“Man, how does she do this?” Korith whispered, looking at Reysha. The tiger girl was breathing softly, her face relaxed and devoid of its usual grin and the predatory look in her eyes. The reason for all of this was that she was sleeping, half curled up against Apexus' left side.

The humanoid slime gently stroked her shoulder repeatedly. A calm rhythm for them both. “Strong nerves. Also, she’s a feline. They take short rests easily.”

“All of my envy,” Korith grumbled, successfully repressing her urge to jump from one leg to the other. She was wearing her full armour. The clattering of the plates may have alerted the trio that stayed relatively close to them. Aclysia did not have that issue and she fidgeted about continuously, her eyes wandering over the moonlit field.

“Nobody is watching us,” Apexus assured.

“That is… good, that is good,” the exiled angel mumbled.

Apexus stared at the sky. It was the middle of the night. Few campfires were still burning in the bandit gathering, people celebrating the return from a de-facto successful raid by wasting away most of its winnings in a single night of binge eating. The resulting food coma ensured that most of the marauders were out of commission during the night. Still, they waited for one of the approaching clouds to cover the bright moon before moving out.

The eternal autumn of the world assured that they didn’t have to wait too long. Forty-five minutes after they had all readied themselves, a dense cloud drifted in front of the celestial body. Apexus’ constant caress of the tiger girl stopped. Reysha’s eyes opened. After blinking twice and stretching, she was fully awake.

“It’s go time?” she asked, just to be 100% certain.

“We hunt,” Apexus confirmed and rose to his feet. Quietly, they moved out of their camp.

With the cover of night, the route to Kaladar’s lair was an incredibly easy one. The gap between the main camp and the entrance of the cave meant that they only had to take a large curve around to reach it unseen. By Kaladar’s arrogance and the self-preservation of bandits that did not want to end up as a potential midnight snack, there were no guards posted.

Reysha double-confirmed that by Sneaking ahead. The entire path was, as always, vacant of other people. What was most important to confirm was that Kaladar was there. Quietly making her way to the ramp, the Rogue, pressed tightly against the wall, peeked around the corner.

There he was, the monstrous red dragon, coiled around his hoard of body parts from his kin. Covered in scars from the various duels against them, his massive, muscular body was imposing. Reysha forced herself to grin, even as she felt the corners of her mouth grow heavy with uncertainty. The concept of killing a dragon was one thing. Being about to actually engage in it a whole other.

‘It’ll be fine,’ she told herself. ‘I know things are going to be fine… well, I’m like 60% sure… that’s good enough odds for me.’ She grinned a little wider, waving the nervousness away. She clenched her left fist repeatedly. As much as she loathed the potential of turning more demonic with time, the utility of that hand was something she would rely on again today more than ever.

She kept her eyes focused on Kaladar. Despite the darkness of the cave, the dragon was clearly visible. He radiated a soft, steady glow. Even for a dragon that relied more on its physicality, magic was imbued in every single scale. Scales that rose and fell with some trouble. The taxed breath of the poisoned dragon sounded shallow, his lungs desperate to get the necessary amount of air in each time.

Reysha retreated and went back outside, waving to the rest of the group. Led by Apexus, they made their way inside. No words were exchanged between them. Their battle plan was clear already.

Aclysia soundlessly took to the air, her magical flight letting her sail to the back of the cave where she would hopefully be out of sight of the dragon until she chose to strike. Reysha made her way down the ramp on her own, her crimson axe and other weapons all still sheathed. Korith and Apexus stood near the edge of the ramp. The kobold held her warhammer, the weight of the weapon calming her as much as anything could. By contrast, Apexus found that the dead wood of the warpick in his hand felt unnatural. He wished he could have relied on his fists. Against the dragon’s tough hide, his raw power would do nothing, however.

That was the biggest reason why they were there in the first place.

All four of them were in position. Kaladar’s sleep was deep, the poison was doing its work. Even with that advantage, this was risky. Not just because of the dragon and his strength, but due to the sounds of combat that would inevitably occur. They had to be smart and quick about this.

Apexus bent his legs, a quiet warning to Korith, who followed his example. He leapt first, but the force of the kobold’s Martial Art meant that she immediately overtook him. With more speed and power, despite her much smaller frame, she slammed down on Kaladar.

Her aim wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough. The warhammer cracked down on the base of the right wing. Even scales and muscles couldn’t ward against the combination of gravity and Korith’s boosted strength. With a horrible snap, the bone jumped out of its socket.

The pain jolted Kaladar awake. His body immediately went into motion, however Apexus connected with his first. Even as he swung it, the warpick felt clunky in his hand. Skill mattered less than the sheer force of the impact though. The single point of the weapon punched through the scales and the muscles underneath, driving all the way into Kaladar’s windpipe.

Apexus failed to hold onto the weapon when Kaladar’s serpentine neck slammed into him. Desperately beating his wings, the slime barely managed to stabilize his flight before landing. Korith fared a lot better, the sudden force pressing against her hammer throwing her into the air. She landed on her feet, the shock getting lost in her iron bones.

Kaladar growled at them, a mixture of rage and amusement, and reared his head back. The amusement ceased when the breathing difficulty that had only started after he went to sleep became apparent to his conscious mind. Stubbornly, he kept inhaling, his swiping tail keeping Reysha at bay.

The light coming from within the scales intensified. Part of the bones in the dragon’s neck could be seen, as fire rushed up from his belly and then cascaded past his jagged teeth. The flame breath was weaker than it should have been, but that didn’t make it unthreatening.

Apexus stood his ground and trusted in their plan. A bolt of gold-white energy flew towards him just as the red flames did. The breath reached him first, yet did not do any notable damage before the spell connected. Hot like a concentrated ray of the summer sun, it spread out over the slime, then discharged as a golden, translucent shield.

Aclysia had learned more than new methods of casting from Pronthin.

Protection from the Suncrest Barrier parted the fire around the humanoid slime. The attack soon subsided, as Korith forced the dragon to turn his attention elsewhere. Aiming to drive the stuck warpick even deeper into the monster’s hide, the kobold was thwarted in her goals mid charge by a swiping claw. The ki already flowing through her bones was instinctively shaped into the most basic of all Warrior Martial Arts.

Her bones hardened, her joints locked up, both combining to leave her Steadfast. When the back-swinging claw slammed into her plated shoulder, it suddenly stopped. Kaladar hissed, the sensation was unpleasant, doubly so due to the tininess of the obstruction. It was like hitting one’s hand against a doorknob.

Apexus charged in and, together, he and Korith were locked in an exchange of blows with the large, scarred dragon. They stuck to his right side, trying to take advantage of the somewhat limp wing. Despite his size and clear breathing problems, the red dragon’s movements were fast. When Apexus did get a hit in, his fists uselessly bounced off the scales, as predicted. All it did was open an opportunity for the dragon to sweep him aside. The slime hit the cave wall hard.

Mockingly, Kaladar blew fire out of his nose and concentrated on the greater threat. Korith was leaping repeatedly through the air, aptly escaping what strikes she could or resisting what she couldn’t with her iron bones. Each time she opted for the latter, it made her head ring. Her whole body took the impact equally.

Beating his wings, Apexus jumped back into battle. He tried to land on Kaladar’s head. A reckless manoeuvre that landed him between the jaws of the dragon. Teeth slammed into him, penetrating muscles and breaking bones. Before the acidic contents of his body could come into contact with the dragon’s flesh, Kaladar threw the humanoid slime away.

The lack of blood in his mouth had clued Kaladar in that something was abnormal about the humanoid chimera. His draconic eyes pierced the darkness with ease and saw the clearness inside the body and the translucent muscle fibres. Odd as that was, the red dragon did not have the breath to spare for mid-combat conversation.

A flash of light distracted him for a moment, then Korith landed a hit against his wrist. It ached, but the dragon was not incapacitated. The very same hand grabbed the kobold and slammed her into the ground. Gritting her teeth, Korith withstood the impact and Kaladar growled. His muscles burned and he shook his head in an attempt to gain clarity. Despite the dull pain from the still lodged warpick and the dislodged wing, he felt drowsy. Audibly, he inhaled, trying to give his body the oxygen it desperately needed. Holding onto Korith, he aimed to smash her down with the actual power of a dragon.

“Hi!” Reysha announced herself, her hand suddenly blocking half of the red dragon’s field of vision.

While Kaladar had been distracted, Reysha had Sneaked her way up and onto him. The constant thrashing and focus on keeping her presence suppressed had made it an arduous climb, but ultimately she had managed to get to his head. Now her left hand, black and leathery with demonic power, forced itself into the eye of the dragon.

The thick claws at the end of the fingers were further reinforced by the blue glow of the Edge Martial Art. It aided them in pushing past the secondary eyelid that instinctively closed to protect Kaladar’s eye. The squelching sound that followed and the gore of the eyeball getting squished and sliced at the same forced a roar from the monster.

The thrashing was more violent than ever and before she completely destroyed the eyeball, Reysha was thrown off. Disoriented and exhausted, Kaladar toppled over. He landed on top of his hoard, some of the severed horns of his kin punching through where old wounds had prevented scales from growing properly. All Kaladar felt was more pain. Animal instincts kicked in and he kept on throwing his weight around unnecessarily.

This was something Apexus knew and, regenerated for the most part, he stormed right towards the dragon. Movement caused Kaladar to lash out and Apexus immediately dashed back, to repeat the process. Elsewhere, Aclysia landed next to Reysha who had unluckily fallen, bashing her head on the ground.

That she was out of commission for the moment did not matter much. Kaladar tried his best to scream intimidatingly. A grave mistake. The warpick had finally dislodged, making breathing even more of an issue, with blood now filling his windpipe. It was not, in and of itself, lethal. Neither were the injuries he had sustained. To Kaladar, all of what he had suffered so far was like a human rolling through broken glass. Painful and certain to leave more scars, but not lethal on its own.

With Apexus entering and leaving the dragon’s attack range, continuously forcing his air-deprived mind to make snap decisions, the various sources of blood loss led to one of the most horrific killers: exhaustion.

Kaladar’s lower body collapsed. Whenever he moved, he had to drag his hindlegs behind him. Soon, even that ceased. The upper body followed. It was almost like a cat lying down after being done playing. In reality, the four adventurers now crept in closer. Reysha, healed, assisted Apexus in exhausting the dragon, while Aclysia stayed ready to heal and Korith studied a hunting tactic she barely knew.

The glow from Kaladar’s scales was weak now, barely enough to light the stone around him. His neck slung around, teeth snapping at whatever entered his range. Even now, they couldn’t be careless, especially not Reysha. One bite by those jaws and it would be a miracle if Aclysia could patch her back together.

The snaps grew weaker. Occasionally, Kaladar was even too weak to lift his head at all. He suddenly fell asleep, only to awaken when someone tried to slice through a vital area.

Kaladar the Scarred, scourge of the Dragon Isles, pest to his kin, met his demise not in glorious combat, as he would have wished, but slowly, gradually, fading away. He drifted in and out of consciousness, until he ultimately didn’t. It wasn’t any specific attack that did it. Eventually, the combination of blood loss, physical trauma, and asphyxiation just made his lungs too weak to expand. He was suffocated by his own body weight.

“Man, must suck to die like that,” Reysha said out loud, when the lack of breaths confirmed that the dragon had indeed perished. “Don’t feel bad for him though.”

Apexus didn’t respond, he only pulled the bloodied warpick out of Kaladar’s skull. Cruel as the scarred dragon had been, the humanoid chimera had wanted to make his death as swift as possible. The toughness of the hide made that impossible. Looking at that creature in all of its size and massiveness, it was difficult to believe that other people killed these things without the help of poison.

“I was not useful today,” the humanoid chimera said, putting the weapon down.

“That’s why we’re here, right?” Reysha said and smacked him on the ass. “Let’s eat that thing. It’s disrespectful to waste food.”

Apexus nodded. They had come here to hunt a dragon and they had succeeded, one way or another. It would have been wrong to leave prey uneaten. Strangely enough, the slime felt that this was the only thing that he and Kaladar could have agreed on. Then again, the red dragon would have doubtlessly engaged in the same cruel disrespect for the perished as his followers.

Bloating, the humanoid chimera expanded to envelop as much of the dragon as possible. Even at maximum size, it would take hours to completely dissolve the dragon. Eating him in his entirety was not necessary for the Permanent Growth to be acquired, but there was no need to leave anything behind. There was only one issue.

“Reysha,” Aclysia stopped the redhead, who was greedily rubbing her hands. There was no way she would miss out on getting her own taste of dragon meat. “I must delay your indulgence with a simple request. Could you-“

“Check whether or not anyone outside noticed?” Reysha asked and sighed. As far as she was concerned, the total lack of shouts echoing down the caves made it clear that nobody had. To appease her more careful party member, she agreed however. “Alrighty, be back in a minute. Leave me something!”

“Darling, be sure to remember to leave a segment of scales. We do owe Joey for his troubles,” Aclysia reminded him and then let out a long-held breath. She gave a little signal to Korith and the two of them started scanning what remained of the hoard for intact scales or other pieces that could be of value to traders and craftsmen.

The hardest part was done. Now they just had to leave.