“Where’s Tina?” someone shouted. “Can someone go get her? Her ice magic is the best counter to a leviathan’s poison transformation!”

Delphina frowned when she heard that. With such a huge commotion going on, it was hard to believe her party leader hadn’t heard it. If she wasn’t here by now, it meant she was otherwise preoccupied, or she simply didn’t want to be involved. The demon looked around. Chad wasn’t anywhere to be found either. Had more dangers other than the dragon emerged?

“Tina’s not the only one capable of freezing things,” another person said.

“Who’s that?” Keith asked Delphina, causing the demon to raise her eyebrows.

“Why would I know?” Delphina asked in return. “It was a human that spoke. Shouldn’t you tell me?”

Keith shrugged. “I’m not a people person,” he said and stood up. He made circular motions with his arms before stretching out all his limbs. “Alright, I’m ready to kick some dragon ass.” He glanced at his party members. So far, only he, Danielle, and Joseph had recovered enough to return to combat.

“More like get your ass kicked,” the woman who silenced Keith said.

“Aren’t we companions who’ve gone through life or death with each other?” Keith asked and scowled. “Shouldn’t you be hyping me up in front of all these people instead of putting me down?”

“Shut up, Keith,” Joseph said. He glanced at the woman who just spoke. “You too. We should avoid making too much noise lest we draw the dragon’s attention. It obviously came here for us since we were the ones it attacked first. Let’s wait until everyone’s back to their peak condition before attacking. Luckily, there’s so many other parties here to buy time for us to recover.”

Keith sighed. “If only we knew we were going to hunt a dragon,” he said and shook his head. “I would’ve brought the dragon-slaying ballista with me.”

Joseph shook his head. “Didn’t you see what just happened?” he asked. “Even if the ballista shot it, it’d just dissolve into a puddle of poison. I’ve never heard of a dragon that could escape its bindings by becoming a liquid.”

As he spoke, the ocean-blue dragon dissolved into a puddle of poison once again. Chains, ropes, and roots were left in midair in the shape of the dragon for a brief moment before they fell to the ground as well. The easiest way to defeat a leviathan was to bind it and force it to use its poison transformation before freezing the poison.

“Frost Explosion!” the human mage shouted, and an explosion of ice rang out in the center of the poison puddle. The poison froze, and everyone immediately launched another salvo of attacks at the icy mess.

There was a roar as the dragon’s head reemerged. The adventurers flinched, but their attacks only paused for a second before continuing. The dragon climbed out of the poison puddle, its scales cracked and broken in many places. There were multiple lacerations along its body, blood leaking from the wounds.

“It’s working!” Devon shouted and pointed his middle finger at the dragon. “How do you like that, big boy!? You thought your laser could kill me, but I’m still perfectly fine. Did you not eat breakfast? Why are you so weak?” He laughed and slapped his shield, creating a metallic ringing sound akin to someone scratching a chalkboard. “What’s the matter? Never been hurt in your poison form before? Didn’t know it could happen?”

“Bind it again before it decides to flee!” the human mage said. “It can’t last much longer!”

The ocean-blue dragon’s eyes shone with a golden light, and a white aura enveloped its body. Its wounds closed up, and its scales regrew in front of the adventurers. During the process, it lunged towards the human mage, completely ignoring the obnoxious, shield-wielding demon.

“Hey, hey!” Devon shouted. “Your target is me!” A ring on his finger glowed, and he pointed at the human mage. Their figures blurred, and before the ocean-blue dragon arrived, the two had completely swapped places. Devon raised his shield, blocking the dragon’s slash. He grunted as he was forced back, his legs leaving two lines in the ground. “Is that all you got? I’m Devon the invincible!” He laughed. “It’s going to take a lot more than that to hurt me!”

The ocean-blue dragon furrowed its brow. Ranged attacks landed on its body, but it ignored them. It stood there for a second as if processing how to deal with the shield-wielding demon that couldn’t be hurt by laser nor claw. Then, the dragon reached forward and grabbed Devon. It stood on its hindlegs, and with a grunt, it swung its front claw and launched the demon as if he were a ball. Devon screamed, but the sound he made faded away as his body turned into a dot on the horizon, his figure getting smaller and smaller with every passing moment. The dragon snorted, and another wave of white light washed over its body, healing all the injuries it had sustained during that brief interaction.

The human mage’s face paled as the ocean-blue dragon swiveled its head to stare at him. “This can’t be real,” the man said. He frantically looked around. “Who’s proficient with curses? If we can’t stop it from healing itself, we’ll never defeat it!”

The dragon swiped its claws, and the human mage shattered like ice. His body reappeared dozens of meters away within the middle of a group of human adventurers. The dragon furrowed its brow as if it were asking why every person here was so troublesome to deal with. It looked around; there were over two dozen people with their weapons out, meaning at least four SSS-ranked parties were participating in the battle.

“I’m proficient in curses,” a woman said. She was wearing a sickly-green robe, and her companions were wearing outfits of the same color. “I’ll need three minutes to prepare everything. Can you protect me until then?”

“Three minutes? I can guard you for ten,” a large man from a different party said. He took a step forward and punched his gauntleted fists together. “I—”

“Don’t get thrown away like Devon,” Keith shouted, giving a—in his opinion—helpful reminder.

“Goddammit,” Joseph said and slapped his forehead with his palm. “Silence him!”

The woman who silenced Keith nodded and silenced Keith again much to Keith’s dismay.