The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 5 - Chapter 16.3 - A Dance With Bones Part III (Patreon)

                                                                       Wolf

The dragon doesn’t just sit still and watch. Instead it sends a wave of miasma out to protect the bones, but the thing is too slow, and my attack manages to either destroy or freeze at least half of the bones in the pile before it can reflect it.

I narrow my eyes.

Guess that’ll have to do.

Of course, the dragon keeps its miasma over the remaining bones, careful not to remove it in case I do another attack like that. But at least it is now severely lacking in the bones needed to repair itself. So I focus on attacking it again, rushing forwards with my sword raised to strike.

We clash over and over again, our attacks doing even more damage to our surroundings and starting to make the cave collapse in areas, but neither of us pay any mind to that. Especially when the rubble doesn’t so much as leave a scratch on us when we fight, our bodies too powerful at our level to be damaged by falling rubble.

More minutes pass, and soon enough the countdown on my usage of the sword strikes only a single minute remaining. I grit my teeth, my eyes quickly taking in the dragon who is now just about out of bones to repair itself with. Then I glance down at myself to find my own armor – which was once pristine and glowing with a radiant shine – now shattered in places and disintegrated in others, my own wings having withered a little as well, making flight a chore.

‘Please! Let me help you dad!’ Sapphire practically shouts in my head, and I honestly very briefly consider letting her. But then the dragon roars, showing off just how much strength it really has left, shaking that thought from my head.

“No,” I tell her, gripping my sword slightly tighter.

I don’t have long left, nor do I have any other ways to finish it off after the effect of the sword wears off.

“Here goes nothing,” I mutter while forcefully putting in all the rest of my element directly into my sword, my stamina potions having run out long ago. And the dragon seems to notice what I’m doing since it begins directing all of its remaining miasma to its mouth, making my eyes narrow.

If it manages to block this strike, then I honestly don’t know what I can do to win at this point. I’ll be out of options entirely.

I continue pushing more and more of my element into the sword, making it glow a bright blue as even more blue light starts shining from the ceiling as the cavern shatters to reveal a blue moon high above where no moon or sky should even be right now. Considering that we’re underground in a dungeon and a cavern.

The blue moon makes me feel ever so slightly stronger, but I still don’t know if it’s enough to finish off the dragon. Not when the ball of miasma converging in front of its mouth is growing even larger than my sword is shining blue.

‘Sapphire, if this attack fails, run,’ I tell her through our bond, only to feel instant denial at that order.

Of course she would deny it.

Guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

“Just do it,” I speak out loud with a grunt as I freeze a trail behind me straight towards the dragon, my sword raised and coated in so much energy that it would wipe out every last monster on the floor aside from this one dragon. And the dragon in question raises its head along with the ball of miasma and lets out a roar, sending a breath of miasma straight into the orb and rocketing it straight towards my sword strike.

Without even the strikes meeting, I can already tell just from the force put into the dragon’s strike that I won’t win this.

I almost close my eyes at that realization, ready to order Sapphire to run and use my death as a distraction.

But then Sapphire jumps out of my shadow on her own and leaps straight into the orb, slashing at it with her claws coated in what little element she herself had left after I drained both our reserves pretty much dry, leaving her with enough to escape. And under my horrified gaze, the orb of miasma envelops her entirely, wiping her from existence before exploding prematurely and letting my sword pass through to strike directly against the dragon’s head. The sword then cuts straight through after a very brief pause, turning all of the bone dragon near the blade into solid ice in the process.

And once my sword finally hits the ground, the dragon is no more than a statue of solid blue ice glowing with a faint blue sheen to it. But I don’t pay that any mind, quickly turning around to look for Sapphire despite knowing that she’s dead, the System notification being proof enough for that.

“Fucking damnit!!!” I shout, my eyes flaring blue right before my sword stops glowing, my use of that last attack apparently having been too much for the effect, making it end prematurely.

The sound of a door suddenly appearing next to me, dropping onto the stone ground echoes in my ears, but I can’t bring myself to even look at it. I can’t even bring myself to look at the loot box.

Damnit…

I drop to my knees for a second, only to stab my own claws into my thigh to force myself to snap out of it and stand up straight again, quickly opening my status and navigating to the screen for resurrecting Sapphire. Then I immediately spend the massive price to do so, thankful that I haven’t had shit to spend my SP on for who knows how long.

Aside from food, drinks, and other daily necessities, that is.

It isn’t until what looks like some sort of crack in reality appears in front of me and I find Sapphire just crawling out of it in her human form with a disgruntled look on her face that I finally relax a little, rushing forward and sweeping her up in a hug for what must be the first time in my life.

Right as I do so, I notice her eyes widening in shock at my having initiated the hug, since it’s always her that initiates contact. But she returns the hug right away and says, “I’m alright dad, no need to smother me.”

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