Seizing the momentary lapse as the Crimson Flame Dragon yet to whip its head back around, Tyler took aim at several of its parts and let loose a volley of three arrows.
Each arrow found its mark in the beast’s belly, wing membrane, and thigh respectively. The belly shot inflicted 2 points of damage, while the others merely scratched it for 1 point each.
Yet, as if foreordained, none of the arrows managed to pierce its defense, dropping to the ground one after the other.
Tyler had initially assumed the dragon’s wing membrane to be its most vulnerable point, but in reality, it was protected by a veneer of very fine white dragon scales, impervious to the assault of a Fir Treant Hunting Bow.
Surprisingly, the dragon’s belly lacked any scale protection, merely relying on robust and thick abdominal muscles for defense.
This observation left Tyler with an impression of this Crimson Flame Dragon. Perhaps, this whelp dragon was rather arrogant?
.
However, even if the Crimson Flame Dragon was arrogant, it indeed had grounds for its pride. With nearly five thousand life energy, Tyler could exhaust his remaining 70 arrows without causing it any real discomfort.
To conquer it, Tyler had to rely on his intellect.
In previous battles against formidable foes, Tyler either had the support of powerhouses like Viviana, or he leveraged the environment or third-party forces (like the Poison Blade Rat King). In any case, he never had to directly confront his enemies with his own strength.
But now, in this trial space of barren land, Tyler had to strategize to whittle down the dragon’s 4786 life energy all by himself.
The sky reverberated with the dragon’s roar, and the Crimson Flame Dragon abandoned its aimless circling in the air, landing on the ground to confront Tyler directly.
This was bad news for Tyler. The dragon moved quickly on land, and with a slight flap of its wings, it could outrun him.
The dragon, much like a rooster chasing after bugs, took a few strides and flapped its wings, and it was already upon Tyler!
As the distance closed, the dragon’s massive figure and the aura of dragon might emanating from its breath, filled Tyler with fear. This was the first time since his arrival in the Prison Star world that he had encountered a creature with such overwhelming presence.
Yielding to his fear, Tyler quickly threw two smoke bombs at his feet. As the smoke billowed out, he made his escape from the dragon’s attack range.
(This won’t do, it’s incredibly dangerous if it gets close…!)
Though lacking concrete evidence, Tyler could feel that with his physical capabilities, if he were to be trampled by the dragon two or three times, he would surely perish on the spot. If that monstrous maw managed to get a bite of him, he didn’t even want to imagine asking the dragon whether human flesh was tasty or not.
Moreover, the dragon’s thick, powerful tail was a dangerous weapon. If Tyler were to be hit by it, he would likely be a corpse by the time he hit the ground.
To summarize: Tyler could not afford to be touched by the Crimson Flame Dragon, a single hit meant instant death!
At this moment, Tyler profoundly missed his Moto-chan. If Moto-chan were here, at least he could outrun the dragon on the ground.
As the smoke began to clear, and the Crimson Flame Dragon emerged from the clouds, Tyler had neither a plan to slay the dragon nor a scheme to save his own life.
(There’s no other way, I’ll have to fight while figuring things out.)
With only a dozen smoke bombs left, Tyler was reluctant to exhaust his resources too soon. Instead, he raised his iron round shield, preparing to use the red light warning of the Divine Eye of Transcendence to spar with the Crimson Flame Dragon.
His understanding of the demon was still too scant; he needed to gather more information to identify its vulnerabilities.
In Tyler’s experience, the typical strategy in MMO games for human players to defeat flying dragons is “chaw massaging”.
Humans, unable to fly or climb onto the dragon’s back, often resort to wielding their weapons between the dragon’s feet, continuously landing blows until the dragon is whittled down. 𝗈𝐕𝗅xt.𝔠𝐎𝕞
This tactic has been humorously dubbed by gamers as giving the dragon a “foot massage”.
However, this is reality, not a game.
It remains to be seen whether Tyler’s weapon will bounce off the dragon’s foot, and the Crimson Flame Dragon certainly won’t be so stiff as to let itself be shaved to death by such a primitive scraping technique.
So, what strategies might be viable?
As he watched the charging Crimson Flame Dragon, Tyler thought of three possible approaches:
1. Blind its eyes with arrows;
2. Use the skill of Shadow Sword Blaze Steed, Blue Blaze Steed, to burn its abdomen;
3. Look for an opportunity to use Venomous Blade – Poison Claw to stab it a few times and see if he could poison it.
No sooner said than done, now that the Crimson Flame Dragon was charging head-down, Tyler immediately activated the Heart of Focus, aimed at the dragon’s eyes, and fired four arrows at each eye in a time-lagged attack.
To his surprise, the Crimson Flame Dragon had an exceptionally keen observation skill. It immediately closed its eyes, easily blocking the incoming arrows with the densely packed dragon scales on its eyelids. Then it had already rushed in front of Tyler!
The Crimson Flame Dragon opened its blood-spewing mouth wide, stretched its neck to try to bite Tyler, who, thanks to the red light warning, retreated in time, narrowly avoiding the dragon’s bite.
Then, he seized the opportunity to move under the dragon, wildly stabbing and slashing at its calf with Venomous Blade – Poison Claw, only to have all his attacks deflected!
(Damn, these dragon scales are too hard!)
Tyler dared not linger near the Crimson Flame Dragon for too long. After his attack failed, he immediately circumvented it and fled.
The dragon’s slow turning speed was one of the few weaknesses Tyler could exploit.
By the time the Crimson Flame Dragon turned its head towards Tyler, he had already run forty or fifty meters away. The dragon, looking at this human who was darting about, felt somewhat angered, as it had to waste so much time dealing with a mere human?!
Stimulated by its emotions, the Crimson Flame Dragon raised its head high, and the magical power within its body began to gather at its throat…
Seeing this, Tyler knew something was wrong. He immediately sped up, but he had only run twenty or thirty meters when the earth-shaking roar of the Crimson Flame Dragon came from behind him!
The roar of the Crimson Flame Dragon was not merely loud. It was mixed with magic, and even though Tyler was seventy meters away, he felt as if his eardrums were about to burst.
He could only cover his ears and crouch on the spot, unable to continue to act.
Fortunately, during the roar, the Crimson Flame Dragon was also unable to act.
When the roar ended and the Crimson Flame Dragon resumed its fighting spirit, charging towards Tyler, Tyler, while running, checked the changes in their status info.
Tyler noticed that the Crimson Flame Dragon’s “Dragon Roar” had consumed 50 points of magic, apparently one of its skills.
As for Tyler, due to the damage from the roar, he lost 19 points of life energy.
The power of the dragon’s roar at a distance of 70 meters was already so formidable; he didn’t dare to think how much damage he would suffer if he were to be hit at close range.
As the Crimson Flame Dragon gradually caught up with Tyler, the second round of close combat began.
Looking back, Tyler saw that the Crimson Flame Dragon had opened its gaping mouth once again, seemingly intending to repeat its previous tactic. However, the “red light warning” coming from the upper diagonal direction let Tyler know that this crafty enemy had some other plans.