RD 3 Ch 51

"I thought it was odd that the inscription only pointed in a single direction," I murmured, moving through the forest, only to stop at a cliff down below.

There was a circular landscape, almost as if it was set to be an arena. In the center, the dracoon was laying down. Boss was using a purple crystal in a strange ritual with the unconscious dracoon. By the way everything was glowing, it appeared he was almost done.

According to my new inscription it could only detect Zaydelin from what appeared to be that crystal. Either my inscription could only detect the closest source, or all of his fragments were inside of it.

I glanced behind me at the Mul Branova. They were all standing ready to fight, but I shook my head.

Several of them snapped their heels together in almost military fashion and saluted, waiting for my orders.

“He would use the dracoon to threaten all of you. I should be able to take care of this easily enough, especially if you enable me to use Blood Rage Ascension," I said.

This time I was sure we were almost done. After we finished killing the dracoon, the instance would be complete. I could use Last Stand to finish this fight and get us back to Earth for final preparations for the First Demon War.

"I'm certain I can at least be of some help," Circe put a hand on her hip, only for Merlin to nod along. I could see Nyx biting her lip, but I did not make direct eye contact with Gloria, who I could tell in my peripheral vision had an eyebrow raised in challenge.

"Are the two of you going to insist on coming?" I asked. 

"Well I’m certainly not staying out of the fight. But for now I will stay up here and provide some cover fire." Gloria held out her hand, lighting up flames in her palm.

I glanced at Simone.

"I have my followers to protect," she said, "besides, you'll be fine. Now shoo. Go do Bran things, and come back for me to bandage you up. I’m always more than happy to wash you off." Simone winked at me before shooing me away like some sort of housewife getting me out from underfoot. 

I didn't give Boss any more time to complete whatever ritual was happening down below, jumping straight down into the pit and summoning a fresh Blood Blade as I rushed towards him.

The egomaniacal demon began laughing as he saw me charge across the empty space. Thrusting his hand into the gem, his flesh merged with the stone as he then pushed it into the dracoon's forehead. “Don’t mind me Zaydelin, but I’m going to be borrowing your connection to this pretty little pet instead of letting you control it.”

There was an unwilling wail from the crystal as it became the bridge between the dracoon and Boss.

It seemed that somehow Boss had trapped the general’s soul for his own use.

Boss shifted until he had shoved his waist inside the crystal now embedded in the dracoon, wiggling around as the dracoon opened its eyes and began to stand, fanning out its massive, draconic wings and striking a pose as if showing off to the world.

"You're too late," Boss's high-pitched voice squeaked above a booming secondary voice of the dracoon itself. "I've already become one with my new body." Boss cackled with glee as the dracoon beat its wings, creating a heavy gale within the arena.

Circe waved her hand and stopped the wind from blowing all of us away. 

Boss had now situated himself so that his little demonic body extended like a large pimple from the center of the dracoon's forehead with the crystal between them. 

Meanwhile, the massive beast had dull eyes as it moved to his command. 

"Behold! The next Demon General! No! Demon Lord. I will take over this world!" Boss was beyond excited, continuing to laugh in excitement. "If you are all the best that humanity has to offer, then I present to you the new ruler of Earth. You three may bow down and become my first supplicants." He gestured with a rolling hand as if he would graciously accept our submission.

"Do we need to let this asshole monologue, or can we just get this started?" Merlin asked, waving her crystalline staff and creating a row of ice spikes in front of her that launched off, driving themselves into the dracoon. However, all of the hits shattered on his tough hide.

Boss cackled further. "All of you will meet your doom! With the General’s help I’m going to control this beast and establish a nation of demons underneath me."

I doubted that Zaydelin was truly helping him, the sneaky demon general always had an angle.

Rather than striking a pose, Boss waved his little humanoid arms in the air. The gesture was certainly far from seeming threatening.

I closed the distance and thrust a blood blade into the fur of the dracoon, only for the blade to shatter on the scales of the monster. 

"Didn't you see?" Boss grinned like a loon. "The system gave this thing a SSS rank." One of the massive paws lifted up, its claws coming out and smacking me away like I was nothing more than a toy.

Wind picked up into a giant drill, piercing towards Boss's tiny body on the forehead.

The dracoon flinched, its wings coming up to shield Boss before flicking Circe's ability away. 

"Careful now," Boss mocked her, brushing off the wing with his fingertips. "If you destroy me, this thing will go back to being a mindless monster. I can be reasonable, as long as you fully submit to me. I could use some better quality grunts. But I suppose I should prove myself." 

Boss pointed his little finger, and out came a much larger spell than I expected. Fire rushed out, forming a massive serpentine dragon that rushed towards us.

Crimson Barrier shot out only for Merlin and Circe to add their own defensive abilities to the mix only for all three of them to break in order to divert the ability and only let a small wave of fire wash over us.

Circe panted as we finished shielding ourselves from the attack. "I know the guy is comically inept in just about every way, but that was some serious firepower." She wiped her brow where she had actually been sweating from the heat of the ability despite ice and wind blocking it. 

"Both of you get back and play support. I will take the lead." I rushed forward once again, shouting to Simone, "I need your help." 

Several buffs hit me from Simone herself before streams of blood raced through the air and slammed into my back. Blood rage ascension activated instantly. I quickly grew into a sixteen-foot-tall form of myself, my flesh stretching and splitting as I bled while my blood was replenished by the streams. Unlike before, where they were singular streams that ended quickly, these continued to flow and I realized that whenever I had my followers with me, I would be able to retain my Bloodrage Ascension ability even without a battlefield of blood to use. Though I suspected continuing to flow power to me was taking a toll on the Mul Branova with every second.

Using the blood to form a larger blood blade, I slammed into the dracoon and for the first time it showed signs of being hurt, my sword leaving a shallow scratch through its scales. 

Boss screamed like a dying pig and began to thrash from the dracoon's forehead. Its fluffy tail came around and smashed into the earth, sending rocks flying even as I moved to the side and tried to pierce into the soft skin where its leg met.

My blade punched in nearly a foot, but that depth was only a scratch to the big beast.

I let go of my sword and jumped back as Boss let loose a firestorm breath underneath himself. The fire was enough to torch me, charring my skin and forcing me to roll along the ground to put out the fire that had started on my back.

The swirling tornadoes of flames, however, did nothing to the massive dracoon. 

"How dare you," Boss scolded me as a massive pair of jaws missed me by a hair's breadth.

I punched the side of its face, hurting my own fist as much as I attempted to injure the demon controlled monster.

Boss and the Dracoon roared in unison as it reared up on its hind legs, gathering more fire for another breath.

"Hit it now!" I shouted, seeing the opportunity as the soft underside was exposed. 

The dracoon’s underbelly seemed to be far less armored than its scaly exterior elsewhere.

Arrows peppered in from above, while Gloria's purple fire battered against its side. Both seemed to find purchase in their abilities, but it was Merlin and Circe who did the real damage. An ice spike managed to punch itself into the belly of the beast. Circe's wind came roaring in behind, hammering the spike in further and leaving shallow scratches all along its stomach. 

The dracoon released its next firestorm breath, spilling out onto the ground as it fanned the flames with its wings, setting nearly half the arena ablaze.

I was unable to avoid the flames and was scorched once again for my efforts.

The pain was only slightly dulled by the soothing touch of Simone's healing ability. 

I rushed in as the dracoon came back down on all fours. A new blood blade was available as I went for its wings.

Not that it cared to let me as its weight shifted to free up a front paw.

The blade I had previously left in its armpit melted away with the firestorm breath. However, I was able to sprout some sanguine locking thorns that wrapped around the front leg long enough to keep him from swatting me away. 

I jumped up, my new blade slashing deep into the soft webbing of his wings before throwing myself up on his back. Spines jutted out from the center, and I grabbed one of them to hold on as the beast thrashed and bucked, slamming its tail in a full circle as he spun around. I was worried for Circe and Merlin, but checking on them would have to wait for later. I couldn’t divert my attention from hanging onto the back of the beast.

The dracoon tucked in his wings, and I realized it was about to roll and try to crush me.

Summoning a second blood blade in my other hand, I positioned both of them on its back as the demon flipped the body of the dracoon over, and its weight drove both swords deep through his hard spines.

[Endurance S]

A system notification popped up as I was squished for a moment, only to come out the other side and shove myself away from the monster. 

Boss was now wailing, screaming expletives at me as he rounded around the pit in the dracoon’s body to get his eyes on me. 

"You damn human. You need to learn your place. You are nothing but livestock for us demons to possess. You are livestock with some potential, but ultimately it is demonic souls that will once again rule this universe," he spat. 

He shook his head at me, the giant Dracoon also shaking its massive head, making Boss' small form look dizzy as he was thrown about.

I aimed at the demon form in the dracoon, a blood bolt flying out of my hands and towards his small figure.

However, the dracoon snapped its jaws open, catching the blood bolt in its mouth and protecting the small form coming out of its forehead. 

"Again, you try and fail," Boss recovered as if he had not made himself dizzy. "Prepare to die." 

The Dracoon spat out another terrifyingly powerful firestorm breath.

I used Crimson Barrier as I summoned three more blood blades that I stabbed into the ground in front of me. The fiery breath washed over me and scorched me. Another system message came, and I took a heavier step forward, feeling my body suddenly ache as its density shifted.

[Primordial Confluence Titan Physique E]

Summoning yet another blood blade, I rushed at Boss as I emerged out of the firestorm, my blade swinging. Boss screamed and swiped at me with one of his paws, yet this time I was ready, throwing my weight forward and sliding onto my hips before catching the ground with my heel and kicking back up. I launched myself under his neck and scored a nasty gash with my blood blade. 

At this point, I could feel my health was significantly waning, despite the several upgrades of my skills and Simone’s help.  Even with regeneration, I was taking a considerable amount of damage, weathering through multiple firestorm breaths. I felt at the edge of my abilities, reaching for Last Stand, but the ability had not yet unlocked.

Wind and ice slammed into the side of the dracoon's head, distracting Boss for a moment. Still underneath him, I swung my blade back and forth, scoring along his exposed underside.

I stabbed my blade in with finality, pushing more blood into it.

[Blood Blade S]

It seemed now that I was back in the real system and fighting a high ranked boss, my abilities were improving once again.

As I filled the blade it expanded further and pushed deeper into the chest of the giant monster.

Boss screamed and I had once again captured his attention. He swiped underneath himself and caught me with the edge of one of his claws, nearly tearing my arm off.

I grabbed the limb and let myself be carried with his paw, rather than have the last ligaments holding it together rip.

He tossed me aside and I flew until I hit the edge of the arena. 

Simone screamed for me from the top of the pit, but couldn’t make out what she was saying over the ringing in my head. Everything faded in and out for a moment as I struggled to my feet, pushing my regeneration to its limits before I activated Last Stand.