NOVEL NEXT Aggro 4.6
Aggro 4.6
– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –
In hindsight, maybe screaming at Lung to come get him wasn't the smartest of ideas.
Also, in hindsight, maybe referring to the angry dragon man using the name of a dragon in a Disney movie was also not a bright idea.
A dragon voiced by a black man, no less.
That was probably more insulting, now that Greg thought about it, considering the fact that Eddie Murphy's voice coming out of a Chinese Lung dragon was probably some sort of insult to his culture on some sort of level.
Either that, or an insult to his very existence.
Although, all of this was assuming that Lung had ever even watched Mulan in the first place. Considering Lung's general vibe plus the fact that movie solely came out on Aleph, Greg doubted Lung had ever willingly watched any cartoons in his life, let alone anything Disney related.
Not enough singing and general happiness in his daily life probably explained the anger anyway.
Keeping his reinforcement active, Greg was forced to dance around Lung's explosive bursts of flames, the dragon man trying rather hard to introduce him to the wonderful world of pyrotechnics.
Reinforcement (Apprentice) Level Up!
1→2
While Greg wasn't gonna deny he loved explosions, Lung's intensity for the hobby was rather off-putting, to say the least.
"Stop trying to kill me!"
For the tenth time that night, Greg uttered the same words at a pitch far higher than he felt comfortable with. Just barely managing to divert a large stream of fire with his aerokinesis, at least enough for him to dive under it and scramble to his feet again, Greg found himself back-pedaling once more, Lung on his tail like the world's shiniest hunting dog as he intermittently let out roars that rung of anger and pain.
"How 'bout a time out? Just to catch a breath," Greg shouted, a nervous smile plastered on his sweating, grimy face. "I dunno, seven minutes? Eight to be safe!"
Taunt Level Up!
6→7
Basic Aerokinesis Level Up!
6→7
Lung didn't even pause to consider his genius idea, roaring at the top of his lungs once more.
Heh-heh… lungs. Hoooly SH-
The inhuman roar that promised Greg nothing but a painful, torturous death was followed up by several flaming missiles, each one as large as Greg's torso. Slapping away the first with a stream of wind, Greg dodged the second, pulse speeding up slightly as the meter wide ball of flames flew a few inches from his face. The third, fourth and fifth came right after one another, rushing right towards him with each of them trailed by a multitude of smaller blasts.
Reflexes Level Up!
11→12
Spinning, Greg curved his palms in on each other, leaving a gap between them and pushed as much air as he could out in front of him, screaming at the top of his voice, "WIND WALL!"
The next burst of flame met an unfinished wall of air and the air held, trembling for an instant as the fire consumed the oxygen that made it up. Greg hissed in pain as he lost focus the instant the explosive fire made contact, the plastic gauntlets heated enough to begin deforming by what little flames passed through.
-9
-3
-3
Heat Resistance Level Up!
10→12
The heat and force washed over Greg, already sweating from the baking temperatures he was surrounded by but he grit his teeth. More and more hit the wavering shield in front of him, the force of each one pushing him back even as Greg did his best to hold his ground. The worst part of all this was that even though Lung's health continued dipping occasionally, the crazy bastard kept getting stronger, with his health growing to match.
Lung Lvl 88
HP: 2398/650
"What the f-" Biting back the curse on his lips, Greg refocused his attention on the wall of spinning air in front of him, sweat dripping down his face as his hair began to flatten to his skull. It was at 2619 like thirty seconds ago. 2393 a little before that. Growing and falling constantly.
Greg wasn't exaggerating in the slightest as to the efficacy of Lung's growth. Even with the occasional rapid dips that Lung's heath would make, his continual growth and powerful healing factor would show off their combined power, pushing Lung's health up just enough to make Greg a great deal more nervous about the approaching time limit.
In short, it was a bitch and a half to fight and fight and fight, just to feel like you were getting fucking nowhere.
The only silver lining that Greg could take away from this entire situation was that Lung wasn't able to properly focus his attention or the full force of his blasts on him, his attention constantly interrupted by insects biting at him and entering his various orifices.
Still, even with his attention divided and his insides being snacked on, Lung could do plenty to make Greg sweat.
Literally.
Lung roared out, a plume of flame exploding around him and searing the ground into molten tar, scorching the bugs within a range of at least two meters to nothing but ash. Roaring again, a burst of flame shot from Lung's mouth, far larger, faster and more volatile than those that came before it.
Greg's eyes widened like dinner plates. Aww f-
The explosion pushed against the curved sphere of wind Greg held out, the raw power of it sending him flying back as his shield gave way, expanding outwards as he barely jumped out of it's path. Propelled by the shockwave, Greg hit the ground hard, tumbling forward like a piece of garbage tossed aside onto the filthy streets of the Docks.
-21
-12
-9
Basic Aerokinesis Level Up!
7→9
Blunt Force Resistance Level Up!
30→32
Reinforcement (Apprentice) Level Up!
2→3
You have gained 1 VIT.
"KILL… OOO!"
As he scrambled to his feet, Greg bit back a retort, eyes widening as Lung began gathering fire again. Heart pounding in his chest, Greg dove behind a car and pressed his back up against it, using it as coverage before Lung launched a salvo of fire at him.
Glancing up slightly to peek over the edge of the derelict vehicle, Greg let out a scream of fear that was in no way girlish as Lung's body flared again. Filled with an urge for self-preservation, he ducked behind the car, cloaking himself with wind for added cover. His actions came not a moment too soon as the car itself and the area around himself was suddenly pounded with repeating bursts of flame interspersed with streams of fire that bore far too much of a resemblance to napalm for Greg to feel comfortable even attempting to block it. I wish this quest had an active timer.
Lung Lvl 88
HP: 2419/650
"How much longer?! How much more HP?" he screamed to no one in particular, his voice going up several octaves as he swatted away a cloud of flying insects that were far too close for comfort as they passed by his face. Eww my god! Gross!
The sound of Lung's gravelly, monstrous voice was nightmare on the ears, words fighting to escape that gaping horror Lung's scaly form called a mouth. Yet, somehow, it wasn't the worst sound Greg had to deal with.
No, the fire wasn't it either. The din of explosions and crackling flames all around him were their own assault on his ear-drums but even then he could ignore them, far too occupied on their cause to bother getting startled by those sounds.
What bothered him was the bugs. The skittering, the crawling, the buzzing.
The sound, by itself, was undeniably the most unsettling thing Greg had ever heard, and he doubted anyone in the world would disagree.
A few bugs in a venue were loud enough to be annoying.
A hundred? A thousand?
Ten thousand?
More?
It was essentially a method of torture, exploiting man's innate fear of creepy crawlies like that.
The sound grated on Greg's nerves, but he shoved the fear and irritation to the side because he knew they were here to help him. As much as a horde of insects could help against someone known as "The Human Endbringer", at least. Biblical plague or not, it was still just a repeating tidal wave of insects beating against the eternal cliffside that was Lung.
Eventually, the cliff would fall into that ocean. Eventually, Greg hoped to himself.
All he had to do was buy time for that to happen.
Lung Lvl 88
HP: 2272/650
Or maybe just die, cause fuck that bullshit.
The barrage of fire and explosions halted for a moment and Greg let out a relieved breath, only to freeze again as something in his head screamed at him to move.
Lung roared.
The air screamed.
With an inhuman jump, Greg cleared the car, a boost of air from his feet rocketing him upwards a moment before a veritable firestorm consumed the car in its entirety, turning the portions of it still-visible white hot to his eyes. Even as he soared above it, the powerful jet of flames bulged and expanded, engulfing an entire fourth of the street with its diameter. Forcing another burst of compressed air to push him away, Greg let out a relieved sigh.
Lung roared once again.
Another jet of compressed flame burst from Lung's mouth, Greg's eyes widening as the conflagration rushed at him. Fuck!
Wrapping air around him again tighter than he did before, nearly compressing it against his skin like a second layer of skin, Greg pushed a burst of air from his opened palm, the action sending his airborne body spinning wildly to gather a great deal of momentum to generate even more windforce.
Less than a second later, Greg cried out in pain as the powerful jet met his barrier, exploding against it with a powerful shockwave that sent glass and rubble flying. The impact tore through Greg's hastily-created barrier with little effort, protecting Greg from the majority of the heat but exposing him to the raw power of the shockwave itself.
-23
Basic Aerokinesis Level Up!
9→11
Blunt Force Resistance Level Up!
32→34
Reinforcement (Apprentice) Level Up!
3→4
Tumbling helplessly away for the second time that night, courtesy of Lung himself, Greg hit the asphalt with a great amount of force, painfully skidding across the ground as shattered glass, torn asphalt and myriads of insects flew with him.
-13
-9
-3
-1
-2
-1
Piercing Resistance Level Up!
8→10
Slashing Resistance Level Up!
6→9
You have gained 1 VIT.
Blinking rapidly, Greg pushed himself up to his hands and knees, coughing and spitting out an unbearably uncomfortable mixture of blood, dirt and gravel. Pulling himself to his feet, Greg shook himself and wiped blood from his mouth, his gauntlet coming away with trails of red. The army of bugs parted around him, thankfully, avoiding Greg on their path to Lung.
"Seriously?" Greg groaned, shooting Lung a glare as he recovered his balance. "Do you know how much that hurt?"
Lung's head was turned away from him, a living bonfire of silver scales standing over a dozen meters away, twitching and growling as insects swarmed towards him. Bursts of flame shot from around him, lighting up the night as Lung waved his bulky, flaming fists around like torches to ward off the unending insects.
He was even bigger than now, almost a good foot taller than he was on that roof however many minutes ago. Entirely covered by armor-like scales at this point, his neck already beginning to mimic that of a giraffe, the nine-foot behemoth stood naked as the flames on his person flared like a hungry bonfire. Insects died in droves around him, carapaces cracking apart and exploding like an unending multitude of flash bombs, each and everyone of them sacrifices to the dragon god that was Lung.
Lung Lvl 90
HP: 2016/650
What is the fucking tipping point here? How am I supposed to fucking win this with me and some fucking bugs? Greg let out a burst of manic, giggling laughter as Lung shook his head erraticaly, as if to say, 'You're not.'
[Hysteria] negated by Gamer's Mind
The cape's attention wasn't even on Greg at the moment, his steel-scaled face twitching violently for some reason as the villain let out several angry growls. "In hindsight, that was a dumb question for several reasons."
HP: 479/520 (540)
[PowerBar™ Cookie Dough Protein Bar: +5 to HP every 5 seconds]
[Minute Maid™ Apple Juice: + 10 to MP every 5 seconds, +30 MP]
[Blue Raspberry Gatorade: + 2 to Will/HP regen, + 20 Will]
With a savage bellow, Lung rushed forward, head ducked low as he thundered towards Greg. Every stride left a small molten crater in Lung's wake, the asphalt tearing itself apart as Lung charged with wild abandon, his face a monstrous rictus as his jaw suddenly split apart in an x-shape before Greg's eyes, blood and viscera flying out as it opened.
FUCK. ME.
Blood dripping from his forehead and his cheeks rubbed raw by the asphalt, Greg raised a hand to his face to straighten his silver half-mask, glad that any item he equipped didn't just fall off like normal clothing. He didn't bother moving from the spot, simply waiting on the spot as Lung approached him. One eye remained on Lung's charging form, watching the approaching beast, while the other darted to his right, catching sight of Lady Bug almost a full street away from the mayhem, standing on top of the three-story building he left her on.
Okay, she's good. Turning his full attention back to the rapidly approaching dragon, Greg allowed himself a grin. "Olé!"
At the last moment before Lung could reach him, Greg darted to the side, pushing his body forward with a burst of aerokinesis centered at his lower back. At the same moment, the blond did the same for his lower body, pushing his feet off the ground with a powerful explosion of compressed air to supplement his reinforced speed. Greg's face mocked Lung with his incessant grin even as Lung's fist swung for his body as the blond rocketed past the much taller cape, Lung's silver tree trunk of an arm just a bit too far away for either him or his fiery aura to touch Greg.
"Catch me if you can, Dragon Tales!" The taunt left Greg's lips as he jumped up, avoiding another of Lung's fireballs as they struck where he was just a moment prior. "Nope! You'll have to be faster than that!"
Hopping and flipping like Bugs Bunny after a healthy helping of cocaine, Greg spun in the air and stretched his hands out. Grabbing hold of a street lamp, Greg spun on it twice and let go with a burst of wind propelling him from behind as the lamppost and the building behind it became engulfed in red-hot flames.
Acrobatics Level Up!
16→19
Propelling himself over Lung once more, Greg dropped on top of a partially-torched car at the far end of the street from Lung, the roof of the vehicle sinking slightly with his harsh landing onto it. Blue eyes glanced up the moment he touched down, locking gazes with Lung's orange hell-pits.
Let's make this a good one. Need to hurt him. Greg shot the dragon man a grin, purposely making the expression as mocking as he could possibly make it. "Hey, Lung, are you this much of a pussy the rest of the time? The fact that you've been so weak this whole fight has already got me thinking about what I'm gonna do with all your stuff... y'know, when I win."
Greg's grin turned positively manic as Lung exploded, the pillar of flames flaring past the rooftops, and charged Greg, bellowing like a demon as the street cracked apart under his rampage.
Taunt Level Up!
7→8
"Just according to keikaku."
Spoiler: STATUS