Author’s Note:

Chapter 30- Fight

Day 39 (Night)

***The Lonely Mountain***

***Cani***

Smaug’s claw pulled back in an arc. Knowing what he was going to do, I immediately jumped backward. When his claw came down, I managed to dodge the slash with a hair’s width. Still, I was knocked back while in midair from the air pressure alone. I rolled on the floor after I landed to mitigate the damage to a minimum.

“You are still alive after taking that? Do you have an item that lets you survive a hit from a dragon? You amuse me, goblin. I will kill you and take that treasure away from you!”

He thought that I took the hit? I guess that from his point of view, I flew back from his claw swipe. Even if he did manage to hit me, he wouldn’t feel any resistant.

“Can that item help you survive this?”

Smaug pulled back his head as he took a deep breath. I could see his belly inflating. In a game, it can only mean one thing. He is going to do a fire breathing attack. I spotted a pillar near me and ran behind to use it as a cover. Just as I reached behind the pillar, Smaug released the fire breathing attack. Flames filled a large area in front of him. Even though I managed to evade the attack, a small corner of my Ki’th caught on fire. I immediately stepped on it to put out the flame.

Since I was temporarily safe hiding behind the pillar, I did a quick analysis of the situation. Was escaping an option? I quickly dismissed that idea. Even if I managed to reach the exit, he could breathe fire into the corridor. From what I remembered, the corridor was long and narrow. There were nothing in the hallway that could let me hide from the fire attack. I would be roasted by the flame long before I could reach somewhere safe. I had already concluded that talking was no longer an option, so fighting was the only option left. I started to make a list of things that I could take advantages of in this fight.

One of the biggest advantages that I could see was his attack have long wind-up time. As long as I can guess how he wants to attack, I could probably find a way to dodge it. I was small and agile. I can move anywhere in the room with relative ease. Smaug, on the other hand, was large and cumbersome.

Another key point in this fight was that I knew his weak point. If I remember correctly, he has a small patch of skin that was not covered by diamonds and hard gemstones near his heart. However, I doubt that I can attack that weak spot without some ranged weapon. It is impossible for me to reach it. However, there was another soft spot that was neither covered by his scales nor gemstones: his eyes. Just like how I defeated the bear, I could attack his eyes. If I could manage to get close enough without him noticing, I could climb on top of his head and attack his eyes. Since I was so small and light, he wouldn’t be able to feel my presence on his skin until it was too late.

The terrain was explicitly designed for this encounter. Several pillars in the area were supporting nothing. It looked as if the pillars were for a decorative purpose. However, I knew that they are there for the players to hide from the fire breathing attack.

“You think that you can hide behind that pillar forever?”

My instinct screamed at me to run away from my current spot. I immediately ran out from the cover of the pillar. The pillar exploded behind me under the Smaug’s powerful claw attack. I kept running away. I did not stop until I was at a location where I could easily dodge both his claw attack and hide behind a pillar for his fire breathing attack. Looking back at the pillar that he destroyed, I realized that there was one more factor in this fight. There was an “enrage timer” for this battle. If he destroyed all the pillars in the room, there would be no way to defend me against his fire. I would be roasted alive.

“There you are you little rat! Stay still you little piece of shit!”

He was inhaling again. I was about to run behind the pillar for cover, but I noticed that there was something different this time. His head was looking up at the sky instead of facing forward. My gaming sense told me that this time, the fire would be coming from above. I desperately looked around my surrounding for options. I noticed that there was a shield on top of a small pile of treasure next to me. I quickly grabbed that shield and used it as an umbrella against the rain of the fire. The shield was designed for a human, though. It was too large to wield normally for me. I had to hold it by grabbing the enarmes with one hand and support the rest of the shield with the other. Sure enough, Smaug spat out fire upwards towards the sky. Fire rained down from the sky. I could hear and feel embers bouncing off the shield.

“Let’s see you dodge this!”

He walked up to me and turned his body. His huge tail scrapes the wall as he turned. It was a tail swipe. I couldn’t dodge left, right nor back. There was only one direction that I could dodge. I let go of the shield and lay flat on the floor. His tail passed on top of me. I thought I was fine, but once again the air pressure of his attacked sent me flying across the room. I rolled on the floor to reduce the damage once again. Looking back at where I was, I noticed that the attack destroyed several of the pillars. I need to think of a way to get close to him soon. I was running out of time. I suddenly had an idea. It was all or nothing. While still kneeling on the floor, I picked up a coin from the floor and hid it in my belt. Before I knew it, Smaug’s attention was trained on me once again. I stood back up and put my hands up in the air.

“WAIT WAIT WAIT! I give up. I will give you my magical artifact that helps me withstood your attack. Please, just let me live your majesty.”

“Why wouldn’t I just kill you and take the treasure.”

“There is a limited amount of times one can use it. It can block three fatal attacks instead of the bearer of the artifact. I already took two hits. The next one will destroy it.”

I slowly took the coin out of my belt, showing the dragon. He pondered for a short while and answered.

“Give it to me and I will let you keep your miserable life.”

“So we have a deal?”

“Yes, we have a deal.”

I threw the coin at Smaug as hard as I could. He caught the coin with his claw and started to examine it. While he was distracted, I ran and quickly buried myself inside a small mountain of treasure, leaving a small hole to watch Smaug. Still gasping for air from all the running, I had to slow my breathing forcibly, making sure that I would not make a sound. All I have to do is wait for him to walk by this pile of treasure and climb onto his body.

“This is just an ordinary coin! You conniving thief!”

He looked up and realized that I was nowhere to be found. Out of anger from the humiliation, he started to rampage around the room, destroying every pillar. From his point of view, it was the only place where I could hide.

“I know you are still in here, I can smell your stench. Come out and receive your death sentence for trying to deceive a king!”

Before long, he destroyed all the pillars in the room, and he had yet to walk by the small mountain of treasure that I was hidden in. He prowled around the room, looking for me. It looked as if he finally gave up and headed towards the center of the area.

“So you hid in my treasures have you? It has been centuries since I have cleaned this room. I guess it is time to clean it to flush out a rat.”

He expanded his wings and started to flap it. All the treasures in the room began to rattle and vibrate. At first, it was a few coins, and then helmets and shields started to roll on the floor. He was creating a hurricane to blow everything away. Before long, all the coins that were covering me was blown away. I was exposed once again to Smaug’s attacks. I tried to stand up and run once again, but the wind nearly blew me away. I laid on the floor, took out my hammer and struck the ground, anchoring myself to the floor so I wouldn’t be blown away.

“So there you are my little rodent. You can’t even stand up in my presences. Who do you think you are? What makes you think that you can run away from me!”

Still pinned to the ground by the wind, he took a step towards me without stopping beating his wings.