With the kobolds on the right side temporarily incapacitated, we can focus on dealing with that overdeveloped lizard.
'The question is how.'
It has weaknesses, that's obvious. When it uses its strongest attack, it has a moment of vulnerability, so winning is possible.
'...By the way, looking at it closely now, it has several wounds, doesn't it?'
Looking closely, I could see that its golden scales seemed to be somewhat loose, and I also noticed some marks that looked like cuts, mainly near the side of its body and near its belly. Besides, there were some at the junctions of its limbs and body.
'The wounds from the fight against the ants, huh? Hitting them wouldn't be a bad idea, but I doubt that even if I used all my mana in the attacks I would be able to kill that thing. At least I thank the ants for weakening it a little—! THAT'S IT!!!!'
Once again, a detail (which should already be obvious) came to my attention. Drakes, even though they are a subspecies or a degraded version of dragons, often share several of their characteristics. In the case of earth drakes, their main characteristic is obviously defense, both against physical and magical attacks.
But what if the Drake is injured, and several of its scales, which form its protection against magic, are damaged?...
'The chances of attacks involving magic, theoretically, would be higher, causing more damage than usual!'
If I had used [Shadow Slice] instead of my claws, would I have achieved a better result?
'...No, it probably would have considered me a threat and tried to crush me with much more effort.'
Seeing how Drake acted before and after I hit him with the arrow, it was obvious that at first he wasn't seriously trying to kill me; it was like I was just an annoying mosquito to him. At first you can try to squash or swat a mosquito, but only when it really irritates you, like when it flies near your eye or ear, do you really try to get rid of it (at least that's how it was with me).
'Well, you weren't wrong to think that, but this mosquito here has some pretty creative and lethal ways of making you bleed like a lizard.'
'Get ready! I'm going to make sure you literally feel my pain!!!!! Literally.'
****************************
Impeto's POV
'It seems my "master" has finally recovered.'
I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but I'm relieved that he's okay.
Without him, I don't know if the little female that my partners have become fond of, would have continued the agreement. I believe she would, but I don't like uncertainty. And with their help—my "master," the little one, the two furry ones, and that green thing—certainly improves the chances of my pups growing up; a larger pack is always better.
'Although serving below another isn't the best thing.'
I thought, remembering my whole life up to that moment.
Before I became like this, I must admit that my understanding of things was very... limited. Not that that was a bad thing.
My "master" told me that sometimes a small mind is more fortunate for not knowing things; now I realize that was just another way of saying that I used to be an idiot. But the irritating thing was that I couldn't get angry about it; after all, it was the truth.
'Who but an idiot would be happy to be raised with the intention of later being killed and devoured?'
Apparently, my entire species.
But that doesn't seem to be the case anymore, since that sound made us fall asleep and then wake up. I can safely say that I only truly began to live after I woke up with the dark skies alongside my mates and pups.
No, actually, I didn't suddenly begin to live then; it was after the green creature tried to kill one of my mates, and the anger at its audacity and the fear of losing one of my pack members caused that strange, hot thing to appear. My "master" called it Phoenix Fire, but even now I don't understand what that means.
I understood that it was something that made me stronger and more capable of protecting my pack, so I used it without ceremony, and for three cycles where the sky was clear and then dark, I could feel what it was like to be reborn as a strong being. Those were good days, until I was definitively defeated along with my mates by my "master" alone.
It was humiliating and painful; even now I still feel bitterness for what happened.
But in that same cycle of light and dark, it became obvious that our chances of thriving with them were better by joining my pack with his. After only one cycle of light and dark, he (apparently also alone) managed to get far more of those small, shiny, and delicious things in one cycle than we did during the three.
'Ahhhh, just thinking about those little things makes me hungry....'
*Whoops, Thump*!!!
But I can't think about that now, now I must focus on staying alive against this enormous creature so I can eat those things again, preferably with my partners. Still.....
....
"WHY DID MY IDIOT MASTER WANT TO FIGHT A CREATURE LIKE THAT!!!!! YOU BETTER HAVE SEVERAL OF THOSE SHINY THINGS WHEN WE GET BACK, YOU HEAR ME, IDIOT MASTER!!!!!"
****************
POV Fernando (Nando)
"KRROOOO KOOOOKKOOOO KRRROOOKOOOOOOO!!!!!. KRRO KOOOKKOOOOOO. KKKKOOKKKOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"
I feel like Impeto wants to say something, but I can't say for sure what it is....
'Well, I'll think about that later. If he throws a tantrum, it'll be about increasing the amount of magic stones we give them or decreasing their watch time.... But let's make it clear then that he'll stay in place. After that, I'll sleep the rest of the day and see about taking things to Mom and Dad later.'
Because… come on, after all this…. is like, duh, right?.
Putting aside my silly thoughts, I concentrated on the Drake, who was still jumping from side to side trying to catch Impeto.
'Impressive that his mana hasn't run out or that he's gotten tired, after almost 7 minutes of doing his "flights."'
Yep, it took me almost 7 minutes to recover a bit by grabbing some kobolds trapped in the root wall, and concentrating enough mana on [Shadow Healing] to ensure a complete recovery for myself and maximum damage to Drake.
[HP: 12/110
MP: 28/85
Condition: exhausted, heavy/moderate bleeding (-5 HP every 15 seconds), open fracture]
I used 15 mana with [Shadow Cord] to bring the kobolds back; even with my dislocated arm, biting them and recovering was much easier than dealing with the commander and Drake (but that didn't help improve the situation with my mouth, which was already numb from the sour taste of their blood).
And the other 35 mana to charge the spell that could change our situation at once, even with the obvious difference in strength between us, should be enough to get past Drake's damaged barriers and ensure the spell has the right effect, right?
'If this doesn't work, we're screwed here.'
Well... Maybe there's still a way out, but it's not something I want to use, especially with my HP so low. But if the worst happens, I'll have this last resort ready.
Making a small mental prayer (which is strange considering I'm now half-vampire), I cast the spell.
"[Shadow Healing]!!"
Immediately my purchase stretched out and went straight like a spear towards Drake's shadow. He, still distracted by Impetus and ignoring Lumi, didn't notice the unnatural shadow approaching him until it was stuck to his. Only when our shadows connected did he realize something was wrong and turn to me.
I could see it in his eyes; he sensed something bad was about to happen and tried to open his mouth wide to use his breath attack again, but too bad it's too late.
'This is going to hurt like hell.'
With a mental command, the spell is activated.