Jaded Series (Books 1-2)

"You've got to be shitting me," Jin muttered under her breath as she looked around the edge of the rock to get her eyes on the boss.

Curled up in a nest of bones was a tiny black dragon whelp. A baby. No bigger than a large dog. Sleeping and slightly whimpering in an obvious dream.

…And they needed to fucking murder it.

Jin quietly moved back a ways into the tunnel after everyone else had gotten a look of the monster and the large cavern they would need to maneuver around in. Not wanting to slip up again and risk waking the baby dragon, she stuck to signing. "Are they seriously going to make us slaughter a baby on semi-live television?"

Alim rolled his eyes. "I've told you before that the Illusion Network is not the same as your television."

"It really is," she retorted, but he continued signing without acknowledging it.

"But just because it's a baby doesn't make it not a monster nor not dangerous. Dragons are born at Crystal Caste. It's a lot stronger than any one of us."

"I still think this is insane," Hadia interjected. She had been doing better than most at quickly picking up the sign language. "No Sect in the history of Champions has ever taken out the first floor boss without a single Crystal Caster among them."

"Maybe that's just because nobody's tried," Jin pointed out, trying to think through various strategies based on the limited information they had to work with. "Does anyone know if babies have a breath attack like the adult versions?"

Four shrugs occurred around her and she huffed in annoyance. Unfortunately, unlike video games, she couldn't just send them in blindly to see how the boss would react and adjust their strategy from there after reviving. There would be no respawns.

"I think Bas said the boss can't leave the area, right? That's part of the entrance barrier magic, yeah?"

Nods this time, but Karam added in his slower signs that required a lot more one-handed spelling, "Other bosses can have other rules, but we've seen that sectioned off magic before."

"Then the worst case scenario is we can flee if it looks way out of our league," Jin confirmed. "I'm going to go with assuming the breath weapon is a thing for now, so try to avoid being directly in front of it. Karam, Liraz, and Alim, you should stay at the tunnel entrance while Hadia and I maneuver around it."

She turned to Karam. "If we get hurt, we'll try to come to you. If we can't, you can come to us only if the other drags the boss away. We're going to do this as cautiously as possible."

Looking at Alim, she added, "You know to keep the shields up as much as possible. If both of us retreat back here then trigger your [Last Bastion] as an extra layer of protection. Otherwise, use whatever combat rituals you have from a distance."

Jin turned to Liraz next. "You're going to open us up but stay at range as much as possible for now. [Slime Drop] to wake it up and cover the nest area with stickiness. I know it'll hinder Hadia and me if we end up in it but we'll be taking that into consideration. I'm hoping we can keep it grounded and deal enough damage before we need to worry about dodging much."

She finally looked at Hadia, knowing she already saw everything. "Lastly, rule number one of dungeon raids, all plans usually go to shit so think on your feet. Stay out of fire or whatever other nasty shit this thing might breathe, and deal as much damage as possible without unnecessary risk."

All of them stared at her in various stages of shock for a long moment before Hadia asked, "Have you fought dragons before?"

Jin shrugged. "Hundreds of times. Never like this, but I doubt the strategies vary much. Either way, don't die. Good luck. And have fun."

Hadia raised an eyebrow at that. "What part of this is fun?"

"Well, Fox did say it was a game, and we are going to look pretty badass once we can all say we've killed a dragon, aren't we?" she replied with a grin.

That managed to get a few chuckles and head shakes out of them, but Jin could feel her pulse begin to quicken in anticipation. "Anyone have any other ideas to throw out there?" she asked before moving to go fight a baby dragon.

"Just that you also don't put yourself in unnecessary danger, Jin," Alim signed, leveling a look at her. "I don't want to bury another friend today."

She nodded, but gave him another smile and teased, "Don't worry. I never had much of a martyr complex compared to some heroes. Besides, with Void magic I'll probably be more of the villain in this story, right?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "Not to any of us. Now, let's go become dragon slayers."

Jin tilted her head in confirmation, and Alim began refreshing the [Mana Barrier] on each of them. She turned to lead the group back to the junction of the entrance tunnel to the main cavern where the dragon whelp was, thankfully, still asleep.

With a single gesture to Liraz, Jin and Hadia carefully moved in opposite directions into the open cavern as the smaller girl began to whisper her incantation. "Sticky, not icky, not rain nor shine. Stretchy and bouncy is going to come. Welcome a visit from some tons of fun. A drop on all of you."

The ceiling of the cave seemed to open up to an ominous, broody, and cloudy heavens and the giant [Slime Drop] slowly dripped out of them directly above the sleeping whelp, only to impact a moment later with a sticky plop, and burst to coat the area in sticky blue slime. While Jin had the small hope that the weight alone would crush the baby dragon like it had the group of Mundane monsters in the Trial, that hope was quickly snuffed out.

The drenched whelp opened crimson eyes, struggled its way out of the layer of slime, and let out an ear piercing shriek that reverberated around the cave, making the stalactites on the ceiling tremble and a few to dislodge to rain down on them. Luckily, both Jin and Hadia had bonded their Agility attribute already and easily dodged the falling debris but it delayed their initial attack.

Jin was relieved she didn't need to shout out orders as she saw Hadia trigger her [Battering Ram]. In response, she triggered her [Leap] and hoped to land at the same time Hadia impacted. She had mis-timed both of them.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Hadia was slowed by the sticky slime more than she originally thought, and her fall through the air didn't noticeably increase her own speed but it did avoid the slowdown of the slime. Jin landed first, her spear managing to graze the dragon's flank but silently slid across its onyx scales in a shower of sparks from the glancing angle.

The mace had a better time against those scales, the discordant sound of metal on metal singing through the cavern from the [Resonating Strike] Hadia had landed. Unfortunately, its head dodged in time for that blow to hit its shoulder instead of its skull and Hadia almost lost an arm as its strong jaws snapped at her in retaliation.

Jin tried to take a few steps back to adjust her aim, but the slime was even more of a detriment for that, almost making her fall over. She managed to keep her footing though and triggered [Piercing Thrust] to try and take out its wing. Hopefully, if she could make sure it wouldn't fly off then Liraz would be able to clean up the slime safely while they kept it engaged.

Her strike missed, though, as the dragon caught both her and Hadia off guard. It suddenly spun as though chasing the tail that was almost as long as the rest of its body, but as it spun, it sprayed a line of neon green spit from its gaping mouth. The toxic looking liquid splashed against their mana shields, causing it to flicker with brilliant blue light at the incoming damage it was absorbing. Each tick of damage whittled it away until both barriers shattered only a few breaths later.

Fuck, if that actually hits one of us we're dead, Jin thought.

Hadia seemed to understand the threat as well as she shot her a concerned look, but a new [Mana Barrier] formed around her, and she lunged to attack with [Bone Breaker] next. Jin was just glad that Alim listened to her about the shield priority this time. She just needed to keep dodging for the next thirty seconds.

Trying her new [Hollow Strike] ability, Jin felt a rush of triumph as she watched the blade of her spear slide through the dragon's scales like butter. Its reaction caught her off balance though as it roared and quickly turned, ripping the spear from her grasp as it remained impaled in its side and the slime held Jin's shoes in place.

The dragon lunged at her, solving her stuck problem as it barreled both of them beyond the slime's area. While she tumbled across the stone floor, it seemed to realize pushing her away hadn't stopped the pain in its side. Turning to grab her spear with its teeth and remove the thorn, she took the distraction to stand and move to put space between them.

The distance didn't seem to matter as she felt acid splash against the back of her leg in her retreat and the muscle gave out a step later, causing her to stumble to the ground. She felt the dragon bounding toward her as it practically jumped across the stone to devour her.

A blue barrier shimmering into existence around her appeared just in time for the monster's head to rebound off it with a surprised yelp, shattering the shield but saving her from losing the leg entirely to its teeth. Once again she was grateful for the adrenaline coursing through her and pulled on that [Poker Face] to try and ignore the pain. She couldn't afford the distraction.

Before the dragon could shake off the minor concussion, Hadia slammed into its side. The combination of [Battering Ram] and [Resonating Strike] did well again to knock the beast off course.

Jin waved off Hadia however when she tried to help her stand. "I'll go to Kar, you keep it occupied," she ordered, forcing her body to obey her and crawling to a stand. Favoring her left leg, she limped over toward Kar who had decided to meet her half way.

"I've got you," Karam whispered, as he braced his body against her like a wall for her to lean against, and wrapped his left arm around the back of her. Trailing down from her thigh, he applied his [Regenerative Cocoon] over the burning area and she winced at the odd sensation of opposing magic fighting for dominance. The Corrosive magic within the wound trying to eat away at the flesh as the Life magic tried to mend it was a unique form of torture she never wanted to experience again.

She didn't trust herself to say anything that wouldn't come out as a scream or groan while she let the healing attempt to overcome the Bane that she instinctively knew would sputter out shortly. She just needed to survive that short duration.

Another shriek from the dragon behind her drew her attention back to the fight. Liraz had moved a bit closer to aim a particularly nasty [Dollop of Slime] onto the dragon's wings, but her mutters of "stupid corrosive dragons being resistant to Corrosion" let Jin know the monster was more pissed about the crooked tail behind it, clearly broken from one of Hadia's [Bone Breaker] hits.

"You can do this," Kar whispered into her ear. "You're all doing good wearing it down."

Jin snorted. "Is that wishful thinking?"

"No, it's years of watching similar fights play out. We've got this. Just don't give up."

She looked up into his earnest face and nodded. "Good job on the heals," she said, testing her weight on it once the pain abated.

He gave a small smirk. "I live to serve."

Jin shook her head at the Servant's motto he had first told her what felt like another lifetime ago. "Well, I have to live to win, it looks like. Now, get back to safety with Alim."

Karam nodded resolutely before making sure she could stand on her own again and retreated back to the cave entrance just as Hadia cried out from a bite finally landing.

Jin didn't waste any more time as she conjured her [Silent Spear] and used [Leap] to try and close the distance again. Aiming for the point on its back between its wings, she triggered [Hollow Strike] again, planning to bring death from above to the unaware boss.

The dragon didn't let her land that blow, launching itself into the air as she landed on stone instead. It seemed smarter than she had given it credit for as it opened its mouth again, as if it had been waiting for her to land there to end her.

She reacted on instinct, pulling the spear over her shoulder and taking a step forward to launch it directly at the green light that had begun to glow in its maw.

The throw had been perfect, burying the empowered blade straight through its head with so much force that it pinned the beast to the stone wall behind it. Silence descended upon them as the glow faded and the dragon's body went limp.

Jin wasn't sure if it was really dead until she almost had a heart attack from the sound of trumpets echoing through the cavern and a bright gold display appeared from her bracelet with that same voice that announced Bounties calling out from all around them.

Congratulations! You have slain the Boss, Korvath the Onyx Dragon Whelp!

Each Champion within the Boss area has been awarded 100 points! You may now proceed to the treasure room to claim additional prizes!

10 weeks and 3 days remain until the First Floor becomes uninhabitable!

"Abyss, yes!" Jin managed to shout, throwing a fist into the air.

Hadia gave a pained laugh, but Karam was already moving to her side to mend the arm that was heavily bleeding. Liraz had moved to the opposite side as well, but she was focused on cleaning the slime off the injured patient, a touch causing the slime to move itself and reabsorb back into her.

Alim clapped Jin on the shoulder as he reached her, his wide smile speaking volumes more than any words he might sign.

She grinned back and signed, "So do we get any special achievement or title for slaying a dragon?"

He gave that breathy laugh as he signed back, "Have you tried checking your Titles with the bracelet? Or does that Talent of yours keep those hidden, too?"

"Wait, Titles are actually a thing?"

He merely nodded, then patted her shoulder again to go check on Hadia. He paused halfway there, though, and turned to add, "Don't forget to loot the boss."

As she moved over to the corpse hanging on the wall, she pressed the Display rune on her bracelet again but this time focused on those Titles Alim had mentioned, wondering if she had any that she hadn't even known about.

Huh. Well, at least some good came out of some terrible situations, she thought.

As she reached the boss, she reconjured her spear into her hand to have the original vanish and release the corpse, letting it fall to the ground in a crumpled heap at her feet. Reaching a hand down to brush along the glossy scales, she accepted the first prompt to loot it and smiled at the tiny figurine of a dragon at her feet.