Chapter 106 : Sacrifice & Resolution (Part 4)

When Rei informed his plan with Ray, his face showed that he was feeling a bit complicated about this.

'You are crazy...that monster is up in the sky! How can we fight against it!' Ray spoke to him.

'Well I know someone who could help us...and speak of the devil.' Rei spoke as he stood up, someone was coming to him.

"What makes you come back here...mr. Royal Guard."

Eindride came back out of breath when he found Rei in this state.

"You damned fool, to think you would fight head on against that monster."

"Well, is there any other option? I don't think I have the time to think of a good plan when that monster continues to attack me." Rei spoke as he saw the Dragon flying above them.

"Let's evade now!" Rei warned him, Eindride immediately jumped away from that location along with Rei.

*ROARRRRRR*

*SWOOSH*

Jormungand shot his breath again, pulverizing the ground where Rei and Eindride were standing before, and it blew the trees away.

Rei and Eindride landed back to the ground a safe distance away from the dragon.

"But now...since you came, I have a plan."

"Seriously, you asked me to run before but now you want me to help you." Eindride scoffed in annoyance.

"Says the one who came back for me to help."

"I'm not here to help you but I'm obligated to subjugate that monster who threatened my kingdom."

"Then can you fight it alone?" Rei spoke while pointing at Jormugand who flew in the air.

Eindride looked a bit nervous, "Well…you're here."

Rei sighed, "This is a one chance plan...I don't know if this could work or not because I am low on mana now, and potion doesn't work on me in this state. That's why your power is crucial for this plan to work."

Eindride glanced at him, "You say that but I couldn't help but feel useless in this hopeless fight."

"You're already a huge help for me by being here, so just do what I say." Rei spoke.

"Tsk...you are quite a demanding bastard." Eindride muttered while preparing himself to face the Dragon above them.

"So can you brief me on the plan?" Eindride asked.

"Use your magic like before, and we need to have a foothold to fight that monster in the sky."

"You do know my magic element is [Plant] which is the rarest and not only that it wasn't effective against that monster."

"That is true, if that was the case several minutes ago."

Eindride looked at him in confusion. "Huh?? What do you mean?"

"You should know sooner or later, but enough with chit chat, we are going to fight it together this time."

"Fine–" Eindride sighed but widened his eyes in surprise when he caught on to his word, "Hold on–[We]?"

"Yeah, we are going to fight it, instead of just supporting me this time I really need you to fight with me with that sword." Rei spoke.

Eindride somewhat moved by his words but decided to hide it and then unsheathed his sword, "Took you long enough to ask."

"Don't get in my way." Rei warned.

"Likewise." Eindride replied.

Jormugand who saw them together, knew they had some sort of plan.

*You being together won't change a thing! GRRRRAAAAA!!*

The dragon spoke as he roared at them.

"Eindride, support." Rei spoke.

Afterwards, Rei immediately dashed forwards doing the same approach.

"I know, that is why I already prepared it!"

But this time, Eindride was here to support him.

"[Vine Bind]."

*CREAKK* *SWOOSH*

The large vines underneath the trees around them began to move, controlled by him. They immediately followed Rei from behind and rushed towards the flying Dragon.

Jormugand who saw those immediately responded.

*You think this would work twice on me!* Says the Dragon and swung his tail, destroying the vines that approached him in a single swipe.

The destroyed large vines were scattered apart because of that, but when Jormugand tried to focus on Rei.

He disappeared.

*...?!*

Jormungand was surprised from the sudden disappearance until–

*SLASH* *TING*

Rei suddenly appeared right above his large body, then struck him from above using [Vertical Slash].

*YOU–HOW!*

It surprised him everytime Rei did something unpredictable. When he looked down, he saw the black shadow moving underneath his legs.

*That move!–*

Yes, it was the move where he used [Shadow Movement] to clad himself in his shadow to hide his presence.

'Although the effect is getting shorter since I was right above it while it's still daylight, but that's enough to get him off here.' Rei thought as he hold himself up from this unbalanced foothold above the Dragon's body.

*So you used the vines for the foothold so you can jump and use that skill...impressive!*

Instead of getting angry, Jormungand praised him.

*But still...do you think such a sword could pierce my dragon scale?*

But unfortunately his sword didn't leave a scratch on his scale again despite being clad with his aura and strengthened with his buff.

"No, I do not...but it's enough for him to climb up here."

*CREAKK* *SWOOSH*

Another vines stretched out from the ground once more and the trees began to grow big enough to create a whole large field of trees around them.

*WHAT?!*

Jormungand were taken by surprise by this sudden turn of event

*SHATTERS* *SHATTERS*

And Eindride was standing on one of the branches of the tree with several shattered bottles on the ground.

"I see...now I get what you mean." Eindride spoke after he finished his magic.

"[Grand Chamber]." Eindride created such magnificent walls of trees enough to envelop the sky above them and caged Jormungand's large body.

*An Elf?? Capable of doing this?!–*

Even Rei who's still standing above Jormungand's body was shocked too, 'Damn, does [Plant] Element capable of doing that.'

'I don't know...but from what I heard, as long as they are in the forest, they are probably the strongest and the scariest of all.'

'Besides, this kind of control and magic cannot be achieved without that item he is wearing.' Ray spoke as he noticed it.

Eindride smirked as his nose began to bleed, 'Yeah...if it wasn't for this item and several mana potions that I had with me...I won't be capable of doing such a thing.'

Suddenly a green light glowed through his neck.

=======================================

[Spirit's Tears Necklace]

Grade: Epic

Type: Accessories

INTELLIGENT: +150

Durability: 100%

A necklace that was once created from [Spirit's Tears] which allows the user to have control over their elemental power and increase their strength.

Skill:

[Elemental Wish]

Passive Skill

Using the power of [Spirit's Tears], it will increase any kind of Elemental attack used by the user by 25%.

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'[Grand Chamber], is a magic that controls the trees around me to create a cage to trap my enemy.'

'With the help of this item and the potions that I had before, this might be the strongest magic that I could cast...although it tooks a toll on my body.' Eindride thought.

Jormungand, who's still surprised with this situation, forgot about Rei's existence completely.

Rei noticed that and took this chance to strike once more.

But instead of just a normal strike, he would use his other hand to grip the sword and hold it with two hands.

Then–

*SWOOSH*

*BAM* *TINGG*

Performing [Vertical Slash] by swinging his sword vertically.

Jormungand's body moved down because of that unguarded strike right above its body.

*GRAAAAAA!!*

"...?!"

Jormugand roared in pain, the attack didn't do anything to his scales but he felt like being smashed with a rock. Meanwhile, Eindride was surprised that he could make that sudden strike.

*HOW–*

Jormugand glared, wondering how such a thing could damage him.

'How? Isn't it obvious? It's because we have a foothold here.'

'Although it's unbalanced, but we who trained our basics to the max have different kinds of power.' Ray explained.

*DO YOU THINK SUCH A PUNY ATTACK AND TRAPPING ME HERE WOULD CHANGE ANYTHING!*

Jormugand roared with anger, creating a strong wave of pressure throughout his body.

Rei immediately jumped away before he got caught and landed on one of the branches from the trees around them.

*GRAAAAAA*

Jormungand shot out his breath, towards Rei and Eindride, and they immediately jumped away from where they're standing.

*BOOM* *CREAKK*

The breath blew away the trees around them but it's still not enough to create a hole from this cage.

*Huh–?!*

It surprised him, his powerful breath that was enough to destroy the forest and created nothing but an empty field, now only did a small damage to these trees.

'Confused? Yeah, of course you would...because these trees are still part of the Great World Tree, and on top of that, it's being strengthened with this item.' Eindride thought while landing on another branch.

'Not to mention that Jormungand's trait changed after becoming a dragon, since [Miasma] only came from [Cursed Being] such as [Demon]'

'That means The [Miasma] that you had before could help you get out of this place was gone after becoming a [Divine Being], a [Dragon].' Rei thought while landing on another branch as well.

"I guess...being a [Dragon] was a mistake." Rei spoke.

Jormungand, who heard those words, immediately became irritated at how they looked down upon the race he admired.

*YOU DARE TO SAY SUCH BLASPHEMY!! THE GOD CHOSE ME AND MADE ME REBORN AS A [DRAGON]! YOU SHALL FEAR ME!*

"Wow, you really have the talent to make people angry." Eindride commented.

'That is true.' Even Ray commented as well.

'Could you stop dissing me when I am right here.' Rei responded to their comment while staring at them blankly.

*GRAAAAAA!!*

Jormungand shot another breath towards Rei and Eindride again.

The two of them jumped through the trees that surrounded the dragon.

*CREAK* *CREAK*

With every step that Eindride made, he controlled the vines on the trees to move and attack Jormungand.

*GRRRRR!!*

Jormungand swung his tail, swiped the large vines that approached him and destroyed them into pieces.

Behind those scattered parts after being destroyed, Eindride jumped towards the dragon's direction, followed by some large vines from behind him.

But Jormugand swung his tail towards Eindride, by using large vines he managed to prevent himself from getting caught and at the same time it gave him the chance to strike him for the first time.

*TING*

Eindride swung his sword to strike Jormungand's body, but it didn't cause any damage from how hard his scale was.

And Jormugand knew about that.

*Fool.*

Upon letting him to strike his hard body, Jormungand took this chance to opened his mouth and ready to shoot his breath at point blank range.

Eindride who's still there, noticed it and couldn't react immediately.

*GRRAA–*

But when the dragon was about to shoot his breath, something approached...

*SWOOSH*

*BOOM*

and created an explosion that hit right on the side of Jormugand's head.

That stopped the dragon, then he glanced at the person who did it. Jormungand widened his eyes but he couldn't be surprised anymore.

*You.*

*TRUTTT*

Rei was the one who interrupted his breath attack, he is now holding his bow and pulled the string with another arrow on it, filling it with his red aura right on the tip.

Jormungand was caught off guard and not noticing such an important being who caused this mess in the first place.

Ever since Eindride used this magic, his eyes have been more focused on him than Rei as if it was planned out from the beginning.

Eindride took his chance to jump away from his body and landed on one of the branches.

'It's much harder than it usually does...' Eindride thought as he stood there, he could feel his hands were trembling because of the recoil from his sword meeting that hard scale of Jormungand.

'How the hell did he manage to cause damage to that kind of hard body.' Eindride wondered as he glanced at Rei.

Although the secret was much simpler than that.

Rei shot another arrow filled with condensed aura.

*SWOOSH*

Jormungand saw what was coming to him, opened his mouth and shot another breath towards his arrow.

*GRAAAAAA!*

*SWOOSH*

The force collided and created a large explosion.

*BOOM*

The explosion shook the trees, creating a smoke that slowly dissipated, revealing the two of them staring at each other.

A Human and a Dragon, face to face in a large chamber made out of trees.

What a sight for Eindride who lives long as an Elf. He never thought such a human could exist and was able to confront a Dragon like that.

They stayed like that for a while...

.

.

.

.

.

…before they began to move again.

Rei put his bow to his back and immediately grabbed his sword, unsheathed it and ran with his shield right in front of him.

Jormungand who couldn't stay in the sky, decided to dive down and flew towards Rei.

Without a word, the two of them charged against each other like before.

.

.

.

.

As they were going to collide, Rei immediately took an action when Jormugand's horn was about to strike his shield.

*TING* *TSSSKKK*

Rei jumped to the side then used his sword to strike his body on the side, creating sparks due to his sword clashing against the scales.

Jormugand knew that but he's still flying so Rei could meet one of its legs that approached his side.

Jormungand used his claw, meanwhile Rei raised his shield.

*THUNGGG*

His claws met against Rei's shield like before, but this time, Rei stopped its movement using a bit of buff that he had left.

'[Fiery Feast].'

Added with his shield's skill, a large Ogre's head that was made out of aura came out…

*CRUNCH*

And bit the leg, although he knew that the Ogre's head didn't manage to bite it off because of how hard the scales of the dragon were...

But he used this disadvantage to grab his leg and stopped Jormungand from moving.

*KUGH–*

Jormungand was surprised by the sudden stop of his movement and the cause of it was none other than this human he fought.

Rei clad his sword with his aura then swung his sword on the side of the body.

*BAAM*

The sword clashed against its scale, it didn't bend the scale or anything but that one strike was able to knock Jormungand to its side.

*GRAAAA!–*

The grip from the Ogre's head vanished, then Jormungand flew back to the sky and opened its mouth.

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

Then shot his breath twice towards Rei.

*BOOM* *BOOM*

Rei held his shield up but the direct hit caused a large explosion and smoke that hid Rei's presence.

*SWOOSH*

Jormungand couldn't celebrate yet because his guard was still up.

He observed the smoke until something came out from it, which turned out to be a spear that was thrown at Jormugand's head.

*??!!*

Jormungand stayed where he was, letting the spear hitting his head.

*TING*

The spear was deflected, and it flew up into the sky because of his scales.

*SWOOSH*

Followed after that was Rei who jumped up towards Jormungand at high speed and gripping his sword tightly as he prepared himself to swing it.

*You think I wouldn't notice!*

Jormungand anticipated that Rei would come at him and uninjured.

So Jormungand already opened his mouth, preparing for another breath to shoot at him.

Rei saw that too.

*Caught you.*

*SWOOSH*

Jormungand shot his breath at him at point blank.

'Kugh–!!!'

Rei condensed his aura on his sword and swung his sword at the breath, facing it head on.

*SWOOSH*

*TSSSKKK*

As his sword collided with his breath, creating a strong clashing force from each other's strength...

.

.

.

.

*SLASH*

*BOOM*

...and his sword managed to cut through the breath in half.

Eindride and Jormugand who saw that widened their eyes.

*???!!!!*

'W-WHAT?! Is that even possible?!!' Eindride shouted in his head after seeing something like that.

But then shook his head, 'W-wait I must focus!'

Jormungand was stunned when he cut his breath in half, this was the second time he did it.

Even Rei was surprised by himself, but he didn't stop at that, knowing this monster in front of him was smarter than he was.

Jormugand took this chance to charge his horn towards Rei who had lost his chance to swing his sword at him.

But Rei didn't give up and gripped his shield then swung it to meet Jormugand's horn.

'[Fiery Feast]!'

*ROARRRRRR*

Activating his shield skill, an Ogre's head made out of aura came out again.

*BAAM*

Instead of opening its mouth, the Ogre's head was used to charge against Jormugand's head and stopped him from approaching by headbutting him.

*CREAKK* *BUSSSSHH*

A tree grew up to the sky on Rei's back as he unsheathed his sword and let his body get thrown back from the headbutt.

*TAP*

He spun his body and landed his feet on the tree behind him.

*SWOOSH*

Then he jumped and dashed towards Jormungand's head.

'[Sprint]!'

Added with his buff to increase his Agility, he accelerated himself.

*TAP*

Not only that he caught his spear when he was about to approach Jormungand's head, as if the spear falling down was planned by him beforehand.

Jormungand saw all his actions and it surprised him that this human managed to plan this kind of thing in such a short time.

"Huff–!!"

'[Spear Arts: One Strike]!'

Rei thrusted his spear while dashing at Jormungand's head.

Of course Jormungand anticipated it again and charged at him with his horn.

*SWOOSH*

*THUNG* *TSSSKKK*

Jormungand widened his eyes, as he thought his horn might collide with his spear but instead his spear slipped in between his horn and struck his shield instead.

The tip managed to strike Rei's shoulder.

'Guhh!–'

But his spear...

*STAB*

Managed to stab right on Jormungand's left eye.

*W-WHA–*

Rei landed above Jormungand's head and twisted his spear, to inflict more damage.

*GRRAAAAA!!!–*

Blood spurted out of it, and it caused the dragon an unimaginable pain.

Rei let go of his spear and jumped away, leaving the spear stuck on his eyes, while letting Jormungand squirming in the sky from the pain on his left eye.

*You damned human–!!!*

Jormungand cursed as he tried to reduce the pain but because he focussed himself to the pain…

*SWOOSH* *CREAKK*

The trees start attacking Jormungand's body, wrapping and binding his body before he could move again.

*This is–*

Eindride controlled the trees around them, completely binding its body.

"Caught you." Eindride spoke while his hand moved like it was grasping on something.

*CREAK* *CREAK*

The trees continue to wrap him more and more. Eindride added another tree to make sure he won't get away.

"Crimson! Now's your chance!"

Rei was about to land on Eindride but he was stopped by one of the trees.

"Then send me flying!" Rei shouted.

"Here you go!!"

*SWOOSH*

The trees bent like a catapult and threw Rei straight towards Jormungand's direction with full speed.

'[Imitation Fire Sword]!'

His sword was clad in fire, his MP was already empty and this might be the last strike he could make.

Well…if that were the case.

Jormugand's body, which was wrapped by the trees from Eindride's magic, stayed still while his horn was still visible through the wrapping.

And then...something happened.

*Like I said, do you think I would fall to the same trick that you did before?*

*BZZZTT* *BZZZTT*

The horn began to shine, clad with electricity

Rei noticed that, and was about to pull himself away...

.

.

.

.

.

But it was too late.

*ROARRRRRR* *ZAAAAPP*

Like a roaring thunder, right from the horn and spread widely enough to cause an area wide lightning attack.

The lightning attack was strong enough to pulverize the trees that wrapped his body into nothing but ashes and struck Rei down at the same time.

"AGHHH–!!!"

Rei screamed in pain as his body was electrocuted by this unknown lighting that came from the Dragon's horn.

*PSSSHHHHHH*

The moment the attack stopped, his body was scorched, making his black armor became darker because of the attack.

Smoke came out from his body and Eindride could smell a lingering burnt scent as Rei fell from the sky.

His eyes that glowed slightly through the slit of his helmet died down.

"Crimson!" Eindride shouted in panic and immediately controlled the trees around him to catch his body.

*I won't let you!!*

Jormungand reacted by opening his mouth and preparing to shoot his breath.

At that crucial moment where Rei was still falling in the air…

Rei opened his mouth and began to speak, using what's left of his consciousness.

"Per...

.

.

.

.

so...

.

.

.

.

na."

'[Persona]!'

=======================================

[Persona]

Active Skill

Duration : ????

Cooldown : ????

A skill that allows the user to switch their soul with another soul that lives within the individual body. Increasing +50% overall status for 10 minutes.

Penalty: Decrease -20% overall status for 1 hour

=======================================

At that moment, his body was clad in a golden aura which mixed with his red aura. The aura spiked out like a burning flame when it came out, and the dragon didn't know that something strange had happened.

*I WON'T LET YOU! GRAAAAAA!*

*SWOOSH*

Jormungand shot his breath at Rei who was clad in a mix of golden and red aura.

*BOOM*

Eindride widened his eyes as he saw that it was a direct hit, "No–NOOOO!!!–"

He couldn't see Rei anywhere because the smoke still remained in the air.

Jormugand looked at where Rei's at now.

*It's over–hm?*

Right before Jormugand could conclude the fight, the smoke had disintegrated and...

.

.

.

.

*SWOOSH*

Rei was safe and sound, holding his shield up as he was blocking that attack head on despite his injuries.

*TAP*

And landed on one of the trees that approached him before.

*What?!–*

Jormungand was surprised even more, he already assessed that Rei was already on the verge of death.

His body was fried with the electricity and now just got hit by his breath.

But he's still standing there with his life pretty much still intact.

*Are you...an immortal?!*

Jormugand shouted with an irritated tone, knowing this fight didn't end the way he wanted.

Rei looked up at him, "No–I am a [Knight]... who promised to protect my friends, my family, and my loved ones who I failed before." The tone of his speech was different.

As if...two people were speaking at the same time.

*You...who are you?!*

Jormugand noticed that the person behind that helmet was different from the one he was fighting before. No, it felt like someone joined in...

"Me? You don't have to worry about me...we are just switching players."

A familiar voice that always resided within Rei the whole time spoke, and his red and golden eyes glowed brightly

"Now then…shall we end this."

Ray Houston, had joined the fight.

To be continue…