CHAPTER 362 – DRAGON FIGHT I

Tom took a deep breath and then glanced to his left and then to his right.

They were doing this.

Clare and the giant were conferring and then she went up to Toni and moved her down three positions in the line. The next person to get her attention was Michael.

“What’s happening?” The healer asked.

“We did some experiments,” Clare explained. “And then, there were also some holy scripts we were able to translate. What Tom got from the dream was close to being right, but the pattern was off in minor ways. Phil, you need to move back a spot.” She called out. And then looked straight at the wador leader. “And you forward one.”

The alien moved as instructed, but said nothing out loud.

She finished her inspection and then went over to the giant and he gave her a thumbs up.

Tom sighed deeply once more. All the boxes had been checked. He had had his potion. The two rings he needed were on his fingers and the necklace around his neck. He was prepared as he was ever going to be.

The order of entry had been determined.

One of his mimic golems alternating with a human took the first eight spots. Then Phil and Rahmat stood together and then after that the initial pattern continued. Golems inter-spaced with living people. It wasn’t perfect. Occasionally, two or sometimes even three of the constructions were grouped together. As Tom’s eyes tracked the line, he gawked in surprise. Multiple constructions he didn’t recognise were in the line. He had never seen them before, but he recognised the make. They had been built by the inventor. None of them were the more advanced versions that had been brought into the trial. They were all freshly manufactured, and Tom wondered about their purpose. Was Clare aware of them? Or was this a surprise?

He caught Clare’s eyes and gestured at them. She just smiled and gave a thumbs up. That was good. Apparently, they were expected.

Everyone was precisely where they were supposed to be. The giant had specified the overall positioning, and then the wador leader and Clare had arranged their respective species into those assigned spots. That was all the humans except for Rahmat, Phil, and himself who had been explicitly positioned by the giant.

He fiddled with his new ring. The lack of curiosity the giant had exhibited still surprised him. However, after the discussion around the Oracle question, Tom understood why the rings had not been checked. The giant genuinely considered all of them, except for the dragon to be beneath his notice.

The ring was simple. It was unadorned, and contained so little magic that Tom had to struggle to see the energy. Yet it worked nearly perfectly. They had tested it yesterday and the moment he had triggered it the stored instructions had appeared in his head, like he had already known them. There hadn’t been a moment’s delay. The crafting was miraculous.

“We’re starting the count in three. As discussed, run when you hear your assigned number.”

Clare who was positioned at the end of the line yelled out; a skill made her voice cut through with an aura of command. Tom found himself instantly perked up and alert like he had used his coffee jolt spell.

That’s a powerful ability, he thought to himself. It would be interesting to see how it helped in the long run. If he had to guess, he would have bet on a lot.

“One,” she said her voice filling him with energy.

The first decoy human took off at a run.

“Two.”

The next three in line joined them. The golems were moving at a pace that was faster than what the humans could manage. That was all managed by their physical placement on the staging ground and their instructions on when to run. Their individual acceleration and max pace had all been part of the modelling to make sure they hit the portals at the right time. Then again, with the exception of a couple of them, the order didn’t matter. He had to move when she reached ten.

“Ten.”

Eight of them took off. Just as they had been ordered, he adjusted his pace to be as close to the person on his left without passing them.

Three steps away from the glowing portal he activated the necklace around his neck.

It was a single use item from the inventor that caused an invisibility spell to encase him. It was not one of the cheap ones either. It would work for two minutes and if the invisibility was disrupted, it would reform as many times as needed within that time period.

He struck the portal at a full sprint.

The instant his hands made contact the swirling power swept over all of him. There was a feeling of disassociation and then instead of the rough cobblestones smooth glass was under his feet. It was the aftereffects of the Dragon’s breath, which meant he was in the final zone.

With Clare’s warning clear in his mind, he immediately triggered the instructions for the trial.

Do not fate spike the dragon.

Remain at least eighty metres from the giant.

When it launches the spear, do three things simultaneously;

* Abandon the tracking ring.

* Fate Spike the giant.

* Flee from it as fast as possible.

Exit the zone immediately once the dragon is dead.

In all other respects, follow the existing instructions.

Tom’s eyes widened at those orders. It was like he could remember Clare saying them to him only a minute before and reiterating multiple times that he had to be cognisant of and act on the information.

He raised his eyes, and the zone looked exactly how he had imagined it. It was not the same as he had seen through their eyes because the alien’s vision was different to his own, but all the key features were there even if the air itself had a green tint that he was not expecting.

He was already sprinting towards the middle straight at the massive dragon that filled the space. There were about four kilometres between him and her and he knew the battle plan required them to close to within six hundred metres. He was almost certainly the slowest of the group that mattered, which was the giant and its escort. So, he focused on running.

Phil was visible only because of the tracking ring that they both wore, and it looked like he must have used rocket shoes. Somehow, he was three hundred metres deep into the zone and was tearing an insect apart. The man was playing with it, kind of like a cat with a mouse. When Tom shifted his perception and observed exclusively through his human senses by ignoring the input from the ring, all he could see was the bug fighting air and that same air battering it around and making wounds appear all over it. Blunt force trauma was inflicted with each swing of Phil’s fists.

He felt no compulsion to rush and offer aid. After all, with the insects being as weak as they were Phil was going to defeat it easily. A point proved emphatically by how the fight between them was progressing.

There was an explosion of bright light. It was targeted at the Dragon’s head and even from almost four kilometres away it was blinding. It was the first blow they had struck directly at the dragon, and he was sure it was courtesy of Michael’s new skill.

Their approach was simple. They were going to attempt to shock and awe the dragon for as long as possible. Keep it locked down by continually exploding the light and magic bombs in front of its vision and ears. Twenty-five seconds of an intense barrage was all they had mana and golems for and after that they would slow down the suppression tactics. In theory, that was more than enough time for the giant to get into position and launch its attack.

As he ran, annoyed at the slowness that turning off Lightning Steps necessitated, he continually assessed the battlefield.

The dragon, even with the fireworks blowing up around it was not deterred. Its eyes searched through the bombardment for a target. He was three kilometres away. The distance allowed him to appreciate how massive she was. Her weight must have been astronomical. From the tip of her tail to her head, she was as long as a sports field.

She also wasn’t a dainty creature. She was solid everywhere. That fifty-metre tail that was covered with scales and sharp spikes along the back of it, at its most delicate point was thicker than a typical tree.

That massive head snapped forward and a blue ball of flame erupted from her mouth.

He shivered.

The power that the flaming missile gave off was terrifying. He was currently not in danger. She had launched it almost directly away from him. More than a small part of him wondered who she was targeting and if it wasn’t a golem, he hoped it was a wador or one of Jenny’s squad.

The second ring on his hand became warmer, and he didn’t need to glance back to know that the giant had entered the zone. The presence of the massive person was almost like a loot portal in his mind.

Too soon, he thought to himself, and attempted to speed up further. There was a temptation to use Lightning Steps, but he understood it was better for him to arrive a few seconds later than to risk the dragon spotting them.

The giant’s long legs meant that it was rapidly reducing the lead Tom had got from his earlier start. All too soon, the massive creature passed him. It was looping along and while he would have expected each foot fall to create a slight earthquake, Tom didn’t feel a thing despite its proximity. He’s domain recorded a different story. Earth magic created a wave of force that flowed up to meet every step and then The Super dense micro layer cushioned the impact of its weight hitting the ground. It was a fascinating use of earth manipulation and let the ridiculously large creature move silently across the ground and also prevented any tremors that would have revealed its passage under normal circumstances from spreading out from it.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Like what he had done with Phil, he briefly peered through his human senses and there was nothing where the ring told him the giant was. The giant was not using an artefact from the inventor, but rather one of its own skills. Tom was certain of that and the more he witnessed it in action the scarier it became.

The giant had only pulled about a hundred metres ahead when it came to a stop.

Tom had been concentrating on sprinting as fast as he could, and his attention had been focused on where each foot landed. The fact it had paused allowed him to slow and look up.

They had arrived.

The dragon, now that he was only six hundred metres from it, absolutely dominated the skyline. Somehow it even made the much closer giant seemed small.

He was very glad that True Dreaming had given them a cheat method to defeat her otherwise he would have broken down in despair. Despite all the allies they had gathered, Tom knew that she would have been an impossible fight if they hadn’t discovered her weakness.

Remain at least eighty metres from the giant.

Tom jumped at Clare’s voice echoing in his head. He checked out the giant and realised that he was too close. He glared at the ring. That was not functionality that he had known the ring to possess. His current positioning was perfect for the giant’s plan, but if it was a choice between listening to something that did not have his best interest at heart and Clare there wasn’t much choice to be had.

He ran directly away from it to open up the eighty metres that he needed.

As he created space, he looked off to the side, away from the giant and the dragon.

At where his allies were supposed to be.

He jerked to a stop, his eyes widening.

Toni had also been sprinting toward the centre of the zone like she had been instructed. Unlike the strike team that he was part of, she was somewhat visible having been given a lower quality invisibility artefact. A living decoy to keep the more dangerous elements away from the ambush they were launching.

And that gamble was working because an insect had spotted her and was rapidly approaching.

Tom was initially tempted to dismiss it, as too weak to trouble Toni, but something tickled his subconscious, so he took a second look. It was moving with a sense of purpose that the depressed almost dead normal ones wouldn’t have possessed.

Fear choked him, and his heart rate soared.

She had spotted the threat, and the air roiled in front of her. It was what Tom recognised as a deadly spell that would fill the air in front of her with so many air blades that it wouldn’t be able to be dodged. Then her face was transfixed in horror and the devastating magic that had been forming broke apart into pieces. That reaction confirmed what was targeting her.

No, he screamed the word internally. No attack me instead!

But it didn’t hear or didn’t care, and she was too far away for him to do anything.

The insect dived toward her. He used his long-range taunt, targeting one of the antennae. It shrugged it off not deviating a centimetre from its target.

Use the teleporter. He begged internally. Without a storm of air blades to meet the plunging champion, she was exposed. If it reached her, it would be too late. Even if she returned to her senses, she would be torn to bits.

She had to flee and escape.

Use it now! He yelled internally and wished Everlyn’s party chat was available, but they had disabled it for fear the dragon would be able to track their location from it.

Trigger the teleporter. Please. However, it was futile he knew his pleas wouldn’t be heard.

Toni’s mind was no longer here in the zone. The insect’s trait had taken her to another place, one of such horror that it had frozen her and caused her to be unable to respond to the real world.

From this far away, there was nothing he could do. If she hadn’t been stun locked by what was almost certainly an emotional attack, the outcome of the fight would have been less one sided. Her storm of air blades may not have been sufficient to tear the monster apart, but she would have done damage to it.

But that was only a hypothetical. The insect champion had used its trait, and the battle had been won before the first ranged attack was launched.

Toni stood with her hands clutching her temples and a look of anguish on her face. Not moving beyond the small shudder that ran through her.

It slammed into her and bit down viciously. She crumpled and was driven into the ground. There was a spray of red and the insect’s body wriggled brutally like a dog is it rag dolled its prey. Violently, it jerked its head toward the sky like a wolf howling. Red blood sprayed everywhere with the movement. Then the head plunged downwards, and it took another bite. This time when it withdrew a lump of flesh was held in its mouth. It flipped its head like a Pelican would and swallowed it.

Toni was dead! Tom knew it, and there was no bringing her back. None of them had a resurrection spell that could do it and Toni like most of them had no lifesaving trump card that could have saved her. He felt empty in side and rather than grieving he embraced his battle trance. He would ensure the sacrifice was not in vain by shepherding as many humans as possible out of the trial.

Almost five seconds had passed. It was not very long but more than sufficient to kill a human that didn’t defend herself. He glanced backward, and the giant was putting the finishing touches on its spear launcher. In a few seconds’ time it would start its wind-up throw. Then they would know whether they were going to survive this. There was a contingency plan that consisted of both a second and a third spear in case the first couple missed. However, they all recognised that if the first one missed there was almost no chance of the later ones striking true.

With Toni dead and presumably her heart devoured, the champion turned its attention onto Tom.

For a moment, Tom wondered how its magic had pierced the inventor’s necklace. The invisibility it granted was potent and the insect, from his own dreams, wasn’t supposed to possess any skills or spells that granted perceptive powers.

Then he remembered that he used his taunt skill on the monster. He had been hoping to draw it away from Toni, but it being sapient had meant it had been able to ignore the attack. But it clearly hadn’t forgotten it. His cheeks warmed, and he cursed his impulsiveness. That was not a mistake that he should have made. His job was to remain unseen, and he had allowed emotions to betray both himself and their strategy.

It was too late for doubts or regrets. The insect had spotted him, and it was coming.

It leapt into the air with its jaws covered in red. Incredibly fast wing beats propelled it on a parabolic course straight towards him. It was getting height in order to swoop down and crash into him like it had done with Toni. There was no way to read the inhuman features of the insect, but having experienced multiple True Dreams from its perspective, Tom knew exactly what it was thinking.

Weak prey, juicy and delicious flesh, anticipating the joy of killing and probably wondering if there was a way to bring extra pain and despair to better flavour the meat. All those thoughts would be circulating in its head along with the unshakable confidence that it could easily destroy him.

Moments later, it reached the apex of its rise and swooped around towards him in an identical fashion to how it had slaughtered Toni.

Gamely, he positioned his spear ready to intercept it and took no other actions

The champion was a third of the way down and alarm bells went off.

Time slowed and his skill showed pathways to dodge, but they were tight as the creature coming at him would compensate and adjust its trajectory, so actually avoiding injury was far harder than usual. More difficult but not impossible, Tom could do this. Yes, with its monstrous strength class, it was undeniably devastating in a physical confrontation, but Tom’s dodge skill was not normal…

But nor was the class it had weak. Even with his dodge abilities, he suspected it would rise to the occasion. Six deadly legs and a mouth working in concert were dangerous even if he had a raw speed advantage… and that was not how it killed Toni. A small part of his brain reminded him.

It

It was the stun that had done the damage.

He smiled internally at that thought. The insect was doomed. It would be incapable of comprehending what was about to happen. He knew exactly what the trait that had defeated Toni was, and his title perfectly countered it.

Patiently, he waited, watching.

Hit me with your stun you bastard, he thought gleefully. I’m going to kill you for what you did to Toni and Jingyi.

From Tom’s perspective, there were no observable effects, no momentary spike in external pressure, no developing headache or stirring emotions. He felt nothing, but his eyes captured the moment.

The alarms that have been warning him of his pending destruction reacted to the new reality first. They did not disappear completely. The warnings still rang muted in the background with the slightest of time dilations remaining active. After all, a living meteorite was still hurtling at him even if it was now incapable of reacting to his movements.

Then its wings stopped beating. The front legs that had been extending to tear him apart lost their intent. Its focus on him with that hungry, ‘I’m going to devour you,’ attention had switched to something else.

It plummeted towards him just a piece of living flesh that was no longer animated. A half a step back positioned himself perfectly to aim for a head shot. Its momentum combined with his thrust would hopefully be enough… especially if he layered on his spear skills.

His spear glowed with a blue light that was not one he had triggered himself. Somewhere out there Rahmat was alive. He wondered if the other man realised that he was helping to get revenge for his girlfriend.

Elation swelled up inside him. With Rahmat’s Power added to the strike, there was no question about the effectiveness of this attack. The insect was as good as dead. It was in range and he thrust upwards, aiming at the base of the head to penetrate through the throat and into the brain area.

The chitin was pierced but not like a knife through butter like he was expecting. Instead, there was a lot of resistance.

A stunning amount, if he considered it. It was kind of like he had struck a creature of a similar rank as himself with an unenchanted weapon. The tip barely burst through, but the carapace had given way. His weapon was in its brain. This was a victory even if the risk of the strike failing had been far higher than he expected. If it had been his own skills rather than Rahmat’s, the attack would have failed.

That was scary.

The natural resistance of the insects had countered the majority of Rahmat’s skill, which by itself was almost miraculous. Tom had seen the advanced version of Power Strike sufficient times to know what it normally did to creatures ranked near him. Across multiple zones, it had had no difficulty with anything he had struck. Yet, somehow, the champion was resilient enough to nearly stop his thrust. If it hadn’t been a fair fight, the outcome would have been a lot closer. However, with the insect lost in its own mentally tortured world, courtesy of Tom’s titles reflecting the mind attack back, it had been helpless.

With a jerk, the spear in its brain slammed to a halt against the back side of the skull.

He grunted at the weight of the impact. A stray arm smacked against his shoulder and only hastily transformed Living Rock stopped his flesh and skin from being cut open.

With another gasp of effort, he spun and thrust the monster down so it smashed into the ground. The weapon was clearly stuck fast, so he placed a foot against its throat just under the spear and then he yanked back. Very reluctantly and with a large squelch, he wrenched it out of the enemy’s body.

With it prone and near death under him, Tom was surprised that the creature they had all feared was so small. He was actually significantly larger than it was.

The wound that it had suffered was grievous and probably mortal, but there had been no ding, so without hesitation he shifted his position. He spread his feet on either side of the monster and lifted the spear above his head, then he thrust down like he was driving a star picket into the ground.

He aimed for the same wound, but slightly to the left. There was a flash of blue and more damage was done as the weapon entered the insect. He yanked the weapon clear and with the wider entry point it came out without difficulty. He repeated the motion and with every blow he destroyed more and more of the brain. The back of its skull was cracking. The spear was going through into the ground, and he was not sure how it was still alive. For a moment, he wondered if there was a secondary brain.

There was a small sound that told him it was dead.

“That’s for Jingyi,” he whispered, “and Toni.” He then looked up to work out what was next.

The giant’s arm was pulled back, and the launcher was primed.

It had to hold that position for three seconds and Tom wasn’t sure whether he was observing it at the start or one or two seconds in. In his frenzy, to kill the insect, he had lost track of time.

He guessed it didn’t matter.

Remain at least eighty metres from the giant.

Clare’s words echoed once more in his head. He was too close. He had to create more distance.

Putting his trust in Clare, he sprinted away from it.