As Wayne and Rainier approached the Black Dragon from the left and right, the sleeping beast sensed the intrusion of mortals. It immediately stood up and unleashed a world-shaking dragon roar.
After the roar produced a powerful blast of wind pressure that pinned them in place, Wayne reminded Rainier to watch his positioning. Rainier was to stay close and attack the wings and neck, waiting for moments of stagger to focus on the head—the part with the lowest defense.
Wayne, meanwhile, maneuvered at medium range. He tried to keep himself positioned about 30 degrees to the front-right of the dragon's head, firing Pierce S. This allowed the bullets to enter through the head, traverse the body diagonally, and exit through the left wing or left hind leg, maximizing the hits of the piercing damage.
In terms of physical size, the Black Dragon—stretching over twenty meters from its sharp horns to its tail—was nowhere near as massive as the sixty-meter-long Lao-Shan Lung. However, its agility and speed far surpassed any dragon they had encountered before, and its pair of black wings allowed it to frequently take to the skies.
Hudson: "That pressure..."
Verdan: "Damn, I really want to go up there and fight it myself..."
Hicks: "Am I... the only one who feels like this Black Dragon isn't that difficult?"
Before Hicks could even finish his sentence, the Black Dragon—the final boss of this game—demonstrated its truly terrifying dominance to everyone.
After the initial engagement, it used a few standard moves common to other wyverns as if testing the two: a forward-rushing dragon charge, a wide-range tail swipe, a front-claw pounce, and a snap of its jaws. These moves, which even a Velocidrome could use, were no longer effective against the pair.
But just as the two were getting into their rhythm, the Black Dragon erupted with another roar. The massive wind pressure once again interrupted their attacks, forcing them to crouch and cover their ears to avoid being dazed by the deafening sound.
While the two were paralyzed in a staggered state, the Black Dragon raised its left claw and delivered a thunderous strike to Rainier, who was within arm's reach. Simultaneously, it gathered energy in its maw and unleashed a beam of dragonfire that cut through the dark night toward Wayne.
Rainier, whose defense was relatively low, was instantly killed despite having full health. He was laid onto a cat cart and pushed back to the camp. Wayne, however, managed to survive with a sliver of health thanks to the high fire resistance of his Silver Sol armor.
The onlookers gasped. Little Tess and Amy couldn't help but cover their mouths in shock.
Hicks: "My god... an instant kill..."
His reaction was relatively mild. On the other side, the agitated Marlin pointed at the screen again and asked in confusion:
"Why... why is he alive again?!"
The quartet was focused on the screen and had no time to ignore him. Little Tess and Amy were both at the net cafe for the first time today and hadn't fully figured it out themselves. In the end, it was Dughan who answered him politely: "This is a game. Just like international chess, if you die, you just start over."
Marlin: "But... this..."
He was so shocked he could no longer form coherent sentences. He could only point at the screen and look at his daughter.
He had wanted to say that this wasn't like chess, where the pieces were lifeless carvings and being "captured" was merely a symbolic removal from the board. Here, there were two living people. Whether it was the spray of blood after being hit by sharp claws or the burn marks from the flames, it was all presented with brutal realism right before his eyes.
At over 55 years old, Marlin had lived a life where his daughter was his only kin since his wife passed away. Obsessed with magic, his daily routine was a simple line between his home and the library. Aside from that, he rarely stepped out of his door. He knew everything about the magical world, but the world outside seemed to have been isolated from him for a long time.
Everything presented on the screen completely refreshed his cognition and even shook his worldview slightly. Although he didn't say it—and refused to show it—he had begun to ask himself in his heart if he truly was out of touch with the times. He wondered if, in this matter, he really had wronged his daughter.
But to some extent, another voice that had accompanied him for over fifty years was shouting back, telling him to believe in himself. It told him that his knowledge as an Archmage was surely more profound than that of these common soldiers, and that as a father, everything he did was for his daughter's well-being. He shouldn't be easily deceived by the trickery before him.
While he was internally conflicted, Rainier was hit by a fireball spat toward the ground as the Black Dragon took flight. His health dropped to critical levels. Then, while running to recover health, he was hit by another fireball. When he woke up, he had already been pushed back to camp by the cat cart.
Wayne shouted to him: "One more death and the quest fails."
Rainier checked the quest status; indeed, the number of revivals remaining had become "0."
Wayne spoke again: "It's fine. Fighting this thing requires a lot of practice. Otherwise, clearing it easily wouldn't be meaningful."
Due to Rainier's second death, the quartet triggered another intense discussion. The core topics were "If it were me, how would I fight it?" and "What gear should we use when the four of us fight?"
Dughan, seeing Marlin for the first time, had no interest in the game content itself but could see that the Archmage was an old-fashioned academic type—quite stubborn and set in his ways. Getting him to accept these new things wouldn't be easy. So, he used another analogy:
"Old man, it's still like playing chess. The King on the board is just a King on the board. No matter how much the piece looks like someone in reality, it won't affect the real world. Otherwise, if we made one side's King look like the Warchief of the Horde and used the other side's King to capture him, wouldn't the world be at peace immediately?"
Dughan pointed at the screen: "The thing they are playing follows the same logic, it's just that it looks more real."
Marlin still refused to believe it: "Does it just 'look' real?! This is clearly real!"
Seeing that he couldn't get through to him no matter what, Dughan didn't want to waste more breath. As evening approached, many shops were closing, and it was the peak time for traveling merchants to enter the town for the night. He had many things to handle. He left only a final "Don't cause any more trouble" before departing, though he still left one subordinate at the net cafe entrance to prevent Marlin from getting stubborn and making another scene.
Less than five minutes after Dughan left, Rainier was killed twice more by the Black Dragon using different attack patterns. The first death consumed the final of the three revival chances, and the second death resulted in a quest failure. The two were forcibly teleported back to the hub.
In the game, Rainier spoke to Wayne with deep apology: "Miller, I'm truly sorry. I still haven't fully grasped this guy's rhythm."
Wayne patted Rainier's arm. "Commander, in just a few hours since noon today, being able to fight like this makes you a rare expert."
This wasn't mere comfort or flattery. Wayne was just thinking about how, back when he was in junior high playing this game on the PS2, he hadn't even cleared the whole game before the laser side of the disc got worn out.
The internet back then wasn't nearly as developed as it was now, and the game had no Chinese version. Finding a reliable guide was difficult, let alone watching someone else's clear-video to copy their strategy like people did later.
Although the virtual reality version was several times more convenient and faster in operation than using a PS2 controller—allowing one to truly achieve "movement following thought, thought following heart"—it was still only Rainier's second time playing. To be able to clear Kirin and Lao-Shan Lung and hold his own against the Black Dragon for a while meant his comprehension and combat skills were truly outstanding.
Wayne said to those around him: "These Elder Dragons at the end of the game..."