The path outside the back exit of the yetis’ cave was named Ribcage Pass. It was a medium sized pass, around one third the size of the one in front of Grandar, enabling at least ten riders to be able to go through it side by side. Up above, on top the cliffs that flanked the pass, spikes of ice and rocks arched over the pass almost always alternatively on each side. It gave the illusion that they were under the ribcage of a massive serpentine creature.

Tier didn’t have much time to think about what had just transpired at the last moment in the cave since the yetis are still hot on their tail. However, this place is considered outdoor and outside of a dungeon, thus they could summon their mount and rode nothwards following wherever the path goes.

“Lead on with me, Pras,” Rushvatte called as he rode towards the front row of the formation.

“Just follow the path,” Tier replied. “Nothing is ahead, once we reach a dead end, we just need to break the ground. That’s what I read from forums and notes from other loremasters.”

“Good,” Zackhs nodded positively, “Then I’ll just need to watch the rear.”

The avenger quickly commanded his skeletal horse to run slower then stayed at the tail of the rides. The yetis were still persistently chasing them. Their furious howls had shaken the entire pass, causing some icicles to drop on them along the path.

“Nothing is ahead, huh?” Renma chuckled while commanding his mount to avoid the incoming icicle.

“In normal condition we would’ve cleared the yeti cave,” Tier growled in an annoyed reply. “Not my request to make it faster.”

“Chill,” Nubram chimed, “This is far easier than painstakingly facing those yetis.”

Then it was Flick who concluded the conversation with a chuckle. “I’d enjoy it either way.”

The chase continued for quite a while before they finally met a dead end with dark icy floors. It was there that Tier asked Flick, Nubram, and Rushvatte to strike at the icy floor with their weapons and spells. The ground shook due to their attacks and the incoming stampeding yetis. Zackhs stood his ground at the back, preparing for an imminent clash.

Luckily, the three DPS had enough damage output to break the ice before Zackhs had to clash with the angry yetis. Tier had hoped for what was supposed to happen, but his heart still leaped when they suddenly fell down into the gaping hole beneath the ice.

Their first landing was not so soft, as they were met with an icy slope so slippery that they started sliding down its path. For a moment, it does feel like those giant rolling slides in a water park since the hole turned into an icy blue tunnel. Not to mention the excited shouting of Zackhs, Flick, Macepaw, and Renma that added up to the atmosphere.

The other two didn’t make any sound. Either they were unamused or worried about what lies ahead.

Their second landing was rather manageable as they landed on the ground right at the cave chamber where the Azure Drake was sleeping. It was a big dome-shaped room with a hole at the centre of the ceiling, which Tier quickly thought would be used by the Azure Drake to fly out in search of prey. Rumours said that no one had been able to enter this chamber of the dungeon from that gap since they would need to climb the mountain peaks guarded by ferocious dragons in order to enter.

The Azure Drake itself was a two legged dragon with wings and arms combined. It has blue scales that reflect sunlight in a similar manner to that of ice crystals. There was a golden streak of scales adorning the centre of the drake’s head down to its tail. As a matter of scale, the drake was rather huge, its size was comparable to those of mid-size passenger jet planes.

There were no other dragon-like creatures in the room, thus they decided to rest while using healing items. There were some enthusiastic discussions regarding their imminent registration to Clashing Realms. After all the fights they had been through, they are all now at level 79 except for Tier and Renma who were at level 78. Though he still plays, Tier was slacking off lately as he was having a hard time just enjoying his time playing. Even now he still wondered if he would be able to reach level 80 before the application to Clashing Realms closed.

But then again, it would mean nothing as he still needs the snow jaguar. Also, he started to have even more doubts about his character. He might not be that useful anyway.

The fight against Azure Drake had emboldened Tier’s prejudice about himself. With only a few directions from Flick, Zackhs, and Nubram - who definitely had done their prior research for this fight - the fight went rather smoothly. Even being a loremaster didn’t have much effect other than the damage buff they got after some time since the fight had started. Such buffs could be bought from an expert Loremaster in a scroll supplied from a Scribe, Tier didn’t even need to be here.

However, problems seem to start appearing when they were nearing the third phase of the fight. The first fight happened when the Azure Drake fought them with literal tooth and nail on the ground. This was rather easy to manage as Zackhs only need to divert it away from the group to avoid AoE attacks.

The second phase was where the drake would soar to the ceilings of the chamber when it reached 50% HP. From there, it would still try to strike at the member with the biggest threat. This caused a little bit of a problem since Zackhs was unable to reach the target with his melee attack. He could only opt to use taunting abilities to increase his threat also with the help of [Misdirection]. The other two melee fighters had used their ability to reach the dragon’s back and attack from there before being thrown off.

There were several occasions where the dragon’s attention was turned to Nubram before Tier and Zackhs quickly redirect it to the avenger again. However, when the drake went down to around 7.5% HP remaining, it finally fixed its gaze on Nubram. It ignored Zackhs’ [Shadow Challenge] as it started to draw icy breath.

“Step aside, Toy!”

Rushvatte the cave bear shoved Nubram aside, taking the full blow of the massive icy breath of the dragon. He roared furiously as he stood his ground firmly.

“Damnit, [Mimic switch: Rhino], [Threatening Shot],” Tier cursed at the situation. He didn’t think much when he struck the distracting attack at the drake. But at least it did the intended effect.

As the drake slowly turned its gaze at Tier, the hunter whispered, “[Tools of Survival: Camouflage].”

Tier slowly stepped back to meld with his surroundings. The drake, unable to find him, turned its sight a few degrees ahead as if confused by the situation. Unlike other stealth abilities, [Camouflage] owned by hunters who took the Predator’s Tactics path would not reset the threat that had been built by the hunter. Combining this and high threat generation would confuse the target. However, the drawback was that he is unable to move quickly to avoid breaking the camouflage.

The drake suddenly shot a chilling breath around 5 metres to Tier’s left. It missed, he could feel the intense breath even from such a range. One good guess, then Tier would perish in a matter of seconds.

A [Blaze Bolt] from Nubram struck squarely on the dragon’s chest. It roared in pain, but ignored the wizard as it still thought that Tier was the more dangerous threat. It drew another breath, longer than before, then shot around 10 metres to Tier’s left. However, this time the creature continued to shoot the icy breath and slowly turned its head leftwards. The murderous wind slowly creeping towards Tier.

As the barrage came closer, Tier heard the chanting of Renma’s transformation said in a rather rushed manner. At the same time, Nubram and Macepaw continued their barrage while both Rushvatte and Flick tried their most blunt attack from above to stop the Dragon.

Then, as his chant finished, Renma shouted, “[Guarding Radiance], quint layers. Zackhs, now!”

Renma created five layers of light shield, not in front of Tier but before Zackhs. It was arranged in such a manner that it created a makeshift staircase. The avenger quickly jumped from light shield to light shield until finally able to jump above the drake.

When he reached the top of his jump, Zackhs roared a chant, “O shadow, grant me strength to protect and let darkness embrace us! [Umbra’s Intervention]!”

The avenger landed right on the head of the drake, stabbing his claymore on the creature's skull. There was a momentary darkness that enveloped the entire room, muffling the agonised scream of the drake.

The creature thrashed wildly, throwing Flick and Rushvatte off its back while Zackhs kept clinging to its head. There was a dark beam scorching out from his sword, damaging both the avenger and the dragon.

As the attack against him had stopped, Tier leaped into action once more, shooting arrows after arrows in quick succession accompanied by the relentless fiery bombardment from Macepaw and Nubram.

It was then, when the drake hit around 5% HP, that the final phase started. It kept thrashing around despite Zackhs’ persistence to cling on its head. The drake smashed to the walls left and right, its wings flapped maddeningly, causing ice crystals to break and form dust. The icy dust quickly converted the entire room and finally blocked everyone’s sight.

There was a loud thud accompanied by clanging noises. Tier saw on his team name list that Zackhs’ HP severely dropped. However, in this condition, he was not sure if Renma could heal the avenger.

“Damnit, Ega, heal Zackhs!”

“I can’t, I can’t target anyone. I can’t even see any of you.”

“Then walk here, you boar!”

“Walk where!?”

Both Rushvatte and Renma shouted at each other, causing dread to fill Tier’s mind. No one can see anything now, the only way to spot someone - other than being a hunter - was from their voice.

Before Tier could whisper a warning, there was the sound of the drake’s icy breath and Rushvatte yelling in pain. The mystic’s HP quickly dropped near zero.

“Eggi, stay there,” Renma shouted again. From his map it was clear that he aimed to walk towards the direction where Rushvatte was.

Tier tried to reapply [Mark of Prey] to sign the location of the drake before launching several attacks. However, it seemed that both Macepaw and Nubram had difficulties in aiming the drake. On the other hand, Flick and Zackhs appeared to be able to approach the drake and attack but were smacked away.

“Ah, whatever!” Renma shouted. “[Righteous Devotion]!”

Even from the thickness of the ice fog, Tier could barely see the faint light emanating from Renma despite any other light having a hard time to pass the icy dust. It was a truly risky gamble the priest had taken in order to heal his team. Tier had a hunch that the drake would definitely be drawn by Renma’s shouting and light. Yet, Tier now felt he had found a way to finish this fight.

He whispered to Nubram, “Toy, can you [Mirror Force] the ice breath?”

[I can, but I can’t locate the next attack. And it might take my entire remaining MP to do that.]

“It will attack Ega. conserve your MP for this one last shot.”

[But where is Ega? And the timing?”]

“Leave it to me.”

Tier took a deep breath and focused his mind. He changed his [Mimic] to that of an orca, then whispered, “[Primal Unleash].”

His already blurry vision faded even more, but the hunter’s awareness increased significantly. His hands drew and unleashed his arrows as if it was a very natural thing to do while he whispered once more, “[Synchronise]: Nubram.”

It was Tier’s first time using this feature of his ability, thus this was also the first time he felt the effect of [Primal Unleash] so much closer than the one he had performed before Steven limited his access. It felt much more light and steady.

[I got it.]

There was confidence in Nubram’s voice right after the synchronisation was applied. The duo continued their barrage at the dragon with higher precision, while Renma kept his healing to top off Zackhs and Flick who was battling the drake at close range. At a certain point, Nubram stopped attacking and waited.

Then it happened, the drake drew breath. Both the hunter and the wizard knew where it would land its next devastating attack.

“[Warp]! [Mirror Force]!”

As Nubram parried the ice breath, the icy dust filling the room was thrown away. The wizard stood valiantly between Renma and the drake, his sword receiving the full strike of the ice breath on its tip. Then, forcing every bit of strength and mana from his being, the undead wizard swung hard, sending the ice breath back to its master and finished the Azure Drake.