The dragon roared in anger, and I immediately began flying backwards. Its shoulders adjusted slightly as if it was about to turn toward me, but it changed its mind once it saw my speed. I approached it again, and the only commitment I was able to get from the creature was its head turning to keep me in its vision.

  This back and forth continued three times. I would approach the dragon as close as I dared in an attempt to get it to follow me, but my nerve would break before it committed to attack me. It knew I was following it, but it wouldn’t commit to an attack until there was a real possibility it could catch me.

  That was the privilege of a predator. The dragon viewed me as little more than an uppity prey animal, so it did not need to bother with my provocations. I was a pomeranian barking at a lion.

  Now, how am I supposed to draw aggro?

  What?

  Don’t worry about it. I need the dragon to attack me.

  If you want the dragon to view you as a potential threat, you need to prove that you can scratch its hide.

  All right. I should have something for that.

  The dragon would certainly have very high damage resistance. If I hit it with a Wind Knife or an Ice Spear, it was very possible that the beast wouldn’t even notice. No, I would need to deal more than forty damage in one attack.

  “Confirma magicae, di potentes, di silvestres, di daemones ultores. Exalta me usque ad mundum geometrica…”

  I began to mutter the incantation for the ritual of empowerment under my breath. The dragon kept its eyes on me as I spoke, but it didn’t recognize my ominous chanting as a threat. My chanting reached a fever pitch as I slowly filtered 50 points of mana through my staff. It began glowing red as it exuded enough heat to kill a normal person.

  “Sagitta fulgur!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, extending my staff toward the dragon.

  A deafening boom filled the air as a bolt of blue lightning was burned into my retinas. It completed its circuit between my staff and the dragon’s unsuspecting body at such a high speed that I could only perceive the echo of existence. The bolt struck the black dragon, causing some of the armored scales on its back to fly off and its skin underneath to crackle. The dragon jerked in the air as its muscles were briefly wrenched from its control.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Despite my best efforts, a sadistic smile crossed over my face. That would certainly be enough to get the attention of the “lion.”

  The dragon no longer had the option to just ignore me. Even with the dragon’s high damage resistance, that attack must have done more than a hundred damage. Unfortunately for me, black dragons typically had about 800 HP.

  The moment the black dragon was free of the electricity coursing through its body, it rotated its whole body toward me and screamed at a volume that almost matched the roar of lightning from moments before. It opened its mouth like a snake about to strike, and I could see a blazing furnace inside of its stomach.

  With hasty expedience, I swiftly holstered my wand and pulled the hem of my long coat in front of my head and body. An instant later, a river of flame washed over me. The air surrounding me was replaced completely with flame, forcing me to hold my breath. The temperature was so high that anywhere the flame touched me, my skin was discolored slightly, and a few of the hairs on my arm were burnt off. It wasn’t enough to break through my fire resistance, however. My coat caught the brunt of the attack, preventing the vulnerable items and clothing hidden on my body from catching fire.

  After nearly five seconds of being engulfed in flame, the attack stopped, and I was left intact. Confusion passed over the dragon’s face, giving me a chance to respond. I drew my wand, and I was flying at full speed away from the dragon within seconds.

  The black dragon lurched in the air and began accelerating in my direction. It was a big creature, so its acceleration was slow. Based on my memory of [Ferrum Online], dragons’ long wingspan allowed them to reach incredibly high speeds, especially when diving. That was their preferred hunting method. They would typically strafe their targets at high speed and unleash streams of fire out of their mouths.

  I flew through the air, staying within the dragon’s field of vision. The beast followed me, and it slowly gained speed as its enormous leathery wings beat faster and faster. Heading towards the ambush point, I began to descend.

  As I swiftly bled altitude, the dragon started gaining speed at a concerning rate. I grit my teeth as I realized that the [Fly] spell was limiting the speed of my descent. My body was weightless, so I gained none of the speed boost that one would typically gain from falling.

  Doing some mental calculations, I realized that the dragon would reach me before I reached the ambush point if I flew in a straight line.

  By the Gods Below, you’re going to get us killed!

  I grit my teeth. If I was going to finish the mission without getting my chest torn open by an angry apex predator, I would have to do something crazy. The angle of my ongoing [Gust] spell altered, and I stopped descending. Though I continued moving toward the ambush location, my only movement was horizontal.

  After a minute of flight, the dragon was almost on top of me. I had reached the ambush position, but the five explosive barrels were more than eighty meters down.

  As the dragon reached its glinting talons that were strong enough to tear through steel toward me, I dropped concentration on the [Fly] spell. My body entered freefall, and I began rocketing toward the ground.