Useless Dragon

Elizabeth Sage was always on the rise. Her untimely end, her chance at a new life, buildup from a deity, her unique power, her fierce competition, her fortune regarding early weapon drops, her praise via parallels in local mythos, all culminated in a single System notification.

[Special quest: Helldrake]

[A draconic being has taken up residence in a low layer of hell off the aurora sea. Defeat it]

[Rewards: 40,000 EXP, 1 fundamental power, gold-rank armor ticket]

[Accept] she tapped.

Excella had abandoned her old name easily. No one knew her here, and hers sounded too stuffy. She wanted something mysterious and impressive, like the cheat skill she was given.

[Space Manipulation]

It did to her rapid movement and control of gravity what it did to Baldemar's smithing. Manipulation of such a universal force was easy to integrate into any fighting style, and she kept a hand free to intersperse straightforward casting between her sword strikes. Making an enemy heavier to slow them down or lighter to disrupt their attacks was a common practice, letting her strike above what her stats or levels suggested. At level ten, she acquired a passive mage Skill that let her maintain a spell on herself at reduced power- but without having to focus on it. Even from the first level, the effect was explosive. Coupled with the staple mage skills speeding up the gain of mana and slowing down its expenditure, Excella grew in power and confidence. Both of which necessary to accept the quest ahead. Excella found the shallow slice of hell through trial and error, attempting to open a small portal at the approximate height and poking a dagger through. Oh the sixth try, the dagger came back hot, and the void knight stepped through.

She beheld bleached-red stone, feeling the heat and stench from below try to envelop her like a sauna. She strode over the wet ground towards her mark, drawing her blade.

"There you are," Excella purred. Valerie, drake of dark purple, was curled into a ball, not noticing Excella having stepped through. An appraisal revealed stats that were greater than hers, but did not eclipse them. Two bars emerged above her head in Excella's appraisal vision, the larger one steadily filling from orange through the yellows back up to a healthy green while the smaller, lower one slowly emptied. This helldrake was turning mana into health at an alarming rate. Excella shouted an incantation, conjuring a [Repulse Barrier] around herself. She found it odd that a demonic creature would have any method to heal, but trusted the System. If this truly was the demonic dragon the quest mentioned, it would most certainly respond in aggression. All at once, the stale air dispersed. A tall bubble around her shimmered, cooling centrifugal wind stripping it of all unpleasantness. The finesse of this precision bubble ran counter to the weighty, tyrannical [Roar] from the drake as she stood on her hind legs. A being of weaker mind would have fled or at least been shaken, but Excella was a mage first. Fortifying her mind let her facilitate the rest of her fighting style. In a flash, Excella was at Valerie's underbelly. She drew back her blade for a practiced [Piercing Thrust], but Valerie jumped back. The human stumbled forward, when the drake took her chance to strike. A claw swung down like wrecking equipment, movement slowed by turns as it drew close to the gravity-warping barrier. Excella had ample time to raise her sword in defense, placing a palm to the flat to brace herself for impact. To redirect the drake's claw. However, her gold-hued eyes widened as she felt a sudden weakness. Saw a total in her vision drain. The amethyst claw was sapping her mana, replenishing that of her enemy. Excella twisted the blade aside, not too focused on escaping the game-changing drain to move it into a favorable position. She ducked under the other hand's stamina-sped slashing claw, spun the blade of her sword into the drake's gut to seal off the breath weapon she assumed would pose a threat. It gouged deep, activation of a [Round slash] only widening the wound. Excella backhopped away from a headbutt, kicking midair off one of the horns into a glide, knowing she had her enemy leaking life force. A claw caught her side, knocking her further out of effective range. The draconic being seemed to fight slow and strong, barely giving chase as she dropped to all fours to stalk after Excella, so the graviturge made her move. She dropped her barrier, diverting mana to strength, and cut away at a stalagmite. Purple-green liquid flew through the air, off-course from the puncture but full of deadly potential that Excella only realized as it slipped through the porous ground with a sizzle. Her sword sank into the stalagmite easily, a short-ranged force blast knocking the long, sharp lance of stone free from its base. She diverted everything she could give at once towards stopping it from shattering. Excella had to use the same rock as a shield, feeling it lose mass as it blocked the corrosive assault. Even more so as a glob slipped past, splattering right onto her clothing.

[You are suffering: Corrosion (II) ]

[You are suffering: Poison (I) ]

"Suffer this." Excella ordered, chains of gravity launching the rock forward like a battering ram. In a burst of speed, it pinned the advancing dragon, Stamina-sharpened tip piercing right through scale and flesh, dodging bone, and landing in stone. Valerie groaningly roared in pain, noise only acting as fuel to Excella's fire. She repeated this trick with smaller stalactites, conserving mana but delivering payload after stone payload to the pinned drake. Rocks shattered against Valerie's flesh, dislodging scales, stabbing flesh, and depleting hit points at every turn. This was Excella's moment. When she knew she had her prey on the ropes. Excella strode forward, raising her sword high-

But faltered, when Valerie bit off her own leg.

Something in that dragon changed. Mana coursed through her systems, spent faster and more hastily than before. A dull red glow accented the violet of her scales. And most of all, black smoke built around her mouth like rabid foam. Valerie headslammed Excella back into a fighting stance. She swept a claw across, sending the mana-tight Excella tripping over a stone stump. With more speed than Excella thought possible Valerie closed the gap in a single bound from her three good legs, head close enough for a stab. Excella drove her sword clean into Valerie's eye, but she shook her head, wrenching the blade out of Excella's hand. With a single move, Valerie moved her jaw up the same arm, ending it in a horrifying crunch. Excella stumbled to the side, sword-arm gone, and in a panic tried to finish the drake off. Valerie did not let up, swallowing the arm and returning the favor with point-blank acid. Excella fell to the ground, rolling to smother the burning feeling from around her. She reached out for the sword with her casting hand, tried to stab it in with a spell, but Valerie reached up with humanlike grace and closed her mana claw around the handle. Feeling the blade dig into her hand, she pulled it free, casting it aside. Excella's vision faded, moving her free arm to open up a portal back, but saw before her very eyes a claw seal it shut. She closed her eyes, steeling herself for the inevitable, feeling the dragon's weight on her as pressing her down into her grave, feeling her bleeding slow, feeling a pleasant chill assuage her acidburns-

Excella paused. She looked up, seeing this drake was embracing her. Was awkwardly moving on her slowly-healing stump back up the tunnel. More than once, Valerie slowed down, never ceasing to carry Excella like a protective mother bear. And only when her claw had healed did the drake speak up in her own way. Excella felt a mind bridge try and connect with her, knowing the source all too well

[Well-fought] Valerie congratulated.

"What's your game, helldrake?" Excella challenged.

[Is that what they're calling me now?]

"The System, which has not lied to me once, gave me a quest."

[Is that so?]

A long pause carried the conversation as the dark-clad duo moved from red rock to grey.

[The System calls me Useless whenever I attempt to advance in interesting ways, and I suspect it's informed by the golden god who cursed me]

"Mathias." Excella stated in agreement, thinking back to the pedestal he put her on.

[If he's using me as the final boss, what better position than as my rider? You'll get to defeat so many other contestants] Valerie grimly offered.

"Seeing as I'd prefer it to your payload, I accept."

Valerie let Excella onto the ground, using her mostly-healed arm to hoist Excella onto her back. Testing the weight of this new rider, she began to run off into the upper cave. The first swirling clouds of a plan formed in their minds, ready to drop a devastating storm on every contestant who'd rather do it to them first.