The length of Black Dragons was not much different from that of the Fire Dragons, and they had the same defining features: long and slender snake-like bodies, thin wing webbings. The only difference was that Black Dragons had small, crooked horns on their foreheads.
In Live Dungeon, the Black Dragons were a palette swap, so their appearance was virtually the same as Fire Dragons, save for the ramped-up defense from their black scales, their slightly shorter tails, and the Dark element added to their attacks.
Their black flames were Dark-elemental, so one could not defend against them with the red Fire Coats, requiring other countermeasures instead. In this world, however, Dark-resistant equipment was scarce, and not even one piece was being circulated within Dungeon City. As such, the only counter readily available now was the Holy-elemental skills from the White and Gray Mages.
Another thing worth noting was that their <<Mystic Eyes>> would activate whenever they depleted half of their vitality, restricting the movement of those who made eye contact with them. Because of that, destroying their eyes early on would make the later phases of the fight so much easier.
Since fighting two Black Dragons at the same time would surely lead to accidents, the plan was to have a secondary unit distract one, luring it away from the main battle. For this reason, many of the Guild’s strongest members had been assigned to the secondary unit.
The main unit was composed of eleven members. Among them were three Tanks: Garm and two members of Golden Tune. All of the other Tanks who had been taught their role by Garm were assigned to the secondary unit. The main unit’s two Healers were Tsutomu and Eunice, while the remaining four Guild Healers and the other Golden Tune Healer went to the secondary unit.
Tsutomu’s initial plan was to assign Eunice to the secondary unit, but then he had reluctantly agreed to let her into the main unit after being told by the secondary unit’s fierce-looking leader to take at least one person along as an assistant. The band’s support and healing were already enough help, so Eunice, with her constant smug look, only served to grate his nerves.
Holding a small, sound-amplifying Wind Magic Tool, Tsutomu started issuing his orders.
“The three Tanks, spread out and make sure your areas don’t overlap! Maintain <<Combat Cry>> as needed! Don’t use <<Warrior Howl>>!”
The skill <<Warrior Howl>> incited the hostility of monsters through the banging of shields and armor pieces, but the aggro-generating effect applied to all monsters that heard the sound. As such, skills that generated aggro on individual targets like <<Combat Cry>> and <<Taunt Swing>> were more suitable for this fight.
The Tanks proceeded to use those two skills to generate aggro, bashing the Dragon with their weapon and hitting it with red auras. Among them, Garm had the highest aggro level on him; when the Black Dragon started to try and trample over Garm, Tsutomu directed the Attackers toward the monster.
Amy focused on the Black Dragon’s wings, repeatedly cutting them with <<Dual Wave Slash>>, and Camille in her <<Dragon Form>> took the lead in a head-on attack. Two Attackers followed, while the remaining two stood by to switch out and observe the Black Dragon’s movements.
Meanwhile, Tsutomu tried his best to quantify the Attackers’ hits, estimating their aggro levels — not exactly accurate numbers, but good enough to be used as reference. Eventually, he decided that it was time for the Attackers to momentarily pull back.
“<<Medic>>.”
Tsutomu patched the Tanks up while keeping an eye on the Black Dragon. Fortunately, Garm could maintain the situation by himself. That was a great help to the rest of the unit, since Golden Tune’s Tank was not so dependable.
“<<Medic>>.”
On the ground level, Eunice was helping to refresh the energy of the Attackers and Tanks as well. Tsutomu only hoped that she would not accidentally get her positive spells on the Black Dragon.
The battle was proceeding without any particular problems. The Black Dragon’s attack patterns were not so different from those of the Fire Dragons, and it did not look like it was going to fly anytime soon, so Garm was able to stall it down well enough.
Although he was being thrown around quite a lot, and his tower shield was taking so many claw swipes, his non-LUK status values being constantly boosted meant that he had no problems staying in the fight. Even the Minstrels’ low-power healing Skill <<Affection Oratorio>> was enough to keep him at full health.
The smooth sailing ended when the Black Dragon pulled its head back and breathed in, however. What followed that was black flame — a flame that would not die out naturally until its victims were reduced to ashes — streaming out of the Black Dragon’s mouth onto the three Tanks. Without the right countermeasures, it was impossible to defend against.
“<<Holy>>.”
Tsutomu, after confirming the Black Dragon’s movements again, cast <<Holy>> without adjusting his mental energy consumption. As Garm prepared to take more of the Black Dragon’s attacks, and the two other Tanks were running around in a panic, pillars of light rose from under their feet. The black flames disappeared before they could deal significant damage to any of the three.
[I do want to save on my energy by not using <<Holy>> so much, but then I’d be worried about the Tanks’ visibility… Yeah, better not be stingy. Only Garm is handling himself perfectly fine, after all — the others are scared like normal people would.]
While the black flames had been burning him, Garm had managed to keep calm and defend against the Black Dragon’s front leg swipes. The other two Tanks, however, had clearly been panicking. Their bodies had been on fire, after all; it would be strange not to be upset by that. Tsutomu cast <<Heal>> for all three, while keeping in mind to use <<Holy>> to extinguish the flames as soon as possible from this point on.
But then he heard the sounds of crackling wood coming from below, where the flames should not be burning. It turned out that the Black Dragon’s flames were indeed burning the loose debris ground; they were not spreading, but they were not about to put themselves out, either.
Although the black flames looked like fire, they were not actual fire, but rather the form of a curse that happened to look like it. Tsutomu used <<Holy>> to extinguish the black flames that remained on the ground.
[So they stick to the surfaces, too… This might be a problem.]
This phenomenon had never happened in the game, forcing Tsutomu to change up his pattern of skills, adding another step to deal with random spots of flames. By using the normal method, it was quite a tedious task to put out even the smallest of such flames, so Tsutomu sighed and cast <<Holy Wing>> to deal with the minor burning ones all at once.
The Attackers, routinely switched out with those on standby, peeled off the Black Dragon’s scales and tough hind leg shells while focusing their attacks on its wings. Tsutomu watched the situation from above and occasionally gave his orders to help the team manage aggro levels, making sure that the Black Dragon kept its attacks focused on the Tanks.
“Fireball from the left! Attackers, take cover!”
Whenever the Fire Dragon’s stray flames were coming their way, Tsutomu would immediately warn them so that they could take cover accordingly. Whenever the Black Dragon unleashed its breaths, he would have the Attackers disrupt it, and then cast <<Holy>> to extinguish the flames. He was quick to cast <<Heal>> for the Tanks, too.
Eventually, the other two Tanks got over their fear of the black flames after getting repeatedly burned by them and promptly healed. They were able to move well enough to give Garm some breathing room. Using Garm’s movements as a reference, they defended against the Black Dragon’s attacks… and got knocked away, but then quickly got back up and unleashed more <<Combat Cries>>.
On the Attackers’ side, they were doing well at wearing down the Dragon. An Attacker would get hit by its tail every once in a while, but by the time they felt the pain, they were already fixed up by Tsutomu’s <<Heal>>. And whenever black flames got onto them, Tsutomu would promptly help them out with <<Holy>>. Since the Black Dragon’s attacks were not directed at the Attackers, it did not manage to deal much damage.
Eunice also was casting <<Heal>>, primarily for the Attackers, but Tsutomu’s shots would beat her to the punch most of the time. She looked at Tsutomu and clicked her tongue out of frustration, then decided to instead set up an <<Area Heal>> where two Attackers were resting and cast <<Medic>> for them.
“Hah!”
Camille, in her <<Dragon Form>>, cut apart the tendon of one of the Dragon’s hind legs. Amy focused her strikes on the shallow spots to make sure that it was bleeding constantly, and the Deputy Guild Master provided support by using his Spiritualist skills to repeatedly summon Spirits and attack with them.
The Black Dragon screamed as it spat black flames into the sky, then it flailed its neck, scattering the flames all over the place — a wide-area attack. Everyone tried to avoid the flames the best they could; the Tanks, being the primary targets, were all hit. Several Attackers also accidentally stepped on the flames that burned on the ground, and Eunice ended up catching a little of it on her tail.
“Owowow!”
Panic ensued, especially among those who had just been hit for the first time; some of those in panic ended up running into those who had avoided the flames, igniting them as well. Eunice also ran around, agitated by her tail’s burning.
“Calm down! That Black Dragon isn’t coming over this way! Don’t move away from your positions!”
Camille’s dignified voice came through, helping the panicked Attackers to regain their composure. Since the Black Dragon was focusing on the Tanks, the Attackers were not in any real danger. Its black flames may have the psychological effect of hotness, their actual heat was on a perfectly bearable level.
“<<Holy Wing>>.”
Tsutomu, after dodging all the flames in the sky, cast the skill to materialize Holy-elemental auras in the form of feathers, scattering them around to extinguish the black flames on the Tanks, and then the Attackers as well. As Eunice ran around with tears welling in her eyes, one of the feathers flew into her tail, getting rid of the flame on it.
“<<Heal>>.”
Then Tsutomu waved his staff, scattering what seemed to be a mist with healing properties, mending the wounds of all the Attackers below him. Although a wide-ranged healing skill existed in the form of <<Aura Heal>>, this was not it; rather, this was the regular <<Heal>> changed into mist form, which did not generate nearly as much aggro. He had come up with this while observing Eunice’s earlier attempts at casting <<Heal>>.
[Good thing it was not a real flame,] Tsutomu thought to himself while looking at Eunice’s easily flammable tail, and then turned to the Black Dragon as it continued to scatter flames in a rampage.
The Dragon’s golden eyes had changed to red, and had a suspicious glow about them. This was a sign that more than half of its vitality had been depleted, and that its <<Mystic Eyes>> had activated.
“Be careful of the <<Mystic Eyes>>! Avoid eye contact as much as you can! Shout out loud if you can’t move!” Tsutomu shouted as loud as he increased his concentration.
Although it was rarely used in the game, the <<Mystic Eyes>> was a dangerous technique that paralyzed any who made eye contact with them. It may be different here, however; there was no telling when and for how long it could be active.
One of the Tanks, hit by the <<Mystic Eyes>> while still being burned by the black flame, immediately shouted out, prompting Tsutomu to first cast <<Medic>> to cure the paralyzing effect. But then she ended up looking at the Black Dragon’s face again, getting paralyzed once more not long after.
“We don’t know how far its effect reaches, so for now, you’ll have to test it out yourself! I’d suggest looking at its neck instead, and watch out for its biting attacks! I won’t be able to heal you if you get eaten!”
Being told all that, the Tank turned away from the Black Dragon, and then Tsutomu cast <<Medic>> on her. It was harder than anticipated to avoid eye contact with the Black Dragon, however, so the Tank ended up repeatedly paralyzed. Understanding that she would not get things right immediately, Tsutomu continued casting <<Medic>> for her whenever needed.
Tsutomu’s routine now included aggro management, healing, recovering status effects, and also extinguishing the black flames that could burn the Tanks and Attackers at any moment. He estimated his remaining mental energy by the sensation of his body, drinking Blue Potions whenever he had the chance and felt the need to. The band’s constant mental recovery effect only amounted to a little at a time; it was useful in the long-term, but not so much in short bursts of consumption.
[Man, I really want a Channeler or an Enchanter right about now…] Tsutomu complained to himself while sipping his Blue Potion and carrying on his work on auto-pilot, disgruntled by how Jobs with skills related to buffing mental energy was practically an endangered species here.
The paralysis effect of <<Mystic Eyes>> was especially disruptive to the Tanks, leading them to take more and heavier hits, and in turn increasing the frequency of healing needed.
At one point, one of the Tanks got bitten and lifted up by the Black Dragon; Tsutomu broke out in cold sweat and hurried to shoot an <<Air Blade>> at one of its eyes, managing to startle the Dragon into dropping down. While she was falling, Camille caught her and brought her to Tsutomu.
While the Tank struggled to remove the busted-up armor off her right arm, her breathing was chaotic and shallow; Tsutomu promptly cast <<Heal>> on her.
The Tank’s arm was practically dangling now, and also had holes where one could see through them, but it still could be healed if given enough time. Tsutomu proceeded to repeatedly cast <<High Heal>> to mend the Tank’s wounds, relieved that the worst had not come to pass; if she had been eaten back there, she would have certainly died.
“T-thank you.”
“Save that for later. Please hurry and return to your position.”
“Y-yes!”
While Tsutomu was focusing on one Tank, Garm and another Tank were suffering from their own injuries, and the spreading black flames limited their mobility. He had to get things back up and running quickly — while focusing on the task at hand, he also quickly shot some <<Heal>> spheres at the two others. Eventually, the wounded Tank was good to go again.
After that, Golden Tune’s Tanks ended up getting stepped on and bitten several times, each time practically giving Tsutomu a heart attack. Thanks to the Attackers’ help, however, the Tanks were able to avoid death through it all.
Gradually, all three Tanks got used to dealing with the <<Mystic Eyes>>, helping to make it easier for Tsutomu to anticipate when they would be paralyzed and when to cast <<Medic>> accordingly.
The Black Dragon went on to scatter around black flames several times, and each time Tsutomu would intercept most of them with <<Holy Wing>> before they could touch the ground. The scattering had a pattern to it, which made it easy to predict.
[Just die already!]
Tsutomu, while providing support to his allies, directed his pent-up hostile emotions at the Black Dragon. Although the monster was weakened by blood loss and Camille’s repeated slashes, it showed no signs of collapsing anytime soon. By now, the Tanks were no longer afraid of the black flames, and had gotten used to avoiding the <<Mystic Eyes>>. Tsutomu was doing well at dealing with the flames and unforeseen occurrences, too.
But then, the Black Dragon started acting in a way never seen before. It spewed a stream of black flames onto the ground, then threw itself into it.
Tsutomu thought for a second that it was killing itself, but then it walked out unscathed, the black flames now covering its body. It proceeded to attack the Tanks in its powered-up state.
First it swung at Garm with its burning tail, igniting his tower shield. With the curse of black flames added to its physical attacks, the Attackers started to get burned as well. Tsutomu was fed up with everything by now, but he had no choice but to deal with them all.
[Come on, just die already!]
Tsutomu’s workload was getting greater and greater. He still had enough time to think and strategize, however — first he analyzed the available information in his head, then gave out orders and cast skills that best fit the situation. His desire to kill the Dragon did not slow his actions and thought processes. In fact, he could still think clearly enough to keep track of the durations of the band’s buffs.
Moreover, he was able to quickly react to the Black Dragon’s flame-inducing physical attacks. As its claws and scales fell off, he would cast <<Holy Wing>> to extinguish the black flames on those exposed spots, sealing off the additional attack and defense power the flames provided.
The Attackers were starting to get used to its wide-area attacks, too. Now there was nothing the Black Dragon could do, and eventually, Tsutomu’s workload was reduced considerably.
“<<Power Slash>>!”
Once the Black Dragon’s movements slowed down, Camille rushed at its chest, then slit its neck with her greatsword. Although showering in its gushing blood, she proceeded to drag her greatsword downward.
The Black Dragon, choked with blood, let out an almost inaudible scream. With the monster finally immobile, Camille stabbed through its head, killing it off for real.
The Attackers celebrated, two of the Tanks slumped down in relief, and Tsutomu heaved a deep sigh now that one job was out of the way.
“Let’s take a short break, then go kill the other one!”
While Tsutomu talked, the others continued to celebrate. After that, the main unit joined up with the secondary unit that had been stalling the other Black Dragon all this time, and together, they defeated it without much difficulty.
In the end, the Guild successfully defeated the two Black Dragons without suffering a single casualty.
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