The Sidekick and Confronting Monsters (Part 5)

"Magical shield!"

A soft blue light forms a barrier around us while the flames rain down. I flinch and shut my eyes but am surprised to find myself perfectly fine. It's warm but no worse than the heat you get after opening an oven. I open my eyes to see the backside of a raven-haired girl standing in front of me, arms outstretched. She drops them to her side with a shaky breath. Further in the distance is the dragon, collapsed in a heap and wheezing. What kind of crazy spell was that? I've played with high-leveled players before but have never seen a spell launch a boss across the map.

How OP is this girl?

The girl in question turns around to face me, or more likely the group. While her style is slightly different, it's undeniably Rika. I didn't recognize her at first with her long hair twisted into a braid, and the top of her head covered in a pointy hat. Her over-sized coat hangs off her shoulders, hiding the otherwise exposed skin from wearing a tank top.

Amelia removes herself from Ethan's embrace and asks the question on everybody's mind. "Rika, how'd you get here?"

"I walked in, shoved a Dive-Gear on my head, and joined your party that you left open over the school's wi-fi. More importantly, you all have some explaining to do." She swivels to face the dragon. "We'll save that for later though."

Ethan peels himself away from Nora, much to her displeasure. "It should be in the final one of its phases after all the damage it took. Do you have any big spells that could finish it off?"

She nods. "I do, but it has a long casting time, so you'll have to protect me."

That would be impossible. The creature had one-shot Nora without trying and could do the same to everyone in our party except possibly me. There was no way we would last.

Rika must understand that as well. "Only way we'll win is by sacrifice guarding."

The other two solemnly nod, while Amelia scrunches up her brow. "What is that?"

I sheathe my broad sword, knowing I'll be running around shortly. "It means we're the bait now."

Ethan takes the lead. "Amelia revive Nora. Once she's up, both of you are going to help us distract the boss. Rika start casting and we'll keep you safe."

The girl nods, concentrating as a soft outline of aura envelops her. With mana coursing through her veins, she begins channeling it into a spell. It sits in the palm of her hand, inconsequential right now, but rapidly growing.

He punches me in the shoulder. "You set?"

I give him an apprehensive nod. "As I'll ever be."

"That's the spirit!"

And we're off. The two of us speed toward the dragon, which is already beginning to stir. Forget the look of a caged animal. The thing looked straight-up feral at this point. Foam dripped from its mouth, its battered wings drag along the ground, and something purple oozes from its chest. While it should have been on death's door, the dragon rears back and strikes the ground with so much force that I stumble. Ethan, with his higher agility stats, manages to retain his balance and reach the dragon first.

"Hey, ugly. Over here."

The dragon is on him before I can blink. My best friends successfully dodge the first strike, ducking underneath it. He also manages to sidestep a headbutt and a small burst of fire aimed in his general vicinity. What proves successful for the dragon once more is utilizing its tail. It impacts him in the chest, the spike plunging in easily against nothing but his bare flesh. He crumbles over once the dragon peels him off.

"Run..."

Unfortunately, that won't be happening. I'm heavy, an immovable tank class type. The best I can do is stand my ground and buy Rika precious time. So, I do. My trusted broad sword poised and ready against a horrifying monster.

Well, it's called Monster Slayer for a reason.

I can't be sure who deals the first blow, but my health bar diminishes by more than a quarter when the dragon swipes me with its claws. I return the blow with a slash to his foot. It growls and bats me again, taking another chunk of health and causing me to tumble over backward. I roll to the side, making the dragon's jaw snap shut without me inside. It snorts, hot breath washing over me. The dragon raises its head up and prepares to make a second attempt. Too bad my stamina gauge is entirely depleted.

Sorry, Rika. It looks like I wasn't able to do much after all.

A soft green glow and her words reach me just as it bends down.

"Move!"

Not needing Amelia to tell me twice, I roll again and scramble to my feet. It headbutts my chain mail, and I counter with a slash of my own against its chest. We continue to exchange blows, the monster clearly coming out on top of the exchange, but not quite able to tip the scale in its favor, thanks to Amelia healing me. At some point, Nora pops up next to me, and we share the monster's attention. A fire breath at her, a swipe at me, and a heal from Amelia, the cycle repeats over and over. Until Amelia runs out of mana and we're screwed.

It doesn't take long to for it to realize, and the monster lashes out at me with its claws. My health bar is rapidly reduced to zero, and my body drops to the ground, no longer within my control. Instead, I've taken control of the avatar of my spirit. Since spirits have no combat potential outside of calling out attacks, I decide it's best to stay out of their way and not distract them since they already know the patterns of the boss. I float above the battlefield and observe Rika's progress. The sphere that had once been the size of a closed fist has grown to the size of a small house.

Likely just in time too, as the monster catches Nora in the middle of a sidestep and hurls her into the bone pit. The bugs swarm around her, but she makes no moves to get up. The dragon takes that as its cue to stalk toward the shaking priest.

"Rika, it's now or never!" I shout.

The girl nods, eyebrows narrowed in determination. "It's done! Amelia, get out of the way, so I don't hit you!"

"Who cares? Just launch it already, damn it!" Nora snaps, her spirit form hovering beside Rika.

Needing no more convincing, the mage hurls the huge sphere of energy at the dragon. It pulses once before detonating into an explosion that engulfs everything in a blinding light. Shielding my eyes does nothing, so I float there unable to see the outcome. When my vision is restored, the classic victory music resonates around us, along with heaps of confetti. My spirit returns to my body, but I remain laying down in the dirt, too exhausted to move. My heart is still racing, and my hands shake beside me.

The others freely celebrate, however. I tilt my head to watch them race to each other, in front of the already degrading corpse of the dragon.

"We did it!" cheers Amelia, pulling Nora into a hug.

"Get off of me!" The brunette's protest falls on deaf ears as the blonde grips her tighter.

Ethan wraps his arms around them. "Can't believe we managed to pull it off." He looks over the heads of the blushing girls. "We couldn't have done it without you, Rika."

She glares at him. "Don't think you're getting off the hook that easy. I'm still not happy about you tricking me. Although, I'm glad we won." The girl reaches out a hand to me. "You were pretty good back there."

I grab it, and she hauls me to my feet with a sharp tug. "It's only because of Amelia that I could hold him off so long."

"You really got to learn to take a compliment." She grabs my gauntlet and pulls me over to the others. The nice, little group hug they had going on is broken apart, and they're staring at the treasure chest left behind where the dragon used to be.

Ethan pumps a fist. "Wonder what we got?"

"I hope it's something good," Amelia says.

Nora snorts. "It better be after all we went through."

I'm pushed forward, and I flip around to scowl at Rika; she whistles innocently.

"You're going to grab it?" Ethan asks.

"Sure," I answer, already making my way over to it. I kneel before it and flip the latch. Then, I lift the heavy wooden top up and peer inside.

Should've known it would be something like this.

I grab it and hold it up for the group to see. They look decidedly unimpressed, Rika going so far as to burst into laughter.

"You've gotta be shitting me," Nora grumbles. "All that work for an obsidian horn?"

I can't help but agree. Nonetheless, I throw it to Rika who catches it with a puzzled expression. "For saving us." I turn to the rest of them. "We better log out now. Lunch is almost over."

Ethan holds up a hand towards the girls. "Would you all mind staying logged in a minute longer? I have something I want to talk to him about super fast."

The others nod, and both of us log out, disappearing in a torrent of light.

____________

I pull the headset off my head and glance around, blinking the bleariness away. It always takes me a moment to get used to the real world again. Guess that shows how far virtual reality has come.

The girls still have their VR headsets on, but Ethan, propped against the same wall as me, stretches his arms out in front of him and smiles. "You had fun I take it?"

"I guess so."

"Great." He claps me on the back, something that seems to be becoming a bad habit for him. "Then, you should eat lunch with us tomorrow."

"Don't you think Amelia and Nora would have something to say about that?"

He stares at me like I have a few screws loose. "Why would they? It's not like you're strangers anymore."

"It's not like we're friends either though."

"Yeah, but it's like the Romans used to say: friends aren't built in a day. Besides, I know they'd enjoy having you at lunch, and I would too."

Pretty sure the expression is Rome wasn't built in a day, but I suppose it doesn't matter. I never could argue against his unique brand of logic.

"Fine," I mumble.