Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! Cool foxes and partings!

ANYWAY… I’M SORRY! I TRIED! I SWEAR I TRIED, BUT I WAS UNABLE TO MAKE IT NOT TOO DRAGGY THIS TIME T.T If I don’t make it over-detailed it just don’t feel right… So, I decided to take another approach to this. I cut the fight on a part I found to be suitable and will probably add a chapter 28.5 with only the remaining of it, no plot development, only the fight. This way, those that like reading the fight can still enjoy then, and the others won’t be TOO bothered by it. For now this is the only answer I could create as I learn to go easier on my descriptions… SORRY! *Dogezas, hits the head in the ground and faints*

ALSO, for the whole IMPORTANT: Not a chapter thingie, this is what I decided to go for now: I’ll go with the patch route, as it makes sense, but as one of the comments said, that would be too much of a gameplay change for everyone. While some MAY like the extra challenge, others may not, so what the patch actually does is to get a chance to remove the ‘goddess blessing’, which basically means going the realistic mode, where not only your attacks on the monster can give it debuffs, but his attacks can also do it to you. This way both demographics can be happy, the casuals and the crazy ones. Also, in a party, it’s the team leader who chooses the stile that will affect everyone. I want to hear your opinions on this matters.

ALSO(2), on a serious note, my room got really dusty near the end of this chapter, and some of it even entered my eyes! Can you believe that?

Have a good read!

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Me and the fox simply stared at each other for a moment as I tried to calm myself down from my mad laughter. I had no doubt that this guy was the same one from before. Though much bigger and stronger, the way he looked at me was exactly the same.

Hmm… I wonder if he would let me pet him?

I took back the bow and put it on the quiver while slowly approaching the Freezing tail with my arms raised, showing that I meant him no harm. He looked at me suspiciously, but didn’t run away this time. When I got to him, I slowly lowered my hand on his head.

He cringed a little at this and looked at me confused and even a bit scared, but as soon as I started to gently rub his head, he stopped and seemed to enjoy himself in a complete bliss, as his three huge tails started swinging happily from one side to the other.

WAAH! He’s even fluffier than the Blazing tail!

After a few seconds like that, it seemed that he finally recovered himself, as he opened his eyes in shock and quickly pulled his head from my hand. He looked at me annoyed and started to bark something at me.

Meanwhile I was completely devastated because he was mad at me. I looked longingly to my hand then to his forehead. I tried to reach for it once again, but he pulled back before I could reach. WAAH! MY FLUFFINESS! COME BACK!

Wait… Is he looking at hand? Yes! It seems that he really likes it!

Yes, come closer.

Come to the fluffy side of the force! We have petting sessions!

…

Not even one minute later he was laying on the ground with me hugging his neck. I think I’m in heaven!

“But who would think that you would get so strong!” I said absentmindedly while petting him, he made a grunt agreeing with me. We stayed like that for a few more minutes until I finally decided to go straight to the point. “Hey, want to come with me?”

The freezing tail lifted its head surprised then looked at me. I could see him hesitating for a moment, but in the end he shook his head. Then he used one of his tails to point to the bow on my back before pointing at himself.

“You… Want to fight me?” I asked surprised. He nodded with conviction. “WAAAH! BUT I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS! I NEVER KNEW THAT YOU HATED ME!” I made a fake cry while shoving my face on his fluffy fur. I could feel him getting agitated and nervous as he moved his head around, until finally he used one of his tails to pat my back.

God, this is wonderful. Not only it is fluffy, but because his element is ice, it doesn’t get stuffy in here. Heck, this actually feels really good, just slightly cool.

“Do I get the option of not fighting?” I asked after a few minutes. He lifted his head and shook it. “Even if I try to run away?” He nodded. I sighed loudly for a moment while thinking. “Why? Is there a reason for this?” I asked after some time, but he kept quiet. I thought for a moment, trying to understand what could that mean, until finally it hit me. “Does it have something to do with being the alpha?” A nod. After a few seconds of silence. “Is it pride?” Another nod.

I sighed while raising myself from the ground. Pride is an idiotic thing, I’m a fine example of this. I took my bow and exchanged it with my sword and shield, I don’t think he is going to go easy on me, so I might as well go with my best.

I also took my time to change a couple of throwing knifes from the bandolier, taking out the last freezing knife I had and putting a fire one. I thought about keeping the flash-bomb, but decided against it on the last second. I kind of feel that these are a bit of a cheat method to use on a friend.

After making sure that I was all equipped and ready, I turned back to him one last time and approached him. He looked at me confused while I petted him for one last time.

“Look, even if you, by some kind of miraculous coincidence under the heavens manage to defeat me, which I highly doubt, mind you…” He looked at me with an ‘Really?’ face. “I won’t hold it against you, ok?” He seemingly got relaxed after I said this, as he lowered his head relieved. I smiled at this scene.

“Okay, now, before we being, there is something we have to do!” I said excited, with him looking curiously at me. I made him sit before grabbing one of his paws and raising it in the air. “This, is called a high-five!” I said while slapping his paw with my hand, he looked at his paw confused then tilted his head while looking at me. “It’s what friends does!” his eyes widened for a moment before his tails swung happily a few times.

Afterwards, I took my distance and readied myself. Probably noticing me getting serious, for a change, he also took a combat stance while lowering his head.

Damn, the second boss that I fight, and I’m already in the high rank’s subspecies…

…

We looked at each other for a moment, and nodded both at the same time, signaling the start of the fight.

He made the first move, by recoiling his head like the Blazing tails Inferno Ball.

I prepared myself to jump out of the way, but I forgot, they may look alike, but this isn’t a blazing tail. What he shot was an icicle the size of my head. Smaller than the inferno ball, but faster, much faster. If the inferno ball is a cannon, this is a sniper shot. I barely had the time to even put my shield in front of me and block it.

But I was still blown away half-way across the clearing. Luckily, I didn’t fly high, so I managed to recover without taking any fall damage.

Or any damage at all.

No matter how much I waited, my hp didn’t seemed to have decreased… Strange.

I didn’t really have much time to think about it, since he was already charging towards me while mist gathered at the tip of his tails. I readied myself for the attack, but he completely got my by surprise there.

He jumped right before he got to me and made a full somersault, and three icy arcs came on my direction directly from above, I had to roll away from the attack to avoid being caught in it. But they still struck the ground where they stayed stuck.

Wait, they are solid? Does that mean that they are physical damage? Is that why the icicle didn’t pass through my block?

I barely recovered myself in just enough time to see him coming for my neck with his maws wide open and tried to bite me. I jumped aside while grabbing onto his fluffy fur to use it as a pivot and stay glued to his body, where I landed a slash and a stab.

-28 -23

-51 (2249/2300)

I quickly got away when he turned towards me with a downward ice-claw. Three ice spikes came down from god knows where and pierced the ground where I was. I looked at him tauntingly for him having missed his attack, but I was answered with a mocking gaze.

He used his second claw to hit the ice, shattering it in thousands of shrapnel. Even when I lifted the shield, many of them still hit me in the legs and arms.

-5 -6 -3 -5 -6 -3 -4

-32 (448/480)

Damn, so he could also use the ice like that? That’s new.

Recovering myself from the attacks, I noticed him raising his head to howl loudly. Immediately, the whole ground in a fifteen meters radius around him froze. At the same time, some parts of the ice started to shine brightly. I quickly ran away from the area while a message popped into my damage area.

(snare)(snare resisted)

DAMN! THAT THING SNARES?

I rolled out of the way from the area just in time to see a huge ice storm forming around him while five huge ice stalagmites raised from the ground. The number is much smaller compared to the Soul fire, but the area of each attack don’t even begin to compare!

Of course, I didn’t spend this time only watching. I quickly took a fire knife and threw it at him right he stopped howling. The knife stuck to his chest for a second before finally igniting in flames. He yelped in pain as the damage settled in.

-3 -10

-13 (2236/2300)

As soon as he recovered, he looked annoyed at me and used the ice claws.

Except that he used it on two of the huge stalagmites, shattering them before turning to me and charging.

I blinked in surprise at this, but soon understood what was happening, as a white mist started to envelop him, dragging around all fragments from the stalagmite in a huge trail behind him. I paled at the scene and started to run away, barely dodging the ice storm coming next to me.

-3 -5 -3

-11 (437/480)

-10 (2226/2300)

Dammit, when it said that he was much stronger than the blazing tail, it wasn’t joking around!

I quickly got myself up just in time to see him casting another icicle at me. Immediately activating roll I saw the attack landing on the ground right besides me and digging a good ten centimeters in the ground.

He… Is going to be a lot harder than what I thought…

-10 (2216/2300)

Huh? What?

The fire knife is only supposed to hit two times! What the hell?

In the time I took being surprised, blue was already using Freezing charge against me again, so I quickly hid myself behind the shield, at least he didn’t have the shattered fragments following him. Waiting for the very last second, I used Nature’s bastion and used shield slam.

The sudden impact made him recoil his head from the damage, before he could recover I charged in while slashing him in the chest and landing a stab before rolling away.

-83 (Critical) -26 -21

Combo! (x1.2)

-156 (2070/2300)

Damn, criticals, how did I miss you against the first Blazing tail!

Thanking the existence of the critical strikes, I almost missed the message appearing on me.

(snare)(snare resisted)

Huh?

When I looked around, I noticed I was back on where he had first used the soul storm. Looking back at him, I saw him raising his tails and charging it with mist. I immediately readied myself to dodge the attacks, but when he let the arcs go…

He didn’t aim at me? Why?

For some reason, these ice arcs were aimed at…

Cripes.

I tried running away from the frozen place where I was, but I was far too late as the arcs landed on the stalagmites, making both of them shatter with the impact, sending shrapnel in all directions. I barely managed to throw myself with my back to the ground while trying to hid myself behind the shield.

-3 -5 -3 -4 -3 -5 -5 -6 -4 -4 -3

-45 (392/480)

FREAKING SHRAPNELS! I need a freaking tower shield to stop them!

Before I even had the time to get up from the ground, he was already back on top of me, trying to land an ice claw on top of me. I barely dodged it rolling on the ground, luckily, it seemed that the direction to which I dodged was the one where he couldn’t get a good angle to shatter the icicles.

He turned towards me and used threw an Freezing spike before I could get up. I barely managed to put my shield in the trajectory, and felt it as it slid smoothly against the shield surfaces and was redirected.

That… Might be useful.

Still taking advantage of me being in the ground, he immediately activated soul storm. Although I couldn’t escape the storm part, I tried to put myself on my feet and get out of the area before I would be impaled by the ice.

-3 -4 -5 -3

-15 (377/480)

But the glowing area appeared directly in front of my escape route. I quickly turned my shield downwards and tried activating nature’s bastion.

-3 (374/480)

WHAT. THE. HELL! MY UNDEFEATABLE PHYSICAL REDUCTION COMBO, BROKEN?

The ice surged from beneath me with a ridiculous fury and easily threw me a good few meters to the air.

I BELIEVE I CAN Fl… WAIT, THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR THAT!

I somehow managed to twist my body in the air and throw the second fire-knife on the bandolier towards blue. I refuse to let this go without immediate payback!

-3 -10

-13 (2077/2300)

Well, even getting my revenge, I still fell face first on the ground.

-23 (352/480)

I quickly got myself up and rolled away from an incoming icicle.

Damn, that Soul ice thingy is scary! How much damage does it deal to even break my Nature’s bastion? I’m afraid to find out.

But… That flying part… Gives me an idea…

-10 (2067/2300)

I shook my head to get my attention back to the fight. He was already charging back at me with his tails gathering mist once again. I won’t be caught by surprise this time!

As soon as he jumped, I turned away and ran towards his landing point, hearing the ice arcs getting stuck to the ground. Before he could even turn back towards me, I had already grabbed hold of his closest tail and slashed and stabbed it. He tried to use one of his other tails to lash at me, but I dodged it by twisting my body.

He turned towards me while trying to land an ice-claw on me, but I countered with a bastion + slam

-44 (crictical) -28 -37

Combo!(x1.2)

-131 (1936/2300)

-10 (1926/2300)

I grinned at him for interrupting his attacks while falling back. But not before grabbing one of the failed Ice claw icicles on the ground and sticking it to my belt.

We took some time to simply look at each other while I refilled my bandolier and he thought of a new strategy.

In the end, the first one to charge was him again. As he charged towards me while charging his tails. Knowing the attack I waited for him to jump before turning back and running. When he landed I prepared myself to attack him.

Wait, why is there still mist in his tail…

Oh, crap…

He brought down his tree tails on me at point blank range. I managed to step aside and avoid two of them, but the third one still hit me square in the chest.

-70 (262/480)

I was blown away to the edge of the area, stepping right beside a tree. I quickly got up and chugged down a potion from my belt while waiting for him.

+118 (380/480)

Since we had a good distance between us, he took his time before coming to me, by using two ice claws on the ground and breaking them with Freezing Spikes before finally using his frozen charge at me.

I grimaced. Was there some way for me to completely avoid the damage from that skill? Those fragments are a real pain…

I looked at the tree besides me and reminded myself of an idea I had when hunting a blazing tail earlier, but I never really had the time to test it…

Would it count as dirty fighting? Hope not.

I turned back to the tree and stabbed it with a stun knife. For those of you who don’t remember, this is made using the explosion combination…

God, either this is going to be epic, or a fail. Or an epic fail…

I waited until he was at a certain distance from me, before activating the dagger. The explosion shattered the bark of the tree in various directions, and it slowly began to creak as it fell.

BUT IT WAS TOO SLOW!

Before the tree could actually get to the ground, blue reached me and hit me right in the chest, I blocked the charge damage with the shield, but the shrapnel still found its way towards me

-3 -4 -3 -6 -5 -3 -5

-29 (351/480)

I cringed in pain for a moment before finally recovering myself and seeing his face contorting in surprise, as the tree finally gained speed, falling towards him.

-132 (1794/2300)

Sorry buddy…

I couldn’t help but still feel that I was somehow cheating.

Anyway, I don’t think that he will fall for the same trick twice, so I better take as much advantage of this as I can.

Since the tree fell almost in a slanted angle, it left his left flank open to me, so I quickly went there and started to combo on him, landing a slam followed by a full duration Slice ‘n dice, then by a couple of normal swings.

-32 -9(x13) -18(critical)(x2) -18 -17

Combo! (x1.2)

-264 (1530/2300)

At the start, he tried to free himself from beneath the tree through sheer strength, but it seemed that it wasn’t working very well, then he charged his tails and used the ice arc to cut the tree before lifting himself. But by the time he got up I had already gotten away from him.

He looked coldly at me for a few moments, luckily giving me enough time to recover some energy. Finally he made a deep breathing, and when I was waiting for a freezing spike barrage, he surprised me with the loudest howl I ever heard.

Following that, THE WHOLE FREAKING CLEARING was completely covered in a small layer of snow and ice.

(Snare)(Snare resisted)

THANK GOD IT’S NIGHT!

As blue kept howling, dozens and more dozens of the stalagmites surged from the ground, transforming the peaceful clearing into a frozen hell.

Luckily, it seemed that the sheer scale of this attack made that the icicles took longer to for they to sprout from the circles, so I easily managed to dodges these as they appeared everywhere. Meanwhile I ran towards him to try and see if I could land a couple of hits on him.

But right as I was about to reach him, one of the circles appeared right beneath me, although I had time to get out of it, I would have to change my direction to do that, and he would probably stop howling by then.

Besides, this suits me just fine! I thought while making a wicked smile.

Right when the spike started raising from the ground, I used nature’s bastion and flew upwards using the spike.

-3 (348/480)

While I was up there, I took the icicle I had picked from the ground earlier and threw it downwards towards him. I could somehow feel that the icicle counted as throwing weapons, as my hand was slightly guided by something.

But what mattered was, right after the icicle stabbed him, I vaguely aimed at it with my sword and used stab while falling, my sword piercing the icicle and shattering it from within.

Since I had landed on his back, I had to hold for dear life while slashing him so I wouldn’t fall down from his shaking.

-10 -54(brutal) -46(critical) -22

Combo (x1.2)

-158 (1372/2300)

When I thought he finally started to calm down, he suddenly jumped towards one of the stalagmites, landing on its side with all paws before jumping away. The sheer strength of the jump not only shattered the 4 meters wide stalagmite. OF COURSE, that also got me out from his back, so I fell to the ground.

Quickly raising myself, I looked at him and grimaced, noticing that the whole area had just become his playground. Things were just about to get bad…

******

Rest of the fight. No plot, only the fight.

******

After a few more exchanges, a couple of potions and a couple of fire knifes, we were finally at the end of our duel. His health was almost at its end, and just one more attack from me and it would be the end.

But I seriously hope I never again have to fight against him. It feels like fighting a brachydios with a remote controlled explosion instead of timed! Whenever I would drop my guard for a second, a pillar of ice would explode at my side! Not only I had to be wary of his attacks, I also had to be wary of my surroundings!

Only after much effort, we were finally about to bring an end to this.

I stared at him for one last time, expecting his move, but instead of an attack coming, what I saw was what looked a gentle smile, and he suddenly fell to the ground. I became surprised at this, and lightly lowered my weapons.

He made a motion for me to approach with his tails, leaving me surprised, but I complied. Walking slowly towards him. When I got close to him, he lifted one of his legs, showing me his paw. I smiled wryly and gave him a light high five. Afterwards, he closed his eyes and waited.

I used stab on his neck to give him the finishing blow.

-54 (critical) (0/2300)

I saw the light in his eyes dim after this strike. If it were for me, I would have spared him, but I feel that he would think of it as an insult towards himself.

This is one hell of a bitter-sweet victory, if I do say so myself…

I carried his body away from the clearing as the ice melted, now that the magic keeping then was gone.

As soon as we were in a safe zone, I put myself to skin him, taking three times more care with this than with any other skinning job I have ever done. I decided in my heart that the very least I could do was for me to make the damned best piece of gear from him that I could. Something to leave all the others to shame.

Freezing Tail Hide (Excellent)The hide of the elusive Freezing tail gotten through manual skinning. This piece of hide was taken with such a care that the fur still keeps the same temperature the beast emanated from itself, as if the spirit still lives in here.

(Rare Crafting Material)

I made a wry smile at that, but no other comment as I took it and put in the inventory. Afterwards, I also removed the gem, claws and fangs from his body. All of them with excellent quality before finally reclaiming his body.

Not really having the heart to see his remains disappearing, I didn’t look at the usual light show before standing up and walking away.

But I didn’t even take a step away before:

“Stop! Look back!” I heard Cygnas talking worriedly to me after so long.

Surprised, I complied before even asking why she wanted me to do, so I turned back.

There, where I had reclaimed the body, was a strange scene. A small floating ball surrounded by a thin mist laid there. I got surprised at this. Did it appear when I reclaimed the Freezing tail? But…

“Hey, shouldn’t manual skinning cancel any kind of loot you give to us?” I asked in a confused tone.

“Exactly, any kind of loot that I send you. It wasn’t me, or my automated looting system, to tell the truth, that left that for you!” She said in a strangely cheerful voice. It took me almost a full second to understand her words.

“Wait… Then that’s…”

“Yep, it was your friend who left it for you.” Okay, now I’m definitively confused. “You see, as long as it is something that the reclaimed wish to leave to his reclaimer, it will override any other system. Even the one from manual skinning.”

I was almost going to tears right now, as I went towards the small ball and crouched towards it. Immediately after, it started to hover towards my open hand.

Freezing Tail Soul-container (Qualityless)The soul of the freezing tail you defeated. Not only have you helped it when it suffered, but you also defeated it in a fair duel under its request. Overflowing with respect and admiration for you, it entrusts its soul to you, so you can choose its destiny.(Use to earn a new pet)

(This item can’t be sold)

(This item can’t be traded)

(Only Wargon can hold this item)

I blinked surprised before smiling a bit stupidly.

Damn, it suddenly got dusty in here! It’s irritating my eyes. Its so unbearable that I’m even sweating through them. Yes, that is what is happening.

I’M DEFINETIVELY NOT CRYING, OK?

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(dead)Author’s corner: CYGNAS DAMMIT LOCO15! I couldn’t reply to your post on last chapter without spoiling anything so freaking close you were! Really, you and scarecrow are scary with that guessing power…

Now, for a little extra, BECAUSE I CAN!

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WARGON EXPLAINS!

Hello dear readers, today, I’m back here with your favorite naïve goddess Cygnas on one more chapter of WARGON EXPLAINS!

Hey gon, it’s good to see you after so lo… Wait! You called me naïve again!

I can say the same, Cyg, but tell us, what were you doing that you couldn’t even make an appearance?

Did you just ignore me? *sighs* I was teaching a lesson to the author.

… Wow, for some reason that was scary… Anyway, today we have here a guest appearance! Please, come in, Elraira!

Hello Gondorrer. It’s a pleasure to come here today and… and… Is… Is that… Cy… Cy… Cygnas? A-a-as in… THE Cygnas?

Why, hello there El, and yes, it’s me, but no need to worry because this is out of the continuum of the story, so no need for formalitites!

Ah… I see… Sorry then…

…Couldn’t you at least react a bit more… You know, surprised?

But she said for me to not mind it?

…Wow, that’s in a whole different level… Oh well... So, let’s go for our question. Some of our readers (none to tell the truth) have been asking us about what is a flame bringer. What does it have of different from other classes. Could you shine light on this for us?

Sure, you see, what makes the flame bringers different from other classes is that we don’t use fire magic directly.

Interesting, care to develop?

Not a problem. Flame bringers, and other element bringers too, control and manipulate our magic through our weapons. What we do is to take the element from outside, coat it in our weapons and then use motions to spread and use the magic. This means that we can even use our enemies magic against them should the element match.

Well, isn’t this interesting? But how does this weapon coating works? Cyg?

Well, Gon, the bringers coat their weapons with a special kind of mana. Using their weapons as a sort of catalyst to the magical effects, they can command their mana to absorb and fuse with the element that matches their affinities. This means that any natural mana-less element in the nature can be absorbed, but it also means that an skilled mage can have their spells immune to being absorbed if they coat them with a different element.

I see. It sounds really complicate. One last question for tonight, but El, some readers were curious about the fire tornado you used at the bandit camp, isn’t it a bit too powerful?

That is actually the usual. To tell the truth, the tornado is a derivation from the eruption skill, the one I used to spread the initial sparks, and by nature, derivate skills are much stronger than the originals. Just like your shield slam, if we were to show another example.

I see. Well, that’s all for today, thanks for your participation, El.

You are welcome.

As a repayment, I asked Whisi to wait for you outside… And she’s gone.

Well, I’ll be going too then, see you later Gon.

Wait! Cygnas, the readers want to know, when will your embar… Where did that knife come from?

Said something?

Nothing, nada, nanimonai.

I see, bye bye!

Bye… Mental note, angry Cygnas is scary.