Evelyn scrunched her face and covered it with one of her free hands as she got closer to the Draco and Michael. After the explosion, the fire quickly flourished and started to devour the forest. The smoke was thick and the heat was unbearable.
Bob looked like he was about to faint while Evelyn trudged on, empowered by the very potent Goros adrenaline. She didn’t know when the effects would wear off but hoped that it would last until the Draco was dead.
The fire consumed the forest and the smoke was becoming thicker by the second. She could try to find another path but that meant taking a longer route. She couldn’t do that to Michael.
That goddamn lizard…
Evelyn kept thinking of how the Draco factored into this. Did it suddenly gain the ability to breathe fire like a real dragon?
No, that can’t be.
She continued to run forward and tried to listen for the Draco’s tell-tale roars but the ever-growing fire drowned out all the sounds.
Evelyn coughs as the thick smoke starts to enter her lungs. Her body was strong and if her constitution was any weaker, she would be on the ground wheezing and possibly dying.
She hated this feeling but she withstood it. After all, Bob was struggling as well.
Eventually, the two of them hear an immensely powerful roar rock the ground. Following the sound, Evelyn sees a large wall of fire consuming a thick group of trees.
The Draco! Michael!
“MICHAEL!”
What am I doing? Michael can’t shout!
Despite not getting a response, Evelyn knew Michael was on the other side. The fire was too large to just run through. She couldn’t risk Bob like that.
Then she hears another roar.
The Draco was just on the other side which meant Michael was on the other side as well. She looked at Bob and saw that he was weakly clinging to her.
“Bob, I need you to go down for a bit.”
Bob weakly looks at Evelyn. His eyes were becoming dull and his breathing was becoming ragged. Leaving him, even for a bit, could potentially kill him.
Evelyn purses her lips.
An evil thought enters Evelyn’s mind.
I need to save Michael… at the cost of Bob…
She shakes her head. She scolds herself.
No! Bob is just as important.
But before she could come to a decision, Evelyn hears a crash on the other side and a triumphant roar.
----------------------------------------
Once Michael downs the two vials, he immediately feels a surge of immense energy course through his body. The goros adrenaline temporarily removes all of his fatigue, increasing his reflexes and strength. The ulatron fluid then proceeds to unlock something within Michael’s brain and he immediately feels the result.
Looking at the Draco, Michael prepared himself.
Reinvigorated, Michael stands upright. He stabs the spear on the ground and glares at the Draco. The Draco smugly glares back.
Michael cracks his neck and pops his knuckles. He then stretches his arms. He needed every bit of energy he could use. Looking past the Draco, Michael could see a giant wall of fire. He felt anxious but at the same time, he felt excited. On one hand, the Draco terrified him but on the other hand, he hasn’t felt this much tension ever since Evelyn kissed him.
If he survived this fight, he was sure that the Draco would be the catalyst to his next evolution.
The 3rd stage of humanity huh? Hmmm… it doesn’t matter now. Right now, I need to survive.
When Michael finished stretching, the Draco roared. It meant that the pity time-out was over.
Michael puts his hand on the spear’s handle.
The Draco growls, waiting for Michael to pull out the spear from the ground. The moment Michael pulls out the spear, their fight would resume.
Unfortunately for Michael, time was not on his side.
The drugs can wear off at any time. I need to end this in the quickest amount of time possible.
He immediately pulls out the spear and the Draco immediately releases a plume of hellfire and smoke toward him.
But Michael wasn’t the same as earlier.
The fire seemed to travel slowly in the air. Despite everything slowing down, Michae’s enhanced body moves at normal speed and he quickly dodges to the side. The fire doesn’t clip him this time and he runs forward, closing the gap between him and the Draco.
The Draco was surprised by Michael’s sudden increase in speed. It responds by turning its maw towards Michael, carrying with it the burning hellfire created by its monstrous soul.
As the fire started to approach, Michael puts an insane amount of strength in his legs and jumps upward. He maneuvers his body so that his back is facing the fiery plume then he lands on the other side of the fire. Without missing a beat, Michael rushes toward the Draco.
Michael uses his momentum and delivers a powerful thrust toward the Draco’s neck.
Steel pierces flesh.
The Draco’s gout of fire is suddenly interrupted as the Draco feels the spear’s tip rupture a vein. A fountain of blood spurts outward.
The Draco swipes its claw in a powerful arc. Michael quickly lets go of the spear and bends his body downward. When the claw moves past him, he uses the upward momentum to strike the Draco’s chest.
Let’s see how strong the ulatron’s drug is.
The ulatron is a peculiar animal. Compared to the monsters of Teremarae, it is a small creature, just slightly larger than a medium-sized dog. Despite that, Michael took interest in it. This interest was purely due to its unique ability.
It had the unique ability to completely remove its mental limiter on its strength.
Michael’s strike was about to connect with the Draco.
The Draco grinned as it realized what Michael was doing. It knew that Michael’s own fists couldn’t harm him. After all, the evolved berserker ape couldn’t deal any real damage to its unbreakable body. What could a smaller ape do?
Then Michael’s fist connects.
The Draco feels an immense force, similar to a small speeding car, strike its chest. It roars in pain as it is slightly pushed back by Michael’s punch.
Unfortunately for the Draco, Michael wasn’t just a smaller ape.
He was human. And humans have developed almost perfect motor control to deliver the most efficient amount of force possible. With each movement of the various parts of his body, Michael built up enough force in his body to deliver a strike that would have shattered a boulder.
But it wasn’t without consequences.
Michael grits his teeth as he grips his right arm with his left. The muscles of his right arm felt like they were being torn apart. The bones felt like they were about to shatter from any small movement. But the pain subsides and his right arm stays intact. After all, Michael was still superhuman.
I can’t do that constantly. I have to be careful.
The Draco looked at Michael with slight fear. No other creature has struck him in such a manner. If Michael could deliver a barrage of those attacks, the Draco would have to fear for its life.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
But it would never run away.
It roars and charges toward Michael.
Michael looks at the Draco and sees the spear still embedded near its neck.
Gotta get that.
As the Draco approaches, it releases a plume of fire but Michael was prepared for it. Empowering his legs again, Michael jumps upward. The Draco raises its maw to burn Michael to death. Michael extends his jump by maneuvering his body. He then lands on the Draco’s side. He dodges the Draco’s incoming claw and grabs the handle of the spear. He then drags it downward, widening the wound.
The Draco’s breath was interrupted once again and it roars in pain. It backs away to leave Michael’s range.
Michael looks at the Draco’s wounds. It had freshly opened wounds and was bleeding but it quickly slows down due to the Draco’s regeneration.
Tsk.
The Draco’s wounds continued to heal but Michael knew that it is using its stamina to regenerate. If he really wants to kill the Draco, he needs to somehow overcome its regeneration.
If I deal enough damage to it, its regeneration would eventually weaken.
Just as Michael came to that conclusion, the Draco charges forward. Instead of swiping its claw, the Draco clenches its claw and delivers a powerful punch toward Michael. Backing away at the last moment and using the spear as a shield, Michael blocks the Draco’s punch, something he didn’t expect.
Where did it learn that? Never mind, I just have to constantly damage it. Eventually, its regeneration won’t be able to keep up.
The reinforced spear didn’t buckle under the Draco’s weight. Michael uses the Draco’s force to back away.
Seeing the gap between them, the Draco immediately spews out a gout of fire, burning the ground and the trees.
Michael dashes forward which surprises the Draco.
Then he jumps upward.
The Draco was prepared to meet Michael head-on. It immediately closes its mouth, cutting off the stream of fire. It flaps its wings and quickly lifts off the ground and charges Michael midflight.
But Michael knew that the Draco would figure him out. Using the momentum of his leap, Michael maneuvers his body, empowering each movement with his uninhibited strength. He then throws his spear toward the Draco.
The spear flies through the air with Michael’s immense strength pushing it forward. The spear impales the Draco’s back, almost striking the bone which held its wings together.
Tsk. I missed.
Unfortunately, this didn’t stop the Draco’s charge. It swipes its claws toward Michael. The attack strikes Michael but he manages to react fast enough and strike the Draco’s claw with his steel dagger.
Michael’s amplified superhuman strength managed to reduce the Draco’s force but it was still enough to send him flying toward a grove of trees.
Michael does his best to minimize the damage but the moment his body hits a tree, it splinters under his accelerated weight. He then falls to the ground.
The Draco releases a roar of triumph.
Michael was momentarily stunned but it quickly fades away. He shrugs off the broken twigs and branches covering his body and touched himself. He was fine. He managed to avoid any real damage from the Draco.
Okay… I’m fin-
Michael then hears the roar of fire and quickly stands up. He sees the Draco about to release a gout of fire but he was still reeling from the strike and he couldn’t dodge in time.
Covering his face and body with as much as he can, Michael prepares to be burnt alive.
But as the fire travels toward him, Michael hears the splintering of wood as Evelyn jumps through the wall of fire behind the Draco. As she approaches the Draco with extreme velocity, Evelyn strikes the creature with a well-placed flying kick. Despite still feeling weak from the smoke, Bob threw a stink bomb straight into the Draco’s mouth.
The fire burnt the disgusting liquid, causing the Draco to suddenly inhale the noxious fumes. Its fire was suddenly cut off, saving Michael.
The Draco suddenly tears up from the noxious fumes.
Evelyn used the Draco’s face as a platform with her kick and she jumped toward Michael.
“Michael!”
Michael runs forward while Evelyn was in midair. For a moment, the two of them look at each other. Michael catches Evelyn and they both spin to reduce Evelyn’s momentum. Despite their horrid situation, Evelyn laughs while Michael spins her.
When her feet touch the ground, Evelyn pulls Michael into a strong kiss which surprises him. He quickly reciprocates. Once she pulls away, Evelyn gags a bit.
“Ack! You taste like smoke! Michael! You’re alive!”
Michael smiles at her and gives her a quick peck on the lips.
Evelyn tightly hugs Michael but quickly lets him go as well. Bob climbs on top of Michael’s shoulder and makes a few happy noises. He then hugs Michael.
Michael pats Bob.
For a moment, the three of them forget the fire-breathing monster that could easily kill and devour them. At this moment, Michael felt some form of relief.
Yeah… I could never die knowing this…
Then Evelyn pulls away with a determined look on her face.
“Let’s finish this.”
Michael nods. He looks at Bob, who’s managed to somewhat recover after breathing some fresh air. He gives Michael a strong nod.
With the three of them, Michael was sure that they could secure a victory against the monstrous tyrant that is the Draco.
Michael signs.
+Evelyn, spread apart. We can’t get caught in the fire together.+
Evelyn quickly pulls away.
Michael stays in place so that the Draco focuses on him. They both see the Draco suffering from the stink bomb that exploded near its mouth. It retches and pukes out a stream of stomach acid.
If Michael didn’t know better, he would start thinking that the Draco evolved another ability. Fortunately for them, it was just the Draco expelling liquids.
As the Draco kept spewing its rancid stomach contents, Michael grips his spear.
He then dashes forward. Bob screeches murder as he holds onto Michael’s shoulder.
Evelyn rushes forward as well with the steel dagger in her hand.
Both of them were on borrowed time.
Michael goes to the right and Evelyn goes to the left
The Draco roared, sputtering the area with its rotten-smelling saliva. Its eyes dart around, trying to track both Evelyn and Michael. Anger rose within it as it had to pick between two targets. It couldn’t breathe two separate plumes of fire so it had to choose a target.
And it chose Michael. Turning its head towards its target, the Draco releases a giant cone of fire.
Predicting the Draco’s actions, Michael exerts his body once more using the ulatron fluid’s strength. Muscles strain and bones start to creak but Michael easily dodges the incoming fire. He then hides behind a large rock. The fire strikes the rock but Michael is safe.
Seeing Michael’s sudden increase in speed, Evelyn was surprised.
Woah! So fast!
She quickly takes advantage of the opening Michael provided and charges the Draco at full speed.
The Draco didn’t fully ignore Evelyn. It swipes its claws toward her but its actions suddenly stop when a stink bomb hits its mouth again. The fire fades and the creature retches.
Evelyn internally praises Bob as she manages to close the gap between her and the Draco.
Using the momentum of her speed and the weight of her body, Evelyn drives the steel dagger straight to the Draco’s side.
The Draco roars in pain as the dagger pierces its scales.
Twisting her hand, Evelyn slashes downward, ripping apart the Draco’s flesh.
The Draco raises its claw to strike her but Evelyn quickly pulls away. It tries to chase her and it lunges toward her but it feels something long and sharp pierce its side. It roars in pain again and switches its attention to Michael.
Before it could do anything, it feels an object strike its nose. An irritating stench assaults its nose, causing it to tear up. It tries to roar but that was a mistake. It inhales more of the stench and it starts to retch. Then it feels two sharp objects pierce its body as Michael and Evelyn continue to stab, slice, and rip into it.
In desperation, the Draco points its maw to its feet. It then releases a plume of fire around its body, causing Michael and Evelyn to back away.
Evelyn looks at Michael with a smile. Michael smiles back at her.
“We’re winning!”
Michael couldn’t help but smile a bit wider.
+Don’t jinx it.+
The Draco tried to resist the pain that was slowly returning. Its body’s regeneration couldn’t match the amount of damage that Michael and Evelyn were dishing out. It tried to focus on closing its wounds but it was losing too much blood.
It looks around but notices that Michael and Evelyn were gone. It was dumbfounded. Just a moment ago, they were both here. It made the mistake of focusing too much on its wounds.
Then it sees a small object fly through the air.
Its thoughts immediately turn to the stink bombs that the little monkey keeps throwing at it. The Draco immediately covers its face with its wings. It feels the object collide with its wings but it doesn’t feel it shattering. Moving its wings, it sees a rock fall to the ground.
Its eyes widen in horror as it realizes that it was tricked. It quickly turns to its sides, trying to look for Michael and Evelyn. It couldn’t find them then it sees the flicker of a shadow from above.
It looks up and sees Evelyn falling toward it with the steel spear in her hands. She releases a warcry as she falls from a great height.
“AHHHHH!”
The Draco saw an opportunity. It knew that Evelyn didn’t have the ability to maneuver herself mid-air. It roars and points its open maw toward Evelyn. It then releases a thick wave of fire toward the wingless Evelyn.
The fire engulfs the air and quickly devours Evelyn but instead of showing fear, the almost superhuman woman smiled.
Steeling herself, Evelyn made a gamble. Michael trusted her. She had to pull through.
Summoning all of her remaining willpower, Evelyn activates her gift a second time, hoping that the goros adrenaline was enough.
Then the fire surrounds her and everything around her burns to ash. The clothes she spent a long time creating were reduced to nothing.
But her power came through. Her body becomes tougher and the heat doesn’t penetrate her evolved gift’s power. She falls deeper into the fire.
The Draco continues to release a steady stream of fire when a spear suddenly pierces its neck with Evelyn supporting it with her weight maximized by gravity. The fire was suddenly cut off as the spear managed to reach its throat. Evelyn quickly lets go of the spear once her gift returns to its normal state.
Despite being pierced by a spear, the Draco was too enraged to care. It chases Evelyn with the spear still embedded in its neck.
But it hears the sound of something flying through the air. Its regenerated eye seems to throb in pain. The Draco immediately covers its face with its wings as it feels the familiar sting of arrows piercing its body.
Peeking out of its wings, the Draco sees Michael in the distance.
Michale glares at the Draco with focused eyes. He then notices three arrows and lets loose all of them. Each one pierces the Draco’s body, causing it to focus on defending its vital parts, allowing Evelyn to make some distance between them.
Michael doesn’t stop. He continues to release arrow by arrow, slowly emptying the quiver.
The Draco roars in desperation as it gets pelted by a barrage of arrows.
Unlike Evelyn who had to take time with each arrow, Michael didn’t need to wait. He was already good with the bow. He just never had a reason to use it.
The Draco moved forward while covering its face and other vital parts with its wings but due to this, Michael was able to find an opening to its neck.
Driving his focus to the maximum, Michael unleashes a single arrow that pierces the Draco’s neck but he doesn’t stop with a single arrow. He sends three consecutive arrows to strike the same spot in a span of a few seconds. The 2nd arrow splits the shaft of the first arrow in half, embedding a 2nd arrowhead deep into the Draco’s neck
The 3rd and 4th arrows repeat the same thing until a maximum of 4 arrowheads were stuck inside the Draco’s neck, causing it immense pain.
When the Draco manages to catch up to Evelyn, it swings its claw but its movement was slower due to the arrowheads and spear tip inside its body. Evelyn avoids the claw and stabs it with her steel dagger, leaving it there. The Draco roars in pain as the embedded dagger cuts through flesh and tendons.
Evelyn smirks as the Draco puts weight on the pierced claw, causing blood to come out. It could no longer perfectly balance on 4 limbs. It dashes forward with its remaining claw but as it is about to hit Evelyn, Michael releases 3 arrows, striking the unwounded claw, and piercing it in the same spot as the other claw.
The Draco almost whines due to the pain both of its front claws were experiencing.
Forcing most of its weight on its two hindlegs, the Draco felt imbalanced but it had no choice.
It started to feel desperate, a sudden twist compared to its earlier emotions of complete domination. Evelyn was weaponless but the Draco knew that she wasn’t done fighting it. Michael was dangerous and kept his distance but still had a way of harming it.
Its body was starting to accumulate wounds. It knew that it was in an extremely dangerous position.
Its wings were still functioning but there were holes due to Michael’s arrows. It could attempt to fly but it knew that these two would chase it. And even if it managed to escape, where would it go? Its home was gone and if it wanted to have any chance of rebuilding, it needed to make sure that these two humans were dead.
Tired but not yet done, the Draco raises its head and charges a ball of energy in its mouth.
Michael saw that and he lets loose an arrow. The Draco doesn’t even deign to block it, knowing that it can’t stop its charge up.
Michael tries again but he quickly realizes that he’s run out of arrows. Evelyn stayed in place, waiting for the Draco’s next move, unaware of what it was doing. Michael rushes toward her.
The Draco continued to charge the ball of fire but it saw something, something that could turn the tide of battle. It then turns its attention to Michael who was rushing toward Evelyn.
Without charging much power, the Draco releases the ball of energy toward Michael.
Michael didn’t expect the Draco to release the ball so soon but he was fast enough. He quickly diverts his focus and puts everything into dodging the attack, not realizing he was being herded into a specific location.
He saw a creature move using his peripheral vision. The creature rushed toward him.
He recognized it. It was the same super reptile that he allowed to escape.
It still resembled a super reptile but its body became smaller and sleeker as if running and moving fast was now its priority.
And it moved at a speed that Michael couldn’t easily avoid.
He tries to back away but the ball of power explodes nearby, causing Michael to lose his momentum.
Evelyn’s eyes widen in horror as she sees the evolved super reptile clamp its powerful jaw on Michael’s left arm and rip it off his body.