"That can't be good," I muttered under my breath as I inwardly kicked myself for wasting time at the top of a cliff when we should have left much earlier. It seemed like a great idea to dangle our prisoner over the edge earlier, when the dragon wasn't around, but this was a dragon's nest after all. Of course the dragon would return here after it was done with whatever it ran off to do earlier.
"Get behind me!" Troy bellowed when he caught sight of the dragon's jaws yawning wide open to bathe the area in flames. Glancing upward, I recognized the dragon as a Hellfire Drake, and immediately scrambled behind my good friend as ordered. Kureha also obeyed without question and sought refuge behind him. The prisoner, not wanting to be left in the open on his own, also dove behind Troy.
The dark-skinned mage slammed both his palms against the ground and conjured an immense wall of earth just before the dragon unleashed a massive jet of flames upon our position. The hellish flames roasted everything in the open, turning them into ash and dust, before colliding with the sturdy earth wall that Troy had created. The rock turned red and began melting, almost unable to deal with the superheated flames.
"Fuck!"
Cursing, Troy conjured a fresh wall of earth behind the severely weakened one, which mitigated the heat a little. The Hellfire Drake wheeled about after it flew past the mountain, and let loose another enormous gout of fire at us, but Troy had managed to create yet another two layers of rock walls.
"Huff…"
Breathing heavily, Troy dropped to his knees and wiped the perspiration off his face. Looking up grimly, he watched as the dragon did another pass before landing heavily on the ground. Realizing that its flames were not getting through, it evidently decided to personally rip us apart with its claws and teeth.
Lumbering forward with a speed that belied its huge size, the dragon roared in an intimidating manner.
"Hell, it's about time."
Grinning, Troy dismissed his walls of molten rock and raced forward. Gravity magic fizzled in his hands as he blasted the dragon, attempting to weight it down. The larger it was, the more susceptible it should be to his gravity magic, or so the theory went.
"Seems like we have no choice," Kureha murmured as she drew her sword. "We'll have to slay the dragon."
She also joined Troy in his charge, bounding forward gracefully. The dragon lashed its tail at her, but Kureha managed to jump over the whip-like tail while spinning around to slash at the armored appendage. While she evaded, Troy closed in and hammered the dragon with a single punch that caused the enormous beast to actually stagger back a step.
Snarling, the Hellfire Drake swatted him away with a claw. Despite crossing his arms to defend himself, Troy was unable to halt his momentum, and was flung across the mountain peak. Flipping up, he landed roughly on his feet, grimacing from the blow as blood dribbled from his lips.
"My gravity magic isn't affecting it at all?! Its movements are still so fast and powerful!"
Fortunately, he had distracted the dragon enough that Kureha could get behind it. Spinning elegantly in the air, she thrust her sword forward at the Hellfire Drake, putting all of her mana and strength behind the blow.
"Franklin Style: Royal Thrust!"
White mana swirled around her blade as she stabbed the dragon, only for both light and sword to bounce off the crimson armored skills harmlessly.
"What…?" Kureha cried out in surprise, but she was able to adjust her trajectory in midair, kicking off the dragon's hide to avoid getting struck by its claws. Its tail whipped about, and this time Kureha wasn't able to evade. Bringing her sword up, she parried the blow, but the massive momentum behind the strike sent her hurtling across the clearing.
"Hey! Pick on someone your size!" Troy bellowed as he raced forward, hurling earth spikes and boulders at the enormous dragon. The Hellfire Drake slowly turned around to face him, growling in irritation, even as the destructive rocks shattered ineffectually against its body.
"The scales are magic resistant!" I yelled out a warning.
"Then I'll just punch it to death!" Troy snapped, his voice tense. Jumping over the dragon's claw that was flicking toward him, he spun about in midair before smashing his glowing fist against the Hellfire Drake's head.
For a moment, I thought it worked. The Hellfire Drake seemed dazed for a moment, snarling in pain from the tremendous punch. Then it recovered quickly and tossed Troy off its head before striking him with a sledgehammer blow. Troy was flung several dozen meters into the sky before crashing back down on the mountain, leaving a small crater when he landed.
"Troy!" I shouted, running to his side. He raised his head weakly, blood trickling from his mouth.
"The fucker's too strong," he swore. "And our magic doesn't seem to work on it…"
Kureha was also slashing at the dragon, but her blade wasn't getting through. The snarling dragon swatted her away as well, and despite parrying the blow, Kureha was sent skidding across the ground and staggering next to us.
"Huff…" she stared at her hands, which were violently trembling from the blow. "I have never fought anything so powerful before!"
"Well, it's a rank A monster." I pointed out dryly.
"Hiii…!"
The prisoner that we took was making a break for it, especially when he saw that we were completely outmatched. None of us paid him any attention – we were completely focused on the guy right in front of us. I mean, seriously, who cares about a mob character when we were trying our best not to get killed by a freaking dragon?
Honestly, I didn't blame the guy. If he thought he stood a better chance of survival by running away while we were distracting the dragon, then all the more power to him. We weren't going to begrudge him for trying to stay alive. And there wasn't much he could do to contribute to the battle anyway. To be blunt, he would only get in the way, considering that all he could do was cry and hide while his comrades in the mercenary group were being slaughtered by us three kids.
The dragon had other plans, however. Raising its head almost lazily, it let loose another stream of flames that incinerated the poor guy. The former mercenary screamed as he was lit ablaze, his body crumbling away into black ash in mere seconds.
"Holy…" Perhaps the idiot wasn't able to use Physical Reinforcement, or he was as weak as he appeared to be, but for him to be roasted in an instant was still a terrifying sight to behold. Whatever the case, that was one hell of a…hellfire spell.
The dragon then reared its head as it turned toward us, not even blinking at the demise of the poor guy. Not that there was anything left of him to see except a pile of ash, but that was beside the point. Its maw yawned, and another massive jet of fire blasted toward us. Gritting her teeth, Kureha stepped forward to slice the flames apart with her dazzling sword techniques, but I gently shoved her out of the way and stood in front of her.
"Aquarius."
Summoning the blue broadsword in an instant, I swung it to unleash an enormous wave of water at the incoming wave of fire. The water immediately vaporized, filling the entire area with boiling steam.
"Troy, can you stand?"
"Yeah." Troy winced as he rose shakily to his feet. He clenched his fists, as if to test them, and grinned. "I'm ready for another round!"
"I'm prepared to fight to the death if necessary," Kureha declared grimly.
"Nah, we don't have to do that. We just need to buy enough time for me to nuke the dragon along with the entire mountain."
"Hah!" Troy snorted in laughter. "Your spells of mass destruction, eh? If there's anything that can overwhelm those magic-resistant armored scales, it's your nuke spell."
"I'm counting on that."
"Fine. I'm in! How long do you need?"
"At least five minutes. Possibly ten."
Kureha stared at the both of us, as if we were insane. "Are you serious?"
"What other choice do we have?" I gestured to her sword. "Unless you have a sword technique that can slay a dragon?"
"As if the Franklin sword style possesses anything so convenient!"
I shook my head with a bitter smile. "I've seen mages powerful enough to slay a dragon with their fists alone. If Yuan Dao Yue Guang was here, he would have pummeled this Hellfire Drake to death."
"But he's not, and we are."
"Then what do you propose?" Troy asked impatiently as he conjured another wall of earth to shield us from the Hellfire Drake's flames again. The stupid dragon wasn't polite enough to wait for us to finish our conversation. "That we just lie down and let the damned thing stomp over us?"
"The Hellfire Drake will probably eat us if we submit to it," I muttered.
"Of course not!"
"If you're not confident, you can leave first. Troy and I will handle the Hellfire Drake. We'll buy time for you to escape."
"I'm not leaving you two behind to fight the dragon on your own!"
"Then it's settled," Troy snapped impatiently as he dismissed his crumbling wall of molten earth. "Let's kick this fucker's ass!"
He launched himself forward, throwing a powerful punch forward. The Hellfire Drake struck him with its tail, but he cartwheeled in the air before landing on the ground. Earth spikes rose up as he sprinted forward, spearing the dragon but unable to penetrate its armored scales. Bellowing in fury, the Hellfire Drake swiped at him with its claws, but Troy threw his glowing fist forward to meet the strike squarely. A shockwave erupted from the collision, sweeping both Kureha and I off our feet.
"Kuh!"
Raising Aquarius, I plunged it into the ground to steady myself. Kureha did something similar, but she used her sword to pivot herself before lunging forward in a silver streak. Thrusting her sword forward, she shouted an incantation.
"Franklin Style: Meteor Burst!"
The dragon roared as Kureha's sword actually pierced through its armored hide, sending a geyser of blood spurting upward. Snarling, it swatted at her, but she managed to curl into a ball before landing on top of its arm. Sliding her sword backward, she gathered more mana for another strike, its blade turning silver.
"Franklin Style: Meteor Slash!"
The dragon roared in fury as Kureha's silver blade actually cut open its neck, causing a fountain of blood to erupt. Snarling, it flicked Kureha off, but she gracefully landed on her feet several meters away with her sword still up.
"That's the spirit!" Troy shouted as he punched the dragon, but it knocked him away with its front claw, causing him to jump backward, an ugly bruise appearing by the side of his head. "Ow! That monster packs quite a punch!"
"Done…" I muttered as I finished casting my summoning spells after Troy and Kureha distracted the dragon for long enough. Aries, Capricorn and Taurus materialized and rammed into the Hellfire Drake, which was still reeling from Troy's punch from earlier. Their combined charge actually knocked the dragon off the cliff and sent it plummeting down to the valley below.
"Hah! You did it!" Troy crowed.
"Don't celebrate too early yet…" I warned, only for the Hellfire Drake to surge upward. Its massive wings spread and flapping, the monstrous dragon soared above the mountaintop to glare at us. Unleashing another volley of flames, it incinerated my three Constellation spirits that I had spent all this time summoning, in an instant. "Fuck!"
Noticing that I was hastily trying to cast a new summoning spell and realizing that I might just be the biggest threat among the three, the Hellfire Drake bellowed bestially before launching itself toward me, its humongous jaws wide open as if it intended to swallow me whole.