Overwhelming Firepower

Harlik and the others were stunned for a few seconds, surprised by the words a twelve-year-old said to them. After a rather lengthy period of silence, Harlik laughed before speaking.

”You’re offering honor and glory to a mercenary group who values the almighty coin? We ain’t knights, kid, those fools who can live with only honor and glory. You sound so mature that it got me confused for a bit there, but in the end, you’re a twelve-year-old noble brat. Sounding all high and mighty, hmph, just like a noble brat should.”

Harlik responded while shrugging his shoulders, but his hand was no longer on the hilt of his sword; in fact, most of the other mercenaries no longer looked like they were getting ready for battle.

Lucen, feeling a bit more confident, thought of how to respond. Lucen decided that he needed to act like one of his favorite protagonists, one full of confidence.

”Hmph, for a guy who says he knows honor, you speak like a greedy merchant... But I understand you. Honor and glory cannot feed you, of course, I will be paying you. It might not be as much as what was promised to you if you captured me, but I assure you it would be a fair price.”

Lucen raised his chin slightly, channeling the swagger of a dozen anime protagonists. If they expected him to break under pressure, they picked the wrong boss battle.

While he was trying to convince the mercenaries, Lucen heard the familiar notification sound.

[Gained a new trait: Acting Adept (Rare)]

After gaining the new trait, Lucen felt like he could act out different characters in his memories better than before. He felt like he could use their personalities to put more weight in his words.

Unaware of what was happening in Lucen’s thoughts, Harlik was thinking about how to respond. He looked at his companions, most of them seemed like they were nearing to agreement, others seemed to be waiting to see what he thought.

’If we wanted to, we could capture him now.’

Harlik looked at Lucen, his hands were far away from the weird objects on his body, the thing that looked like a weird mage’s staff was slung over his shoulder, the sword on his hip was still sheathed.

’Still, my instincts are telling me, if we rush him now, a few of us would be taken out.’

Harlik scratched his head as he thought of the pros and cons of believing in what Lucen said.

Harlik opened his mouth, ready to speak, either to laugh off Lucen’s proposal or consider it seriously. But before a word left his lips, the cavern trembled.

A low rumble echoed from the depths of the cave, faint at first... Then unmistakable. Dust trickled from the ceiling.

The mercenaries froze as their instincts screamed at them to run. Even Lucen’s breath caught in his throat.

’Please just be the wind.’ Lucen thought to himself. He wished it were true, but he already had a guess of what was about to appear.

THUMP!

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed in the cavern’s walls.

THUMP!

’Sh*t so it really is alive!’ Lucen cursed in his mind as he started thinking of escaping.

THUMP!

Lucen instinctively stepped backward as he held his arquebus and loaded it with a lead ball.

”What the sh*tter is that?!” One of the mercenaries shouted in fear as he raised his weapon.

Then they saw it.

From the far end of the cavern, through a narrow crevice veiled by steam and shadow, a figure emerged, its eyes glowing faintly like embers buried in ash.

”A Dragon!” The mercenaries screamed.

It was the young fire dragon Lucen had assumed was already dead. Its scales were scorched and uneven, many blackened or cracked. Deep gashes lined its side, still oozing smoke and blood. One wing dragged limply behind it, torn near the joint.

When Lucen saw the state of the young fire dragon, he cursed. The size of the creature was so large that it could barely move inside the cavern.

’Sh*t I thought it was already a skeleton, but it’s not yet. It’s already dying that’s for sure, but it’s still a f*cking dragon!’

The young dragon spotted the intruders, its nostrils flared up, and smoke came out as it opened its mouth and roared. Its simple roar made the cavern tremble. Some of the rocks started falling from the ceiling.

The young fire dragon, despite being young for its race, was gigantic; it swung its tail, aiming to hit Lucen and the mercenaries.

”Scatter!”

Harlik commanded, and the others moved in different directions. The young dragon’s tail passed by with incredible force, but it did not hit anyone and instead hit the wall where the group was standing before.

Rocks fell into place, blocking the path the group entered from. Now they had nowhere to run. Even if they wanted to find another exit, they couldn’t do so in this situation.

Lucen gritted his teeth. ”We can’t run! That dragon might be dying due to its wounds, but it’s still strong enough to wipe us out.”

Harlik grunted, blade already drawn. ”Then spit it out, noble brat. You have a plan, don’t you?”

Lucen pointed toward the dragon’s side, where one of the gashes bled blood and smoke. ”You see that wound? That’s our only shot. Have your men target that spot, magic, arrows, anything you’ve got. I’ll bait it. Just don’t miss.”

One of the mercenaries shouted, ”You’re gonna bait a dragon?! Are you insane?!”

Lucen didn’t look back. He just smirked.

”Probably.”

...

Lucen started running with his arquebus at hand, with his marksmanship skill at the intermediate level, he could shoot accurately even while moving. Lucen aimed at the young dragon’s eye and fired.

The shot barely harmed the dragon, but it irritated it enough to lock its gaze onto Lucen, who started running in the opposite direction of where the mercenaries were.

”Damn, I guess I can’t expect too much from a little upgraded arquebus.”

Despite what he said, Lucen still reloaded the arquebus and once again shot at the young dragon’s eye. It was the exact same spot he shot in the beginning. This just irritated the young dragon more, but with its injured body, it could not move like it wanted to.

It couldn’t even use its strongest attack, which was its dragon’s breath, because of its wounds. It had no choice but to use simple physical attacks.

The dragon tried attacking with its tail again, but it was too slow, and Lucen was able to dodge. Lucen weaved between stone outcroppings, keeping the dragon’s focus and trying to angle it toward the open center of the cavern.

While Lucen was distracting the young dragon, Harlik had gathered his men and barked the order.

”Focus on the wound! That gash on its side!”

One of the mercs hesitated, jaw clenched. ”That brat’s actually going for it...”Another grunted, nocking an arrow. ”Then we’d better not waste the chance.”

The group of mercenaries started shooting everything they got, from first circle spells like ice spear, and magic arrow, to continuous fire from archers with their bows and arrows.

Spikes of ice darted toward the wound, exploding into steam on impact. The attacks barely pierced the surface; most simply shattered against the outer scales.

”It’s not enough!” one mage shouted. ”We need stronger spells!”

”We don’t have stronger spells!” another snapped back. ”We’re first circle! This isn’t just any monster, that’s a dragon!”

Still, they kept firing. If nothing else, they could keep the pressure up, wear it down inch by inch.

Meanwhile, Lucen’s crimson eyes locked on the beast. Its movements were getting slower, one of its legs dragged now, and its breath came in harsh, uneven bursts. But its fury hadn’t faded. If anything, it was growing more savage, more desperate.

’It’s getting closer to truly dying,’ Lucen thought, teeth clenched. ’But if we don’t kill it fast, it’ll take us all with it.’

Lucen glanced at Harlik’s group. They were barely making a dent on the wounded young dragon. Their spells were too weak to penetrate deep enough to cause any significant damage.

’Come on, Lucen, think, what should I do, what do I have that can tip the scales?’

Lucen checked his gear. One thing he had plenty of, gunpowder. It was at that moment that Lucen had an idea.

”Hey merc! Do any of your men know how to use the fireball spell?!”

”Of course, they can!”

”Alright, new plan! You guys distract the dragon, and I’ll do something when I give the signal using the fireball spell and aimed at the wound!”

”Are you f*cking insane!”

”If we don’t do this, we all die.”

Harlik gritted his teeth. ”You heard the brat! Give him some damn cover!”

Immediately, the mercenaries split into two groups, one laying down ice spells and arrows, the other drawing the dragon’s attention with shouts and spells. The cavern echoed with steel, magic, and the dragon’s growls.

Lucen, meanwhile, ducked behind a jagged rock formation and yanked open one of his powder horns. He removed his coat and poured all of the gunpowder he had into the coat. He then twisted the coat tightly to make sure that none of the gunpowder escaped.

Lucen’s hands trembled slightly as he got ready to throw the coat filled to the brim with gunpowder, but Acting Adept kicked in, and he forced a calm expression to match the leader he needed to be, despite his trembling hands.

”Merc!” Lucen shouted.

A few of the mages raised their hands, flames already dancing at their fingertips. Lucen lobbed the powder horn like a grenade, arcing it through the air so it would land near the dragon’s open wound.

”NOW!”

Hearing Lucen’s signal, the mages unleashed their fireball spells aimed at whatever Lucen threw at the young dragon. When their fireballs met with the coat filled with gunpowder.

BOOM!

The explosion thundered through the cavern. Smoke and flame burst from the dragon’s side as its wounded flank detonated in a shower of molten scale and blood. The blast staggered the beast, which reeled back in pain, howling.

The cavern shook, loose rocks tumbling from above.

Lucen hit the ground and covered his ears. The heat from the blast still scorched the air. When Lucen looked up, he saw the young dragon had its already broken wing torn off, but it was still alive. The young dragon was trying to get up again.

Lucen had already started running towards the young dragon. Out of gunpowder. No weapon that could pierce dragonhide. But as a gun mage, even at first circle, he still had one last card to play.

At that moment, the blessings bestowed by the deities awakened within him.. Since he was charging at the young dragon who could give him death in one strike, the blessing of Varkun strengthened him.

Since he had the blessing of Kalderos, even as he got closer, the heat from the young fire dragon was not affecting him so much, and his next attack, which had all of his resolve, would trigger the second effect of the blessing, which would strengthen what he was about to do.

Finally, with the blessing of Velmira, he was able to slip through the young dragon’s notice with the blessing of the Veil of the silent moon.

”Gun Mage can’t use any normal spell,” Lucen muttered under his breath. ”Since it becomes explosive!”

When Lucen arrived near the area were the wound of the young dragon was, he lifted his hand and tried to use a spell. A ball of his pure mana came out of his hand and moved forward, and as it touched the young dragon.

BOOM!

The ball of mana exploded with added power from Kalderos’s blessing. This is what happens when a gun mage tries to do a normal spell. The raw mana ignited not just the wound, but the very air around it. The explosion didn’t just rock the dragon. It cracked the ground beneath it.

The young dragon toppled, collapsing onto its side. The dragon’s wound gaped wider, torn by the blast, and now it was barely breathing, but it was still alive.

”IT’S DOWN!” Harlik roared. ”EVERYONE FINISH IT!”

The dragon’s growl faded into labored breathing, and for a moment, the cave was filled only with the sound of blades being drawn. In the end, the young dragon took its last breath

The mercs cheered, weapons raised high. Lucen dropped to the ground, chest heaving. A moment later, Harlik sat down beside him, equally breathless.

”It’s our victory, merc.”

”It’s not merc, you brat. The name’s Harlik, Harlik Veller.”

”Then stop calling me a brat, you know my name, it’s Lucen.”

Hearing Lucen’s reply, Harlik couldn’t help but chuckle.

”Fine, Lucen, let’s see how far you can take us.”

While Lucen and Harlik were talking, Lucen heard the familiar sound of the system notification.

[Level Up!]