Chapter 29

B-Ranked Virus

Damn! I’ve got to hold out!

Siva grabbed a scale from the head of the dragon and rearranged his position, stabbing the sword again on the vulnerable small space that is the dragon’s neck.

Blood flowed out from where the dragon was first stabbed and with the second injury, the swaying and the rodeo ride became more violent, enough to actually kill a few monsters on the dragon’s wake.

The B-ranked monsters’ numbers began to dwindle and it was becoming visible with the trampled bodies all around them.

Siva’s hands were already in the verge of giving up but he still managed with sheer will. He sometimes get a jolt when a B-rank monster finds its way to the dragon and bite the leg. Since that’s the only place their height managed to reach on the dragon’s massive size, this dark skinned king of the forest kicked them off that gave the jolt.

If it weren’t for Samara’s support and Agatha’s buffs that was supporting him, he would have died long ago.

“I won‘t die here!”

Siva screamed and unsummoned his foot gear, using his left hand and manually manipulated the equipment settings on his character window.

He changed the third equipment settings to double weapon, sacrificing the air jump skill that his boots gave and changed it to Cassius Clay.

When he had confirmed the change, the swaying began to take a new turn as the dragon started to flap its wings and take height. From the looks of things, the large creature seemed to be planning to use the bullet scales to rain down on the enemies below.

“No you won‘t!”

He screamed and raised his right hand, he stamped on the dragon’s neck with all his might and the shock took a toll on the dragon as it momentarily froze in mid flight, leading for a hard fall. And at that moment…

I’ll die if I fall with him!

Siva had no choice but to jump. Luckily, the dragon was above the lake and he crashed right into the water while the dragon landed near the shore.

““Siva!”” Samara’s and Agatha’s scream echoed on the chat line. Siva swam to the surface and Samara saw him, took a dive and caught his hand.

“Thank you!” Siva raised his head as he told Samara his gratitude. The two landed sixty meters or so away from Agatha and she healed him, recovering his HP.

“That fall was dangerous.” Samara commented.

“Yeah. Even though I landed on the water, it still had 20% of my HP chipped away.”

“The dragon’s alive!” Agatha’s scream made the two look at the direction where the dragon fell and they saw it crawling towards the shore, its left wing broken, and its breathing heavy.

“Looks like you did a great job on him.” Samara had a smile as she offered a hand to help Siva stand.

Siva then brushed up his hair who had its automatic fixing seem to be canceled because it was wet. “Now starts the fair fight.” He said as he was brushing away the excess water on his clothes. “He won’t be flying anytime soon and those scale bullets are now useless.”

“But it doesn’t mean that the dragon is weaker than before.”

“Yeah, you‘re right.” Siva nodded and changed his equipment to the first settings where he can use the Air Jump and the Cassius Clay. “There’s also the B-ranked monsters. Can you take them out?”

“I can.” Samara replied and lifted the grip on her left hand and the left cannon hovering beside her, followed the movements. “But I’m out of manna. I won’t be floating around for the next few minutes.”

“I’m also out of manna,” said Agatha and started to manipulate her character window. “I‘ve also ran out of manna potions trying to heal Siva‘s HP earlier.”

Siva clicked his tongue and the anxiety had extended even to the two girls. Still, Siva clenched his fists as they watched the dragon roared, seemingly happy that he was also alive. The dragon looked around and found Siva who was walking towards him like a victorious gladiator towards the coliseum where he belonged.

“This is our final showdown!” Siva screamed and he leaned back to see Agatha’s and Samara’s anxiousness.

I won’t die here.

His mind dictated that and they both stopped fifty meters away from each other.

The dragon swayed its head up and down, moving its left front paw like a dog seeing his master come home. A trace of what seemed to be a smile emerged on the dark skinned dragon and though his wing were broke, he still tried to tuck it in to maintain his majestic pose.

The B-ranked monsters who now numbered only a few tens, around 30, were still large imposing monsters that without Samara’s cover fires would’ve completely overwhelmed Siva since the beginning.

For him, these moments of silence were the ones that will decide his faith.

He closed his eyes and clenched his fist hard.

How are you? he thought with bitterness. Don’t you worry li’l bro, Kuya will take you home. Promise.

Siva opened his eyes and made an open armed stance to all the monsters. This sight shocked the two girls on the sidelines and the dragon’s golden eyes narrowed as the interpretation of his challenger’s actions seemed to be pointed directly at him.

It was a taunt.

The dragon’s head went up and down, and a grumpy sound came from him as the dazed monsters began their assault on the origin of the dreaded ability.

Anger and competition ignited the dragon to roar and strays of dark bullets went passed Siva’s head that came from its mouth.

So that’s the famous Dragon Roar?

Majority of these countless bullets hit the monsters and the extreme pain woke them up from their trans.

Too bad, a dragon was angry at them for targeting his prey and so a battle of creatures began between those who woke up from Siva’s ability and the angry dragon, trying to protect his beloved prey.

Siva used this opportunity to get close to his enemy and even though he could have escaped from there to avoid unnecessary fighting, he knew that the dragon won’t let him be, especially since his ability was still in effect to these monsters.

In short, he really had no choice but to fight on.

That’s why he clicked his tongue earlier.

Their second round began with two B-rank monsters falling prey to the dragon’s wrath. One was bitten to death, the other was crushed with a powerful paw. The claws sank easily on the monster’s body and Siva found it hard to believe that up ’till now, the dragon was still holding back.

A smile emerged on his lips as his head boiled on the thought of this belittlement.

Siva ignored the B-ranked monsters going at him and went straight for the dragon. He used its own pride against him as he led the monsters towards the already wounded dragon.

And when he remembered wounded, an idea entered his mind. He dragged his eyes to the dragon’s neck and there he saw the last hope he can use against it.

The black dragon began to roar again and on its mouth came countless black colored bullets that went towards his direction. Unable to dodge, Siva clapped his hands and a dome of invisible air pressure created a wall that defended him from the attack.

The range spread to almost six meters and a B-rank monster was also caught on the attack. That monster got blown from him, swaying its tail and hitting a four armed Cyclops Monkey right on the face.

That humanoid monster woke up from its trans and shook its head, seeing the dragon after, and gave a growl. It immediately clang on one of its legs and the two wrestled as the dragon tried to shake the monster off.

“That‘s right! Cling like a virus you are!”

Siva was happily enjoying the thrill. Everything was going according to his plans and he was laughing as he punched a clawed attack from a Raptor aside as if it’s a mosquito. Then he switched to using the guns and he shot that monster point blank right in the eyes.

“Siva look out!” Samara’s voice echoed and Siva’s attention spun towards a fast approaching shadow. The dragon’s temper reached its climax and it swung its tail that took out five B-ranked monsters instantly.

Along with it was Siva who just luckily been close to the dragon so the force of the attack wasn‘t as critical as to end his life in an instant.

Still, he grimmed as he saw the remaining life in his HP bar. There were only 44% left. That last attack just chipped away a staggering 50% of his life. This reality hit Siva like a giant ice pack put directly on his teeth.

Even considering the amount of monsters that was caught in that attack served as cushion to minimize the damage on him, 50% damage on HP is still too much.

“Damn you…” He hissed as he slowly stood up.

From where he was thrown off, two B-rank monsters also survived. But suddenly, those two reverted back to their trans state, Killing Zone was activated again and this truth made the two girl’s expression grim.

Siva stepped forth and shot the nearest monster in the eye point blank. Two bullets went directly from its eye to its brain, killing it while the other also received the same fate as it failed to recover in time before Siva arrived at his place.

Right then, the dragon roared and glared at Siva and Siva in turn also glared at him.

The two glared at each other as the few remaining monsters were all taken out by Samara’s cover fire one by one. And just as the momentum was going on her side, that’s where the firing stopped.

“Oh no!” Samara exclaimed on the chat channel. “I ran out of ammo! Agatha!”

“I just healed you earlier. I’m still recovering. I can only use first aid for the next fifteen minutes.”

Samara’s expression darkened as she faced Siva’s direction and screamed. “Siva!” Then she faced Agatha below. “Siva’s in danger! He just got hit!”

But the call was now lost as Siva is plunged deeply on the thought of a duel. The glaring stopped and a duel began between a dragon and a human with astounding reality. It may seem like a dream but the roars, the loud explosions of the dragon’s attacks missing, the sound of metal hitting hardened scales, it all rang throughout the area and attracted other souls curious to its origins.

“Siva!” “Siva!”

The girls’ voices overlapped as they called.

Siva’s attack looked useless but it still had minimal damage despite not having the Air Shot along with his attacks. There was only the booster that reacts when the fist is about an inch away from the surface of its target and the hardened material of the Cassius Clay that was officially a C-Class weapon is the only weapon he had against the dragon.

Still, thanks to the damage it had fighting off all the B-ranked monsters attracted to Siva’s ability, its power and stamina had dropped by a considerable amount.

Adding the bleeding wound on the dragon’s neck, though small that wound may seem, the Ender was also still there with its ongoing Grinding function so the damage it has created had already became significant to the point that the dragon was starting to lose focus.

The Dragon Roar which could easily deal enormous damage on the enemy had lost its effectivity.

The dragon began to spit blood every time it used the attack and Siva’s observation did not escape this small detail. It made him smile and so he continued the hit and run strategy he’d been using until now.

Crazy.

This was the only word Samara and Agatha could make out of his fighting style.

Every time that Siva dodged the hair raising attack, it still had a small damage on him since he himself was already nearing his mental and physical limit.

His punches began to go weak and even though he had been successful on avoiding the attacks until now, it was still a large fact that he is fighting a creature who had superior endurance and strength from him.

And so the difference on them came clear in one very unfortunate instance.

Siva was about to lurch upward and use Air Jump to avoid a sweeping tail attack when his reaction came late and he was near missed by a few inches.

He got thrown off as he spun around in mid air for who knows how many times and he landed hard on the ground and rolled off that made Samara’s and Agatha’s heart skip a few beat. In reaction, Samara ran and left Agatha on the tree and she used her Float Magic to do a dash along with the simple technological purpose of her knee long witch’s boots.

Just like Air Jump but it was a more expensive and a more sophisticated design that uses turbine mechanics for steady and constant use instead of compressed air made for impact attacks and sudden movements.

Her dash reached Siva earlier than the dragon who turned around and aimed to rush them.

Its large head that was a fusion of lizard and wolf with whiskers and scales and golden savage eyes came as a large shadow as Samara caught Siva. She wasted no time, no pause, and no choice but to hurl him by his body, embracing him as she used the momentum of her run to flee. The clawed scaly paw hit the ground and made a crater while the two got blown off balance by a debris hitting Samara at her back.

She saved Siva but it was in exchange for a great pain in her back that chipped away 40% of her HP.

Of course it will.

She was technically a Mage so her equipments and gears were focused with MNA and INT pluses instead of defensive functions.

She hurled in pain, rolling along with Siva who then twisted his body and used a hand stand to turn and land on his feet, making a meteorite impact onto the ground.

“Siva! Samara!”

The two stopped and they were both full of injuries.

Agatha cried out on the chat line as she watched the dragon turned its massive sized body that easily reached over 60m from head to tail over to the two.

On the other hand, Siva’s eyes became blurry as the dragon’s attack made his consciousness adrift for a few seconds. But when he finally found the ground to take back his sanity, he was looking at Samara who was on the ground with him, curled out in pain. The worst part is, she had a broken arm.

“Samara…”

“Siva!” Agatha’s frantic voice echoed on the device on his ear. Thankfully the party chat line was still active and he didn’t lost his communicator device. “Get out of there fast!”

“Wait, what?”

As soon as he turned to his head, a shadow came from above them and it was aiming to bite Siva’s whole body.