Danmachi- Hell’s Forge

Infant dragon

Soon enough i reached my target floor and slowed down to catch my breath since so much sprinting took a toll on me. The dungeon had a habit of not having monsters at the start of floors when there was a design change like this so I knew I could afford to relax a bit. Not for long mind you as if it sensed that someone was camping the entrance it'd start spawning monsters there until they moved. I only needed to catch my breath though so it shouldn't be an issue.-

While I was doing that I pulled out a compass that I may or may not have ripped off from pirates of the Caribbean which was also my metal detector. Flipping open the lid I watched as it spun for a bit before pointing off to my left. Grinning I followed the direction until lo and behold I found a small chunk of impure mithril ore growing out of a crack in the wall of the floor. It was a dull grey blue crystal substance that was in truth metal when refined. I wasted no time at all smashing the ore out of the wall and then refining it on the spot to get the nugget of pure mithril the size of my thumb from it.-

It wasn't much but it was proof of the tool working and that was all I needed. That of course left my grenade to test and I wanted to see how it did against an orc. Walking through the thin mist I came across some needle rabbit and imps but no orcs on the tenth floor so I went further down to the eleventh. The mist was thicker here but not so much as to cause me issues seeing into the distance quite yet though things further away were rather hazy. As I result I noticed that this floor just like the previous lacked any orcs which confused me that was until I heard it.

"ROOOOAAAAR!"

A roar loud enough to echo into this floor from the next and my eye lit up. 'An infant dragon, how lucky!' I thought happily and rushed towards the twelfth floor killing the monsters that got in my way.

Infant dragons were a special type monster much like deep floor unicorns and the first floor Jackbird that rarely spawned in a specific set of floors and was the most valuable thing there. Unlike those two monsters however infant dragons were a sort of miniboss type monster sitting at a firm level two ranking normally and highly aggressive to the point of actively hunting the orcs on the floors it spawned on. The things rarely ate magic stones though and were often hunted down shortly after they spawned so variants were rare though not unheard of. In the few cases where one does turn variant it's usually because someone got cocky and ended up eaten including the magic stones they had on them.-

I , in theory, had the stats of a middle level two and thus an infant dragon was the perfect opponent for me to test my grenade on before fighting myself. Naturally I wasn't the first person to arrive at the area the infant dragon was at. I was actually the third as there was a party of three currently fighting the monster. The party consisted of an amazon and two human men, one of which was a supporter if the huge backpack they had was anything to go by. The amazon used a scimitar and was constantly making shallow cuts against the monster.

The human who was fighting used a spear to take pokes at the infant dragon but neither fighter was doing any real damage to the beast. Not that they could be blamed as the "infant dragon" wasn't just a fancy name but was very literal. I'm talking four claws and wings on the back with extremely hard scales and the ability to breath an element. Much like other types of dragons the infant dragons came in a variety of elemental flavors that influence their appearance. This one had a bright blue color to it's scales and as a result I knew that it was a lightning type dragon species monster.-

Much like "adult" dragons scales and hide an infact dragons scales and hide were highly resistant to damage. This meant trying to bleed it out or cause small wounds to kill it simply had no real chance to work. I had no intention of stepping in however as unless an adventurer asked for help jumping in was a fast way to create arguments. As a result there was a sort of etiquette to situations like this where an outsider waits until the fight is over or is specifically asked to help.-

The porter looked at me suspiciously but i merely smiled and waved from my spot while I waited. Despite not really harming the monster the two fighters were otherwise doing fairly well as they were avoiding injuries themselves as well. They had also both noticed me but chose to quickly ignore me since I was following the rules.

'It'll be my turn soon enough as they are both starting to show signs of fatigue. One of them will slip up soon and they'll need to retreat or risk death.' I thought as I paid close attention to the fight. 

Judging from the reluctant looks the two fighters were throwing my way they had also figured this out and were debating about whether to ask me to jump in or just forfeit any loot and leave. If I jump in I am per the unspoken rules allowed a part of the loot which meant less for them but if they leave they won't get anything but won't have to suffer the fate of sharing loot with a stranger either. That may seem like a no brainer as some loot is better than none but depending on how proud they are it was also humiliating to have to ask for help.-

Judging from their reluctance I'd say they are pretty proud individuals as they REALLY don't want to tag me OR leave. That was fine by me though as I win regardless of what they chose to do. Five minutes later my prediction came true and the human fighter was slow on the dodge and got a nasty gash on his right arm from the infant dragons razor sharp claws. 

"Fuck Retreat!" he called out with an upset look while the amazon looked reluctant but complied as she disengaged.

The infant dragon smelling the blood went in aggressively to prevent their escape but i hit it square in the side with my grenade.

"BOOM!"

Black flames ripped out of the orb on contact and quickly covered the monster that roared in pain and rolled as the impact of the explosion rocked it's insides. This provided a perfect opening for the two fighters to get out of range while I moved in. I sprinted through the black flames on the ground ignoring them since they couldn't burn me to begin with and with a twist of my waist and shoulders I threw my full strength and accumulated momentum into the swing of my weapon straight into the burning writhing monsters ribcage.