Despite their recent adventures, running into a dragon was usually a horrible thing. Dragons were powerful, typically, so they could choose to be really violent if they wanted to! In this case, a dragon floating above lava was less than friendly, the team was in big trouble.
They only had two options here as far as anyone was concerned. They could either run away and hope for the best, or they could attack the yellow dragon directly!
In this case, the first option was ruled out in three seconds, without giving much thought to it as an option. The team weren't keen on running away, and odds were that they couldn't outrun a dragon anyway, no.
Tim attacked the dragon as soon as he noticed its rapid, violent approach, and he didn't second-guess his decision either. Tim wasn’t running away, he shot at the dragon several times instead, but not with a fireball, as this time around he used the Nerve Splitter ability! He figured that if dragons were truly smart, then any and all brain damage would cripple them really quickly!
However, despite his speculations and attempts, the dragon did not slow down! In fact, it charged forward even faster, and that was when Tim decided to rely on a more physically offensive attack instead.
Tim clapped his hands with the intent to unleash a thunderbolt against his target, because he figured that pretty much everything was susceptible to countless volts of electricity, this should work. Since he couldn’t split the dragon's nerves internally, it may be more effective to blow its big, slender head off all together!
Tim tried to summon a single bolt first, in order to get a hang of this ability, because the last time he used it, he had been a stingray. The idea was to unleash a single bolt first, and several bolts right after, but on the account of his level six mana quality, despite his wishes, he ended up unleashing about twelve bolts of thunder as soon as he clapped his hands!
The bolts jolted towards the dragon, hit its head, and forced the dragon to change its direction, however, despite his ears ringing because of that thunder clap, he didn't manage to kill the elegant beast! It wasn't an easy task to slaughter this violent inhabitant, that was apparent now.
The dragon was alive, and worse yet, it had willingly taken a deep dive towards the lava pool, moments after it got hit by bolts of thunder!
Tim was terrified when he saw it swim in lava, he could not fathom a creature being that strong, yet such raw power was displayed here, right in front of him! This dragon may as well be what forced the city of Manape to shut these mines down, so many years ago, as this was quite a solid reason.
“Look at that bastard go!” He shouted, and pointed at the yellow dragon, who then leaped out of the lava with a streak of elegance that would outshine all of the fish in the sea.
“It's a big bastard alright,” Skendus added, “Its head is steaming, and it's not steaming because you hit it with bolts. It wants our flesh, it just wants to see blood!”
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“Well, it doesn't look like I can kill that long-ass bastard.” Tim followed along, “Any volunteers?”
“Move,” Arvena grunted, and then dragged him away from the vicinity of the lava pool.
Afterwards, she stepped in closer, and shot several fireballs towards the yellow beast, without aiming at it all that much. Her fireballs were ten feet wide, so some of them were bound to hit the target regardless of effort!
“What?!” Her heart sank seconds later, she was in panic. “It didn't even flinch, how…?”
“It's pain receptors are barely active right now,” Skendus then added, as he was still reading through the dragon’s mind. “The two of you barely scratched it, and the sound of Tim’s thunderclap just spooked it, that's why it's swimming around like a maniac. Shooting a bunch of fireballs at a dragon that swims in hot lava, might not have been the smartest use of your mana, Arvena.”
Most people did not appreciate being criticized, but once putting this very hostile situation into consideration, it was apparent that critical thinking was their best friend right now. They had to correct each other, and come up with better attacks, or they were all going to die today!
Luckily, after getting spooked by the thunder clap, the dragon was not in a rush anymore. It just swam around in its hundred-meter wide pool, and this was good, because Arvena was given the chance to recollect her thoughts. She needed a plan, because she couldn’t afford to be scared forever.
“Its mana quality is almost a realm above mine, I felt that as soon as my fire touched the bastard's scales. Georgie stands no chance against him either, I have to keep him away.” Arvena loathed, quietly, and then she came up with a colossal plan. “I'm no celestial, but neither is this lava muncher, so a Celestial Spear should do the trick!”
A celestial attack of any sort sounded like the best way to handle a stronger opponent, but in reality it was a really sacrificial course of action. For a start, it was difficult to summon a Celestial Spear, because it required a spoken-word spell, amongst other things, and even if she was successful, she would get knocked out cold at the very least!
“Everyone, back away.” She said, and pushed the team until they were about five meters away from her. “I’m going to try something here, but I might faint after, so please don't leave me here for dead.”
The team just nodded along, they agreed with whatever it was she tried to do, because it was apparent that she was trying to help here. Despite her recent moodiness, she was preparing to do something very selfless, and that was obvious, they could see her desperate goodwill just by looking into her eyes! Even if that wasn't the case, they still wouldn't leave her behind.
“Okay, dragon.” She whispered, “I hate to spend a single point of mana on you, but I won't let you embarrass me twice with that disgusting confidence of yours...”
Afterwards, she sat down in a meditative position, and stretched her arms outwards. This was the best way to summon a celestial spear, and all that was left to do now, was to recite the spoken-word spell.
“My will is but mana, and mana is the definition of balance itself.” She meditated on those few words, and then she loudly chanted. “I summon thee, Celestial Spear, for my enemy is about to best me, and I dare not be bested. Take my mana, for that is my most treasured possession, and distort its quality if my enemy is to die as a result of distortion!”