Chapter 155: Wakey Wakey
The sky above rumbled lowly, a sound that was masked underneath the deafening roars of the dragon and the clamouring battle of those attacking it. But all of those in Belladonna’s group clearly heard it, even if they weren’t entirely sure what it meant.
"Satisfied?" Revenant said with another smirk, having finished reciting the oath to the gods.
Belladonna scowled deeply at him, wanting nothing more than to wipe that smile off of his face,
"I suppose I am, for now. So hurry up and summon your pet, let’s get this over with. I don’t want to suffer your corpse stench for longer than necessary."
"Hehe, Very well. Wakey wakey," Revenant muttered as he snapped his fingers. His shadow immediately darkened at the sound and began to grow, expanding in size and losing its shape as it became a pitch black portal on the ground.
A pair of horns pushed through the black film of the portal, followed by the helmet they were attached to and the rest of the imposing Dread Knight.
Once the Dread Knight stood at his full height, which meant that he was looming over his master, Revenant’s shadow returned to its normal, dutiful place.
The Dread Knight looked around curiously, before noticing Belladonna and locking eyes with her. The two crimson eyed beings stared at each other as the Dread Knight tilted its head for a moment and then took a slight step back.
It raised its shield ever so slightly and tightened its grip on its bone crusher maul, as if it was expecting her to leap at it again.
Belladonna couldn’t help but smirk at that reactions,
"Heh, Seems your pet remembers me. Guess that answers the question of what the dead fear. Me."
She said with a cocky smirk, mimicking Revenants own condescension, which made him grumble in annoyance.
She didn’t let him get another word in as she turned on her heels and started to charge towards the dragon, acting as the unofficial signal for the group to move out.
As Belladonna ran, her eyes gradually shifted from red to blue, as sparks of lightning started to crackle around her body. Her movements picked up speed second by second, until her legs blurred and then even her body became unseen within the crackle of lightning.
She shot across the burning fields in a second and appeared in front of the dragon in a flash. Her fist already cocked back as the ground shattered beneath her foot as she leapt into the air.
As she flew, the lightning disappeared and rough stone started to sprout from her fist. Her flesh seemed to turn to granite, as specks of dirt and stone covered her arm, even over her armour, and solid stone plates formed atop her knuckles.
Belladonna forced more mana into her arm, filling it with a mixture of pure mana and the infusion, to create a truly devastating blow.
Her muscles bulged beneath her armour, threatening to tear it apart, and a horrifying aura started to radiate around her as she let her true power shine through for just a moment. An aura that Revenant recognised all too clearly for what it was.
A tier two source. Yet another thing that should not have existed at this time, and yet this enigmatic girl brought into reality nonetheless.
Belladonna put her all into this punch, starting the fight with the intention of ending it, as she had been taught so many years ago. It was her most powerful punch yet, even more powerful than the rocket punch that had toppled Fahven Bu’ul the Gatekeeper in his trial, the first dungeon she had run.
It connected true, the stone covering her fist crashing against the volcanic stone acting as the Dragons scales.
A crash of thunder echoed out, throwing nearby players backwards and sending out a gust of wind that snuffed or blasted away the spells that were being thrown at the beast.
Just like Newton predicted, the force of Belladonna’s punch reflected back onto her arm. Even with the reinforcement of the infusion, her bones cracked and snapped as blood sprayed from the gaps in her armour.
It was a truly devastating and destructive blow, that much could not be denied, as it managed to send the dragon staggering back a step.
One. Single. Step.
Belladonna landed next to it, clutching her shattered arm to her chest, and the Dragon shook its head to get rid of the slight dizziness.
When its slitted, magmatic orange eyes regained focus once again they immediately darted around before landing on Belladonna.
’Oh... That’s not good.’
She leapt backwards, barely avoiding a tree trunk sized foot that shattered the ground where she had been standing. Pebbles pinged against her armour and dirt dust clouded her vision, but she could still see the shifting lines of magma glowing through it, hinting at the movements of the behemoth.
Belladonna didn’t stop, her infusion turning back to lightning as speed was very much in need. Her legs blurred as she back-peddled with the Dragon in hot pursuit. It’s feet slamming into the ground and its jaws snapping at her as it desperately tried to catch her, and was doing a surprisingly good job of keeping up.
It was truly unfair how something this big could be so damned fast.
Backflipping to dodge the tail that whipped towards her, Belladonna’s body separated into four identical versions of herself, each one taking a slightly different arc through the air. Belladonna, along with her three illusionary clones, landed before darting off in a different direction from each other.
Vestra’s illusions were showing their usefulness as always, as the girl even took the care to replicate her sparking lightning from her infusion.
Belladonna smirked to herself as the Dragon whipped around, its slitted eyes darting over the different versions of its slippery prey. All she had to do was play it cool, keep it on the back foot with the illusions and-
Jaws filled her vision as the Dragon moved like a blur, its speed massively increasing out of nowhere as it lunged straight towards her, the real her, without a second of hesitation or doubt. It was so considerate, that it gave her a perfect view down its gullet, where she was soon going to be calling home.