I almost lost my virginity.

From the bottom of my heart, I'm glad Flash Gordon is my rook. He used his skill [Faithful Protector] to take the attack for me. A third of his health gets chipped away.

Not only does that dragon-bastard want my Duchess, but he also dares to touch my Flash Gordon.

Flash Gordon is next to me, and Rob managed to put himself together and stands by my side, shovel in hand. I notice a gun suspiciously looking like Prometheus' [Molten Magiarm] is in his boney grasp.

Khan moves in, looming overhead, casting long shadows as he stirs. A storm is brewing.

[We let you have your fun. How was fighting a dragon?]

"Infuriating."

[Thisss one says we shall return his 'benevolence' six-fold.]

"Alright."

The dragon makes some warbling noises. It huffs and flaps its wings.

[He's bitching and moaning about honor or something.]

Every second I'm not taking damage is a second that my [Second Heart] regenerates my bloated health pool.

I utilize [Master's Hands] to silently relay my battle plans.

Duchess shall stay out of the dragon's range and pepper it with radiant magic, aiming for its eyes. Be as annoying and brilliant as possible.

Since she's our defensibly weakest member, we should exploit the fact that the dragon isn't moving from his spot to pepper him from a safe distance.

Rob will hide and sneak attack it whenever possible. Rob's damage is lacking, but his critical damage is higher. He just needs a lucky shot.

Speaking of shots, since I repossessed the [Skeleton Glove], Rob should use Prometheus' [Molten Magiarm] if he can't get close. I'll lend him some of my bullets.

Prometheus will set shit on fire. Fuck it. Be careful not to charr Rob anymore than he already is. This dragon needs to protect this tree so a fire should be an adequate distraction. If the dragon ignores the fire, he'd be failing his duty. If the dragon focuses on the fire, that's an opportunity.

Khan. Hunt. Rip him to shreds. Feed yourself.

I grip Flash Gordon and rush at the dragon.

Every time it looks at me, it gets radiant damage to the eyes. If it moves its head, it gets shot by bullets, mine or Rob's.

If it tries to use its brambles, Prometheus sets fires everywhere.

He prioritizes putting out the fires. It seems like the dragon can multitask, but it significantly limits how many brambles can be directed at us.

Khan almost gets within feeding distance of the dragon but something about the dragon changes. The air of arrogance surrounding the dragon changes.

The dragon spreads its wings and takes off. It warbles.

[Uh oh.]

"What did it say?"

[Stereotypical shit. Something about it only using a fraction of its power previously.]

I see.

"Why are you worried then?"

Visible green energy shines its way up its throat. The dragon's mouth is consumed with that energy and a heavy gas spills from its widened maw. The entire tree top is engulfed with a verdant fog. All the flames immediately extinguish.

The breath attack is toxic. It's corrosive. It's minty fresh.

My poison and acid resistances grow in real-time. I return Prometheus and Rob to the mansion. I can't see anything in this shitty fog.

[Resistance: Acid 499 > 500 (600)]

[Resistance: Poison 500 > 501 (601)]

[Resistance: Acid 500 ... 505 ... 510 ... 515 ... 520 (620)]

[Resistance: Poison 501 ... 505 ... 510 ... 515 ... 520 (620)]

I don't want to learn the hard way that Rob can't recover from completely melting. Prometheus can go with him.

I close my eyes as the gas is eating away at them. I stop breathing as it's melting me from the inside.

With my skin melting and turning green, I jump into the sky, breaking through the heavily obscured field and into the fresh air.

I force my bloodshot eyes open. My eyes are bleeding as I see the dragon charging at Duchess.

I don't know what the dragon is attempting, so I use [Master's Whistle] to relocate her closer to me. My lungs almost gave out from just trying to whistle, but so what.

Even if my lungs liquify, I'll manage.

Duchess, acting fast, catches me with her [Telekinesis] and holds me in place.

My body is saturated with whatever spewed out of that dragon's mouth. Jumping on her back right now is a bad call. It'll eat right through her.

It's eating through me.

My resistances continue to creep higher and higher.

Before I know it, the dragon is barreling towards me. Duchess moves me to the side, but I still get clipped by one of the dragon's wings.

It laughs at me. Fucker.

The force was strong enough to break Duchess' hold on me, spiraling me back down to the canopy.

My thorn's damage isn't affecting the dragon, but that doesn't mean my [Ring of Thorns] has been completely mitigated.

A thorny vine shoots out of my ring and scraps against the dragon's verdant scales until it takes hold. I try to climb up like it's a grabbling hook, but I'm having trouble.

It's hard to move my arms. I must've taken more damage than I thought, and the dragon speeding up doesn't help.

I use my mana to heal my wounds, but I'm dangerously low.

Before I can reach the dragon's back or use [Broken Blood] to recover some mana, the dragon detours through his fog cloud. My body crashes and bounces against the brambles that make up the canopy.

The thorns hook into my flesh like fishing hooks and get ripped out just as fast. Luckily for me, the potency of the breath attack has died down.

Maybe having too much tenacity isn't good since I refused to let go even though I was put into a blender. My vine snaps before I do, sending me tumbling across the canopy.

[Resistance: Piercing 699 > 700 (800)]

[Resistance: Slashing 699 > 700 (800)]

I'd imagine getting dragged behind a truck for a few miles is more enjoyable than what happened.

[User's health has reached 0!]

[[Powerful Spirit] will prolong your death, painfully, for up to ten seconds longer!]

[Warning! The User will die unless immediate care is administered!]

[User has stabilized!]

[43/8,600]

I must have blacked out for a second. Damn. Since my hearts didn't stop, my trickling passive healing kept me alive.

[86/8,600]

Damn, it looks like I shed dozens of pounds worth of flesh thanks to that joyride. It's like I got sanded down like a peice of wood.

[Are you dead?]

I seem to be mostly in one piece. None of my items are damaged beyond repair. My mana still is on the low side.

Still less painful than prestiging my vigor. I stand myself up, disregarding my leaking, creaking, collapsing body.

Is my arm supposed to hang that low? Why does it look like my leg is backward?

That fucking dragon better finish me off for real this time if it knows what's healthy for it. I'm about to reenter the fray, but a lingering thought enters my mind.

Maybe I should camp it out and recuperate a little more.

I'm still leaking blood from my eyes. It is annoying to see, but it seems like Khan has fully occupied the dragon's attention.

In hindsight, the dragon was doing its hardest to avoid Khan, even if it had to leave its post. But, it took me for a joyride, ultimately letting Khan "sneak" up on him.

Where's Flash Gordon?

[As soon as you tumbled, he enlarged himself and [Fragmentation]ed straight into the dragon's side.]

That's my boy.

I twist my leg back and shove my arm into its socket while watching Khan fight the dragon.

I figured the battle would be over then and there, but no.

Khan surrounded the dragon and started taking mouthfuls out of the dragon. Lightning flashes and the screams of a pained beast reverberate across the sky.

His crimson blood turns green. Another layer of scales grows over his original ones. They are brown like bark. The space between his new scales shines with lush energy.

His teeth grow longer, and so do his tail and wings.

Almost immediately, practically all the damage it endured disappeared with a flash of light.

More verdant energy travels up its throat, but instead of vomiting out a cloud, the breath attack rips across the sky in a highly concentrated line.

Dozens of Khans immediately perish, and the storm gets interrupted.

The bodies that died turned green before writhing, ultimately turning into clouds.

The dragon whips its head chaotically, decimating about half of the Khan population.

Khan tries to recuperate numbers by attacking the dragon. A portion of his damage will return as healing. The more health he has, the more bodies he has.

A Khan attacks the dragon causing thorns to burst out from within. A chunk of his new scales was practically disintegrated, but his "real" scales were unharmed.

The dragon's wings started to glow with energy. Sensing something was wrong, I immediately commanded Khan to activate his armor's [Cloud Formation].

Typically, he would look all sweet, white, and fluffy. But since he's pissed off beyond belief, his cloud form is dark and stormy. His fins and teeth are very distinct, looking sharp and jagged regardless of the cloud body.

Like a bursting firework, brambles explode out of the dragon's body. A ball of tangled thorns centered around the dragon rips through the air, penetrating each Khan multiple times.

The ball seems to defy gravity as it floats there. The brambles extend for over a hundred feet in every direction.

Khan is unharmed but can't attack the dragon like this.

I command him to slink away, utilizing his gaseous form to completely ignore the brambles. Before healing him, I heal myself, use [Broken Blood], then top off his health.

I get on one of the Khans and ride him into the sky.

Too bad Prometheus doesn't have a 'flamethrower' ability. Duchess could use her breath weapon since she technically has an affinity to fire, but I don't think she has the vigor to get through all these brambles.

[Bolster Resistance]'s mana cost scales with how high the resistance is. If I want to traverse this bramble ball safely, that would take up most of my newly regenerated mana.

Fuck it.

I use it twice, one for piercing and another for slashing before

I lost my sword at some point, but I just conjured a new one, sacrificing some health.

I hop off Khan and hack and slash into the brambles.

They attack me from every direction, but they cannot hurt me. Not anymore.

My thorned blade slices through the brambles before they can wrap around me. But even if they do, I'm alright with that.

Once I'm a few dozen feet in, and the bramble attacks are more prevalent, I summon Prometheus using my [Beastial Storage].

I guard him with my body so the brambles can't get to him. Even if they bypass my defense, I'm [Martyr]ing for my boy.

His [Magmamancy] specifies earth and metal, but I'm in a ball of brambles... Where is there any earth or metal?

For one, I'm holding a hunk of metal. And two, a part of me is a hunk of metal.

Good thing my "firearm" isn't loaded.

My [Unwieldy Tanto] glows red hot. It's not in danger of melting completely, but it's scorching. My prosthetic arm begins to heat up as well. My blood is boiling, but even that doesn't hurt.

If Prometheus could heat something so hot that it does over 750 damage, I would take damage. Even then, I would endure it gladly.

I'd take a fraction of the damage while my opponent would take the full brunt.

The brambles can't handle the heat.

I hold the glowing sword with my non-prosthetic hand, letting me "duel wield" the heat. The brambles burn as I hack and rip myself deeper.

I'm steaming.

The brambles are turning to charcoal from my touch. I rip and burn until I can see the dragon.

He is resting. His health should've been close to the top, so it must be low on mana. He knows I'm there and seems surprised I got this far unimpeded.

I'm going to kill this thing.