Chapter 12: Chapter 11
"I will avenge my kin, human!"
The greater dragon is way bigger than I thought it would be. The monster's mouth is so large it could easily swallow an entire house, and whenever the dragon breaths, the resulting gust of wind threatens to knock me over. I have to fight this thing! I take a step back, shivering as I see the look of pure hatred in the dragons' eyes. No. I cannot let myself become too scared that I can no longer move. Taking a deep breath, I start to think things through.
For some reason, the greater dragon gives me the time I need. I do not know whether the dragon wants me to put up a fight or is enjoying the moment before it kills, but I am grateful for the break. It is big, but that could be to my advantage. I can win this as long as I avoid the claws, teeth, and fire breath. I smile, causing the dragon to look at me as if I was crazy.
"I do not know why you are smiling human!" The dragon's voice shakes the ground as it speaks. "But if you are happy to meet your end, I will gladly grant you death!"
As soon as it finishes talking, the dragon raises its head before spitting out its fire breath. I teleport away just in time before the ground where I was standing is melted away, and the surrounding trees burst into flames. But things worked out for me. Not only have I avoided the attack, I even managed to get above and behind the dragon. I'll end this with a single strike. Before the dragon can figure out where I am, I send an air guillotine to cut the dragons head off of its body.
"You are fast for a human!"
But not fast enough. The dragon activates a barrier of its own, blocking my attack. This must be what fools feel like when I dare them to break through my barrier. I send two more air guillotines towards the dragon, only for both of them to be blocked. I cannot believe it, but this dragon is more powerful than me. If it were me, my barrier would have been shattered.
Well, I am staring down at the dragon. The monster makes its next move. Bolts of electricity spark between the dragon's horns. I have only the briefest warnings before bolts of lightning scatter out in every direction, starting more fires and only just missing me. So, it can use magic too. Gritting my teeth, I wonder how I can beat a monster like this as the dragon suddenly shoots into the sky. I only just barely managed to avoid being swallowed whole, but the dragon predicted my movements
"Ahh!"
I cry out. In the blink of an eye, the dragon's tail smashed my barrier as if it was made of glass and smacked me to the ground. It hurts. Blood flies from my mouth as my vision blurs. I can feel myself falling, but I need to do something. It hurts my side as I extend my arm, but I manage to create a gust of wind to slow my fall, but it is not enough. My barrier shatters again as I hit the ground, and I land hard, knocking the air from my lungs.
I can barely breathe. I cannot even move without being put through agony. Looking up, I can only just make out the blurry figure of the dragon circling overhead. Is this it? Is this where I die? No… spitting the blood from my mouth, I force my broken body to stand. Casting healing magic on myself, the pain slowly lessons as the dragon lands again, causing a mini earthquake. I refuse to die. Not here and not to this dragon.
"I am surprised to see you standing!" The dragon says, examining me. "Are you even a human?!"
"I am," I reply as the last of my injuries are healed. "I am just more powerful than any human you have ever faced before."
"So, it would seem!" The dragon raises its head. "I see no need to hold back anymore!"
Wow. I barely had time to dodge that attack. The dragon shot another fire breath at me, and he was not joking about no longer holding back. Before the surface melted, but this time, the fire breath attack created a large crater. I really should have said I got lucky back there and hoped he continued to go easy on me. I cannot let him stay on the offence. The only chance I have is to keep him on defence, or he might blast me away.
I start to teleport around him faster than I have ever teleported before. The dragon swings his head around, trying to keep up with me, and even when he tries that lightning attack, he still cannot match my speed. I can even see myself. It is like those cartoons I used to watch where the character moves so fast, they appear everywhere all at once. Stop it. I cannot let myself get distracted by such thoughts. I need to defeat this dragon, collect my reward and return home before my parents notice I am missing.
Let us find out how much that barrier can take. I lunch one air guillotine after the other at such speed they end up striking the dragon from multiple sides at almost the same time. Unfortunately, the barrier is still holding. It should not be possible, but it is. Greater dragons really are in a league of their own. It has to break soon. It has to if I keep up this onslaught.
The dragon continues to breathe fire and let out bolts of lightning, but I am too fast for it. No matter where the dragon strikes, I am always a split second ahead of him. I watch the dragon's frustration mount as he continues to only hit thin air. I can do this. I will bring that barrier down and win this fight.
"You truly are a strong one human!" How does he know where I am. All of a sudden, the dragon's eyes glow blue, and no matter how fast I move, he always keeps his eyes fixed on me. "You should be honoured, human! Very few people push me to use this attack!"
With a mighty roar, I am knocked back by the shockwave that hits me from the dragon's mouth. If only that was the dragon's special attack. Before my eyes, the dragon's body glows golden, and every one of its scales suddenly leaves the body of the monster. This is bad! They all head towards me like a swarm of insects, leaving me little room to dodge.
I do my best to avoid the scales, but they are too many and moving too fast. They know my every move appearing wherever I teleport and overwhelming me. The scales tear me apart. I try to dodge and block, but my barrier is broken within seconds. I managed to stay alive by using smaller, more robust barriers around my vital parts, but everything else was destroyed. My arms and legs are cut to pieces, and I can see my bone in some parts. I cast healing magic, but it cannot keep up with the number of wounds the scales inflict on me. It is going to kill me! I am dead if I cannot do something to turn things around.
I can endure the pain through gritted teeth and iron will, but I am unsure how much longer. The only good news is that the attack appears to be ended as several scales return to the dragon's body. If all the scales are starting to return, this could be the chance I am looking for to win this fight. I take a deep breath. I know this will hurt, but I need to do this. Trust me, if there was another way, I would have taken it.
"Ahh!"
I cry out as I smack one of the scales returning to the dragon ripping the skin from my palm, but I hope it is worth the pain. I repeat the process with my other hand, enduring the torturous pain praying my plan will work. It will work. I drop to the ground feeling exhausted as I heal my wounds. If this does not work, then I am dead.
"You are the first person to live through that attack, human!" The dragon looks at me. "I will remember you!"
"No…" I gasp, feeling out of breath. "You won't."
I detonate the fire runes I placed on the dragon's body. In this way, there are two ways to cast magic. Most people cast it from their bodies, but there is another way. Using this spell casting technique, I managed to get past the dragon's impenetrable barrier. You see, when I reached out and touched those scales, I imprinted a rune on them. A rune that when activates the high-level fire spell explosion.
The dragon did not stand a chance. The explosion almost killed me, so there was no way the dragon would have lived. But somehow, when the smoke cleared, the dragon was still breathing. I really got lucky. This dragon could have easily killed me if it had taken me seriously from the start. Slowly I pick myself up and approach the dragon. It is not in good shape, but it could still kill me.
"Not bad human!"
Even with two giant holes blowing into its sides, the dragon can still shack the ground with its voice. I get closer, but the dragon can barely move. I would smile and celebrate my victory if I was not so scared that this might be a trick and the dragon would eat me when I got too close. I stop short, just out of reach of the dragon's mouth and far enough away I could escape if I am attacked.
"Finish me!" The dragon says, closing its eyes. "Put an end to our fight so I can be reborn!" Reborn? Is it similar to what happened to me? "And when I regain my strength, let us fight again, human!"
"I will be waiting for that day," I tell the dragon as I prepare to finish the fight. I have no wish to fight such a creature ever again, but I would feel bad if I said anything else. "May we fight again someday."
I end the fight with an air guillotine. This time there is no barrier or any resistance to my attack. The dragon's head is split down the middle ending the creatures life. But something is different this time. Unlike with the lesser dragon, the greater dragon's dead body does not stick around. A blue light envelopes the body, and in a blink of an eye, it is gone and in its place… there is a cute looking baby dragon.
"You truly are a strong human," The baby dragon says.
Is this really the same dragon I just thought? It cannot be. This little thing is too cute to have terrified me like that greater dragon. But its voice is the same. It may be weaker, but it is still the same voice. This must be what it meant by being reborn.
"I think I will stay with you until we both reach our potential," The bay dragon says, flying closer. "Then we will have a fight that will make the gods of war weep with joy." I hope that day is a long way off. I really do not want to fight this monster again. "What is your name, human?"
"Angelina, Angelina Lamonia," I tell it as the baby dragon lands on my shoulder.
"Then Angelina, from this day forward, I will watch over you until we both grow strong enough for our battle," The baby dragon says as it makes itself comfortable on my shoulder. "You can call me Bozzair."
"Ok," I nod my head, worrying how I would explain this to my family. I can forget about this dragon killing me. My parents will end my life if they hear about what happened today.
<0>
I quickly return to the elves. The Cheery Castle is still a beautiful sight, but Zeno had to ruin the view when he suddenly appeared in front of me. But for some reason, he is staring at me more than usual.
"Hey, aren't you that noble lady I saw reading the guild?"
How did he… my wig! I touch a hand to my hair and find my wig is missing. I must have lost it in the fight. Great. This is just great. There is no way I can keep this a secret from my parents know. To make things worse, I even managed to lose my contact lenses as well. I guess there is no point in denying the truth now.
"Yeah," I nod. "It's me."
My parents really are going to kill me.
"Good," For some reason, the stupid elf ends up smiling. "Now I know who to go to for arranging our wedding."
"In case you haven't heard, I am already engaged," My wedding may be a shame, but it does have its benefits, such as keeping perverts like Zeno away.
"Oh, I have heard," Why is he still smiling? "Just like I heard, your husband to be has been going on secret dates with one of the castle maids."
Of course, he knows about that. I let out a sigh and shook my head. Like in the game, it appears it is impossible to keep a secret from Zeno.
"I am aware, and I approve of their relationship," I reply, finally getting that smile to disappear. "That maid can give Marshal what I cannot."
"That still does not mean I do not stand a chance," Oh god, he really does not take no for an answer. "You will become my woman one day."
"But not today," I push past him. "Today, I need to report to your father and get home in time for dinner."
<0>
I am too tired to move. As I teleport into my room, I just want to sleep. The elf king was exhausting. He gave me a small fortune for killing the lesser dragon, but then he had to go and try and set me up with Zeno. It took me nearly an hour to get him to drop the subject and even longer to escape the castle as the king threw a fit in my honour. At least the guild was more pleasant. They asked many questions, but they took the dragon's body off of me without any problems. I even got promoted to S rank and paid another small fortune.
The only problem I had with the guild was getting the female adventures to leave me alone. It seems I am not the only one who thinks Bozzair is cute. They almost followed me home wanting to pet and hold him, but I managed to give them the slip. But it is over now. I have finished with the elf king, the guild and the female adventures so I can sleep at last.
"What were you thinking?!"
I jump as father bursts into my room, nearly snapping my door from its hinges. Behind him, my mother follows along with Noah, and then Marshal comes into my room. This is bad. This is even worse than fighting the dragon. My clothes are torn, and I still have not found a way to explain why Bozzair is with me.
"Why would you join the adventures guild?" My father asks, picking me up and shaking me. "Why would you do something so dangerous?"
How did they know? Zeno could not have informed them so quickly. I look around the room and find my answer when Noah lowers his head. Noah! You! Traitor!
"You are grounded! You are not to leave this house unescorted until you enter the academy!" My father finally puts me down, but he is still red in the face. "And tomorrow I am taking you to the adventures guild, and you will resign!"
"But father…"
"No buts!" I cannot even defend myself. "I am not changing my mind on this!"
"I'm sorry, sister," Noah lets out a sob, and I notice he is crying. "I was afraid you would be killed when you said you were going to fight a dragon."
"Don't be sorry," Marshal tells him. "You were doing what you thought was right." He then turns to me. "You were lucky that the dragon was small enough for you to tame Angelina. If it were a fully grown dragon, you would have been killed."
"You are underestimating me, human," Bozzair suddenly leaps forward. "This mighty girl not only defeated a fully grown lesser dragon but also me. The great lightning dragon Bozzair!"
"Is… is it true…"
Everyone's face is pale when Bozzair tells them of my battle. I just not my head and confirmed what Bozzair said was the truth. Bozzair may have been trying to help me in his own way, but it only made things worse. I did not get to sleep that night. Everyone kept me awake until dawn, lecturing me about why it is dangerous to pick fights with dragons. Well, not everyone. My mother seemed to have fallen in love with Bozzair and spent the entire night petting and stroking him. Another traitor. It is not fair he got to spend the night being pampered while I was being punished when he got me into this mess.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone