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*****
"Fire!"
With the order given, the dwarves quickly cranked their cannons, loading them with magic crystals.
Boom!
Over a hundred magical cannons fired simultaneously, and in the skies above, a rain of dragons came crashing down.
It was clear now—the destructive power of these magical cannons was already enough to pierce the defenses of ordinary dragons.
"Destroy those weapons!"
Ancalagon, having just swatted away a magic cannonball with his claws, led his dragon host into a furious dive straight toward the dwarven artillery.
Weapons capable of wounding dragons had to be eliminated first.
"Not so easily."
George didn't move to stop him, but the faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips carried open disdain.
As expected, Fingon on the other side showed no fear and swiftly issued his next command.
"Human mages, prepare. Stone Dragon Knights, prepare."
The human mages from the Academy chanted in unison, slamming their hands upon the ground. Instantly, the surrounding rocks condensed into massive stone dragons.
Each stone dragon's back bore three positions: one for an elven warrior wielding a magical dragon lance, one for a human mage with a staff, and one for a dwarf armed with a magical hand-cannon.
These stone dragons were constructs born of George's fusion of Kabbalah-style magic arrays with mimetic transformation spells.
They possessed the unique self-repair of Kabbalah arts and the flight capabilities of transformation magic. While they could not rival true dragons in single combat, when paired with elite elves, dwarves, and humans, they were strong enough to stand toe-to-toe against them.
Moreover, they had the support of elven archers and dwarven magi-cannons below.
At the head of this unit was a particularly colossal stone dragon—its size even greater than Ancalagon's towering form.
This mighty construct had been crafted by Lucian, Vice Dean of the Academy. Riding it were the three royal siblings: Angrod, Aegnor, and Galadriel.
"Today, this truly is a battle of six armies!"
As the Stone Dragon Knights took flight, clashing head-on with Ancalagon's legion, George couldn't help but marvel aloud.
Balrogs, dragons, orcs, dwarves, elves, and humans—six races in total.
This Battle of Six Armies was on an entirely different scale from the later Battle of Five Armies.
Here, even the weakest dragon was of Smaug's caliber, and even the frailest balrog was a being that, in the future, could rival Gandalf the Grey himself.
Likewise, the elves, dwarves, and humans of this age were far superior to their future descendants.
Most elves at this time were Noldor who had basked in the light of the Two Trees and received the blessing of the Valar in Valinor. In the ages to come, aside from a few exceptions, they would largely be diminished Grey Elves.
The earliest dwarves had been personally crafted by the earth god Aulë, and though countless generations later they remained sturdy, they no longer matched the greatness of their forebears.
As for men, while they could not compare to the Noldor, they nevertheless played crucial roles in war.
Whether it was Barahir, who once saved Finrod, or Beren, who stole a Silmaril, both testified to the strength of men in this era.
In the future, although humans would be more numerous and better equipped, their individual strength would wane considerably.
Even orcs were different—those twisted from elves and strengthened by Morgoth's power were far stronger than the later breeds raised under Sauron's dominion.
Still, Sauron's orcs, having human bloodlines mixed in, overcame the weakness of fearing the sun.
"Ancalagon is too powerful. It seems we'll need to employ other means."
As the Stone Dragon Knights clashed with the dragon horde, the battlefield erupted into brutal slaughter.
Ordinary dragons, once entangled by the coordinated assault of elf, man, and dwarf upon their stone mounts, were soon blasted down by the magi-cannons.
A dragon grounded was no more threatening than a lizard; the allied armies swarmed, quickly beating them into submission.
Seizing the moment, George collected the dying dragons into his small world, while using his Twin Perfect Hands to heal the wounded soldiers.
There was purpose in reclaiming these Morgoth-bred dragons.
Through Zhou Sheng and Qu Tong, he had learned of one of the Eight Miraculous Skills—the Six Stolen Talents of the Immortal Thief, also known as the Saintly Robber.
It was a supreme Daoist art of bodily refinement.
By focusing on the six organs—large intestine, small intestine, stomach, triple burner, gallbladder, and bladder—it forged a flawless system for absorption and digestion.
When mastered to perfection, it could steal the vitality of heaven and earth to strengthen the body.
Its creator, Ruan Feng, now hid away on Nansen Island, unable to overcome the psychological barrier of "cannibalism."
Once George obtained this technique, these dragons would become invaluable nourishment, far too precious to waste.
Though these dragons were weaker than those of the Fairy Tail world, they far surpassed the ones in the Harry Potter world.
The real problem, however, was Ancalagon, a dragon imbued with vast dark power from Morgoth himself.
The two elven princes were far from weak, and Galadriel—who had slain a balrog single-handedly—was even stronger in real combat.
Against ordinary dragons, they could dispatch them in moments.
But against Ancalagon, they struggled bitterly, nearly being swatted from the skies several times.
Fortunately, the stone dragons could regenerate; even if shattered, they could quickly reform.
As long as the human mages powering them endured and lived, the constructs could be restored endlessly.
Even so, Galadriel and her brothers could only barely keep Ancalagon at bay, preventing him from destroying the dwarven magi-cannons. Defeating him—let alone killing him—was out of the question.
Ancalagon's defenses were terrifying. Even a direct hit from a dwarven cannon did little more than make him grit his teeth in pain.
As for enchanted elven arrows, they were less than a nuisance.
"Lucian, take this—go help Galadriel and the others."
Reading the flow of the battle, George flipped his hand, drawing out a magical tome, and passed it to Lucian.
His sharp senses detected Morgoth's dark aura lurking above the battlefield, likely spying through sorcery such as the Eye of Darkness.
To avoid alerting Morgoth, George refrained from directly striking Ancalagon himself, instead devoting his Twin Perfect Hands and healing magic to aiding the injured.
But even without joining the fight personally, he had other ways to deal with Ancalagon.
"This is… the magic card you've been working on all this time?"
Lucian accepted the tome, her eyes widening as she recognized the familiar magic circles inscribed within.
"George, you actually succeeded!"
Though she often borrowed George's bizarre novels for amusement, she also lent her vast magical knowledge to aid his experiments.
She was well aware of what these magic cards were intended for, though she had thought creating them nearly impossible.
Yet George had truly brought them into existence.
"Consider it my gift to you. Just drip your blood on it and use the incantations I taught you before."
George reached out to ruffle Lucian's hair, smiling warmly as he nodded.
(End of Chapter)