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The skies of Norforva were unseeingly dull. With dark clouds littering the area, Ilya knew that a storm was soon to come. It was on this very day when Ilya had recovered all of her energy that the clicking of the hooves could be heard over the dry, packed stony ground. Without a player or NPC in sight apart from her partner, @Zelrius . Ilya was as excited as could be. Let's go dragon slaying.

Despite all of her own excitement she remembered how annoyed she was at Zelrius up till now. He had been quite rude to her. Messaging another player while they were hanging out. She had been doing something productive. I cannot believe him. Sending a glare back to her teammate, she reached the edge of the same river she had had to cross earlier with Comet..

Making her horse come to a stop she tied her up to a nearby tree. "If information serves me right, there should be dragons over there across the river." Pointing towards a cave a far ways off, she ordered Zelrius to tie up his horse, stretching from their long ride. "Whenever you are ready, I will throw you across.."

 

And now his horse finally caught up with hers, after a tiring few hours of racing back and forth, the golden haired man had either gotten a shittier horse, or was a shitty rider, because the thing was all but exhausted, pretty much bucking and kicking its back to force the man off. So he obliged, jumping off of it and letting the thing fall over against the other horse by the stream. He promptly followed Ilya's lead, tying it to a nearby tree, relatively close to the other so that they could keep each other company, and then met the Felis on the bank.

He had absolutely no clue what she was up to, or even what the whole spiel earlier was about the thrashing him around and running wildly along the tops of buildings, but between that and the not saying a word for the whole travel through Falderen to Norfova, it was obvious that she wasn't very excited.

Then came the flat and curt voice, urging him to be thrown across the river, causing him to back up a step with a chuckle in his voice. "Heh, I think the fuck not." Was his simple response, not really interested or trusting of her to throw him through the air and land safely on the other side. "There's gotta be a bridge somewhere." Now his head was craned to one side, scanning and hoping for a bridge of some sort.

 

The air of Norforva was thick with malice as Ilya contemplated confronting Zelrius about it. "Trust me. There is no bridge. I searched for a good three hours, unless you know of some hidden civilization here in Norforva, then there will be nothing human made for miles to come." Ilya lied through her teeth. Lies.. There was that one cultist group I ran into with Comet. Though they would not be technically considered a civilization.. Without much thought left, Ilya spoke directly to Zelrius' face. "Why the fuck would you message someone while you are with someone else. It makes no sense. Inventory keeping is important when you are about to go on an adventure. But messaging another player? It is very rude." Ilya grabbed Zelrius' hand, one of her hands on his wrist the other on his upper arm, "Let me beat the shit out of some dragons, okay?"

With that very question or.. Statement, Ilya started to spin around in a circle with Zelrius. It was not long before she let go, watching as he flew through the air and landed on his feet across the river, safely and soundly. "Told you I could do it!" She shouted across the river before taking a few steps back. Starting forward at a full sprint, she pushed off at the last minute, activating one of her many Body Combat skills, her feet digging into the dirt and sending her through the air. She landed this time on all fours, much like a cat would, before standing to her feet and facing Zelrius. "Do not ever. Doubt me."

 

He grunted, severely doubting the fact that there was no bridge, finding that to be semi-unfathomable given Falderen's otherwise punctual ability to create infrastructure like that; his mind recalling the endless stone roads and paved walk aways that peppered every inch of Stokbon, and extended in to great Brisshal and dangerous Pormont. So why stop there and not have an entrance to a possible new province? Of course it was dangerous, but there would be a lot of potential, especially with the Immortal Adventurers running amok.

These thoughts were interrupted when she grabbed him, Zelrius' instant reaction to yank away from her, not really wanting to be 'handled' like that, especially not by a girl who was shorter than him. Though he sighed and agreed, understanding her frustration, though he disagreed about the manners of players. "God forbid I make plans and remain busy so that I am not always taking up your time." Was his flat response, now turning to look at another bridge. That was, before he found himself spinning from her grip and then through the air.

To the golden haired man's surprise he landed on his feet, the position of his feet while in the air allowing for it to be easy. However, he didn't roll, and as a result, felt the landing shock shoot through his body, causing him to collapse backwards and just sit on the beach for a moment, trying not to have a nervous attack at that moment. "You're fucking crazy!" He exclaimed when she joined him, though he regressed, remembering what she had just done, and how that could end him up back on the other side of the river. Or even worse, in it. "You're a lot stronger than when we met on that beach..." He remarked, thinking back to his short journey through the air.

 

"Shut the fuck up." Where the words that muttered from Ilya's mouth. She did not care if Zelrius took up all her time. Yet there was no way in hell she would ever tell him that. Instead she turned away as he told her how much stronger she was, "Yeah, I took a few days and dedicated them to training." Her own words shot forth, as her mind went hectic, the days and nights of staying online. Only to go offline when she needed to eat or drink real food.

She had spent hours training and the like. Her mental body not having thanked her at all, for as she continued to become exhausted and force herself energy back through various potions and the likes, it took a toll on her actual body in the real world due to the mental hurting she went through. Her character remained looking the same, but she knew the muscles she had acquired would have shown forth in the real world. She would have looked like a freak if the game actually made her look how muscular she would have been.

Now continuing to walk forward, she stomped off. Heading towards where the dragons were rumored to be.

 

He stood from his position sat down on the beach, where he had ended up after collapsing against the sand following his flight. This was slightly intense, and certainly, Zelrius never thought in his whole life that he could say, with almost 100% truth, that he had been thrown across a river, into a land made of blood and death, by a girl nearly a foot shorter than him. Terra certainly gives you the best of life, huh? He thought, now dusting off his coat and pants, the Scented graves being weirdly unaffected.

"Dragons it is," He reassured himself, not wanting to hide behind the fear that not only had he never even seen a dragon before, but that he wasn't sure he could take on one. Thought Zelrius shook those thoughts. Why did he care? It was just a game, plus, it wasn't like he was particularly bad at this game. Even going so far as to say that he was maybe one of the better players.

He ran after her, in a cartoonish fashion, a smile cracking his face as he realized now why she was angry. He jokingly shoved passed her, spinning around and walking backwards, giving a quick shrug before spinning back and running off. He'd make a game out of thise if that's what it took.

 

Stiffing back her laughter, she rolled her eyes as she was shoved. "Careful.. Or you might step in dragon poop." Shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked on ahead, she could see the cave about half a mile away. Pointing with her fingers she spoke up, "Y'know.. Sometimes you test my patience.. but then I realize you are probably teaching me something.." With a small shrug of her own shoulders she started to run, passing Zelrius quite easily.

It was not long before Ilya reached the cave, touching the wall and letting out a soft giggle before returning to her grumpy self, "I win~ And here we are." Looking back at the rather larger cave, she grimaced. "I wonder if the dragon is actually here.." Walking a bit into the cave with the dragons, Ilya gripped the cave wall, turning to Zelrius she spoke up, "Ready? This is the plan. We need to fight them where they are not flying.. So we need to fight them in the cave..." Opening her inventory she produced seven small grenade-like shaped orbs. "Throw these on the ground over there" She paused to point over to the one side of the cave, "I will throw some down on the ground over on the other side. These will burst into flames, and they should light up the cave. We will both fight, together.. From rumors, I know dragons have fire breath, sharp teeth and talons. Their hide is tough, almost unbreakable. Usually dragons have a weak point, underneath their throat or their belly. So try and aim for that. Also, from rumor, this dragon has insane HP, but it cannot recover or heal itself. It is a "field boss" dragon. Not like the smaller, baby dragons that are easy to slay, this will be hard... Try not to let it out of the cave. Apparently it's name is... Fáfnir.. The prince of hell.."

With a sharp nod of her head, Ilya signified that they ought to start. Launching herself to her side of the cave, she had made sure to hand four fire "lights" to Zelrius before she had launched to her side. She tossed one into the air, letting it land, to give some light. She moved her fingers to initiate them both forwards as she continued into the cave, it was quite deep.. And large. She tossed another, after letting Zelrius toss one. Then waited until Zelrius tossed another, further into the cave. Before tossing one herself. As Zelrius did the last one, Ilya could see to the back of the cave, and in the back of the cave there was a large black figure, its chest moving up and down.

Her eyes widening as she saw the hp bar of the grand beast, Ilya looked over at Zelrius, ready to beat the shit out of the beast, as a way to show Zelrius how angry she was.

 

He kicked dirt up, creating a chunk of it in his hand to resemble the shape of feces, and then throwing the 'dragon feces' at the Felis, making sure for it to hit and roll down her legs and feet. "Careful, the dragon poop might step on you." He joked back, trying to keep the mood light and in turn, hopefully bring hers up. He didn't know what she meant by teaching her something, but without even Zelrius himself knowing it, it was true. He always acted as a free soul, and though it wasn't intentional, often tried to help others be their own people, act in their own ways, and be free from the ideals that others tried to impose on them. A Kind of fuck you way of acting toward anyone who tried to make things that weren't your problem, your problem.

The pair reached the cave, Ilya standing there gingerly as she had, without his direct noticing, passed him and far beat him to the cave. In the golden haired man's defense, he wasn't trying very hard, but certainly would have to next time. He listened to her explanation, understand that it was time to act like a Player in an RPG Video game, who found themselves in a dangerous environment. Fafnir, He noted the name, sounded Draconian enough. Keep it in the cave, stay on target. All he gave was a simple nod, no jokes cracking from him now as she handed over a bundle of Molotov grenades, the likes of which he had heard and seen about in stores, but never actually purchased himself. It was obvious what she was using them for, and he'd alternate throwing them about as they walked, one by one.

He threw the last one he had, now looking to the figure she had seen. Slowly he drew his blades and gave a status report, as the beast was clearly being awoken and noticing what was going on. "An hour or two of light, at best. I don't know what keeps the fire burning, but once whatever that fluid is runs out, it'll be quite dark. A Few thousand HP, probably in the Seven or Eight range. Individual stats and masteries unknown; Dragons have a tendency to be different." He gave a breath and then looked to her. "Engaging." Is all he gave with a smile, moving up to the Dragon slowly, the thing now rustling about uneasily; still groggy from its half asleep state. That was quickly jerked into fully awake by the sharp pain of the Outlaw's Cutlass being stabbed into its tail.

 

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear,
but the triumph over it.
The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid,
but he who conquers that fear."
-Thomas Paine​

The gentle mimicry that Zelrius offered towards Ilya caused her to smile ever so slightly, He is trying so hard.. Feeling the bit of dirt that he had thrown at her, land against her back and slide down her legs, Ilya dug her own foot into the ground as she ran, kicking up a large amount of dirt and dust for Zelrius to run into. Now brushing past the jokes that Zelrius continued to make, Ilya focused on the task at hand. Having arrived at the cave and carried out the task of speaking and forming light in the cave, Ilya nodded.

Zelrius had correctly identified the objects she had bought, "Quite useful, if I do say so myself.. An hour or two of light works all good by my standards. Let's wrap this fight up quickly?"

Grinning back at Zelrius for a brief moment before she returned to her expression of pure anger and unsettlement, Ilya took in the information that Zelrius gave her. Now focusing her eyes back onto the dragon.

The Outlaw's Cutlass ripped straight through the tail of the giant beast, not wanting to be outdone, Ilya shifted to the side of where the beast's head was. She drew her fist back, muttering a few words of encouragement she punched forward with such a large force that the cave shook. Small crystals that had formed into the side of the cliff fell to the ground, causing dirt to poof into the air.

Ilya narrowed her eyes before clashing her wrists together to initiate another skill. Stretching her fingers out like a fan before pulling them back into two fists, Ilya began to punch the dragon with insane speed.

Quickly dodging as the dragon swung his head towards her to bite her, she flipped off the wall, now landing on the dragon's back.

 

Zelrius grinned as he twisted and dug the Cutlass into the Dragon's tail, however, the grin went away once the whole being was animated. First it was a knee jerk reaction, flailing and standing up to its feet as another blow, this one coming from Ilya, striking its head. If the motherfucker wasn't awake before, it certainly was now, and had a nice bump growing on its head to show for it. The dragon kicked and bucked all about, trying its best to push the adventurers away, either with sheer force of its body, or the air that would come out of its powerful movements.

And while Zelrius couldn't see Ilya from where he was, he himself was certainly not going anywhere, having been prepared for this. Both of his blades were dug in between the scales, and as the Dragon fidgeted and swung about, Zelrius got another free carnival ride, swinging through the air, his knuckles turning white in his firm grip of the two blades. Eventually, the movements got less violent as Fafnir got his bearings, and understood fully what was happening to him, and where the two enemies were, now turning and opening its mouth to shoot bits of fire at the golden haired man.

Initially he didn't move, knowing that the fireball that it had produced was going to sting, but wouldn't do enough damage to warrant throwing off his current position. So just like that, he took it in its full glory, the edges of his long blue cloak being singed torn, and in retaliation he pulled one blade out of its body, stabbing and twisting again, hoping to keep the Dragon's attention off of Ilya, who Zelrius still couldn't see.

 

The light coming from the dragon's neck seemed to give off an enticing glow. Ilya herself was seated on the back of the giant dragon. Which seemed to be pointing its mouth in the general direction of where she knew Zelrius would be. The sound of a screech was followed by the sound of burning flames as the light shot towards the direction in which Ilya knew Zelrius was in. Grimacing lightly, knowing full well she would not want to take on a hit like that, she turned her head towards the dragon as it continued to flail about.

Up to this very point, Ilya had been focusing on remaining on the dragon's back. Yet at such a moment of the fire being released from the relentless jaws of the rather large beast, Ilya took action. Her eyes closing as she prepared herself. Her body started to glow a rather deep shade of blue mixed with black and ice blue, the air surrounding her changing as she grew serious. She stood to her feet and stomped down with her foot. Just as she would in the ground, which would cause her to form a deep hole. On the back on the dragon, sickening cracks were heard as she arched her back in that of a "racer's" position. She launched forwards with a small growl erupting from deep within her throat.

It took mere milliseconds before Ilya was back in the game. Her punches and kicks swiftly flying everywhere, making contact with the dragon in numerous locations. Her kicks and punches were glowing, without taking a single break. It seemed as if she were floating, when in reality she would simply continue to kick and punch off of the dragon himself, falling towards the dragon. Using sheer force to land powerful blows before pushing herself back into the air around the dragon.

Finally, she pushed off the dragon, landing a few feet away from Zelrius. A rather small breath coming from her body as she heaved lightly. It had gotten to the point where kicking and punching used rarely an energy from her body, which for that she was grateful. "This is boring..." Her own small comment seemed to ignite the area around the two with fire as the belly of the beast lit with a orange light. Flames spewing out of its mouth towards the two. Ilya leaped backwards, to dodge the fire. Her eyes narrowed and her head tilted down lightly. Her stare being fully focused on the dragon as she crackled her knuckles. "Never interrupt my conversation.. Ever again." Without a second though, Ilya launched herself back at the dragon.

Hidden: Battle Music

 

He just kept moving along the Dragon's Back, one sword stab after another, holding on for dear life as it flailed with each hit that both he and his feline friend made. He watched as she danced around bounded from one spot to next up and along the Draconian body of their foe. She certainly had been grinding, though what masteries the man had no idea. Body Combat was obvious, and it was common for Felii and Caenii going down that route to also diverge and go Berserk or Guard. The golden haired man would have to guess Beserk, but he also saw no signs of her using it.

Did she tunnel Vision on Body Combat? He thought, a small grin forming on hisface at the slight ridiculousness of doing something like that. Another strike of fire, this time directed at Ilya caused Zelrius to seize up a bit, the heat from the last Fireball that had hit him being in recent memory, and how it wasn't all that fun. Though, of course, she was much better at dodging and remaining mobile than he was. The crimson haired woman made it seem so easy with how she just moved out of the way of the attack.

The swordsman took that oppurtunity to unlatch himself, drawing the swords out of the scales and now dragging them along the rest of the body, creating a large gash along its side, before turnning around and going back the other way. An idea struck him as he knew that Dragon would react to the pain. When Zelrius reached the Tail on his run back, he jumped up, putting a foot on it as now the tail swung in an attempt to swat him away. The golden haired man would happily oblige to being swatted away, using the force to push off and away from the beast and landing near Ilya.

Between breaths, he teased her. "Those scales still aren't as stubborn as you." And while it was a joke, Zelrius also felt like it was true enough. He backed up a step to catch his breath, and just watched the Dragon for its next move, though it was clearly interrupted as Ilya put herself back in the heat of the fight.

 

The leap caused by the woman, leaving the ground unbelievably shaken up was one of astounding power. Only catching the fact that Zelrius said that something was not as stubborn as her, she turned, giving Zelrius a stink eye of sorts. Turning back towards the dragon, she reached her fists back and began to punch the shit out of it. Blood pouring out of the gash that Zelrius had made, that was her aim. Her fists making contact at those exact spots. Hearing the shriek of the dragon before it began to swing its tail at her, Ilya leaped back just in time. The dragon's tail hitting its side, causing it to let out a grunt of pain. Ilya scanned the dragon, lighting up with an idea.

Focusing on her energy.. Or in this case, mana. She reached her hand out towards the great big beast. "Oss... fjor... rei... junn..." The light that pooled up in her palm became that of twice the size of her fist as the incantation of the spell ended. Reaching her palm towards the sky, she called out, "Let my magic help those in need!" A little something that she had added on just for flavor. The orb of light shot to the sky, or the roof of the cliff. Upon reaching a few feet from the roof, it cast out into spans of white. Sending parts of the light to Zelrius and half of the light towards Ilya. Three small icons appeared on Ilya's screen.

[Attack Up] [Crit Rate Up] [Attack Speed Up]​

With a grin, Ilya shifted her position to attack the dragon, her energy now soaring to her right fist. "Ish.. Lei.. Shi.. Soun!" A magnificent white light began coating the gauntlet and fist of Ilya's right hand. Now activating a body combat skills to top it all off, Ilya activated [Electric Blur]. Grinning evilly at the dragon she launched herself into the air and towards the dragon. Her fist coming back. Her aim was for the weak spot that Zelrius had made.

She drew her fist forward, releasing all the mana she had store inside. It was ten times the power of the punches she had been doing earlier (not 10x, but x^10), yet instead of six or seven punches, this one was a single punch. The dragon let out a screech as white light surged through it. Ilya was swatted away by his tail, not able to dodge. This time being thrown across the cave into the side of the wall. Letting out a soft grunt, Ilya's vision went black for mere seconds. Blood falling down her face from the cut that had occurred due to the force at which she had been thrown. Looking down at her arm and her leg, she grimaced at the sight. They were all torn up and looked out of place.

Grabbing her arm with her other, she pushed hard on it, hearing a sickening pop as it was put back into place. Ilya let out a small scream, before muffling her own sounds. Doing the same for her leg was difficult yet not too hard. Checking up on her and Zelrius' HP she grimaced. Opening her inventory she took out a potion, beginning to drink it as she watched her HP slowly go up.

Hidden: Skills Used

Electric Blur

Illuminating Light

Fist of Light

 

With each punch that Ilya gave after his brief run around with a sword lodged into its body, caused more and more of its inside parts, specifically Blood, to pour and ooze out, the look sort of resembling what happens to a piece of fruit if you pinch or squish it with enough force. It was grotesque, to say the least, and Zelrius turned away, a bit nauseated by the sight. That was certainly something the golden haired man would never think he'd see, the gooey blood of an animal being shoved out through a gash in its body, especially that animal being a fucking dragon. Though his concerns were pulled away from that sight, or what was now, the slowly increasing lack there of. The fire was flickering out; not in mass amounts, and not because of time reasons, but probably the dampness and draft of the cave, mixed with a gust of wind here and there was probably wearing some of the ones closer to the entrance out, and those contributed to their vision. Or well, not anymore, since they were petering out.

At first, the ability Ilya had shot out looked to be a light spell, causing Zelrius to wonder why she didn't just start with that as they entered. Though as quickly as it had appeared, the ball of light was gone, and now three status effects appeared on the swordsman's screen. One by one they notified him of stat increases and an involuntary grin spread across his face. See, whether he thought it consciously or not, Zelrius knew that his crit rate must be through the roof right now. His extremely high luck paired by some supporting magic, and the man knew what he needed to do following that series of events. He'd worry about the light levels later, when it became an actual problem.

It was obvious that Ilya was immediately taking advantage of her new found buffs, Zelrius only being able to see her from the other side of the Dragon by the sparks of glowing white light that'd fling off everytime a hit connected. He decided on a strategy for himself. Drawing his two swords, Zelrius began to hit at random spots on the Dragon, repeatedly striking in areas until Criticals were made. See, the criticals did no extra damage in places where there were scales, instead it just broke the scales down, revealing soft, tender skin underneat. He would open up chunks in the scales to allow Ilya more places to strike, so she could dodge attacks and still deal good amounts of damage in the process.

As his feline friend continued to strike and swat at the scaly beast, Zelrius noticed its movements becoming ever more Erratic, and they really had nothing stopping it from charing it out of the cave and into the Air. Time to fix that. He thought to himself, hopping back directly on its back and now chopping his swords sideways to hack away at the wings. To be honest, this was tiring work right away; the Scale-breaking criticals becoming randomly scarce, and swords not being made for hacking like this, especially since he never seemed to be able to get into the same cut two swings in a row. That coupled with the fact that every once in a while, the dragon would flick its tail and swat or whip at him, and Zelrius was becoming quickly frustrated. In his frustration, Zelrius hacked at the wings, though a bit softer, his eyes watching the tail instead. This time, when the tail came to attack him, just as he had baited it to do, he lifted the Outlaw's cutlass up, shifting it to be vertical and then stabbing downward, pinning the tail into the back of the Dragon.

His HP was draining, and for a brief moment, he realized, that Ilya's punches had stopped entirely. He scanned quickly, hoping she had just stopped to drink a potion or something and hadn't abandoned him, or even worse, died.

 

[Status: Bleeding]​

The heavy, ragged breathing that escaped through Ilya's lips as the pain remained despite her own hp bar increasing caused Ilya's body to vibrate. Her chest flaring up and down. Her stomach seemingly sucked in as her hand found its way to her head. Pressing her hand against the wound on her head, in attempts to stop the bleeding. Something that Terrasphere seems to be good at.. Making everything feel realistic.. The gentle ding that sounded in her ear alone at the fact that her hp bar was full made Ilya betray her feelings with a small smirk.

Letting out a soft grunt, as she made her way to stand to her feet, Ilya removed her hand from her head. The crimson blood pooled around each finger, the same color of her hair.. Ilya formed fists with her hands, now glaring at the dragon. Upon her eyes finding the shape of Zelrius slashing away at his wings, Ilya watched.. Waiting.. The tail being pinned to the back set Ilya back into action. Each movement she made, and every couple of seconds that ticked caused her hp bar to decreasing by .0001%. She clenched her teeth as her hp bar was slowly being clicked away.

Launching her body at the dragon, she did a number of separate maneuvers, all kicks and punches she made landing her target. Right in the spots that Zelrius had made, causing shrieks to escape the dragon's mouth. The blood starting to pour down the sides of the dragon as the cuts were inflicted and then pounded on. The impact and draw of Ilya's own force causing the dragon to stumble. With no control over his tail, the dragon swung its head at Ilya. Trying to bite her. A swift kick to the jaw solved the problem as the dragon's head went swinging the other way. The chunks of hp that the dragon had slowly depleting as each hit was inflicted.