FVN Chapter 233 Shifting Scales
Chapter 233 Shifting Scales
While it lost track of him, he circled around, pushing past the blazing trees. He sought its feet, finding that to be the best start in bringing down a beast of its scale.
The only problem was, even finding its giant feet was a task amidst the smoke-filled forest.
'Where is it?' He wondered.
Taking a quick stop, he slid to a pause, observing the fluctuations in the dense smoke. Racing through the woods, he turned between two trees before–
"Ah!--"
"--?"
He came to a stop, nearly crashing into another person, who reacted as though he were some kind of monster. A man likely around his age with shaggy, ginger hair, carrying a crossbow in his right hand.
["Ascended Sleuth"]
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[Name: Gilbert Hamson] [Level: 76] [Class: Ranger] [System: Default]
'Another survivor? His level is good—why's he look like he's seen a ghost? Ah...probably the dragon,' Finn discerned.
"You—gotta run!" The ranger warned him.
"Run if you gotta, I can handle this," Finn assured the man.@@@@
It was reassuring seeing another person, though the circumstances hardly seemed appropriate to feel good. Just above, he could see and hear the breath of the dragon laying waste to another section of the forest.
That horrible sound, like a tidal wave of destruction burning away at the land, caused the ranger to tremble like a soaked puppy.
"You're not...serious, are you? Fighting that thing? It's already killed so many—I've seen so many die!" Gilbert claimed, shaking his head in distress with eyes that had witnessed atrocities.
"Slow down—what's going on here, anyway?" Finn asked.
"It's!—"
Before Gilbert could get another word out, the assassin found the azure flames shining down on their position. Without wasting a moment, he grabbed ahold of the man's arm, dragging him as he pushed his foot off the ground—
["Spring Foot"] ["Supercharge"]
"Waaaaaoh!" Gilbert yelled out from the sudden burst of speed.
Just as the flames touched down, he wound up passing over dozens of meters of ground before somehow sliding into the entrance of a cave.
"Guaaah...What was that?! I feel like puking my guts out..." Gilbert huffed, leaning over, placing his hand against the bumpy, rock wall as he spat out.
"I saved your life. You're welcome," Finn said.
"You don't get it, do you?! This place—it's hell! Everybody was forced into it...I was on the twentieth floor before it just transported me..." Gilbert dropped down, sitting on the cave floor.
The sounds of the beast roaring in the forest echoed like the winds of a calamity. A harrowing noise, turning away any ideas of a pleasant time.
He sprinted with silent steps, becoming a blur like a shadow in the night, quietly moving with sublime speed. Fireballs rained down in all directions, exploding into the forest surface as screams echoed.
A roar from the grand beast parted the smoke, granting him a view of it from below as he approached.
["Critical Observation"]
The hue of his irises shifted as he perceived the weaknesses of the dragon, few as they may be. In his vision, red spots were shown at the ankles, knees, and chest of the dragon.
It was clear to him that the legs of such a colossal creature would prove to be its weakness, though the chest surprised him.
'Alright, time to put this down,' he resolved.
Approaching the obsidian feet of the colossal beast, the white-clad fist of his activated with a turning of a clock—
[Chronos Trigger: Accelerate]
The time pertaining only to his own body was elevated, allowing him to ascend his movements tenfold faster. As if warping, he blitzed past the heels of the beast, unleashing a massive slash—
["Critical Severance"] ["Vital Strike"]
As small as his daggers may be compared to its feet, it didn't matter; the width of its Achilles' heel was slashed in its entirety.
'—And down it goes,' he thought, coming to a sliding halt.
Both of the dragon's heels were split open with a gash that rained down violet blood. A roar of pain left the beast's maw, rumbling the entire forest as it came down like a collapsing mountain.
He stayed clear of its path, witnessing countless trees be crushed on its descent before slamming into the ground.
The ground shattered, breaking into pieces that split up as he shuffled on his feet to stop himself from falling.
"—Hope nobody was under the big guy," Finn mumbled to himself.
He didn't waste the opportunity to hop onto its fallen wing, running up its field of a body.
'With my skill set, a large, slow target is perfect,' he thought.
—That confidence was brushed away as beneath his feet, the vast body he ran across suddenly vanished into thin air. He felt down to the ground, finding the fields of black scales simply gone without a trace.
It didn't make sense seeing something that could rival mountains simply "poof" away. That's when he noticed it—the strange man standing across the smashed forest grounds.
A tall, four-armed man with a face twisted in rage like a snarling hound. Armored in obsidian scales, the imposing man breathed out azure smoke, swaying through his glossy, sable tufts.
"A pesky fly. It's been years since I've been pushed to use this form," the scaled man huffed.
[Special entity recognized.]
["Oracos, The Dread"] [Level: 115]
It was only then did the assassin realize that the oddly-formed man was the very same dragon he cut down.
'It changed its form? I guess it realized it was at a disadvantage with that big body,' Finn observed.