Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner - Chapter 445

Chapter 445: Fortress

Noah stared at the fortress ahead—a black monolith that had to be thirty stories tall, carved from what looked like volcanic glass. The surface seemed to swallow light, making it hard to judge distances or see details clearly. Every window was a narrow slit, like dead eyes staring out at them.

[Knight Grace – Equipped]

Pieces of sleek black armor materialized around his body, each section locking into place with mechanical clicks. The chest plate molded to his torso like liquid metal, shoulder guards settled with satisfying weight, gauntlets flexed perfectly with his fingers. The whole set hummed with contained void energy.

[Excaliburn – Summoned]

The blade formed in his grip—three feet of black steel that crackled with purple void energy along its edges. The weapon felt alive in his hands, eager for combat.

Lucy’s hands sparked with electricity, white-hot arcs jumping between her fingers. “He’s in there.”

Lucas checked his rifle, lightning coiling around the barrel. “Then we get him out.”

King Aurelius raised his massive war hammer, flames already dancing along its surface. His wives flanked him—Queen Lyanna gripping twin fire-imbued maces, Queen Seraphine hefting a flaming battle axe. Behind them, a hundred Ares soldiers readied their own fire weapons.

“We hold the perimeter and get them inside!” King Aurelius bellowed, his hammer blazing brighter.

The fortress gates burst open.

Shadow soldiers poured out in organized formations—actual people dressed in dark combat armor, their bodies wreathed in shifting darkness. These weren’t monsters or creatures, but trained warriors who could manipulate shadows like Lucy and Lucas controlled lightning.

The first wave hit the ground at a full sprint. Shadow tendrils erupted from their hands, lashing out like whips to grab weapons or entangle enemies. Others created shadow barriers, dark walls that could deflect projectiles and absorb impact.

King Aurelius met them head-on.

His flaming hammer swept in a wide arc, connecting with a shadow soldier’s barrier. The fire cut through the darkness like it was paper, and the hammer’s impact sent the soldier flying twenty feet backward. Where the flames touched shadow constructs, they simply burned away.

Queen Lyanna spun her twin maces in deadly circles, each weapon leaving trails of fire in the air. A shadow soldier tried to bind her legs with dark tendrils, but the flames seared through them instantly. Her counterstrike caught him in the ribs, and he went down hard.

Lucy moved into action.

She sprinted toward a cluster of shadow soldiers who were forming up near the fortress wall. One of them raised his hands, shadow spears materializing in the air around him. Lucy was faster. Lightning erupted from her palms in concentrated bolts, each one finding its target before the shadow constructs could fully form.

The soldiers dove for cover, their shadow abilities disrupted by the electrical interference. Lucy kept moving, electricity crackling around her as she closed distance.

A shadow soldier tried to grab her with dark tendrils. Lucy caught the shadowy appendage with her bare hand, electricity surging through the connection. The shadow construct burned away, and the feedback sent the soldier to his knees, his concentration shattered.

Her follow-up lightning bolt took him out of the fight completely.

Lucas found his rhythm with the rifle.

Each shot was wrapped in electrical energy, the bullets moving faster and hitting harder than normal ammunition. When they struck shadow barriers, the lightning disrupted the darkness, creating openings for follow-up shots.

A shadow soldier tried to flank him, moving through patches of darkness like they were doorways. Lucas tracked his movement, leading the target, and fired just as the soldier emerged from a shadow near some rubble.

The lightning-wrapped bullet caught him center mass, the electrical discharge disrupting his shadow abilities entirely. He hit the ground and stayed down.

“Nice shooting!” Lucy called out, even as she formed a lightning javelin and hurled it at a group of enemies trying to set up a defensive position.

The javelin exploded among them, electrical energy arcing between their bodies and disrupting their shadow constructs. Without their abilities, they were just regular soldiers—dangerous, but manageable.

Noah activated [Domain Link], connecting to both Lucy and Lucas. Immediately he felt their tactical awareness merge with his own. He could sense enemy positions through Lucy’s enhanced perception, feel Lucas’s precise timing as he lined up shots.

[Void Rifts]

Purple tears opened in the air around Noah as shadow soldiers tried to hit him with ranged attacks. Dark spears and shadow bolts disappeared into the rifts, only to emerge from other portals behind the attackers.

The redirected attacks struck home, shadow soldiers crying out as their own weapons found them. Where Noah’s void energy touched the shadow constructs directly, they didn’t just disperse—they ceased to exist entirely.

King Aurelius and his wives were pushing forward, their fire weapons carving through shadow defenses like they weren’t there. An Ares soldier beside them swung his flaming sword in a wide arc, the fire trail burning away a shadow soldier’s protective barrier and leaving him exposed for Queen Seraphine’s axe.

But more soldiers kept coming.

The fortress walls opened up—not magical passages, but actual mechanical doors and weapon ports. Fresh squads of shadow soldiers emerged, these ones better equipped and more coordinated. They moved in tight formations, using their shadow abilities to create mobile cover and concealment.

A squad of six shadow soldiers focused their abilities together, creating a massive shadow construct—a barrier the size of a small building that advanced toward King Aurelius’s position. Regular weapons would have trouble penetrating something that dense.

Lucy saw the problem.

She sprinted toward the construct, lightning building around her body until she was practically glowing. At the last second, she leaped, electricity propelling her upward and over the shadow barrier.

She landed in the middle of the squad maintaining the construct. Her hands slammed into the ground, and electrical energy erupted outward in all directions.

The shadow soldiers’ concentration shattered. Their massive construct collapsed, and they were left exposed and disoriented. Lucas was ready with follow-up shots, his lightning-wrapped bullets taking down three of them before they could recover.

Noah used [Void Blink] to appear behind the remaining soldiers. Excaliburn swept through their ranks, the [Absolute Void Edge] cutting through armor and shadow abilities alike. Where the blade touched enemy constructs, they simply stopped existing.

But the fortress wasn’t done with them.

Heavy weapons emerged from concealed positions—shadow artillery that fired concentrated darkness in explosive bursts. The first volley hit near King Aurelius’s position, shadow energy erupting in dark explosions that tried to drain light and energy from everything nearby.

Queen Lyanna’s fire maces flared brighter, the flames pushing back against the encroaching darkness. “We can’t let them pin us down!”

Noah opened multiple [Void Rifts], trying to intercept the artillery. Most of the shadow shells got redirected back at the fortress, but some got through, making the battlefield dimmer and harder to fight in.

Lucas adapted quickly. He enhanced his rifle with more electrical energy, the lightning making his bullets visible even in the growing darkness. Each shot lit up the battlefield for a split second, revealing enemy positions.

A shadow soldier tried to use the darkness to get close to Lucy. She sensed him coming through the electrical disturbance his abilities created in the air around her. Her counterstrike was a lightning bolt at point-blank range that left him unconscious on the ground.

The battle was turning into a grinding fight. For every shadow soldier they defeated, two more emerged from the fortress. The enemy had the advantage of prepared positions and unlimited reinforcements.

“We need to get inside!” Lucy shouted over the chaos, electricity crackling around her as she deflected a shadow spear with a lightning barrier.

“Working on it!” Noah called back, using [Surge] through their domain link to boost Lucas’s next shot.

Lucas’s enhanced bullet punched through a shadow soldier’s barrier and took out the artillery operator behind it. The heavy weapon went silent, but three more were already taking its place.

King Aurelius was fighting his way toward the fortress gates, his flaming hammer leaving trails of fire that burned away shadow constructs. His wives covered his flanks, their fire weapons keeping enemy soldiers at bay.

But the gate itself was heavily defended. Shadow soldiers had created overlapping barriers and defensive positions that would take time to break through—time they didn’t have.

Then salvation arrived from above.

“Hey guys! Did you miss me?”

Kelvin descended on a makeshift flying platform, energy weapons blazing. His shots weren’t random—they were precisely targeted to disrupt the shadow soldiers’ concentration and break their defensive formations.

“Kelvin!” Lucy called out, relief evident in her voice.

“Sorry I’m late!” Kelvin shouted back, his platform touching down near their position. Energy shields flickered around him, deflecting return fire. “Had to hack their security systems first. But I’ve got intel!”

He pulled out his tablet, fingers flying over the interface.

“I know where they’re keeping the prisoners—including your dad. Bottom level of the central tower, in what they call the draining chambers.”

[Void Blink]

Noah appeared beside him, Excaliburn still humming with void energy. “How do we get there?”

“That’s the problem,” Kelvin said, pulling up a schematic. “The whole fortress is designed like a maze. No straight paths, everything funnels invaders into kill zones where their shadow soldiers can attack from multiple angles.”

Lucy appeared beside them, electricity still crackling around her hands. “What about their reinforcements?”

“That’s where it gets interesting,” Kelvin grinned. “They’re using the fortress’s shadow network to move soldiers instantly between positions. But I found their control nodes. Get me inside, and I can shut down their rapid deployment system.”

Lucas jogged over, reloading his rifle. “So we’re looking at a fighting retreat through a maze designed to kill us?”

“Pretty much,” Kelvin nodded. “But without their instant reinforcement system, we can actually make progress. Plus, I’ve mapped the fastest route to the draining chambers.”

Noah looked at his team. Lucy and Lucas, both determined and focused, ready to fight their way through hell to save their father. Kelvin with his tablet and that familiar confident gleam. King Aurelius and his wives, still holding the perimeter against waves of shadow soldiers.

The fortress loomed above them—thirty stories of weaponized architecture that promised death at every turn. But somewhere in its depths, prisoners were being slowly drained to power this nightmare.

“Alright,” Noah said, void energy swirling around Excaliburn. “We go in fast, hit their control nodes, and get to the prisoners before they can organize a proper defense.”

King Aurelius smashed through another shadow barrier with his flaming hammer. “We’ll hold the entrance! Go!”

As they prepared for the most dangerous part of their mission, Sophie stood apart from the group. Her hand twitched involuntarily, and for just a moment, a small spark flickered between her fingers. Her expression darkened as she stared at the tiny electrical discharge, something gloomy settling over her features.

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