Chapter 289: King of the underground (19)
Chapter 68 - King of the underground (19)
Brendel secretly wiped his palms when he realized it was not a dragon, but a subspecies of a dragon— A drake.
The monster's front legs towered over the challengers like a pair of tall towers. It was covered with blue-green scales which were as shiny as polished metal and reflected the cold light from the coliseum. Each scale was several inches thick and it looked like it was clad in a layer of steel-plated armor.
The special characteristics of this creature were its ugly, triangular-shaped head with spiked horns shaped like they had been carved into sharp edges. Its deeply inset eyes were a light blue color, but its irises had flecks of golden flames, showing clearly that its ancestors were pure-blooded dragons.
[Adra Drake, a type of wind dragon. It's fortunate that it's not a mature adult.....]
If Brendel was to compare the Cerberus against it, the former would be a puppy. The winged monster in front of him was the top of the food chain in the Mountain of Calm Tempest, and the natives who lived there called them the Tyrants of Wind.
There used to be a legend about these Adra Drakes in the game. They were supposedly descended from the Sky Dragons during the era of the Dragon of Calamity, but the quests involving the creatures ultimately led gamers to Kirrlutz's royal historians who disputed this claim. The truth to them was actually much closer to the Mountain Dwarves' lore.
The Adra Drakes descended from Blue Dragons. The latter described as the fairies of the clouds, but one would find the drakes very different in terms of temperament. They were aggressive predators carrying the Wind Element in them, unlike their ancestors which carried the Ice Element within their body.
But regardless of whether this monster was a mature adult or not, it was still standing near the apex of a Gold-ranker.
[...... Wait a minute. An Adra Drake uses the Wind Element, right? Isn't this a bloody counter to the Wind Spirit Spiders?!]
Brendel cursed the announcer, but he could only grudgingly accept the results. The Coliseum of Destiny must have scanned the Wind Spirit Spiders and responded with a monster that had near immunity to it.
[But it seems like this damned place is able to see only the superficial contents. The attacks from the Holy Sword are based on the Earth Element, and they are the best counters to Wind Element creatures.]
His mind was filled with malicious revenge.
But the others had different thoughts. When they saw the creature which was tens of meters tall, making it big enough for the people in the cages to look up at it, they could not help but draw in a cold breath.
Fear started to grip their hearts.
The youths who had never left Schafflund with close to no worldly experience was still able to recognize for what it was.
It was a dragon.
Even though they did not know what difference there was between dragons, wyrms, drakes or wyverns, they knew that they held villainous roles opposing heroes in bedtime stories.
Every one of them had heard about the legends regarding the Dragon of Darkness and the Dragon of Twilight.
These creatures were the last of the Golden Lineage, and in their body flowed a mysterious and noble bloodline.
Jana and Kodan had seen Aouine's scouts in the past, which were called the 'Winged Dragon scouts'. But they suddenly realized their mounts were really winged lizards, and not truly related to the creature in front of them.
The Adra Drake unfolded its wings and swung them at the cage holding it. The gigantic metal rods were instantly pulverized into flat pieces.
"This...... is a dragon's power." Someone muttered.
Maher was the first to recover, or perhaps he was cruder in his personality. He tapped Cohen's shoulders roughly and whispered: "H-hey, he's challenging again. Do you think he's going to rescue you all?"
Cohen did not answer and felt his heart pounding in his throat.
Even though he knew that the monster's target was not on them, he could not help but feel that a light beating of its wings would create a gale strong enough to send everyone into the air— Then they would be killed as they crashed violently into the ground.
Although it was not unreasonable for him to think that way, the truth was even if there were one hundred Adra Drake, they would not be able to break the barriers—
"Cohen?"
"Shut up!" Cohen snapped, getting angry for the first time. "Stop attracting attention when there's a monster out that's capable swallowing us up in one bite!"
Maher scratched his head and backed away silently.
Even though the dragon had Cohen's attention now, the scene where Brendel stared blankly into the air had caused him to ponder something.
His hand reached into his pocket to find something.
Medissa quickly recovered her senses after the monster destroyed the cage imprisoning it.
"An Adra Drake." She pursed her lips tightly and hissed through her teeth, and she subconsciously gripped her silver lance tightly—
This was a creature that posed a huge threat to them.
"My lord, even though this beast's body appears to be clumsy and heavy, its speed in the air is incredibly swift and nimble—" The Elven princess warned Brendel in a whisper.
Before she had the chance to finish her sentence, the drake suddenly took off to the air with extended wings. A faint green glow appeared on its body and it sailed through the air with incredible, leaving behind a ghastly trail of green particles.
Before the youths had the chance to react, the gigantic monster had already charged into the midst of the Wind Spirit Spiders. The Adra Drake was familiar with these weak critters as they also lived on the same mountain, but the golden shining Holy Swords on them made it feel threatened.
Its instincts were not wrong.
And its initiated attack managed to destroy a large portion of the Holy Swords' formation.
"Scatter and fire at will!" Brendel watched the collapse of its formation and immediately gave his order to the spiders.
2 Earth EP was taken away from his Elemental Pool, and a huge golden net was weaved in the sky.
But what followed next made Brendel see something that he would never forget in his lifetime.
The Adra Drake easily steered through the dense concentration of lasers like a slippery fish. Approximately seventy percent of the Holy Swords' attacks did not connect, while the remainder of that struck the drake's scales did not hurt it and was even used as momentum to sail through the air.
The speed of the dragon's rotation appeared seemingly slow. Its wings allowed the pillars of light graze the tips of its wings to help it shift left and right, dodging the majority the attacks.
Yet with its leisurely pace, it somehow allowed one to capture its movements.
That illusion quickly passed and the Adra drake was directly in front of another large field of Wind Spirit Spiders.
[Its actions are so fast that they appear like the blades of a helicopter...... I didn't get to see them in action because I was at a high level and had killed them in a heartbeat. These creatures of the Wind Element are just like what one would expect. They feel almost graceful.]
The Blue Dragons are known for dancing through dark clouds filled with lightning at an extraordinary speed. The gamers in the past who had encountered these ancestral dragons compared them to the Adra Drakes, and declared the latter as true descendants that lived up to the name of its ancestors.
[Alright, the time to dwell on the past is over. I'll have a much easier time if it's a Gold-ranker on the ground, but it seems like there's going to be a little bit more challenge here.]
"Medissa, summon your unicorn and engage it." He said.
"Understood, my lord!"
The Elven princess leaped into the air in an elegant arc, and the spectral unicorn appeared through a dimensional space to receive her.
Medissa landed comfortably on her steed and took the reins and continued flying. The unicorn trotted through the air as though the air was made out of solid ground and started pursuing the Adra Drake. Even though the gigantic creature was swift, the unicorn did not fall behind.
Brendel decided to observe the situation a little longer.
He took a moment to observe the unicorn's flight. They were proud creatures with strong combat prowess, and only the Silver Elves managed to use them as steeds.
The Unicorn Knights were the strongest combat units of the Silver Elves, and each mature unicorn was even capable of using an Element Power. They were rated to be almost at level 60, the rough equivalent of a peak Gold-ranked fighter.
[There is some kind of Laws in play here that restricts the Unicorn strength. Only speed is left in Medissa's mount. The core aspect of the card is definitely Medissa, or I would see that unicorn exceeding her abilities.]
The Adra Drake felt a threat approaching from its back. Even though Medissa was less powerful than it was, exposing its back to her would have the same results to how Kodan left an opening to her earlier.
It gave up trying to destroy the Wind Spirit Spiders and turned around to battle with Medissa instead.
Both Adra Drake and Silver Elf crossed each other in flight.
Even though the Adra Drake was at a disadvantage because it lost the initiative, Medissa was the one who got injured.
The Adra Drake had caught on to Medissa's lance and attempted to claw at her, forcing her to steer downwards. The dragon rotated a few times and smoothly took on the higher position without injuries.
Medissa did not escape unscathed. The critical attack by the monster was avoided, but the Wind Element of into claws had left deep marks on her armor.
It was a unique point of Wind Element creatures. Galbu's wizards craftsmen even copied a lesser version of it and made a shield with a Wind Element spell weaved into it, allowing the shield to exude a unique defense that would repel enemies from approaching.
The girl on the unicorn felt her cheeks and found blood covering her palm. She looked up with alarm and caution.