Scorching Ascension - 1.88: Almost (Unedited)

A/N: Good thing I'm taking a break... I am running out of steam! Editing Undersea now, should be out in the next 20 minutes. The third chapter of both stories should be out tomorrow, as for bonus, we'll see if I manage it.

--------------

Blood spurted from between the two plate-sized scales, and a splatter of smoking flesh and blood hit Ethan in the face as the lord roared and lunged at him. Ethan let go of the lance, ducking under the twisting neck before he sliced with the [Draconic Claws], tearing deep grooves into the magically summoned scales. With a curse, he realized his own claws weren’t cutting deep enough, not like the lance had managed.

The lord bit down, but Ethan had already slipped to the other side and considered his options.

Making the claws larger would have helped here, but I don’t have enough space in the Prime Arcanum. But next time, I’m using the state, he thought as he leaped up and tried to land on the monster's back, only for one of the blue orbs to zip away from atop the lord’s head and slam into him.

The world turned and whirled as Ethan was sent skidding and rolling along the stony shore, sending chunks of stone flying whenever he made contact with the ground, and after close to three seconds, he came to a stop.

Fuck that hurts, Ethan thought as he rolled to the side.

The lord roared, and the air rippled around it as Ethan got back to his feet, shoulder and chest pulsing with pain from the impact of the water orb. At least it hadn’t concentrated the water this time. But before he could move on the offense once more, the first regular-sized monitor jumped out of the water like a heat-seeking missile. With a quick, motion, Ethan re-summoned the lance and let the rocketing lizard impale itself, only for two more to jump out of the water and within a couple of seconds, all of the monitors were coming out, not afraid anymore now that their boss ordered them forward, and as Ethan watched them come at him, something twinged in his stomach.

Wasn’t he forgetting something?

Ethan threw himself back barely a second before a ray of blue punched through the stone he’d been standing on like it had been made of wet cardboard.

Right. The big one first.

Ethan flew away from the oncoming monitors and headed once more to the lord in a wide circle, eyes peeled for another jet of pressurized water. Thankfully, he quickly realized that the lord needed a moment to resummon the orbs, and that bought him enough time to just head to the monster in a straight line and now, he just needed a way to deal as much damage as possible without getting washed away again. 

Ethan started channeling another fireball as he closed in, dropping lower when the lord opened its jaw and tried to tag him with a simple—but still scary—column-wide jet of water. Ethan waited, still pushing mana into the fireball, and when the lord ran out of water to send at him, he let the fireball go and flew upward, fully intent of dropping on its head when it was distracted.

The lord watched the fireball come toward it and instead of dodging or intercepting with a well aimed shot of water, it took a step to the side and its tail came up and whipped out, hitting the fireball before it could reach its body.

The fireball detonated, engulfing most of the tail in the deflagration and when the fire dispersed, the magically summoned scales were gone, while the tail itself was mostly fine. There were some burn marks here and there. Some discolored or blackened spots in the natural scales, but that was the extent of the damage. 

Damn thing is smart, Ethan thought as watched it turn its head back and forth, trying to locate him. Unfortunately for it, it didn’t look up, and it didn’t seem to be able to sense him, which was why he was dropping out of the sky and didn’t channel another fireball to hit it point blank. Just in case that would give him away.

Ethan’s feet caught the lizard right atop of its head and slammed it into the ground. But this time, there were no craters, and no bones were broken. Ethan couldn’t fly too high or he would have given it a chance to react. Still, this would do.

Next, he shoved both of his clawed hands into the real scales of the lizard. The summoned scales were still struggling to reform, having been dissipated from the drop, so the talons didn’t have too much to stop them aside from the incredibly tough hide.

The lord roared, pissed off, but Ethan didn’t care. With his position secured, he began channeling a fireball through his wing and with his claws, he let his flames cook the scales around them. He would have channeled much more fire, but right this second, 90% of his mana was going into the fireball.

Securing his grip a bit more, hoping it’d be enough, Ethan gently lobbed the fireball around the head in a cemi-circle, and the homing modifier made it fly back up, hitting the lord right under its open, hissing jaw.

The lord’s head snapped up as fire flew up and around, scalding Ethan’s wings even through his fire-resistance. His right hand detached, tearing out a good chunk of the lord’s flesh and sinew, and even before the flames parted, the lord whipped his head about and the remaining arm ended up detaching as well, sending Ethan back down to the ground. With a snap of his wings, he stopped mid-air and flew back at the lord, only to see it turn tail and head back to the water.

“Oh no you fucking don’t,” Ethan said, landing right on the tail with the lance pointed down.

The lord hissed, head smoking and blackened by the flames, but it didn’t stop and to Ethan’s dismay, he knew it needed only a few more steps and it’d be gone. It’d be safe in the water, and it would have the upper hand.

Ethan couldn't afford that.

Gripping with his talons and setting his feet apart, Ethan activated both of the Zenith state and Scorching Ascendancy, gritting his teeth as his scaled feet dragged against the rock of the shore. A burning stream surged out of his chest and down his limbs, and Ethan’s legs stopped dragging.

The lord pulled, head only a few yards away from the water, but no matter how hard it thrashed its tail, no matter how much stone its claws carved through, it couldn’t gain away from him. Not even an inch. 

Ethan held on, heart and blood hammering in his ears. He felt the pull, but in a way, it was as if the lord’s strength was being pitted against both of Ethan’s Might and will, and while he couldn’t say much about the latter, he knew that for the first time ever since this whole tutorial had started, Ethan’s Might had never been higher.

With a roar of his own, Ethan yanked the lord back and shockingly, he felt the weight give much more easily then he expected it. So, with another step, he adapted the pull into a throw.

The lord’s stubby feet lifted off the ground, and to be fair, it never went higher than a few feet off the ground, but it was plenty for Ethan because now, he was once more between the water and the monster.

Ethan rushed forward as the lord rolled around to get back to its feet. He still had a few seconds left in the Zenith state, and he had to make the most of them.

Ethan took a leaping jump and gave himself some more height with the wings before falling back down toward the creature’s head. A jet of water caught him, but with the state still impossibly preventing anything from stopping his movement, it didn’t throw him back, and a moment later, he came out of the water, right above the opened, fanged mouth of the lord.

Ethan aimed right between its eyes and shoved his hand forward right as the state was burning its last fumes. The summoned scales gave in without any resistance. The skin tore, and the bone cracked as if he’d just shoved his hand claws through a dry wall.

The Zenith state finally and sadly ran out as the lord screeched in pain, but as Ethan held on with both of his arms, one of which was still gripping to the literal bone of the monster, he remembered the first monster he’d killed and grinned before he let a storm of scorching flames right under the lord’s bone. 

The fight should now be close to be done.