Level 1 Fallen

Chapter 181: Dragonfall

Despite my best efforts to maintain a relatively low profile, it didn’t take long for the rest of the unit to begin to stand out. Given that they were able to absorb most of the light-based skills of the opponents to become stronger, and did not need to worry about burning through their mana, each of them quickly created a zone of death around them, in which no Light army soldier could enter for more than a moment.

Naturally, this quickly led to them being targeted by the assassins of the enemy side. Since I had my hands full elsewhere on the battlefield, I couldn’t prevent two of the mages from being taken out by stealthy foes.

However, before I was able to get to the others to play defense, a heavy pressure seemed to emerge on the battlefield. The arrows and spells from the Light army stopped all at once, and more than twenty people walked over the hill, each one dressed in unique attire and carrying what was undoubtedly an iconic weapon for them, whether it was a hammer with a sun engraved on it, a spear shaped like a bolt of lightning, or a glowing staff.

Glancing around, I saw that the Light army had begun steadily being pushed back. Or rather, they were fighting while retreating, giving more room for these new individuals to take action. Without hesitation, I sent Diane a message, informing her that the Grandmasters had appeared.

Now, it was my turn to act, if for no other reason than to provide a chance for more of our group to be able to retreat safely. I jumped into the air, transforming into my silver-scaled dragon form using the King of All Trades skill as the focus. Both sides of the conflict looked up at me, having not seen my appearance before transformation, and thus not knowing which side I belonged to.

Given the coloring of my scales, it would have made sense if I was part of the Light side army. However, I quickly put those thoughts to rest with a loud cry, conjuring black spears in the air and raining them down over the army of the Light side.

Down below, I could hear Diane calling for our unit to pull back, but I had to focus. There were at least twenty grandmasters here, which meant that I had to be careful just to keep myself alive. Otherwise, I would be spending quite a while inside the Light side’s prison.

One of the reinforcements, a man with a giant, white shield, jumped forward. He appeared in the center of the retreating Light army and lifted his shield high, deploying a giant barrier of light that blocked my rain of spears. At the same time, a woman with a glowing bow took aim at me, firing off countless arrows of light.

Trying to block the attack of a grandmaster was suicide, so I manifested a small platform  between my hind legs, using it as a foothold to activate Glancing Steps-X, teleporting out of the way of the attack. Instead, I appeared behind the line of reinforcements, and conjured a dozen swords of flame with my Fire King skill, ordering them to go on a rampage in the line of mages and archers.

While the swords flew down to the startled forces, I began to fly up, not wanting to be a stationary target. I could already see that the archer had turned her gaze back to me, and was aiming another shot. So far, I had only managed to distract two of their grandmasters, which was not even nearly enough, given that the others were already advancing towards the Dark army.

How could I get more of them to focus on me? I still had my enchantments from the siege the other day, so I activated the Crystal Fortress enchantment, conjuring a dome of crystal around the Light army and its grandmasters. In my mind, that should have at least forced them to pause long enough to give my people more time to retreat.

What I didn’t expect was a man with giant gauntlets to run forward and smash an entire section of the wall almost immediately, a manic grin on his face. Clearly, these weren’t just lower-tier grandmasters like the one that Diane fought. These were the upper echelons, possibly on the level of Kelly even.

That realization sent a shiver down my spine, quickly rolling to the side in midair. Pain shot through my wing as a pillar of light shot out from the archer’s bow, shredding my right wing apart. I let out a pained hiss, creating a foothold and teleporting higher while focusing on healing.

However, as soon as I appeared up in the sky, I saw the man with the thunderbolt spear taking aim, lightning crackling over his body. With one powerful throw, he launched the spear up into the sky, summoning bolts of lightning that struck all over my body.

My mind went blank, stunned as I began to fall. Dimly, I was aware of the ground getting closer and closer. The archer was already aiming at me again, preparing to fire off another shot as I fell. I knew that I had enough time for one move, so I created another foothold to teleport back behind the Dark army’s backline, crashing into the ground.

I was faintly aware of five dark-cloaked figures emerging from the Dark army to intercept the grandmasters, and then my vision went black.

When I awoke, I was still in my draconic form, though I was now positioned near the Dark army camp, Diane sitting on a bench nearby. I slowly lifted my head, wincing at the pain surging through my neck and spine. “Did we win?” I asked with a weak chuckle, causing Diane to jump to her feet.

When she turned to face me, I could see that her brand was dim, so I must have been out for several hours. “You’re awake?” she asked hesitantly, looking at my body. Understanding what she meant, I began using my healing skill again and again, working to recover from all of the damage.

“Yeah… I was not expecting so many people at that level,” I muttered. “What happened after I passed out?”

Diane let out a sigh, shaking her head. “Our camp sent out their battlefield grandmasters, but there were only five of them. Two of them got taken down by the enemy assault, leaving us with just three left. If we don’t get any more reinforcements soon, the big commanders will need to take action themselves.”

“As for our squad, six of them fell. Two were during the initial assault, and another four were struck during the retreat. If Lora wasn’t skilled with teleportation abilities, we wouldn’t have been able to recover you from the battlefield. But, when my Player told them that you were… well, you, she stepped forward to teleport you out of the battlefield.”

Listening to the explanation, I had a certain understanding of events. Most likely, Lora’s skill came with several drawbacks, or else she would be able to use it for far more than just helping a single dragon retreat. For instance, the target might have to be unresisting, and she might need to have visited her destination prior.

“Got it. How long was I out?”

“Eight hours,” Diane answered promptly. “My Player just logged off for the night about an hour ago.”

I gave a small nod, shifting back into my normal form and rolling my shoulders. “I need to really not do that again… Having my wing shot off is not a fun experience…”

Diane rolled her eyes with a small smirk beneath her facemask. “I’m sure. Still, it was better than it would have been otherwise. According to Lora, we might have lost at least half of the infantry if you hadn’t gone up. And this gave Dylon the perfect excuse to demand reinforcements.”

After she said that, she lowered her head. “Though, according to my player, that means that we won’t have as big of a role anymore. With more high-level combat power being brought in, the focus of the battles will shift further and further away from the regular infantry. After all, once they take the field, the only thing the armies can do is pull back to try to get out of the crossfire.”

I grunted slightly at this news, knowing that it couldn’t be helped. There would still be skirmishes for the infantry, but it was no longer what would decide the battle at the end of the day. “So, most people will get far less credits than normal for this dungeon run.”

“That’s right. Though, that shouldn’t be a problem for the two of us. Since my Player managed to take out a grandmaster, and you killed a large number of archers and mages at the end, we should have quite a bit more than normal. As for Bella, she should be fine. I spoke to her while I was waiting for you to wake up, and she said that she managed to get quite a few kills over the last few days.”

That was good to know, at least. Though, this whole dungeon was still in its research phase, so the particular rules and different routes were still being uncovered. “In other words, because a player emerged that was able to take out a grandmaster, the main focus of the dungeon started to shift towards that level of combat. However, that fight isn’t something you can easily reproduce, so we’re stuck on the sidelines now.”

“That about sums it up,” Diane confirmed. “Micah agrees that they shouldn’t try to target grandmasters in future runs of the dungeon. Not until they are able to reliably fight against them. Aside from that, he thinks that the Instructor role might be a sort of double-edged sword. My Player explained what you told me about the skill creation system, and while it is useful, there are easier ways of getting the same results.”

“However, it encourages the overall level of the dungeon to increase, so it leads to lesser rewards for everyone else involved. Similarly, the Grandmaster role should only be used when we are ready for fights to focus on that level. Meanwhile, the Noble role is one that he wants to consider exploring more. Theoretically, that role could put someone in the upper command structure, meaning that they could supply the army with additional supplies and influence the overall command structure.”

“They’d need to get the local king to take part for that to happen,” I pointed out. “If you didn’t have Noble as an option when you came in, then it should only work for the higher ranks of nobility.” As for me playing that role myself? I already knew that I was not suitable for that sort of role, so I had not intention of volunteering.

Diane agreed, looking back towards the camp. “For now, we’ll just let things play out as they are. However, it seems that we’ve gotten a good understanding of the dungeon’s main structure. It adapts to the level and actions of players, so it’s best to use as a mid-level hunting ground. We’ll need to find smaller-scale dungeons to level myself and Bella in once we leave here.”

Right, with the battles shifting away from army conflict, that would give those two less chances to level up. “I’ll try to figure something out when we leave,” I promised, and Diane nodded her head with a small smile.

With that taken care of, the two of us made our way back towards our group’s small camp, where the remaining members had solemn looks on their faces. That was understandable, since over a quarter of them had been caught in just their first deployment. They must have realized at this point how much they stood out on a battlefield. Whether that would change how they acted in the following battles, I was not sure.