217. The Dusklit Dragon
How many dragon motifs does one ‘boss’ need?
The answer, in reality, was none. For the boss in question rode on the back of an actual dragon. And that alone was enough to lord absolute dominance over any soul foolish enough to challenge one Hellebore ere’Pendragon.
Y DDRAIG CYFNOS—the Dusklit Dragon—wasted no time to illustrate said dominance. Its jaws yawned open, revealing a roiling core of ocher flames—the color of the Tidereign moon and the dreams in its reflection. With a blinding flash, the core gave way to a volcanic eruption. A tidal wave of flames swept across the ruins and the overmatched souls in their midst.
[Auxiliary Technique: ELEMENTAL FLUX]
Before Serac knew it, she’d been folded into Renna’s spinning pocket of elemental protection. The [Flux] pocket managed to hold out against the worst of DDRAIG’s breath, but only briefly. It soon popped under the immense pressure, leaving the Upheaver pair to suffer their first taste of dragon-based damage.
[206!], [206!], [206!] -> [618!]
The flames surprised Serac with their lack of heat. If anything, the sensation was almost pleasant, like the first draft of evening breeze at the end of a hot day. Of course, the pleasantness only belied the attack’s lethality. Half her Health gone after just three ticks of damage! Serac could now relate to all the baddies she’d torched with [Catharsis].
Surprises and big damage notwithstanding, there was naught for a Wayfarer to do but fight back. As soon as the dragonflame subsided, Serac went on the offensive, first by testing the waters with the colors of the rainbow.
[Chamber One: EMBALMER]
[100!]
[55!]
[Chamber Two: APPETIZER]
[58!]
Plus an unimbued bullet from [Chamber Three] to the tune of [49!].
Due to the penalty from [Heavy], the three-shot combo left Serac nearly Stamina-depleted. She took a quick breather while reflecting on what she’d learned from the opening flurry—none of it good news.
Needlessly to say, Serac hadn’t expected to turn DDRAIG into an [Enlisted Husk] on the first shot of the fight; [Embalmer] was simply the ‘cheapest’ way for her to test Infernal imbuement against a new opponent. And judging by the individual damage numbers, DDRAIG boasted stout mitigation across the board. Not only that, the total damage of [162!] had amounted to no visible tick on the Health bar.
This thing has even more HP than the Bone Lord! I didn’t think that was possible…
It did mean DDRAIG would be susceptible to [Bleed] (assuming it didn’t have a ‘cheat’ to magic it away). Of course, that would require the Wayfarers to survive at least several minutes of a deadly waiting game, all while Serac herself managed her own HP loss. Highly unrealistic, given the sheer scope and potency of the dragon’s attacks.
Nothing but pessimism in the space of a quick breather. Before either Upheaver could come up with a solution on the spot, their enemies readied for the next volley. Their attack, curiously enough, began with a flourish from the Dragoon. Hellebore the feline knight raised his shining torch to brandish it above his Steed’s head.
The effect was as instantaneous as it was dramatic—and kind of pretty, Serac had to admit. DDRAIG’s scales, previously of umber-and-gold, morphed en masse into velvet obsidian. It was as if Hellebore’s torch had been a paintbrush dipped in the very city he hailed from. And when next the dragon breathed, it did so with the tyrannical fire of…
[Wayfarer Status Effect: UNMOORED]
[18!], [24!], [20!], …
[Mana loss: -3, -3, -4, …]
“Ugh! Get it off, get it off!”
Serac patted herself frantically, even as the velvet flames jumped and spread across her body. This time, the ‘heat’ felt proper cold and not at all pleasant. The kind of chill that burrowed into the marrow and worked its way out, stripping a soul bare of her [Substance], atom by component atom.
Beside her, Renna could do nothing but unfurl another [Flux] pocket. It didn’t help. The flames were already on and inside the Wayfarers. The horrific status effect had become a persistent DoT, despite being cut off from its source.
In her desperation to salvage anything from this complete disaster of a fight, Serac hit upon a sudden realization. Wait just a Ksana! If the boss gets to ride on his Steed, that means I should also…
She unclipped mini-Ash and channeled through it every drop of her desperation. To her massive relief, the castle’s full-size version sprang to life before her. Wasting no time, she grabbed Renna by the base of her hood and dragged both of them inside.
Oriole’s [Mark] maintained its effect on Ash, which meant the castle was impervious to DDRAIG’s [Unmooring] fire. But that couldn’t slow the effects already active on the Wayfarers. Luckily, Renna had brought along two Pearls of [Immersion], which the pair downed in a hurry. This they followed with a Pearl of [Courage] each, giving themselves full Health bars with which to tackle the rest of the fight.
Another quick breather, just to take stock of things. But the enemies at the gate had no intention of giving them time. Even before either Wayfarer could speak, Ash’s Health bar began to tick down steadily.
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[81!], [81!], [81!], …
“They must’ve switched colors again,” Renna commented, sounding much calmer than the situation might have allowed.
“Yeah,” Serac agreed, herself managing an even keel. After all, three Realms into her journey, she needed to act like she belonged. “One fire for [Unmooring] and the other for pure damage. Ash is no slouch either when it comes to HP, but that doesn’t mean we can hole up in here for long.”
“I’ve been thinking”—which was rather remarkable of Renna, considering the absolute barrage the pair had been under—“about the end goal of this encounter and how we might achieve it. If this were any other boss fight, we might despair at the dragon’s astronomical HP. But since this has been billed as a Rite of Passage…”
“There must be a secondary objective,” Serac agreed again with a firm nod. “Like you said, a mechanism to disarm the trap! I think you’re onto something. I also think I know exactly what we’re meant to go for.”
“The torch.” How efficient were briefings when both parties were on the exact same page? “Steal the torch from the dragon-rider, and we’ll be able to paint our way out of the illusion. But how? I almost feel we drew the wrong lot. If Oriole were here, he’d be able to SEND his SHADOW to do his dirty work.”
“Hey now, none of that! We’re Upheavers. We’re all about flipping conventional wisdoms on their head. Let’s just think for a Ksana. How do we use our shovel and six-shooter to rob a dragon-riding tabbycat?”
It could well have been the most ridiculous sentence Serac had uttered on a journey full of the ridiculous. Yet her companion played it completely straight.
“DREDGER to tame the elements,” Renna muttered, wide-set eyes narrowed in thought, “inasmuch as dragonflame can be tamed. If I were to send you within REVOLVER range of the cat knight, will you manage the rest?”
“Only if you get me somewhere higher than both of them,” Serac muttered in turn, dreaming up the scenario even as she spoke. “Can’t do anything with a dragon literally breathing down my neck. But if I can bypass all that, then… yes. I think I do have a tool for the job.”
It was more accurate to say she couldn’t imagine anything else in her arsenal that stood a chance, but Renna didn’t need to hear that. The frog woman considered for one Ksana longer, then nodded her assent. How good was teamwork when both parties had complete faith in the other?
“Oh, one last thing.” Renna pulled out her one remaining Pearl—silver [Strength]. “I think you should take it. Whatever trick you have in mind, I’ve a feeling it needs to be about dragon-sized.”
Serac didn’t need telling twice. She took the Pearl gratefully and downed it in one gulp.
Drink break over. Back to work. The Upheavers climbed onto Ash’s battlement for a slight initial boost in height, then immediately put plan into action.
[Elemental Flux] again, but this time to send the girls hurtling into the sky, all the while feeding off dragonflame ripples and converting them into kinetic energy. The pocket proved just as fragile as ever, however, forcing Renna to create several more in quick succession. The lapses in between forced the Wayfarers to eat more damage, but that was nothing new—all in a Night’s work.
While her frog companion ‘carried’ them up the sky, Serac herself cycled REVOLVER. She needed to be on the right chamber and the right mindset for the job.
Three [Flux] pockets later, the girls got close enough to count the teeth inside DDRAIG’s yawning chasm of a mouth. Serac thought she could even see the hazel gleam behind Hellebore’s visors, which meant they must be very high up in the air indeed. This has got to be a lethal fall at this point! Oh well… fly first, worry about the landing later.
Close enough to look into a shining knight’s visors, which was also close enough for Renna to…
[Auxiliary Technique: ELEMENTAL SURGE]
The final boost came courtesy of an upward swing of the shovel. The two aviators separated as momentum sent them in opposite directions, one nosediving back to earth while the other continued her flames-borne ascent into the night sky.
True to her word, Renna’s final push allowed her package to clear dragon and Dragoon both. At the apex of her flight, Serac peered down at the crown of Hellebore’s helm. The Tiryaga—or a Gloamspawned memory of one?—tilted his head to meet the Rakshasa’s gaze. His dusky hazel then glinted under dreamt-up sunlight, even as Serac aimed, locked, and…
[Chamber Three: HAIR TO HAIR]
In order for this to work, it was imperative the gunslinger shed all doubt from her heart. For her Oathborn was nothing if not an arrogant diva. And in order to get it to do her bidding, she needed to match if not surpass its arrogance and clarity of purpose.
Pride doesn’t have to be a sin. It can give me voice to express myself.
VOIDLING joined Hellebore in the saddle, right where Serac had aimed her bullet. Supersized by [Pearl of Strength], the maceman easily dwarfed the feline knight. It got to work right away, launching a [Grasp]-[Water]-[Stone] combo to force the Dragoon onto his cat feet.
The tabbycat in shining armor wouldn’t be so easily subdued. If anything, his grip on the torch—the protected prize—only tightened, as he hopped, skipped, and jumped out of harm’s way. VOIDLING, for its part, seemed uninterested in the torch itself, no doubt deeming thievery beneath its station.
Well, you’re gonna be my accomplice, whether you like it or not. Even as her Oathborn (feels so good to finally call it that!) remained locked in close quarter combat, and even as she herself freefalled through the air, Serac cycled and reloaded. Back to ol’ reliable—just with a newfangled twist on the formula.
[Chamber One: CATHARSIS]
[235!]
Yes, even [Catharsis] had been buffed by the magic of Renna’s OYSTER. Serac wasn’t interested in its damage potential, however. Even as she fell away from the point of impact—and as DDRAIG fixed her with its ravenous reptilian eyes—she willed her flames of penitence to burn blacker, brighter, bigger than ever before.
How good was teamwork when neither party could pass up the chance to upstage the other? Thievery might be beneath VOIDLING, but pyromancy certainly wasn’t! Its Oathkeeper had gifted the blackest, brightest, biggest fire to play with, and it took to the opportunity greedily. VOIDLING arched its back, lifted its chest, puffed its cheeks, and blew.
[Oathborn Technique: ASH TO ASH]
The night sky—dragonflame and all—drowned in a tenebrous storm. Shadows lurched, jumped, and flew every which way. They poked DDRAIG’s eyes, plugged its nares, and whipped against its wings. Blinded and cowed into submission, the colossus let out an ear-splitting yet pitiful screech as it herked and jerked across the sky.
Its rider, on the other hand, put up a valiant fight. Even as shadow-flame and his own Steed conspired against him, Hellebore held fast to the saddle, bracing against every dragon-sized jolt. In the end, however, it proved to be one herk too many. A particularly nasty jerk forced the Dragoon to grab the reins with both gauntleted hands. Which meant…
The torch, blinding bright, loosed and spun through the night sky. Her Oathborn could play with fire as much as it wished, but all this while, Serac had kept her own eyes on the prize. And she managed to reach out and grab it, even as she herself hurtled at terminal velocity.
She did so with a big, triumphant grin, fully trusting her [Oathward] partner to shovel her out of trouble. As Serac fell, the torch in her hand left a streak of pure light in the air, distorting and Brightening the lotus’s illusory walls.
[EXALTED FEAT accomplished: Tame the Dusklit Dragon.]
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