Chapter 50: The Battle Of Fallen (2)
Azeth was not only stunned, but he was also perplexed by the magnitude of the attack.
The entire dungeon had almost shaken by the black flames.
Ryenar barely dodged the flames by jumping high, almost touching the ceiling before landing back on the ground.
And then he turned back, only to see how the flames had burnt layers of rock in the dungeon.
Ryenar then turned forward and looked at Pebbles. He had removed his mask to attack, and now his ugly face was clearly, very clearly visible.
Aegon... or rather the previous Aegon who had his name now stolen, felt a tiny bit of resemblance between Ryenar's previous transformation and Pebbles'.
And he was reminded about Ryenar's power.
"Did he..." He spat blood onto the ground after coughing a mouthful of it. "Did he take Ryenar's name earlier...?"
He coughed a few times more.
"...and he came out unscathed...?"
He recalled the pain and agony Ryenar had been in. There was only one other time when Ryenar was in similar pain.
"...a Supreme!"
Ryenar had dared flaunt his strength by trying to destroy the forest, and the Forest Supreme, an Elf Celestial, had intervened after countless pleas from the folks of nature.
The Supreme had called out Ryenar's name as a warning... it was heard loudly, a deep male voice with a feminine touch. It was not Mother Nature but a quite similar gentle voice.
At the time, Ryenar couldn't help but be glad that the voice didn't have hints of rage, for a simple call from such a being had left him half dead!
Ryenar had narrated the story when he returned to the dungeon, and had mentioned it in a low, subtle tone, almost decreasing the description, but Aegon was sure that Ryenar was in a much worse state.
Recalling that, he simply gulped a large chunk of both saliva and blood.
He then turned his gaze to clearly look at Pebbles, but his confusion remained.
Pebbles didn't look immensely strong.
Sure, he wore a mask that suppressed his aura, but even after removing it, there was no catastrophic or world-ending change!
It was next to insignificant, just a bit significant.
"Strong."
He concluded after recalling the attack, more so after thinking, "Is he hiding his strength? No... more like... is he some sort of strong being pretending to be a... dragon?"
The thought popped into his mind many times.
He clearly wanted to think of such an entity as a lizard, but he concluded it to be a dragon. Why so?
He didn't have an answer.
"Is he a dragon? Like, really?" A small chuckle escaped his mouth as a crazy look sat on his scarred face.
He was a fan of dragons. Puny weaklings that once reigned supreme... if anything, he was ready to lose everything just to become one. It was a peculiar fetish.
He was probably just another being who had never bullied any dragon he had come across, but he always wondered... why had dragons become so weak?
Why were they not rising to fight?
Did they need a leader?
The idea of him becoming a leader was more than a fantasy and a dream that he'd only wish he'd get, but he liked the idea. So, he decided to get strong...
Yet now, Pebbles stood in front of him. His features were bizarre and he was most likely a lizard, but oh, he wanted to believe that this guy was a dragon, especially after the dragon's breath.
Ryenar glared in fury, raising his voice like a toddler demanding food, "Bastard, you dare attack me?"
Having said that, he raised his right hand with one of his claws pointing towards the ceiling. "I am the strongest in the dungeon, and you dare challenge my authority?"
"Khu-"
All eyes turned towards him... Azeth, who barely could control his laughter.
"Khuwawawawa. Hahahaha."
Pebbles was most astonished to hear the laughter.
"You? Strongest in the dungeon?"
There was a pause at the question. The small spiders watched with intent, especially when all the beings in front of them seemed to be on a completely different power scale.
"Maybe. Well, in fact, sure, you were the strongest in the dungeon, that is, until... my master set foot here."
Pebbles was weaker than Ryenar by huge margins. Levels? Yep, there was a huge gap. Skills? Maybe Pebbles had superior draconic skills, but that's all.
But in Azeth's mind and belief, he was stronger, and Pebbles kept a stoic expression at that.
Ryenar scanned Azeth and instantly became sure that he was weaker. He looked at the shaman and was confident that she too was weaker. He gazed at Pebbles and was utterly right that he was stronger even now, but...
...there was a small seed of doubt in his heart.
But he was strong, and strength gives way to arrogance.
"Well, well, it won't take long to find out who is the real boss..."
An orb of green flames formed as Ryenar opened his mouth wide. In just a blink of an eye, flames lit with green burst forth and made way towards Pebbles.
Azeth wanted to intercept, but Pebbles was already making his move.
[Dragon's Breath Lv.2 with x2 multiplier has been used.]
Black flames emerged.
Boom!
There was a loud explosion close to Pebbles as he'd attacked late, but the shockwave sent all of them back, almost equal distances.
The green lizard was sent five steps back as he almost crashed into the wall. Ryenar took three steps back while Azeth was sent eight steps back, and the shaman none, as she'd put forth a small barrier shielding herself before anything could push her.
As for Pebbles, he had entirely vanished from the scene.
A cloud of smoke had obscured everyone's view, and it was just enough to blind them from seeing where Pebbles was, while in fact Pebbles was blown twenty feet away!
But he'd realized quickly that this would be a fatal error and had used his Run skill to quickly cover the gap and vanish within the cloud.
And as the dust settled, Ryenar began actively searching for Pebbles. He couldn't feel even the slightest presence...
He turned his head left, right, even trying to search behind some big stones, but found him nowhere except...
...when he raised his head up.
He did so at the last moment when he had finally felt his presence, and when he'd opened his mouth once again with black flames almost exiting.
In that instant, all Ryenar saw was the black flames approaching him very rapidly with a shocked expression on his face...
"I'm..."
BOOM!