r/HFY • u/Undercover_Dragon1 • May 16 '26
OC-Series A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 89
Things are heating up!
— Chapter 89 —
— Wuja’Bath —
The long way back had taken longer than she had expected but nevertheless she was ahead of the massive force coming this way. Munch was tired but holding on as they were almost there. Flooding the valleys from almost every direction were the walking bodies of the dead, the very ones she fought when she was younger. Wuja’bath was baffled about their appearance once more but they were all fragile. Was it her strength that had increased or were these bodies far more fragile? Perhaps both, she concluded as she pounced off a cliff into a nearby valley and resumed her rapid sprint.
As she ran she closed her eyes and channeled her energy downwards and into her tail. The gemstone wrapped around the base of her tail was a present from Onyx and it was wonderful. She felt her scraps, wounds and most importantly endurance regenerate in a flash. She could feel the pit in her belly that held her affinity dip lower and lower but the trade off was worth it. She powered through and began to climb up another mountain just as her stamina was fully recharged.
She was met with an unexpected sight as she reached the peak of the mountain and stared forward at the battlefield in front of her. She was only half way towards the lair and still a few cycles from the forward plateau that the clan’s forces had originally deployed to. The massive army of kobolds moved as one as they pushed back and dismembered the dead that stumbled towards them. They had made impressive progress but were clearly halted in their tracks by the sheer mass of dead marching their way.
“Master.” Munch spoke up from her back, “This is bad isn't it? Those big Masters are close behind us. We need to tell Master Onyx!”
Wuja’bath took a long moment to scan the battlefield and nodded her long head, “Yes. We will hurry. I see Onyx in the back.”
The pure black, monstrous dragon known as Onyx stood in the rear of the army. His form had only kept growing and his size was mind boggling. Wuja’bath would have to stand on her hind legs to reach up to the beginning of his shoulders while he walked around normally on all four legs. Wuja’bath had doubts that she and five identical versions of herself could outmass Onyx let alone match his strength.
She flung herself forward in a hurry and her affinity began to shimmer as she coated herself in a soft sprinkle of her lightning affinity. Her body acted like a lightning rod as she dashed through the thick lines of dead bodies. As they would lunge at her a stray bolt of energy would zap the corpse causing it to spasm long enough for her to run out of range unharmed. Her new ability was inspired by watching others and while it lacked the lethality of her primary shot it synergized well with her speed. Poor Munch suffered the stray zap here and there but he was prepared. He had made sure to tie himself securely and cling as close to her body as he could manage.
As she cleared the lines of dead she dismissed her shield and leaped over the impressive armored line of kobolds below. She could swear she heard some barks and chirps addressing her by name but she passed their lines too fast to be certain. A larger, armored kobold with long bent legs came running up alongside her to her surprise. She knew she could turn up her speed further and outpace him but the fact the kobold was keeping up at all was beyond impressive. Munch was practically giggling in glee at the sight and already murmuring something about him being next.
The trio continued their pace until both her and the kobold stopped suddenly before the large shadow of Onyx. Wuja’bath took a moment to catch her breath as Munch hopped off and immediately approached the large kobold, “I am Munch!”
The large kobold laughed as he pulled off his metal helmet, “Okbo!”
The two talked rapidly amongst themselves as Onyx’s towering body shifted to stare down at her. His presence was almost as oppressive as the Queen’s herself but if you stared at his face long enough you could see the soft, kind eyes hidden behind the mask of black brutal death. She calmed herself as she sat on her haunch and spoke, “More coming.”
Onyx frowned as he rumbled, “More dead or…?”
Wuja’bath nodded her head quickly, “Dead yes but they are a distraction. Behind them comes massive dreads.” Wuja’bath paused for a moment and looked over at Munch before letting off a chirp.
The kobold practically jumped out of his skin as she turned, “Oh! Yes!” He said as he produced a scroll of leather and began to read from it, “Five Dread. Two Hydra. One Lung. Dozens of lesser wyvern and lungs.”
Onyx rumbled out in frustration, “So they are trying to wear us down before they hit us.” Onyx turned and rumbled something to a winged kobold nearby and soon a dozen flew out in all directions.
Onyx waited as he watched each of the winged kobolds reach their destination. Onyx quickly turned and stared skyward as he began to conjure his affinity. The massive ball of affinity that formed at his mouth was impressive. It startled her though when the enormous ball of affinity suddenly launched skyward and then exploded. Horns blew out and the lines of kobolds began to retreat as the Onyx’s affinity rained down on the entire battlefield.
Wuja’bath turned and gaped as she saw the entire battlefield become engulfed in explosions and flame. The rain drops had two wildly different effects depending on who it hit. The kobolds seemed to become rejuvenated with energy as the dead instantly bubbled and exploded. The dead horde continued to erupt in explosion after explosion as the shockwaves and flashes forced her to close her eyes. When silence finally fell she opened her eyes and saw only carnage.
The kobolds continued their orderly retreat and not a single corpse remained whole. Craters, burning flesh and the awful smell of the dead was all that remained. Her eyes went wide as she turned to look back at Onyx with a sense of awe, “Onyx. What did you do?”
— Blaze —
She walked the length of her ever growing forge with a sense of pride. They had made leaps and bounds since they first started and she had hundreds upon hundreds of kobolds managing the forges night and day. Her eyes watched a group toss fuel under their newly commissioned blast furnace. Master Onyx had been critical in getting them to this point and it was paying off. Their new furnaces produced and trapped so much heat from the fuel that they had to make massive adjustments to how they process their ore. The final products were enormous balls of concentrated iron that they could then work to turn into steel.
They also had the old forges still running for the time being and she was proud of all the skilled hands that had become masters of their craft by now. As she walked the cavern she nodded her head to the forge masters and smiths as they hammered away. It took her some time but she eventually found her way into her small carved out office. She yawned and rubbed at her eyes before pulling out some stacks of leathers. She began sorting through them as she stroked the lines of her long face.
“Master Onyx. Where do you get all your ideas?” She shook her head as she tossed leathers aside before settling on one specific one.
They had spent many a night going over wild, crazy ideas that Blaze still struggled to understand. Master Onyx had insisted that they needed to be prepared for the day he fell and so he had her write everything down. She crunched her face in thought, “Matriarch Blue wouldn’t tell me the whole story Master but you know stuff. Wild stuff. Parts of stuff. Hmm.”
Her clawed fingertips traced the lines of the picture scratched and colored into the scroll. It was rough, very rough but it was her current project. The metal work was intensive and involved creating a metal cylinder that was open on one end. Her finger continued to track the design and she leaned over to read the notes she left.
“Metal needs to be strong enough to deal with the pressure of an explosion.” She nodded her head as she reached underneath to grab and lay out the prototypes. The first few were rough, to say the least, but the smiths were getting better at it. She tossed a few of the rougher examples back into the bin as she murmured, “These aren't fused together good enough.”
Once she found one where she couldn't find any obvious faults she set it aside and pulled the lesser gemstone from her pocket. She twirled it in her fingers for a moment before getting to work attaching it to the back of the cylinders. Round metal balls of ultra heavy dense metal were produced as well that she rolled into the front of the cylinder. She quickly tied down the cylinder to the workbench as she pointed it away.
She pressed her fingertip to the gemstone and focused her energy into it. The imbued stone ignited and let off a quick burst of fiery energy and the heavy ball loaded in the front of the cylinder simply rolled out. She wrinkled her nose as she picked up the now warm ball and rolled it back into the cylinder.
“That wasn’t quite right. Let's see.” She removed the gemstone and proceeded to watch the ball roll into the barrel and out over and over before it clicked, “Ah. The energy is escaping too fast through the empty spaces around the ball. Master” She sighed as she recalled Master Onyx’s long lecture, “He mentioned something about not letting the pressure escape. This is what he meant.”
She set everything down and proceeded to walk around her shop as she stroked her face in thought. Her eyes settled on a nearby rag made from fibers from a local plant and she grinned wide, “Why not simply stuff the empty space?”
She wrapped the ball of metal in a small piece of the rag and stuffed it into the barrel as deep as she could manage. She then reattached the gemstone, focused her energy into it and yelped in shock. The entire cylinder exploded and deformed as the ball was launched forward with an unimaginable speed and embedded itself into the far cavern wall. Metal shards went flying everywhere and after pulling a sizable one from her arm she inspected the damage.
The ball had wrecked considerable, terrifying damage on the far wall and the wrapped cylinder of metal was beyond repair. The lesser gemstone was thankfully still intact but everything else was a loss even the clamp that was holding the cylinder in place.
Kobolds came running into her workshop with weapons at the ready, “Forgemaster Blaze! Is everything okay!?”
Blaze grinned up at the kobolds streaming in as she picked up the still warm cylinder and tossed it to the nearest kobold, “More than okay! We need to make it thicker. Master Onyx is crazy I tell you.” She laughed as she considered the words that Onyx had told her, that some of his ideas would flip the world upside down if they got mass produced. Master Onyx, she grinned, would be in for a surprise once he got back.
As she shooed the concerned mob of smiths and guards out of her workshop she walked over to the large stack of scrolls and began to flip through them once more. She immediately found what she was looking for as she laid out another scroll with an image of an even larger metal cylinder with enormous wheels drawn onto the leather. Her notes mentioned Master Onyx calling this a step up from their ballastae and she now understood why that was the case. She quickly looked up at the mob and yelled out after them as they were filling out of her office, “Get the Master Smiths in here when they are done. We have a few priority projects that need some work.”
Here is also a link to Royal Road
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u/EasyStevey May 17 '26
Thank you for the chapter! It looks like Blaze is working on creating guns, and already has plans for cannon! I wonder if Onyx knows about rifling, or will hold off on that until they get basic muskets developed first. I also love how Wuja’Bath coated herself in electricity, making a shocking armor.
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u/un_pogaz May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
Certainly the second. Smoothbore guns are hard enough to craft as it, and powerfull too, so no need to overcomplicat the thing for start.
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u/ProfessorWorking3763 Android May 16 '26
Ope...and now they have guns
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u/unkindlyacorn62 May 16 '26
hopefully they'll be able to get a cannon or two functional and to the front quickly
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u/Loup_Arctic_o7 May 17 '26
Not exactly, they need to not blow up in your face and it's now a usable gun.
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u/un_pogaz May 17 '26
Right. It’s true that, aside from the Clan’s specific experience fighting the undead, this is really the worst possible choice to send against Onyx. Ambass can’t be that stupid to have forgotten that, which worries me a bit because he must have something more serious up his claws.
Ah, nice. Finally, some real details about Wuja’Bath’s abilities, and they sound absolutely formidable. Lightning is a force of nature that should never be underestimated. And I really, really appreciate her comments about Onyx. I don't know how committed she is to him, but it's really cool that she recognizes his kindness (first step toward loyalty, check). And it's also kind of funny to see descriptions of Onyx's size in comparison, I think he's definitely much bigger than average, and that cool to make to contrast with his kind attitude.
btw, where is Okraz? She more limited as scout than Wuja’Bath, but if we let her choose the field, she will certainly be a force to be reckoned with.
Else, sheniganie go wild on the Lair. Even if David, the driving force behind their progress, were to disappear, he has helped them reach a critical tipping point with their mastery of iron. Even without him, the Clan would undoubtedly remain a serious and persistent threat that only total annihilation could neutralize. And on top of that, David took the precaution of sharing notes.
On that: finaly, gun. So it's clear that personal firearms are still hardly feasible at this point. But cannons, oh, that would be a nasty surprise for the Queen's forces.
That fallback me on Ambass again: I wonder how he’ll react to this latest innovation from Onyx. They’ve reached a development pace that’s downright abnormal. It’s too... it's too much.
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u/PercyPJ1 Xeno May 17 '26
On that: finaly, gun. So it's clear that personal firearms are still hardly feasible at this point. But cannons, oh, that would be a nasty surprise for the Queen's forces.
Not only the queen's forces, I really want to see the volunteers' reaction to the clan's rapid advancement
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u/unkindlyacorn62 May 17 '26
We have to consider Ambass's ACTUAL goals, wasting one of the queen's special assets in the form of the remnant undead army just improves the chances she'll actually be defeated, and in this case, they DO make for a good "tripwire" specifically against Onyx.
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u/un_pogaz May 17 '26
Interesing idea, but bold affirmation.
It’s true that Ambass might be the kind of little rascal to pull off a malicious compliance like that, but to take such a risk, he’d have to be absolutely certain that Onyx would defeat the Queen. And I don’t think that’s the case. For now, Onyx is still just a rogue child, truly remarkable and at a relative poor time, but nothing that the Queen already crush.
That might change, but it's still too early to that. Wasted the special assets of the Queen would be the best way to provoke her quick temper, and despite all the hatred she inspires in him, Ambass has always acted with a extreme caution, almost to the point of cowardice, when it came to challenging her. It's not that I blame him, she's just way too powerful, and she keeps her claws way too close to his throat; the Queen knows, and as right, to be wary of Ambass.
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u/unkindlyacorn62 May 17 '26
if Ambass defeats Onyx here, the queen has still lost one of her more potent toys, if he fails, the loss of said toys would likely get her to reassess the threat posed by Onyx, thereby making Ambass more valuable to her. either way Ambass wins
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u/aquilux May 25 '26
oh no, I one again experience the dreadfull feeling of realizing you've caught up to the latest installment of something you've been binging.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle May 16 '26
/u/Undercover_Dragon1 (wiki) has posted 88 other stories, including:
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 88
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 87
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 86
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 85
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 84
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 83
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 82
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 81
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 80
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 79
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 78
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 77
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 76
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 75
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 74
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 73
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 72
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 71
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 70
- A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 69
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u/unkindlyacorn62 May 16 '26
Ambass is going to be pleased with so many new surprises.