Hunting the Earth Dragon
"……."
"……."
"I mean, isn't he a little too full of himself?"
"Does he even know what an Earth Dragon is?"
"It's far too dangerous."
The players' reactions ran the gamut. Yujun had even been weighing the idea of going alone. Put his items to use, and he could probably manage it by himself somehow.
Then the beastkin who had first addressed him spoke.
"You seem confident in your own ability. Mind if I put that to the test?"
"How?"
"A spar."
"Who should I fight?"
"I will do. Does everyone agree?"
The players nodded. If the whole group deferred to him, then this beastkin was surely the strongest of them.
"Very well."
The power rolling off the canine beastkin was considerable. His level had to be in the late four hundreds, at the least. Yujun and the players stepped out into the mansion's courtyard.
"I am Davern."
"Shin Yujun."
"Let us begin at once."
Davern had no intention of holding back. He kicked off the ground first and rushed Yujun, a crimson aura gathering along his arm as he drove it straight forward. The air tore with a heavy whoosh.
Yujun did not meet the blow. He slipped the fist—not from fear, but because he knew perfectly well how high his own attack power was. Crash into the man without a thought, and Davern might lose his life.
He decided to use Ancient Magic, and cast a binding spell.
Blue threads materialized in the empty air and wound around Davern's body, cinching tight. Frozen where he stood, Davern's eyes flew wide. He hauled on his mana, but it did nothing. Thin as they looked, the threads lashed him fast and would not let go. He struggled for another thirty seconds or so, then let out a hollow laugh.
"I don't believe this."
"Are we finished?"
"You were a mage?"
"I use a sword as well."
"A magic swordsman, then. I lose."
One of the elves, however, could not accept the result.
"W-wait a moment."
"Yes?"
"I think Davern let his guard down. Fight me too."
"All right."
Yujun nodded.
The fight ended even sooner than expected, so her doubt was only natural. The elf summoned an earth spirit and a fire spirit. Clods of soil heaved up beneath Yujun's feet and tried to cling to his body, only for a shield to spring into being in the space of a blink and stop the earth cold. More than twenty arrows of fire slammed into that shield and detonated one after another. It did not so much as crack. It was perfectly intact.
"……."
The elf's mouth fell open. She pressed the attack several more times after that, and still she could not leave a single hairline fracture in Yujun's shield.
"Are we done?"
Yujun never even tried to strike back. One tap looked as though it would kill her, and he could not quite bring himself to attack.
"You're strong. I'll acknowledge it."
By then, the players' mood had shifted.
"His skill rank is no joke. If a basic spell like Shield is at that level……."
"Forget that—did you see how fast the magic formed? It appeared as if he'd had it ready in advance."
"And he uses mana with ridiculous efficiency. He doesn't look it, but he seems to stand among the archmages."
"Now that I look, the items he's wearing seem to be excellent pieces, too."
Yujun spoke.
"Let's go together."
Davern nodded.
"Getting out of here looks possible after all."
He nodded, and the other players did the same. Not everyone joined them, though. Two or so backed out, insisting it was too dangerous, and so eight players set out to hunt the Earth Dragon.
Just as the mission brief had said, the Earth Dragon was not far from Krok Village—close enough that one might as well call it next door. Even at a distance, its enormous body was unmistakable. Among dragons it sat at the very bottom of the hierarchy, but that was no reason to take it lightly.
Yujun drew items from his inventory and made ready for whatever might come.
"Seeing one after all this time gives me the chills."
"We're supposed to fight that now? Haah……."
A few of the players muttered under their breath. Yujun turned to Davern.
"Have you fought an Earth Dragon before?"
"I have."
"And the result?"
"One of us died. The rest ran while they had the chance."
"The Earth Dragon didn't give chase?"
"It never left this place."
"So it only stops intruders in its territory. Killing doesn't seem to be the point."
"So it would seem."
"Is that why the village chief could afford to be so relaxed?"
"Do not so much as mention that bastard. One look at the chief's vile face, and I suddenly understand the player who annihilated a village not long ago."
"I'll take it on first."
What mattered was gauging just how strong this Earth Dragon was. In the game he had joined up with other users and brought them down without much trouble, but this was reality—and individual Earth Dragons varied wildly in strength.
Yujun cast flight magic and closed in.
Scales mottled green and brown. A foul stench rolled off the creature. It slept with its eyes shut, but the moment he moved to attack, it would wake.
He used Ancient Magic first.
Earth Dragons are weak to fire. That's what they said.
Hundreds of fireballs embroidered the sky. The Earth Dragon's eyelids lifted. The fireballs dropped straight down onto it, and a tremendous roar shook the air.
"Did we get it?"
Paranet, riding on Yujun's back, spoke up.
"Master."
"What."
"One does not say such things."
"And how would you know that?"
"It is a saying handed down from ancient times. Until one has truly finished the foe, one must not declare it finished."
"Unbelievable."
Just as Paranet had said, the Earth Dragon was not dead.
"Krooooh!"
A howl of pain. The Earth Dragon spread its wings and came flying straight at Yujun.
"Paranet."
"Yes?"
"Space Movement. Down there."
"The coordinates……."
"If it's in sight, what does it matter?"
"Understood."
The distance was short, and so the shift took hardly any time at all. Mana stirred through Paranet's body, and in an instant they stood where the Earth Dragon had been sleeping.
The beast faltered, thrown by Yujun's sudden disappearance. He began to cast again—fire magic, once more.
"Kraaaak!"
At the sight of the fireballs lighting the world around it, the Earth Dragon roared. It was furious. The dragon's roar set the air itself trembling, and hundreds of fireballs streaked in and detonated in a chain of blasts. As expected, it failed to dodge. It had no intention of simply taking the hits, though. It punched through the raging flames and flew at Yujun, diving from above—this time too fast for teleportation to answer.
Yujun hurled himself sideways.
"Hwaaaak!"
Thick green gas poured from the Earth Dragon's mouth. He snapped a shield into place, and that solid barrier shattered without mercy. The gas washed over his body.
"Hup!"
He clamped his mouth shut. The instant the searing gas touched him, his skin began to sting.
This is bad.
He had known the Earth Dragon used a breath attack. Predicting the timing, unlike in the game, was another matter. More precisely, the Earth Dragon refused to move the way it had in the game. The breath's damage was severe. His armor began to rust, and Yujun scrambled clear just as the breath cut off all at once.
The Earth Dragon fixed him with eyes so deep they seemed ready to swallow him. The pressure bearing down was no joke.
As expected. This is on another level entirely from a dragon that was already dying.
Back then, he had only set a spoon on a table that was already laid. This was a completely different situation. Even after eating two large-scale spells, the Earth Dragon was still moving without trouble.
I've got a rough sense of what that thing can do. Time to pull back.
Yujun returned to where the party was waiting. The Earth Dragon started after him, then stopped. He had left a certain boundary.
"That was absolute chaos……. Well? How was it, facing the Earth Dragon?"
Davern the beastkin asked.
"Quite strong."
"……That's all?"
"Yes. Finishing it in a single blow doesn't look likely."
"Do you think you can win?"
"Of course."
"It doesn't strike me as empty confidence. If you say so, then so it is. What would you have us do?"
"This may be rude, but would each of you tell me your abilities?"
"Gladly. If it means taking down the Earth Dragon, what wouldn't we do?"
"I'll go first."
An elf who had been itching for attention was the first to lay out her techniques. When her turn ended, Yujun had heard every player's abilities.
"Hmm."
Almost no one had anything that would work well against an Earth Dragon, and combining what they did have was hardly promising. The only things he judged useful were the Taunt Davern possessed, and a high-rank curse held by one of the demonkin.
"These two are the core. The rest of you attack when you judge the Earth Dragon to be exhausted. Act rashly and eat a counterattack, though, and I won't be able to take responsibility."
"So we read the moment, and act accordingly."
"Exactly."
"Understood."
"He's right."
There was little that could be called preparation. Yujun took a single consumable from his inventory and slipped it into his pocket.
"Let's go."
He and the party halted just short of the Earth Dragon's territory.
"So long as it isn't dead, its body recovers quickly. Drag this into a long fight, and we're the ones at a disadvantage."
"Your role is the large one in any case. All we need do is handle the opening and the finish."
"Right. You understand perfectly."
Yujun entered the territory first.
Already on a razor's edge, the Earth Dragon immediately breathed at him. Paranet had Space Movement ready. Yujun appeared in the space directly behind the beast, drew his sword, and charged. It was already pouring breath from its mouth. He activated Rapid Advance and Slash.
He had only swung the sword, and yet an explosion ripped out beside the Earth Dragon's tail. That thick, long tail was severed halfway through.
"Kuooh!"
The Earth Dragon hastily spread its wings and tried to climb.
"Now!" Yujun shouted.
The demonkin player laid an SS-rank Weakening Curse upon it. Even a dragon could not come through an SS-rank curse unscathed, and the body that had been rising went slack. Yujun sent the hundreds of fireballs he had prepared streaming toward the tail. Already severed, it was seared by flame, and its regeneration plunged. The Earth Dragon thrashed in horrific pain.
They said a dragon feels its greatest pain in the tail.
It had to be reeling, its mind drowned in agony. This was the moment. Yujun drew out the consumable he had pocketed.
◈ Once only: the power of magic cast after it is consumed increases threefold.
A Magic Amplification Elixir. Mages found the item exceedingly useful, for it applied only to magic, and never to skills. Unfortunately, he did not have many of them.
From among the Ancient Magic he could currently cast with the mana he possessed, Yujun chose the spell of greatest power.
So there are still spells even my mana can't reach. No wonder they were EX+.
He drew his mana up. Space Domination—a difficult spell, and one that devoured a tremendous amount of mana. He limited its range to just enough to cover the Earth Dragon.
That was when the beast whipped its head toward him with uncanny instinct.
"Taunt! Use it, now!" Yujun shouted.
Davern the beastkin nodded and roared.
The Earth Dragon's head swung back around.
Space Domination
The spell activates.