There was some serious power thrown around, but one aura remained dominant above all. Wolverine’s. My wolf was pissed. Then again, who wouldn’t be angry when someone crashed the party with a giant hostile zombie gorilla?
“Wolverine,” I called out to him, after Mandi confirmed his location. I also whistled. The first to appear was Cheetara. She seemed to be overly excited or in a panic, I couldn’t tell. I scratched beneath her chin, calming the cat down.
Eventually, we came across the scene. The coyote was heavily injured, while Wolverine had only a few minor scratches. I scanned it.
[Enemy Analysis.]
[Mudwater. Type: Axem-infused coyote. Rank: S. Affinity: none. Hostile. Axem’s captured thrall.]
I was about to call Wolverine back, scare away the coyote, just to see if there was any way to free it and others from the Axem’s control.
I did not expect a giant claw to burst from the ground, knocking the wind out of me. I felt myself flying, breaking through many trees, until landing painfully on my back. Then a horrifying prompt appeared.
[You are being confronted with overwhelming power…]
So much pain flooded me, but I forced my arm to move, attempting to grasp a health potion, blackness threatening to consume my vision.
In fact, I got knocked away so hard, I had a flashback! In it, I was a kid, asking my mom what happened when two sports teams asked God to help them win a game.
Yes, that hard. Train accident, maybe plane accident, hard. The kind of collision that left me wondering how the hell I was still alive.
[Warning! You are dangerously low on health…]
I’ve faced many things in my life, but I just wasn’t prepared for what I saw appear before me. Seven glowing orange eyes fixed on me, all attached to the body of a snake-like monstrosity thrice the size of the watch tower. It reminded me of a gorgon, except with skeleton-like arms as long as brooms, and massive claws probably capable of ripping through a man like butter. Dark green scales covered its backside. Its front side was a light yellow. A massive snake tongue tasted the air.
If that were all, I wouldn’t be impressed. A creepy seven-eyed giant snake monster, big whoop. However, it was much more.
It sported two massive obsidian horns on its head, each with their own orange aura. The snake’s own aura was an insidious mix of red and purple.
Two massive skeletal wings were folded into its backside, dripping liquid gray mana. Yes, the creature’s body contained so much mana that it liquified and drained through wing-like bones on its back.
Suddenly, it spoke, its voice not what I expected, but worse. Think a mix of a deep, dark, demonic without any hissing, and mix that with Satan and Morgan Freeman. It contained enough condescension to make me rethink my life’s choices.
It was also the time I noticed the natural sounds of the forest were gone. I couldn’t even hear Wolverine’s battle.
“Pathetic. You cannot withstand so much as my shadow. Typical of humans. Typical of arrogant young fools.”
My eyes widened as I finally understood why his presence was able to leak out of the dungeon and spread over my domain.
“You know, human, you’ve got a lot of… What’s that saying from your world? Balls. You’ve got a lot of balls to take what’s mine. I own worlds, lands you could only dream of, realities that can only exist in what you humans let that stick-up-her-ass goddess call dungeons. The only reason why you’re alive right now is because I’m trying to understand you. Your motives. Where does your bravado come from?” The giant monster looked up at the sky. “And why does she suddenly care? Do you even know what Wanda is? What kind of goddess she is? No… of course not, it is not your fault she’s here, but of the natives of this world. The fools. Even that dryad knows, or at least suspects it. Oh, and in case you haven’t figured it out, yes, I am Axelium del Mongranus de Magnus. Dragon of Undeath. Or to you, the Axem. The one, the only, ruler of the S-ranked dungeon you’re smart enough to avoid entering. Fucking coward.”
The Axem manifested… a pipe, lit it with a breath of fire, took a long deep puff, coughed a few times, and then blew a cloud of smoke at me. It smelled of… uh. Woodfire, garbage, and pine.
By this time, I’d finished chugging the rest of my health potion, having forced myself through the pain. Axelium continued to rant, baffling me further.
“It is time you understand the way the world works. In order to survive here, you must take what you want, and no one should be able to challenge you.”
I scanned the Axem. A strange dark, musical sound chimed in my ear.
Abruptly, a demonic voice actually spoke the prompt for me. I flinched. Who wouldn’t? A demon suddenly speaking in your ear. Yes, you would, and probably shit yourself. The enemy analysis was slightly different. The prompt felt asshole-ish.
[Dragon Enemy Analysis.]
[You are in the presence of a dragon king… Show respect!]
[Axelium del Mongranus de Magnus. Type: Dragon King. Rank: SSS. Affinity: Dark, Undead. Neutral. The Axem.]
[Warning, the Axem is projecting its shadow. He is not currently present.]
Neutral? Nearly killing me was considered neutral? Sending minions, strong ones at that, and the system fucking called that neutral? How could I scan the real being through its shadow? There were too many questions.
There was no way I could take this thing on. Not now. I needed to get back to the farm.
Without any further hesitation, I downed a shadow potion, a speed boosting potion and bolted.
“Oh, you’re ending the conversation?” Axelium laughed. “You go on my terms, human. To the grave, that is.”
[You have entered a Chase.]
[Warning! This is a fight you may not be able to win.]
“Milia, tell the earth to help the others get back to the farm,” I said into the ring. “The Axem’s shadow is on my ass.”
I didn’t tell her that I might not make it.
“Nate! Hold on! I will.”
I felt the first giga-sized blast of neon-green energy sail right past me as I slipped into the shadows. I quickly jumped back out, sensing the extreme dangers of staying in, and then pushed harder with everything my legs had. The missed blast of energy exploded, creating a shockwave that almost knocked me off balance, but I held strong.
“Tell me, why are you here?” Axelium asked from above, even though he was still chasing from behind. “Surrender control of the forest. Remove your aura and give this place to me. The treasure within, the guardian dryad, the residents. They’re mine.”
He suddenly appeared at my side, reminding me of his mass and that physics were full of shit. Something this big shouldn’t be able to move this fast.
Fortunately, I had already focused on summoning Yukihara and unleashed as much blood lightning as possible. The Axem roared.
I slipped back into the shadows as another neon-green beam fired, destroying everything in its path. I emerged, but couldn’t dodge the awaiting backhand.
Bones creaked but held together as I rolled and leapt back to my feet. If I wasn’t a master magician, that attack would’ve one-shot me. No shit. The system didn’t give me a low health warning courtesy this time, but I felt it. If I could picture a health bar, it’d be all the way in the red.
Not that I had time for stupid ass video game thoughts while running for my life.
“You’re beginning to remind me why I hate fire fleas,” the Axem said, his voice still calm. “Yes, fire fleas, you’ve heard it correctly. They don’t discriminate whom they feast upon and set on fire. They’re a nuisance, annoying to catch, but a delicious, tasty treat. Even humans can eat them. If I devour you, will you be missed? What will happen to you?”
“You sure do love hearing yourself talk,” I called as I pushed my supernatural speed to the limit. The forest entrance was coming into view. I could make it. I would make it.
“You are only alive because of the limitations of my shadow, but even it can kill you. Behold. Gold tier magic. Unholy Fall, Nemnin Divide.”
Black gold magic appeared in front of me, from the forest entrance.
[Warning! This attack WILL kill you.]
No. No, no, no, no. I wasn’t going down like this.
Having no choice, I drank the summoning potion. My first intention was to abuse the divine protection of the farm. Surely, that had to be why the Axem or his minions didn’t attack outside the forest. That much was obvious.
Like before, the power slammed into me all at once, giving me the feeling of merging with the world and mana itself. The dim forest lit up.
And I felt everything, everyone’s mana levels even as far as the village two days away.
The dragon magician state enabled me to fully control my divine master magician class without the limitations of being so new to magic. It was essentially a cheat. Suiting, wasn’t it?
The Axem didn’t realize the changes until it was too late.
With just a finger, I blocked his claw, then casually ripped it off. It immediately turned into black ash due to being a shadow.
The serpent screamed, but another pitch to his agony was added as I vanished and reappeared in front of him.
Drinking the summoning potion wouldn’t work on the real Axem, but for this shadow, I sensed its weakness. There were points that leaked mana. The claw which I ripped away was one of them.
I spun-kicked a hole into its gut, which caused the monster to lose half of its size.
Unfortunately for me, this was still the Axem’s shadow. I didn’t want to go down easily, and neither did it.
I couldn’t dodge the black and gold energy this time as it manifested right in front of me.
“I will kill them all. They belong to me. The forest, the dryad guardian, the residents, the land. All is mine.”
“No,” I said casually as something within snapped. “I’m afraid you’ll have to be satisfied with knowing that I stole back the land that you stole. I’ll also be marrying the dryad. How does that sound?”
I don’t know how I did it, a part of me wondered if I was moving consciously or by instinct, but I slapped the instant-death magic aside. The Axem’s eyes widened, then he grinned. A creepy, neon-green grin.
I couldn’t do anything about this attack. I also couldn’t retreat into the shadows. But.
“I don’t think so, you asshole. We will meet!”
I overloaded my Dragon Magic Burst, far beyond its normal capability. Desperation, tiredness, and the consequences of failing fueled me. A roar escaped my mouth.
Our magic collided and exploded, creating a shockwave that flattened the trees in the forest as light as bright as noon covered it for seconds.
When it cleared, the monster still stood, breathing heavily, but otherwise unharmed. It seemed like it was over, that I lost with nothing to show for until a prompt appeared.
[The Shadow of the Axem’s mana fell below 25%. Stability lost…]
The Axem began to flicker.
“You… You!”
The Axem paused and spawned his pipe, taking a puff, calming himself. “I shouldn’t let a weak human get me worked up over a disposable shadow.”
[The Axem’s shadow cooldown has extended to a year due to severe damage.]
[The Axem’s minion summoning has dropped in power, by half.]
“I’ve learned something today,” the Axem continued. “You aren’t a fake master magician. You’re a freak. Born as a master magician, and in the wrong world where magic was all but forgotten, I bet.”
“What do you know about my world? How do you know all of this?” I asked after downing a health potion and blowing a few chunks as the potion sickness slapped me in the face like a college hangover. The fact that I didn’t pass out yet meant that my realm progress and all that came with it truly held its weight in gold.
“I am a dragon, I know many, many things, things that you cannot possibly comprehend, human,” the Axem said. “We are somewhat close to gods, compared to you puny humans. But don’t worry, I will not be telling you to bow. I will be telling you to die. I will roast you slowly, make you scream in pain as I nibble your throat out piece by piece.”
The Axem’s flickering increased, and he seemed to have lost his ability to do anything but smoke from a pipe.
“Do not think for a moment I’ll be entering your dungeon without being prepared,” I said.
“Good. My dungeon’s energy will not be wasted on some weakling. When I devour you, I will turn your head into a midway guardian, program it to mimic your final screams.”
“You’re… you’re weakened,” a new voice said.
I turned to see Milia approaching, her aura emitting around her strangely, and clearly amplified by the forest. Her eyes glowed, giving her an angel of death vibe. Her D-ranked spell book, Flamie, floated at her side. The wisp made a noise when it looked at me, as if in greeting.
“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this moment,” she said. “Even if it’s your shadow, I can still do this.” She thrust both of her palms in his direction.
“You can banish me from the forest, I care not,” the Axem said, laughing. “The gauntlet has been thrown, challenge called. This land will be mine. You will be replaced with an undead dryad—ooargh!”
“Be banished!” Milia yelled as she allowed the golden mana to stream from her hands, striking the undead dragon king like lightning. The flickering fluttered into overdrive and then finally, the entire shadow crumbled into coal-colored ashes.
[Secret quest completed: Survive the Axem’s Shadow. Bonus: for defeating the Axem’s Shadow, you receive 2 S-ranked chests instead of one, and 1 Forest Protector chest. Receiving rare non-ranked chests like this are practically unheard of. Perhaps there is hope for you, after all.]
I collapsed to the ground, panting, relieved at somehow surviving this. I could sense the auras of my pets, including Cheetara, who I pushed out of the way before the claw knocked me silly.
“The disciples and the apprentices wanted to help, but the Axem’s aura was too powerful,” Milia said. “They couldn’t break through, no matter how hard they tried.”
“I’m glad,” I said after fully catching my breath. “Even after drinking the summoning potion, he’s still too strong. And that was just his shadow. We’ll need a really strong team to take it down, including Anzu. Also train with that team.”
Milia nodded as she hugged me. I felt… her tears.
“I… was terrified… knowing you were facing it alone. I am so ashamed that I wasn’t out here, bleeding with you.”
I sat up and wiped the tears from Milia’s eyes. The dryad never cried.
“This isn’t on anyone,” I said. “He appeared suddenly from underground with a surprise attack. The coyote was probably a trap. Who knew he could clone himself and appear out of the dungeon?”
The weakness of the summoning potion sucked, but it was far less potent than before. We ended up meeting back up with everyone, debriefing, before dismissing to go wash.
Afterward, we ate pie, though at first in silence. Muiy broke the ice with her expression of glee. Thankfully, Chenzu brought drinks because holy shit, did I need one.
The feeling of coming close to death and even being warned by the system out of nowhere still lingered.
It ignited my desire to create the potions to efficiently pull myself and anyone else out of a bad situation.
In fairness, a potion did save my ass. It was always the potions. Magic just didn’t cut it for someone with limited knowledge and spells.
And you know what, I was fine with that. I was the potion maker, after all.
“Who wants to see me open up some chests?” I announced.
