6
Sixth day of dungeon expedition. 13th of month two.
The Rocky Mountain's summit was within sight.
"Uwaa, look at that, Lecan! The scenery is so amazing. You can see everything we passed through so far. This must be what they mean by picturesque. But really, it's soo spacious. This dungeon is unbelievably vast, isn't it."
Eda turned around as she got all excited.
However, Lecan cannot afford to turn around here.
He's glaring hard at the top of the mountain.
No.
He's looking at the thing beyond the mountain top.
It's still outside <3D Perceptions> range so its form is unknown but <Life Detection> depicts an overwhelming presence.
Realizing Lecan's state, Eda readied her <Bow of Yelvitz> and glared at the mountain top.
Then a gigantic head of a magic beast popped up from behind the mountain top.
"Eh?"
Eda sounded perplexed.
Then the shoulders came up, chest and then abdomen.
"H-hold on. Lecan? That's..."
Eventually, the behemoth showed up in its entirety atop the mountain.
It's still 200 step away from them.
Yet it's as if the entire thing is already right beside them.
"T-that's the Great Flame Dragon."
Its height exceeds ten steps. Five times Lecan's. Its upper half is gigantic by itself, but its mass concentrates on the lower half, its legs are thicker than any giant trees.
THUD, THUD, the behemoth drew near leaving heavy thumping sounds with every step.
It stopped moving.
Glare, its giant pair of eyes scowl at Lecan.
Lecan broke into run toward the behemoth.
Followed by Eda a bit later.
Lecan changed course to the right.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
Eda to the left.
Lecan ran up a slope and once he got to a point slightly higher than the behemoth, he charged at it. Eda also ran toward the behemoth from the opposite side.
Once they got to around 100 steps close, the Great Flame Dragon inflated its chest hugely before spewing out a white breath.
The breath shot out toward Lecan at tremendous speed.
Lecan dodged to the left.
But the white breath also changed its course following Lecan.
<Necklace of Intuador>'s barrier blazed up. Lecan reflexively covered his face with his left arm. His view has been completely obstructed. By this enormous attack both in size and power.
What's surprising is how the Great Flame Dragon kept spewing its breath without pausing and even spun around to shot it at Eda.
Even Eda whose nimbleness wouldn't fall behind Lecan had no way to dodge this attack.
She relied on <Necklace of Intuador> and crouched to minimize surface area of damage.
Grounds and rocks hit by the white breath burned and melted down.
(A breath that melts even rocks huh.)
(And it can keep shooting it for an extended period.)
(That's some unbelievable firepower.)
The Great Flame Dragon who spun clockwise while shooting its breath kept spinning round and round.
Its massive tail made its appearance. It's more like an extension of its body than an attachment at its base. That's just how thick it is. And it spans for quite a length, getting smaller toward the tip. There must be around ten steps from base to tip.
The dragon swung this tail while roaring terrifyingly. Everything it touches gets blown away, be it rocks or boulders.
Lecan greatly leaped backward.
"<Deploy>!"
He deployed <Shield of Wolkan> during the leap.
Amidst all the flying rocks, the tail tip passed through right before Lecan's eyes.
Big and small rocks assaulted Lecan afterward.
<Shield of Wolkan> blocked the rocks, but not the countless pebbles. He could only endure the barrage.
Lecan grabbed <Myriad Dragon Cutter (Arzamscyll)> from <Storage> and plunged at the still spinning tail-mowing Great Flame Dragon.
He slashed at its right leg. Not just once. Two, three, four, five, he kept on slashing. The Grace was extremely effective, it cut through the gigantic Great Flame Dragon's right leg easily. However, it doesn't cut that deep. And Great Flame Dragon is overtly big, with overtly thick legs.
(This'll take forever.)
Lecan kept slashing as he went around to the right.
Great Flame Dragon spun to the left, going after Lecan.
As he went around the dragon's huge body, Lecan put away the <Myriad Dragon Cutter>, took <Comet Cutter> and put all his mana into it.
An extra large magic blade emerged. The maximum length he rarely ever deployed. It's more than two steps long. Enough to exceed the Great Flame Dragon's leg thickness.
Lecan lunged at the dragon's leg and drove <Comet Cutter> onto the right leg.
"What?"
<Comet Cutter> phased through Great Flame Dragon's right leg.
Lecan leaped back in a fluster and went around to the right of the dragon once again.
After a slight pause, the dragon roared in anger.
(Looks like it did hurt this thing.)
(Yet the blade didn't cut through.)
(What's going on?)
He plunged once again and swung the <Comet Cutter> at the dragon's right leg.
But it didn't cut it.
(Uh.)
(Not good.)
(Used up too much mana.)
Manifesting the maximum length consumes a huge amount of mana. Maintaining that demands a similarly huge amount.
Lecan erased the magic blade and put <Comet Cutter> away.
The Great Flame Dragon roared, stopped moving, inflated its chest while inhaling greatly and started converging its mana.
It's trying to shoot its infernal breath.
Eda had retreated outside the tail's range, shooting her magic bow all the while. Her attacks produced small explosions around the Great Flame Dragon's head and face, but it didn't seem to have dealt any damage. These arrows likely will never go through the hide no matter how many she shoots.
"Eda! Get over here!"
Lecan took a 30 step distance from the Great Flame Dragon. He drank Magenta Potion, and signaled the running Eda to hide behind him.
The Great Flame Dragon unleashed its incandescent breath.
"<Waldona>!"
Lecan put his left hand gripping the shield forward while reciting the spell.
The rushing incandescent breath got reflected by the <Magic Mirror of Ryin> right away. The reflected breath squarely hit the Great Flame Dragon yet the breath wouldn't stop. An overload of light and heat stripped their vision. As Lecan kept making small adjustment to the shield's direction to reflect the unending breath attack, he plunged his right hand into the hidden pocket in his leather armor, gripped <Guardian Jewel of Zana> and poured his the maximum amount of mana into it.
The breath eventually stopped.
Looking at it, the right half of the Great Flame Dragon has been burned and shaved down from the reflected breath. Its right shoulder has been gouged off too, its small--relative to its body size--right foreleg is also gone from the elbow down.
The leftover left eye glared hard at Lecan before it marched forward with its huge body.
"<Reduction>!"
Lecan turned his shield back to gauntlet form, took <Sword of Agost> out, and gripped it with both its hand before he too rushed ahead.
The Great Flame Dragon crouched down and opened its mouth greatly.
Its upper and lower jaws looked like the full rows of hundreds of swords.
Its gigantic face skimmed the ground as it went for Lecan.
Making use of his running start momentum, Lecan lifted <Sword of Agost> overhead and swung it down the Great Flame Dragon's cranium. A single strike loaded with the maximum power boost effect of <Guardian Jewel of Zana>.
He could feel the sensation of crushing a wine barrel.
Lecan got blown away. He spun in the air and stuck his landing.
Great Flame Dragon tumbled down, sending rocks flying everywhere before it eventually stopped moving.