Chapter 272 - Solo Delving Part 4 - Dragon Hunting

You have accepted the Quest: Graviton Dreams!

Help the lost colony permanently stabilize the gravity field within Hidden Valley X01 so that they have a shot at surviving more than a single miserable year!

You have accepted the Quest: Power at All Costs!

Help the lost colony supply their ship with power for the next ?? years with one or more Greater Beast Cores!

You have fully replenished your Psion Pool! Note: Psion Pool is a nonstandard stat for either of your races! This stat takes a full recuperation cycle (1 hour for you) or 8 hours sleep (for standard mortals) to replenish!

You have successfully used the spell Psionic Rupture multiple times in mortal combat against a higher level creature! Potency and rigorous mental exercise has helped you grow in ways unexpected and profound!

Your Psionic Potency is now 2!

Eric’s eyes widened with sheer excitement as he took in his surroundings, noting the chrome table with both writing pad and what looked like a desktop computer which his familiar was currently using to play a game that looked suspiciously like Exile’s Path as Eric strode towards his familiar on quiet steps, his feet happily sinking into a plush white rug.

“Bunbun! You won’t believe the message I just got!”

His rabbit turned a single ear his way, her tiny paws tapping like mad on the keyboard.

Eric blinked, now genuinely awed by what he saw before him. “Shit, that look’s EXACTLY like...”

“I know. Don’t jinx it, Romeo! What happens in orange tier dungeons stays in orange tier dungeons, capiche?”

Eric smirked. “Sure, Bunbun. Sure. Anyway, I actually managed to rank up my Psionic Potency stat!”

His rabbit paused the game, turning her cute little brown button eyes toward him. “What the hell is your Psionic Potency stat?”

Eric shrugged. “How the hell should I know? I just know that it’s two now! And that means twice the number of Psionic Ruptures as I could cast before!”

Bunbun smirked. “So we’re not going to say you’re evolving Psionic powers at all, because, what, that’s a System no-no?”

Eric winked. “You’ll note I most definitely didn’t use that word to describe myself at all. And Master Criminal makes me Teflon Don immune to every offense Tier 2 and below. And since the Squid-brain horrors I declared Vendetta against are committing a Tier 1 offense just existing on Earth… it seems like I’m in the clear.”

“But you’re not actually going to say out loud that your training to be a Psionic Warrior, because being a rune-casting cultivating necromancer who likes flaming swords just isn’t enough for you?”

Eric gave his familiar a thumbs up. “Exactly!”

His bunny’s arch smile grew. “And I note that you’re very carefully not turning around.”

“That would be correct,” Eric said, willing his soul-linked gambeson and padded leggings onto his naked body before carefully donning mithril mail and helm, then instantly summoning soul-linked lizard-scale armor on top.

“Could that be because of the cute gold-skinned girl with platinum hair that you were rutting half the night with, who is now sleeping like a baby in that bed? But that totally doesn’t count because you were half asleep and drunk on depleting a stat your brain shouldn’t even have, and you’re in a delve and what—“

“—happens in orange tier dungeons stays in orange tier dungeons.” Eric pointedly said to the rabbit who was definitely playing some twisted alien version of Exile’s Path because both mana, shield, and health globes had been changed to green, purple, and gold bars. Clearly an inhuman color combination.

Bunbun sighed sadly at the screen. “Boy do I hope we can save these brave, valiant colonists trapped in a hostile world.”

Eric smirked. “You just want me to save the ship so you can play more of your favorite game, Lilly.”

His rabbit winked. “Come on, Captain Kirk of the USS Love-Prize. Let’s go find ourselves a gravity generator and a beast core. And do you think we could maybe keep the portal to this pocket realm open for like… ever, once you clear the baddies?”

“Only one way to find out,” a grinning Eric said, finding that the door automatically swished open, even on emergency power, just like the ship doors in his favorite shows.

Sadly, his pleased grin soon faded to a sheepish smile with the knowing looks far too many crew members were now giving him, all of them bowing their heads and thanking him profusely for saving their lives and helping to stabilize the gravity. But their twinkling eyes and bemused grins made it clear that they all knew he had spent half the night shagging the girl who was effectively the ship’s captain.

Because they were all psionic mind-readers and he was a sad little mentally crippled faerie who did look pretty damn hot. So who could blame Ingrid for savoring a once-in-a-lifetime fantasy? Thoughts permeating the ether so intently that even a furiously blushing Eric could pick them up.

It was with more than a bit of relief that Eric finally ran into someone he recognized. “Malin!” he said with a smile. “How are our patients in sick bay?”

The girl flashed a brilliant smile, Eric now noting the golden highlights to her otherwise pale features under the blue-pink light her people seemed to favor. “They both made a full recovery, and the children are doing wonderful as well.” She flashed a worried smile. “Are you still willing to help us, Eric?”

Eric dipped his head. “You know I am.”

She flushed. “Actually, yes, I do. Because you hardly have any mental shields on you at all.”

Eric winced at that. “Yeah, well, I can’t help being who I am.”

She squeezed his hand. “I know. You’re a natural born hero. Now come on. Right now, Ingrid’s mother is torn between gratitude and dismay. But if you can actually manage to find the graviton generator...” she bit her lip. “Or just stay with us, safely, and cast your wondrous faerie magic on our ship whenever the sun eventually sets here, she would be honored to welcome you as a member of her clan.”

Eric blinked. “Sorry?”

Malin gazed at him strangely. “You did mate with Ingrid, yes?”

“Um… maybe?”

The girl tilted her eyes. “Huh. I guess my book got that part wrong.”

Eric just stared at the impishly grinning girl before her.

“You do know I don’t actually think I summoned you from my book of faeries, right?”

Eric smirked. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I got here by my own devices.”

Malin sighed, forlorn gaze revealing pain she couldn’t quite hide beneath her smile. “You saw how bad it was… when you came to our rescue. I know half the crew thinks I’m a bit too eccentric to be passing on my traits to my future children, and if I wasn’t a genius in my chosen fields, I never would have made it onto the ship. But I was still right.” She bit her lip, soft fingertips caressing his cheek. “You really do look just like the hero from my dreams, Eric. I’m glad Ingrid claimed you already.”

Eric felt a chill with those words. “Really.”

Malin dipped her head, before her eyes widened with sudden dismay. “Oh no. You’re thinking of leaving us.” She looked ready to burst into tears. “Please, Eric. I know you owe us nothing, but please don’t abandon us. Our lives really are in your hands.”

Eric gently clasped her hand. “Relax. I’m just off to get that gravity generator, if I can. And I’ll do my best to get that and a beast core back to you.”

Malin flashed a relieved smile. “Thank you, hero. You don’t know what this means to us.”

Eric smirked, gazing around a once-more lively ship, catching more than one grateful smile sent his way by crew that could freely move once more.

“Actually, I'm pretty sure that I do. Point me to the exit?”

A grinning Malin did just that, but not before updating his Interface Map with troubling news. It seemed that, for whatever reason, whatever had most recently claimed the generator had fled the lush canyon for the toxic badlands once more. In fact, as far as the navigation subsystems could tell, this valley was once more free of Utahraptors. But who knew how long that would last?

Eric exchanged glances with his Bunny.

“I think it’s time I put my old plug back into play, don’t you?”

Bunbun nodded. “And you can improve upon it considerably with all the goodies you now got in your absolutely absurd ES Space! Now get ready to put up your favorite pair of QOL spells once we leave the valley, hero, because it’s that time again!”

And after a cautious trek through the valley with Bunbun’s ears twitching for ambush predators, especially near the ship entrance, because even if the ship’s sensors was good enough to seal the canyon, it didn’t mean that there weren’t still cloaky stealth predators of one sort or another still lying about.

Fortunately, there were none. And Eric couldn’t deny how pleased he was to know he had just made the settler’s sanctuary that much safer, with a massive plug of reinforced necromantically enhanced flesh and beast hide, comprised of a core of no less than twenty thousand pounds worth of carefully sealed cannons, assuring that not even the most obsessive raptor would be breaking through that barrier anytime soon.

Eric flashed a satisfied smile as they left the plug behind, wind umbrella and gravity ward once more in place as they raced right by the crackling portal leading back home. And for all that a part of him really wouldn’t have mind spending one or a handful of days by Ingrid’s side in her luxurious quarters with what was effectively a sweet super computer and even sweeter company, he couldn’t help but feel exhilarated when he caught sight of the fiery lake of lava, obsidian mountains, and brooding sulfur-rich clouds above once more.

Sure, finding a beautiful sanctuary and an equally beautiful girl he totally hadn’t meant to be seduced by had been incredibly sweet. But here was where he would level up his skills, further empower himself, and get the tools he needed to truly rescue all those people whose lives were now in his hands, whether he liked it or not.

“Alright, Bunbun, keep an eye out! We don’t want to get ambushed by those fucking Shadow Raptors again.”

“I’m on it, boss! I mean, just look at these ears! Aren’t you glad you have a familiar who acts as the perfect scout? Because you don’t need more firepower. You just need to sense shit coming before it totally gets a drop on—“

“Bunbun!”

Eric screamed in sudden alarm when he sensed gravity abruptly shift, pulling him just an inch off his feet… and his bunny hurtling to the heavens, right up to a pterodactyl's wide open maw.

“Fragor!” Eric screamed, glaring at the massive bat-like bird that immediately crumpled in the air, as if multiple bones had been shattered within its body. Injuries no flier could withstand without catastrophic results.

A heartbeat later his terrified-looking bunny was falling way too fast for Eric’s comfort, yet still he managed to catch her safely, nuzzling her nose as the creature crashed to the Earth at speeds that instantly pulpified its body in an explosion of gore.

“You okay, Lilly?” Eric gave her his most reassuring smile. “I know you had it under control with your rabbit ears of lightning badassery. I’ll bet you didn’t really need my help at all, did you?”

Eric soothed the shaking bunny, gently putting her back on his shoulder.

“Too fucking close,” his familiar whispered. “Why the fuck are we here again?”

“We’re here to find a gravity generator and claim a beast core, so we can earn the eternal gratitude of an alien colony vessel that might or might not be real. Then you get Exile’s Path time, I get fantasy Captain Kirk time, then we go kill the dungeon boss and claim this territory, and power up like you wouldn’t believe. And yeah, there’s the red tide of death we’ll have to worry about in ten years time that you were good enough to remind me about. That is, unless idiots like me and my sister and everyone else fighting for world dominion manage to stabilize all the orange, red, and black wild zones before that shit ever happens.”

Bunbun chuckled. “Yeah, that’s right, and here I thought I’d never get the chance to play my favorite game again! Or an offline version so close it doesn’t even matter. Those sound like as good reasons to risk our lives as any other.”

Eric smirked, but refused to slow down as he raced through the territory he had suffered so many close calls traversing the day before. And he wasn’t sure if it was entirely because of Bunbun or Perception breaking the 150 mark, but everything stood out just a bit sharper than they had the day before.

He flashed a relieved smile when they crested over the lip of the pumice plateau he had been slowly making his way towards, spotting a massive obsidian edifice in the far off distance, a nightmare wizard’s tower lit up by crackling flashes of lightning around the soot-like clouds surrounding it. Somehow not surprised at all to find his Interface confirming that was where the portable gravity generator was being held.

Then he frowned, his ground-eating pace slowing to a jog as he spotted what seemed such a striking contrast to the lake of fiery lava below.

A mist-covered swamp in the center of the plateau, radiating a chill he could feel even from where he stood as vaguely humanoid figures formed of its ethereal vapors and slowly approached Eric’s position.

Eric exchanged a look with his familiar.

“What do you think?”

“I think we should blast the hell out of them, chief!”

Which was of course the very moment that the air shook with the roar of a crocodilian monstrosity bursting out of the lake to snap at the trio of mist creatures.

Eric could hear the crack of powerful jaws slamming shut. Yet the cloud of mist reformed just seconds later.

Though the misty spirit did point a cloudy limb at the massive predator, earning a strangled roar as the swamp dwelling creature immediately dove back into the depths of the lake. But not before Eric caught sight of a massive patch of frozen scales glittering like icy diamonds as the creature fled.

Eric exchanged looks with his familiar. “Yeah… I think melee combat’s right out this time.”

Eric coldly smiled at the misty figures still some 300 or so yards off.

“Fragor!” Eric roared. Then blinked, when absolutely nothing happened.

“Eric, I don’t think those spirits are exactly corporeal. And the only psionic attack you know is an explody spell that ruptures things inside, well, you know… physical bodies.”

“Well then we’ll need something that I know has worked against spirits before. Or at least, orc shamans messing with me and Elonia when one or the other of us was spirits. Sort of.”

His bunny looked confused. Eric knew better than to waste any more time explaining.

“Hell Vines!” He roared, before his smirk became a blink of dismay when his summons refused to respond to the misty spirits at all.

Almost as if they couldn’t even sense the white spirits slipping past.

Eric glared in frustration, forced to accept that as useful as his spell was, this was one thing that was beyond it’s ability to counter.

But he could.

“Eric?”

Eric ignored his familiar’s worried voice while focused on his vines like never before. His goal not just to see them, but to feel them. As if he could sense the heat radiating from them, thorns that promised to hold fast to any prey. As if the vines were just an extension of his own hands, and all he had to do was reach out and SQUEEZE, and he would claim his prey.

Congratulations! You have successfully communed with your Hell Vines spell! You have gained the Lesser Perk – Direction with this spell! Now, you can form a spiritual connection with your Hell Vines and direct its actions as if it were just an extension of yourself!

Eric reveled in the sudden exhilarating feel of his extended limbs, the fiery hot vines themselves, wrapping around first one, then a second misty figure as he squeezed his fist, an action immediately echoed by his fiery vines, miming clenching both those thing tight with his will alone.

“See, I told you it would work!”

Eric wanted to howl with glee when the pair of misty apparitions struggled to advance, only to find they couldn’t move an inch.

Then they glared Eric’s way, their blank stares sending ice-cold shivers down his spine.

Yet nowhere near as cold as his clenching fist, turning to ice before his eyes.

“What the fuck?”

You have successfully trapped 2 Ice Walkers in Hell Vines! Spiritual connection enhances efficacy of your spell!

Ice Walkers sense your spiritual connection!

Ice Walkers are forging Arcane Links to your physical body!

You have severed all connections to your spell.

Eric lurched back, gazing at his own semi-frozen hand in horror as the pair of Ice Walkers effortlessly slipped free of his double cluster of Hell Vines as Eric broke all connection to his spell. His whipping clusters of massive vines still had a full days duration, but now seemed powerless before the Ice Walkers that immediately plunged their eerie silver-white limbs into the trunk and, much to Eric’s horrified disbelief, began freezing them solid.

“No. Fucking. Way.” Eric hissed under his breath, the entire mist covered swamp seeming to grow colder with each passing second.

Eric grit his teeth and glared at the three Ice Walkers as the air hummed with a whirling thrum

“Um… Eric?”

“Not right now, Bun bun.”

The thrum turned to a loud -CRACK!- as Eric twisted his hips and sent death hurtling through the air.

You have struck Ice Walker with Soul-Linked cannon ball!

You have inflicted minimal damage upon your target!

Eric glared at the misty creature forming before his eyes, unable to take much comfort in the power of his wall-shattering shot when it had done little more than annoy them. But still, it was more than enough to send all three Walkers ambling in his direction.

Though it was only when three hundred yards turned to two hundred and repeated cannon balls and even his essence infused grapeshot did little more than infuriate it that his familiar cleared her throat.

“Um… Eric?”

“Yes, Bunbun?”

“Think maybe we ought to get the fuck out of here?”

Eric flashed a cold smile. “Fucker’s exactly where I want him. Ignem!” Eric roared, the air crackling with the discharge of runic lightning, crackling with the energies of abjuration the way only cultivating tribulations could manage.

Only then did Eric’s smile turn to a grimace he refused to call dread.

“Shit.”

“I think it’s about that time, boss!”

“Fuck, that should have worked!” Eric cursed, fighting the sudden icy chill he felt in his bones as his legs pumped with the desperate fury of someone trying to warm up while running as if his life depended upon it.

“Eric! 6 ‘oclock! The fuckers are still gaining!”

Eric fought down the sudden surge of panic flooding his system, rapidly coming to the lip of the plateau hosting the miniature swamp and one of the few pockets of vegetative life he had seen in this predator-rich pit of purgatory, not hesitating to jump the thirty or so feet to the crumbling pumice below, grateful for his 1 G runic ritual preventing him from splatting to the ground with bone-crushing force.

“How’s it looking, Bunbun?” Eric asked as he kept an eye for trouble all but bound to arrow in on him for sticking out like the fleeing prey he supposed he was, for all that the vast basalt & obsidian plane showed little but dozens of scurrying rat-like creatures burrowing in a swiss cheese like affair of boroughs he only now paid any attention to, despite his high Perception.

But his familiar didn’t say a word.

“Fuck, Bunbun, what’s up?” Eric hissed, steeling a glance of his own. Before swallowing a curse as he caught sight of all three of them glaring from the lip of the plateau… right at him… as if trying to freeze him solid with their killing glares alone.

“Um… good news is I don’t think they can get down?”

Eric snorted, glaring back the way they had come. “Then what’s the bad news?”

The bunny swallowed a surprised curse. “The bad news is the massive turtle that just popped out of the fire lake. Now move! He’s ready to blow!”

Eric blinked in surprise, eyes widening as he spun around and caught sight of what was indeed an inconceivably massive turtle now glaring their way with eyes far more intelligent, and malicious, than any lizard’s had a right to be. A turtle that was now inflating what must have been powerful lungs, and Eric could sense the sudden spike in Mana and heat… now being aimed his way.

DUCK!

His danger sense screamed a warning so loud his ears rung, but he was already rolling and leaping past the ledge he had just finished sliding down. A ledge that was now cracking with the sharp retort of rocks forced to endure the most extreme temperature changes before rupturing, a good portion of the ledge now covered in liquid magma that instantly set the sparse shrubbery nearby to a merry blaze.

“Fuck!” Eric hissed. Because confined to a 30 foot wide obsidian slab with a steep ledge on one side and a pool of bubbling magma on the other, he was in the worst possible spot to survive a clearly furious creature’s onslaught as three streams of magma blazed through the air.

Eric had no choice but to race ever closer to the predator clearly hungry to obliterate Eric where he stood, despite needing a good handful of seconds between each exhalation. Eric’s mind was frozen with terror, even as his feet moved and dodged, seemingly of their own accord. But what truly frightened him was the certain knowledge that he’d only get struck in the back and incinerated by magma if he tried to flee.

“Eric, that monster turtle can pace us in the magma if we try to retreat! He’ll be able to snipe us at range indefinitely, and the Frost Wraiths above are positioning themselves to freeze us solid if we dare climb back up the ledge! Fire and Ice. We’re totally pinned between these fuckers!”

Eric nodded his head, Bunbun telling him nothing he hadn’t already figured out.

He had to close, strike, and kill, with his eye locked on his foe, timing his responses to his opponent’s magma breath weapon.

Or die trying.

Quickness check made!

But it was only after the beast had unleashed its forth magma volley and Eric had gone from nearly a mile a way to in its face that he dared strike… knowing he had no choice but to hit hard and furious and not let up for a second. Because the moment he raced past, he’d be utterly vulnerable to any retributive strike against his back, especially in those first few seconds effectively fleeing from his opponent.

And as the madly ringing sound in his ear so like the throaty laughter of his forbidden mentor that he instantly knew fleeing would not be an option, even if the Ice Wraiths hadn’t been an issue.

No matter how steep the level differential between them.

Death Match has been embraced between Eric Silver and Lesser Dragon Turtle!

Eric’s eyes widened, caught somewhere between terror, exhilaration, the sense that a certain semi-divine patron was smirking down at his panicked form, and the knowledge that none of that mattered. Not even the fact that he had just charged into range of what amounted to a FUCKING DRAGON! He had seen the cold reptilian hate in those eyes, and answered in kind.

This was a fight to the death, and he didn’t give a damn that ranged strikes were out, flames of any kind wouldn’t do shit, or that the dragon’s own plasma, as it slowly twisted its turtle-like head further free of it’s shell and began to inhale… was most definitely in.

Because a furiously howling Eric had spent too many hundreds of hours mastering the glory of polearms and weapon feats to think that combat began or ended with a single 3 foot long mithril blade.

Not when he could summon a total of six soul-bound rune-enhanced and hardened 7 foot long pilum spears that were raiser sharp, 5 pounds each, and exactly what he needed to put a snapping turtle of death in it’s place.

— OH SHIT! DUCK, IDIOT!—

Right before ducking for all he was worth under the massive stream of plasma unleashed by a roaring dragon while his terrified bunny leaped free Eric’s shoulder and dodged a cone of stone melting plasma with a terrified scream.

If Eric hadn’t been wearing a double helm saturated with the essence of Fire itself, he would have loss a significant portion of brain matter even when the plasma stream just missed him.

His heart pounded like a drum as he tumbling right under the massive fully extended neck, soul-bound pilum summoned instantly into his hand as he sprung up in ways only superhuman stats would allow to lunge up and plunge his spear deep into the dragon turtle’s exposed neck.

He paid little heed to Find Weakness skill checks blaring about critical successes, just desperate to avoid its massive snapping maw spewing plasma once more, barely managing to leap free of the now crashing neck as the massive dragon turtle emitted a hideous gurgling roar, radiating a Killing Aura so intense Eric knew any mortal’s heart would have stopped.

But all Eric felt was a furious terror that demanded release. And he was smart enough from countless boss fights that when your enemy pounded his oversized seven-ton body to the ground in an attempt to crush you under its neck, that was when you twisted around and lunged AGAIN with a second soul-bound pilum. And then a third.

PIERCING STRIKE!

PIERCING STRIKE!

You have critically struck your opponent!

Your opponent is struggling to retract his head back inside his skull!

“I don’t think so, asshole!” Eric roared, now leaping to the lip of its shell, roaring out Rupture spells in a desperate effort to weaken the impossibly thick bone armor until he felt his hidden potency reserve plummet to nothing once more as he plunged one pilum after another until all six of his pilums were lodged exactly five feet into the dragon’s neck, the final two feet making it absolutely impossible for the now panicked, thrashing creature to do anything but gurgle and screech. It’s own desperate thrashing turned piercing thrusts into bleeding gashes as a howling Eric whipped around his instantly summoned sling holding a 17-pound cannon ball of death like the wickedest of flails.

His soul-bound weapon let loose a high-pitched hum as Eric blurred it to invisibility before whipping the entire thing down upon his opponent’s skull in an explosion of bone and gore.

Because every slinger got a taste of just how much power they were embracing as they accelerated death a sweet instant before release. Which meant that every slinger knew how to use their weapon like a flail, but never would, because the bounce-back when one lacked even a short shaft to catch the bounce could itself prove absolutely lethal.

Unless, of course, one could instantly snap their chosen instrument of death back into their ES Space, the very instant full kinetic pain had been delivered before a 17-pound flail bounced right back to absolutely obliterate one’s face.

A fiercely grinning Eric was already twirling his resummoned sling now back in his hand as the dragon roared and bucked, knowing damn well that had his gifts been any different, had his Quickness, Finesse, and Perception been any lower, he would have probably ended up braining himself, and had his Strength not been what it was, there was no way he would be spinning it around at that very moment before sending it streaking down with whip-cracking speed and monstrous force to EXPLODE into his semi-immortal dragon opponents skull a second time.

Doing absolutely absurd damage, according to his own Interface.

But for some reason it just didn’t fucking matter because the thing refused to die, and now it was retreating back into the lake of liquid fiery death. And death herself was laughing in the back of his mind, because he would be forced to retreat, utterly unable to fight in a lake of fucking liquid fire, and his Cultivation class that he had struggled so hard to claim and make his own would be utterly fucked. And Eric could think of only one counter, switching ammo and sending his flail in one final furious twirl before lashing out with desperate fury, this time not instantly reclaiming his sling, no matter how much he wanted to scream from what were effectively bullets lodging in his face and throat.

Because he had to see this through, no matter the cost.

You have traded cannon-ball for grape shot ammunition!

You are howling in inarticulate rage as magma slips into your left boot!

You have critically struck CRACKED SKULL with grapeshot-filled sling!

You have resummoned sling and soul-bound shot-sack!

You have suffered 3 SEVERE wounds from your own ammo scattering free of draconic skull!

You have saved versus stunning blow and have successfully jumped off your target!

17 Cast Iron balls have been sent ricocheting through Dragon Turtle Skull!

You have critically struck Dragon Turtle 15 times!

You have successfully slain Dragon Turtle!

You scream to the heavens that it was a righteous kill!

“Damn right it was!” Eric wheezed with a whisper as he fought not to collapse on the very lip of the lake of molten lava, struck with hideous dizziness as he reclaimed the three pieces of grapeshot that had torn through his cheek, bruised his neck, and blown out his eye.

Before collapsing to the ground, his lungs filling up with his own blood.

“Eric? Eric! Get up, please get up, you have to get up!”

BunBun’s voice. Suddenly sounding like a panicked teenage girl who had already suffered more terror and tragedy than any soul should have to, far more than a snarky badass rabbit companion.

And he knew she was right as he coughed and wheezed. And how fucking ironic that he might die of his own exploding bag of grapeshot? But fuck if it hadn’t been fun watching the dragon’s eyes explode the very instant his own had. At least he had one eye left… forced to wonder if his dizzy thoughts meant he wasn’t in much better shape than the dragon. Had one of those fucking musket-sized balls actually cracked open his skull? Shit!

If only he could breath, he thought, choking on his own blood. He was almost certain he’d make it, even with a cracked skull if only he… stopped being an idiot!

His wounded mind immediately thought back to feats he had performed when just awakening to his own power, even as magma hissed against the one foot he was stupid enough to leave dipped into the lake.

Jerking it free even as he groaned and spat up blood.

Blood that instantly obeyed its master with such alacrity a dying Eric wondered if it had been waiting for just such a command as it began trickling right out of his lungs, squeezing tight several wounds spurting his life blood onto the caustic ground that smelled so horribly of sulfur and acrid death…

and Eric sobbed for relief as he took what felt like his first life-giving breath of air… even as he sensed a pride of Utahraptors race for where he lay prone by the lake’s edge.

You have successfully fused shut 3 Crippling Wounds!

Rate of Regeneration now exceeds organ failure cascade!

Unified Healing and Blood Mastery have successfully stabilized cranial hemorrhaging!

You are at risk of permanently losing 1 point of Scholarship!

“And I’d fucking deserve it too,” he whispered through his one good eye, glaring at the wavering sight of the impossibly massive dragon turtle sinking back into the lake of fiery magma… before claiming it into his ES Space, effortlessly, with a single plop.

Congratulations! You have successfully claimed 1 Elder Beast Core!

Then hissing and cursing as he desperately scrabbled another three feet as the backwash splattered his thankfully fireproof lizard hide armor.

“Eric, thank fucking god! Please, you gotta get up, I can’t handle these fuckers on my—“

“Hell Vines!” Eric snarled, finally thinking tactically as not one but four sets of massive tree trunks covered in a medusae-like swarm of furiously whipping vines of fire, black thorn and grizzly death tore through the air. Not a one actually hitting the now rapidly retreating Utahraptors, but it was enough to barricade the space between plateau ledge and the drop into the lake a trembling Eric desperately fought to climb up before slumping over in dazed exhaustion.

“Cover for me, Bunbun?” He said with a dazed whisper as he dared to close his eyes.

Only for a minute.

Long enough to feel the furious howling surge of power he had been praying for…

Long enough for Unified Restoration to do it’s glorious thing, using the power of all his essences and elements to enhance and stabilize his metabolism, mitigate multiple deadly organ failure cascades, and somehow save him from the backlash of his own devastating critical strike that had actually managed to kill a dragon.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have faced a Lesser Dragon Turtle in single combat AND EMERGED VICTORIOUS!

Your solo victory against Lesser Dragon Turtle in a sanctified Cultivation Duel is now a part of the Terran Kill Boards!

Solo Victory according to Challenge Guidelines has been called into question!

(Administrator Visuvious objects! - Ranged weapons including slings and javelins were used as primary weapons! Ranged attacks were in play! Multiple arcane buffs were in play!)

Objective countered! Sling was used as flail! Pilums were used strictly as hunting spears!

Objection countered! Turtle Dragon was retreating from the field of battle when flail weapon head was exchanged for – Grapeshot Head!

Objection countered! At no time was shrapnel released when there was no physical link between you and your opponent!

Past precedent exists for physical strikes or Qi attacks to leave residue after initial strike!

Past precedent for buffs stabilizing environment to challenger norms has been acknowledged.

Objections overruled!

Death herself acknowledges your righteous kill!

You have successfully slain Level 80 Lesser Dragon Turtle in singular combat!

You have achieved Rank 25 with all spears!

Psionic Rupture is now Rank 3!

You have successfully quantized the Flail skill!

Flails skill is now Rank 5!

You have achieved Level 25 as a Cultivator! (Eveline Death’s Disciple!)

Primal Adventurer is now Level 47!

Primal Adventurer is now Level 48!

You have earned the Epic title: DRAGON SLAYER!

You are the FIRST Terran to slay any tier dragon on Terra!

Multiple Epic Tier classes are now available to you!

The exclusive Epic Tier Dragon Knight and Dragon Slayer classes are now available to you!

Because only the most worthy are allowed to take on the mantel: Dragon Slayer!

You now enjoy a +5 Bonus to all attempts to Find a Dragon’s Weakness, or overcome their magic resistance! You additionally enjoy +5 to Perception, because only most perceptive and savvy fighters could ever survive a duel with a race so far above their own!

You now enjoy a +5 bonus to resist Dragon Breath weapons and spells!

You may now radiate Lesser Dragon Aura: Fear at will! - As you are a cultivator, this counts as an enhancement of your natural killing aura!

You now enjoy a Dragon’s Boon! All Delve loot drops will be 25% greater in quantity and value for you than it would be for lesser mortals!

As your victory was martial, +5 to Strength, Vitality, Finesse and Quickness means you’re far less likely to embarrass yourself and the dragon faction with an ignoble death to anyone save them!

As this kill was done in a dungeon delve in honorable combat, you have NOT earned the eternal enmity of the draconic faction!

You now have +2 to all roles to garner respect from all dragons, so long as you behave with honor in all your dealings with them.

Note! Respect does not equate fondness, unless personal friendship is earned! Most dragons will bargain hard with you for any and all privileges you might earn, but you are one of the few they might condescend to bargain with!

Warning! Be prepared for draconic challenges in the future!

Eric found his wheezing chuckle turn to howling laughter as he glared about the hell hole he found himself in, clouds the color of ash and bitter regrets still raining their sulfuric drizzle upon the inky black ground, the bubbling pool of fiery hot magma giving the world a hellish glint, a quartet of Hell Vines eagerly whipping their tendrils forth all that kept yet another pack of bloodthirsty Utahraptors at bay.