Chapter 32: Draconic Wrath

Every projection told Axel he was screwed.

It was evident from his opponents’ level and strength. Blocking that single thrust from the Dragonrider alone had shattered his arms earlier.

Still, Axel swung with all his might, twisting his body and bringing the halberd screaming down with both hands.

The Dragonrider casually deflected it in a one-arm parry before bringing the lance around to perforate his torso.

[Warning! Health below 30%!]

The lance thrusted through his pitiful armour and speared itself a chunk of Axel’s flank. The soldier felt his innards slipping out from the gaping wound at his side.

A single strike — just a graze, even — and Axel lost 70% of his Health.

The Dragon was not idle either, acidic fangs lashing for him. Axel twist his grip and slammed the butt of his polearm against the Dragon’s head, disorientating it for a split second.

The soldier leapt back, half-expecting to die right then. The Dragonrider had a clear shot of lancing him through his heart from that angle.

Instead, the Eldarin heir did nothing, allowing Axel to fall back.

The Dragon snarled and tried to pursue, but the rider held its reins tight and bid it to stillness.

Axel kept retreating until he was twenty metres away. Only then did he allow himself to collapse, breathing hard as his mangled intestines spilt out.

“Heal your wound, warrior,” the Dragonrider called out. “I have not the measure of you yet.”

Axel hissed, eyes furious. Still, the soldier did as he was told, pushing his intestine back in as he downed several healing potions.

[Health restored]

“Your stat-enhancing potions, too,” the Dragonrider called out. “Make any preparations you wish.”

“Well, aren’t you generous?” Axel barked a harsh laugh. 

Still, the soldier did not waste the opportunity given, infuriating as it was. Every type of stat-enhancing potion he had, he downed it.

[Minor Strength Potion Consumed]

[Minor Dexterity Potion Consumed]

[Minor Agility Potion Consumed]

[Minor Perception Potion Consumed]

[Minor Endurance Potion Consumed]

[Class Boon Active! All Stat gains doubled! Temporary Skill Bonus duration doubled!]

[+8 Str, +8 Dex, +8 Agl, +8 Per, +8 End for 60 Seconds]

“Very good,” the Dragonrider nodded as Axel violently tossed aside the last empty potion, shattering it to the ground. “Let us continue.”

The ravine cracked with the roaring echoes of wings and hissing venom. Black clouds rolled as the Fae Dragon fluttered its massive moth wings and expelled superheated gas from its side to gain thrust. Jaws frothing with viridescent acid and a black insect-draconic hide of dark copper, the nightmare given form rushed forth in a stampeding rage. 

Upon its back, the Dragonrider in barbed armour — crimson cloak whipping in the wind — readied his moonlight lance, the tip still gleaming red from when it struck Axel.

As for Axel himself, the soldier did not charge forth again. He stood his ground amid the mess of rocks and narrow pathways within that section of the canyon. The terrain suited him; the foe was large, and he was small. He could make use of cover, striking from the sides before retreating behind the mounds of stone and earth.

Or so he told himself.

The butt of his halberd planted deep in the cracked ground. He was still, anchored like a fortress as the beast screamed downward. A spray of acid seared the air, boiling the walls of the canyon as it descended in a shattering, unstoppable mass.

Axel moved just before impact.

The dragon’s insect forearms crashed where he’d stood, tearing furrows into the earth. Axel had already rolled to the side, his flesh smoking where droplets of acid had kissed it. In one fluid movement, he rose and swung — his halberd cutting a horizontal arc aimed at the dragon’s exposed forelimb.

The blade bit deep. The beast shrieked and reared back. The halberd tore free in a burst of black blood. But Axel had no time to press the advantage — the Dragonrider had their lance levelled, the tip seeking his heart.

Axel twisted and parried. The clash of metal rang once more. This time, the trade of strength was more even, with Axel’s bladework possessing more precision and speed. The lance skimming off his halberd’s edge in a shriek of metal. 

Axel staggered, but turned the motion into a pivot, dragging the halberd around in a low, hooking sweep with the backspike. The shaft caught behind the Eldarin’s knee, yanking his leg out from under him as the halberd’s rear spiked edge slammed into the Dragon’s flank.

He now had a foothold.

With a roar, Axel leapt, one arm pulling upon the stuck halberd to drive himself up towards the saddled rider. An iron spear manifested itself in his other hand, aiming for the exposed gap beneath the Dragonrider’s arm.

“No. You are nowhere fast enough for that.”

The Eldarin casually block the spear with the haft of his lance, twisting hard and locking the two weapons in a cross. The rider then lifted a fist and smashed down on Axel’s weapon, breaking the iron spear in half.

Axel fell back to the ground, his arms back on the halberd as he tried to rip the weapon free. It was stuck in a brutal clinch — blade grinding between plates of chitin-like scales. 

Acid hissed, licking his skin as the dragon coiled to strike again.

“Fuck!” Axel cursed, forcing himself to release the weapon and dive away.

He barely made it; the torrent of boiling acid only engulfed half his form instead of his entire body. 

He was alive, but the results were not pretty.

[Warning! Health below 40%!]

His ragged armour was melting into his skin. Half of his face was cooked and burning. He only had one eye left that was functional. 

He could barely think beyond the pain, but he caught the glimmer of moving steel, and Axel reacted.

He ducked, the Dragonrider’s lance missing his face by mere inches, before pulling forth a flashbang and throwing it.

The sudden, deafening screech of the explosive made his mind spin. A disoriented and muffled roar told him he had caught the dragon right in the maw.

Axel, brain half-melted and body dissolving, gave a gurgling war cry and charged.

He raised his hands, right arm reaching as he lunged to grab his halberd—

—before the maw of the dragon came around and swallowed his entire right arm.

Fang crunched down, severing the entire arm in one motion.

[Warning! Health below 10%!]

[Conditions met! ‘Last Stand’ activated]

[Stats increased! Endurance +12, Strength +8, Agility +8]

Axel wavered on the spot, the stump of his right limb spurting blood. The man collapsed to his knees, coughing up more blood.

A lance fell lightly upon his head. Axel turned and looked up dully, half his face melted through.

The noble form of the Dragonrider looked down from atop its mount, his eyes disappointed.

“Is this the sum of you, Demon?” the rider asked.

Axel hacked up a piece of his tongue, spitting melting teeth. Then, he raised his left hand, clenched in a fist—

—before opening it, revealing two pulled grenade pins.

Axel’s single, maddened eye met the Prince, the half-grin on his waxing face a horror. “Idiot.”

The throat of the Fae Dragon detonated from within. 

Fire and explosive force tore open the Dragon’s neck like a burst pipe. The Dragon gurgled a frenzied scream of agony, rearing back violently and causing the rider to miss his lance thrust.

It was not dead, however. The wound on its neck was severed, but it did not tear off the Dragon’s head as Axel had hoped.

But the soldier had tools to spare, even ones he disliked using. In that single, precious second as both rider and dragon were distracted, Axel pulled forth an item he had left buried deep in his inventory.

[‘Whip of the Old Fae King’ Equipped!]

A weapon he received from the Bugbear Siegemaster. A whip that could induce the debuff ‘Fae Madness’, essentially turning whoever he hit it with into a berserk state that could not differentiate friend from foe for 10 seconds.

Axel stepped in close, arm reared back. As the Dragon recovered from its bleeding throat, Axel whipped the spiked end of the weapon and drove the tip straight into its eye.

[‘Fae Madness’ inflicted on Fae Dragon!]

The beast roared with something between horror and anguish, blood pouring from its open throat. It thrashed and bucked madly, as if trying to rid itself of the rider on its back. 

The Dragonrider thrusted his lance into the dragon’s back to anchor himself, but the beast simply roared louder, moth wings fluttering into a storm as great gales burst out of the side of its thorax, lifting them high into the air.

Axel watched as the beast smashed its back against the canyon’s wall, slamming the rider hard and dragging him against the rocky surface multiple times. Still, the Dragonrider clung on, one hand on the reins while the other pushed the lance deeper into the enraged beast.

Acidic blood was pouring everywhere. The Dragon repeated its violent struggling, colliding against the walls over and over to dislodge the rider it perceived as its primary threat.

In the midst of the creature’s flailing, the halberd stuck to its flank finally dislodged itself, falling to the ground and landing blade-first with a thunderous impact.

Axel stood, limping over with horrific wounds. The pain was beyond words. His own heart was faltering. Every nerve in his body screamed as if on fire, begging him to lie down and die.

He ignored it all. The soldier’s gaze was calm as his remaining hand grabbed the halberd and pulled it free from its entrenchment.

[‘Fae Madness’ inflicted on Fae Dragon expired!]

Ten seconds were up. The wounded dragon, still bleeding profusely in the air, suddenly froze. A blank look crossed its insect eyes before a devastating fury took over.

The roar must have echoed across the entire Zone, such was its fury that the canyon’s face rained stones from the vibration. The soldier stood in the open, vulnerable and exposed. He had nowhere to go. His body was on the brink of death.

He stared up at the moth-winged dragon, framed against the night sky and positively vibrating with insulted pride…

Unafraid. Unbroken. Mocking the creature’s very existence.

With a final bellow — heedless of the rider’s attempt to control it — the dragon swooped down with every ounce of speed it could bring to bear.

Axel planted his feet wide on the melted stone, knees slightly bent, body low — like a coiled spring. His left foot slid forward, toes angled and anchoring him to the earth while his right heel lifted ever so slightly, ready to drive power through his arm. 

His remaining hand gripped the halberd near its midpoint, his arms tense but steady. For a heartbeat, he stilled — his breath drawing in slow through melted teeth, his lone eye locked on the dragon’s open maw.

The weapon tilted back behind his shoulder, blade gleaming crimson under moonlight. His whole frame was a lever — shoulders tight, hips rotated, weight shifting to his rear leg. 

All his superhuman strength, coiled in preparation for one devastating release.

Then — a single heartbeat before impact — he threw.

The halberd was hurled forth like a javelin. The weapon flew straight as an arrow and slammed full into the accelerating beast’s open mouth. The spiked tip punched through the back of its wounded throat, slicing past knots of draconic muscle, before severing the brainstem as the blade tip emerged bloodily from the opposite side of its head.

The dragon convulsed — wings spasming wide in midair — and flew past Axel before colliding into the ground behind him with a thunderous, flesh-tearing crash.

Dust was kicked up in great volume. Axel coughed, turning slowly to face the carnage behind him.

The giant, mangled bulk of the insectoid Fae Dragon twitched once, twice, then ceased entirely.

The System, always so prompt with its notification, stuttered.

[... Critical hit.]

[...]

[...]

[... Congratulations! Lv40 Fae Dragon slain!]

[Extra XP Awarded for slaying a higher-level creature!]

[Extra XP Awarded for slaying a Boss Entity!]

[Level Up! +2 Free Skill Point!]

[Level Up! +2 Free Skill Point!]

[Level Up! +2 Free Skill Point!]

[Level Up! +2 Free Skill Point!]

[Zone Boss 4 of 4 slain!]

[System Log: ERROR]

[An Impossible Feat has been accomplished.]

[One solo Participant has slain all four tutorial bosses within less than 24 hours since their species’ assimilation.]

[No previous precedent found across the Great Game’s history of 2,111,674 instances of Species Assimilation]

[Abnormality detected. Abnormality detected]

[Participant was a Leftover Instance sent to a Dead Zone for elimination.]

[Participant is still alive despite increased force projection sent to eliminate them.]

[Participant has somehow completed Zone Quest despite being alone without aid.]

[Contacting Admins for emergency verification…]

[Candidate Axel Roukin, please stand by…]

[The entirety of the System is now evaluating the worth of your continued existence.]