At the rock clearing
"BLAKE!" Came the cries of Risabeel, Mari, Lu, and Rena as they ran to the edge of the pit in the ground where Blake and the Dragon once were, seeing nothing but a black abyss that stared back at them not a trance of the red-haired smith or the red-scaled Dragon.
*CRACK*
However, the weight of all them standing there caused the rocks under them to give out.
"Look out!" Colten yelled, quickly pulling them away with his men's help just as another part of the ground fell into the hole covering it under a pile of rock. "That was close."
"Colten! We need to get down there and help Blake now!" Lu demanded about ready to jump down there himself and find a way around the rocks, but Colten held him back with a hand to his shoulder. "Ngh!" And the Elf flinched under the man's touch. "Let go!" He shook the handoff backing away from Colten.
"Ugh!" Colten stopped there a bit confused by Lu. "...We will...but right now we don't have the right equipment to go down there safely yet," Colten informed Lu giving him a stern stare down that stopped the Elf from doing anything stupid. "But I promise you. We will help as soon as possible after we get back to town."
"You better old man," Mari whimpered with some tears creeping up in her eyes as she and Nash went passed Colten.
"Please be alright, Sir Blake, we will come to your aid with much haste," Risabeel whispered, taking one last look at the now covered pit before turning around and followed the rest of the group back to Tolpeak.
But unknown to her or anyone else, someone had watched the entire encounter with the Dragon from start to finish and enjoyed the outcome rather nicely. "Hehehe! Oh my, oh my! That foolish mortal got himself done in by a giant lizard of all things, hehe! How amusing!" Valac gleefully giggled, sitting with one leg over the other at the edge of a cliff that was overlooking the clearing where the battle against the Dragon took place.
Who would have thought that while he was forced to watch her ladyship Risabeel from afar, that he'd get the chance to watch that blasted smith meet his end by the claws of a Dragon?
"Oh yes! Hehehe!" But Valac wasn't just happy that Blake was done in like that, but he also wouldn't have to keep that order his master placed on him only to watch. "And now taking lady Risabeel is such an easy task unless that Elfin girl and Fariy have any special powers...but no matter." He said to himself as he stood up about to go after Risabeel at that very moment, but a devilish thought came to his mind. "Oh, yes! That boy did wound me and my pride quite a bit...finding him with broken bones and covered in blood or smashed to lumps of paste would put just the right amount of delight in my heart, hehe!" He pulled out his grimoire and went through some of its pages. "Ah, you will do very nicely, my pet!"
Valac held a hand over a page from which a ball of green fire flickered out and threw it towards a pile of boulders near him covering them in a veil of green flames. "Arise my servant from the abyss! With a body that will never die! With fire as vile as your soul! With wings that will take you into the sky! With claws that will catch your prey! Now stand tall and obey my word! Fiend Gargoyle!"
As Valac was chanting, the rocks that were engulfed in flames began to move around taking the form of a winged beast made of stone. It stood as tall as the Dragon from earlier with glowing green eyes, jagged ram horns on its head, bird-like wings, and a clubbed tail that it bashed to the ground. Small cracks around its body from which embers of green fire leaked out, with each one of this beast's breath, finally there was an unusually large crack on its chest.
"Hello, again, my master it has been a while, yes?" The Fiend Gargoyle growled, towering over the petite Valac with a wide toothy grin on its face.
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Underworld Monster, Fiend Gargoyle: Unlike common Gargoyles that act as wards to chase off evil spirits around castles or towers, the Fiend Gargoyles of the Underworld are known as deadly hunters who wield flames that can incinerate their targets.
Their bodies can repair themselves using the same matter that they were made from, making them quite challenging to deal with in most cases unless one can destroy their core, which is usually located in their chests.
Items made from their Ore are axes, spear, and halberds.
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"Indeed, it has been my dear, Harrison." Valac agreed, rubbing Harrison's chin with his small hands then tried holding both sides of his face. "Now I need you to go capture lady Risabeel for me, my pet." He ordered, staring into Harrison's large glowing green eyes.
"Why, of course, it shall be done, my master!" Harrison obeyed, taking a bow at Valac's feet. "But may I ask what it is that you will be doing my master? Returning her ladyship Risabeel to the Underworld is such an important and honorable task, why share such a great glory on a lowly servant such as myself, my dear master?"
"Heh, ~oh~ I merely have a personal matter with a foolish mortal to take care of, and I want to have as much fun as possible slowly watching him die...if he is alive that is?" Valac answered, looking back at the pit Blake had fallen into with a twisted smile coming to his face as dark mana leaked from his body. "And you know how much I enjoy having my fun ~Harrison~" He added, looking back at Harrison with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
"...Ah...yes? But of course, you do, my master! Then I shall leave you to enjoy yourself," Harrison answered, taking to the skies and made his way swiftly towards Tolpeak as a grin crept its way onto his face. "Awww! Master, had such an adorable look on his face! I will not fail him!" He thought confidently in his head with a green blush on his cheeks.
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At the bottom of the pit
"..." Blake was laying flat on his back completely knocked out from the fall then ever so slowly his eyes began to open up. "Ngh! That was painful..." Was the only thing Blake felt like saying at the moment. "Ugh!" He was racked with pain all over his body, but amazingly nothing was broken...that badly. "...Ugh, but I wonder what happened to that Dragon asshole?" Blake groaned, slowly turning his head to the right side...nothing there then turned to the left...Oh? Just a sleeping girl, who looked around his age.
She had long light blue hair that seemed to reach her back, dark reddish brown skin with a slightly muscular build to her seemingly normal body. Which was completely bare for the world or in this case Blake to see minus a few red scales that were around her arms, legs, and her a pair of D sized breasts by Blake's guess maybe a bit bigger.
"Oh, it's a naked girl with scales..." Blake muttered in a calm tone going back to looking at the ceiling then back at the girl. "...She's still there." He noted again calmly then went back to the ceiling. "Holy fucking shit! What the hell is going on!? And those tits!" He was sweating profusely and wiggled away from her before she woke up on him.
"Hmm?" The girl hummed before opening a pair of blue reptilian eyes. "Ngh!" After shaking her head, she glared at Blake on sight. "Grrrr!" She growled, going down on all fours causing her chest to jiggle from left to right which Blake unwillingly enjoyed until he noticed that her right shoulder was bleeding and an anvil getting hit by a hammer appeared in his head as he made an 'oh' face at her. "RAHHH!"
"Uh? You're not in Dragon mode anymore..." Blake told the growling girl, figuring out that she was the Dragon from earlier just in a more likable form, something Blake was pretty okay with while he was enjoying the view of her boobs swaying in front of him as the Dragon girl didn't look like she heard him. "If she keeps that up, I might do something to her, hehehe."
"Grra-Huh?" It took the naked Dragon girl a second to realize what Blake said. "...?" Making her look down and instantly turned a deep red but not out of embarrassment mind you but by covering herself with red scales stopping Blake's eyes from seeing any more.
"Awww! Come on! I was enjoying myself!" Blake mourned in disappointment as his show got cut short. "But hold on? This is still good!" He realized that the scales didn't really hide much and just let his imagination fill in the blanks as he nodded to himself. "~Nice~."
"What is wrong with this guy...?" The Dragon asked herself as this guy who just tried to kill her a while ago was ogling at her with a way too happy of a look on his face. "...Burn!" She spat out a ball of fire that hit Blake in the face.
"Wha?" The fireball hit Blake dead on, and instantly he was set on fire. "STOP! DROP! AND SCREAM! AAAAAHHHH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, rolling around on the floor in a desperate attempt to put out the fire. "*panting*" After a few more rolls and pats it went out, but Blake's face was covered in soot. "Wow! I'm surprised my face isn't burnt off!" He cheered in amazement and wiped the soot off his face then turned his eyes to the Dragon. "Soooo, I'm Blake, and you are?" He asked, rather casually despite their current situation.
"How about 'take it easy and die already'?" The Dragon answered, keeping a low glare on Blake from the other side of the cave they were trapped in currently.
"Huh?" Thinking back, Blake understood her words. "Ooooh? Sorry for the whole trying to kill you thing, I thought you were just another mindless beast bent on killing people...and you started it." He pointed out, scratching the back of his head with his eyes closed. "Shit!" When he opened them, the Dragon was just about to throw a fireball at him. "Hey! Watch it!" Blake yelled, jumping to his right. "I said; I'm sorry!"
"And I reject your apology! So die!" The Dragon yelled back with another fireball ready in her hands, however... "Huh? What are you doing?" ...Blake ignored her and was trying to clear some of the rocks away from one spot in the cave.
"What does it look like? I'm trying to get out of here." Blake answered, turning around to give the Dragon a blank stare that she returned. "You could help me, you know? Since it's your fault, we're down here and everything." He pointed out then went back to tossing more rocks around.
"Says the guy who tried to Kill me a while ago!" The Dragon spat out with an uppity look, staying put on her side of the cave with her arms crossed as if she would roll over and let some weak thing like a human tell her what to do. "You're just lucky I don't set your ass on fire and eat you!"
Blake sighed at the Dragon's word. "...Look...I said; I'm sorry, so just forget it, and I'm sure other people have tried to kill you before, right? It must happen every day for you, so no need to hold a grudge, right?" Blake asked, turning to the Dragon. "Huh?" And he noticed that the ceiling above her was breaking apart. "Get down!" He yelled, thinking quickly he tackled the Dragon girl sending the two of them rolling, in time for a boulder to fall off from the ceiling.
"Why you littl-!" The Dragon girl was about to start yelling at Blake for tackling her but stopped when she realized their position. Blake was on top of her with one hand holding her left arm down while the other was firmly groping her right breast, willingly mind you. "..." She was at a complete loss for words at the moment, and her eyes were filled with a burning rage while Blake just had a goofy look on his face as he kept groping her. "Huh?" But thankfully for him, her attention was drawn to the hole the boulder fell out of seeing some remnants of dark mana around it.
"~Okay~ I was wondering if they were as SOFT as they looked, hehe! Might as well go for it!" Blake thought with a perverted smile, but sadly before he could do anything more, a large amount of dark mana came from the hole and coming along with it was Valac standing with his grimoire at the ready.
"Hmm? Oh, my! Did I interrupt something, in-ti-mate?" Valac asked and hid his face under his grimoire but peeped out childishly to look at Blake and the Dragon with a lit blush on his cheeks. "And here I thought only my kind went that far on the first encounter, eh?"
"It's that Demon brat! What the hell are you doing here?!" Blake quickly got off the Dragon girl and pointed at Valac. "Dammit! This kid messed up my perfect chance!"
"Heh," Valac just smiled fiendishly at Blake. "Oh my, I am simply here to enact my revenge on you foolish mortal before going to fetch lady Risabeel." He answered, holding a ball of dark mana in one hand while the other held his grimoire. "Now, die! Shadow Javelins!" He waved the held mana in front of him and made three javelins of dark mana that shot after Blake.
"Shit!" Blake quickly rolled out of the way with each javelin hitting the wall behind him, bursting into black flames. "That could've been bad."
"Oh, and it will only get worse each time I fail, hehe," Valac warned, snapping his fingers to cause the flames to reform themselves into a burning mass of dark mana then he placed a finger under his chin. "Now, how to kill you painfully and slowly?" He asked himself, making Blake look at him oddly. "...Oh? I am sorry, it has been some time since I wanted someone dead, so I am going to take my time with you...now let me think...hmm?"
"Oh, yea! Well, fuck that idea!" Blake yelled, taking the hammer he had tied to his belt and tossed it at Valac, but it only bounced off the shield Valac had around him. "Damn it!" He cussed, picking his hammer up after it fell next to him.
"Oh my, oh my, that was not even amusing, boy...but it did help me, so you have my thanks," Valac said unusually grateful as he snapped his fingers again turning the mana ball into a giant hammer of black fire. "Black Mallet!" He acted like he was striking with a hammer and the mallet followed him instantly with such speed that Blake didn't have time to dodge.
"Oh shit!" Blake braced himself for the impact bringing his arms up to take the hit. "Wha?!"
But before it could hit its mark, the mallet was blasted away by a fireball that came from the Dragon girl. "That's for the save earlier, Scaleless." She gave Blake a toothy smirk before turning to face Valac who was holding a ball of dark mana at the ready.
"Hehe, so you have made friends with a Dragon? Hmph, but no matter I will simply deal with the both of you," Valac smirked, grasping the ball of mana in his free hand and turned it into a black scythe that he spun around a few times then pointed it at the Dragon. "Now, come, come, no need to be afraid, death awaits all, hehe!"
"Hey, Scaleless, I hope you don't die because of this." The Dragon warned as she lit herself on fire and went down on all fours.
"What?" Blake asked confused but got a nice look at the Dragon girl's round rear swaying in the air until his attention was grabbed by the red wings growing out of her back. "Oh? Right! Dragon mode!" Blake got as far away as possible, which wasn't much in the small cave.
"What are you planning little lizard?" Valac asked overly confident in his powers as he sliced the air in front of him, sending out a wave of dark mana that knocked the Dragon off her feet and into a wall. "All I need to do is to keep you from transforming little lizard, hehe!" He readied his scythe for another swing.
"Shit! He's not giving her a chance to transform!" Blake thought, looking for anything to help her finding only stones around. "Well, better than nothing." He picked one of them up and pulled back. "Hey, Demon brat! Catch!" Blake yelled, throwing the stone right at Valac but it was instantly disintegrated once it hit Valac's shield, making him turn slowly to Blake with a shadow cast over his face. "...Uh? My hand slipped, hahaha-oooooh?"
"Hmm? Trying to play the hero I see? Foolish as always now die!" Valac raised his scythe high, sending a devilish smile at Blake but thankfully the sound of a low growl got his attention. "Tch!" Turning to his left, he saw a giant red Dragon taking up most of the cave staring right at him. "Heh, oh my?" Valac nervously backed away, dispelling his scythe to hold his hands up. "Now, now, no need for any unnecessary actions."
"Don't worry. This is a very necessary action!" The Dragon growled, lashing out with her right claw digging into Valac's shied forcing him to put his hands up to enforce it stopping her from getting to him. "I'm not done yet!" She picked up Valac along with his shield and repeatedly slammed him into the floor, causing the entire cave to shake.
"Whoa! Hey! Watch it! You're going to bring the whole place down!" Blake yelled, dodging some falling rocks left and right until he chose to hide under the Dragon. "Nice and safe!"
"That's the idea! and make sure you don't touch anything down there!" The Dragon yelled before grabbing onto Valac's shield with both claws and smashed him through the floor and into a deeper cave breaking his guard and left Valac laying on the floor with a pissed off look on his face.
"GRH!" Valac quickly got to his feet and surged with dark mana as his rage pile up inside his small body. "This is a warning! That I will not make again! So hear this! I am beginning to feel the need to absolutely destroy the both of you and this blasted cav-!" Valac couldn't finish his rant as Blake threw a rock at his head. "NOW THAT WAS JUST CHILDISH!" He yelled out furiously, throwing down his grimoire and wanted nothing more than to see Blake's and the Dragon's head mounted on a wall.
"No, this is childish!" The Dragon pulled back her head with embers starting up in her mouth. "RAAAH!" And she blasted a stream of fire down on Valac setting him ablaze.
"ENOUGH!" Valac shouted in complete rage at everything that was going on, bringing out his wing to blow out the flames. "I WILL END YOU BOTH!" He yelled, throwing a massive blast of dark mana at the Dragon which was easily dodged since Valac couldn't aim that well from his position. "Tch!" His blast slammed into the ceiling of the cave, causing that part of it to come crashing down on top of him. "...Mortals..." He just let out a sigh and pulled his hood up.
After a tremendous crash that shook the whole cave and maybe the mountain, Valac was left covered by multiple boulders and dirt, but Blake kicked one more stone in just in case. "Okay, that should take care of him for a while," Blake said, shrugging his shoulders then looked up at the ceiling now with some light coming through a hole. "Now, how do I get out of here?" He asked himself while staring at the Dragon who glared back at him. "I'm guessing that's a 'no'?"
"Of course, it is, Scaleless." The Dragon growled at Blake, poking him in the chest with one of her claws then started climbing out of the cave pushing rocks and dirt out of her way until she came out and took in a deep breath. "~Ah~ that's so much better! I hope that Scaleless, doesn't have a hard time getting out?" She asked herself, turning back to the hole. "..." And saw Blake latching onto her tail with a cheeky smile on his face. "Grrrr! Why you little!"
"Heh! Thanks for the ride!" Blake laughed, jumping off the Dragon's tail and looked around for Risabeel and the others. "I guess they went back to town?" He thought out loud then a big shadow came over him. "Hmm?" Looking up, he saw the Dragon looking back down at him. "Are you going to try and eat me now? Cause I will make you choke on me!"
"...You are a weirdo. You know that, right?" The Dragon answered and then thought to herself for a bit. "My names is Saffire, Saffire, The Dragon." She introduced herself, giving Blake what looked like a smile with her current face. "And you humans don't taste as good as you think."
"Oh? Then nice to meet you, Saffire." Blake greeted her with a smile of his own. "Huh?" But their little moment was disrupted by a green explosion in the direction of Tolpeak. "Shit! That came from town!" Blake gasped, running off towards town but turned around to Saffire. "Hey! I don't know why you've been doing things to the people living here, but if you could stop for a day and help, that would be cool! And you owe me for that save down there!"
"This guy..." Saffire whispered to herself, watching Blake run off after talking to her like that which ate at her a little until she sighed. "...Hey, wait!" Saffire called out making Blake stop in his tracks. "It'll be faster if you fly, right?" She asked with her wings flapping.
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Currently in Tolpeak
The town was in complete chaos, most of the buildings were either set on fire by green flames or smashed to pieces. "AHAHAHA!" All caused by Harrison as he stood on top of a building as arrows and spears thrown at him. "Is that the best you have!? Throwing sticks! BAH!" He growled, forming a giant ball of green fire and tossed it down at a group of guards led by Colten.
"Everyone get down!" Colten yelled, ducking down along with his men in time for the fireball to crash into the ground and set fire to the surrounding buildings and some of the guards. "Get those fires out! NOW!" Colten barked at some of his men.
"LU! Come on! We have to do something!" Rena yelled as she and Lu were on a rooftop a few houses over with Lu aiming at Harrison with an arrow that had a large bud at the end of it.
"I know that but Blake isn't here to use Risabeel, and they have more firepower than we do, so? For now, all we can do is..." Lu let the arrow fly right at Harrison hitting his left hand.
"Hmm? What is this little thing?" Harrison questioned, picking the arrow out of his hand with two fingers and looked at the bud on it.
"Ambush Thorns." Over on the rooftop, Lu pulled his bowstring, and the bud popped opened up to shot out thorns that hit Harrison in his left eye.
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"RAGGGHH!" Harrison screamed in pain, holding his eye then he looked around for where the arrow came from seeing Lu. "YOU!" He roared, leaping into the air, and flew at Lu with a fireball in each hand.
"...hope that Blake can get out of that cave on his own and make his way back here and fast!" Lu finished his earlier sentence before jumping off the roof just as Harrison rammed into it leaving the building as nothing but a flaming pile of rubble with Harrison standing in the rising smoke with a death gaze set on Lu. "Rena, you better have some other tricks up for me?" Lu asked, reaching around for an arrow and pulled out an Iron Thorn Shot. "Is that it?"
"Hey! If I had more time and maybe some soil around here! I could do better, but right now..." Rena trailed off as Harrison slowly made his way towards them, lighting everything around him on fire. "... you have some bigger things to worry about...good luck!" She added before going back into the quiver.
"A little Elfin girl wants to play with me?" Harrison asked, swirling around some of his flames with a finger making a ring out of it. "I hope you don't mind? But all my dates need to be good at dancing!" He flicked the ring at Lu forcing him to jump through it. "Oh, very nice cutie! More! More!" Harrison cheered, making more rings and tossed them at Lu.
"Lu, why are you jumping like a monkey!" Rena yelled as Lu was trying his best not to get caught by the fire rings while uselessly firing arrows at Harrison.
"Because if I don't, I'll die that's why," Lu answered, rolling into a building for cover with the fire rings striking into it setting fire to the inside. "I hate fire..." Lu muttered, peeking outside to see Harrison just waiting for him to come out. "...Great, he's the 'I'll wait forever' type."
"Hey, Lu!" Came from a window on the other side of the room Lu was hiding in.
"Blake?" Looking over to it, Lu found Blake carrying a random guard over his shoulder.
"Where's Risabeel?" Blake asked, setting the guard down.
"She's back at town hall, but what about that guy?" Lu answered then pointed at Harrison and had the feeling Blake wanted him to do something dumb.
"Well, you look like you know what to do, so stay alive until I get back." Blake smiled, reading Lu's face perfectly before making a beeline for townhall and left Lu to deal with Harrison.
"He's going to have to start paying us for this." Rena popped out of the quiver with an annoyed look on her face while Lu just patted her tiny head.
"That's not going to happen for a while I bet, but I'll be keeping tabs on it," Lu promised, drawing a few more arrows and breathed in. "Okay! Let's buy Blake some ti-!" He tried getting himself motivated just as Harrison crashed into the building and looked right at Lu. "Uh?"
"~Hello~ little cu-Raghhh!" Right when Harrison started talking, Lu shot an arrow right in his left eye. "Why is it the left eye!? You bitch!" He roared, blasting blindly at where Lu was, but he stopped the Elf was gone. "Grrrrr! RAAAHHHH!" Harrison ripped the building apart with his left eye now gone, and the look of pure rage on his stone face.
"That's was close," Lu muttered, staring up at Harrison holding a fireball with the Elf's name on it. "Well, at least this can't get any worse." In the next moment, Saffire came down from the skies landing right behind Lu. "Really?!"
"RAAAH!" But before he or Harrison could react to her arrival, Saffire tackled Harrison sending both of them crashing into a building.
"Huh?" Lu was dumbfounded at the sight of a Dragon and a Fiend Gargoyle fighting each other to the death. "Blake's got some explaining to do?"
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Blake, outside Townhall
Blake ran as fast and as hard as he could reaching town hall in no time but out of breath. "Man, this place was faaaarrrrr!" He gasped, leaning down to take a second to catch his breath. "Huh?" When he looked up, he saw Colten helping one of his guards to his feet. "Hey, chief, looks like you need my help again!"
"I'm glad you're alive but find that sword of yours and get rid of that thing now!" Colten yelled at Blake, grabbing him by the arm and almost threw him at the door to town hall.
"Got it!" Blake rushed to the doors slamming them open and scanned the 1st floor for any sign for Risabeel or Mari finding two heads of hair, one black, and the other orange. "Mari! Risabeel!" Blake called out to them and was instantly knocked to the floor by Mari jumping at him. "Hey, take it easy. I'm not dead but still hurting here." He groaned, feeling some of the pain he felt when he first came to, kicking in.
"Shut up!" Mari yelled but was muffled as she dug her face into Blake's chest while he rocked her back and forth.
"It's okay, calm down, big brother is here...but he and Risabeel need to go make sure Lu doesn't die out there, and he needs you to be a big girl," Blake told Mari before pulling her off and looked at Risabeel holding out his hand for her. "Ready?"
"Yes!" Risabeel took Blake's hand, transforming into her sword form and gave Blake his horns much to the shock of the people taking settler inside town hall but the sound of something crashing nearby took their minds off Blake and Risabeel quickly as they held on to eachother.
"Alright, time to take down a walking art piece!" Blake cheered, holding Risabeel over his shoulder then turned to Mari. "I'll be right back! So stay put, please." He said, patting her on the head before making his way out the doors. "Oh shit!" Once outside Blake had to immediately roll under a stream of fire from Harrison who aimed it at Saffire knocking her into one of the archer towers
"?" The Fiend Gargoyle was about to continue his assault but paused. "Lady Risabeel's mana?" He thought, turning slowly towards Blake then stared at Risabeel in his hands. "Of all things that could have happened to her ladyship! Being turned into an item for a worthless human to abuse? INSULTING!" He roared, striking at Blake with one of his claws.
"Whoa! Not happening!" Blake slashed at Harrison's claw, making it miss its mark digging into the ground around him then he moved away from town hall to protect the people inside and above all else his sister. "Catch me if you can! Blockhead!"
"You're not getting away! Return lady Risabeel! NOW!" Harrison chased after Blake, taking to the skies then slammed down in front of him with a fireball ready. "BURN!" He threw it down at Blake who rolled into an alleyway. "Don't you dare hide from me!" Harrison stared into the alley, and his eyes widen. "What?!"
"What's up, Rocky!?" Blake smiled, holding Risabeel full charged up. "Try this! Demon Stab!" He did a powerful thrust sending a blast of mana at Harrison's body.
"!" Without a second to think Harrison ducked down, allowing the blast to rip through the left side of his head with green flames erupted out of it that went out after a while.
"Is it dead?" Blake stepped up to the Harrison still unmoving and raised a hand to his head.
"Not by a long shot, BOY!?!" Harrison yelled as his head began to reform itself with the stones from the buildings around town.
"AH!" Blake jumped back as Harrison tried to take a bite out of him.
"But that did give me such a bad scary that I passed out for a bit, but now it's time to stop playing around and give me lady Risabe-GAAH!?!" Harrison was silenced when Saffire came up behind him and bit into his neck, tossing him aside the next moment. "Grrrr! You again!" He twisted himself in the air to fall on his wings, both of which along with his tail broke apart on impact with the ground.
"Thanks, Saffire!" Blake yelled up to Saffire as he came out of the alleyway then looked over to Harrison, reforming some of his broken parts with more stone. "Damn! This is going to take forever at this rate!" Blake groaned, trying to think up some way to take him down.
"Sir Blake, have you noticed something about that beast's chest?" Risabeel asked, making Blake look at Harrison a bit more closely seeing that Harrison's chest was the only part of him that wasn't damaged and it was pulsing with green flames. "It appears that maybe its core."
"Huh? That sounds about right." Blake agreed, thinking back to when he was reading up on monsters. "Alright, just need him to hold still! Hey! Saffire, try holding him down for me; I've got a plan!" He yelled up at her getting a nod from the Dragon before she charged at Harrison while Blake gathered mana in Risabeel.
"Whatever you two are planning is not going to work!" Harrison locked arms with Saffire who let out a burst of fire in his face. "Hahaha! I've burned in the flames of the Underworld, this a light breeze to me!" He laughed, headbutting Saffire through the fire with most much force that he broke his horns.
"Argh!" Saffire staggered backward after taking that.
But the Fiend Gargoyle didn't stop there. "HAH!" He swung his tail around, putting Saffire through a building. "And stay down!" He snarled as he threw two fireballs on top of her. "I'll deal with you first, then the boy!" He spat out, glaring down at Saffire as he grabbed her neck with his claws then lit them on fire.
"GAAAAAAHHHHH!" Saffire roared/screamed as the inside of her neck was being stabbed into and cooked from the inside out, stopping her from even trying to spit a fireball at Harrison.
"Crap! Saffire's in trouble but if I use this now? Grrah!" Blake gritted his teeth if he attacked Harrison now then they'd be back at square one in this fight, and that blockhead wasn't going to make things easy a 2nd time around, but a shadow jumping from the rooftops got his attention. "Huh? Where the hell were you?" He asked, looking up at Lu.
"I was waiting for the best time to strike," Lu answered able to hear Blake thanks to his ear and pulled out an Iron Thorn Shot, getting as close to Harrison as he could without alerting him. "HEY!" Lu yelled, making Harrison turn to him.
"Oh, well? If it isn't my little Elfin girl? I was hoping to get you back for my eyeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" As Harrison was talking, Lu shot the arrow right into his one good eye, causing him to let go of Saffire. "I'm going to gut you!" He roared, striking at Lu who jumped out of the way. "Get back here!" He would have chased Lu down to the ends of the earth if not for a pair of red claws digging into his chest. "Grrggh! YOU!" He turned around to see Saffire holding him in place. "LET GO!" Thrashing about Harrison tried every which way to get Saffire off of him, but she held on tight.
"Like hell! Now, open up!" Saffire began ripping apart the crack in Harrison's chest, letting out hellish green flames that came from a fiery inferno and kept him grounded with all her strength. "Scaleless!?!"
"There's our target!" Blake held Risabeel up high overflowing with so much dark purple mana that her blade turned completely purple. "Demon Slash!" Swinging with all his might, Blake unleashed a massive wave of mana that rocketed toward Harrison.
"I SAID! LET ME GO!" Harrison madly roared as the wave tore its way towards him. "I'm sorry, master Valac...I have failed you..." He thought sadly, seeing no way out of this as the wave slammed into his core mixing with the fire inside of him then exploded in a tremendous storm of green and purple flames that rage on until the only thing left was Saffire holding a chunk of rock in each claw that she tossed aside.
"HAHAHAHA! That was awesome!" Blake cheered, punching the air then ran up to Saffire's feet where a pile of burning rock was. "Ok, where is it? Where is it?" He looked around a bit for something and found what he was looking for stuck inside of a random rock. "There you are, my sweet!" In Blake's hand was a gray Ore with a green Fiend Gargoyle head on it. "Hahaha! And the loot has been climbed! Quest completed!"
"Really? A piece of rock makes you this happy? Not the fact that you saved an entire town!" Rena complained, coming out of Lu's quiver with one of her annoyed faces as the Elf jumped down to meet with the Smith-Knight.
"I'm with the fly on that one, Scaleless." Saffire agreed, leaning down to everyone's high.
"Hey! I'm a Fairy, not a fly you big! Dumb! DR-DR-DRA-DRAG-DRAGON!" Rena screamed, going back into the quiver then peeked out while her whole body shook. "Do not eat me! I am Nature's Princess! A tree might come out of you if you do!"
Lu patted her on the head to calm her down. "Rena, I think the Dragon's one of Blake's friends now." He said just happy that he wouldn't have to run from fire anymore from either Saffire or that Feind Gargoyle.
"Yea, that's right. She's our new travel buddy, right?" Blake asked, staring up at Saffire with a confident smile. "...I mean if you go back to terrorizing people, we'll fight you again." He added, getting a not so happy groan from Rena.
"..." Saffire stared back at Blake for a while, the face she had right now wasn't good at showing any signs of emotion, but she did smile. "I guess, I was getting kind of bored of this place." She answered, holding out one of her claws for Blake.
"Alright! Adding a Dragon to the party! That's even better than the Ore!" Blake gave Saffire's claw a fist bump which resulted in a magical red light covering Saffire shocking her and everyone else.
"What the hell!?" Saffire screamed pulling back from Blake, and in the next few moments, she started to shrink in size and slowly turned into a something round until she turned into a red Ore with a blue Dragon head on it.
"Uhm? What!?!" Blake picked up the Ore from the ground and gave it a look over sure enough it was Dragon Ore. "But how?!"
"Blake, what did you just do to her?" Lu asked, pointing to the Ore in Blake's hand.
"I don't know, man!?!" Blake answered just as confused as Lu was twisting the Ore around in his hand, it felt warm almost as if it alive.
"Sir Blake, could this be what Sir Reiner called Orefication?" Risabeel asked, thinking back to Reiner's explanation of what a Smith-Knight could do.
"Hmm? Yea that might be it, but how the heck did I do it?" Blake began wondering what exactly caused this to happen until a pair of strong hands grabbed his shoulders and turned him around. "Ugh!" Behind him was Colten with a wide smile. "Oh hey...chief?"
"Hahaha! You did it again! Kid!" Colten congratulated Blake on his victory, bringing him in for a bear hug.
"Yea? Sure? Are you going to let us pass through now? Cause I took care of the Dragon too." Blake asked, forcing his way out of the hug.
"Huh? Don't you want a reward for doing both of those?" Colten asked, surprised by Blake's reaction.
"What? No. Getting a rare Ore off that Feind Gargoyle and Dragon is enough for me, chief." Blake answered, showing off Harrison's Ore while putting Saffire's in his back pocket for safe keeping. "And I've wasted almost a day here." He groaned, tossing Risabeel in the air for her to transform back. "If the rest of you have anything to do, go ahead and get it done, I'm going to check on Mari, then get the cart ready." He said to Lu and Rena walking towards town hall while Risabeel followed him.
"Hmph! Look at him! Being all bossy like that!" Rena nagged, sitting on Lu's shoulder while glaring at Blake's back.
"Aww, come on, at least he's giving us a little time to rest," Lu said, putting his bow around his shoulder and followed after Blake.
"Such an odd group of people," Colten muttered, shaking his head then looked over at his town in ruins and partly...kinda...sorta...mostly on fire by flames from the Underworld. "...This is going to take a lot of repairs."
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An hour later
After getting restocked with anything, they might need the gang was at the gates leading out of Tolpeak with Colten, Dans, a few guards and townspeople around them. "Thanks for seeing us off, chief," Blake said in the driver's seat.
"Tsk! I have no idea how you, youngins, pulled this off, but you have my thanks." Dans thanked Blake for helping his town but instead of saying something like 'no problem' or 'it was nothing' Blake just picked his nose out of boredom. "Why you little brat! Don't you have any respect!" Dans yelled, trying to whack Blake with his cane but two guards stopped him. "Let go of me! I need to teach that youngin a lesson!" Another guard came to help the other two once the old man fought back.
"Meh, I don't really have anything to say since you guys stopped us in the first place," Blake muttered ready to set off when Colten held up a bag to him. "Hmm? What this?" He took it from Colten and gave it a shake hearing a jingling sound inside then opened it. "~Hello~" Inside there was a good amount of coins made mostly of silver and copper with a gold piece or two thrown in. "But doesn't your town need this more than me?"
"Don't think about, this is a gift from the people after I told them you took care of the Dragon and that monster, this is their way of saying thanks," Colten explained with his arms crossed. "And we got all we need to repair our town from the mountains." He added, pointing over to one of the many peaks around Tolpeak.
"Well? Thanks, chief! This is going to help a lot. I bet!" Blake tossed the bag of coins in the air, then sat it down next to him. "I'll be sure to stop by here again someday!" He gave Nash's reins a crack and pulled out of Tolpeak and down the mountain pass as Colten waved them goodbye followed by some cheers of the people.
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A clearing lower down the pass
After making sure Tolpeak was out of sight, Blake pulled the cart to a stop then got off and walked over to one of the side doors. "Mari, get the tools for me. Lu, I'm gonna need your help with the anvil, it freaking weights a ton." He called out after knocking on the door a few times.
...A bit later...
"So, Blake, this is what you do as a Smith-knight?" Lu asked after they had everything set up and Blake was dressed in his blacksmith gear and was holding a pair of iron tongs in one hand with his hammer in the other.
"Pretty much but that thing with Saffire was new, but then again I'm new at this Smith-knight thing too," Blake answered, putting on a pair of goggles and went over to the furnace. "Now, how are you cocking?" Opening it up he found Saffire's Ore burning red hot. "Ok, she's ready to get hammered." Blake smiled at his joke, using the tongs to pick her Ore up then placed it down on the anvil and began hammering away at it until a fiery red aura glowed from it catching the eyes of Risabeel, Lu, and Rena.
"Time for the cool part! A STRIKE TO FREE YOUR POWER!" Blake stroke, with all his strength getting surrounded by the red aura. "ANOTHER STRIKE TO GIVE YOU SHAPE!" The next hit turned the Ore into what looked like a suit of armor. "AND A FINAL STRIKE TO FORGE YOUR NEW LIFE!" With the last strike, Blake was trapped in a pillar of fire blocking him from view.
"Blake!" Lu yelled about to rush into the flames but was pushed back by a gust of hot air while Mari, Rena, and Risabeel looked on in fear.
"..." Nash just blew air at the event since he knew how things would turn out.
The pillar crashed down on itself after a few seconds with Blake standing covered in more soot than he was used to but was mostly okay. "...I'm good, this isn't the first time this has happened, but that was with darkness not fire, though." Blake coughed out some smoke after speaking. "Huh?" Then felt something very soft and familiar under his left hand. "Oh? I don't want to look down, but..." He thought, giving whatever he was holding a light squeeze out.
"Ahhh!" And he was rewarded with a soft moan in Saffire's voice.
"Yep, I'm dead." Blake looked down to see Saffire back in her human form, which meant she was naked, and Blake had a hand over one of her majestic peaks. "You're back! Haha..." Blake nervously laughed, giving Saffire's chest another nice squeeze. "~Nice~."
"LET GO!" Saffire growled with a red scale covered face, giving Blake a death glare before throwing a fireball at his face.
"Stop, drop, and scream! Aaahhh!" Blake was rolling on the ground trying to put out the fire, but Mari was there with a bucket of water. "Thank you, Mari."
"What did you do to me!?" Saffire barked covering the rest of herself as best she could with her scales.
"I forgot to say that I'm a Smith-Knight and might have the power to turn you into Ore but don't worry. I turned you back to normal...mostly..." Blake answered, hiding behind Mari just in case Saffire wanted to throw another fireball at him.
"Mostly? What do you mean, mostly!?" Saffire asked, looking at her hands then at Blake with fire in her eyes that could melt iron.
"Well, uhm? Currently, you can transform into more than just a human," Blake answered, scratching the back of his head with a goofy look on his face.
"Huh? What are you talking about, Scaleless?" Saffire was getting more and more confused and angered by Blake with each word that came out of his mouth.
"Just trying thinking about some armor for a sec, would you?" Blake asked, walking up to Saffire and put a hand on her shoulder. "Just trust me on this, and you'll see?" He added, smiling at her and gave her shoulder a light squeeze.
"..." Saffire thought about it then sighed. "...Fine, but if nothing happens or worse if something does happen, you're getting it, Scaleless," She answered, slapping Blake's hand off her shoulder. "So just think about armor, right?" She asked skeptically, and Blake nodded. "Right..." She trailed off, closing her eyes to focus on a suit of armor then felt something strange in herself as she got turned into a pillar of fire with Blake standing in it.
Once it calmed down, Blake was wearing a red scale plated cuirass with a blue gem in the center of his chest, along with that he got a set of matching red gauntlets and greaves. Small blue spikes ran around the edges of the cuirass, gauntlets, and greaves but their size meant they were more for added flash than actual combat.
"Whoa! Nice!" Blake checked every inch of the armor out with a big grin on his face with Saffire fitting him perfectly and gave him a warm and cozy feeling like a hug then looked at his back only to frown. "Tsk, no wings, huh?" He groaned, crossing his arms in disappointment. "Hmm?" When he did, the places on his arm that weren't covered by the gauntlets he had grown red scales like the ones Saffire had used to cover herself up then after feeling around his neck he found more of them and check his legs as well find some there too. "Well, at least I've got full protection except for my head." He added after passing a hand over his head and not finding wasn't any scales.
"Hey, Scaleless, nothing happened, and where are you?" Saffire asked her voice coming from the blue gem on the armor. "...and why I can't I move!?!"
"Well? Right now I'm uh? Wearing you? Uhm? Mari, get a mirror, would you?" Blake asked, and Mari came back quickly with a small mirror that Blake put up to the gem. "See?"
"Wait!?! How did this happen to me!?! It feels weird!" Saffire cried, confused, and worried at the same time when she saw that she was a piece of armor. "How do I turned back!? Tell me now!"
"Just think 'you' isn't that right Risabeel?" Blake asked the Demon Sword, and she nodded. "She's done it a few times, and it worked, so knock yourself out."
"Ok, think me, think me..." Saffire chanted over and over again until she turned into a fire pillar again then turned back to her human self which was hugging Blake around the neck from behind. "Wha?"
"There you go, but you're bit heavier than before, heh!" Blake laughed, getting a nice feel of Saffire's boobs rubbing up on his back until she made her hands heat up and tried to burn him with them. "HOT! HOT! HOT!" Blake screamed, getting away from Saffire before he was turned to charcoal. "Hey! What was that for!?"
"For turning me into a piece of metal for you to wear!" Saffire yelled, covering herself up again and was turning back into a Dragon when Blake held up his hands up to stop her which she did, surprising everyone even Blake. "What?"
"Look, I'm sorry about that, I can't really control it yet, and I didn't want to do that to you." Blake apologized, lowering his head to Saffire with his hands clasped together over his head. "But uhm? You still want to come with us, right?" He asked worried that Saffire might fly off after what happened to her just now, never to be seen again.
"Hmm?" Saffire played around with her fingers then nodded to herself. "Yea, I will...but only because I don't really have anything else to do here besides scaring the living daylights out of the people from that town up there." She answered in a bored tone while pointing back at Tolpeak.
"Yesssss!" Blake punched the air then pulled Saffire in for a hug making her blush madly while Mari glared at them. "I am so dead later, but tits are tits, dammit!" Blake thought, feeling Mari's glare on him but the pillowy feeling of Saffire's beast was worth it. "Sorry about that I got a little excited there." He let go of her after a bit.
"O-o-oh? Yea, sure thing." Saffire shuttered out, taken a little off guard by the hug. "This guy just gets weirder and weirder." She thought while pushing the redhead Smith-Knight away roughly almost throwing him down. "But don't get grabby with me!"
"But Saffire mind if I ask why you were terrorizing Tolpeak?" Lu asked Saffire out of curiosity.
"Uhm?" Saffire just rubbed the back of her head and stuck out her tongue. "...Oh? I was bored at home, so I kind of ran away for a year then found this place, settled down for a bit, then every now and again I'd cause some trouble, no biggie." She answered, making everyone look at her with blank stares. "What?" She asked, half embarrassed, and half annoyed, what's so bad about having a little bit of fun? "Okay...maybe It was a little bad but only a little!"
"Well...Saffire, other than the fact that you took out your boredom on an innocent town that did no wrong to you but is your family not worried about you? After being away for so long?" Risabeel asked, seeing that Saffire looked around her and Blake's age, well in her case, she wasn't sure just how old she was herself.
"That's not really a problem with me," Saffire answered, crossing her arms under her chest pushing them up proudly. "I'm old enough to do what I want! And for however long I want! Without any problems! Got that!"
"Yea, it's true Risabeel, most Dragons get left alone by their parents once they can walk, plus they live for a really long time, so I'm sure Saffire's old enough to be on her own," Blake explained to Risabeel then something came to his mind as he looked at Saffire. "By the way how old are y-! HOT! HOT! HOT!" Saffire threw another fireball at Blake before he could ask how old she was.
"That's one thing you're never going to know about me, Scaleless," Saffire groaned, pouting her cheeks then she turned to Risabeel making her flinch. "So? I'm guessing you were his sword from earlier right?" She asked, and Risabeel nodded. "Well, I guess I'm going to be keeping him from getting hurt while you slash and stab at things and that makes us partners, so I'm Saffire, The Dragon uhm, Armor?" She correctly introduced herself to Risabeel but was little reluctant at adding the armor part.
"It is an honor to meet such a powerful being as yourself. I am Risabeel, The Demon Sword." Risabeel introduced herself to Saffire bowing her head to the Dragon.
"I'm Lutwig, but you can just call me Lu...I'm a guy by the way." Lu came up next and made Saffire lean in now him. "Ugh?"
"Are you sure?" The Dragon asked, taking a long hard stare at Lu but nodded after making sure Lu was a guy then Rena came out from his quiver. "Fly."
"Not a fly! I'm Rena, The Super Badass Fairy!" She cheered with her hands on her hips as she just glared at Saffire. "Hey!" Who ignored her like nothing.
"And who're you, little girl?" Saffire asked, leaning down to Mari who was pouring another bucket of water on Blake.
"Marius, Blake's little sister and the only girl he should ever care about! So stay away from my brother! Tits Mcgee!" Mari warned without any sign of joking making Saffire...a Dragon of all things back away from her and hung her head while whispering 'Tits Mcgee?' a few times. "The same goes for you, Clumsy...." She glared at Risabeel who did the same as Saffire expect she was whispering 'Clumsy?' with the two insulted girl hugging each other then Mari looked at Rena.
"You ain't got nothing on me!" Rena talked down to Mari, but the sweat rolling down her face might say otherwise.
"...You're fine because you want Lu." Mari waved the Fairy off without any more words.
"Damn right! And he is all mine!" Rena cheered, slapping her small hand to Lu's cheek.
"Ugh? I'm okay with that?" Lu wasn't sure how he should react to that one and just said the first that came to him.
"Mari, be nice." Blake picked Mari up and gave her stern look for making things weird for everyone until she started to tear up, breaking Blake down easily. "Oh, I can't stay mad at you! Come here!" He pulled her in for a hug, but from behind his back, Mari was sticking out her tongue at Risabeel and Saffire. "Well, now that the introductions are done! Let's get a move on!" Blake declared utterly unaware of what Mari was doing, and after they got everything back in the cart, they were off on their way towards Gorz.
Chapter End