...Man's Best Friend…
"Magic, no matter how good it may be, will never be able to stand up to technology."
"Aurdel, I think we heard well enough the first time you said it. If not then, then it was the second, third of fourth," Darkness chided him. "But why do you keep saying it? You're only holding a sword, the only abnormal thing about it is the strange thing you've embedded in the handle. Does it even serve a purpose?"
"Of course it serves a purpose, why wouldn't it? Didn't any of you hear any of what is explained?"
"Not really," Anatalia said while sipping on a cup of tea, "We weren't particularly listening as we were occupied with that device Aqua has with her." She was referring to the game console that Aqua had taken from the bunker at the Crimson Demon village so long ago, the one she was currently playing in front of the fireplace with the others crowded around her. He'd considered tossing it in but he didn't want to hear Aqua's wailing afterwards because of it, there was also the fact that it was technically a small computer. Something he could try duplicating and improving if he could even get the damn thing out of their hands.
"I suppose I am a little interested now though, if you're trying to get us to hear it so much," Darkness turned away from Aqua and the others.
"Then why don't we take a quest? It'll be a lot easier to show it than to explain it." Darkness shot up, much more interested now.
"What kind of quest? Will it be one with really tough monsters?! One with a horde of creatures that'll trample all over me?! Will it be one with monsters that will hold me down and-?!"
"Can please you go one conversation relating to quests without doing that?! Realy, I understand you're into that kind of thing but I don't want to have to hear about it constantly."
"T-that… kind of thing!~" And she tipped over, "So insulting of other's tastes and desires!"
"You're hopeless…" He shook his head, "What about the rest of you? Are any of you coming with us?"
"I will!" Yunyun shot up, ready to go. He expected that. Something else he expected was Megumin jumping up to go too since Yunyun wanted to go.
"An Archwizard like myself can't rest on her laurels, not when I play such an important role."
"Not going, I'm busy," Aqua said, totally enamored with the game console.
"Not even if I gave you a large portion of the reward?"
"Nope," she kept playing, "I still have money leftover from the reward we got from the Princess, so I don't need any right now." Right now was the key word. The only reason she managed to hold on to that money was him physically restraining her from spending it all at once. The moment he walked out she'd find a way to do so.
"In that case. Anatalia, can you make sure she doesn't do anything stupid?"
"Sure can do boss," and she put her feet up on the armrest of the couch.
"Wait, why do you think I would do something stupid?!"
"If you can't answer that question yourself by now, you clearly shouldn't spend your time playing games." He turned to the rest of them, "Alright, grab your gear and let's go. We'll need to make a stop somewhere so I can look for what we need before we complete the quest I have in mind."
"Hey, Aurdel, isn't going to the capital really out of the way for our quest?"
"Yeah, and isn't it somewhat dangerous to go here after what happened. Both Darkness and Yunyun were questioning his choice to go to the capital, but he had his reasons.
"Sure it's out of the way, but I'm here because I'm looking for someone. As for it being dangerous it's only dangerous if we go near the royal palace. I don't plan to go within eyesight of it." The quest that he'd chosen to take was one that had sat on the quest board of Axel's guild for a long time, the subjugation of the Manticore and Griffin. That quest had been there since he first came to this guild and was still on it now, with no person aiming to complete it any time soon.
"Who could you possibly be looking for, especially with the kind of quest we have? Aren't we going to kill the creatures ourselves?"
"Yeah, I can take both of them out with one hit from my Explosion!" Megumin shouted, raising her staff. "So why do all this? Especially when I can have the honor of taking them out."
"Because as hypocritical as it may be for someone like me to say, killing isn't everything there is to solving a problem. Sometimes you have to take a tamer approach."
"What kind of approach?" Darkness asked.
"Well in this case, a literal taming approach." He began to explain his idea, "Where I'm from animal domestication is a common practice, we've done it for millenia. So I figured that here the same practice occurs but with a different manner of domesticating. After looking into it, I was right. Here you do it with skills."
"You want to tame a Griffin and Manticore?" Darkness asked with disbelief.
"If it can be done. From what I've read there are four key factors to a successful subjugation of a monster or animal. The first is luck, second is charisma, third is the user's level and fourth is the amount of creatures the user had subjugated. Those first three I have under lock easily, as I have high luck and charisma along with a high level to boot. Unfortunately for the last one, this would be my first time subjugating anything. But hopefully those other three stats can make up for my lack in that one."
"If your plan is to subjugate them then why are we here in the capital? Wouldn't it be better to look for someone with that skill closer to the wild?" Yunyun asked. It was a reasonable question, one that had an easy understanding for why it was asked.
"That does make sense given its purpose, but that would mean we'd have to travel through a plethora of frontier towns to look for those that have it. And given that domestication can be passed through generations, there isn't much reason to learn it for animals you already have domesticated. Otherwise I could have just walked up to some farmer back in town to learn it."
"I suppose you are right… but still, why the capital?"
"I chose the capital because I know for sure that there's someone here that knows the skill. "While I was kidnapped by the Princess she told me about all the kinds of heroes there are here, she's met a lot of them. One of them includes a hero by the name of Aristus."
"I know that name," Darkness said, "He's one of the few heroes that doesn't have some extremely powerful ability of piece of equipment."
"Right, it wouldn't do me any good if the person I was looking for only had it because of some ability like that. Aristus used it to tame a pack of wolves that follows him around, at least that's what I heard from Iris. I can't say I know for sure if that's true because I haven't met the man."
"Then I suppose this is the right place to look for him… I know that nobles sometimes enlist his help to get exotic pets," Darkness added. "My father hasn't, but I know of others."
"Exactly, if there's any place for nobility to gather it's here in the capital." They kept walking, before eventually stopping before a building. The building in front of them was known as the Hero Bar, with the capital being known for its overabundance of cheat user 'heroes' one could assume why this bar was called that. He pushed open the door and the four of them stepped in. The bar was a mix of various styles. Each of them was one from his own world, no doubt all of the heroes that were here and had been here had left their mark in time. A crowd of faces turned towards them as they entered, quite a few of them were solely looking at the women of his party.
He made sure to guard them defensively as they walked through the bar, with eyes trailing them as they walked through. Most of the people in this bar were high levels given they'd all spent more time than him here and with much more powerful abilities than his own. Granted, that didn't mean he was guaranteed to lose to them. But he would avoid any fight that he didn't have to take. He walked towards the corner of the bar where there was a man sitting by himself at a small table. All around him was a small pack of six wolves, not White Wolves but still big and still dangerous. Draped on him was a leather armor draped in a large fur, scars covered his face. The weapon he had beside him was a halberd, a smart weapon choice to keep dangerous animals at more than arm's length away from him. "Are you Aristus?" He asked.
"The man looked up from his drink, "I am, and who might you be?"
"My name is Aurdel Ganowicz, and I'm looking to learn your Subjugation skill," he extended his hand out to the man. Aristus reluctantly shook it.
"And why would you want to learn it? An adventurer like you looks like they wouldn't need to learn such a skill, you'd just kill anything in your path."
"I don't plan to kill the two monsters my quest involves, it'd be a waste."
"Oh? So maybe you are different. That doesn't change a thing though. I won't teach you it for nothing."
"Then what do you want?"
"I want you to fight me and my pups, alone. And you won't have any weapons."
"I'll do it."
"Aurdel?! Isn't that a little dangerous?!"
"Sure, but it makes sense. What's the point in having a skill if you won't use it? That's why none of the cheat users in this world learn anything, they don't have to. They have their abilities all set out for them and then flounder when they don't have them. That's why Mitsurugi died."
"Exactly, I don't plan to teach my skills to some buffoon who gets slaughtered the moment he steps out into battle."
They were both set up on opposing sides of a large field of tall grass, neither could see the other due to a hill in the middle of the field. They were waiting for a signal to begin. Aurdel crouched low to the ground, "Create Earth!" He covered himself in dirt. If he was going to be fighting wolves along with this hero then he was going to have to hide his scent from them. By the time he finished a fireball was flung into the air. It was the signal for the fight to begin. Getting on his hands and knees he dashed through the grass, he was going to lead them on a chase. Some of the grass that he dashed through ended up trampled. Normally that would be a bad thing to do if one didn't want to be noticed, but if one wanted to set up a trap it could easily work in one's favor.
He quickly pulled out some of the grass that he'd trampled over and dug a small pit in the ground using his hands, it'd take them some time before he got to them so he could afford to do this. "Create Water!" He filled the pit with water and covered it with the torn out grass, sprinkled dirt on top to better hide it. Soon enough he began to hear barking and the sound of footsteps approaching. They were following his trail. He ducked into the brush and moved to a position that allowed him to view the trap from the direction its be approached. The wolves and Aristus ran straight past him and towards where he stopped, stopping right before the trap. The wolves sniffed around for his scent one went behind the man's legs. "Wind Breath!" He blew cold air onto the wolf, surprising it and causing it to recoil into the back of Aristus' legs. It caused him to lurch forward imbalanced, falling knees first into the water. "Freeze!" He jumped out and froze the water.
Ready to attack the man that attacked their master, the wolves charged at him. "Tinder!" The tall grass went ablaze and the wolves, he heard the shattering of ice. Aristus had his halberd in his hands and used it to break the ice, standing up again. He pointed it at Aurdel and thrust the weapon forwards with great speed, Aurdel sidestepped to avoid it. Aristus repeatedly struck towards him but never managed to connect a hit, but still forced Aurdel back. He knew what he was trying to do. He turned around for a moment, allowing the halberd to somewhat pierce his back as he raised his fist to slap aside two of the wolves attempting to pounce on him from behind. Quickly he whipped back around and used his motion to dislodge the halberd and cause Aristus to hit it's tip into the ground.
Aurdel brought his left heel down hard onto the shaft and broke off the weapon's tip, then jumped back to allow himself a moment to recover. Aristus slid his down the remainder of the halberd, changing his grip and hand positioning to now use it as a staff. This man was versatile in combat, a feat to be applauded. "Create Earth! Wind Breath!" Aurdel blew a mound of dirt at Aristus, who spun the now staff quick enough to blow it away and stop himself from being blinded. He charged at Aurdel again aiming to get several blows to his side and low body, none hit aside from one horizontal blow to his side. The grass around them was still burning, he'd used that to his advantage. "Wind Breath!" He used the wind to fan the flames, creating more smoke to fill the air and blind him that way.
Aristus was disoriented by it and seemingly allowed Aurdel to retreat back, moving to a position now behind the hero. Then he charged forward, Aristus heard it and quickly turned around. Rather than point his weapon to strike Aurdel he swiped the burning grass around him, creating a cloud of smoke as Aurdel got closer. Not wanting to throw himself into the unknown Aurdel acted to disperse it, "Water Breath!" And he sprayed some of the burning grass, tilting his head back to avoid a blow when Aristus' staff came bursting through. He kicked one leg up and struck the center of the staff, he could hear both a snap and a crack come from both Aristus and the staff. The staff broke in half, while Aristus' shoulder that had been holding it was dislocated from the force. The hero kept fighting though.
Aurdel grabbed the broken off piece of the staff and engaged Auristus in close quarters. The two of them went back and forth, the one assaulting another and the other blocking their attacks. Were it not for the difference in size and strength it would've been very possible for someone like Aristus to defeat him in a fight. Out of nowhere one of the wolves leapt out of the tall grass and sank its teeth deep into Aurdel's right arm, Aristus took the opportunity to strike at Aurdel. But Aurdel also took the opportunity, one to throw the hero off of his game. Mere inches before he struck, Aristus recoiled with the remaining piece of staff as Aurdel moved the head of the wolf in the path of his blow. With not enough time to recover Aurdel swiftly kicked out the legs under the man and crouched down close to him, pointing the piece of staff he had at his throat. "You are good."
...Battle of Will...
"That hero really was something else," Megumin said, "He's a little like you Aurdel, if I'm going to be honest."
"I won't say you're wrong, but in what way do you see it?"
"Well, he wasn't overconfident in his abilities. And while he did take the initiative several times to attack he never overextended himself. Not to mention he was able to keep fighting with that dislocated shoulder, I can only think of a few people who would keep going after an injury like that."
"He's certainly one of the better heroes that I've met, one I wouldn't mind fighting beside." The snow crunches under their feet. They'd left the capital long ago and were now in the mountains that sat near Axel. These two creatures had been fighting here for some time now, how neither had been victorious after so long was beyond his capability to answer. "Have any of you actually seen either creature before? And no, the petrified one at your village doesn't count before you ask."
"In that case, no," Yunyun said, "They're usually a rare monster, that's why they yield a high bounty both dead and alive."
"I've only heard stories of them, but those stories make me wonder what it would be like to face them in battle." She placed her hands on her blushing face, "The thoughts themselves excite me, the ability to fly gives so many more opportunities for shame."
"Please… find another hobby," he pleaded. They came closer to where the Griffin and Manticore had been reported. Normally when you were tracking a creature, or even a pair of creatures, it wouldn't be evident where they went, but it was different here. Trees were torn up and splintered, craters peppered the ground and soil was turned up everywhere.
The bodies of various forest creatures lay strewn about the area as well, they'd obviously gotten in the middle of the two creatures fighting. That would be them if they weren't careful."Hey, Aurdel, is it really safe for us to be doing this without Aqua nearby? What if something happens?"
"If anything happens I'll make sure to hold them back long enough so you all can teleport away, then I'll make my way back."
"Don't say that…" Yunyun said quietly, "We don't want to have to leave you behind."
"Granted I'm not saying that it's what will happen, I'm just saying that it's what we'll do in the case that something does. So keep your chin up," he tried to ease their worries a little, "Look, best case scenario I use Subjugation on the two creatures and we walk away with both a reward and two beasts of burden. Worst case scenario, we have to complete the quest another day."
"I suppose you're right."
"Alright Aurdel, what's our plan?"
"Darkness, you're tough right?"
"Of course I'm tough, I'm a Crusader. I can take any beating and abuse that comes my way, no matter how wonderful or mind breaking it-"
"Yes or no would have sufficed," he said exasperated, "Look, you're going to serve as bait for at least one of the creatures."
"Oh I'd love to do that!"
"That's not why I'm making you do that! I'm making you serve as bait because Yunyun is going to paralyze one of the creatures, once they're paralyzed they'll come after us. When that time comes you'll be occupying the other so she can paralyze them."
"What about me?" Megumin asked, "Do I do anything?"
"You're the backup in case I'm not able to use Subjugation on at least one them, will d that happens you'll blow them up with Explosion."
"Awesome," she held her staff forward, "I hope it doesn't, then I'll get two titles out of this." She threw her cape, "I am Megumin! Foremost Archwizard of the Crimson Demon village, Minister of Explosion and slayer of the legendary Griffin and Manticore!"
"Yeah don't get ahead of yourself." They kept walking. The destruction around them began to look more and more recent, they were getting closer to where the Griffin and Manticore were fighting. They even started to hear the sound of some of the fighting off in the distance, the sound of roars and screeches too. Trees shattered and their tops fell to the ground as deadly shrapnel, Aurdel threw a blanket he had with him into the air to stop it from impacting them. "It's easy to see why they want them gone."
The two beasts soared overhead, striking at each other over and over with tremendous force. Air cracked with each strike from their talons and claws, moving at speeds one would expect from a small plane. "Yunyun, wait until they're as stationary as possible before you cast your magic." They watched the two monsters go at each other, viciously trying to kill their foe. But neither was able to get a killing strike on the other even with all the scars they had. Then the Griffin launched itself at the Manticore, throwing it against a nearby rockface and pinning it. It raised its talons to strike its throat!
"Paralyze!" Yunyun cast her spell and paralyzed the Griffin, it fell backwards off of the Manticore and plummeted towards the ground smashing a tree on the way down. The Manticore looked stunned at first, then roared in assumption of victory over its long time foe.
Then it scanned the forest and found them. "Darkness, now it's-" But before he could even finish his statement she charged out into the open ready to be attacked by the Manticore. Words… couldn't describe what he felt about this every time she did it at this point. "Okay, stick together but not too close to me. If Subjugation doesn't work and the Griffin wakes up I don't want you to be some of its first targets." And they sprinted over towards where the Griffin had fallen, he could hear Darkness being attacked by the Manticore off in the distance.
"S-such strong teeth! But you will never defeat me f-foul beast!" This really was too much. The Griffin laid on the ground, there was a large amount of branches caught in its wings after having fallen from so far up. He could easily heal the creature if he needed to once it was under control.
He put a hand on it's head, gently. "Subjugation!" And a yellow came from his hand, tracing the Griffin's body with lines of the same color. Then they all disappeared at once. Had it worked? He saws it's eyes open slowly, taking in its surroundings. He held his breath for a moment as he was unaware of what it might do. Then it gently nuzzled him with its head as it fully came awake, he exhaled. It'd worked. He went about taking the branches out of the Griffin's wings and it sat up, not standing or stretching out due to the pain it was still in. Once clear of all the debris, he healed it. "Heal!" The wounds on its torso from the Manticore's claws healed, the tears in its wings resealed and feathers grew back. He stroked it's head.
"Aurdel, is it safe?" Megumin asked, hiding behind Yunyun.
"Yeah, it's safe. The guy is tame now." He scratched its beak gently, "Now, we go for the Manticore," and he climbed onto the Griffin's back.
"Aurdel, do you have any idea how to fly a Griffin?" He pulled the two of them up onto its back.
"No, no idea. But I suppose now is a good time to learn. Hyah!" Since he had no idea what he was doing he treated it like a horse, and it reared into the air flapping its giant wings. Then it shot up towards the sky. The other two held onto him for dear life as they flew, he himself nearly fell off. In time time he'd flown various aircraft, including Longswords, space yachts, cargo tugs, shuttles, Hornets and Falcons, but never something like this. The wind crashed into his face and blew through his hair. It all gave off an amazing feeling. He shifted slightly, readjusting his position on the Griffin. "Alright, lets go get the other one!" And he turned the Griffin back in the direction of Darkness' voice and the sound of the Manticore, it let out an eagles screech and dove down towards the two. Seeing both it and themselves, the Manticore shot up into the sky with Darkness in its claws.
"Don't worry Darkness, we'll save you!" Megumin shouted.
"Save me?! But I'm having so much fun!" She thrashed around in its claws, clearly enjoying the position of disempowerment she was in. The Griffin chased after the Manticore, flapping its wings graciously in an attempt to catch up to and eventually attack it. But the two flew at roughly the same speed so it was nearly impossible. The Manticore dove down, leading them in between trees and rock formations. They were able to avoid getting hit by them but he could purposefully see Darkness swinging herself to hit each one. And while this was most likely only to satisfy her fetish, it was unintentionally helping them.
Each time it slowed the Manticore by a small portion and allowed their Griffin to catch up bit by bit. Then she managed to throw herself hard against a spire of rocks, breaking both it and the grip the Manticore had on her. It roared as it went flying off from her. The Griffin opened its mouth and caught Darkness by her hair, she let out a squeal as she was. "Alright, now all we need to do is- HOLY CRAP!" He steered away from the direction they were previously heading as a massive set of teeth appeared out of nowhere, crushing the Manticore.
"A Dragon!" The others yelled. This quest just got a lot harder.
He'd only barely managed to steer clear from the oncoming Dragon, the Manticore wasn't anywhere near as lucky. He was just able to hear the sound of crushing bones and flesh as they flew away, as the Dragon began to go after them. He pulled Darkness onto the back of the Griffin. "Megumin, hit that Dragon with Explosion!"
"I-I can't! I don't want to unless w-we're on the ground!" Both her and Yunyun's grips were iron tight, their eyes squeezed shut. It was understandable. He himself was sent into a semi state of panic from encountering that Dragon. He pushed the Griffin as much as he could, wanting to put as much distance between them and the Dragon as possible. If Megumin has to be on the ground to do it then he didn't want it to be able to catch up and crush them as she casted. He should have brought Aqua along in case a threat like this showed up. Then again, he had no idea a Dragon was hiding out here in the mountains.
A roar of fire came out from somewhere behind the, the Griffin let out a screech of pain as it's tail burned. He cast Heal on it and patted it on the side of the head. "Don't worry buddy, just a little bit further." The soared past arches of rock, ones the Dragon easily tore through with its massive body. He made the Griffin dive, ducking into a narrow canyon the Dragon wouldn't be able to enter. They set down on the ground as the Dragon roared overhead.
Megumin swung her legs off the Griffin and down into the small stream at the bottom of the canyon. "Explosion!" She'd thrown all of her might into that one, he could tell by the stress on her face. But when the Explosion cleared...
"I-It didn't do anything!" Yunyun stammered, "It's still standing!" The Dragon was indeed still alive. Megumin's magic was strong, but clearly not strong enough to kill this Beast.
"Everyone, I want you to teleport back to Axel-"
"We're not going to leave you Aurdel! Don't say things like that, we know you have-!"
"I don't have a plan this time! I don't know what to do!" He looked away. He'd fought giant mechanical walkers, he'd fought armies of footsoldiers, he'd fought divisions of armored vehicles and he'd fought entire squadrons of aircraft. But this? He had no idea what to do. He'd never fought anything like it, and he had nowhere near the amount of resources that he had before. The least he could do was buy time for them to get ready. "I want you to go back to Axel, once the Dragon is done here he'll most likely head for the city. I want you to get everyone there ready for when it does." He looked back at them, there were tears in their eyes. "Look, fighting battles like this is what I was made for. So get going, I'll be right behind you," he gave a comforting smile.
He could clearly read the hesitation on their parts, they didn't want to leave him here to fight the Dragon. But they had no choice. Either they would all die here and then the town was attacked, or one of them did and the town had a chance. Yunyun put her hands on the other two, "T-Teleport!" And they teleported away.
He looked back to the Griffin, even it had a visible look of despair. "I know I haven't known you long big guy, but you've been great so far. So let's make this last effort count." He jumped up onto the Griffin's back, "Though I suppose I should give you a name, it'd only be fair before we go out and die." He thought for a moment, "How about… Everest?" Everest let out a screech, "If you don't like it, then we can decide on another later. But now… we have a job to do." He tied a rope around himself and Everest, to make sure he stayed on at all costs. "Hyah!" And they both shot up.
The two of them flew out of the narrow canyon together, the Dragon breathing fire into it just as they left. Because he hadn't planned to kill Everest or the now dead Manticore he hadn't brought his full arsenal of weapons, the only two he had on him right now were his recently upgraded sword and combat knife. The Dragon saw them and let out a ferocious roar, causing billowing clouds of dirt and dust to kick up as it lifted up into the air with its massive wings. It chased after them, the two of them screaming past the mountainside as quickly as they could. The moment it tried to let out a breath of fire he dove down with Everest, then went upside down under the belly of the Dragon. They wouldn't be able to maintain a form like that for long so he made sure to try and flip back over as quickly as possible, doing so and coming out towards the tail of the Dragon. They narrowly avoided being whipped by it as they came out.
Aurdel took one hand off of Everest and pulled out his sword as they came back around towards the Dragon, he leaned over. After flipping the switch on his sword he swung down at the back of the Dragon, just barely cutting through its scales before having to pull it out to not lose it. The modification he'd made to his sword was the implementation of a motor, one that would vibrate the blade constantly and powerfully. Yes, he'd made himself a high frequency blade. Of course it wasn't the most powerful he could have made, the materials simply weren't available for him to do that. But even with that it was still capable of being a powerful sword. Unfortunately, Dragons seemed to possess extremely tough scales as armor. They shot back over the front of the Dragon, it stopped for a moment to slow down to regather it's senses since they'd disappeared. But once it had found them again it chased after them once more.
They flew low, barely missing the treetops of a forest just below them. But the Dragon crashed through all of the trees that it missed, clearing them out and leaving a path of destruction behind it. He could see the forest animals that hadn't scattered before running for their lives now, he even saw a Rookie Killer that was preying on some other monster sprinting away as quickly as its legs could carry it. They went back around as the Dragon began to catch up. Maybe he could impede it's movements a little bit… He angled Everest straight up, then let him dive back down. They barely avoided the snapping teeth of the Dragon once more and flew by its wings. "Create Water! Wind Breath!" He sprayed it's right wing with water and froze it as soon as he could. He wasn't able to freeze all of it given how fast they were moving, but he'd gotten most of it.
But it hadn't impeded it at all. In fact it kept going on just as well as before, as if nothing had changed. Not good, it wasn't working either. With the brief amount of time he had to look around while diving back down he looked for any natural formations that he could use to try and stop it, at least temporarily. He straightened out. Nothing. All he could do was keep dodging and trying to wear it down as much as he could. The Dragon dove back down with immense speed, spraying fire at them as it roared over. It burned both him and Everest, Aurdel had to throw off his burning cloak. "Create Water! Heal!" He put out the flames on Everest, then healed him to make sure he could keep flying. They were behind the Dragon for now since it'd gone overhead, so he was going to try and get another blow in on it. And if not only one, a series of blows.
He flew close to the Dragon again, cutting in to it's back the same place he'd done before. This time he was able to cut through the scales and reach some flesh, but once more had to pull his blade out to avoid losing it. But he made sure to try and get one more strike in. He flew towards its right wing and plunged his sword down into it, dragging it along as they flew over it before yanking it out. He made a clear cut in it, but not a hole large enough to stop it from flying. He heard the Dragon roar again, this time in partial pain, and it flapped its wings violently to try and strike them, but they managed to fly away just in time to avoid being hit. Maybe… maybe he had a plan now. Maybe he could try and put big holes in the wings of the Dragon and force it to ground. That would make it much easier to fight than in the air.
He thought of what he could use to try and damage its wings… He had his sword, but that meant he would have to come in close several times to try and damage it. If he had those explosive potions he would simply be able to throw them down at the Dragon to try and put holes in its wing that way. But he- Wait, explosives! He'd forgotten about a skill he'd learned, one he'd learned from a certain Archdevil some time ago that involved exploding dolls. It was a good idea, he just needed to grab enough dirt for it. "Hey Everest! I know you won't like this, but you're going to have to scoop up a large amount of dirt with your beak!" The Griffin squaked. "I already said that I know you wouldn't like it, but trust me! It's the best idea I have right now and I need you to do it." Everest dove downwards. If the Griffin did it at high speeds it would completely destroy its beak, so it'd have to physically stop to it. They soared past a small encampment of Goblins, all of them scattering and panicking. They knew what was coming their way.
Everest dug its beak into the ground and picked up a clump of dirt, making sure not to swallow it by accident. He quickly went off to a running start and tried to fly as soon as possible, as the Dragon came close and hit them with another breath of fire. This time it only just singed them. Once more, he put the flames out and used Heal on Everest. Now this was going to feel weird for the Griffin but he was going to have to bare with him for the moment. He activated the ability, by the confused squak Everest made it'd worked and the dolls were made. "I want you to open your mouth when I say to! Okay?!" He didn't have enough time to allow the Griffin to reply. The Dragon was coming towards them once more.
They flew in the direction of the front of the Dragon, coming straight towards it. "Now!" He screamed moments before they flew over its flapping wings. Everest opened his mouth and the explosive dolls dropped out, detonating on the Dragon's wings. But that threw off the Griffin's movements somewhat too. Shaken by the mini explosions Everest didn't see the Dragon's tail coming. It crashed into them hard. They were sent flying off in one direction towards the ground. Half a dozen trees were in their path, each one was flattened by their chaotic descent. Aurdel only managed to stay on Everest by the sole fact that he'd tied himself to him. He looked up, his left leg trapped under the body of the Griffin and the Dragon was getting closer to them. There was no way for them to move out of the way in time.
So he laid back and closed his eyes, there was no way of stopping what was coming. Everest, sensing his own sense of defeat, relaxed too and awaited the Dragon. "Light of Saber!" Out of nowhere magic was cast and struck the Dragon, it roared as it cut deep into and through the wing he'd been targeting. There was a loud crash as the Dragon fell to the ground. "Aurdel! Are you alright?!" He opened his eyes and there was his party again, running over towards him.
"I'm fine, but I thought I told you to go back to town and get everyone ready for the attack."
"You did, but… we really didn't want to leave you here."
"And don't worry about it gramps, I got this."
"Dust?" For some reason his party had brought Dust with them, what exactly he was going to do was beyond him.
There were loud thuds getting closer and closer, the Dragon was hobbling it's way over to tear them apart by foot. "The one and only." Aurdel took the moment to untie the rope around him and Everest, the two of them separating and standing up injured. He healed the both of them and watched in the direction the Dragon was approaching from. It reared its head over the hill and roared, then…! Then it stopped, it's eyes locked onto Dust. The Dragon came a little closer, moving it's head to Dust then sniffing him. After a moment it lowered its head and went low to the ground in what looked like submission.
"What the hell…?" He muttered silently, not sure what to make of it.
"Don't tell anyone about this, okay? It's another secret of mine."
"Don't worry, I'm not exactly one to run and tell." Aurdel walked over to Dust, "I don't suppose you could ask him to find another place to live? A little further away from town?"
"No, this is home. We can't really kick him out," Dust placed a hand on the Dragon's head, "But I can make sure that he doesn't attack us any time soon."
"In that case, I say we're done here. Let's go home."
"Erm."
"I don't even want to ask how this happened." Somehow by some occurence of events, Anatalia was presently tied up and tossed on the couch by the fireplace. Aqua was nearby playing on that same game console from earlier. Seated on her lap was an egg wrapped in a soft blanket. "But I'll ask anyway. Aqua, what did you do?"
She looked up from the game, "Well since you were gone I wanted to go out shopping, but this dumb fox here-" Anatalia growled at her, "-didn't want to let me go. So I just tied her up and left."
"Okay, well tying up a Thief that works with ropes as part of her skill set is one thing. But what's with the egg?"
"Oh, this?" She looked down at the egg, "It's my baby."
"Your what now?"
"Not literally you idiot, I just said that because I'm going to take care of it." She gently stroked the top of the egg shell, "While I was at the market there was a man who recognized me as the really great adventurer that I am, and he offered me a really good deal!"
"He offered you a really good deal for a chicken egg…?"
"No! It's a Dragon's egg! Can't you tell the difference?!" But it looked exactly like a normal egg a chicken would lay… "Anyways, he said that normally they're really expensive and that only nobility would be able to have them. But since I'm such a famous and amazing adventurer he said that all the money I had on me was enough to buy it."
...
"You idiot!"
