"After him!" Van ordered, but before Jet could swoop towards him, one of the yellow dragons flew up and bit Jet on the neck. Jet turned his own body in mid-air and began to fiercely claw at the yellow attacker.
Van lost his balance immediately and fell off of Jet. He smacked the ground hard, but fortunately he wasn't too far from the floor, so the damage was minimal at best.
Sang landed next to him, gracefully touching down to the floor with both feet.
"Dragon Force!" Van bellowed at the top of his lungs. "Go!!!"
The wall where Jet had originally emerged echoed with cheers as the real Iron Dragon force came pouring out. Nearly a thousand had been waiting for the go-ahead, and as they swarmed toward the enemy dragons, the Emperor laughed heartily.
"Do my eyes deceive me? What effort, to mask all of those soldiers with invisibility!" He boomed, "You really want to keep your planet, don't you?"
"Screw you!" Van shouted back at the dragon as he pointed his warhammer at the Emperor. "I'm coming for you next!"
"I am trembling with terror," the Emperor gleefully shouted back. Before Van could run over to make good on his promise, though, the blue dragon landed right in front of him, hissing loudly.
This dragon was smaller than the other two and looked more like a Komodo dragon than a traditional dragon. Its wings were small and its body was squat. Being so low to the ground also meant that it would be hard for Van to attack its underbelly, where it would be weakest.
"You are an affront to ussssss," it hissed. "We will consume your bones!"
Van grinned and raised his hammer high. "I'd like to see you try!" he taunted the creature. Sahara rushed up to his side. She was carrying a long trident, which was glowing bright red.
"I'm right by your side, Van!" Sahara said as she flourished her weapon.
Van began to circle to the right of the blue dragon and readied himself for an attack. It had a high amount of hit points, nearly 4,000, but it wasn't going to be as buffed up as the Emperor. And Van's Fierce Rage power was still going pretty strong, so he knew he could make short work of the dragon. He tightened his grasp around his warhammer and rushed toward it.
As he ran forward, the dragon let out a massive shriek that pushed him backwards, interrupting his charge. You are dizzy his UI informed him as the world around him started to spin rapidly. Van tried to continue moving forward, but each step that he took only made him more confused on where the dragon actually was.
"I've got your back!" Sahara called out as she lowered her trident into a spear form and charged at the blue dragon. It shrieked at her, as well, and she dropped her weapon to the ground. "Ahhh! My head!" she cried as she slipped and fell to the ground.
Van could see that the blue dragon was walking towards him, and he swung his hammer a few times, only to hit empty air. He staggered forward then, but was unable to stop the dragon from biting down on his body, hard. Van's armor soaked up the majority of the damage, but he watched his health drop down to 2,400 points. That was a high hit.
He felt the jaws tighten around him as he was lifted into the air. The dizziness was still being applied and, as he was being lifted, he felt like vomiting. You are being crushed came a notification from the UI, and Van's health began to drop by 50 points every few seconds. He tried to activate his No Bonds Can Hold Me power, but it was still refreshing from the last time he had used it. It would be nearly 3 minutes before it was available, and he would be long dead from the crushing damage by that point.
"A little help here!" Van shouted as he struggled in vain to break free of the tight jaws of the dragon.
"Coming!" Sang replied. He glanced over to see two copies of her running toward the blue dragon. He wasn't sure if it was the dizziness or if someone had used the Mirror Self spell on her.
She ran up and began to fire arrow after arrow at the dragon, but it merely growled at her and swiped at her with one of its claws. The arrows were bouncing off.
"I can't see any weak spots!" Sang shouted to Van, who was still trying to break out of the grip. The jaws were tightening even harder now, and really starting to hurt.
"It's gotta be the stomach," Van said. "Get it to rear up or something and shoot it."
"How? Politely ask it?" Sang shot back.
"Focus on solving the problem and not criticizing me!" Van gasped as he heard his armor starting to break. He flailed his legs and realized that, while his arms and armor were being tightly pinned by the jaws, his legs were relatively free to move around. This gave him an idea, at least. He very slowly tapped his foot upwards, trying to remember the facial structure of the dragon. He remembered that, like a Komodo dragon, the blue dragon's eyes were on the sides of its head. He could probably reach one with his foot. He slowly tapped around until he felt a sharp twinge as the creature began to tighten its grip even more. His health was down to 2,000 now, but he knew he had the right idea. He kicked with all of his might and heard the beast hiss and snarl, but it refused to let go. He kept kicking over and over again, though, until, finally, the beast snapped its head back and forth, letting go of Van.
"Haha!" Van said as he crashed onto the ground yet again. Was he going to fall every five minutes? He quickly rolled over and stood to his feet, preparing his hammer to repel the blue dragon. It narrowed its eyes and hissed at him.
Sang was standing next to Van and was holding her bow high. "These dragons are a nightmare," she said. "But our guys are holding their own against them."
"Are we gonna hold our own against that?" Van asked as he felt the dizziness finally wear off. The dragon had retreated about 40 feet away and was hunched down, waiting for them to make their move. Sahara had managed to recover, as well, and was staggering back towards them.
"What's the plan?"
"That thing wants us to come to it," Van replied. "As soon as we get within range, it'll shriek and dizzy us."
"Maybe we should put something in our ears, to block the noise," Sang said. She reached into her satchel and began to fumble around. "Maybe this would work?" She was holding up a few earplugs.
Van shrugged. "Not a bad idea." He grabbed the earplugs and put them in. "Alright, let me go first. If it works, put yours in and charge after him. If it fails, don't let it bite me again."
"Roger!" Sahara said as she grabbed the earplugs and popped them in. She squatted low to the ground and readied herself to charge.
Van's footsteps were extra loud with each step that he took as he approached the blue dragon. It was glaring at him with contempt. As soon as he walked within thirty feet of the dragon, it let out a roar that caused him to slide back a few inches, but otherwise he was unaffected.
"It worked! Charge!" Van yelled as he rushed at the dragon, his warhammer high in the air. The dragon, surprised at the fact that his shout hadn't worked, clambered forward to meet Van. Van swung his hammer hard and cracked the beast against its head as it snapped at him. The words 225 damage hovered above the dragon. The sharp teeth of the beast sank into Van's armor at the exact same time. The words 0 Defense due to Fierce Rage, automatic hit! 500 damage hovered above him. That dropped him down to 1,300, hit points, and that wasn't good at all.
Sahara came running up right next to Van as quickly as she could, thrusting her trident right into the nostrils of the blue dragon. 100 damage hovered above its head. It hissed and shrieked as the trident lodged itself into the nose of the creature, and then it reared back. As it bucked backwards, its body came up off the ground and, for a split second, the dragon's underbelly was exposed.
"Haha!" Sang shouted as she let loose a torrent of arrows. The arrows made a thwip twhip sound as they sank into the soft, weak area of the blue dragon. The words Weak Spot 1,600 damage floated above the dragon.