Chapter 290: Exploring the Underground Labyrinth 5: The Ancient Dragon's Last Stand!
Chapter 290: Exploring the Underground Labyrinth 5: The Ancient Dragon’s Last Stand!
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A terribly bitter flavor that he had not tasted since long ago, ever since he was a young Wyrm surviving within the depths of the labyrinth, where he had to feed into small and poisonous critters to feed off his hunger, Grakgna could not help but be angered over the sneaky attack that fell over him.
Splash!
A bitter and terribly acidic taste filled his mouth, as his eyes began to burn due to the terrible poison thrown over him while he did not notice.
Charlotte was brewing a deadly poison sphere in the ceiling, making sure to maintain her presence hidden while letting her allies put a lot of distraction into the dragon.
After recently having evolved into a Giant Eclipse Nine-Eyed Spectral Crimson Armored Black Widow Princess, a Rank 8 Spider-type monster, Charlotte acquired the Poison Synthesis Skill, a powerful Skill that let her produce poison out of thin air as if it were magic.
Although she could produce poison, it was only locked to her fangs, but now, she was able to produce that same deadly poison in her fangs out of thin air, being able to use it as flying projectiles of great strength.
And because she was of a race of spiders that lived in a Dungeon where they feed off metallic materials or other monsters that were covered in the same metallic exoskeletons as her, her poison not only was quite deadly but also corrosive, helping her in digesting such items.
Due to this, when she generated that enormous sphere of purple poison, it was not only a poison that would be able to slowly take out the dragon’s Health points but also slowly melts it away, dealing extra damage!
After seeing Charlotte’s amazing performance against the dragon, Ervas, Veronica, and Kireina couldn’t help but be reminded of a certain spider from Earth’s Japanese fiction… even more after seeing her fight a dragon.
“That’s my girl!” said Veronica, proud of Charlotte, who she saw as more of a daughter at this point.
Charlotte received Veronica’s praise and couldn’t help but feel happy, blushing, although it couldn’t be clearly seen in her spider face.
“GRRAAAAAKKHH…! KAAAHH… KAAH…! T-That poison! W-Whoo?!”
The Dragon quickly lost all of his patience, his vision was temporarily cut down and the burning pain of the poison being poured all over his face was horrible, alongside the poison he directly drank, which was eating up his Health Points quite quickly!
“He seems to be not quite protected against poison…” said Ervas.
“Then… Ivy, Nidhogg!” said Veronica, opening her chest like a giant snake made out of spiky vines, and a giant earthworm covered in draconic, purple-colored metallic scales jumped out of her through her Space Expansion Skill that increased the size of her interior greatly.
“GRRYSHAAA!”
“GROWL!”
Ivy began to entangle Grakgna while Nidhogg did as well, the dragon’ felt as the two constrictors began to tightly bind his harms while inflicting even more deadly poison into him.
Ivy used its spikers to tear down the dragon’s scales, while Nidhogg tore apart flesh pieces with its deadly jaws while also releasing a smoke-like poison breath all over it!
“NGGAAAAHH…!”
Grakgna began to see his life flash through his mind, he has realized that his end was nigh.
“Oh? Weak to Poison huh? How about you become even weaker then?” asked Kireina mischievously, conjuring a Chaos Attribute Spell named ‘Order Reversal’ which she targeted to reverse the effects of his status condition resistance skill, making the poison seeping into the dragon’s body even deadlier!
“Guuuuboo!”
Aqua leaped into the air, expanding her body into giant fists and hitting Grakgna head-on!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Nnggaaahh…!”
Grakgna opened his jaws as he released dragon breaths after dragon breaths, which resembled more like cannons of pure white light that exploded everything!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The entire cave began to tremble as the attacks of the vicious dragon tormented the ceiling’s support, making enormous boulders fall one after another, some big enough to even crush Earth Dragons!
“Another delivery of high concentration poison is here~,” said Charlotte, moving with her threat attached to the ceiling and directing a giant blob of purple poison inside of the dragon’s open mouth!
Splash!
Grakgna couldn’t help but feel like he was being played with!
“Was there any challenge to begin with for them?!” he thought, as he unwillingly gulped most of the poison, which began to tear down his insides as his Health Points dropped more and more!
“Here we go again!” said Veronica, giving Grakgna a powerful jaw into the torso, tearing apart a large piece of flesh!
Grakgna defended himself with powerful Earth Magic, which went loose and began to rain all over the place!
Gigantic boulders made up of rock and iron fell like an apocalyptic rain of meteors, tearing apart the last monsters that remained within the gigantic cave, while the rest of the party shielded themselves below magic barriers generated by the combination of all the magicians and Pekoran.
“I may join then…” said Ervas, firing several cannons of blue and red flames, hitting Grakgna from his back.
Boom!
Ervas and Veronica glanced at his HP, which was falling down quickly!
“Now, now, you two, get some action, will you?” said Veronica, as two humanoid figures made entirely out of emerald winds emerged from her, Sevapheso and Feroya.
“Chaotic Death Windstorm!”
Flash!
Sevapheso and Feroya smiled, hugging each other as they combined into a catastrophic spell, an enormous tornado of slicing emerald winds hit Grakgna as he struggled to fight back, his entire torso was penetrated by the powerful attack, breaking down the last Health Points left within his HP Bar!
“Unnghh… S-So this is… the end!” thought Grakgna, he had lived a long life, and he was content to die fighting, like a warrior.
He remembered when he hatched from his egg, a young Wyrm born from an abandoned batch of Earth Wyrm Eggs, roaming the dangerous Labyrinth by himself.
He survived with everything he had, using the powerful skills inherited by his lineage would have seemed as obvious, but even Skills could get him as far, as he had to run away for his life several times against enormous and dangerous creatures that roamed through the depths.
He fought and ate his prey, he remembered the many times he had to eat poisonous and bitter tiny critters to fill up his stomach, developing a strong poison resistance.
As he grew older, he managed to fight stronger monsters, growing in intelligence and developing as a greater monster than the rest.
Through his journey he battled powerful foes after powerful foes, slowly but steadily conquering the Dungeon.
Until that one fateful day, when he confronted his predecessor, the previous Ruler of the Dungeon, the Ancient Rock Dragon King, Nakugna.
A battle that shacked the entire labyrinth unfolded that day, and the monsters old enough to remember such a fight still fear the mighty roars of the two dragons fighting against each other for supremacy.
Grakgna triumphed at the end, killing, and devouring the previous Dragon King of the depths, and evolving into the new one.
He never had friends, and all of his allies were always monsters that he exerted his strong pressure into.
Whenever beings from the surface came to his domain, he would await if they were worthy enough to fight him and would welcome them to his domain with a fierce fight, always defeating his enemies and devouring them afterward, while piling up what they carried with on his nest, which became a bed of riches.
Up until this point, where finally, a worthy group of adversaries came… to finally end him as he fought against them with everything he had.
BOOM!
Grakgna’s body fell into countless pieces over his nest, as his demise finally came, long life of survival and exhilarating battles, a life worth living.
His soul left his carcass, flying upwards, being slowly absorbed by the Dungeon.
He knew what this was.
After having lived for so long, he knew that this was where every soul of every monster he killed went towards.
This was, for him, the afterlife.
He did not know what came afterward, nor he knew that he might never remain with his memories.
But he knew that he would do everything he could to once more rise to the pinnacle in that next life to come…
His soul smiled, as he closed his ethereal eyes, waiting to be absorbed by the dungeon, the place he never left, the world where he always lived.
The labyrinth where he was born, fought, survived, grew, evolved, and became the pinnacle of everything.
A place where he was born as the lowest and raised to the strongest.
Now, he, like any other living being, was going back to it.
He knew very well that death came to all, even to a being as strong as him.
He glanced one last time as his former adversaries admiring their strength and teamwork.
“I wish I could one day, within the many lives I may go through, find such companions…” he thought, fading away.
Or so, that’s what he would like for him to happen.
He did not fade away anywhere.
Ervas and Veronica suddenly appeared in front of him, as they waved their hands and called upon him almost automatically.
The dragging force was incredibly strong, and Grakgna could see the flashing crimson eyes of his former enemies glaring at him viciously!
Just what they thought they were doing?!
They were disturbing the dead!
He was being dragged down from the afterlife, a place that he thought he deserved to go after having lived so proudly!
Grakgna could not help but break his character, screaming and asking them to stop!
“H-Hey! Wait for a second! You can’t simply drag me down! Stop! Stooooooop!”
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