For a while the dragon stayed more or less in one position, giving the party a chance to attack it. Yet it was not without tricks. Not all of its attacks aimed at the two tanks. The red dragon revealed some skills which seemed harmless in comparison to the flaming pillars earlier but still dealt a lot of damage.
For example, as it raised one of its claws. Radiant Shield braced himself for the impact, thinking he would be the target. Yet suddenly flames ignited on the dragon's limb. It only gave the friends less than a second to react before swinging the large claw towards the side, producing a large flame which struck right at Watchful Eye.
Too slow to react the taciturn man was engulfed in the flames, enduring the heat, suffering more than 8800 points of damage.
The friends were quite annoyed by the dragon's craftiness. With its wide array of skills and high intelligence fighting the boss almost felt like fighting an overpowered player. During a momentary lull Silver Blade wondered whether the boss's increased intelligence was a trait of the dragon race or whether it was the result of the enemies they were fighting being of increasingly high level.
Silver Blade wasn't granted much time to ponder deeply. The next moment the dragon's tail struck her again.
"Woah!"
[-3150!]
[-942!]
A startled shout escaped the tank's mouth. With this strike, her stance was finally used up. Her body felt much weaker and she was unable to bear the impact. Pushed away she tumbled through the air, rolling and rolling. Her trusty mount panicked and flapped its wings wildly until it finally managed to regain control. Silver Blade took a deep breath and held her head, feeling a momentary dizziness.
Cyclone's eyes followed the tank. She had a joke on her lips but seeing Silver Blade condition, she swallowed it down, asking with obvious concern:
"Are you alright?"
The others also noticed something at that moment.
"Silver! Are you fine?"
"If you're not doing well, you can log off!"
"Yeah, we'll take revenge against that stupid lizard!"
"Even if we wipe, it's not that serious!"
Silver Blade felt a warmth embracing her heart. She lightly shook her head and smiled brightly.
"No worry. I'm fine."
Staring at the tank the others weren't fully convinced. But since Silver Blade said so, there was not much they could to.
Suddenly everyone noticed that the boss changed its movements. Abusing the momentary lapse in attention the dragon flapped its wings and distanced itself from the group. A cruel expression appeared on its face. It let out a roar and its entire body was engulfed in flames before it shot straight at the group.
However, this attack was much more predictable than the flaming pillars earlier. The friends found it much easier to dodge. Only Balm, who was right in the dragon's path, had to use a flash step.
"Hehe, it's getting weaker."
Perhaps the dragon heard Cyclone's mocking chuckle as it instantly increased the strength of its flames. It flew another assault at the party, with fierce flames producing a golden glow, clinging to the dragon like a cape, spreading in a growing cone shape.
"What?"
"Can we dodge that?!"
"Fly downwards! Down! Use Dive!"
Liam hastily spread some instructions. Even he was pressured by the dragon's move. He directed Drasky to dive down straight, building up speed multiple times his standard movement speed. Not far away the flames were quickly coming closer. The friends all dove straight downwards like stones dropping from the sky, yet they still weren't able to escape the range of the flames.
"It's coming closer!"
"We won't get away!"
"What to do?"
The stern shouts barely managed to pierce through the wind roaring in everyone's ears. Just as the friends thought they would fail, they noticed that the flaming cone finally stopped growing. A second later the dragon passed over everyone's heads, pulling the golden-orange cape behind it.
Although there was such a big distance between the two, it was still not enough to get everyone to safety. Especially Silver Blade who couldn't use [Dive] due to her lack of stance was about to be caught in an ocean of flames. She reacted just in time.
[Saving Grace] was activated. Radiant wings appeared out of nowhere, their sacred light as if it could block all harm. The wings embraced Silver Blade, and a moment alter her surroundings were overwhelmed by the fierce flames, filling her entire vision. An enormous heat assaulted the tank as if trying to cook a nice meal for the dragon.
Silver Blade held her breath. It was a good thing that she used [Saving Grace] in time, making her immune to all damage. However, the effect only lasted for three seconds. Silver Blade counted in her head. Realizing that she wouldn't be able to escape the flames in time she used her accumulated Bulwark Energy to prolong the skill's duration.
"Silver Blade got swallowed up!"
"Is she fine?"
"Her HP isn't moving…"
Watching the scene from far below the others couldn't help but be worried. Silver Blade was not the only one affected. Balm had been only a moment too late. She had been caressed by the edge of the flaming cone, losing almost 15.000HP just from the brief contact. So how could Silver Blade bathing in the sea of flames be fine?
As the dragon passed by, Silver Blade's body was finally revealed again. All eyes were on her. When they saw the radiant wings slowly disappearing they realized that the tank made it out unscathed.
"Right, she is still a tank. We were overly worried."
Just as Cyclone said this, her eyes widened in shock.
"Careful!"
"Behind you!"
Loud shouts rang through the trial space. Silver Blade felt her chest tighten. She felt as if death was breathing down her neck. She could imagine the fierce dragon looming behind her. Without turning around, she instinctively activated [Unavoidable Bulwark].
An invisible force engulfed Silver Blade. It improved her defence, taunted enemies, but also firmly anchored Silver Blade in place. The third effect, usually detrimental, now came in handy.
With a woosh the dragon's muscular tail swung around. It crashed right into Silver Blade's back. Yet the expected scene of the tiny adventurer being flung away didn't happen. For the boss it felt as if it struck cotton, the power of its tail gently dispersing.
[-1969!]
[-3252!]
A lot of the damage was mitigated. Silver Blade was glad as her skill worked well. And even more important, the tail didn't throw her away.
Although the outcome was quite favourable for Silver Blade, her friends were still rather shocked by the series of attacks. Especially Cyclone was fuming.
"Damned dragon! Why does it focus Silver Blade like that?!"
"Well, she's a tank, so…"
"Still, it could be gentler! Let's go! Teach that guy a lesson!"
Cyclone was the first to rush out. As soon as she got in range, she pointed her wand at the red dragon. Three bolts of lightning crashed from the sky, fiercely striking the dragon's head. As a surprise to everyone sparks actually ran along the dragon's body, paralyzing it on the spot.
Silver Blade felt strange. Her skill prevented her from moving. She stared straight ahead into the fog. And behind her back she could feel the heat emitted by the dragon, whose movements were forcefully stopped, only able to look at the prey in front of it.
The scene was quite comically but nobody felt like laughing. Liam and his friends approached quickly, preparing to deliver another round of powerful blows towards the boss. Just as the large beast regained its movements, the friends arrived and started attacking. Another intense exchange started. Liam shredded the dragon's resistances once, although the effect was slightly weakened this time. Yet it was still enough for the party to deliver thousands of points of damage.
Meanwhile the dragon mainly focused Silver Blade. She was slowly running out of means. Fortunately, there was still Balm aiding her with heals from behind.
"I said I won't let you pass this trial! Adventurers! You are too weak to be Dragonslayers! Even fighting in a group, you are struggling! How could you ever face a powerful dragon?!"
As the boss snarled, the flames covering its body stirred, shining brightly. A large amount of mana gathered towards it, enveloping it in a protective layer. The friends were shocked to realize that not only their magical, but even their physical attacks didn't deal any damage.
"What's going on now?"
"It only has 30.000HP left!"
"There must be a trick!"
"Look at those brightly shining spots!"
Liam was pleased that his friends figured it out without his reminder. The weak spots in the dragon's defence were so obvious, if they couldn't figure it out, they might as well get their eyes checked. Everyone immediately focused their efforts on a few locations shining in a bright red. But before they could come far, the boss attacked first.