Chapter 416 The Fire Dragon
Luckily I did not stuff my foot in my mouth, and the level of the monsters did not reflect Atollie's level in the slightest, but this did not change the fact that we were still on the eleventh floor of the dungeon. And that was because we were basically in a wave type scenario. One of those situations where monsters just kept spawning over and over and over again while you killed them over and over again.
We were all fighting at full force except for Atollie, who I asked not to get involved unless one of us were about to die. She was basically our chaperone for this level. And one thing I noticed was that the girls were really lacking in skills. We got a handful recently, so I figure once we get out of this wave killing situation, I would give them all the skills so that they could try to pick up some more useful things. Maybe they can also get an ultimate skill. Although this is probably doubtful. I probably used up a life's worth of luck to be able to summon Atollie.
Not that I am complaining because with her here, I can concentrate on actually fighting without much worry. It reminded me of the first dungeon when I first summoned Diablo. But even so, I do wonder if I will ever be as strong as the both of them. Although I say this, I am slowly progressing. I have gotten lucky and boosted my level by a lot. While we were already way past the level I wanted to reach, it was still a good idea to keep going as much as possible. After all, the others had just started, and it would not be good for me to leave first.
Plus, I also wanted to see just how deep this dungeon would go. If it really did dive down over a hundred floors or so, I would not mind, but the fact of the matter was that each of the bosses so far had these tricks to them and were completely unnecessarily hard! After almost an hour of fighting fire elementals, we finally cleared the wave and got a breather. I passed out the skill stones as we took a rest. Each girl got five skills in total. And somewhere normal common skills like Adel got cooking, and Sally got hunting. There were a few that surprised me, like Adel got a skill called detonation sphere that she could send out bubble like objects that stuck to her enemies and then exploded on command. She could only cast five at a time for now, but it said the skill was upgradable so it would help her greatly.
Sophie got a skill that allowed her to create a large shadow under her enemies that would then have shadowy hands come out and wrap around those in the shadow and pull them down. Where they went from there, I have no idea. Sadly skills were not copyable because both detonation sphere and shadow grab, as it was called, were useful. However, I can recreate my own version of detonation sphere, which would probably be more powerful.
We keep moving forward floor after floor. And surprisingly, when we reached the fifteenth floor, there was no boss. The theme continued all the way to the twentieth floor, where I ended up slapping Sei on the back of the head. "You had to say something stupid!"
"Hahahaha!" Sei laughed. She looked at me and winked as she said: "It's your chance to show that dragon who is the better dragon!"
I sighed, looking at the huge dragon sitting in the boss room. It was a red fire dragon. "Appraisal…."
[Boss: Flamed Tongue Hordren]
[Race: Fire Dragon]
[Level: 4500]
[Health: 300000000/300000000]
[Mana: 300000000/300000000]
Yep, it was insanely strong…. But I still have one thing going for me! I was a dragon too! So maybe…. Just maybe we can talk things out. I took a deep breath as I looked at the girls and said: "I will go talk to him and see what he has to say. You stay here."
"Don't get eaten!" Sei let out a chuckle. She really found this whole thing funny!
I sighed once more as I transformed into a dragon and walked over to the middle of the room. The fire dragon opened its big eye and looked at me. "What does a youngling like you want!? Leave before I burn you to cinders!"
"Ummm…" I was quite surprised it was able to talk and even was willing to let me leave, but…. Sadly the room was sealed off… "I would love to, but we are stuck in this room."
"Hmmm?" The red dragon lifted its head and looked around, and snorted, causing flames to come out of its nostrils. "So you were stupid and got trapped here too? Heh… sadly, you will have no choice but to fight me then."
"Oh? Well…. Let's chat first, shall we? We have plenty of time." I wouldn't mind getting to know other dragons. It is my first time meeting another dragon, after all.
"I guess we could. I do get bored just lying here. But this form is probably not good. Let's take on human form, shall we?" The red dragon asked. I nodded, and the both of us shrank down. In front of me was a handsome young man with red flaming hair and orange eyes. I smiled as I took out some chairs and some snacks before calling the girls over.
"Faith, what is going on?" Adel asked as she sat down.
"Hmmm? We are having a conversation with a dragon. One from another place, I guess." I really did not know how else to explain it. I figured it would be a nice change after all the fighting we have been doing.
"Oh? Quite a few of you and…." The fire dragon looked at Atollie and quickly lowered his eyes. "It seems even if we do fight, the outcome is already decided. So I guess to have tea and snacks like this is not a bad thing."
"Even if that is the case, Atollie will not attack unless one of us is about to die. I know this isn't something you want to hear from me, but you should know that we have no choice but to continue on. Whether you are good or bad, we can not stay here. And our only way to leave is if you have died." I couldn't help but feel like a jerk when I say things like this. I feel so cold hearted but what can I do? I can not be stuck in this dungeon, and the dragon will actually respawn, I think…. To be honest, I do not know. It might end up being another monster altogether…
"Don't worry, I know." The fire dragon let out another sigh before picking up his cup of tea. He took a sip and then looked at me. "You seem to have questions."
"Mm…. It's about dragons. I want to know more about them. You are the first dragon I have met." After all this time, I had yet to meet a dragon. And I know they are hiding somewhere in this world, but I have not met a single one of them.
"Mmm…. Dragons are pretty much loners. We only mate once every few hundred years, and that is it. You would be considered an oddity. You are roaming around with humans, and either race like it is nothing. Even a higher being is guarding you. You can say out of dragons, you are something that would draw attention no matter where you go. Then again, we are from different worlds with probably different values.
"Dragons on my world rule the skies. We stay out of worldly affairs and only slumber quietly. Who would have thought I would end up here? Is it wrong to want to stay in my cave within a mountain and protect my treasures?" The fire dragon seemed depressed, but I was instantly drawn to the word treasure. After all, treasure meant shinies!
"Ahem…. You do not know how you came to be here?" I asked. I did want to ask more about the treasure, but I figured it wouldn't be here, even if that was the case.
"No. I was in a thousand year slumber, and when I woke up, I was here." The fire dragon replied. "My treasure is now gone, and all I have is the peace and quiet of this cave. But now you are here, and it seems my time is about to come to an end. I do wonder what I have done with my life."
My brow wrinkled. I do wonder…. "If we could somehow fake your death, then we could take you with us…."
"Master, you can try a taming spell…. Although it will bind the fire dragon to you for a period of time, from what I can see from this dungeon so far, it would probably count you as defeating the dragon if you tamed it. Then you could set it free once we leave the dungeon."