The War of Lake Giras [Finale]

"Requirements met, the following Elemental Essence has been acquired: Pure Ice, Blazing Flame, Torrential Gale. Evolution process for the Adult Elemental Spirit Dragon will begin in 12 hours, find a suitable place to evolve before the countdown expires. If a suitable location is not found with the allotted time then you will be in a permanently weakened state after the completion of your evolution. Suitable locations include: the hadal or abyssal zone, an ice sheet or ice cap, a mountain summit, the inside a volcano."

Oh, shit. As if things weren't already hard enough with everyone trying to kill me, now I have to look for a good place to evolve too. Both deep-sea zones are too far away for a twelve-hour journey, and the same goes for the only ice sheet that I'm aware of. While I'm sure I can find a mountain or volcano somewhere on this continent, I'm not sure if I'll even have enough time. Can I even get away from here? All these people are looking real upset right now.

"Damn it all, the monster got the Root! Don't let it leave here alive!"

Haha, I'm in danger. Hurridly I jump spring back into the air, bringing myself out from the water and squashing several people with my landing as I proceed to... make a run for it. Seriously, there are just too many people here and a few of them look a lot stronger than me, with quick use of Analysis there were a few standout people. The white-haired old man with the long beard, Gandore, this guy has something called a Legendary class, Grand Wizard of Fire, I feel like there is something familiar about his name but this guy has stats that surpass me, even if it's not by much. If there was just one person like him and him alone I could probably just fight my way out, but there are several people with power equal to him, and of course the army of two nations as well.

Just as I had done previously in the river, I use the Water Wall in combination with my Ice Breath to form a makeshift shield and run for the literal hills. Fighting my way out is a no go in this situation, I only take fights I think I can win, after all, I may take a close fight but I'm not suicidal.

"It's running! Don't let it get away! Kill it and take the Root from its stomach!"

I really want to turn back and kill whoever said that, but I can't afford to do so right now as it seems the border guards shared the information about my weakness to lightning with the rest of the army. Hundreds of lightning bolts fly out from the combined forces of Talos and Agura-Ulldar, making quick work of my makeshift ice shield and striking me. The paralysis effect takes hold, almost instantaneously bringing me to a halt as the foot soldiers assail my body. The common soldier doesn't do too much, but the few Legendary class fighters smash right through my scales.

The moment I can move freely once more I use my Acid Breath around me sending most of the soldiers fleeing from the immediate surroundings. Flailing my body together with my Water Breath, I knock back the few that remained, but another volley of magic attacks come my way. But apparently someone didn't get the memo as there are several water and fire spells being shot in addition to the lightning. Just how bad is there information network? Did the border guards just completely neglect to tell them I absorb water? Well, we take those.

With my ice shield to block parts of the lightning strikes, the Water Wall to dampen the fire, and me actively seeking to get hit by every water attack that I can, I actually manage to keep myself relatively healthy and postpone the passive health drain for being out of water. But I still have less health than when I arrived, but this is probably the best outcome I can hope for in this situation. Unfortunately, I think I heard someone yelling at the mages to stop using the water element. However, I have made it far away enough that the lake itself is but a speck in the distance... but I'm still being chased by almost everyone who was there. I feel like I've been at this for an hour but it's only been fifteen minutes, whether or not that's a good thing, I have no idea.

Guess it's time for plan D, let's eat dirt. Really that's my plan. Recalling back to when I was suffering from overheating after the Colossal Size mutation, I proceed to eat everything that's in my path as I run away. The downside to this is I'm gonna have to either dodge or take hits from them with no repercussions as I need to focus on eating and restoring my health.

A few minutes after starting plan Eat Dirt, I finally manage to begin the restoration process, but just as I start to heal from everything I ate up to this point, lightning strikes again, successfully putting me under paralysis. Perhaps as a saving grace, enough distance has been put between me and the main forces of the armies, leaving the Legendary class combatants as the only one keeping pace with me. But they are also the only ones doing any real damage...

I am if anything, ridiculously hard to kill. Warriors have smashed by scales and mages have continued to strike me with lightning, but I still live due to all the stuff I ate. Damn, if only it was just one of them, I'm sure I could handle it. Just fight me fair and square, one on one... I'm definitely the last person to be complaining about an unfair fight.

This back and forth goes on for a while as my high health and healing are too much for them to keep up with, but at the same time, I'm not fast enough to completely outrun them before I end up paralysed again. But eventually, the situation changes.

"With how this has been going, I don't think we can stop this monster before it crosses the border. Perhaps we should call it quits here, my old bones re getting quite tired after all."

"You mages all have the same problem, you all lack stamina, if you want to turn back do so yourself. The glory of slaying this beast shall be mine."

"Likewise you are just a musclehead. Take a moment to think about the situation. Perhaps if it were a small party of useless cannon fodder, they could slip into another nation's border, but what is our group here made out of? We are the cream of the crop of Talos and Agura-Ulldar's military, if we enter the territory of another nation unannounced like this it would be a diplomatic nightmare. Continue if you must but I won't be risking my political position for this. Moreover, say we do finally get past the monstrous tanking abilities of this Dragon, what else does it have up its sleeve? A cornered beast is when it is most dangerous, we simply have too little information. The risk is too high, so I'll be seeing you chaps around."

The old wizard guy turns back and leaves the rest of the legendary class combatants and within moments several others turn back as well. Now there is only the one warrior who was arguing left with me. Could this be... a chance!?

Not wasting any time I keep putting more distance between our two groups and Just as I had hoped there is just that one warrior still chasing me. It's payback time... is what I want to say, but looking at this guys stats, he is easily the strongest from their group in a pure fight and completely outclasses me.

Name: Sigurd Merovin

Race: Human

Titles: Blade Master of Agura-Ulldar, Giant Slayer

Class: Divine Blade Master (Legendary)

Level: 11

HP: 20,459/21,700 MP: 8,400/8,400 SP: 19,684/22,400

STR: 17,150

VIT: 11,550

DEX: 16,800

INT: 2,940

WIS: 4,480

MND: 2,100

Yeah, this dude is beyond what I can handle, I could only get away with it so far do to the healing and him only being able to get one or two hits in before I could move again. If I stand and fight the healing from eating will eventually stop, then after a couple of good hits, I probably die right there. Why of all the people who had to keep chasing me it just had to be the guy who's 5 levels up the next highest. If there is a bright side, it's that there are no more mages to slow me down. How much time do I have left... eight more hours. I've still got a ways to go.

Over the course of this deadly game of tag, I've trampled over towns, jumped through rivers, and have had a giant sword thrown at me several times. Seriously, this bloody piece of shit keeps throwing his sword at me and when it hits, it fucking hurts. But I eventually make my way to a mountain. There are some fortifications at the top, but I ignore them as they look to be rather understaffed. There are also many buildings built into the side mountain and many of the inhabitants of this mountain's fortifications have horns atop their heads and scaley wings on their backs, but I pay them little attention as I am both running out of time with a few minutes left and that swordsman... is actually not chasing me anymore. Taking a quick look back I find that the residents here are fighting with him, and are actually seem like they can hold for quite a while. But I don't have time to worry as the clock is ticking.

With thirty seconds to spare, I arrive at the tallest point on this mountain, standing at the hight of the clouds the cacoon begins to form and that familiar feeling has returned as I slowly lose consciousness, signalling the beginning of my evolution.