As soon as he finished speaking, the screen shifted into a cinematic. A poem titled The Legend of the Black Dragon began to be chanted alongside an animation of the dragon going berserk:
"When countless wyverns are driven as one, the legend begins; When endless flesh is torn, bone and blood crushed and drained, it shall appear; Earth shall burn, steel shall melt, and waters shall boil away; Clouds gather, winds rise, and greenery withers in the wake of a searing rebirth; Its name is the War of Destiny; Its name is Inevitable Death; If you have a throat, scream; if you have ears, listen; if you have a heart, pray! Fatalis, heaven and earth are overturned, its name howls through the air! Heaven and earth overturned, Its name! Its name!"
Accompanied by the chanting, the Black Dragon on the screen roared continuously. Its wings gradually took on a molten dark-red hue, and its eyes and the dorsal fins on its back began to glow with a fire-like radiance.
While the crowd stood dazed by the spectacle, the animation ended. They saw Wayne running to the very edge of the arena, consuming a "Cool Drink" to protect himself from continuous damage in the blistering heat.
This cinematic had not existed in the original game; it was an "extra gift" exclusive to this virtual enhanced edition. Wayne didn't know exactly what the dragon was planning, but his strategy remained: when in doubt, run far away.
The glowing dark-red Black Dragon took flight. Its wings beat steadily in the air, but unlike the previous fireballs where energy gathered at its head, its entire wingspan and back were now turning redder, looking as if they were about to ignite.
Then, the dragon beat its wings in mid-air. It seemed as though all the fire energy gathered around its body was channeled into its maw. Instantly, a massive pillar of flame sprayed along its flight path, turning the entire plaza of Castle Schrade into a sea of fire!
Tess couldn't help but exclaim, "Boss, be careful! This terrifying dragon is practically the incarnation of fire..."
The seated Marlin immediately spoke up to disagree. "No... it is not the incarnation of fire. It is the incarnation of the earth..."
While everyone except Amy thought Marlin had become a bit delusional since seeing the Black Dragon on the screen, his connection between the flames and the earth caught them off guard.
The quartet glanced at one another, their eyes saying, Has this old man been scared witless?
Marlin muttered to himself.
"I once borrowed a copy of a book from him called The Dragonflights."
"That book states clearly: 'Khaz'goroth, the Shaper of the World, bestowed a portion of his power upon the mighty black dragon, Neltharion. Neltharion became the Earth-Warden, ruling over the earth and the deep places of Azeroth.'"
"And in the records of the generations of Black Guardians, a powerful move is described. It is said that when facing a fatal threat, they fly into the sky and absorb the molten heat and energy of the earth, taking a action like drawing a deep breath, and then exhale flames capable of melting anything upon those who dare challenge them!"
As he finished, everyone turned to look at Marlin.
Hicks: "I don't freaking believe it."
Hearing Hicks, Amy explained, "My father may be a bit..." Since Marlin was right there, she shrugged to omit the word 'stubborn' and continued, "But I can guarantee he would never fabricate facts just to show off his knowledge."
Seeing Amy's soft tone and serious expression, the group chose to believe her. However, this raised a question:
They had originally treated this as just a game, but now they began to wonder. If the records in the book Marlin mentioned were true, did this game have some hidden connection to the black dragons existing in their world?
In the game, Wayne was sprinting desperately along the edge of the arena, cursing the Black Dragon in his mind for not playing fair.
This wasn't just a virtual enhancement; this was a "Power-Up" edition!
The Black Dragon in the original Monster Hunter G didn't have this skill. This large-scale fire breath was almost on par with the Fatalis from Monster Hunter World: Iceborne!
He heard the conversation between Marlin and the others. Though he knew Marlin wasn't lying, he had no time to deal with that now.
He also understood that any explanation he gave would only lead to more questions.
He couldn't exactly tell everyone that ever since the great British author Tolkien created the standard for fantasy literature with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the "Dungeons & Dragons" worldview had been firmly established.
Since then, the dragons in Western fantasy—whether in games, literature, movies, or animation—all shared the same core. No matter how much their abilities or settings evolved, their basic image, power, and role remained largely consistent.
On the screen, the flames the dragon had spat onto the ground hadn't even finished burning when it beat its wings to hover in mid-air again. Its chest, eyes, wings, and dorsal fins turned red once more. It was clearly gathering energy for another wide-range fire breath.
Wayne eyed the direction the dragon's head was facing and immediately sprinted laterally at top speed.
Although the burning area on the ground was immense, it generally followed a straight flight path from one side to the other. Thus, small areas on either side of the burning zone remained safe.
This tested a player's reaction speed, judgment, and execution. A single moment of hesitation would mean failing to move quickly enough, resulting in being caught by the breath and getting instantly killed.
After narrowly avoiding the breath once more, the Black Dragon landed slowly on the ground. It seemed to enter a panting state, exhausted from the massive energy expenditure.
Wayne guessed that an ultimate move like this wouldn't be designed for continuous use.
Without hesitation, he rushed forward, drew his bowgun, loaded Pierce S, and unleashed a volley of shots at the dragon's head.
At this stage, the battle had become a race against time for both sides.
The Black Dragon had to find a way to use as many full-arena breaths as possible to deplete Wayne's revivals and cause a quest failure before it was killed.
And Wayne...
The two sides clashed for a while longer. Even Rainier noticed the shift and said:
"It seems in this final phase, the Black Dragon has stopped using its previous hover-and-fireball move. Instead, it has switched to that terrifying full-field fire breath."
Verdan: "If this were a group fight and one breath burned all four players to death, wouldn't the quest fail instantly?"
Hudson: "You're right. You only have three faints allowed. If four people die—whether all at once or one by one—it's a failure."
Hicks: "Give it a rest with the 'dragon head' talk. Let's worry about how we're going to get past the Kirin and Lao-Shan Lung first."
"Oh, you guys are too noisy! Don't distract the Boss; he's about to win!" Tess, seeing the four of them constantly shouting, couldn't help but interrupt.