MMORPG: Rebirth of the Shadow Mage

192 Ice Dragon

No matter what had happened in the past, the real dragon was now before Leo. It wasn’t a wyvern that he could easily escape from, but a literal dragon that could easily destroy villages and towns with a single flap of its wings.

“...”

Leo’s legs trembled as he stood in the shadows, hoping the dragon wouldn’t notice him even though he was wearing a cloak that should have camouflaged him.

He couldn’t help but notice the monster’s bright blue eyes, which reminded him of someone... Ava?

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts of the beautiful girl, Leo hunched even lower as the dragon rubbed its side against the wall.

Rumble...

The whole place shook with the intensity of its size and movements, causing a few ice stalactites to fall from the ceiling, some dangerously close to Leo.

He glared at the massive stalactites and swallowed, knowing that even one of them could seriously wound him. His skull might be sturdy enough to withstand a blow, but the problem was the blood.

Dragons, like sharks, could smell blood from miles away.

.....

“...”

Looking at the scaly monster as it scratched its itchy side, Leo almost wanted to laugh as its eyes narrowed in pleasure.

Despite being a majestic being, not everyone could see the king of the skies and land scratching itself against a wall.

These monsters had a certain level of intelligence, and their pride was as enormous as their size.

Leo knew firsthand how petty and vengeful dragons could be. One of his fellow information gatherers had once been too hasty and launched a spell at a female dragon while roaming too close to its den.

...

The dragon had chased the man across towns and villages, ignoring everything else except its attacker and repeatedly shouting the same message

“How dare you wound me?!”

It wasn’t only their pride, but also pettiness.

Growl...

Suddenly, the monster growled and turned its massive body around to look towards the sky.

Roar...

A deafening roar shook the sky, making Leo’s heart skip a beat. He looked up and saw a blurry silhouette approaching the platform at a high speed.

“Shit...”

He cursed, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

Boom...

As the two massive creatures collided, Leo felt the entire mountain shake violently, causing all the stalactites to fall down at once.

He quickly cast his Shadow Protection spell above his head to shield himself from the deadly stalactites, then turned his attention to the two monsters wrestling on the platform.

The dragon that had just arrived was fully covered in dark, almost black scales. It was roughly the same size as the Ice dragon, but its wings were much larger.

Roar...

Its roar echoed across the platform as the black-scaled dragon opened its massive jaws, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, and unleashed a beam of darkness similar to the one that the Dark Prince had used.

Leo watched as the beam of darkness cut through the air, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

However, he knew that the Darkness Dragon wasn’t the only one with such a powerful attack.

Roar...

With another roar, the Ice Dragon also opened its massive jaws and unleashed an azure-colored beam that froze everything in its path

The two Dragon Breaths collided in the middle, canceling each other out. As the debris settled, Leo looked around and saw that the Darkness Dragon had disappeared.

The Ice Dragon also noticed the disappearance of the Darkness Dragon and warily glanced around, its eyes scanning the platform for any sign of movement.

Whoosh...

Suddenly, the Darkness Dragon appeared out of thin air, seemingly stepping out of a small particle that was left after its breath attack. It wasted no time in sinking its razor-sharp teeth into the Ice Dragon’s tail, causing the creature to roar in pain.

The Ice Dragon desperately tried to shake off the Darkness Dragon, but the monster refused to let go.

Swish...

Suddenly, thin ice needles appeared in the air, piercing into the Darkness Dragon’s body and forcing it to release its jaws from the Ice Dragon’s tail.

Before it could even retreat, another set of needles pierced through its thick, dark scales, causing it to thrash in pain.

Leo knew that dragon scales were an incredibly powerful material, and making an armor out of them would make a person practically invincible until reaching level 200.

Growl...

The Ice Dragon let out a guttural growl, its blue eyes flickering with pain as it inspected its injured tail. Despite its impressive size and probably age of over 200 years, the dragon had never experienced such agony before. It was strange, considering that it had lived for so long without any major wounds or scars.

On the other hand, the Darkness Dragon bore numerous battle scars across its scales. Leo could see deep scratches and deformities that spoke of a lifetime of fighting and surviving in the harsh world of dragons.

The two dragons glared at each other, the Ice Dragon seething with pain and the Darkness Dragon radiating an air of battle-hardened resilience.

Despite being the same age, it was clear to Leo that the Darkness Dragon had a wealth of experience in combat, evident in its battered scales and battle scars. The Ice Dragon, on the other hand, seemed to be relatively unscathed until now.

Grrrr...

As the Darkness Dragon snorted and shifted its body, Leo noticed the needles embedded in its flesh. Before he could say anything, the dragon unleashed a shockwave of Darkness Mana in all directions, causing the very air to tremble with its power.

Leo braced himself, expecting the worst, but then something incredible happened. The Ice Dragon had positioned itself directly in the path of the shockwave, as if guided by some divine intervention.

“Thank fuck!”

Leo knew that his ‘Shadow Protection’ skill was still on cooldown, leaving him vulnerable to a direct attack from the dragons. He was aware that the a single attack coming from a Dragon could kill him instantly.

Leo could already imagine himself respawning back in the city, his adventure cut short by his shitty luck.

“I need to leave...”

Leo’s heart raced as he realized that he needed to leave the area immediately. The staredown between the two massive dragons was intense, and he knew that even an accidental aftereffect of their clash could kill him in an instant.

As he scanned the area for a means of escape, Leo’s mind raced with possibilities. He needed to find a time window to slip away unnoticed, or he would surely perish in this dangerous game.

The ledge of the platform was so close, yet so far. Leo almost wanted another Yeti to appear behind his back and launch him towards it.

Swish...

Just as he was about to make a desperate lunge towards safety, a sudden swishing sound caught his attention. He turned to see the Ice Dragon summoning vast amounts of mana, creating a new set of ice wings below its original ones.

Leo realized that these new limbs were almost a perfect replica of the original wings, but with one stark difference: their size.

The new wings were massive, dwarfing the Ice Dragon’s original wings and making it appear even more majestic than before. Leo felt a shiver of excitement run down his spine as he watched the creature flex its new appendages.

Whoosh...

With a powerful twist of its massive ice wings, the Ice Dragon sent a swirling sea of ice particles towards the Darkness Dragon, enveloping its scales with frost.

Even the ground beneath the massive creature’s feet was frozen, making it almost slip.

Roar...

The Darkness Dragon responded with a fierce roar, unleashing a beam of dark energy from its mouth towards the Ice Dragon. But the Ice Dragon barely raised its icy wings, allowing the beam to collide with them.

Boom...

A deafening boom echoed across the platform as the beam pierced through the air, but to Leo’s amazement, it didn’t even leave a dent on the Ice Dragon’s new appendages.

In fact, some of the beam was reflected back at the Darkness Dragon, causing some of its scales to corrode under the direct impact of the Darkness Breath.

Despite the Darkness Dragon’s immunity to its own element, its scales still melted under the attack.

Roar...

Suddenly, a dark ball, or rather a tentacle, emerged from the Dragon’s mouth, falling onto the platform’s floor. It looked like a vomit or the carcass of a dead animal at first, but then it began writhing on the ground in agony.

“...”

Leo watched in awe as the strange object slowly expanded, growing larger until it became the size of the Darkness Dragon itself.

The dark mass continued to morph, slowly taking on the shape of a massive lizard.

Splurt...

Soon enough, it grew wings and began to resemble the dragons. However, its body was made out of a strange, glittery substance that Leo couldn’t quite identify.

“...”

Upon seeing the weird scene, Leo’s face morphed into a frown. He knew exactly what the thing the Darkness Dragon spit out was...

.....