บท 271: Dragon Fun (IV)
Zero didn't listen; he whipped to the side, causing Jorge to lift slightly from Zero's body. Valiant and Sekka ran right behind him when he bolted forward. They didn't ask why he was running but followed closely behind. Fighting alongside Zero, they learned not to ask but react to the situation.
They were quite a distance away from the main army, slowing down to talk to one another or stop for a few minutes, eventually causing them to distance themselves. Now they needed to run to catch up, and Zero was going out into a full-out sprint.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Jorge's voice was shrill upward, holding on for his dear life. Agnis leaned forward as well as Zeraph, keeping low so the wind wouldn't blow them off. At the same time, Jorge was fluttering behind like a flag.
Zero saw the scenery start to change. They were more rocks jutting out from the ground like hills. The army was heading in between the cliff, making their way towards the volcano.
With a good push off his hind leg, he half flew forward. His claws landed on the side of the rock, getting a good grip on the side. He scaled a couple of feet and pushed off into a jump as he caught himself in the next. The whole partially flying/falling was exhilarating, especially because of his powerful body that allowed him to do such acrobatic acts. This was one of the main reasons why he liked and enjoyed his dragon form.
If he were in his human form, he wouldn't be able to do such outrageous jumps. Of course, there were times when he had to, but he wouldn't change it as often as he was in his dragon body.
Zero then scaled up the side of the cliff, stopping for a moment to enjoy the view at the edge. With a deep breath, he let the hot air enter his lungs, giving him a slight shiver that ran up and down his spine. He could feel his fire energy in himself start to churn up in his stomach; this allowed him to blow fiercer and hotter flames than he didn't think he could muster until now.
Valiant and Sekka stopped not too far away from him, searching around for any possible enemies. They saw, off in the distance to the right, a large group of Fire Hounds circling the side of the cliff and heading toward the army direction. Not too far away from the left were a large number of Fire Salamanders, but what was different about it was not just one or two, but many. They were also heading in the same direction as the army, making Zero wonder if there were some force pulling the Fire Salamanders towards the army direction.
Zero knew he needed to quickly make it toward General Liam before they were caught unsuspectingly. At the rate that the two groups were going, in less than ten minutes, they were going to clash.
"That." Jorge huffed in between each word. "Was. Not. Fun." His arm was shaking, and his face was pale for a Troll.
"You don't know the half of it," Agnis replied, a slightly mischievous grin appearing on her lips, knowing fully well what Zero was going to do next.
Jorge, at first, didn't understand why Agnis gave him an uncomfortable smile that told him something was wrong before he even got a chance to speak.
Zero didn't let Jorge catch his breath; he went into a running start, jumping off the side of the wall. Jorge's voice screamed at an unusually high pitch that Zero was quite surprised he could even create such a sound. However, he still didn't allow Jorge's voice to distract him as he twisted and turned like a cat to get his claws into the wall. Streaks of claw mark cut through the thick walls, allowing him to slow down his descent.
He then used the momentum to spring forward, allowing him to bounce off seamlessly into the next wall. If anyone saw him now, all three looked like they were running on the wall as they jumped from one point to the other until they cushioned down onto the ground.
The moment Zero landed, he sprung forward into a full-out sprint. He could feel his muscles constricting and releasing, giving the burst of speed he needed. He made it to the army's rear in under five minutes.
"Move out of the way!" Agnis shouted at the top of her lungs.
The soldiers jumped back, startled by Zero's sudden appearance. Some fell backward, trying not to get trampled or hit by Zero's tail. Zero dodged through the crowd as fast as he could without hitting and stepping on anyone as best as he could.
"Move! Move! Move!" Agnis repeatedly shouted to get the soldiers out of the way before they got squashed.
Zero saw General Liam off in the distance, "General!" Zero roared, frightening his horse into the rear. "Enemies are flocking on both sides!"
General Liam had to control his horse before he could even reply. When he finally got his horse under control, he shouted back. "Where?!"
"East and the West! Fire Hounds come from the East first, while the Fire Salamanders are in a large group!"
"Damn!" General Liam cursed. "Everybody in formation for a full-out battle!"
The army started to shuffle into position, breaking into two formations. The close-range combat was in the front, while the long-range was huddled near the back in groups of five. They were positioned in an upside-down V shape position, ready to take on the oncoming enemy.
From the right side, not even a few minutes in, the Fire Hound was coming from the corner and heading straight toward everyone. Again, people scrambled into position as fast as possible to meet the enemy head-on.
Zero, Valiant, and Seka broke apart from each other. They both took a spot where they were best needed. Zero went up towards the front of the formation, ready to divert and fight them head-on. Instead, his dragon instincts started to get excited at the prospect of the fight ahead and rumbled into a purr.
One thing he liked about the battle was the free food that always came his way, especially now that he was always hungry; he saw the monsters as prey to be eaten. He enjoyed the fight, though, at times, it got repetitive and annoying, as his dragon side was getting impatient at waiting. So, without realizing it, he bolted forward, clashing head-first into the oncoming swarms of fire hounds.
Zero towered over them as the fire hound redirected their attacks on him. He swiped his claw at the first swarm, throwing them into the air with a yelp. Then, with a swipe of his tail, he bowled through the Fire Hound like a bowling ball.
Zeraph and Agnis fired arrow after arrow from his back, using every opportunity to get an easy kill. They threw down magic between their shots, giving Zero the backup he needed. Zero's wild turns and lunges made Jorge slip up more than having a good balance like the other two.
"The dog is gone!" Jorge yelled and was annoyed that he was having difficulty getting up on his feet. His hand dug into Zero's back, trying not to fall off his back. "Why the hell is your back so slippery!"
"It's not that bad." Agnis fired a shot at a Fire Hound that attempted to scale Zero's back. "It's all in the core, you know."
"Core s'mores. They're all the same thing!" Jorge finally got one of his legs under his body as he steadily stood up on his knees with his hands out in a T position to catch his balance.
"They're not." Zeraph was chuckling at Jorge's predicament. "S'mores is something you eat while your core is in your stomach area."
"You know what I mean," Jorge growled, showing off his teeth. He struggled to get his other leg underneath him to gain his needed balance.
Zero took a sharp turn, taking out a Fire Hound that lept in the air in an attempt to strike at his neck. This caused Jorge to slip and fall flat on his face onto Zero's back as he let out a startled yell.
"That slip-up was spectacular." The edge of his lips curled up into a smug expression as Zeraph fired another shot. He missed as the Fire Hound bolted in a zigzag motion and jumped onto Zero's side. Zeraph stashed away his bow as he slung it on his back and pulled out his sword in one fluid motion. With a powerful swing, he cut deeply into the Fire Hound as molten lava spewed out of its body.
That was one of the reasons that Zero was glad that he wasn't in his human form swinging his blade. The monsters in this area seemed to ooze out deadly lava-like blood that melted through the sword if it wasn't enchanted. Luckily for Zeraph, his blade was elven-crafted, meaning it was already enchanted. However, the other players weren't as lucky with their weapons and had them melted upon impact.
They quickly learned to enchant their blades when fighting against the Fire Hounds and Salamanders. It wasn't pretty in the beginning when their blades melted; quite a handful of players died from being swamped by the sudden unexpected attack.
When General Liam saw Zero charges forward, he quickly issued his army to follow pursuit to back him up. The battle was heated as fire spells, and magic flew around in the battlefield all around them. Countering the fire spells were Ice and Water spells that splashed into the Fire Hounds in floods. The Elven warriors were exceptionally good with magic, and their control was perfect.
As the battle heated, the Fire Salamander came through from the west. They were slower than the Fire Hounds that came wave after wave. Instead, they came lumbering along slowly. Even though they were an easy target, they were more challenging to take down than the Fire Hound. The reason was because of the thick hide that kept them protected. Most of the physical attacks were difficult to pass through, while only magic could cause any damage.
This caused the army to quickly shift gears as the physical combat to fight against the Fire Hounds and the magician against the Fire Salamanders. Zero and his group tore through the Fire Hounds as if they weren't such a big deal, especially Zero, Sekka, and Valiant. They were all immune to the Fire Element that invigorated their energy every time they were hit with it.
"Don't let any of them escape!" Zero roared, frightening the Fire Hounds. They slipped up while a handful tucked their tails and started running the opposite way.
Sekka and Valiant routed out the ones that tried to escape. Then, valiant's skeleton army swarmed on the opposite side of the Fire Hounds, blocking their path as they hacked away at the Fire Hounds.
Zero was glad about the extra support from the skeleton army; it made the fight much easier to handle, giving them the leverage they needed. It didn't take long for the army to wipe out the Fire Salamanders and Fire Hounds, though Zero couldn't eat any of them.
When he destroyed them, they would melt and dissipate into the ground, leaving behind coins or items but no carcass for him to eat. This annoyed him because he didn't have anything to quench his hungry stomach, and he was starting to get a bit worried that there wouldn't be much food at the rate he was consuming.
They continued pushing through the cliff and eventually came upon a large cave-like opening. Zero stopped in front of the cave that towered over his body, making him wonder what was large enough to fit something five times bigger than him to create something so big. Everyone stopped to gape at the scene before them.
"What in the world?" Jorge was finally able to slip off Zero's back as he landed with a sigh. He then looked around, staring in complete amazement at the sheer size of the cave itself. "A dungeon?"
"Yea." Agnis slipped off and landed without a sound. "I bet if we enter, we'll get a message."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Jorge was finally back to his old self. "Let's go in."
"Not so fast." Zeraph jumped off and landed not too far away from them. "Don't you see the danger signs around you guys?"
"What danger signs?" Jorge tilted his head, not seeing what Zeraph was talking about. "I don't see anything…..oh."
Zero saw what Zeraph was talking about. Up against the wall were large streak marks of claws digging into the wall itself, leaving an ugly scar. It wasn't just in one place but in multiple places. He had to wonder what was big enough to create something so large; even placing his claws up against the wall didn't compare to what he saw.
"I got a bad feeling about this. We need to tread carefully." Zeraph replied; he scanned slowly around him.
Zero carefully took a step forward, and a blaring message appeared in front of him.
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