“Everyone better be ready. We only get one chance at this,” Rake said. The chamber was carved from thick stone, with lava falls and pools of magma mixed throughout the room. A large nest was carved near the back, holding six small eggs. In the center of the room stood the guardian.
Niohoggr was larger than most buildings, her claws even bigger than the combined size of the group. The lava spilled across her powerful body without leaving so much as a burn across the thick black scales. She turned to them and just snorted once, the force of its breath almost strong enough to knock them over and causing Deva and Media to retch at the smell. The mighty beast slapped her tail on the ground once, causing the floor to shake. She slowly yawned, revealing long, sharp teeth that could crush through a castle wall and still easily grab the people hidden inside. Finally, her wings slowly spread out and stretched, blocking out the lava falls for a moment and sending the molten rock across the room before she folded her wings again.
“Holy shit. We're supposed to kill that with the six of us? You have got to be kidding me!” Rake said, his mouth hanging open.
“Oh relax. It won't be able to fight all out in this small chamber. I hear the master level version you have to fight outside with just five. Now that's a fight,” Hale said before he moved to the back and flapped his own wings a few times. “Don't think anyone's beaten it there.”
“How did they even come up with something so... so... big?” Skyth asked with a squeak as she rubbed the handle of her mace nervously.
“When this first came out it was one of the showcase bosses,” Caelite said. “It's why it drops the dragon pet instead of an item. Bet it's not nearly as tough as it looks though. Quest to battle it is just time consuming with the whole gathering the keys thing. It wouldn't be fair if it ended up being too difficult considering you'd have to start from scr--” The words 'Awakened Niohoggr' appeared over the dragon's head. “I think it's about ready.”
“So everyone remember the strategy,” Deva said as she charged forward. “For the first part, watch out for the teeth and claws and go at it! I got the face!” She raised her axe above her head. The dragon merely gazed at her for a moment before it snapped its head forward to try and crush her in one bite. She lunged to the right as the head went by and swung her axe. It connected with the side of the dragon's face. Sadly, all the blow did was dent one of the powerful scales, causing it to roar angrily.
The rest of the party charged forward. Niohoggr's left claws shot out at Skyth, but was blocked by Rake darting in front of it and catching the powerful extremity. He skidded along the ground while the paw tried pushing him, but he managed to stop it from slamming him into the ground. “I got it! Hit it with everything you got!” he yelled while he struggled to keep the sharp claws open and stop them from tearing into or crushing him.
The others ran forward, hitting the arm as fast as they could while Deva kept the head distracted. She jumped to and fro as the razor sharp teeth snapped angrily at her until finally she jumped to the right and Niohoggr lunged too far forward, slamming into the wall. While it was temporarily stunned the dragon-woman jumped onto the monster's head and brought her axe down between its eyes.
Niohoggr roared in rage and thrashed wildly, sending Deva flying into the wall. The dragon brought both her claws together, crushing Rake before flinging him across the room into one of the magma pools. She reared back on her hind legs and glared at the remaining four fighters. Flames burst from her lips before she lunged her head forward, unleashing flame on them hot enough to melt stone.
Skyth thrust her mace up. “Ice shield!” A shield of water formed in front of the remaining group for a moment before shifting to ice. As the flame connected steam filled the air, though the barrier held. “I don't know how long I can hold this! Hale, see if you can heal Rake and find Deva. I'll try to keep it distracted here as long as I can! Media, Caelite, get out and try to hide or something in case I can't hold the flame back!”
“Got it!” Hale yelled. The three ran from under the barrier. He moved to the magma pool that Rake had landed in, his eyes wandering frantically. “Come on man, where are you! I can't heal you if I can't see you.” He drew his sword and began poking around in the molten rock. After a few stabs he felt something in the thick red magma. He took a deep breath and then thrust his hand in. Pain and heat shot through his arm as he grabbed and yanked.
Rake was pulled from the magma, barely moving, and the angel let out a sigh of relief. Most of his fur was covered in scorch marks or completely burned away, with some skin completely burned black. “You're so lucky that your health is so high. Hold on. Holy kiss!” Hale said as he placed his hand to the beast-man's chest and white light began to flow through and heal the man.
“That dragon hits hard,” Rake said with a groan as the white light went through him, the damage quickly mending itself before he sat up. “Another hit like that and I'd have been out of this fight. Okay, I think I'm good!” He hopped to his feet and turned around. His fur had returned and most of the burns were nothing more than dark, red areas on his skin. He stared up at Niohoggr, who had both eyes focused solely on them. Skyth was on her knees in front of the massive creature, a paper thin barrier of ice the only thing between her and the monster. She was panting and barely able to move, most her MP spent on defense.
The dragon leaned her head back, flames beginning to lick around the edges of her mouth. Before she could unleash the torrent, she reeled back and let loose an angry howl. Niohoggr glared down at her hind legs where an axe and glaive were currently hacking away with all their wielders might. She went back down on all fours as Deva and Caelite lunged out of the way to avoid being crushed by her girth, landing on their stomachs. An arrow bounced off the creature's left eye before it whipped around to look at its new attacker, the fae.
Media drew the bow string taut, a green glow forming around the arrow. She unleashed the arrow. It struck the dragon's face and exploded into a mass of oil. “Now! While it's blinded, hit it with everything you have!”
The group didn't hesitate as they charged forward, weapons aglow with magic. Niohoggr rubbed at her eyes to try and get the liquid off. After a few moments of combined attacks on the creature, she let out another furious howl and slammed her tail against the wall of the cave. Chunks of the roof began to fall, forcing them to seek cover.
Rake thrust his open palms into the ground. “Earth dome!” A dome of rock formed over him, blocking the falling rocks. “Everyone, over here, quick!” The rest of the group heeded his call, narrowly getting under the cover as more rocks fell from above. As the last member got under, the dome finished closing. The stones soon covered the chamber, even filling the magma pools and forcing the molten rock to flow around the collapsed stones.
“Okay, first half of the fight is done, but now it'll get trickier,” Deva said as she rubbed the edge of her axe. “With all the lava on the ground we'll have to be careful. Most of us don't have enough regeneration to survive a swim in it for long. Not to mention the movement debuffs will make it near impossible to avoid attacks while we're in it. If you fall in, get out as fast as you can. If you see anyone fall in, try to keep the dragon from hitting them. Stick to the islands and keep moving.”
Deva turned to the angel. “Hale, try to fly around and give heals where they're needed. Rake and I will try to keep the creature focused on us. Caelite, Media, deal as much damage as you can while we do that. Skyth, see what you can do about expanding the areas we can go through. Have enough MP left to use any good water spells?”
“Only a few,” the leviathan answered as she stretched out her arms. “I've recovered a little MP, but I don't think this break will be enough to get much back.”
“Okay. See what you can do. If you see any opportunities to trap the boss's legs, do it. Everyone know their part of the plan? Okay! Rake, on my count end the dome. Three. Two. One. Break!” Deva yelled. The dome crumbled around them and they jumped out. The room had been transformed. Small islands of sto
ne stood surrounded by a miniature sea of magma, each island within jumping distance of another. The dragon stood in the center of the room, claws deep in the thick molten rock. Hale spread his wings and took to the air as the others quickly jumped to the nearest safe surface. The hole the dome had created quickly began to fill with magma.
Rake and Deva leaped across the small islands toward the boss before jumping onto its left fore paw. Deva slammed her axe into the forearm with all her might while Rake grabbed onto the creature's scales and kicked it as hard as it could.
Niohoggr started to pull her claw from the magma, but the molten rock cooled and hardened suddenly as water flowed over it. Skyth held up her hands as more water fell around the creature, hardening the magma and trapping the dragon.
Caelite and Media charged to the right foreleg and began their own assault. The demon jammed his glaive into the leg as the blade seemed to turn darker and darker. The fae shot arrow after arrow at the leg. Some of the ammunition were enchanted with green glows as the magical arrows pierced the creature's hide.
Niohoggr gazed down at the little gnats that were causing her pain and let out another angry roar. She reared her head back as flames started in her mouth and lunged forward, opening wide. As the flames shot from her maw at the leviathan, the dragon's head shot to the right, throwing the blast off completely. Three white orbs of light exploded in the monster's face. She turned and glared at the pesky flying angel surrounded by the orbs.
The dragon struggled in her hardened lava bindings and finally tore her body free. The three attackers shrieked as they were sent hurtling through the air and into the magma. Niohoggr threw her all into attacks against Hale, slashing with her claws and snapping her jaws as the movements sent ripples through the sea of molten rock. The angel flew through the air as fast as he could, diving in between claws and around razor sharp teeth, but was unable to launch a counter attack. The orbs soon disappeared from existence.
The rest of the party managed to barely crawl from the magma, laying on one of the islands. “How you guys faring?” Media asked. “Any HP left?” Their bodies were charred and smoldering, with smoke rising from their hair and burns covering their bodies.
“Barely. This game needs a scan feature,” Deva said with a groan as she crawled to her knees, using her axe to steady herself. “I wish I could see how much health the dragon has before it runs, because I'm not sure we'll last much longer. We need a break.”
“You might not get it.” Skyth pointed towards their flying companion. “Hale has it distracted, but unless we finish it soon, one chomp and he's gone. I doubt he has a high enough defense or enough HP to survive an attack like that.”
“Guess it's all or nothing then. One final attack,” Deva said a she slowly got up, leaning on her axe. “Think you can give me some health draining enchantments, Caelite?”
“Yeah, I'll see what I can do,” the demon said as he got to his feet. “Skyth, Media, see if you two can distract it for a bit longer. Then we can try to finish it off.” He held his hands together and a black mist started to form around them. The other two of their party jumped to another nearby island. “Draining aura.”
Media drew her bow taut as green light once again encased the arrow. “Homing shot!” she yelled before she let the arrow go. It sailed through the air and up to the dragon's snapping head. The arrow dodged around the creature's fangs and finally reached its target, the giant reptile's eye.
Niohoggr howled in pain and rage as she shook her head from side to side. The remaining unhurt eye then whipped around to glare angrily at the bow wielder who, despite knowing she shouldn't, raised a hand and waved at the creature.
The dragon was not amused, flames dancing along her lips. “Run!” Skyth yelled before she took the fae's hand and ran, leaping to the next island over. Scorching flames incinerated the ground behind them as they ran for their lives from Niohoggr's angry blaze. Media was faster than the leviathan and was able to avoid the fire that enveloped the slower girl. It left nothing behind except a few small blue rays of light. The fae was quickly running out of room to run as the devouring flame pursued her. She stopped at the edge of one of the islands, her only remaining path blocked by one of the dragon's arms. The heat slowly died behind her and the creature stared down at her triumphantly.
Media covered her eyes and waited for the inevitable firey death, but it never came. Instead, when she finally opened her eyes and looked up she saw the dragon furiously snapping at its neck, trying to get at Deva as the woman chopped through the beast's hide. The axe was covered in black mists and every slice with it tore away scales from the dragon's body.
Niohoggr let out another roar as both her wings spread out. “Get off it! It's going to take off!” Caelite yelled.
Deva leaped back and, her axe dropping to the magma below, landed on one of the islands. She tripped and rolled along it for a few moments before stopping just short of the edge. She quickly flipped onto her back and looked up at the dragon as it began flapping its wings.
The creature began to slowly rise, a few feet at a time, as its claws reached up above and began to tear through the roof of the massive cavern. The stone quickly gave way before the creature's might as boulders the size of carriages began to fall from above. Waves of magma were thrown around as rocks and wind blew through the chamber, tossing the players around like rag dolls. Deva didn't have enough energy to do more than brace herself as she was sent hurtling around. She saw Media get buried under an avalanche of rocks and then covered in a wave of magma. Hale clung desperately to the walls of the cave as he attempted to avoid a similar fate.
Niohoggr pulled through the roof and flew off into the sky. The warm sun flowed in from above. The cave was filled with rocks and now only a few small puddles of magma. Those that survived, slowly pulled themselves from the rubble and got to their feet. A few green and blue rays of light were all that remained of the fallen of their party.
“Well, we won. Wasn't easy but we triggered the event. Hale, can you start reviving them?” Rake asked. “We don't want to loot the eggs until we're all together.”
The angel nodded as he flew to the blue lights and held out his hands, “Resurrection.” A white glow enveloped the lights and soon the Skyth's body rematerialized.
Her armor was completely shattered and nothing more than a few scraps of broken metal, showing the thin brown cloth underneath. Her mace was just a broken handle. She sat up with a groan. “Well I'm happy that's over. At least we won't have any more fights until we get back to town. How many we lose?”
“Just two. You and Media. All in all not a bad outcome for six people who just joined together,” Rake said. The angel move to the green light and begin the resurrection again. Deva rummaged through some of the rocks before finding her axe, pushed up to the top layer once the cavern had done its final change.
Media had fared no better, her armor torn to shreds and her bow and quiver gone. “I hate death penalties. At least the money I'll make selling the egg will more than make up for the repairs.” She said before kicking one of the small rocks in annoyance.
“With interest. Come on,” Caelite said as he lightly jogged towards the nest. Despite all the damage the chamber had suffered, the nest was fine. Not a single scorch mark or crushed egg in it. Six perfectly oval, black eggs the size of an average dog rested comfortably in a nest of obsidian. The demon reached out and took one of the eggs as the others ran up to join him. One by one they each took an egg before turning towards the door they came through.
“So what are you guys going to do with your eggs when you get back to town?” Skyth asked.
“Sell mine. These things are worth a fortune! No one wants to do the quest for them so you can sell them pretty fast too,” Caelite said with a grin. “Going to buy brand new gear for the coming levels.”
“I'm gonna hatch it,” Deva said before she rubbed the egg and it disappeared in a small burst of red sparkles. “Never had a pet before and a dragon would be aw
esome. A dragon fighter with a dragon pet will look amazing. I hear once you get it high enough you can even ride it,” she said with a grin.
“I think for now I'll just store it. I'm not sure if I will even need the money for it, so might be best to just hold onto it,” Kale said. “That way I won't have to buy one later or ever do the quest again. This is the first group I've been in that's actually been able to get to the dragon at all, let alone kill it.”
“Yeah, we all worked really well together. Maybe we can play again sometime,” Media said before crossing her arms. “I'm gonna sell my egg too. There are other pets you can get that are just as strong without all the hassle. I'd rather raise one of them and have the money from this.”
“I'm with the fae,” Hale said. “A wyvern is just as strong, a lot cheaper, slightly smaller and only looks weaker. Here's the exit!” They stepped out from the caves and into a grassy field.
The fields stretched as far as the eye could see, with only the occasional tree to break up the landscape. The caves they came from went into a large volcano that towered over them, the top lost in the clouds. Over the cave entrance was a sign with warnings written in a half dozen different styles, ranging from words to pictures of a dragon chewing on an armored knight.
Hale stopped as he felt the demon grab his hand. “What is it?” The angel let out a startled yelp as he was pushed back towards the cave. A spear seemed to materialize from thin air and stab him through the chest. He stared down in shock. A moment later two more spears stabbed him and his body disappeared in a burst of red sparkles, leaving only a few beams of white light behind.
The spears were held by people much like the demon, horns and tails with dark armors. Three more appeared, surrounding the group. Two held guisearme's, long spear like weapons with hooks on the end, and a man directly in front held a large glaive. His glaive was completely black and glimmered like obsidian. The pole was black as well. The entire weapon seemed to almost absorb light as it cast dark shadows all around it. He wore black full plate armor that absorbed the light in the same way his weapon did.
Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape Page 2