Vol 12: Chapter 8-1.
Still Xuan who piloted the Sky Stick. The other three people hung onto the ropes just like before.Zheng wanted to pilot the Sky Stick at first but Xuan shut him up with a reply. “You’re too impulsive. It will make everyone of us feel dangerous.” He had no choice but to accept this reality.
They checked their equipments carefully before boarding. Their best weapon for slaying dinosaurs, the EMP rifle, was rendered useless. In contrast, if bombs were effective, the last gravity mine was probably the key to killing the dragon. Since it was a close range weapon that was capable of killing the dragon. The question was, how would they get the dragon to step on it?
“It has a pair of wings just like dragons in legends. God also said it's a magical beast so I think it can fly. Having the dragon step on the mine is the most difficult problem we have now.” Zheng sighed.
WangXia touched the black sphere and said. “Isn’t there twenty four hours? Can this be the time given to us to find the dragon’s pattern? Like where it would go everyday, where it hunts for preys, the location of its lair. We can plant the mine at somewhere it passes through.”
Xuan nodded. “Quite possible. That might be the use of these twenty four hours. That’s why we need to observe the dragon now. Zheng, how far away from it were you? We shouldn’t get past this distance when there are too many uncertainties.”
Zheng thought for a bit then said. “Around two kilometers. Since it was hunting for the T-Rex, I am not sure if it saw me or not.”
They heard the dragon’s deep roar again as their conversation went on. They looked at each other then Xuan piloted the Sky Stick toward the direction of the roar. In a few minutes, they saw a black figure below.
This western dragon was approximately 38 meters from head to tail, 20 meters in height. The ground trembled with each step it took.
This was Zheng’s second time seeing the dragon. He didn’t panic like before. Though Kampa and WangXia totally shocked with their mouths wide open. To be honest, Zheng wanted to see Xuan’s expression right now. Even a totally logical person should feel strange at something that couldn’t be explained with science.
“How’s it? Did you get the notifications yet?” Zheng asked in a low voice.
Kampa and WangXia both nodded. They weren’t looking that great. You couldn’t imagine the this feeling by just hearing it from someone. They finally understood why Zheng pulled out the two books. If the mine wasn’t effective, this bonus mission might be the end of them.
Xuan had turned the Sky Stick around. They landed after flying for five kilometers. The roars were still so clear despite the distance. The dragon was just too huge and it didn’t hinder its speed. In contrast, the brontosaurus that had a huge body was slow.
Their faces weren’t looking good. Xuan was frowning, perhaps because he was thinking intensely or because he wasn’t in a good mood. He crouched down and drew on the ground with a tree branch.
“Let’s sum up the descriptions of dragons in games, movies, anime, and novels. What is the strongest dragon like? And what is the weakest one like?” Xuan muttered.
Kampa said first. “I like reading novels that follow D&D rules. Dragons usually know draconic magic. Their strength tend to be proportional to their age. But this one is too huge. A dragon this size is at least a great wyrm or even older. In the rules, this kind of dragon can easily destroy a city with magic. Its breath attacks can rival an army. Though we can’t even fight a young adult in close range following the rules.”
Xuan drew on the ground then said. “This dragon can’t be as powerful as you said with a rank B reward difficulty. Setting its size aside, it's certain the dragon can’t use any magic, or we wouldn’t be able to kill it even with a surprise attack.” He then turned to WangXia.
WangXia said. “I don’t have any idea on this. I usually spent my time training and going on missions. There was not much time for this type of novels and movies. Sorry.”
“No need to apologize.” Zheng patted his shoulder. “Everyone has their speciality. Just like my attacks, your explosives, Kampa’s firepower, and Xuan’s analysis. We are a team. As to the dragons, I just saw the movie Eragon a while ago. That dragon can’t use any magic. Aside from body attacks and flying, it can only use a fire breath attack. However, its size is vastly different from this one. The dragon in the movie is only several meters long, more like a flying lizard.”
Xuan drew a bit more then muttered. “To sum it up, based on the hint that this is a magical beast, we can’t judge it with science. It is certain to be able to fly despite its size. Secondly, it can use a breath attack, be it fire, ice, acid, or poison. These are the characteristics of all magical dragons. In other words, we aren’t absolutely safe even if the Sky Stick is faster than it. Third, there’s a 10% chance it can use magic. If that’s the case, then we are done for. Lastly, is the question about its perception. Does it has any special ability beyond scientific reasoning? Such as is it certain to discover us when we get close enough? Will it discover the mine that we set? How effective are other high tech weapons?”
Xuan stood up. “This is our current situation. My suggestion is not to fight it face to face. We will start with a mine attack. If it works then the mission is completed. Otherwise, we will test missiles to see whether it is completely or partially immuned. This is important. If it's the latter, we can lure it to the carrier fleet in the twenty four hours and use the fleet’s power against it. Let’s set the mine first.”
They were being extremely careful. Xuan piloted the Sky Stick up, then he and Zheng studied the ground. Places where trees were broken were obviously stepped on by the dragon. A few places had large piles of bones, and one place stacked with a large amount of trees and branches. Its shape seemed to be where the dragon rested. The dragon was currently not far away from his resting place.
“WangXia, set a timed bomb here with a 5 minute timer. A second one behind this with a 5 minute 30 second timer. Another one here with a 6 minute timer. Set the gravity mine in between the 5 minute 30 second and 6 minute bombs.”