Surviving These Unfair Scenarios [LITRPG - DIMENSION HOPPING]

The group huddled together in the desolate open field, a silent, tense knot of humanity trapped within a glowing, invisible dome. Outside, four grotesque black dragons, with bodies representing the foul corruption of their master, stomped through the earth, their guttural growls and restless sniffing a constant, terrifying symphony.

The air inside the dome, created by Drake's [Soulfire Meditation] and his holy wings, was thick with unspoken fear, though no one dared to move a muscle or make a sound. The dome's camouflage effect was a godsend, a perfect hiding place from the monstrous beasts, but it was fragile, and its stability rested entirely on Drake's shoulders.

The blond stood in the center, his eyes closed in a deep state of concentration. His face was a mask of serene focus, but the veins on his forehead pulsed with the immense strain of maintaining the skill. He could feel the dragon's presence, the sheer malevolent aura of the creatures, pressing in on the dome. He had to keep his mind as calm and serene as a still pond; a single ripple of fear could cause the skill to fail, leaving them completely exposed. He knew that all of them, the Empress included, were depending on him, and the weight of that knowledge was an almost unbearable burden.

"I can't be wrong."

A deep, guttural voice rumbled, the sound vibrating through the air and even through the invisible dome.

"I smelled humans here just a moment ago."

Another dragon, its voice a high-pitched, mocking cackle, replied.

"Our senses are absolute, brother. There is no doubt they were here. But where could they have gone? A simple human has no magic strong enough to disappear from our sight."

A third dragon, clearly growing impatient, snarled.

"Then find them, you fools! Do not make me wait! I can already feel the voidblight on their scent. They are ours!"

The four dragons began to stomp through the desolate field, their massive bodies crashing through the earth as they began their search. One of them, its twin red eyes glowing with an internal fire, let out a frustrated shriek and launched itself into the air, its powerful wings beating against the chilly wind. It circled high above, its glowing eyes scanning the earth below for any sign of them.

"I have had enough of this!"

The largest dragon, its voice a resonant, bone-chilling growl, said.

"The Darkness Dragon God himself will be displeased. We will simply burn this land to the ground. They are here, and they will burn with the rest."

The dragons on the ground, their laughter a mockery of their patience, obeyed the order. The largest dragon began to inflate its chest, and with a guttural roar that seemed to tear the very air, it expelled a torrent of black fire. The flame descended like a destructive waterfall, a cascade of pure, concentrated evil that expanded across the entire field. The ground sizzled and cracked under the intense heat as the fire consumed everything in its path, casting a terrifying inferno of shadows across the desolate land.

The fire reached the dome and engulfed it completely. Fortunately, Drake's divine wings were a brilliant shield of sacred energy, resisting the evil power of the black flame and preventing it from penetrating the dome. A collective sigh of relief passed through the group as they watched the fire harmlessly lick the outside of their shield. However, that relief was short-lived, as their position was now revealed… The fire, unable to pass through, covered the dome like a glove, making it perfectly visible as a glowing sphere of untouched land in the middle of a burning hellscape.

The large dragon in the air roared triumphantly.

"Right there!"

It bellowed.

"Attack! Attack the insolent human toys!"

With a thunderous flap of leathery wings, the other three black dragons swooped down towards the now-visible dome. Drake, knowing his wings could not withstand a physical impact, opened his eyes.

"Now! Get out!"

Drake screamed, his voice raw with the effort of holding the shield. He immediately unmade the dome and retracted his wings, the brilliant light collapsing in on itself.

The group scattered in every direction, narrowly avoiding the talons of the three dragons that had launched themselves at them. Li immediately dove to the side, rolling over the cracked earth, as one of the dragons' claws slammed into the spot he had just occupied. Kazue dropped to a crouch and scurried to the left, narrowly avoiding a massive, black tail that whipped through the air where she had been. Emir and Chloe ran in opposite directions, their paths a mirror image of one another as they both dodged the same dragon that had gone after them.

Adam's body moved with a supernatural grace, gliding away from the dragon's path with an eerie, effortless speed. The dragons were quadrupedal, with bodies the size of a large car, and their movements were incredibly fast and agile, but the group's quick reactions had saved them for now.

Separated, everyone had to get into a combat stance. Drake was the first to use his [Heavenly Vision] trait to see their information, as he was the only one with a skill that could see the data of characters and entities in a scenario.

Drake's heart sank. This was not good at all… That meant that the dragons were resistant to both his 'Divine Energy' and his 'Imperial Ki'. However, there was no time to lament or think. The dragons had not wasted any time and had launched themselves at the rest of the team while laughing and talking out loud.

"Look at them! They're like little mice!"

One of the dragons cackled, its voice raspy and mocking.

"Did you think you could hide from the children of Vharzun?"

"They're even funnier when they scatter!"

Another one roared with delight.

"This is going to be so much fun!"

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The large one in the sky just watched them, its red eyes glowing with a cold, predatory light.

The team fought back, but their efforts were futile. Drake, knowing that he was the only one with aerial capabilities, used his wings to take to the air and engaged one of the dragons in a fierce dogfight. His [Daedalus's Aerial Tactics] allowed him to move with incredible grace and speed, and he was able to dodge every single attack the dragon threw at him. In one instance, he would twist in the air, narrowly avoiding a torrent of black fire that roared past him, and in the next, he would elegantly tilt and duck to avoid the swipe of a razor-sharp claw.

However, it was obvious that the dragon was toying with him. While Drake moved with the precision of a deadly dancer, the dragon laughed with a hoarse, mocking cackle at every action. Drake manifested his [Medium Soul Sword Manifestation] skill to create a blade of divine energy that glowed brightly in his hands. In a movement so fast it was barely visible, he lunged at the dragon and delivered a direct, clean hit to its side.

The impact sounded like stone hitting metal, and the sword shattered in a harmless flash of light. The dragon did not even seem to flinch, and its laughter grew louder.

"Is that all you have, little fly?! Your stings are weaker than a mosquito's!"

Drake did not give up. He launched a barrage of 'Imperial Ki' waves with his [Harmonious Divine Pulse] skill. The waves of sacred energy traveled through the air and struck the dragon head-on, but the monster simply stood there, enjoying the sensation as the waves of energy harmlessly dissipated against its scales, just for it to begin attacking again.

Meanwhile, the other two dragons were fighting the rest of the team. Gregor materialized his 'Energy AK Reaver' and fired endless rounds of cursed bullets at the dragons, but they simply bounced off their black scales, leaving not a single mark. Li summoned his spellbook and, with a shout of his [Begiru Rakketen] spell, he created dozens of missiles that launched themselves at the dragons. Still, the beasts simply destroyed them with spheres of black fire from their mouths before the missiles could even impact. Kazue, however, managed to have a small victory. She used her new skill [High Plasma Manipulation] and launched a ray of blue energy that hit one of the dragons... It didn't do any damage, but the dragon finally yelled in pain.

"Agh! What was that?!"

It shrieked. It was the first time they had expressed anything other than amusement. Meanwhile, Katya, Chloe, and Emir had been kept busy just dodging and avoiding the attacks, not even attempting to fight back.

In the middle of the combat, the Empress, who was only able to move and dodge along with Chloe and Emir, looked at the boy with a desperate expression.

"Give me my power back!"

She demanded, her voice a strained whisper.

"If you do, I can get rid of these monsters!"

Emir, however, did not fall for the trick and shook his head.

"No!"

He said firmly. The Empress's face, a reflection of Adam's, twisted with fury and frustration.

As Emir dodged a swipe from a dragon's claw, he thought to himself, Should he use his new power? He knew what it did, at least in theory, but Adam had told him not to use it until they had done some tests. He was in a dilemma, but he wasn't sure he had any other options. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, torn by indecision.

Finally, just when everything seemed to be getting worse, something impossible happened. Katya, her face still covered by the white mask with the two enormous horns, finally took action and let out a laugh… It was a laugh that was loud and unhinged, like that of a madwoman, but it was also filled with power. She then jumped toward one of the dragons that was fighting the group, moving so fast that she managed to grab onto the spikes and scales of the beast in a flash.

The dragon noticed her too late. It shrieked with outrage, its voice a high-pitched, furious cry.

"What?! Get off me, you insect!"

It roared, twisting and contorting its body in a desperate attempt to throw her off. But before it could do anything more, Katya's entire body exploded with cursed energy, the black aura swirling around her like a storm. She then used her huge, living scythe to plunge it directly into the dragon's head.

The blade, now infused with the same dark energy as the mask, pierced the dragon's scales as if they were made of paper. The monstrous beast let out a final, pained shriek as the blade went through its head and out the other side. The dragon's fiery eyes went dark, and its body began to collapse from the sky, its massive wings beating uselessly against the air. It spiraled downward as a lifeless mass of scales with cursed energy corroding it, before crashing into the ground with a sickening thud.

The other two dragons, who had been toying with the rest of the team, froze for a moment, their own laughter dying in their throats. They looked at the falling body of their brother in utter disbelief, and then they exploded in roars, screaming at the top of their lungs.

"How dare an insignificant human commit the sin of not only harming but killing a son of Vharzun, the 'Darkness Dragon God'!"

One of them shrieked.

"You will pay for this! Your death will be slow and agonizing!"

However, following the death of one of their own and the roar of fury from the remaining two, another sound filled the area, a roar much louder and more powerful than anything they had ever heard, like a thunderstorm. The ground trembled, and the air itself seemed to vibrate with the intensity. It was the roar of the largest dragon, the one that had been watching from the sky. Its voice boomed over the field.

"You have sealed your fate, human scum! The sin of killing my brother is too great! You will not only be killed, your souls will be consumed by me and delivered to my father, the Darkness Dragon God, for an eternal torment beyond anything you can imagine!"

The body of the largest dragon began to grow. It swelled until it had an even bigger size than the other two, its muscles bulging with insane power, the scales on its body thickening and hardening. Its horns grew sharper, and a new layer of spikes sprouted from its back. Drake's [Heavenly Vision] flared, and he realized with a sense of dread that, unlike the other three, this one was not a Rank A-, but a full Rank A, its power now matching the nearly divine Paladin Champions from the last scenario.

He didn't have time to scream a warning to the others, as the dragon he had been fighting, now enraged, launched itself at him in a burst of speed he had not used before. Drake's reflexes, honed by his exhaustive training, allowed him to narrowly twist out of the way, but a sharp talon grazed his side, tearing a small hole in his clothes and leaving a bloody gash in his skin. It was the first time in a while that an attack from a monster had actually wounded him, and the pain made him realize just how dire the situation had become.

The large dragon began to swell again, accumulating even more power than before to unleash a stronger and more powerful flame. The dragon planned to cover the entire area, leaving them with nowhere to run. The other two dragons were ensuring that the group of users could not flee. It was only a matter of seconds; everyone looked on with gritted teeth, trying in vain to run.

The Empress was shaking Emir by the collar of his clothes, begging him to give her powers back, and even Katya, still behind her mask, seemed nervous. She tried to jump and reach the large dragon, but she didn't have enough momentum.

However, just as the dragon was about to unleash the torrent of black fire, a strange fracture appeared in the air just behind it… The very fabric of reality seemed to tear open, revealing a swirling, chaotic void. The dragon barely had time to turn its head in confusion before a gigantic, mechanical arm and hand burst through the fracture.

It was a marvel of otherworldly engineering and steampunk looks, its dark iron plates glowing with heat, and from its joints, plumes of white steam billowed out. Tesla coils embedded in the forearm crackled with blue electricity, and pistons hissed and ground with a rhythmic, powerful cadence.

The hand, a massive collection of interlocking gears and solid metal, moved with a speed and strength that was chillingly precise. It grabbed the massive Rank A dragon with incredible force, its fingers wrapping around the creature's body as if it were a mere toy. The dragon roared in defiance, but its cries were cut short as the mechanical hand began to squeeze. The body of the monster, which had just moments ago been the size of a bus, was crushed as if it were a balloon, its bones and organs bursting with sickening pops and crunches.

Immediately after, a sudden, violent explosion of black fire erupted from the mechanical fist, and the dragon's body went limp. The explosion was so powerful that it created a massive cloud of black smoke that instantly obscured the mechanical arm, not letting anyone see what happened to it, but the air, which had been filled with the roar of dragons and the cries of battle, was now consumed by a profound, haunting silence.

The only thing they could see was the strange fracture in reality from which the arm had emerged. Instead of sealing itself, the rift was growing larger with every passing second. The air around it shimmered and tore, and the sound of grinding gears and the faint, rhythmic hiss of steam grew louder.

Everyone was paralyzed, watching in utter disbelief, not knowing what on earth was going on.