Volume 8 Chapter 20 (1/2)

I was at the new [Mine] room in Avalon's dungeon proper.

Two dragons were dancing in the sky. One had jade green scales and was clad in wind, while the other was jet-black and was shrouded in miasma.

After directing roars at each other, the jade-green dragon conjured up a thunderstorm and sent it to the other dragon. Meanwhile, the black dragon replied with a breath attack of black flames.

In front of me was Aura who was protecting me with all her might using her barrier of wind. If ever one attack somehow managed to get pass her barrier, it could mean my death.

That was how destructive the attacks they were sending each other were.

For a moment, the two just stared at each other.

That was until the wind dragon moved. Still clad in his wind, he ascended higher and higher. When I thought I couldn't see him anymore, he swooped down. Using gravity as his ally, he descended at speeds several times that of sound.

While the wind dragon ascended, the black dragon chose to go down to the ground and gather his strength. A spherical force field of darkness then expanded from his body.

In the next moment, the sound of collision was heard. The jade-green dragon smashed into the force field of darkness.

Due to the force field, the wind dragon's descent slowed down. It wasn't enough to fully stop the descent though. And the destructive kinetic energy that came along with the descent was soon to hit the black dragon.

The black dragon didn't mind though.

From the start, he never intended to stop the charge with the force field, just to delay it enough so that he could launch an attack of his own.

And so, he opened his mouth and unleash a breath attack. Unlike the previous one, this breath attack was made with the intent to kill.

The black flames of the breath attack was going to make a direct hit on the wind that surrounded the jade-green dragon.

The jade-green dragon didn't mind though.

He changed his wind into the shape of a spear, did whatever else he can to give it more propulsive force, and used it to break through the breath attack.

Seeing that, the black dragon raised his miasma-covered fist.

Like that, the black dragon's punch collided with the jade-green dragon's charge.

Both of the dragons were thrown away by the impact. After the two rolled in the ground for quite a distance, hitting some rocks and boulders along the way, they stood up and glared at each other as though to say they were ready for more.

”That's enough! Enlil, Duke, you did well!”

I shouted so.

I wanted to watch a little bit more, sure, but at their current rate, they were bound to kill each other.

Nevertheless… a fight between 2 S rank monsters truly was epic.

Their fight had transformed the very topography of the [Mine] area.

Even the Darkness Dragons who were nearby at first to watch the fight took some distance because they got scared of the two's power.

Enlil was superior in terms of speed and Duke in Firepower. However, because this was a head-on battle, Enlil took more damage than Duke this time. It would seem we needed to teach Enlil this way of fighting more.

At any rate, after I shouted, the two dragons shrunk in size.

Duke assumed his middle-aged dragonewt form while Enlil became like a child dragon that was the size of kitten.

These forms were their less power consuming forms.

”Enlil-dono, you did really well. I thought I had you when I slowed you down with my darkness field.”

”Gaugau!”

”Hahaha, oh you flatter me.”

The two were laughing together so much it was hard to believe they had a fierce fight just a few moments ago. Which I guess would be a great advantage when cooperating with one another.

I wasn't the only Demon Lord audience though. Enlil was here, so his master was too.

”Amazing, isn't it? A fight between S ranks, I mean. I was shaking just watching it.”

”Yeah. But imagine, these two are said to be just barely enough of a challenge for that Emperor Dragon Typhon. How much of a beast can that one be?”

Enlil and Duke fighting one another wasn't just for entertainment. They were actually doing this as a part of their special training.

In order for them to win against Caesar, their team needed to be greater than the sum of its parts.

That necessitated advanced teamwork which in turn necessitated that they understood each other really well. And the simplest way to achieve that was to make them fight like they just did.

”But, yeah, like I thought, Enlil's quite absurd. That condition to hold back his [Berserk] just being you only need to be nearby is just so damn easy to fulfill.”

”In my opinion, even though Duke can only use his [Berserk] for a limited time, the fact that he can be deployed elsewhere is quite envious.”

Stolas and I expressed our opinions about the other's dragon.

The ability called [Berserk] was one of the strongest skills a monster could have in that it increased that monster's overall capabilities by a full rank. In other words, it allowed an A rank monster to somehow go toe to toe with an S rank monster. However, it came with a heavy cost: the monster's sanity.

My Duke's [Berserk] could be turned off and on at will. Moreover, he had the skill [Valor] which gave him mental resistance (maximum) as well as morale and offensive capabilities boosts. Because of this, when he did activate his [Berserk], he was still somewhat sane.

As much as he was holding it off though, [Berserk] still gnawed at his mind and sanity. By leveling up, Duke was able to stretch the time he could be in his dragon form and thus activate [Berserk], but at most, it was only for 15 minutes. Any more than that and he might not be able to deactivate it ever again.

In his dragon form, Duke was one of the strongest monsters in terms of pure fighting strength. In his dragonewt form though, he was a lower-tier S rank monster that specialized in commanding others.

”I guess the grass really is always greener on the other side.”

”I guess so too”

As for Enlil, he had [Chivalry] which allowed him to retain his sanity and gave him some stats boosts so long as the one he must protect was nearby.