My body felt numb. Numb to Rajahs fluffy fur rubbing against my skin, numb to Tatsuyas sweat falling on my head, even numb to VifiYok stepping on my tail. My nerves wouldnt send the signal to my brain, even though I could see it all happening right in front of . A lack of feeling combined with my parallel minds working on overdrive to ensure my survival ant I witnessed everything in a slight slow-mo.
Well, it wasnt like I could do anything about it right now. This Winters Gift toxin was a real punch to my gut. Yeostar warned about the venom, ntioning how it was one of the best tools to kill fire dragons. It felt kind of like anesthesia but with a side effect of extre chill. I couldnt feel anything but the cold creeping through my body; probably a realistic description of the venom coursing around my body.
Frightening, truely. Even after Tatsuya fed the antidote, I couldnt feel anything at all. Even my muscles were rebelling against my parallel minds decisions. I could, thankfully, still use my skills and release scale-dust, as evidentced by my Territory release. Aura skills were still usable. However, physically, I was a burden, right now. I could technically still move, but it felt like I was paralyzed throughout my body. Like I was a vegetable.
[Gnomacotta Warrior]! Tatsuya shouted, before sending the appraisal details through telepathy.
Gnomacotta Warrior: A rock statue possessed by vivacious gnossmall earth faefolkwho long for the embrace of the Earth Elental Emperor. Jealous of their siblings, the dwarves, and how they were allowed to live and prosper under the watch of Origin Goddess Crustacia, the gnos have created humanoid rock bodies in honor of the dead Earth Elental Emperor. Living in symbiosis with dungeons, these gnos possess rock to protect their temporary ho. Rank C
In other words, just like spriggans who could beco treants and dryads like Rita, gnos could possess rock to beco sothing more. These lesser faefolk were essentially too weak to do anything in their normal bodies, so they possessed sothing to gain a strong body. Now that I thought about, that was a real trend for lesser faefolk. Onnikais possessed corpses, spriggans vegetation, and now these gnos with stone.
Hestia-san, how are you doing? Kyouya asked while keeping his guard up, cautious about the still rock statues. A monster room was one of the ntioned traps. Three waves of escalating enemies. Rank C now, but a rank B might appear later.
You asking if I can fight? Barely, I forced myself to say. The only parts of my body that didnt feel completely numb were my stomach, throat, and stomach. Fuck I burned Yuuko. Im sorry
I still felt bad for what I did. Sure, she was a stranger to , but saving them was one of Saoris goals. As their forr teacher, she wanted to rescue her students from the clutches of the demonkins. Not to ntion that Tatsuya and Kyouya were fellow students as well. I didnt want to burn her, but that whole sequence of actions were just the worst!
Who cares about that! Its her fault getting in your way! Tatsuya callously stated to sooth my worries. That bastard Takuma isnt any better either, even if there was a misunderstanding. Dont worry about it; just fix that girls face up later with [Miraculous Grace]!
I guess he was right It wasnt like it would solve anything to ask those two for forgiveness. Tatsuya wasnt too close with his other classmates, while Kyouya was on the fence about it. In addition, those two also lectured how I forgot about [Magic Breaker]s effect. I an, co on, I wasnt planning on fighting with them!
When they gave the briefing on the students unique skills, I hadnt really paid attention cause I wasnt there to fight them! I wanted to persuade them about everything. Even if we stayed enemies, I thought I could resolve everything peacefully. These were Saoris students; the last thing I wanted to do was give her grief. Prepare for everything, but how the hell was I supposed to guess VifiYok being there with the students and so dragonslayers?! Crazy!
Magic Breaker: The user becos a conduit of mana, severing the mana link between the target and their spells. Nullifies all spells and magic-based skills, including buffs and debuffs caused by them, and prevents the target from using them until midnight of that day. Restores the users mana by the amount of nullified items while also transferring arcane corruption from target to user. Very high mana cost per usage
How broken was that? It didnt have to touch and I was locked out of spells for an entire day?! aning, this locked up, sealed feeling I had with my mana, my inability to release it out of my body or move it around fluidly like hardened blood or sothing, was a result of [Magic Breaker]. Fortunately, I could still use my draconic abilities, spell songs, and also scale man
Arrrrrgh! Owww! I grabbed my right arm, feeling the sensation of my fingers touching the dried, black stump. My missing arm; the feel of touch had just reappeared and I could feel the pain. Well, adrenaline is over. The venom causes necrosis Jeez, the phantom pain.
Tell about it, dragon. Now, how about we not deal with sothing that minor, and instead figure a way to survive this?
I snapped my head around, noticing VifiYok speaking with . Her snarky comnt was directed at my complaints, despite the fact she was missing her left arm. She really was prickly.
How about you step off my tail? I wanted to complain, but Tatsuya took over the discussion.
Hestia-san cant use magic and is paralyzed until the antidote fully takes effect. Rajah has [Exhaustion (Minor)] and his armor is in shambles. And our unexpected companion here is in danger of exploding in our face. He sighed, before assuming a battle pose. Hestia-san, I presu you can still support us?
I nodded. With song and flas, yes. Cant use any -kinesis skills, though, so I rather not use my Territory with you guys around.
Neither can I, for obvious purple reasons. The demonkin scoffed, but seed wobbly on her feet. Her expression confird my worry for her health, as she looked like she could fall over at any second. These things arent moving though.
The humans-sized stone golems werent moving an inch as she ntioned. There were a bit too many to count. This roomthis clean, polished room made from fairnite, showing no signs of the decrepit ruins from beforelooked about the size of a large cathedral. No entrances could be seen, not even a closed door. We were flanked by so many of these golems, standing there like soldiers with shields, various lee weapons, and bows.
On the other hand, we only had a small area to fight in, too tiny before this monster room swarms us. I put my party bracelet on, realizing the golems were waiting for us to make a move, a mistake they could capitalize on. However, at the sa ti, I understood this might be a mistake. I looked up, confused why the dragonslayers hadnt pursued us through the hole yet. Whatever it was, lucky us.
Im tanking! Humanize! I transford back into a dragon, causing my exoarmor to transform, morphing back into its true form. Unable to cast [Panzer], Grimnirs masterful armor gave the protection I needed to trust in my tanking abilities.
Now back as a dragon, my large size seed to have taken a step over the boundary, causing the blue eyes of the golems to light up. Their bodies creaked and cracked in a robotic manner, before everybody had assud a battle position. Without any warning, they ran and shot arrows, almost seamlessly, resembling the fluid movents of a human.
Pavise!
I couldnt use magic, aning I had to fight like a dwarf right now. It didnt matter, for I had dwarven-made armor to work with! Runes could work even with [Magic Breaker] on .
As the barrier protected , but also pushed the other three away, I smashed my tail onto the ground, decimating nurous golems before sweeping them away like a broom.
Krriiiiiiiaaaaaaah! I roared, forgoing buffing everybody to focus on combat.
Lets go, Kyouya! Tatsuya called out, pumping him and his best friend up.
Rajah, too, couldnt help but participate. [Master, Ill take care of your flanks!]
anwhile, VifiYok didnt say anything; instead, she used my glaive with deadly precision, looking like a whirlwind of flas and tal as she cleaved through the nurous golems. Seeing her like this, I had one of my parallel minds keep an eye on her, not for surveillance, but to learn her movents. Learn from how she fought with my weapon.
Even with a single arm, she was outmaneuvering the golems as if they were untrained recruits, weaving parries, feints, and strikes with the occasional scale-dust explosion stored inside my weapon. She was even using the runes I had on it, using the fire she created to regenerate mana.
On the other hand, I had to rely on my parallel minds fine tuning my movents for my precise attacks. Even though my body felt airless in a bad way, my constant training with Neill through three weeks had ingrained my attacks into my muscles. Even if they were asleep, the motions felt natural.
With VifiYok and the boys taking care of my flanks, I slashed and stomped, being agile and destructive in one. With pavise shielding from everything, I could even stand still and breath fire down, lting the golems.
Wave 2 incoming
When that System ssage ca, holes on the outer edge opened up, letting hands the size of a single gnomacotta warrior reach out. A giant nacing statue with black armor appeared from each cardinal direction, all ramming their giant axes onto the ground, creating small shockwaves of dust to blow around. More of the warriors appeared from behind these giant figures, who even rivaled in height as I stood on four, errr, three legs.
Fairnite Guardian Statue: An animated golem made from fairnite using mana. With the agility of a normal giant warrior, these destructive creatures can challenge even the swiftest groups. While heavily resistant against magical attacks, their defences arent as impenetrable through physical ans. Rank B
Hestia-san, target focus! Well take care of the legs, you take care of yourself! Tatsuya shouted out our orders, prompting to charge towards the western statue, bulldozing my way through the horde of enemies like a ram.
Krrrriiiiiah! With a single swift motion, I grinded my tail along the ground, not only causing it to ignite on fire but also sending another wave of warriors flying out of the way. I jumped in the air and flapped my wings, before slamming my tail right onto the golem.
It defended itself against my attack with its weapon, causing its solid shaft to crack, before I grabbed the golems head with my left claw, smashing it onto the ground. Despite the description, it was sturdy. Still, initiating my [Spark Crescent], I sorsaulted, slashing the golem and destroying its weapon.
As it tumbled back, crashing against the wall, VifiYok and Tatsuya pierced the golems legs with their Grimnir-made weapons and pulled it back for to grab with my jaw. Using my tail as an anchor, I swung my neck around, throwing the golem at the three approaching ones with all my strength, only for to miscalculate my trajectory and smash my head right into the wall.
Hestia-san?! Kyouya called out.
Shit!
My horns were stuck! I couldnt pull them out!
Knowing it would take too long for to pull myself out without my dominant right arm, I gestured for the others to run ahead. Once they saw sparks forming around , they understood what I was trying to do and ran ahead, slicing through all the fodder. Gnashing my fangs together, I unleashed the surrounding scale-dust, blowing up the entire area and the monsters around.
I thought blasting apart the wall would reveal so kind of way to escape, but there was just more thick rock behind it. There really was no way to exit outside of defeating these things.
Once I flapped my wings to blow the dust away, I saw Rajah keeping the heavily injured giant golem down with his [Dark Tendrils]. Sadly, since these golems couldnt experience fear, all my rawr, Im a dragon moves werent scaring them. This monster room was just an endless wave of these creeps!
Dammit! Tatsuya shouted as he was pushed back by a shieldwall of warriors, causing him to finally realize he was at his limit.
Kyouya, too, was having trouble. His unique skill allowed him to continuously conjure black armor to shield himself from damage, but they cost his health to create. Sadly, while I could continue healing him with my normal white flas, his skill reduced healing from all outside sources by 50%. aning, his only reliable healing thod was to leech off the damage he did. While good in shorter battles, this was an endurance challenge.
This wasnt even ntioning VifiYok. The girl was fighting like a berserker despite her physical limitations, prompting to rember her scorched, almost zombie-like figure at the end of our fight in Elyona. She still kept fighting, even when death was near. She wasnt even taking damage from anything, but the strain of all the fighting was clearly catching up to her.
The boys had to not only fight a bunch of black rcs before we seperated, but they also held off the dragonslayers for a bit to protect . They werent even fully rank Bs yet, and they had to take on all this crazy? Dammit, we all needed a bloody level up!
Boys, howAhhh, I cant use [Telepathy]! Yuuuuuuukooooooo!
These damn things arent dying fast enough! Kyouya noted as he realized so of the broken golems still had blue glowing eyes. Thats why we havent level up yet, Tatsuya! Crush those heads! Those damn gnos!
Understanding I had to support them with this, I charged towards them, but instead of attacking, I circled around them and pushed the remaining golems away. I was acting as the at shield, giving them so mont of rest.
Krriiiiuu! I growled softly, causing the boys to catch on after Rajah appeared.
[Master, wants us to rest!]
I knew I could rely on you, Rajah!
Tatsuya nodded. Got it! VifiYok, get on Hestia-san and rest. You cant level from these things, right?
Huffing like crazy, she stomp on a broken warrior head, killing it before nodding. With the boys covering her, VifiYok rushed over to my body, only to snap her head up. The three still unhard rank B golems had reached us and were swinging their axes down.
Kra! I shouted at her, before sending my scales out, relying on them with [Draconic Barrier] and [Defense Rune: Pavise] to protect us.
As the stone crashed against my defenses, I could feel the loud sound rupturing through this room. Thankfully, no damage. Seeing smirk, VifiYok nodded and jumped onto my leg and then on my back, allowing to standing up and dodge out of the way just as the golems tried to grab my wings.
Hellfla Breath!
Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Flas burst from my mouth, swallowing the golems and the warriors, pushing them away from us.
Idiot! Mana attacks wont harm them, that includes your breath! VifiYok, the armchair expert, comnted.
I know that, but I had to push them away sohow.
Got a level! Tatsuya and Kyouya both shouted, before they rushed over to . The forr had a wide smile on his face as he opened his [Storage Magic], retrieving two [Room] runes from it.
Genius!
That was our way out! This was far too taxing on us, and the boys figured this was the timing to get out.
Things were too hectic, I kinda forgot about them! Tatsuya admitted, to which I couldnt fault him considering the shit situation we were in. Even then, it wasnt like I could bla him, considering opening a portal here could risk them being destroyed. Alright, I
Wave 3 incoming
What?!
Gnuuuuuuuuuuu! A reverbing groan echoed throughout this monster room, only for our footing to suddenly shake as the ground lit up blue. The nurous warriors and even the giant golems saluted, staying in place even as this entire room was moving!
What is with this dungeon?!
The crazy finally appeared, with the arrival of the final wave breaking the roomceiling, floor, and wallsinto pieces. The nurous gaps were so dark, I couldnt even properly see into the depths of them, making almost want to jump down to avoid whatever this next surprise was.
Sadly, the gaps were instantly closed up with mana. The wall I destroyed separated itself, revealing a new room, before the room we stood on, literally, tossed us into the new one with no fanfare.
As we recovered, the warriors and golems dropped down, forming a statue wall in front of the morphing monster room. Like smashing solid rocks against each other, that grating crunch of fairnite tiles being pulled into each with mana, combining into one being like a bunch of lego. The monster room was a literal monster.
I snapped my eyes around this new room, noticing how it wasnt as white and pristine as the room we were just in. That actually bamboozled us. This normal room looked identical to the nature-overtaken ruins from the previous floors, making it more likely to be an authentic room. This was a killing trap.
The bomb before floor 15 was there to kill us, but if we werent, we would fall into this place. The monster room would send waves at us, trying to kill us like suckers. The Ankoran King sent us in here for training, not wanting to endanger my life by letting join the expedition force for the Event Quest. However, what the hell was happening here?! I probably would have been safer in the Event Quest just cause I had people like Yorshka, Neill, and Master around!
Who did I have here? Two exhausted upper Rank Cs, an injured rank C virigress, and a demonkin who looked like she could die at any second now.
We needed to escape, and as if everybody understood this, we all stared at Tatsuya. However, my heart skipped a beat as I saw his deadpan face, pointing at the wall of golems. Looking over, I saw the crumbled remains of the [Room] runes, crushed underneath the sole of one of the golems. Tatsuya must have dropped them when we were tossed into this place.
Why? Why is my encounter luck so bad?
We all stared at Kyouya, who nodded and opened his [Storage
Magic]
Ahem. Kyouya gulped as we all saw his storage close up on us. His head slowly turned to everybody else, and his mouth began to twitch. We have a problem.
I lost my [Room] runes when the dragonslayer cut my arm, Tatsuya just lost his, and Kyouya lost access to his. We were trapped.
Master Rajah doesnt feel so good.
Neither do I, buddy.
Or, at least that was what I imagined our dialogue would be when I looked at Rajahs crestfallen face. After all, no mana usage also ant no [Telepathy]. While that wasnt too bad, the real problem was how he couldnt even use his spells any longer. He needed them to fight properly.
Similarly, I couldnt use [Humanize]. I tried it, but I couldnt transform back into a dragonewt. aning, I couldnt sing, but even then, spell songs probably wouldnt work. Not to ntion, this also ant I couldnt use my Territory nor manipulate my scales and use [Draconic Barrier], since they all relied on mana.
Ankoran King, do you want to kill ? Im a FUCKING MAGE!
No way, no way would the Ankoran King send into this just after everything, right? No way, there had to be an explanation for this. There had to be!
I snapped my eyes back to the giant room golem, noticing how the pristines walls from before had changed, giving more chiseled edges and wedges around its body as details. The mana seams flowing through it made it look like so kind of mantech, but the stony surface of its body was clear to see. Its face looked a bit cartoonish with its cube teeth, giving it a less intimidating force compared to the statue faced warriors and the helted soldiers.
On the other hand, as the room golem latched its hands onto the edges of the hole where the monster room was. Pushing itself through, it revealed its full appearance. Mostly top-heavy, its arms were as thick as a small family house, probably enough to quash as it was larger than in size. Its lower body, though, looked far frailer as it was weirdly thin and only had two tree trunk-sized legs to support it.
So how are we supposed to kill that thing? Tatsuya said with dazzling eyes, probably captivated by the grander reward part of the System ssage.
With my tail, of course.
I raised my tail, fully accepting Tatsuyas optimism. After all, there really wasnt any other way to survive, so why not be a bit competitive about it? A star like couldnt just die in this forgotten place, and definitely not a dragon who had family and friends to lose.
No risks, no rewards, right?
A note from AbyssRaven
Get that reward, Hestia! Get the loot, even if you can't talk!
If you guys want to support , Hestia and "A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale" (or just read up to 20 advance chapters any Patreon-only chapters) please check out my Patreon: Rawr!
For two dollars, for the cost of a coffee, you can read up to four chapters! You will have my eternal gratitude for any support you can give ! Please.
Thank you for reading this chapter.
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