Part 26: Chapter Twenty-Five: Red Dragon

As they were no match for Ardgevald in their current state, there was only one option. They headed for the mysterious Dragon’s Nest, home of Gray’s former sword master.



Master!
Dragon Keeper: Uh, whah!
Looks like I fell asleep standing up again.
Master, it has been so long.
Dragon Keeper: Ah, is that you, Gray…
Gray, who is this guy?
My sword master.
Dragon Keeper: What do you mean, “Master?”
Both of my students abandoned their training.
Ingrates!
I’m sorry I bothered you.
Dragon Keeper: Hmm.
That other ingrate showed up here the other day, too.
He said something about defending his people.
That guy?!

It seemed that the Dragon Keeper also knew Noin.



Dragon Keeper: How’ve you been?!
Just fine.
Dragon Keeper: Oh, you look great!
And, you’ve developed in so many ways. Come closer and lemme look at you!
……
He’s stealing my role!
We have come to ask for permission to take the Dragon Test.
Dragon Keeper: Hmm. I guess that’s fine.
You’re probably finally ready for that skill.
Thank you very much.
Dragon Keeper: As long as you’re thanking me, why don’t you go kill Ardgevald for me?

Feinne’s Fourth Wall Lectures: Dragon’s Nest
Dragon’s Nest is a cool little place. We fight five waves of enemies with no break between them, and if we succeed we get some cool reward. What we get depends on which gauntlet we fight. We’ll see new ones open up as the game progresses, and eventually we’ll be able to do ones with crazy postgame bosses at the end like the final boss of the original Iris, Amalgam.

What we have to do now is the Dragon Test, which is five fights against increasingly powerful dragons and lizard trash. It’s a lot like the fight with the Elder Virium earlier, just keep in mind that the Elder Virium at the end is tough enough that it will probably get to attack at least once and it does massive damage.

They defeated the Dragon Master’s test, and reaped the rewards.



System Message: Received Dragon Blood [3]!
Gray learned the skill [Dragon Slayer].
Great, I should be able to inflict major damage on Ardgevald now.
Dragon Keeeper: You’ll at least be on equal footing.
Don’t get complacent, Gray.

As they headed for the Lalizatt Cave, Ardgevald’s Lair, Viese was investigating some things in Eden.



Huh…
Aren’t you even a little tired? I mean, reading too many books can’t be healthy.
You’re right. But I was reading about Mana and just couldn’t put it down.
About Mana?
Huh… I didn’t say anything.
You told me before that there was something you wanted to know. Is it about Mana?
…
…Yes. I’ve always wondered where Mana came from. Who our ancestors were.
I wouldn’t even know where to begin thinking about that. Why do you want to know…?
I was reading some history books and they got me interested in the past.
I started to wonder what my own origin is.
Wow. Did you learn anything about it yet?
Not much… I just know that there was a lone Creation Mana.
Lilith, right?
Right. As far as I can tell, all other Mana were born from Lilith.
But, that’s all I’ve found. I don’t know anything about what came before the Creation Mana.
I see…
But, I still have the rest of this book to read.
Okay, sorry to bother you.

Iris was improving at alchemy at an impressive rate.



What is it, Iris?
Here.
This is a Mega Flame. Where did you get this?
I made it.
Wow! You’re getting good at this.
I made it for you.
Really? Thank you.
I haven’t taught her anything. She just learns from watching me… It’s amazing.

Meanwhile in the heart of the molten caves of Lalizatt, Felt and his allies were about to be thrust into battle.

Video- “Ardgevald”

Watch the Battle with Ardgevald

It’s huge…
Today, I will end your reign of terror!
Alright, let’s go!

Boss Battle: Ardgevald
Okay, so now we’re in business. See, the version of Ardgevald we fought earlier had the skill set and stats he’ll get when we fight him again in one of the last chapters, so he plowed us. This time we can actually win. This incarnation is a lot like every dragon, he’s pretty slow so it’s easy to Break him and do a bunch of damage. His main attack is Dragon’s Wrath, which does massive lightning damage to someone. Gray, of course, does increased damage to him thanks to his new skill. If you’ve synthesized some Meteors those are great ways to do serious damage to him, even if he does nullify the fire component.

After a short battle, Ardgevald decided he’d had enough and fled!



Did it get away…?
……
Looks like it ran away when it saw our true might.
I hate when cowards keep running away only to return later.
Yeah… It got away!
You’re going down for good, next time!
Ardgevald! We’re coming after you!
Let’s go back to Claire Village and let them know what happened.

Next time, we’ll see what happened on their return, and how they found the next workshop.