Chapter 188: Chapter 160: The Enmity Berserker.

<[Taunted (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>

What was the most annoying unarmed Ability? [Punch]? [Gale Steps]? Nah, dude, the only answer was [Taunt]. Why? Well, sure, it didn’t deal damage or allowed you to outmaneuver somebody, but the issue was that it redirected aggression onto somebody else.

In video games, [Taunt], or sometimes called “Provoke,” had the function to draw the aggro, or hostility, towards a single person. Usually, this was used by defensive-oriented players to protect their squishy damage dealers from an enemy’s powerful attack, since the former was expected to endure and resist the attack with their high defenses. The Peolyncian incarnation was more a “suggestion to attack the [Taunt] user,” but it was equally annoying.

If I had to describe the feeling of being affected by this Ability, then it would be as if somebody were to walk up to me and shout into my ears, “HIT ME, SCUM!” while I was focused on something else. Frightening, no? Afterwards, whispers of “attack this person” would invade my head as the [Taunt] user’s outline would be colored red.

The Divine System sure could invent something annoying. It sure did …

Now, [Taunt] was, as mentioned, a “suggestive” ability, not a “force me to attack” kind. I was still allowed to attack everybody else except for the [Taunt] user, but I noticed my attacks were dealing less damage to everybody else, on the other hand, damage I dealt to the taunter would be increased to the point I could one-shot these tanky orc knights if I could bypass their shields and armor. It made for a good tanking ability, even if it wasn’t as overpowered as the video game version, and that was why it was annoying.

Thankfully, [Taunt] could be resisted with mental protection skills. [Mind Protection] and [Mental Warfare] stopped multiple attempts and through being exposed to it, I had gained a temporary resistance to the Ability as I noticed I was being affected less and less. The only problem was that the damn loud shout and whispers wouldn’t stop.

<Taunt: A loud provocative cry, which angers and muddles the mind of the target to think clearly. To successfully use it, the foe must be able to hear and see the [Taunt] user. If successful, the status effect [Taunted] will be applied on the target. The strength of the [Taunt] effect is determined by the [Taunt] user’s Intelligence and the [Taunt] target’s Wisdom. Continuous usage of [Taunt] in a short period will significantly increase Stamina cost>

<Taunted: An abnormal status effect caused by the ability [Taunt]. Increases damage towards the [Taunt] user while decreasing damage caused to other targets unless the [Taunt] user is hit by the same attack. [Taunted]’s effectiveness is determined by the stage [Minor/Moderate/Major] of the effect>

Regardless, this dragged out the fight and gave me time to train up some skills.

<Proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Mental Stability Lv. 8] [Concentration Lv. 7] [Danger Perception Lv. 6] [Mind Protection Lv. 5] [Battle Mind Lv. 8] [Thought Acceleration Lv. 4] [Multi-Thought Processing Lv. 2] gained>

[Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] was the title that gave me my increased skill gain, on the condition I was fighting or training, meaning it could only work on combat focused skills. That sounded kinda restrictive until you realize that nearly all skills outside the “Others” category were made for combat.

While those Black Orc Knights, or whatever they called themselves, kept using [Taunt], most of my mental related skills increased in levels, leading to me being more resistant to [Taunt]. Just, it wasn’t consistent … especially when there were multiple of these knights continuously using [Taunt] until one landed.

As such, whenever I was free of that obnoxious status condition, I would ravage through the ranks of these elite grimgarian fighters, even managing to kill the giant flag-bearing troll. As you would expect from these elites, not only did they have superior equipment, but they were also better trained and disciplined.

Those hobgoblin archers would hide until [Taunt] affected me. The druid-like echikobolds would drink a monster’s blood, morphing their bodies to gain certain stats, which they used to disrupt my attacks or support the raid party with supportive magic. The orc berserkers would land devastating attacks while I was being taunted. Finally, the orc knights focused completely on defense, able to withstand my spells and scale-dust explosions with their shield and armor.

In this war of attrition, both sides were taking damage. The grimgarians lost members while I struggled to defeat them decisively. My [Panzer] armor was getting hacked into pieces faster than it could regenerate. The remaining shamans were damaging me with their water and dark spells while being protected by the steadfast knights.

It was honestly embarrassing and I hated it. The only consistent way I’ve found to combat this “taunt rotation” was to use AOE attacks like my scale-dust explosion as attacks, which not only  hit the [Taunt] user but everyone else around us, as well. Considering I’ve experienced this while playing video games, I should have at least thought of the possibility of this strategy on Peolynca.

Still, that could wait for later. A major problem demanded my attention and focus.

[“Hestia! Transform back into a dragon right now! RUN!”]

I could feel the presence of somebody strong. Actually strong. These elite grimgarians were competent and well-trained, but if they were as strong as me, I would have been dead a long time ago. This enemy, on the other hand, gave me the same vibes the rank B wyvern Asterios gave me. A bestial power, trained over years of conflict and trials, only existing today through perseverance.

I had just been taunted, but the status effect disappeared the instant that monster appeared. I instinctively used [Humanize] to transform back into a dragon. I knew I wouldn’t be able to contest against this force in my half-baked form.

Hellflame Breath!

As the mana mist dissipated, I stretched my long neck out of it and roared, shooting out a stream of inferno at the shadow hiding inside the cave. Saori and her wolves saw me opening my fire-filled mouth and quickly dodged to the sides, scattering away from the cave as my breath attack consumed the silhouette.

It’s still alive! my skills were yelling at me. I couldn’t appraise my target, but it didn’t matter so long as the hostility emitted from them wasn’t gone yet.

“Taunt!”

“Taunt!”

“Taunt!”

The orc knights were relentless when it came to taunt spamming, continuing to use that Ability even after I had turned into a dragon. Had they no fear? Regardless of why they were doing this, I could feel [Taunt] having a slight effect on me, meaning I had to get rid of them already. Flapping my wings, I scattered scale-dust into my surroundings, gathering it around me like a mist. With a simple swipe of my tail on the ground, the dust erupted into an explosion, enveloping the orcs, leaving them screaming in pain.

The extra firepower I had in my dragon form compared to my dragonewt form was all I needed to pierce through the orcs’ armor. Some died, those who survived had their melting armor fuse with their flesh.

I could have done this earlier, but it had been easy enough for me to survive, so I remained as a dragonewt to keep wearing my party bracelet. My experience gain has been gimped hard after my rank B evolution, so it was better if I shared most of it with Saori and Tasianna as I mowed through these grimgarians. Efficiency, right?

All right, taunters are gone. Time to—

[“Hestia, we need to run! That is a rank B high ogre! He is the commander of this battalion!”] Saori shouted into my head.

[“Saori, I’m taking care of him! I’ll reduce him—Wait, what happened to Uno?”] From the corner of my eye, I noticed two garms taking care of a bloodied one. [“Hold on, was this the reason you guys took so long? Now that I think about it, where are the adventurers? Where is Antonio?”]

Tasianna answered in Saori’s stead, [“Lady Hestia, we had to trigger plan B! Sir Antonio escaped with Lucia’s companions through our entrance while we bought them time; however, Miss Saori and Uno were severely injured in the process.”]

[“I only survived due to our party bracelets. The shared experience function allowed me to level up in time,”] Saori answered. [“Hestia, our goal was achieved. That ogre might look injured, but if he is still wielding his axe, then we cannot underestimate him! Please, we need to retreat. Uno and one of the adventurers require your healing, now!”]

Tch, gotta be kidding me.

[“Okay, got it.”] Saving a life should take priority.

Still, if this ogre really was as strong as my instincts were telling me, then I really didn’t think we should let him go free. I couldn’t imagine letting this guy terrorize some random village while we escaped, knowing it was our fault for setting him free.

Still, the garms were our party members, so I had to prioritize their lives.
As I was concentrating my mana to erect a [Terra Wall] to block the cave entrance, trapping the ogre, my skills warned me to dodge to the side. I had no idea what it was, but it was bone-chilling how intense the warning was, to the point my heart beat accelerated suddenly.

I slammed my mouth shut and moved my legs, jumping to the side the moment a black energy sickle divided my flame breath in half and exploded on the ground. As the dust settled, a clear scar could be seen deeply engraved into the earth. No idea if I could have tanked that, even with my [Panzer] covering my dragon body.

“Hahahahaha! Never would I have thought I would find two dragons in the same area. You two are quite tall, but I had heard you should be more titanic!” A mighty ogre with two horns on his forehead appeared from the cave. His armor was scorched and the blade of his axe was red hot, having withstood blocking my flame breath. “By losing an arm, I have become too weak to serve my King. However, at the very least, I shall bring him dragon scales and bones for his fine armor. Even with this beaten body, I shall elevate my King for the glory of the Night Father and the grimgarians!”

Cernust was larger and longer than me in his drake form, both in height and body size. If the two of us were about as tall as a giant mammoth—or as long as a five-floor building—then this ogre would be roughly the height of an elephant, making him larger than the trolls I have been fighting.

The wounded ogre raised his axe up into the air, still looking menacing even with only one arm. “Grimgarians! Do not let the intruders escape! The battalion has failed now that we have lost the majority of our forces and also all of the provisions and gear inside the cave. The only way for us to regain our honor is to bring our King the heads of those dragons! Niakash Baal’ak!”

“Haruh! Haruh! Haruh! GGUGNIAK!” The ogre’s speech quickly motivated the battered grimgarians, causing them to raise their weapons once more and raise their voices in a chorus.

He’s a drake, you ass!

The few remaining orc knights clenched onto their halberds and shields, stood back up despite the fact their armor was still sizzling their skin, and moved behind me. The kobolds’ bodies enlarged as they ingested vials of blood, turning almost as large as orcs even though it made them cough up blood, while the orc beserkers roared at me as if they were challenging me.

What were they trying to do? Did they think I would fight? I could just run or jump through the sky, and that was exactly what I wanted to do. Saori and her garms understood this and were already sneaking past the grimgarians’ attention, while I cast [Wind Blast] on my wings, to blast me into the air where I used [Air Walk] to escape.

Unfortunately, the ogre didn’t seem to want me to go just yet. “Enmity Axe,” he calmly said before dark mana gathered around his axe, as something similar to an orb lit up on the end part of the handle. With only one arm, he heaved the giant axe over his shoulders, aimed at me, and swung it like a baseball bat, shooting another black sickle at me with great accuracy.

Once again, [Danger Perception] and [Foresight] activated, warning me to dodge at all cost. The moment I stepped aside, the grimgarians acted.

“Taunt!” the orc knights shouted from the bottom of their lungs while raising their shields, drawing my attention away for a split second as my instincts were influenced by that nasty ability.

Luckily, the dark sickle passed by me as I locked eyes with a dying orc knight, but that was all the grimgarians needed to attack me. The lone troll shaman mumbled something as his staff glowed black, before the glow split into pieces and scattered into the forest. The troll dropped his staff and fell face-first on the ground. He did not stand back up.

As the glow faded, the grey-skinned goblins revealed themselves and simultaneously shot arrows coated in that same glow at me.

I couldn’t defend against them. [Taunt]’s whispers were annoying the heck out of me and I decided to kill the orc who used it on me with a [Hellflame Breath] and then spread the flames onto the other orc knights. Finally, the source of [Taunt]s was gone for good, but it wasn’t worth it as the goblins’ arrows pierced through my [Draconic Barrier] and [Panzer] armor.

The sharp pain I always felt whenever I got attacked by either a water or dark elemental attack stabbed into my body. It felt like some of the arrows even managed to break a number of scales since my [White Flames] was healing me.

As I clenched my teeth, another [Enmity Axe] was shot at me. I planned to dodge it, but my skills warned me another attack was coming … one which I couldn’t evade.

“Blood-Scar Axe!” The Ogre drenched his axe blade in his own blood, causing it to glow a dangerous red. He threw his weapon over his head before swinging it like a golf club, launching a massive red blast.

According to [Foresight], [Wind Blast] couldn’t propel me far enough, while I just didn’t have the time to cast both [Warp Point] exit and entry. My best bet was to avoid the [Enmity Axe] and endure the [Blood-Scar Axe] with [Panzer]. I disliked my lack of options and wanted to complain how absurd it was that he could use three threatening attacks in quick succession, but the urgency of the situation demanded that I bite my tongue.

I jumped over [Enmity Axe] using [Air Walk] and blasted myself further away from [Blood-Scar Axe] with [Wind Blast]. Considering the speed it was traveling, I really couldn’t get away from it, but it allowed me to buy enough time to multicast [Panzer], [Air Shield], and [Molten Guard], fortifying my defenses, while using [Bedrock Blades] and [Terra Wall] to hopefully weaken the attack before it hit me.

As the red blast broke through all my earthen constructs, I simply closed my eyes and clenched my teeth, awaiting the attack and hoping it won’t hurt as much. I was wrong. [Absolute Pain Tolerance] might prevent me from going into shock, but the pain didn’t magically disappear.

Kriiiiiyaaahhhh!

I screamed eternally.

My body was twirling around like a carousel, freefalling as I didn’t have the power to stabilize myself nor use [Air Walk] until I hit the first tree. The crunch and cracking of wood came from my back, but my fall did not decelerate. These sounds were all I could hear as I crashed into every single tree, sometimes even face-first. It eventually stopped, but landing on the ground wasn’t any less painful as I tumbled like a ragdoll before my body smacked against a large rock, finally stopping me.

<[Broken Bones [Left Wing](Minor)] [Broken Bones [Right Wing](Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargrxmor]>

“Kruuuurghhhhh …” As I opened my eyes, a deep groan escaped my mouth.

I could see my purple armor crumbling into dust while my [Air Shield] and [Molten Guard] disappeared completely. My scales and carapace around my legs were cracked and I could feel my broken bones in my wings.

My white flames and parallel minds were already hard at work healing me from that attack, but nothing could help the dizziness I was feeling. The ringing in my ears, my shaky vision, and my shaking legs. I felt like puking as I slowly pulled myself up, almost overwhelmed by the vertigo. I sooo wanted to sleep … but my [Detection Sensor] kept me awake with the hostile signals. One of them was coming towards me at a frightening speed.

“Gale Steps! Enmity Axe!” the damn ogre shouted with glee.

Panzer. Terra Wall. Molten Guar—Kyarghhh!

<[Bleeding (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargrxmor]>

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“Kraarrrrrrghhhh!” I screamed out in pain.

[Panzer] managed to manifest in time but my other spells materialized too slowly since my parallel minds were too occupied with healing me. I once again crashed against the boulder as I could feel a large gash ripped open my side. Dazed from having my head hit the boulder again, I was barely able to react to what my skills were warning me next.

“Decapitate!” A loud booming voice caused my heart to skip a beat.

<[Adrenaline (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargrxmor]>

Somehow, I managed to dodge the attack by raising my head. The attack came down vertically after all. Sadly, I wasn’t out of the woods at all, now that the ogre made it close enough for his axe to reach me. He let go of his axe and grabbed my throat with his sole arm. He might be smaller than me, but his strength was indisputable.

He slammed my head onto the ground and viciously stomped on it, holding me down for a clean cut. It was then that the adrenaline finally kicked in my head, clearing it up from the immense headache I was feeling. I was calm, despite being in a very dangerous position, and used my tail to pierce through the ogre’s battered stomach armor.

“UuuuuARRGHHHHH!” he bellowed, giving me the chance to stab his leg with my left claws. Similar to how I can managed my body temperature, I turned up the heat around my tail and claws, singeing the wound and causing him to curse in pain. “Arrghhhh! G-glory to you, dragon! You are strong, and deserve a warrior’s death! I will pray that our Night Father’s daughter of death, Ilsaphone, will honor your soul for eternity!”

I could hear his hand grab his axe. Every second felt like an eternity as my mind went into overdrive with [High-Speed Calculation].

You don’t tell me to die, ASSHOLE! Dreadflare Aura! Scale-Dust Veil!

My body exploded like a heat bomb, scorching everything around me with complete impunity. With a blast that could melt even boulders, the ogre’s axe flew from his hand as his body was being cooked alive the longer he stayed around me, while his armor and skin turned to ashes from the explosion caused by continuous scale-dust explosions.

“KUUUURAAGHHHH! I WILL HAVE THIS VICTORY FOR MY KING! UUUUWAAARRGH!” He howled like a crazed gorilla, but his mouth didn’t spout out empty words. I could see the skin on his fingers exploding from my [Dreadflame Aura] but he didn’t budge away, raising the amount of weight and strength he was putting on my head.

He’s aiming for a level up!

Leveling up meant a full health regeneration. He could survive all his wounds if he killed me!

Parallel minds, blast him with spells, now!

I applied pressure on my tail and claws, trying to push the ogre away from me, but he didn’t move an inch. How fucking high was his strength?

[Bedrock Blades] pierced his body, [Banishment Beam] drilled into his skin, and [Lava Stream] turned his skin into liquid. But none of them could do anything. Why not use [Purple Flash] into an [Omnictus]? I asked one of my parallel minds, but they answered they couldn’t concentrate long enough since my head was literally getting squashed at this very moment.

[“Hestia, disable your aura, now!”] A voice entered my head. Instincts told me to not obey, as without the aura, the ogre would have killed me already, but my heart knew what to do.

Concentrate on healing and defense now, parallel minds!

[Major Heal], [Sanctified Blaze], and constant regenerating [Panzer] around my head were being cast as my [Dreadflame Aura] died out. The moment the pressure of the heat stopped, the ogre put all his weight into his foot. I could feel air escape my lungs as the cracking of scales and bones echoed into my skull.

Luckily, the pain only lasted for a few seconds, and it wasn’t ‘cause my head popped open.

[“Just Blink! Abyssal Bomb!”] A giant black ball double the size of the ogre’s head suddenly jumped out from my shadow before disappearing from existence for a single second. As the next second came, it reappeared right in front of the ogre and exploded.

This point-blank dark blast knocked the ogre back as if a hammer had smacked his face, stumbling back as he clutched onto his disfigured face. Nevertheless, my neck finally could relax as my recovery spells and natural regeneration healed me up.

Saori! Thank goodness!

As I was elated for the nice support, my attention finally caught onto the dozen of signals encircling me. I was completely distracted by the ogre that I didn’t notice the enemies around me.

“Kwek!” a grey-skinned hobgoblin yelled the moment he revealed himself along with several of his comrades, loosening their bowstrings to launch a rain of black-glowing arrows in every direction.

In my current state, I couldn’t dodge. More injuries meant more wasted mana, and that meant more arcane corruption! As I was preparing spells, numerous trees erupted from the ground and grew immensely in size, blocking the rain of arrows about to attack me. As I was baffled at the sight, the sounds of confused goblins were replaced by shrills of agony.

“Ggugniak!”

Peeking out of the holes of the tree wall, I saw the remaining orc beserkers and kobold druids shout the moment their goblin comrades died. They turned around, weapons held close to their bodies as they readied to fight their slayers. Sadly for them, three shadows ripped them apart as an ethereal blue blade soared through the forest with a retinue of ice daggers, buffeting any enemy.

While these numerous weakened elite grimgarians were taken out when they were the most exhausted, one of the shadows suddenly stopped in the spot to release a powerful howl, echoing through the woods. In my dragon form, wearing my party bracelet was impossible, so I couldn’t see what happened, but I believed something good just happened to Saori.

Saori! Tasianna! Cernust!

“NIAKASH BAAL’AK! BLOOD-SCAR AXE!” Like a massive horn, the bellowing roar of the ogre overshadowed everything else as he coated his axe with the blood leaking out of the side of his stomach. Once again, my skills were warning me to move it already, otherwise it might end very badly for me.

Fuck, I can’t move! Verdammt, gotta take him down!

Struggling to stand on my feet, I knew I wouldn’t last long even if I launched my body away with [Wind Blast] and [Terra Wall]. I had to stop him now or never. Otherwise, this berserker would just turn it all around again! Invoking a brown magic circle, I was betting everything on my [Bedrock Blades] to tear him apart.

As desperation and stress overwhelmed me, roots and vines burst from the earth with ruthless speed. Roots pierced his only arm, interrupting his attack motion, while the vines grabbed his legs and rooted him into place, preventing him from putting his foot forward to shoot the attack. This disturbance allowed my [Bedrock Blade] to pierce his chest as well as his abdomen, but narrowly miss his head as he swerved it to the side.

“NIKASH BAAL’AK. FOR MY KING! FOR THE PROSPERITY OF THE GRIMGARIANS! FOR MY TRIBE! BLOOD-SCAR AXE!” The ogre tore through the roots with sheer arm strength and immediately resumed his stance, despite his melting flesh, broken bones, deformed face, and fatal stab wounds. The sheer tenacity he had made me admire him for a split second before reminding myself that he was an enemy.

As he was about to throw his attack, a giant, green komodo dragon burst from the underground and attacked the ogre. The ogre showed an expression of surprise but, even then, his body did not relent and the deadliest attack in his arsenal was unleashed.

Cernust!

Cernust swiped at the ogre’s chest before clashing his horns against the ogre’s bloodied axe. It was a valiant attempt, but the strength difference between a rank C monster and a rank B was far too high, and Cernust was blown away. Blood seeped down from his skull as his right horn-antler was slashed off, but fortunately, the attack was thwarted and his axe somehow entangled itself on Cernust’s remaining antler.

As the giant green drake crashed on the ground, two garm jumped out of his shadow, and dashed in front and behind the ogre respectively with mana threads in their mouths. As the ogre tried to recover from all the damage he suffered, the garms danced around him, immobilizing him with the threads.

“DO YOU THINK YOU CAN STO—GYAK!”

The moment the ogre wanted to say something, a garm clad in shadow armor appeared behind him and bit into his neck, pulling his head back. Then, two large ice swords shot down and pierced into his eyes as a girl with fairy wings landed on the garm’s back and telekinetically pulled the ice swords towards herself, fully bending the ogre’s head back.

[“Hestia, END IT!”] Saori demanded.

[“Lady Hestia, FIGHT!”] Tasianna shouted.

“Kroooooooaaaggggggghhhh!” Cernust roared.

Clenching my teeth, I forced my body to stand up before using [Wind Blast] to blast myself forward. “Kriiiiiiiiiiiaaarghhhhh!” I shouted before clawing at the ogre’s jaw, jerking his mouth open. I then slammed my fangs against each, creating a spark to develop a flame inside my mouth.

My chest filled with power as I absorbed the solar energy shining on me, causing my core to shine iridescently like a lamp, energizing every single cell inside my body. It made my body feel warm, far warmer than what [Symphonie des Feuergottes] ever did. The scale-dust under my scales exploded into fire, making it seem like every scale was a single rocket booster.

Solar Beam!

With the heat of the sun, I opened my mouth and unleashed a sun breath into the ogre’s mouth. The smell of melting flesh was especially harsh as it also included the ogre’s bowels but I endured it. So did Saori and Tasianna, who were only able to maintain their hold on the ogre in the midst of the volcanic temperature thanks to Tasianna’s ice and water magic.

<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor] has risen from [Level 1] to [Level 3]>

<Attributes have increased due to level up>

<Acquired 1300 skill points>

<Proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Solar Core Lv. 2] [Continuous Cast Lv. 2] [Sundering Enhancement Lv. 6] [Piercing Enhancement Lv. 6] [Foresight Lv. 3] [Physical Super-Resistance Lv. 5] [Fear Resistance Lv. 5] [Enhanced Vitality Growth Lv. 6] [Parallel Thoughts Lv. 10] gained>

I closed my mouth for a moment as the System notification appeared, and shot the remaining energy of [Solar Beam] into the sky until my core was fully empty. Once I was done, my body simply collapsed on the ground. My wounds might have healed up, but I was just tired—mentally and physically.

At least I wasn’t the only one to collapse; the ogre’s burning body did as well.

[“… Thankfully he did not ingest any of that black liquid like the troll shaman from back then,”] Saori commented, also collapsing from exhaustion once she made sure the ogre wouldn’t stand up as a zombie. I mean, the beam went out the other way, drilling him, it would be kinda bad if he did, you know.

[“… This wasn’t a pleasant surprise at all … You were right, Saori. Again,”] I admitted, remembering the last time she warned me not to be so reckless. Last time it was the tendril of a leviathan and this time it was a high ogre.

[“You do not have to say that, Hestia. I don’t care if I’m right or not, I just want you to be less reckless and think about potential risks. Besides, I ran ahead of you before you could escape from the ogre, so your injuries are partially my fault,”] Saori responded.

[“It was mine as well, Lady Hestia. I still haven’t reached level 60 yet, and I still require more training with this catalyst,”] Tasianna gave a humble reply.

[“Yeah …”] I answered. [“So, what was that loud howl for anyways, Saori?”]

[“I can evolve now.”] It was a quick reply and I felt really happy for her, but I was honestly just too tired to find the motivation and energy to do so. So, I congratulated her and said we could do it after all of this was done.

I then turned my head to Cernust, who was also lying down lazily. [“You okay, elder-scale?”]

“Kruuuaghh. Krieyyyrukkkk.”

[“… I don’t understand you, sorry.”] Maybe I was mistaken when I thought I understood what he was talking about when I saw his drake form for the first time. I just couldn’t understand his growls.

“Kruuu …”

Yeah, sorry …

Still, despite feeling too exhausted to even celebrate, I was happy that we had won a tough battle against a rank B monster. The last time we fought against one, it was Asterios and his wyvern companions, and although we defeated one of the recently evolved ice wyverns, we still were easily defeated by the level 44 rank B boss. Sure, this ogre was weakened, but we survived and won. We might not have progressed far enough to win these fights immediately, but progress was progress.

We needed to train and grow even further, but I was proud of Aurora’s continued growth. And, soon, we were about to gain a major improvement in Saori’s evolution.

Once we could stand again, we transformed back to our humanoid forms and returned to where we left Antonio and the others. It was about time to finish this Quest and, in doing so, our time in Firwood.