The Black Dragon (1)
The black entity emerged from the clouds and revealed itself. Even from a great distance, an oppressive weight rolled off it — something impossible to dismiss.
Flapping wings more than twice the size of its body, the creature descended onto the forest below.
As I drew closer, my auxiliary organs began to buzz and tingle. The immense psychic power radiating from the Black Galagon was affecting them.
The strongest of all the APEX creatures I had ever fought.
The black dragon Ored Ghad stood before me.
｢Big Baby, be careful.｣
No. 26, riding on my back, warned me. Her thought-wave trembled with unmistakable tension.
I knew very well just how powerful a Black Galagon could be. I'd hunted them more times than I could count in the game.
What I hadn't expected was why the creature was here at all.
How did it know to come?
While Mother of the Sky had been watching its nest, she'd reported that nothing had come or gone. The Green Galagon pursuit squad hadn't returned either, so the odds of it knowing about my existence had seemed slim.
Don't tell me a Green Galagon left over in the cruiser's logs tipped it off?
Maybe one of them had witnessed my fight with the cruiser and reported it to Ored Ghad.
But one question still lingered. The White Galagon with the broken wing had clearly said 'trap'.
In other words, it had already seen through my plan — the plan to strike while the White Galagons were away hunting.
Its appearance had shattered my expectations, and that left me with plenty of problems.
I was not in peak condition. The wounds on my body had nearly healed, but my traits were the real issue. Paragon of the Hunt, the gigantification ability of Organic Evolution, and the Revenant Organ — all of them were sealed away.
And my companions were scattered to the wind. I would have to fight this creature with only No. 26, Adhai, and Nel Germa at my side.
Even at full strength, victory against this enemy was far from guaranteed. Fighting it in my weakened state, the situation was, if anything, worst-case.
...Calm down.
This was no time for dark thoughts. Dwelling on them wouldn't change a thing. Far more productive to focus on how I was going to survive the fortress of muscle in front of me.
I calmly studied the creature. Landed on the ground, it made no rash lunge — it simply glared at me.
It, too, was opening with a probing engagement, just like me.
Seems fairly clever.
Going by appearance alone, it was larger than any Galagon I'd seen here — comparable to my own size when I grew using Paragon of the Hunt.
Its body was long and serpentine, but never slender. Dense muscle packed its neck, chest, torso, and tail, all sheathed in obsidian-like scales.
Six horns curved from its head like those of a goat or ram, and long bundles of tentacles spilled from its mouth like a beard.
Seen this far, one might call it as dignified as an Eastern dragon — but that was the last thing I felt. Because of its eyes.
Ham Ort, Adhai, Nel Germa — all of them had beautiful amethyst-purple eyes. Ored Ghad had gemstone eyes of the same purple, yet the impression was utterly different.
In its gaze I read nothing but savagery and cunning. A heaven-and-earth difference from Adhai's, which glimmered with pride and a hint of mischief.
A cruel-tempered enemy.
Better to treat it as something closer to a player than an ordinary creature. And a highly skilled one at that.
It subdued Ham Ort without taking a single wound.
Scars were visible across its black scales, but none of them had come from Ham Ort. In other words, it had defeated her completely unharmed.
Hm?
As I examined it, I noticed something odd. A ring set with a jewel was fitted around one of its forelegs.
I've never seen equipment like that.
It had never appeared in the game. The gem had been refined into a clean, polished form — clearly the work of a professional craftsman.
I'll keep an eye on that.
Just as I had spotted its anomaly, it had noticed something special about me. Ored Ghad tilted its head, studying No. 26 on my back.
A Black Galagon and a Sea Demon — both formidable psychic creatures. They seemed to be gauging just how dangerous the other was.
Before long, it apparently judged itself the superior of the two, because it began to move. The psychic power flowing like water across its black scales rushed rapidly toward its head.
Here it comes.
Its first attack was a Psychic Breath. Having charged its power at speed, the creature unleashed a dark, near-black violet heat ray.
I spread my wings and lifted myself skyward. The beam grazed the carapace below my hindquarters — and the touched portion simply evaporated, leaving not even a trace behind.
...Reflection is out of the question.
Pointless, when the carapace would vanish before Psychic Reflection Carapace could even trigger. Having dodged the attack into the open air, I made to fly at the creature.
That was when it raised its head and kept firing.
Tch.
With psychic power to spare, it refused to cut the beam off, breathing continuously. The all-consuming heat ray chased my tail. I battered the air with my wings, driving my speed higher.
While I held its attention, Adhai and Nel Germa moved to strike Ored Ghad. Nel Germa spat her energy first — but something intercepted it.
The White Galagon with the broken wing had fired its own breath, canceling her attack.
｢Traitor.｣
｢Nel Germa｣ ｢serves｣ ｢Ham Ort｣.
｢Traitor｣ ｢dies｣.
｢Kin｣ ｢dealt with｣ ｢black kin｣ ｢support｣.
｢I｣ ｢understand｣.
While Nel Germa marked the White Galagon, Adhai flew in to support me. She swept around on a flanking maneuver, looped behind Ored Ghad, and fired her Psychic Breath. Her signature technique now — the barrage of violet energy bolts screamed toward the black dragon's head.
Ored Ghad cut its breath for a moment and raised a wing to shield its head. Adhai's energy bolts burst against it.
Yet the wing came away with nothing worse than a slight scorch along its outer edge.
｢So tough!｣
｢Ored Ghad｣ ｢commands｣ ｢insolent thing｣ ｢be gone｣.
Exuding a cold wave of mental force, Ored Ghad fired another Psychic Breath. A heat ray spat from its mouth far faster than the one it had aimed at me.
A feint!
It had deliberately fired slowly when attacking me.
｢!｣
[Zzzzt (Look out!)]
It was a hair's breadth away. If Adhai's body had been any larger, or her reflexes any slower, that beam would have cut her clean in two.
She evaded the ray by the thinnest of margins, but her tail tip could not escape. The seared flesh made her falter in agony.
Just as Ored Ghad curved its breath to finish Adhai off, I poured out the energy I had been gathering while she bought me time.
The White Galagon's power, forged through Monster's Tentacles, surged toward the creature's head. Judging that blocking with a wing would be difficult, it turned its head and spat its heat ray at me instead.
Its near-black beam and my vivid violet one locked in a struggle of raw force. The shockwave between us split the ground, and trees shattered into splinters that scattered through the air.
...It's strong.
I'd expected a tough fight, but not this much. Our raw output was roughly even — the difference was the sheer reservoir of energy behind it. At this level, it was nearly an Adult Amorph.
Even as I focused on the beam struggle, I kept watching Adhai. She had barely endured the agony of her burning tail and pulled herself into the sky.
Seeing she was clear, I cut my breath. The moment the clash ended, its Psychic Breath came flying at me.
Instead of climbing, I dropped low, hugging the ground. As expected, the creature assumed I would fly upward and swung its beam skyward.
Having baited the feint, I opened my jaws wide from that low stance. My lower jaw split in two, and a mass of green fungal matter gushed outward.
As the acid spores flew, Ored Ghad flared both wings wide and beat them violently. A miniature typhoon seemed to erupt, scattering the airborne spores in every direction.
Clever creature.
Its age showed in how well it used its own body. Not that I'd ever expected the acid spores to tear it apart anyway.
Buying time with the spores, I kicked off the ground hard with my tail and leapt skyward. Ored Ghad belatedly tried to fire its beam again.
That is, it would have — if the shattered cloud of spores hadn't re-gathered itself and hurled itself back at the creature.
｢What—?｣
Ored Ghad snapped off a short burst of Psychic Breath at the spores, which moved as though trailing invisible threads.
While its attention was diverted, I rocketed into the open sky.
After a few wingbeats to gain altitude, Adhai flew up alongside me.
[Zzzzt (Are you okay?)]
｢Pain｣ ｢but｣ ｢enduring｣.
The exchange had been brief, but one thing was certain: this creature was no pushover. Its combat instincts were sharp enough to rank among the top five opponents I'd faced in this world.
And that wasn't all. Fitting for a Black Galagon, its raw combat ability was elite. In a straight contest of power, I would lose.
I have to win this with unorthodox attacks.
I knew what traits and techniques a Black Galagon possessed — it knew nothing about Amorphs, or about me. Not what powers I held, nor how I might use them.
[Zzzzt zzzzt (I need your help)]
｢Yes! Just trust me!｣
No. 26, on my back, swayed her tentacles gently.
Just then, a Psychic Breath came up from below. Dodging it, I saw that Ored Ghad was flying toward us.
｢Pathetic vermin｣ ｢shall not escape｣.
The horns of the breathing creature began to glow violet. Not from the light of psychic power alone.
[Zzz zzzzt (Watch out above)]
｢Above?｣
The moment its horns lit violet, the flow of the clouds began to warp. Immediately after, massive vortices descended inverted from the heavens — carrying not only hail and snow, but purple lightning.
The devastating psychic technique available to Black Galagons: Maelstrom. True to its name — a whirlpool — it summoned a storm of annihilating psychic force.
[Zzz zzz zzzzt zzzzt zzzt zzzzt zzzt (Keep moving and you can dodge the lightning)]
｢Understood｣.
Having warned Adhai, I moved again. The instant I did, purple lightning struck down on the spot I had just vacated.
Standing still inside Maelstrom's zone of influence was suicide. Lightning a notch weaker than a Psychic Breath hunted down the caster's enemies on its own.
Having conjured its localized weather catastrophe, Ored Ghad flapped after us in pursuit. Its breath grazed the tip of my wing.
I feigned fleeing from it, gradually bleeding off speed. That raised my odds of getting hit — but I had No. 26.
She was subtly adjusting the angles of incoming breaths, just enough that Ored Ghad wouldn't notice. The result: I slipped each attack by a hair, or took nothing worse than a graze that scorched my carapace.
｢Slippery wretch!｣
Ored Ghad, evidently annoyed by my weaving evasions, spat out an irritated wave of mental force.
Now.
I had been waiting for it to get emotional. Dodging its attacks, I readied my own breath — and when the energy had nearly gathered, I folded one wing and wrenched my trajectory sideways. The recoil flipped my body broadside in mid-flight.
From that position, Monster's Tentacles spat out the dragon's power once more.
The creature had anticipated this the moment I closed the distance, and calmly countered my breath.
The struggle of force began anew. And still it looked composed. Infinite power poured from the tentacles around its mouth, and its amethyst eyes brimmed with mockery.
Adhai was the exception; ordinary Galagons cannot move while firing a Psychic Breath. I too could angle my breath freely, but my speed dropped while doing so.
The enemy knew this as well as I did. To it, I must have looked like a fool, locking beams at the heart of the Maelstrom's domain.
Just as it expected, purple lightning fell toward my head. The instant it emerged and made for No. 26, a fresh energy bolt flew in from afar — striking the lightning and detonating it above my skull.
｢Pain Mitigation, activate!｣
The psychic lightning pierced my carapace and raked all the way to the flesh beneath, but the pain was bearable. Lightning from Maelstrom simply lacked the firepower of a breath fired directly by its caster. And Adhai had detonated it mid-air, halving its destructive force again.
Struck by the psychic energy, Psychic Reflection Carapace activated across my head. The energies composing the lightning lost their target and burst outward like fireworks.
｢How dare you｣ ｢annoying trickery｣.
To psychic-sensitive Galagons, that detonation before their eyes must have felt like watching a fighter jet deploy flares.
Having successfully scrambled its vision, I folded both wings as I triggered Color of the Abyss. My body plunged downward, and its heat ray sailed over the carapace of my skull.
Two more of my horns snapped off for my trouble — didn't matter. Having evaded its attack, I spread my wings again and dove in beneath it.
｢Enough of your parlor tricks!｣
Its horns flashed once more — this time to ward off the lightning falling onto it, from above.
But the real attack is something else.
This too was misdirection. In the instant it paused to command its lightning, I drew the weapon I had been preparing.
Bubbles erupted outward — a churn of green and violet, woven through with every bewildering color in between. Countless bubbles — no, the Gaze of Horror, coated in Color of the Abyss — hurtled toward the creature.
The moment it attacked those bubbles, it was finished. When that strengthened Gaze of Horror detonated, No. 26 would seize control of them and hurl them straight into it.
If even a single bubble touched it, the creature would be neutralized on the spot.
And it moved exactly as I predicted. Its head, still synchronizing the Maelstrom, reflexively swung toward the bubbles. The tentacle bundles dangling around its mouth flushed violet.
Less than a second remained before its Psychic Breath fired. And then — sudden bewilderment flooded its eyes.
In a flash, its tentacles reverted to their original color, and the creature beat its wings hard. All of its earlier composure was gone; it recoiled as though it had just laid eyes on something lethally, fundamentally dangerous.
No. 26 tried to steer the bubbles onto it, but the creature had already put a vast distance between us.
The plan to neutralize it with the strengthened Gaze of Horror had failed.
｢You...!｣
From a distance, Ored Ghad flung a wave of intense mental force. On the surface it read as pure fury, but beneath it other emotions were threaded through.
Wariness — and unmistakably, fear.
How?
It had moved to fire on the bubbles as a matter of course. It had gathered the energy, even. Yet at the very moment of release, it had aborted the attack and fallen back.
As though it had known, somehow, that my attack was dangerous.
...It was wary of the Gaze of Horror? Does it know something about me?
How Ored Ghad had recognized Color of the Abyss and evaded it, I couldn't say. But one thing was now perfectly clear.
This fight was not going to end quickly.
