The dragon decidedly did not like to be interrupted when eating. Black scales glistened under the sunlight, and I couldn’t help notice the impressive spikes it donned on its back and tail. The creature reared back on its hind legs and unleashed a blood-curdling roar. When it dropped its front legs, they landed atop a few of the skulls, crushing them to dust. I stumbled back a step, shocked at how loud this thing was. This whole mission had been rather noisy actually. I wondered if that was something the developers intended to ratchet up the difficulty.

I shook my head, reminding myself to stay vigilant. One false step and the boss could easily wipe our party; Nora did not possess that same caution.

"I'm gonna kill you!"

She rushed at the dragon with a burst of speed none of us could match before swinging the dagger at its leg. She managed a shallow cut, nothing too impressive, but the dragon screeched like she had cut off a limb. It raised its head and unleashed a burst of fire toward her. With her agility, it was child's play to avoid, and she sneered in triumph.

"What am I supposed to do against that?" Amelia wailed.

Ethan patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You'll sit back here and cast healing spells on us. We'll be the ones fighting."

He puffed out his chest during the last statement. Not sure for what reason. Granted, he'd be fighting, but not on the frontlines. He'd be sitting back by Amelia, firing arrows off from relative safety, while Nora and me risked getting burnt alive.

I sighed and drew my broadsword, surging forward. It would be best if I could grab its attention. I may not be the most nimble class, but I could tank a few hits and survive. Rogues were beyond squishy, so Nora likely wouldn't be returning to the fight if she was hit.

"Nora, fall back and let me aggro it."

The girl hopped away as I swung my sword in the dragon's direction. My blade sliced its chest, and it once again cried out in pain. This time, though, the cut was deep and red pixels outlined it. I ran back, narrowly avoiding it batting at me with its claws. An arrow whizzed by me, close enough to my ear that it brushed a strand of my hair. It connected with the dragon's neck, causing it to spit fire in retaliation that reached just short of me.

"Alright!" Ethan cheered in the background.

I didn't know what he was so happy about. He nearly skewered me in the process of that shot. Speaking of almost being skewered, I was too slow to avoid being whipped by its tail. The spikes at the tip of it narrowly missed impaling me, and I was tossed into the air, landing a few meters away.

I groaned and clambered to my feet. "Amelia, heal me."

"R-right!"

The familiar pale glow appeared and successfully healed the target. The issue was she cast it on the dragon, its cuts scabbing over and fading.

Nora growled. "Are you a moron?"

"Shut up! I didn't mean to!"

The dragon didn’t stop for their squabble. With renewed energy, it lurched forward but seemed to think better of it. The dragon's wings started beating and soon it rose into the air above all of us, kicking up a gale of wind. It hardly affected me, but the others have to plant their boots into the dirt to avoid being tossed around.

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"We can't let it get away!" Ethan shouted, shooting an arrow at the dragon. It didn't reach. The wind whipped it away and snapped it into pieces. Arrow fragments fell to the earth at my feet.

Damn, if we had a mage it would've been easy to knock it out of the sky. Still, this game was balanced, so there had to be something one of us could do to prevent it from escaping. Was there anything viable in the area to launch us? Such a barren landscape led me to imagine there wasn’t any, the only things of interest were still the bone pit and the vines.

Wait, the vines?

They might be our only option. It was a risky gamble, but one we were going to have to take. The mission timer was too low to consider allowing it to flee and having to search for the monster all over again.

"Nora, you're going to have to climb up a vine and jump onto its back."

She briefly stared at me in disbelief, before grumbling and shimming up a vine. Thankfully, the dragon was slow to gain altitude, allowing the girl to be able to gain a vantage point. She jumped from the vine, limbs spread out, and her cloak whipped around. She landed on its back, gripping one of the bony plates to steady herself. Her weight must be inconsequential to the dragon because it uttered no sounds of protest.

"The wings! Stab its wings!" I mimed the action as well, in case she couldn’t hear me yelling.

She pulled her knife from her robe and slashed into the leathery part of the wing. Then, Nora twisted the dagger and dragged it across. The dragon flailed and performed some barrel-rolls in an attempt to dislodge her. She held steady, cutting the wing further each time they turned upside right again. Eventually, the wing dropped to the creature's side and it lost altitude, bellowing all the way down.

Their landing was chaotic. The dragon crashed into the ground, the impact forming a crater around it. Nora appeared unharmed, the beast below her no doubt absorbing most of the shock of the impact. She dashed away from the dragon and joined up beside me.

"How was that?" she asked, a proud smirk on her face.

I smirked back at her. "I'll give you props. That was pretty cool."

"Uh, guys?" Ethan stammered. "Not to cut your celebration short, but it's up."

Its wing was collapsed in on itself, and the creature kept it flush against its body. It had the appearance of a caged animal, and a vicious snarl revealed rows of dagger-sized teeth. The clear shift in demeanor proved that we had reached the next phase in battle. While before it seemed eager to try to disengage us and flee, now it looked like nothing other than our untimely deaths would satisfy it.

It charged, intent on pursuing Nora. While that was understandable, that also meant the huge dragon was charging at me as well.

Which was a real shame.

Under all my heavy armor, I couldn’t replicate Nora's somersault, so I stood my ground, broadsword in front of me. Yet, the dragon paid me no heed. As it was forced to change directions, it snorted, releasing a puff of smoke that caused my character to cough and choke. I continued hacking, while the creature closed the distance between them with speed it hadn't possessed earlier.

"Damn it!" She cursed, likely realizing her nimbleness wasn't enough to escape anymore. She turned on her heels and went to slide underneath it. It was a bold attempt at the same maneuver she pulled on the velociraptor, but the dragon was having none of it. It pinned her underneath its foot and bit down on her upper body with its maw.

"Nora!"

Ethan's cry did nothing to stir the girl. She remained limp and motionless, minus the spirit which popped out of her. She floated over to us, clearly pissed off.

Amelia's hand darted to her mouth, eyes widening in surprise, not realizing such a game mechanic existed. "Should I exorcise it?"

"If you exorcise me, I'll haunt you for real." Nora hovered mere centimeters from the blonde. "Now here's a question for you. What kind of healer just stands there and doesn't revive their teammate?"

"Ah, that's right. I forgot I could do that."

Nora made a sound I could only describe as otherworldly, but at least Amelia was going for the revive now. A perfect plan unless the dragon towering over us had anything to say about it, which I was certain it did. With an almost offended roar at being forgotten, the creature unleashed a torrent of fire from its mouth.

Time almost seemed to slow down as the fire inched ever closer. There was nothing I could do to stop it, though, so I could only accept my fate. Still, it would've been nice if this wasn't game over.