223. Winter Palace (5)
223. Winter Palace (5)
"Everyone's got the plan down in their heads, right?"
When Jin Yu-ha asked, the party members nodded firmly.
"And, Instructor...?"
"Yeah, understood."
Baek Seol-hee nodded with a nonchalant face.
"Then I'll pull it."
Baek Seol-hee gripped the sword driven into the floor and smoothly pulled it out.
We distanced ourselves and prepared to face the Fire Dragon.
And a moment later.
Ruuuuumble—
The earth shook, and the floor began to crack apart.
The massive underground space triggered violent vibrations.
Whoooosh!
Fierce flames began to erupt, flashing through the cracks splitting the floor.
KABOOOOOM—!
At last, the Fire Dragon burst forth, completely shattering the floor and revealing itself.
*
Hot flames ignited from its maw with every breath.
A destructive desire gleamed in its bright yellow eyes.
The air sizzled and boiled above its membrane-like wings and dark red scales. It had the form of a gigantic winged lizard.
—Krrruuuaaaaaaaah!!!
The moment it saw the Utopia Party members, it gaped its jaws and let out a monstrous roar.
A sound that stirred instinctive revulsion.
'This is Dragon Fear...'
Lee Yu-ri clenched her teeth and gripped the shield Jin Yu-ha had made for her.
'I never imagined I'd end up fighting a dragon here...'
Among known monster types, dragonkin were considered the absolute highest tier.
After forming a united front with her party members, she had come here to relax with Jin Yu-ha, only to suddenly end up fighting a dragon.
She'd thought maybe, just this once, they'd get through without incident, but really... It seemed there really was something about Jin Yu-ha.
'No orders have come down yet.'
Undaunted by its massive, overwhelming presence, Lee Yu-ri kept her eyes fixed on the Fire Dragon.
And as she watched the dragon, a question arose.
'But... why did Chairwoman Rina keep this thing alive?'
If she'd gone so far as to freeze an entire dungeon, the right move would have been to kill it.
Why on earth hadn't she?
'Could it be she sealed it because she couldn't kill it?'
...If that were the case, Jin Yu-ha's plan to take this thing down wouldn't make sense.
How could we possibly capture something even Chairwoman Rina couldn't?
Jin Yu-ha was usually incredibly thorough about that sort of thing.
But Lee Yu-ri's musing couldn't continue to its conclusion.
Crrrrk—
The motion Jin Yu-ha had described in advance.
She could see the dragon craning its neck upward.
At the same moment, Jin Yu-ha's voice stabbed into her ears.
— Lee Yu-ri, it's a Breath! Taunt!
* * *
At my signal, Lee Yu-ri struck her shield.
FWAAAAAAAH!
Then, the dragon's Breath turned solely toward one person.
"Haaah!"
Lee Yu-ri boldly thrust her shield forward against the Breath the Fire Dragon spewed.
The flames, which looked capable of incinerating everything in their path, converged on a single point and were blocked by Lee Yu-ri's small shield.
'She won't be able to hold it for long.'
I immediately opened my mouth.
"Now, Kang Do-hee."
Tap-tap-tap-tap—
WHAAAM—!!!
At that, Kang Do-hee, having received the signal, charged in and kicked the Fire Dragon's jaw upward with her foot.
— Kuuoooh!!!
Its mouth, mid-Breath, snapped shut, and the creature injured its own throat instead.
— Withdraw now, Ichika!!
Whoosh—
Even before my order finished, an Ice Platform flew into view before my party members and me.
Then, as all the party members stepped onto the Ice Platform, a wave of molten lava spread across the floor.
'Just as I expected.'
A smirk spread across my lips.
Truth be told, I had never seen the Fire Dragon before.
So how was it that I knew the Fire Dragon well enough to prepare for it like this and come up with a plan?
'Well, you know... After three years of Velvetsra, you can devise tactics just from hearing a name.'
Specific species of monsters in the game share identical mechanics, you see.
You know how it is.
Games where they take the same monster, change its color to make it stronger, or alter its attribute.
In Velvetsra, dragons were that type of case.
The ones I'd caught were the Water Dragon and the Earth Dragon.
Since those two appeared almost certainly as you progressed through the game, I had accumulated enough data on them to confidently say there was almost nothing I didn't know.
'Which means I can just swap the attribute to fire using that as a base.'
Slice—
Dodging the pattern once more, I slashed at the creature's wing.
— Krararak!!
But taking down a dragonkin through combat like this takes forever. Their HP is just insanely high, those guys.
'Well, if I'm being hoooonest...'
If I asked Master to do it, well...
She could probably just one-shot it.
Didn't we see Master's real skill firsthand while conquering this dungeon together?
She's a melee character, and with limited mobility options, it took us two days.
If not for that, the dungeon conquest might have been over in a few hours.
'Because everything was a one-hit kill.'
The Fire Dragon?
If Master charged in seriously, the dragon's head would probably be cleanly severed.
But right now, this is an opportunity for Utopia to gain experience.
And against a dragon, at that.
So, from the very beginning, I'd told Master separately to only intervene and help if a party member seemed truly in danger.
To be able to hunt a dragon with even our safety guaranteed like this!
This kind of ridiculously sweet EXP farming barely existed even in the game.
Therefore, what was crucial right now was Shin Se-hee.
Ever since the battle had started, I hadn't made any attacks myself.
I stole a glance at Shin Se-hee, who was approaching the creature bit by bit, simply holding her breath in silence.
* * *
Shin Se-hee wore the ice armor Jin Yu-ha had crafted.
'So that's a Fire Dragon...'
It was nothing short of massive.
Overwhelming.
Gulp—
Facing the Fire Dragon spewing flames right before her eyes, she swallowed nervously.
It had been so long since she'd stepped into actual combat that the spear in her hand felt unfamiliar.
'Still, I haven't neglected my training all this time.'
She had, up until now, participated without a word of complaint in even the Baek Seol-hee Style Training that Jin Yu-ha conducted for the party members.
No matter how much she was an Operator who didn't take a direct combat role,
if Jin Yu-ha ever found himself in a truly life-threatening situation, she would have to step forward too.
Preparing for that ever-present, uncertain "someday" was precisely who Shin Se-hee was.
But perhaps the tension was inevitable; her palms grew sweaty and her heart felt as if it were being squeezed.
'But this is the task Jin Yu-ha entrusted to me. I must see it through perfectly.'
Shin Se-hee carefully approached the Fire Dragon, mentally reciting the plan Jin Yu-ha had briefed her on beforehand.
— What? I-I'm the key to the plan...?
— Yeah, Shin Se-hee. Fire Dragon. Just from hearing the name, what do you think its weakness is?
— Well, since it's a Fire Dragon, water would be the obvious answer, wouldn't it?
— Mm, that's right, but... That's also wrong. The Fire Dragon's weakness is water, but simultaneously, it's also fire.
At that, Shin Se-hee had stared at him with a dumbfounded look.
What kind of logic was that—like admitting to drinking but saying you didn't drive drunk?
Then, Jin Yu-ha had chuckled and continued his explanation.
— Dragonkin basically all share one common weakness.
— A weakness?
— Yeah. A Reverse Scale. A scale that grows backward.
A Reverse Scale.
According to Jin Yu-ha's explanation, the Reverse Scale was a weak point even if you just hit it,
but there was one more peculiarity to it.
The Fire Dragon, born with the power of fire, was fundamentally weak to the water attribute.
But for just that one backward-facing scale, it ironically held a weakness to the exact same attribute.
Hence, the mission given to her.
— Since your Fire Resistance is high, you need to get as close to the Fire Dragon as possible and locate that Reverse Scale. Its position is randomly determined each time... Well, anyway. You can't find it from far away.
— Ah... And, after I find it?
— You have to stab and drive your fire Mana into that Reverse Scale.
Crunch!
Slice!
Even now, the Utopia Party members were attacking the Fire Dragon in perfect order.
— Kraaaarara!!
The Fire Dragon continued to roar its fury in response.
Every time it twisted its body, the ground shook as if an earthquake had hit,
and dust showered down from the ceiling.
"Ugh!"
Bam! Crash!
Kang Do-hee, having pushed in a little too deep, was struck by the Fire Dragon's tail and sent tumbling to the side.
"......"
But Shin Se-hee didn't intervene.
Making a clumsy attack could draw aggro onto herself.
Right now, while the party members were drawing attention like this,
she just had to focus on holding her breath, circling around, and approaching the Fire Dragon.
*
The closer she got to the Fire Dragon, the fiercer the flames became.
A heat so intense that even for her, born with Fire Resistance, it was hard to keep her eyes open properly.
Shin Se-hee's entire body was drenched in sweat.
Hoooh—
Once she'd drawn fairly near, Shin Se-hee opened her eyes wide and fixed her gaze on the creature's dark red membrane.
'Reverse Scale, Reverse Scale, Reverse Scale...'
But soon, Shin Se-hee couldn't help but bite her lip.
Because there were just too many scales.
To be told to find a single backward-facing scale among those countless protruding scales, in this situation where she could barely keep her eyes open properly,
it seemed like searching for a needle on a sandy beach would be easier. At least there, you could use a magnet.
'Isn't this asking a bit too much of me...?'
But still, once you've been given a task, isn't it proper to do your absolute best?
Even as sweat dripped into her eyes, Shin Se-hee kept them open, her mind racing.
'First of all, if it's a weak point... it definitely won't be somewhere easy to attack.'
If so, it wouldn't be the front.
And the hands, feet, and tail were also frequently used for attacks, so they were likely out.
When it used fire, it spread its wings, making that area an easy target too.
'Frontal area, hands, feet, tail, and wings are excluded from consideration for now...'
That was when it happened.
Pang—! Pang—! Pang—!
Ice arrows shot by Sofia from a distance pierced and embedded themselves into the Fire Dragon's body.
— Kraaaarara!!!!
The Fire Dragon let out a cry of agony, hit by the arrows.
And in that moment.
Shin Se-hee's eyes narrowed sharply.
'Didn't it just... twist its body ever so subtly?'
Smirk—
The corners of her mouth turned up.