Chapter 24

The world slowed as I activated Flow Acceleration, giving me the time to use all the other Martial Arts I needed in this fight. 

Ability Boost, Greater Ability Boost, Body Strengthening, Cutting Edge, Gale Acceleration.

This Dragon was vastly stronger than the vampire we had fought all those years ago. Not only in the sheer quantity of levels, but more importantly, experience. We were quite fortunate that undead hadn't known how to properly use her abilities, otherwise we most likely would have perished, if I didn't resort to The Goal of All Life is Death first.

This elder beast was around level forty five, a creature that should be exceedingly above our pay grade, however this group had one thing the dragon hadn't accounted for.

Me.

The dragon lunged forward, its size belying its true speed, it didn't match at all, and I met and even surpassed his swiftness. I burst past the others, tightening my grip on my blade with both hands, meeting him in a clash of pure uncontested power.

Great Steel Crush!

Sword against claw, as they touched, a shockwave of air pressure exploded forth, knocking us both backwards, me more so than him, due to the difference in our weight.

As I was blasted backward, a silver blur moved in the opposite direction, digging my feet into the ground, I halted the momentum, and reversed it, sprinting ahead, catching up to Wrai in an instant.

I then left him in the dust as I leaped in the air, an icy blue aura erupted from my weapon, coloring the world in its splendor, as a layer of frost started to build across my body. This time it was the dragon who unfurled his wings, flying upward to meet me, as vermillion death started to accumulate in his chest.

I swung down.

The Elder Wyrm opened his jaws, fire escaping.

But arrows flew from the ground, accompanied by a giant spear of ice, all aimed at his wings, distracted from my overt attack, he didn't have time to register the assault launched at him from the others, before they all landed.

The fire sputtered out as he screamed in agony, writhing in the sky, and in that moment I completed my full swing.

I fell upon him like an angel of death, steel covered in blue met scales of red, striking at his skull, I yelled out in my mind -

Cold Death Burst!

My sword cut into his snout the energy exploding across him, sending straight to the earth, as the cold seeped into his bones, and he crashed into the ground, creating a massive cloud of dust that even reached me as I floated down slowly, due to Verica casting a spell.

I joined the others, landing beside, and preparing myself for the cloud to stop obscuring our vision.

The cold energy once again covered my weapon, reapplying it.

And it would seem that it was the right choice, for as the dust settled, our foe was far from unscathed, a gruesome gash had marked his visage, covering half his face as a torrent of blood poured out from his injury.

It was almost like a waterfall.

Steam was flowing from him, the frost that had encased him having evaporated in mere moments.

My attack was extremely effective, and though his wings weren't out of commission, he would now have more difficulty flying around, and having that aerial superiority stripped away from him was definitely to our advantage.

It was the reason the wizard in our party didn't start flying in the sky, since she would be a prime target, and that took away one of her favorite tactics to use in open combat.

"How? How does a human have this power!? What are you!?"

It would seem like our opponent was in shock, and like usual we took any opportunity that presented itself. Unfortunately for him, I am no longer the weak link in our little group, I am now the spearhead that breaches our enemies defenses.

There was now a veritable gulf of power between me and the others, while they too have gotten stronger throughout the years, I was now on another level.

While they were either stepping into or were fully in the realm of heroes, I was encroaching on becoming an outlier. A being that couldn't ever be matched by any human.

Level forty one. That was now my current level, through the various struggles in the past five years, I have now achieved a level of strength that meant that I was somewhat safe.

Dashing up to him, I could hear Wrai's steps behind me, feeling a spell of enhancement settle on me, I mentally thanked Verica, as I reached the beast, swinging my blade upward, creating an iceberg that pierced to the heaven's, so cold that just being around it made my internal temperature drop.

But now that the dragon was fully taking us seriously, using its feline agility he twisted around the solid water, coiling his body around it and launching himself towards me, jaws wide open.

Our leader caught up and used his most powerful attack -

Sixfold Slash of Light!

All of the numerous blades reached the creature, cutting into its flesh, these wounds were superficial in nature, so it just wasn't enough to rebuff the dragon.

I blocked its charge with the flat side of my sword, locking with its fangs, it carried me backwards, as it continued with its stampede.

It kept trying to catch me in his teeth, to rip me to shreds, but I just kept deflecting, as sparks exploded in the instances we clashed.

All the while, the others continued on with their attacks, with me holding his focus, lightning, frost, wind, and all sorts of elements rained down upon him, along with a storm of arrows that punctured into his body.

His entire back was blanketed in those bolts, like a forest of feathered steel, and between them, something seemed to blur.

Wrai ran along his body, while dragging his blade into him, but even this wasn't enough to make him turn his attention away from me.

But I couldn't keep this up forever.

Eventually, during a swipe from his left claw, which I deflected into the dirt, I was too preoccupied with the other claw and his jaws, that when he suddenly spun, sending my leader off him.

Whipping his tail, it crashed into my side, barely having time to register its blurred form, before, the familiar pain of shattered bone, and the feeling of pieces of it digging into my flesh welcomed me like an old friend.

I was sent flying, crashing into the, creating a trench of dirt within the earth, I coughed up so much blood that it felt like my organs were liquified. Ignoring the agony of all of that, I raised my broken body, then stood on both feet.

"Hah, it's been too long. 

How nostalgic, I can almost see my mother."

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Antilene Heran Fouche

Cold Eyed Prodigy

Age - 17

Level 41

Class Levels

Fighter - Level 15

Master Fighter - Level 8

War Cleric - Level 15

Paladin - Level 3

Approximate Status 

HP - 30

MP - 28

Phy.Atk. - 39

Phy.Def. - 26

Agility - 32

Mag.Atk. - 26

Mag.Def. - 24

Resistance - 24

Special - 14

Total - 243