Chp.30: Deceiving a spirit

Heroes, saints, demon kings and overlords were known worldwide as legendary levels. They were people chosen directly by the gods and imbued with their power, and possessed a strength that no mortal could ever obtain. If they used all their power at once, they could wipe out entire cities. And yet, there was something even they feared.

Dragons were above legendary levels. It didn't matter if they were heroes, saints, demon kings or overlords, if any of them tried to fight alone against a dragon they would immediately lose. Dragons were existences beyond their reach, powerhouses of destruction, walking catastrophes that could destroy entire nations in a week or two. Meet a dragon, even for a legendary level, was to meet death. The only way for mortals to defeat a dragon was to send four or five levels of legend to face it simultaneously with all their powers. In fact, the cases in history were not rare where even heroes and demon kings had allied themselves to fight a dragon; faced with one of those monstrous beasts, any previous conflict immediately lost value.

And by 'all their powers' also meant the evocations or other abilities provided by the gods. In fact, even with the help of spirits, angels, demons or ghosts, it still took four or five legendary levels to defeat a dragon. The power of those creatures was too superior. Therefore, even spirits, angels, demons and ghosts feared dragons. Dragons were literally the only thing that could kill them, other than a god or other spirit, angel, demon, or ghost.

Therefore, when Akheilos saw the dragon flying in the sky, his body quivered and shivered for the first time in many centuries. Spirits could not feel real emotions, only distant remnants of them; they were muffled emotions, as if they were bright lights that, however, someone had hidden under a sheet. But just as the lights were more visible through the cloth if they were brighter, the stronger the emotion, the easier it was for the spirit to feel it. So the spirits rarely got to taste joy, pain, pleasure... and in some cases, even fear. But what Akheilos was feeling now wasn't fear. That word couldn't really represent what he felt at the sight of the dragon. It was a pure and ancestral terror, something almost primitive, a survival instinct that required to flee as soon as possible.

Carrion was even more frightened. Unlike Akheilos, he had a physical body and as such had no inhibitions, and could feel emotions in their entirety. That terror Akheilos felt for Carrion was multiplied hundreds of times. This time he didn't even try to think of a plan; he followed his survival instinct and thought only of defending himself from the beast. "Akheilos, stop that monster!" he commanded the spirit.

Carrion knew Akheilos didn't stand a chance, but at least he could distract the dragon for a while. This would allow him to escape as far as possible and hope that the dragon didn't decide to go looking for him. He didn't care to sacrifice the spirit: after all, he existed only to serve the goddess Heloisa and consequently he too who was one of her champions in the mortal world, so it was right that he fulfilled his duty by protecting him even with his life.

And indeed that was exactly what happened. Akheilos was afraid of the dragon, but immediately obeyed Carrion's order. The spirit took off and headed towards the dragon, which was making circles in the sky in a clear attempt to descend quickly; however, he didn't even get too close to the beast, but he stopped about two hundred meters away. Akheilos knew that the best course of action against a dragon was to keep a safe distance: if he got too close, the beast would tear him apart with the claws in an instant. If he stayed far enough away, however, the dragon could only rely on ranged attacks, which would at least give him a chance to dodge them.

He looked closely at the dragon. It was about a thirty meters long, a sign that it must have been a recent adult, and was covered in red scales, so it must have been a fire dragon. This put Akheilos at an advantage, as water was powerful against fire, but still it was an ephemeral advantage compared to the destructive power of the dragon. The spirit knew that he absolutely shouldn't let himself be hit by the dragon: if the beast managed to touch him even once, it didn't matter if it was with claws, teeth, tail or spells, his life would be over in any case. He therefore had to keep very far away, and fortunately what wasn't lacking in the sky was space. To be safe, he moved another one hundred meters, thus putting three hundred meters between himself and the dragon.

At that point he decided it was time to attack; in fact, he had to make sure that the dragon remained in the sky if he wanted to allow Carrion to escape, and he certainly could not do it by simply remaining at a distance from him. He raised his trident in both hands and aimed it at the dragon; both the weapon and the tattoos on his body glowed with a blue light, and after an instant a jet of water of unusual strength exploded from the tip of the trident. It was a more powerful jet than any mage could generate, and even a legendary level mage like Hara would not be able to replicate it. The water molded itself into the shape of a spear and solidified, becoming harder than the coldest ice, and at the same time it shone with a blue light as if the sun's rays were passing through it. The spirit's attack reached the dragon in a few moments, but the beast easily avoided it; Akheinos wasn't sure how the dragon had done it, but the jet of water overtook the dragon and crashed on the land far away. However, despite the failure, this was enough to stop the dragon, who stopped circling and stopped in the sky, barely turning the enormous head towards him.

Akheinos swallowed when he saw those cold eyes fall upon him. However, he showed no sign of fear. "Don't you dare go on, monster!" he shouted, and his voice sounded like the sound of a raging sea, like hundreds and hundreds of waves breaking over and over again in the same spot.

Normally, such a rumor would make even a legendary tier tremble. But on the contrary, the dragon didn't flinch. In fact, it didn't even seem bothered. More than angry it seemed almost bored, as if it considered Akheilos only an annoying fly that wasn't worth dealing with. "You seem to be stronger than these pathetic weaklings" it finally said, and its vocal timbre revealed that it was a female. "In deference to your bravery, I will let you go unharmed. Run away and don't look back. I have other things on my mind and I am not in the mood to fight today. Know that, if you try to attack me again, I will consider that as spitting on my goodwill and will retaliate in the most appropriate way"

With that, the dragon turned and flew back down, and she didn't even bother to check if Akheilos was following her. The spirit was displaced: not only was the dragon not afraid of him, but she didn't even consider him a good enough opponent to fight against! She had literally yelled at him 'get out of my way, I have more important things to do than swat an insect like you'. Even though Akheilos knew that such behavior was natural, since the one before him was a dragon and as such she was at the top of the food chain, he couldn't help but feel outraged. Even though his survival instincts and fear were strong, he still had a pride. "I told you to not go further, monster!" he roared, and a second jet of solid water formed on his trident and aimed at the dragon.

This time the blow was clearly on target: Akheilos saw the jet of water hit the dragon and shatter. The beast's back was slightly damaged, but in a few moments a magic enveloped the affected part and accelerated the regeneration, completely stitching up the wound. At that point the dragon turned around again, but once again she didn't look angry at all but just a little annoyed. "Don't you hear me? Go away!" she said, and she spat a jet of flame from her mouth.

Akheilos panicked, but luckily the jet of flame traveled slow enough for him to dodge; moving faster than a raindrop, he swung out of its way and avoided being hit by it. When he looked at the dragon again, he realized that she had already turned and was flying back down, as if she already considered him doom. "You... don't underestimate me!" Akheilos exclaimed. "Stop playing! Face me!"

The dragon turned to him with a bored face. "How annoying you are. Why should I fight you? You are no match for me, and I'm too lazy to act. The only reason I'm here is because I'm doing a friend a favor, otherwise I'd still be in the my territory to sleep in. I don't want to face you, just leave, so I can fulfill my task and go home"

Akheilos was somewhat confused by those words. It wasn't strange for a dragon to go into battle; after all, if the dragons made a promise, they always kept it. If that dragon had made a promise earlier to one of the people currently on the battlefield, then surely she would have come to help him or her if he or she asked for it in fulfillment. But why call that person a friend? Dragons didn't have friends, and surely that dragon didn't need to lie about how she viewed the other life forms. Maybe she was just rhetoric? But it seemed a bit strange... "You won't dissuade me with your words, you monster! I am your opponent! Come here and fight!"

The dragon sighed. "Seriously, what's wrong with you? You know you can't win, I'm sure you already figured that out. Why would you want to throw your life away like this? Just walk away. It's not cowardice to retreat when a battle is clearly impossible to win. You'll have other opportunities to prove your worth, right? There's only one life, what's the point of wasting it?"

This made Akheilos even more suspicious. It was the first time he had met such a talkative dragon. Normally, any dragon after his first attack would go berserk and attack the spirit with any means at disposal until he was torn apart and eradicated from the world. Dragons were the pinnacle of the food chain; how dare an inferior life form question their sovereignty by striking them with impunity? No dragon would have remained unmoved by two attacks, and certainly no dragon would have talked so much. It almost seemed as if she was stalling for time. "Enough chatting!" Akheilos shouted, tired of that situation. Even though it was risky, now he absolutely wanted to fight. Several blades of water formed in his trident and shot at full speed at the dragon.

The blades of water crashed against the dragon's body, as if they had struck a wall. The dragon opened her jaws again and let out a jet of fire. Akheilos dodged again, but this time he noticed that something was amiss. That jet of fire was far too weak. Even the laziest and weakest of all the dragons in the entire world would generate much hotter flames. A jet of fire of that strength could only be fired by one level adamantium mage. There were just two possibilities: either that dragon was really underestimating him... or something was wrong.

And his suspicions grew even more when he noticed that many of the blades of water he had seen breaking on the dragon's body were actually falling far away. At that point he was seized by a doubt. Swinging his trident he regained control of one of the blades and sent it back. The dragon didn't notice it and the blade struck him full, but instead of breaking on his skin it went through him from side to side without problems, as if in fact there was nothing.

"Liar!" Akheilos roared, finally realizing the deception. "You aren't a dragon! That is just an illusion!"