Chapter 37: 35 – Dragon Slayer

"Any questions on the plan, girls?" I asked.

"I don't have any," Ailine said. "Do you, Sara?"

Sara shook her head. "No, I understand as well. It is very straightforward and should serve as good training for us all."

"Then let's head in!" Navi said, flying off my shoulder.

All four of us go back to the forty-ninth floor to train against some wyverns. Before we tried everything against a dragon, we wanted to simulate the situation as much as possible. 

Arriving on the floor, we walked around the grassland until a wyvern spotted us and attacked. The arcane wyvern started like the majority of all of them, firing a bolt of arcane magic. As the bolt was repelled by my shield, Navi and Ailine shot it down by destroying a wing.

I shout, "Alright! Get in position and fire when ready!"

""Yes!""

As the girls get roughly the distance from the wyvern as we saw the dragon from, I rush up to it. They'll be practicing adjusting and firing their ballistae in combat, while I'll be practicing fighting a larger monster one-on-one and keeping its attention while learning to move and dodge in my new armor.

Arriving at the wyvern, I yell at it and shoot an earth bullet at its face. Ineffective, but makes me a more interesting target than the girls in the distance.

Dodging a bite and moving so its flank is towards the girls and I'm out of direct fire, I brandish my sword, taking half-hearted swings and still focusing on defense. I block another bolt of magic and dodge another bite when I hear a mental message.

(Fire!)

I hear a loud *fumph!* In the distance, and within a second, two massive bolts impact and pierce the wyvern through the side. Knowing what comes next, I put my shield up and activate my armor.

A second after the giant bolts pierce the screeching wyvern, they explode with a stronger force than any of the explosions yet. After hearing pieces of metal and meat impact my shield, I lowered it down, glad that the enchantments to protect from the shockwave seemed to work.

What I saw was a wyvern with the vast majority of its body blown apart. The head and most of the neck were severed from the explosion, and the tail was barely connected by the outer skin. A wing was pierced by one bolt and now was nowhere to be seen. The whole scene looked like what I imagine two point blank shotgun shells would do to a raccoon.

(Yes! Look at that, Lia! Even a bigger boom than I thought! Muahahaha!) Navi begins laughing maniacally.

I just stare at the mutilated corpse. (I can't really say anything about that. It pierced it easily. If any ranged weapon has a chance to get through dragon scale, it would be these.)

Ailine said, (Yes, but Sara and I can't adjust very fast. If something is even just walking, it could outpace our aim. This entire weapon relies on a target being nearly stationary. Even from only this far, the accuracy left much to be desired as well. These wouldn't have much use as defensive weapons.)

(That's fine,) I said. (I'll just make sure to do my job as best I can and keep it still, or at least pivoting back and forth as I go from one side to the other.)

(Then let's blow up more geckos! That was so fun!) Navi still is enjoying the explosion. (Me helping power Sara's is so much better for me, too! My magic wouldn't do jack poop against that dragon. With her strength and my magic, we can control this thing!)

(I'll grab the drop from this and meet back up with you then.) I pause for a moment. (Careful when cocking it to not fire at me. I question if even this armor could survive an enchanted Navi bolt from an enchanted Navi ballista.)

Wandering the grassland, we spent three more nights hunting wyverns and dialing in their aim. Besides the annoying space-time wyverns, which we still shoved a grenade down their throats, the others all died similarly to the first with a big ass bolt through them.

Deciding we were as ready as we could be, we headed home for a couple days to rest. Then we'll challenge the dragon.

=====

POV - Sara

I walk up to my girlfriend and give her a kiss. The queens are all together with the princesses now, so I take her hand in mine.

"Welcome back, Sara."

"I'm home, Steph. Let's head to our room so I can get this armor off and take a bath."

"Alright!"

Excitedly, this small woman grabs my hand and begins to pull me back to our bedroom. Small wouldn't be the right word, but as someone almost six feet tall, and her being right around five feet, that's what it feels like sometimes.

I had never seen myself as someone attracted to women. I don't think Steph did either. Ever since I was a little girl, I was always going to train my hardest to protect the people, then one day, marry a fellow knight. He would be handsome, caring, a gentleman, and we would start a family together. There was even a knight I had liked in my last group.

Oh, how plans change.

I can still remember calling out to him as I was being shoved in the cage. Crying for one of the few times I can remember, I looked to him for any bit of help out of the situation. He just turned away and refused to even meet my gaze.

That moment broke my heart. It wasn't like he was even courting me. We talked, laughed, and had many meals together during training or on patrol. I'd felt he had feelings for me as well, but he abandoned me to be raped and treated like a slave. One day, I swear I'll kill you, Chad.

When Steph and I originally arrived at the castle, we had plenty of time to spend together. The queens were getting settled with the princess and I was training Steph in the basics of combat. We began to talk about our pasts, our times in captivity, and our hopes for the future. It's not easy to talk about those times to someone who hasn't experienced it. At least for me it isn't. However, talking with her helped. As the only other vampires, we got to know each other well.

Steph can be such an odd woman. She has moments where she's shy, and moments where she's assertive. Moments where she's talkative, and others where she's closed off.

One day, we were sitting next to each other and sharing a blood bag after a hard training session, and she asked me a question. 'Do you think you will ever have romantic feelings for someone again?' I scoffed at the question. She knew my dislike for men, now. 

Even Sir James, I keep a bit of distance from. 'I seriously doubt I'll ever be able to love a man.' I said. Her response took me completely by surprise. '...What about a woman?'

I look down at her, about ready to ask what she meant by that. Before I could say anything, she leaned up, gave me a quick kiss on the lips, and then ran off back to the castle. I just sat there in a bit of a daze for a few minutes. 

This woman who tries so hard, and who currently knows the current me better than anyone... Essentially just confessed to me. And I was… okay with that. My feelings on the matter honestly surprised me. Same-sex couples weren't particularly uncommon. I had just never imagined myself in one. As I sat there, thinking about my feelings for Steph, I came to a decision. Why not try it?

After that, I spoke to her about trying a relationship, but that I'd never thought of myself being with a woman or had thought of her in that way before that. She just smiled and took my hand and I haven't regretted my decision once. Over the past couple months, I can easily say it, now.

"I love you Steph. Thank you for always being here when I come back."

Her smile grew even brighter. "I love you too, Sara!"

We spent as much time together as we could. As our short break finally ended, we left for the dungeon once more.

"I'll be back soon, Steph."

"Please be careful, Sara. Come home safe."

With a final kiss, I head into the dungeon with the queens. I can't imagine any group being as prepared as we are for this fight.

Dalia looked at us all and said, "You all ready to go?"

"Yes, Lia!" Navi cheerfully replied as Ailine and I nodded.

"Then let's go kill a dragon!" Dalia said.

Following them down into the dungeon, we take the sequence of steps and end up arriving at the fiftieth floor. Standing in front of the wooden boss door leading to the final boss, we do a final check.

"Alright, one final time," Dalia began. "Ailine, you'll be powering your own ballista. Navi and Sara, you'll be on yours. I'll rush first and buy as much time as I can, and keep it moving side to side. Keep within reach of the door and retreat if it launches its breath at you. Without the ballistae, your attacks will be limited and not worth your lives. My full enchantments with the added cores should last about five minutes, so that's how long we have. We retreat in full if that isn't enough. Now, is everyone ready?"

"""Yes!""" we all replied.

Dalia nodded and turned to the door. Taking a breath, she pushed it open and charged in. We weren't far behind, and she had already rushed a quarter of the way in. Knowing Dalia had the hardest and most deadly job of us all, we got to taking out our ballistae. 

Ailine went to the right of the door with hers, and I went left. This left the doorway clear in case we needed to retreat. Once out with the bolt already loaded, I began cranking the wheels, adjusting the aim of the massive machine. 

The fact that the two queens were able to create this monstrosity is almost unbelievable to me. The fact that it pierced through a wyvern is also amazing. If this doesn't at least hurt the dragon, I'm not sure if any mortal item can.

As I adjust it, I watch as the dragon looks at Dalia and raises its head off of its horde. It doesn't even look like it's taking her advance seriously. For a monster as large as it is, the situation must seem like a toddler trying to swing a fist at an adult.

As it opens its giant maw to bite at her, Lia makes one of the grenades appear and quickly lobs it inside. The dragon doesn't even register something flying into its mouth as it bites forward.

Dalia suddenly changes direction, likely using a foothold of air in front of her to immediately stop and dive backwards as the jaws close dangerously close to her with the sound of a large portcullis slamming shut. Without that abrupt stop, the fight would have been over. 

Still adjusting my aim, I count in my head. One. Two. Three. *Boom* The grenade exploded inside the dragon's mouth. With a roar so loud it shook dust off the walls, it screamed. 

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Looking at the damage, a small trickle of blood is coming from its mouth. As much as I hoped that ended the battle like with the wyverns, this is no wyvern. 

As Dalia runs to the side with the full ire of the king of monsters on her, the dragon stands up fully on its four legs and raises one to swipe at her. It must be cautious of biting after blood was drawn.

Jumping up, she avoids the swipe and I see her store the shield and sword and take her warhammer in the air. She swings upward while jumping off of one of her platforms and connects solidly with its bottom jaw. The enchantment on the back of the hammer activates and the jaw is pushed upwards a few feet. It didn't do much damage, but must have severely pissed it off. 

As Dalia keeps moving the dragon to expose its side, I finally get in a decent position.

"Hold!"

Stopping what I'm turning at Navi's command, we both watch and wait for a good shot. As Dalia dodges a swipe from its other claw, she jumps backwards, creating distance and giving us the shot we need. 

(Fire!)

I hear Ailine and in my mind as I trust that Navi has all enchantments activated. Pulling the lever, with a loud snap, my bolt flies right after Ailine's.

*Thump-ump* The bolts connect with the side of the dragon, barely piercing the scales. The bolt doesn't even fully stick into the side. Just how tough is this thing?!

*Boom!* Even without being deeply embedded, the bolts still explode almost immediately after impact.

With another cavern shaking roar, the dragon lurches to the side from the explosions. Looking at the damage we caused, we blew a few scales away and even burst through the skin, causing some bleeding. Essentially, we didn't do more damage than if I fell hard and skinned my knee badly.

"Crank the reload! I'll get the bolt set!"

Listening to Navi, I crank the wheel that pulls the 'string' into position. Now is our most vulnerable time. If Dalia can't get the attention off of us, we'll be forced to retreat.

Watching the dragon turn towards us, a jolt of fear rushes through me. How could it not when this thing stares at you wanting to kill you? Cranking as fast as I can, I see Dalia take her hammer and smash it into one of the dragon's front feet with a wind accelerated swing and the hammer's enchantment.

The spike of the hammer creates a fist sized hole on the top of the more thinly scaled foot. Storing the hammer to get it out of the way faster, she takes a grenade and thrusts it into the hole she just made while dashing off.

As the dragon glances at her for pricking its foot, another explosion rings out, gouging out a small part of the top of the foot. Baring its teeth, the dragon rears its head back and the start of a breath attack can be seen. 

Almost in slow motion, a massive torrent of fire bursts from the dragon's mouth aiming directly at Dalia. Watching her body disappear into the flames, I can't help but grit my teeth and pray to Chaos and Order that the armor she made to withstand that breath did its job. I know whatever anxiety I'm feeling, her wife must be feeling a hundred fold.

With the continuous breath raining down on Dalia's last known position, I can even feel the heat from this far away without my enchantments on.

Then, out of nowhere, Dalia bursts from the side of the blast and air jumps to the side of the dragon that we hit. Taking out a javelin, she accelerates it into the hole we made before diving away. Without scales and with the skin punctures, it slides in a short way.

With a grunt, the dragon tries to turn to swat at her when it explodes, carving a chunk of meat out of its side. 

I finally get the crank back fully and locked into position when Navi gets the bolt placed. The dragon is facing towards us as it tries to get to Dalia, but after that explosion and being seemingly unharmed by its fire, she's annoying the dragon enough to keep it focused on her. Like a buzzing fly that won't go away.

As I crank the aiming wheels to a position I think the dragon might move to, I watch as its massive wings extend from its side.

(Fire at the wings! Don't let it get airborne!)

Listening to Ailine, I crank frantically. Just as I get into place, I hear Ailine's bolt fire and see it go through a wing, tearing a hole in it before exploding on the far side of the cavern.

(Fire!)

Navi calls out as I pull the lever sending my bolt flying. By some grace, as it brings its wing down to push into the air, the bolt impacts with the arm of the wing, pushing that arm back and forcing the bolt to get stuck in the wing membrane right as it explodes and tears a massive hole in the wing as well as breaking the wing arm, if I had to guess by the angle it's at now.

(You're all clear, kid. Now let's blow this thing and go home!)

Hearing Navi yell at Dalia, I'm still worried. Those explosions definitely got its attention. Cranking the reloading wheel at a feverish pace, the dragon takes a step towards us, just to have Dalia slam the hammer into its other front foot and leave a grenade before retreating. 

This time, as the grenade explodes, the foot of the dragon impacts Dalia, sending her tumbling through the air to the side. Out of my peripheries, I see her get control of her fall before rushing back towards the dragon.

With an obvious limp, the dragon begins advancing towards us again. Only to have Dalia slam a javelin into its injured side into the same hole as last time. With there only being meat, this one goes noticeably farther inside as Dalia air jumps upwards after placing it. 

For a second, the dragon does a short roar, feeling the pain as I see Dalia toss a grenade into its mouth before pushing off in the air and landing on the ground.

With the explosion in its side, the dragon is noticeably hurting now. Followed by the grenade in its mouth, more blood pours out and even a couple pieces of tooth fall to the ground.

Completely fed up with the pest jumping around and hurting it, the dragon pounces at Dalia, intending to crush her with its giant body. 

As the dragon comes down, Dalia stops and stands completely still. Just before the body impacts, I see her form disappear from where she just was, and appear farther away on the other side of the dragon just as my vision of her is obscured by the dragon.

String finally in position as the dragon begins to rise, Dalia has worked it so its injured side is facing us again. As Navi loads a bolt, I see Dalia shove a javelin with both hands into its injured foot.

Taken by surprise after thinking the annoyance was squashed, the dragon looks back at her and tries to bite as she pushes away. As the jaws close on nothing but air with the mouth directly above the impaled foot, the javelin explodes. This time, the explosion renders the foot all but useless, and pelts its face with shrapnel that just further annoyed it.

Turning the aiming wheels, Ailine and I take aim. Its broken wing is hanging down, blocking full view, but with a target this large, we know well enough where to aim.

The dragon rears up on its hind legs and swipes with the better of its two front feet at Dalia in the air. She puts her hands up and looks like she hit an invisible ceiling before pushing herself downwards with her arms, barely going under the swipe.

With the miss, the dragon drops back down onto all fours, with its mutilated foot being drawn to its body.

(Fire!) Ailine called out.

(Smile, you son of a dog!) Navi shouts in our minds.

With two more bolts soaring through the air, both pierce through the wing. I hear mine make a sound like our original bolts, impacting scale. Ailine's, however, made a softer sound, seemingly hitting the general area that the first bolt cleared of scales. It wasn't the hole where Dalia has been carving into, but without scales, it had to have impaled itself farther into the body with much less resistance.

*Boom* With the loudest roar yet, the dragon falls to its side, almost in slow motion. The foot that would have supported it from the explosion was already mangled by Dalia.

Impacting the ground with similar force to the body slam, I watch as Dalia runs up to the newly made large hole on its side and shoves a javelin into it. Instead of jumping away, she jumps to the other large hole in its side and shoves a javelin into it as well, as the first one explodes.

Even with the force of the explosion pushing her away, her goal was achieved. The second explosion went off, making the wound even worse. Because the dragon still draws breath, Ailine and I keep turning the reloading wheel, since this is the most we can do to help.

With its head now on its side, laying on the ground, it appears to be on its last leg. Yet, as the queens have always done and forced me to learn, never stop the full powered assault of your enemy until you're absolutely certain they're dead. Dalia was also adamant that we never, under any circumstances, say 'did that do it?' or 'is it dead?'

Taking advantage of the head still on the ground, Dalia pulls out another javelin from storage as she runs along the side of the dragon towards its face. Unceremoniously, she jumps and brings the tip straight into its large orange eye, accelerating it with her own magic and its enchantment. Burying itself deep into the eye, she jumps off the head as the javelin explodes. 

With one final twitch of its body, I see its massive chest deflate and then still as Dalia lands and stares at the body.

(We did it! Lia! Hurry! Cue up some Bill Conti!)

Navi is the first to express what we are coming to terms with. We did it. We actually did it! As I am about to celebrate as well, I watch Dalia's form stumble and then fall onto her butt, barely catching herself with her hands.

(({Da}Lia!)) Ailine, Navi, and I both shout out and begin dashing towards her.

(I'm fine!) she hurriedly said back. (Just almost out of fucking mana. Keep back some, I can still see the heat coming off of my fucking armor.)

Even with her helmet and armor on, I can still see Ailine noticeably relax her shoulders. She must be even more relieved than I am. Dalia's speech pattern of cursing also came back.

From the months I've been with the queens, I've come to realize just how much effort Dalia puts in to make herself seem more queen-like. It honestly took me by surprise when she first started cursing in the dungeon. I guess it also goes hand-in-hand with how I was forbidden from using anything but their names while in here. Honestly, it was refreshing to see that this woman, at the pinnacle of strength, and a queen recognized by the [system], can curse more than almost any knight I've met.

While staring at the body, Dalia speaks again. (We actually fucking did it. Navi, those enchantments were amazing. Girls, those shots were great. Especially your wing shot, Sara, and your final bolt Ailine.)

(Thanks, Vamps! And good job running that thing in circles! You were more annoying than a group of horseflies at a backyard inflata-pool.) Navi replies.

(Let's catch our breath for a few minutes and pack up.) Dalia lays back on the ground. (As soon as my armor cools a bit, lets take a drink of this thing and finally, after ten fucking years, claim this god forsaken dungeon core.)

With everyone in agreement, I pack the ballista into the bag, but can't keep myself from grinning at the window that has been in my vision. I can't seem to bring myself to dismiss it quite yet. I'm probably more proud of this than anything I've ever done before. This is something nobody can ever take away from me and I will always have.

Title acquired - Dragon Slayer

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