"Stay back!" she ordered, her face pale and perspiring as she held the Frost Dragon at bay with her poison magic. "It's dangerous!"

Evidently, Anastasia wasn't just referring to the Frost Dragon alone. She was also talking about her poison magic. Did she not know of my immunity to poison? If she didn't, that explained why she thought it would be too dangerous for me to get close to her.

The second Frost Dragon chose that moment to attack, his ice beam spearing through the clearing and leaving a trail of frost. I managed to dive to the side, and the Behemoth lunged to pulverize me with its claws.

Turning around, Anastasia threw out another hand and struck the incoming Frost Dragon with a torrent of poison. The Frost Dragon choked and coughed, toppling over the instant Anastasia's venom reached it.

However, it was far from dead. A monster of its immense size and tremendous power wouldn't succ.u.mb to poison so easily. Perhaps Anastasia's toxins would kill the Frost Dragon eventually, but they would last for at least a few hours before they finally succ.u.mbed to the lethal spells.

Not only that, but Anastasia was trying to fend off two Frost Dragons at the same time. The second Frost Dragons narled and reared up, getting ready to feeze her with its ice beam. The green-haired ex-a.s.sssin was forced to evade, throwing herself to the ground, which turned into a tundra almost immediately as the dragon's azure beam raked over it.

"Huff…"

The third Frost Dragon then lunged at her, but another arrow exploded against its face. I steadied Sagittarius and loaded another Alnasl before taking aim and letting the fiery arrow fly again. Even though my aim was pretty bad, the sheer size of my target made it difficult for me to miss.

Of course, a single fire arrow wasn't going to kill a gigantic dragon, whether the ice-type monster had a weakness to flame-type magic or not. To slay a dragon, I needed something more drastic.

"…huff…"

Heaving, I wiped the sweat from my brow. Even though the weather was cold, I was still perspiring profusely from the exertion. Dismissing my bow, I drew both of my swords and sprinted forward. At the same time, I channeled the rest of my mana into summoning Hydra. The gigantic multi-headed serpent reared up and hissed ferociously before biting into the flailing Frost Dragons. The nine heads wrapped and constricted around the Frost Dragon, sending it tumbling down in a flurry of snow. Growling, the Frost Dragon tried to sink its claws into my Hydra, but there was one difference between my current Hydra and the one from before.

This time, my Hydra was azure. Frosty fog billowed out of each of their mouths, layering a coat on ice on whatever it touched. The Frost Dragon, to be sure, was resistant to ice spells, but I was dying to try out my new ice magic anyway. Or newly transformed ice-type Constellation spirits, if I were to be more precise.

The third Frost Dragon spun around to a.s.sist its entangled brethren, but I summoned Cetus and telepathically directed the gigantic whale to tackle it. The two gargantuan creatures were sent cras.h.i.+ng into the side of a mountain, and Cetus whipped up an icy wind that sent an avalanche of snow piling upon the Frost Dragon, burying it under tons of rock and frost.

"That Hydra looks very different from when I last saw it," Anastasia remarked when she caught up to me, pausing to catch her breath. I recalled that she witnessed my Hydra attacking Hades when we fought against Selina Wright. Yeah, the scales of Hydra back then were black, the color of night. Here, Hydra was now azure, which represented his newfound mastery over ice.

As if to emphasize his new abilities, several heads of Hydra reared back before bathing the struggling second Frost Dragon with his ice breath. Even a Frost Dragon could not completely withstand such intense cold, its body gradually encased in ice.

"!!!"

However, as befitting a rank A ancient Behemoth, the Frost Dragon was far from defeated. Gathering its mana in its gut, it blew everything out in one burst, shattering the ice and flinging my Hydra away.

"d.a.m.n it…!"

"Don't worry. I've got this."

While my Constellation spirits had been distracting the dragons, Anastasia had been far from idle. She had been casting some super spell this entire time, and now she was done. Taking a step forward, she threw her hands out and blasted the Frost Dragon with green mana.

The Frost Dragon roared and thrashed about, but Anastasia continued to pin it to the ground, slowly approaching it. With each step she took, the area around her wilted and sizzled, the soil turning acrid, the gra.s.s withering and the plants dying. So potent was the poison that she was unleas.h.i.+ng that she was literally transforming the entire area into a toxic wasteland.

I noticed that she was keeping her distance from me. Probably so that I wouldn't get dragged into her attack.

Well, there was no point in telling her about my immunity to poison. She probably wouldn't believe me. There was no way she wouldn't know about it, especially since most people were aware of it, so if she still held me at arm's length when casting poison spells, either she didn't believe it or she thought her poisons were so powerful they would overwhelm my immunity.

I wasn't sure I wanted to find out if they could, to be honest. For now, I focused on the battle at hand. Anastasia was slowly but surely killing the Frost Dragon in the forest for now, so I had Hydra turn his attention toward the third Frost Dragon and a.s.sist Cetus in tying it up. Both Constellation spirits unleashed an onslaught of combined ice spells that continued to pin the Frost Dragon to the mountain through sheer volume of ice.

With a growl, the second Frost Dragon froze the entire place around it, practically constructing an ice fortress around itself. Anastasia was forced to call off her spell and jump back, to prevent herself from being caught in the rapidly expanding ice.

"Ugh…"

"You all right?" I called out to her, still distracted by my opponent. A rank A dragon wasn't going to die so easily…not unless I nuked it.

"Yeah." Anastasia was heaving from the exertion, her cheeks flushed. Skidding back across the snow, she shook her hands and gathered more of the green mana into them. Exhaling, she glared at her opponent, who was breaking free of the icy citadel that it had just woven around itself. Its scales were fuming now, turning a sickly teal. "I pumped so much toxins into that Frost Dragon, but it's still alive. As expected of a rank A monster…it sure is tough!"

"You have no idea," I muttered under my breath before firing off another Alnasl with Sagittarius. The arrow detonated against the Frost Dragon's head, snapping it back and causing it to stagger. While it was off balance, Anastasia closed in and struck it with another toxic torrent. "The only way to kill a rank A monster is to nuke it…"

If you were someone of my level, that is. I had precious few options other than the nuclear one, unfortunately. That was life. It was never as simple as attaining whatever stage and then defeating whatever monster that was of equivalent rank and below. This wasn't a game. People, monsters and living organisms couldn't be so neatly categorized by "strength." Even the greatest hunter would still get mauled by a lion if he wasn't careful, regardless of how many lions he had successfully hunted and killed in the past.

I wish some readers would understand that. They were so fixated with ranks and leveling up that they couldn't comprehend that reality was a lot more complex than that. You didn't magically and suddenly become invincible and immune to all monsters of the same rank and below just because you killed a single monster of that rank…you didn't magically and suddenly become invincible to anyone who was ranked below you just because you defeated someone who was of a higher rank. Yet idiots continued to whine about how I drew with Craig Carlson even though I defeated Cecilia Stuart. Come on, life was not so simple and convenient. If I could automatically win against anyone lower ranked than me just because I won against Cecilia, then what need was there to have matches? I might as well just automatically be handed the victory right from the start without even needing to go through the trouble of fighting.

Look at football/soccer, for example. Just because Manchester City won the Premier League last season didn't mean they were invincible. They could still lose to a team that was ranked 20th in the table, even if they occupied first place last season. Just because Liverpool was currently ranked top didn't mean they were invincible. If they were complacent or not careful, they could lose to a team ranked at the bottom. It was silly to write people off just because they were ranked lower than you. Even worse, I saw reaers actually calling Craig a "mob" character, completely disrespecting him and insulting him. f.u.c.k them and their arrogance. f.u.c.k them and their casual disregard for my friend. Perhaps people would regard them just as condescendingly in real life, disrespect them and label them as "mob" characters too. Then they would know how it felt. That didn't stop them from being obnoxious and rude, forcing their values and perceptions of what was "right" on my story. How stupid, boring and absurdly convenient it would be if you could just level up and suddenly become invincible against everyone who was ranked lower than you. But these readers actually thought reality worked in such a ridiculous and overly simple manner.

Sigh…some people.

The third Frost Dragon broke out of the ice, driving both Hydra and Cetus back. By now, I had Green Dragon materialize and bind the poor thing in vines and plants. The Frost Dragon took only a few seconds to freeze the wooden restraints and burst free.

…only for Anastasia to step in and blast it with her poison magic.

Turning around, I took note of the other Frost Dragon's demise. It was lying in a toxic wasteland, its body atrophying and fuming profusely. Blood was oozing out of its eyes and nose, and it was clear that the once great beast was slowly dying. Whatever toxins Anastasia had pumped into its body, they were working. The Frost Dragon couldn't even get up, its body going into sporadic spasms.

"Sorry…I'm running out of mana."

While Anastasia somehow managed to keep up a constant stream of poison on the Frost Dragon, which caused what few of Green Dragon's plants that still remained to wither, she was gradually sinking to her knees from exhaustion. While the Frost Dragon was visibly weakened, it was far from dead.

"That's enough," I told her as I approached. Anastasia glanced up with a jolt and frantically gestured for me to keep my distance.

"Careful! Don't come near me, or you'll get poisoned too!"

"Don't worry about that. I won't be harmed by your poison."

"Don't joke about that! I'm serious!"

"So am I…"

I wasn't able to finish my sentence because one of the other dragons had joined in the fray. A Sapphire Dragon was acc.u.mulating a tremendous amount of azure mana into its mouth, converting it into destructive energy.

"Scutum Sobiescianum!"

The Constellation s.h.i.+eld manifested between Anastasia and the Sapphire Dragon, but intuitively I knew that it wasn't going to be enough. I was going to need a stronger defensive spell than Scutum Sobiescianum.

"I am the soul of my sword."

Muttering an incantation, I began sprinting toward where Anastasia was. Having witnessed her lethal abilities, the Sapphire Dragon had chosen her as its prime target, and was aiming its gradually coalescing beam at her. Unfortunately, the ex-a.s.sa.s.sin was too exhausted to evade. She was on her knees, and wouldn't make it in time.

Even so, she was still somehow able to glare at me.

"Why are you ripping off Fate/Stay Night?" She demanded. Ignoring her, I vaulted over to stand beside her as the Sapphire Dragon unleashed its colossal spell in the form of a beam. As I expected, Scutum Sobiescianum didn't last for more than a few seconds. The Sapphire Dragon's devastating spell obliterated it almost instantly, shattering and disintegrating the Constellation s.h.i.+eld with raw might. d.a.m.n it.

Fortunately, I still had another defensive spell up my sleeve. I had to make sure I cast it in time!

"Fear is my body, Frost is my blood."

Raising my right hand up, I gathered as much azure mana as I could into my palm and hurriedly constructed an ice barrier.

"Discarded by Life, Embraced by Death…"

Taking a deep breath, I continued in the face of the approaching spell, which was leaving a trail of molten lava and boiling snow in its wake as it streaked toward us.

"I have frozen over a thousand fortresses…"

"Richard!" Anastasia was shouting at me to move…to save myself. But I refused and stood firm, finis.h.i.+ng off my incantation with the name of my spell.

"Snow Aegis!"

A gigantic snowflake materialized in front of me, about five meters in width. Possessing six petals, the azure s.h.i.+eld solidified just in time before the colossal azure beam struck it, causing the snowflake-shaped armament to shudder violently from the impact. The ground around us crumbled under the immense power, rocks, snow and everything disintegrating almost instantly.

But I held. My Snow Aegis held.

Withstanding the terrifying onslaught, Snow Aegis endured for almost half a minute before it finally cracked. First, one petal cracked and gradually shattered, frosty fragments breaking apart and drifting away from the hurricane force before disintegrating fully. Then the second petal. The third. And the fourth…

Boom!

The resulting explosion seemed to engulf the both of us, but I let out a bellow as I infused the rest of my mana into my crumbling snowflake s.h.i.+eld to withstand the last of the blast. Nonetheless, Snow Aegis blew apart along with the last vestiges of the beam.

Bloodied, battered and bruised, I dropped to my knees. Blood streamed over my face, and my right arm flopped uselessly at my side, almost broken. Coughing out some blood, I threw out my left hand to break my fall when I flopped forward, but Anastasia quickly seized me before my face could hit the ground.

"Richard! Are you all right?"

"I've been better," I admitted groggily. That took almost all of my mana. And even then I was no longer in fighting shape.

The Sapphire Dragon, the poisoned Frost Dragon that was still alive and kicking, and a couple of blue dragons closed in on us, snarling vengefully as they finally deigned to join the battle.