The Sidekick and Confronting Monsters (Part 4)

The dragon decidedly does not like to be interrupted when eating. Black scales glistening under the sunlight and its back and tail covered in spikes, the creature rears back on its hind legs and lets out a blood-curdling roar. When it drops its front legs, they land atop a few of the skulls, crushing them to dust. I stumble back a step, shocked at how loud this thing is. This whole mission has been rather noisy actually. I wonder if that was something the developers intended to ratchet up the difficulty.

I shake my head, needing to stay vigilant. One false step and the boss could easily cripple me; Nora does not possess that same caution.

"I'm gonna kill you, bastard!"

She rushes at the dragon with a burst of speed none of us can match before swinging the dagger at its leg. She manages a shallow cut, nothing too impressive, but the dragon screeches like she just cut off a limb. It rears back its head and unleashes a burst of fire toward her. With her agility, it's child's play to avoid, and she sneers in triumph.

"What am I supposed to do against that?" Amelia wails.

Ethan pats her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You'll sit back here and cast healing spells on us. We'll be the ones fighting."

He puffs out his chest during the last statement. Not sure for what reason. Granted, he'll be fighting, but not on the frontlines. He'll be sitting back by Amelia, firing arrows off from relative safety, while Nora and me risk getting burnt alive.

I sigh and draw my broad sword, surging forward. It would be best if I can grab its attention. I may not be the most nimble person, but if I take a hit, I'll survive. Nora's beyond squishy, so she likely wouldn't be returning to the fight if she gets hit.

"Nora, fall back and let me aggro it."

The girl hops away as I swing my sword in the dragon's direction. My blade slices its chest, and it once again cries out in pain. This time, though, the cut is deep and red pixels outline it. I fall back, narrowly avoiding it batting at me with its claws. An arrow whizzes by me, close enough to my ear that it brushes a strand of my hair. It connects with the dragon's neck, causing it to spit fire in retaliation that reaches just short of me.

"Alright!" Ethan cheers in the background.

Don't know what he's so happy about. He nearly skewered me in the process. Speaking of almost being skewered, I'm too slow to avoid being whipped by its tail. The spikes at the tip of it narrowly miss impaling me, and I am tossed into the air and land a few meters back.

I groan and climb to my feet. "Amelia, heal me."

"R-right!"

The familiar pale glow appears and successfully heals the target. The only problem is she casts it on the dragon, its cuts scabbing over and fading.

Nora growls. "Are you a moron?"

"Shut up! I didn't mean to!"

The dragon doesn't stop for their squabble. With renewed energy, it lurches forward but seems to think better of it. The dragon's wings start beating and soon it rises into the air above all of us, kicking up a gale of wind. It hardly affects me, but the others have to plant their boots into the dirt to avoid being tossed around.

"We can't let it get away!" Ethan cries out, shooting an arrow at the dragon. It doesn't reach. The wind whips it away and snaps it into pieces. Arrow fragments fall to the earth at my feet.

Damn, if we had a mage it would've been easy to knock it out of the sky. Still, this game is balanced, so there had to be something we one of us could do to stop it. Is there anything viable in the area to launch us? Such a bare area leads me to imagine there's not, the only things of interest are still the bone pit and the vines.

Wait, the vines?

They might be our only option. It's a risky gamble, but one we're going to have to take. The mission timer is too low to consider allowing it to escape and having to search for the monster all over again.

"Nora, you're going to have to climb up a vine and jump onto its back."

She briefly stares at me in disbelief, before grumbling and shimming up a vine. Thankfully, the dragon is slow to gain altitude, allowing the girl to be able to gain a vantage point. She then jumps from the vine, limbs spread out, and her cloak whipping around. She lands on its back, gripping one of the bony plates on its back to steady herself. Her weight must be inconsequential to the dragon because it makes no cries of protest.

"The wings! Stab its wings!" I mime the action as well, in case she doesn't hear me shouting.

She pulls her knife from her robe and slashes into the leathery part of the wing. Then, Nora begins to twist the dagger and drag it across. The dragon flails and performs barrel-rolls in an attempt to dislodge her. She holds steady, cutting the wing further each time they turn upside right again. Eventually, the wing falls to the creature's side and it loses altitude, bellowing all the way down.

Their landing is chaotic. The dragon crashes into the ground, the impact forming a crater around it. Nora appears unharmed, the beast below her no doubt absorbing most of the shock of the impact. She dashes away from the dragon and joins me.

"How was that?" she asks, a proud smirk on her face.

I smirk back at her. "I'll give you props. That was pretty cool."

"Uh, guys?" Ethan stammers. "Not to cut your celebration short, but it's up."

Its wing is collapsed in on itself, and the creature keeps it flush against its body. It has the look of a caged animal, and a vicious snarl reveals rows of dagger-sized teeth. The clear shift in demeanor proves that we've reached the next phase in battle. While before it seemed eager to try to disengage us and flee, now it looks like nothing but our untimely deaths will satisfy it.

It charges forth, intent on pursuing the rogue. While that's understandable, that meant the huge dragon's charging at me as well.

That's a real shame.

I can't replicate Nora's somersault, so I stand my ground, broad sword in front of me. Yet, the dragon pays me no heed. As it's forced to change directions, it snorts, releasing a puff of smoke that causes me to cough and choke. I continue hacking, while the creature closes the distance between them with speed it hadn't possessed earlier.

"Damn it!" She curses, likely realizing her nimbleness isn't enough to escape anymore. She turns on her heels and slides forward, attempting the same maneuver she pulled on the velociraptor. The dragon is having none of it. It pins her underneath its foot and bites down on her upper body with its maw.

"Nora!"

Ethan's cry does nothing to stir the girl. She remains limp and motionless. Then, a spirit pops out of her. She floats over to us, and she looks pissed.

Amelia's hand darts to her mouth, eyes widening in surprise, not realizing such a game mechanic exists. "Should I exorcise it?"

"If you exorcise me, I'll haunt you for real." Nora hovers mere inches from the blonde. "Now here's a question for you. What kind of healer just stands there and doesn't revive their teammate?"

"Ah, that's right. I forgot I could do that."

Nora makes a sound I could only describe as otherworldly, but at least Amelia is going for the revive now. A perfect plan unless the dragon towering over us has anything to say about it, which I'm sure it does. With an almost offended roar at being forgotten, the creature unleashes a stream of fire from its mouth.

Time almost seems to slow down as the fire inches ever closer. There's nothing I can do to stop it, though, so I can only accept my fate. Still, it would've been nice if this isn't game over.