Fierce Battle

In the images flashing through his mind, the Snow Dragon did not flee. Instead, it descended gently, landing a short distance behind the figure.

The beast was actually preparing for a sneak attack. One had to admit, creatures like the Snow Dragon were truly clever monsters. The figure, seemingly unaware that the Snow Dragon was lurking just behind him, continued to scan his surroundings.

Seeing this, Solam could wait no longer; otherwise, the man would be in grave danger.

In a flash, Solam leaped from the snow, hurling Thor's Hammer at the Snow Dragon's head with all his might. Without waiting to see the result, he cast Wind Agility on himself at top speed, grabbed his battle-axe, and charged toward the beast.

The moment Solam threw Thor's Hammer, lightning began to flicker across its surface. It flew toward the Snow Dragon's head with the force of a thunderbolt. The sound naturally caught the Snow Dragon's attention, but since its focus had been entirely on the figure before it, its reaction was inevitably sluggish.

Consequently, when it saw the hammer flying at high speed, it had no time to mount an effective dodge. Thor's Hammer slammed solidly into the Snow Dragon's head. Whether it was Solam's usual good luck or not, the strike also happened to shatter one of the dragon's eyes.

"ROAR!!!" A shrill, agonizing cry erupted. At the very moment the hammer struck, Arando had raised his Blade Greatspear and launched a rapid thrust. The spear-blade, resembling a one-handed sword, plunged deep into the Snow Dragon's chest.

Arando had actually noticed the Snow Dragon's movements long ago. Though he hadn't used any spells, Arando was an experienced Arcane Knight. While his perception wasn't exceptional, his wealth of experience allowed him to easily judge what the monster intended to do next. He had been prepared: the moment the monster opened its mouth to strike, he would drive his spear-blade into its maw for a fatal blow.

One had to know that for any monster, the mouth and throat were the areas with the lowest defense, second only to the rear. If one were sharp-eyed and ruthless, driving a sharp weapon into the mouth the moment it opened would yield absolute surprises. With good technique and skill, one could even pierce the blade through the palate into the brain for an instant kill. As it happened, Arando was quite confident in his martial arts; he believed that even if he couldn't pierce the brain for an instant kill, he could certainly inflict a heavy wound.

However, the arrival of Thor's Hammer from the side disrupted Arando's original plan. He felt little annoyance, though; regardless, the newcomer had clearly acted to prevent him from being ambushed. At the very least, the person meant him no harm, or they wouldn't have been in such a rush to save him.

Regardless, since the newcomer had already struck and hit the monster's head, Arando couldn't let such a good opportunity go to waste. He launched a rapid thrust, aiming to pierce the monster's heart. But because the Snow Dragon's head had been violently jolted, its body had uncontrollably reared back, causing Arando's spear-blade to miss the heart—escaping a fatal blow—though it still pierced the Snow Dragon's lung. Suffering two heavy blows, the Snow Dragon could no longer maintain its spell, and the dense blizzard dissipated in an instant.

With Wind Agility active, Solam moved with incredible speed, much like the light-body techniques from the martial arts novels of his past life, leaving no tracks in the snow. He dashed across the snowy field and reached the Snow Dragon. Before the beast could recover from the two previous strikes, he raised his battle-axe high and delivered a jumping cleave toward its wing.

Neither of them were rookies; Arando didn't just stand by and watch. He decisively abandoned his Blade Greatspear. One had to realize that the muscles of such large monsters were highly developed; his spear-blade was long, and having been fully embedded, the surrounding muscles would clamp down upon such stimulation. Trying to pull it out would be both a waste of strength and time.

Arando performed a backward roll to put distance between himself and the Snow Dragon, then quickly chanted an incantation, casting an Explosive Fireball that slammed into the Snow Dragon's other wing at high speed. (Explosive Fireball: Level 5 spell, detonates upon hitting the target.)

Arando was indeed a veteran. In his haste, he had chosen his target well. By hitting the wing on the other side of the Snow Dragon's body, he not only injured it—clearly knowing that if this monster took to the sky again, its speed would be a major headache—but he also used the Snow Dragon's massive body to shield his ally from the blast. Among adventurers, there was a common consensus: never team up with rookie mages. Mages were powerful, and even low-level ones had high destructive potential, but those greenhorns might throw out a devastating spell at any moment, causing their frontline melee teammates to perish alongside the monster.

Who would want such a teammate? Moreover, noble mages generally suffered from various "young master" syndromes—unable to handle the wild, afraid of dirt, lacking stamina, and so on. Thus, adventurers rarely sought out rookie mages. As for those experienced veteran mages, they usually looked down on the meager pay of adventuring. Even if they wanted to team up, they wouldn't bother; those veterans generally had high casting levels and could find far more profitable work than adventuring.

Solam didn't pay attention to Arando's actions (in truth, Solam didn't even recognize the Explosive Fireball, otherwise he wouldn't have foolishly crowded the area). He swung his axe into the Snow Dragon's wing, and with a "crack," not only did he leave a deep wound, but he also snapped one of the bones in the wing. This was why heavy weapons like axes were so vicious: as long as there was enough force, even if you couldn't slice through the skin, you would still smash the target into spitting blood.

Just as Solam crippled the Snow Dragon, Arando's Explosive Fireball arrived. With a deafening roar, the Snow Dragon's massive body was nearly flipped over. Solam wasn't far away; although the Snow Dragon absorbed most of the force, the shockwave of the explosion still washed over Solam's face.

Unsurprisingly, Solam was sent flying by the blast. One must remember that our friend Solam had Wind Agility active, making him light as a feather, so he was blown five or six meters away. While the explosion and flames did little damage to his sturdy physique—at most singeing some hair—being blown away and slammed into the ground still left him feeling dazed.

Damn it! What a pig of a teammate! I hadn't even been touched by the Snow Dragon, and now I've been sent sprawling like a fallen goose by your spell.

Ignoring Solam's internal cursing, Arando knew the damage from the Explosive Fireball to Solam would be limited. Although he felt a bit apologetic seeing the large man blown away, he couldn't be blamed; the previous blizzard had prevented him from seeing Solam cast his spell, so he didn't know Solam had used a light-body enchantment. (Even if he had seen it, he might not have recognized it; Shamanic casting and Mage casting were two different paths.)

Arando didn't dwell on the "friendly fire." The priority was the monster before him. The Snow Dragon looked miserable: one wing had been gashed open and a bone broken by Solam's axe.

That axe blow was no joke. Solam's battle-axe had been reforged by Blackhand with various rare metals, and the edge was reinforced with Adamantine. Beyond its supernatural sharpness, the sheer weight of the axe was enough to make the Snow Dragon suffer. It wasn't a true dragon, but rather more like a bird; while its bones were hard, many were hollow. Otherwise, how could something of that size move so fast in the air?

The other wing had been hit head-on by the Explosive Fireball. The Snow Dragon's magic resistance was excellent, but after such a hit, while it didn't snap like the other, severe burns were expected, and the feathers were scorched away. Flying was now impossible. With a great spear stuck in its chest and its head cracked open, it was as miserable as could be. However, thinking that these wounds alone would kill the Snow Dragon was a bit naive.

Arando was exactly that kind of naive person. Thinking the Snow Dragon was at the end of its rope, he prepared to cast an 8th-level spell—Black Blade of Disaster—to sever the monster's head and end the battle. (Black Blade of Disaster: Creates a 3-foot-long black, blade-shaped dimensional rift. The blade attacks objects within range at the caster's will. It is highly powerful; beyond standard damage, the target also suffers an effect similar to Disintegration.)

Just as Arando finished his casting gesture, the Snow Dragon, eyes burning red, unleashed a spell-like ability at him: Howling Sonic Wave. This spell was similar to a sonic cannon from his past life, and its power was considerable. Amidst the Snow Dragon's shrill, unnatural roar, Arando was struck as if by a giant hammer and sent flying.

Solam, having shaken off his daze, immediately scrambled up. He cast Giant Strength on himself, followed by Rock Guardian and Elemental Guardian. (Shamans had one advantage over Mages: their casting speed was insanely fast. No gestures or material components were needed, just the incantation—even silent mental chanting worked—so a Cleric's Silence spell was useless against a Shaman.)

He looked up to see Arando standing foolishly before the Snow Dragon, waving his hands about (Solam had never seen a Mage cast a spell). Solam immediately realized this guy must think the Snow Dragon was finished, hence his arrogant posturing. He rushed forward, intending to warn the man, but before he could speak, he heard the Snow Dragon's shrill roar, and the man was spectacularly sent flying.

Damn it!!! What a total pig of a teammate! Finish it off already! Why are you standing there posing? Don't you know villains die from talking too much? Truly, don't act cool, or you'll get struck by lightning.