Chapter 1233 – Dragon Hunter (2)

Jake had approached the fight with an abundance of caution, far more so than usual. True Dragons held high esteem in his mind, and he wanted to show one the proper respect he believed they deserved.

His senses also let him know that Yrelstromoz was no doubt an incredibly powerful creature. All of that resulted in Jake not being too offensive and holding himself back despite being able to take things up a notch easily. With his boosting skill running on full power right from the beginning, Jake was roughly at his strongest already, yet he had been cautious and not displayed his full power to avoid committing too much to any attack.

However, Yrelstromoz’s entire demeanor and approach to the fight so far pissed Jake off. His initial attack had indeed been mostly nullified in a very impressive fashion, but everything after that had just been a disappointment.

Just starting with how she looked was stupid beyond belief. Yrelstromoz was wearing a set of gaudy armor. She was a True Dragon. A monster. Monsters and equipment didn’t really mesh, seeing as they couldn’t get stats from equipment, and based on how easily his arrows pierced through it, this wasn’t some special armor specifically made for monsters.

No, it was more like a fashion statement. The armor wasn’t “real” but just there for show. It offered little more function than a nice dress, and the only defensive properties her armor carried came from the energy she infused into it. Just summoning a constant set of barriers would have had roughly the same effect.

Some monsters could have armor with an actual effect – such as Scarlett’s dress of snakeskin – but that armor was essentially part of their bodies and integrated using the Polymorph skill. Yrelstromoz evidently didn’t have anything like that.

Then there was her sword. Again, monsters using weapons could be a thing, but only if the weapon was summoned using a skill or specifically created by the monster. Her current sword was neither and was essentially just a large crystal with a handle attached. A sword that she even wasted time, effort, and resources infusing with energy to make it look cooler.

All of that wasn’t even mentioning how she actually fought. She had no fucking idea how to use a sword; that much was clear. Even if she did know, it didn’t fit her powers at all and would still be incredibly stupid. From everything Jake knew about her, she was effectively a caster, yet she was “having fun” swinging her big crystal sword around, thinking she was playing with some stupid C-grade who tried to bite off more than they could chew.

True, Jake had held back, but for her to still underestimate him like this and believe he wasn’t even worth taking halfway seriously… yeah, Jake was offended to say the least.

So, yeah, he would gladly show her the result of underestimating him.

Yrelstromoz didn’t even notice as Jake’s demeanor changed. Neither did she seem to find it odd when he put his bow away and a katar appeared in both hands.

She wanted a melee fight? Fine, Jake could have a melee fight with her if she so desired. If she didn’t want to take him seriously and use her actual strengths, Jake would respond in kind, with the big difference being that he was more than competent in both ranged and melee combat.

The dragon, who seemingly was still just waiting for Jake to burn out, wasn’t at all ready when Jake stopped retreating and firing potshots, but instead stepped down, only to appear right in front of her.

Her instinctive response was to release an explosion of light, but Jake’s passive barrier from Arcane Awakening, as well as the scales hidden beneath his armor, nullified any damage it could do, not allowing it to stop his momentum at all.

Jake punched forward, striking Yrelstromoz in the stomach as Eternal Hunger pierced straight through her “armor” and into her flesh. The True Dragon’s eyes opened wide, and she tried to pull back and swing her sword, but Jake had already landed another punch in her raised arm before she had any chance to attack.

In a panic, she turned into a beam of light and flew backward, only to have a katar punch her in the back as Jake had easily predicted where she would dodge to, the dragon’s inexperience in actual combat showing once more.

Groaning, she spun around while swinging her sword, but Jake dodged under it and, using a mana platform beneath his foot for leverage, landed a very satisfying high kick to her jaw, sending her flying upwards.

Still not giving her any time to stabilize, Jake pursued, his two katars a storm of cuts and stabs as he gave her no time to rest. Yrelstromoz tried to fend him off, but the only damage she managed to do was emotional as Jake’s disappointment grew.

Jake couldn’t figure out her thoughts at all as he just kept pummeling her. Did she seriously still think Jake was on the brink of collapse? Didn’t she have the ability to properly assess how much damage she had taken? Perhaps she was just a masochist, actually hoping for the sweet embrace of death?

No matter the case, Jake didn’t let up and tore through the True Dragon, her armor peeled off piece by piece, as it broke apart at its seams. Yrelstromoz tried to fight, swinging her useless sword over and over again in between dodging back.

Her frequent flashes of light did little more than annoy Jake, as he was waiting for her to show more. Finally, after nearly a full minute of Jake absolutely dominating, the arrogant dragon seemed to realize Jake wasn’t slowing down.

Right as he was about to land another hit, her body exploded with light once more, with far higher intensity than before. The flash carried a sense of physicality, forcing Jake back, and just as he was about to continue his assault, he found himself forced to dodge as a powerful beam of light shot straight for his head.

“You… who are you!? What are you!?” Yrelstromoz screamed, her level of energy growing. In the very next moment, the sky was filled with orbs of light, giving Jake a sense of danger from all sides. Through the distorted space caused by her odd explosion of light earlier, Jake saw an angry-looking Yrelstromoz pointing a finger down towards him, her body filled with wounds from Jake’s earlier assault.

As for her question, Jake’s only response was to attack again, not believing she had proven herself worthy of an answer quite yet. More than a thousand beams of light shot at him, forcing Jake to teleport half a dozen times before he got close to Yrelstromoz.

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Rather than swing her sword, she raised a palm and summoned a magic circle that exploded with another odd light wave that carried physical force. Jake met it head-on, infusing one katar with destructive arcane mana. He punched into the wave, resulting in a second explosion as the two energies nullified one another, allowing Jake to continue his charge and stab Yrelstromoz in the chest with his second weapon.

He landed yet another stab, but one Yrelstromoz had seemingly predicted as six magic circles appeared – one above, one below, and four to each side – all of them teeming with power.

Not even a blink of an eye later, they all flashed, bathing Jake and Yrelstromoz in light that burned into Jake and once more blinded him. Through his sphere, he saw Yrelstromoz’s hands be enveloped in energy and take the shape of claws as she tried to swipe his face, but seeing as he didn’t really need his eyes, Jake easily responded.

With one katar for each incoming attack, he met the claws and stabbed her through both wrists, stopping the incoming attempts to lacerate his face off. Once more, the dragon was taken by surprise, and it certainly didn’t help when Jake head-butted her straight in the nose, breaking it in the process.