After a few more trials and errors, Lizzy finally figured out how to maneuver through the fierce winds and perilous lightning that plagued the canyon. Whenever she dispersed a wind blade, a lightning strike would soon follow right after. It was unavoidable as it would follow after her even when she tried moving out of the way so the only way was to tank the lightning strike in the safety of the wind tunnel.
The lightning strike would strike her half a second after she created the wind tunnel and paralyze her for another half-second which gave her a whole second to move forward which was more than enough time to make some progress.
Lizzy didn’t need to constantly create wind tunnels to push forward. She only needed to make them whenever she felt that her body was about to be lifted by the winds or if things became too dangerous. The momentary respite was all she needed anyway so with this method, she moved through the canyon with relative ease until finally, she arrived at the 2000-meter mark. When Lizzy arrived here, she noticed that the lightning had changed to a purple color from the previous light yellow.
The winds also changed and they were now black winds instead of the normal transparent color that would flash green from time to time whenever a wind blade suddenly became too strong. Before she had even stepped into this 2000-meter zone, she could already feel how sharp the winds and how fatal those lightning strikes were. She tried doing what she did before and although it worked, the wind blade would blow her back a few meters and the lightning strike would come even before Lizzy could react.
She nearly died after receiving this combo and had to retreat to the safe zone that separated the 1000-meter zone and the 2000-meter zone.
“Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to get past this?! Not even a level 150 player could!”
The lightning strike took away 50,000 hit points and this was crazy. This was about a quarter of her own HP. Just taking 4 or 5 more of these lightning strikes would immediately kill her but let’s not forget about the wind blade bursting in her face and sending her careening back a few meters. Dispersing a black wind blade depleted 100,000 HP, so with 50,000 from the lightning strike, Lizzy would lose three-quarters of her total HP pool in an instant.
“There’s no such thing as an impossible quest...I must be doing something wrong…”
It would be too easy if the same method she used on the 1000-meter zone worked on this new zone. Lizzy tossed the previous method away and tried to figure out what she needed to do this time around. She tried just moving through the canyon by anchoring herself on the ground with her weapons but the winds were too powerful for her that she couldn’t even take enough steps to make it halfway to the safe rock that she estimated was about 50 meters ahead of her. Not only that but the winds and lightning passively dealt 10,000 damage to her every 3 seconds so even if she could brave the storm, Lizzy would die even before she could make it to her objective.
She decided to look elsewhere as her eyes moved up and noticed that the wind and lightning above weren’t raging as intensely as the ones closer to the ground so she immediately knew what to do.
“It looks like I'll have to fly through this one, huh?”
Lizzy quickly took flight and just like she had observed, the wind 50 to 100 meters above the ground wasn’t raging as intensely as those below and above this relatively safe region. In the previous zone, the wind above the 50-meter mark was raging so intensely that she couldn’t fly past the canyon. The thundercloud above that also prevented her from having such thoughts so the only way through the canyon...was through the canyon.
‘I thought flying was prohibited but I guess this is the canyon’s trial or whatever…’
Lizzy began flying through this ‘safe’ region and thankfully, the black winds didn’t deal too much damage to her. The 10,000 Damage that she would have taken down below was reduced to only 1,000 Damage. The only thing she had to worry about was the purple lightning strikes that randomly appeared and dealt 50,000 Damage regardless of her being in this ‘safe’ region and the danger region down below.
Thankfully, she had learned a thing or two from her best friend, Maria, who was dubbed by the player base as the Queen of the Skies for her immaculate flying capabilities which she displayed in the IGC’s Obstacle Course Event’s Final Segment where she left everyone behind in the dust as she broke past the speed of sound and flew through the course and arrived at the end in only a few seconds.
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Lizzy learned how to do the agile and quick maneuvers her friend made when completing sharp turns or dodging the obstacles in her way. This was a good place to practice so Lizzy began trying it out though she sometimes nearly fell to the danger zone below her. A few close shaves happened but Lizzy was getting more and more accustomed to making the small adjustments to her wings to complete those agile movements so when she arrived near the end of the 2000-meter zone, Lizzy could confidently say that she had reached at least half the level that Maria was on. The 2000-meter zone’s safe flight region didn’t have any resting zones so Lizzy had to fly nonstop through it but thankfully, her SP held up and she reached the end.
Lizzy was prepared to face another zone but to her surprise, the zone past the 2000-meter zone was completely devoid of any wind and lightning. She cautiously stepped into this void zone and moved forward.
“Hmm…is this perhaps...the end?”
It was a hopeful wish, but Lizzy kept a close eye on her surroundings nonetheless. She didn’t know if something might suddenly jump at her face so she needed to be ready at all times. The area was foggy but after walking about a few hundred meters into this zone, Lizzy saw the silhouette of something large ahead of her. When she saw this silhouette, a sudden wind appeared and blew away the fog.
She raised her two greatswords and got ready for whatever was coming but as the fog cleared away, nothing happened and the skull of some kind of monster appeared.
“It’s a...dragon?”
The skull was that of a dragon and behind that skull was the rest of the skeleton. No matter how she looked at it, this was definitely the remains of a dragon...a Tempest Dragon to be more specific. The skull was white with a tinge of green with golden veins running through it. Even though it was only a skeleton, Lizzy could feel the immense mana that was still coursing through it.
A few sparks of lightning would surge through the skeletons before dispersing into the air and she could sometimes hear the wind bellowing into a dragon roar that gave her the illusion that these skeletons might rise up from the dead as Skeleton Dragons. Past this skeleton was a few larger skeletons and beyond that was a large pyramid-like temple. The temple had an Aztecian look and to Lizzy’s surprise, at the very top of the temple was the skeleton of a person.
She moved past the graveyard of dragons and walked up the temple steps. When she arrived at the top, she noticed that the skeleton was holding onto a glowing book.
“...I’m sorry.”
Lizzy bowed to the skeleton before she pried the book away from its claw-like hands.
*DING*
You have acquired the skill book: Dragon Claw
“Finally, the first dragon skill!”
Skill Name: Dragon Claw Level: 1 Rank: A Description: Slash with a dragon’s claw, dealing (5 x STR) Damage 5 meters ahead of the player. Inflicts [Stun] for 2 seconds Cooldown: 60 seconds Cost: 10 Dragon Force
“Dragon Force? What’s that?”
The cost to use the skill was different from mana but she could worry about that later. Right now, the important thing was to learn the skill so Lizzy immediately tapped the skill book on her chest and learned it.
*DING*
You have learned the skill: Dragon Claw!
“Nice.”
However, right as the notification came out that she learned the skill, the canyon began rumbling as the pyramid temple began to collapse. The skeleton next to her also began crumbling into nothingness as only its clothes remained and a glowing pendant. Lizzy noticed the glowing pendant immediately so she grabbed it along with the clothes by accident.
With the temple crumbling, she didn’t have any time to deliberate so she stuffed the two items right into her inventory before jumping into the air. When she looked around, she noticed that the rumblings weren't caused by an earthquake or anything. Instead, it was something worse.
“Uh oh…”
The once inanimate dragon skeletons had begun to move and overturn the earth they were partially buried in. They shook off the dirt and dust that had accumulated on their bodies and let out a howling roar into the air.
“...I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Name: Tempest Skeleton Dragon Level: 110
Name: Tempest Skeleton Dragon Level: 120
Name: Tempest Skeleton Dragon Level: 125
Name: Tempest Skeleton Dragon Level: 115
Name: Tempest Skeleton Dragon Level: 110
There were 5 skeleton dragons in total, each of them surpassing the level limit of the planet with the biggest one being level 125. Although Lizzy was level 142 which was far above these monsters, the pressure she felt from the skeleton dragons ensured her that they were much stronger than what their level suggested.
“...Haah...this is bad,” Lizzy mumbled as she looked at the skeleton dragons that eyed her with their ominously glowing ghost-fire eyes.