56 Chapter 56

The dragon spread his wings, enjoying his recently regained mobility. Without the chains binding him, he flapped his wings and rose into the air. The hunters around him aimed their crossbows and released a swarm of bolts at him. The bolts swissed through the air and impacted all over him, digging into his volcanic armour. He opened his mouth and released a stream of hot magma in a circle around him, hitting one of the slower hunters. Runes on his armour flickered, trying to fight the heat. However, the hot magma covered the hunter, cooking him alive as he screamed, sending shivers through his colleagues.

[+210XP]

"Dammit!" a hunter in a cloak and decorated helmet appeared out of cover, removed two long metal spears from his back and pushed with his legs towards the ground, catapulting himself several meters high towards the dragon at an immense speed. Bright pulsing energy erupted from his spears, covering one of them in light and the second one in dark shadow. A disgusting aura of dragon-slaying weapons spread through the surrounding.

At the same time, a new mission was triggered.

Ding!

// New quest!

Content: Kill the captain of the hunters and his elite team or escape!

Reward: Will be calculated after completion.

Failure: Death

//

Vesuvius registered the attack, but he had no time to dodge it, so he just braced for the impact and swung his clawed hand to at least injure the hunter back. He rotated his whole body, putting as much force behind the strike as possible. At the same time, magma erupted out of his hand, covering his claws.

As the hunter closed on the smoke-covered dragon, he stabbed with his spears aiming at the dragon's side. A barrier made out of the flames appeared at the last moment, blocking one of the spears and sending sparks of energy around them. Still, the light-covered tip of the second spear drilled through the armour and spread cracks through the stony material of the armour. The spear slowed down and continued, its tip piercing the hard layer of scales and getting stuck in flexible fat and muscles under it. Then energy erupted from the tip, sending a pulse through the dragon's tissue.

A magma and blood flowed out of the injury making the dragon growl in pain and rage. The hunter tried to pull the spear out, but it didn't even flinch. An instant later, the heavy clawed hand of the dragon hit the hunter into his chest, denting his armour and blazing hot magma piercing through. The hunter cried out as he flew backwards, blood leaking out of the massive hole in his armour.

The hunter dropped to the ground, all of the hunters freezing in shock, "Captain!"

"How is this possible? It was a dragon-slaying weapon. How could the wyrm survive it?"

The dragon flapped his wings more, rising even higher, not wanting to risk any more injuries, 'Damn, what was his level to injure me like this even with all of my defences?' The injury wasn't deep nor wide, making it not life-threatening, only painful. However, Vesuvius still realised something, 'Would I be dead right now if I wasn't blessed? Also, I would probably be heavily injured if both spears managed to pierce through my defences and cause a violent explosion.'

As someone who liked to create weird custom builds, he was more than aware of a combo using two opposite elements to trigger violent and destructive reactions. On top of that, darkness and light had incredibly destructive reactions that produced a deadly null element.

More bolts launched toward the dragon. He just tilted his head, making sure that none would hit his face and let the bolts drill into his armour.

Even though he was in pain, Vesuvius grinned, 'Now without chains, ballistae and with me high in the air, they are like sitting ducks... as expected out fo humans, they are useless without their tricks.'

Vesuvius noticed that the injured captain had already stood up and unsheeted a sword from his waist. Blood was flowing out of his injuries, but he stood there fearlessly. He grabbed his helmet and removed it, showing a face of an old man covered in wrinkles. Long white hair were flowing down all the way to his shoulders, and a trail of blood was coming out of his mouth.

He smiled and mumbled in an almost unnoticeable quiet voice, "At least I died during what I liked..."

Hunter quickly rushed towards his injured captain, grabbing a crystal clear bottle filled with a red liquid.

'As if I will let you.'

The dragon opened his mouth once again and released a thick black cloud, sending elite hunters under him flying backwards. Then a thick stream of magma flowed out, hitting the already injured captain and drowning him in burning liquid.

[+290]

"Die, you monster!" one of the hunters in cape threw his axe without any warning, lightning surging through it. The axe kept rotating as it flew through the air, making a crackling noise. Small arcs were coming out of it as it closed the distance towards the dragon.

It hit the dragon, exploding in the storm of electrical sparks as it slowly drilled through the hard volcanic stone. More and more cracks spread through the surface of the dragon's armour. It even reached the scales and scratched against their surface, electricity discharging through the dragon. His muscles spasmed as the electricity flooded his nerve system. However, he quickly stabilised himself flapping his wings as most of the electricity was lost due to his hard and unconducive armour.

"Grahhh!" Vesuvius growled and opened his mouth, sending out even more magma. The thick stream of magma swept through the few hunters burning them alive, as even their enchanted armour couldn't protect them from a direct hit by a breath of a true dragon.

[+260]

[+280]

[+270]

In a panic, all of the surrounding hunters threw their weapons into the smoke, hoping to critically injure the dragon above them. Dozen of glowing weapons covered in various elements flew forwards, leaving colourful trails behind them.

The distance was too small to effectively dodge, so he just tensed his muscles and unleashed more and more magma. The magma impacted towards the ground sweeping through everything in its way, burning more and more hunters.

[+220]

[+220]

[+230]