The place we’d arrived at after teleporting from the green area looked like more ruins. They were made of the same material as where we first started: the building area that the sewers led to. We’re not backtracking here, are we?
A corridor stretched out from the teleportation circle room.
“Another cramped space,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Arf.”
Apprehensive, I walked through the corridor with everyone, and a large room opened up. It was bigger than the hell chimera’s chamber and the ceiling was higher, but there were no magical beasts. At the front, on a raised platform, stood a statue of a woman looking down over the room from what looked like an altar near the ceiling.
“Huh? Could that be...?”
“It’s the goddess statue!” said Shiro.
“Whoooah.”
The goddess statue of the dungeon, said to grant blessings to those who reached the deepest part. Is that really it? Wait, so is this the deepest part? I mean, the deep layer was a huge pain, but this seems too eas—
“Let’s have it break the curse!” said Shiro.
“Wuffu.”
“No! Wait!”
I’d told them over and over to be careful in the dungeon, but they were too overjoyed. They’d acted fearless all this time, but of course, the curse had them scared. Shiro and Kuro dashed toward the statue.
That must’ve been the trigger.
The room changed. A huge glowing magic circle appeared in the center, and before our eyes manifested something enormous.
“Ooooohh!”
Of course the deepest part’s got some trap! For a moment, I thought about retreating to the previous area, but that was impossible; the corridor behind us had vanished.
We were trapped. This was a dungeon that had consumed countless lives. It was stupid of us to let our guards down.
“Grrrrr...”
A massive yellow lizard had appeared. It was anything but ordinary, with thick scales covering its body, and large horns jutting back from its head. It was like a dragon without wings—no, it was a dragon.
It was called a desert dragon, an earth-type dragon with no wings. While desert dragons couldn’t fly, they could swim through sand and had great stealth thanks to the color of their scales. They were one of the desert’s most feared magical beasts.
As the desert dragon glared at us with its golden eyes, a menacing howl shook the chamber, one that was infused with mana and could paralyze its prey with fear.
The black-haired duo froze. All this time, they’d relied on intuition and cheats, but maybe they hadn’t experienced a battle to the death. They’d only been reincarnated a week ago, after all.
The howl, however, didn’t affect the three of us. Our dragonized bodies must’ve given us slight resistance. The mana the enemy had hurled at us was weakened. But that wasn’t the only reason we could still move.
Yes, dragons were terrifying. Fear was inevitable in the face of such a gargantuan monster. But still, for us, this dragon didn’t spell despair.
“W-We’re not scared of you!” said Shiro.
“Geos was scaaarier.”
“That’s right!” followed Shiro.
Having fought so many enemies and seen such strong foes, we’d gotten used to things like the desert dragon’s intimidation. Well, that would’ve been an overstatement, but we’d faced worse.
The dragon seemed to recognize our fighting spirit, and its expression turned hateful.
“Let’s do this!” I said. “No holding back!”
We can’t afford to go easy on a dragon!
“Shiro will defeat it!”
“Kuro’s a dragon killerrr.”
“Don’t get overconfident!” I said.
Its body was slender for a dragon, and it was often mistaken for a giant lizard, but its combat power was most likely worthy of the dragon name. It was, without a doubt, one of the strongest high-tier magical beasts we’d ever faced.
“Light and darkness work best!” I said. “Shiro, Kuro, go for it! You remember what I taught you about a dragon’s weak points, right?”
“M-Myah!”
“Arf!”
Dragons had a lot of mana and resistance to most attributes. While water was effective against them too, it wasn’t as effective as light and darkness.
Dragons also had an obvious weak point: the “reverse scale” on their necks. Beneath this single scale, which grew upside-down, lay an important organ for controlling mana, and that was the dragon’s weakness.
I’ll draw its attention so Shiro and Kuro can attack it!
I attacked, letting out a battle cry, and the dragon roared in response.
“Nice! It hates that!”
I’d fired a barrage of Water Needles at its eyes. I couldn’t pierce through its tough eyelids, but the dragon was clearly irritated. Even if the attack hadn’t dealt any damage, on an instinctual level, no creature likes its eyes being targeted.
Now all its hate was focused on me.
“Come on! Bring it!”
I floated water in front of me to provoke the desert dragon, and it growled in response. Its intelligence was high enough that it understood it was being mocked.
I deliberately held back, feinting attacks to taunt it further.
“Grrrr...”
Strong mana surged inside the desert dragon, rising toward its throat.
“Crap! Wall!”
I hastily cast Earth Wall, but it was instantly pulverized, dirt and stone exploding every which way. It had taken a direct hit of dragon breath.
It didn’t feel like fire—what was that?
I had a bad feeling, so I cast Earth Wall and another spell right after: a special Iron Wall reinforced with extra mana. I was confident that it was strong enough to withstand even the hell chimera’s charge.
But the dragon’s breath was far beyond my imagination. A harsh metallic screech rang out as the Iron Wall shrank before my eyes—its surface was getting scraped away by the second.
“Ugh...”
That’s not good enough?! Realizing that I was in grave danger, I leaped sideways.
The dragon breath obliterated the spot where I had just been. Even Iron Wall didn’t stand a chance... It probably couldn’t have blocked that attack even if I’d put more mana into it.
The attack seemed to be a torrent of sand and mana blasted at extreme speed—sand breath, I guess? There was no sand around, so the dragon must have conjured it.
The dragon growled.
Again?!
I felt strong mana from inside the desert dragon once more. To my surprise, it could use that as a rapid-fire attack. I probably could’ve dodged it if I’d conjured another Iron Wall, but I’d be out of mana in no time if I kept that up.
The dragon, however, didn’t unleash its breath a second time.
“Myahhh! White Flash Blade!”
Shiro had attacked at the perfect time, with a spell I’d never seen before. Apparently, she had just learned it from fighting in the dungeon. But using it in battle without even testing it out is a crazy gamble!
As I looked on, Shiro charged the desert dragon. She closed in from the side of its head, thrusting her dagger upward.
Wait, is it not magic? Upon closer inspection, I saw that Shiro’s dagger was enveloped in white light. It must’ve been the kind of magic you cloak your weapon with.
“Myahhhhh!”
Her dagger flashed brilliantly and slammed into the dragon’s jaw, knocking it upward; it wasn’t Shiro’s raw strength, but the magic’s power that did it. The dragon’s jaw lifted like it had been struck by a massive uppercut, leaving its throat wide open. Blood sprayed from the cut at the tip of its jaw—it seemed pretty deep too. With enough mana, you could hurt a dragon.
“Arf! Dark Heaven Spear!”
Immediately after, a black spear erupted from the ground and struck: Kuro’s new magic. It seemed to be a spell that impaled the enemy with a spear of darkness conjured from the enemy’s own shadow. The shadow spear hit the single reverse scale on the dragon’s throat.
I get it now! Shiro exposed the weak point, and Kuro performed a precision strike! Perfect teamwork taking into consideration the location of the weak point! I know we’re in the middle of battle, but boy am I happy to see how they’ve grown!
Kuro’s attack had hit the reverse scale dead-on—so does this mean—
The dragon let out an agonizing scream.
“Dammit!”
That scale was indeed its weak point, but it was far tougher than its other scales. It had endured even a direct hit from a mid-tier spell without a scratch. But the surrounding scales cracked and there’s blood spewing everywhere...
The desert dragon was clearly enraged, its eyes wide and horns glowing red. Legend had it that touching the reverse scale would throw a dragon into a fit of rage.
Red mana shimmered like a heat haze. The scales covering the dragon’s body bristled like a pine cone opening up.
“Shiro! Get back!”
The dragon roared.
“Myah!”
All the desert dragon did was give its neck a violent shake, and Shiro went flying! Or did she jump back on her own?
I could see blood on her skin, but it didn’t look serious.
The desert dragon’s attack didn’t end there. Ignoring the flying Shiro, it opened its mouth wide toward Kuro.
A breath attack. The amount of mana rising into its throat was far greater than what it had used against me.
Crap!
“Aaahhh! Look at me, you big lizard!”
I used water magic for a rapid-fire attack, but the desert dragon completely ignored me, not so much as batting an eye. Its anger was directed at the one who had struck its reverse scale. I’d thought an attack like conjuring a spear from a shadow would make it hard to tell who the caster was, but the dragon had clearly figured it out. It must have been skilled at sensing the flow of mana.
With a thunderous growl, the dragon unleashed its desert breath, engulfing Kuro and her surroundings. She didn’t even try to escape. Did she use up too much mana?
I managed to conjure Earth Wall, but it was instantly destroyed by the breath. The torrent of sand swallowed Kuro whole.
“Kuroooo!” I screamed.
“You called?”
“Huh?”
Huh? What the? She’s behind me!
“I used Shadow Teleportaaation.”
“I-I see.”
Judging from the name, it must’ve been a spell that let her teleport from shadow to shadow. That’s how she’d escaped in an instant.
“Kuro, you okay?” asked Shiro.
“Okaaay.”
“Oh, good!” said Shiro, relief clear on her face as she ran over.
“The reverse scale is suuuper hard.”
Kuro’s tail drooped limply. She seemed discouraged that her attack hadn’t worked at all.
“Hmm, it should be the dragon’s weak point...” I said. “We’ll just have to try another way!”
“Understood!”
“Gooot it.”