Moonlight Blue

“Jeez, you guys are hopeless. I bet you would have all died if I wasn’t here. To think you would struggle this much fighting this thing.”

All Luke can hear is a familiar mocking voice he’s heard before.

Who’s making such a ruckus? I was quite enjoying my sleep. Sleep? What the fuck am I talking about? We were fighting the hydra.

Luke wakes up from his slumber only to see everyone waking up at the same time. Everyone is confused about what is going on.

“Oh, Marco. You’re still alive?” says one of the guards confused.

“I’m confused as much as you are.” Answers Marco as he checks his body for the burns which he should have since he was toasted but nothing was there.

“You guys are alive too.”

“You too. I thought you got burned by that monster.”

Everyone wakes up in confusion only to see the people they thought had died waking up too.

“Am I a zombie? ‘Cause I can swear to the Goddess that I died.” Says one of the guards.

All Luke can do is sit there confused out of his mind.

“Did you weaklings really think pops would send you all the way here so you could die? I had to follow your stinking asses all this time. You don’t know how bored I was. And having to save your asses over and over with my barriers whilst I stayed in the shadows. Do you know how hard, annoying and nerve wrecking that was? If I had made even a single mistake then you would have all died. A bunch of idiots.” Says Uriel scolding them.

Uriel? Wait what did she just say? Well, I guess a lot of things actually make sense now. Wait, wait a minute. Where is Light? Thinks Luke while glossing around the room.

“You don’t need to worry about that idiot over there.” Points Uriel at Light who is unconscious near the wall of the room.

“I gave him a high-grade healing potion. He should be fine. He’s just exhausted.”

Luke let out a sigh of relief.

By the way, what was up with Light back then. He was different. It was like he was possessed or something.

Everyone then sees the hydra’s corpse on the ground slowly dissipating. They are confused as who killed it.

“Did lady Uriel kill it to save us?” murmurs the confused guards.

“Did we fail then because we didn’t complete the challenge?” the guards murmur some more disappointed.

Uriel clears her throat.

“I can’t believe I have to do this.” Mutters Uriel to herself.

“Congratulations brave warriors for fighting valiantly and overcoming this challenging situation. You have thus completed the task set to judge your abilities. Yay.” Says Uriel with an awkward look on her face.

The old man must be punishing me for something. To think I’d have to say this to these bunch of weaklings. Curse you father! Screams Uriel from the inside.

“What! We won? We actually won!” says one of the guards happily.

“Woah there, smiley. You technically didn’t win? The Old team finished their dungeon three days ago, so they are the ones who won the competition. But I guess… you won in some way since you did defeat this hydra over here.”

“But if we won then who defeated the hydra?” asks the guards.

“Oh, well that’s an interesting one. It was-“ Uriel is cut short by Luke.

“It was Light.” Says Luke while standing up.

“Hey. You stole my thunder.”

The guards are confused.

They knew that after Light missed his attack, his mana was drained. So, it was impossible to be him.

“After everyone was knocked out, Light rose again. Bloodied and injured, he channelled the last bit of mana he had in him and killed the hydra in one strike.” Says Luke.

Everyone is awe struck. The only thing they could think of was how badly he was injured even before this fight started. But he never backed down. With his sheer force of will, he stood up again and fought.

“He didn’t give up even though he couldn’t even walk five paces. He fought to protect us. All of us.” Luke then raises his voice. “SO, REMEMBER THIS MOMEMT GUARDS! NO, SOLDIERS! WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE GIVING UP! WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE COLAPSING TO THE GROUND! REMEMBER THAT LIGHT WILL BE ON THE OTHERSIDE OF THE BATTLEFIELD FIGHTING, NOT GIVING UP! SO, REMEMBER THIS MOMENT! ENGRAVE IT ON YOUR HEARTS.”

The guards, no, the soldiers cheer as they raise their weapons up into the air. That moment was forever ingrained in their memories. Now, whenever they would feel like giving up. This moment would serve as a reminder that one of their allies, wherever he might be fighting, was still standing, fighting with every fibre of his being.

This little shit is smart. Using the spare of the moment to increase everyone’s moral. I bet that the soldiers will now be working twice as hard as before. Thinks Uriel.

“Oh, sorry to burst your bubbles but all those who nearly died in this mission and had to be saved by me more than once will have their training increased by twofold. And guess who’ll be training you?” says Uriel with an evil yet subtle smile.

Everyone who were saved more than once knew deep down that a worse kind of hell would usher upon them.

The New team then exits the dungeon using teleportation casted by Uriel.

They are greeted outside by a medical unit Alma’s been working on which started healing the injured. They also handed out potions to accommodate for the lack of medical personnel.

“Oh, by the way, lady Uriel. You mentioned the Old team back there. How did they conquer their own dungeon?” asks Luke.

“Oh, them. They fought the boss which was a lesser dragon. Michael had to save them a bunch of times in the shadows too. Light’s father managed to kill it after an intense fight.”

I see. A lesser dragon.

Dragons are divided into six kinds. The lesser dragons are the weakest of them all and they can evolve into ordinary dragons. Ordinary dragons can further evolve into greater dragons or variants of them called dragon kings if they have a certain gene factor. After great dragons or dragon kings, there are legendary dragons which are known for their strength and intelligence. They also have the ability to change their form into a humanoid form.

Sadly, dragon kings or greater dragons can’t evolve into legendary dragons because legendary dragons are all about bloodline. After legendary dragons, there are ancient dragons which are considered to be the most powerful of all the dragons. They stand at the pinnacle of this world. Even a Demon Lord couldn’t hope to win against an ancient dragon.

People also believe there was another dragon above an ancient dragon and that was a mythical dragon. Of course, there are no stories about them in any history books. Just ancient petroglyphs written by the dragons mentions of the existence of it millions of years ago.

“So, what is the prize they won?” asks Luke.

“Free booze for life.”

“What?!”

“Or was it for a year. Sorry, I’m not really good at listening to boring conversations. They might have also mentioned them getting new equipment or something.”

Sigh, lady Uriel. Thinks Luke as he places his hand on his face.