the agony that felt ready to incinerate him, he squeezed his eyes shut. Relying solely on his perception of the air currents, he guided the giant eagle into a glide, miraculously succeeding on his saving throw through sheer, unyielding willpower.
When he opened his eyes again, nothing was there.
The chains, the flames, the wounds—all had vanished.
Even Cassius, hovering high above, was slightly surprised.
*Damn, making the save after the spell already took effect? Truly Captain Northwind Keep.*
Witnessing such a stellar display, Cassius finally remembered this giant eagle knight's background.
A renowned mid-boss from his past life, known as the "Talon of the Eagle" and the "Sharp Sword of Lackman," the commander of the Northwind Eagle Guard—Alger Yeoman.
He had led the Eagle Guard multiple times to hunt down and slaughter tieflings, serving as Duke Brad's infamous executioner, and would eventually become a death knight.
Alger had lost his parents at a young age. Under Duke Brad's deliberate manipulation, he was led to believe that tieflings had sacrificed his parents to devils. Thus deceived into becoming House Lackman's deathsworn fanatic, he had sworn lifelong allegiance and helped orchestrate the horrific Tiefling Camp Massacre.
Yet when Alger finally drew close to the truth behind his parents' deaths, Duke Brad—the man he had trusted completely and would have laid down his life for—turned him into a mindless death knight, commanding him to ride a skeletal eagle and eternally wander outside the duke's manor.
Recalling this, Cassius decided to spare his life for now; killing him would be a waste. This was not born of pity, nor from any lingering human empathy from his past life, but purely to lay the groundwork for his plan to seize Northwind Keep.
After all, goblins and kobolds were nothing more than cheap expendables in his eyes; losing a few wasn't even worth mentioning.
On the other hand, a personal guard raised in Northwind Keep who had served the duke for years—a giant eagle knight whose training required immense resources—held undeniable value. Cassius could certainly squeeze a great deal of benefit out of him, perhaps even training an aerial corps for Cinder Nest.
The red dragon swept across the sky, closing in behind the slowly gliding giant eagle knight.
Before Alger could react, Cassius twinned his spell, targeting both mount and rider at once.
"Sleep!"
A flash of magical radiance flared. Powerless to resist, the knight and his giant eagle sank into a deep slumber and tumbled from the sky, only to be caught in midair by the red dragon's powerful talons.
Under normal circumstances, a Sleep spell would have had no effect on someone of Alger's strength. But worn down by battle, he had reached the point of exhaustion, leaving him with no means to resist.
"So you can save against an illusion..."
"Can you save against hard crowd control?"
Cassius tossed him casually to the ground, chuckling under his breath.
[Based on your strength and the target's "Asleep" condition, you can observe the following information]
Northwind Eagle Guard Captain
Name: Alger Yeoman
Type: Medium Humanoid (Human), Lawful Neutral
AC: 18 (Fine Plate Armor)
Speed: Fly 90 ft., 30 ft.
Strength: 17
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 11
Wisdom: 13
Charisma: 12
Class & Level: Fighter (Giant Eagle Knight) 8
Mount: Anzeta Subspecies Giant Eagle (Level 4)
Martial Weapons: Longsword, Shortsword, Greatsword, Longbow, Heavy Crossbow, Lance
Simple Weapons: Dagger, Shortbow, Light Crossbow
Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling +14, Military Tactics +9, Hunting +7, Athletics +6, Perception +4, Leadership +4, Survival +4, Investigation +2, Tracking +4, Stealth +4
Senses: Passive Perception 14
Languages: Common
Actions: Swarm Tactics, Commander's Ambush, Dive Attack, Aerial Halt, Rapid Turn, Slashing Attack, Piercing Attack, Action Surge, Second Wind
Feats: Alert, Cleave, Great Weapon Master, Heavy Armor Master, Mounted Combatant, Master of Flight
Equipment: Eagle Screech Silver Sword, Northwind Keep Standard Plate Armor, Eagle Guard Cloak
Challenge Rating: 9 (5,000 XP)
"Now that's a lavish stat sheet,"
Cassius marveled in admiration.
Chapter 33