135 Chapter 135: Dragon (1/2)

”That can't be good,” I muttered under my breath as I inwardly kicked myself for wasting time at the top of a cliff when we should have left much earlier. It seemed like a great idea to dangle our prisoner over the edge earlier, when the dragon wasn't around, but this was a dragon's nest after all. Of course the dragon would return here after it was done with whatever it ran off to do earlier.

”Get behind me!” Troy bellowed when he caught sight of the dragon's jaws yawning wide open to bathe the area in flames. Glancing upward, I recognized the dragon as a Hellfire Drake, and immediately scrambled behind my good friend as ordered. Kureha also obeyed without question and sought refuge behind him. The prisoner, not wanting to be left in the open on his own, also dove behind Troy.

The dark-skinned mage slammed both his palms against the ground and conjured an immense wall of earth just before the dragon unleashed a massive jet of flames upon our position. The hellish flames roasted everything in the open, turning them into ash and dust, before colliding with the sturdy earth wall that Troy had created. The rock turned red and began melting, almost unable to deal with the superheated flames.

”Fuck!”

Cursing, Troy conjured a fresh wall of earth behind the severely weakened one, which mitigated the heat a little. The Hellfire Drake wheeled about after it flew past the mountain, and let loose another enormous gout of fire at us, but Troy had managed to create yet another two layers of rock walls.

”Huff…”

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Breathing heavily, Troy dropped to his knees and wiped the perspiration off his face. Looking up grimly, he watched as the dragon did another pass before landing heavily on the ground. Realizing that its flames were not getting through, it evidently decided to personally rip us apart with its claws and teeth.

Lumbering forward with a speed that belied its huge size, the dragon roared in an intimidating manner.

”Hell, it's about time.”

Grinning, Troy dismissed his walls of molten rock and raced forward. Gravity magic fizzled in his hands as he blasted the dragon, attempting to weight it down. The larger it was, the more susceptible it should be to his gravity magic, or so the theory went.

”Seems like we have no choice,” Kureha murmured as she drew her sword. ”We'll have to slay the dragon.”

She also joined Troy in his charge, bounding forward gracefully. The dragon lashed its tail at her, but Kureha managed to jump over the whip-like tail while spinning around to slash at the armored appendage. While she evaded, Troy closed in and hammered the dragon with a single punch that caused the enormous beast to actually stagger back a step.

Snarling, the Hellfire Drake swatted him away with a claw. Despite crossing his arms to defend himself, Troy was unable to halt his momentum, and was flung across the mountain peak. Flipping up, he landed roughly on his feet, grimacing from the blow as blood dribbled from his lips.

”My gravity magic isn't affecting it at all?! Its movements are still so fast and powerful!”

Fortunately, he had distracted the dragon enough that Kureha could get behind it. Spinning elegantly in the air, she thrust her sword forward at the Hellfire Drake, putting all of her mana and strength behind the blow.

”Franklin Style: Royal Thrust!”

White mana swirled around her blade as she stabbed the dragon, only for both light and sword to bounce off the crimson armored skills harmlessly.

”What…?” Kureha cried out in surprise, but she was able to adjust her trajectory in midair, kicking off the dragon's hide to avoid getting struck by its claws. Its tail whipped about, and this time Kureha wasn't able to evade. Bringing her sword up, she parried the blow, but the massive momentum behind the strike sent her hurtling across the clearing.

”Hey! Pick on someone your size!” Troy bellowed as he raced forward, hurling earth spikes and boulders at the enormous dragon. The Hellfire Drake slowly turned around to face him, growling in irritation, even as the destructive rocks shattered ineffectually against its body.

”The scales are magic resistant!” I yelled out a warning.

”Then I'll just punch it to death!” Troy snapped, his voice tense. Jumping over the dragon's claw that was flicking toward him, he spun about in midair before smashing his glowing fist against the Hellfire Drake's head.

For a moment, I thought it worked. The Hellfire Drake seemed dazed for a moment, snarling in pain from the tremendous punch. Then it recovered quickly and tossed Troy off its head before striking him with a sledgehammer blow. Troy was flung several dozen meters into the sky before crashing back down on the mountain, leaving a small crater when he landed.

”Troy!” I shouted, running to his side. He raised his head weakly, blood trickling from his mouth.

”The fucker's too strong,” he swore. ”And our magic doesn't seem to work on it…”

Kureha was also slashing at the dragon, but her blade wasn't getting through. The snarling dragon swatted her away as well, and despite parrying the blow, Kureha was sent skidding across the ground and staggering next to us.

”Huff…” she stared at her hands, which were violently trembling from the blow. ”I have never fought anything so powerful before!”

”Well, it's a rank A monster.” I pointed out dryly.

”Hiii…!”

The prisoner that we took was making a break for it, especially when he saw that we were completely outmatched. None of us paid him any attention – we were completely focused on the guy right in front of us. I mean, seriously, who cares about a mob character when we were trying our best not to get killed by a freaking dragon?

Honestly, I didn't blame the guy. If he thought he stood a better chance of survival by running away while we were distracting the dragon, then all the more power to him. We weren't going to begrudge him for trying to stay alive. And there wasn't much he could do to contribute to the battle anyway. To be blunt, he would only get in the way, considering that all he could do was cry and hide while his comrades in the mercenary group were being slaughtered by us three kids.

The dragon had other plans, however. Raising its head almost lazily, it let loose another stream of flames that incinerated the poor guy. The former mercenary screamed as he was lit ablaze, his body crumbling away into black ash in mere seconds.

”Holy…” Perhaps the idiot wasn't able to use Physical Reinforcement, or he was as weak as he appeared to be, but for him to be roasted in an instant was still a terrifying sight to behold. Whatever the case, that was one hell of a…hellfire spell.

The dragon then reared its head as it turned toward us, not even blinking at the demise of the poor guy. Not that there was anything left of him to see except a pile of ash, but that was beside the point. Its maw yawned, and another massive jet of fire blasted toward us. Gritting her teeth, Kureha stepped forward to slice the flames apart with her dazzling sword techniques, but I gently shoved her out of the way and stood in front of her.