[1. Tail Strike · Blue lv.1: damage dealt by the tail +5% 2. Sharp as a Blade · Blue lv.1: damage dealt by claws +5% 3. Defense · Blue lv.1: overall defense +0.5%] [Enter the Fifth Level?] [Yes!]
[Enter the Eleventh Level?] [Yes!]
Upon entering the Eleventh Level, the scenery suddenly changed.
The monotonous lawns and forests were gone. In an instant, Baelon and Vermithor found themselves in a tropical rainforest.
Ten enormous pythons, like those in Anaconda, slowly slithered out.
Their massive bodies suddenly tensed, and they lunged at Baelon.
Vermithor raised his wings to shield Baelon and bit straight through a python's body.
Its head fell to the ground, and foul-smelling blood rained down, pattering against his wing membranes like heavy rain striking a cloak.
But the remaining nine pythons charged together!
They all opened their hideous maws.
A battle was about to erupt!
The pythons lunged into the air and, with deadly precision... caught a mouthful of dragonfire.
As usual, Vermithor ate the pythons.
Already full, the dragon lazily paddled his wings and drew closer.
He picked through them with his snout, leisurely opening his mouth to swallow the charred remains.
The shadow of his wings swept over Baelon's head like dark clouds, then drifted away.
Baelon looked at the silent System Interface.
Huh?!
No buff cards?
He instantly realized something and sprinted toward the dragon. "Vermithor!"
Vermithor turned in bewilderment, a charred snake carcass dangling from his jaws.
At that very instant, the severed snake head on the ground shot toward Baelon.
Its bloody maw grew larger in his eyes.
Vermithor's pupils abruptly contracted. The snake carcass dropped from his mouth, and the dragon let out an earth-shaking roar as he lunged toward him.
In that instant, the world before Baelon's eyes seemed to become a black-and-white film, everything moving in slow motion.
He saw a furnace-like glow light up inside Vermithor's mouth, then go out just as quickly.
Vermithor was still some distance away.
But the python was already right before him, its foul breath rushing into his nostrils.
He saw a drop of saliva fall from the python's enormous hooked fang and bend a blade of grass.
Baelon had no weapon, nor could he evade the python's sudden attack.
Everything seemed settled.
Was his first attempt at clearing the levels with Vermithor really going to end at Level 11?!
No, no, no!
There had to be another way!
Even with three attempts available each day, Baelon was unwilling to give up easily.
Six years as Prince, the Targaryen name, and dragons had shaped Baelon's confidence and arrogance.
If he was going to do it, he had to do his best!
He had the ability. He was confident he could do it.
The next second, tons of earth fell from the sky, smashing into the python in midair.
The enormous snake was slammed to the ground.
A mound rose from the ground, burying every sign of movement.
Baelon drew a sharp breath, coming back to his senses and panting heavily.
Vermithor swung his head furiously, ramming his enormous body into the mound again and again.
Raging, the dragon dug out the motionless half of the snake's body and tore savagely at it.
Great chunks of flesh were ripped from the carcass. Foul blood splattered everywhere, and entrails mixed with blood drenched Baelon's head.
Baelon: ...
Fighting back his nausea, he pulled the limp thing hanging from his head away.
Drenched in blood, Baelon shouted, "Vermithor!"
"Vermithor!"
The dragon lowered his head, his enormous pupils reflecting his living rider.
Vermithor gradually calmed down. He cautiously approached, closing his sharp teeth, which still bore flesh and blood.
The dragon gently nudged Baelon with his snout.
Baelon staggered and was pushed to the ground by Vermithor.
Vermithor gently rested his head on Baelon, staring at him without blinking.
Baelon simply settled onto the ground and firmly patted Vermithor's nose. "I'm fine. I'm fine."
"It wasn't your fault."
It was his own fault.
After becoming a dragonrider, he had grown complacent and underestimated his enemies.
From now on, whatever happened, he should mount his dragon immediately.
The dragon was incomparably powerful, but he was only flesh and blood. A stray arrow could kill him.
Baelon opened the System Interface, and three cards appeared.
[1. Field of Fire · Blue lv.3: dragonfire temperature +12% 2. Behemoth · Blue lv.4: body size +8% 3. Defense · Blue lv.2: overall defense +1%]
Baelon chose the second buff.
By now, Vermithor had grown to 108 meters in length.
After resting for a few minutes, Baelon and Vermithor continued onward.
This time, Baelon had Vermithor stamp off one of the python's fangs and held it in his right hand as a weapon.
He climbed onto Vermithor's back and used a rope on the saddle to bind his left arm firmly to the dragon's back.
He smiled self-mockingly.
In his previous life, he had laughed at Aemond, yet now he was copying him.
Was a Targaryen rider any use to a dragon's fighting strength?
Yes.
The dragon gained another pair of eyes.
And another mind to assess the situation during battle.
[Nineteenth Level]
"Vermithor, fly!"
Vermithor was breathing dragonfire with enthusiasm and did not take off immediately.
The dragon had just spread his wings when, a second later, an enormous porcupine slammed squarely into him, making him stagger.
"Roar-"
Fortunately, the porcupine's quills could not pierce Vermithor's scales.
[Bond lv.2 (60/200)] [Twenty-Fourth Level]
The dragon did not turn his body as the words rang out.
Without hesitation, Vermithor lashed his thick tail, which whistled through the air.
An enormous eagle took the blow head-on. Feathers flew everywhere, and it could not rise again.
[Bond: lv.2 (160/200)]
[Bond: lv.3 (10/500)]
As they fought through one level after another, the bond between Baelon and Vermithor grew stronger, and both gradually grew tired.
Gradually, the monsters in the levels went from melting like cream before dragonfire to becoming armor, then rock.
Even Vermithor, strengthened by buffs, began to struggle.
But Baelon still had tricks outside the rules!
He unleashed Earth Release from above, then followed it with 999 logs falling from the sky.
Working together, man and dragon found no enemy who could withstand a single exchange!
They fought their way to the Thirty-Eighth Level.
On a tiny island, they battled a sea monster even larger than Vermithor.
They defeated the sea monster, but all the logs and earth Baelon had stockpiled sank into the ocean.
He had lost his power.
He could no longer use Earth Release and Wood Release to support Vermithor.
Oh!
But he had just learned Water Release!
Baelon was not picky at all. He stuck his hand into the sea and filled his inventory with seawater, load after load.
[Enter the Thirty-Ninth Level?] [Yes!]
A deep, shadowy valley.
Thousands upon thousands of house-sized pterosaurs struck together, knocking Vermithor out of the air.
Vermithor's enormous size became a burden, preventing the dragon from getting up immediately.
The pterosaurs were smaller but exceptionally agile. Thousands swooped in from every direction, swarming over the dragon and biting repeatedly with sharp teeth.
Baelon's hand had already turned purple and stiff beneath the ropes. He wound his right arm around the saddle ropes and flattened himself against the dragon's back.
Towering waves swept the pterosaurs away. Dense stands of towering ancient trees toppled in swathes amid billowing earth, as though struck by a flood.
But soon, like zombies that knew neither fatigue nor pain, the pterosaurs dragged their maimed bodies back into the attack.
The dragon fought countless pterosaurs in the mud.
Vermithor instinctively leaned sideways to roll, only to force himself to stop.
Vermithor struggled to fend them off. He turned his head and breathed dragonfire, but could not burn all the pterosaurs away.
A thousand pterosaurs landed on Vermithor's back and neck, biting savagely.
One pterosaur noticed Baelon.
Gripping the fang in both hands, Baelon risked sacrificing his left arm. The instant the pterosaur bit his shoulder, he drove the fang into its eye.
The pterosaur shrieked and violently shook its head.
The tremendous impact sent Baelon rolling across Vermithor's back, but fortunately the ropes caught him, keeping him from falling off.
Vermithor wailed in pain. He tried to take off again and again, but never succeeded.
At last, Vermithor's ferocious nature was unleashed. Ignoring the pain, he opened his enormous jaws and bit a pterosaur to death, occasionally breathing dragonfire onto his own body.
But more and more pterosaurs climbed onto Vermithor's enormous body like ants.
Baelon gritted his teeth and cleanly severed the rope.
Throwing caution aside, he slid off the dragon's back and rolled across the ground.
"Vermithor, fold your wings!"
"Roll!"
The dragon rolled several times through the mud, bursts of blood erupting around him.
Vermithor was out of immediate danger.
But the remaining pterosaurs were still densely packed.
Baelon did not run fast enough.
A few seconds later, he was stuck to a pterosaur's foot.
Man and dragon's first attempt ended at the Thirty-Ninth Level of the Trial Space.
At the very end, Baelon heard a long, mournful cry.
Vermithor no longer had anything holding him back.
The dragon stopped trying to beat his wings and take flight. He breathed dragonfire without restraint.
Flames hot enough to melt gold rose from the deep valley, igniting the entire forest as a boundless sea of fire raged.
The vast sea of fire swept across the land, and the pterosaurs curled up and melted upon meeting the flames.
Everything was submerged in the bright, scorching, molten-gold sea of fire.
Everything fell silent. Between heaven and earth, only the vast sea of fire remained.
[Bond lv.4 (10/1000)] [Data updated Vermithor (comrade-in-arms) Current buffs 1. Behemoth: size +31% 2. Field of Fire lv.9: Dragonfire temperature +28% 3. Defense lv.4: defense +9% 4. Scale hardening lv.2 5. Tail Strike lv.1 ... 13. Sharp claws lv.1]
In the real world.
Baelon opened his eyes and pressed a hand against his throbbing forehead.
At the same time, Vermithor's eyes snapped open.
The man and dragon, who had originally been twenty or thirty meters apart, were now pressed tightly together.
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