Godspawn Ascendant [LitRPG, Epic Progression Fantasy]

The satisfying squish of my spear digging deep into the dragon's white flesh brought a pleased smile to my face. Cinthara and I shared a look, then together heaved all of our weight onto our weapons and pushed them even farther into the dragon's weak spot.

Blood colored a deep maroon pooled around the dragon's two new wounds, then began dripping to the floor, barely missing me as I yanked my spear back out to make another thrust. But Cinthara wasn't as lucky. Her brilliantly white armor had lost its luminescence all around her shoulders.

But she didn't seem to care.

With a grunt, Cinthara yanked her rapier out of the dragon and quickly stabbed it again, a little higher this time. I drove my spear in and out of the beast's flesh as much as I could, the seconds whizzing by much too quickly. At any given moment, the dragon would retaliate.

And sure enough, the massive body shifted and rose. Cinthara and I almost lost our weapons, which were still wedged into the dragon's lower abdomen. But we were quick enough on our feet to leap into the air and pull them free.

"Run!" I urged Cinthara instinctively.

I darted to the side, intending to keep out of reach of the dragon–at least for a short period, but hopefully long enough to ascertain the amount of damage we had inflicted. Cinthara had started running in the opposite direction I did, which was smart. Splitting up forced the dragon to hesitate and make a decision on who to strike first. And we needed every second of advantage we could get.

The sounds of claws scraping against stone screeched painfully loudly in my ears, but it was nothing compared to the rumbling roar that followed.

The dragon stretched out her wings as far as she could, both hitting the walls before the near-transparent, purple appendages unfolded all the way. She craned her long neck back and released the roar–a sound unlike anything I'd ever heard.

I couldn't help but drop my spear and slam my hands over my ears. I gritted my teeth as the high-pitched yet booming roar shook me to my very core and sent shudders through my brain. I couldn't even keep running.

Cinthara stood on her side of the cave, doing the same thing I did. With hands over her ears, Cinthara's body trembled from the dragon's cry that pierced through us and bounced off the walls in equally loud echoes.

The dragon closed its toothy mouth and turned its head toward Cinthara, then toward me. Her flaky, scaly eyelids narrowed over her yellow eyes as she glared into my Soul.

Trying not to make any sudden movements, I slowly lowered my hands from my ears and bent to retrieve my spear from the ground. The dragon watched me while flicking its giant tail back and forth. Cinthara had to dodge the tail two times. Still, the dragon's attention on me gave Cinthara the opportunity to pull back and find a safe position.

"Rayden, I am sensing areas in this cave surrounding the dragon that are intended for a clone to unlock. I believe these areas are there to provide Lord Solomon clones assistance against the dragon."

"Well, that's convenient," I answered Dex. "Where are they?"

I didn't even need to know what this sort of assistance would entail…. I just knew Cinthara needed help–a lot of it. Though the dragon stumbled forward, groaning loudly in pain as blood dripped from her abdomen and down her hind legs, she could still flick a single claw in my direction and squish me like a bug. The wounds we'd inflicted had merely slowed the beast down.

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I was starting to regret Cinthara's and my decision to try to fight a Tier 12 monster at all.

"The locked area closest to you is the wall directly to your left," Codex said.

The dragon continued her slow approach toward me, a subtle and grotesque smile on her wide lips. Her legs shook from pain, and she wobbled slightly, but she stalked me with enjoyment in her eyes. She looked at me like I was her next meal, and I wouldn't be surprised if she did, in fact, swallow me whole.

The dragon was enjoying this. Otherwise, she would grab me right away with one of her long limbs–no matter how fast I tried to run, she could reach me wherever I tried to go. The only way to possibly escape the dragon's clutches would be to leave the cave altogether, where the opening was too small for her to crawl out of. Somehow, the cave walls had contained her for centuries, so surely it still would if Cinthara and I could somehow safely leave.

But first, I wanted to see what sort of assistance Lord Solomon had set in place. If we could still kill this dragon, I desperately wanted to get into that treasure room and discover what awaited us in there.

Thankfully, the wall Dex had referred to was barely more than an arm's length away from me. I glanced at the stone and immediately noticed a painted key, just like the one that had been on the entrance to the cavern. Its gold paint and intricate details of twists and leafy vines looked identical to the one at the entrance. As the dragon continued to slink her way to me, playing with me with her slow crawl, I hurriedly pressed a palm onto the cool wall.

The golden key glowed, then warmed to the point that it started to burn my hand. I yelped and pulled my arm away from the wall. The dragon quirked her head to the side and glared at me. Bemusement looked strange on a long dragon face, but it was there all the same.

What did you put here to help me, Lord Solomon? I wondered impatiently as the key continued to burn a brighter golden glow.

The dragon growled and lifted a claw above her head, poised to strike. I darted my eyes about, trying to think of what I could do to escape the impending fall of the hand that was three or four times bigger than me.

Crack!

I held my breath and craned my head back to look at where the sound had come from, the dragon following suit. A large fissure had split into the ceiling, and it continued to grow longer and wider as I stared. It only stopped growing once a hole large enough to fit the dragon's entire head loomed above us.

The dragon narrowed its eyes and stood tall enough to curiously peer into the new hole. Just as soon as she did, a scraping sound reverberated from above, and then a boulder the exact size of the hole fell through and knocked the dragon straight between her eyes.

The dragon roared again, pawing at her face and swaying back and forth from the pain of the impact. Her roar was as piercing as her first one, but I had no time to just stand in shock. I had to move.

"Rayden!"

Cinthara barrelled toward the dragon, feet directed straight toward the bleeding spot of the beast's abdomen.

"Now's our chance!" Cinthara hollered.

I ran a safe distance away from the stumbling dragon, then closed my eyes and inhaled deeply through my nose. I then quickly circled my hands around each other, creating the pattern to summon the spell I'd stolen from Sarah while in Professor Bilith's maze.

12 hovering daggers formed over my head, and I immediately threw my arms in front of myself, commanding them to fly. They whizzed past me, creating a breeze that blew some of my too-long curls into my eyes, and then they slid underneath the dragon's chest and all the way to its weak spot. Six of the 12 magical weapons successfully dug into the already wounded flesh just before Cinthara expertly rolled underneath the dragon's flying tail and sank her rapier deep into the dragon's abdomen.

The creature moaned and thrashed her head and tail about. Cinthara hurriedly pulled out her rapier and scurried away from the flying dragon limbs threatening to trample her to death.

"So, Lord Solomon left distractions," I guessed. "To give any clones a fighting chance."

"It would seem so, Rayden," Dex responded.

"Quickly," I said, eyeing the dragon that was beginning to steady herself, "where's the next key?"