Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 228: Dragon!

The cloud-walking boot bounced off the strands of whispy water vapor with a satisfying “thwack” as Isaac brought his foot down on mostly empty air.

He grinned as he launched himself forward, speeding up in preparation to make the huge leap to the next could. That one was easily crossed, but the next was simply too big, so he briefly nullified his weight and flung himself skywards on a pillar of fire, landing with another resounding “thwack”. From then, he just kept running, a massive grin spreading across his face and eventually, he started laughing.

A deep, full, belly-laugh that echoed through the sky.

Isaac had run across the surface of the moon, climbed Mount Everest, walked across the deck of the Titanic’s wreckage, and done a whole lot of other incredible stuff. But running across the clouds as if they were solid ground was still amazing, easily comparing to the others.

The isle of Etzel came into view and Isaac stopped to soak in the view. He’d had to hoof it here to ensure that his portal charges recovered, but being able to take the cloud highway had certainly made it more than bearable.

Isaac glanced down at the pair of black combat boots. Compared to the originals, they were incomparably less garish, which was a huge plus, but they fell short in a number of ways.

Firstly, they were loud, impossible to use in a way that let the wearer stay unnoticed.

And secondly, they were stupidly inefficient. Sun only had to pay an infinitesimal trickle of mana to use his while these took a full 2 points of mana for every step. It didn’t sound like much, but it added up quickly.

Then again, these were the first iteration of these things. They’d get better, just like all the other copied artifacts had.

Most [Heir-Classes] had something they could summon, and whenever possible, Isaac had seen if he could arrange for them to be copied.

Of course, not all weapons could be adequately copied.

For example, copying Excalibur had been a shitshow.

In terms of raw physical properties, it was actually slightly inferior to some of the legendary weapons Isaac could summon, Balmung and Mimung. Its power lay in its legend, not its sharpness.

Both the weapon’s physical properties and its ability to turn its legend into offensive power had been copied … but what kind of legend did a cheap knockoff of a mythical weapon have?

Only two copies had ever been made. One was decorating Isaac’s office, and Stagmer was using the second one in his showroom.

Isaac’s ancient weapons were also being copied and were becoming useful, but he still felt he’d barely scratched the surface of what they could learn from the past.

Leaping from cloud to cloud, getting lower with each hop, he slowly made his way down to sea level, until he landed on the surface of the ocean.

To be precise, the cloud walking boots should have been called the water-treading shoes, as they could use anything that contained water as a solid surface, ranging from clouds to quicksand and even the surface of bodies of water.

Sure, Isaac could just have landed in the arrival area and been done with it, but there was something to be said for making an entrance. After all, it wasn’t like the fact that the boots were being replicated would stay secret for long. If nothing else, they were excellent proof of the benefits of having the damnable primate around.

Really, it was a case of “I never knew I was interested, but now that it happened, I never want it to end” for him.

Just having the Monkey King there and sort of behaving himself was easing Isaac’s worries. If anything big went down near him, he’d show up, and whether it was out of boredom or a genuine desire to help didn’t matter at that point.

He did the usual song and dance with the guards and entered to a scene of organized chaos.

Paradoxically, knowing more about a [Raid Boss] meant they were making more preparations, not less.

When facing the unknown, they tried to cover all their bases, but couldn’t commit to any one thing too hard.

On the other hand, when they knew a lot about their foe, they could avoid going down the wrong path and instead go all-in on the promising concepts … which could take forever.

For example, setting up the array that prevented it from flying at all had taken a damn long time and the spell script covered most of the floor. Drawing the array itself hadn’t taken that long, but working out something with enough contingencies in it to survive the dragon walking over it, let alone anything else, had been a real time-suck.

As for the trick, it was rather simple. Almost all monsters were too large to fly under the laws of aerodynamics, which was why they needed a way around them.

Some creatures, like ghosts and other monsters capable of moving even in a vacuum moved by directly using their magic to fly. But most winged creatures had innate magic that allowed their wings to be useful.

For example, Void Dragons’ wings could push against the very fabric reality to produce thrust, irrespective of the medium they moved through.

Others, such as the Sanguine Monarch, had organs that looked like wings but, in truth, were just ways for them to channel a flight spell.

However, these were a rarity. Atmosphere-bound creatures with wings, even humans with [Skills] that altered their bodies, usually had an innate magic that seeped into the air beneath their wings, “hardening it” after a fashion, the altered property only interacting with the wings themselves, allowing them to work in a way that flew in the face of the established laws of physics.

But that ability still required air to be present, which was why the array would generate a vacuum directly beneath the wings of the creature, one large enough to take flight off the board while being small enough that there wasn’t a risk of a melee combatant blundering into it and getting hurt.

Meanwhile, the guns had been retooled to shred its wings as effectively as possible during the initial phase of the battle, as the array keeping the dragon grounded would likely not survive very long. After all, it was located on the floor of the arena, something that the dragon had ready access to.

There were already plans in the works for building another array into the ground itself for future battles against enemies with wings, but that would take a good long while to achieve. Also, they should probably hold off until an improved version had been created.

And, of course, the engineering corps had jumped at the chance to build anti-dragon weaponry. Anti-armor shells and net guns were already a thing, of course, but there was an entire universe’s worth of possibilities for what could also be built and they’d run with it.

But now, everything was done, and the damn dragon was about to die.

Isaac met Oberst Gram in one of the handful of meeting rooms the battle island had for a final check of the preparation.

“Those the new cloud walking boots?” Gram asked and Isaac nodded.

“You know, the Ministry of Defense is considering buying those for all high-ranking officers to give them some extra mobility that doesn’t rely on other people or machines to increase our ability to stay out of trouble.”

Isaac groaned “As if our national debt weren’t high enough already.”

“They’d be awesome, but I think that idea will go down as one of those harebrained schemes that die the second someone runs the math.” Gram reluctantly agreed “Did you hear that there were suggestions of renting this place out to people who want to fight [Raid Bosses] to recoup some of the costs of building it?”

Isaac made a sound like a squeaky toy being stepped on before catching himself “Please tell me suggestions are all they are.”

“Obviously.” Gram said “Half the advantages of this place are the guns, and letting a civilian, even a high-Level one, operate on of those … absolutely not.”

“I don’t think that kind of civilian [Raid Boss] summoning, in general, is a good idea.” Isaac said, “I mean, when you’ve got a dozen people triple its Level, maybe, but allowing the rich to do so just because they can afford to rent the military’s toys … the question is when and how that will go wrong, not if.”

“True.” Gram said as he pulled up the current plan on the wall screen “So, those are the current preparations, and no one’s had any bright ideas since the last time we talked.”

… He sounded about as fed up with the constantly updating plans as Isaac was. They could have obliterated that dragon days ago, but the flood of new ideas had scuppered that plan.

The first dragon had allowed them to create plans for its specific weaknesses. But the way it had been trashed by a being whose exact power wasn’t known beyond “a lot” meant that they didn’t really have a model for its exact power.

End result? Stupendous over-preparation.

“No, let’s do this before that changes,” Isaac said.

***

The dragon appeared from the summoning circle in a bright flash, massive wings spread out, ready to launch it skywards.

The great beast got to beat them exactly once. It swung them at full force, expecting to meet regular, magic-enhanced air resistance, but the nature of the enchantment it was subjected to meant that there was nothing there.

Instead, they slammed into the ground with bone-crunching force, comparatively fragile wing-bones shattering as the ground trembled. That took care of their biggest problem. Wing membranes were fragile, yes, but even the fragile parts of a [Raid Boss] were durable as hell. Having it destroy its own wings took care of things nicely.

The sheer look of utter confusion on the monster’s face earned a few laughs despite the seriousness of the situation.

The naval guns roared to life the moment the monster appeared but paused a moment later when it broke its own wings so they could switch out their munitions. After all, the fragmentation shells meant to destroy the wing membranes weren’t needed now that the bones had been reduced to shards.

So straight to the second stage instead, with the magazines alternating armor-piercing and explosive shells. The former to crack the scales, the latter to detonate within the newly created holes to further strip away the protective covering. If it sat still for an hour, they’d kill it with ease.

As if this would be that easy.

Dragons could do the most damage on the ground, where they could bring not only their breath weapons but also their claws and tail to bear. However, that was also where they were at their most vulnerable. Flying while bathing pathetic mortals in flame was a way to fight fairly safely, but that wasn’t exactly possible with a pair of shattered wings, was it?

Now all one needed was a way to deal with the beast’s breath and the rest of the fight would be eminently doable.

Isaac charged at the dragon’s head the moment it began to open its mouth, flame pouring out like a tidal wave, the sheer force of it threatening to send him flying. But it did no damage. The Americans had managed to put out most of the fires by the time he’d arrived, but they’d missed a couple of embers, which he’d promptly stolen.

So now, it was just a matter of enduring the pressure. For thirty seconds, the flames flowed over Isaac, reducing the ground beneath his feet to slag. For thirty seconds, the dragon was mostly standing still, trying to crush an annoying pest, while the humans poured fire onto it.

When the fire eventually petered out, Isaac had sunk into the ground up to his knees, and the dragon reeled back, having received a blast of frost fire to the back of the throat. It wasn’t strong enough to do real damage, but a creature so strongly aligned with fire taking a cold spell on such a vulnerable stop was supremely uncomfortable.

He phased his legs out of the molten rock and got out of the blast zone.

While the dragon did a wonderful cat with a hairball impression, claws and tail swiping madly to buy itself some personal space, not that anyone was stupid enough to be in range, fire raked its hide.

[Command-Skill] enhanced gunfire, anti-armor spells, naval guns blasting through its hide after focusing on one spot for long enough.

[Raid Bosses] were tough, and the dragon was no exception, continuing to lash out even as it began to gain an ever-growing resemblance to a target in a shooting gallery, but it was slowly weakening.

Pre-prepared spells snapped into place around its legs as it charged towards the closest gun battery, stopping it in pace, so it opened its mouth, preparing to unleash another blast of fire … only to choke on a series of oversized blades that suddenly appeared in its throat.

Isaac had flung as many blades as he could down its throat and then transformed them into both the giant blades he’d gotten for just such an occasion and his Zweihänder.

Flames dribbled out of the dragon’s maw as it choked on its metallic “meal”.

It whirled around and charged at him, apparently having decided that he was the most annoying thing on the field.

Isaac had been hoping to deal with this without resorting to cooldown [Skills] so they could kill it again, but, oh well, an hour wasn’t that long a cooldown.

Just wait for a minute, predict how it will move, when its spine will be aligned properly, all lined up as straight as was possible … [Wave Charge], [I Am The Sword].

Under the temporary invulnerability and unstoppable momentum of his [Skill], Isaac burst through the monster’s open mouth, teeth shattering as it tried to bite him, and his trajectory crossed the creature’s spine three times, breaking it in each of those places.

It continued to stumble forward drunkenly, its innate powers allowing its nervous signals to bypass the damaged spots, but it was slower, drunkenly lurching from side to side.

The gun emplacements began to fully drill through its body at that point, marking the end of the road for that creature. It hadn’t quite reached the point where the damage would kill it, but with so many holes in its body, it was only a matter of time.

Eyes long since blown apart, tendons shredded, and the number of internal organs reduced to pulp growing every second, it died.

Dragons really weren’t all that threatening without their wings. Once they were clipped, they were a lot more susceptible to spells that locked down their movement and they were no longer able to produce gale-force winds with a single flap.

Three more dragons died the same way, summoned each time all relevant [Skills] were off cooldown, one of which went into the [Grave of Swords] for training purposes.

Isaac’s time bumping off [Raid Bosses] by the dozens was coming to an end, soon, the catalog would be full, all Tier 6 and 7s recorded, grimoirs completed, and so on. Fighting them for [Skill] Levels, specific loot and XP was a good idea, but not something he could afford to exclusively spend his time on.

Karl, Raul and Patrick were returning from the moon, Bailey had been working hard on the bureaucratic front, hammering through both the funding and construction permits for new summoning areas that would allow them to face Tier 9 and eventually even some Tier 10 monsters, and Amy’s sojourn into the furthest depths of what was possible to do with magic was coming to an end as well.

Once the gang was all together again, there were so many things they could do together.

That would take a few more days, until then, he had a few more chances to go after some [Raid Bosses], starting tomorrow. No more working their way down the list, it was time to be strategic about this.

And until then, there was an alchemist he had to bug.

***

Professor Chandler’s lab had apparently always been impressive. Isaac wouldn’t know, he’d never been inside until well after the [System] had appeared, and by then, it had been the standard medieval alchemist’s workspace.

But that had been then. Now, the laboratory filled most of the building, old floors, and ceilings having been knocked out to make space for titanic runic arrays, gyroscopes that had no readily apparent function but they had to be there for a reason, a dozen storage rooms, each intended to hold a kind of reagent with specific requirements.

Powerful wards absolutely covered the outside of the building, of course. After all, the materials inside were worth literally billions.

Every time Isaac approached a door, it scanned him, then peeled away the wards and let him in while arrows appeared on the ground to lead him right to where Chandler was waiting for him.

The Professor looked well for his age, far better than he had the first time Isaac had met the man.

He was old, and the grooves life had dug into his face were still visible, but his appearance was smoother, his back straighter, and he moved with an energy that belied his age.

Sure, much of that was down to mere stat gain, but he’d taken a big step toward regaining his youthfulness when Isaac had given him the Aspect of the Sanguine Monarch.

The vampire’s Aspect gave not just the standard [Skill] of [Moment of Immortality], but also vitality-draining abilities. Usually, that meant draining monsters to shore up yourself against the consequences of getting older, but alchemists had other uses for it.

After all, what was a health potion but a way to artificially prop up the, well, health of the person who drank it? With a slightly altered recipe, a few expensive ingredients, and the right, hard to get, [Skills], one could easily give old age the middle finger … for a time.

You’d still age somewhat, your life could only be propped up for so long and you wouldn’t turn back the clock, but it still made a titanic difference.

Chandler put down the rock he’d been working on and stood in a way that made it clear that he was paying full attention to Isaac.

“So, what have you brought me this time?” he asked, grinning in a way that was simultaneously expectant and manic.

“Dragon scales,” Isaac said, opening his storage space to drop a literal pile of the stuff onto an empty spot on the nearest table.

He held out his right hand, which had several patches of molten scales covering them.

“I figured out that they can be melted to pour onto skin, where it bonds with it to create biological armor. But adding more scales doesn’t do anything, they just roll right off, so I was wondering if there was a way to distill down the magic of these things. Remove the material, keep the magic, that sort of thing.” Isaac suggested, “Also, I found a lot of [Raid Boss] parts that are clearly meant to be alchemical ingredients, and I figured you might like them.”

Not to mention, around ten percent of the extra materials were the things needed to enhance the dragon scales.

Now all he had to do was lean back and wait ...

***

“I managed to break down the material fairly easily, but there’s a bit of a problem,” Chandler explained as he showed Isaac a crucible of liquefied scales with arcs of power sparking off it “The end result is highly energized. A few small areas imbued should be fine, but a full covering, like the Bundeswehr is doing, would likely be lethal.”

Isaac nodded, putting on a grim face “Ok, but how much stronger is it? The original is pretty useless for me. If I’m going up against an opponent where I need the extra defenses, the standard boost won’t be enough. How much of the boosted version can I use?”

“I don’t know.” Chandler shrugged “I was hoping …”

Isaac nodded again “Yeah, I’ll get Bailey to help me figure that out.”

“… yes.”

“Alright, thank you for your help”. Isaac said, picking up the crucible and putting it into his inventory “I’ll tell you the second I know more about this stuff, have fun working with the rest of the materials.”

He made his way down to his office, closed the door, and began to apply the material, thin strips of nigh-indestructible biological armor crisscrossing his body. They weren’t outright impossible to cut through, but they didn’t need to be. They just needed to be tough enough that he’d get thrown clear before being bisected.

Once he senses he couldn’t add any more, he stopped, and put away some for the rest of the team. What he had left after that would make an excellent bribe for the military.