//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: A dragon's Flame // Story: Legends of Equestria online // by tut895 //------------------------------// I raise my shield as the Dragon blasts another ball of fire in my direction. I’d been holding it at bay, waiting for my Guild to come to the rescue, for a while now, and my health has dropped to a quarter of what it should be, the numbers for my health, which I had set up in my options the previous night, are at a startlingly low 500/2,035 and what’s left of the bar is a light orange hue. The flames hit my shield directly, pushing me back a little, and it explodes leaving small flaming chunks of whatever he had spit out along the ground. I lower my shield only low enough for my eyes to see above it, in order to figure out how much of the Dragon’s health I’d taken out. It’s only lost around a centimeter more than the small amount of it’s health I took out earlier, and the numbers show something I hadn’t expected: 45,000/50,000. Had this been an enemy from even any other dungeon, this thing would’ve been long dead. I rush the Dragon, and slash my blade across it's right foreleg, dealing a measly thirty-two damage, which is only enough to make it lift the other foreleg and use a stomp attack to keep me away from it's bottom. I jump out from the beast's underbelly, and begin slowly backing away from the creature. It cranes it's neck until it's close enough to breathe smoke in my eyes, but it instead opens it's big mouth. It's mouth is blackened from the ash it's had to breathe, and the teeth have yellowed immensely. It's breath stinks worse than a cigarette, since the ash is mixed in with the usual bad hygiene a Dragon would have. The monster gives a roar, blowing his breath, and an ashy wind, my way. I look up, only to see the Dragon preparing to bite me. I know I won't be able to take a strong attack like that, but his mouth is also too big for me to dodge. Knowing the fate that's coming to me, that a Dragon's stomach is how I'm going to end up dieing, is embarrassing, but I doubt I'll be the only one to die like this once the other players make it to that point in the game. I hold my blade so that the tip points forward, in order to damage the Dragon as it sinks it's teeth, and plant my feet in the ground so I don't lose my footing at the worst possible time. The dragon thrusts his head forward to bite me, but his neck coils back quickly as a flurry of arrows pierce his neck. I look in the direction that the arrows came from, and see that the rest of the Guild had finally caught up to my location, and they'd already set up their Divisions. The tanks of the first Division began running to the Dragon, in order to take the malice away from the archers who just riddled the Dragon's neck with arrows, and collectively use a Flair attack. The damage not only takes out a good amount of health, but actually stuns the beast. It begins stumbling about, suddenly unsteady on it's feet, and stomps a couple of the other players. A low level thief was in the way of the stomp, and lost most of his health, alongside suffering a Grounded Debuff, forcing him to stick to running about. He was quickly healed, thanks to our large amount of Clerics, alongside me and the others who had suffered damage. I run back into the fray, feeling much better now that I've gotten healed, and assist a couple of Beast Tamers who are trying to make their way up the Dragons back, similar to my first strike. I use my sword to pin it's tail into the ground, allowing them to easily hop on, and wait until they've made their way up before dragging my sword through the Dragon's tail as I run towards it's neck. I look at the Dragon's health again, to see how much damage the entire Guild is able to do to something I couldn't even successfully fight on my own, and am surprised to see how quickly it's dropped. The Dragon is now at a very low 12,000/50,000, and is quickly dropping as we continue our assault. My sword begins to glow the same color it does when I go to activate my Celestial Strike, a bright yellowish-white, and I slash my blade upwards, ripping through it's skin, out of curiosity from what it'll do. The flames from my swords extend, and continue the ripping my sword would've done had I left it in the Dragon's back and kept running. I look to the top of the screen to see what the hell I had just done, and what appears on the notification puzzles me. Judgement Acitvated Judgement had never appeared in front of me as a move I earned from leveling up, and wasn't in my starter's skills when I checked it before beginning our first Parasprite slaughter. I don't even remember seeing it when I looked at my basic class skills after earning my class upgrade. The Dragon gives a wail of pain, and begins to collapse. It manages to stand it's ground however, and shake itself violently. I fly off, and land on Matt. We hit the ground hard, dealing a small amount of damage to me, and a rather large amount to him. "Dammit Jake," He says, slightly agitated. "did it have to be me you landed on?" Matt pushes me off, and smirks as he begins to stand up, aching to get back into the fight. "Just sit and watch," He continues, his voice now filled with excitement. "lemme show you what a Thief class can truly accomplish." Matt takes off, his acceleration astronomically fast, and aims both his Daggers at the Dragon's neck. The Dragon wheels it's head around in time to see Matt, and prepares a Fire Blast that would give Xavier an Inferiority Complex. Matt is quicker however, and his daggers pierce the Dragon's neck. The Dragon still attempts a fireball, this time aiming at me, but is countered as Ed it with an arrow storm. The Dragon goes into another stomping fit, shaking off Matt, and hitting Black Star dead on. I watch as Black Star's health drops like a stone until it hits zero, but somehow Black Star still gets up. "What the hell's going on?" I ask to nobody in particular, genuinely curious about how Black Star is still up and running as if nothing had happened. Within seconds Black Star is healed, and he goes back to slashing at the Dragon's feet again. I run to the Dragon, hoping to help Black Star with his assault, and drag my blade across the grass to activate Judgement again. Once I've gotten under the Dragon again, I lift my blade in the upwards motion that I did before, but nothing happens this time. "Why did you try to activate your Crisis Skill when you're in the green zone?" Black Star asks, making me face palm internally. How could I be so stupid as to not realize that I had used my Crisis Skill. A Crisis Skill, in short terms, is a powerful ability you can only use if you've reached the red zone, A.K.A. you're low on health. It differs with each person, much like Class Upgrade paths, but some people can get a permanent one like dual wielding swords that would normally be two handed for Thieves, or a Light shield that activates when a battle starts for the Royal Guard class. Guess I got stuck with the offensive one, which Is Judgement. I shrug as a response to Black Star, and begin slashing away at the Dragon's right foreleg with him. As a response it does another stomping attack, hitting me and sending me reeling over towards it's left foreleg. That foreleg hits me like a car: swiftly, suddenly, and spreading pain throughout my entire body. Remembering Black Star's endeavor with the stomp attack, I look at my Health Bar. It stops at fifty, thank god, but quickly goes back to full as I get healed by one of the Clerics in the second Division. I get up and begin charging back to the leg that Black Star had been focusing on, and notice that the Dragon's health has dropped drastically to the point where it's in the red zone. I raise my sword to activate Celestial Strike, but it's interrupted as the Dragon does something unexpected and turns it's head so that I'm in it's eyesight, and breathes fire throughout it's underbelly. I raise my shield to block as much of the damage as I can, but it proves utterly useless as the flames carry chunks of Fireballs that knock my shield to my side, forcing me to take the full damage of the attack. My health drops at an uncomfortably fast pace until the flames die out. I look at my health, and my Heart catches in my throat as I see the indication 0/2,035. I see a notification next to my health, telling me that it isn't all bad. Realism mode engaged, heal to get out of Realism mode. I don't know for sure what realism mode is, but I'm guessing it's your last chance to win a fight before you die, and I'm going to do just that. I leg it to the Dragon's tail again, having full confidence that I can perform Judgement again, and hop onto it. I stick my blade into the Tail's base once I get there, and begin dragging it through the Dragon's spine as I run towards it's head. I see that the sword has begun glowing the indicating glow that I can use Judgement, but wait until I've reached the base of the neck to use it. The critical version of this skill does a massive amount of damage, more than double the damage that it did before, and kills the Dragon after a couple of hits from the rest of the Guild. The Dragon fades away, as it's indicator that it's dead, and we all receive enough inventory items and money to donate to the Guild's treasury and still have more than enough to purchase a legendary item at the Pawn Shop, along with the same message for most everybody LEVEL UP I wasn't on of the people who got it, but there's no doubt I'll level up after the fight with whatever boss is behind those doors to my left, as all I need is five Experience Points. "Alright," Will says, giving everybody information on our next move. "we'll each have five minutes to rest, and for whoever got the Class Upgrade, if this was the monster that dropped it, to get accustomed to their new skills." I flop on my back, arms above my head as if I had lost control of them, and begin to take a short nap to recuperate my Mana and to gain my health back, since I'm still in Realism Mode.