Wild Dragon of Rome 13 (Patreon)

“Stay calm, always make sure that you stay between me and the beast,” I reminded her again as we entered the cave, not bothering to whisper. The cave started with a small tunnel, one that Lillian could walk comfortably, though I had to crouch down. 

“Shouldn’t we whisper? Maybe we can catch it sleeping?” she asked. 

“No chance. Even a first-order beast is difficult to ambush in its nest, let alone a second-order one, particularly after the battle at the shore. It’ll be hidden in a corner, ready to ambush us the moment we arrive.” I took a deep breath. “Be ready. It’s not going to be fun. Possums are hard to deal with even under the circumstances.” 

She didn’t answer as she followed me, staying three steps behind me as I requested. I took every step carefully, stretching my senses to the limit. The magical presence of the possum was strong, though thankfully, I could feel more water than anything from its presence. It wasn’t too shocking considering the location, as water-natured beasts had a great advantage fishing, making them more suitable for a small island, but I still whispered a prayer to Diana, the goddess of the hunt. 

I wasn’t particularly religious. From what I had seen, gods seldom bothered with mortals, leaving their temples and priests to deal with, intervening only during the greatest disasters, and I doubted they cared about our prayers. Still, at this moment, I decided to hedge my bets and thank her. 

The last thing I wanted to deal with was an earth-natured beast in a cave. Even if it was a second-order beast, therefore unable to express its magic externally, the cave would still give it too many advantages. 

Instead, the geography would work to my benefit. As I approached the end of the tunnel, I reached all four elemental cores at the same time, channeling them simultaneously. It was one of the tricks that had been drilled into me by the old man. Learning had been painful, but I had to admit, that using all four elements at the same time came with receiving the boost of all four elements. 

Unfortunately, it came with some great drawbacks as well. The first drawback was the mana usage. With four elemental cores draining mana at the same time, my reserves dipped at an alarming speed. That had been by far the worst disadvantage until recently, even the shortest practice taking more mana than what I could gather in weeks, delaying my already slow progress on the path of four elements. 

However, the other disadvantages were still valid. Using that much mana meant that my presence flared strongly, enough to rival a mage casting a spell, which was the reason I waited until we moved deeper into the cave before I used it despite the next disadvantage. 

Slow activation time. Using all four cores at the same time was a delicate effort during the activation phase, requiring a couple seconds of pure concentration. Not a long time, but deadly during a fight. 

The only other great disadvantage was the elemental expression of power. Many apprentice mages had almost religiously believed the traditional expressions of passive elemental power. Earth for physical power, fire for perception, air for movement, and water for recovery. 

They were the easiest and most efficient expressions, but nowhere near the only methods. For example, if I tried to use fire-based perception earlier, I wouldn’t be able to detect the presence of the second-order beast in the cave. 

Unfortunately, trying to channel four elements at the same time was difficult enough with their primary expressions, preventing more creative methods. Developing them would require an absurd amount of practice, which, even with the dragon heart, would have been pointless when I could use the same effort to reach the ranks of mage. 

“W-what’s going on? I can feel —” she started. 

“I’m a four-element apprentice,” I said, realizing that I neglected to mention that, too used to keep it a secret. 

“But that—” she started. 

“Not the time,” I cut her off. “Focus, stay in the tunnel, and don’t act without my express signal. The possum is waiting for us to step into the wider part of the cave,” I warned, which was not a situation I particularly liked. The wider area would allow the beast to put its smaller size and greater mobility to the best use, but any method we could use to push it out of its cave was counter-productive, as not only setting them would take too much time, but also a battle out in the open would alert the mages. 

A painful struggle with the risk of a serious wound was a better compromise. 

As we reached the end of the tunnel, I was tense. Switching the detection method from earth to fire meant that I had lost track of the beast until it acted. “Stay in the tunnel,” I reminded Lillian while I took a couple steps forward, and examined the cave. 

There was little light in the cave, but enhanced perception allowed me to see enough despite the low light, better than the possum. However, as I looked around, I was unable to discover its location. The cave was large, roughly circular, with about fifty feet radius. There were enough rocks and other debris for the beast to stay hidden. 

I couldn’t go forth, because then, the beast might circle around and attack Lillian. Even third-order beasts didn’t have an intelligence close to humans, but Lillian’s exhaustion was too obvious even for a second-order beast, making her the inevitable first priority. 

I took a deep breath, preparing for the next stage. With my elemental cores active at the same time, I was the one that was under the pressure of time … but luckily, that level of strategic thinking was above a beast. I just needed to bait it. 

“Be ready, and start gathering your first spell,” I said as I took a step forward, and made a show of stumbling. The beast didn’t react, so I actually fell to the ground, sprawled forward, revealing my neck as an easy target. 

I hoped that it would approach from the right, where my spear was. 

A blur appeared from the side of the cave, too fast to react from my position if I wasn’t already prepared. By revealing my neck, I had given it a target it couldn’t resist. The only problem, was it attacked from the left, forcing me to punch the beast to cut its momentum…

It didn’t go particularly well. A second-order possum was as big as a hunting dog, and even more vicious. Even with my enhanced strength, the best I could do was to break its attack and push it away, but it managed to swipe its claws to leave a deep wound along my forearm. 

It was too fast, giving me an idea about its primary elemental expression. Mobility and speed. Which was a dangerous combination in the cave … but it would have been even worse outside. Worse, possums were an unholy mixture of cunning, endurance, and sheer evil stubbornness before adding extra mobility. 

That meant, rather than rolling away from it like I would have preferred, I rolled forward, swinging my spear toward it as I forced it to dodge toward a corner. It easily avoided my attack, but that was the point. I only wanted to force it to a corner. 

Unfortunately, even a rat was dangerous when it was forced into a corner. A second-order possum, on the other hand, was a nightmare, especially since my spear was too low quality to penetrate its skin. Instead, I targeted the spear to its eyes and mouth, kicking it with my enhanced strength to keep it pinned, trying to confuse and exhaust it for the next stage. 

Without the water element slowing down my bleeding through passive recovery, I would have long collapsed. Even then, without my improvement after getting the dragon heart, I would have collapsed, exhausted. Risking discovery by practicing in the bilge pump room had paid off. 

“Is it time?” Lillian asked, slowly panicking. 

“Not yet,” I answered, suddenly glad that the cave was too dark for her to notice what was going on. My legs were covered in blood, and Lillian would have certainly panicked if she had seen it. The situation was precarious enough that her help might ruin everything. 

The horrible scrap continued until, even with my most recent improvements, I was at the edge of a collapse, but I continued fighting, locking the beast into the corner, making it feel trapped. “Now, be ready to release, but wait until my signal no matter what,” I warned her. 

Then, I reached my reserves, flaring my mana even more. A pointless gesture, nothing more than a vain display, but against a beast that felt trapped and scared, it was effective. It burst out, trying to knock me down to freedom. 

I dropped my spear, grabbed the beast, and rolled toward the entrance, and pinned it under me, its head visible. “Now,” I called. The water blade of Lillian landed on the pinned beast, ending the battle, but the exhaustion proved too much, and she fell on her knees. 

“I need to heal you,” she gasped as she raised her hands. The darkness prevented her from seeing just how bloody I was, but it wasn’t hard to guess I got away from 

“Don’t worry about it. Just close your eyes, and focus on staying conscious,” I said. She listened to my order, and I wiped off my right hand carefully to make sure there wasn’t much blood. I needed mana, but I couldn’t absorb it if I activated the dragon heart to its limit. 

 Then, I unlocked the box and grabbed the dragon heart, slowly draining the mana while a soft, multicolored glow filled the cave, enough to cut through the darkness. 

A gasp reached my ear even as I started absorbing the mana. I wondered whether it was about my bloody state, or about the treasure I was holding. 

However, I focused on my recovery. 

I preferred not to be bleeding profusely during the discussion.