Neil knew his job and planned to execute it well, even if he was overcome with fear. He walked towards the two trolls that stood in front of the drake and tried to remember his earlier fight against the troll.
His memories of the battle were somewhat hazy because of his state of mind during it but he still remembered some of the more important parts. Using his knowledge of their strength and use of heavy attacks he was able to work out a plan to properly act as bait for them.
Neil noticed these trolls didn't have equipment like the prior one, as they were seemingly a lower class. Neil understood this as there would be many on the floor so giving them all unique loot would cause too much to be up for grabs.
The pack seemingly all noticed Neil at the same time and didn't wait to attack him. The two trolls ran toward him at a fast speed as the drake prepared an attack from the back.
Once up to him, the two trolls both swung their large fists at him in overhead downward strikes. Neil was able to dodge the two swings and was preparing to dodge their next volley of swings when he heard Amelia yell.
"Watch out below you!"
Neil didn't know exactly what she meant but then remembered that one of the stone drake's attacks went through the ground below them and spread far.
The drake stomped the ground and rocky spikes appeared in a wide arc in front of it, perfectly avoiding the two trolls and rising towards Neil.
In an attempt to dodge the spikes, Neil quickly jumped toward one of the walls.
This was enough for him to avoid being fully impaled by the spike and was instead just slightly grazed on the thigh, causing some blood but a small enough amount to be ignored for the time being. At least that was what he hoped.
Neil was given no time for a break though as the trolls continued to launch attacks at him, one going for a grab and the other sending a crude punch his way. He was able to avoid the grab of the first troll but not the punch of the second which firmly cemented his body into the wall that he was already up against.
Amelia had already sent 2 arrows into the tough body of the drake that had been staying back, but it was having little effect and the drake's attention still remained on Neil to her surprise.
She decided a change of plans would likely be beneficial for Neil as she aimed her arrows at the trolls this time.
Just as the trolls were preparing to continue battering Neil an arrow pierced the head of the first. It somehow survived this headshot and turned to go toward Amelia to the slight relief of Neil.
In the back the drake was preparing yet another dangerous attack for Neil as the second troll had already hit him a few more times, pushing him further into the wall each time.
'This Fucking Sucks!!!' Neil thought as he was being continuously pounded into the wall by the troll before he could make a response. The damage from the attack wasn't terribly high if anything it was the pain and sunning effect that he disliked the most. After being punched three more times he finally gained an idea.
After being punched square in the chest two times in a row he guessed that the troll would aim there for a third time and held his axe upon his chest pointing outward.
The troll went to send another hard punch into Neil's chest when it felt its knuckle run directly into the edge of Neil's axe. These trolls lacked intelligence in comparison to some others of their species.
"Gruahhh!" It yelled out in pain as it fell back away from Neil.
Taking advantage of his new opening Neil pried himself off of the stone wall and quickly slammed his axe into the ground yet again.
He watched the blue wave of particles come out and temporarily stop the troll, but he had forgotten about the drake that was further back and had been preparing a larger attack.
The wave attack seemingly had no effect on it as the drake shot out a volley of spikes from its mouth.
Upon seeing this Neil ran and took cover behind the troll that he had just been fighting, With this tactic he was able to avoid the damage as the temporarily stunned troll became a pin cushion for the stone spikes shot at him.
"How the hell is it able to do that!?!" He yelled back to Amelia who had finished off the troll she lured towards her and was now using its corpse as a shield.
"Drake's have many powerful abilities' She responded to him in the well known serious voice.
'Damnit I can't even get a good answer from her' Neil thought to himself, as he wondered how exactly he'd "fight" the drake.
After the volley of spikes Neil sent his axe into the back of the troll to ensure that it was killed and then began to close the gap between him and the drake.
While he knew much about the creatures of the world the attacks were not something he had memorized, something he was now regretting.
"Don't be dumb. just because it's been using ranged attacks doesn't mean it can't fight up close!" Amelia yelled to him.
"I realize, but it's not like I can do anything from afar!" Neil yelled back at her a little annoyed, while trying to think of potential methods of attack and more importantly ones of defense. While the first attacks of the trolls hadn't been overwhelmingly strong the Drake's attacks were on another level with them easily killing the trolls and also piercing his skin like it was butter.
Now that Neil was closer to the drake he could see it in more detail, it was about five feet tall and nine feet long and had a craggy exterior of dark almost black stone. Its four legs were thick and strong with a pair of large sharp claws at the end of each foot. Its snouted face opened to show jagged rocky teeth. Most noticeable were its eyes which shined green like emeralds.
Neil could sense intelligence and power from this creature unlike any of the monsters he had come across throughout the entire dungeon.
'So this is what creatures of draconic blood are like' He thought to himself, in slight awe of how a lesser version of a creature could be so strong and impressive.
Once near the drake Neil became more careful of it, he knew that even without wings it could still move very swiftly and slice him up with just one attack.
"Distract him as I charge up a stronger attack!" He heard Amelia yell and nodded in response.
As much as he wanted to look back at her in curiosity of what move she was charging up he kept his eyes on the beast before him.
The drake rapidly slashed at him with its front two claws in a lunging attack.
Neil jumped overtop the drake in what he imagined to be the best dodge.
"Don't go into the air, you have no control there!" He heard Amelia yell at him again.
He wondered what she could mean by that when he suddenly saw the drake's rocky tail coming swinging towards him as he was in mid-air with no ability to dodge.
He now knew what she meant.
'Shit.' The rocky tail slammed into him and sent him hurtling into the ground below.
Neil was temporarily stunned by the heavy blow and while he felt no crippling wounds he knew some internal damage was definitely dealt by it.
"Come on blood, stay within don't go leaving your body." He thought to himself hoping he was still fully intact but unable to tell because of a temporary numbness.
The drake didn't stop with its attacks and the fierce creature went in for the kill on Neil as it went to bite and snap his neck. He was able to respond quickly enough and shove his forearm into the mouth of the beast, which surprised some.
The drake then realized it could just chomp down on his gauntlet which it did with all of its force. Neil watched hoping it would hold out and thanking Sargon for having such durable armor that he was able to take.
"Almost ready!?" He yelled back to Amelia.
"A few more seconds!!" She yelled in response.
Upon hearing this Neil pulled up his axe with his other arm and prepared to try and damage the drake. The drake saw this though and brought up its tail to knock the axe out of Neil's hand.
'Shit Shit SHIT!!' Neil thought as the last strength of his gauntlet was giving out and it was beginning to crumble.
He realized he could do nothing against the beast and prepared for the immense pain of having his forearm bitten off when suddenly a gleaming light came from behind him.
An arrow coated in an aura of pure white soared through the air and pierced directly into the drake's skull. This somehow wasn't enough to stop the beast which now seemed enraged as it bit down with all of its force when a beam of light fell upon it.
The beam of white light which came from above shined onto the head of the drake and with great force disintegrated it away while also healing the shattered bones and gnarled skin and tissue of his forearm.
After the full brunt of the beam, the rest of the body of the drake fell lifelessly onto the ground and the arrow that was fired into it was seemingly gone.
Neil looked back at Amelia in amazement, he had truly never realized how strong his ally was until now.
"What the hell was that," He said in a surprised and confused voice.
"A stronger skill of mine." She responded simply, as though the move was quite typical.
Neil continued to stare at her for about a minute more until saying some more.
"You're far too strong to have me suffering through this dungeon. You could've been one-shotting every enemy!!" He said to her in a slightly upset and slightly pathetic tone.
"Yes, but then you would have never gotten stronger, and I'd be out of arrows by the end." She responded to him completely calmly yet again.
"Just, Never mind," He said out loud as he looked away from her, still amazed but also upset at her calm responses.
"Y'know you should brag more, you're too strong to be so silent about it," He said to her upset at how much stronger she was than him.
"Ha ha" She chuckled a beautiful laugh at his comment, which Neil couldn't help but be captivated by.
"Maybe you're right" She responded in a happier and less serious tone than before while wiping tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes from the chuckling.
'I'm definitely convincing her to continue adventuring with me.' Neil thought to himself as he looked at her, amazed how someone could be so strong and also so beautiful while also being surprised by her being so good at angering him with her boring seriousness. She was unlike anyone else he had ever met, though that didn't say much in the end.
"Also, being a light-based dark elf is quite ironic." He said to her in a slightly mocking voice.
"Yes, I do realize, but I chose it long ago and I'm quite good with it, just as you said" She replied returning to her prior seriousness, it seemed the taunting comment was unsuccessful at getting an impassioned response.
"It is quite fitting though, from the little we've been with each other I think I could say you saintlike being," Neil said directly in response to her.
"Thank you" She responded simply to him and then began to walk forward.
Internally it seemed Neil's comment set off a series of emotions both good and bad as Amelia wanted to hug Neil while also wanting to punch him for reasons not even fully understood by herself. But she kept her calm composure and continued to move deeper into the dungeon.
They arrived at the next crossroads and for the first time throughout the entire journey, Neil had to ponder.
'Left or Right?"