Chapter 23

We head out.
A decent pacing but not enough to be considered running or jogging, kind of like a strong walking pace.
Leaving the capital that is in the lower end of the continent and heading north.
Days of travel and everything is fine until..
RAWR
A dragon!? or is that a dinosaur, it has no wings.
'ah! an earth dragon' says the rogue in surprise.
'it's not that strong I think, we can take it down' says the elf, 'they aren't around here usually, it must have strayed away from the earth dragon areas looking for easier prey'
'then time to test out these new daggers' rogue takes her daggers out, a golden brown color shines as she takes them out.
'YAAH' she throws one and and it penetrates its neck.
ROAR, the earth dragon roars in pain and retreats.
'WAIT MY DAGGER'
'you knew this could happen and you did it anyways' says the healer, 'tara-kun let's go after it, we can't lose that dagger this early on'
It can't be helped.
I shoot out lots of web at its feet and it falls, rogue takes the chance and finishes it off with the other dagger.
Adding mana and she slices through the neck, its tail trashes around but that's no issue if you are wary of it.
And so it ends.
'it had no earth magic so that was easy, it must be a young one, perhaps they have become too populated' says the archer who didn't even have to shoot this time.
'easy? that would have been hard to take down by ourselves, teamwork truly is frightenining' says the rogue as she takes out the dagger from its neck and wipes it off.
'rest in peace earth dragon, so cruel is life' whispers the healer as she does a tiny prayer.
'what about the corpse? just leave it?' says the healer.
'we can take it but we will have to sell it off somewhere, the item bag should be empty for when we go into the dungeon'
We take it and continue on.

A few hours later near an urban area another earth dragon arrives.
This one is purple, bigger and its arms are also bigger with long claws now, 3 claws per arm.
Is this an evolution path? seems like the wrong one to take.
It charges at us and the elf archer shoots a powerful magic arrow shot.
It hits head on and it's staggering but it quickly gets itself together and the bleeding stops, it has regeneration.
Charging forward and as I prepare to make some distance between us, an earth wall pops up around us like a partial dome.
Like they said, they do have earth magic.
It uses its long claws and slashes, I try to dodge but I am trapped in and my face is sliced.
I am wounded a bit but the worst part is it took out some of my smaller eyes, I also have regeneration of course so it shouldn't be a big deal but even so the healer begins healing.
We need to push it back so the elf keeps firing but the explosive fire magic rounds don't affect it that much if they aren't charged up enough.
During this the rogue left and is now behind the earth dragon, 'YAAAA'
2 dagger strike to it's leg tendons and I take the chance to escape out in the open.
Webs.
Barrage of webs but it counters with earth magic shield walls.
Its claws come at me again, I decide to block it with my own.
CLANG
The sound of the impact roars forth and my claws start to chip, not due to being less sharp but because its claws are bigger and thicker.
I slash at its body, I manage to cut it's hard scales but not deep enough.
More and more magic fire arrows, the earth dragon has high endurance though it should be nearing its limit.
A dagger throw near its eye, this is the moment.
A spiral of webs to surround it and a bigger magic arrow, the impact is hard and it falls down exhausted.
I approach it and finish it off at the neck.
Blood splatter on me and I remember, I have that mana absorption skill.
I need to eat it, I slice it open like a butcher would and take out its organs.
The girls are watching in horror as a giant spider is butchering and eating a dragon.
I leave most of the body uneaten since they asked, it can still be used for materials.

We arrive in the urban city.
It's not a bad place but of course it doesn't have the same development as the capital.
As we stroll around and people scream in terror, we see a smithing shop.
Sell the dragons and keep going, a couple hundred gold and we are off again.