Part 64: Episode LVIII: Lynx and the Pint-Sized Dragon of Pyre Mountain

Well, that's the last we'll be seeing of Earth Dragon Isle...in this dimension, at least. But, that's a story for another day.


Next up in Lynx's vendetta of dragon ass kicking is the Red Dragon of Mount Pyre. Sadly, there will be no Drakengard cross-overs today. The Red Dragon we once knew was killed off in a bad sequel/murdered by Caim/eaten by giant carnivorous babies/shot down by jet planes over Tokyo and caused the apocalypse.

No, we'll be having a word today with that filler boss we saw on our first trip here. You'll notice the exit path toward Fort Dragonia has collapsed. I'm not exactly sure how that happened seeing as Dark Serge just teleported away to go pick out a new outfit with his brainwashed girlfriend and the Acacia Dragoons had to drag General Viper's half dead massive ass out of that path. But, whatever...

Music: Death's Volcano


Mount Pyre is stocked with the same low level enemies that were trolling about on our first visit. Only, now they can basically be taken down in a few seconds by the party.




To the eastern most part of the dungeon a new pathway has opened up. This one is kind of a pain in the ass to locate as it's down a previously explored area that includes an ice slip-and-slide. Overshooting the new path dumps the party right back at the beginning of the dungeon. It is a touch annoying.


In any case, the new cavernous way leads to the lower level of that open cave where we previously battled the Deva trio. The huge ass dragon poking out the lava is still chilling out in its magma bath and really doesn't seem to take much notice of the intruders. Instead, we need to speak to the little fellow we fought earlier.


"You look a bit different, but I know it's you!"
"Congrats. You've raised the odds of someone recognizing me to 1:999."
"C'mon, challenge me again! Whaddaya say!?"
"Didn't I already beat you before? Shouldn't that count?"
"I was holding back then, lad. Don't be a stick in the mud!"
"Tch... FINE!"
"If you beat me, I'll give you the Dragon Relic and my pet Salamander."
"Pet...? Eh?"


"Ahh... That makes more sense... Kinda..."

Music: Between Life and Death




Alright, time for a rematch this lil' fella, the Fire Dragon.


The Fire Dragon has learned...absolutely nothing since the first encounter against him. Only now, his signature FieryBreath flamethrower attack is only doing in the neighborhood of 20-30 HP. His physical attacks are doing 10-20 HP a piece. Seems a bit too easy, right? Well...not really, given the pathetic display its two previous sisters put forth.


But, of course, the little guy isn't going to go down quite so easily. After draining around a quarter of its health (3400 HP total), the Fire Dragon takes off the kiddie gloves and starts fighting for real.






Needless to say, the formerly little Red Dragon undergoes a wee bit of a growth spurt for the latter half of this battle.


Fire Dragon's new wyvern-esque form is slightly more intimidating than the four foot tall version, but not really all that more difficult.


First of all, since the fight has really begun now, Fargo is free to pillage and plunder the guardian's red hot plate for the party's war chest. The mini-form of the Fire Dragon has the same drop as it did during the original battle against it (some shitty, long obsolete accessory.) Since there is no break between transformation, trying it early would mean pissing away the Tech use and missing out on the red plate.






The fiery god is extraordinarily weak to Blue elements to the tune of around 300-500+ for higher end magic. Though, it takes a page from its big brother the Black Dragon's book and automatically retaliates each time one is used. Fortunately, all it does is use the FieryBreath hold-over from its midget form.

So basically, it's 300-500+ damage against the dragon versus a whole...30+ HP loss penalty against the one casting the magic. This can be exploited to great effect as the hothead will piss away its stamina spamming its weak sauce retaliation move and never move on to its far more damaging physical attacks or its unique tech.




Speaking of which, the only upgraded attack the hulked out Fire Dragon gets is the FireBreath (not to be confused with FieryBreath. Totally different!) strike. Fire Breath hits the entire party for a ballpark of 100-200 HP of damage to the entire party. This can be a bit of a problem. Add another 50-75 hit points loss to Blue characters like Fargo or Marcy. Thankfully, it seldom uses this attack, especially if it's tied up in giving half-assed pay back for Blue elements cast.






Long story short: Lynx and friends win with not much hassle and level-up once more!


The party also relieves the dragon of its pet err...dragon... Isn't that slavery? For the previous relationship as pet, at least. Humans are clearly well within their rights imprisoning lesser creatures and summoning them to battle at a whim.


"What...no speech about fate and crap?"
"Nah...I was never much on small talk. No pun intended. Take it easy, lad."


And so for our efforts, Serge receives a frozen flame. A frozen flame. Not THE Frozen Flame. Huge difference!