This thing is burning hot! Divine energy protects me from the actual damage., but damn!

Energy is coursing across the hilt on my chest.

I can feel it pulsating rhythmically.

This almost feels like divine energy! But how?!

Is it perhaps the effect of burning his life force?

Could this be the true meaning of divine energy?

The very lifeforce of the people of this world. Wait now is not the time for this.

The dragon in front of me is standing tall about to pounce on us again.

I hastily grab the necklace; it fits nicely in my hand.

I grasp it tightly, what now?

It seems enchanting a hilt is possible, but it is not enough.

I need a true weapon.

Something to save my ass right now. All our asses actually.

I do not want to go out getting trampled or because of a stinky breath!

Fuck no!

Concentrate. I need to somehow redirect all the energy present in the hilt.

I need a blade. I need something fiery.

I need something powerful.

I need something OP!

Concentrate!

Think, redirect all the power from the hilt into….

*Sound effect of a blade of fire emerging from the hilt, light-saberish but better*

Hell yeah!

The previous tiny necklace is now a 20-meter-long sword made of pure fire element.

At least that's how it looks.

I fucking love this spell! How amazing is this?!

I can hear it crackling and distorting the surrounding air.

My opponent takes half a step back.

Something lifeless and brainless just got intimidated.

I can do this.

Time to remember all I learned during my training with Zero.

Time to make this single slash worth.

I'm not sure how long this state will last.

My mage friend is burning his lifeforce as we speak.

All these giant archaic trees I practiced on in the forest, I need to do the same.

A clean cut. To reduce it in half cleanly.

I raise the sword high above my head. Wait...won't it be too small to do any real damage this way?

As I have this thought it starts extending. All the way until it reaches 50 meters.

Now we are talking!

This is the end. I bring everything down.

This strike is fueled by my will to live, by my fear, and by my friend's sacrifice.

*ROAR*

Somehow I can feel despair from this roar this time around.

No mercy.

This pile of bones already overstayed its presence in this world.

Time to return to dust.

Very quickly it gets cleaved in half.

Wherever the blade passes through the bones get disintegrated.

Now I just need to deal with it when it tries to revive and …..

I wait…and I wait.

The red glow of the moon shines on the disorganized bone remnants.

Yet it stays immobile. Bound to stay dead forever it seems.

*Thud*

Knowing that we are finally safe I fall to my knees.

We are still stuck here, but we survived!

We are still alive!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Bone motherfucking dragon 0 me 1!

Wait doesn't that make me a dragon slayer?! This is amazing oh my god!

[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]

So what if I laugh like a madman?! I am a living madman.

I'm not the only one.

All my companions are safe. I still don't know most of their names, but I know their style.

Somewhat righteous. Direct. Men of character.

I am truly glad to have gone through this with these guys.

Coming all the way here running for our lives from skeletons and wraiths and finally finishing it all with a bang.

My tired brain can finally relax for a second. No more scouting for a while. I'm beat, but so fucking happy right now.

I turn around. For some reason my companions are silent.

Their eyes are bulging.

Their mouths are gaping.

Their faces are flushed red.

As if they just witnessed a miracle. I can somehow understand them.

I didn't expect that one spell to be so powerful either.

[Why the long face. We won. We are alive. Aren't you guys going to cheer a bit?]

I see them getting taken aback …then it comes...

"HAHAHAHAHA."

"Hell yeah!"

"That was awesome!"

"How the hell did you do that?!"

"Was that your idea of being able to protect yourself?!? You are killing it!"

[Haha, don't look at me guys it's all because of your leader's spell. Without his support, I couldn't have even damaged the damn thing. Tch. *I make eye contact with him and pat his shoulder* Thank you for saving my life today.]

"T-that …I didn't do anything!"

[Ha-ha. Humble I see. Don't worry I won't ask you to use that spell ever again. You should take care of yourself. Burning one's life force should really be the last recourse!]

"T-That no I really mean I …."

[Shhh just take the compliment. I may have played my part, but you did save us all today. For that I am grateful.]

"T-that I …"

He seems confused and doesn't know how to react. He keeps sneaking glances at the hilt in my hand. Guess he didn't expect his own spell to be that strong.

I'm pretty sure magic works the same way as divine energy on fundamental levels. The stronger the conviction the stronger the power. Thus a miracle happened.

He managed to produce way more power than he should have been able to. Was it from a desire to protect? An unwillingness to die? Hate toward this dragon that wanted nothing but to toy with us? It doesn't matter.

All that matters is the end result. We fucking survived.

I can feel something wet on my hand. Wolfie is there licking it. I swear this wolf is way too expressive. I can see congratulations and also something deeper. I get the feeling that she never was worried in the first place. I get a feeling of trust. Might be because I just overcame death, but I feel touched.

I also notice something else. My other hand still gripping that broken-looking hilt. This is great.

It might be a piece of junk objectively, but to me it is priceless. It is a token of friendship Bald

Eagle gave me. I'm truly glad it survived the fight too.

As I'm reminiscing about the past a mercenary comes nearby.

"What are we doing now? Wherever you lead us we will follow!"

I look around, all of them looking at me. Nodding their heads in approval. Even their leader agrees.

I guess me guiding them all over the place and through the countless undead did increase their trust in me.

What do we do now? We cannot remain here for long. Actually, I perhaps could with divine energy. Sometimes I do forget to eat and nothing bad happens.

But they are counting on me. Should we wait for the portal to reopen? I'm not even sure I remember where it was. Then again, I could probably follow the smell haha.

How about exploring this place? This fog seems to be the center of this place. Whatever mystery lies hidden inside might be the key to our escape.

Decisions, decisions. I look at the others. They all have expectant gazes awaiting my reply.

Fuck it no pain no gain. I'm not going to wait forever for a portal to perhaps open.

I am gonna head deeper inside. Who knows what I will find?

All I know is that whatever it is I won't give up just that easily.

I might be weak, but this dragon slayer is gonna overcome this death domain!

Just watch!