Chapter 86 - Black Scales

We were in a tough situation and without many options…

Veldor was reduced to that with just a glimpse, that didn’t explain what had happened to Alice though. She just suddenly woke up and collapsed to the ground…I wondered if it was because they were both dragons.

Well whatever it was, it didn’t change things. The thing that worried me the most was the message that hovered in front of me.

{Emergency Alert}

{A dangerous aura has appeared, stay away at all cost}

“If Uriel’s scared as well…this guy is serious trouble.”

He walked to the centre of the room and then suddenly stopped, his glare had shifted to me. One of his eyebrows lifted, I must have surprised him by waking up. Not that it was easy…

“You’re not a regular human.” His sullen voice hit me from across the room.

The guttural tone of his words made me uneasy, it sounded like the roar of a large beast. He had the body to match it too. It was by no means human. Not even close.

Thick black hair hung down to his shoulders, they sunk over the savage black armour. That armour of covered his whole body, from the sharp greaves on his feet to the thin layer around his neck.

I had noticed it before but seeing him up close confirmed my suspicion.

They were scales! Every end of his armour, from the solid chest plate to the tips of his sharp claws was all aligned with dragon scales. The only thing I was certain of was that they were dragon-made. They looked just like the ones that Zephier and Akai had, only…the ones on him were much thicker.

His tail hung in the air behind him with slow back-and-forth bobs. As it reared its menacing body into sight I realised where he got those scales from.

Thick black scales, just like the ones wrapped around his body and armour. He had covered himself in his own scales…

I swallowed my fears and forced out the only words that came to mind. I needed to do something, speak, anything…even if I faked my confidence I needed to move on in some way.

“W-what are you doing here?” I called out.

I got no response.

I decided to try again and added some more energy to it. “What are you—”, but I was interrupted by a superior sound.

“Move.”

A wave of Aura hit me, it felt as though a wall had been launched into me but when I opened my eyes again, there was no sign of it. I still stood there, just slightly weakened in the knees. I wanted to cave in and collapse from the pressure but my eyes glanced to my right—to Alice.

Her petrified eyes; there was nothing she could do. Her mouth hung open with a slight shiver as the words in her mouth dried up and vanished before they had the chance to leave her throat.

If I didn’t do anything…she would die. That was the reality I faced.

A whelming pressure inside my stomach rose to the surface. “No, I won’t leave her,” I stated.

The large figure opposite me grew enraged, his blank eyes filled with life. The piercing aura that surrounded his body concentrated at his hands and a flame formed from it.

He’s going to attack!

I didn’t have much mana left and I was still recovering, but if I didn’t do something then both Alice and Veldor would have died. He took aim and both of them were in the strike range, I was sure of it.

“Damn it—I don’t have a choice!” I burst forward from where I stood and launched both Chakram.

Both blades circled through the air in large curved motions that flew around his torso and went in for his neck. The angle was perfect and both blades hit their mark!

The blades bounced off of his skin and fell out of the air as if it had crashed into a mountain. They bounced off of him and into the walls of the room with no life in them at all, reduced to regular blades of metal.

I tried recalling them but neither blade responded to the green light emitted from my hand.

{Zephyr Wind has been negated due to collision}

Hitting them out of the air caused the ability to vanish?! Just how strong is this guy…?

I was still in motion and rushed towards him but it seemed that I wasn’t fast enough. His hand had already risen in front of him and aimed towards Alice, all he needed to do was release the mass of black flames in his palm.

“—NO!”

I’m not going to make it—I need to be faster! I panicked.

“Uriel, change passive skill!”

{Passive skill, “Serpents Coil” has been changed back to “Rabbit’s Foot”}

My feet lit up with the intense white aura of my skill and my body was lifted forward. I felt lighter like all the weight of my body had been carried off of me. The system was assisting me, giving me the speed to reach him.

Without a word, the man covered in scales let out his might, in a blaze of raven coloured flames. It was a tiny cloud of fire but it roared out from his hand with haste and had already shot through the air by the time I had reached him.

My eyes grew larger and all my thoughts went straight to panic mode. It was as if all the words I could form inside my head had jumbled together and all it could form was,

“Shit…”

His attack isn't all that fast, if I get there in time I can intercept it with my body. If I do that I’ll definitely die…ugh—who cares!

I had already begun my dash back to Alice—more specifically—towards the giant mass of flames headed towards her.

I caught up in no time and was close enough to grab it. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, my hand would have just passed through it.

{Danger: Contact with flames will result in death}

Uriel was especially chirpy, I wasn’t sure if it was because of his upgrade from before but he wouldn’t stop. I knew it was dangerous and I didn’t want to do it either, nobody wants to die!

I just want to save Alice—if that means taking this hit then so be it. Someone has to take it, right…

The jumbled mess inside of my head managed to piece something else together, something that I thought would work.

It had to work, I had run out of time.

I pulled my arm away before it could plunge into the flames, and was a split second from burning to a crisp. I stopped running and planted my left foot forward towards the flames rushing away,

“Shadow spike!!”