ALEXiThymia: Chapter 40: The Duel

Chapter 40

The Duel

There was no sneak attack. No chance to catch the beast off guard. Worse, the entire field was a wide-open sprawl of over two hundred feet of empty flat dirt, before her opponent. Even looking at it, the only feature in this otherwise empty dungeon room was a giant rock that the Level 1 Spirit Dragon now rested. Effectively giving the dragon the high ground, and a strategic advantage both.

Worse, Alexa felt the exact moment a protective barrier rose to separate Alexa from her only retreat. It was clear that she had only two options left, kill the dragon before her, or die.

Alexa charged forward, not because it was the most tactical of decisions to make, it wasn’t. But in this instant she needed to cut down on the distance between her and her opponent.

“ROOOOAAARRR!”

The beast growled in rage, but this was fine. This was posturing of the beast. Normally such a roar would have been enough to send a sane opponent to their knees. The reason for this was the faint tinge of mental compulsion planted within that roar. While the dragon was a Spirit dragon, that didn’t mean that it didn’t have a wider range of magics available to it, as all dragons do.

This was perfect for Alexa, as she used this time to continue running in a straight line towards the dragon.

“ROOARR!”

More posturing by the dragon. From the buildup of magic within the beast it was preparing for an attack, but so was Alexa. She waited until she was close, only a few dozen paces away. Then when the dragon committed to its attack, Alexa also committed to her own attack.

Double Strike.

Arcane Wind Cutters.

Alexa fused her Wind Cutters with an edge of Arcane energy. Then she sent ten of them, the most she could manage, flying at the monster. These blades didn’t just head to the monster, they were all aimed at the one weak spot Alexa had managed to find. The glowing golden eyes that were surrounded by a dark orange sclera.

Simultaneously the beast let out its own magic attack.

Magic Breath Attack.

“Ahh!”

Even with her Legendary Magic Dampening taking away most of the strike. A good portion of the dragon’s attack made it through. Worse, it didn’t seem to attack her body. Instead, it seemed to eat away at the intangible part of her, the ethereal part of her.

Still Alexa didn’t have time to stop. She focused through the burning pain of her soul and continued running forward.

Her Arcane Wind Cutters struck true, at least two of them had struck the eyes as intended. The beast had dark black blood pouring out of its sockets. As it reeled back, trying to cover the eyes with its claws, while the dragon’s enhanced Regeneration went to work, fixing the damage.

Still Alexa was prepared for the rapid healing of the beast. In fact, this was part of her plan.

Alexa had gotten used to seeing the subtle effects of magic at use with her own Regeneration. She saw the bands of natural healing magic that were used by the body to start this process. While the dragon’s version of Regeneration was far more potent than Alexa’s, the base magic was still there. Magic that told the body to heal quickly.

Seeing that, Alexa would have smiled, if she could. Instead, she just smirked lightly, not that the dragon could see it. Not that anyone she knew could see it, but this was her element. She had chosen this tactic, and then she struck.

Rather than combating the natural Healing magic of dragons, she assisted the healing. Grabbing hold of the patterns, she encouraged the dragon’s natural Regeneration to not only heal, but to heal exceptionally well.

Alexa once read a theory that posed that cancer was a natural process of the body. That the rate at which cancer grew was the same rate as a child would grow. The theory posed that somehow the body was tricked into thinking it needed to grow again, then never received the impulse to stop. Alexa for her part didn’t know if such a condition was true, though after her time on Tuesday, she felt she had a better understanding of not only what cancer was, but how to get rid of it. Or, in this case, she realized how she could create a cancerous mass.

Healing Magic.

Alexa fused her will into the dragon’s Regeneration. She made it so the wounds suffered didn’t just get regrown, but continued to grow, continued to harden. The scar tissue grown over the eyes, to protect against similar future injuries continued to grow and increase.

The dragon’s claws that once had been there to protect the eyes from any further attacks, now began clawing desperately at the tingling sensations. The tingling sensations of the eyes that were now causing it to scratch and claw at its own eyes. Or rather, at the massive growths of unchecked and undirected muscles that were growing where the eyes once were.

Alexa herself was not idle during this time. She chose this time to charge forward, then smack.

Her small fist struck the side of the great beast. Of course, the punch did almost nothing. As it was, Alexa was lucky to only have a few cracked bones from the strike. But the initial contact had been made. That was all her body needed to begin its second stage of attack.

Absorber Class Material Found: Would you like to absorb essence of Spirit Dragon?

“Yes.”

With that one word, a vortex of power began flooding into Alexa. What was but a fraction of energy for the dragon began to fill Alexa with a surge of energy. Alexa forced calming breaths, less she succumb to the sensation. She still had to keep her focus. She still had to work on attacking this dragon from multiple angles. With her magic focused on causing the dragon to Over Heal itself, Alexa let her slotted class go to work draining more and more of the monster’s essence.

Giant muscular tendons tensed.

Seeing the muscles of the dragon tense up, Alexa began moving. Then just as expected the dragon struck out blindly, the same way a horse would with its tail to shew away a pesky gnat.

Realizing this, Alexa recalled her class description. She was the amoeba capable of taking down even the most mighty of monsters. Was this what her class was designed for? Was this her true purpose in being able to unlock such a class? To take down monsters like this?

In the end Alexa realized, that it didn’t matter. In the end, the reason why she was here, nor what she was doing here didn’t matter. Instead, what mattered was what she did next. How she a small speck of a creature, would take down the titan before her.

Fueled by her own battle lust, Alexa continued her relentless assault. Not wanting to risk breaking her fists against the beast, Alexa tried simply touching the beast. To her surprise that simple contact was enough to continue the transfer of energy.

Slow, methodical, tedious.

These were the words that most would describe the battle.

Alexa however would summarize it up with just two words, effective enough.

She wasn’t fast, the monster itself was flailing about wildly now. Both trying to swipe at Alexa who constantly moved about, but also the way it tried to scratch its eyes out. Or rather the giant scaled protrusions that covered where its eyes once were.

With its front legs down, the back legs, tail, and even wings did little to stop Alexa. Alexa for her part used this moment to fully climb onto the back of the beast, and to find a spot right between the two wings. One where the wings could not come together enough to pinch her, and where she was far enough away from the back legs to avoid getting scratched off.

Wham!

Wheeze.

The giant tail of the beast came down and crushed Alexa into the tough spines of the beast. With that one strike, Alexa felt her ribs crack from the light contact. Air was forced from her lungs, causing a faint wheezing sound to be heard. It was clear that the dragon had just swung out wildly in an attempt to get her.

Fortunately, Alexa could feel her own Regeneration kick in, almost immediately. A process she was very thankful for not having to shift her attention away from her efforts with Healing the dragon’s eyes.

Still the strike was enough to let her know she needed to keep moving, that nowhere here was safe.

Despite the pain, she forced her aching body to move. She got up and then sprinted forward a few paces, just in time to avoid the next tail whip.

Thwap.

The tail landed, hard on the base of the dragon’s spine. Alexa attributed this to slapping yourself too hard when trying to capture a particularly persistent mosquito. The irony of comparing herself to a mosquito was not lost on her, but for the moment she didn’t care.

A true smile filled her face, as she felt alive.

Not just alive, but she knew that right now, she had likely done more against this dragon, than most could even dream. This was the power of a legendary class. Still, she was not done.

Bathump, bathump.

The giant heart of the beast beat loudly.

Alexa saw the dragon build up energy, then instincts told her to jump, so she did.

She jumped off the side of the dragon, down the small mound, and rolled to the bottom. Just in time to avoid the dragon’s next attack.

Magic Breath Attack.

This time Alexa saw the true magic of the dragon on full display. This was a dark malevolent purple wind. One that even the dragon itself was not completely immune to, as it cried out in pain from being caught up in its own magical mist.

Alexa got up, only to find that during her tumble she had somehow injured her leg. Her leg burned in agony, but she still forced herself to stand.

Once again, she was reminded that just focusing her Healing powers on herself would be enough to end her pain. But doing so would negate her one true advantage. The advantage that the monster was blind. Not only was it blind, but it was using a lot of its own massive energy pool to continually Regenerate itself. Regeneration that it then had to undo with its own claws, to even hope to be able to see again.

Alexa was winning.

With a feral grin, she got up and limped forward.

This was not over, not by a long shot. At least it wasn’t over for her, for the dragon it was clear that it made a bad match up. Apparently since the dragon was only level one, that meant its overall energy was low. That was why Alexa figured it had only cast that devastating breath attack twice. The amount of energy required was just too much.

As it was, Alexa felt her own mind beginning to grow tired from constant use of Healing magic. While all she required was a trickle of energy to continue to feed the dragon’s natural Regeneration that trickle was now catching up to her.

She was nearing her limits, but she was determined to see this through.

Clawing.

Alexa began clawing her way back up the side of the mound of dirt.

She made sure to go up at an angle that helped her avoid the tail and the wildly flapping wings.

Ever since the dragon caught itself with its own spirit attack, the beast looked even more miserable than ever.

“Still just a few more drains of energy should be enough.” Alexa thought to herself, as she forced her battered body to climb upwards. Pain was only mental; she could deal with the pain. Even now, she could feel her own Regeneration helping some of her pains. Most of her personal healing of course went to fixing her cracked ribs, but there was enough of a reduction in pain for her to continue pressing forward.

Still the dragon began thrashing about wildly.

The dragon began thrashing about the way an injured wild animal would thrash about. Then she saw it, the infusion of magic that made Alexa jump backwards and tumble down the side of the hill once again.

“ROAAARRRR!”

The beast roared loudly, but then was enveloped by a wave of white energy.

Then it disappeared.

Shock.

Alexa paused, wondering if the dragon had somehow gone invisible.

Even so, her enhanced senses should have picked up on the surge of Illusion magic energy. But there was nothing. Even her Healing tether was severed. From her butt, Alexa looked around wildly. She almost debated going to her feet but thought she would be more capable of evading an attack if she stayed on the ground.

She was prepared for anything, any type of attack. Any form of attack that would not come.

“What?” Alexa found herself asking out loud. Then as if answering her question, Alexa was hit with a wall of messages.

Hidden Quest Complete: Personal Trials Dungeon Level 1 Complete. You managed to either defeat or force your opponent to flee combat. For your actions in defeating a dragon who was one level above you, you are to hereby be rewarded with the following. New Title, Class Upgrade, New Unique Skill.

Title: Dragon’s Bane: You have managed to defeat a dragon, one of the few remaining creators of the great system. You have tested your mettle in combat and been found adequate. Dragon’s Bane is the lesser version of the full title Dragon Slayer. Dragon’s Bane allows you to have increased magical effectiveness against dragons. Rewards: All Magic abilities increased by 10%. Magical effectiveness against dragons increased by 25%.

Class Upgrade: Slotted Class Absorber (Legendary)has been upgraded to Absorber (Mythic). This upgrade increases the amount of essence you can absorb by 10%, while also increasing your link to the energies available within the essence by 25%.

New Unique Skill: (Random).

New Unique Skill: Dragon Tongue. You can now read, write, and understand the mysterious language of the dragons in all its forms.

That was it, the notification she got. Notifications that all but proved the dragon ran.

Alexa forced her way up to her feet and yelled where she remembered the ancient being sitting.

“COWARD!”

Tears.

Tears of frustration and pain ran down Alexa’s face. She had been close, so close. Then the dragon ran. The entire thing was a setup, a no-win scenario. Alexa herself was a caged animal. While the dragon could do whatever it wanted, then when she fought back. When she was going to win, the creature ran.

Yes, the dragon was more powerful, and had it not been overly cocky from the start, the battle could have gone different.

She looked at her internal essence gained and realized that the essence she gained while a lot. More than enough to increase any of her Attributes by an excessive amount, it was not enough to unlock the true powers of a dragon.

Alexa Healed herself, then rising to her feet dusted herself off.

A quick look around showed that the room was empty. That no treasures were available, no items to pick up. The rock itself looked like it glowed with residual magic from the dragon, but that was fading even now.

There was nothing left, well almost nothing left for her.

She went over to the now open entry way, grabbed her backpack, she ate and drank.

Then standing up, she let a feral gleam fill her eyes as she walked to the portal and said a word that was becoming like second nature to her.

“Stay!”

With her will accepted, she left the only door available to her.