“No, I can’t, I can’t,” Trefor said, shaking his head. “These things are too strong!”
“Think about it, Trefor!” Sang said, leaning up. “Regardless of whether we can beat them or not, you have a lot to lose if you don’t side with us.
“And I’ll lose it all if I join you!” Trefor replied, taking a step back from Sang and looking to the woods, in the direction Van had run.
“No! That’s the thing—they won’t be able to hurt you! This plan, in my head? It’s going to screw them up. They’re freaking out, freaking out enough to do everything it takes to capture me! I’m with the government, and we’re going to foil them.”
“Your plan really has a way to kill them?” Trefor asked, his voice cracking a little.
“It’s as clear as day in my mind,” Sang said.
“I don’t know if I believe you…” Trefor whispered.
“It doesn’t matter, if you believe me or not. We know your address, we know your name. These aliens might be scary, but at least they’re in a video game. The CIA is in the real world.”
Trefor glanced at the Dragon and then back at Sang. “You’re bluffing!”
“8132 Cherrywood Lane, Baltimore,” she said. “That’s where you live. And we’ve got a van rolling in that direction right now.”
“Ah crap!” Trefor said, turning to face her. His face was white with terror. While Sang had no idea if the CIA was anywhere close to Trefor’s home, she at least had access to the address. This seemed sufficient enough to scare him into submission.
“Last chance, or I pull the offer,” Sang said. “I’m your only way out of this mess. Help us or…”
“Alright, fine!” Trefor said. “Just don’t let them lock me up!”
“Good, now let us log out or-“
Her words were cut off as the yellow Dragon’s jaws came down hard around his head, crushing it in a single motion. The Dragon snarled as it tore Trefor’s head clean off.
Sang gasped as the lifeless body slumped over and fell to the ground.
“Idiot boy,” the Dragon snarled as it pressed its face close to Sang. It snorted, emitting a little bit of heat upon her. “You filled his head with foolish dreams and hope. There is no hope. The New World will come and no one will stop it.”
“W-what?” Sang gasped in horror as she looked at Trefor’s body. Was he dead in real life? She glanced at her log-in credentials and saw that they were still offline. There was still no way to escape.
“Come,” the Dragon hissed as it latched its jaws around Sang’s undamaged leg. She gasped in pain as it picked her up and began to fly back up toward the platform. She tried to wriggle out of the creature’s tight jaws, but to no avail. She was hanging upside down, and nearly limp. She grabbed her longsword that was hanging off of her hilt and tried in vain to swipe at the beast, but it refused to let go of her.
Instead, the Dragon just hissed as it flew higher and higher into the air. Sang glanced down to see that Van was busy looting Trefor’s corpse. It wasn’t pretty to watch, but at the same time, Trefor was a high-level player. He must have had something important on his person. The Dragon turned its head and looked down, causing Sang to shift in its jaws. It snarled and threw Sang up high into the air, catching her with its tail.
“That fool,” the Dragon growled. “Will he never give up?” And with that, the Dragon dive-bombed straight down. Sang could feel her stomach turning as the g-forces began to press against her. The Dragon’s tail was squeezing her tight, but at this angle, she could at least do something. With sword in hand, she began to hack away at the creature’s tail. The Dragon roared as it flew downwards, tightening its grip around Sang. She felt her ribs begin to crack as the breath was squeezed out of her.
“Ah crap!” Van shouted as he narrowly dodged the Dragon’s fierce jaws, just avoiding their snapping shut around him. He rolled out of the way and pulled out a wand. “I’ve got the perfect item, Sang!” he shouted.
“Stop… stop talking about it and use it!” Sang gasped as she dropped her sword. She was starting to run out of oxygen, and felt dizzy. The tail was crushing her. She shoved her arms in front of her chest and pushed hard, freeing up just enough space for her to get some oxygen.
“I’m gonna use it on you! Get ready!” Van shouted as he aimed the wand at her. He muttered some magic words and a ray of energy struck Sang right in the face.
“Ah!” she yelped in surprise as she felt a strange surge of strength rush through her body. The words STRENGTH OF ANCIENTS appeared over her head, though, and she saw her Strength score increase to 50. She blinked again to make sure that that was correct. It was! She now had 50 strength points.
“Ha!” she said as she wrenched the Dragon’s tail open, freeing herself. She gripped onto the tail then, however, and began to climb onto the thing’s back.
“Fool!” the Dragon roared as it rolled in midair, aborting its second dive-bomb attempt.
“This guy is loaded with buff items!” Van shouted. “Paladins rule!”
Sang continued to climb onto the Dragon, despite how it tried to roll around and knock her off; she was holding on tightly. Her Climbing skill had increased when her base stat had skyrocketed. It was insane how powerful she felt. Her leg was still broken, but fortunately the game didn’t penalize her ability to climb because of that.
“You think you can hurt me?” the Dragon roared as it began to crash towards the Earth once again. “Prepare for impact, foolish woman!”
Sang gritted her teeth as she felt the forces of gravity push her against the Dragon as it hurtled toward the Earth. Her grip was tight, but she was worried the impact might deal too much damage to her, killing her. But then again, the Dragon wouldn’t risk killing her. It needed to bring her back to the Messenger.
“Give it your best shot!” she cried out as the Dragon rolled onto its back and smashed into the ground, crushing Sang in between its yellow scales and the hard Earth. Sang felt pain wrack through her body and she watched her Health drop down to 50 percent, but she was still alive. She let go of the Dragon and quickly wriggled out from underneath it. Unsheathing her bow, but still lying on her back, she carefully aimed and fired a shot right into the side of the Dragon’s skull. The Dragon roared as she watched the words 100 damage rise above it. The boost in her strength was also increasing her Attack power. This was a phenomenal buff.
“You think you can kill me?” the Dragon roared as it spun around and faced Sang. Sang raised her bow in defiance, knowing full well that she had perfect immunity.
“I can try!” Sang shouted as she let loose another arrow, watching as it flew right into the Dragon’s eyes. CRITICAL 250 damage! greeted her as the Dragon roared in pain. It narrowed its eyes and chomped down hard on Sang’s other leg. She screamed in agony as the Dragon sharply tore its teeth into her skin. The pain was unreal. She almost lost consciousness, but managed to hold on....
“Sang, I got ya!” Van shouted, suddenly appearing atop the Dragon, wielding some kind of a bottle. He threw the bottle onto the Dragon’s head, causing a ton of oil to seep down over it.
“Shoot it! Shoot now!” Van shouted as he leapt off the Dragon.
Sang raised her bow and took aim at the creature; she was barely able to keep both her eyes open considering the amount of pain that she was in, but she had to take the shot. She fired off another arrow and it struck the Dragon’s forehead, right where Van had broken the potion. The arrow sparked into flames as suddenly the rest of the oil began to ignite, as well. Fire erupted all over the Dragon’s skull, causing it to shriek out in pain. It reared back in agony, standing on its haunches for a moment and fully extending its wings.