The dragon's head was nestled quite comfortably on a pile of prior meal’s bones. Lava dribbled down from the roof of the massive cavern, keeping her nest at a temperature that would kill lesser creatures. The monstrous reptile slowly rose to her full, grand height before spreading out her wings like massive, powerful clouds. With a low guttural growl she began to stretch the rest of her body. She was Niohoggr, king of dragons.
She felt the creatures that dared to intrude on her lair, like so many before whose bones now lined the massive stone chamber. The dragon spread out a single paw, which was large enough to pick up a carriage and crush it in a single motion, to scrape deep gouges across the stone floor. The monster slapped its tail once against the chamber's walls, crushing rocks to dust. Slowly she walked towards the center of the chamber and waited, as she had a thousand times before. Niohoggr didn't mind waiting. After all, when entire kingdoms could rise and fall in the span of one of your naps, of what worry was a few minutes or hours of waiting for a tasty snack?
Besides, most who traveled through the dungeon made their way to the dragon eventually. Very few survived the encounter. What creature would be both foolish enough to intrude on a mother's nest, and mighty enough to survive?
------
A small band of six walked through underground tunnels, high on alert. One of them stopped and her hands began to lightly tap on the air. “I think we're almost there, hold on,” the woman said. Her body was covered in jagged scales and she was easily the tallest of the group. A reptilian tail with long spikes poked out through the back of her armor. She wore thick metal scalemail that covered her entire body, molding to her natural scales. In her free hand she held a black axe with a blade nearly as tall as her. Despite the heavy weight of the weapon and armor, she didn't seem the least bit tired. The woman started walking again after a moment and they soon came to a divide in the tunnel.
“Okay,” the woman said before she glanced back. “We have to split up here and kill the lizards in the next rooms at the same time. I'll go right. Hale and Caelite, you're with me.” She motioned towards two of her party near the back.
“Hold on,” said the man beside her before he held up his hands. He was short, his entire body covered in orange fur with black stripes of a tiger and he carried no weapon. Instead his hands ended in long, powerful claws and around his wrist he wore golden bracers. Rather than armor, he wore a thin cloth robe. Behind him, he had a long thin tail that flicked in random directions with every step he made. “That's not fair, Deva. Why do you get all the healers? You're a dragon, you don't need that much,” the unarmed man said before he crossed his arms.
The girl sighed before she brought her scaled palm to her face and shook her head. “Because, Rake, you'll need the leviathan's protection spells more. If I take the fae instead of the demon, I'll have all ranged and not enough up close fighters if things get bad. Don't worry, with the three of you it should be fine.” Deva again motioned to the other two to follow.
Caelite stepped forward first toward the scaled girl. He was a tall man with the physique of a bodybuilder. In his hands he held a large glaive, the blade of which was almost as big as Deva's axe. He was dressed in full black plate mail, covering his entire body aside from his head. Red tattoos flowed across his cheeks, huge horns protruding from his forehead and sharp teeth flashed when he smiled. Narrow red slits for eyes glanced towards the woman. His tail was extremely thin and ended in a small spade. “I'm sure you'll be fine, Rake.”
Hale chuckled while he walked up with them. “Of course he will. A holy beast's regeneration is nearly as good as my healing.” He was only of moderate height, and quite thin. He had a rapier strapped to his waist and was wearing a white robe that flowed around him. Long feathery wings were closed against his back which seemed to almost glow with a soft radiance.
Deva, Caelite and Hale headed down the path on the right before Rake shook his head and called after them, “Fine, whatever. You better not die! It's going to take all of us to face Niohoggr, and I don't want to have to wait for you until you're back and able to fight.” With those parting words he headed down the left, the other two following behind him. After a few steps he glanced back. “Hey, Skyth, are you going to be okay as our only support? I know leviathan magic can be a bit rough on solo support.”
“Huh?” the woman asked. She was much like the Deva, except her scales were blue, smooth and soft-looking as opposed to thick jagged scales. She was of average height. The leviathan girl was wearing plate mail, made of a light blue material that molded to her skin. Her tail also ended in two fins as opposed to being covered in spikes. She held a small metal mace in her right hand and a thick crystal shield strapped to her left arm. “I'll be fine. If anything happens, I can take a few hits while you recover.”
“Okay. Media, you feel like you'll be able to hit things without hitting us?” Rake joked.
“I think I'll be fine,” the last member of the group said with a roll of her eyes. She was a tall, thin woman. Her skin was perfectly smooth, and with no scars or the smallest hint of a blemish, creating an unnatural beauty. She wore brown leather armor, covered in small studs. In her hands she held a small bow, with a quiver latched onto her back. “I wouldn't be much of a fae if I couldn't hit my target. Just don't jump in the way of my arrows on purpose.”
The path soon opened into a large stone room lined with torches. A massive metal gateway stood across from the chamber. Once Rake, Media and Skyth were inside, thick metal bars descended from behind to lock them in.
Small red lights flashed before nine little creatures appeared. Bipedal green reptilian humanoids wearing brown loin cloths and wielding small butcher knives. They only came up to Skyth's chest, though their sharp blades were warning enough not to underestimate the creatures.
After the creatures appeared, a large red light formed in front of the exit. A creature much like the smaller lizard-men formed. Its scales were red and it towered over the party, almost as tall as the three of them put together, with arms like tree trunks. A massive greatsword materialized in its hands before it let out a bone chilling roar. “Bloodfang the Ripper,” Skyth said before she lifted her shield up. The monsters charged.
“I'll handle the big guy, Skyth start your spells! Earth blockade!” Rake yelled before he put his hands together. The ground shook before a circle of spikes shot out of the ground in front of him, stabbing into the creature's ranks and hindering their path. The beasts studied the deadly points, before trying to climb over without getting skewered.
Skyth lifted her mace into the air. “Hydra's armor!” Water shot up from her her weapon to form a small fountain, coating the ground in water. A small film of liquid formed across the three before turning into thin blue scales under their respective armors. The scales flowed around them like water, not impeding their movements and so light they could barely be felt. The leviathan then placed the mace head onto the ground. “Ice path!” she yelled before a path of ice flowed along the ground towards the largest creature. The ground under Bloodfang was soon completely covered in ice, forcing it to stop for a moment while it slid and struggled to get its bearings. “Hurry up, the effects won't last long!”
“Got it!” Media said before she drew back the string of her bow, an arrow disappeared from the quiver and formed in her fingers once the string was fully nocked. “Tornado shot!” the fae yelled before she let the arrow go. It flew straight at Bloodfang, slamming into its chest. The arrow exploded into a maelstrom of wind, barely damaging the creature, but sending it spinning across the icy floor.
Three of the smaller creatures managed to climb over the spikes and charged from the right. The first swung its knife at Rake, who ducked under it and drove his right claws straight into the creature's stomach. The claws pierced its hide, but the creature didn't stop. It slashed down with its blade and cut the tiger man with the serrated edge of its knife across his face, carving a deep gash.
Rake kicked out and knocked the creature's legs from under it, bringing it crashing to the ground. His left hand formed a fist and he drove it into the creature's head, crushing it. The creature disappeared in a splash of red sparkles an instant later.
The other two were locked in combat with Skyth, slashing their blades at her while she deftly blocked with her shield and parried with her mace. She slowly backed up, biding her time until she was able to catch both butcher knives on her shield. The leviathan shoved forward as hard as she could, knocking them both back before she drove the mace down on the head of the closer one, the second toppling back to the ground. A moment later five arrows jammed into the wounded creature's side and it burst into red sparkles. The blue girl gave a small wave to Media, who drew her bow string back again.
“Two down,” Rake said. The cut on his cheek had already healed completely. “We need to speed this up, before the boss gets back on its feet. Stone crash!” The tiger man lifted his foot up before slamming it back into the ground. A second later a wave of stone shot up under a group of three of the creatures and sent them hurtling backwards. The circle of spikes then melded back into the ground, leaving the floor smooth again before the remaining three creatures grouped with the one Skyth had knocked back and charged at the three.
Skyth yelled out another quick spell before she charged at the creatures. A blue glow covered her weapon. When the creatures swung, she lifted her shield up to block the strike and brought her mace across the hip of the one on her right. Ice burst out from the mace and pelted the monsters in jagged shards. She ducked down while Rake jumped over her, bringing a clawed foot down on one of the stunned lizard's skulls. It disappeared in a shower of red sparkles.
“Get down! Both of you!” Media yelled before she pulled her arrow taut. “Multi-shot!” The other two dove to the ground. She released the string and the arrow flew. A green glow coated it and it split into a hail of arrows, impaling the creatures. All three burst into red sparkles.
Rake and Skyth jumped to their feet and ran back to the archer. The team watched the remaining three creatures and Bloodfang, the latter now on its feet after shattering the ice coating to pieces. It roared and charged straight at them, sword raised high. The smaller creatures charged from the groups left, struggling to catch up with the larger monster.
“Okay, you two take care of the little guys. I'll try to stall the big guy as long as I can. Nature's sustenance!” Rake said before he lifted both hands to the air and a brown glow formed on the ground around him. He charged forward and, the brown light following under his feet, slammed his fist into Bloodfang's stomach. It didn't so much as flinch from the blow and brought its sword down on him.
The blade dug into his back, piercing through the magical scales from the blue girl's magic like warm butter. When the sword was drawn out, the wound rapidly began to heal. It was little more than a shallow slash across his flesh by the time the edged weapon came down a second time. He punched with all his might and fury, landing blow after blow into the creature's stomach and legs as the two fought.
His back was quickly covered in the large slashes and his left arm soon lay limp at his side, his rapid regeneration unable to keep up with the powerful strikes. Even the scales were doing little more than dampening the blows. “Are you guys almost done? My HP is almost-- Gah!” he was cut off when the creature’s knee struck his stomach and he was knocked back, hitting the ground and lying limp. Another strike from the monster and a large red gash was carved into his chest, his body now threatening to completely give out.
Bloodfang lifted its sword high into the air before bringing it down at Rake with a triumphant roar. The blade was stopped when a dome of ice formed over the fallen fighter. The creature brought its blade down on the ice in a repeated, furious fury, refusing to abandon its prey when victory was so close. In its battle rage, it failed to realize its comrades had all fallen.
Skyth ran forward and stood over her wounded comrade. When the ice shattered, Bloodfang's sword was brought down yet again. Skyth dropped her mace and used both arms to support the shield, taking the blow. Even with both arms she was driven to her knees, barely managing to avoid falling on Rake. “Hurry up and heal yourself, I can't keep him like this forever!” Skyth yelled in frustration.
“I'm working on it. Without my main regeneration spell it's slow,” Rake said while he crawled away from the fight, the creature still pounding on the girl's shield. He got out of range and crossed his legs before a light surrounded him. “I'll try to meditate to heal back up. Hold him back as long as you can.”
Media drew her bow string back as quickly as she could and shot arrow after arrow into Bloodfang. The arrows barely phased the lizard-man as it beat its blade across the shield over and over. Finally, with a powerful swing, the shield was shattered and the blade continued through the woman's arm. No blood was spilled, though the separated limb disappeared into red sparkles.
Skyth screamed and fell, clutching her arm. She stared up just in time to see a giant sword hurtling down at her head.
The blade stopped mid motion, the beast man now under the creature's arm, holding the creature's hand just below the wrist with all his might. “I don't know how long I can hold it, this thing is tough. Hit it with everything you've got!” Rake yelled. His arms trembled with exertion against Bloodfang's might.
Skyth glanced back to Media. They shared a quick nod before she slammed her remaining hand on the ground while the archer held out both her hands. “Combination activate! Hurricane!” the two said in unison. Water formed around the creature. It started as a small puddle but began to swirl around the creature's feet and lift into the air until small blades of water were spinning around and slashing through the locked combatants. Soon the two fighters couldn't be seen behind the razor winds.
“I-I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. My MP is almost at zero,” Skyth said to her comrade.
“Just a little bit more! If we can just hold it a bit more then we should be fine,” Media yelled while she watched the spinning destruction. After a few more moments the winds broke apart, splattering them with water. Bloodfang had gone limp, panting and gasping for air while leaning on its sword. Rake lay on the ground, unmoving, but he hadn't disappeared into red sparkles.
“You gotta be kidding me! How much health can this thing have?” Skyth screamed before she ran forward. She wobbled a bit from side to side with her balance damaged, but still managed to grab her mace when she ran past it. The leviathan woman jumped into the air and brought the mace down on Bloodfang's skull. The blunt weapon crushed the skull, causing the boss to disappear in an explosion of red sparkles. In its place a small treasure chest materialized. Skyth failed to catch her bearings in time and landed on the chest stomach first. After a few moment the leviathan let out a pained groan, before rolling off it and collapsing on the ground.
“Well... I guess that's that. I hope the others had an easier time than we did,” Media said before she moved over to nudge Rake. “You okay? Regeneration kicking in?”
“All my world is pain and suffering...” the beast man groaned. “How did you two even pull that spell off?”
“Oh, stop your whining, I lost an arm but you don't hear me complaining, do you? Also, we discussed it while we were fighting the smaller creatures,” the girl said while she puffed out her chest proudly. Her left hand reappeared with a sudden white glow. “Fight is officially over now. Wish my shield regenerated like my hand though. It's going to cost a fortune repairing that.”
“Losing a hand just does a one time pain burst. That was dozens of pain bursts,” Rake said before he slowly got to his feet. “It's not like you'll need your shield for the next area. Me and Deva will be drawing the focus of Niohoggr. Besides, why didn't you bring a spare?”
“That shield was expensive! It took almost all of my gold and I couldn't afford a decent spare. If you hadn't spent so much time regenerating yourself, it would've been fine,” Skyth said while glaring at the man, before she stomped her foot on the ground in frustration.
“Will you two calm down? We've won, it's fine,” Media said. “So long as the others beat their boss we can move on and get the egg, then you'll never have to deal with each other again.”
“Wish my guild could have come for this. My shield wouldn't have broken if I had them,” Skyth grumbled before she kicked the chest. It popped open to reveal a ruby encrusted dagger. “Do either of you use daggers?”
“Nope. You should be thankful anyone came here with you at all. Getting the keys was such a pain in the ass,” Rake said.
“I'll take it, if that's okay,” Media said. “I could use a dagger for when I work on angel.” The other two just shrugged and she took the blade. It disappeared into red sparkles a moment later. The large gate opposite of where they had entered slowly lifted up, revealing another stone tunnel ahead.
“Let's go,” the beast man said before walking through the gate. The tunnel soon opened up to another large chamber. In the center was a large fountain encrusted with gemstones and sparkling with clear spring water. Their second group was already sitting on the fountain's edge, chatting away. A tunnel much like the one they came out of was across the room from them, a clear sign where the others had come from. Equally distanced between the two tunnels stood a massive gate, with a golden dragon carved into its surface, locked and barred. Rake let out a low whistle at the sight. “How did you guys fare?”
“Easy. I barely even had to heal the dragon,” Hale said before he gestured towards the red scaled girl.
“Yeah, dragons are so over powered. Only way they could be worse is if they could turn into the same dragons as the bosses,” Skyth said.
“Oh, shut it,” Deva said with a roll of her eyes. “If dragons were really that over powered, everyone would use them. Let's get this over with so we can get the eggs and go home.” The dragon girl got up and walked to the door. She held out her hand towards the door and a large red gem formed in her grasp. The others walked behind her and held out their hands, gems forming as well. Blue for the leviathan, green for the fae, brown for the holy beast, black for the demon and white for the angel. The gem stones disappeared. A few moments later the door began to shake and rumble before opening. Hot air billowed out from the room, the chamber slowly revealed to them.
“Everyone better be ready. We only get one chance at this,” Rake said. The chamber was carved from thick stone, with lava falls and pools of magma mixed throughout the room. A large nest was carved near the back, holding six small eggs. In the center of the room stood the guardian.
Niohoggr was larger than most buildings, her claws even bigger than the combined size of the group. The lava spilled across her powerful body without leaving so much as a burn across the thick black scales. She turned to them and just snorted once, the force of its breath almost strong enough to knock them over and causing Deva and Media to retch at the smell. The mighty beast slapped her tail on the ground once, causing the floor to shake. She slowly yawned, revealing long, sharp teeth that could crush through a castle wall and still easily grab the people hidden inside. Finally, her wings slowly spread out and stretched, blocking out the lava falls for a moment and sending the molten rock across the room before she folded her wings again.
“Holy shit. We're supposed to kill that with the six of us? You have got to be kidding me!” Rake said, his mouth hanging open.
“Oh relax. It won't be able to fight all out in this small chamber. I hear the master level version you have to fight outside with just five. Now that's a fight,” Hale said before he moved to the back and flapped his own wings a few times. “Don't think anyone's beaten it there.”
“How did they even come up with something so... so... big?” Skyth asked with a squeak while she rubbed the handle of her mace nervously.
“When this first came out it was one of the showcase bosses,” Caelite said. “It's why it drops the dragon pet instead of an item. Bet it's not nearly as tough as it looks though. Quest to battle it is just time consuming with the whole gathering the keys thing. It wouldn't be fair if it ended up being too difficult considering you'd have to start from scr--” The words 'Awakened Niohoggr' appeared over the dragon's head. “I think it's about ready.”
“So everyone remember the strategy,” Deva yelled before she charged forward. “For the first part, watch out for the teeth and claws and go at it! I got the face!” She raised her axe above her head. The dragon merely gazed at her for a moment before it snapped its head forward to try and crush her in one bite. She lunged to the right so the head went by and swung her axe. It connected with the dragon's cheek. Sadly, all the blow did was dent one of the powerful scales, causing it to roar angrily.
The rest of the party charged forward. Niohoggr's left claws shot out at Skyth, but was blocked by Rake darting in front of her and catching the powerful extremity. He skidded along the ground while the paw tried pushing him, but he managed to stop it from slamming him into the ground. “I got it! Hit it with everything you got!” he yelled while he struggled to keep the sharp claws open and stop them from tearing into or crushing him.
The others ran forward, hitting the arm as fast as they could while Deva kept the head distracted. She jumped to and fro while the razor sharp teeth snapped angrily at her until finally she jumped to the right and Niohoggr lunged too far forward, slamming into the wall. While it was temporarily stunned the dragon-woman jumped onto the monster's head and brought her axe down between its eyes.
Niohoggr roared in rage and thrashed wildly, sending Deva flying into the wall. The dragon brought both her claws together, crushing Rake before flinging him across the room into one of the magma pools. She reared back on her hind legs and glared at the remaining four fighters. Flames burst from her lips before she lunged her head forward, unleashing flame on them hot enough to melt stone.
Skyth thrust her mace up. “Ice shield!” A shield of water formed in front of the remaining group for a moment before shifting to ice. When the flame connected steam filled the air, though the barrier held. “I don't know how long I can hold this! Hale, see if you can heal Rake and find Deva. I'll try to keep it distracted here as long as I can! Media, Caelite, get out and try to hide or something in case I can't hold the flame back!”
“Got it!” Hale yelled. The three ran from under the barrier. He moved to the magma pool that Rake had landed in, his eyes wandering frantically. “Come on man, where are you! I can't heal you if I can't see you.” He drew his sword and began poking around in the molten rock. After a few stabs he felt something in the thick red magma. He took a deep breath and then thrust his hand in. Pain and heat shot through his arm, though he grabbed and yanked.
Rake was pulled from the magma, barely moving, and the angel let out a sigh of relief. Most of his fur was covered in scorch marks or completely burned away, with some skin completely burned black. “You're so lucky that your health is so high. Hold on. Holy kiss!” Hale said before he placed his hand to the beast-man's chest and white light began to flow through and heal the man.
“That dragon hits hard,” Rake said with a groan when the white light went through him, the damage quickly mending itself before he sat up. “Another hit like that and I'd have been out of this fight. Okay, I think I'm good!” He hopped to his feet and turned around. His fur had returned and most of the burns were nothing more than dark, red areas on his skin. He stared up at Niohoggr, who had both eyes focused solely on them. Skyth was on her knees in front of the massive creature, a paper thin barrier of ice the only thing between her and the monster. She was panting and barely able to move, most of her MP spent on the temporary defense.
The dragon leaned her head back, flames beginning to lick around the edges of her mouth. Before she could unleash the torrent, she reeled back and let loose an angry howl. Niohoggr turned her head and glared down at her hind legs where an axe and glaive were currently hacking away with all their wielders might. She went back down on all fours, forcing Deva and Caelite to lunge out of the way to avoid being crushed by her girth, landing on their stomachs. An arrow bounced off the creature's left eye before it whipped around to look at its new attacker, the fae.
Media drew the bow string taut, a green glow forming around the arrow. She unleashed the arrow. It struck the dragon's face and exploded into a mass of oil. “Now! While it's blinded, hit it with everything you have!”
The group didn't hesitate as they charged forward, weapons aglow with magic. Niohoggr rubbed at her eyes to try and get the liquid off. After a few moments of their combined attacks on the creature, she let out another furious howl and slammed her tail against the wall of the cave. Chunks of the roof began to fall, forcing them to seek cover.
Rake thrust his open palms into the ground. “Earth dome!” A dome of rock began to rise over him, blocking the falling rocks. “Everyone, over here, quick!” The rest of the group heeded his call, narrowly getting under the cover as more rocks fell from above. Moments after the last member got under, the dome finished closing. The stones soon covered the chamber, even filling the magma pools and forcing the molten rock to flow around the collapsed stones.
“Okay, first half of the fight is done, but now it'll get trickier,” Deva said while she nervously rubbed the edge of her axe. “With all the lava on the ground we'll have to be careful. Most of us don't have enough regeneration to survive a swim in it for long. Not to mention the movement debuffs will make it near impossible to avoid attacks while we're in it. If you fall in, get out as fast as you can. If you see anyone fall in, try to keep the dragon from hitting them. Stick to the islands and keep moving.”
Deva turned to the angel. “Hale, try to fly around and give heals where they're needed. Rake and I will try to keep the creature focused on us. Caelite, Media, deal as much damage as you can while we do that. Skyth, see what you can do about expanding the areas we can go through. Have enough MP left to use any good water spells?”
“Only a few,” the leviathan answered as she stretched out her arms. “I've recovered a little MP, but I don't think this break will be enough to get much back.”
“Okay. See what you can do. If you see any opportunities to trap the boss's legs, do it. Everyone know their part of the plan? Okay! Rake, on my count end the dome. Three. Two. One. Break!” Deva yelled. The dome crumbled around them and they jumped out. The room had been transformed. Small islands of stone stood surrounded by a miniature sea of magma, each island within jumping distance of another. The dragon stood in the center of the room, claws deep in the thick molten rock. Hale spread his wings and took to the air while the others quickly jumped to the nearest safe surface. The hole the dome had created quickly began to fill with magma.
Rake and Deva leaped across the small islands toward the boss before jumping onto its left forearm. Deva slammed her axe into the forearm with all her might while Rake grabbed onto the creature's scales and kicked it as hard as it could.
Niohoggr started to pull her claw from the magma, but the molten rock cooled and hardened suddenly when water flowed over it. Skyth held up her hands while more water fell around the creature, hardening the magma and trapping the dragon’s limb temporarily, as well as giving her comrades another small island to walk on.
Caelite and Media charged to the right foreleg and began their own assault. The demon jammed his glaive into the leg while the blade seemed to turn darker and darker. The fae shot arrow after arrow at the leg. Some of the ammunition were enchanted with green glows as the magical arrows pierced the creature's hide.
Niohoggr gazed down at the little gnats that were causing her pain and let out another angry roar. She reared her head back while flames rose in her mouth before she lunged forward, opening wide. Before the flames shot from her maw at the leviathan, the dragon's head shot to the right, throwing the blast off completely. Three white orbs of light exploded in the monster's face. She turned and glared at the pesky flying angel surrounded by the orbs.
The dragon struggled in her hardened lava bindings and finally tore her body free. The three attackers shrieked when they were sent hurtling through the air and into the magma. Niohoggr threw her all into attacks against Hale, slashing with her claws and snapping her jaws while the movements sent ripples through the sea of molten rock. The angel flew through the air as fast as he could, diving in between claws and around razor sharp teeth, but was unable to launch a counter attack. The orbs soon disappeared from existence.
The rest of the party managed to barely crawl from the magma, laying on one of the islands. “How you guys faring?” Media asked. “Any HP left?” Their bodies were charred and smoldering, with smoke rising from their hair and burns covering their bodies.
“Barely. This game needs a scan feature,” Deva said with a groan before she crawled to her knees, using her axe to steady herself. “I wish I could see how much health the dragon has before it runs, because I'm not sure we'll last much longer. We need a break.”
“You might not get it.” Skyth pointed towards their flying companion. “Hale has it distracted, but unless we finish it soon, one chomp and he's gone. I doubt he has a high enough defense or enough HP to survive an attack like that.”
“Guess it's all or nothing then. One final attack,” Deva said before she slowly got up, leaning on her axe. “Think you can give me some health draining enchantments, Caelite?”
“Yeah, I'll see what I can do,” the demon said before he got to his feet. “Skyth, Media, see if you two can distract it for a bit longer. Then we can try to finish it off.” He held his hands together and a black mist started to form around them. The other two of their party jumped to another nearby island. “Draining aura.”
Media drew her bow taut and green light once again encased the arrow. “Homing shot!” she yelled before she let the arrow go. It sailed through the air and up to the dragon's snapping head. The arrow dodged around the creature's fangs and finally reached its target, the giant reptile's eye.
Niohoggr howled in pain and rage while she shook her head from side to side. The remaining unhurt eye then whipped around to glare angrily at the bow wielder who, despite knowing she shouldn't, raised a hand and waved at the creature.
The dragon was not amused, flames dancing along her lips. “Run!” Skyth yelled before she took the fae's hand and ran, leaping to the next island over. Scorching flames incinerated the ground behind them while they fled for their lives from Niohoggr's angry blaze. Media was slightly faster than the leviathan and was able to avoid the fire that enveloped the slower girl. It left nothing behind except a few small blue rays of light. The fae was quickly running out of room to run while the devouring flame pursued her. She stopped at the edge of one of the islands, her only remaining path blocked by one of the dragon's arms. The heat slowly died behind her and the creature stared down at her triumphantly.
Media covered her eyes and waited for the inevitable firey death, but it never came. Instead, when she finally opened her eyes and looked up she saw the dragon furiously snapping at its neck, trying to get at Deva while the woman chopped through the beast's hide. The axe was covered in black mists and every slice with it tore away scales from the dragon's body.
Niohoggr let out another roar before both her wings spread out. “Get off it! It's going to take off!” Caelite yelled.
Deva leaped back and, her axe dropping to the magma below, landed on one of the islands. She tripped and rolled along it for a few moments before stopping just short of the edge. She quickly flipped onto her back and looked up at the dragon before it began flapping its wings.
The creature began to slowly rise, a few feet at a time, before its claws reached up above and began to tear through the roof of the massive cavern. The stone quickly gave way before the creature's might and boulders the size of carriages began to fall from above. Waves of magma were thrown around when rocks and wind blew through the chamber, tossing the players around like rag dolls. Deva didn't have enough energy to do more than brace herself when she was sent hurtling around. She saw Media get buried under an avalanche of rocks and then covered in a wave of magma. Hale clung desperately to the walls of the cave and attempted to avoid a similar fate.
Niohoggr pulled through the roof and flew off into the sky, the warm sun flowing in from the new hole. The cave was filled with rocks and now only a few small puddles of magma. Those that survived, slowly pulled themselves from the rubble and got to their feet. A few green and blue rays of light were all that remained of the fallen of their party.
“Well, we won. Wasn't easy but we triggered the event. Hale, can you start reviving them?” Rake asked. “We don't want to loot the eggs until we're all together.”
The angel nodded before he flew to the blue lights and held out his hands, “Resurrection.” A white glow enveloped the lights and soon the Skyth's body rematerialized.
Her armor was completely shattered and nothing more than a few scraps of broken metal, showing the thin brown cloth underneath. Her mace was just a broken handle. She sat up with a groan. “Well I'm happy that's over. At least we won't have any more fights until we get back to town. How many we lose?”
“Just two. You and Media. All in all not a bad outcome for six people who just joined together,” Rake said. The angel move to the green light and began the resurrection again. Deva rummaged through some of the rocks before finding her axe, pushed up to the top layer once the cavern had done its final change.
Media had fared no better, her armor torn to shreds and her bow and quiver gone. “I hate death penalties. At least the money I'll make selling the egg will more than make up for the repairs.” She said before kicking one of the small rocks in annoyance.
“With interest. Come on,” Caelite said before he lightly jogged towards the nest. Despite all the damage the chamber had suffered, the nest was fine. Not a single scorch mark or crushed egg in it. Six perfectly oval, black eggs the size of an average dog rested comfortably in a nest of obsidian. The demon reached out and took one of the eggs while the others ran up to join him. One by one they each took an egg before turning towards the door they came through.
“So what are you guys going to do with your eggs when you get back to town?” Skyth asked.
“Sell mine. These things are worth a fortune! No one wants to do the quest for them so you can sell them pretty fast too,” Caelite said with a grin. “Going to buy brand new gear for the coming levels.”
“I'm gonna hatch it,” Deva said before she rubbed the egg and it disappeared in a small burst of red sparkles. “Never had a pet before and a dragon would be awesome. A dragon fighter with a dragon pet will look amazing. I hear once you get it high enough you can even ride it,” she said with a grin.
“I think for now I'll just store it. I'm not sure if I will even need the money for it, so might be best to just hold onto it,” Kale said. “That way I won't have to buy one later or ever do the quest again. This is the first group I've been in that's actually been able to get to the dragon at all, let alone kill it.”
“Yeah, we all worked really well together. Maybe we can play again sometime,” Media said before crossing her arms. “I'm gonna sell my egg too. There are other pets you can get that are just as strong without all the hassle. I'd rather raise one of them and have the money from this.”
“I'm with the fae,” Hale said. “A wyvern is just as strong, a lot cheaper, slightly smaller and only looks weaker. Here's the exit!” They stepped out from the caves and into a grassy field.
The fields stretched as far as the eye could see, with only the occasional tree to break up the landscape. The caves they came from went into a large volcano that towered over them, the top lost in the clouds. Over the cave entrance was a sign with warnings written in a half dozen different styles, ranging from words to pictures of a dragon chewing on an armored knight.
Hale stopped when he felt the demon grab his hand. “What is it?” The angel let out a startled yelp when he was pushed back towards the cave. A spear seemed to materialize from thin air and stab him through the chest. He stared down in shock. A moment later two more spears stabbed him and his body disappeared in a burst of red sparkles, leaving only a few beams of white light behind.
The spears were held by people much like the demon, horns and tails with dark armors. Three more appeared, surrounding the group. Two held guisearmes and a man directly in front held a large glaive. His glaive was completely black and glimmered like obsidian. The pole was black as well. The entire weapon seemed to almost absorb light as it cast dark shadows all around it. He wore black full plate armor that absorbed the light in the same way his weapon did.
“What's the meaning of this? Who are you?” Rake raised his arms in a defensive stance and backed away.
Caelite separated himself from his previous comrades and smiled as the man in black armor spoke up. “Sorry guys, guild business. Those eggs are very valuable,” he said as he watched them. The dragon woman's hands began tapping on the air. “So here's the deal. You have no healer, two of you are missing most your gear. We can either PK you and take the eggs and whatever other loot you guys got doing this dungeon and you can deal with the death penalties. Or you can give up the eggs, and let's say... five gold each. Then we let you go.”
“Five gold! That's highway robbery!” Media yelled, but quickly backed away when one of the spears were shoved close to her face. “It can take days to even get one gold at our level!”
“We're being nice. Besides, once you get stronger, five gold is nothing. Either way we're going to get the eggs. It's up to you how badly you'll be penalized for it. Don't even think of resisting. There's only two of you who can fight, we have you surrounded, have better gear and have you far outnumbered.”
The words 'Class change: Angel. 10 seconds' flashed above Deva's head, drawing their attention.
“Damn it! Hit her, initiate combat!” the man yelled.
The spear holders charged forward, two men and a woman, and tried to stab her with their spears. She didn't turn around, instead she merely jumped to the right so the spears hit empty air. The two wielding guisarme dashed forward, swinging their weapons low as they tried to latch the hooks on her legs. Before they could get close enough, Rake lunged forward and held both his arms out, catching them under the necks and making them fall backwards to the ground.
“Take care of the beast. I'll get the girl,” the man in black said before he raced forward.
Caelite struck at Rake's chest, but the man deflected it away with his bracer. The beast man tried to move in closer. However, when he moved in Caelite shifted the weight of the weapon and pulled the blade towards himself, slamming the back end of the pole into Rake's side.
The beast-man stumbled sideways before Caelite pushed forward and slammed his fist into Rake's stomach. The demon followed up by driving the glaive down across the man's chest, the blade glowing black. It left a long, deep gash, cutting off a bit of his robe in the process.
“You should have just given us the eggs. You're outnumbered and out gunned. You don't stand a chance!” Caelite yelled while the two guisarme wielders got up behind him and moved in to attack as well. Rake deflected the glaive with his bracers, but was forced to keep backing up as the guisarme users attempted to latch onto his legs and knock him down. He was soon backed against the wall, cornered.
A white light blinded the fighters, radiating from Deva's position. The words 'Class change: Initiate' formed over her head as the light spread across her body. The man in black armor brought his glaive down at her head, intending to behead her when the transformation ended. Her right hand shot out and a blade of light formed in her grasp, stopping the blade.
Her form had completely changed to one of an angel. She had a light complexion with short brown hair and blue sapphire eyes. She was slightly taller than average and her wings were long, feathery, and white with golden tips. Despite her glow, the most impressive thing about her was her equipment. Her sword in her right hand was long, the blade pure white with a golden line down the center, and glowed with an internal light. The hand guard was golden with three rubies embedded in the center and on each end of the hand guard. She wore pure white metal armor that covered her entire body beneath the neck. It seemed crafted perfectly to her body, even with small braces for her wings. Gems were embedded across the metal and a crest was emblazoned on the breastplate, an image of angel's wings. A small golden crown shaped like a V was hidden under her hair, only the front showing on her forehead. The gauntlet on her left hand was thicker than the rest of the armor and embedded with jewels on the top, balancing its weight with the sword and allowing it as a semi shield.
Her attacker froze, his eyes bulging. With a flick of her wrist her sword sliced clean through his glaive and sent a chunk of metal to rest on the ground. A moment later the entire weapon disappeared into red sparkles.
The now unarmed man backed away. “I-I know that sword,” he said in disbelief. “That's Excalibur! You're... you're...”
“Yes,” she said calmly before she leveled the blade at his head. The other demons had stopped moving. “I'm a master class. I've been looking for you for a while. A lot of players have put bounties on you. Large bounties. So I'm going to give you a choice.” She brought the sword down to her side. “You can either give in and go to jail peacefully, or I can kill you and send you to jail while you suffer the death penalty.” A cocky grin formed on her lips. “Either way, you're going to jail. It's up to you how badly you'll be penalized for it. Don't even think of resisting.”
He stared at her for a moment before reaching behind his back, a new steel glaive materializing into his hands. “Go f--” Before he could finish the sentence the girl rushed forward and cleaved him and his weapon in half.
“Don't think for a moment that your polearms can stand against Excalibur,” she said before she turned her back to the black rays of darkness. “It would take a master class weapon to fight my holy blade.”
The other demons slowly lowered their weapons and their heads. Within moments the players were encased in white spheres and disappeared. “Who are you?” Rake asked while he watched the angel girl slowly revive Hale.
“Ah, right. I'm sorry I lied to you before, but my name is not Deva. Had I used my real one they would have recognized me,” she said with a smile while her hands moved through the air. A moment later the word Deva disappeared from over her, replaced with a new one. “My true name is Asura. I'm sorry to have involved all of you in this, but I've been after that guild for a while. I couldn't use my angel class since I didn't want to risk them recognizing me.” She gestured towards herself. “It was a pleasure playing with you all, though.” She patted the freshly revived angel on the back, before taking off into the air and blazing across the sky as a white blur.
Her hands wiggled and pushed through a number of menus while she flew. A small timer popped up in the top right corner of her vision, warning her she only had a short time left. She let out an annoyed sigh before she brought up a small menu with a list of names and selected one.
“I caught the people who have been ambushing and stealing people's dragon eggs. I sent them to Sanctuary's Platinum Prison Center. See if you can get any information about them and if they are with any others. I'll be logging out as soon as I arrive in town,” she said before she tapped the name again and closed the menu.
Something eventually appeared off in the distance. Flying high above the clouds, a city of marble floated. The city wasn't very wide, but it was filled to the brim with buildings. The tallest of which were over a hundred stories tall, with the shortest being a few dozen stories tall. Smaller floating islands surrounded the city, some housing towns and others housing just one or two buildings. One in particular held a castle, only about five stories tall, but seeming to be made completely of marble, gold, diamonds and other precious gemstones. Together they made the flying city of Sanctuary.
The castle was her destination. She landed on the roof and slowly walked onto a small circle of diamonds on the ground. She pushed her hands out and tapped on an appearing menu, clicking the option 'Log out'.
The sky and marble slowly faded out to be replaced by an eggshell white roof. White curtains dangled from a metal rack attached to the wall. After a few minutes a small hand appeared directly in front of the glass view screen of the virtual headset. “Asher? You with me?” A young woman appeared behind the screen, she was wearing a pair of blue nurses scrubs.
“I-I'm here,” he said with difficulty. Slowly the headset was unstrapped from his chin and then gently removed, placed on the bedside table beside him.
“So how are we doing today? Did you have a nice day in make believe land?” the nurse asked with a smile that made him want to retch.
Her name was Jessica and he loathed her. She wasn't a bad nurse, per se. But she treated him like a child. Just because the majority of his body was paralyzed she acted as if he was helpless and couldn't take care of himself. Well, technically he couldn't. But he could still think fine and her constant baby talk annoyed him to no end. “I h-had fun,” he said softly.
“Good. It's almost time for your walkies! We'll go and see the ducks, won't that be fun?”
“Thrilling,” he said with all the sarcasm he could muster, but she failed to notice. He gazed longingly back at the direct neural headset as the nurse and a few helpers slowly eased him into a wheelchair. It was a difficult process, due to his weight. The fact he was unable to get any real exercise had led to it increasing over the years.
Soon they were slowly traveling through the hospital, his wheelchair squeaking slightly. He gently wiggled his fingers together in his lap as he listened to the nurse warble on about how sunny and clear a day it was, how he should enjoy the nice weather while he could. All he wished was that it was a dark and rainy day so they could skip the walks and they would just let him play the game in peace.
Instead he was out in the fresh air, sitting by a small pond filled with ducks. Jessica even gave him some bread crumbs to toss. He sighed and weakly tossed some, his arms a bit numb but still able to partially perform the act.
“Very good dear. A few more feet and you'd have made it to the pond. Now don't you fret, it takes plenty of people a few tries. Why don't you do it again?” she asked in a sickeningly sweet tone.
If he could move his arms high enough to reach the nurse, he would have shoved her away. Or at least tried. Instead he feebly tossed bread crumbs a few inches away and waited for the nurse to get tired of bothering him.
“Oh, it's almost time. Ashey, today there is a special surprise for you!”
His blood ran cold when fear grasped him. He prayed she was retiring and not something horrifying like she had been assigned to him permanently.
“Your parents are coming to visit!”
He let out a sigh of relief.
“They'll be here soon. They specifically asked that I bring you outside to see them, so I told them we'd be here. Isn't it exciting?”
Maybe if he was lucky enough, she’d trip and fall in the pond. He just shrugged and stared at the ducks. The woman started rambling about things he really didn't care about. Instead, he thought about his game. After his parents left, he could probably get back to it. He wanted to get to hatching that egg. He wasn't sure of the exact requirements to hatch it, but he knew a few guys who could help get him the info.
He was brought out of his thoughts by an all too familiar voice. “Asher my boy! Good to see you out and about.” He slowly looked up at the source of the voice, his father. A short, round, balding man, his father was slowly getting on in years. Despite his age however, he was still sharp as ever. He made a living as a stock broker, quite profitably, and it was thanks to his success that Asher was being afforded the best medical care in the country.
Not that it really mattered. They couldn't stop the disease spreading through his body. All they could do was slow it down and make sure he didn't croak in the middle of the night. Not that they would tell him that. Being told every week for years that it would 'start getting better any day now', while his condition only worsened, had eventually clued him in. He hadn't told his parents yet. He knew they wanted him to at least think he would be able to fully move one day.
“Your mother and I have some good news. We talked it over with the doctors and it seems you'll be able to join us for the family picnic this year. Doesn't that sound wonderful?” Asher glanced over towards his mother, a woman quite a few years younger than his father with long brown hair. She was a little shorter than her husband and rounding out in a similar way. He couldn't look at her for long before he saw the hint of tears in her eyes. His gaze turned downwards and he tried to avoid that look. He knew his parents were suffering from this, albeit in different ways. His mother was just the worst of them at hiding it.
He instead focused on the news they brought. A day out in the sun watching everyone run around have fun, while he sat in his wheelchair and listened to them talk about how 'sad' and 'tragic' it was that the disease attacked someone so young. “Cool,” he said, struggling not to choke on the words. He knew it was important to them that he be there for some of the family get togethers. Besides, last time he told them he didn't want to go they ended up fighting about how he was wasting his remaining time on that silly game of his. He knew it probably cost them a small fortune with the game equipment, subscription fees, the constant connection to the net and on top of that his medical bills. He was sure he could endure one short afternoon to make them feel he was still with them. That he wasn’t only pretending to live when he was trapped in the real world.
The rest of the visit dragged on slowly, mostly with him just smiling and nodding. His mother told him about the newest family gossip while his father told him about his newest big windfall. But after a while they left and he was slowly wheeled back to his room. Jessica fed him his doctor prescribed diet and then she stared at him and looked out the window. “It really is a beautiful day. Are you sure you want to waste it playing a game? Wouldn't it be better to just... fine, fine. No need to pout. Here we go!” Slowly the head set was slid on and strapped in. Blue lights streaked by while the world was slowly replaced around him.
Patreon
A good start - well written and plotted - Thanks
Thanks! Happy you like it. :)
Reminds me of this one: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/183165/alice-angel-of-mercy/
Huh. Wow. Interesting, I wonder if they'd gotten the same inspiration that I did? Way back from the .hack days. XD