Staring at them. No reaction to their acknowledgment of its existence.

An Apex Predator.

White.

This could be seen before its slick body strutted into vision, setting the climax for its anticipated arrival.

- [Lesser Dragon-kin]: "Verily, The Hours I Hath Languished In Slumber, And In The Vanquishing Of Pests Who, In Their Ignorance, Dare Lay Claim To That Which Rightfully Belongs To My Own Domain. With Diligence, I Have Forged This Feeble Militia Of Kobolds, Sifting The Frail From The Strong, Seeking To Reclaim The Vigor I Once Possessed Ere My Fall. Yet, Amidst This Striving, I Have Faltered In The Very Aspiration To Be Discovered, To Be Redeemed By A Kindred Soul Of My Soil, Upon This Lowly Continent... Let The Day Of Somber Snow Be Condemned!!!"

The forceful roar from the partial dragon took Leek to one knee. It could not be resisted. His torso was bent, trying to keep his body from falling any further.

- ALTgray: His forehead had been thoroughly stuck to the coarse ground. Raising his head, to capture another glimpse of the indomitable force, he went to tell it off. "Stop screechi-"

-[Lesser Dragon-kin]: "SILENCE. BEAST."

Another high pitched scream left its mouth, commanding Gray.

In that instant his body constricted, actively pressing into the ground. Cracks formed, stemming from his forehead, that loosened the ground under him.

This force had become overwhelming. It was not hyperbole to say he barely manage to hold onto his consciousness.

And with this struggle he had it slip away.

Gray's character lost every health point it had remaining, which was at about eighty-nine percent. It went fully limp, no longer fighting the pressure it was under.

- Leek: "Shit... he will not let me live this one down!" He whispered this to himself. He'd spent a moment contemplating the many reactions Gray might have to this situation. "At least we're in a dungeon, his penalty won't be much."

Again, he is highly competitive.

A death at the hands of an enemy he had no chance to counter, or even fight, would most definitely wreck his mental state. It would be one thing if he lost within reason, but logic had been the last thing to influence his Game-Over screen.

- Jourmandier: "What Has Come Under You, To Have Fought Beside This Vile Being That Resulted In Our Very Subjugation? I Cannot Remember How Long Ago My Slumber Started, But Has The Climate Above Changed To Such A Degree That You See No Fault In Your Actions... Or Is It That Your Affiliation Has Shifted, A Sellout To Your Own Country!?" A pair of wings spread from behind its back, throwing an overwhelming amount of wind Leek's way.

The gusts pushed Leek back, disregarding his planted knee. Loose piles of rocks, dirt, debris, and even weapons, the ones dropped by the many dead monsters, flew into every direction as result of the gale.

It became hard to breathe. Each breath got away from him, and a near vacuum like suction kept him from retrieving them.

-2HP ... -1HP ... -4HP ... -2HP ... -2HP ...

Damage started to stack against him.

It was likely not a direct attack on his character, rather being a byproduct of where the gusts were employed. The debris and weapons were hitting him as they went by, doing said damage to him.

*BING!*

FAO's game system caught his attention in the middle of his panic.

Everything slowed.

Leek, who had been faced with the four dialogue options took a look around him. His eyes were the only thing he could properly move.

Jourmandier was equipped with a plenty of intricate animations to his model yet he stood still, in the active motion which produced the scarcity in air.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

A set of talking points Leek could decide between, dictating his interaction with Jourmandier, showed themselves to him. It was likely that these were the reason for his moment of separation from the games immersion.

[Dialogue Options]

1. "I Have Never Indulged In The Familiarity Of This Kind, I Have Thus Never Forgotten The Transgressions Done Upon Us. I Have Survived, Despite Lacking The Blood Of A Dragon-Kin, Such As Yourself, This Hast Not Represented My Ambitions!"

2. "What! You Have Questioned My Loyalty To The Blood Shed By My, Your, And Our Fallen Brethren? Has Thou Slumber Affected The Very Ability To Problem Solve Correctly!?"

3. "Our Blood Is All I Wish To Preserve, The Remnants From The Day Of Grey Snow Have Done Nothing But Gather Dust. Join Me, As I Aim To Rebuild Our Arc, And Bring The Light We Once Shown, To Greet The World Once More; Exposing The Dark For What It Is... A Fallacy."

(If _SpecialQuest = 1, then set "[

4. "I-I, My Actions Have Not Been Beneficial. I Have Done What I Required In Order To Sustain Day-By-Day. Our Country Had Forsaken Us On Another Continent, No Reinforcements Have Been Dispatched... I Even Question If We Stand As A Faction Any Longer!!"

______

-Leek: Incapable of speaking aloud he resorted to actively saying words in his own head. "Being honest, I wouldn't take any of these if I actually had a choice... but I don't really have one, do I?"

With the time he'd been given, Leek made sure his option was not one decided on brevity.

""

A man sporting loose fitted clothing spoke, "Yeah, I've never seen this in all my time playing." His glasses, which notably had not fallen out of place were readjusted using the back of his bulbous wrist.

With a chime he fixed his posture, sitting up as was intended use of the seat. His depression into the chair had been weighted enough to cause an earful of squeaks; ignored by him as it was normal to experience this during his infrequent routine of movement.

A scoff came from his throat, sounding as though mucus had been lodged. "Just how did you trigger this event, because a scholar in training, such as myself, I would have stumbled on this interesting tidbit during my time running dungeons..."

His face had been glued to a clip/video he had been sent from an acquaintance of his. It was an encounter with a mid-level floor boss that, in all sense of the idea, should not have been accessible at the stage it was encountered.

The brightness coming from the screen blocked out his eyes, as blue reflected off of his glasses. "Jour: The Flying Serpent... you can only interact with him when undertaking a hardcore run of the Faerilm instance dungeon, and even then you need a raid party to trigger his entrance, otherwise you're swarmed by his Kobold force in waves, until death."

A grin, which only showed his front and canine teeth gave enough clue as to his interest in the clip.

"I assumed that too. Was asking incase you have some president for this, or?"

... "No."

""

After a good bit of deliberation Leek decided on what it was he wanted to represent his building character.

Jourmandier, taking note of what he had heard, had laxed his winds enough to allow Leek to speak.

Its facial expression had been hard to decipher.

It was clear the words had pulled on something in its mind. Its movements halted and the extended wings did not appear as hostile as they did before; retracting back a little.

Leek, who scavenged to grasp all the oxygen he could, had a hand on his throat. It was a freaky experience as one moment he was fine, then the next he is suffocating by a quasi-unobservable force.

Though, when it came to pain he was not in too much. His characters actions, and expressions, would appear to contradict this but it was wholly in line with the games mechanics.

FAO has a maximum pain thresh-hold that prevents the user from being consumed by traumatic experiences. Typically the programmed responses of characters can exaggerate what they're actually feeling, to give a more streamlined experience.

On the verge of death Leek chose the third option in attempt to appease the mid-game boss he inadvertently encountered. It was the most reasonable answer, as it was a call to action for the immovable titan.

Since it had yet to actually react Leek examined Jourmandier's design a bit more; the only thing he could muster the force to do.

Adjacent to this was just how freaky it was. This may be slightly overstated by the perceived danger, but its eyes were not typical, and borderline scary.

They were a single bead, lodged into the side of its head—offset, being further apart from where a human pupil would be. Just as a blind man's were, the 'eyes' it had were grey, and seemingly incapable of proper sight.

A single straight line cut into its face, placed roughly where a mouth should be, no detail to it.

And, instead of traditional horns of a dragon Jourmandier had ones that looked like a flesh colony of coral; colored in splotches of a veiny blue and pink.

-Jourmandier: "I Am Willing To Accompany You On This Journey, My Strength May Be Of Great Help In Reordering The Systems That Now Be. But I Will Not Do So Under Current Circumstances." A glow slowly grew from its body, lighting the horns atop its head, and from just below its eyes. "You Cannot Stand In My Prescence. It Is Clear To Me That Even In My Weakened State You're Incapable Of Dominance. You May Not Hope To Gather Rule Above Those Who Possess The Means To Trample You! Return To Me And Hold Not Your Tongue, But Might As Well... PRESENT TO ME THE FORGOTTEN TRUTH, THE MIGHT OF BELVATH!!"

Stronger than before, Jourmandier radiated in the gentle light. Its mouth opened, wide enough to justify its dragon-kin blood, and expelled from it a breath weapon.

A murky liquid that itself put the light from Jourmandier to shame. Greater than even that Light spell from the [Kobold Magister (16)].

Everything could be seen.

Hidey holes, from where the Kobolds fled into before Jourmandier's arrival. Deposits of precious ores, hidden to the eyes, even if aided by a flame. Depths of the cavern yet explored by man.

-2 ... -1 ...

It was a sight to behold, true beauty.

-6 ...

*Ding*