BOOM!
This purely physical clash of Dragons produced yet another shockwave; only this one was unable to phase the players on the hillock after Eva used her light barrier.
Draco's eyes flashed as he trembled, the rebound from the impact hitting him as well since he was connected to the Black Dragon. He spat out a bit of blood as this happened, but he chose to wait until five seconds elapsed to drink another Angel's Kiss potion.
There were only 75 left.
Since they had been abused during this battle, it was natural their numbers would drop. The only saving grace was that Draco could mass produce this given enough time; unfortunately, time was one of the rare few things he lacked.
He also had to work on his blacksmithing, enchanting, and a league of other useful Tradeskills, so he couldn't devote his life to alchemy alone.
There was just far too much Draco had to do before Update 5.
The same applied to Eva.
The Black Dragon and Metal Dragon roared, bellowed and hollered as they traded heavy blows, using their claws, teeth, and tails to scratch, bite, lash and bash each other.
It was an intense brawl reminiscence of two beasts in the forest, not the refined and almighty Dragon race. Even the Dragon Soul felt solemnity from the battle, as its beastly instincts were triggered.
These Dragons lost HP relatively slowly, as their attack speed was slow due to their size, and their defenses against each other were high too. It was only because they were of the same State of Being, and that Draco's Black Dragon had a higher level, which gave him an advantage.
As such, the disparity in remaining health between the Black Dragon and the Metal Dragon began to close as they slowly reached an equilibrium.
The Metal Dragon was slowly losing, but according to Draco's Personal Command Center, the calculations were that the Black Dragon would bottom out its HP before the Metal Dragon did.
Once that happened, the backlash Draco would suffer would be too horrendous to imagine, removing him from the remainder of the fight.
Draco's eyes narrowed.
Evil Curse!
Life Steal!
Necrotic Hands!
Evil Curse placed a random negative status on an enemy, and in this case, it happened to be the <Chilled> status effect! This made the Metal Dragon slow down slightly, as it suffered from an intense D-O-T.
Life Steal was an unblockable skill that placed the <Life Steal> status effect on a target, where 50% of the damage dealt on every hit was fed back to the attacker as HP. This only included beneficiaries the caster chose to be linked to the skill.
Draco linked the Black Dragon as the sole beneficiary of the skill in this case.
Necrotic Hands summoned undead arms that gripped a target for 30 seconds, totally binding them in place. The arms were like ropes that burst from the ground, wrapping over the Metal Dragon tightly.
The Black Dragon capitalized on this and began to lay into the Metal Dragon with abandon, biting, clawing, and whipping without a care for defense since it was bound.
-20000! -22000! -21000!
The Black Dragon dealt unholy amounts of damage in the short 3 seconds that the Metal Dragon had been immobile before it used its own dispel skill to get rid of the entrapment.
Its green eyes swirled with madness and desperation as it used another one of its ultimate skills, Metallic Armageddon!
It flapped its battered wings and shot up into the air with impossible speed, hovering over the whole battlefield in but a few milliseconds. It was like a beam of light that pierced the heavens before it stopped.
This was reliant on the effect of this skill, not due to its natural flight speed.
Draco's heart clenched as his Foresight passive skill tingled greatly. It allowed him to sense danger 0.5 seconds ahead of time, which was exemplary in one-on-one combat but had a milder effect in such a situation.
"EVERYONE, GET CLOSER!!" Draco shouted while sweating profusely.
The remaining players broke out of their reverie and obeyed his order without question, rushing towards the Evil Duo immediately. Draco's eyes swirled with a black light as he gritted his teeth.
In the sky, the Metal Dragon gazed down at the Black Dragon with utter hate as it used its taboo and sure-wipe skill, which was to summon all of its Metal Energy into the form of a golden-colored claw.
This claw hovered in the air lazily for a split second before it was thrust down to the earth with a push from the Metal Dragon.
The Black Dragon's pupils contracted as it felt the aura of death upon it. Unlike the Metal Dragon, it had no skills and minimal techniques. Even the Orb of Destruction it sent out earlier had been copied from what it saw the Metal Dragon do.
Only Draco could cast skills, and the Black Dragon could only use Draconic techniques, unlike the Metal Dragon, who could do both. This was the fundamental weakness of Draco and was why within Boundless, he would be weaker than any Dragon of his Rank that had Destruction Energy.
As everyone began to feel the end of the world approaching, a black ray of light shot out from Draco's position, passing through the atmosphere as it ripped a hole through the fabric of reality.
It was like watching someone use scissors to snip paper. The black ray tore through space in such a manner, leaving a long line of darkness that led into the void or the 'null realm' as it was usually termed in Western Fantasy.
This black ray collided with the Metallic Armageddon and just… negated it. The apocalyptic skill that could have destroyed this whole area zone was turned into nothingness as the black ray leisurely continued into the horizon, only stopping when it reached the height of a small mountain.
In its wake was a thin spatial tear that leaked evil and darkness, a portal to a forbidden area that one should never access.
The whole area was left silent as they stared at Draco, who was the source of this unnatural beam. Their hearts roiled with chaotic emotions as they took in the magnificence of his attack and what it meant for the world at large.
Of course, they also saw that Draco was rigid like a stick, and his HP had dropped into an inch of his death. Right now, even the slightest tickle might just send him to nirvana.
Seeing as the Black Dragon was still needed to combat the Metal Dragon, this was unacceptable. If he died, everything would come to an end, and there would be no reward.
Right now, the Black Dragon couldn't even capitalize on the opening the Omega skill had created as it dared not receive any damage. Once it did, Draco would die, and it would be unsummoned.
Hmm… then it would probably make sense for Eva to pry open his mouth and pour an Angel's Kiss potion down his throat, or Draco could even switch the beneficiary of the Life Steal skill to himself and let the Black Dragon enter the fray…
Haha, did you think you were smarter than the AI?
The Omega skill was of the Divine-tier, and the backlash was also of the Divine-tier. Unless Draco ingested a Divine-tier healing potion, this backlash could not be negated.
As such, he could only wait out the 1 minute and hope everything would work out. Since he still needed to provide the Black Dragon with Bloodline Energy, Eva poured Angel's Kiss potions down his throat every 5 seconds.
The potion restored everything that didn't fall under the penalty of the Omega skill.
The Metal Dragon managed to suppress its shock as it roared and dove at the Black Dragon. For that matter, the Black Dragon flapped its wings and took to the air as well, but…
It flew in the opposite direction!
What the f.u.c.k!
The noble and overpowered Black Dragon was… running away!
This fact stunned the mad and insane Metal Dragon so much that it almost fell out of the sky. Its hate-filled mind was cleared as it began to realize that something was going on.
There was no way a Black Dragon would simply run away. It was not in their nature. The Metal Dragon itself, despite being so close to death, had never even considered the possibility of escaping.
Such a thing was more of a human trait…
The Metal Dragon cast its eyes towards Draco, who was on the hillock, and took in his weakened state. When it did, its eyes narrowed malevolently, and it swiveled towards his location.
Draco, Eva, and all the players had their expressions change as they saw the Metal Dragon rush towards them like a torpedo. Their hearts couldn't help but enter their stomachs as they realized it had all come to an end.
Draco himself was extremely unwilling. He and Eva had been so confident in their victory, which showed their arrogance and complacency. They had gotten too used to dominating everything in this game, so they put nothing in their eyes.
The caution and wisdom they utilized in their previous life was gone as they did what they wanted, how they wanted.
The thing was, they had the capital to do so and were able to act as such in most other situations. The problem was that there were always circ.u.mstances that were beyond one's capabilities, and this was one of them.
If even Arthur, who wielded the Divine Sword Excalibur, had his Divine Seal of Camelot and his Legendary armor, was beaten to death by this Metal Dragon in a head-on battle, imagine Draco and Eva's fates had they followed their original plan.
The Black Dragon changed direction and rushed back towards the hillock with maximum speed, but it was useless. To flee the Metal Dragon, it had obviously chosen a path that led away from the hillock.
Since it had possessed an advantage of distance in the few seconds of the chase, this advantage had turned itself on its head as it tried to catch up to the Metal Dragon.
Now, Draco could only hope that the Seal of Camelot would revive him on the spot without the time penalty as well, since it said it would remove all penalties. That way, he would quite literally re-appear on the spot after dying.
However, since the Black Dragon would not make it in time, his face fell, and he lowered his head. When he entered his Personal Command Center to see their chance of survival, he was stunned to see that it was 100%.
Their chance of victory had risen to 95% too, which further floored him. Draco stood up from his chair and questioned Sofia.
"What led you to this conclusion? What are the sources for these stats?"
"Commander, we are utilizing your technique called Control to monitor the battlefield. Within the range of the Void of Perfection technique, we have gathered certain important data that led to this conclusion." Sofia answered slowly.
"What data is this?" Draco asked with surprise.
"Commander, look beside you," Sofia answered cryptically before disappearing.
Draco returned to the real world and looked to his side, and what he saw made his hope blaze like a bonfire.
Roma's body was trembling, but her focus was concise as she had survived due to the protection of Qiong Qi, who was invincible to all attacks below his original Rank.
Her Witch Slaves had been recalled as they would be destroyed due to the battle, but the spell she had been preparing all this while had been maintained, and it looked like she was just about done.
Even though the Personal Command Center had no idea what exactly she was casting, it was able to use Draco's extensive knowledge from his past life to surmise that a spell with such a long cast time must be horrendously powerful.
"…Și îmi schimb viața pentru acest angajament!"
Roma finished her chant and spread her arms wide as if trying to grapple an enemy. Before her, all the Worldly Energy she acc.u.mulated emerged right in front of her chest as a greenish arrow of energy.
Its size rapidly grew in the span of milliseconds, reaching the size of a small house. Roma looked like she was strained by controlling all this energy, and it showed in her agonized expression and her crumbling body.
The Metal Dragon tried to cut its flight and juke to the side, but this was impossible without breaking its wings. It had built up horrendous momentum as it rushed to kill all the players on the hillock, which was now the cause of its predicament.
Roma silently pushed forward, sending the strange arrow of energy hurtling towards the incoming Metal Dragon, which could only roar as it raised its claw to defend against this attack.
With potent Destruction Energy, it believed that whatever resistance she put up would be futile, but the ensuing clash proved it to be its own conceit.
The arrow and the Draconic claw coated in Destruction Energy ground on each like like two pieces of metal that were spinning quickly. Sparks emerged from this clash, and it looked like the Metal Dragon would lose.
Once again pushed to a tight spot, the Metal Dragon summoned all the Worldly Energy it could muster to amplify its Destruction Energy, but it was meaningless. If one could channel Worldly Energy limitlessly, one would be no different from a God.
Dragons had admin rights over Worldly Energy, but even admins had limits. They were above all but below a few, and in this case, it was the Gods. Not to mention that the Metal Dragon was Rank 1, so it could not abuse its natural advantage too outrageously.
The arrow pierced through the Metal Dragon's claw and ran through its throat, tearing a visible hole through it as the arrow continued rushing off into the distance before dissipating.
Like an anvil, the airborne Metal Dragon fell to the ground with an earth-shaking thump, as a terrifying damage indicator appeared above its head.
-300,000!
Lord! Even though the skill had an outrageous cast time of over 30 minutes, could not be prepped or stored for later use, and could not be hidden unless there was a significant distraction, the damage it dealt was stupendous.
One should not forget, this was a Metal Dragon. Putting aside the immense defense Dragons had, a Dragon with metallic scales would naturally have a nightmare-inducing level of defense.
Yet it was still made to take so much damage.
Everyone couldn't help but turn to stare at Roma with trepidation and awe, marveling at her mystical prowess. Yet, they could only gasp when they saw her body slowly decompose into some greenish chaff; her head bowed as she faced Draco.
Draco watched Roma decompose right in front of him with a pained expression, but he spoke heavily. "Wait for us to exit this battle. I will bring you back immediately."
Roma nodded and smiled gently as her lovely face began to fade away. "End it for me, Draco."
Draco sighed and turned to the Metal Dragon, which was gasping as it lay in a pool of its own blood and was unable to breathe properly. Even as Draco stood there, the flesh around its throat was knitting back together at a visible speed.
He walked down the mountain slowly, and it was as if the world lost focus, centering itself on him. His every step echoed with the will of the universe, emulating its truest laws and most lawful truths.
Right as he reached the base of the hillock, the Black Dragon landed right beside the gasping Metal Dragon and watched Draco's approach silently. The Black Dragon sat on its haunches and seemed to sigh with melancholy.
Draco stood before the head of the Metal Dragon, staring into one of its bright green eyes. It stared back at him with blazing intensity, as if hoping that its hatred alone would rend him apart.
Draco knelt down beside its head and placed one hand upon it, his eyes surprisingly pure as he spoke out his truest thoughts.
"I cannot imagine what kind of pain you must have gone through when you were forced to transform into this."
Draco sighed.
"Dark Knight, the first time we met, I could tell you were an anomaly, a bug in the system. When you approached us in the middle of a city without us knowing, I knew you had a much more fundamental control over the world than any NPC."
"The question was, why were you created, and why did you choose to attack me in particular?"
Draco rubbed its head gently.
"I can only guess that it was because of my unique circ.u.mstances when I entered Boundless, which lead to your creation. It was likely due to my ability of Control, since despite being unable to use Control perfectly, you could emulate it and defend against it."
"You could also predict all my moves and fought me head-on despite my combat prowess, which should be unmatched in this timeline. Everything pointed to the fact that you were an aberration created by me, through my Control, my future memories, or some other anomaly present in me that the millions of other players didn't have in the beginning."
Draco rose to his feet and shook his head, staring at the Black Dragon, who also had a sad look on its face.
"As a digital clone of me, you should be my brother in arms, but circ.u.mstances have made us enemies for now. I now understand why this event never appeared in the previous timeline and why it happened at this exact point in time."
Draco's eyes sharpened.
"After all, I had never unlocked my bloodline, nor given direct samples of it to the AI for it to be replicated so perfectly in you. As a bug of this game, you didn't have the luxury to retain your humanoid shape while summoning claws and appendages like I do."
"No, the reason you were curious about me before was because we were two sides of the same coin, but you despise me now because of the horrendous pain this transformation must have forced upon you. That would explain why you have very little sanity left."
｢Name: Metal Dragon (Dark Knight) – Major Rank Adventurer
Level: 23
HP: 206/8,000,000｣
Draco unsheathed his Dragorugio sword and gently yet ceremoniously plunged it into the neck of the Metal Dragon, killing it and ending the battle.
"Hopefully, this will free you of your suffering."
"If you respawn, come and find me so we can fight once more."
"After that, we may then fight side by side."