Chapter 19: 19. The Dragonborn Comes
Staring at the black dragon before her, Marlet could only spit some blood mixed with saliva on the floor next to her. She twirled the mighty axe in her hands as a provocation and the dragon obliged with a mighty roar. As the red aura surrounding it got seemingly absorbed into its skin and its eye turned a blood red crimson. It's nails grew longer and there were a few extra barbs on its tail the scales on its back lifted as though to make way for wings that weren't there. The dragon was blind on its right eye and its right front paw was only functioning at half strength due to the axe still imbedded in its shoulder.
Marlet crouched down and spread her wings with Gareth's axe in a position to cleave in any direction required. The dragon saw this as the start of the second round and reared up on its hind legs inhaling another deep breath to either roar a second time or blow fire upon the little girl before it. Marlet took this opportunity to start sprinting forward at full speed and using her wings to glide with each step, this gave her more distance every step she took. Seeing her actions the dragon lit the embers in its throat again determined to roast the arrogant girl into ciders. Marlet kept running unperturbed by the clear intentions the dragon had and leapt up to its chest with all her strength, axe pointed down behind her so she could get the most out of an overhead slash.
The dragon brought down its right claw swiftly, with a nail digging right into her shoulder Marlet was slammed into the ground winded. Trapped under its claws and a dragon throat inches away from her face ready to turn her into ashes Marlet used the two claws on her wing to jab them into the sides of a joint in the dragon claw. This action allowed her to free both her hands and she pointed them up words into the dragon's maw. Not waiting for a reaction Marlet unleashed her frostbite spell from both hands sending it down the dragon's gullet.
Rearing back from shock and pain the dragon hacked as though it was a cat with fur in its throat before turning to see the girl mere inches away from it engulfed in a golden glow and the hole in her shoulder now gone too. Getting the last of the frost out it charged up another flame breath. Marlet had grabbed the two handed axe again and was waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
Seeing the girl do nothing the dragon opened its maw again and got level with the girl. Marlet seized the opportunity and shouted a loud "WULD" appearing right before the dragon. She lodged the axe head into the top of the dragon's mouth and the butt of the axe behind the base of the teeth. This infuriated the dragon even more and the flame gained a touch of blue during its preparation. Whilst Marlet still held onto the handle of the axe the dragon got up on its hind legs again and tilted its head up in such a quick motion that the girl couldn't react.
Seeing what was going to happen Marlet released the handle and fell to the side of the dragon's sharp teeth as a torrent of flames came out. She was holding on for dear life and as the flames subsided she stabbed her right wing into its tongue and left wing into the dragon's cheek. This action brought her face to face with its only good eye as the dragon glared at the little figure hanging from its face unable to close its jaw. "This is really gonna suck for you, and me" Marlet could only mutter looking right into its eye. Pulling back her right hand she got the Sparks spell ready and plunged it into the dragon's only eye.
A gut wrenching roar left the dragon as the pain it felt made it force its maw further open sliding the axe into a more perpendicular position to its jaw. Feeling the pain of the ace's side cutting the top of its mouth and a hand reaching for its brain the dragon lost its footing on the leg with the other axe still imbedded in its shoulder and collapsed chin first. This had two effects, the first was that it pushed the axe through its snout and the tips of the sharpened ends being visible, secondly because it's mouth was now able to close it bit into Marlet's left arm and wing making them turn and twist in unnatural ways. Letting out her own scream Marlet discharged the sparks when she was almost shoulder deep into its eye socket frying its brain in the process.
The baby dragon let out a last puff of smoke through its pierced nostrils before slumping down on the ground, dead.
Finn and Gareth were the first to arrive with the latter opening the dead dragon's mouth and the former gently lifting the girl out. Gareth grabbed his axe that still had a few char marks here and there, "can you cast your healing?" Finn asked concerned after seeing the state of the damage done. Marlet let out a weak wimper as she cast her healing spell, the damage on her appendages healed to a presentable manner but they just hung there with no response. Riveria also showed up with a large healing potion and forced it down her throat, this action removed all the scars but still her left side remained unresponsive. "It's just gonna take some time, your left side was quite damaged so you might still experience some phantom pains. If you're fine with it, you'll be put in a cart and be only a supporter and healer until we reach the surface." Riveria wanted to head back to the surface right now but that would be showing favouritism which everyone agreed they would avoid. This incident made Marlet the first major casualty in their trip in the dungeon.
Marlet could only nod and limp towards her carriage where she had been sniping monsters from before the mist. Finally able to relax she only leant back and closed her eyes for a second but ended up falling asleep, the rest of the familia members were fired up seeing the brave act of their supposed healer and started attacking with new vigour. Whilst Marlet fell asleep Aiz and the twins went to the now ash turned baby dragon and collected the magic stone and drop items. They were very surprised to find both some black dragon hide and a fang as big as a forearm. They placed everything in the cart with Marlet and Lefiya got in as wel to keep an eye on her whilst she slept and ensure the healing properly mended her arm and wing.
When the magic stone was placed near Marlet it started to glow, alerting Lefiya and all the executives that came rushing over. Riveria got close and examined what was happening but didn't dare touch it, as they were about to more Marlet's unconscious body it got engulfed in a flowing rainbow that absorbed the lights coming from the stone. Not wanting to interfere with whatever process was taking place everyone didn't dare touch the stone.
When the rainbow show finished the stone was gone and Marlet had no visible injuries or pains as she slept.
As the expedition continued and their healer slept, the executives of the familia were chatting idly around the cart so as to include Lefiya. "You know, normal baby dragons are considered a level 2 difficulty and anyone else with her stats would become dragon food" Gareth was still examining his axe and rubbing off the charred marks left behind by the fire breath. "Yea, I'm aware. This baby dragon was different though. I've never seen a black mutated one and let's not mention the enraged part," Finn was stroking his non-existent beard "I'd say she just took down a peak level 3 monster." Tione was gushing over her captain's captain's analysis and agreeing wholeheartedly while Tiona was looking at the fang the dragon had dropped, "doesn't this fang look different from the others we usually get when killing dragons?" only for Aiz to snatch the fang and look at every single detail.
Only after staring intently at the sharp tooth for a good hour did she give it back to the girl she took it from and gave a curt nod, "sharp" was the only thing she had to say. Before Tiona could examine the tooth again Riveria grabbed it from the blonde's outstretched hand making her frown and the other girl pout at not getting the fang back. "This is very interesting, it dropped 2 items and the magic stone flowed into her and disappeared" Riveria began muttering under her breath still flipping the dragon tooth over in her palm.
As everyone descended the floors the talk of Marlet's fight against a 'one-eyed black dragon' had become such an epic tale that had the person in question not been there it would have sounded straight out of a story book. The stronger members of the familia were using this opportunity to spur on the bravery of the weaker adventurers while the weaker adventurers had a competitive fire lit in their eyes. This series of events led them to reach the entrance of the 17th floor where the 'Wall of Grief' had been reformed and a dark silhouette could be seen waiting for the unsuspecting adventurers.
As Aiz and the twins were about to go and kill the giant, Ottar began walking forward. Straight back and square shoulders he stopped next to Finn and without looking at him he said, "I'll take care of it alone if you don't mind. The Freya familia don't want to be seen being carried to the 18th floor." Finn only gave a faint nod with a smile on his face while indicating with his hand for the hulking man to do as he said, no one argued or wanted to protest that they wouldn't be getting the stone then. As one of the current strongest adventurers in Orario walked into the room it shook a little as the Goliath burst out of the wall wanting to attack the offending adventurer.
The shaking had woken Marlet from her rest and caused her to wince when she tried to move her wing that had been bandages by Lefiya. She was about to ask what was happening and where they were but looking at the direction the wagon was pointed, Marlet only saw the future King unsheathe his sword and bisect the massive Goliath in two. There was no warning or even a roar from either combatants, Ottar simply cut the Monster Rex in half as though he were an average farmer cutting some wheat. Lefiya noticed Marlet had woken up and wanted to congratulate her on beating her foe but upon noticing what she was looking at she swallowed her words.
"Don't worry too much about it, you only started recently and he's a peak level 6" Lefiya was trying to comfort the girl thinking she had lost her motivation to get stronger after seeing the mountain named Ottar. Aiz, upon hearing Lefiya trying to comfort one of her friends also walked over and put a hand on her shoulder and looked deep into her eyes. Giving a nod and a small smile she just said "strong", seemingly satisfied with her motivational speech. Riveria and Gareth could only chuckle at the youngster misinterpreting Marlet's silence as dispair when in actuality it was the opposite.
Marlet was excited.
Her first impression of the city within the dungeon was wonder, but before she could go and explore she would need to help set up camp, heal some of the adventurers and eat something because she was starving.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Super_Surprised231
Super_Surprised231 Added some auxiliary chapters if anyone feels like looking at the information about status and magics available
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone