22 Chapter 22

"Ding! Ding!" sharp looking ice spears flew through the air glittering in the sunlight. Soon they entered a cloud of hot dark smoke, growing smaller with each meter they passed through. The black dragon that was hiding in the smoke tilted his wings, trying to dodge. However, he was too slow. He narrowly avoided a few of the spikes. Three of them still hit him straight into his armoured chest, erupting in small ice explosions. Steam seeped as ice immediately melted and evaporated after coming to contact with the dragon's hot body.

Vesuvius grinned, 'Haha, finally, with this strength, I can start working on some of the easier challenges to gain more useful titles.'

"Ding! Ding!" another salvo of ice flew towards the dragon. The dragon just closed his eyelids to protect his eyes and flapped his wings, launching himself head-on towards a small glittering lizard on top of a cliff.

Icicles hit the dragon covering him in a layer of ice. Steam immediately rose up from the dragon's body as the ice evaporated.

p "Ding! Ding!" two bigger ice spears launched toward the incoming dragon. Vesuvius felt stronger vibrations in the air and rolled to the side, avoiding slower and more powerful projectiles.

Vesuvius kept flying forward, ice projectiles hitting and melting at his armoured body. The distance between the two quickly grow smaller. Finally, they were only around ten meters from each other, and Vesuvius noticed that the lizard was at least by a quarter smaller than the one from before.

'Not an alpha variant? Shame, but that at least explains the smaller amount of projectiles in each wave.'

The dragon opened his mouth, and a blazing hot stream of magma exploded outwards, moving towards the lizard. A Wall of pure crystal clear ice rose in front of the lizard. Less than a second later, magma met with unnaturally cold ice. A massive cloud of steam rose up, obstructing a view of the site. More and more magma kept flowing out of the dragon's mouth.

"Arghh!" high-pitched, painful shriek came from the steam and after that, only silence, accompanied by a seething of steam and bubbling of lava.

[+150XP]

Vesuvius's eyes grew wide in surprise at how effective his magma breath and armour were during the fight, 'They are some players thinking that agility and mobility are the best defence. But eventually, you will make a mistake and get hit. It isn't a problem in the game as you can always respawn, but for me, it's too risky. So in the end, the best defence for me is simply to get protected enough to tank hits head on and firepower strong enough for me to destroy enemies before they eventually break through my defences.'. Vesuvius couldn't help but think about his previous fight, where one attack could end his life.

The dragon flapped his wings, gliding away, looking for a place ideal for him to finish the challenge.

'From this fight, I am sure enough that I can safely accomplish that challenge. Probably another lizard would be best.'

Vesuvius circled around the mountains, looking for a glitter marking another lizard.

After an hour, he finally spotted what he was looking for. A big lizard covered in a beautiful ice crystal was sitting on the cliff, watching for any target for it to attack. The dragon found a spot on the opposite mountain and landed. Around him was nothing but snow and rocks. He immediately opened his mouth and breathed magma directly under his legs, creating a small pool of bubbling lava. A small cloud of steam rose up as the nearby snow melted. Then Vesuvius closed his eyes and waited.

"Ding! Ding!" it didn't take long before the lizard on the opposite side of the hill noticed him. Few spears made out of the magical ice flew towards him, creating a screeching noise as they pierced the surrounding air at an incredible speed. Vesuvius remained standing on the same spot without moving.

Projectiles pelted the dragon covering him in ice that immediately melted. The dragon remained standing on the spot, just flapping his wings provocatively.

"Ding! Ding!" more ice spikes flew at the unmoving dragon. Vesuvius grinned, showing his teeth and then.

"Groaar! Fuck!" ice spear flew into his mouth, exploding and covering them in ice. Vesuvius released a small amount of magma, melting the ice in his mouth.

'I should stop grinning like an idiot every time!'

Dark smoke was slowly mixing with steam, covering the dragon in thick clouds. The lizard kept firing one salvo after another, but the dragon remained standing on the spot as ice kept repeatedly forming and melting on his body.

Five minutes passed, and finally, the system dinged, informing Veusivus about a new message.

Ding!

//

You gained a title: [Statue]

Conditions: Remain standing on the spot for five minutes while getting attacked by an enemy of a higher level.

Effects: Increases defence by 15% after standing on the same spot for thirty seconds.

//

Vesuvius wanted to grin, but he stopped himself as he didn't want another mouth full of ice, 'Effects are not so great, but this is the just and secondary title, not the main one I want here.'

"Ding! Ding!" Another wave of ice hit Vesuvius before evaporating into steam, 'This is simply pitifully... Who would have thought that the heat effect of my armour and smoke would be such a great counter against these lizards? They can't freeze me as all of their ice simply melts.'

More and more ice kept hitting the dragon, creating a huge cloud of steam around him and then they finally stopped.

Ding!

//

You gained a title: [A tanky boy]

Conditions: Tank so many attacks of an enemy with a level higher by at least five that they run out of mana.

Effects: +10 defence; defence scaling + 1.1x

//

Iceling Lizards were considered to be deadly enemies for unprepared or underequipped people, but as long as players get equipment capable of resisting the freezing effect, they could easily tank lizards' ranged attacks that weren't dealing large damage but causing a strong freezing effect. That, however, changed in a melee fight where lizards became even more dangerous with their powerful and fast magical melee attacks.

Vesuvius looked one last time at the lizard that was lying sprawled on an opposite mountain before flying away to find a location for his new lair.