NovelEnglishInstead, I just slam directly into it.
The claws begin to close around me, but I'm not having that. With a mighty CHOMP, I bite deep, hoping the dragon isn't too mad about having its digits munched on. Turns out I didn't need to worry, because my jaws pass straight through as what had appeared to be solid returns to puffy cloud the moment my mandibles touch it.
My head is still filled with what I'm going to do once I get inside the cathedral that I don't immediately realise that the dragon situation isn't quite so easily resolved. The cloud that hovers around the city is swirling and dancing as the enormous monster forms and reforms itself constantly. As fast as I'm moving, the dragon is faster, much faster, and it doesn't take long until I'm totally surrounded by cloud.
Hoping I can perhaps persuade this creature to leavealone, I decide to broadcast a message. With a little luck, my reliable Anthony charm will allowto talk it down?
[A member of my family has been captured and taken into the golden city! I'm just going in there to rescue her!]
There's no immediate response, so I just concentrate on 'falling' as fast as I can toward my target.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt[YES. I SENSE THE CREATURE YOU SPEAK OF.]Oh shoot! So it knows I'm not lying or trying to attack the city? I feel a burst of optimism. I might not have to fight this thing after all?
[Hey, that's cool then, right? You can just letgo down and get her, then I'll leave. Won't take more than a minute. Maybe two minutes. Three. Let's say five to be safe. Then I'm out of your hair… clouds…. Okay?]
Rings of cloud twist around me, flashes of scales and claws appearing and vanishing as fast as I see them.
[IT WILL NOT BE SO, LITTLE ONE. MY MASTER ORDERSTO STOP YOU, AND SO I MUST.]
Wait. Orders?
[You're a pet?!] I exclaim incredulously.
The dragon doesn't reply, possibly not all that pleased at being described as a pet, as it shouldn't, considering it's tier eight, or maybe even tier nine. I can feel the incredible power radiating from the monster, so I know for sure it's at least more highly evolved than I am.
That doesn't mean I'll lose, but it does mean I can't win quickly. In this instance, winning quickly is the only thing that matters. At least I know there's no chance I can reason with the beast. If it's a pet, then it can't refuse a direct order, no matter what. Even if the dragon and I end up being best buds, drinking tea and playing… whatever games friends play together, I don't know, it won't matter. If the Master says stop me, then stopit will.
Or at least, it'll try.
VOID CHOMP!
I'm not messing around. I unleash my strongest bite, activating the Skill but not empowering it with the Altar. I might be topped off with Will right now, but there's not a lot flowing into the thing with only ten thousand ants in range. I can't afford to waste that precious energy.
The black mandibles of pure energy form and then slam shut with a ferocious howl, the void drawing the cloud-formed claws inwards before severing them all.
And, of course, they dissolve back into nothing, only for a new set to form a second later.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmVOID CHOMP!
If I have to chomp all the way down to the ground, then I will! I'm not stopping!
I don't see the tail coming. Of course I don't. How the heck am I supposed to see anything with all of this darn cloud in the way?!
CRACK!
It's towards that blighted cathedral.
[DO NOT BE STUBBORN. IT WILL ONLY RESULT IN YOUR DEATH.]
It sounds good in my head, the dragon seems like a reasonable sort, it'll understand where I'm coming from, but once the words are out there, I realise that the creature I'm talking to doesn't actually have a choice in the matter.
[IF THAT IS WHAT IT WILL TAKE, THEN THAT IS WHAT I WILL DELIVER.]
Nice, Anthony. Real nice.
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