The dragon’s eye shifted to me just as I prepared to use [Analyze], but I didn’t get to do that. Instead, a fanfare sounded, and the text of a boss battle became clear instead.

  BOSS BATTLE

  BLACK DRAGON ASATEAT’ VALORUS

  RANK: LEGENDARY BOSS

  Level: 31

  Oh boy. You know, usually, it takes a few floors until any actually interesting stuff starts happening. The first floor is full of death, more death, some sacrifice and betrayal, and then even more death. We have to say, the Earth season has surprised us greatly thus far. Not only did you set a new record on the survival rate of the first floor, but you also actually managed to create situations that are fun to watch! More gods are watching you right at this moment than almost any other. You’re #3 on the viewership chart, actually. That sounds good, doesn’t it?

  No surprise, though. This is really fun to watch. One of the lower gods that were charged with creating this floor has been tasked to add in some impossible quests. Make it obvious that they were impossible, but still plant them in. We didn’t expect anyone to actually try to complete them, but you’ve surprised us greatly. You know the crazy part? Some of the gods are actually betting in your favor! Yes! You heard that right. According to beings much greater than you can imagine, your survival chance is about 20%!! Isn’t that great?

  Personally, I think it’s much lower. Shrimp paste, Raccoon dog sandwich, yada-yada. You heard it all before. The dragon is one of the strongest beings in this floor, after all. Almost armor-like scales, obsidian flame breath, claws as large as the players. Just your classic fantasy stuff.

  Good luck beating it. Although, luck doesn’t seem to be on your side.

  Level 31? That was allowed? I almost stopped in my tracks, but continued running despite that. We were already committed; no point in doubting ourselves now. Whatever the system, or whoever was actually writing the system text said, it didn’t matter now.

  “Crudia, flank! Dusk, distract!” Mark shouted, following close behind me.

  “My name’s Fink, you dickhead!” Fink shouted back, reloading his weird weapon. The wolves were rushing forward now, but they mostly aimed at the closest target, not aiming to kill me in particular, like the snakes had. That was good. The men would hold them. Or the goblins would.

  The dragon swung its tail at one goblin trying to attack it from behind, and then looked at me again. Its throat swelled, emitting purple light, shining on everything around, even through the muscles in its neck. Not good.

  Suddenly, as if interrupting me on purpose, my eye started hurting. I felt as if some pressure grabbed my eye from inside my skull and squeezed, not hard, but definitely not gently either.

  And something… weird happened. Lines appeared where the dragon stood, or better said, inside its body. I could see them somehow, as if they were visible through his skin. Thousands of little veins, clearly visible, interconnecting, growing thicker in some places, yet thinner in some others.

  I didn’t have the time to analyze the meaning completely, but I remembered equipping the weird lens I got from Majorica. Some of the lines were glowing more vividly than others, as if instructing me, guiding me. I only questioned their trustworthiness for a second.

  The dragon’s neck swelled further, and it opened its mouth, the obsidian flame a huge inferno inside. Fink’s globe landed right in its open mouth, exploding into gas. It immediately lit up into the flames too.

  As if the dragon needed more fire, Fink! Great idea! The dragon barely flinched, and continued staring down at me.

  “Shrimpie, no!” Mark shouted as he saw me slowing down, but it was too late. I needed to save my skills for later; too many battles I’ve regretted using them at the first opportunity that presented itself.

  I crouched, locking both of the shields in front of me just as the spray of fire aimed my way, trying to use them to hide my whole silhouette.

  The flames hit.

  And agony began.

  My skin that touched the shields started boiling immediately. My shoulder started flaying, and the muscle underneath immediately got charred. I felt them falling, felt my skin starting to bubble. I ground my teeth, so hard that I felt the crack and chip, but that didn’t help lessen the pain. The rock underneath my feet melted, my feet sinking in into the rock that felt as hot as the surface of the sun itself. I screamed, louder than ever, involuntary tears completely covering my eyes and then evaporating from the sheer heat, doing my best not to fall to the ground.

  It ended in a second, and I still had enough willpower to smash down a healing potion before falling to my knees. My vision was blurry, and I felt fevered. The pain was worse than anything I’ve ever experienced. The healing potion started bringing my HP back up, but that also meant restoring my nerves that got burnt to a crisp. And so, the pain began anew.

  I shook myself and tried to get up, just for the pain to overwhelm me completely. Stumbling, I sprawled on the ground, shaking from the pain. No time for resting. I forced myself to move again, the pain so overwhelming that it threatened to shut my mind completely.

  I smashed one of my fists into the ground, screaming as the potion continued to restore my nerves. Screaming until my throat hurt. But, after what felt like eternity, the pain receded.

  And I got up.

  I walked at first, the pain getting lesser with each sloppy step, each step leaving a bloody footprint behind. My skin on the feet remained there, in the ground. It came down as a sock would. I ground my teeth, but continued walking, the pain receding as new skin started forming around my feet.

  It only took three strides before I stopped leaving chunks of flesh behind, and the pain receded almost completely, finally allowing me to run.

  “Fucking gross.” Mark gagged from the side, looking as if he wanted to retch. I ignored him.

  My vision finally cleared, and I now saw why the dragon stopped killing me with its fire. Crudia had somehow appeared on its back, and was slashing and stabbing it with her daggers. I couldn’t see how much damage she’d done already, but the dragon was visibly agitated, trying to swing its long neck behind its torso to gnaw at her. She was so fast that he just simply couldn’t, though. The tail swatted where she was seconds ago, but she either flipped, cartwheeled or dashed so fast that it seemed as if she predicted where the tail would hit before even the dragon knew.

  A stray wolf jumped at me out of nowhere, but it got struck down midair by a goblin running around with a giant hammer. She gave me a wink and continued running. If only I had enough time to help them.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Taking in a deep breath, I ran at the dragon again. The veins, the white light, became red wherever Crudia damaged it, but I wouldn’t be able to get there as easily as she did. That left me with just one strategy, a magnificent, Shimp-made tactic. The tactic to bring something down by destroying its legs.

  I closed the distance, listening to another globe from Fink breaking above at the dragon’s head. It sounded different, though. Was that a small explosion? If yes, it didn’t move the dragon much, but I liked the change in tactic.

  The leg was giant, of course. It was several times my width, each protruding scale as large as my head. I smashed it anyway, my fist breaking the scale, and somewhat sinking into the flesh underneath. But it was nowhere near enough.

  The damage was so minuscule that it made my mind freeze. How do we kill something so gigantic?!

  I felt true panic for the first time. Crudia was doing some damage, making the veins go red, but I had no way to get there. Bryga and Dusk were nowhere to be seen. What could we do?

  “Battering ram! Use it!” Mark’s voice came amidst the sounds of battle, clearing my thoughts.

  Of course. Why…. was I stressing? I obviously had this. I HAD to have this.

  I used the skill, starting the countdown. Each second mattered, and me just standing there wasn’t nice, but the dragon didn’t seem to pay much attention to me with Crudia being a pest on its back.

  4

  3

  2

  1

  My hand glowed, and I smashed with all I had. The bone, deep inside its thick leg, bent, and it started to collapse onto me. Not this shit again!

  I immediately used [Dash], not wanting to get splattered by the body, and air whooshed around my ears as I reappeared in front of the dragon. The ground shook from the impact, throwing me onto my ass. The weight of the dragon was so massive that it completely stopped the battle for a few moments.

  I couldn’t see Crudia, but Fink continued lobbing small explosive globes at it, which immediately exploded into small clouds of fire as they made contact. The dragon’s roar was deafening. It tried getting up, but the moment it put weight on the bent leg it cracked. The sound made me wince as it roared in agony.

  The leg was a glowing red vein now, and so were several spots on his head. Whatever Fink was doing, it was working. I started closing the distance to its head to find an opening for [Bullet strike]. I built up speed, coming around and then seeing the dragon’s head, which was slightly lifted off the ground.

  Our eyes met.

  The scales, pristine at the start of this fight, were peeling off from several places. Blood trickled from the chunks of flesh, the flesh itself clearly charred. I went to close in, but ended up clicking my tongue when I realized I couldn’t use [Dash] again.

  And that was when I heard a sliding sound, mixed with the sound of rocks shattering. I heard it too late.

  The tail of the dragon, terribly long, impacted onto my body, sending me flying. Air wooshed around me as I left the ground under my feet and got sent into a low, tumbling flight. I felt myself crash through some flesh, exploding a soldier into paste, which somewhat slowed my fall.

  And I crashed into the first floor of a building.

  Pain. All was pain. Dust was flying up from the sudden impact, swirling around me in the room, broken furniture all around. Each breath was a struggle. Standing up was impossible - I was no surgeon, but judging by my lack of feeling in my legs, my spine was probably broken several times over. Health potion was still on cooldown.

  “You alive!?” Mark appeared and shouted, visibly worried. Who was this guy worried for? I was fine, obviously! Maybe a nap would do, though. I was so sleepy that I had to force myself to stay awake.

  “Hey, stay awake! Twenty seconds on that potion! And then you’re back up!”

  Twenty seconds was terribly long when each second felt like eternity itself, though. I did my best, moving my fingers, biting my tongue. How much HP did I even have left? Did I even want to know? Probably not.

  I continued to focus on my breathing. Blood completely filled my mouth, and I wasn’t even sure if the blood came from the tongue itself or if it came from my lungs rupturing, but there was so much blood in my mouth that I had to spit it out eventually.

  “Bryga… Dusk..” I whispered, several tries finally allowing me to wheeze the words out.

  “They’re on their way, last I heard. Apparently, the defense there collapsed, so they’re doing their best to wrap it up there as soon as possible. They’ll be here soon.” I met his eyes, and he avoided my gaze, his eyebrows riddled with worry. He didn’t need to say the rest. They’d never make it here in time. Either we would be dead, or the dragon would. This fight wouldn’t last for 10 more minutes.

  He leaned closer, seeing me close my eyes. “Stay awake now! You’re almost there! Just a few more seconds!”

  But… the sleep! Just one minute…

  “Wake the fuck up, you ugly shrimp!”

  My eyes shot open. Who was this ugly ape calling ugly?!

  Finally, oh so finally, the cooldown on the health potion expired, and I used another one. Another ten seconds, impossibly long until now, passed as a flash now, each second bringing more relief than anything else. My spine fixed itself, cracking into place, and the feeling in my legs returned.

  The sleepiness I fought so hard to keep away receded completely. Slowly, I stood up, and stretched my fingers. “We need to wrap it up now. Let’s go.” I met Mark’s eyes again, to which he solemnly nodded.

  I noticed Mark staying behind as I was about to step out of the same hole I made when I was flung. He was just... staring at the debris.

  "I thought I lost you there."

  I smiled. "What, you're worried about me?" I scoffed. "Really?"

  Mark didn't say anything. Apparently, us both almost dying removed the snarkiness from Mark. Good to know.

  I exited through the same hole I was flung through, and took a good look around. The soldiers and goblins, mere dots from this distance, were actually managing to hold the frontline and... push them back, to the left. The number of wolves was less than what I expected, though. Were more of them caught on the traps?

  The dragon remained where it was, near the destroyed gates, but its head was raised completely. I watched it as the tail lashed around and hit something on its back, sending it flying.

  Crudia…

  I dashed, aiming in the direction of the body, shoving everyone away from my path. The body was aimed at one of the other buildings, higher than I was. I jumped onto the shoulders of one of the nearby soldiers , and leaped with all my strength. My hands outstretched, I hoped with all I had that I predicted the trajectory correctly.

  I did. With an oomph, I caught her mid air, the momentum turning me into a wild spin. Falling down, I caught her by her head, and tried to turn so we’d fall onto my back.

  We fell with a thud, and continued skidding on the rocky ground for a few paces. No soldiers to break our fall, though I was undecided on whether that was good or bad. It hurt, the fall. But compared to the agone I’ve gone through today already, it was bearable.

  Crudia looked terrible - her limbs broken, her spine in a similar manner of damage as mine was. She still breathed, though.

  “Save her! Quick!” Talisha weeped, hysterical.

  But something else distracted me. The purple light I could see on the buildings.

  I turned back, feeling horror seep into my every crevice. The dragon was preparing to blast us with fire again. I wouldn’t have enough time to take Crudia to safety, and she was knocked out cold.

  My mind raced for an option, any kind of escape, but I could find none. In the end, there was just one thing I could do, as unlikely as it was to save us.

  I wrapped Crudia in my arms, turning her away from the dragon, and prepared to use [Block]. It wouldn’t last long enough. Fink would have to distract it somehow.

  I turned my head, meeting the dragon’s eyes. I saw the pure satisfaction radiating from them. The flame traveled from its neck into its mouth. I held, waiting until the final moment.

  We were done for. I met Talisha’s and Mark’s eyes, and the two looked sad. Devastated. Frustrated. It felt as if we’ve done so much in the tournament, and then we’d just die here?

  But they smiled, held each other’s hands, and then wrapped us in a hug.

  And then the ground under the dragon’s hind two feet broke, and its ass fell into the pit created.

  The dragon was so shocked that it swallowed the flame, looking around wildly as its hind legs fell into the pit. I watched, trying to deduce what happened. Did I do it? Did my attack on its leg, and the fall of the dragon that followed, somehow destroy the ground under its feet?

  But no. What happened instead was that the rocky ground broke in several other places at once, small holes appearing and riddling the ground around us. And ants, giant and adorned with blue rocks, skittled up, taking in the surroundings.

  One of them appeared near me, its six legs in a hurry to get him to me. He stopped, and saluted. “Greetings, Shrimpie! We have arrived, as agreed! Shall we grasp victory?”