Level 1 Fallen

Once Slithers had left, Diane held my hand in a practiced fashion, and I carried her with me as I stepped into the air, appearing over a dozen kilometers away from the shore on a projected platform. Naturally, I activated Ghost-X, and wrapped a bubble of energy around us to protect us from the storm. From this position, it was much easier to see the small island.

I hadn't been able to judge the distance accurately before due to the storm. With one more step, I appeared on the platform, looking at its smooth surface. The only marking on the entire island was an arrow pointing to the east.

"How are we going to get the boss to come to us?" Diane asked. "You're not going to disable the stealth field, are you?"

I shook my head at that. Disabling the stealth would make us easy targets against a boss with the field advantage. Instead, I created a water clone, and directed it forward. "Let's have this one lure it out."

Diane hesitated, but nodded as the water clone jumped into the ocean. Although its figure almost blended in with the surroundings, it was still easy to make it out for creatures used to sensing the disturbances in the water. Because of that, there was almost immediately a roar of indignation.

My connection with the clone was severed as a column of water shot out from the ocean where it had jumped in. "Get your upgraded gun ready." I said, anticipation in my tone as the body of the dragon rose from the water.

Unlike the Red Dragon that we fought in the Ember Flight dungeon, this one more resembled a snake, though it was more than eighty meters long. Its mouth was clearly draconic, horns curling back from its head. Two small, clawed legs adorned its upper torso, and its eyes shone with intelligence.

It watched the platform, seeming to wait. After a few seconds, it opened its mouth, a ball of water gathering in front of it. Without delay, Diane drew the gun that I had enhanced, aimed it at the head of the dragon, and pulled the trigger.

BANG! A loud explosion seemed to erupt from the gun, a line of yellow light tracing to the dragon's mouth. I heard the sound of something being crushed, but the damage from down here didn't look too bad. At the same time, however, Diane was thrown back with a startled shout, her feet leaving the ground due to the recoil from the gun.

Stunned, she didn't even manage to right herself before landing on her rear, eyes wide. I wanted to check on her, but I needed to be prepared to fight the dragon. Thus, I stared at it, watching the ball of water trickle down from its mouth. Then, under my surprised gaze, the miniboss slumped to the side, falling into the ocean.

As it did, I was able to see the source of the earlier noise. A large, gaping hole erupted from the top of the dragon's head, blood and brains leaking out of it. "Drake?! What did you do to my gun!?" Diane asked, jumping to her feet in alarm.

"It didn't break, did it?" I looked back in concern. "And are you alright? It looked like you went flying there."

"I did go flying! What's up with this recoil!? How am I supposed to even shoot it like this?" She asked, and I hesitated, before pointing towards the boss monster's corpse, floating on top of the ocean.

"Well… the results speak for themselves, don't they?" I asked wryly, and Diane huffed. She took a deep breath, returning to her normal, stoic demeanor.

"Fine. I'll consider it a last resort to kill bosses. This is not a tool of stealth, so don't expect me to be using it often." She muttered, rubbing her right arm. "Firing it inflicted a numbness injury on my arm. I won't be able to properly grip a dagger for three more minutes."

As she said that, she pulled the gun out of her right hand with her left, and then stored it in her inventory. Meanwhile, I hopped off of the small island, walking on projected platforms to loot the boss. I had enchanted that gun with Duke of All Trades-X. When I appraised it afterwards, the result labeled the enchantment as Hand Cannon-EX, with the result that it would amplify the power of any skill fired through the gun more than twofold.

"Anything good, at least?" She asked, but I shook my head.

"A bunch of coins, a couple scales, and a Dragon Pearl. According to the appraisal, the pearl can be used to enhance certain skills, but we'll try that later." As I said that, I threw all of the items into my inventory, looking back at Diane as the massive body of the dragon vanished. "Ready to go?"

She huffed one final complaint, nodding her head and drawing the runes on her mask to allow her to breathe underwater. At the same time, I activated the first scroll from my inventory, and then used my Dragon Form skill.

Diane seemed briefly surprised by my transformation, until I dropped into the water. I had noticed before that Dragon Form increased my weight, allowing me to sink more quickly. Diane similarly transformed, diving into the water as an agile black dragonoid. Her tail flicked, aiding her in quickly swimming through the ocean.

She's definitely done something like this before. I thought to myself, having to create platforms and use Glancing Steps-X just to keep up with her speed.

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Beneath the waves, we could see dozens of sea dragons roaming below us. Each of them had a body more than a dozen meters long, though they didn't look as imposing as the prince that we had just fought.

Diane paused in the water, allowing her body to float for just a moment before shooting downwards. I didn't see her pull a weapon out, likely because of her current numbness, so I began to grow concerned.

After only a couple of seconds, she had broken out of the stealth field I was maintaining. One of the dragons turned to look at her, before simply shifting its head back to look away, as if uninterested.

Seeing that they weren't attacking her, Diane began to perform aquatic acrobatics, swimming alongside one of the dragons as if playing before coming back. The entire time, it didn't pay her any regard.

When she came back to where I was waiting, I accepted her into the stealth field again. Diane floated over to me, quickly typing out a message. It's what I expected. Because I currently have the 'aura' of a dragon, they won't immediately turn hostile. I wouldn't try it yourself, since you are still too clumsy in this form. If we want to, we should be able to bypass fighting them, and go straight to the dungeon.

I thought about it for a moment, before shaking my head, against the idea. No. This dungeon has become a problem for the city because the monsters keep leaking out. If we want to clear it, we need to take care of any monsters that we see along the way, too.

Diane nodded, seeming to have expected an answer like that. In that case, how do you want to handle this? Still have that big enchantment from Ember Flight?

I do. Think it'd work here? I asked, and Diane thought about it. She dove down once again, swimming with the dragons. As she did, she stretched her left claw out, rubbing the dragon's hide. The dragon turned its head, giving her a half-glare, and she let out a few little chirps that appeared to placate it.

Again, she returned, nodding her head. These dragons have a much softer hide than the ones in Ember Flight. Piercing attacks should work well against them.

…Are we going to talk about how you just talked to a dragon? I asked, and Diane tilted her head.

I didn't talk. I chirped. With monsters like this, if they regard you as one of your own, and you make incoherent sounds, they will typically just assume you are either a playful infant or a lesser species mutation.

How could you have possibly known that? What kind of game did you even play that you had to learn something like that? I retorted, my eyes wide. However, she simply shrugged, flicking her tail to keep herself floating in place.

It was a monster simulation game. You'd be surprised how many people like playing giant monsters. In order to make a living there, I was a shapeshifter, so I had to learn the habits of a bunch of different monster types. Dragons have always been a favorite among customers, so I spent a lot of time pretending to be one to get various materials.

Well… that was certainly a strange game. I shook my head, reluctantly accepting her answer. Okay, so we're going with the enchantment, then. I responded, aiming my hand towards the swimming dragons. Markings appeared on each one in my vision, identifying them as targets as more and more spears began to appear.

Though, if we were in the water, would that make these harpoons? Shaking my head, I dismissed the unimportant question of semantics, firing the skill. Spears shot through the water, leaving trails of bubbles in their wake as they rushed towards the dragons.

Meanwhile, Diane swam closely behind the cluster of spears, ready to loot as a new message appeared from her. We'll need to quickly loot the monsters and move on once they're dead. This much blood in the water is sure to attract any shark-type monsters in the area. If there happens to be a boss on the level of the Desert Emperor lurking around, we'd be screwed.

My eyes widened with a nod, watching as the spears pierced into the identified weak points of the dragons. For those lucky enough to escape the first wave, they were still felled by those that had come back to fire again. At the same time, Diane quickly swam between the dragons, touching and looting each one.

Once she was done, she signalled in my direction to continue east, and darted off. With a small groan, I followed after her, letting my body sink with the platforms as I used Glancing Steps-X to give chase.

Thankfully, the dungeon wasn't far, and we soon came across a large palace, seemingly built into a canyon. Its gate was over a hundred meters tall, adorned with draconic carvings. Diane and I both rushed forward, entering the dungeon.

Inside, we found ourselves in a separate space. The walls of the canyon had completely disappeared, and there did not appear to be any ceiling. It was as if it was an underwater world, with stone pillars rising up in long rows on either side of us.

Up ahead, we could see even more sea dragons, easily more than a hundred. They swam about uncomfortably, some of them drifting near the entrance we just emerged from. When they saw Diane, they paused, and she let out the same incoherent chirps that she released earlier.

However, this time it didn't give her the same result. The dragon closest to her opened its mouth, reaching out in an attempt to swallow her whole.

Diane's eyes widened, and her tail flicked, sending her to the side and away from the dragon's closing mouth. She let out angry chirps, flailing her claws indignantly. Perhaps she wanted to play up the act to try to earn their trust, but… that wasn't going to work. I looked at the slim bodies of the sea dragons, and quickly typed a message to Diane.

They're starving. Right now, you're food. When Diane got my message, she froze briefly. Then, she held her hands forward, releasing a green, poisonous cloud into the water as she darted back towards me.

That's not playing fair! You can't infiltrate the den of starving beasts! Diane complained, entering my stealth field as the sea dragon let out an enraged roar, looking from side to side to find the small creature that had escaped becoming its food.