The Red Hand

Chapter 183 – The Dragon Emperor.

"Everyone, get in formation!" Hishya screamed orders as Serval let out a mighty roar. “Don't freak out! Just remember our plan! Do that and we all get out of this in one piece!”

{I hope...} (Hishya)

Every one of them had prepared for this day, but the sight of the massive Dragon caused a brief moment of discord until people snapped out of their stupor. The Emerald Dragon Emperor was no joke, and his visage was enough to terrify even the hardiest of adventurer into submission.

"GRAAAAAAAAAW." Serval roared as his wings flapped. As expected, he wouldn't just stand on the ground and fight the players head-on. In the air, he would be nearly impossible to deal with, but Hishya planned for this.

"Shiru now!" Hishya called out, and massive vines erupted from the ground, latching onto Serval and grounding him.

"GRAAAAAAAAAW." The Dragon cried out as he attempted to tear apart the vines.

"I-I've got him, but I don't know for how long." Shiru strained under the pressure of Serval's strength. Her power over nature was unmatched by anyone else, but Serval was simply too powerful for her to permanently contain. "I'll hold him down for as long as I can, but don't expect this to last for very long!"

{Holy crap! This guy is strong!} (Shiru)

"You heard her! Get your asses moving!" Eris activated her rage as the party stormed toward the grounded Dragon. Most of the support team would remain away from Serval while the tanks and DPS attempted to deal with him directly.

"Nyahahaha meow~! let's get nye dragon meow~!"

[Ahahaha! Let's get the dragon!] As the fastest player among them, Ara zoomed forward at lightning speed. She couldn't do much damage herself, but her paper fan's ability would enable huge damage if she could max out the counters.

"Go get him, Ara!" Avahn called out. She was right behind her girlfriend, and the moment she got in range, the Demon cat activated her blood rage and began slamming down hard on Serval with her blade. "LET'S SEE JUST WHAT KIND OF DAMAGE YOU CAN TAKE!!!!"

"I kinda figured Avahn would just go nuts, so good thing we planned for that." Hishya sighed as she watched Avahn start slashing and smashing Serval's legs "Eris, you and Ayame back me up, plan A3."

The two nodded, forming up behind Hishya as they leaped onto the vines and across Alveron's spatial platforms as they began slashing into the restrained Dragon. The three fighters constituted one core of the team's damage output, and their task was to get in and hit him as hard as possible. Other players could and would do damage, but likely not as much as the three them together.

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<Superbia POV>

"GRAAAAAAAAAW." Serval let out another roar as his claws and tail began swinging around violently.

"Woopsie meow~!"

[Woopsie!] Ara deftly jumped over his tail as it came crashing toward her, hitting him with her fans each chance she got.

"Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya! Nya!" (Ara)

They knew from their prior fights against the Dragon Emperor that, while he could be affected by abilities like the paper fans, his natural resistances meant that only every third application stuck.

"Sixth form of the Oni Blade! Fountain of Dreams!" Superbia called out the name of her ability which cloaked her entire body in a pink flame.

"Let's go Tiball! Xerxes, Excel back us up!" Superbia flashed forward. Her task was to tie down Serval's head, a dangerous job, but one that she was a perfect fit for with her high speed and damage output. "Hiiiyah!" The Oni's blade went ablaze with pink fire, as she began to slash into his front right claw.

"GRAAAAAAAAAW." Serval roared in pain. His body, while restrained, was still able to move, and he swung his massive claw down toward Superbia.

Seeing the incoming danger, the Oni jumped backward, barely avoiding his blow, and was chased by his claw which slammed into the ground relentlessly in an attempt to squish her.

"Come on!" Superbia said while dodging his attacks. "I'm over here!" She moved out of the way, carving into him as his arm went by.

{Good, just keep your eyes on me, Serval. We just need things to go like last time.} (Superbia)

"Behind you!" Xerxes called out as he moved in behind her, intercepting Serval's other claw with his shield. "That was a close one!" His massive shield managed to block a direct hit, but it still did some damage to him. "I was hoping Shiru would hold him down a bit better than this!" He cried out as he pushed the claw away.

"She's doing her best." Tiball said as he dove in between them. "Just the fact that she's restraining him at all is impressive." He glanced at Superbia. "How about we start to give him a headache. Otherwise he might get ideas about that breath of his." As he said this, one of Serval's claws came at them, which both he and Superbia deflected with their blades. If Serval managed to get off a breath attack, that would be problem for anyone not immune to fire. Thus keeping his head busy and unable to use that devastating move was their primary job.

"Why not? It's our job after all." Superbia nodded with a smirk. Serval would only rarely use his breath attack during a fight, but when he did it would be a level of magnitude more powerful than what Hishya could put out.

"And we're here to help with that." Mixu's voice came over the comm. "Dai hit it!"

"OHHHH, I've been waiting for this!" Daikael squeed as she began pressing all sorts of buttons on her remote.

"Yes-yes!" Imp cried out in joy.

"I hope they don't hit us with this..." Superbia sighed. A moment later, a barrage of rockets came over the tree line, crashing into the Dragon and making a series of massive explosions on his body. Hishya and the others climbing on the vines were made aware of the impending attack and deftly moved out of harm's way, leaving Serval to take all of the damage.

{Those crazy bastards really went and created an entire artillery system. Daikael reloads and Imp targets. It's actually kinda scary how well they work together.} Tiball started laughing in his head as he imagined the crazy duo.

"Alright, he's stunned! Let's go!" He, Superbia, and Xerxes charged forward, with Superbia reaching Serval's head first.

"Take this!" Superbia slammed her blade down on top of Serval's head, dealing a ton of damage with her ability. "Seventh form of the Oni Blade! Twin Dragons Taming the Water!" Blue light erupted from her katana, as she began to slash at Serval's face at high speed.

"Don't forget about me!" Tiball was right behind her, and his blades were also glowing blue. Superbia's technique allowed her to chain a series of attacks with a partner to deal extra damage. "Divine Smite!" Tiball slammed both his swords down onto Serval alongside Superbia, causing a huge torrent of pink and blue flame to shoot into the sky.

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<Birdy POV>

"This will be, I think, the sixth time I've fought you, Serval!" Birdy laughed as she chucked a negative energy blast toward the Dragon. While she used her claws in most fights, her true power came from her awakened form. In this state, her rainbow hair turned black and white, her claws grew to extreme size, and her canines enlarged slightly. Her race are descendant of a type of Dark Phoenixes, and this allowed her to channel certain types of magical energy into long-range attacks. Not to mention Akagi had a bit of fun tweaking her powers and abilities over the years, meaning that she was able to hit much harder than one thought.

"Keep those hits up!" Minazawa said while blocking a stray knee. "Shimari and I've got you covered, just keep hitting him with as much power as you can." She swung at Serval, doing some minor damage. She wasn't going to be able to hurt the massive beast much, but that wasn't her job so it didn't matter.

"T-This is h-horrifying." Shimari started to panic a bit. She'd never fought a World Boss before, and it was far more intense than she'd imagined.

{Why did I agree to come?!?} (Shimari)

"Suck it up!" Minazawa called out to her. "You need to do your job so Birdy can do hers! Excel! Can't you cast something to help her out?!?" Minazawa said as she deflected Serval's tail.

"Steel Heart!" Excel cast a minor buff on Shimari. It would suppress fear and other similar effects for a little while, though it couldn't completely remove Shimari's worry. "I'm not sure how helpful that will be, but it's the best I can do." His role in this battle was to keep his team topped off in HP and handle wounded as they came in. Birdy was one of the better DPS on the team, and keeping her safe and protected while she unleashed her attacks was one of Hishya's top priorities, hence why she was allocated two tanks. Though Shimari was sent with Minazawa since she probably couldn't do her job as a tank alone.

{I wanna go home!} Shimari's eyes were filled with tears as a barrage of rocks and other tree parts flew at her, bouncing off her shield.

"It'll be fine, Shimari." Birdy smiled as she chucked another blast. "Just keep focused on shielding me from debris, your doing a good job so far."

"Y-Yeah..." Shimari was still shaken but swallowed a bit of her fear. She knew her job was important and thus resolved to see it through.

"Heaven's Light!" Excelsior sent a series of blasts toward Serval. He couldn't risk getting close, but his ranged attacks would at least do some chip damage.

{I just hope Shiru's restraints hold out. Dammit Akagi, you could handle this yourself, and yet you chose to sit back and watch! I bet you're laughing your ass off watching us struggle!} (Excelsior)

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<Hishya POV>

"Nice! They actually got the combo off!" Hishya was referring to Superbia's attack. Just as she said this, one of Serval's claws passed right by her, missing by a hair's breadth. "Let's keep up the pressure. Ara, how many stacks are you at?" She asked as she carved into Serval's back leg.

"167 meow~!" Ara called out as she ran up the dragon's tail and smacked him again.

"We've got a good while until that pays off then. HIYYAH!" Eris smashed her glaive into Serval's tail as Ayame tried her best to keep his back claws busy.

{This is going well so far, but I'm worried about Shiru...} Hishya knew that keeping Serval down indefinitely wouldn't be viable. The dryad was strong, and with Zephiria and Alveron's aid, she could last a bit longer than usual. But something in the back of her mind told her Serval wouldn't be bound much longer.

"GRAAAAAAAAAW." Serval let out his loudest roar yet, raising his head and channeling fire into his mouth.

"Here it comes!" Hishya called out to everyone over the comm. When faced with Serval's breath non fire immune characters would hide behind the tanks whom Zephiria would buff with resistance. However, Serval's target was not any of the players attacking him directly, rather...

"He's targeting Shiru!" Hishya saw his head turn towards the dryad.

{Shit! He never targeted support before!} She cursed this oversight.

"GRAAAAAAAAAW." Serval unleashed a massive blast toward Shiru, Alveron, and Zephiria. They weren't guarded by any tanks, as Serval had no minions, and thus were left wide open.

"Alveron! Teleport away, I don't care if that drops the restraints!" Hishya decided to prioritize their safety rather than keep Shiru's spell up. It was unlikely the dryad could do it again, at least quickly, but their lives were more important.

"Rodger!" Alveron waved his wand and the three of them relocated to another part of the battlefield. Seconds later a massive torrent of fire engulfed their former location, turning the ground into lava.

"GRAAAAAAAAAW." Serval turned his head, directing his blast to their new location.

{He can do that now?!?} (Everyone)

Serval was never able to unleash such a prolonged blast, nor could he redirect it in the game, so this was unexpected to say the least.

"MOVE!" Hishya screamed, and Alveron teleported them again, and again, and again as the chase continued.

"Everyone! Focus on his head! We need to stop the fire!" Hishya figured that Serval wouldn't stop until the support team was destroyed, and while Alveron could teleport for a while, she didn't want to risk it.

"Rodger!" (Everyone)

As soon as she said this, everyone rushed towards Serval's face unleashing their most powerful attack.

"Twin Blade Strike!" (Tiball)

"Ninth form of the Oni Blade! Earth Shattering Smash!" (Superbia)

"Quake Hammer!" (Eris)

"Blur!" (Ayame)

"BLADE OF WRATH!" (Avahn)

"NYA!" (Ara)

"True Strike!" (Xerxes)

"Hammer of Dawn!" (Excelsior)

"Shatter Smash!" (Minazawa)

"Blade of Truth!" (Shimari)

"Vulture Blaze!" (Birdy)

"True Strike!" (Hishya)

Together, they all smashed Serval's head with their most powerful attacks dealing massive damage to the beast.

"GRAAAAAAAAAW." Serval groaned, his breath attack coming to an end as he was forced to turn his attention back on the other players.

"Good, he stopped." Superbia gave a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, but..." Hishya glanced around them. "Now we've got a lava field to avoid, and he's free. On top of that, all the smoke has blocked out the sun in the nearby area..."

{Which means flying, and most likely this asshole's going to strafe us...} (Hishya)

"Everyone, get back in formation!" Hishya called out. "We're far from done here!"

As she said this, Serval roared again and flapped his wings.

"Shiru?" Hishya asked over the radio. "Can you stop him again?"

"N-Nope." She replied in the negative. "I'm drained on mana. It's going to take a bit to recover, and it seems holding him back like that took a significant toll on my stamina. I don't know how long it will be until I've recovered enough, and on top of that, his fire scorched the land around here, so getting more plant life might be hard. I'll need time and MP to regrow it."

{I can't even use the Watering Can since it needs something to grow.} (Shiru)

Ordinarily, she could regenerate quite quickly, but with the sun blocked by smoke from the fires raging around them, that ability was diminished.

"Alright, switch to tactic 16-" Hishya's words were cut off by a familiar voice over the comm.

"Hey now, what are you guys doing having a party without us?" (???)

"That voice?!? It can't be!!!" Hishya's eyes were drawn to the sky above Serval, where four figures appeared out from the smoke.

"No fucking way!" Superbia's eyes went wide as she recognized the four players diving towards Serval.

"MERKYUL?!?" Hishya had no idea what was going on or how they got access to their team comms.

"The one and only! And its not just me, I'm joined by my lovely team of righteous avengers!" Merkyul laughed. His outfit was a bit different from his usual attire. In fact, his entire team looked different. Their normally unique outfits were instead all the same as if they were uniforms. Each of them wore a black heavy trench coat, and on the left arm of each player was the Dumetor family crest emblazoned on a patch.

"Everyone! Let's show this intruder the might of Lady Akagi's most powerful special forces team!" Merkyul let out a cry, followed by the other three who were descending behind him.

{WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK IS GOING ON?!?} (Hishya)