17 Chapter 17

The small dragon flew forward, facing a wave full of sharp pieces of ice flying at great speed. His wings stopped flapping and folded back on his back. He immediately went into a free fall. All of the ice spikes flew above him. The dragon opened his mouth, and a fire started to gather inside of them, forming a ball. Then he spread his wings, tilting them to make a sharp turn to the left, just a moment before a glittering ice spike flew by him, closely missing him. The sphere of fire in his mouth kept growing.

"Ding! Ding!" more icicles flew towards him, piercing the air, creating high pitched sound. He opened his mouth, and a shiny sphere of flames flew towards an ice-covered lizard.

Icicles finally reached Vesuvius, who spat out a massive barrage of flames toward them. Steam hissed as the icicles partially melted.

Spikes pelted the dragon in miniature explosions of cold energy that spread through his body, creating a thin layer of ice over him. His dragon's scales and fat under it isolated his innards, protecting them from cold. However, his movement was highly hindered. He spat out more flames around him, melting the layers of ice on him.

Meanwhile, the fireball continued flying towards its target. Suddenly a wall of ice rose in front of the lizard, protecting it at the cost of preventing it from attacking. The fireball hit the wall, and fire violently reacted with the super cold ice, creating an explosion of ice shrapnel, fire and steam, blasting everything in two meters radius. The lizard hissed and released a cold white aura, turning the water around it back into ice. New icicles that were at least twice big as before were already growing on its tail, aiming at the fast-approaching dragon like an anti-air gun.

Vesuvius got even closer, 'I am spending so much energy and mana to keep up with it in ranged battle. I can't outlast it, so I will turn it into a melee fight. His long gaming experience showed its usefulness as he quickly analyzed the situation and determined an optimal approach.

"Ding! Ding!" Three big spikes of ice flew directly at the dragon. He already had a problem resisting the smaller one, so he knew that he had to dodge them at any cost. Luckily their greater size made them move visible slower. Vesuvius flapped his wings, mowing sharply upwards, avoiding the spikes that were so cold that he felt chill just from him flying close to them, then he returned to fly forwards with a fast loop.

The lizard was finally close enough, so Vesuvius prepared his claws as he flew at the lizard, wanting to attack from above. However, the lizard moved its long tail with a spike to face the incoming dragon like a pike, ready to impale him.

One could question how could ice pierce highly durable dragon scales, but the truth was that Vesuvius was just a dragon welp with scales not fully hardened. Also, it wasn't regular ice but ice made out of concentrated mana, turning it into an enchanted weapon.

Vesuvius changed direction at the last moment, avoiding getting impaled and instead landed at the ice-covered terrace on top of the cliff next to the lizard. His claws easy dug into the ice giving him a strong grip on the otherwise slippery surface. He opened his mouth and released a stream of fire at the lizard; however, he had to stop it as he jumped aside just a moment before the long icy tail dug out a hole on the spot where he stood before.

He quickly used the moment to analyze the lizard.

Ding!

//

Analyze result:

p Species: [Alpha] Iceling Lizard

Level: 18

Danger level: deadly

//

Ding!

// New quest!

Content: Kill the alpha beast or escape!

Reward: Will be calculated after completion.

Failure: Death

//

A portion of the ice covering the lizard melted, making the lizard growl in rage as it ran directly at the Vesuvius, wanting to impale it with icy spikes littering its body.

The small dragon flapped his wings, quickly launching himself into the air, avoiding the lizard's bull-like charge and released another stream of fire toward the lizard. Clouds of steam rose up as the ice partially desublimated.

Steam obstructed the dragon's vision, but he instinctively moved as he knew that the lizard would retaliate. Just a split second after that, the sharp tip of the lizard's tail blindly pierced Vesuvius's last position. Then, again and again, the tail kept blindly stabbing through the steam, trying to impale the dragon.

Vesuvius opened his mouth again, its pristine white teeth dangerously glittering as another surge of flames shot out to the steam.

"Arghhh!" a high-pitched, painful shriek came from the steam, and the dragon grinned, 'Finally, you were a good foe, but at the same time annoying one.'

He flapped his wings again, circling around the lizards and releasing another wave of flames down to the cloud of steam at the lizard, who couldn't see anything, for the steam that was once its own body.

"Arggg!" another shriek came out, and then suddenly icy spikes erupted from inside of the steam flying in every direction.

"Arggg!" this time shrieked the small dragon as he got pelted by the ice. Smaller shrapnel harmlessly bounced off his tough scales. However, at least three that were bigger pierced through, digging themself into his top layer of fat, causing pain as they cut nervous connections.

"Graah!" incredible rage boiled inside of his dragon heart, pushing away the pain as the dragon opened his mouth and released flames that were brighter and more intense than normal.

[+360XP]

Ding!

//

Quest accomplished!

Rating: A

Reward: 1000 XP, Magic item: [Bracelet of lesser protection]

//

Ding!

//

You are now level 9

All stats increased!

+5 stat points

+1 ability point

//

Vesuvius felt so tired that he didn't even had time to enjoy his rewards as he slowly glided down from the hill.