Chapter 116: [Arc 3] Chapter 29: Arrogance Incarnated

A little before Mira and Revi fell to the third floor of the Chaos Forge:

"... I'm here." - Garami

"As I thought, you were Miss Garami." - Dragon-geezer

I'm back in the city after getting a nasty call through Iron's transmitter... which leads us to the scene in front of me: the dragon-geezer and his three goons facing off against Iron. And one of the goons is holding poor Polaris hostage.

"First off, let the bear go." - Garami

"Very well." - Dragon-geezer

When the dragon-geezer snapped with his fingers, the goon holding Polaris placed him on the ground without any problems. Polaris then ran and hid behind Iron. Looks like he's got no wounds on him. That's a relief...

"Then, what kinda annoying request are you gonna ask me? That's the reason you did all this, right?" - Garami

"'Annoying' is a strong word for it, but yes, I have a request for you." - Dragon-geezer

I knew it... and that is...

"Stop your contract with Fire Dragon Runitos and provide me, Darkness Dragon Colcach, with your otherworldly goods." - Colcach

Darkness Dragon!? And Runitos... is that the former Volcano Dungeon's owner? Forgot his name after all the mess that's been happening since then...

"And why do you want that?" - Garami

That "contract" is to sell those snacks to the royalty of the Dragon Kingdom. Messing with that's equal to messing with those royals.

"What a foolish question. If I am the one to serve the majesty, my prestige will grow even greater than it already is." - Colcach

"...Whatever. As long as you pay for the goods, then I don't-" - Garami

"What is this? Why would I, a member of the proud Dragon race, have to pay for what I demand?" - Colcach

"...Excuse me?" - Garami

"*Sigh*, is it too difficult to understand? Just prepare and transport 10 tons of the otherworld goods to my mansion in Loitan each week." - Colcach

"WHAT!?" - Garami & Iron

Even the stoic Iron's shouting out here! Polaris, despite not being able to understand our words, is having his jaw open from the shock. The goons of that Darkness Dorkon is facepalming from sheer exasperation and embarrassment. Kinda feel bad for them...

"No." - Garami

"...What was that?" - Colcach

"No. And that's final. We're sticking to the Fire Dragon." - Garami

"...Are you sane, demon?" - Colcach

"Saner than you if you think you can have everything go your way just cause you're a little stronger than others, you overgrown lizard! The Fire Dragon is fairly paying for the goods in the form of a deal, but you're just acting like a spoiled brat!" - Garami

"...Do you know-" - Colcach

"What? Gonna say something like "if you don't follow my orders, then be prepared to be destroyed"? Then bring it on! Let's take this outside!" - Garami

"...True. It would be distasteful to destroy the town just to flatten one measly flea," said the Darkness Dragon with irritation obvious in his voice.

"I will grant your wish of a slow and painful death, demon!" - Colcach

"Then I hope you're not gonna complain over having your body being used as my undead afterward!" - Garami

---

We went out into the desert, a fair distance away from the town so it wouldn't be caught up in the battle. With one side being a dragon, I bet that guy's former statement of crushing the town might not be so far from the truth...

And I completely snapped there, didn't I? What am I doing, taking on a dragon face-on like this?

The good news is that this guy's literally old news. Even Dragons can't escape from Father Time... but even then, he's stronger than most of the creatures I've encountered. And as a Dragon, he's bound to be difficult anyway. And why're Dragons even allowed to have a Monster class that's based on their own freaking species!?

The Darkness Dragon has returned to his true appearance of a western dragon covered in jet-black scales and four wings. The color seems a little faded, probably from old age. And honestly, the sheer size of his body is a threat on its own...

There are some helping factors for me in this fight though. Five of them, to be exact:

1. My level increased just before I met with that creep. It's probably Mira and the others fighting something in the Forge. Judging by the fact that they do not answer my calls, the fight must be damn intense. This means I may get a full recovery during the fight. It's a gamble, but my luck's good with things like that.
2. Attribute-related advantage. I've got high resistance to Darkness, which is the sole attribute this guy's working with, Identifying him showed that he also used Earth and Ink... but those look abandoned. Not much combat power there.
3. Battle experience. If my hunch's correct, this guy must have been swinging his powers around and never gotten into an actual fight. I've got the advantage in experience, despite being much younger. He even lacks a Genocide Drive skill, despite his great power and old age.
4. My speed. Even without counting my Genocide Drive, my SPD-stat far surpasses his own. Of course, as this guy's a dragon, I can expect that his SPD's actually higher than my own without enhancements... without them, that is.
5. I have a few new abilities that I'm itching to test on this guy.

Like with how I got [Black-Light Technique Master] after having used Darkness- and Light attribute skills enough times, having 5 or more skills of those attributes (not including Resistance-, Magic-, and/or Element skills), and having the tier-2 Element skills for those attributes, I obtained the Poison title thanks to the fifth Poison skill, namely [Toxic Hex]. I'm as ready as I can be...

"You can have the first move. Showing off our species' extreme power from the start would diminish our pride." - Colcach

Then I'll take that opportunity... Necro Arts: Skeleton Dragon!

The phantasmal Skeleton Dragon appeared from the magic circle right beside the Darkness Dragon and tried to tear out his throat with its bony jaws... but my Skeleton Dragon's attack was blocked by that bastard using his arm to guard himself... and the Skeleton Dragon's jaw broke from trying to bite through it! What's up with the hardness of those scales!?

"Using the false corpse of a dragon to attack me... you are far underestimating true dragons!" - Colcach

The Darkness Dragon charged at me with such speed that you wouldn't imagine from that huge body. I had enhanced my body with all my skills, plus a full set of Possession Ghosts' spells, but I barely dodged his claw-swipes! This guy's dangerous! Even his enhancements are off the chart!

"Chaotic Zahhak!" - Garami

No reason to hold back on the big guns. Several dragon-heads made outta darkness appeared around me, the sight of it made the real Darkness Dragon freeze for a second, but that shocked expression soon turned into a mocking grin.

Yeah, I know. Despite this thing being called a "dragon slayer"-skill, it has no extra effect on you guys. And I also know you have [Darkness Nullification] that can completely negate these guys, no matter their numbers.

However, did you expect this?

"And Black-Light!" - Garami

The dragon-heads changed from pitch-black darkness into a sort of black-white energy right before they collided into the bastard.

"GYAAA!! Th-this is.. the Light attribute!?" - Colcach

Oh yeah! The Black-Light title lets me add either attribute to the other guy. This not only adds the opposite attributes abilities to the other one, like what that Dark-Light title does, it also makes so that the target takes damage from only one of the two attributes they're the weakest against! And the most devastating attribute to use against an elemental Dragon is... the opposing one! Like Light for this guy!

The Zahhak-heads did massive amounts of damage to this guy, and his stats are now barely back to their original levels even with the enhancements active.

Not only that, my new [Toxic Hex], which is the same as [Poison Coating] for special attacks like spells and skills, had poisoned the guy... a little. Damn those Resistance Skills...

"Ha-ha! You've done it now, demon!" - Colcach

Tch, even taking eight of those Black-Light Zahhaks, he's still full of vigor. I ran away while shooting Black-Lightified Dark Bullet spells at the guy, trying to wither away as much HP as I could. 

The dragon fought back with his own Darkness spells, which boasted way more force than my wimpy bullets. Whatever. I'm trying to save my MP until Zahhak's available again.

I cast Darkness Bomb and used the explosion and sand thrown up as a smokescreen. I dashed behind one of the dunes with all the speed I've hidden from him for a momentary respite. I took out some potions and quickly down them. And not just any potions. These are the three different High Potions that can recover HP, MP, and SP each. The same ones I got as a reward in the Water-Knot that I've saved all this time. The high recovery improves my natural recovery in those stats, improving my odds even more.

Or truer said, makes my odds of losing lower. Just these aren't enough to win...

"Found you!" shouted the dragon as he used his wings to blow away all the dunes around him. I got sent flying as well.

"Damn, he's got me!!"... is not what I'm thinking. I saw the dragon charging up the classic of the dragon moves, his breath, and I answered by taking multiple bombs from my Storage and hurling them into his mouth with [Shooting].

*KA-BOOOOM!!*

"WHHAAAAGH!! MY MOOOUUUUTH!!" - Colcach

Another big hit... but that's normally enough to kill a D-rank. Rather, the blast became so much bigger than I had expected and I was sent crashing into the sand with enough force to cut my HP in half! And this guy's just have lost one-fourth of his...

I knew this wasn't gonna be easy, but seriously?

I ignored the pain and downed another potion while showering the dragon with as many magic blasts and long-range skills that I could use, all of them containing the Light attribute in some way. All the attacks are enhanced with [Toxic Hex], plus I've also got my Evil Eyes on that thing, but the poison's barely doing anything. His stats aren't going down that much either, even if I'm glad for every single point shaved away from him. 

Then, the dragon created another wind-blast with his wings. I tried to dodge it, but just barely. The damage was harsh, but it would have been worse hadn't I healed myself with potions and [Miracle Magic]. The enhancement spells from the Ghosts and the effect of [Dragon Scale (False)] should also have dampened the damage... but it still brought me down from full HP to around 70%. 

The landing was harsh, but I had no time to complain. The dragon jumped onto the spot I had just been lying on. I just dodged his claws and wanted to run away... but I didn't. Instead, I ran on top of his outstretched arm and threw another haul of bombs into the open mouth that tried to chomp me as I ran on top of him. Using the blast from the explosion, I gained some distance from the overgrown reptile, and the shoot-off restarted.

Damn, I wanted to cut his throat there... probably not a good idea. My Carnwennan is sharp, but real dragon scales aren't something I have the confidence to cut through. 

The dragon started to chase me with a hint of madness in his eyes... guess the skill worked.

[Sadistic Domination]. The previous skill improves the damage inflicted to the opponent but at the risk of losing your mind to... "sadistic urges". Is it easier to understand if I call it a lighter version of a berserk skill? In any case, Domination allows me to make others feel those "urges" without having their attack-power increased. That's why the dragon's chasing me without even thinking about flying high up and blasting me from above. It's risky, but this way, I got a shot at winning at least.

We continued with our game of tag for a while, and after the final High Potion was finished...

Godly timing... three levels!? What are those guys doing in that Forge...

In any case, this is the promised full-recovery I was hoping for!

I started to use heavier spells to throw that guy off-balance. It didn't help. Rather, it actually ticked him off enough for him to use his breath! And I'm fresh outta bombs! 

Not wasting a moment, I used [Blink] and barely dodged the breath of pure darkness. It carved a line of blackened earth through the desert. Even the sand had disintegrated from the breath's incredible force!

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Th-that breath... ain't it worse than the magic bullet that Filyn used on me the day I first met Blot?

Get yourself together, me! This ain't the time to be chicken!

I kicked myself back into action. [Chaotic Concurrence] may still be on cooldown, but who cares!? Zahhak alone is all I need! Gooo!! Ugh... I got light-headed all of a sudden...

A single dragon-head emerged... not? This is... a naga? A naga of white darkness came outta the magic circle... one that has a snake-head coming out of its back. Don't tell me... at this timing, it finally reached it!? Zahhak level 2!! That explains the light-headedness. 200 MP instant usage must do that to people.

The naga attacked the Darkness Dragon, the snake-head biting the Dragon's neck while the naga was holding the Dragon's front-legs in check. The Dragon took extreme damage from the critical blow... but not enough. Due to its immense lifeforce and recovery, it still has around 50-to-55% HP left. After all this...

Sorry, Armveil. I'm gonna use the move you didn't want to teach me.

While the Dragon was preoccupied with the Zahhak, I removed the ring that came with the Thaumaturgy Revolver and loaded it into the gun's chamber. That started to make the revolver shine in an eerie, dark-grey light.

"That's-!? 'Sacrifice Weapon'!?" - Colcach

The sight knocked the Dragon out of his stupor. Rather, he's down-right terrified of my actions.

"As if I'd let you!!" - Colcach

Another full-powered breath came at me, this time with enough force to blow away the Zahhak he had half-way defeated by then... and me. The breath had way much more force and speed than even the previous one. I had no time to dodge it...

NOT!

"Th-that was too close... huh? ...You!? Why're you there!? No, why're you alive?!!" - Colcach

What the Dragon had blasted away was a clone created by a Chaotic bullet, the last "normal" bullet this gun will ever fire. 

The Dragon had used too much of his powers on that forced breath. Even while I was aiming at him, his movements were like a snail's, far from what he had shown in the battle from before...

Goodbye, partner.

*BANG!!*

A massive gunshot emerged from the Revolver as a dark-grey bullet flew towards the Dragon. The bullet gorged into the Dragon, destroying his body as it dug deeper into him..., just like how the Thaumaturgy Revolver, my first real weapon, was falling apart. That was the last I saw before the recoil from the attack knocked me cold.

---

Meanwhile, in the realm of the Ultimate Gods, Nibiru:

"............"

A clear silence filled the meeting hall of the Ultimate Gods.

"She beat it... single-handedly..." - Chaos

No rage, no frustration, no anger whatsoever filled Chaos's face. Only bewilderment.

"Dragons... are not supposed to be defeatable by a single D-rank creature, right?" - Order

"No way they are. They're designed to be a great threat to any other creatures for a reason." - Alvatria

Dragons aren't strong because they are Dragons. They are strong because the gods decided to make them strong. Dragons are their final line of defense in case drastic maneuvers would be necessary to keep the World System active. The Dragons have their own will, but their great pride and loyalty that is outright written in their DNA will make them follow the gods should they be needed.

"...If they had three... no, two Master-tier classes, plus dragon-slaying weapons that they used Sacrifice Weapon on, then it would be possible for a D-rank humanoid to defeat a wasted Dragon like that old one... perhaps." - Chaos

The gods' mood had gone down considerably. Even Alvatria, who would normally glee over Chaos' failure after giving the Darkness Dragon so many hints on how to find the Champion of Darkness, was not in the mood anymore.

"Even if a normal humanoid could not defeat a Dragon, a Champion is far from what one would call 'normal'." - ???

The three gods looked at the fourth figure in the room. Opposed to the three who looked no different from humans, this god was from a completely different breed. "Its" body was made solely from wind that had taken a humanoid shape, dressed as an old aviator from Earth, complete with an aviator helmet and goggles. 

"Forcefully raise the level of that girl's [Demon Lord] skill? If that's on a higher level, people will believe it's thanks to it that she beat the dragon," said the fourth figure, the Ulitmate God of Wind, Nirmer.

"That... could work. People would rather believe it's thanks to the skill rather than the girl's own abilities." - Chaos

"Let us grant her the Slaughterer-tier title right away as well, so people will believe she already had the experience of defeating dragons." - Order

"Then I'll give her my Proof to boot~. Just have to love someone that stands up for their personal freedom~." - Nirmer

"And so, we've escaped the increased death-rate of adventurers believing they could face a dragon~." - Alvatria

After that, the gods had to do a lot of damage control over the loss of the elderly dragon... but it was all outsourced to Chaos specifically, who vowed to himself never to get petty with the mortals ever again.

---

Garami's PoV:

Ugh... how long was I knocked out... d-d-d-DRAGOOON!

"Oh, finally awake?" 

A huge dragon, bigger than the previous one, stood in front of me. It's not the same guy though, as I can see the remains of the Darkness Dragon in the corner of my eyes. 

As I prepared for the worst, the dragon disappeared... no, he took on a human-shape. He's dressed in regal clothing, but it seems more fitting for a high-ranking adventurer than a real noble, as the clothes look to have been made with the ease of movements in mind.

As for the guy himself, he's got wild hair similar to a lion's mane that's white-colored... or not. The color of his hair changes all the time. It feels like I'm watching a source of light through a prism. Even his eyes are opal-colored with snake-like slits. 

"...And you are?" - Garami

"Hmm, sorry, but I can't name myself. Just think of me as someone that was supposed to punish that guy for the royalty of Loitan, but was one step too late." 

"...If you're not an enemy, then that's fine." - Garami

Honestly, I've got nothing left in me. Even a normal human could do me in now. Sacrifice Weapon also gives me a nasty debuff of having 80% of all my stats reduced, except for LUC and INT. Armveil was right when he told me about the Revolver having that hidden function; it's a damn massive pain of a game-breaker. Sacrificing a normally unbreakable weapon in exchange for massive amounts of damage is unbelievable.

That even the debuff I'm suffering now, plus the destruction of the weapon doesn't even come close to justify the damage inflicted is saying something. Rather, it gorged out a part of the desert after penetrating the dragon. Or did a meteor crash there while I was unconscious? It didn't? Really? The closest thing to a crater that I've ever seen was the hole after we moved the meteorite by the Dungeon, and that over there looks way more like a crater if you ask me.

It was from the gunshot? Seriously? ...scaaaary... Hope there's no one else as mad as me to use such a move.

*Thump*

While I was in a daze over the destruction I had done, the dragon had taken a huge treasure chest out of a Storage ability... hey! That's [Spatial Storage]! There is someone other than me who has that?!

"This is... let's say, my payment for hauling in that bastard Colcach. Though, it's more fitting that you should get it." 

"Thanks... I guess?" - Garami

"No problem. And, that moving armor-friend of yours is gathering your other allies as we speak. I'm personally dragging that guy's flunkies back to Loitan, but you guys can take the corpse. It should give you some decent materials if you dismantle it," the dragon says while pointing at the Darkness Dragon. The bullet "only" destroyed his whole torso, so most of the body is still capable of being salvaged and used as materials...

Should a dragon be telling others to harvest materials from the corpse of a dragon? No, let's not think about it too deeply.

After that, the prism-dragon (temporary name) went back into his dragon form and took off, leaving me behind. Though, I noticed that a monster-repelling barrier of some kind had been placed across the area, probably by that guy. Guess I'm safe while waiting for Iron to bring the others...

I left the treasure chest, as I wanted Mira to check whenever there's something fixed onto it. Never a bad idea to be too careful. And my stats are the worst right now, so I'm doubting my own trap-detection abilities. Let's store the corpse of the dragon and-

*Brr*

That's... my Dungeon Terminal. The battle with the dragon must have given it some EXP... speaking about that, what about me? I had the System Messages on "slumber" until now, so what's the result...

G-geez... this is too much... six levels, all at once... what about the Dungeon?

Special reward? I've got nothing against that, but seriously...

What is going on lately!!???

Description:

Darkness Dragons are one of the ten "Elemental Dragons" that walk on the earth of Terra Sol. As their name suggests, the Darkness Dragon is a creature of Darkness, and they have complete control over said attribute.

These dragons are some of the more dangerous species of dragons. Their pride is on the border of arrogance, they look down on every creature other than themselves and other dragons, and even when they try to show off their intellect, they will easily fall back to violence if given the chance, making them the most dangerous of the ten "Elemental Dragons" for humanoids. 

Appearance:

The Darkness Dragons take the appearance of a "western" dragon with black scales and four wings. The wings are notably thicker and more robust than those of the Wind Dragon, as they are more willing to use the wings as weapons and shields instead of trying to damage them as little as possible in the fear of losing their ability to fly.

Abilities:

Darkness Dragons have a natural talent for curses and "evil" magic, but they can easily act as warriors should the need for it occur. Though, due to their battle-hungry nature, these dragons will more often take the build known as "kung-fu wizards" by the Migrants. 

The Darkness attribute may not be the most powerful in pure strength, but Darkness Dragons are capable of ignoring that and use Darkness-related skills with so much force that they do not fall behind the Fire Dragon or the Earth Dragon. Their scales are extremely durable, both against physical attacks and magical ones, but they pale in comparison to the likes of the Metal Dragon or the Ice Dragon.

Finally, while they are quite resistant to curses and the likes, skills that affect their will to battle has a tendency to slip past the resistance, due to the Darkness Dragons being accepting to take battles and conflicts by the horn.

Garami's comment: As a demon of the same attribute, I'm ashamed of being in the same attribute.

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