Chapter 264 - Rotational Force!
She smeared the poison across three daggers in quick succession, and quickly stabbed them in.
The exact moment she did so, she let go, letting gravity drop them. Thus she narrowly avoided the swat to her, meant to kill her.
There was one thing she had been counting on to slow the Azure Dragon, and it worked. See, the dragon had several daggers half-stabbed into its neck.
The Azure Dragon was fast enough to swiftly slam a claw on its neck, and thus kill her. However, that would guarantee every single blade would violently seek much deeper into the Azure Dragon's own neck, severely injuring it.
Theoretically, it was the clear winning play for the dragon. It would receive an injury, yes, but win on the spot.
But she had bet it wouldn't do that. It was much, much stronger than her. To trade a heavy injury for the life of a weakling… would that really be worth it, in the eyes of the Azure Dragon?
She had bet no. And the facts had proven it.
The dragon's claw had violently snapped two of her strings, but it was no matter. She threw two daggers around its shoulder, both in opposite directions. The strings intertwined, forming a knot, and thus a strong hold.
Without a single sound, a laser came blasting from the Azure Dragon's mouth, directly towards Lucy.
She sidestepped it, then felt her body suddenly rise as heavy wings began to throw her about. With one glance she knew, she had been caught in a tornado!
"Dark Sight!" She had learned well from Lumi. Dark Sight wasn't a tool to use casually. It was your get out of jail free trump card. She deliberately never used it until she absolutely had to. She would have died in that tornado.
Now in Dark Sight, she was entirely free from worldly effects, effectively invincible. She pulled on the strings, which were, by proxy, unaffected by the winds, launching her up towards the dragon.
Half way through her journey, Dark Sight ended, but it had done its job. It saved her life.
She he landed on the dragon's head. Her feet slipped on the blood-slick scales and she dropped to one knee, driving a dagger into the flesh to steady herself.
Lucy's senses were running at full volume. At any moment, she may have to abandon everything and jump off in the right direction. Her free hand swiftly took out three more poisoned daggers, and drove them all into the exposed wound. It didn't matter how deep they went. As long as they were firmly stuck inside, that was enough for her.
Strings, strings…
Her mind raced.
She had two daggers around its shoulder. She had two daggers on i- no, those strings were broken already. She had a throwing star on… on…
She stared at the right on her right ring finger. It went where again!? She couldn't-
The dragon's thrashing intensified. It rolled, trying to crush her, and Lucy had to throw herself to the left. As soon as she did so, she realized the massive trap set for her.
A massive gale surrounded the Azure Dragon. The moment she stepped out, she would be stuck in a massive force of twisting winds where she would be completely unable to escape. She would be forced to die, unless she had Dark Sight up.
She pulled on the strings she had left behind on the daggers impaled on its skull, hurriedly bringing her back up. However, the dragon was currently rotating, attempting to crush her against the ground. She had to forcefully strain her muscles and joints as she continuously had to pull herself up just to stop the rotational force from ending up in her crushed.
Though she was unable to entirely pull herself up, and thus her back was forced against the rough scales as they rapidly cut against her back, the serrated edges proving an effective blade against her.
She groaned, and wanted to bring out a health potion. However, she had to give everything she had in order to not be destroyed by the rotational force. This continued until-
Snap!
One of her strings directly snapped, sending her falling down. "No!" In just a second, she'd be inside the galeforce and she'd have failed the challenge. She'd be a failure.
No one needs a failure.
She immediately swung her arm hard against the dragon, impaling her arm on the scales on purpose. She was dragged along with the serrated scales, sending her flying into the air with an entirely destroyed right arm.
"Ugh!" As far as she could see, there was no way out. She was far outclassed. She would lose… wouldn't she?
There was a weak point in the dragon, and a heavily injured spot. She could utilize those to inflict injury on the dragon, but…
There was no way for her to exploit it. She'd be killed, and…
No.
She absolutely disagreed. Hadn't she just seen Lena pull a completely absurd stunt? She inflicted massive damage through just… speaking, and a bomb?
A bomb?
Who even used bombs?
Lucy refocused. There was always a way to win. Perhaps if both sides fought perfectly, she would lose. But it wasn't as if the Azure Dragon would make no mistakes.
And if it didn't make mistakes… she'd force it to make one.
The dragon instantly stopped rotating as soon as she got thrown into the air, shifting and rushing towards her in the air to directly swallow her.
As soon as the Azure Dragon did so, she noticed the strong winds calm, and she smirked. She immediately pulled on a string she had anchored to the ground and swung wide. The jaws caught her- but only her right arm.
She didn't care about that. She didn't need that arm for the rest of this fight. She kept circling around the dragon's head as it twisted and snapped at her. She could see the two daggers still embedded in the wound, the poison already working its way into the bloodstream, and she allowed herself a flicker of satisfaction.
Then the dragon opened its mouth and lightning came out from its throat. It shot toward her and she had to release her string and drop, falling to the ground below.
The beast's whole body began to crackle with energy as the mist around it became charged, sparking with arcs of electricity that jumped from scale to scale.
Though the tornados and gale energy were gone, the winds were still as if they were in a light hurricane. Bad, but it wouldn't pick Lucy up.
She noticed the problem. It was raining, pouring even.
With widening eyes, she immediately took out a health potion, downing it as she backflipped into the air, just in time as lightning struck her exact position.
She could only dodge by being in the air, for the mere act of touching the floor near lightning as sure to damage her hard. She made continuous backflips as she drank more and more potions, because if she was right…
She would have one moment to shine.
The dragon rose higher into the air, its body coiling and uncoiling as lightning arced along its length. Reaching up into the clouds…
Lucy caught its intentions, and stopped retreating. She held her ground, crouching close to the ground.
"ROAR!" It locked eyes with Lucy, and rushed at her at an impossible speed beyond what she had seen before.
It rushed at her, close to ground level, exactly like Lucy wanted. At the very last moment… "Dark Sight!" She timed her jump at just the right moment, and phased through the dragon with Dark Sight, though the teeth had entirely hit her, it was no matter. She came up through the other side, landing on the dragons back as Dark Sight ended.
The dragon stopped moving, and she already knew exactly what the beast was planning. There was a reason it had been charging electricity, and it wasn't just to move fast. She barely had time.
She rushed towards the base of the skull, and as she was about to arrive, directly jumped off to the right.
BOOM!
The dragon had exploded out in yellow lightning, ready to destroy the human insect on top. However, Lucy had already jumped off in an unexpected maneuver. The Azure Dragon was thoroughly baffled. Had it not been ridden due to the injury on its skull?
As Lucy fell, she saw the faint flash of silver and flesh. THere was a single reverse scale. It was half broken, with flesh revealed underneath.
No matter the injury on top of its skull, the entire time, Lucy had never let the reverse scale leave her mind. It must be important, it must!
She held a throwing star with her one remaining arm, carefully aiming. She had one chance, one chance or she'd land on the ground and all her momentum in this fight would be over.
Locking eyes with her target, she threw the star…