Two icicles appeared on either side of Rui and flew into the fireballs, denoting them before they could make it to her. But due to how close the fireballs were when they exploded, Rui sustained some minor burns on her skin.
'You need to be more aware,' the voice in her head told her. 'I saved you this time but I can't guarantee that I will be able to do it again.'
'That was you?' Rui had been so distracted by the fireballs that it took her a while to realize where the icicles came from since she didn't summon them. 'Thank you.' If the voice hadn't taken down those two fireballs then she would have died.
'Instead of thanking me, make sure this doesn't happen again. If you die then I die as well, and I rather not have that happen.'
'Your life is linked with mine?'
'I think I already mentioned this earlier, but that's not important. What is important is that you pay attention to the fight! The dragon is coming again!' the voice shouted at her.
The dragon curled its legs and jumped out of the pit like a spring and landed on top of the icy floor. Dust and ice were sent everywhere and the dragon used them to mask its next attack. While Rui and the knights were blinded by all the debris in the air, the dragon swung its tail into Rui and sent her flying through the air.
"Gah!" Rui crashed into a house, tearing through the wall, and landed inside under a pile of rubble.
'What did I just say!? Get up and move now! It's attacking again!'
Rui hurriedly pushed the rubble from her and tried to get up but found that some of her bones were broken. "Ah!" She patted her chest and stomach and saw that a couple of her ribs were broken and saw that the same applied to her legs as well.
'Move!' the voice screamed at her.
But she couldn't. Her bones were broken and her body wouldn't respond to her. Rui looked up and saw a tail coming down on top of her head through the hole in the roof. Rui quickly put both her arms up and generated an ice barrier to block the attack but it did nothing. The tail broke through the barrier like it was nothing and slammed next to her.
The loud impact almost deafened her ears but it was definitely better than getting squashed by it. The dragon didn't have a clear sight of where she was inside the house and missed its attack. It was because of this that Rui survived the attack when she should've died again. Her luck was really coming through for her, but she knew that it wouldn't last forever. Eventually, the dragon would hit her with an attack that luck couldn't save her from.
Rui couldn't afford to make any more mistakes from now on. Rui forced herself back onto her feet where she saw that both her legs were still fine. It just felt like she broke both of them because of the pain from having them get crushed under a pile of rubble. After shaking it off for a second and getting the blood pumping again, Rui left the building through the hole in the back.
Rui touched her ribs again to confirm if they were indeed broken or if it was just hurting like her legs from getting hit by a stone. "Ow!" No, they were definitely broken. That was without a doubt. She needed to be careful with her movement.
'Watch out!''
Rui heeded the voice's warning and looked up to see the dragon's monstrous face looming over the house and staring right at her. It opened its jaws and breathed fire down on her. Rui raised one of her arms while keeping the other on her chest where the broken bones were, and instead of creating an ice wall or barrier to block the ice, she decided to shoot a chunk of ice at the dragon.
The ice split the fire, causing them to go on either side of her but not directly on her. She felt the heat of the flames as they passed by her and watched as the ice flew up and entered the dragon's big gaping mouth. Upon making it inside, the ice exploded into a shower of sharp icicles.
*Roar!* The dragon staggered backward, hissing in pain from receiving a mouthful of sharp ice. Blood dripped from the dragon's maw and it gave Rui a murderous look. But Rui was used to it by now and the dragon's scary look didn't faze her. She stared the dragon right back in its eyes and waited for it to make its next move.
The dragon tilted its head up and closed its eyes. For a moment, Rui thought that it didn't learn its lesson and was trying to blast her with another wave of fire. She got ready to create another chunk of ice and drive it in the dragon's mouth again when it opened.
'Move!' the voice in her head suddenly yells at her.
'What?'
'Just do it!'
Rui didn't know what was going on but she did as she was told and started running, but she couldn't run very fast since her chest was slowing her down.
'Faster!' The voice was full of panic now and Rui didn't know why but she hurried up. She ran as fast as she could. After running a good distance, she heard a loud crash behind her and was knocked off her feet. Rui fell on her back and looked back to see what had happened. The dragon was lying on the ground with its entire body for some reason.
'Move! You're not safe yet!' the voice told her to continue running.
Rui got up while facing the dragon and the moment she did, she saw the dragon start to wiggle around wildly. It rolled around on the ground like it was in pain and its tail was flailing around all over the place. She didn't know what the dragon was doing until the tail almost slammed into her.
'Why are you just standing around!? It's going to hit you!'
The dragon was using its body as a weapon now. It knew that it was too risky to open its mouth again and so it was using its hard scaly armor to its advantage. It knew that Rui couldn't penetrate through it and therefore had no way to do anything to it.
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