The moment the dragon's jaws opened just large enough, Asura had already launched himself into the air and dropped straight towards the dragon. The man stared, his mouth slightly agape at the sight. He quickly prepared himself however, knowing that this raid would not be as easy as it seemed.
As Asura raised his blade, black flames once more lined the blade. As he swung it downwards, the dragon breathed a burst of flames at him, its body moving back slightly due to the force of the flames. Even if it seemed like it could burn the skies, the flames still collected around his blade, the excessive spreading to his whole body.
His slash was unfortunately blocked off, a holographic shield appeared right in front of his blade, with a system window popping out from the side.
[SHIELD: 98%]
Even as he did another strike just before he was forced back down on the ground, with all of the flames he had collected and even added more on top of it, the system window read,
[SHIELD: 90%]
He was nearly grabbed by the dragon if the man had not come just in time to drag him again from the dragon's attack. They landed not too gracefully, using Asura as a drag before they both fully settled on the ground. They could not rest for long, obviously, when the dragon was ready to let out another burst of flames.
The man narrowed his eyes, noticing the way the dragon's scales turned from bright red to an orangey red when it was about to let out its fire breath.
"Any good ideas?" Asura asked, already gotten himself back on his feet and raising his sword up.
"I wondered if there was a more specific way to break its shield than just regular damage calculation."
"So you think the dragon's shield is a counter to me?"
The man's eyes widened, which made Asura scoff, "What? Do you think I'm just the all brawn and no brains type?"
At the man's lack of an answer, he clicked his tongue and shook his head. "I can't fucking believe you. How could you make such assumptions about me?!"
The man was not sure if at that moment, he wanted to sew his mouth shut or slice his head off.
Another burst of flames came towards their way, burning everything with it. With their pendant and his skills of absorbing flames, they both were unscathed from the attack. While his blade was absorbing the flames, he raised his voice just loud enough that they could hear him.
"Hey! Don't you have any skills that could help?"
The man groaned, though they did have the skills, they quickly concluded that it was not the time to use it now. His body felt the heat that surrounded them, that immense dryness and heat that made the desert feel like a cakewalk. As their gazes met and that smirk appeared on his lips, they immediately knew what they had to do next.
The moment the flames subsided, Asura raised his blade. The man immediately summoned his own blades into his hands, running straight forward straight at the moment Asura swung his blade.
"Show me what you have." He mumbled under his breath.
The man took in a deep breath, feeling that his surroundings had slowed down considerably. He could observe everything more clearly, seeing the dragon much more up close. Aside from the color changing scales, flames seemingly always crackle within its jaw, he also noticed something he had not before.
There was more than just flames that occasionally spewed a little out of its jaw.
There was electricity there as well.
He wondered why none of the two fire breaths had any effect of electricity accompanying them, though he did have a few thoughts, he was not too sure if any of it could be the right answer.
As everything around him started to feel like they had gone back to the speeds they were to being at, he could feel the winds carrying his body as he made a leap. The dragon's attention immediately went to him, ignoring the flames coming its way. It readied to let out another fire breath, right before the man landed right on its snout.
The man's every movement was quick, a flurry of slashes with both blades. He did not stay in only one stop, as the dragon tried to throw him off of it, he leaped right off of its snout, then landed on its body. He did the same flurry of slashes all over its body, moving himself constantly so he did not get shrug off of the dragon.
Coupled with the flame slashes sent the dragon's way, the shield started to whittle down slowly.
[SHIELD: 88%]
[SHIELD: 80%]
[SHIELD: 72%]
It was the most fast or efficient way, though they could keep going at it for a little while anyways.
Although the one that ran out of patience first was the dragon, considering that it was flailing around and failing to get the man off of its body, or even making him stop the barrage of slashes that was sent its way. He immediately knew something was off, that the back of his hairs were standing even under the black windbreaker he was wearing.
He went along with his instincts, getting off of the dragon, watching it raise its head.
Just as they wondered what was happening, the dragon let out another ferocious roar, yet this time, that roar sounded much more guttural, almost a primal sounding roar.
Electricity surged throughout its body, and as it opened its wings, the electricity had truly made its way through every part of it. A huge burst of lightning struck everything in a circular area around the dragon, nearly hitting the man as well if he had not moved out of the way a little faster.
Its speed and strength seemed to have gone up as the man noticed how quickly its head turned. Its jaw quickly opened up, spewing out a small but incredibly concentrated breath of flames along with lightning at him. He knew that his protection amulet could still handle two more of such breaths, but he would rather not waste it now.
[RAID TIMER:19:02]
"Did you get scared?"
The man had not fully realized that Asura had even came to his side, or even dragged him out of the attack's range. He noticed the demon's arm was still around his waist, which made him try to get out of the demon's hold. Asura grinned even wider, liking the way that the man's sheer desperation to get out of his hold.
"Hey hey hey, I just wanted to talk to you~"
"You don't have to get this close to talk to me!"
Their heads quickly turned when a shadow was suddenly casted over them. Asura quickly got them out of the way, avoiding the dragon's claws. It opened its jaw again, letting out another breath. Though this time the burst of flames with electricity lasted for way longer, almost burning down the entire forest zone, turning the zone into a barren, dry land.
Though neither of them were too worried about the state of the zone, since it would just return to normal after the raid was over. The flag was still there, standing, somehow.
"Do you think its powers have something to do with the sun?"
The man's question made Asura tilt his head, still having an amused grin on his lips.
"Now, I'm not sure where you get the idea from."
"Its scales, dumbass."
"Oh, you do actually curse! I thought you were those goody-two—"
His words were cut off by another burst of fire mixed with lightning breath coming their way. He dodged it easily, even as the lightning spread around the area where the flames did not reach.
"The scales are almost like the hue of dawn. So it could be possible that it got its powers from the sun."
The man's words made his grin grow wider, adjusting his hold so he held the man like a sack of potatoes. It was much better for them both this way, even if it was a rather embarrassing sight for the man to be held by a demon NPC like Asura.
"Want to try that out?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We don't really have a choice."
As the dragon adjusted itself, ready to unleash another breath at the pair, Asura extended his free arm out.
"Ready yourself then."
His warning was ominous, so was their surroundings. While the air was decently chilly due to the zone being a forest zone, the air suddenly felt much more cold, enough to even make the man shiver under his clothing. His windbreaker had cold resistance on it, fully allowing him to not feel cold even in extremely snowy zones.
It made him wonder if the chill he was feeling was just the air, or it was something different.
Asura laughed as the skies began to darken, the sun being covered up by dark clouds. The dragon seemed confused as well, its eyes blinked at the sudden change in atmosphere as well as the skies. His eyes started to glow a brighter red, the exact way a ruby would shine under light.
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENTER 'DEMON KING' STATUS?]
The system window in front of him read, but he clicked 'no'. Just then, he decided to throw the man right at the dragon, throwing the man right towards the dragon's face.
"I know you have a lot more tricks under your sleeve. Go on, show you what you have."
The man could not help that feeling of annoyance that prickled at his body, although he did not have a choice but to act, considering that the dragon seemed fed up with them. It opened its jaw, ready to let the man drop right into its mouth.
This time, he summoned another blade. The blade was much more different than the ones he had used before, seeing the way it shone even within the darkness. That mere sight made Asura grin even wider as he watched, awaiting to see what was going to happen next.
"I beg for your forgiveness." The man mumbled under his breath.
As his eyes closed, he felt his surroundings starting to slow down once more. That familiar voice whispered in his ear, the sword in his hand felt much heavier than the other ones he had been using.
"Open your eyes, child. And soon, you will reach the answer you so desperately seek."
The very moment his eyes opened, the skies were starting to split. As he swung his blade towards the monster, a bright light completely blinded everyone's sights for a mere second.
As the strike collided with the shield, a few system windows appeared at the same time.
[CALCULATION ERROR]
[CALCULATION ERROR]
[CALCULATION ERROR]
[...]
[SHIELD SUCCESSFULLY BROKEN]
The slash went clean through the dragon, splitting it apart along with the skies. The clouds were forced to clear apart, a system window appeared in front of Asura.
['THE DEATH OF HUMANITY' SKILL BROKEN BY DAVA DEVANA]
He let out a boisterous laughter at it all, his head leaned back and his hand on his head. Dava turned over to look at him once he had safely landed on the ground, staring blankly at the demon as he continued on laughing either way.
'He's crazy.' The conclusion he made up about the demon.
[RAID SUCCESSFUL. TIME LEFTOVER:14:06]
[REWARDS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED AFTER NIGHTFALL]
Asura hummed as he stared at Dava, that amused grin did not seem like it could ever leave his lips now.
"Would we meet again?"
"Of course." Dava replied without a second thought.
Asura could feel his body turning transparent, the system was clearly going to teleport them out of the zone soon. He grinned until the points he showed his teeth, giving the man a wave.
"See you then, Dava. Hope your performance will be the same the next time we meet!"
[RAID CLEAR!]
[REWARDS DISTRIBUTED:
500,000 GOLD
4 FLAME DRAGON SCALES (LEGENDARY)
1 FLAME DRAGON GEM (LEGENDARY)
■■■■■■■]
[AN UNEXPECTED ERROR HAS OCCURRED. REWARDS WILL BE SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]