"You big ugly brute, let's end this once and for all," Victoros roared as he jumped aside to dodge the blast of fire. Dracenios let out a billowing growl which shook the cave walls, and lashed out his large tail again. The Slayer managed to block the dragon's blow with his shield, but the impact split the Dragonfire Shield in half cleanly.
That strength is insane, my shield shouldn't have been broken so easily, Victoros thought. He had no time to loiter as Dracenios swung his tail yet again. Victoros waited till the last second, and then quickly jumped forward to dodge the lashing tail, landing right on Dracenios' scaly back.
"Get off, human!" Dracenios roared. The monstrous dragon started veering around, trying to shake Victoros off with all the vibration. The Slayer held on with grim determination with only one hand. His free hand gripped the heavy Saradomin Godsword upright. Dracenios roared again and proceeded to shake his body harder and quicker than ever, but fortunately Victoros still hung on for dear life.
As the dragon struggled to remove the human from his back, Victoros flashbacked to his training. He had been cast into a pit at night against three vengeful blue dragons and had not been allowed to leave before slaying them. At dawn the masters had arrived to retrieve his dead body, only to find a sword through their stomachs and a bloodied but victorious young Slayer. Suffice to say, the slayer trainings had changed shortly after the incident, and Victoros had gone on to become a great Slayer - compared to that night in the dragon pit, Dracenios was nothing.
I can't perish here in this grim wasteland, Victoros thought. I won't. The warrior finally gripped the opportunity when Dracenios stopped shaking briefly from tiredness. Victoros held his Sword tightly, and quickly plunged it into Dracenios' neck with all his might. The Godsword's mighty power instantly sliced through the dragon's thick neck, lopping the head off. Victoros jumped back onto the ground, holding onto his Sword, as Dracenios' headless body crashed beside him. The Slayer glanced at the dragon's corpse with grim satisfaction, and walked out of the cave with his head held high.
"Mission accomplished. It's time to go home."
Victoros journeyed back to the Varrock ditch several hours later. Maybe it was pure luck, but he did not encounter a nasty Revenant monster at all during the tiring trek. Maybe his slaughter of Dracenios scared the Revenants away, but the tired Slayer was thankful for that nonetheless. He walked over to where Captain Gardo was waiting to take him home.
"Hey, Victoros," Captain Gardo called out. The gnome pilot was already strapped in the pilot's seat on the magnificent Gnome Glider. "You actually managed to kill Dracenios? Wait till Dirk hears about this!" The veteran gnome extended a small hand to help Victoros up. The Slayer swung himself into the passenger's seat and nodded tiredly.
"It wasn't that hard, but it was the toughest battle I've ever fought before. I'm gonna need a new shield as well," Victoros stated. "Let's go back to Ardougne, Gardo."
"Aye, aye, Slayer!" The Gnome Glider took off into the sky…
"WHAT?" Victoros yelled in disbelief. Dirk nodded grimly as the ten other Ardougne Slayer Force members glanced at each other in horror. Victoros groaned. He had returned triumphantly only to receive more bad news?
"You heard it correctly, Victoros. We are disbanding, at least momentarily," Dirk said sadly.
"Why?" Chonalin demanded.
"It's because of the economic crisis. The city of Ardougne has decided to stop funding us," Dirk explained. "I find it quite strange and hurried, though; just a few months ago, the King himself signed a contract to continue supporting us through the next five years. Even in the economic crisis, Ardougne wasn't suffering as badly as the other cities. Just look at; houses are being taken over just because the citizens could not pay their monstrous, ever-rising taxes!"
Chonalin's eyes narrowed, and he started to say something, but Dirk shushed him with a wave of his hand. "The decision is final. Without the city to support us, we cannot continue. Sloane's death at the paws of the hellhounds has further discouraged the citizens from trusting us any further. You've all done a good job these few years, and I hope once the economy rights itself again, we can get back together."
There was nothing more to say and the Slayers knew that.
As the members of the ASF filed out of the hideout one by one, Dirk stopped Victoros on his way out. "Victoros continue to keep an eye on the Serkotzul, will you? The economic crisis has gotten worse over time, but it seems that the Serkotzul are still very much active."
The veteran Slayer looked his age at long last, in the midst of the unfortunate news. Dirk looked at Victoros directly. "I'm asking you because you're the most capable Slayer we have. I'd tell Lance also, but he isn't as good or as experienced as you, Victoros."
"Of course I will, Dirk," Victoros replied. He still remembered his earlier encounter with Dracenios, a pet of the Serkotzul. "What will you be doing now for a living?"
"I'm going to work in my cousins' inn; he's got a vacancy for the bartender job. Unlikely as it seems, I'm quite skilled at bartending." Dirk said. "Where will YOU be going now?"
"I don't know yet. However, I think going to Falador would be a good choice now. The city is still standing, and is still boasting its wealth well. I'll travel there and see what's in store for me."
He studied Dirk for a moment longer. "Dirk, there's something not quite right with this economic reversal all of a sudden. Just a few months ago the markets were as stable as they could hope to be. There's more to this than meets the eye. I will get to the bottom of this, somehow"
Dirk simply nodded, for there really, really was nothing more to say. It was obvious something momentous was going to happen soon, something that may just rock Gielinor to its core.
"Good luck, Victoros." Dirk nodded once more at his best Slayer, and headed out of the hideout. As Victoros followed his former leader out of the hideout, he closed the sturdy doors to the ASF building, perhaps for the last time.