The Monster Of The Burning Pass.

The roar that John heard was immediately followed up with a loud, angry screeching noise that split through the fog around him and then a sudden blast of air right after that. He never heard the rushing wind coming at him with the scream of the beast still in his ears, he just felt it as the **** of the gust slammed into him so hard that it sent the Gamer physically stumbling back away from the source of the roar. Yet, with the sudden wind came a clarity of vision as the dense, greenish fog was physically **** to part around the beast that landed in front of John with a series of sudden impacts. The ground violently shook as each of its limbs slammed into the solid stone below them, and John was sent stumbling further as he looked away from Mub and back towards the target in front of him... but he immediately regretted that.

Another burst of wind slammed into the Gamer as he tried to find his balance again and the fog parted even more. Sickly, glowing, golden, reptilian eyes immediately peered out through the greenish fog around them as John came face to face with the monster of the Burning Pass, and then he was hit by another blast of wind. He stumbled again, back to the edge of the cliff-side that he had just climbed up and away from the mammoth skull that he had been standing beside, before he saw a shiny glint of green reflect off the creature’s seemingly metallic head. The fog parted further for just a moment and left John alone briefly as its enormous face abruptly retracted away from the young Gamer from where it had been hovering... nearly three dozen feet above John. It inhaled with a snarl and flexed slowly, momentarily revealing a wave of glimmering viridian-hued scales that covered the entirety of its giant body as it stepped in and then back out of a lone ray of sunlight. Wings, each the length of a great pine tree, spanned out from either side of the beast's mansion-sized back as it growled down at John, but even a simple gurgle from a creature of that size sounded like a powerful motor to someone as small as him. Its neck shook slowly with each reverberation, the power of its voice quaking in its scaly neck all the way down to the rest of its thin body, until John noticed the ribs that were visible even through its shrunken stomach. It was hungry, starved probably, after being locked in a valley of **** like it had been.

"What's happening?!" John barely heard Urga call out as the last few moments of his deafened status effect faded away.

"Is that-" Mub spoke up briefly, but John didn't pay any attention to him. A green glow illuminated the area in front of the creature, and John's lengthy astonishment immediately faded. Like how the Orcs had somehow managed to do, he recognized this creature too. Of all the ones that he had been thinking he might find in the kingdom though, this was one of the ones that he didn't want to meet. Its back legs tensed as the Gamer and beast stared at one another in fleeting silence; the creature became suddenly poised as if it meant to leap at its new prey, but when John saw the green glow in the air around it emanating from the beast’s mouth, he knew that it never even actually had the need to jump at him.

It had a mouth big enough to swallow him whole, but it didn't even need to try and bite down on him. It merely needed to breathe.

"DRAGON!!!" he screamed, as the air in front of the beast's mouth ignited with a bright, yellowish green light. Row after row after row of razor sharp teeth were illuminated shortly, but John didn't stop to look at them. "GET DOWN!" he shouted back to the rest of the tribe, but there was no way for him to tell how many of them heard him. The screech that followed the Dragon's exhalation cut out all other sound again as John tried to dive and move to cover behind the mammoth's skull. He made it halfway to the dismembered skeleton before the area in front of the Dragon exploded with sickly green flames. Pieces of thick, charred, black bone ripped off the sides of the mammoth's skull, sending bits and flakes of the once identifiable head flying off into the distance... or simply disintegrating them after they had flown through the air for a few seconds. Somehow, the fire never touched John, but it did surround him when the flames burst out on all sides of the skull. Briefly, he was doused in green light and disappeared from the rest of the Tribe's view, and then the flames burned so hot that they became blinding and the fire turned almost white. The air filled with smoke, ash, and sulfur as the Dragon scorched the area that John had been standing in black... and then, after only a few seconds had passed, the fire stopped.

Evade Successful! Area Of Effect Damage has been halved!

He barely remembered to make use of his new ability before he had finished diving for cover, but even after narrowly avoiding the flames, John still watched as the damage counter on the edge of his vision steadily ticked higher and higher.

-213 HP! Evade Applied!

It only lasted a few seconds... and the fire never actually touched John, but by the time it was done, his ears were ringing and his whole body hurt like it had been ripped open and carved up until all of his nerves had been exposed. The pain stabbed at his senses so much that he immediately dropped to his knees from the burning needle-like sensation that pushed deeper and deeper into every inch of his skin. He coughed once and realized that the cloth that had been tied down in front of his face was already gone. It had been reduced to ash, and if not for the fact that his 'pahnts' were covered in armor, then those might have been destroyed too. They were still a little singed though.

His body hit the ground before Gamer's Mind had a chance to restart for him, but even after it had, it told him the exact same thing that every other instinct he had was already telling him.

Flee.

Mub was actually the first to act after John hit the ground. After watching a handful of Orcs burn when they had failed to listen to John's cry and duck, Mub shot up as soon as he could while the Dragon tried to recover its breath. He yanked himself up onto the cliff and darted over to his pack leader, who remained face-down in the dirt like he was already dead and picked the magic man up. As soon as his green fingers touched John's armor though, he yanked them back with a shout, swearing as he burned them on the gear that was supposed to be protecting John.

If anything though, it was just burning him more by that point.

-10 HP!

"What are you thinking?!" Somehow, even on the verge of ****, Mub tried to look to his Alpha for advice... for any kind of a plan like the crazy one that he had offered up at Eldham. John didn't have anything though. He felt like the Dragon didn't even have to wait for its fire breath to come back before its new prey died. His burning armor was probably just going to kill him.

"I'm thinking... that I probably should have gotten laid before I came out here," he answered honestly and watched as Mub stared blankly at him. He didn't even manage to draw a final laugh out of the Orc before the two of them turned to look back at the Dragon again. Strangely enough, it was staring back at them. Its lips curled back into a sickening toothy grin for a moment... before the smile disappeared. John blinked as the Dragon reared back... and it kicked off the ground into the air. With one heavy beat of its wings, it launched higher and higher into the air until it found a spot directly above them where it could hover while a familiar green light flickered to life again in front of its mouth.

It smiled at him. Had it understood his joke?

Again, John blinked. He stared up at the Dragon as it inhaled and snapped its teeth, sending sparks and bits of flames falling down onto the prey below it before an idea actually did come to the Gamer. If it understood him... then he could at least try talk to it.

"Waitwaitwaitwait!" he screamed out, shouting so quickly and loudly that even he didn't understand the jumbled flurry of words that sprang out of his mouth. Sure enough, the beast hesitated. Its heavy wings sent gust after gust raining down at the group of Orcs below it, and the fog finished dissipating with each individual blow. "You don't have to kill us!" The wrong choice of words. The beast snapped again, striking tooth against tooth like one takes a flint to steel, and a single flicker of flame licked out at a group of Orcs that had been trying to crawl away, Rugga among them. Each Orc screamed out only once before they stopped moving.

"I'LL HELP YOU!" he screamed again before the Dragon could breathe out any more fire. Again, it hesitated. "L-let us pass. S-safely, and I'll... I'll..." there was a slight pause as John glanced around. He couldn't feed the starving beast. It didn't need any help with that at the moment. Its wings beat again, and the chain following it around rattled once more. He followed the chain up to the giant, heavy collar that had been placed around the Dragon's neck and exhaled... shakily. "I'll break the chain." Again... the beast paused... and then with a couple quicker flaps from its wings, the Dragon dropped low to the ground. It landed with another series of heavy impacts that sent the ground shaking around him, but John was more focused on the creature that had briefly stopped attacking them.

...Briefly.

A deep rumble shook through the Dragon's chest as it stared right at John, but the Gamer stared back... and swallowed the dry lump in his throat a few times just to keep from shaking. He wasn't even paying attention to how much health he had left after his armor had kept burning him. He couldn't spare the glance.

"You let them go... and then I'll break it," he said and was immediately met with another roar. The voices of warriors and barbarians screamed out as the Dragon's hot breath washed over them... but it didn't burn this time. There was no fire. "Th-that's the deal. No more w-waiting for scraps to stumble towards this rocky prison. You go free... when we do."

Even when the beast inhaled, John noticed that there was a slight rumble to its breath. It was almost like the thing never stopped growling. It was always threatening... always dangerous. A part of him could already hear the way the thing's teeth would crunch and snap as it chewed on his bones. Yet, it didn't attack. It stood... waiting, until Mub started to usher the rest of the Tribe out and through the rest of the Burning Pass. The Orc didn't even try to argue that they should fight the beast for once, he just focused on getting everyone else out. John was the only one who didn't move, or couldn't move. When he tried to do it, the Dragon growled and moved with him. It kept him in place until he had fulfilled his end of the bargain and they were finally all alone.

It took a while, the Pass was so large that the Tribe couldn't cross even after they had moved out of John's range of vision. They took so long that John used the spare time to try and cast Observe on the Dragon to see how much trouble he had gotten himself into. Observe simply failed. It didn't even give him a message, and the Dragon regarded him with another roar when it somehow sensed the use of his spell on it. He had to start screaming at it again just to try and calm the thing down, to explain what he was doing, and he did... in intimate detail. It was just a information spell. He had just wanted to learn something about it... and somehow succeeded in placating the beast. He explained his plan enough that it eventually bowed its head to him, and he took it as an opportunity to try the spell again. Only the name information appeared on his pop-up, he didn't see any levels or anything like that.

Favoris
<The Viridian Deceit>

"Fuck me..." John groaned when he saw the name that appeared before him. The Dragon simply smiled again. The Viridian Deceit? Did that mean the Dragon would go back on their deal when it let him go?

When the Tribe disappeared from sight though, the Dragon growled again and pulled the chain taut. John swallowed at the dry lump in his throat again... and nodded. The chain itself was bigger than he was, each link seemed like the size of a couple of Orcs put together. He didn't know how he was going to break it. He didn't even know if he could let it go. At the very least, if it planned to betray him, then it would have been stuck there... with karma. Worse than the problem he had with the size of the chain though was the fact that he found it to be enchanted when he used Observe on it.

Chains Of Entrapment, Specialty Item
These great, dark, steel chains were made specifically for the purposes of binding one specific being to a set place, The Viridian Betrayer. The creator of these chains, the Thrall King, made the earthen prison for Favoris as a punishment for her past crimes. These chains cannot be broken by anyone other than the Thrall King, who has long since passed on to the afterlife. These chains are created, empowered, and fueled by the breath of Dragons. These chains cannot be pulled out of the earth; if someone like Favoris tries to dig the prisoner free, then the chains will automatically create new links to keep it anchored to the ground. Attempts made to break these chains are punishable by ****, and punishment is to be delivered by the Thrall King. These chains- Do not do this, John Newman. Leave her here.

John blinked as he read through the last line of his pop-up. As soon as his eyes opened up again, the message was gone though. He swallowed heavily, considering the thing he had seen in his Observe information... but there was no way for him to get out of the Pass without letting Favoris go. If he wanted to survive... then he had to do it. A growl above him reminded him of the Dragon's anger and impatience, and he immediately thought of how he didn't want to be the one deceiving anybody there. A Dragon wouldn't take something like that too kindly.

He frantically began searching through his inventory. As much as he would have liked to have found something to break the hold that was keeping Favoris in place, there was nothing there for him to use. Even the Sapphire he had received from Hestia herself didn't have any effect that he could find to help him lift the enchantment from the chains.

Soul From The Pillar Of Fire
This neat little rock has picked up a soul... well, from an Abyssal pillar. You got this on your journey into the Abyssal Pillar of Fire.
Effects:
-???
-???
-???

He had a rifle... but he doubted that a gun was going to be able to do anything that a Dragon couldn't. In the end, he dismissed his inventory and pulled up his ability sheet instead. He scanned through his spells as fast as he could and nearly cried out when he didn't find anything again. He tried to use whatever he could, punching the chains with his Infused Strike, looking for a weak point with his Fighter's Eyes, or even a simple Theft to see if he could just steal one of the chain links away from Favoris. It didn't work.

Eventually, he tried Craft to see if he could make something specifically capable of fooling the chains into thinking that he was the Thrall King. He tried using the ability to make the chains into something else, in the hopes that he could alter the enchantment enough to recognize him or Favoris as the one who could break it instead. Nothing from his spell list worked.

Yet... a stray thought reminded him that there were certain abilities that he had that weren't in his spell list. There was one ability that he could use while wearing his Boots of the Thrall King. Shade. An illusory spell that covered him in shadow.

It seemed ridiculous to think that something like that might work, but if the Thrall King had made the boots and the chain, then he figured it was worth a shot. He activated the boot's special ability and with a deep breath, he took a step back to try to gather some more **** for his next strike... and then he drove another Infused Strike into the chain's links. His fist slammed into the link with a loud rattle and a gentle boom, exploding with a brief burst of flame around the Gamer's clenched hand.

It didn't even budge.

A low rumble echoed out throughout the mountainous valley around John as Favoris moved to stand over the Gamer. He swallowed deeply as she peered down at the figure of shadow that John had become, and as quickly as he could, he spammed all of the same spells again while Favoris's hot breath poured onto him from above. Fighter's Eyes drained more of his mana.

Theft was unsuccessful.

Craft couldn't create anything to break the chains; he couldn't change the name of the person that the chains would break for or find a way to make them into something else... but it did give him an option to do something with the chains. It wasn't much at first, just something ridiculous that didn't seem like it would help the situation at all. After all, he wasn't looking to Craft an additional lock for the chains. Worse than that, it only gave him the option to make a lock. There was no option that John could find to make the key itself, it was just the lock, and making that alone used up the Sapphire that he had been wanting to save. He groaned as he looked at the option, but it was the best thing he had.

"I don't know if this will work, Favoris..." he said and watched as the Dragon bristled when he mentioned her by name. "... but if it does, then I expect you to stick to your bargain. This shit is going to use up a gift that I got from a god, so if you fuck me over, I'm gonna be pissed." For once, he growled back at the Dragon. He regretted doing that as soon as the Dragon simply breathed out another growl at him, but he had his moment. That was all he needed.

"Craft," he muttered with a low breath and tried his hardest to envision a lock with a very specific key. It should have been simple, easy, and immediately at his disposal so that he could help the Dragon get loose... so he tried to fashion it to the 'Trophy Of The Champion' that he had received from some faeries while drunk.

He was trying to break an enchanted, invulnerable chain with links that were twice his size and only using a sapphire and a golden coin with a flower tied to the front of it...

... what could go wrong?