"We have to fight... THAT!?" Josh exclaimed as soon as the dragon came in view. Everyone felt the same way yet only Josh could voice their unanimous opinion. 

Upon hearing that a single monster came out of the dungeon, most of Arnold's party were over the moon. It would be pretty easy, right? But as soon as they saw the dragon, all colours drained from their faces. A majority of these people weren't even strong enough to take on the lizardmen, how the hell were they supposed to go against a freaking dragon? Before they could discuss further, Talos came running towards them. 

He went on his knee, his eye transfixed on the ground. How could he look at his master now? His master trusted him to do something and he failed spectacularly, and because of his failure, the people they swore to protect were now in danger.

Arnold knew it wasn't Talos' fault. The result would've been the same even if Arnold had decided to go to the observatory, and not the forest. He patted the robot's shoulders. Trying to lift it's 'spirit', well, not that he had any but you get the gist. 

"Don't worry about it," Arnold said, "We've been through much worse than this. I'm surprised that so many of you survived till now. It must have been due to your leadership-"

"It's not that master," Talos replied. 

"What do you mean?"

"The people aren't alive because of my leadership or strength. They are alive because the monster hasn't moved from its spot ever since it came out of the dungeon. Apart from killing the unfortunate ones who were near the portal."

"What!?" Johnny exclaimed, "That's the first I've ever heard of such behaviour."

"I agree... It's peculiar, to say the least." Nina joined in. 

Arnold looked around the plaza. He immediately noticed something. If the monster hadn't killed anyone, then why were there only S rankers there? He asked the same to Talos and the reply he received made the situation even worse. 

"It seems the monster has some kind of ability which prevents anyone having a rank lower than A to remain conscious. Moreover, only S rankers or above can supposedly remain conscious so we still have a fighting chance."

Arnold got lost in the deep thought. Most of the party members were ranked at either A or B. So technically, they were more like dead weight now. They had lost their number advantage. But it wasn't the only thing...

Before the system deactivated, Arnold was stuck at rank B. Right now, however, he was 'unranked'. He wasn't sure whether the dragon's peculiar ability affect him or not and the only way to check it out was head inside and see it for himself. 

Josh had been listening to them and decided to intrude once again, "Whatever might be the case. But we still need to take that thing down, right?"

"You don't." Arnold calmly replied, "You heard the man. No one below rank S is allowed to fight the dragon. You guys should focus on helping with the evacuation so that the S rankers who are busy with it can come and help us."

Upon hearing Arnold, most of the low rankers let out a sigh of relief. They were willing to do anything but fight that monstrosity. However, a few like Nina were also disappointed.

"You don't mean all of us have to leave right?" She asked, knowing fully well what Arnold's response was going to be. 

"Obviously, I meant no warriors below S rank. And it goes for every one of you. I'm not gonna unnecessarily risk anyone's life."

She asked Arnold to reconsider, but he didn't budge. She might have ranked up to A but that didn't mean he would throw her in unnecessary danger. Johnny and Kolt fully supported Arnold. 

"Fine..."

In the end, Nina had to give up. There was nothing she could do to change their minds on the matter. She wasn't alone though. Most of Arnold's summons were useless against the dragon as well. By most, he meant all except the elite summons. Thus the regular summons were also sent to help with the evacuation. So that the process could hasten if even by a bit. The quicker they got the civilians out of there, the sooner they could deal with the monster in front. 

It was mutually decided by the remaining warriors that they'd wait before attacking the dragon. Once everyone had been evacuated from the surrounding area, only then they would start their attack on the dragon. That way, they could go all out against the monster without worrying about the safety of the civilians. It wasn't like the dragon was going anywhere either. In fact, just like Talos said, it hadn't budged from its position. It was peculiar but fine.

"If only Nicole was here, she could've blown that monster's head away!" Johnny joked trying to lighten up the mood. 

"You're right, but where is she?" Arnold inquired.

"There was some issue in zone 1 so Azyriah called her for help," Kolt informed him. 

An hour later, the evacuation was completed and the warriors went in to confront the monster. But before that Arnold quickly used his probe skill on the monster. 

___

CLASS: Dragon

NAME: Tiamut

LEVEL: ??? 

COSMIC RANK: A

ROLE: Demigod (God of Dragons) 

AFFINITY/ABILITIES :

• Hellfire (Active skill)

• Arctic Rage (Active skill)

• Corrosive Breath (active skill)

[Expand to view 9 more]

HP: 170000/170000

STRENGTH (STR) : 200

DEFENSE (DEF) : 267

STAMINA (STA) : 180

INTELLIGENCE (INT) : 199

AGILITY (AGI) : 70

ACCURACY (ACC) : 100

EVADE (EVD) : 188

CHARISMA (CHA): 99

Damage Resistances: Elemental Attacks (30% damage reduction) 

Condition Immunities: Exhaustion, Frightened, frozen, ranged attacks. 

Weak Against: ??? 

THREAT LEVEL: Catastrophic

REMARK: You can defeat it but not in your current state. Run. Save yourself. This is not an opponent to be trifled with. RUN! Or you could stay and fight... I don't generally do this but as our lives are linked so, here's a protip. If you're not running away, then force it to fight on your terms. Use your domain. It's your only hope. One more thing. Even if you use the domain, the probability of your winning is 0.1%.

___

"Everyone... fall back," Arnold mumbled. 

"Arnold, is everything okay?" Johnny walked back to him, "You looks weird..."

"I SAID RUN-"

"I'm afraid it's too late for that, human." A hoarse godlike voice resounded through the area, "I've been waiting for you."

"The d-dragon s-spoke!" One of the warriors shrieked... 

He wasn't the only one to hear the dragon's voice. Everyone had, but none of them could comprehend what was about to happen next. 

****

Author's Note:

I created Tiamut, with Tiamat in my mind. For those who don't know about her, Tiamat originates from the Babylonian mythology. She was first mentioned in writer Berossus' first volume of universal history.

The gist of her story is that the gods killed her lover so she went out seeking revenge on them. Spawning an army of monster, in which dragons were predominant. But she was eventually slain by a storm God and her body was used as a foundation for the earth. (Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong because my knowledge regarding Babylonian mythology isn't all that great.)