Battle Goes On

POON! I pull the trigger, and a grenade shoots out of the barrel of the launcher. As it falls down from the arc, it lands on the dragon's back.

BOOM! Following a blinding flash of light and a huge burst of flames bigger than the dragon itself, a sound more like a scream of pain is heard.

I can feel the heat from over here, and a cloud of smoke the size of the cliff rises from the point of impact.

"Holy shit! What is in that thing? That was not a fucking grenade!" I yell out of surprise and jump back onto my feet.

Cisca watches the explosion with great interest and says, "A touch of highly concentrated azidoazide, and by a touch, I mean enough to take down your tower."

I don't even know what to say anymore.

"And you made six of them in the basement of my tower?" I ask.

"Twenty-five, actually."

"What? What did you do with the rest?"

"Nothing, they are still on the weapon counter. Do you want me to show you?"

"N-No. I think I am good, but god damn, that is definitely not what a grenade should do."

"Stop complaining. See if it did anything to the dragon."

"Okay."

I squint my eyes to try to see through the smoke, but it's way too thick. The dragon is howling now. My ears are still ringing from the explosion, so I can't really say how loud it is.

A couple of seconds later, the smoke clears. On the back of what appears to be the impact, a chunk of scale is missing, and bright red blood flows out of the wound.

"Look at that!" I exclaim.

"Good. Is it incapacitated now?" Cisca asks.

"Uh, no."

The dragon gets up and screams again. It sees me and stomps its feet on the ground out of what seems like anger. It extends its wings out, which have a longer span than my private jet.

It opens its mouth wide and fire shoots out toward me. Hot red takes up my entire vision. I can feel the intense heat showering me as I am devoured by the flames, but there is no sensation of burning or pain.

The fire ceases, and the dragon looks at my unharmed body with surprised eyes.

"One wasn't enough, eh?" I yell and shoot another grenade at it.

POON! And. BOOM! The shock wave causes some of the trees around to crash down.

The dragon cries sharply as the explosion lands right on its shoulder. Another piece of scale flies off and that part of its body becomes covered in blood.

"How do you like that?!"

The dragon howls into the sky and begins flapping its wings. The wind sends debris under the dragon flying in all directions. After a few powerful flaps, the feet of the dragon levitate off the ground.

"Come back here!"

I fire another shot, but the dragon lifts itself up and dodges the grenade. It instead explodes in the trees behind.

"Shit!"

The dragon flies up and gains some altitude. It looks down on me with what I feel like are scornful eyes. The dragon begins circling around in the sky above me, casting a huge shadow on me. I can feel the pressure of the air increasing around me.

It opens its mouth again and sprays fire down, which has no effect on my suit.

I point my pistol grenade launcher up into the air and try to get the dragon within my iron sight.

POON!

After I have shot the grenade up is when I realized that this might not have been a good idea. The grenade can likely drop back down on me if I miss, but luckily, it doesn't.

BOOM!

The explosion catches the dragon's leg. It staggers a little but maintains flight. The fire lights up the sky like a second sun, and the smoke afterward covers up the original one.

Fire from the explosion joins the dragon's breath and rains down on me, mixed in there are parts of the dragon's scale and hot blood.

"Nice shot!" Cisca says.

The dragon has had enough. It stops circling and turns toward me. It then closes its wings, starts free-falling, and dives straight down at me.

I unflinchingly stare into the eyes of the rapidly approaching mountain. In the little time I have before I get crushed, the dragon becomes an easy target. I raise the launcher.

POON!

Another grenade is fired.

BOOM!

The grenade hits the dragon directly on its head. The dragon cries and it becomes bathed in fire and smoke.

The force from the explosion has knocked it off trajectory. It breaks through the smoke and crashes down onto the land beside me, spurring up a cloud of dirt. I completely lose my footing from the earthquake and fall on my behind.

A moment of silence follows.

"I-Is it dead?" Cisca asks.

"Maybe. I got one shot left," I say and push myself up from the ground.

I walk toward the fallen dragon. Blood pours out of the four wounds around its body, including the side of its head. Its eyelids are still blinking, but very weakly. Not another part of it is moving anymore.

Seeing it from this close is even crazier. Just its head is the size of a car.

Its half-opened purple eyes track my movement as I reach my hand out to touch this majestic being.

I can't get a good feel through my suit, but its scales are hard as rock and not as rough as I had thought. A low hum comes from its body as it inhales the dirt and exhales smoke.

"Are you going to kill it?" Cisca asks.

I stare into the dragon's eyes, behind which I see a hint of intelligence. Its existence puzzles my very mind, and yet I have its life under my palm.

"No," I say, "The knights were the ones attacking it. It just wants to rest. I think I am going to spare its life."

Cisca nods and says, "Okay. Can you at least collect a sample of blood for tes-"

Before Cisca can finish her sentence, a white light emanates from the dragon's entire body.

"What the…" I mutter and shield my eyes from the blinding glow.

"What is happening?" Cisca asks.

"I don't know."

A second later, the glow disappears, and I take my hand away. The colossal dragon lying in front of me just now is gone. In the middle of the imprint the dragon left from the crash is a woman, naked and covered in blood and dirt.