"RAAAAAAAAHR!!" The wails of a mighty dragon engulfed in silvery scales roared through the lands. Shaking all 9 continents and 10 million islands on Planet Sandria.
Before this mighty dragon was a group of heroes.
Sora Terravan; Known as a sword saint, he was gifted in the arts of the sword since a child. Cleaving through mountains at the age of 14 and slaying demons with ease.
Claus Morgan; The heir to the Morgan Family of Mages, he is a level 12 mage that has mastered 5 elements and created Alchemical Magic.
Alma Norman; A great priest that all acknowledges. Even loss of limbs can be healed by her.
Gull The Mighty: Once a commoner, he's developed a body akin to an immovable mountain.
Salia Faerian: A High Elf who adopted human culture and became the best archer.
A team full of the best of the best against a dragon humanity deemed as the Evil Silver Dragon Tenebris.
[Tenebris P.O.V]
(That was louder than I thought.)
This was never my intention. I only got the title of Evil Silver Dragon because of self defense.
I was once a human in the modern world but died to a heart attack. When I came to, some voice told me I was apart of the previously extinct family of dragons, Asimi Dragons. A race of dragons that could access all abilities of any other race of dragons.
But that makes me a rarity amongst rarities. In a world like this, humans already hunt monsters so a beast like me was a target of the world. But because I kept killing and beating anyone that tried to hurt me, humanity has deemed me as an entity of evil. WHAT THE FUCK!!
Humanity would do anything to get their way. Their just saying that to get someone to kill me and get my scales. I hate it here.
But there's one thing I can't ignore. The thrill of being chased, jumped, and assaulted yet coming out as the victor...Its a splendid feeling.
[Third Person P.O.V]
"Everyone, remember the plan!" The Archer, Salia summoned a horse spirit. Hopping onto its saddle, the horse steps on the air, galloping on the wind and leaving trails of fire in its wake.
Claus casted a magical barrier around his party's skin then a spherical dome around himself and Alma.
(Standard procedure in any rpg. Protect the mage and healer. The party collapses pretty quickly otherwise.) His eyes gleam over the surrounding area, emitting an intimidating aura. {Eyes Of The Emperor}
Luckily for them, the barrier protected wasn't just a normal barrier. It protects them against spiritual, physical, and mental attacks. So the {Eyes Of The Emperor} were seemingly useless while Claus was around.
"Lets go, Sora!!" The seven foot man, Gull announced in an enthusiastic tone.
"You don't have to tell me, barbarian!!" The two charge forward.
(This looks too simplistic. The archer stands from afar with long range attacks, the front line fighters come head first to attack the boss while the mage and healer stand in the back and add support. But its kind of weird to have the mage protect the healer instead of the tank. But other than that, it seems like a normal plan on the surface.) He lifts his front leg up and drops it above Sora. (But there's more to it, isn't there.)
Gull grips his hammer and adjust the angle of his elongated handle to the sole of the foot of Tenebris. As the foot hits his body, the barrier immediately cracks. "IRON WILL!!" His body increases in the strength, durability, and mentality department due to his skill {Iron Will}. His body was struggling against the force and mass of the dragon. In response to his efforts, Sora leaped passed the claws of the dragon and slashed at its ankle. {Iai; Song Of The Manticore!!} A technique that merges multiple styles of swordsmanship into the iai style and slashes 1,000 times in a microsecond. It chips his scales which irritates Sora.
He leaps off of the air itself and lands 5 meters away from the dragon's feet. Gull loosens his resistance against the claw and somersaults out of the way of the dragon's foot. Turning with his hammer, his large armament increases in mass exponentially. Tenebris' ankle was attacked by the mallot. It was as if a mountain struck his leg at lightning speed. While it cracked his scales a bit more, his leg was pushed off the ground. His body tilts over from the force. Sora was seen rushing at Tenebris' head. Alongside his sword thrusting at his eye, arrows with golden tips appeared alongside the attack. They slam onto his eye, the arrows stabbing into it while the sword seemingly bouncing off the eye. Sora caught himself by planting his feet on the currents of air in the area.
His eye bleeds as he felt the dicing of his optic nerves and veins within and behind his eye. (So they aim to use unconventional means of damage to hurt me.)
The arrows didn't truly stab into him. They were frequency arrows that held sound magic. They adapt to the frequency of the person in question to phase through their body and shake them from the inside out.
"Right, it seems I underestimated your power." He starts standing back up. He reached for his eye and used mana to withdraw the arrows from his eye. His optic neeves and veins rejuvenated as the blood from his eye evaporates.
"If this step of your plan is that effective then the rest may rid me from this world." Tenebris' body emits an aura equivalent to an abyss.
"Claus!!" Coming down to the magician, Salia steps to the magician of the team. "Whats happening?"
"I do not know. This has never been recorded before." Claus nor any other human truly have the records of the ancient dragons. The Dragon Of True Darkness, Kuro'kami. She held an ability that allowed her to suppress her own or others state of beings, {Authority Of Being}. While he could use this on the party before him, he uses this ability to decrease his overall stats to create 'stages' for his opponents. If certain criterias are met for the individual stages, Tenebris will go to the next stage. His wounds heal as his scales significantly increase in density, shrinking. "No one's ever pushed me this far."
By controlling the flow of mana in his body and infusing it with his physical body, he morphs the size and shape into a humanoid state. The amount of energy emitted from his body caused a shockwave to occur.
"What is it doing??" Alma asked aloud.
"He's transforming!! He's getting stronger!!" Claus exclaimed.
"What? Its evolving in the midst of battle?" Salia noted in shock. Her arms covered her face. Her spirit horse holds their position but was sliding back from the force of the shockwave.
Claus was utterly astonished. "No, he's not evolving....he was holding back!!"
"No human has ever pushed me this far so congratulations." His hair was flowing in silver locks. A skin complexion that matched the innards of trees. Eyes hazel in color and a body that was chiseled like a greek statue.
He wore black and gray clothing. Baggy yet stylish midnight black pants that stick over the tongue of white shoes. An overlapping buttoned shirt with a gray outline but black exterior engulfing the majority of the clothing. "Bare witness to my glorious power."
"Deconstruction!!" He glanced at the done around Claus and Alma and it immediately broke down. "My magical barrier?!"
"What did he do??" Alma was confused.
"I don't know. I'm recasting the barrier." As the barrier was reforming, Gull stood in front of them as a means of protection but Tenebris was already inside the barrier's range.
"Shouldn't you be grateful I let you keep that skin tight barrier of yours?" He flicks the forehead of Claus which shatters the barrier entirely and sends him flying deep into the forest.
"Claus!!!" Salia yelled out.
Alma adjust her staff toward Tenebris. "O' Mighty Karlana Of Strength And Purity, lend me power to smite thy evil being."
The dragon smirked as she was chanting her incantation.
Her body was engrossed in a golden aura. A circle of light appears beneath him as an illuminescent pillar drops onto his being.
He bathed in the rays of purity. "This is one nice sun tan." He stepped out the column of light unfazed by its effects.
"What?? It isn't effecting him?!" Baffled at this, her body froze. Gull jumps in front of her and swings his mighty hammer at Tenebris' face. But the dragon continued walking forward. Without fear nor hesitation, the hammer connects with Tenebris. Cracking, the hammer is reduced to a broken weapon as it shatters upon impact.
"Mortal Rending Style!!" The first move was a diagonal slash to the neck. The ground was seered through. "FLAME OF THE CINDERED WITCH!!" Yet Tenebris dodged it. But this technique wasn't a singular sword slash. It was a combination. The continuously flurry of sword strikes was like a cub fighting the king of the pride. The flames follow behind his sword and yet not a single seering of skin was seen. Each attack was avoided and shrugged off by the silver dragon. After the final attack was delivered, a fist appeared in front of Tenebris' face. He slips his shoulder over, blocking the attack. A shockwave is formed from the might of Gull's punch. But his fist were bruised and the recoil caused his hand to push back and a bone inside pierces through his wrist. "Guh." He winced at the pain.
"Take cover!!!" Yelled out Salia.
Gull turned and picked up Alma. Sora with Gull, started duking it down the forest.
"APOLLO'S LIGHT!!" Salia pulls back her string and lets loose a pack of arrows at the sky. They pierce through the clouds instantly and rain down on Tenebris as thousands of pure beams of light. The ground melts upon impact with each of the pillars of light. But Tenebris was outside its range completely fine.
Salia gallops to the ground with Claus unconscious on her horse.
"He's much stronger than we expected. I don't think any of our buffs will do the trick against him." Sora announced.
Alma was pushing Gull's bone back into place.
"Any attempts to defeat him with our current manpower will just lead to our death or an unnecessary use of resources." Sora said to the group.
"If only we could have beaten him in his dragon state." Salia said while gripping her arrow.
"But more will die if we don't do something." Said Gull.
"...." Alma quiet while healing Gull, seemed to be anxious about something.
"Then...how about this." Salia took out a corrosion arrow and a poison arrow. "We'll use debuff attacks against him to lower his strength enough for us to do damage. Then when we he's at our level, Alma you'll use your holy binding chains to hold him down. While he's pinned, Gull, Sora, you'll be with me. We'll unleash our strongest attacks against him to end it." Salia puts the ends of her arrow against the bowstring. "Is everyone clear on the plan?"
"It would have been easier if Claus was with us but," Sora looked over to Claus' unconscious body. "I guess we'll have to make do without him."
Gull, now healed completely smacked his fist against his palm. "Right, we can do this!! FOR THE PEOPLE OF LADVARIA!!"He raised his fist up.
"FOR THE PEOPLE OF LADVARIA!!" Salia and Sora yell out.
"Um...guys." Alma, who was indifferent about this seemed to be conflicted. "I don't think we should fight the Silver Dragon anymore."
The three looked at Alma, bewildered at that comment. "Alma...what do you mean?" Salia asked.
"Has his psychic power corroded your will to fight, Alma??" Gull asked while screaming.
"No its just.." (Alma)
Sora crossed his arms across his chest. "His power is intimidating. We do not blame you if you believe you are incapable of continuing Alma."
"Its not that." Alma looked a bit timid.
Salia placed her arrows in her dimension quill and placed her free hand on Alma's shoulder. "Alma, its okay to tell us if you are tired or afraid. You can sit this one out."
"It isn't any of that!" She said at the top of her lungs. "My Purity Pillar burns those who are evil or has the Evil alignment. But it did nothing to the Silver Dragon. I don't think he's truly the Evil Silver Dragon the kingdon told us about."
Silence befalled the group. Salia stood up while looking down at Alma. "Gull, Sora, do you believe health potions will suffice for any future injury?"
"We hold S Rank Health Potions, we'll be fine." Sora said.
"As long as I dodge his hits and use my Iron Will, I shouldn't get hurt much." Gull said.
(What're they..) Alma thought. She had a sense of danger befall her. She gripped her staff in fear.
"Good. Because it seems as if our Healer has been hypnotized by the psychic powers of the Evil Silver Dragon, Tenebris." Salia turns her back to Alma.
"Huh? No. I'm fine." She informed them.
"Sora, meet us on the battlefield when you're done." Gull dashes off with Salia as they head to ward Tenebris.
Words waft over Alma's mind. (Run.) As if it was a warning from an external source. She turned around and immediately started running down through the forest.
It wasn't long before she was caught. Sora was too fast for her to escape from on foot. A sword pierced through her spine and through her cleavage.
Alma's pupils shrink, undilating as she realized her life was over. He unsheathes his weapon from her back and she immediately drops to the ground.
He severed her spine so she was cripped. He then sliced her staff, destroying the catalyst she had to use her priest skills with the potency she uses it at. So an injury like this wasn't something she'd be able to rejuvenate.
"Tsk, I knew we shouldn't have banded together with you." He then dipped off to the fight.
Blood soaks the dirt beneath her. Her white robe was drenched in red. Alma laid on the ground in pain. She couldn't feel anything past her waist. (It hurts.....Am I dying??)
Meanwhile, the battlefield was nuked by a poisonous arrow along with the skill {Poison Mist}.
(Poison? Are they going down the debuff route? Smart of them.) Arrows pierce through the smoke of poison. Tenebris avoided it by smacking the arrow away. Gull jumps through and catches the arrow of corrosion. Coming down on his head, he attempted to strike Tenebris' head. The dragon turns around and blocks with his hand by catching Gull by the wrist and then backhanding him with the other hand. More arrows push through the mist of poison. Each were deflected by a swipe of his hand.
"I think I bathed in this poison long enough." He clasped his hands together, creating a shockwave that struck down everything in the vicinity. "Now that, thats gone."
Overhead, a swordsman comes down with a vertical strike. Yet it was overlapped with four other slashes.
"There you are!!" Tenebris looked up at Sora.
"Four Layered Tempest Slash!!" He moves his sword down at Tenebris. The four arcs of attacks that overlapped his blade now spun rapidly, engulfing the land in a cyclone of sharpened projectiles.
"Sora get out of there!!" Salia cried out. But her warning was in vain. Tenebris placed the top of his foot on Sora's jugular. Pushing him by his neck, he sends the sword saint crashing down at the forest. Colliding with many trees that break apart once Sora hits them with his body.
(These guys have great cooperation. But I guess that doesn't matter when faced up against me.) He struck a pose once his feet hit the ground. His palms open up and set to the side. Arms spread like wings with one foot in front of the other. "Before my might, techniques, teamwork, percision, abilities are meaningless." A transparent message pop up appears in front of him. (Whats this?? I haven't seen one of these since I completed the tutorial?)
[Quest: Save The Priestess]
"Hm? Save her? I never hurt her so how is she in danger?" He read the details of the quest.
[In an attempt to plead for Tenebris, the party she accompanied struck her down for belief of treason on the suspicion of Tenebris hypnotizing her. Alma's life now lies at death's door. Save her within the time limit.]
[Failure To Complete Quest: Removal Of Dragon King, Noir's skills and Depleting Of Level by 500]
"HUH???" His eyes widen.
(How is a random priestess that important!!)
[Time Limit: 4 Seconds]
"He's distracted!!" She unleashed a barrage of corroding arrows at Tenebris while he was distracted by the message. From his front, Gull and Sora was rushing at him.
"Fuck!!" A black orb appears in his hand. He bullets it at the ground which spreads out a large gust of smoke as dark as space void of light. He held all of the arrows launched at him by their stems and crushed it.
The adventurers stop their assault as their mana sensory and sight was blocked off. "Dammit, whats with this smoke??" Gull, who only relied on his eyes was useless.
"I cant get a feel of him!!" Said Sora.
Tenebris closed his eyes and used an ability called [Heart Search]. It allows the user to search for life forms based on the presence their life force gives off. In the forest, he found one that wasn't too far off from his current position and was weakening. "That must be her!!" He took a step and Salia immediately caught wind of this. "There he is!!" She pulled out a marking arrow and fires. It lands on his neck which gives off a light that is stuck onto the opponent. But as the photons were travelling toward their eyes, Tenebris was alreadying away from that position and out of the smoke.
Sora slashed rhrough the smoke as Gull punched hard enough to blow the smoke away. But he was no longer there. For them, his disappearance was confusing. The light was lagging behind Tenebris.
So as fast Sora was, he could only see Tenebris as a blur.
Without any needed effort, he reached Alma. She was curled over on her side, healing herself. Sadily, her healing powers diminished greatly without a catalyst. So she could not heal herself to full capacity.
He used Dragon King Mimir's Ability {All Seeing Eye} To peer into her body. "Several Arteries were cut, her spine is cut in two and a portion of her heart is damaged. They really did a number on her." It was because of how small her body was. She was only 4'11 and kinda petite.
"Damn, I never unlocked any healing skills the dragons had. Other than Beezlebub's regeneration.....wait." He beared his fang and bit into his wrist. (I don't know what dragon blood would do to a human but I gotta try somethin!!) I opens her mouth and focused his mana into the blood that was pouring out of his wrist. Entering her body, his mana and blood unconventionally spreads through her body. The antibodies that came with Beezlbub's skill [Hyper Regeneration] fuses with her body which forces her cells to swiftly divide and create new cells.
Her heart, spine, and arteries were healing rapidly. With that, her life was saved. He then put a barrier on her to protect her. "There." He gets a message from the holographic screen.
[QUEST COMPLETE!!]
He sighed in relief. But when he looked over, he saw Claus looking right at him.
Silence was in the air. "THUNDER BOLT!!!" A bolt of lightning raged at Tenebris.
He disappeared from his original sitting and appeared on the arm of a tree with Alma in his arms. "Tsk."
"Put her down!!!" Claus demanded.
"As if I'd do that. If you want her, then you'll have to pry her from my dead hands." He then vanished with Alma.
A large fireball hits the tree, incinierating it and the trees behind it instantly. "DAMMIT!!"
The others reached Claus while he was visibly angry. "Claus!!" Salia called to him. "Did you see the Evik Silver Dragon? I marked him but it seems as if the light wasn't fast enough to stick to him."
"He's gone. He left with Alma. I think he killed her and took her corpse. That damned monster." Claus claws into his own palms.
The others were quiet for a second. "He's worse than we thought. We have to report back immediately and get some aid to take that fiend down for good."