Jett used [Burst], further increasing his physical abilities as he put all of his strength into a massive swing of his weapon, managing to cut through the Abyss Dragon’s scales and draw blood from its underbelly.
“Raaaaagh!” The Abyss Dragon howled in pain.
–Though it could only last so long as another yell from Vildren caused all those attacking the massive dragon to pause for a moment:
“Get back! It’s taking flight!” Vildren shouted.
There was a build-up of the abyss beast’s miasma as its wings coiled and its body flexed, bubbling with energy as it prepared to lift off with Jett right beneath it. It was only then he realized that there would be a wave of the disease-bringing energy from its position when it lifted off–right where he was.
‘Crap…!’ He realized.
The only chance he had was using [Wind Burst] to propel himself away from it then using [Blink] to break his momentum, flipping over as he vanished and reappeared in an instant away from the Abyss Dragon’s immediate location.
Though he wasn’t quite far enough as the others had already moved far enough, the dragon lifted off, flapping its grand wings as it unleashed a mighty shock wave of miasma.
FWOOOOOM
[Power Air Shield!]
Standing his ground, he summoned the translucent barrier of wind before himself, blocking the rippling shock wave and the darkness that was interlaced with it. There was enough of a whiplash from merely holding the magical shield up that his neck whipped back and his feet nearly were lifted from the ground, but he stayed firm.
“Nngh…!” He strained.
–Each flap of the colossal dragon’s nightly wings brought upon such thunderous winds, causing ripples through the mountainous fields as those that occupied it struggled even to stand. It took flight, now having the advantage over the grounded warriors.
“It’s airborne again…!” Johannes called out, “What’re we supposed to do now?!”
It was definitely a problem, considering the majority of their forces were limited by the length of their own blades.
Vildren turned back towards the robed mages; the only ones left standing were a hazel-haired young girl and a glasses-wearing, timid man, “Bombard it! We need to bring it back down to the ground!”
The mages were quivering, on the brink of tears.
It was the hazel-haired girl among them who spoke up, “W…we can’t! We used the rest of our mana in that last push! It was everything we had…!”
“What?!” Vildren reacted in disheartened shock.
As if it couldn’t get worse, the Abyss Dragon rained down its deathly breath from above, spewing the black clouds down like a corrupted storm swirling amidst the mountains. The luscious fields were ruined by the beast’s breath; the life was siphoned straight out of the verdant blades of grass as they dried and turned brittle.
“Ahhh…!”
“Ahh!”
–Those unfortunate enough to be caught beneath the flying dragon’s putrid release screamed out in agony as the miasma took hold of them, causing them to drop down to the ground and writhe from the unbearable pain.
“This is bad!...Way bad!” Johannes remarked.
Vildren gritted his teeth, though forced himself to stay composed as he yelled out, “Stand–!”
Before the gold-ranked adventurer could fully unleash the next command from his mouth, booming it out, he was interrupted by the rookie adventurer who stepped forward.
Jett looked up towards the Abyss Dragon that had taken to the air, yet did not shy away from the battle at hand, “Leave it to me. I’ll bring that thing to the ground.”
“What’re you saying?...Have you been paying attention at all–that thing is too much for you!” Johannes spoke in disbelief.
Though Vildren even seemed to have his own doubts, he swallowed them before holding a trusting smile, “I’ll entrust that part to you then, Jett.”
“Yeah,” Jett nodded with a confident smile.
Perhaps it wasn’t the most strategic plan he could come up with, or among the least reckless, but it was certainly a strategy to him: he crouched down, catching the attention of the others before—FWOOM.
A massive propulsion of wind boomed from beneath his feet before he launched up directly into the air; a use of [Wind Burst] meant to push him upwards was successful.
As he sailed into the air swiftly, he swung his leaven blade multiple times in the direction of the dragon, unleashing rangeless slashes that cut into its scales.
While no lasting damage was done, it annoyed the Abyss Dragon enough that it looked straight towards the cloak-wearing man that was somehow in the air with it.
“Yeah, that’s right, eyes on me!” He smirked.
As he began falling, the Abyss Dragon soared straight towards him, carving its wings through the air as it closed in rapidly.
‘Damn, it’s scary having it fully on me like this!’ He thought with a smile.
Its jaws parted and its rows of razor sharp teeth were revealed as it aimed to swallow him up in one swoop. Just as it closed in–
[Blink!]
In an instant, he moved from in front of the beast’s nose to now standing atop its head, having to balance himself before gripping onto its scales.
“Hah…I made it!” He celebrated.
Immediately, the dragon noticed the man upon its head, roaring out and thrashing amidst the air as it spun around to try and shake him off.
“--Woah!”
He dropped down, getting a tight grip on its scales as he stayed holding onto it, summoning the enhanced strength within his body to do so.
From below, such unorthodox actions left the others perplexed while the Abyss Dragon struggled in the air, doing its best to throw the rookie off, but to no avail.
“...He’s crazy…Who thinks of doing something like that?” Johannes muttered in disbelief.
Vildren stood tall, though didn’t waste a moment as he made sure the effort of Jett did not go to waste, holding his sword up high, “Prepare yourselves! The beast will be on our level soon enough–! We will not waste our next opportunity!”
Before the deed had even been done, Vildren set it in stone, though it was easier said than done for Jett.
The air howled in his ears as the dragon flew violently above the valley, spinning and roaring out of frustration.
“Stay still, you big bastard…!” Jett gritted his teeth.
Opening [Void Inventory], he summoned Frostfang into his left hand, stabbing it and his leaf-forged sword into the dragon’s scales, creating an anchor point for himself before he began pulling the weapons through the beast’s flesh.
“RAAAAAARGGHH–!!!”
A heaping trail of blood sprayed in the air as the back of the dragon’s neck was eviscerated by the dagger-and-sword combo, though it finally managed to shake Jett off, who stumbled from it.
“Woah…!”
Plummeting downward, he was brought high enough from the basin valley that such a crash landing would be fatal. However–
He stored both of his weapons, instead invoking [Aqua Piercer] as the bow manifested from droplets of water.
“Nngh…!”
With his back to the ground far below, he watched the Abyss Dragon as it soared down directly towards him with full intent of crunching him between its jaws.
“--Hate to break it to you, but I’m not your dinner!” He shouted.
Pulling the string of water back, an aquatic arrow formed before he released it, shooting the projectile directly upward as it sailed with perfect precision towards the colossal beast. The arrow of water moved with high speed, clashing directly against the beast’s nose with a large, impactful splash.
–Not a single scratch was left on the scaled nose of the monstrous, winged creature of the abyss as it simply roared out and flapped its massive wings, closing in faster.
‘...That wasn’t nearly as effective as I expected!’ He thought.
“Jett! Look out!” Vildren called out from below.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
There was no doubt in the eyes of those below that the reckless rookie was going to become chow for the dragon, however–Jett Levine did not go into this without a plan as a smile beamed across his lips.
‘Alright–let’s do this!’ He thought.
The [Void Inventory] was opened, though not with the intent of withdrawing anything, but instead instantly storing every familiar he had brought out, causing them to “poof” away before the eyes of the others.
“Huh?!” Johannes reacted in horror watching the cyclopean giant simply vanish.
It was definitely a confusing sight for those on the ground who had no inclination of what the rookie’s ability was–only witnessing the warriors pop away.
Though in the next moment, he brought it all back, waiting for the dragon to close in before invoking another risky [Blink], landing upon its back just as its jaws snapped towards him.
‘I got the timing right again! Lucky!’ He thought.
Realizing the man was on its back, the Abyss Dragon immediately took a sharp turn before coming close to the valley, swooping back up as it roared out in anger.
“Sounds like you’re getting annoyed,” Jett chuckled, trying to maintain balance as the fearsome winds of the swift flight caused his unkempt hair to flutter, “--Well, prepared to be a lot more annoyed! To me, everyone!”
The [Void Inventory] opened itself once more, this time bringing everyone of his stored familiars out as they landed upon the dragon’s back.
[Demonkin Youth Alex] [Booze-Loving Gunter] [Crimson Swordsman Jiao] [Cyclopean Warrior: Juru] [Blue Slime] [Silent-Footed Khan]
“Woah…!” The youthful demon, Alex, let out, stumbling as he found himself suddenly on the back of the soaring beast.
“Ga-ha-ha! I never thought in all my time I’d stand on the back of a dragon!” Gunter howled with laughter and thrill, spreading his shield and axe out, “My thanks to you, Jett, for giving me such an opportunity!”
Jiao stood there with his thick, fiery greatsword and his scarlet ponytail blowing in the wind as he had no trouble standing on the back of the soaring dragon, “You’ve never rode on a dragon’s back before?! Well, the first time is always something else!”
Somehow, it seemed the small, non-verbal slime had an advantage of its own in this situation as its sticky body was able to easily cling to the harsh scales of the beast.
It was now a full party upon the broad back of the Abyss Dragon, which it seemed to realize as it flapped its wings harder, cracking the wind as though a storm was brewing.
“Alright, everybody! Attack!” Jett yelled out, leading the offense.
“Hell yeah–!” Gunter raised his axe.
“--Time to bring this monster down!” Jiao beamed.
A massive assault was issued on the back of the soaring beast as they all cleaved away, though it was an arduous task in itself to inflict anything more than superficial damage through the sturdy scales of the dragon.
The one to do the most damage to the beast was undoubtedly Jiao, who was a natural at sprinting along its height despite the turbulence, repeatedly swinging and dragging his blazing sword against its scales.
“There’s no greater thrill than bringing down a dragon from the sky!” Jiao laughed.
It was the united effort of Jett and Jiao attacking both of the dragon’s wings, with the scarlet-haired man’s sword burning through its hide and Jett’s freezing dagger causing frost to stiffen its other, that targeted its advantage of flight.
A trail of embers was left from the crimson swordsman’s run along the beast, also spurring on a spill of blood as the Abyss Dragon seemed to finally begin crashing down.
“It’s coming down!” Khan called out after having plucked his dagger from the dragon’s back.
Jett nodded, raising his hand, “Alright, everybody back into the void!”
With a snap of his fingers, he brought all of his familiars back into his personal inventory, leaving it to just himself to handle landing without dying, though that was a tricky obstacle in itself.
‘Alright…Here comes the hard part!’ He thought, peering down.
As he rode upon the dragon’s back, he watched as it did a nosedive for the mountainous valley before, witnessing the others on the ground spread out to avoid being crashed down upon.
Such a rapid descent brought upon the forces of gravity as he clutched onto the rough scales of the beast to anchor himself for the moment.
“Ghhhh—!” His cheeks rippled in the wind.
‘Time it…Time it perfectly! It’s no different than performing a frame-perfect move in a speed run, yeah!?’ He thought.
It was as if sticking around on a crashing plane, minus actually having walls to contain himself from flying off.
‘...Now!’ He thought.
Just before the Abyss Dragon reached the ground, he used a combination of [Wind Burst] and [Blink] in succession, allowing him to shoot himself away from the area of landing.
He rolled across the field of grass, still being carried by some momentum despite using [Blink], though finding himself stopped and helped to his feet by Vildren.
“I’ve got you!” Vildren told him.
“--Thanks,” he nodded, getting up.
Witnessing the dragon’s descent into the basin valley was something of a spectacular sight in itself as upon its crash, a massive upheaval of soil took place, thrown upward and pushed out as though an explosion had boomed.
Walking over beside him, the bandana-wearing, silver-ranked adventurer was completely left agasp at the sight of the dragon being grounded.
“...I don’t know how you did it, but you actually brought that thing down,” Johannes remarked.
Vildren answered for him, “It’s clear to me that you’re fit for a promotion, Jett. You’re a summoner, right?”
“You noticed?” Jett asked.
The amethyst-eyed, armor-wearing warrior nodded, “I’ve never quite seen summons like yours, though. Usually summoners call upon astral beasts, but yours…It seems as though you invoke living fighters. Fascinating–I can admit even I am behind you in terms of prowess.”
“Don’t say that, we still have a dragon to finish off,” he smiled.
“That, we do,” Vildren held the same resolution as him.
It was the final stretch, or at the very least, there was now equal footing between the exhausted adventurers and the grounded dragon as it crawled upon its legs with its battered wings drooping down.
Vildren pointed his sword forward, “One last push, everyone! Let’s finish this–!”
There was an overwhelming amount of courage reignited by Jett’s grounding of the dragon, along with the unwavering leadership taken hold by the gold-ranked adventurer. This much was undeniable as despite the state of each of them, the wounded and exhausted adventurers were on their feet, standing alongside Vildren and Jett with refound hope in their eyes.
“...This is a Raid Quest, huh?” He remarked after glancing around, holding a wry smile.
Vildren noticed his comment, “First time? I’d say this an exception to the norm, but, life-and-death battles like this are common. Nonetheless, we move forward and strive towards victory; that’s what it means to be an adventurer of Fantasia.”
“Victory? I like that,” Jett held his hand up, “To me!”
–All of his familiars returned to the battlefield alongside him, bolstering the numbers of the raid, and plus one as he noticed a certain silver-haired spellblade reuniting with him.
“Edith,” he remarked in surprise.
“I hope I am not too late,” Edith noted with a smile, drawing her sword.
“Just on time,” he said, bursting forward.
It was his initiative that ignited the final assault, with Vildren commanding the rest of the adventurers forward through a warcry of his own.
The Abyss Dragon had vigor of its own, slamming its claws down with a massive thud, roaring out with enough volume to vibrate and ripple through the soil.
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you!” He yelled back in return to the beast.
Blocking the shock of the thunderous roar, he held a [Power Air Shield] in front of himself, giving him space to sprint in as he squeezed the handle of his verdant sword.
After successfully blocking the roar, he led the way for his familiars to jump in, with Jiao leading the offense with a blazing smile, slamming his greatsword against the snout of the beast.
“--Hyaaah!” Jiao shouted, conjuring a bright-orange explosion of flames against the dragon’s face.
Jett didn’t hesitate to jump into the fray, dual-wielding the frost-bearing dagger and the air-rending blade, hacking away at the dragon alongside the others that rushed in. Together, he, his familiars, and the rest of the raid came at the beast from all angles.
The other adventurers who had until just then either been out of the fight or blind to it until just then were in awe of the bronze-ranked rookie’s ability to combat the monstrous dragon.
“He’s a newbie, right?...How?” A bow-wielding, hooded adventurer remarked.
“No rookie can fight like that–a bronze rank is way too low for him!” Another, burly one with a greatsword said.
–It was on the ropes; though the wounded dragon attempted to swing its claws and use its tail to dwindle the numbers of those attacking it, the united effort of Gunter’s defense and Vildren’s impeccable skill with the sword to deflect such strikes, allowed the others to continue their assault unimpeded.
“Do it…!” Vildren shouted from the top of his lungs.
At that moment, the perfect opportunity was found as Jett invoked [Burst], granting himself enough agility to run up the dragon’s body at a vertical angle, scaling it within a moment as he leapt up, looking down upon it, meeting those harsh eyes with his own.
As it tried snatching him into its jaws, the dragon’s attempt was shut down as the flaming greatsword belonging to Jiao pierced through the left of its mouth, the enchanted blade of Edith stabbed into the right, and Alex landed on its snout, slamming his blade down through its nose. The united effort of his loyal familiars completely locked down the beast from any attempt to breathe out its lethal breath or snap its jaws.
“Do it, Master!” Edith shouted.
Jiao was grinning, though strained as he held his greatsword to keep the beast from thrashing free, “--Show ‘em hell!”
“Ghh…!” Alex struggled not to be thrown off.
There was no clearer shot for him as he gripped both of his weapons tightly, landing down atop the head of the black-scaled dragon.
It was up to him; the deciding blow was just that—deciding. The very nature of battle was so; perhaps if another moment was taken, people would die, perhaps the beast would launch a counterattack.
However—
Jett Levine did not leave such things to “chance”, instead invoking everything he had in that moment to guarantee victory.
[Burst] enhanced his body, igniting his internal mana like nitro to his body’s engine, supercharging himself before he slammed both of his weapons down.
SQUELCH
“RAAAAAAARGH—!!!”
Having its flesh so viscerally pierced, the Abyss Dragon did not accept it without a fight, thrashing about as it knocked some of the warriors to the side.
“Ghh—!” Vildren winced, finding himself being flung back, “Jett!”
Atop the colossal beast’s skull, he kept his blades lodged into its head, finding that he didn’t pierced deep enough quite yet for a lethal blow.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting there!” He muttered.
It was a feeling in his heart that had been forming from the very moment he arrived from the Transport Crystal, but then, at the climax of it all, it flourished in a passion he had never felt before.
Seeing others of this world, talking to them, seeing them fight with everything they had–the world that felt foreign now felt close to his heart; it was real, and he wasn’t going to let anything happen to it.
[Lesser Bolt!]
The electricity coiled around his arms before traveling down his enchanted blades and driving into the beast’s head; both frost and lighting embedded themselves as destructive elements within its flesh.
—Finally, it stopped as the elements struck it from within, dropping down as the others around it dispersed so as not to be crushed beneath its mountainous weight.
[EXP: + 3000]
[Level Up]
[Level 20 -> Level 23] [250/3000]
[ATK: 27 | DEF: 27 | MAG: 39]
Silence followed the slaying of the grand beast; all eyes watched the rookie as he plucked his weapons from the head of the beast before slowly returning to his feet.
It was once he held up his leaf-made sword did the silence finally break with resounding cheers; the celebrations both of life and victory filled the basin valley.
‘...This is my introduction to Fantasia! Wherever you are, ‘Reverse King’, I’m sure you’ll hear about the rookie who slayed a dragon!’ He thought.