At that point, I was done waiting.
“Sera?” I turned my head to her.
She was already forming a globe of ice in her hands. She replied in a still-scratchy voice, “Let’s give it a try.”
We had hoped to avoid fighting the dragon, but we’d always known it was a possibility.
Hitting it with small attacks was never going to work, especially since we were short on attacks with its weakness — ice.
So, we’d formulated a way of hurting it a little more reliably.
I drew my sword and presented the blade to her.
Sera whispered as she moved her hands closer to the sword.
“Child of the goddess,
I call upon your aid,
Summon all your power,
And breathe ice upon his blade.”
She plunged the globe of ice forward and it spread, enveloping the blade.
I nodded in thanks as Sera slumped, holding her throat. That had taken a lot out of her.
As I turned back to the dragon, it was breathing fire again.
Patrick was, impossibly enough, deflecting it with fire of his own.
Like deflects like, Teft’s words echoed in my mind.
But Patrick was falling back, and he was clearly struggling. He couldn’t defend himself for much longer.
Marissa landed on the creature’s back and slammed her fist into it again, but it just shook her off.
I activated the ring of jumping and blasted myself forward, landing in a pile of gold.
Marissa, struggling to stand, caught sight of me. “Corin?”
I nodded to her. “Secret door. Help me flank this thing.”
“Got it,” she replied in a determined tone.
We rushed the dragon from opposite sides.
The dragon ceased breathing fire for a moment, turning toward Marissa.
I stabbed it with my frost-covered sword. The blade sunk in to the hilt.
The dragon howled, whipping its tail toward me with surprising speed. Instinctively, I activated the ring of jumping, taking me over the tail and safely out of the way.
Unfortunately, I’d left the sword embedded in its side.
The dragon turned and swiped at me with a claw before I even had a chance to land, but a blast of lightning hit it in the eye. The claw still connected, but it was a glancing blow.
Even then, it was enough to knock me out of the sky.
Fortunately, between the levitation spell and the ring’s own effect, I just bounced harmlessly in the air before I slammed into the ground.
I could see cracks in my first barrier from the dragon’s claw impacting against it, but that was nothing to worry about.
The dragon turning toward me and opening its mouth was a far bigger concern. I could see a sphere of flame forming between its open jaws.
Then Marissa was in front of me, waving her hands in a circular motion.
The flames blasted over us, but a circular barrier appeared in front of Marissa, blocking the flames. It cracked more and more with every passing moment, but each second, Patrick was blasting the dragon from the side with more lightning.
It eventually turned its gaze away, and Marissa slumped to the ground, shuddering from the effort.
“Th-thanks…” I managed to mumble, pushing myself to my feet.
“Up to you for a bit.” She stumbled backward, and I caught her.
“Got it. You rest.”
Marissa nodded and steadied herself as I rushed forward.
The dragon was turning toward Patrick again, but that didn’t mean it was safe to approach. It was thrashing wildly now, its tail threatening to crush me as I ducked under it and avoided a rear claw.
I tried to grab for the sword embedded in its side, but it just smacked me aside with a claw, moving too fast for me to avoid. I tumbled down the gold pile, my shield cracking further.
The dragon breathed again, in Patrick’s direction. I doubted he could deflect much more — he’d already looked exhausted.
Without the sword, I didn’t have a good weapon to fight with.
But I did have tools.
I grabbed the magnetic cane from my bag, angled it carefully, and then activated a different rune from last time.
Hundreds of pounds of coins, weapons, and other bits of metal were propelled forward, slamming into the dragon’s side.
The dragon teetered, its head turning upward, the flames harmlessly enveloping the ceiling.
Then it was looking at me again.
I turned off the rod and ran.
The smashing sounds behind me were a good indication that I was being followed.
I heard a whir. On instinct, I activated the ring of jumping just in time to blast myself out of the path of a swipe from the creature’s tail.
Unfortunately, I aimed it poorly, and I ended up falling forward. I hit the ground hard this time, indicating that Sera’s levitation spell had finally expired.
When I managed to flip myself over, I found my cane was missing, having slipped out of my grasp.
The dragon loomed over me, fangs bared to strike.
Marissa ripped the frozen sword out of its side.
The dragon howled straight into the air, swinging its head and slamming it straight into Marissa. She flew backward, bouncing as she landed. Her phoenix sigil’s barrier cracked, then shattered entirely.
She still has one more barrier, I assured myself. But it won’t last long. And if we keep fighting this thing, neither will we.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with that impression.
“Run!” Patrick shouted.
That was not a very helpful suggestion, given our precarious position, but he did add a bit right after. “Sera found the key!”
That was good news, at least.
The dragon was moving toward Marissa, and she was still on the ground.
Unmoving, as far as I could tell.
No sword. No magnetic cane.
I glanced from side to side, but I couldn’t see it. There was just too much junk in the pile.
No choice, then.
One.
I picked myself up, beginning to charge transference mana in my right hand.
That was when Patrick jumped on the dragon’s back, his entire body shrouded with lightning. “Go!” He shouted.
The dragon writhed in agony, trying to shake Patrick free. In a moment, I understood why — he was inside the dragon’s shroud. His lightning attacks hadn’t been able to hurt it much from a distance, but up close…
I ran toward the dragon at first, still charging my fist.
Two.
Then I saw Marissa, still down for the count.
And I prioritized.
I let the mana leave my hand, turned, and rushed to Marissa’s side.
She was moving, but only barely. A trail of blood was running down her forehead — she must have impacted the ground even harder than I realized.
Without hesitating, I ducked down and scooped her up from the ground. “We’re leaving.”
She was just aware enough to wrap her arms around me, making her easier to lift. She’d dropped my sword, but at the moment, that wasn’t a priority.
I blasted us forward three times in rapid succession. Given that she probably had a head injury, that might not have been good for her, but I judged that it was better than being splattered by a dragon.
We landed not far from the entrance to the Tyrant’s room. Sera was already running across that room, apparently having levitated herself again.
I spared one last look back at Patrick, then blasted Marissa and myself half way into the Tyrant’s room.