Chapter CLIII - Motivation (part 1)

Meanwhile on the other dragon pit, Fran and Rath are trying hard to stay alive.

"Rath! Aim for the god damn head!"

"It's hard to shoot with all the screaming!!"

"ROOOOAAAAA!!!!!!"

Rath is on the ground, shooting deadly arrows towards the dragons that are fighting Fran. Meanwhile, Fran took all the dragon's attention while trying to dodge all their attacks.

Due to her fast movements, the dragons can barely touch her.

But, dodging is all she can do.

She single-handedly grabbed all of their attention while slashing once or twice on the dragon's bodies while Rath on the rear is firing lots of lethal arrows.

Some of the arrows managed to land on a dragon, but it only caused a minor damage. The dragon was then alerted by the arrow, causing it to turn its attention towards Rath. But Fran quickly dashed in front of the dragon and sliced its nose. The dragon immediately had their attention back to Fran again.

She is fast, but she can't kill the dragons with small attacks like those. To kill the dragons, she would need to slice their throats or use any other lethal ways, but that will definitely tire her out because killing them was not a simple task. Their other option is to have Rath aim correctly and kill them by shooting arrows at the eye or any other weak spots. But the fact is, he is missing quite a lot.

The two are in a deadlock with the dragons. They aren't progressing much, while Fran's energy is depleting really fast.

She could use a powerful attack, but that definitely will make her extremely tired due to the exhaustion of magic energy. She had no choice but to keep on continuing the current plan.

Rath shot another arrow, but it missed the eye just slightly.

"Aim correctly!!"

Fran shouted as she turned the attention of the dragon Rath just shot with an arrow back to her.

"I'm aiming, I'm aiming!"

The two continue the battle for nearly twenty minutes, and Fran finally shows signs of exhaustion. Fran is tired, and yet not a single dragon is down.

Four dragons are fighting with her at the same time, while the rest are flying in the sky, watching and studying as a single human faces four dragons at the same time. 

The single White ranked regular dragon is still on the pit, as if guarding something. It is not moving, and is also watching the fight unfold.

Fran was able to run away from the dragon horde that she was fighting against, and she stopped right next to Rath. Her whole body is sweating. Her white attire shows signs of sweat nearly everywhere, and her red cape was torn badly. Her brown pants looked slightly burned, must be from the explosion that the dragon's fireball caused. The flaming pebbles must have hit her legs, causing a slight pain for her.

"Rath… I can't…"

"Sorry to say, but we got to go."

As the two are conversing, the dragons on the skies begin moving. They fired a ton of fireballs towards them. 

Fran grabbed Rath and then leaped like the lightning. They stopped quite far from the pit, and Fran's knees finally gave up. She fell to the floor from exhaustion.

"F-Fran!!"

"Rath… Run…"

Rath turned his gaze towards the dragons, and it was too late. The fire blazes are already coming towards them.

Rath quickly moved to protect Fran from the fire breath.

VWOOOMMM!!!!

Fran opened her eyes, and Rath slowly turned his gaze. A giant wall made out of rock was formed right in front of them, completely stopping the fire blaze from ever touching them.

Fran and Rath can only watch as the wall protects them and slowly melts. But the fire breath had already stopped, so they are safe.

The rock wall became melted due to the fire blaze, and it crumbled to a lump of lava on the ground. The rock wall was strong enough to hold back that many fire blazes coming from dragons, and they only know one person present capable of such powerful earth magic.

"Hey, there. You guys managed to live on."

A greet came from behind them. Rath turned around to find Emily, Brod, and myself calmly arriving near them.

"Y-You guys…"

"Relax. We did our part. How come you guys didn't do yours? That's not fair."

I said jokingly at Rath. He is still too stiff to say anything, but Fran was able to laugh. She slowly stood up while holding the burn wounds on her legs.

"Glad to have you here, Rize."

"Sorry for being late! The big guy is pretty slow."

"Hey!! I'm the tanker for a reason!"

The girls laughed, but Rath is still too taken aback.

"You guys… cleared your side?"

"Yep. There's thirteen dragons. Fairly easy."

I formed a three with my fingers while grinning, and Rath doesn't even know what to say anymore.

"Look out!"

Emily shouted, and suddenly the ground became bright. All the dragons are in the air, and six fire blazes are approaching our position at high speed with the intention of wiping us out completely.

"Whoa, there. We are still not done talking."

I lifted one hand, and a large wall of shadow quickly formed in front of us. The fire blaze crashed to the shadow walls, but it wasn't able to destroy it or melt it.

Shadows can not be melted, and since the fire breaths doesn't pack much punch, it is strong enough to hold it back.

The dragon looked confused seeing the wall of shadow is still up after all that much heat power. They all quickly stopped their attacks.

"R-Rize… you have shadow magic?"

Fran asked while taking a step, but I stopped her. I pointed at the wounds on her legs, and the burn wounds quickly got healed.

Seeing her wounds being healed so quickly, Fran laughed.

"Haha! What a saint I am compared to you…"

"Sorry to say… but I'm never a saint, Fran. 

I am… the devil."

I began enchanting my whole body with shadow and fire magic, and the shadow armor quickly formed around my body as dark purple flames lighting up some of the spots.

I looked so cool right now, and I'm sure everyone agrees. This is the form I used against Jericho and Arfius during the battle arena during my first year, except this time I am powering it with purple flames.

And since both my magic are so much more powerful from that time, this form is almost as strong as my partial devil form. Just from the pressure, everyone can tell that I am being serious.

And yet, my mind kept on arriving at the worst places and ended up joking around.

"Say, since everyone liked the barbeque, I have an idea. I can give Hod a new menu for you guys to eat. Would you guys liked that?"

I said while the shadows on my body are slowly forming. Everyone else only watched in awe, and quickly snapped to answer the question.

"Y-You have more menus than that barbeque?"

"I have tons! I can give you guys something better than the barbeque."

Fran quickly turned to the others, and they all smiled widely from excitement.

"But of course, you guys have to kill at least one of these things. I won't do it for free."

"Will do. A single dragon for a new menu is worth it."

Fran said, representing the others, and they all also nodded. Everyone else looked more fearsome now. If anything in this world can lift a person's spirit, it's food. 

Everything else is temporary.

Food is forever.

"Alright then! Leave the rest to me while you guys handle the dragon closest to us."

I took down the shadow wall, and everyone else quickly got prepared. Fran looked around after I took down the shadow wall, and she lifted her hand.

"Right there, the green one. We'll kill that one."

Fran pointed at the closest dragon on the ground, the nearly evolved lesser dragon with green scales.

I nodded at Fran and activated my wings. Two large wings similar to an angel wing but black appeared behind my back like a burning flame. With a single flap, I flew to the air.

Now then… 

I will try my best not to use my devil powers, because I simply do not want to lose control. And it looks like everyone is really hyped. 

Hmm, instant noodles… or ice cream?

I did say something better than barbeque… but… what exactly is better than barbeque…?