A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

Experience for development Jobs has reached multiple breaking points.

[Star Idol]: Lv. 36 -> Lv. 65 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 18 Lv. 57

[Lightbearer]: Lv. 7 -> Lv. 55 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 17 Lv. 14

[Crimson Inferno Tyrant]: Lv. 47 -> Lv. 50 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 4 Lv. 58

Prestige requirement achieved! Job max level has increased. Experienced accumulation and reward quality increased.

[Star Idol] Max level -> 75

[Lightbearer] Max level -> 65

[Crimson Inferno Tyrant] Max level -> 70

You may spend your prestige points when you are ready

Evolution Points: 8/40 Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Enhanced Olfactory Sense Lv. 10] [All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 5] [Ice Resistance Lv. 7] gained

Surge-Feeder Mandoganga: A mutated mandoganga that has adapted to high mana concentration after consuming wyvern meat and aquatic lightning eels, developing a liver that can gather this consumed mana into a core to temporarily empower its abilities depending on the elemental alignment. Can turn this gathered mana into various tools, weapons, and armor to fight in guerilla warfare to take down even the hardiest prey and predator. Has a special affinity with fire and lightning due to its previous evolution, further developing its rubber-like skin. Rank A

“KILL THAT THING!” Rhekk roared as he started to cast spells and take to the sky. The cavern wasn’t large enough for a rank A to fly around comfortably, but for us rank Bs, this was like a giant bird’s cage with the ledges on the walls and ceiling for us to maneuver around.

Over two weeks of chasing down a dragonslayer monster. A week-long blizzard prevented even Nong from moving through due to the length of the storm rendering his black hole-like wind ball too exhausting to maintain. This alone was a test of patience and resilience as we already figured something was going around killing dragonkin, and we could have been a prime target seeing how we had to hide in a cave for a week.

Rhekk … His attitude didn’t change. Chilling and unsocial, unwilling to integrate himself into our group dynamic. Though he did behave better as he was treating me like before our fight at Hannathala’s cave, but it wasn’t something I liked. The atmosphere was just awkward as I relearned how ruthless Nong could be when it came to disrespect. Physical admonishment against Fehrkatruk and Rhekk that felt excessive juxtaposed with how … loving and friendly he was around me and my friends.

Those two weeks felt rather peaceful with a lack of arguments and fighting, although we did dabble in some hunting to vent a bit. Get to know the wildlife, and release some [Battle Frenzy] tension, right? Sadly, it wasn’t really a good bonding moment since the blizzard ruined it all. Then we had to give a white lie to Sieg, and that just made me feel all guilty, which probably spread to my friends as I could tell they were feeling the tension between us dragons.

Sooooo … after all of that, you could say that our mood was rather prickly. Nong declaring that the dragonslayer was close, only to find them roaring in victory right next to another dragon corpse was the final nail to all that stress.

“Support me, little scamp!” Nong roared. “Cave is too small for two rank As to fight, and with that corpse and ice crystals, I don’t have any space for how I want to fight! Keep that ice pike away from me!”

That ice ‘pike’ is the goal, huh? Looks like some random ice pillar you could pick up from some random cave, I thought as I looked at my maternal grandmother’s memento.

As Kramps said in his divine Quest, the weapon in question looked pretty much like a random rock formation you could find in the countless ice caves we’ve passed and entered since our visit to the glacier. Though, it did exude a lot of ice mist around it, mixed together with the mandril’s blue flames flaring around its mane and arms.

Regardless, I quickly warned everybody of what I had learned from Kramps, including telling them I’d gotten a divine Quest to retrieve that weapon in the ape’s hands. My party and Nong already knew this was an important reason why I came to the glacier, so we had to pry it away from that monster’s cold hands.

I might not know the deceased’s name, but vengeance would be achieved. The wounds it left on the mandril’s body would not go unanswered!

“Doubly beware that spear! All right!” Nong screamed like a giant bird of prey, flapping his four wings to create a powerful wind blast to blow the ape away. [“I am Nongramos Eluccierra Kargryxmor, fourth son of Emperor Eltharion of Kargryx! Hear the vortex sing your funeral dirge, and let me hear you beg for your life, mongrel! Yrtazish krakl tyranktikus grllk sar!”]

“Let them watch a new tyrant soar up high!” Nong shouted as his emerald feather lit up a neon green, before the black tips on them started to burn. Black flames burst out of them, making Nong look like a flaming green phoenix as he entered his [Battle Frenzy]. From the sheer pressure of his mana, it was most likely moderate or even major, but whatever stage it was, this room was now Nong’s little playground.

When Rhekk cast his [Icicle Gale] and released an ice breath, the ape managed to jump out of its trajectory with its muscular legs. From the ground to a cliff on the wall, the mandril escaped Nong’s wind blast and the spells, only for Nong to leave behind an afterimage as he landed right next to the ape.

E equals mc square—or whatever; Nong’s mass and the acceleration of his flight were too much for the cliff to handle, breaking upon impact and leaving behind a large crack in the frozen wall. The ape reacted, though, attempting to slash at Nong, but a twister appeared around Nong, reflecting the ape’s attack, leaving him wide open for Nong to swing one of his wings down like a sword.

“Krraak!” the mandril roared as a wide gash appeared on his chest, slicing through the aquamarine ice armor it had on. Second later, two more slash wounds appeared on its chest, caused by the wind barrier around Nong with the help of the feathers and scales flying inside the wind vortex.

A moment later, Nong flapped his wings and instantly accelerated forward, piercing the mandril with his beak as if it were a spear. Unfortunately, the monster managed to grab Nong’s beak just in time, diverting it to pierce into his wounded and bleeding left shoulder. With a berserker growl, it tried to stab Nong with its ice spear, but my brother was too fast for it as it slipped right through its grasp, leaving behind a cloud of flames.

Redundant, of course, since the ape was heavily resistant against ice, fire, and lightning attacks, and most likely physical attacks due to that aquamarine ice armor, which was barely cracked after it defeated the deceased. Nong with [Battle Frenzy] made me believe that I had vastly overestimated how hard that armor looked.

In any case, while a fire attack like Nong’s fire breath was useless against the monster, the cloud of flame was there to give the rest of us time to finish our preparations.

Humanize!

[Humanize (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

Okay, the plan is pretty simple! Buff Vifi and Nong up like crazy! Hikari, spell buffs up and let’s sing!

“In my purgatory, I make the devil cry ♫

In hellfire ♫

All you hear are his screams, begging to be released ♫

It’s music ♫”

[Music Resonation (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

As the guitar and drums rumbled inside the cavern, flames appeared from thin air on the ceiling, coalescing into the form of a dragon flapping its wings. Nong’s flame cloud still obstructed the ape’s line of sight, and I was banking on the fact [Danger Perception] rarely activated when an attack came that wouldn’t do any damage.

My appraisal of the mandril back then didn’t allow Hikari to get a proper look at the monster’s Profile, but if the description was to be believed, this monster was quite resistant to fire damage. I was betting on this fact. [Humanize (Moderate)] for a 50% reduction in all my stats, no spell buffs and no [Battle Frenzy], and also no catalysts. I was nerfed as much as I could without actually harming myself with a poison or weakening field.

However, gambling on the first move, which was incredibly important to how this fight would progress was reckless. Tasianna, though, had a brilliant idea. [Dragon Fire]’s flame meteor could have their flame type changed to [White Flames] or [Corrosive Fire], and if I were to change the meteor into the former, a certain Job skill could be activated to ensure this plan worked.

Sacred Equilibrium: This Job skill may be activated by spending mana to maintain it, with its overall mana cost reduced by the level of the skill. While active, reduce all holy-aligned attacks by 90% while increasing the potency of all healing sources by 10% * skill level. If the owner of this skill possesses the [The Light] title, further amplify healing effects to allow sacred, or more potent, healing abilities to also slightly regenerate flesh as long as a healing spell is applied

A 90% damage reduction would take me around the level of a normal human mage. In other words, an insignificant ant against this rank A mandril, strong enough to kill dragons. Similar to how I would barely ever notice an ant with [Detection Sensor] or how a punch from an untrained adult man was more likely to hurt the aggressor than me, this ape was very unlikely to notice an attack this weak.

And with an explosion, the meteor crashed right into the wall, unable to even melt the surrounding ice. The ape jumped out of the flames, unharmed by Nong’s and mine, but from the look of his eyes, he probably should have noticed the reason why I chose my moderate stage, instead of my [Humanize (Major)] to perform this action.

75% reduction in my stats would have made the plan even more foolproof, but I needed to be a dragonewt when the meteor hit, just so I could activate [Dreadflame Dragon]’s [Dread Burn] affliction. From now on, this ape could not heal itself with anything!

Oh, Goddess! Prayer!

[Various Spell Buffs] [Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Major)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

“Preparations are done! Let’s rock, Vifi!” I called out as I pulled out my violin and cast [Unheiliger Engel] for Hikari to use as hands.

“Lady Hestia, get on!” Tasianna called as I jumped backward, right onto the floating giant ice platform. The twins, still in their wyvern forms, jumped on as well with Tasianna and formed their ice armor, standing around me like two intimidating bodyguards.

As the platform began to fly with Tasianna’s [Aerokinesis], I cleared my throat and—

“In the midst of the desert ♫

A bright ray of light shines ♫

Pure and brave, that she was, as she walked ♫”

[Shield of [The Light]] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

I sang [The Heir of Hope]! Although nobody was actually that afraid of the mandril at this point, it was still a terrifying presence for the majority of us, so people still got the barrier, although it wasn’t really that impactful. What was important was [The Heir of Hope] gave everybody 10% more stats and all their attacks also applied [The Light]’s holy-aligned damage.

And, since I was in my dragonewt form, I could also apply a second spell song. With [Aerokinesis], I chose—

“As I open my hand, releasing the sound of searing hot metal. ♫

But I tighten my grip, the pain that follows me with every single thought. ♫

Regretting it all would only taint my efforts, or the dream that we hold. ♫

Of course, brush it aside! ♫

These tears will dry, and this rage will cool ♫

As I realized that the world ain’t stopping for me. ♫”

Strength and Wisdom: A song created by the Idol [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]. Through the images of accepting the loss of one’s loved ones, using it to fuel one’s ambition and will, breaking through the trials and tribulations of despair, this song will become the rallying cry for those who climbed out the pit of despair. Those affected by [Music Resonation] may choose the effect that will apply on them—Strength or Wisdom.

Strength: Increase Strength, Vitality, and Stamina regeneration by 25%. Increase effectiveness of martial Abilities, Stamina-related craftsmanship, and proficiency gain by 10%. Decrease Intelligence, Wisdom, and Mana by 30%.

Wisdom: Increase Intelligence, Wisdom, and Mana regeneration by 25%. Increase effectiveness of magical spells, Mana-related craftsmanship, and proficiency gain by 10%. Decrease Strength, Vitality, and Stamina by 30%

[Strength and Wisdom (Wisdom)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

Yes, [Strength and Wisdom], the spell song that would also benefit my enemies. Meaning, that mandril could also choose one of the song effects if it wanted to. Our plan to defeat this mandril was to fully buff Vifi to the high heavens, with every single buffs I had in my arsenal, but that also included debuffing the mandril.

Hikari, appraisal!

Race: Surge-Feeder Mandoganga

Effects: [Dread Burn] [Music Resonation (Moderate)] [Strength and Wisdom (Strength)]

Unique Skill:[Surge-Feeder of Flames] [Surge-Feeder of Lightning]

Skill:Physical skills and related:

[True Unarmed Technique Lv. 6] [All-Damage Enhancement Lv. 7]

Senses and movement skills:

[Silence Lv. 5] (+1) [Accuracy Correction Lv. 10]

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

[Danger Perception Lv. 10]

[Enhanced Vision Lv. 10] [Tracking Lv. 10] [Night Vision Lv. 10]

Resistances:

[Physical Super-Resistance Lv. 6] [Absolute Pain Tolerance]

[Abnormal Status Nullification]

[Fear Resistance Lv. 10]

[Storm Resistance Lv. 4] [Torrent Resistance Lv. 6]

[Ice Resistance Lv. 8]

Information Blocked

Yikes, come on? Its Profile is actually pretty airtight. Good enough, though. Stats aren’t as important; what I needed was confirmation that this thing has never once faced a holy-aligned monster before. You’re done!

Yes, while the mandril’s strength, vitality, and stamina regeneration were now 25% stronger than usual, it now had a 30% reduction in its magical resistance. With no resistance to holy damage, to the point it would probably receive [Holy Resistance] during this fight, being extra vulnerable to magical attacks was horrendous.

[Music Resonation (Major)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

With Hikari playing the violin like a woman possessed by the muse, [Music Resonation (Major)] activated, increasing the amount of stats everybody would receive from my various spell buffs and also activating my violin’s [Strings of Tempest] and [Musical Barrier] catalyst effects. An additional 5% stat boost was applied to Vifi and Nong.

Since this wasn’t a true dragonkin battle, [Starstruck Winterscape]’s anti-dragon effects were redundant. However, these effects only came into effect if I was affected by [Battle Frenzy]. As long as I didn’t enter it, all my spell songs would receive a 30% increase in their effects, positive and negative.

As such, the necessary combination for this battle was [The Heir of Hope] plus [Strength and Wisdom] plus [Starstruck Winterscape] equals VICTORY! However, I didn’t want to use my piano for this, so I used [Aerokinesis] instead to imitate the piano parts of [Starstruck Winterscape].

Casting [Sun, Consume All] to provide everybody with an easy source of healing, the plan could now be executed by our party’s strongest fighters.

Now, go! Bring me victory, my ex-Warbringer!

“Emotion Surge!” Vifi shouted as her demonic features appeared around her body. Her four red shotel-like horns flared up as she vanished from sight, leaving behind a lightning trail as she appeared in front of the mandril with her rapier.

The size difference was too apparent, as the mandril was nearly the size of Nong, which made both of them about double my size as a dragon. I could already grab her in my front claws, but the mandril’s thighs were literally wider than Vifi was tall. That rapier of hers looked like a needle in comparison to the arm-sized fangs the ape was baring at Vifi, but even a needle was dangerous if it pierced your eyes.

The ape was rampaging, using its limbs and body as weapons in an attempt to crush Vifi, but was smart enough to keep watch of Nong as it dashed around the cavern walls and ceiling with athletic precision despite how wounded it was. Surprisingly, aside from that armor and broken ice spear, the mandril also had an assortment of ice bottles attached to a leather belt around its hip.

Drinking them, alchemical buffs started to appear on his Profile, confirming that he was drinking potions. It felt a bit surreal with how inventive this monster was, as it even drank a health potion, but immediately threw it away in disgust when it noticed its health wasn’t recovering. This monster having intelligence was sorta scary.

Yet, still, being caught in an ambush made its life hard as Vifi was no foe you could simply ignore due to her size. The rapier was like her lightning spear in the amount of damage it could do, easily breaking through the ape’s furred skin with all the buffs she had, while her ability to use five different weapons allowed her to be flexible, even if all of them mostly applied lightning damage. That rubber-like skin of the ape absorbed the lightning as if it were nothing.

With Nong and Rhekk leading a two-pronged attack with ice and wind, the battlefield inside this cave quickly turned in our favor, even with Tasianna and the twins had not moved once since the battle started. In fact, all they really did was freeze the body of the deceased so it wouldn’t accidentally get destroyed as Nong created miniature tornados inside, pulling in the air from outside, decreasing the temperature to the point I had to summon a ruby star to keep everybody warm.

And, we really didn’t have to do any more. The plan, essentially, was an adaptation to how Neill, Tasianna, Renee, and I defeated Vifi and her second-in-command in Elyonda. Fully supportive of healing magic while switching songs around, while Tasianna and the twins kept me safe. Naturally, since Vifi wasn’t fighting alone as the only frontline fighter unlike Neill, I didn’t have to transform into a dragon to help her. Having Rhekk and Nong around was an incredible boon, especially since Nong could easily match the mandril in a physical contest, giving Vifi the role of a precision scalpel.

This fine-tuned tactic could continue until we defeated this monster, but Nong had a different plan. Shooting wind blasts with the impact strength of motors, rockets, and giant bombs, Nong’s only intention was to bring this fight to a quick conclusion, leading to the destruction of this entire cavern to the point it collapsed and revealed a network of tunnels. The extra room and complicated natural pathways only made Vifi and Nong more unpredictable. The two speedsters were in their element even if the ape could react in time and were durable enough to endure their attacks.

[“I’m taking down its legs now! Corner him for me, Prince!”] Vifi coordinated with Brother, using [Telepathy] only to prevent the ape from hearing anything. Whether it understood us or not, it still was intelligent enough to use tools, and that meant it could learn patterns and tricks.

Acknowledging her cautiousness, Nong followed along. [“Be awed then, little demonkin! I will rip through this beast when you are done!”]

“Raaaaawwwhkk!” The mandril roared, still undeterred as its icicle armor was starting to regrow, probably from a racial Ability I couldn’t appraise.

Since all I had to do was keep on singing, Tasianna and the twins didn’t have to follow along with how fast-paced this battle was and how much we were straying away from the original battlegrounds. Sadly, this couldn’t be said about Rhekk as he was desperately trying to keep up.

“Raaahk! Dammit!” he yelled in frustration when the three zoomed away once again, forcing him to do his best to pursue them to his own detriment. I could see his breathing was hastened and uncontrolled, probably fueled by his own wish to bring the ape down for all the dragon deaths it had caused.

Any spell he shot missed, or it was just blocked by this turbulent air barrier forming around Nong. There was a lack of synergy between Vifi, Nong, and Rhekk, but mostly with the latter since he couldn’t keep up with the former two in stats alone.

… Though, that didn’t explain why this fight was taking so long without any real resolution. Yes, we were cornering the ape and forcing him to act defensively, but that was about it. He couldn’t heal since [Sun, Consume All] kept hitting him here and there with minimal damage to keep him debuffed. Though … from a quick look at the battlefield, wasn’t this more a stalemate?

The plan wasn’t working, nor was Nong providing enough pressure as I initially thought he should be giving in his [Battle Frenzy] mode. It almost felt like he was holding back, for what reason would he? In fact, the jubilant, battle-junkie attitude the two initially had vanished, replaced by frustration as their attacks became more aggressive. Desperate. They were speaking less and concentrating on their own attacks.

Not to mention, why weren’t they using their Territor—

“Graaahk!” The ape roared as he somersaulted over an incoming tornado blast from Nong. He then held up the true ice spear and had the flames on it dissipate, as all the icy mist started to gather at its tip.

Urk! I shivered as I saw this before [Danger Perception] activated. Similarly, Tasianna and the twins twitched at the same time, probably anticipating the same thing as we saw the mandril suddenly look at us.

[“Fall, dragon!”] An unknown man’s voice entered my head as the ape thrust its spear toward me, shooting the frost mist forward like a blast of ice. Tasianna jerked the platform to the side as the mist instantly crystallized, elongating the spear, and nearly freezing us within the spear.

Sadly, we weren’t fast enough as Shay’s left wing was slightly grazed, causing him to groan in pain as true ice started to spread around his body in an attempt to freeze him.

“Shay!” I shouted.

[“Worry not!”] he shouted. [“We have our own true ice, my lady! [Hoarfrost Scales]!”]

A cyan magic circle appeared on his body as his natural ice armor broke apart into snow, before it was replaced by a more jagged, mostly incomplete ice armor. While it did leave more of his body unprotected unlike what he could himself with his flash freeze technique, the true ice from that attack stopped spreading and was breaking apart on that ice armor of his.

Tasianna learned [Everlasting Bloom Flower] for an offensive true ice spell, while the twins learned [Hoarfrost Scales] to keep themselves safe, or use themselves as shields to help me out. However, both of them had learned the same “starting” true ice spell.

“Don’t let that ice hit her!” Tasianna shouted as the three started to cast the same spell. “Fimbulvetr Wall, up, now!”

As the elongated part of the spear broke apart, turning back into an icy mist, it gathered back at the spear tip before the mandril shot it forward again, this time in the form of a supercooling fluid similar to how ice dragons released their icy breaths. At the same time, simultaneously, three true ice walls appeared right in front of us, blocking the blast as it turned into snow.

[“True ice!”] That man’s voice appeared in our heads once again.

You gotta be kidding me! This thing is as intelligent as the garm matriarch or something of that nature! This thing isn’t feral any longer!

Up until now, there were plenty of clues that made us acknowledge that this ape wasn’t some random mindless monster, mostly due to the fact it had access to alchemical items. While [Telepathy] was a skill that was hard to teach to others, so it was common for monsters to learn it either due to their genetic bloodline, like the Belzac one, or through evolution. The mandril could have it.

However, the real issue was that it perfectly pronounced “true ice.” Telepathic messages allowed people to send their thoughts and memories to others, but they acted almost similarly to how people couldn’t dream about things they never heard or seen before.

If you never heard the Elven tongue before, you wouldn’t be able to speak to others in Elven even with [Telepathy]. If you never saw a dragon or heard of a description of it, you wouldn’t be able to imagine it. This applies to the “true ice” term. People who never heard the official word for it would just call it “never melt ice,” “eternal ice,” or “unbreakable ice” or something in that fashion. “True ice” wouldn’t be what others would describe it without any knowledge, as what makes it more true than normal ice you could find anywhere else?

The only way this monster could learn it in this situation was that the monster had an appraisal skill and learned the term from the System. Or maybe it overheard it from a dragon, but that just proved it was smart enough to catch onto words.

Nevertheless, the point was that this monster might be a bit smarter than we had initially thought. The fact it targeted me was enough to show it saw through the strategy.

[“I am king of the glaciers!”] it shouted as it started to sidestep Vifi’s and Nong’s attacks with more finesse. [“No dragons will live in my land! This is land of the apes! Not your hunting ground! This! Our! Home!”]

… What?

“Hurrrraaaaaaahk!” The mandril roared as he slammed the ice spear onto the ceiling, causing the ice mist to explode around him, forcing Vifi and Nong to dash out of the way unless they wanted to get frozen. Standing inside an upside-down dome, the mandril raised the spear in the air. “Hraaaaak!Hru! Hru! Hru! Hru! Hru!”

Signals appeared on my [Detection Sensor]. Multiple of them rushed towards us through the entrance of the cave. Small and big ones, confirmed to be lesser elementals and from those snow-furred gorillas we kept seeing around the glaciers. The latter burst through the weakened walls and ceiling, descending upon Rhekk and my group with savage, caveman weapons in the form of ice rock clubs and broken stalactites. The former, though, started to dance and cast magic, summoning a blizzard inside the cavern. That same artificial storm our party had witnessed on our previous visits!

At the same time, elementals in the form of wyverns followed the gorillas from behind, readying offensive spells to help the gorilla vanguards. With Vifi and Nong forced to fight the mandril as he re-engaged them, it meant I now had to fight with my party to survive this.

Did we ambush him, or did his minions lay an ambush for us? I thought as I changed [Strength and Wisdom] to [Dragon Fire]. The plan had gone haywire. Fighting with all of these monsters around was suicidal.

Hailfur Goreranga: An ape monster born in the tundra of Frozen Nest, adapted to the absolute cold of the glaciers. With fur and skin toughened from long exposure to blizzards and hailstorms, they are exceptionally resilient against ice and physical attacks, while having a natural fat supply to protect them from both heat and cold. Their muscles are thick enough to break through boulders and take down mammoths. Rank B

Iceborne Goreranga: An ape monster born in the tundra of Frozen Nest, adapted to the absolute cold of the glaciers. Through a long life living inside monster areas with high ice-aligned mana, the physiology of this ape has changed to the point it can absorb ice mana to heal itself, similar to an ice elemental. With an ice gland created through this process, they can create supercooling fluid through their sweat glands to form objects made from ice. Rank A

An army of rank Bs led by a single [Iceborne Goreranga] was already a massive threat for Aurora, but one also flanked by the leader of this ape group was enough to make me start to sweat. Even if we could win this fight with Nong, it would most likely be a pyrrhic victory with how our party was separated.

There was no other choice.

[“Everybody! Retreat!”] I gave the command. [“Go lower into the tunnels! Nong and I will dig us out of here with our fire!”]

“What!” Rhekk shouted, looking like he was about to argue with me. [“We—Grrhk! Fine!”]

Thankfully, he didn’t. Neither did Nong as he said, [“Keep up with me, little scamp!”]

With crimson and white flame meteors descending on the battlefield, I transformed back into my dragon form and had Tasianna fly on my back as we all darted toward a tunnel. However, that ice spear of that mandril was a thorn in our backs as it kept elongating with frightening speed.

With the horde of apes coming from behind, Vifi, Tasianna, and the twins had to provide supporting fire to keep them in check while my flame attacks tried to deal proper damage with a none-ending barrage of scale-dust explosions and [Sun, Consume All]. I even had Hikari stop her violin play so she could concentrate on casting with our catalysts.

A few [Fimbulvetr Wall] were cast here and then to slow down the horde, but each time, the mandril would break through with his spear as if the walls were made from paper. He was even smart enough to realize how inconsequential our suppressing fire was, and acted as the vanguard despite being a self-proclaimed “king of the apes.” His fire- and lightning-resistant skin kept him safe from all our attacks, allowing his gorillas to catch up to us due to the arched, unpredictable forms of these tunnels, perfect to climb on and maneuver around the edges and cliffs.

Come on! Nong, why didn’t you create more of those wounds like the one in the beginning? I could poison that thing at this point. I scolded myself for failing to apply some corrosive fire to weaken the monster with my venom. Maybe applying [Dread Burn] as the opening attack wasn’t the best move, but it might have been better to gamble on my purple flames hitting to cripple him with some vicious toxin.

Regardless, that mistake bit me in the butt. Even Nong wasn’t able to poison him with his toxic fumes, so maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. This thing was just slippery.

Speaking of this failure, Nong was forced to slow down and use his wind to delay the apes. However, the mandril kept freezing each tornado into icicle spires, or even took advantage of the storm to maneuver his ice dust around. This interruption—

Hold on, what did I just call it? ‘Ice dust?’ Wait, sure, my maternal grandmother isn’t part of the Nordor lineage, but Kramps did say she evolved into a silver dragon for my maternal grandfather’s sake.

In other words, could this “icy mist” I’ve been seeing, actually be an imitation of the silver dust our lineage naturally has? Could my grandmother have developed something, maybe from her evolution, that created something similar when she created this ice spear for herself? The true ice might have been actually created from her scale dust, although I couldn’t tell as I had never asked Mom to speak about her parents.

Dammit! That sorta information would be great right about now!

“Hruuuuuu!” The gorillas roared as they flung themselves at us, almost grabbing onto me and Rhekk, only for Nong to slam his wings down, cutting off the arms of two of the gorillas before blasting a tornado right through two of them, killing them instantly as the wind ripped through their spine and organs.

However, this little moment also left him vulnerable as the mandril suddenly opened one of the unused bottles on his belt. It released a terrible smell, not a disgusting one that I would puke to, but something that agitated my anger. It smelled like dragon blood; not lesser dragonkin, but true dragonkin.

It smelled like—

[“Hestia! Watch out!”] Nong shouted. [“Anti-dragon blood!”]

The ape dipped his fingers into the vial and threw the blood into the air, where the spear’s ice mist surrounded it, flash-freezing it into three frozen blood spears the size of my fangs. Using the spear like a baseball bat, he swung on it and shot the blood at us.

Nong tried to reflect them, but the blood instantly destroyed any scales or feathers in its way while the true ice spear froze the wind. They splintered upon contact, acting like shotgun pellets as they continued on their trajectory, hitting Nong here and there on his body as he screamed in pain. It probably didn’t actually hurt him, but anti-dragon blood, even in low amounts, was still effective in shutting down a true dragonkin’s [Draconic Barrier] and such.

[“Just continue flying, Hestia!”] Nong commanded as the gorillas and mandril surrounded Nong. With the ceiling too low, he couldn’t properly fly away without forcing himself through the encirclement. [“This is not even worth bothering about! Keep my sister alive when I return! Rhekkraxus! Demonkin, if my sister isn’t alive the next time I meet you, you will pay for your failure!”]

With a shriek, Nong’s blood began to glow even brighter, suggesting he was entering the next stage of [Battle Frenzy]. Was it the critical stage, or only major? Depending on which it was, it could tell me if he was holding back or something, but, honestly, thinking like that in this situation was the worst thing to do! I just had to put my faith in Nong to survive this since that damn rank A gorilla kept pursuing us!

Shit! I screamed in my head when I saw that the elementals had reappeared right in front of us, blocking our path forward. No way forward, but through them, I guess! Sola—Ark! If we’re gonna get trapped inside a damn cave for a while, I can’t just waste my damn solar energy randomly! I only have two extra charges!

[“Vifi!”]

[“On it!”] she replied as she jumped onto my head, readying a lightning spear. [“Just fly properly so I can aim! Voltaic Red:—”]

“Ghryuuuuk!” the gorilla grunted as it jumped up, aiming its club at us.

[“We can handle this!”] Shay and Beth shouted as they flew in front of me, bracing themselves with their true ice armor to protect me. Tasianna, as well, was done with her preparation and was about to cast another [Fimbulvetr Wall].

However, when it was time for impact, Rhekk suddenly flew right in front of them all.

[“I am the son of the Dragon Ruler of Ice!”] he screamed as he tanked the blow with his ice armor, getting launched right into the twin’s arms.

Rhekk’s armor didn’t break and he managed to redirect it away from us, allowing Vifi to finish her attack, throwing a red lightning halberd right through the blockade, destroying the wyvern forms of those elementals. Sadly, the attack did injure Rhekk due to the impact.

His ice armor cushioned him, but I did hear some bones breaking when the twins caught him. [Sun, Consume All] immediately started to heal him, confirming my fears, but thankfully I could only worry about that for a moment as Tasianna managed to construct the ice wall in time, fully blocking the apes since they needed the mandril to break through it.

… Or so I thought. See, a true ice spear wasn’t the only thing strong enough to break down an unperfected true ice spell, one that its caster couldn’t properly control, leading to a backlash that would freeze her arms. It was weak enough that a sudden storm was all that was needed to decimate it … and the rest of the damn cave.

“Wrooooaah!” I yelped when I felt something tug me from behind, pulling me backward. Similarly, the twins and Rhekk were affected as well, prompting Tasianna to cast an [Air Shield] around all of us to prevent us from getting sucked in any further.

We turned around and saw the mineral formation, ice rock, and the [Fimbulvetr Wall] break into dust and snow respectively. Like a black hole pulling in everything with a gravity too strong to defend against, everything around us was pulled towards the monsoon about to happen in this tunnel.

Nong’s green figure started to fly up as the ceiling broke apart, revealing the bright sun above us. The debris started to gather around his wind barrier before they were slung away, caused by the numerous tornados forming around him as if he were the center of a massive natural phenomenon.

The mandril immediately created a true ice dome around himself to protect his people, but the few apes unlucky enough to not make it in time were pulled into the storm like cars being sucked into a hurricane. One of them was the rank A gorilla.

Without any way to anchor himself onto the ground, his body was drawn into the storm and thrown into what I could only describe as a gigantic shredder or food processor. Millions of small wind blades began to cut into its body, atomizing each bit of its body until nothing remained of the rank A but blended blood, meat, and bones, twirling inside the storm like red neon lights.

I had to gulp a bit as I couldn’t imagine my own wind spells doing the same to a rank A, but that worry was replaced by another one when our [Air Shield] was still getting dragged along the ground. Even with my grounding ourselves with earth spells, it still was futile as the earth bindings were too weak in the face of this storm.

Still protecting ourselves inside this barrier, our party was torn off from the ground as we flew towards the tornados. Fortunately, just as I thought my brother had lost his mind, a telepathic message entered my mind.

[“Rendezvous under her red sun. I will handle these apes so they can’t follow us!”] he said before the storm exploded, blasting us through the air and destroying Tasianna’s barrier.

Instead, we all received individual [Air Shield]s to protect us as another blizzard had appeared in the time we fought the mandril. Caught by it, our party, unfortunately, got separated, splitting apart as Tasianna and Vifi were blown away by the hail, while the twins and Rhekk managed to gather around me to prevent me from following suit.

Unable to determine how long it took for us to finally land back on the ground, our party got pretty roughed up … Well, mostly me.

As I have said before … these blizzards were not to be trifled with and this little incident didn’t just send us into the middle of nowhere, but also into a situation where my body was starting to get frostbite ‘cause my sun core had a little incident as it tried to keep me warm through the cold.

[“B-Brother! Lady Hestia’s core cracked!”] Beth reported as I lost the sense of touch in my arms. I looked down, noticing the red glow of my solar core glowing through a wide cut in my dragon-sized fur coat.

Ahaha … Come on, the moment I don’t wear my armor? Seriously? A-arrghk! I screamed internally when I saw ice forming around my scales, causing them to crack open like dry skin.

Just like when I was training inside Mom’s basement for a stronger [Ice Resistance].

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And, yes, the ape monsters are partially inspired by Blangonga. This one is the Zenith variant of the MH Frontier game.

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