Magic-Smithing-Chapter 121.3

A little less than five minutes had passed since the battle had begun.

On one side stood a serpent striving to become a dragon; on the other, a battle-hardened maiden and her talented blacksmith junior sister.

By all physical metrics, the winged serpent should’ve won after its first attack. It was stronger, faster, more durable, venomous, and, most importantly, generally superior in every conceivable way; it was the perfect killing machine.

Outside the heart of the Endless Forest, he was among the strongest beasts around. Countless challengers and prey alike had entered his clearing— none had left, and none ever would!

He alone would grow strong enough to defeat the ancient titan sleeping at the bottom of the mana lake and claim the entire woods as his territory! Because what dragon would allow something to contest its rule?

Compared to their winged foe, Aaliyah’s and Tabitha’s goals were much simpler: survive. They were trying to kill the winged serpent, but that was only because it refused to let them leave. If it suddenly stopped attacking and gave them a chance to escape, they would be gone before it could second-guess its decision, but that was never going to happen.

For a beast who hadn’t quite yet reached human levels of intelligence, it had an endless amount of pride. It would never back down, no matter what Tabitha and Aaliyah did, so both sides were fighting for their lives.

Unfortunately for the snake, humans were far trickier than any opponent he'd ever faced before. This wasn’t a simple slugfest like it was used to; they made up for what they lacked in physical and magical strength with wit and perseverance, and out-of-the-box thinking.

Tabitha led the humans’ charge while Aaliyah remained hot on her heels, just out of reach, ready to back up her mentor any way she could. Neither said it, but they were on high alert; they'd be fools not to be. Fighting monsters larger than you was a staple of any high-level warrior, but that offered little comfort at the moment.

At its thickest, the winged serpent was at least ten feet in diameter, more than capable of swallowing both of them whole in one bite. Even with it seemingly grounded thanks to mana exhaustion, every flap of its powerful wings sent strong gusts of wind at the two, each more than powerful enough to briefly lift them off their feet if they weren’t careful.

The snake moved like a runaway train with malice in its slitted eyes, and before either side could think, they met each other head-on. The winged serpent lunged forward as soon as they entered its striking distance, with the reckless abandon its size afforded it, forcing Tabitha and Aaliyah to skirt around its massive frame.

Aaliyah couldn’t do much mid-dodge, but Tabitha was able to drag her sword across the snake’s scaly hide as she moved, hoping to find a weak point she could exploit. But the winged serpent didn’t make it easy on her. Its coiling form constantly shifted, and no spot remained exposed for long.

Neither side was slow; each used movement skills wantonly. Every other second, Tabitha and Aaliyah needed to use Flash Step to avoid being body-checked by the snake, and it did the same.

The beast didn't have the same skills as they did, but it did have a movement technique in which a section of its body shifted faster than the human eye could track.

Neither side was doing much damage to the other. But at the same time, it only took one small mistake to be fatal. Any hesitation at all could spell doom for beast or human, but that’s how it was in high-level combat. After all, these things rarely went on for long.

After a certain point, combat either ended shortly after beginning or dragged on forever. There was rarely any in-between, and if there was, it usually involved one side retreating because they didn’t want to commit to a life-or-death battle.

More often than not, battles between high-level individuals lasted under 10 minutes. For you see, combat at high levels required the almost constant use of skills and techniques, something Aaliyah was learning in the heat of the moment as the battle raged on.

She felt silly comparing the two, but Aaliyah was surprised at how different this was from sparring with Tabitha back home in the village. It wasn’t the level of bloodlust that was different, as Tabitha got quite heated during their bouts; it was the pacing. There was no time to breathe, let alone stop moving.

Aaliyah entered the Endless Forest at level 74, and in that relatively short time, she gained an astounding eleven levels. She leveled almost every one of her skills at least once, yet she still wasn’t good enough to fight beside Tabitha as an equal.

It took everything she had to dodge the winged serpent's thrashing. The few times she was able to hit it with her hammer, she did almost nothing to the massive snake. Conversely, Tabitha was a 5’ 4’’ ball of death, ruthlessly attacking with everything she had.

A lesser dragon’s vitality was on a whole other level compared to any monsters either of them had faced in the past. She was drawing blood; sadly, the wounds weren’t deep enough to cause serious damage, and most closed within seconds. Its blood was like tree sap, hardening in real time right before their eyes, but that didn’t stop Tabitha from trying.

Aaliyah watched Tabitha nimbly dodge the winged serpents’ attacks by a hair’s breadth each time, stabbing as she went. Her technique was beautiful, almost hauntingly so. She moved like the soul horrors in the ruins. It was like Tabitha was made of smoke as she danced circles around its humongous frame.

Aaliyah was captivated by the display. She thought that because she had grown a bit, she'd be more like her teacher—she was wrong, oh so wrong.

While sparring, Aaliyah always thought it was only a matter of time until she reached Tabitha’s level, but now she wasn’t so sure. There was a madness in her teacher’s eyes as her smile widened mid-battle. This fight was for their survival, and she was enjoying every second of it.

But Tabitha wasn't insane. Her mind was still preoccupied with protecting Aaliyah and not dying, but those feelings didn't take away from the joy she felt from being pushed like this.

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Aaliyah wished, more than anything else, that she could be the same, to throw caution to the wind and put everything on the line. She was doing her best, but a mental barrier was still holding her back. A voice whispered that she needed to be smart, that it was her job to rescue Tabitha if something happened—That she wasn't good enough to do anything else.

...

What a load of crap.

How would Aaliyah rescue Tabitha in this situation? Even now, the winged serpent was focusing the majority of its attention on her. With each passing second, it was slowly forgetting Aaliyah was even there. It was like their first battle all over again, which infuriated Aaliyah.

She felt like a bee buzzing around the battlefield and not Tabitha’s partner. She could do small amounts of damage if she scored a lucky hit, but she wasn’t the winged serpent’s focus. Tabitha was, and always was, its actual opponent.

Aaliyah’s grip on her hammer was so tight that her hands were moments away from losing all color. To have all her progress brushed off like it was nothing was humiliating—No, it was insulting!

Like the snake, Aaliyah had her own pride, and it was wounded.

Ducking under a stray sweep of the serpent’s wing as it tried and failed to catch Tabitha unaware, Aaliayh was desperately searching for an opening. She knew it was arrogant of her, but she wanted to get at least a single good hit in, even if it was the only damage she did for the rest of the battle. So, Aaliyah did the only thing she could: she watched and waited.

The one good thing about the lesser dragon not seeing her as a threat was that it barely noticed when she retreated a few steps out of its immediate range. Aaliyah stayed relatively close to Tabitha in case the winged serpent tried to gas them again. Still, at the same time, she put enough distance between them that it was easier to dodge the snake's stray attacks while not appearing as if she were running.

Without as many attacks directed at her and more time to avoid them, Aaliyah could observe their massive opponent in a way Tabitha couldn't.

Its large eyes tracked her sister apprentice's every movement with laser focus as she vaulted over the snake’s body. Tabitha briefly paused to stab her sword into a gap in its armor no bigger than a few inches, but she never stopped attacking from every angle.

More than once, the winged serpent managed to make brief contact with her armor. And while Tabitha's shield continued to hold up fine under the onslaught, the rest of her armor wasn’t looking as good. But it was in all that mayhem that Aaliyah noticed it.

It was slight, barely even noticeable in the chaotic mess of the battlefield, but Aaliyah saw it from where she was standing. It was hard because the winged serpent kept moving its head to track Tabitha’s movements, but Aaliyah was fairly confident she finally had its blind spot down.

Every time Tabitha attacked from directly behind the winged serpent’s head, there was a slight delay in its movements. Surprisingly enough, it was Aaliyah’s underutilized Mathematics skill that was coming in clutch. Using it, she estimated the snake’s vision to extend to 285°.

With that in mind, Aaliyah saw her chance to help and took it. She didn't say anything to Tabitha, as that might reveal her plan or draw unnecessary attention upon herself; instead, she slowly positioned herself to strike. All she had to do was wait for the perfect moment.

The winged serpent wasn't even looking directly at her anymore, but she was still in its field of vision. If she purposely moved into its blind spot, there was a chance the lesser dragon would sense something was up. So, she didn’t; Aaloyah didn’t move from where she was standing—But the snake did.

In an attempt to follow Tabitha’s movements, the winged serpent needed to turn its head, and the moment Aaliyah was in its blind spot, she jumped. Aaliyah soared high over the winged serpent, using Air Walk to shift her position and stay out of sight. As she soared, her eyes met Tabitha's on the ground. With only the briefest of eye contact, the two of them were able to convey what they needed from the other.

Subtly, Tabitha dialed back her dodging, allowing the winged serpent to close the distance between them even further, tightening its field of vision and ensuring it wouldn’t accidentally turn its head.

Meanwhile, up in the sky, Aaliyah prepared to make her big move. Until this point, she had used fifteen of her thirty free status points; now, she put another ten into strength, bringing it up to 193. New strength instantly coursed throughout her body, but it wasn't enough. Using Air Walk again, she kicked as hard as possible, launching herself downwards like a meteorite.

Aaliyah’s eyes turned bloodshot as she sacrificed most of her remaining stamina to activate as many of her hammer skills as possible until her body was trembling from the contained force. Her target was right behind the snake’s head, where its skull met its spine. Aaliyah hesitated to call it a neck, but that was where she aimed, right in the middle of the winged serpent’s blind spot.

Aaliyah knew it wouldn’t be enough to kill it, but figured she would at least give it one hell of a headache.

Unbeknownst to Aaliyah, her mindset was what enabled her to approach the snake undetected in the first place. If she intended to kill the lesser dragon outright, her killing intent would’ve inevitably leaked out and given her away, but because she didn't, the snake didn't sense a thing. Combine that with its single-minded focus on Tabitha, keeping it from making full use of its unsteady mana zone, and Aaliayah had a once-in-a-million chance to land a devastating sneak attack.

The winged serpent didn't sense a thing until the cold metal of Aaliyah's hammer slammed into its spine with more force than it could ever remember experiencing. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

A loud cracking sound filled the air as multiple scales broke apart upon impact, leaving the snake's neck bare. But that wasn't the full extent of Aaliyah’s attack. The winged serpent’s scales were only able to absorb a fraction of the kinetic energy; the rest traveled through its body, fracturing its spine in multiple locations and driving its massive head into the ground.

Aaliyah had accomplished her goal of dealing significant damage to the winged serpent, but she wasn’t alone.

A veteran of many battles, Tabitha wasn’t one to miss an opportunity when presented on a silver platter. The snake was already instinctively moving to distance itself from the two in an attempt to assess the damage done to it, but not before Tabitha capitalized on its moment of weakness to drive her sword into its exposed left eye.

From there, multiple things happened at once. The first thing to happen was the winged serpent reeling back from the pain of losing one of its eyes, multiplied by the agony it felt from Aaliyah's attack. Simultaneously, Aaliyah, who was still standing on the serpent's back after momentarily exhausting herself, was thrown into the air like a rag doll after the serpent sent her flying with the full force of its body, inadvertently knocking her unconscious.

At the same time on the ground, Tabitha circled the lesser dragon, dodging its flailing attacks as she looked for any more opportunities to cripple the snake further. Unfortunately for her, she finds none, though it does leave her in the perfect position to help Aaliyah.

From her position, Tabitha had a clear view of Aaliayh getting flung off the winged serpent’s back, and immediately moved to catch her young apprentice. She was beyond worried for her, but at the same time, she couldn't stop herself from smiling maniacally.

Tabitha couldn't be prouder if she tried. Not many were crazy enough to try such a stunt, let alone succeed!

Leaping, Tabitha caught Aaliyah in a princess-like carry before she could slam into the hard ground. The girl groaned loudly in Tabitha's arms due to the rough landing, but that just meant she was alive.

Across from them, the snake was still squirming due to its multiple injuries. However, even as it rolled around and twitched unnaturally due to its spinal injury, it never took its one good eye off Tabitha and Aaliyah.

"Did I get it?" Aaliyah groaned deliriously as she slowly regained consciousness.

“And then some,” Tabitha smiled down at her proudly.

“It’s not attacking us?” Aaliyah asked, confused, when she noticed the distinct lack of violence being forced upon them. “Do we make a break for it?” She questions as Tabitha helps her stand on her own two feet, albeit a little woozy.

"No, it's not letting us go anywhere," Tabatha tells her, sounding sure of herself.

“Even with everything we’ve done to it?”

“Especially because of what we’ve done.” Tabitha steps protectively in front of a swaying Aaliyah. “There’s no going back for it; it’s lost too much fighting us.”

“Please, it’ll just heal,” Aaliyah hisses as she finds her footing.

“No,” Tabitha replies bluntly. “It could heal from the injuries you gave it, but not from mine. Even with its vitality, it won’t be able to grow another eye. It’ll scab over and close but not regenerate. It'll have lost an eye for nothing if it lets us leave now."

“Well, shit,” Aaliyah swears.

“Shit, indeed,” Tabitha nods in agreement.

Just then, the winged serpent goes eerily still. Its tar-like blood was still leaking from its injured eye, and its neck still hurt, but none of that mattered to it anymore.

An eerie silence falls over the dead clearing as the lesser dragon stares down the two women with its remaining eye. Time seemed to pause for all parties involved as that single slitted orb refused to look away.

Soon, Aaliyah and Tabitha feel their hair begin to stand on end, and for good reason. They watch as the massive snake slowly tilts its head back until its mouth faces the sky, all while keeping them in view.

Then, they feel it, a pulling sensation. It was coming from the winged serpent, but it wasn’t physical—it was magical. The beast was pulling in all traces of its mana from the air.

In a matter of seconds, the winged serpent’s mana zone was gone; it had absorbed all of it back into its body.

“Fuck, it’s entering its second stage.” Aaliyah felt a chill run down her spine as she could've sworn she could hear boss music faintly playing in her head.

“I don’t know what that means, but it does appear it is powering up for something big.” Tabitha’s voice was slightly grave, but she was still smiling.

It didn’t need to be said that this was the final stage of the battle. The lesser dragon was activating its ace in the hole. The question was, did Tabitha and Aaliyah have any more cards to play themselves?

Either way, the battle would resume.

Time remaining: three minutes and forty-three seconds.