Chapter 68: Truid Dungeon Quest (9) Evolved
Hanzo reached the Drake first, wielding his bow as a close-range weapon.
One wouldn't expect an archer to be able to do this, but Hanzo utilized his bow in more ways than simply long-range.
The Drake attempted to slash at the young man, but its claws were slammed away by Hanzo's bow.
With its arms flung to the side, Hanzo unleashed a flurry of 5 red arrows into the beast's chest.
They carved into its scales a little bit before ricocheting off once again.
Out of nowhere, the end of a whip swung down from the sky and lashed across the Drake's back, leaving a glowing pink line that didn't erase.
The Drake roared at the sky in frustration as several boulders and fire waves smashed into both of its sides.
It exclaimed again, becoming overwhelmed by all of the attacks.
Tyr was running from the side, mesmerized by what was happening. He loved seeing Ultimatum in perfect sync. Not letting the enemy take a single breath was how their plan usually worked.
Jonas flew in from above, spinning his scythe before exchanging several blows with the Drake.
The clang of his blade slamming against Drake's claws resounded through the chamber as he suddenly kicked the Drake in the chest, pushing it back a few feet.
The Drake instantly recuperated, lunging at the man. Jonas got down to one knee and pushed the hilt of his scythe deep into the ground.
The Drake's claw attacks were halted by Jonas' forcefield for a moment.
'Now, young Tyr!' Jonas thought to himself, everyone's eyes on the teen as a foot landed on Jonas' back.
Tyr jumped into the air, throwing his hands above him before thrusting the spear down into the back of the Drake as hard as he could.
It was a perfect shot--arriving right in between the scales and beginning to pierce through slightly.
However, this wasn't the ending move of course.
The Drake backed up as Tyr did the same. Everyone resumed their positions.
The Drake paused, looking around rapidly. It seemed to know to be more cautious now, but that was understandable.
The Drake lowered its head as its shoulders squirmed slightly. Its body was lunged, still ready to attack at any moment.
However, Hanzo squinted his eyes in slight suspicion at this moment, "Something is off..." He said, "This beast..." His eyes wandered over to the Drake's shoulders.
"Everyone back up!" Hanzo abruptly shouted, everyone quickly following his orders.
The Drake abruptly let out a vicious and eardrum-shaking roar.
"This beast resembled a Drake at first... but those nearly invincible scales aren't the adaptation of an ordinary Drake. I thought it was an odd occurrence, but now I understand that this thing has already adapted past the Drake stage..."
He paused, the others looking at him with confused eyes as he himself seemed to be deep in thought.
"Hundreds of years. It makes sense. This Drake has already adapted--no, it has evolved to its stronger species." Hanzo finally said, taking some of the others aback.
"So you're telling me this thing is a Dragonewt?" Cyllia said, her voice filled with astonishment.
"How do you know?" Yurin said, confused and surprised.
"It's shoulders. There are slight nubs on its shoulders. Normal Drakes don't have those... they are the sign of wings attempting to appear." Hanzo's head turned to face the egg.
"The next beast will be a full..." Before Hanzo could finish, the Dragonewt charged at him with a far superior speed compared to before.
Hanzo's eyes widened slightly in surprise as he shot 3 blue arrows to form a shield.
However, the Dragonewt was not delayed--smashing through the shields with its claws and storming forward.
"It was holding back..." Hanzo said under his breath, the realization hitting him at that moment.
Hanzo clenched his teeth, dashing forward to meet the beast in the middle.
They exchanged a series of powerful and extremely quick blows, the after-effect of the attacks blowing everyone's hair back slightly.
Jonas rushed in from behind, slashing his Scythe toward the beast's hind legs.
However, he caught a giant boot to the face instead, sending him flying across the chamber and into a vine that was quite high up.
As he landed on the ground, he wiped his nose which had a slight trickle of blood coming down it.
He smiled, "Hahaha... now things are really starting to get serious." He said. "So it was just trying out its power lightly for the first time in a while huh? And now we've gotten it angry enough to go all out it seems."
"Far-range attacks only!" Hanzo declared, still clashing with the powerful beast nonstop.
Each attack of the Dragonewt was ferocious--merely inches from ripping off Hanzo's head.
It clawed and crunched like a savage beast that was unleashed into the wild after being kept in captivity for its whole life.
It's rage was unbelievable.
Cyllia continued to whip it from afar, Yurin's elemental attacks also doing a bit of damage. Urvil's blessings remained online, as Jonas and Tyr were the only ones forced to stand back.
"Be prepared to attack at any moment. We may not be of help right now, but battles are always unexpected. You never know what may happen." Jonas said to Tyr, not wanting anyone's guard to lower.
After a minute of clashing, Hanzo had damaged the beast to a fair degree. However, he had also copped his fair share of scratches. His arms were bleeding heavily, but in the heat of battle, he knew he wouldn't be able to heal himself.
'One wrong step and I'm done for.' Hanzo said inwardly. The beast was getting slower as it grew more tired, but its onslaught was still as relentless as possible.
"Cyllia! Have you prepared it yet?" Hanzo shouted out.
"No!" Cyllia said, slashing her whip one more time as it left another pink glowing line on the Dragonewt's back.
"How many more do you need!?"
"This should be the last one!" Cyllia screamed, sprinting to the side and swinging her whip one more time.
It clapped against the sky and swatted across the beast's back.
By now, dozens of pink lines were crossed all over its back, almost like a series of chains wrapping around it.
Cyllia stopped placing her hands together in a heart shape. "Love prison!"
At that moment, all of the pink bands materialized into physical pink bands of Aura.
They constricted tightly all over the Dragonewt's body, rendering it nearly immobile in a couple of seconds.