Jonathan scaled the mountain in record time, barely touching the ground as he went. He moved from rock to rock, and by the time he had reached the top, he was filled to the brim with momentum. He turned all of that into a flying ax kick that slammed into one of the boulders. The multi-ton rock shuddered, and began to fall as the earth underneath it cracked. With a crushing groan, it began to roll down the mountain. Jonathan leaped on top and rode it down towards the monster, wanting to stop it from taking off. If he had judged the character of this monster right, it would ignore the rock in favor of himself.
As the rock tumbled, Jonathan ran to keep on top, and he experimented with his runic power. He imbued a dozen runes onto the rock as it fell, some of Hatred and some of Consumption. When it hit the Drakon, the monster would feel it no matter what.
Jonathan kept his eyes on the monster, and gathered energy to his fists, coating them in purple light. The monster roared its challenge and opened its maw, preparing another blast of fiery breath. Before it could complete the attack, the skill that Edgar had been charging finally went off. A massive spike formed in the air, and a hammer the size of a house appeared above it. The hammer streaked down and impacted the spike, driving it into the Drakon’s head. The monster was caught off guard, and it was sent slamming into the ground, the spike penetrating its mouth. It slammed down through its jaw and into the earth, breaking out through the weakened spot from Jonathan’s attack earlier.
The Drakon only then realized the danger posed by the boulder, but it was too late. Jonathan leaped off and to the side, ready for the cataclysmic impact. The rock struck the monster’s head, and then exploded as all of the runes triggered at once. A massive cyclone of mana rose up from the dragon, siphoned into the runes.
Jonathan had purposefully used less Divinity in them so that they would explode when they overloaded. Meanwhile, spheres of red light exploded out of the crumbling boulder, wreaking havoc on the monster’s skin. As the mana was siphoned, the monster grew weaker and weaker, until the final blast from the Runes of Consumption rocked it on its heels. The air spike was torn out of its body, and the monster tumbled to the side, stunned.
Jonathan raced towards its head, seeking to take advantage of its weakened state. However, the monster was a lot stronger than any other he had fought so far, and it was far from death. With a titanic roar, the monster rose to its feet, an aura of oppressively hot darkness spreading out in all directions. It felt like being the void of space, after the advent of a supernova. The monster raised its brutalized head to the skies, and roared. High up above, the cavern ceiling began to tremble as cracks raced across it. Meteors of black flame fell from the ceiling, crashing down all across the floor. Jonathan hurriedly moved away from the Drakon, which was the epicenter of the attack. As the massive balls of rock and flame slammed home, Jonathan felt the impacts in his bones. Going by Earth gaming logic, the monster had just entered its second phase. Going by that same logic, the fight would be a lot harder now.
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Tendrils of darkness spread out over the monster’s body, covering its wounds in a layer of armor. Its wings spread out wide as the meteors fell, and its aura swept across the land. Jonathan bore it stoically, but Edgar seemed to have more trouble keeping his elemental shield active. With a snarl, Jonathan charged the Drakon, burning his elemental energy to empower his next strike to its utmost level. Short of a devastating combo attack, most attacks were unable to penetrate the monster’s defenses.
Edgar had recovered by this point, and the meteor shower was coming to a close. As Jonathan approached the monster, he started to feel an increasingly oppressive heat coming off the creature as if it was in the center of an industrial oven. The monster glistened with the heat, and its scales shone red like the molten ore in a blacksmith’s forge.
Every breath that it took sounded like a bellows, and its wings pumped currents of hot air everywhere as they rose and fell. With a thunderous bellow, the monster took off. Its wings flapped once, twice, three times, taking it up into the sky. The cavern ceiling was miles above, presumably to facilitate this.
Jonathan watched the monster soar into the heavens, still condensing his energy into his fists. His body had mostly regenerated, but it was still weakened by the strikes. In the areas where he had taken the most severe damage, his defenses were drastically weakened. All that mattered here was that he did not get hit.
The Drakon swooped around the cavern, and then it dove down towards Edgar, seeking to blitz the mage out of the sky. The memory of the almighty hammer was still seared into its mind. Edgar propelled himself to the side with supersonic winds, narrowly avoiding the attack. The Drakon spun around, only to find that Edgar was underneath it. Another spike of power tore into its vulnerable underbelly, distracting it for long enough for the mage to make his getaway. He landed by Jonathan, panting heavily. His skin was seared, but he did not make a word of complaint.
“I’m done here,” he said. “I’m going to use the last of my power to give you the best buff I can. I will have to rely on your protection then.”
Jonathan nodded in response, and got ready. A pillar of pure elemental energy touched down around him, causing his muscles to twitch rapidly. His speed rose and rose until he felt like everything around him was moving in slow motion. Even the Drakon. With a roar, he sped off towards the monster, whose movements were far easier to track now. He moved across the field like lightning, trying to draw the monster away from Edgar.