Chapter 699 (Patreon)

For the second time that day Aurexion had ended up facing a champion who had the physical prowess to not be completely overwhelmed by his draconic size combined with his physically focused build.

While the beastkin champion kept well enough away from the battle and was on the lookout for a way to slip past Aurexion to get to Ajax, the dwarf was a different matter altogether. Aurexion knew he was a little slower than usual and most importantly his attacks didn’t flow smoothly from one to the next but the dwarf still managed to make the most of the advantage his smaller frame gave him. 

Every single one of Aurexion’s attacks was deflected away or met before they could build up momentum. After having dodged Aurexion’s initial tail smash the dwarven champion had taken a gable and closed the distance to Aurexion, keeping close to the dragon’s body. This stopped Aurexion from being able to build momentum behind his attacks to really put his size advantage to work. 

With every blow Aurexion could feel the damage build up in his muscles. Unlike the king the dwarf’s hammer didn’t have a way to use a Space attack, it also wasn’t a dungeon weapons but it had instead been forged by humanoids with a focus solely on its weight and endurance. The blunt damage of the hammer did little to his scales, it would take repeated attacks to the same point before his scales would crack but the same could not be said of the muscles or blood vessels beneath. The blunt damage carried bast the initial barrier and while it wasn’t as effective as Ajax was when using Vibration Mana it was slowly but surely adding up. 

“Can’t you get it away?” The beastkin champion was starting to become more and more annoyed the longer the fight drew out. 

Even while focusing on the dwarf Aurexion ensured the beastkin had no way to slip past him to reach Ajax who was reaching the end of his recovery period following the consumption of the rejuvenation elixir, it wouldn’t be long until he could start to free himself. 

The dwarven champion didn’t even have the time to spit an answer back at the beastkin. With his physical build and weapon of choice he had never had to rely so heavily on his Dexterity stat in a real fight. If it wasn’t for the centuries of practice during training as well as the few dungeon delves where he went past level one hundred and fifty he would have already made a mistake and Aurexion would have been able to crush him. 

Seeing he had no way to get past Aurexion just yet the beastkin champion changed tactics, he didn’t have the speed needed to get close to Aurexion and survive but as a hybrid fighter he did have a few spells he could use from afar that could slow the dragon. 

The intervention of a second champion was enough to break the deadlock between Aurexion and the dwarf, the beastkin focused on ice spells but instead of trying to hurt him directly he focused more on freezing his joints, slowing his movements and leaving him vulnerable. It was a good thing for Aurexion that the beastkin had expended a lot of his Mana in the fighting beforehand or the fight could have turned much quicker than it was. 

The next few minutes saw Aurexion slowly being driven back, groves in the earth showed marks where each impact of the hammer slowly pushed Aurexion back, repeated use of ice spells not only slowed the dragon down but they were also starting to numb his claws. 

A moment later Aurexion could feel Aranor’s spells take shape in the distance, a large amount of Mana being used yet again but that distraction was something he couldn’t afford at a time like this. 

One thing Aurexion hadn’t been keeping as close an eye on as he should have was that there was a third champion there, he had dismissed him since he was already so close to death and seemed fully focused on just keeping Ajax tied down but that all changed when a large vine suddenly erupted from the ground and wrapped around Aurexion’s hind claws. The sudden restriction moved him off balance and gave the dwarf a clear opening to hammer Aurexion’s belly where his scales weren’t as thick and the wall of muscle beneath them was thinner leading to the organs underneath. 

A pained roar was forced out of Aurexion as he lost his balance. The power of the hammer strike combined with the vine pinning his legs was slowly pushing him over. This was the moment when fear finally started to spread through Aurexion, not for himself as the fight slowly dragged on his mind had been clearing up even as his body was being battered he wasn’t worried that he would lose. But with him knocked out of the way even for a moment they would have a clear path to Ajax. 

Ajax was just about done regenerating as much Mana and Stamina as he was going to get from the potion he drank when Aurexion was hit, the feeling of fear coming through the bond combined with Aurexion’s roar of pain was enough to make Ajax drop everything and try to rejoin the fight. 

His first move was to try once more to Shadow jump out of his predicament but with the vines griping him so tightly there was no way he could slip through. He knew these vines were stronger than the ones that held him previously and that there were many more tied around him than there had been back then but Ajax still activated [Absolute Body Enhancement] for a brief moment, enough for him to know for sure he won’t be able to use his Pseudo-Mythic Skill to escape before burning through all the Mana and Stamina he had just recovered. 

The only answer Ajax could come up with was Space Mana. He needed to teleport out of the vines directly, he had just seen it in action when Aurexion took that hit and a few times before that as well. It was his best chance to be able to help his bond. 

Ajax drew upon his Mana and infused his body, the last thing he would want was to tear himself apart while trying to teleport but he never got a chance to try it. Though he was knocked aside a single vine, even one much larger and stronger than the others, wasn’t enough to hold the dragon down. Aurexion’s fear was replaced by rage as he looked upon the two champions closing in on Ajax. 

Aurexion knew he didn’t have the Mana for a full powered dragon’s breath but with Ajax in the line of fire that wouldn’t be what he wanted anyways. Instead of relying on his Legendary Skill Aurexion put almost all of his remaining Mana into firing a jet of flames from behind and trusting that Ajax was sturdy enough to withstand it, the vines coiled around him acting like a second set of armor to protect him.

“Aaaaaaaggggghhhhhh” the shrill scream of pain didn’t come from any of the people engulfed by the flames and instead they came from the one champion that wasn’t. The beastkin mage was directly connected to the vines, regular fire wouldn’t have done much to them but with his Intelligence as high as it was on top of his draconic heritage Aurexion’s flames were far from regular. Even with Aurexion’s flames the vines still held strong but the pain the beastkin mage felt from the connection was enough to knock him out. 

Aurexion wasn’t able to hold the flames for more than a few moments and his eyes could not believe what he saw as the flame breath ended. The beastkin champion’s runes were lit up yet despite them half his body wasn’t just blistered but his skin was charred in places, he was down on his knees trying his best to protect himself from the flames. The dwarven champion on the other hand was still on his legs and while he had summoned a shield to protect himself he had continued advancing on Ajax’s position, his previous golden armor now covered in soot and his beard charred, doubtless he had suffered some nasty burns as well. 

Aurexion’s attention however wasn’t on either of them, the bond was the only source of comfort for him as he looked at the humanoid shape made entirely out of flames as it rose, fire flickering through the armor and vines alike as they couldn’t contain flames. As it rose above the ground the humanoid shape that Aurexion could swear was Ajax from their bond raised its arm in front of its face for a brief moment as it took in the sigh before he turned towards the stunned dwarven champion that seemed at a loss for how to deal with the situation in front of him.  

The moment of confusion passed quickly as the humanoid shape pointed its arm at the dwarven champion and a flame jet erupted from it, on much narrower but just as strong as the one Aurexion used moments earlier, the element of surprise sending the dwarf flying backwards.