'Everything should be fine, right? The Duke is a level 65 rare elite. A whole 10 levels higher, he should be able to deal with that drake without a problem, shouldn't he?' Jack asked Peniel.
"Not necessarily," Peniel replied. "It usually takes several humans to deal with same grade and same level monster. Not to mention this is a drake. Though it is not a true dragon, it is considered a lesser one. It had the bloodline of a dragon, which is the strongest of all monsters, crossing through its vein. The battle will not be easy."
The Grim Sand Drake made another roar before a cloud of yellow dust shot out from its mouth. The dust swirled with high speed at Duke Alfredo in the air.
The Duke twirled his left hand and a spell formation formed rapidly. A large rectangular Magic Wall was formed in front of the Duke. The yellow dust slammed at the Magic Wall which trembled significantly. Many cracks appeared on the Magic Wall but it stayed intact.
The Drake roared again, angry that its attack had failed.
'Luckily the Duke can fly. The drake can't do anything to him as long as he is in the air,' Jack said in his mind. 'Peniel, is that flying a spell too? Can I fly as well?'
"You can, so hurry up and level up," Peniel replied.
'Yeah! I am fired up!' Jack exclaimed inwardly. The anticipation to be able to soar the sky with such freedom was too hard to pass up.
Duke Alfredo made his move again. His two hands extended out and runes started forming on both sides.
Dual-casting? Jack thought after seeing it. The Duke also did not use any magic weapons like wands or staffs. However, his gloves had large gems attached to the back of his palm, which were now shining with unnatural light. Jack assumed those gloves were a substitute for the magic weapons.
The drake shot out another yellow dust at the Duke. Perhaps the Duke knew that his Magic Wall won't last another shot, so he flew away. Which was the right call, as the Magic Wall shattered after being hit by this second shot and spread out to where the Duke was a moment ago.
The residue of the drake's yellow dust fell to the ground and corroded it. A large stone that was touched by this residue started melting. Jack was alarmed by the sight. If that yellow dust hit him directly, he was sure that he would be gone in an instant. The soldiers which saw the sight instinctively and simultaneously took a uniformed step back.
Jack returned his attention to the Duke and saw that he had completed his spells. There were five runes on both the spell formations.
Crimson chains shot out from all around the Grim Sand Drake as one of the Duke's spells took effect. They spun around the drake and clamped themselves onto the drake's body, keeping it in place.
The Duke then cast his second spell. Hundreds of spears materialized around the drake and shot forward with high speed, impaling the drake all over its body, making it looked like an extremely oversized porcupine.
There was no movement after that. Everybody was watching with bated breath. Then a low growl was heard from that mass of spears. Jack could feel the rage within that growl. A growl which slowly increased in intensity, and culminated into a thundering roar.
All the spears were shattered into particles as the body of the Grim Sand Drake was back into full view. The crimson chains holding it were stretched to the limit before they finally succumbed and broke into pieces.
The Grim Sand Drake stared at the floating Duke as its eyes glowed an eerie yellow. A surge of aura exploded out with the drake as its center. The Duke's body suddenly plummeted as the aura encompassed him.
"Gravity pull!" Jack heard Peniel's voice.
'The drake can use magic?' Jack asked.
"Dragon can. Drake is part dragon, so some of them possessed a few magical abilities too."
The Duke tried to fight the pull as his body slowed its descent, but he was having a problem just to maintain the altitude, much less casting a spell.
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The Grim Sand Drake was waiting down there with its maw open wide, ready to gobble the Duke up.
As the Duke was in a critical situation, Jack saw several figures rushed out with their mounts from the side. He looked over and found the one leading was Commander Quintus. There were four of them. They dismounted once they entered the Gravity Pull area of effect, as their mounts could not proceed any further.
Jack wondered if they would be okay. Although the commander was at a higher level than the Grim Sand Drake, he was one grade lower than the monster. The others should be around the same level and grade as the Commander.
Three of them rushed ahead to meet the Drake head-on while the fourth who was a female stayed outside the area. She pulled out a very large bow and started releasing arrows. Each of the arrows shot had sparks of lightning following it. Every time an arrow hit, a lightning bolt came down from the sky and struck the exact same spot.
The three that attempted to engage the drake in melee, layers of golden plates suddenly came down from the sky and enfolded their bodies. Jack looked up and saw the high priest Laurent who was also floating in the sky. The golden plates came from him. The golden plates absorbed damages that were inflicted on the three melee NPCs engaging the drake.
Laurent cast another spell. Ring of light encircled the Duke. The strong pull that kept him anchored was suddenly no more. He immediately flew higher. He said to the others, "hold it down for a few minutes!"
The Duke pointed both his palm to the sky. Runic symbol started forming slowly above him.
It's huge! Jack thought after seeing the beginning of the rune that was still forming in the sky. What kind of spell was that? Why was the rune so big?
On the land, Commander Quintus and the others kept the Grim Sand Drake busy. The commander was using a two-handed long blade as a weapon. The blade was so long that it was even longer than the commander's body if measured from head to toe. Yet, the commander handled it with great fluidity.
Jack remembered when he sparred with the commander. At that time, the commander was using a simple long stick. That stick could be considered short if looking at his current weapon.
There was a time when the Grim Sand Drake forcefully snapped its maw at the commander. Jack thought at the time that the commander was sure to enter the drake's stomach already. But when the maw clamped close, the commander's body disappeared as several black shadows appeared all around the drake's head. These shadows slashed at the drake with light speed before combining back into the commander who was unscathed.
Damn, that was one cool skill! Jack exclaimed in his mind. He wondered if he could ask the commander to teach him the skill.
'Hey Peniel! Can a native teach a skill to an outworlder?'
"No," Peniel's voice replied shortly.
Dang, such a pity!
"But if you have a high scroll-making skill, at least master grade, or find someone who is. You can ask that person to work with the native to create a technique book, which then you can learn the skill from said book. Of course, that is considering that the native is willing to go through the troublesome process of making that book."
'Oh, so it is not an impossibility. Okay, I will keep that in mind,' Jack said.
"By the way, do you plan to steal the final hit again like last time?" Peniel asked.
'Do you mean kill-steal? Do you think I am crazy? With that thing's level and grade, I doubt if I can give it any damage even if I use my strongest attack. Unless the Duke purposefully left its life hanging by 1 HP, and holds that thing long enough for me to get near, there is no way I can kill-steal. One sneeze from it is enough to kill me.'
"Good. I guess there is still hope for you," Peniel commented.
The heck, did she really thought of him as that reckless? Jack thought.
Laurent who was in the sky kept on casting support spells on the combatants below, occasionally healing them if they were wounded. In the meantime, the Duke continued to form the gigantic spell formation.
There were already five completed runes on that bloody thing, the sixth one was in progress. How many runes were needed for that spell? Not to mention the lines and symbols inside the runes were much more complicated than the normal ones. It was even more complex than the trial spell formation which Janus had given him.