Type: Location
Name: Dragon's jaw
Fauna: Various kinds of dragons and drakes
Flora: A small amount of silver grass and Sausa mushrooms
It seems like this magic can work on just about anything.
Monsters, humanoids, objects and even locations as a whole.
So this mountain range is called Dragon's jaw, huh?
I guess it's a fitting name, because a lot of dragons live here according to what it said.
Well then, let's go.
I need to cross here.
If they attack me, I will retaliate.
But if they let me pass, that would be good too.
After all, it's not like I absolutely need to kill 'the king'.
But looking up at the mountain through the rain, something tells me I don't have much of a choice.
I lower my weight and squat down.
[Wind blast]
|= A little while later =|
I'm climbing the mountains right now.
Or should I say, I'm jumping across mountains.
It's thanks to the belt.
While only using a bit of my mana, I can lower my weight and easily jump around.
There is no problem with it at all.
What is a problem however, is the fact that hordes of dragons started attacking me as soon as I started my climb.
Type: Monster
Name: -
Gender: Male
Race: Azure dragon
Status: Angered
Level: 361
Health: 11375/14953
Mana: 22710/24680
They are very easily defeated in one or two shots, but there is just a lot of them.
And they just keep coming...
I must have shot down over thirty of them by now.
And still no traces of this 'king' I heard about.
Well, at least the rain stopped...but the air is getting a little foggy instead now.
How annoying...
Status screen: open.
Mana: 82421/99638
I'm still good on mana since I'm trying to be efficient, but if this goes on I will have to retreat.
I keep hopping around the mountain tops and shooting fire darts.
I always line it up so each spell hits at least two dragons.
If there are even more dragons to defeat, I really need to be conservative with mana.
And the dragons aren't just mindlessly flying at me.
They are using various magic attacks from afar.
It's mostly just water blasts, icicles and strong winds.
The scenery around me is slowly whitening more and more.
The created fog makes it harder to see, but it's still manageable.
I keep jumping around while attacking and warding off their simple ice magic attacks.
When suddenly, the dragons start retreating.
What?
Is it over?
Where is the dragon king?
I land on one of the mountain tops and look around.
It really seems like I was left alone...
I can't perfectly see through the fog, but I am not spotting any more dragons around.
Just when I think that, I sense a high concentration of mana behind me.
I tilt my body and jump to the side.
The rocks, where I was just standing, are blown away.
I look in the direction I sensed the attack from and see white dragon with blue tint flying in the air.
How did I not notice it sooner?
It must be the fog's fault...
After briefly focusing on it with my magic, I get some information.
Type: Monster
Name: Prima
Gender: Female
Race: Hurricane dragon
Status: Angered
Level: 790
Health: 31244/31244
Mana: 48154/50685
A hurricane dragon?
Is this the king?
Just when I'm about to retaliate, a hyper intense rain suddenly starts falling down on me.
The pressure almost makes me kneel, but I manage to withstand it and get out of the way.
As I throw myself backward, a fast flying shard of ice flies right by my face.
I land on a mountain ledge and quickly gather some mana.
[Phantom presence]
After casting phantom presence, I look around myself.
I spot two more dragons sitting on the mountain tops with their wings spread wide.
One of them is dark blue.
Type: Monster
Name: Sekundo
Gender: Male
Race: Rain dragon
Status: Angered
Level: 768
Health: 31512/31512
Mana: 27862/30167
And the other one is colored light blue.
Type: Monster
Name: Trios
Gender: Male
Race: Frost dragon
Status: Angered
Level: 752
Health: 30953/30953
Mana: 29680/29680
Three of them...?
I'm surrounded...
And all three of them look quite troublesome.
The three dragons were only momentarily stunned by phantom presence and then continued attacking.
I pulled my new sword from the storage and warded off some icicles flying toward me.
A mini sideways tornado was shot from the hurricane dragon's mouth while a series of small but quick water projectiles were shot from the rain dragon.
I dodged most of these attacks while deflecting some of the water bullets with my sword.
But since they were coming from all directions, I couldn't dodge all of them and got a few wounds.
As I dodged, I tried to get closer to the white dragon with my jumps.
But those three cleverly shifted their positions to keep me at the same distance between them at all times.
These dragons have really good teamwork...
I should take one of them out as soon as possible.
I continue using my right hand to ward off attacks with my sword while gathering mana in my left hand.
[Fire dart]
My attack flies toward the white dragon, but is intercepted by a quick ice shard flying from the side.
Tch...
They are even covering each other.
I should probably do it quickly then.
I find an opening and gather mana in my sword.
[Phantom annihilation]
Slashing from top to bottom, I aim my attack at the white dragon.
My vision splits into two and a screeching noise echos through the mountains.
However...because of the constant barrage from all directions, my aim was a little off.
And on top of that, the dragon spun its body to dodge and so, my attack only cut off a bit of its tail.
Damn!
This isn't going well.
I need to get from this position...
But how can I do that...?
I'm not fast enough for this...
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
...
Hmm...how about this...
I face the frost dragon as I ward off some water bullets.
[Inferno]
I use this spell to not only attack the frost dragon, but to also propel myself backward while lowering my weight.
The recoil propels me at high speed backward and I fly by the two other dragons.
After that, I land on a mountain ledge.
It worked.
Now, I'm not surrounded anymore.
Let's take them all out.
Using the blood from one of my wounds, I draw a line on my sword while gathering more mana.
[Hell serenade]
The dark red flames gush out and cover my entire field of vision.
But at the very moment I shot the spell out, I felt another concentration of mana from beyond my own spell.
Instinctively, I jump to the side and look back.
A thin and long lance made out of ice pierces through hell serenade right into the spot where I was standing.
After piercing into the rock, spiraling lines of ice are made all around it.
...blizzard?
I look back to where I shot the spell while readying more mana in my left hand.
The dust settles and I see all three of the dragons on the ground.
The rain dragon is missing a wing and is lying unconscious.
Health: 9865/31512
Mana: 145/30167
The frost dragon has burns all over its body and is also spread on the ground completely immobile.
Health: 1856/30953
Mana: 213/29680
And the white dragon...is just missing part of its tail like before.
Health: 27456/31244
Mana: 41154/50685
What is with the disproportionate damage done?
And even their mana...
Did the rain and frost dragons defend the hurricane dragon with everything they had?
Seems likely...
I guess it really is 'the king' and those two were just it's strongest minions.
Hmm, but it doesn't matter now.
It's basically just me against the hurricane dragon.
I may have been losing three on one.
But this should be easy.
[Infernal lance]
I release my spell toward the clumped up dragons.
The hurricane dragon flies up and lets out a cry as the two others disappear in a flaming explosion.
Then, it waves its wings and an intense wind assaults me.
I try to stay on the ground with all my might but I still get lifted up and am blown away.
As I float through the air, the dragon shoots another one of those icicles right at me.
[Phantom force]
But I twist my body in midair and deflect the projectile into a random direction.
I'm about to land on the ground, when suddenly I feel winds from below.
Instead of landing, I continue to float in the air.
I can't really dodge like this...
But I can always do this...
I raise my weight with the belt and land back on the ground.
However, I overdid it a bit and got my legs stuck in the rocks.
The dragon gathers what seems to be the remaining bits of its mana and shoots a spike-like tornado toward me.
[Phantom force]
The tornado is deflected and pierces the dragon's wing.
The dragon falls down as it lets out a roar.
Its roar gets louder and louder.
[Fire dart]
As my spell pierces its head it completely stops moving and making sounds.
Health: 0/31244
Ugh...
That roar was real annoying...
It was so loud...
My ears hurt from it.
Good thing it's-
?!
Suddenly...the earth starts to shake.
It's only subtle at first, but it soon escalates into something greater.
The mountains start to fall apart.
I hastily jump around to secure my footing only to have the ground crumble beneath me.
[Wind blast]
I lower my weight and propel myself away.
I keep jumping away from the epicenter.
And after finally reaching a mountain, which isn't falling apart, I get to see the spectacle.
And it's...a dragon.
...
A massive dark blue dragon.
The earth was crumbling because it was pushing its head upward through the ground.
If those dragons before had a claw as big as me...
Then this one might have a tooth as big as one of those dragons.
What the hell is this...?
Is this the king?
Type: Monster
Name: Draio origin
Gender: Male
Race: Tsunami dragon (titan)
Status: Furious
Level: 2265
Health: 152354/152354
Mana: 272451/272451
It has to be the king...
A tsunami dragon...?
And what is this '(titan)' thing?
Status screen: open.
Mana: 3198/99638
There is no way I can fight it with my current mana.
...damn!
I didn't expect this!
The dragon spots me with one of its enormous eyes and then slowly turns its head while opening its mouth.
I start hopping away to the side, but a huge concentration of mana appears between his jaws.
I can't run from this!
[Flame guard]
I clad myself in fiery armor and prepare for the impact.
The dragon shot an enormous blast of water at me enveloping me and the mountain I was standing on.
I was completely blown away, but the surge of water didn't stop.
My fiery armor was instantly extinguished.
Then, the attack tore off my skin.
Slowly but surely, it started digging into my flesh and organs.
And then...
...
...
...
I open my eyes.
...
I'm...
Lying on a bed...?
...
This is...
Suddon's house?
What...?
I'm back at the village?
----------------------------------------
Bonus:
Let's talk about mana.
As you might know, mana is everywhere and everything contains it.
A person's or a monster's maximum capacity depends on several factors.
One of them is their level, as you level up, you gain more maximum mana.
But like other stats, you can raise this number without leveling up.
In this case, it's simply by emptying and refilling your mana reserves.
In other words, using magic and casting spells.
And although it might seem unfair, the rate at which one can increase his mana capacity is also dependent on race.
"This stage has checkpoints!"
"Are you proud of me?"
Took you long enough.
"Aw come on now!"
"If you never get to the 'dere' part of tsundere, then it's meaningless!"