Then, the Devil’s Dragon turned its head toward her and loosed a torrent of blackened breath. She countered with a chant.
“Magic Shell, Heal Field.”
Deploying a magical membrane alongside a spell to heal herself over time, she managed to completely stave off the Devil’s Dragon’s powerful breath. Her gaze snapped to us, as if to say it was our turn to attack.
“Here I come!” shouted Therese. “Prism Magic into...Ruby Fire!”
The gemstone embedded in Therese’s Jewel body glistened, seemingly synergizing with the gemstones on her accessories, which flared to life as well. So many sparkles coalesced into a scarlet blazing flame that hurtled toward the Devil’s Dragon.
It was quite a show. Her Brave Pekkle-made bracelet was boosting the power of her magic.
Seeing as our resident Drain Ninja only ever used Drain and lightning magic, I rarely got the chance to see anything else, but Therese’s spells had some flashy effects.
There was a boom as the fire magic slammed into the Devil’s Dragon and singed its scales.
“GYAAAAOOO!”
Oh...solid hit.
Back when we fought the Dragon Zombie on Cal Mira, we didn’t have too many pieces of powerful equipment, so we had to strategize a bit. But Emoji and Therese were fully armed and equipped with the skills to match.
I could already see a clear path to victory.
Aight, my turn. But I might weird Emoji out if I start by smacking a lure into its face, and sticking to range can be pretty dull.
“GYAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
My senses were sharp. The world was slow.
The dragon had only just finished spewing its breath when it immediately launched a bite attack at Emoji, who blocked it to create an opening. I saw my chance to zoom in with the ice knife.
“Cleaver.”
I deftly closed the distance, ice knife in hand as I unleashed a Cleaver.
“Gyah!”
Oh? I staggered it? Then have another!
Slash, slash, I managed three hits in total.
“Gyaaah!”
Another stagger. There’s more where that came from!
“Hey... Hey, island lord!”
“Hmm?”
I turned my head to Emoji’s slow-mo voice.
“GYAAAAOOOOOOO!”
Ah, the Devil’s Dragon locked onto me.
I’d overdone it and drawn too much aggro. That had to be what she was warning me about. I’d been so focused on using the chance she’d given me that I’d gotten in a few attacks too many.
I should back off and let Emoji build up aggro again.
Predicting the incoming tail sweep and slam, I sprinted away and set a bear trap to stop it even if it gave chase.
Krchnk! The Devil’s Dragon’s leg set off the trap and immobilized it for a moment. As a boss, it immediately shook it off, but that was enough to buy me some distance.
Or so I thought...but despite all of my caution, one glance up and I realized the Devil’s Dragon’s HP had already dropped to one third... It was softer than expected. And slow too...
“GYAOOO!”
A billowing breath came my way, but with all the space in between us, I could easily dodge to one side.
I think we can finish this soon.
With Hiding Hunt, I attempted to swiftly return aggro to Emoji. I’d immediately vanished without a trace, but perhaps I’d racked up too much aggro as instead of turning to her, the dragon began to fretfully scan the area for me.
Yeah...the AI isn’t that dumb.
Even if it looked like it was attacking blindly, it still seemed to be making attempts at where I was. With that said, its movements were so dull that I could just maintain my distance and kite to make it easier for Emoji and Therese to attack.
Sticking to ice knife mode, I began to charge up Blood Flower as I ran.
The moment I started up another skill, the concealment was lifted and the Devil’s Dragon came barreling straight at me.
“Holy Ball!”
“Ruby Fire!”
Picking up on my intentions, Emoji and Therese tried to draw its attention with magic.
Charging, charging, it continued whirring in my hands until... Clink! Charge complete.
“Aight! Blood Flower!”
I dashed straight through the Devil’s Dragon, unleashing Blood Flower. There was that familiar, flashy effect... The monster’s HP plummeted to zero, and as I’d used Blood Flower to land the finishing blow, its body burst into an array of dismantling materials.
The difference was staggering.
It was like heaven and earth, compared to when I’d fought the Dragon Zombie alongside Shouko. Was this what they called growth?
Emoji’s buffs were probably doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
†
“Island lord, your attack is way too high,” Emoji pointed out as soon as the battle was over. Her voice was a mix of shock and exasperation.
“You’re definitely a lot stronger than the last time we fought together, Kizzy,” Therese muttered, eying my weapon. “I’ve been watching for a while, but...that definitely doesn’t look like a normal weapon. I mean, it’s got that gemstone and all. Did Romina give it some newly implemented weapon enchantment or something? No, that doesn’t sound right.”
“Indeed. There is clearly something wrong here. I may have been away from the front lines for some time, but there have to be limits.”
“Oh, right...”
Come to think of it, I never told them about my skill composition.
Everyone just assumed I was the island lord fisherman, the manager of the crab trap industry, and a dismantler. They went with the rumors and didn’t really ask for the details.
“It’s this weapon,” I said.
“There was practically no downtime when you were switching between weapons,” Emoji said. “No matter how fast you are, you’d still need to reequip, but you were changing mid-attack.”
“At a glance, that does look like Kizzy’s trusty ice knife, but...”
“Yeah, I forgot to explain. The weapon and skill I’m using are called Hunting Gear. It’s a special weapon that lets me quickly switch between the weapons I slot into it, and it boosts my attack along with a bunch of other stuff.”
I really hadn’t explained anything. The acceleration I got when combat started was also thanks to the skill. It hadn’t really done anything for me during the training camp—aside from stacking with my Fishing Mastery—so it was easy to miss.
Not to mention the fact that Emoji and Therese didn’t have any fishing experience, making it practically impossible for them to realize anything was off.