BXBX NOVEL Chapter 139 139: At Stake
A few seconds later, the water ball dropped to the sand and made a big splash, scattering the dragon around.
"YOU, PUNY HUMAN!!!"
The dragon, who had fully recovered, got agitated by Raphael and conjured dozens of black magic circles aimed at him. After consuming a significantly greater amount of mana, the black orbs finally manifested and homed in on their targets after a few seconds.
The dragon found it strange but deliberately ignored it since it had absolute confidence in itself. The unwavered dignity of the dragon is still running through its veins.
All the orbs flew toward the hovering Raphael and evidently exploded after hitting him. A series of loud explosions rang out through the desert, and the dragon was certain that the human could not survive that bombardment.
But as the smoke subsided, the dragon popped out its eyes in shock after seeing its supposed target still hovering in midair, unharmed.
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
Without the knowledge of the dragon, Raphael enveloped his entire body with one of his hidden cards, the Impregnable Fortress of the Ultimate Art ultra skill.
But later, the dragon knew and ultimately felt that something was wrong with its body. Checking each of its conditions, the dragon took heed of its mana; the spells it cast consumed more mana than usual.
Not only its mana consumption, but its magical restoration and casting time were not normal as well. The dragon has concluded one thing...
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BODY, YOU FLY?!"
"Force me if you can."
The changes within the dragon and the increase in the magical performance of Raphael were actually the work of the very same thing, one of the abilities of the Overlord of Sins, the Sloth.
As the name implies, Sloth is an ability that declines the amount of labor or action of the user. The power of the Sloth is to give convenience to the user and discomfort to the target.
Once Sloth is activated, the mana consumption and casting speed of Raphael are reduced by half, in addition to the doubled MP recovery. Meanwhile, Sloth can be applied to a single target, but the effects are the opposite of Raphael's.
When the dragon got the gist of its situation, it refrained from consuming much mana and made up its mind to do offense in close proximity.
The dragon flew itself closer, as did Raphael. But it was a mistake for the dragon and a blessing for Raphael.
When their paths crossed, Raphael activated his Godspeed in a flash, dancingly passing through the dragon's huge claws and teeth, going under, and gracefully scraping the dragon's relatively soft stomach with his deep red blade.
Unbeknownst to the dragon, Raphael had stripped something vital and essential from it.
Blood gushed out of the long, deep cut. Initially, the dragon took no heed of it out of habit. But the dragon finally realized its cut seemed not to be closing.
"?!"
The dragon panicked in disbelief upon seeing that the blood did not stop coming out of its abdomen. Seconds had passed, but the wound showed no signs of healing.
The dragon has no idea what is happening to its body and painstakingly rechecks itself. Once the dragon found out the problem, it fueled itself with immense power and unleashed its wrath.
"GRAAAAHHHH!!!"
"Guh—?!"
Upon finding out about the absence of one of its abilities, the dragon released its Burning Effulgence anew. The temperature was much higher than before, to the point of melting the glass shards from the sand below.
But before the scorching blue flames reached Raphael, he had Warped him a few kilometers away. Getting in contact with those bluish-white flames was certainly capable of turning Raphael into charcoal.
"HOW DARE YOU TAKE AWAY MY IMMORTALITY FROM ME?!!" The dragon emotionally yelled out after Raphael took its pride.
What Raphael took from the dragon was actually its unique skill, the Immortal. By utilizing one of the powers of the Overlord of Sins, Greed, Raphael was able to forcefully snatch its prided skill.
Greed specialized in seizing the desired abilities of others without fail. After the Greed had taken effect, Raphael had to wait for a certain amount of time depending on the level of the stolen ability.
If it is just a Skill, a cooldown of a quarter of an hour will set. Two hours for Extra and Racial Skills, while stealing Unique Skills takes a whole day to replenish the Greed. An Ultra Skill would prevent Raphael from plundering an ultimate for a week.
A cooldown is set for each level of the skill. For example, if Raphael had seized a Unique, he would have to wait a day before he could steal another Unique, but he could take a skill of another level simultaneously.
"YOU INFERIOR CREATURE!!!"
Fueled with rage and anger, the black dragon detonated its obliterating, condensed linear Atomic Age toward Raphael. The dragon had forgotten about its mana issues and used up 25% of its whole mana to power its nuclear beam.
As the dragon lost its Immortal unique skill, it manually healed itself by casting a Level 5 Dark Magic spell called Negative Lumen. It is a spell that changes negative energy which brings fatality to life and life to the undead and individuals with Cursed Body.
Raphael could see the nuke narrowing down towards him but let himself be swallowed by its warm embrace. He had redeployed the Impregnable Fortress beforehand, so it is basically impossible for him to get hurt.
When the lights disappeared, the dragon was already in front of him. Raphael had perceived its advance and was about to execute his technique.
"Heavenly Strike!"
As Raphael slashed his extended sword overhead, the dragon quickly rotated its body, successfully preventing the sword from cleaving its vital signs. But the dragon was not left unharmed.
Though the dragon managed to avoid a critical hit, the sword cut three of its wings. After the slash, the dragon lost its balance and fell from the sky.
Thud!
The dragon hit the surface, and its momentum created a sandstorm. When the dust subsided, the figure of the black dragon revealed itself, desperately consuming overpriced mana to slowly regenerate its severed wings.
"GUH?!"
But Raphael seized that opportunity, then sent his Sword Art Level 9 technique, Sky Tearer, down to the recovering dragon and effectively cut its remaining three wings. In Raphael's eyes, the dragon seemed like an oversized War Drake.
"YOU!!"
Knowing that it had depleted much mana, the dragon ceased the regeneration of its wings and fired a Dragon Blast at the levitating Raphael instead.
Raphael easily evaded the blast and then shot seven purplish Infernal Fire Lances at the dragon. In just an instant, they came sharply to the dragon as if they were javelins, pierced its body with an unbelievable speed, and exploded.
"AGYAAAAAA!!!!"
The Ancient Dragon of Darkness writhed in tremendous heat and pain. The part that had received those atrocious attacks had been burned and gouged out.
The dragon's invincible Elder Dragon Scales were easily penetrated by magic; perhaps it was easy for him in the first place. In reality, Raphael has been using one of the abilities of the Overlord of Sins, the hatred of Envy.
Envy is one of the seven deadly sins, but in this magical world, it is an ability that disables and weakens the defensive capabilities of a single target, making the target squishier and more fragile.
In addition, the user will gain more firepower and deal more damage to the target, though that effect is limited to the target and won't affect others. Envy only takes effect one at a time, so using it simultaneously is not possible.
The wound seemed to not be healing; the dragon had lost its Immortal unique skill after all. Not only was the dragon damaged physically, but its soul was burning as well.
The dragon is greatly weakened, and the more it heals itself, the more mana it will consume. With its damage soul, the skills of the dragon disarrayed chaotically and couldn't use them properly.
Without the essence of its unique skill, the dragon cannot heal its soul. Nothing was left; all it had to do was wait for its soul to restore itself naturally.
But its opponent is still looking down at the dragon, like a bird of prey waiting for something to move before preying on it. If the dragon made a wrong move, its life would be at stake.
While the dragon was thinking about its next step, a voice suddenly rang directly in its mind.
((What are you doing? Have you forgotten about your task, already?))
((?! You!))
The dragon recognized the owner of the voice in the telepathic conversation. Of course, how can the dragon forget someone who one-sidedly shattered its pride?
The only one who gave the undefeatable Ancient Dragon of Darkness a taste of defeat. A being so powerful that the fearless dragon would cower in fear just by hearing that being's gentle voice.
But the dragon did not give a damn about that; the dragon was baffled by the contents of the message.
((You know, I sensed something unusual earlier, and when I checked it out, I found you. Once again, have you forgotten the errand I tasked over you?))
((O-of course! I never forget it!))
((Then what are you doing?))
((What I am doing...?))
The dragon thought for a moment, but upon peering above, it realized what kind of situation it was in.
((No way! Coul—))
Suddenly, the link to their conversation was mysteriously cut off.