265 Playing with fire (1/2)

Leona was at a loss on how to proceed.

”Hey... Hey...”

On one hand, she had just stumbled upon one of the temples of the four gods of the world, the temple of the north god.

”Hey, I'm talking to you...”

This could be a good chance for her to try and request some help from the gods and maybe even getting some aid in the quest to slay Knucker. From what she could see, the temple was not destroyed like the ones from the east or the west, so the north god must still be around somewhere.

”Hey! Would it kill you to look at me!??”

”Shut up!!!” she shouted as she could no longer bear Daren constantly interrupting her train of thought.

”Well, you were just standing there not saying anything... What was I supposed to do?” Daren replied.

”Nothing! I don't need you to do anything, just find a spot to stay quiet and don't bother me while I think about what to do-”

”Groaaarrrrr....” a loud noise could be heard coming out from the sleeping dragon, interrupting Leoan's speech.

Daren and Leona suddenly became frozen afraid that the beast could wake up and devour them.

”We should get out of here, right now! Before this thing wakes up...” Daren suggested.

”You go... I'll try to reach the temple of the north...” Leona replied.

”What!? Are you crazy?? We need to move away from this cave, not go even deeper!”

”Keep it down!! We need the help of the gods, and as far as we know, this is the only temple that is still standing... The god of the north might help us out.”

”The god of the north...? Is he the one that blessed Mia? Why would he aid us?” Daren wondered.

”No, lady Hana told me that the old north god is gone... He vanished shortly after the war ended... So a new god must have taken his place... We need to find him and talk to him about our situation!”

Daren did not like that idea in the slightest. Part of it because he didn't want to feel indebted to another god. Part of it because a giant sleeping dragon was standing on their way to the temple.

”I don't think this is a good idea...” he commented.

Leona just rolled her eyes, ”What you think doesn't matter... I'm not asking for permission nor for you to come with me... Just stay out of my way and let me be...”

”Wait! You plan to do this alone!?”

”You said it yourself, I'm not part of your team, am I? This is honestly a great chance for us to go on our separate ways...” she answered while climbing down from the rock and moving closer to the dragon's body that was blocking her path to the tunnels of the cave.

”Leona, wait! Let's think about this for a second!”

”There is nothing to think about. Mind your own business and leave me alone...”

Daren hurried to her side and began to try grabbing her arm to make her stop moving, ”Would you just listen to me!?”

”I... Well... I...”

”I heard it all from Marcus already... You hate gods, you always hated gods, you will always hate gods, and you probably hate me because of my relationship with gods... So why don't you just do both of us a favor and stay away from me!!??”

”I don't hate yo- Oh, goddamnit...” Daren whispered.

”What?” Leona asked while noticing Daren's face looking upwards for some reason. She turned around and realized that the dragon had woken up from their constant discussion and was now staring at the two with a lot of anger in his eyes, probably due to having been awakened against his wish.

Leona took a second to gaze at the size of the beast and realized that they were in a lot of trouble, ”Oh, goddamnit...”

Part 2

The beast immediately started to rampage inside the cave as it tried to swallow Daren and Leona with its massive jaws.

The fire mage assumed her battle position and summoned a fire avatar in the shape of a large ape to battle with the dragon. Her ape wasn't as big as the opponent, but it was still enough to put up a fight.

”Hey! You won a fight against a dragon before, right?” Daren asked while trying to escape the giant lizard's attempt to step on him by hiding behind a group of rocks.

”Not really, no... All I did was hold them off for a while and pushed them away for a couple of minutes... And that was done with the help of Marcus! I'm not sure what I can do by myself!”

”You're not by yourself! You have me!!” Daren shouted.

Leona stared at him for a couple of seconds, ”As I said... I'm all by myself...”

”Hey!!”

Daren felt a little insulted by that line but Leona couldn't afford to pay attention to him right now. She knew exactly how dangerous dragons were and she needed to give all of herself if she hoped to win this struggle.

The woman attempted to use her avatar to smack the lizard with its fists or throw a couple of boulders at him, but while its skin wasn't as durable as Wrath's, it was still very hard to injure.

The dragon continued to take her attacks head-on and just headbutted her avatar, launching Leona against the walls.

”Hit him with a fireball!!” Daren suggested.

”No way!! Launching fire costs a lot of energy... I'm not gonna risk exhausting myself when we are in such a dangerous situation!”

”Come on!! You can probably just beat him in one move if you do it! You won't even need energy if he gets down!”

Leona glared at him, ”... ... ... You think one hit is enough to take down a dragon? One of the most fire-resistant creatures in existence?? Are you making fun of me??”

”... Uuhh...”

”Do you know anything about how magic works?? At all??”

The dragon used the moment while the two were distracted and rushed to smack Leona with its head one more time. The mage rushed to get out of the way and managed to make the creature bash itself against the rocks of the cave.

”Nice!” Daren shouted.

Leona saw a chance and grabbed its tail with her avatar's flaming hands and attempted to throw the beast against the ground.

The dragon was faster though, and while Leona raised its body, he latched onto the walls with its claws which allowed him to get free from her grasp.