The Tower, Level 26 Dungeon

An explosion shook Ethan’s shield, sending a wave of ash and cinders into his face. For an instant, the large red dragon was obscured from his vision. 

“AAAAAHHHHhhhhhhhhh....” The sound of Miguel’s voice traveled as he flew across the room, Ethan couldn’t see what happened, but he suspected the dragon had hit him with its tail. He’ll be okay, David or Leah will top him off. He thought as he tried to to focus on the monster attacking him. 

Another burst of flame shook his kite shield and heat washed over him. This time, Ethan’s paranoia won out and he desperately turned his face from the flame and scanned the room for his friends. 

Miguel had been knocked back about 15 feet and was on the ground by the wall of the cavern with David kneeling down beside him. Their Cleric reached out, his hand radiant in golden light to heal his teammate. The spell worked instantly and Miguel was on his feet, retreating from the dragon. 

Leah’s eyes began to emanate green energy as she slammed her palms into the dirt floor. The ground in front of her began to break up as if she had summoned giant snakes to tunnel through the dirt towards the dragon. Ethan was very familiar with her Grasping Roots spell. Hopefully thick, thorny vines were working their way up the crimson hide and lashing it to the ground. 

The group is fine. Keep your eyes on the target! Ethan mentally admonished himself. Not paying attention to the situation could cost them.  Everyone knows their role, you don’t have to babysit them. 

Leah’s spell hadn’t taken hold of the monster, it was still free. He needed to get the beast focused on him before anyone else in his group got hurt. The dragon was about the size of a school bus. Not huge by this game’s standards but still deadly. 

How did this thing get the drop on us? There’s no way we didn’t see a dragon as we were coming into this intersection. He readied himself for what was about to happen. The group had their roles to fill, his was to make sure no one died. He needed to get that monster focused on him. His health pool was larger than everyone else’s, his armor stronger. He was a tank. Taking hits was what he did. 

Ethan gripped his mace and began to concentrate, letting holy power surge through him.  Paladins didn’t use incantations when casting, they just needed to focus their mana into a blessing. It didn’t take long before Ethan felt the holy energy radiate through his entire body and he concentrated it into the hammer in his right hand. The steel of his gauntlet began to glow along with the metal head of his hammer.  

Come on fucker, you know you want to do it. Ethan mentally taunted the beast. His group had fought dragons before. They knew what to expect. Even though the initial attack had caught them by surprise, they knew exactly what tactics they needed to win this battle. 

As if it could sense Ethan’s mental taunting, the dragon reared it’s massive reptilian head back, the scales on its neck began to glow as it began to summon the inferno of its breath attack. 

“ARGH!” Ethan yelled as he hurled his blessed weapon at the monster. It connected with the dragons jaw right as the first tendrils of flame were beginning to form. The force of the impact knocked the dragons head straight up in the air as it released its flame. It’s explosive blast scorched the earthen ceiling, knocking loose a small boulder that crashed onto the dragon's neck. The beast roared in fury and pain. 

A streak of blue energy shot past Ethan and coalesced into a wall of solid ice. Miguel had given them a barrier to use as defense. Ethan sprinted around it, his plate amor barely slowed him down as he reached to catch his hammer on its return. He hurled it again, catching the dragon on the tip of its snout. Channeling his blessed power again, Ethan dropped to one knee and slammed his gauntlet into the ground. A golden symbol spread from his fist and shot out 20 feet from him. His Consecration would bless his team mates and damage his monstrous foe. 

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Behind him, Leah cast her Tangled Roots spell again. This time the roots grabbed the dragon and held it to the ground. The Druid’s spell had neutralized their enemy’s wings. Now the group could begin their attack. 

Sam took the trapping of the dragon as his cue to move in. He sprinted through the cave, drawing twin swords as he ran. As a Rogue, his goal was to do as much damage as possible without being hit. He’d been playing this class for a while now and had gotten quite good at it. As he closed in on the dragon, a snake-like tail lashed at him. Leah has restricted the monster’s movement but it still had potent weapons in its arsenal. Sam nimbly slid under the attack on his knees, his back parallel to the ground and his arms spread out. As he came to a stop he flipped his swords into a reverse grip and stabbed them into the dirt floor to help pull himself up. 

Back on his feet, Sam jumped at the enemy, using the dragon’s leg to propel himself onto its back. The dragon thrashed it’s body against the roots trying to free itself and throw off its unwanted passenger. Sam’s high Dexterity kept him stable as he tried to sprint up the dragon’s back. 

With the monster distracted, Miguel moved into his own attack position. He usually preferred Fire spells for fights, but a Red Dragon would have high fire resistance. The Sorcerer’s eyes began to glow blue as he clapped his hands together. The flow of energy travelled down his arms and into his hands. When he pulled them apart seven razor sharp ice spears hovered in front of him. A pushing gesture sent them flying at his target.  His grouping was tight, they struck like a shotgun blast, all seven spears clustered together on the right side of the dragon in its rib cage. Unfortunately one shard severed the root holding the dragons fore paw. 

With a roar it ripped free and slashed with its talons at Ethan. Reflexively, Ethan brought his shield up just in time to block the razor sharp talons from ripping his arm off. The power of the blow knocked him to the ground and shattered his already damaged shield. His arm had a large gash from the claw that got through and his HP dipped. 

Oh fuck, shit just got really bad. Ethan’s thoughts went to the possibility of death for the first time. Maybe I’ll get Sorcerer on my respawn...

“David, I need help!” Ethan pushed down his doubt and yelled for healing. He hadn’t even finished his call for assistance when a shimmering golden aura surrounded him. Energy surged through him and his arm wound sealed shut. David’s rapid double casting had given him a temporary shield and healed the damage he took from the dragon’s claws. 

Ethan scanned the battle to see how the rest of the group was doing. Sam was still hanging on to the back of the dragon, slashing anywhere he could as he moved closer to its head. Leah had joined him on the dragons back. She had taken the form of a massive lion, Druidic tattoos glowing through its fur while she clawed at the wings of the dragon. Tae-Won had taken position to the right of Ethan near the beast’s head as he attacked with lightning fast slashes of a massive two handed sword. He drew its attention to keep the focus off Ethan while he recovered. Miguel continued hammering the monster with spells of ice, earth and lightning. The constant spell casting was almost an elaborate dance, but Miguel’s intense look of focus betrayed its deadly intent. 

He could not see David, but the fact that no one had died meant the Cleric was doing exactly what was needed. Usually, Leah would help with healing, but David was a powerhouse and was keeping everyone alive by himself. 

The dragon was quickly dying from the relentless assault of his group, but something was missing. 

Where the fuck is Daniel? Ethan didn’t have time to scour the battlefield for the Ranger who was supposed to be helping. Tae-Won couldn’t hold off long tanking the monster by himself. Ethan needed to get back in and take control. 

Without his shield he was handicapped, he couldn’t block all the damage from the dragon. If he died the rest of the group wouldn’t be too far behind. Ethan channeled his two last resort spells. A shield of pure holy energy coalesced on his left arm.. The round golden shield would block half of any damage dealt to him and he would take the other half over a minute. In his other hand his hammer glowed as the head tripled in size, it would deal 300% more damage for 10 seconds. Energy raced off it as he swung towards the dragon's skull. 

Teeth fell to the ground as he connected with the side of the beast's head. Glancing up he saw he’d also caved in its eye socket. 

“Sam, finish it quickly!” Ethan yelled, hoping he was heard over the roar of the dragon.  

His attack gave the Rogue an opening. Sam leapt at the battered head of the red dragon and stabbed both swords into the shattered bone. The damage from the blow of Ethan’s hammer weakened the natural armor of the dragon and Sam’s swords plunged into the brain cavity. 

Sam let go of his weapons and dropped to the ground, his feet barely hitting the floor before the dragon collapsed.