The Loser No 1 : Trapped Inside Alorexa

004 - Cornering The Monster

It's almost like an insult for Leia, for only getting information about the monster's level after using her highest level of scanning skill.

“I can understand if the scanning doesn't show the abilities of the monster we just met. But currently, I only get information about the monster's name and its level,” she informs the others.

“As for the name, we can also see it from the hologram that appears above the monster's head,” Zul replies.

“I know!” she replies, looking so annoyed with Zul's response.

  

“So, what level monsters?” asks Gaston.

“Level 95,” Leia replies curtly. “Maybe later, after observing you fighting that monster for a while, I could get more detailed info about the boss,” Leia explains.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Azzim suddenly interrupts their conversation.

The other three people immediately turn to him with curious faces.

“As I recall, two weeks ago, I once met a dragon type monster by the name of Zarkhan around The Deadly Swamp area. But I only saw a level 62 monster, and its size was much smaller,” Azzim continues.

  

“And then?” asks Leia.

 “Well, I just immediately ran away,” Azzim replies a little awkwardly.

  

“A person like you chose to flee when encountering a level 60 monster? Are you serious?” asks Leia with a slightly silly look on her face, as if she doesn’t believe it. “What’s with the Azzim we know, the one who is always so crazy about fighting monsters?”

A moment later, the dragon opens its eyes and happens to be looking straight at Azzim. Somehow, it turns out that the dragon is indeed showing the kind of attitude like he remembers Azzim's face.

The dragon then rises its head, trying to get up from its slumber, still staring straight at Azzim. At that moment, Zul launches his ice elemental magic attack. Several spears of ice crystal fly so fast towards the dragon.

But The Great Zarkhan doesn’t seem to care. Suddenly, those ice spears are melted away with just a sneeze coming out of its nostrils.

The dragon shakes its body, trying to get rid of all the dust on its back and wings. No one knows how long this dragon has been sleeping inside this huge cavern.

 “Well, there are indeed dragon-type monsters which are quite strong against ice elemental attacks,” says Leia.

 “So, the type of dragon that has a great affinity for fire elemental, huh? In that case, I'll go first and try to distract him. Leia, activate your Battle Aura immediately!” exclaims Gaston before advancing with his large ax.

  

Leia closes her eyes for a moment as she tries to control the flow of her mana. An instant later, an aura with a golden yellow color starts to radiate, continuing to expand into a radius of 20 meters around her.

At that instant, all the basic stats of her friends are increased by the aura she shares. Both their base Strength and their base Physical Damage stats are increased by 20%.

Both Gaston and Azzim seem to be starting to get more aggressive after receiving a little boost from the aura Leia releases.

Gaston, with traits that have the most endurance in the group, confronts the dragon at the forefront. Meanwhile, Azzim launches an attack using arrows from a distance, taking advantage of any opening that his friend has created for him.

When Gaston manages to hit the dragon's head with his huge ax, the dragon counterattacks by lashing out its tail. But suddenly, a kind of ice shield has been created near his rear, protecting his ribs from the dragon’s tail that is about to hit him.

The ice shield is shattered, and the tail whip is still capable of sending him into the cave wall. But he gets back immediately, as if he hasn't suffered any significant damage at all.

“Thank you, Zul!” says Gaston. “Your magic isn’t very effective against that monster at the moment. Just focus on using your magic to protect me.”

“Roger that!” Zul replies.

Azzim is still busy shooting out his arrows. However, even after shooting out all the arrows, none of them are able to penetrate the dragon’s thick skin.

As if realizing he has no use with that weapon, he throws away the bow. He then takes out his daggers, preparing to face the dragon monster head-on with  melee weapons.

“Azzim, hold on!” Gaston halts him just as he is about to start his move. “Stay back! I can still deal with that monster.”

“Don't start it yet, Azzim!” shouts Leia, who is still standing in the very back position, away from the fight. “You guys only need to play with that monster for a while, so that I can analyze the monster’s abilities a bit more.”

  

That's their plan for the moment, only trying to attack the monster with a low risk approach until Leia gets enough time to observe the monster’s characteristics.

But the problem is, even after more than 10 hours of fighting, the monster still doesn't seem to care at all. As they fight with a half-hearted approach, the monster also looks like it is holding back itself. As if it is just playing around with these rats who are currently raiding its lair.

After that long showdown, Leia’s scanning technique is still unable to give more detailed information regarding the dragon’s characteristics. Their attacks are just not effective enough in pushing The Great Zarkhan to show its true capabilities.

Almost a day has passed with them still fighting the monster in that cavern. During that time, they could survive by using utility items and Leia’s Vitality Aura for regeneration. But the dragon hasn't shown any significant damage either.

Azzim, who knows how important it is to push the monster down, starts to be reckless. He dashes straight at the monster, and then jumps so high as if ready to plunge the tip of his short sword to the monster’s thick skin.

The dragon flings its head to blow Gaston away, and then slams him against the cave wall. A moment later, he opens his mouth so wide at Azzim who is still in mid air.

“Holly shit!” he mumbles with a pale face, noticing the heat from the dragon’s mouth cavity.

“Zul!” Gaston shouts, issuing Zul to make a quick move.

At that moment, Zul is already closing his eyes. But for the time being, he has been drawing more mana out of his body to create another protective ice shield.

A thicker and sturdier shield of ice is created in front of Azzim just as the dragon blows out its flame breath. Even though he manages to create such a thick ice shield in time, that burst of fire is still able to destroy it.

At least, it was enough to give Azzim a little time to dodge and dive back to the ground. However, his shoulder seems to have been slightly burned by the dragon’s flame breath. Even his armor is damaged at the shoulder part of the armor.

Leia, who is so awry by Azzim’s condition, immediately rushes over to him.

“Skill Set! Activate healing skill level 5!”

Her entire body is immediately engulfed by a dense green aura like a pool of plasma. As soon as she gets near Azzim, that green plasma gathers around his arms.

She immediately starts the healing process by bringing her palms close to Azzim's injured shoulder. She doesn’t pay attention to the dragon monster which has already twisted its body, intending to whip its tail at them.