Chapter 17

Be careful...

Easier said than done.

I marched toward the dragon, my companions and Halia with me. The dragon flapped her wings as Usiku and Slepkavi came at her from the sides, both swinging weapons. Paanee spat a ball of acid and Sviesos fired a ball of electric plasma. The attacks struck the dragon while the swords slashed in. The dragon roared and then she launched into the air.

“Fuck me,” I groaned as the dragon soared over us and banked to the right. The room was big enough for her to fly around in. It was like it was created for her. I shuddered as her tail swept like a scythe behind her.

Paanee spat another ball of acid at the soaring dragon. The beast roared and then fire burst down at my naga. Paanee hissed and slithered out of the way fast, her armless body undulating and breasts bouncing. The flames scorched the ground where she had stood.

The dragon soared past, Paanee hissing. She turned her head and spat another ball of black acid.

“What are we going to do about that?” asked Maya. Her flesh rippled. Another blast of fire erupted, bathing my undine in oranges and reds.

“Like this,” I said and focused. “Blinding brilliance hardened, let the light of Lord Shamash cut!”

A sword of dazzling light appeared before the dragon’s head and slashed, striking the scaled beast. Light burst from it, a scintillating display that would half-blind the dragon if it worked. I couldn’t tell if it even cut through her scales.

Roaring in fury, the dragon banked around, her wings spread wide. They reached nearly to the high ceiling. She came around, her yellow eyes focused on me. She hurtled at me, flames crackling in her open mouth.

“Scatter!” I shouted.

Halia Vorbia’s heart hammered in her chest at the sight of the dragon. Every adventurer dreamed of slaying a dragon. It didn’t matter which of the twelve types. A fire drake, an ice drake, or a metal drake. They were all dangerous beasts that would make a name for any adventurer. A legend.

Now Halia stared at her destiny. She could kill this beast and outstrip even her father. For all that Anguin Vorbia had done in his storied adventuring career. He had never slain a dragon.

But Leo wanted to capture it.

She had sworn herself to Leo. This task might be folly. Taming a dragon had to be infinitely more difficult than slaying one. You merely had to cut off the dragon’s head for that. Forcing it to revert to a human form...

This would be dangerous.

Halia broke into a spring, scattering with the monster girls around Leo, her braid of black hair flowing behind her. She threw a look over her shoulder and saw that Leo wasn’t moving. He had his spear planted. His mouth opened in to cast the spell.

“Lightning crackle and hiss, gird me in the love of Lady Uttu!”

Static Aura danced over him. The air crackled around him moments before the flames burst down and splashed over him. Her stomach tensed as the fire blazed over his body. he was gone. Shouts erupted through the room. The dragon banked over, the air rippling in her wake. Wind howled over Halia.

Leo appeared amid the smoke. His Static Aura was gone, but he was fine. She couldn’t believe he had been such a fool. What if the fire had overcome the protective spell. She had to protect him. She had to keep him alive.

If this world was ever to break the cycle of the dungeon builders, then Leo had to live.

“Lady Sherida, guide my sword,” Halia prayed to the patron. Lady Sherida, Goddess of Light, had blessed Halia, Made her into a paladin. The divine power of her goddess flowed into her.

Halia threw her blessed blade. The humming sword flashed through the air. The course of it bent, following the dragon as she made her circle of the room to come around for another attack. The magical weapon slashed into the dragon’s belly scales. Smoking blood spurted from the wound and rained down on the floor. Usiku gasped, driving out of the steaming liquid and coming up in a crouch.

The dragon roared her fury. Her tail slashed in the air. Her head turned, yellow eyes focused on Halia.

The blessed blade reappeared in Halia’s hand. She could never lose it. The dragon dived for her.

Mrs. Bella Lucina spread her wings wide. The angel charged at Halia as the dragon dove for the human. Halia stood proud, raising her sword. Blood sizzled on the humming blade. With a hard flap of her wings, Mrs. Lucina hurtled in and grabbed Halia.

“What?” gasped the startled human.

Wings beating hard, Mrs. Lucina carried them straight up in the air, her halo pulsing with determined light. Fear pounded through Mrs. Lucina’s veins. She had to keep the paladin alive. Leo loved her. Mrs. Lucina loved her. The naked, busty angel would protect this new family.

She had no idea what else she could do.

“Let me go!” Halia gasped.

“I’m sorry, dearie,” Mrs. Lucina said, glancing down.

The dragon roared, wings flapping, but she couldn’t fly straight up. The dragon pulled out of her dive before hitting the ground. As she did, Slepkavi jumped and grabbed the edge of the wing where it met the scaled body. The orc hauled herself up on the dragon’s back, her thick, black hair whipping from the force of the wind.

“Wow,” Mrs. Lucina gasped as the orc clung to the dragon’s back.

Lightning flashed up from Sviesos. Paanee spat more acid. The other monster girls were spread out, ready to attack. Mrs. Lucina watched the battle, holding on to the squirming Halia.

“You’re crazy, you know that?” Maya asked as she ran back to Leo. “What if Static Aura didn’t keep you alive.”

He glanced at her and said, “I knew it would.”

“You did not.” Maya’s body rippled. She stamped a foot coated in dust. More of that nasty stuff infiltrated her body. She wanted to pour herself through a Brita filter right now. Purify herself. “You can’t risk yourself like this.”

“Sorry,” he said and focused on the dragon.

Maya shook her head in irritation. She didn’t know what she could do. Slepkavi had managed to jump on the dragon’s back while Mrs. Lucina hovered in the air with a struggling Halia. Maya’s only attack was drowning people in her body.

Not something she cherished doing.

“Darkness hides and shadows conceal, let the curse of Lord Zuen fall!”

The dragon roared. She shook her head as she banked around. Her wings flapped hard. Maya frowned. “That was Blind? Did you steal her vision?”

“Think so,” he said.

The dragon roared and flames burst from her, splashing across the wall. In the reflected light, Maya spotted Slepkavi raise her golden sword. She plunged it down into the dragon’s back. More pain burst from the monster. She thrashed in the air, her spine flexing.

Slepkavi flew from the back of the dragon. She soared out to the side, her green body flailing. She arched over and plunged for the ground. Maya winced as she watched the poor monster girl fall to her death.

I’m utterly useless in this fight! screamed through Maya’s mind.

“Water’s crushing weight surround, feel the grasp of Lord Enki squeeze!”

Watery Grasp surged out from me. I cast it on Slepkavi moments before she hit the ground. The water surrounded her to crush her, but it also cushioned her fall. Before it could harm her, I dismissed the spell with a thought. Active magic drew on my reserves, so I could end it at will.

She tumbled out of it, coughing but alive. She staggered to her feet as I stared up at the blind dragon. She beat her wings and banked before she hit the wall. She couldn’t see, but she had avoided colliding with the obstacle. How?

Didn’t matter. I had to be on the attack. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Lucina set Halia down then the angel returned to the air, joined by my little sister. I had to hit the dragon with an attack that would let me tame her.

Something that could stun her...

Yes!

“From above it falls, let the ice of Lord Anshar crush!”

A block of ice conjured by Frozen Fall appeared over the blind dragon’s head. It hurtled down at her to crush her. Knock her out or drop her from the sky. Her head turned to the side, pivoting at the end of its long neck. The ice fell past it and shattered on the floor, pieces spraying over Nimhe.

“The fuck?” I gasped.

“How did she dodge that?” Maya demanded. “Even if she wasn’t blind, that appeared over her head.”

The dragon turned and then breathed fire that shot down at Sviesos. The will o’ wisp ran to the right, narrowly avoiding getting burned. The dragon flew past and then turned again. I could see the darkness covering her yellow eyes. She was blind, but that didn’t seem to matter at all.

Then it hit me. I groaned in disgust. “She’s lived in the dark for thousands of years, Maya. Being blind is no different.”

I had to think of a new plan.

Garnet had her whip in hand as she soared through the air. Mrs. Lucina rose up beside the succubus, white-feathered wings beating beside scarlet, leathery ones. The succubus’s pigtails trailed behind her as she turned in the air. The dragon banked over, dodging a blast of lightning from Sviesos.

“Let’s get her, Mrs. Lucina!” Garnet shouted and surged at the dragon. “Hey! Hey, you! Dragon! You’re my brother’s! You belong to him. Stop being so naughty!”

“Garnet!” Mrs. Lucina shouted. “Don’t get so close to the monster!”

Garnet flapped her wings at full beat, winging for the dragon. The little succubus was not about to stop now. A Lightning Spear fired from her brother. His magic crashed into the dragon’s scales. Below, monster girls scattered for another fiery attack. Hagane moved, her metallic body standing out as it reflected red.

Garnet swooped in above those flapping wings and then slashed her whip at the dragon. The shadowy end struck the hard scales along the dorsal fins. The dragon didn’t even care. She dove again, hurtling down at Sviesos.