Chapter 310 - Progress

When the dragon got close enough, it opened its mouth, and a lot of ice begun to appear around the creature. However, before the creature could do anything, Ryan fired dozens of his explosive arrows at the monster's face. The spell of the creature was canceled, and a cloud of steam emerged.

After a few seconds, the ice dragon felt something piercing the back of its head and something else biting its neck. Ryan and Furball got close enough and didn't waste time with pleasantries and just started the carnage. While Furball was having a hard time biting the ice scales, Ryan had an easier time since he pierced his three flame swords on the back of the dragon. Their effects were decreasing the effects of Frost Armor, and thus Ryan was able to pierce Paralyzing Spear pretty deep on the monster's flesh. However, when he pulled his crossbow to attack, Ryan felt the sound of dozens of Ice Spear being created above him. The projectiles hit the monster's back since he dodged them, but unfortunately, the ice dragon didn't suffer even a scratch from its own attacks.

Furball also had to let go of the dragon's neck since the monster tried to smash him with his claws. Without other choices, Ryan and Furball moved away from the dragon. Attacking up close wouldn't be that easy, it seemed…

"Furball, just run around while using Fireball," Ryan said. "I will handle the rest."

Ryan equipped his ax in one hand and the crossbow in the other. Although he wouldn't be able to cause much damage while holding a melee weapon with a single hand, it was enough for the time being.

Furball began to run to the dragon's left side, and Ryan headed to the right side. The creature opened its mouth again, but it was forced to close its eyes when Ryan fired his bolts toward them. At the same time, Furball began to shot his Fireballs. Steam began to rise again, and Ryan used that chance and approached with Flash, he tried to attack the dragon's left eye with his ax, but the monster used its left arm to block his attack. Ryan used Flash again to gain some distance from the creature.

Soon after, the ice dragon began to flap its wings and left the area. It understood that fighting up close wasn't a good idea against Ryan and Furball. While its spells worked better at a certain distance, the creature didn't feel like risking itself so much.

Ryan used that chance to keep attack using Firing Position, but in the end, he was forced to run around since the dragon used its Ice Breath and tried to freeze him and Furball. Fortunately, they escaped the attack relying on their speed alone since the dragon wanted to keep a certain distance from them.

"I guess there is no other choice… I have to keep relying on Power Shot," Ryan frowned.

Since the ice dragon didn't look like it wanted to abandon that area, Ryan will have a one hundred percent of chance of hitting and causing critical damage as long as he uses Deadly Aim and Perfect Aim. However, Ryan felt it would be a waste of time if the dragon uses its Ice Spears again to decrease his attacks' power. In a fight of attrition, Ryan had the disadvantage since he was weaker and had much less mana and recovery. Mana potions could only help him for so long, after all.

"I guess I have two options, keep spamming poisoned bolts and hope that the poison will eventually kill the beast, or charge a single Power Shot to its limits," Ryan muttered while furrowing his eyebrows. 

The first option seemed less troublesome, but since the dragon's mentality was much higher than Ryan's intelligence, the effects of the poison were laughable. The second option was dangerous. Keep charging an attack and let the dragon rampage unchecked might cause some serious problems…

Before Ryan could take his decision, the dragon stopped Ice Breath and began to fire Ice Spears toward Ryan and Furball. To think that a monster could do that when they were in two different places… moreover, the dragon could make the ice spears appear pretty much anywhere. Thus, Ryan and Furball only had a few moments to recognize the threat and move away from it.

Ryan looked at the weapons on the back of the dragon, and he realized that there was another way… but it would be very risky. However, Ryan quickly made his choice. There wasn't such a thing as a safe method to win against a dragon, and Ryan refused to give too many chances for the dragon to kill him and Furball.

Ryan stored away his ax and crossbow and then equipped his hammer. Without wasting time, he began to charge his Concentrated Strike. Upon noticing that Ryan was planning something different again, the ice dragon stopped attacking Furball and focused only on him.

Even when dozens of Ice Spears flew toward him, Ryan didn't stop. He only changed his position by relying on Flash. The ice dragon got impatient and used Absolute Zero, but Ryan escaped the attack by using Flash skyward. Since the dragon was flying in circles, eventually, it got close enough to Ryan, and at that moment, Ryan used Flash so many times in the blink of an eye that the ice dragon didn't even see the few moments he showed himself. In the end, the ice dragon suffered a sharp pain on its back and realized that Ryan had done it again… His concentrated attack hit the Paralyzing Spear and made the weapon pierce the dragon's flash quite a lot.

"HHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

Ryan's ears started to ring while he was flying away from the monster. Still, he felt satisfied with the result. The monster had lost one-third of its health while Ryan didn't get hit a single time… that dragon could be like Orgar, but Ryan didn't survive so many fights against tough foes for nothing. He learned a lot.