MMORPG: The Elementalist

The dragon’s roar rang across the skies above the volcano. Qin Ruo felt a presence so overwhelming that it was hard to draw breath. The dominating Draconic Presence emanated from the clouds of black smoke over the caldera. Just the sound of its fearsome cry already had him sweating with fright.

“Damn!” Qin Ruo stared in disbelief as the outline of a crimson dragon, two dozen meters in length, gradually emerged from the smoke. He could not help but swear.

Infernal Dragon… What level was it? How powerful was it?

This was a disaster! To think that the Boss guarding the volcanic caldera was a Colossal Dragon!

What in the world was this? The might of the dragon before him… On the fifth level of the Graveyard of the Gods, he had encountered the Tier 6 Megaboss “Spirit Sovereign,” but it had been nothing compared to this dragon—its Draconic Presence was the real thing!

A Tier 6 Elite Megaboss? An Overlord Boss? An Ultimate Boss? Perhaps… perhaps even a Divine-tier Boss?

Damn! Damn! Damn!

Cursing the game designers vehemently for throwing him into this inhuman trial, he peered up at the skies overhead. The Infernal Dragon spewed fire with every breath. Qin Ruo was drawing a complete blank.

“Hold on…” Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.

This was just a quest to advance from Tier 4 to Tier 5. Even if it was more difficult than usual, that did not mean there could appear a Boss so far beyond that level range! There should be no such thing as a Tier 4 player being required to challenge a Tier 6 Megaboss.

Not even a Tier 5 Supreme Champion with a full set of Legendary equipment could take on a Colossal Dragon one-on-one. It was simply too unreasonable…

And yet—there was no mistaking this sensation!

A genuine Infernal Dragon, with an overpowering Draconic Presence.

Something was off. He could not help but wonder: This whole time, why hadn’t the Infernal Dragon moved to attack him yet?

With combat ability surpassing that of a Tier 6 Megaboss, not to mention the mobility of a Colossal Dragon, picking off an average high-level Tier 4 player like him should only take the work of a moment.

Qin Ruo’s brow tightened. There was something abnormal about this whole situation.

It was always like this. When all hope seemed lost, he would unexpectedly find his calm, and his mind would be sharper, work faster than usual. In a matter of moments, Qin Ruo had analyzed the entire process of this Advancement Quest, and identified several areas that seemed out of place:

Firstly, back in his Tier 4 Advancement Quest, when Qin Ruo had chosen a high-difficulty task out of seven options, he’d only been faced with a single Tier 4 Elite Miniboss.

Although the difficulty of his Tier 5 Advancement Quest had been raised, that did not mean jumping several tiers until he would finally have to go up against a foe surpassing a Tier 6 Megaboss!

‘Something must have gone wrong, somewhere!’

Turning things over in his head, his eyes darted about, taking in the Infernal Dragon and its fearsome bearing, until his gaze finally fell upon the dragon’s eyes.

The second mystery lay with the Infernal Dragon itself!

Qin Ruo had noticed that since the appearance of the Infernal Dragon, it did not seem to notice Qin Ruo at all. It was just flying lazily about in the sky, following a defined route, with seemingly no intention whatsoever of making any sort of attack against him.

This was when Qin Ruo recalled the final task of his Advancement Quest:

Harvest the Magmashroom!

He stirred, putting all the pieces together…

He theorized that the Infernal Dragon couldn’t make any moves of its own initiative, or was perhaps confined to the area around the volcanic caldera for some reason. If either of these proved true, he might have a sliver of hope of making it through this.

If not… one swipe of the dragon’s talons, and game over.

If he had guessed right, it should be possible for him to skirt around the Infernal Dragon while searching for the Grade 3 Magmashroom herb. In this way, he could complete the quest without ever entering combat with the dragon.

The thing to watch out for was not to get too close to the caldera, or else he might come within the dragon’s attack range.

A bit too good to be true, perhaps; and yet…

… not quite too crazy to work!

***

The human and the dragon had faced off on the mountain summit for a whole three minutes!

Even the Infernal Dragon seemed to be getting tired of the indecisive little human adventurer. Turning its proud gaze in his direction, it unleashed a stream of searing fire, transforming the ground into a blazing pyre.

Another resounding roar shook the volcanic summit!

And then the Infernal Dragon looked his way once more! Enormous dragon eyes, filled with rage and menace, radiated dark promises in warning, as though to say: Flee while you can, human—else there won’t even be a body left to find.

It could not have known that such empty threats not only had no effect on Qin Ruo, they instead steeled the resolve in his heart.

“The Infernal Dragon can’t go beyond the volcanic caldera!”

The last traces of hesitation gone, Qin Ruo began to circle around the caldera, keeping thirty meters away as he scanned the ground closely for anything that looked like a mushroom.

With the ground mainly being lava, looking for plants was pretty easy. Easy like searching for lost pearls upon the sands of the Gobi Desert! Not much effort required: once you passed nearby one, there was no missing it.

However, Qin Ruo doing this enraged the Infernal Dragon!

Roaring in fury, it covered the ground with flames for thirty meters around the caldera, so that Qin Ruo was now wading through a sea of fire, everything on the ground smothered by the inferno.

Frowning, Qin Ruo regarded the Infernal Dragon—now wheeling gleefully through the air—and rolled his eyes at its shamelessness.

However, Qin Ruo was able to persevere through this setback. When it came to cunning tricks, the Infernal Dragon was no match for him. Observing the flames for a moment, Qin Ruo was able to determine that they wouldn’t last another ten seconds.

“Poochie.” Qin Ruo held out his arm. Already aware of his intentions, Poochie quickly scampered across to his open palm.

“Go. Find the Magmashroom!”

Nodding to show it understood him, Poochie darted away, covering a dozen meters with each bound as it ran all around the caldera. As it went, its glossy black eyes hunted around for anything mushroom-shaped.

Once Poochie was some distance away, Qin Ruo began to follow after it.

Seeing them split up like this, the Infernal Dragon was incensed!

It was not as though it could split itself into two, so it could only watch as Poochie got further away. There was nothing it could do about it.

In no time at all, Poochie was back. Hopping through his Frostbarrier, it pointed the way ahead, full of excitement.

The Magmashroom had been found!

Roused, Qin Ruo began to hurry in the direction Poochie was pointing.

The dragon howled, as though realizing that the human adventurer had located the herb it was guarding. No longer content with just breathing fire to slow Qin Ruo down, it swept its wings back and dove through the air!

It was racing them to the Magmashroom.

***

The Magmashroom was a Grade 3 herb which only grew around the caldera at a volcano’s peak, subsisting on the purest elemental fire and geothermal energy.

***

Thanks to Poochie’s guidance, Qin Ruo had finally found the Magmashroom.

To his surprise, it actually grew more than thirty meters beyond the edge of the caldera—beyond the reach of the Infernal Dragon!

Qin Ruo started to grin, but then his expression turned serious right away, and he kept a careful eye on the Infernal Dragon soaring through the skies above the volcano, no visible sign of anything restricting its movement. The Magmashroom was right before his eyes now, but he was suddenly struck by the disquieting feeling that something was amiss.

Something was wrong!

It had been too easy to find, and it was too conveniently placed just beyond the dragon’s reach. Wasn’t this just too much of a coincidence?

If it was such a simple matter to acquire the Magmashroom, this whole Hellfire Trial seemed a bit of a joke. Here was an outrageously high-level, never-before-seen type of Colossal Dragon, and it was about to be sidestepped with nothing more than a laugh?

Qin Ruo did not believe that the game could have been designed with such an obvious loophole to bypass this climactic quest. No, there was simply no way it could be this easy.

His eyes narrowing, Qin Ruo turned to examine his surroundings once more.

Then he took another look at that grayish-white, mushroom-like plant which was somehow growing out of the lava-streaked ground. To all appearances, nothing looked suspicious.

Finally, Qin Ruo’s gaze returned to the Infernal Dragon, which continued to circle in the air with inexplicable serenity.

Qin Ruo noticed that ever since he came near the Magmashroom, the Infernal Dragon had abruptly calmed right down. However, its eyes remained locked on Qin Ruo, and its wings were beating slower and slower, as though it was saving up its energy for some purpose. It felt as though the moment Qin Ruo made a move, it would come rushing in at him.

The suspense was palpable! The overwhelming Draconic Presence radiating from the Infernal Dragon was now at its strongest!

Man faced off against dragon once more, with the Magmashroom caught in between!

It no longer felt as though the prize was any mere herb, but rather a barrel of volatile explosives, ready to blow at any moment!

***

The stand-off lasted for as much as half a minute.

After lengthy consideration of the extremely low odds that the Infernal Dragon might actually be able to go beyond the caldera, Qin Ruo took a step forward at last, breaking the stalemate.

The Infernal Dragon glared as he crouched down, dim purple light emanating from both hands as he began to work. Snapping its jaws, it growled low with hostility and rage.

It was a sound out of nightmares, and it tore at Qin Ruo’s confidence.

Keeping an eye on the Infernal Dragon as he moved to begin harvesting the Magmashroom, the menacing roar of the dragon caused his hands to tremble, and he gasped sharply in spite of himself. He paused to turn his full attention to the Infernal Dragon.

Ah, sure enough… it would not be so easy to steal a Grade 3 herb from right under the nose of what was at the very least a Tier 6 Megaboss. Not only did it require extraordinary guts, it also required nerves of steel and a phenomenal ability to remain cool under pressure.

“I guess there’s still room for improvement.” Qin Ruo laughed at himself. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he closed his glowing purple hands gently around the Magmashroom.

The moment he touched it, the harvesting process began.

The Infernal Dragon unleashed a particularly long howl, its wings beating savagely! The thick clouds of black smoke over the volcanic caldera, fanned by the dragon’s mighty wings, began to roll towards Qin Ruo.

Darkness clouded his vision as the smoke engulfed him completely.

“Hey!” Qin Ruo cursed silently, but did not stop what he was doing. He realized this meant the Infernal Dragon really was confined to the caldera. This was all it could do, in the hope that it would delay him somehow.

Standing his ground against the inconsequential annoyance of the smoke cloud, he continued to search for the most suitable part of the Magmashroom to cut off.

And then Poochie began squeaking in alarm!

Qin Ruo raised his head, startled, and was buffeted by a violent gust of wind!

Something incredibly dangerous was headed his way! That suffocating Draconic Presence was growing stronger every moment!

It was coming through the smoke!

Heaven forbid…

Qin Ruo’s blood ran cold. His Frostbarrier took a direct hit from some blast of magical energy.

As the hostile attack reached him, Qin Ruo thought he felt Poochie springing from his shoulder!