Tales of The Mighty Dragonair

He had to do his best to form this array and keep it running. He didn't want to run through the same tiring procedure again, and he doubted his ability to make such an array so soon.

So he didn't want to risk losing this array under any circumstances.

"Keep an eye on Marcos," Arthur said while the ruckus going on at Doaf's location seemed to go slowly out of control. "And see what Doaf is doing."

'I told you to keep an eye on him,' she chuckled before adding, 'but I didn't listen to you and let the tree keep tracking everything. Oh man, that Doaf is really something.'

"What did he do?"

'Nothing much except acting as if one of those mages was really alive,' Gege said in an amused tone, 'you should have seen him. Even I believed his act.'

"You're Not the one needed to be convinced with this," Arthur smiled before adding, "What's that traitor status now?"

'He is still motionless,' Gege said, 'but I doubt he will stay like this any longer.'

"Why? Have he summoned his men now?"

'No, but Doaf just announced the mage is getting better and in less than one hour he will awake.'

"Interesting," Arthur nodded, "and his timing is also perfect. This way our little bird will be forced to choose between him, me, and Amera."

'Ding! What if he has some sort of a hidden weapon?'

"I bet he does," Arthur nodded, "but I don't care. Don't forget something, my dear system."

'Ding! What?'

Arthur grinned before pointing to the sky, "that portal is about to get functioning and soon more reinforcements will arrive here."

'…'

'…'

"Marcos must be well aware of it, and he will be forced to act fast before these reinforcements arrive."

Arthur knew they all missed this point, but that snake wouldn't. someone like Marcos wouldn't climb this high inside his godfather's forces without being extremely cautious and very smart as well.

'Ding! This will put more pressure on him.'

'Does he know that?'

"He knows," Arthur calmly stated, "and that will best serve our purpose."

'I'll keep watching him then,' Gege refreshingly said, 'I'm dying to know which way he will choose to hit first.'

'Ding! If I was him, I would go everywhere,' the system said.

"That would require much of a force he currently didn't have," Arthur was doubting that approach, "plus he would risk losing everything and be exposed."

'Ding! At this stage I doubt he would care about something like that.'

"Don't forget the mages we rescued," Arthur slowly said, "if he did that then he would turn everyone against him… such a thing would be a bad move coming from him."

'Ding! I believe he will do this,' the system said.

'I believe he'll come to Amera first,' Gege said.

"I don't mind him doing anything," Arthur expressed his opinion, "as long as he acts, I'll be grateful for him."

'Ding! Yeah, he will relieve us from such a headache.'

'What if he didn't move?' Gege suddenly asked, 'What if he saw through all this?'

"It's… hard to guess all that and bet his life on such a low odd possibility," Arthur paused before adding, "but if he did so, then I'll first let Amera summon as many mages of her world as she can before we reverse the array."

'Ding! Sounds like a good plan.'

"That's why he won't stay calm," Arthur nodded, "he knows what I plan to do if he doesn't move. So it's best for him to risk it all instead of waiting and failing at everything in the end."

'He is on the move!' Gege suddenly said.

"Where?" Arthur hurriedly asked, "is he coming here? Or at Doaf or Amera?"

'You won't believe this,' Gege laughed, 'he is going to the sky.'

Arthur turned his head high above but the distance between him and Marcos was big so he couldn't spot him anywhere.

'Ding! Is he aiming towards the portal?'

'No, he is just going towards the sky, that's all.'

Gege's answer seemed weird. "Notify Doaf and Amera, make them ready for anything," Arthur didn't feel good about this. "And keep telling me about his location."

'He just reached the cloud level and stopped there… Oh wait…' Gege paused for a long minute before she returned again, 'He is making something up there with everyone on his side.'

"Making what?" Arthur narrowed his eyes before asking what he feared, "don't tell me it's a portal."

'I dunno…' Gege hesitated, 'but it looks like a big array. He is using two hundred of his trusted men to do it.'

'Ding! We should go,' the system said, 'Ding! we can't let him do whatever he wishes.'

"No, not us," Arthur firmly shook his head before taking two bird's wings and wrote something in them before watching them burn.

'Doaf will be faster to reach,' Gege said, 'he is the closest to his location now.'

"No problem, at least he will be able to tell what is he doing up there," Arthur said, "keep in touch with Doaf, see what this array is."

Arthur watched the meachas around, the monsters led by his pet who were now scattered around the array and felt some confidence. "We can win this," he said to himself, "we can do it."

He just waited there for five minutes before Gege returned to him with the news.

'Doaf says this array is a summoning one, one he has never seen before.'

"Hmm… then make him stop it."

'He… tried,' Gege paused, 'but there is a veil of protection around that array. Something stood there to shield all the attacks.'

'Ding! He knew we won't let him continue that array of his,' the system said.

"Isn't there a way to break that barrier?" Arthur asked.

'He thinks with absolute power that the barrier won't last long,' Gege said.

"Notify Amera then," Arthur said before flying in the air, "I'll also go to help."

'Bringing any cavalry with you?'

"No, leave everyone here in guard," Arthur thought for a minute, "I'm not sure this is the real one or just a decoy."

'Hmm… sounds like a traitor's way of doing things,' Gege muttered before adding, 'I'll have to warn you… I can't control portals anymore.'

Arthur got her meaning. "I know that," he simply nodded, "but I need to see that array cracked open… Tell the tree to intensify her surveillance around the array."

Arthur was flying fast but he spotted a ray of fire flying faster than him towards the direction of Marcos. "She got here that fast," he muttered, "then I'm not that needed anymore… wait a minute… take me towards the location that bastard was."

'The previous spot before moving?' Gege asked in doubt, 'What for?'

"I just… have a hunch," Arthur slowly said, "if he was planning anything then I will find a trace of it there."

'Alright, turn left and go down for a couple of miles. He rested with his gang at one valley between three peaks.'

"Keep me updated about the condition of the two arrays."

He turned his direction fast and went directly towards the west. He flew for a few minutes around the peaks until he finally found the three gege told him about.

The three peaks were close to each other in a strange way, forming a natural barrier towards any eye trying to spy on the valley in between.

"He didn't choose this place randomly," Arthur got this feeling the moment he spotted the three peaks, "he must be hiding something down there."

As he descended there, nothing looked suspicious to his eyes. The rocks filled the place and there was nothing wrong to mention.

"Boom!"

However the moment he got near the ground, almost ten meters off it, he hit a hidden barrier and was sent instantly to fly back.

"Damn! He is hiding something here for sure!" Arthur clenched his claws before adding, "any ideas?"

'Ding! It's a protective array, something stronger than your current level of energy,' the system said.

'We can try and crush it with my golden energy,' Gege said with confidence.

"I… doubt the golden energy's ability to crack it," Arthur stood in the air before adding, "first I'll need to see the real area covered by this array."

He then descended slowly towards the shield territory and got to touch its outer surface. As he touched it, he felt like stirring the calm water surface of a pond.

His simple touches created many circles expanding all over the array. "It's huge," Arthur commented when he saw the circles going to a very far distance, "it's covering the entire valley."

'Ding! That means it's hiding something big inside,' the system said.

"It's…" Arthur paused before hurriedly adding, "Gege, ask Doaf and Amera about any twin arrays."

'Twin… what?' Gege didn't get his meaning first before she spied on his mind and got what he wanted to ask about. 'Ok, ok, I'll ask them now.'

'Ding! What do you mean by that?' the system couldn't spy like Gege so he had to ask.

"This array lies exactly underneath the one he is trying to create up there," Arthur said, "so he is doing something using two identical arrays."

'Ding! Oh, I got it,' the system said, 'Ding! But I have a bad feeling about this.'

Arthur glanced at the sky and the ground and the distance between. "Me too," he muttered in a gratified tone, "the more I thought about this the more unsettled I became."

'Ding! let's wait and see what these two will say.'

'They knew nothing about it,' Gege's next answer made Arthur quite annoyed and more restless than ever.