The Lao-Shan Lung was the second Elder Dragon that Strongarm encountered, the first being the Ceadeus. Not possessing the flashier abilities of its contemporaries, the Lao's main claim to fame was in its armour: over the course of its thousands of years of life, metal dust, volcano ash and other airborne particles clung to its hide to create a multilayered armour. Much like the Earth's strata it built up in layers, creating a nigh impenetrable defence.
When he first fought it, there were two things about this creature that Strongarm didn't know. Firstly, the Lao-Shan Lung was a single-specimen species; it was not a Lao-Shan Lung, it was the Lao-Shan Lung. Secondly, it was not truly an Elder Dragon at all, but something else entirely. Of course, no one would figure that out until much later.
Leon used to tell me stories about this thing. The way he told it, there were only two reasons for Lao-Shan Lung to go on a rampage: either it was engaging in its natural migration, or it was running from something worse.
Let's just say that Holfort wouldn't have lasted very long if they were dumb enough to build their capital in its migration path. This was an omen of something much, much worse.
Huan Strongarm: A Bartfort Folktale, by Lufas Maphaahl
"A Lao-Shan Lung?" Leon croaked. "Why? Why are we being attacked by a Lao-Shan Lung?"
"I was under the assumption that it was your fault," said Roland blithely. He seemed casually at ease with the kaiju rampaging towards his city. "The fact that you're acting so surprised tells me that this never would have happened normally. You fucked up." Holfort's Armours were being mobilised; huge mechs were flying in formation towards the advancing Elder Dragon, peppering it with missiles, magic and gunfire. "Wanna let the big boys handle this one?"
"Shut the hell up!" Leon barked. "We both know you can't understand me!" He leapt from the battlements to the ground far below, taking a moment to regenerate his broken bones before kicking up a huge dust cloud as he raced for the city gates.
"You smell like a girl!" Roland shouted after him, then casually closed the window. He returned to his quarters and opened a secret passageway hidden in a trick bookshelf; behind it was an enormous, gleaming white suit of Armour, complete with an accompanying suit with a black face mask. "Time to remind these assholes who the real main character is!"
The enormous Lao rose into view as Leon raced across the countryside towards it: it had a cream coloured underbelly and coppery plates across its back, extending in huge, spiked fans down its long tail. Its massive head was more draconic and scary than Eddy and Pietru could ever dream of being, with massive, crushing fangs made for devouring ores and minerals. Four horns swept back over its brow, with a fifth on its nose that he just knew it was going to stab him with.
Leon skidded to a stop; the Lao-Shan Lung was getting closer and closer, and while they were a good distance from the city that didn't mean much if he couldn't do anything to stop it. The creature plodded onward, stubbornly ignoring the Armours that continued to desperately attack it. "Please be willing to negotiate," he whispered. "Please be another Eddy."
The wolfdog grew to his maximum size, causing the Armours to temporarily withdraw while he took a swing at it. He used three of his special barks, instantly getting the undivided attention of every living thing for miles.
"I… I don't suppose you're willing to negotiate?" The Lao ignored him. It slowly placed one foot in front of the other, knocking over trees and outcroppings of rock without ever noticing they were there. Unstoppable, like a natural disaster. "Can you not understand me? Or are you just ignoring me?"
No reply.
"Ah, shit." Leon lunged forward and latched his jaw around the Elder Dragon's shoulder, only for the behemoth to ignore him: the massive creature was too heavy for even him to lift, and tasted unpleasantly of chalk. "Blech," he said, letting go and spitting the taste out of his mouth. The Lao-Shan Lung rudely shouldered him out of the way. "Okay. New plan."
Leon shrank to the size of a regular dog and ran under the Dragon's belly, then suddenly grew back into a giant: the surprised Lao was abruptly launched into the air as his back slammed into its underbelly, rolling helplessly away as its immense weight shattered the ground beneath it.
"Aha!" Leon cheered, jumping on it and biting at its soft throat. "Who's your daddy? Who's your-"
The Lao lashed out with its tail, whacking him unceremoniously in the nuts. The wolfdog scrambled instinctively away, his eyes almost bugging out of his head from pain.
"My balls," he whispered, his voice now hilariously high pitched. "Why? Why did you hit me in the balls?"
The Lao lunged forward and bit him in the throat; its massive jaws were made to chew through rock and metal, and Leon felt his air supply cut off as his throat was crushed. He began desperately kicking with all four legs against the Elder Dragon's soft underbelly, but his neck remained trapped like a vise. His vision swam, then began to go dark.
The Armours swooped in, shooting at the Lao's eyes until it was forced to let go. Leon got some distance as his throat regenerated, gasping for breath as his windpipe grew back. "How d'you like that?" he coughed. "Teamwork makes the dream work!"
The Lao-Shan Lung glared at him menacingly, then slowly raised itself on its hind legs. The wolfdog's jaw dropped as it towered above him, looming like a great tower and making him feel acutely like an extra in a Godzilla movie.
"Oh wow!" Leon squeaked. "You're actually way bigger than me! That hasn't happened in a while!"
With a roar, the Elder Dragon attacked; the air filled with snarls of pain and aggression as the two kaiju wrestled across the landscape, devastating everything around them. The Lao quickly gained the advantage by relying on its superior size and weight, briefly pinning him before three of the Armours threw themselves against it at once.
The Elder Dragon was forced to roll off him, glaring resentfully at the retreating mechs. It dug the tip of its colossal tail into the ground, flinging a hail of rock and debris as they fled; one of them lagged behind the others, a large boulder heading straight for his back.
"Watch out!" Leon threw himself in the way, snarling in pain as the rocks shattered against his side. The wound healed almost instantly, but it still hurt. "You mother-"
The next thing he saw was the enormous tail hurtling toward his face, his brain rattling in its cage as its incredible mass hit him in the face. Leon saw stars, and for an awful moment he staggered dizzily as his brain rebooted. With a victorious roar the Lao charged, ducking its head under his chest.
Leon screamed in unimaginable pain as its horn dug between his ribs, puncturing a hole in his lung. The Elder Dragon bucked its head like a rhino, throwing him over its shoulder with a roar; the wounded wolfdog yelped as he fell into a ravine, bouncing painfully off every possible rock as he fell down. Even after the hole sealed itself his lung was still full of blood, so for a moment he had to lie still and cough it up.
"In hindsight: I'm so glad Eddy didn't try to kill me." Leon shrank to his normal size, already feeling right as rain. "This guy is cheaper than Elodach! The asshole heals damage faster than I can dish it out and this guy doesn't take any damage at all!" He clambered awkwardly out of the ravine, the Elder Dragon having already resumed its march. A sudden flare was sent up over the nearby woods, immediately catching his notice. "And who might you be?"
He left the Armours to heckle the Lao, running into the forest to see who was in trouble; it turned out to be Zane, the bandit leader who had been stealing from the Great Ragneli. He was waiting in a clearing with some of his men, pacing up and down anxiously.
"Finally," he sighed, his shoulders sagging with relief as the wolfdog entered the glade. "Please, tell me the rumours are true! Tell me you're really Strongarm under a curse!"
"I know you can't understand me," nodded Leon. "So I'm just going to nod at you like this."
"Thank the Saint!" Zane fell to his knees, unfurling a map onto the ground. "Here, look at this!" Leon trotted to his side; the map was of the area around the city, and a red line had been drawn on it to represent the Lao-Shan Lung's expected route. "This is where the Elder Dragon is heading," pointed Zane. "And this is in its path. An underground waterway connected to the dungeon itself."
Leon didn't immediately realise what he was getting at, which Zane seemed to notice.
"I saw you the day after we met," he explained. "I saw you team up with the Ceadeus to bring down that giant salamanka. Fight fire with fire, Strongarm! Fight an Elder Dragon with another Elder Dragon!"
For a long moment, Leon just stared at him. "Zane," he said eventually. "You are a goddamn genius."
He took off through the trees, running for the obscure lake where he had first met the musical leviathan. In tune with their last meeting, he heard him before he saw him.
"One little thing can revive a guy
And that is a piece of rhubarb pie!
Serve it up!
Nice and hot!
Maybe things aren't as bad as you thought!
Momma's little baby love rhubarb, rhubarb
Be-Bop-A-Re-Bop Rhubarb Pie!"
The audience cheered as the Ceadeus took a bow, spotting the wolfdog as he galloped closer. "Ah, Huan! What can I do for you?"
"Eddy!" Leon blurted. "I need your help!"
The Elder Dragon's sole visible eye widened in surprise. "Why? What's wrong?"
"It's a Lao-Shan Lung! It's attacking the city, and I can't stop it without you!"
Eddy paused thoughtfully. "The city…" he repeated slowly. "So it's attacking the humans?"
"Yes!" Leon suddenly realised that all the creatures in the audience were staring at him strangely. "What? What's wrong?"
"Huan, we don't get along especially well with humans. They hunt us for sport and for our body parts. That's not a great basis for a cooperative relationship."
"Eddy, please, I can't do this without-"
"I can't. I'm sorry, Huan. I truly am."
Leon began to hyperventilate. The various creatures making up Eddy's audience began to look at him with rapidly increasing concern. "Is he okay?" His eyes swam. He felt like he was going to be sick.
Leon thought about his options. He couldn't bite through its hide, and the Lao was too big and heavy for him to overpower. Did that mean he was helpless? Of course not: he didn't need to eat, drink or sleep, so he could theoretically outlast the Elder Dragon if it came down to a battle of endurance. Also he had his healing factor, which hopefully the Lao lacked.
But could he keep it from entering the city? From killing innocent people? Absolutely not! When tanks were deployed for the very first time in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, people fucking ran from them! They were massive, unstoppable engines of destruction, and the Lao-Shan Lung was so much bigger and heavier that it wasn't even funny. Leon would gladly face a tank instead: he could literally chew through a tank with ease, but somehow he was still COMPLETELY FUCKING USELESS!
"I can't do this," he whispered. "There's no way for me to stop that thing without it getting into the city. People are going to die. Innocent fucking people are going to fucking die and it's going to be my fucking fault."
"Who even cares?" someone asked. "They're just humans!"
"They're still people," rasped Leon. "They're still parents and children, people who did nothing to deserve this. I can't let this happen. This is all my fault. All because I… because I changed things. Oh god… Oh god…"
"But why is it your responsibility?" Eddy asked. "You're not even human, and… I'm sorry, I didn't fully understand what you were saying earlier, but I highly doubt that you're responsible for-"
"Of course I'm responsible!" Leon snapped angrily. "If I can save someone's life and choose not to, isn't that the same as killing them myself." The creatures lapsed into shocked silence: the burst of anger had brought back Leon's usual defiance. He told himself not to crumble under the pressure. That a lot of people that he had begun to care about very much were in danger. Good people.
Livia and Angie.
The five dudebros.
Earis, Guts and the Band of the Hawk.
Iven, Erica and Mylene.
Jarl, Rana and Cattleya.
The Head Takers
Aravind, who had let him stay in his home.
Bibrus and Torvel.
Countless other people he had met, who lived their lives day to day. He had entered their lives and altered their natural course as he pleased; that alteration had resulted in this. It was all his fault.
No goddamn way was he letting this go without a fight.
"The joints," he whispered. "Its armour might be weaker at its joints. If… If I'm persistent and I don't worry about getting hurt, I can chew off its legs one at a time until…"
"Hang on a second," interrupted the Ceadeus. "Huan… what…" Eddy sighed. "What exactly was it that you wanted me to do?"
The Lao-Shan Lung was almost on top of the underground waterway by the time Leon caught up; the last time he had grown into a giant and blocked its path, the Elder Dragon had ignored him. This time it saw him as a threat. "Round 2, tiny," breathed Leon nervously. It rose on its hind legs, glowering at him for a few seconds before it lunged. Leon jumped back at the last possible moment. "Eddy! Now!"
Beneath his feet, the Ceadeus rammed its horns into the side of the tunnel. The waterway collapsed entirely, the Lao-Shan Lung bellowing in surprise as the ground crumbled beneath its feet. For a glorious moment, the Elder Dragon remained buried under the mound of debris.
Slowly but surely, it began to dig itself free.
"Oh for crying out loud!" Leon groaned and jumped into the pit, landing on the monster's back and biting ineffectually at its neck. "Why… won't… you… give… up!"
At this point, a mysterious white suit of Armour swooped in out of the night sky, jabbing a gleaming sword into the Lao's side. "Never fear! The Masked Knight is here!"
The bombastic voice was instantly recognisable. "Roland you moron-"
The Lao roared, rearing up on its hind legs and lifting Leon along with it; he howled in pain as it slammed him into the side of the pit, the sharp spines on its back stabbing painfully into his belly. With the wolfdog dislodged, Roland went in for a second try.
"How fitting," he gloated. "An Elder Dragon slain by a knight-" He was cut off with shriek as the Lao-Shan Lung slammed its claw down on his Armour, pinning it to the ground. The other Armours tried to save him, but their bullets were useless against the Dragon's hide. Roland gulped as the Lao seemed to look him in the eye. "Um…"
The Lao-Shan Lung was thrown off him as the colossal wolfdog shoulder checked it away; Roland took off into the sky while Leon leapt out of the pit, allowing the Elder Dragon to clamber free while his gut wounds closed themselves up. "Okay, not gonna lie: I was banking on you being buried under way more rock. This one's on me."
The dragon and the wolfdog squared off for a second, snarling menacingly. The Armours stopped attacking for a moment under the unspoken agreement that this was probably one of the coolest things any of them would ever see.
The Lao attacked first, squealing in surprise as Leon's jaws fastened around its head. His jaw actually hurt a little from the way his teeth scraped against its armour; with a serpentine twist the Elder Dragon managed to hit him with its tail, knocking him away and causing him to land painfully on a line of wagons. They had been abandoned in the evacuation, and were pulverised as his massive body carved a huge rent in the earth.
"Ow!" Leon coughed. "Damn, almost lost a tooth-" For the second time that day the Lao headbutted him; again, Leon screamed in agony as its horn jammed once again between his ribs. "Gah! Shit fuck shit SOMEONE HELP!"
Roland flew in low, his sword held at the ready. "You're lucky I'm here, dogbreath! Not many people can pull this off at night!"
Both Leon and the Lao-Shan Lung screamed in pain as he cut the horn off at the base; the Elder Dragon glared hatefully and began swiping at the King, while the wolfdog limped away with the horn still impaled in his lung. "It's still in me!" Leon croaked. "Guy, it's still in me!"
The ground exploded, a massive, golden shape headbutting its way out of the underground waterway. "Hey!" Eddy shouted. "Assbutt!"
A blast of high-pressure water slashed from his mouth, hitting his fellow Elder Dragon in the side; the Lao squawked in surprise as it was pushed away, giving Roland space to swoop down to check on Leon. "Yo! Dog the Dog! Friend of yours?"
"Get this fucking thing outta me, Roland!" Leon's voice was a harsh croak, blood gargling up through his throat from his wounded lung. "I can't fight until you pull out the horn!"
"I can't understand you, Leon!"
"Huan!" A vaguely familiar crab monster waddled out of the waterway, skirting around the Ceadeus as he kept up his attack. "Are you okay?"
"I know you," rasped Leon. "Canta, right? You've gotten big!"
Back when Leon had decimated the salamanka horde, Canta had been the size of his foot. Only two days later he was as big as Guts. "Huan, are you okay? Why aren't you fighting?"
"Horn broke off in my side," he coughed. "Think you can pull it out?"
"I can try!" The crab latched onto the severed horn with his claw, earning a howl of pain as he gave it an experimental yank. "I think it's stuck!"
"Are you talking to that crab?" Roland asked unhelpfully.
Then a familiar guard was there, bigger than even Guts. He dropped his shield on the ground, placing his hand on the horn. "Let's try working together," said Pippin. "On the count of three. One, two…"
With a horrific noise they pulled the horn out; Leon gasped with relief as the wound began to heal. Seeing that Eddy had halted his attack, Pippin picked up his shield and gave Canta cover as he helped him back to the waterway. "I'm done," said the Ceadeus tiredly. "I've got nothing left. It's all up to you guys now."
The shiny Armour picked up the bloodstained horn, weighing it in apparent thought. "You know," mused Roland. "This is probably made of the same material as that thing's armour."
Faster than the Lao could react, the King lunged in close and stabbed the horn into its neck; for the first time the creature was hurt, crimson blood spitting from the wound as it bellowed in pain and surprise. It managed to bat him away - now with its own horn karmically jammed in its throat - before grabbing him in its mouth. The Armour's inner workings spurted in all directions, and only its high tech cockpit saved Roland from instant death. "Well this is an undignified way to die," he observed calmly.
The Lao dropped him in surprise as Leon grabbed onto the end of its tail, tugging on it with his full strength. Of course, it did nothing: the Elder Dragon was still far too heavy to be lifted with his meagre strength. As its terrifying face swivelled to face him, Leon yelped as its tail was yanked from his mouth.
"Ow!" he complained, smacking his lips unpleasantly. "You're lucky my teeth grow back so quickly!"
"What are you doing, dogbreath?" Roland had climbed out of his ruined Armour to shout at him, revealing himself to be wearing a ridiculous superhero cosplay with a dumb mask. "Use your breath weapon!"
Leon gave him an incredulous look. "What the fu- Dude! I don't have a breath weapon!"
Or at least he didn't think he did. He hadn't been able to breathe fire or lightning (that he had noticed) with the closest he had managed being his supernatural barks and howls.
His howls… which had changed the weather and obliterated the Warspawn above his head like a sonic cannon.
…
Ah, well. Worth a shot.
Everyone stared as Leon threw back his head and howled, clouds parting above his head to reveal the stars. "What the hell is he doing?" Roland demanded. "Is he establishing dominance? Is that what's going on?"
Then he lowered his head, his snout pointing at the Elder Dragon like the barrel of a gun as the long howl continued. Almost immediately the Lao's hide began to crack; it screamed in pain as blood began to erupt from its eyes and mouth, centuries worth of rock and metal falling from its scales to become dust on the shredded ground.
"Please!" For the first time, the Lao-Shan Lung spoke. "I give up! I'm sorry!"
"Huan!" Eddy shouted, briefly sticking his head back out of the water. "He's had enough! You can stop!"
"Leon!" Livia screamed, running out of the city with Angie on her heels. "Stop! Please!"
"Yeah!" Roland cheered. "Get him!"
Leon immediately stopped, allowing the wounded dragon to curl up into a ball and cry. "Don't tell me what to do, Roland!" He wagged his tail as he spotted the two girls. "Guys? What're you doing here?"
Angie sighed in relief. "We thought you were in trouble!"
"Nah, I'm invincible. It was the city full of squishy, defenceless humans that you should be worried about."
Livia had gotten distracted by the Ceadeus. "Hey, I know you! Didn't you help him with that giant salamanka?"
He seemed equal parts surprised and amused. "Yes, I… I'm surprised I can understand you!"
"You're very handsome."
"Thanks." Eddy flexed his flipper egotistically. "I work out."
It was only then that Pippin lowered his shield, which he had been holding protectively over the crab. "You okay little buddy?"
"Yessir!"
Leon glared disapprovingly at the whimpering Lao. "Do you want to explain to me what all this was about?"
"I just wanted to see the King!" The creature was male, and had an incredibly deep voice. He could have narrated a Conan the Barbarian movie. "I just… I just wanted to see the King!"
Leon, Angie and Livia stared at it in confusion. The fairy turned to the Masked Knight, who she had already pegged as the King of Holfort. "He says he wants to talk to you."
Roland stared at her for a moment before running off. "Why do you want to see the King?" Leon was asking. "You realise he's smaller than your toe, right? Hell, he's smaller than one of your teeth!"
"I have an ancient pact with the Kings of Humanity!" The Elder Dragon's defiant tone was slightly offset by the way it cowered pathetically at his feet. "I would not expect a mere mammal to understand!"
"Humans are mammals too!"
Roland had returned, having somehow changed back into royal regalia while they were talking. He quickly wiped his crown on his sleeve before putting it on. "I am Roland Rapha Holfort, King of Holfort!" It was a perfect imitation of a dignified human being. "How may I help you, oh Mighty Dragon?"
The Lao-Shan Lung's tail wagged furiously at the sight of him, causing untold devastation to the land behind it. "Oh wise and worthy King! I am here to seek aid, as promised by your forebears when humanity first settled in these lands!"
Leon realised two things as Roland's face froze: firstly that the Elder Dragon must have been speaking perfect humanese, and secondly that the King had no idea what the Lao was talking about. "Okay…" he said slowly. "So… So what exactly do you…"
"A great and terrible threat has appeared on my lands!" The monster helpfully spoke up before Roland could give himself away. "It has taken over my territory and driven me from my habitat! I seek shelter and sanctuary until the beast can be slain!"
"Great!" The King's face lit up as he realised that this was something he could deal with. "I have a guy for that!"
"He means me, doesn't he?" Leon sighed. Livia smiled and patted his leg.
"People rely on you. It's because you're such a good boy."
"That is true."
"Just give us a minute to get ready," the King continued. "Me, the Armours and Dog the Dog should handle this in no time! We just need to bring the fairy along to translate, and-"
"No!" Angie blurted, then blushed as everyone turned to stare. "I mean… wouldn't it make more sense to use the Blade of Tarun? It lets whoever holds it talk to animals: wouldn't it be better to send a seasoned soldier holding the Blade than an inexperienced girl?"
"Aw," grinned Livia, gently bumping her shoulder with her own. "You do care!"
"Of course I care!"
"Jules has the Blade," added Leon helpfully, then offered detailed directions to the lizardman village where the love interests were looking for the rat catcher's doll.
Roland rubbed his chin as the fairy relayed the information. "You there."
Pippin fell to one knee. "Sire?"
"Find my son, retrieve the Blade of Tarun and have it brought to me. Do not tarry."
Pippin saluted solemnly. "Yes, Your Majesty!" He waved goodbye to Canta, quickly grabbing the attention of one of his fellow guards. "Call Casca, Judeau and Corkus. We have a job to do."
"So where exactly is your habitat?" Leon asked curiously. Being a boss from Monster Hunter, the Lao didn't exist in the original dating sim. "Where are we going, exactly?"
"I reside in a great swamp," the Elder Dragon explained. "It lies to the west of a great mountain; I remember it once spewed fire and smoke on ages past."
"Oh… so… you live in the Gehemene Marshes?" Leon took a moment to process what he had just said. "Wait, you remember when Saanavarh was a volcano? Goddamn you're old!"
The Lao-Shan Lung nodded solemnly. "To a mammal, I suppose."
"You have got to stop doing that."
Roland turned to the Armours, who had parked themselves protectively around him after the kaiju battle had wound down. "Go with the dog and track down this threat. I shall follow in my personal Armour once I have the Blade."
"Sir!" The apparent leader of the squadron saluted before taking flight, his men following behind him. Leon turned to his two favourite bipeds.
"I'll probably be going after Elodach once this is over with," he said calmly, seeming overwhelmingly confident in his ability to deal with the threat. "I'll see the two of you tomorrow, I guess."
"See you then," smiled Livia.
"Have fun," waved Angie. Leon woofed and galloped off into the distance, the flocks of Armours following from the skies. Eddy turned to the Lao as he left.
"Since we're not fighting anymore, would you mind helping me get rid of this horn? It's been growing over my eye for a while now and it's really starting to itch."
"Okie dokie."
Within minutes, Leon and his entourage had arrived at the swamp. The inhabitants of the small shanty town ran for cover as he went past; on a hunch, he headed for the lake with the abandoned Cullis Gate beneath it. The creature attacked him just as the dead tree in the centre came into view.
Her black fur camouflaged her against the black sky, and it was only his supernatural eyesight that let him see her coming. Revolting black mist poured off her wings, leaving an ugly smear against the starry sky. Her fur had turned from gold to black, while her mane was now tipped with purple. Her horns had bent upwards to make her look like a devil - the black ivory glittering with strange patterns - and her eyes burned with malevolent orange light.
"The White Dragon!" Leon could dimly hear the men inside the Armours shouting at each other. "But why? She should be guarding the Blood Barrier!"
"No," whispered Leon. "That's no ordinary Versa Pietru."
This was a version of the Dragon Reaper that had been corrupted almost beyond recognition. That had been transformed into something dark and cruel and evil. The final boss of the game she had first appeared in.
Makili Pietru. The Black Dread.
She screamed - so far gone she was incapable of speech - as she dove out of the sky towards him.
Boss: Lao-Shan Lung
Summary: one of the three original Elder Dragons from the original Monster Hunters, Laos don't have a whole lot going for them. They have none of the exciting gimmicks that made the later Elder Dragons famous, simply walking through any threats in their path. Something I noticed while writing this: they have a bizarre resemblance to the salamanka from Summoner. One was very clearly inspired by the other.
I would like to give a shoutout to Oceaniz on YouTube, whose Lao-Shan Lung ecology video helped out a lot when I was preparing for this chapter. If any of you are unfamiliar with Monster Hunter or just Lao-Shan Lung in particular: go check it out.
In my original notes, this fight went a little differently: in Saanavarh, Leon isn't quick enough to keep Julius from mouthing off to the dwarves. The party is forced to undertake the Ordeal from Summoner's main quest, except there's a catch: the final boss of the Ordeal - the giant salamanka - has already been killed by Leon way back in Chapter 12.
Instead, the group is attacked by Fire Dragon Rend from So I'm a Spider, So What? Leon and Rend would have had a destructive battle that imprisoned them within the dungeon, and they would have had to fight Earth Dragon Araba to escape. Leon would have spared Araba and allowed Livia to heal him, leading to him teaming up with Leon and Eddy against Lao-Shan Lung. I had to cancel pretty much this entire plot line after I found out about Lao's layer of armour, since Araba could have just used Earth magic to kill it with its own skin and I actually need Lao alive for something involving a sequel.
The song that Eddy sings in this chapter was submitted by a mysterious Guest Reviewer. Whoever you are, regardless of whether this was original or not: thank you. Nelson Eddy would be proud. As of this moment, the Ceadeus is your spirit animal. Feel free to include it on your family's coat of arms.