After the showoff, the room became quiet for two good minutes with neither dragon nor knights moving. The officers were holding the order to attack, waiting for the giant snake to make its first move as Viperrus was merely looking with curiosity at the fools that entered its den. Right now, I was standing in the line together with far more experienced soldiers - the first line was equipped with huge tower shields and spears. One of these shields was also given to me, but I turned down the offer of giving me a javelin for I simply didn’t have much experience in handling such a weapon.

Now, these huge men on my sides were trembling in anticipation.

“Oh, Gaia, Mother of all the living, to you I offer myself…”

One of the knights started quietly praying to the Goddess of Earth. I knew these words - it was a prayer for the dead.

People were praying, trembling and cursing, but I was standing there mesmerized by the creature's raw beauty. The chamber was dark, and yet its dark green and brown scales were glistening, as if reflecting the light, it’s deep yellow eyes were gazing upon all of us with pride, but also a glimmer of annoyance.

The beast raised its head and let out an ear-piercing shriek, before dropping its colossal upper body down and starting to slither towards us at an absurd speed. It aimed in the middle of our location - it aimed at me.

“Hooooold!” Captain Godric yelled “...Prepare for maneuvers! If that bastard wants so badly to get in between us, then we shall let him in!”

Dragon needed only four seconds to cross half of the several hundreds meters long distance - more than half of the chamber.

“Waaait!” Godric really did make us remain still until the very last moment, even my fearless mind did yell a warning about certain death approaching, wanting me to make my move.

But, I didn’t have ‘where to’ - my sides were blocked by other knights, behind me was a second line of warriors - I could run only forward, and that would be a rather bad idea.

“NOW! DODGE!” the Old Lion yelled at the top of his lungs.

Our formation moved like a cascade. I kept on moving to my left, seeing the man on my right mimicking my moves in the other direction. At same time, the man on my left made the first step forward, then continued to the left, the man on his side did the same, but took two steps onward. And so on, and so on. Each of us moved making place for another one, letting the beast narrowly run past us, now, we stood surrounding it from both sides.

“ATTACK!” yelled our commander.

Standing behind our shields, we raised our weapons and pierced the huge target in front of us.

You dealt [0] damage - enemy armor fully nullified damage Estimated enemy’s armor endurance 100% -> 99.4% You dealt [0] damage - enemy armor fully nullified damage Estimated enemy’s armor endurance 99.4% -> 98.9% You dealt [0] damage - enemy armor fully nullified damage Estimated enemy’s armor endurance 98.9% -> 98.7%

Three quick strikes was all I managed to land, in shock I noticed that my attacks didn’t even scratch the surface of the beast's scale.

“BALLISTA INCOMING!”

Barely in time I understood what the message meant. The beast was fast and the surface of its body was “slippery”, so when the projectile was being sent directly to it, the mechanics risked that the arrow would “slide” across its body, possibly hitting people standing close to it.

That indeed was the case, for merely seconds later, after the loud noise of the ballista sending a nearly two meters long, thick projectile across the air, I could see it hitting the beast on the side and despite one of the scales getting dented, the projectile itself was slightly redirected, now flying towards me.

I jumped back as the arrows flew just half or so meters away from me, crashing into the opposite wall of the chamber, shattering some rock.

“RELOADING!” yelled one of the machine’s operators.

Not allowing me to fully comprehend what has just happened, the Viperrus moved, shaking its body, rotating in place, knocking down lots of the surrounding knights as it curled up in place raising its head and opening its mouth.

“POISONOUS BREATH INCOMING!”

Most of the soldiers standing in front of it started running back and to the sides, dispersing, as the creature let out a cloud of purple gas in a few meters long cone.

“DON’T BREATHE IT! YOU TOOK AN ANTIDOTE, BUT IT WILL FOR SURE HURT LIKE HELL! DISPERSE! FLANK IT! ATTACK ITS SIDES”

Still, at least five men didn’t manage to escape, caught in the mist of venom, they fell on their knees suffocating. They didn’t just die right away, either because of antidote or simply because the venom was meant to make them suffer, still, I couldn’t see their essence leave their bodies.

All of the knights on my sides raised their spears and threw it at the now raised underside of the still spitting monster. Just like most of the scaled creatures - it's backs and sides could be hard, but the belly is usually a soft spot. More than half of the projectiles managed to dig a bit into the monster’s body, causing some visible damage as blood started to pour down from the wound.

After throwing their weapons, they reached towards their belts in unison, unsheathing one handed axes and war hammers, readying themselves to jump back to the monster in order to resume their attacks, trying to damage the scales for the sake of future attacks.

You dealt [0] damage - enemy armor fully nullified damage Estimated enemy’s armor endurance 100% -> 99.8% You dealt [0] damage - enemy armor fully nullified damage Estimated enemy’s armor endurance 99.8% -> 99.2% You dealt [0] damage - enemy armor fully nullified damage Estimated enemy’s armor endurance 99.2% -> 98.9%

… W-what? But I already managed to reduce its armor before, why is it back to 100 percent?!

Don’t tell me… Each of its scales counts as a separate armor piece?! I understand that this creature is a dungeon boss, but… For heaven’s sake! Dragons are truly frightening!

Beast’s head dove down on one of the knights, he tried escaping yet didn’t manage to outrun the nimble monster. Its colossal head - which alone was bigger than a man standing, striked the warrior down, toppling him on the ground and making him drop his weapon as his shield shattered into dust, then, it grabbed him by the leg, dragged him back, throw him into the air as it opened its mouth and swallowed him in one go.

Cursing loudly, I put my sword in the line separating two overlapping scales and yelled at my companion on my side who was carrying a war hammer.

“HIT IT!”

He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“NAIL IT IN, GOD DAMN IT!”

Only then realization sparked in his eyes, the knight took a wide swing and hit the handle of my sword, forcing half of my blade into the monster's side.

Armor bypassed Estimated enemy’s armor endurance 98.9% -> 92.4% Estimated enemy’s remaining Health Points 98.1% -> 97.9%

… You are kidding me, right?

The creature roared, swirled and looked directly at me and my comrade with whom I had delivered a wound upon it. With pure malice it opened its mouth ready to strike, but right then, from the other side of the room a volley of spells rained down, hitting the monster's body, and one of the fireballs landed directly on its face, exploding and throwing its head away.

Beast shook its head to the sides, getting rid of dizziness before looking at the other side of the room, clearly considering whoever casted that spell as a greater threat than me. It twisted its body before it charged at the other team, wishing to deal with the pesky mages first.

The ‘problem’ was that my blade was still stuck in its side, and that mentioned blade was held with both my hands. The creature, as it started moving, dragged me behind itself. Each time it moved, it made its muscles flex and relax in turns, slowly pushing the blade off its body, still, I did travel like that - attached to a giant snake’s underside - a good fifty or so meters, before the blade completely popped out and I was left on the ground.

I quickly jumped back on my feet - which wasn’t a good idea, for as the monster was still charging at the other team, twisting its body, it did hit me with its tail.

And, if you were wondering what it feels like to be hit by a thirty meters long terra dragon’s tail…

You have suffered [Blunt] type of damage. [62] Remaining hp: [388/450]

...then it was exactly what you would expect being hit by a thirty meters long terra dragon’s tail would feel like.

“First group! Regroup!” Godric yelled “... priests! Take care of the poisoned!” “BALLISTA INCOMING!” operators over shouted Godric as another bolt was released in the air, completely missing its target, digging into the ground several meters away from the beast. “WHERE ARE YOU AIMING AT!” I heard the engineer from before. “Master, please, stand down! It’s dangerous in here…” “DANGEROUS MY ASS! THE ONLY DANGER YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID OF IS WHAT I WOULD DO TO YER ASSES! HAVE BEEN TELLING YOU SO MANY TIMES - DO NOT SKIP CALIBRATING YOUR AIMING DEVICES YOU USELESS COCKSTAINS! I WILL FUCKING…”

I allowed myself to re-focus on the dragon on the other side of the room, as I moved back taking place in the formation, now ‘thinner’ by six men - one devoured and five currently being treated by priests - the wounded had their helmets removed and now they were screaming in pain, tears coming out from their eyes - one I would swear was crying blood - another was vomiting on the ground holding his belly.

By now, the huge dragon trashed its body into the ‘right wing’ of our raid.

“MAGES! Continue the bombardment!” Godric yelled to our backline, and soon, several voices started singing prayers of destruction, begging deities of fire and ice for help.

This time, the dragon didn’t repeat its ‘mistake’ by charging blindly in, instead, it moved to the side, surrounding the side of the team, opening its mouth ready to start the battle with poison breath while limiting his enemies' places to run away, ensuring more casualties.

Some of the duelists, not waiting for the beast to execute its plan, jumped, climbing the monster body. I could clearly see the silhouette of a petite woman holding a glaive running directly at the monster, throwing something towards its head. Then, there was an explosion as a piece of the monster's face was torn aside.

“Explosives directly into a monster's face? Classic. Only lunatics would do that, but classic regardless.” “Two gold coins that was Agnes.” “That’s hardly a bet. Of course it was Agnes. Only she would be crazy enough to get into the throwing distance of a poison breathing dragon.” “Why don’t you go all the way there and ask her directly? Hm!?” Captain was furious “...We are battling with a bloody dragon, and you are making bets?! In the middle of combat?” “W-we’re sorry, sir.” “I don’t give a single fuck about your apologies! I demand absolute focus! No distractions! Your comrade fucking died and out of five that were poisoned I was told that two won’t make it, and you are here gambling!? For heaven's sake, after the battle I will have you two face consequences.”

They didn’t respond. Godric quickly walked across the first line, checking on damages, stopping briefly by my side.

“Everything’s all right?” he asked me. “No. It’s scales are far too troublesome, according to your words we already lost three men doing barely any damage, at this pace, we will die before being able to even scratch it.” “No, the damages are already done, also, we are slowing it down. Once a ballista shot lands a proper hit, the tide of battle will shift…” “INCOMING!!!” For the third time, a bolt was sent into the air, and for the second time, it slid across the beast’s body. “... At this rate we will run out of ammunition to fire and soldiers to hold it down.” I cursed quietly, but loud enough to be heard by the leading-commander.

In the meantime spells once again fell on the beast's body, and once again the monster turned in place, charging at the third group. Looking at the “right wing” I was able to see several lying knights, trampled and run over by the giant snake, some of them were not rising, and ... small clouds of transparent essence started hovering around them.

“Shit, we lost men again…” Godric cursed “... I wonder how many of them d…” “Two dead.” I quickly answered the question that the commander didn’t yet manage to ask. “Are you sure?” he turned his head towards me. “Unfortunately, yes.” “May the plague devour it! BALLISTA! WILL WE EVER LAND ONE CLEAN HIT!? THIS FUCKER IS AS LONG AS OUR TRAINING GROUND! HOW HARD COULD IT BE TO HIT IT!?”

He was clearly losing his patience. Then, an idea bloomed in my mind.

“Commander, do I have permission to do something reckless?” “How many people would that put in danger?” “Only myself.” “Chances of success?” “Uncertain until I try it.” “I have said before the battle, I want no heroes and…”

At that moment, the monster faked attacking with its head, whipping the soldier’s line with its tail, sending several knights in the air - and seeing from how high they fell down, there was no way they could continue the battle.

“...So, you have a plan?” “Plan? No, nothing that detailed. But maybe a way to soften up its scales, even if just a little.” “Fuck. FUCK!...” he looked at me with anger dancing in his eyes “... Aster, we move as a team, there is no room for disobedience. Otherwise, everyone ‘with a plan’ would start acting on his own, destroying formation… This is why, regardless if you would succeed or fail, I would have to punish you. Do you understand?” “As long as it would save but one more person? I will accept it.” “Alabaster. Permission granted.”

I nodded my head in gratitude, waited a few more moments, before leaving formation, moving to the side, hiding behind one of the pillars. Before I did, I left my shield, put the sword into its sheath, and picked two climbing axes.

Viperrus was bleeding the other team out for two or three more minutes before once again he twisted and turned and charged at the first team - despite not being a sapient creature, it was far from a mindless beast - it didn’t want to give us time to rest and fully heal up, and from its two previous experiences, it learned how much time it is required for a group to finish a chant. It attacked before the final verse was finished, hoping to break the mages’ preparations.

I waited for it to run past me, and as soon as I was sure that it would no longer be able to see me, I ran from behind my cover straight at the beast, jumped in the air reaching with climbing sickles.

Somehow, I managed to do what I intended. Sickles got stuck in the gaps between scales, letting me stick to its body despite the mad speed at which the monster was moving.

I waited for the monster’s body to flex, unclenching its muscles on the side, stretching its scales allowing me to free one of my new “weapons”, so I could dig back in slightly further ahead, making my way towards its head.

Fortunately, its scales numbed its sense of touch and thus it didn’t spot me right away. Left and right. Left and right. I managed to move from the side of its body to its back, and now, I was slowly progressing towards its head. In the meantime the monster did manage to reach the middle squad, getting up once again ready to breathe its poison.

Deciding that I was close enough, I threw one of the sickles away and now, dandling on one arm, I put my palm to one of the beast's scales:

“As the guardian, I command thy,

Might the tyrants of time feast on this material,

For not even rocks, no wood nor metal are safe from dreadful touch of death!

May this armor rot, decay and fester, like flesh and blood!

I proclaim you my offering to the one slumbering beneath the veil!”

I sang an unholy prayer, channeling my mana to my palm, turning it into a spell, before pouring it all over the creature's body.

10 mana used You are using [Cursed Touch: Rust] Failure! Target [Viperrus - the terra dragon] has [lowest magic resistance]!

… Fuck! FUCK!

No! It will not end like this! It must be the same as with the weapons! I am sure that there must be a level of tolerance! If I could cast it enough times then surely…!

The creature once again unleashed its attack, poisoning the battlefield.

“As the guardian, I command thy!...” I started again. 10 mana used You are using [Cursed Touch: Rust] Failure! Target [Viperrus - the terra dragon] has [lowest magic resistance]!

FUCK!

“As the guardian!...” 10 mana used You are using [Cursed Touch: Rust] Failure! Target [Viperrus - the terra dragon] has [lowest magic resistance]!

The monster once again struck with its body, wounding another group of knights.

Do you wish to spend 2x more mana to cast your [Lowest] rank spell as [Low] rank spell? Warning! [User] does not possess [Mage] class - cost raised from 2x to 2.5x [User] does not meet the requirements: [Skill] rank [Journeyman] or above - cost raised from 2.5x to 5x [User] does not meet requirements: [INT] &[ WIS]>50 - cost raised from 5x to 10x Do you want to use 10x more mana to cast [Cursed Touch: Rust] as [Low] rank spell?

YES, GOD DAMN IT!

At that moment, new words appeared in my head.

“To you, I pray,

Oh Lord,

Of flesh and bones,

You, who once proudly carried the name of the man,

Effortlessly scratching the wall of the dreams,

Without knowing the sin.” 100 mana used You are using [Cursed Touch: Rust] You have successfully reduced the target’s armor rating

The scales, which until now were wonderfully glistening, started to crawl, and move, turning into disgusting, mushy structures with irregular edges and started to resemble more of a blood clot than dragon scales.

It wasn’t only that one scale that was affected - the “sickness” spread towards several more, though the spell was visibly losing its power the further it went, it did make an opening - a good four square meters big on the back of its head.

The creature once again tried attacking, opening its mouth, readying to breathe out poison, but, at that very moment, I unsheath my sword and forced it through its festering scales.

As if I stuck a warm knife into a block of butter - barely any resistance. My blade dug deep in the monster's body, making it scream out in true agony for the first time, it then proceeded to thrash it's body around, trying to throw me off.

Hah - it didn’t have a hard task - dangling on one hand, I was quickly sent flying through the air.

Still, my job was done.

“ARCHERS! MAGES! FOCUS ON THE BACK OF ITS HEAD!” commanders roared in unison.

Then, without any further command, a tempest of arrows, fireballs, and icicles rained down upon the dragon. Beast, knowing that it was not invulnerable anymore, wriggled and flexed trying to cover its wounded, defenseless part of the body.

But, the other knights didn’t remain idle - they rushed at the monster, hacking, slashing and chopping previously damaged scales, slowly making their way deeper, trying to make new openings.

And the ballista for the first time landed a clear shot, creating a huge hole in the beast's side.

The tide of battle had been turned. As the creature flexed in a defensive stance, it managed to trample just one more careless knight, but that was the very last casualty on our side that day.

Arrows and spells started to get more and more accurate, as Viperrus kept on losing its mobility, eventually, our ballista fired one more time, directly onto its head.

The creature stopped as if frozen in time, before collapsing onto the dungeon’s floor. Its muscles kept on spasming a couple more times, but despite its last moves, the creature was dead. I could tell because of the ridiculous amount of life essence which started to escape from its body.

Knights rejoiced, screaming, yelling and raising their fists and weapons to the air, as officers were trying to order them to remain calm, sending priests to the wounded.

“GOD DAMN IT YOU MAGGOTS! WHAT ARE YOU CELEBRATING!? SECURE THE LOCATION! START SETTING UP THE CAMP! THE DUNGEON RAID IS FAR FROM OVER!” Godric kept on lecturing his people.

But, I wasn’t listening, for right now I was focused by letting a vast cloud of ever escaping life embrace me, as I started absorbing the vitality of a dragon.

You have gathered [Viperrus - the terra dragon] essence [5125] Name: Asteruse Race: Skeleton Soldier [Lower Undead] [Self-aware Variant] Level: 7 ➝ 9 [962/2500] Attributes: STR: 48 (+5)

VIT: 50 (+5)

END: ∞

RFX: 42 (+5)

DEX: 46 (+5)

INT: 27 (+2)

WIS: 21 (+2)

SPI: 4 Skill proficiency increased Skills:

[Sword Usage - Journeyman level 8 ➝ 10]

[Shield Usage - Journeyman level 6 ➝ 7]

[Bow Usage - Apprentice level 1]

[Nature Magic - Novice level 1]

[Mana Sense - Low - Passive]

[Life Sense - Low - Passive]

[Combat Maneuver/Team tactic - Novice 10➝ Apprentice level 2]

[Heavy Armor Usage - Apprentice level 3 ➝ 5]

[Hand-to-hand Combat - Novice level 4]

[Stealth - Apprentice level 1 ➝ 2]

[Mind Magic Resistance - Low level 1]

[Dark Arts - Curse Words - Novice Level 4 ➝ 8]

[Dark Arts - Necromancy - Novice Level 4]

[Tracking - Novice Level 2]