"Woah…!" The youthful demon, Alex, let out, stumbling as he found himself suddenly on the back of the soaring beast.
"Ga-ha-ha! I never thought in all my time I'd stand on the back of a dragon!" Gunter howled with laughter and thrill, spreading his shield and axe out, "My thanks to you, Jett, for giving me such an opportunity!"
Jiao stood there with his thick, fiery greatsword and his scarlet ponytail blowing in the wind as he had no trouble standing on the back of the soaring dragon, "You've never rode on a dragon's back before?! Well, the first time is always something else!"
Somehow, it seemed the small, non-verbal slime had an advantage of its own in this situation as its sticky body was able to easily cling to the harsh scales of the beast.
It was now a full party upon the broad back of the Abyss Dragon, which it seemed to realize as it flapped its wings harder, cracking the wind as though a storm was brewing.
"Alright, everybody! Attack!" Jett yelled out, leading the offense.
"Hell yeah–!" Gunter raised his axe.
"--Time to bring this monster down!" Jiao beamed.
A massive assault was issued on the back of the soaring beast as they all cleaved away, though it was an arduous task in itself to inflict anything more than superficial damage through the sturdy scales of the dragon.
The one to do the most damage to the beast was undoubtedly Jiao, who was a natural at sprinting along its height despite the turbulence, repeatedly swinging and dragging his blazing sword against its scales.
"There's no greater thrill than bringing down a dragon from the sky!" Jiao laughed.
It was the united effort of Jett and Jiao attacking both of the dragon's wings, with the scarlet-haired man's sword burning through its hide and Jett's freezing dagger causing frost to stiffen its other, that targeted its advantage of flight.
A trail of embers was left from the crimson swordsman's run along the beast, also spurring on a spill of blood as the Abyss Dragon seemed to finally begin crashing down.
"It's coming down!" Khan called out after having plucked his dagger from the dragon's back.
Jett nodded, raising his hand, "Alright, everybody back into the void!"
With a snap of his fingers, he brought all of his familiars back into his personal inventory, leaving it to just himself to handle landing without dying, though that was a tricky obstacle in itself.
'Alright…Here comes the hard part!' He thought, peering down.
As he rode upon the dragon's back, he watched as it did a nosedive for the mountainous valley before, witnessing the others on the ground spread out to avoid being crashed down upon.
Such a rapid descent brought upon the forces of gravity as he clutched onto the rough scales of the beast to anchor himself for the moment.
"Ghhhh—!" His cheeks rippled in the wind.
'Time it…Time it perfectly! It's no different than performing a frame-perfect move in a speed run, yeah!?' He thought.
It was as if sticking around on a crashing plane, minus actually having walls to contain himself from flying off.
'...Now!' He thought.
Just before the Abyss Dragon reached the ground, he used a combination of [Wind Burst] and [Blink] in succession, allowing him to shoot himself away from the area of landing.
He rolled across the field of grass, still being carried by some momentum despite using [Blink], though finding himself stopped and helped to his feet by Vildren.
"I've got you!" Vildren told him.
"--Thanks," he nodded, getting up.
Witnessing the dragon's descent into the basin valley was something of a spectacular sight in itself as upon its crash, a massive upheaval of soil took place, thrown upward and pushed out as though an explosion had boomed.
Walking over beside him, the bandana-wearing, silver-ranked adventurer was completely left agasp at the sight of the dragon being grounded.
"...I don't know how you did it, but you actually brought that thing down," Johannes remarked.
Vildren answered for him, "It's clear to me that you're fit for a promotion, Jett. You're a summoner, right?"
"You noticed?" Jett asked.
The amethyst-eyed, armor-wearing warrior nodded, "I've never quite seen summons like yours, though. Usually summoners call upon astral beasts, but yours…It seems as though you invoke living fighters. Fascinating–I can admit even I am behind you in terms of prowess."
"Don't say that, we still have a dragon to finish off," he smiled.
"That, we do," Vildren held the same resolution as him.
It was the final stretch, or at the very least, there was now equal footing between the exhausted adventurers and the grounded dragon as it crawled upon its legs with its battered wings drooping down.
Vildren pointed his sword forward, "One last push, everyone! Let's finish this–!"
There was an overwhelming amount of courage reignited by Jett's grounding of the dragon, along with the unwavering leadership taken hold by the gold-ranked adventurer. This much was undeniable as despite the state of each of them, the wounded and exhausted adventurers were on their feet, standing alongside Vildren and Jett with refound hope in their eyes.
"...This is a Raid Quest, huh?" He remarked after glancing around, holding a wry smile.
Vildren noticed his comment, "First time? I'd say this an exception to the norm, but, life-and-death battles like this are common. Nonetheless, we move forward and strive towards victory; that's what it means to be an adventurer of Fantasia."
"Victory? I like that," Jett held his hand up, "To me!"
–All of his familiars returned to the battlefield alongside him, bolstering the numbers of the raid, and plus one as he noticed a certain silver-haired spellblade reuniting with him.
"Edith," he remarked in surprise.
"I hope I am not too late," Edith noted with a smile, drawing her sword.
"Just on time," he said, bursting forward.
It was his initiative that ignited the final assault, with Vildren commanding the rest of the adventurers forward through a warcry of his own.
The Abyss Dragon had vigor of its own, slamming its claws down with a massive thud, roaring out with enough volume to vibrate and ripple through the soil.
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you!" He yelled back in return to the beast.
Blocking the shock of the thunderous roar, he held a [Power Air Shield] in front of himself, giving him space to sprint in as he squeezed the handle of his verdant sword.
After successfully blocking the roar, he led the way for his familiars to jump in, with Jiao leading the offense with a blazing smile, slamming his greatsword against the snout of the beast.
"--Hyaaah!" Jiao shouted, conjuring a bright-orange explosion of flames against the dragon's face.
Jett didn't hesitate to jump into the fray, dual-wielding the frost-bearing dagger and the air-rending blade, hacking away at the dragon alongside the others that rushed in. Together, he, his familiars, and the rest of the raid came at the beast from all angles.
The other adventurers who had until just then either been out of the fight or blind to it until just then were in awe of the bronze-ranked rookie's ability to combat the monstrous dragon.
"He's a newbie, right?...How?" A bow-wielding, hooded adventurer remarked.
"No rookie can fight like that–a bronze rank is way too low for him!" Another, burly one with a greatsword said.
–It was on the ropes; though the wounded dragon attempted to swing its claws and use its tail to dwindle the numbers of those attacking it, the united effort of Gunter's defense and Vildren's impeccable skill with the sword to deflect such strikes, allowed the others to continue their assault unimpeded.
"Do it…!" Vildren shouted from the top of his lungs.
At that moment, the perfect opportunity was found as Jett invoked [Burst], granting himself enough agility to run up the dragon's body at a vertical angle, scaling it within a moment as he leapt up, looking down upon it, meeting those harsh eyes with his own.
As it tried snatching him into its jaws, the dragon's attempt was shut down as the flaming greatsword belonging to Jiao pierced through the left of its mouth, the enchanted blade of Edith stabbed into the right, and Alex landed on its snout, slamming his blade down through its nose. The united effort of his loyal familiars completely locked down the beast from any attempt to breathe out its lethal breath or snap its jaws.
"Do it, Master!" Edith shouted.
Jiao was grinning, though strained as he held his greatsword to keep the beast from thrashing free, "--Show 'em hell!"
"Ghh…!" Alex struggled not to be thrown off.
There was no clearer shot for him as he gripped both of his weapons tightly, landing down atop the head of the black-scaled dragon.
It was up to him; the deciding blow was just that—deciding. The very nature of battle was so; perhaps if another moment was taken, people would die, perhaps the beast would launch a counterattack.
However—
Jett Levine did not leave such things to "chance", instead invoking everything he had in that moment to guarantee victory.
[Burst] enhanced his body, igniting his internal mana like nitro to his body's engine, supercharging himself before he slammed both of his weapons down.
SQUELCH
"RAAAAAAARGH—!!!"
Having its flesh so viscerally pierced, the Abyss Dragon did not accept it without a fight, thrashing about as it knocked some of the warriors to the side.
"Ghh—!" Vildren winced, finding himself being flung back, "Jett!"
Atop the colossal beast's skull, he kept his blades lodged into its head, finding that he didn't pierced deep enough quite yet for a lethal blow.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there!" He muttered.
It was a feeling in his heart that had been forming from the very moment he arrived from the Transport Crystal, but then, at the climax of it all, it flourished in a passion he had never felt before.
Seeing others of this world, talking to them, seeing them fight with everything they had–the world that felt foreign now felt close to his heart; it was real, and he wasn't going to let anything happen to it.
[Lesser Bolt!]
The electricity coiled around his arms before traveling down his enchanted blades and driving into the beast's head; both frost and lighting embedded themselves as destructive elements within its flesh.
—Finally, it stopped as the elements struck it from within, dropping down as the others around it dispersed so as not to be crushed beneath its mountainous weight.
[EXP: + 3000]
[Level Up]
[Level 20 -> Level 23] [250/3000]
[ATK: 27 | DEF: 27 | MAG: 39]