Chapter 141: Fighting the Dragon VII
Takeshi's face was covered in sweat, his teeth clenched as if about to shatter. Actually, normally he could do it without much difficulty. But from just now until now, Takeshi had continuously used energy and maintained it without rest, making him feel quite exhausted. If it were a long battle but just a loss of stamina, it would be different, but this was continuous maintenance without rest while using energy.
Elyssia and Aoto immediately seized the opportunity and understood.
It was a massive block of earth and rock with the dragon's range being lifted into the air, with the intent to use it to shield against the fireballs falling like rain; that way, they could advance closer and have a chance to inflict more damage. Aoto and Elyssia just like that flew beneath the shaking block of earth as it took hits from the fireballs falling like rain; that large block of earth was a wide area of the forest that Takeshi had lifted.
But Kazuka and Airi could not enter. Takeshi had used a lot of strength and concentration to control the block of earth, so he could not bring Airi and Kazuka in; they could only stand on the hovering earth block and look up. Airi's eyes were still staring very seriously.
Kazuka, in his heart, was very excited; the first time he met a dragon, the first time he got to fight it, naturally, his emotions surged.
"Wonderful, this is exactly dragon hunting. I thought it only existed in stories, but now I'm right here; it's truly wonderful."
The dragon at this time was still facing the sky and spitting fireballs that fell like rain, its mouth glowing like the sun. But in its heart at this moment, there was a hesitation and regret.
"Dammit, must I lose my life here? I can still fight well, but the situation from just now has always been me being pressured."
It remembered the moment it perched on the mountain peak behind the city of Tharros, then it sensed four similar energy sources; this made it extremely curious, after which it said no word and charged in to attack that group, and then the situation became like this. The feeling of regret for sneaking out of the Dragon Kingdom quickly enveloped the dragon's mind. But as fast as it came, it also went; quickly the feeling of not submitting and upholding the Dragon Race's pride of never enduring humiliation returned.
Boom!!!
Ayaka's arrow flew forth and slammed into the dragon's body, causing its frame to stagger; the feeling of pain was crystal clear. But it did not care; the wound caused by the arrow made the hard black scales tear apart and created an extremely wide wound.
The fire suddenly stopped; the dragon's throat inside glowed intensely orange-red. Its angry eyes pinned onto Aoto and Elyssia who were rushing in; the large mouth opened and spat fire toward both of them.
When the fireballs stopped falling, the block of earth that Takeshi lifted immediately fell down and was then blown away by the dragon's fire. Elyssia and Aoto flew to two sides to close in, wanting to create a pincer formation for the dragon.
The dragon opened its mouth wide and lunged straight at Elyssia; the large mouth could fit her whole person, the tusks large, pure white, and incredibly sharp. But Elyssia was not afraid, even if the dragon went mad. Fighting is about calmness and mastery; therefore, losing one's cool is losing the battle and will lose one's life.
Elyssia thrust her right hand forward, her left hand holding the sword relaxed. Her right hand created a rather small energy sphere, only the size of a ball, but it was energy compressed very tightly and extremely dense; once it flew forth, it might even pierce through the dragon's body. The dragon also sensed the danger and the horrific energy source within the sphere; it went mad but not without reason. When Elyssia fired the energy sphere with staggering speed, making it panic, the dragon immediately like an airplane tilted its torso, its two wings still wide open. It successfully dodged and continued to charge.
But it seemed the aggressive offensive was forced to stop; Elyssia's left hand had at some point been covered in thick energy, carrying the next threat. After all, this was just a young dragon, so being Elyssia's opponent was impossible; even an adult dragon fighting the current Elyssia, she could still win, but it would be a hard win.
If one thinks that resolving a young dragon taking this long means an adult dragon cannot be handled, that is wrong. The reason for the power gap between the two sides, unless the gap is too vast, is actually an accumulation of strikes. One might be weaker but smart enough to grasp an opening, inflicting damage on each other not too greatly, only bit by bit; therefore, a battle of the stronger ones lasts longer. If using all the energy in the body, it might be like Mythyr—the body cannot endure it, lucky it hasn't exploded yet—but the price to pay could be temporarily being unable to use energy, or worse, the energy gate will break and energy can no longer be stored.
An energy slash was unleashed from her left hand, the slash sweeping across a wide range aimed straight at the dragon. The dragon immediately flew high and avoided it.
Right as it avoided it, Aoto charged in with a massive energy source in his right hand like a piercing tip full of threat. Two Yokai wings, blue and transparent with swirling patterns, flapped incredibly fast.
The dragon sensed it and turned its head backward; its body also turned immediately after. Its mouth lunged, wanting to bite him once; Aoto still did not stop and charged straight into the dragon's mouth.
Boom!!!
When Aoto moved close to the dragon's mouth, he immediately created interference energy spilling out of the energy layer protecting his body, along with mixing in a lot of energy. This made him a literal bomb. But he was an Elemental; his energy was very large and the inner energy layer could protect him well even from the large explosion created by himself.
The dragon at this time, receiving the explosion, had smoke rising from its mouth; a few teeth showed signs of cracking and wobbling; the stinging sensation from the teeth made it extremely uncomfortable.
Any concentration needs to be at a certain level. If focusing on sensing the surroundings, one can achieve the best effect, but distracting oneself to fight, to react, to strike, to calculate... Therefore, one cannot sense at the best level.
Whoosh!!!
Ayaka's arrow flew forth, tearing the air and making the wind shriek. It immediately stabbed straight into the dragon's neck, making its eyes open wide in shock; a large hole a span wide and a bit deeper than a span appeared at the dragon's neck, revealing much red flesh. The dragon at this time suffered a great shock at its neck, causing its neck to tilt to one side; the feeling of pain surged straight to the brain.
At the same time the arrow stabbed into the neck, Elyssia's energy slash flew straight from behind the dragon, slashing straight into its back and creating a long wound. Although it could slash a long wound on both sides of the dragon's back, it could not affect the dragon's spine. Because from the start, running along the spine down to the tail were black spikes protruding, slightly curved like sharp knives specifically meant to protect it.
The dragon was very angry; it hadn't hit anyone yet. But it was always put in dangerous situations, making it struggle; now it continued. Although the wound was large and long, dragons are not weak creatures that just take a few wounds and run or fear. Although injured, it actually wasn't a weakness at all.
Its front claw, long black and sharp, was tearing the wind as the dragon swung its left leg toward Aoto. Aoto opened his eyes wide, knowing for sure he couldn't avoid it. Immediately, his energy wrapped around his body urgently; his energy shape was like a god. But only half a torso, bald, without any extra patterns. After all, it was energy; adding extra details would only make him focus more, so his choice was wise; he named it "Guardian God" just because he saw it was quite cool before.
The claw like a stone block struck toward Aoto's left side. The Guardian God's two hands immediately interlaced and both slashed and moved to one side, wanting to block that leg swing. Horrific pressure that could crush flesh and bone slammed straight into Aoto, but because there was no standing point in the air, he was blown away. The Guardian God energy layer was smashed, and the bones of Aoto's two arms also broke from enduring the pressure of the dragon's slap.
Elyssia charged from behind; the dragon had noticed and was wary of her. It immediately swung its tail back toward the rear; Elyssia flew up above the tail swing path and avoided it. Immediately, she swung her sword, slashing straight into the tail right below, making the dragon roar in pain. Its mouth opened wide and spat fire toward Elyssia; the pressure from the glowing hot fire advanced straight toward her.
Elyssia swung the sword in her hand; an energy line with an extremely large range was unleashed. The large fire and Elyssia's slash fell into a stalemate; Elyssia's slash pushed back the fire for a distance then was flipped back and was being overwhelmed by the fire because the dragon's fire was sustained while Elyssia's slash was instantaneous. But Elyssia had no time to stand and watch her opponent neutralizing her strike; her speed surged, four wings flapping intensely, darting around and closing in on the dragon's flank.
The dragon's panic was clearly visible, realizing Elyssia's intent. The fire was immediately cut off from its mouth and it turned to the left, its mouth opening wide and biting down on Elyssia. She quickly changed direction, speed slowing down and moving upward. Elyssia's intent was clear: she wanted to aim for the dragon's eye. The sword in her right hand was gripped tight, shoulders wide.
When the dragon's mouth lunged from above, it also caught Elyssia's movement and anticipated the intent. It immediately tilted its head and leaned to the right. The sword in Elyssia's hand swung forth; if so, the dragon would avoid it. She quickly slashed out a diagonal energy strike unleashed at close range.
But the slash only struck the part below the dragon's eye; the wound was quite deep and long; the dragon was in so much pain it closed one eye. It quickly swung its right leg, wanting to slap Elyssia. Elyssia's left hand created an energy sphere slightly bigger than a ball, immediately pushing it directly against the dragon's claw.