As I stared down the towering dragon, I felt more than a bit intimidated. She was covered in a pitch-black aura and her eyes stared at angrily as a thick tension filled the air between us.
For the first ti in a long ti, I was seriously at risk of death. I knew there was only one way I could make it out of here alive.
I tensed my legs, flinging myself backwards and away from Tiamat as I raised my palm. [Flash] lit up the shady area, blasting full force into her face.
Simply put: I needed to be a bitch.
In an even fight, I couldn't keep up with her anymore. Her stat boost from [Karma Control] was insane and I knew I couldn't match her anymore.
It had taken all my strength and a tight combination of skills to break through her scales before, but now that her END was boosted to the moon? I doubt I'd be able to break through again.
I also didn't know where the [King's Claw] had fallen when she was knocking my body around. I'd lose the rental skills soon, so I couldn't rely on them.
But that didn't an I was in a disadvantageous situation. Despite her power boost, I reasoned that I had roughly a 50/50 chance of winning the fight or not.
My MP had been drained pretty substantially from healing through her battering around, but I had also gained a fair bit through my attacks on her, and I was constantly gaining more from [Aura of Devour].
By comparison, Tiamat still had a gaping wound in her chest that was bleeding heavily. She was still moving insanely fast, but it would've been worse if she didn't also have a massive hole in one of her legs.
While I was uninjured, constantly growing stronger, and regenerating my MP, Tiamat was the opposite. She was bleeding out, growing weaker as my [Aura of Devour] sapped at her, and could only expend her own energy.
So, while the power gap between us was huge now, the fight was still very much winnable.
"Damn brat!" Tiamat hissed as the light burned into her eyes again, and I took her montary stun to dash as far away from her as I could.
It would've been nice to strike at her already wounded chest while she was blinded, but I wasn't going to risk that when I wasn't even sure I could break through any more of her scales.
The blinding light bought far less ti than before, as Tiamat recovered in only a second. She burst forward, uncaringly knocking down entire trees in her way.
I barely managed to lunge to the side as her hand swiped where I was standing and hastily flicked my wrist to use [Ice Conjuring] and [Light Barrier] in quick succession. Tiamat's clawed hand smashed through both of them a second later, but it gave just enough ti to dive to the side again.
I quickly raised my palm, using [Flash] again as I sprinted away from the stunned dragon. She roared in annoyance behind , but I paid it no mind.
In a battle for your life, there was no honor. There were no morals or ideals to be upheld.
The only thing I needed to do was survive. By any ans necessary, I would survive.
If that ant running cowardly and spamming [Flash], then that's what I would do. I would do whatever it took to survive.
I was forced to duck as Tiamat fired off a huge beam of fire, the dragon still being blinded but simply rearing her head around randomly in hopes of hitting . It burned through any trees it touched like a laser beam, but I managed to avoid it.
I stomped my foot into the ground as Tiamat's vision regained, using both [Earthquaking Stomp] and [Ash Cloud] in quick succession. Tiamat stumbled as the ground shook - despite her power up, she was clearly feeling the bleeding hole in her leg.
A burst of ash shot up around , flying outward and dissolving into a thick smoke that filled the air. It only delayed Tiamat for a second, as I heard the dragon take a big inhale of breath. She breathed outward sharply, and the force of her fiery breath blew away all the ash in an instant.
I quickly ford another wall of ice and a barrier of light behind as she inhaled again. The incoming beam of fire broke through them, but it delayed it enough for to dodge and use [Flash] for a third ti.
"DAMN BRAT!" Tiamat roared again as she was blinded for the fourth ti that day. She shook her head, blitzing forward at with her eyes closed.
I quickly glanced at a tree next to as I raised my palm. I used [Material Change] to change the outer layer of bark into oil, then flung out a [Fireball] into the tree. It erupted into a large fla, streaming into the air.
I dived to the side, barely rolling out of the way as a blinded Tiamat barreled into the tree and knocked it over. The flas shot onto her, racing across her body as she rolled into the oil-fire combination.
"You..." Tiamat hissed, opening her eyes again as she shook off the flas like it was nothing. She glared at angrily, lunging at again.
The ga of cat and mouse continued for the next few minutes, with spamming every skill I could to delay Tiamat's attacks and stun her. I was glad that I had gained both [BadLUK Charm] and [GoodLUK Charm], as escaping so many of her attacks by just a hair could only be due to them.
She beca more and more agitated as she couldn't catch , and I could feel the strategy working.
She was breathing heavily, becoming more exhausted with every attack. anwhile, my MP just kept rising higher, and I felt like I could survive at least another dozen fatal blows.
Then, after nearly five minutes, the change ca.
"I'm seriously going all out against a pup," Tiamat growled, glaring at hatefully as I raised my hand to blind her again, "YOU REALLY PISSED OFF, DAMN IT!"
I blinked as Tiamat's dark aura suddenly shot outward, filling the plain area around us - as most of the trees on the side of the mountain were destroyed at this point - in a thick black aura.
[Tiamat] has used [Controlled Chaos]
As the notification appeared, I was already sprinting the other way as a bright light ford on my hand. I dashed down the mountain, running directly into Tiamat's chest-
Suddenly, I was flung sideways as her clawed hand slamd into .
-47,520 HP! (15,270/62,790)
23,760 HP! (39,030/62,790)
23,760 HP! (62,790/62,790)
The hell?
I stabbed my sword into the ground under , dragging it through the dirt as it paused my montum. As I took in the dark area around , I clicked my tongue in annoyance.
'Chaos' was certainly a way to describe it, though I wasn't sure how controlled it was. The scenery around continued to shift with every passing second.
In one instant, there was a fallen tree to my left. In a split second, it suddenly appeared to my right. Then, it was gone - no, it wasn't gone. It was shooting down at from above, and I had to sidestep the large object.
Everything around seed to shift constantly, as if it was teleporting. Even the dirt under feet vanished for a second, and suddenly I was standing on the edge of a fallen tree. Tiamat stood in front of , then disappeared in a flash and a beam of fire was streaming at point-blank from behind.
-32,210 HP! (30,590/62,800)
15,295 HP! (45,885/62,800)
15,295 HP! (62,800/62,800)
I gritted my teeth as I dove out of the way, only taking part of the impact but still taking a huge amount of damage from it.
A split second later Tiamat's tail swung at from the side, and I braced myself for the impact.
But it never ca.
I blinked as Tiamat disappeared right before the tail smacked . I quickly stepped to the side, expecting her to co at from a different angle, but she didn't.
Instead, the dragon appeared far above in the air, a look of annoyance on her face. She opened her mouth and launched another beam of blue fire down at , but it once again vanished right before it reached the ground.
A mont later, an explosion sounded out as it hit the ground behind .
As the scenery around continued to change in a seemingly random disorienting way, I sowhat understood what was happening.
The 'controlled' part of her skill was definitely a stretch, as she definitely couldn't control the chaos around us, but I guess she could control when the chaos started.
Everything within the small dark-clouded area was constantly changing location - literally everything, including and Tiamat. From the dirt to the trees to even her fire beam, everything was constantly being teleported to a different, seemingly random, location inside the cloud.
I grinned as Tiamat's tail swung at again, but it vanished as either I or her teleported away.
For her to use this skill ant she was definitely on the ropes. It was a final gambit - if she couldn't catch as I ran around the mountain, then she had to confine to a small space.
This was her way of doing it, but it was a double-edged sword. I couldn't escape the cloud, but she was being teleported around the space just as I was. It was pure luck on if we'd end up in a position she could capitalize on.
Normally, I imagined the dragon was quite lucky - the huge amount of LUK I was getting from [Devouring Stab] and [Aura of Devour] made sense now. In this random cloud of chaos, she could use her LUK to her advantage.
I imagine that against most opponents she could just lash out with a punch and they'd luckily happen to teleport right in front of her fist. But, against , it was being used against her.
My LUK was constantly rising while hers was being drained, and combining that with [BadLUK Charm] and [GoodLUK Charm] ant that I was the lucky one between the two of us.
And so, her final technique would also end up being the one that guaranteed my victory. As both and her were being teleported around the small area, her attacks continued to hit air as I was moved out of harms way by her own ability.
Slowly, over the course of nearly ten minutes, Tiamat started to tire out. The dragon growled and beca even more frustrated as she still couldn't hit . She opened her mouth, firing off a long beam of fire around her wildly, but her ability cut it off.
It shot out randomly in one direction, part of it incinerating a tree, while another portion ford a crater in the ground. She gave one final roar of anger as she launched a couple more beams around wildly, but none of them happened to teleport into again.
Eventually, she beca completely tired out. The loss of blood and constant draining of stats was too much, and she started to stumble around.
"Damn it! Damn it..." She growled, and the large black cloud of aura vanished from around us. She slumped forward, favoring her injured leg as she put all her weight on her other front leg.
"You've lost, Dragon King," I said simply, though I was grinning under my helt as I watched her stumble in exhaustion.
"No..." Tiamat growled disbelivingly, "There's no way I could lose to such a fucking coward!"
She lashed her head at , firing off one final blast of blue flas, but it was far slower than before. I easily sidestepped it and started walking toward the tired dragon.
"You're just as cowardly for not accepting your defeat," I said bluntly as I walked toward her, "Beco my familiar."
"I'd rather die," She hissed out, glaring up at as she struggled to remain standing, "It be better than the sha of submitting to a brat like you!"
"I disagree," I shrugged, grinning lightly at the barely conscious woman, "If you beco my familiar, you'll get to live and no one will need to know what happened today. You can say you 'chose' because of my potential or sothing."
"Hah," Tiamat hissed, still clearly upset as the weight of her wounds affected her, "Give you the honor of being chosen by a Dragon King, you coward? As if!"
"Well, it's either that, or..." I grinned even wider, and I was glad she couldn't see the near shit-eating grin on my face through my helt, "I'll cut off your head and carry it around like a trophy."
"You damn..." Tiamat growled as she glared at .
"I'll even exaggerate what happened here a bit," I chuckled lightly, "The whole world will rember you as the Dragon King who lost to an unard man. Hell, I'll even say you begged for to spare you. I could add on a bit about how you entered your human form and started offering your body to live... I'm sure other dragons would find that funny, right?"
"Y-You wouldn't dare!" Tiamat shouted at , trying to take a step toward but stumbling as she did, "Do you have no honor?!"
"Nope," I shook my head easily, "Besides, is it really dishonorable if I'm telling the truth? If you're dead, then there's no one to prove wrong. I'm the sole person in the world who was here for it, so whatever lie I tell about our battle becos true, right? I'll have your cut-off head to back up the story."
"Y-You damn..." Tiamat stuttered again, looking at with narrowed eyes as she didn't have a response.
"So, what'll it be?" I gave her the final offer, sheathing my sword and holding out a hand to her, "Will you beco my partner, or will you die and let your legacy be tarnished?"
I felt a bit bad about having to threaten her with this, but she was much more useful to alive as my familiar than she was dead. The stats and skills I'd gain from her would be nice, but they couldn't rival the use of having a literal Dragon King as a familiar.
Besides, this was her own fault anyway. Even if I had fought cowardly, she should just accept her defeat. It wasn't like dragons were known to be the most honorable either - their entire reputation was based around stealing treasures and won.
"Damn it..." Tiamat grunted, looking at with a hesitant look in her eyes. Finally, she leaned forward, pressing her exhausted snout into my hand.
"Damn brat," She groaned one final ti, and a soft blue glow surrounded her massive body.
[Great Dragon King] [Chaos Dragon Karma] [Tiamat] has offered a [Familiar Contract!]
[Master: Valon]
[Familiar: Tiamat]
Accept?
Y/N
I tapped yes.
A second later Tiamat finally collapsed, the combination of her wounds and my [Aura of Devour] being too much for her.
And so, I found myself with a familiar in the form of a Dragon King.
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A short distance away, unknown to my distracted self, a pair of golden catlike eyes stared at with interest.
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AN: Thank you for reading! The next Chapter will be out tomorrow!
You can also read Chapters early on Patreon/Koyon !
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