Everyone else has mostly been preparing for the upcoming battle instead of trying to experiment. And so, by the time the Hero stopped us early for the day, we were ready.
“We are going to rest here for today. Tomorrow we will be fighting our foe inside that mountain, so we need to make sure we are properly rested. Also, to make sure we aren’t overwhelmed, I’ve prepared our explosive surprise.” The hero smiles. “Tomorrow marks the true start of our journey!” He exclaims.
Man, whatever is around here must be valuable, considering how excited the Hero is. And the true start of our journey? Yeah, it’s got to be great.
While we were preparing for tomorrow, the Hero started preparations for a feast. “This is for tomorrow, as we’ll be having a proper warrior’s feast before tomorrow’s battle. So while tonight’s meal will be a bit better than usual, tomorrow’s will override your perception of what food really is.” He said with confidence.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow now.” Rapunzel approved.
“Indeed, tomorrow will be grand.” Hansen followed.
“Yeah, if Mr.Roosevelt says it will taste great, it will probably be the best meal we’ve ever had.” I add.
“That is quite likely. I shall wait in anticipation.” Greg agreed.
“Yeah! Tomorrow is going to be great.” Melly finished.
“I’m glad you are all excited, just make sure you all rest properly.” The Hero advised.
Dinner ended up being fantastic, even better than what he usually makes in town. I am really looking forward to tomorrow now. We all went to sleep early with Hansen’s summons keeping watch. Well, tried to, that’s why we went to bed early. So, despite our excitement, we were still able to get a good amount of sleep.
The next morning felt slow as we watched the Hero prepare the feast. But man, it was soo worth the wait. We couldn’t even say anything, it was so good. I didn’t think food even could taste this good. It is definitely supernatural. I’m positive that the Hero would qualify as a true chef, the sort of people royalty are respectful to and can only eat food from on special occasions.
“Haa.” is all I can let out as everyone enters a food coma, even the Hero. I don’t know how long we waited, but eventually we were able to wake up.
“By the Gods, this was the best meal I’ve ever eaten. Eli, help me thank the Gods for sending Franklin to us.” Melly said.
“Sure, but first, I have to ask, Mr. Roosevelt, are you a true chef?”
At first it seemed he was going to brush my inquiry off, but when he met my eyes, he shrugged. “Maybe, I haven’t been tested, but I fulfill all the requirements.”
“I thought so.” I bowed. “Thank you for the lovely meal. I’ll start the prayer then.” I then led a prayer group so everyone could thank the Gods. Which also included the Hero. Today is going as well as it possibly could.
After packing everything up, we followed the Hero as he led us to a mountain.
“Now, I hope everyone's ready, because we are going to be climbing this mountain.”
Haa, I knew today was going too well. I look over to Greg. He notices and says. “Do not worry, we have been practicing for today.” I nod in response.
“Don’t worry, we can take our time for now, we’ll only have to rush once we’ve blasted ourselves an entrance.” The Hero explained. Lovely. Well at least we can take our time for now.
The Hero then climbed up to a flatter area a bit up the mountain. “This is where you guys will wait as I set up the explosives. I’ll be back soon.” He said before continuing to climb. Well, that makes things easier.
We then spent the next few minutes climbing. We decided to use buffs and practice one last time for our upcoming task. A while later, the Hero returned.
“Okay, the explosives are set. Let’s rest for a bit before we begin.” He says as he shows us a detonator. Detonators are interesting, when activated, the linked crystals burst. This can then be paired with something else to accomplish some task, in this case, igniting some explosive bombs.
After we were rested, the Hero said. “Eli, I need you to reinforce everyone’s eyes and ears, this is going to be harsh. Greg, set up a wind barrier to minimize the shockwaves, the entrance is going to be fairly close to us.” I’m gonna ignore how he referred to us and cast my spells.
Once the spells were cast, the Hero asked. “Ready?” We all nodded. “Good, Let’s kill us a dragon!” He shouted. Before we could react, he pressed the detonator.
We then heard a massive explosion, well more felt than heard, before all I could hear was a keeeeeen coming from my ears. My training took over as I immediately started to heal everyone. Once I was done, I shouted. “What in the Gods name do you mean by dragon!?”
“Exactly that, we are hunting a dragon. Now, before you say anything, it’s too late to run. If we don’t kill the dragon now, while it’s injured and trapped, it will hunt us down. And a flying dragon is far, far scarier than a trapped dragon.” He explains.
“Fine!” I relent. Now is not the time to be arguing.
“Let’s go! The faster we are, the better our chances!”
I buffed our strength as we rushed up the mountain. Well, what remained of it. The entire top part was gone, likely having collapsed inside as dragons tend to hollow out the mountain that they make their home.
Once we were at the top, we could finally witness the damage for a brief moment.
A brief, brief moment, before we saw it. But most importantly.
IT SAW US
I stared into its barely revealed eye when everything, stopped. All thought disappeared, with only fear remaining, as I felt the dragon’s presence. An overwhelming pressure wrapped around me, like the deep waters of the abyss, crushing me. My panicked gasp flooded my lungs with that same pressure, as I learned what it feels like to drown.
My body froze, as the dragon’s might pervaded my body, causing even my mana to cower. I couldn’t even feel my heartbeat anymore. My perception started to distort, the world fading away, until the only thing that remained, was the dragon. Staring at me. IN RAGE.
Death. That is all that awaits us. That’s all I could think about. How we were going to die. How we never should have come here. How we were fools to think we could win.
In that short instant, I all lost hope. We lost.
All from its mere presence.
Then, something else was felt. A sensation, a calming sensation. As it spread throughout my body, clearing away at the abyss surrounding me, I realized where it was coming from. The anklet.
With that thought, it felt like fog was being cleared from my mind. I was soon even able to perceive my surroundings. I started to mobilize my mana to help dispel the dragon’s presence as I struggled to look around.
Everyone was still, frozen, unmoving. Their expressions filled with fear, they looked more like statues than living beings. They weren’t even breathing.
I panicked, as I struggled to regain control over my body. I then noticed that the Hero was looking at me instead of the dragon. When he noticed my movement, he slowly forced out a smile.
What, why’s he looking at me!? What’s with that smile!? As I finally gained enough control over my mana to cast a spell to dispel my fear, I realized why the Hero was looking at me. My anklet! He knew it would help me, that’s why he came here, he had a plan all along! He predicted this, all of this!
Wait, stop! No time, later, LATER! I think as I regain my focus.
Okay, first I need to dispel everyone’s fear. I take a deep breath and start casting. Slowly, oh so slowly (at least it felt like it), everyone started to move. I go to shake them, before realizing that infusing some mana would probably work better.
The first to recover was, of course, the Hero, the man that could force himself to move even when stared at by a dragon. Everyone else followed soon enough, though.
I looked over at the dragon. “Um, is it just me, or are there less rocks covering the dragon?” I asked in worry.
Before anyone could check, I noticed some more rocks falling from the pile burying it. “No, there are definitely less. It’s freeing itself!” I exclaimed.
“How is it even still alive? Look at the amount of rocks on top of it, even a troll would be reduced to paste!” Melly added.
“Don’t worry, we still have time.” The Hero interrupted. “We’ve already dealt with its mana pressure. Its wings have obviously been crushed. It’s very wounded, so there will be gaps in its scales and it won’t strike with nearly as much power. Finally, we have the mud slugs to deal with whatever remains of its fire breath. We’ve already dealt with the worst parts, so now all we need to do is finish it off.” He explained. “Let’s get down there and start attacking it while it is still trapped. By the time it frees itself, it should be too tired to put up a proper fight.” So that’s why he was confident we could win.
“Okay, Let’s go.” I say as I quickly chug a mana potion.
“Eli!?” Melly shouts.
“I’m going to need the increased mana recovery.” I say as I hand Greg one. “It’s do or die.”
“You are right, this is no time to hold back.” He responds as he drinks the potion. “We will win.”
I buffed everyone, before all but Rapunzel climbed down into the chaotic, gravely pit. The ground kept shaking, telling all we needed about how powerful the dragon was. The dragon was glaring at us, its rage ever increasing as we dared to oppose it.
“Greg, we need you to bombard it with earth spells while you also reinforce the rocks covering it. Hansen, those mud slugs need to start dealing with its breath weapon. We need that to be as suppressed as possible. Eli, prioritize the slugs above all else, one breath is all it takes to kill all of us. Rapunzel, don’t use the ice arrows until it’s free, but otherwise attack freely from the top of the mountain. Just be careful of further collapse. Melly, we need to wait for it to free itself to properly assist. Remember, our fire resistance supplies will only help with the residual heat, not its breath.” The Hero commanded.
We agreed before starting our siege.
Rapunzel starts off by attacking the dragon’s revealed eye. It honestly surprised me how long the dragon kept its eye open before deciding that glaring at us wasn’t worth the increased damage it was taking.
Greg is doing something with the pile on top of the dragon that I can’t see, but the amount of mana moving and the dragon’s frantic squirming tell me that it’s at least helping.
I am making sure the mud slugs are healed as they slide into the dragon’s mouth to block off its second throat, the one where its infernal breath comes from, as well as occasionally casting an enhanced buff on my party, to make efficient use of my increased mana regeneration.
Hansen summoned a few potentially useful spirits, though there were only a couple. Even then, most would die in a single hit anyway.
Honestly, there isn’t a lot I can say about how it’s going right now. All we are doing is attacking an imobile target. But the pile is getting smaller as time goes by, a timer as to when the dragon will escape. We can only wait, as the inevitable slowly approaches.
And approach it does, as eventually we hear a roar as the mound explodes, sending dirt and gravel everywhere, blocking our vision. Greg quickly casts a wind spell to clear away the dust, and we finally get the chance to fully see the dragon.
The dragon, despite being covered in dust and wounds, is still a majestic beast. Even the dust can’t hide the slight glow its scales give off because of how hot they are. As it turns its horse sized head towards us, I notice how despite now missing its left eye, its glare was just as intense.
The Dragon first made a futile attempt to use its wings, but as they were completely mangled, it could only let out a pained roar. The dragon then attempted to charge us, but its likely many broken bones halted its attempt. The dragon then roared in an attempt to use its breath attack, but only a sparse few flames emerged, though the mud slugs were injured by the attempt.
I start to heal the slugs as the Hero shouts. “Use your ice spells and arrows! Cooling it off will get it to waste some of its little remaining energy to recover. We also need to use our strength potions. Eli, I’ll leave the buffs and healing to you, keep us alive.”
“Leave it to me!”
“Melly, Zarewthem, we need to keep it distracted, but even weakened, it’s a powerful force. Be careful.”
“Got it.” “Will do.”
“Let’s slay us a dragon!” He yelled as we cheered in response.
And that signaled the start of our real battle.
I started by finishing my buffing of everyone and recharging the buffs they’ve already got. While I am definitely nervous, I’m excited to see how strong Melly is now that she drank the strength potion. So now, everyone but Hansen is using a potion of some sort. Sadly, even mobbing the dragon with tons of spirits won’t work, as the dragon’s scorching scales would kill all of them with just a bit of contact.
While I’m still buffing everyone, Rapunzel starts our assault by aggravating one of the dragon’s wounds with an ice arrow. Rapunzel doesn’t usually use special arrows all that often, as they actually do count as relying on equipment. And beyond that, until recently most of what she had were some simple paralysis arrows and the like, as she was originally equipped to support the Hero with his training. Well, we all know how that went.
Gregory followed Rapunzel’s example by launching a cluster of icicles at the dragon’s other side, though oddly enough that seemed to do less than Rapunzel.
The Hero and Melly were waiting for their buffs, but as soon as I finished, they, followed by Zarewthem, cautiously charged over to the dragon. Hansen was staying a distance away, close enough to properly command his spirits, but still a ways from the dragon. He was also cautiously commanding his spirits, as he doesn’t want to waste the few he can use. He did send his bat over though, and while I don’t know if it will help, I feel more confident with its support.
Melly and Co soon arrived and spread out. Melly ducked under a fatigued swipe, before following with a swing of her great ax. I couldn’t see any damage from this distance, but considering how she only sighed instead of complaining, I’m sure there was some.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The Hero went to the dragon’s more injured hind leg, and is trying to aggravate its wounds. Sadly, judging by Melly’s results, the Hero likely can’t pierce the dragon’s scales with his spear. Zarewthem sadly can’t be buffed by me, so he’s physically the weakest, and even though his claws and teeth have an innate armor piercing effect, it’s likely not enough to really help. He is mainly there to help distract the dragon, as with its injuries, it is only really capable of attacking with one limb at a time, whether that’s its head, tail, or leg.
And as the dragon tries to swipe at Zarewthem while biting at Melly, we can see why. Its remaining front leg couldn’t withstand the strain, so it collapsed, bringing the dragon down with it. While the dragon wasn’t down for long, we were able to get a few good hits in. Adding to the inability to multiattack, the dragon’s attacks tend to have a fairly noticeable start up, making them quite easy to dodge, though the rough terrain does balance that a bit.
That doesn’t mean the fight is easy though. Firstly, while its attacks are obvious, they likely carry more power than the troll ever could, despite the dragon being heavily injured and fatigued.
Deciding to fully test its power, Zarewthem said. “Let me see how strong these swipes are. Miss Saintess, please be prepared to heal me.”
“Okay, but be careful!” I say. While I don’t like this plan, it’s better to know how strong these attacks are before we get caught off guard.
So, Zarewthem took a hit. A normal hit. Yet even then, he was sent flying several feet, and then rolled further when he hit the ground. The blow left a massive gash on his side that was ‘bleeding.’ If he had bones, several of them would have also been broken, judging from how deep the damage went. The worst part though, is that the dragon noticed, so it decided it would finish him off.
And here lies the second problem, we just can’t stop the dragon. So, should it want to go somewhere, say, where an injured friend is lying, it will be able to get there, unhindered by anything but its own wounds.
Luckily, Zarewthem is one tough spirit, so he was able to quickly pick himself up and get out of the way. It still took me a bit of effort to heal him though, even with my higher leveled spells.
“So, we learned that getting hit is bad, though not immediately lethal for at least Melly and Zarewthem. Oddly enough, it’s the blunt force that did most of the damage.” I say after I finished healing him. I also made sure the mud slugs were fine, as losing them would be a death sentence.
“Understood, I’ll still be careful though.” Melly responded.
“I’m glad I was of assistance, Miss Saintess.” Zarewthem added.
And so, the fight continued. Greg and Rapunzel were doing most of the damage, while everyone else mainly served as support. Most of Hansen’s summons only offered minor help, though the bat does seem to be bothering the dragon. We were settling into a rhythm.
Until Melly shouted. “I did it!”
I looked over and asked. “What did you do?”
“I cleared away enough scales that I can actually do damage.”
“Oh, congratulations.” I say as she swings her ax into the dragon’s newly exposed flesh.
The dragon really did not like that though, as it let out an enraged roar. It turned to face her as it attempted to unleash a breath attack. When that failed, it started to swing its front leg crazily, even smashing it against the ground, despite the pain and increased injuries that caused.
“Melly!” I called out when one of the attacks finally hit her. Luckily it was a swipe that launched her outside of the dragon’s attack range, instead of being smashed into the ground. The dragon then wasted time trying to use its breath attack, before starting to rapidly limp over.
I frantically started healing her, prioritizing movement ability over everything else, including her broken bones and ruptured organs. The dragon’s rage has increased the power of its blows, at the cost of severely injuring what was originally its best leg. “Move!” I shout, as I keep on healing her. I don’t even have the leeway to cast a proper pain relief spell.
“AHH!” Melly screams as she forces her body to move. I wish I could help her but I’m too far away. Luckily, Zarewthem was able to rush over and drag Melly away, though she definitely didn’t feel lucky. I was able to relieve most of her pain though, as I cast that spell as soon as I saw Zarewthem charge over.
He dragged her over to me so I could better heal her, though the dragon was quickly approaching. “Come on Melly!” I plead. We need her to be able to move asap, or I won’t ever be able to heal her, considering how much being dragged over this rough, jagged, gravelly ground messed her up. I even had to delay some of my other healing just to make sure she didn’t bleed to death.
I still wasn’t able to heal her enough to move by the time the dragon caught up. Luckily for Melly, I figured picking her up (thanks strength potion) and placing her onto Zarewthem would be more efficient, so she didn’t suffer too much, though it still wasn’t a fun experience.
Luckily, it seems that third time’s the charm, as Melly was finally able to begrudgingly move on her own, so we could move away from the angry dragon while I healed her.
Unfortunately, that’s where our luck ended. The dragon, likely annoyed at its enemy getting away, started to frantically draw upon its breath. So much that we could see the infernal liquid fire dripping from the dragon’s mouth.
I had to put Melly’s healing on hold as I struggled to keep the three mud slugs alive. “Sorry.” I apologized. If that breath comes out, we’d all die within seconds.
We then entered a desperate struggle as we frantically tried to reduce the pressure the mud slugs were facing. Greg and Rapunzel were freezing its head and throat, Zarewthem and the hero were frantically attacking its legs, hoping to attract its attention, and Hansen sent his spirits suicidally against the dragon, all in a desperate attempt to keep those slugs alive.
The dragon started to roar and shake as it tried to force its body to attack. It knows that its breath would destroy us, so it started getting desperate.
The struggle finally ended, but not in any way I thought it would.
The dragon let out a mighty roar, far stronger than any other we’ve heard so far. The raw power contained was even able to knock us back, as we re-entered the abyss.
The dragon’s pressure once again petrified our bodies. Despite my earlier spell still working, we were still frozen, as we were forced to watch the dragon become engulfed in flames. I was barely able to regain movement when the dragon spread its tattered wings.
I quickly checked everyone else’s condition while I instinctively kept healing the mud slugs. Before I could start to assist my stunned friends, I noticed a problem, one of the slugs had died. There were now only two severely injured slugs remaining, and that number was about to drop.
I don’t know if this is the right decision, but I kept healing the slugs while ignoring everything else. The Hero said to prioritize them, so I will.
I realized that my choice was correct when I noticed that, while the heat coming from the dragon was becoming unbearable, it wasn’t actually moving.
And soon I got my answer. “It's entering its Final Gambit!” The Hero coughs out. “It is pulling all of its inner heat out while numbing its body. Soon it will be able to move with far less restraint by ignoring its wounds. The vanguard needs to be extra careful, or we’ll be squashed.”
As the Hero said that, he was helping everyone recover from their suffocating pressure. Luckily we were all able to move by the time the dragon was done, though I don’t know how Rapunzel fared.
As the dragon started to move we noticed that it had a new target. Luckily that means Melly is safe for now. Unluckily, that new target appears to be me, from how intensely it’s staring at me. I guess it noticed my healing, or maybe how ‘easily’ I dealt with its pressure. Either way, I’m now the target of a very angry dragon, so I need to run, while still healing the slugs, Melly, and keeping my buffs up. Fun.
Well, no time to complain. I cast my speed buff and started running. Haa, at least I have tons of practice casting spells while running, though the rough terrain is really causing me to struggle.
I hear a roar before suddenly feeling a burning sensation on my arm. I look over and see that my arm is on fire. I then notice that there’s a lot more liquid fire dripping out of the dragon’s mouth. I, without even thinking, tear off my sleeve before using magic to cut off the burning flesh. I didn’t even notice that I had used my pain removal technique over my arm. I quickly cast a spell to accelerate my recovery, while thanking the Gods that casting spells on yourself is far easier, faster, and more effective than casting spells onto others.
“One of the slugs died, watch out for fire!” I shout, before realizing that everyone probably noticed that already. And, as there’s already a decent amount of fire dripping from its mouth from just losing one slug, losing a second slug would likely be the death of us. No pressure.
I can hear everyone shouting in worry, but I don’t pay attention, shouting. “Hurry up and attack this thing! I won’t last forever!”
I then notice Greg bombarding the dragon with ice, though Rapunzel still seems to be occupied with the dragon’s pressure. Sadly, the dragon no longer feels pain, so I don't even know if it noticed. Haa, I’m the healer, I’m not supposed to be attacked!
Okay, don’t think, don’t think! Focus. How can I get out of this?
I suddenly scream in pain as something hits my shoulder. I instinctively start to numb the pain as I try to see what happened, but I don’t even get the chance, as I was immediately dragged forward. Once my technique finally activates and I stop screaming, I notice that Zarewthem had bit my shoulder in order to drag me away from the dragon.
He runs a distance away, before releasing me and shouting. “Get on!” I, of course, do. As soon as I’m on his back, he starts running again. “I’m sorry for hurting you, Miss Saintess, but I didn’t have the leeway to do anything else.” He apologized.
“Don’t worry, I’m just glad I’m away from the dragon.” I sigh. “Man, that felt like I was running for forever.” I say in relief as I quickly heal my wounds. “How long was I running for?” I ask.
“... A couple of seconds, Miss Saintess.” He hesitantly says.
“Ah, I see. No wonder I’m still alive.” I sigh. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. “I probably would have died after a few more seconds if you hadn’t saved me. Thank you, Zarewthem.”
“I’m glad to be of assistance, Miss Saintess.”
I turn back to check on the dragon and continue healing the slugs (I forgot about them once Zarewthem grabbed me, oops). “What?” I mutter.
The Hero is throwing things at the dragon’s face. Oh, he’s directing its wrath towards himself. He, he’s becoming the bait! I want to say something, but what? Don’t do it? But then who would? Haa, I just need to support him to the best of my abilities. “Thanks.” I whisper, as I make sure he’s properly buffed.
“Zarewthem.” I call out. “Could you bring me to Melly?” I ask.
“Of course, give me a moment. I don’t want to attract the dragon’s attention.”
He travels the long way around the dragon, before we finally meet back up with Melly, who was being taken care of by Hansen. Meanwhile, the Hero once again proves his competence, as he is effectively luring the dragon around, while Gregory, and a newly recovered Rapunzel, bombarded it with ice.
I started to heal poor Melly again, though it’s still slower than I’d like as I need to prioritize the mud slugs and everyone’s, especially the Hero’s, buffs. “I’m sorry. This is gonna take a while.” I apologized. At least the pain relief spell is working properly.
“Is there a pain removal spell?” Hansen asks.
Not really the time, but whatever. “In a sense, though we don’t know how to use it on others. It completely removes all feeling in the area, and the rest of your limb. It also stops your mana’s ability to affect your body through all means besides spells, so no body strengthening or the like work while it’s active.” I hurriedly explained. “It’s also more of a technique than spell, but requires casting similar spells to learn it, so it’s sometimes referred to as a spell.”
“Okay, that explains how quickly you calmed down.” He says. Melly also nods in agreement.
“What, did you think I was just somehow tougher than Melly?” I say while making sure there are no problems with the active fighters. “Also, where'd all your summons go?” I ask after not seeing any spirits.
“They died trying to lure the dragon away from you.”
“Ah, thank you, Hansen.” I then notice that he’s summoned a few random spirits around us, just in case.
Well, other than the lack of spirits, not counting the two fairly injured mud slugs, the battle is going fairly well. Everyone but Melly and the slugs are healed and buffed, and the Hero has a surprising amount of leeway. Gregory is rampaging with his ice attacks, though it’s hard to tell how damaging his spells actually are. Rapunzel, though, every attack is hitting an open wound and causing a noticeable amount of damage, though she’s run out of ice arrows, her other arrows are still tearing the dragon apart. Her strength buffs seem to have massively increased the power of her bow.
As the Hero elegantly dances around the dragon’s swipes and bites, while always avoiding the random pools of fire like he had done this hundreds of times before, I’d mostly healed the slugs. They must have gotten stronger or something, as while they haven’t increased their suppression, they've definitely become more resistant, judging from their reduced healing needs.
I decided I could lessen my focus on them, and decided to prioritize Melly more. Despite acting calm as I heal her, I was still quite worried. Yeah, the hero seems like he’s done this hundreds of times, but there’s no way he actually has, right? Regardless, it would likely only take a single hit to kill him, so I can’t help but worry as I pray that Melly heals as fast as possible.
I have to force myself to watch, as the dragon is getting ever closer to hitting the Hero. The amount of close calls is rapidly increasing. I’m also not the only one that’s noticed. Gregory is pulling out mana at an increasingly risky rate, while Rapunzel even missed one of her shots. Zarewthem eventually couldn’t sit still and shouted. “Let me help you, Mr.Hero!”
“No, protect them. Wait until Melly is healed!” He shouts back.
“But you need help!”
“And being distracted because I’m worrying about everyone else would be even worse!”
Zarewthem just grumbles. Great, it’s my fault. I’m doing my best here! “Come on.” I mutter. She’s almost ready, but the neglect and rough treatment has made the wounds far worse.
“Just do what’s necessary, leave everything else for later.” Melly compromises.
“Fine.” I partially relent. I’ll leave some things, but I’m not leaving any vital injuries. There’s a decent chance that I won’t be able to heal her once the battle’s done, so I refuse to take any risks. It’s definitely an emotional plan, but I can’t help it! I’m worried about her. I just, I just need to trust the Hero. He can handle this, right? I’m going to believe, believe that the Hero will lead us to victory once again.
After another nerve wracking minute, I call out. “Done! Good enough to fight.” Melly, upon hearing that, rushes towards the dragon with Zarewthem. I quickly refresh her buffs before returning my attention to the neglected slugs. “I’m sorry.” I whisper once again, as I only healed them for the bare minimum while focusing on Melly. Haa, this is stressful, and I don’t get any breaks. Hopefully things calm down a little bit once I’ve healed the mud slugs.
With Melly and Zarewthem’s assistance, the pressure on the Hero has dropped a bit, though he’s making sure that he stays the main focus. They aren’t doing that much damage though. Haa, this is likely to take quite a while longer.
As I’m healing, I notice the Hero pass Melly a lance. “You’ll know when to use it, so put it away for now.” He tells her. Okay then.
“The slugs are mostly healed!” I finally cheered. I can soon relax a bit, and recover some of my mostly drained mana. I’m getting fairly close to running out after all.
Then I heard the Hero shout. “Hansen, you can stop holding your spirits back. Full power!” And now we are going on the offensive? As I was distracted, Hansen’s miscellaneous spirits started to charge at the dragon.
It once again tries to force out a breath attack, when I notice a problem. Even the little amount of liquid fire that was released when there were three slugs is gone. Apparently the slugs were stronger, they were just holding back to protect themselves. And now that they are healed? There’s now no longer a reason not to go all out.
The dragon, realizing that its breath has been completely suppressed, somehow gets even angrier, as it madly charges at the swarm of spirits. The mud slugs also start taking a lot more damage. “My break.” I mutter, before sighing and resuming my healing. I really hope I don’t have to use a second potion. Please Gods.
As the spirits are being slaughtered, the Hero shouts. “Lead it over here!”
The few remaining spirits all rushed over to the cavern wall. As I wonder what’s so important about that spot, I noticed an overhang. Does he plan on dropping rocks on the dragon, again?
Sadly it doesn’t seem like his plan is going to work, as all of the swarm of spirits have died. Even Zarewthem got hit by the dragon and is struggling to continue. I kept on healing the slugs, expecting the Hero to stop his plan. And I waited, but the Hero didn’t retreat. “Retreat to Eli, Melly!” He finally says. But even once Melly arrived, he still didn’t leave. The dragon is fairly close to the overhang now. Is, is he going to do it? Is he going to successfully lure the dragon into the trap? Also, how’s he going to activate the trap?
I then notice the Hero pulling out a shield. HE PULLED OUT A SHIELD. “Don’t!” I shout, but it’s too late. He was hit by the dragon and sent flying into the wall.
I quickly start healing him as he shouts,” GREG!” as the dragon pounces on him. Greg then cast an earth spell at the wall, causing the overhang to collapse, burying the dragon. And the Hero with it.
“Eli!” Melly shouts as she pulls out her lance. I see, the dragon is pinned. We need to strike now.
“Ready?” I ask. Melly nodded, and I started to replace her enhanced buff with the triple super buff and use patient analysis. I also intensely infused my mana into her, rapidly converting all the mana within her into its naturally aggressive state. As soon as the buff finished converting, she charged at the escaping dragon.
Once she arrived, I guided her to thrust her lance into the struggling dragon’s throat. With the combination of the super buff and her strength potion, the force of the blow tore through the dragon’s damaged scales, sending burning blood flying as the lance was forced all the way through the dragon’s throat, only stopping once it hit the scales on the other side. The dragon roared in pain, struggling even more fiercely to free itself.
Before Melly could pull out the lance for a second blow, she must have noticed something, as she tried to leap away from the dragon. I followed her advice and got her to leap away.
The Hero apparently prepared this lance specially, as shortly after being jammed into the dragon, it exploded, sending Melly, and whatever else, flying.
Noticing the damage, I exited patient analysis and rushed over to start healing Melly, though most of her wounds were from my spell overusing her body, causing her muscles to tear apart at the immense force that they released.
As I healed her, I looked over at the dragon. At first, I thought our attack didn’t accomplish anything, but when I looked closer, I saw that despite the scales being mostly intact, the only thing really keeping the dragon’s head attached was its spine, as most of the flesh in its throat had been blown away. If the dragon wasn’t dead from that, it had to be immortal. I’m amazed at how durable the dragon is though. We dropped a mountain and a massive chunk of rock onto it, before blowing it up, yet the dragon was mostly intact. How could anyone ever defeat a fresh one?
“Eli!” As I’m lost in thought, Greg calls me over. I noticed that he’d cleared away a good amount of rocks.
“The Hero!” I shout as I rush over, leaving Melly with a regeneration spell.
Greg had mostly uncovered him, but he was still hidden behind his shield. We pry away the remaining rocks and remove his shield so I can check his condition.
“He’s still alive!” I shouted, tears filling my eyes as I desperately healed him. “Why’d you do something so dangerous!” I cried. Soon, I ran out of mana. And without any mana, my potion ended, causing my built up fatigue to overwhelm me.
My last thought as I lost consciousness was a prayer to the Gods, hoping that I did enough to save everyone.