Lurking around in the depths of Danger Forest was the red dragon.
It had been two days since it had burned down that town and it was impatient whilst waiting in the crater.
"Eh, that little pest probably died on the way here," the dragon wholeheartedly expected that the villager would rush to this location, but if the villager died on the way how could it have any fun?
With this train of thought, this lazy lizard took a nap in the crater, its frightening presence scared away all creatures that dared to come near the crater.
…
Opening its eyes again after a while the dragon was met with an unexpected sight.
Its toy actually came!
"It seems like you took your ti-"
Wait.
Something didn't seem right.
There seemed to be four of them.
Although it had heard before that humans multiply quickly, wasn't this a bit too fast?
No matter, the more toys the better!
"Tsk, to think that you can defeat me with mere numbers. Naive!" It whipped its tail forward and crushed one of the humans
"Hahaha, look at weak you ar-"
Hold up.
Why was there no impact?
There wasn't even any blood!
What is this?!
No. It remembered in its blood memories inherited from its parents that, though very rare, some humans were capable of producing doppelgängers, which was essentially an inferior copy of the original human.
"Hah, I've seen through your trick, to think that you could use doppelgängers, this will be fun!"
The red dragon lunged forward, and swept its tail in an arc in front of it, aiming at the lower limbs of its targets, hoping to incapacitate its prey.
Again. There was no impact, no nothing, in fact, it seemed more like its tail just fazed through them.
Doppelgängers aren't supposed to be like this!
Searching deep through its blood memories it found another plausible theory.
Illusion magic!
But humans are known for their inferiority with magics that require more delicate and profound handling, and illusion magic was top tier amongst the magics that required delicate, precise control so how could a mere villager use it?
Whilst the flying lizard was pondering on the reality of the situation, Jeffrey was testing the weapons he had brought along with him on the lizard.
"Hmm, these scales are truly thick, the best I could do was make a small cut, even if I was to use all my strength, at most I could only pierce its scales."
Jeffrey was in a dilemma, he had never met such a thick skinned lizard!
"Haha, I figured it out! To think a gods damned half elf dared to stand in my presence!" The dragon bellowed, "Your little tricks will no longer work against me. Now die!"
The lizard seemed to dislike elves, no longer holding back and charging up its searing flame breath.
With the lizard just standing in front of Jeffrey and just opening up its mouth wide, Jeffrey did what any normal person would do.
He chucked a sulfur solution he had on him into the lizard's mouth.
The original use was to rub it into the lizard's scales and make it irritated, causing a lack of concentration.
But after it was thrown into the lizard's mouth, it combusted causing the lizard to start choking and enter a coughing fit.
Stupid lizard. Why would you open your mouth in front of your enemy?
"Cough, cough, you dare, cough resist!" it spluttered in between its wheezing.
Resist? Now I know it must be high. Though, its not like I could hurt it in the first place.
It seemed that Jeffrey might need to retreat from here.
He couldn't truly harm the lizard and there was no other options lef-
Actually, that seemed like a funny scale.
On the abdomen area below the lizard's long neck, there was a scale that seemed to be placed in an opposing order compared to its other scales.
A reversed scale per se.
Well, it seemed pretty loose compared to the other tightly packed scales.
With no other plausible option left, he might as well try cutting it.
Raising his mattock, he hacked at the scale. It caused quite the large cut in it, with large amounts of blood pouring out.
This singular action caused a very adverse reaction from the lizard.
It roared to the skies and started flailing around as if it were a rat in a trap.
If other dragons saw this they would be ashamed that this dragon was the same race as them.
"Ooh, this might work."
Though Jeffrey had to back off, due to the risk of heavy injury should he remain so close to the lizard, he had found its weakness at least.
Picking up his shovel, he recalled when his father gave him this shovel, it was a gift for catching his first hare.
Jeffrey tightened his grip on the shaft of the shovel.
Moving into a stance with his left foot forward and right foot behind. He tossed his shovel, like how one would throw a javelin. His form was perfect, honed over the long years.
The shovel struck true and embedded itself deep into the reversed scale.
The lizard's ferocity increased by ten folds due to this, seeking to bring its attacker down with it.
Though Jeffrey was nowhere to be found.
With its final death throes, the lizard still didn't even know how it died.