With its forward pounces and flame breath proving ineffective, the Black Dragon simply flew high into the sky, beginning a frantic bombardment of fireballs across the wide, scarred plaza.
For Wayne, however, this was a perfect opportunity for damage output.
The moment the Black Dragon beat its wings to take off, Wayne ran directly beneath it. He sheathed his gun and placed a Large Barrel Bomb. Since he could only carry one at a time, he immediately pulled up the crafting menu and combined a new one on the spot.
Above him, the Black Dragon continued to rain fireballs down on the surrounding area. The dense cluster of flames struck the ground like raindrops, followed by thunderous explosions. Before long, the surface was cratered with shallow pits.
Hicks: "Damn, thank god we're watching Mil play once. If it were me, I'd definitely be running around like a headless chicken."
Verdan: "With this density, unless you run completely out of range, running anywhere else is useless."
Hudson: "I wonder how Miller discovered this... normally, who would dare stand under a dragon's belly? If it suddenly dropped, you'd be crushed to death."
Rainier: "You can only say that Miller has been tempered through a thousand trials. He understands the Black Dragon's every move perfectly."
Hearing Rainier say, "He understands the Black Dragon's every move perfectly," Marlin's jaw dropped even lower.
Yet those words were not exaggerated in the slightest. The young man he had just called "scum" was indeed completely untouched by the enraged Black Dragon. No matter what attack method it used, it ended up looking like a waste of effort.
How could someone in this world know so much about a giant dragon that had existed on this planet since ancient times? And this knowledge wasn't just limited to observing habits; he even understood its attack patterns after it went into a rage.
What did this mean? It meant that this boy fighting the Black Dragon had likely battled dragons many times before!
The more Marlin thought about it, the more terrified he became. Regarding the habits of ancient dragons—never mind Stormwind—there were very few records even in the libraries of Dalaran. Let alone finding someone who could escape a fight with a dragon unscathed—and do so many times!
Impossible... absolutely impossible!
His gaze shifted back and forth between the Wayne on the screen shooting the dragon and the Wayne sitting in the chair in reality.
This boy was clearly only in his early twenties. Where did he get this dragon-slaying skill? And if such skill truly existed, why was there not a single mention of it in the countless magical tomes of Dalaran or the Wizard's Sanctum in Stormwind?
Beyond that, what made Marlin even more fearful—or rather, what gave him lingering dread—was that luckily, his "Polymorph" spell from earlier hadn't been successfully cast...
Facing an opponent who could fight an ancient dragon single-handedly, he knew clearly that no matter what spell he cast, it would be redundant.
On the screen, the Black Dragon, having spit a circle of fireballs to no effect, suddenly plummeted and landed angrily on the ground, letting out another roar that generated wind pressure.
When Wayne saw the dragon stop spitting fireballs, he had already moved away from beneath it. The dragon's sudden descent landed directly on the Large Barrel Bomb Wayne had pre-placed, triggering a massive amount of explosive damage.
During this interval, Wayne even had time to reposition and use his materials to craft his Pierce and Pellet ammo back to their maximum carrying capacity.
The dragon landing marked the end of one cycle of attacks and the beginning of a new one.
But regardless of the move, Wayne continued to use his agile movement and anticipation to shoot the Black Dragon, much like David teasing the giant Goliath in the scriptures.
Except Goliath used a sling, and Wayne used a bowgun.
Verdan: "If it weren't for that old geezer Raymond already becoming an apprentice—and me not wanting to be his junior—I'd want to ask Mil to be my teacher right now."
Hicks: "At first, watching Mil play, you'd think this game is easy. After watching more, you realize you're just an idiot."
Hudson: "This isn't simple at all. Mil is like dancing on the edge of a blade. One mistake and he might have to start all over."
Just as the words left his mouth, the Black Dragon—whose right wing had been shattered by Wayne—stood up after being stunned. It unleashed a roar, followed immediately by a 180-degree sweep of its long, thick tail, slamming into Wayne while he was still staggered and unable to dodge.
Three-quarters of the health bar at the top of the screen instantly turned red, and the red portion began to rapidly deplete.
Hicks couldn't help but shout: "Damn, who could survive a tail that long?!"
The Black Dragon seemed to want to take this chance to kill Wayne. Having just retracted its tail, it turned around, tilted its head back to charge energy, and then flicked its head forward, unleashing a beam of dragonfire.
Wayne, who had already sheathed his gun and swallowed a Max Potion to heal, didn't have time to run. He performed a direct diving pounce to evade, but the beam still scorched his backside. Luckily, he wasn't hit fully by the flames, but his newly filled health was still reduced by half.
Hicks: "Damn, who could block something that fast?!"
Rainier, sitting in front of the four, glanced back at Hicks, but Hicks was focused on the screen and didn't see it.
At half health, Wayne wasn't in a hurry to drink a potion. Instead, he found a way to run toward the back of the dragon's wings. What he needed to do was use his movement to force the Black Dragon into a hovering state or a diving charge, because those moves left it with more recovery time, giving him enough time to heal.
Sure enough, after a series of pursuits and flame breaths were all dodged by Wayne's movement, the Black Dragon spread its wings and lunged forward violently.
Wayne, having dodged far away, quickly drank a Mega Potion to top off his health. Then, with a forward roll, he pulled out his gun and began rapid-firing Pellet S at the dragon's head.
He was currently using Level 3 Pellet S. One shot fragmented into seven pieces. In close-range rapid fire without using the scope mode, the damage was staggering!
But the onlookers also saw that the seven fragments didn't all penetrate the thick armor and horns of the dragon's head. About four fragments were deflected or only created shallow scars, while the remaining few pierced into the beast's flesh.
Even so, the intense pain made the giant beast stand up and pounce toward Wayne again in fury.
Hicks shouted again: "Damn, who could handle something that hard?"
Rainier looked back at Hicks again, but this time it wasn't just a glance: "You'd better be talking about the game content."
Hicks froze, then realized what was implied and scratched his head awkwardly. Hudson, beside him, quickly nudged him with his elbow to tell him to shut up.
At that moment, Wayne spoke: "It's almost done."
Wayne shook his head: "That's roughly what I mean, but I don't think things will end quite that simply."