Chapter 102: Chapter 102 - Frost Dragon(Part 1)

Heh, the bald Knight’s last name was Baldwin, nice. Also, there’s a fucking Dragon right in front of us. It growled at us, before opening its jaws as an icy mist flowed out of its mouth, firing out a powerful burst of frost at us.

I quickly opened a portal into my Pocket Dimension to block the attack, before Rosary and I shot towards the trees and took cover, in one of the few spots that hadn’t caught on fire.

The Frost Dragon was looking a bit agitated, before snarling and firing out blasts of frost at the flames spreading out across the trees and bushes, putting them out.

Oh, I get it...Frost Dragons must be averse to heat. Which could also mean that they’re weak to it. This isn’t a creature I want to fight out in the open, actually, I don’t want to fight it at all. But it’s blocking the path back to the town, so it’s gonna be tough to sneak away.

"I’ve got an idea," I whispered quietly, as the Dragon continued blasting the flames with its frosty breath...that’s probably a good thing, letting the entire forest burn down would be detrimental.

"What is it?" Responded Rosary, keeping her voice down as well.

"It’ll be easier to show than tell. But first, I need to get just a little bit closer," I replied, before silently sneaking forward, staying behind the rows of bushes and trees.

This spot isn’t burning, so the Dragon is unlikely to shoot its frost breath this way. Alright, this should be close enough. Well, even if it isn’t, any further and I’ll be visible to it again.

Elemental Flame: Double Ultra Fire Spear!

I used Distance Casting to activate the Spell from behind the Dragon, to make it seem like something or someone was attacking it from that direction. Powerful blasts of flames burst out behind the Frost Dragon and struck its back, eliciting a sharp roar from the creature...right before it turned its head upwards and burst out an immense blast of frost straight up.

"Oh, no...," Trailed off Rosary wide-eyed, as she stared up at the sky.

Well, that’s not good...thousands of small but very much sharp icicles were raining down all around the area, shooting down towards the ground rapidly, a cold mist spreading out across the area.

"You might want to get closer to me," I suggested, as I opened up a portal right above me, stretching it as wide as I possibly could.

Rosary swiftly scooted in close to me, right as the shards of ice shattered onto the ground all around us, a few small bits of ice hitting us and leaving small cuts and scratches upon impact.

"It’s going to be nearly impossible to slip away unnoticed," Frowned Rosary, as the Frost Dragon began to fly up.

It’s going straight up instead of flying away in Another direction...is it trying to get a better vantage point to try and spot us?

"I don’t suppose you have a Skill that’ll help us get away, do you?" I inquired wryly.

"No, I don’t. I doubt even Stealth would be enough, I’d have to come out into the open before long, and I would still be well within the Dragon’s sights," She grimaced in response.

Ah, so the Skill that lets her sneak around really is Stealth, I guessed right. She doesn’t seem to have realized that she let it slip...yeah, there’s bigger problems to worry about right now.

"I suppose our only choice is to hide and wait until-...," I trailed off as the Dragon began to charge up its frost breath immensely up there, "Hey, uh...I don’t know about you, but that looks pretty bad."

"A direct hit from the breath of a Frost Dragon freezes you solid and kills you instantly...," Muttered Rosary, her eyes widening in alarm.

"We...we should run. Yeah...run!" I exclaimed urgently, as the Dragon fired out a massive blast of frost and ice down at the ground, the air temperature almost instantly dropping several degrees, before the blast even reached the ground.

The two of us raced away, deeper into the trees, the flames starting to peter out as a cold mist rapidly spread out through the area. And as the Dragon’s breath hit the ground, it burst out into a deadly icy shockwave, spreading out in every direction rapidly.

It’s catching up to us, and fast! I then grabbed the back of Rosary’s collar and pulled her back while simultaneously opening a portal into my Pocket Dimension, letting myself fall into it along with her, just in time as the wave of frost began to engulf us.

"Whew, that was close. You okay?" I asked her, as I sat down with a weary sigh, forming a fireball in my palm.

My skin feels slightly frozen, as if it’s been coated in a layer of ice. The wave of frost didn’t even directly hit me...just another second or so and we might’ve been frozen down to the bone.

"I am, thanks to you," She replied gratefully while shivering, as she moved in closer to my fireball, "My skin feels like it’s made of ice, I-I don’t think I’ve ever felt this cold before."

"Yeah, you do look kinda pale. So, uh...how long do you think we should wait before going back out?" I inquired, as the cold began fading from my body.

"Good question...let’s say five minutes, to be safe," She suggested, after mulling it over.

"Well, on the bright side...we know who was behind this, and why they did so. Though one of them escaping was far from ideal," I sighed wistfully.

"Agreed, that could prove to be problematic later. Wait, what do you mean by we know why they did this?" She inquired with a perplexed look on her face.

Oh, right, I forgot that only I heard what they said, thanks to my Super Hearing Skill.

"I could hear them talking. Since Kieph Town’s average Adventurer rank is higher than the nationwide average, the Nobles are wary of this town. But they think it’d be a waste to kill everyone in town, I’m guessing since Adventurers tend to stop and apprehend more Light Continent spies than Knights do, as well as perform more Monster exterminations.

So, instead of wiping out the town, they chose to keep the Adventurers here in check by forcing them to occupy their time with constantly hunting Monsters. That would explain why, despite there always being a large number of Monsters around here, it’s still a manageable amount, without being too overwhelming," I pointed out. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Hm, yes, that would explain it...since the one with the Transport Skill was killed, they probably can’t do this anymore, unless they have someone else with that Skill," Mused Rosary warily.

"I doubt it, I also heard him complaining about how they’ve been at this for years. The way he was talking, it sounded like those two were the only ones directly involved. Though I’m sure there’s plenty more rotten Nobles pulling the strings from the shadows," I grimaced in apprehension.

"No question there. Well, on the bright side, we shouldn’t be seeing any more Monster outbreaks for a while, at least. But on the other hand, there’s no telling how the Nobles will retaliate against us for this. One of their Knight Lieutenants was killed and the other severely injured. Oh, and let’s not forget the Frost Dragon that’s likely rampaging outside right now," She groaned wearily.

"If I could get a clear shot to the neck or head, I could probably kill it with my whip. But despite its size, it’s surprising fast, agile and quick to react, and that frost breath is no joke. Taking on a direct hit from a physical attack from that thing would almost definitely be fatal too. Couldn’t they have just released another Disastrous Grade Monster instead?" I complained in exasperation.

"Yeah, this won’t be easy to deal with. Hm, I think we should go back out now, I doubt it’s still attacking this area," She suggested, as she checked the time.

"Let’s hope you’re right about that," I replied, as I cautiously opened a portal leading back outside, firming a ball of flames in front of myself, just in case.

A stiff, cold breeze blew in, a chill running down my spine as I shivered, before warily peeking out of the portal. Woah...holy shit.

"This looks like there’s been a snowstorm raging here for several days, everything’s frozen," Remarked Rosary in disbelief.

The ground was covered in a thick layer of ice, the trees looked like ice sculptures, and an icy mist was flowing around the area. And up in the sky, in the distance...was the Frost Dragon, rapidly shrinking in the distance as it flew away.

"Wait, isn’t that direction...?" I trailed off as I realized where it was headed.

"Oh, no...it’s heading right for the town!" Exclaimed Rosary in alarm, beginning to rush forward...and almost falling over as she slipped on the ice, just barely keeping her balance.

"We can’t run on ice this slippery. It’ll use a lot of Aura, but we’ll have to fly using Jet Soles. Can you use that Spell?" I asked her.

"Uh...sorry, but no, I can’t," She apologized sheepishly, averting her gaze.

"Hm, in that case...I’ll carry you. And while I fly us over there, you should call the other teams and inform them about this. Is the phone still intact?" I inquired, as I activated Jet Soles.

"Thankfully, yes, somehow," She nodded, as she took it out and began dialing.

"Good...now, then, let’s get going."

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