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Volume 4
Chapter 04: Capability
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Dragons are territorial creatures.
They are horror reincarnated. They instill fear not only on the Terrans and Humans but also to the creatures of the place they decided to be their lair.
As Siva’s thoughts raced on, he grimaced on the reality of the situation.
“GO!”
One kick in the air and Siva darted off west. Volt stretched his arms wide and wings of shaded blue and red metallic feathers expanded on his back.
Wind kicked up on his face, messing his hair as the boosters’ bursts pushed him off the ground, Volt was carried into the sky as he began to dart off.
Then he tilted hard to the left, the pull of gravity and the push of his updraft rendered his turn buoyant in the sea of air so he hovered.
He saw Siva got flanked by two Lapis Lazuli on both sides, they were glaring at him, eyes hungry and angry, low growls echoing like a mad cat.
While the dragon far above who came from the mountains of the north descended without care, Volt’s mind worked in on the situation so he noticed the anomaly of their fates.
The Dragon was aiming for the ruins.
Aiming to take a nest.
Dragons had a knack for ruins, and just as the Guardian of the Forest was defeated by the pinned down Siva, the elemental dragon who rules over all creatures of Terroa went to claim a land they originally owned.
He wasn’t going to give this land away to the evil men for the second time.
“Siva!”
“Go! I can escape this!”
Volt clicked his tongue, he threw his sword away and it vanished, replaced by an arm sized launcher.
A fire was lit inside and a dart of a rocket propelled grenade flew off the bore. Its destination was the grounded Siva’s area and the RPG exploded with a loud bang and a bright flash.
He feared that Siva might have been blinded by the sudden explosion but what he saw was contrary to his crazy thoughts.
The monsters roared painfully as the flashbang blinded their eyes. Siva jumped off to escape the scene and he followed Volt who began dashing away.
Siva and Volt glanced over their shoulders and saw the two Lapis Lazulis, standing in the entrance of the ruin.
Positioned like canines, waiting for their master’s food trey to arrive, the two was looking up that made the two exchange glances with bewildered expressions.
But what made them more surprised is that those two never followed them which is a little bit of intriguing, especially considering what most Lapis’ violent moods and temperaments.
“Did you activate your skill?” Volt asked beside him, Siva knew what was going on his mind.
“No.” Siva replied, he turned, then hovered, followed by Volt doing the same. “I was surprised as well. But… what are they doing?”
“Dragons.” and Volt pointed at the group of the slowly descending group of dark grey clouds. “You probably knew this by now but Dragons are the original rulers of Terroa. I think it’s just taking back this land.”
From the clouds that was slowly descending, when it reached about 400 meters above the ruins of the old Roman Castle, a shot of lightning bolt dissipated all the wind and dust.
It was bigger than any thunderbolt, wider, heavier, it’s more than just a lightning bolt, Siva thought, it was the advent of a creature he once read in a book or a post in the net before.
Although the thunderclouds above with the issuing explosions of the thunder was almost the same, he knew by experience and instinct that it was quieter than most average thunder.
Trees went flying, everything within the vicinity got burned. The roaring boom shook the air around them that made Siva cover his face and brace for the force.
And there came the roar, but not like the monstrous kind that can rattle the air and freeze people. This roar came from the Lapis Lazulis, bowing their heads as soon as they proclaimed the arrival of their master.
Through the thick clouds of dust and smokes, the light of charred trees and burning embers, dark eyes glared at the fleeting duo, a figure of majesty, of a dazzlingly beautiful creature outlined by its elegant shadow.
Its body was black, much like the Forest Dragon he had defeated in Hagonoy, but what set it apart was all these blue and white colored trails of sparks escaping its body every now and then.
The dragon only glanced at them before the fires and dusty winds bade the entire place covered in the veil of grey and white clouds.
Siva shuddered and he motioned as if stepping back and away.
The two bolted out of the place as soon as they saw it.
No words could explain the feeling. That creature, no matter who say, is just beyond their league.
In Siva’s mind, another angle had happened. He had just discovered another secret that he could report back to Augustus.
There was also the other angle that bade a tinge of a very tiny speck of microscopic excitement.
Perhaps it was the influence of being inside a game.
Just thinking about the Dragon and the resources he’d be able to get if he’d ever hunt it alive, a particle of an excited Siva giggled on the corner of his mind.
But it’s a matter entirely insignificant through the level of their current situation for the topic there and then is if he could actually hunt it down.
Because all their problems does not end with just the appearance of the dragon, even if it seems that it wasn’t going to follow them, the fact remains that they were escaping the forest.
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There are more monsters in the forest to worry about than just one dragon. Even if it is the Dragon itself or especially if they include the Dragon.
And looking back to it one last time, the veil of clouds rising from the ruins had confirmed their safety net. Their two Lapis did not pursue and the Dragon remains on his seated position, glaring them goodbye.
But being safe is yet far from the fact. Not what lies in Siva’s eyes is a much larger worry than the ones they left behind. The hope they had for escape was just killed by what was in front of them.
Agatha and the rest were hovering, in front of them is a sea of flying monsters: flying wyverns, Formula, Lapis, Koala, Sky Wyverns, and many other kinds of sky monsters flying around.
It was an unusual phenomena, a welcome ceremony to the coming of the new king of the forest.
The monsters under the territory of the Forest Dragon that he had defeated were nothing compared to the caliber of the monsters under the Elemental Dragon’s rule.
Everything they had feared in Terroa were gathering at the direction of the Roman Ruins.
They were hovering around 100 meters from the forest floor, and below them began the bloodfest of the many different kinds of species of monsters.
“Why are they killing each other?”
Hawkeye was, for the first time, looked afraid when she saw the mad royal rumble of the monsters.
“I think we’re in the middle of something here.”
“That doesn’t need to be spoken aloud. We are in the middle of something here.”
Agatha was looking around them, she even did the rarely made act of not minding the arrival of Siva. And when Samara confirmed her suspicions, the grouped up five was disbanded when a shadow was cast upon them from above.
“Watch out!”
Volt kicked them and the Sky Wyvern passed. Unlike their cousins, the Flying Wyvern, these ‘Sky’ monsters are an upgraded version that can spend a whole day flying at their full speed without landing.
“Incoming Formula!”
But the difference between them and the Formula, is that the latter version of these wyverns is committed to short time super fast flying.
It wasn’t a mistake that the ‘super’ there is emphasized.
Formula are the fastest creatures in the sky but are also as rare as Dragons themselves.
“Kick off!” shouted Volt and everyone went to follow the command.
One by one, an explosion of their boosters were heard and round rings of wind floors were pierced by their bodies and feet. It all went off one after another as they maneuvered all their best to dodge off everything in the sky. Well, everything included a whole flock of the fast flying Formula.
The wind was being cut, the 15 meters long monsters in the shape of jet planes with sharp beaks and wing blades for tearing their prey apart in the sky were right at their tail.
“Faster!” Samara was shouting over and over and she was kicking the air over and over, going faster in every step and recoil while shooting her cannons to buy time.
With the ones cutting the wind behind them three times as fast, the horror filled Agatha panicked and failed to kick the air for final acceleration.
Claws at the ready, a 30 degrees dive, the bladed talons of the closest Formula were bearing ready to grab her fragile body.
She looked back in horror as the shadow descended at her, she screamed and dodged, the last effort was the reaction to her wounded left shoulder.
She was bleeding out.
Badly.
“Agatha!” Screamed Siva and he stopped in midair to change directions, a movement that should take a toll to any ordinary pilot’s center of gravity. All the more if he was a Flight Armor user, flying at a speed of 400 km/hr. He felt the blood rushing to his head and eyes, dulling his vision, but Siva ignored it all and ordered his body to move and go on.
The monster came back, like the way Siva changed his direction, ignoring the toll of gravity to the skin and bones, and just flapped his 40 meters wide wings like a bat desperate to fly.
But it was no desperation on the Formula’s body, it’s a move so smooth, so refined, so natural, and so full of grace that it was beautifully mesmerizing.
It was a deep 45 degree turn and the monster followed the already unconscious Agatha whose probably have been forcefully logged out due to mental stress.
She was unmoving, she was falling towards the claws of the one who attacked her.
From the left side was another Formula. Siva affirmed their target to be Agatha. She was falling and everyone else was too busy dodging and trying to get away from the swarm of flying monsters.
Even those sky shooters from below was joining in on the fray and they were tearing down the ocean of food flying in the sky, including them.
BOOM!
He kicked off. The Formula was 100 meters away from Agatha while he was almost there… half the distance as the Formula was.
“Just a little more!” he yelled and kicked. The one from the left was still far but he was coming real fast.
Siva clicked his tongue as he felt his full speed and he knew then that he wasn’t going to make it. The wings of the Formula flapped again, the small dragon jaws in its long serpentine neck opened up for the bite.
He could see every detail of its monstrosity.
The fangs were lines closely like shark’s, scales as pure and knitted together like snake’s, the green mane on the purple hide smooth like goose feathers, and the head was just like a hyena’s except it was attached to a long neck like that of giraffe.
The body was just like that of a rat, wings fashioned in the image of a bat, with one extra limb bone sharpened to an extent of that of a blade.
It flapped once again, and the acceleration was smooth and captivating that Siva felt horror creeping on his skin.
He’s not gonna make it.
That realization is now fixed and nailed on his head. A flicker of dust flew passed his vision, Siva’s senses had been put to ‘that’ condition again.
Extreme agitation. Can trigger anxiety attacks, hyper nausea, or his personal favorite, vertigo. The extreme kind. Enough to be diagnosed of it and was actually be a life threatening thing.
He knew it personally how dangerous the implications of over exerting yourself in this game could be like and so he feels a certain fear on the thought of death.
No, not to him. This isn’t a game for him.
He fears death for the sake of his mission. Because the failure of his mission meant the failure to his promise.
Rex had promised his brother that he’ll make him safe.
That’s why he fears death and knew how it feels like to be wounded so deep, it’s really hard to recover your bearing and your consciousness from the pain.
Because in Terroa, even if it’s a 70% less pain or the normal 40% less for extreme gamers, it’s still a really painful experience, enough to traumatize some people.
This setting is only done by professional gamers for the sole purpose of the more sensitive feeling in the game.
He had heard from the video manuals in the net that in the ‘40%’ mode, the sensitivity of the players to the VR world of Terroa is a lot higher than the ‘70%’ default users.
For hunting parties and serious pros, the more sensitive you are to the mobs’ killing intents, the safer you will be while in the dungeons or fields. Because you could feel their killing auras further than the ‘70%’ users, you could avoid the danger more easily.
Siva’s settings were different. As he once checked he is in the 40% range, his pain rendering was a little higher than the normal ‘70%’ users. What he doesn’t know, however, is that he was far more advanced than the rest and that’s what makes his memory of the pain in this game more real than the other players.
He was unique, in a away, that’s why his thoughts about pain and death was also unique.
It was also the reason why he could inflict such fear in the hearts of the enemies.
Because his feelings were real, so his intentions were when he gives out punishments.
The pain when being wounded, the mere feeling of the monster’s breath in your face, the ear-deafening roar, and their powerful attacks themselves.
He had experienced those pains himself so he knew just how much a large bleeding wound could feel.
It was even enough to render Agatha unconscious.
But then, just as that thought entered his mind, he saw Agatha move her head. She was looking at him. She was reaching her hand at him. Her face was filled with tears, she was afraid, he knew, she was in pain.
Can’t I go faster?
A different side of fear hugged his consciousness, the one he’s been feeling each time a life threatening situation arises.
This kind of fear was the same he felt when he saw his brother’s bleeding image in that car.
Fear that takes root in his subconsciousness. It even appears in his dreams. This is that kind of fear. A kind that gives you nightmares.
How can this be triggered?
Why is it that every time he sees blood, this kind of fear comes in the surface of his thoughts. Why is it that each time he knew that someone is going to die, even if this is just a game, he would feel fear?
Just how much is this fear actually took root in him?
Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster!
“FASTER!”
His hand was gripping the image of Agatha, a wish that he doesn’t want to let go.
A shadow cast on his right vision.
Faster!
20 meters away, reflexes told his muscles to cast a spell to get her. He wanted the «elements» to touch Agatha and so he stretched his hand to her. When he felt that the timing had been right, he cast an E-Grenade from his QIP into his chest.
The elements were still dispatched, he forgot that he can’t use magic and used it, but the black aura moving around him didn’t budge.
Left hand on his chest, over The Heart, right hand to Agatha, he tried to use the skill he wished could sate his need.
But no «Lightning Step» happened.
Instead, the electric charge just revolved around him, in a static motion, traveling through his arms to his legs and then to the outer reaches of the evaporating black smoke skin.
The elements did not move in the slightest, not even a speck of it left and went to Agatha.
No.
A desperate sigh escaped his mouth, he felt surprised that he was holding his breath.
“Fly! Agatha, fly!” he dearly wished to himself.
10 meters, the wyvern and Siva was at the same space from Agatha now. But the monster’s approach was a lot faster than him and it already opened its mouth for the prey.
“Siva…” he somehow heard the voice.
“Agatha!”
GASP!
Siva held his breath, Agatha was on the verge of being eaten. His last desperate move was to shoot the wyvern with the guns.
He shot the monster’s eyes but it hit the neck’s scales, the speed of approach was too fast.
Aim’s not good, he saw Agatha vanish in the cover of the wyvern’s wings. He imagined the way she was going to be eaten, torn apart limb by limb, flesh from flesh. That fragile looking girl who easily scares and still tries to hide it and be with them adventure long.
Just how would he face this failure when he sleeps?
How can he be worthy of the title that he seeks? All he’s capable of is VIOLENCE. That’s his weapon, no other more.
But how is it helpful in this situation?
All he had in his arsenal is that Unique Skill.
And when the two of them is this close, he’d just be speeding up her death more than helping her out.
What he’s capable of, at this moment, is a pretty much just a useless thing.