The Nexus Tavern (O//A)

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

"I've faced many kinds of undead, and battled many kinds of dragon... but I'll admit both at once is a bit new for me. I'll follow your lead."

Now that he knows what to look for, his indigo eyes focus on the incoming dragon, still three-quarters of a mile out and closing. "Any physical weak or vulnerable points to look for?" He was already charging a trio of metal bearings to extremely high power levels, his speed increased drastically thanks to the nearby layline. If I can weaken it now, that means that much easier a fight if it manages to get here...

[Py Aster]

"They've got everything from both worlds. Sadly, their breath now carries a deadly poison. It also regenerates more health than most people usually take away" Diane stated as she heard the dragon's roar. "A priest would be nice at this point." She closed her eyes. Like sis.

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

"Noted. I'll try and keep its breath from hitting us, and if it has a soul or magic powering it I'll see to neutralizing that as we fight." I'm not about to let her think of me as dead weight...

It had taken some time, but Hriob has finally started to gain confidence as of late, as he reaches levels of ability through Caleb's and Ran's training that he never thought possible, challenged and sought to match the kind of power and strength of Xavier and Hunter, and been supported and driven by Nightmare. I'm not about to lose ground or look back... any more or less than I can now look forward.

The skies seem to darken with clouds gradually, with a hint of thunder in the distance. Hriob prepares himself to fight as hard as he's ever had to, and then some. I will not let myself fall back. Not again.

Instead of firing them right away, the three marbles move onto his armor: one on the back of either hand with the third on the bottom of his armor's clasp on his sternum. As the Dragon swoops down to attack, he channels his whole being's strength and power into one fluid state in his body, his reflexes, speed, and strength enhanced to match the fell beast before him.

[Py Aster]

Diane watched as the dragon swooped for the attack. With skill, she jumped out of the way, but within range of making a long gash in its underside. I don't know what that kid's thinking, but he'd better do it quick. As she slashed at the rotting interior, the wound began to heal itself, to former rotting state. Pulling her swords out, she backed away, in time to avoid the dragon's breath.

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

The dragon slashed at him with its mouth, but Hriob had used his Translation spell at the last moment. Intangible, he waits until the last moment, and then releases his three charged shots at once, similtaneously taking them out of the effect of his spell.

One rips through the rotting flesh and sinew and shatters the base of the skull, while the other two slam through the joints of the wings with enough force to blast them off the body entirely. All of them are severe enough, crippling blows that the deathly beast may eventually heal, but would be huge liabilities until then.

He phases back in in exactly the same spot five seconds later, when the beast had crashed into the earth behind him with a jarring sound of dirt and bone colliding, scraping against each other. Not waiting another instant, he begins to rake it with powerful lightning while blade after blade of wind slash into the mass of bone and necrotic flesh.

It may heal back fast, but I can at the very least match it blow for regeneration... hopefully keep it in place for Diane to finish it off. I have at least that much in me...

The onslaught commences. "I'm trying to hold it down so to speak, I hope this gives you the opening you need!" sweat covers his brow, but he doesn't rely only on his own strength with each blast of wind or lightning... he can keep this up for some time.

[Py Aster]

Diane jumped up on the dragon, slashing off the wings at the places they were crippled by the onslaught. She then went for the neck, slashing down at it with feral fevor, a grin in her eyes as she continued her barrage of blows. "Once this is off, the dragon should be dead!" Unless our friend has other tricks that I don't know about.

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

Despite his intense focus and effort, he nods instantly at her advice. The Lightning continues as before, but now he flies above the grounded undead dragon, and charges his power into Gryphonheart.

What looks like a miniature tornado appears over the blade, and with a warning shout he plummets much faster than terminal velocity, vortex-powered blade first.

The impact is loud enough to echo like thunder, the wind-blade and velocity combined to slice the entire head off, since the neck had been weakened so heavily by their combined attacks.

As the head rolls away from the body, Hriob collapses slightly onto the ground by the neck. Panting, he apologetically looks up at Diane. "I'll be fine in under a minute, I promise." He reaches out with his aura and pulls on the layline here again, since it was likely this was the only one like it for miles of where they were going to head. He looks on at the body, still rife with dark energy, and frowns...

[Py Aster]

Diane shook her head as she took out a dragon's fang. "You burn out easy. Still seem like a rookie to me." She sat down next to him. "Ah...well, I trust Caleb in sending you with me, so I knew you weren't THAT fresh a fresh meat. You're still fresh meat in my books kid. But still...that was impressive. Reminds me of Caleb when we started."

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

Well... I'm not sure, but I should say that's more praise than not. Ah well...

Now at full power and no longer showing any signs of fatigue, he lays hands on the corpse. with a surge of focus, he drains the remaining energy from it, and purifies the magic before letting it flow into him naturally. As he walks away, the remains begin to turn to ash of their own accord, little grey flecks coming off in the wind.

He smiles softly, then walks over to Diane with a small nod. "I'm ready when you are.

"And thanks... I don't think It'd be fair of my to try to compare myself with him, but I can't help but want to try and live up to his expectations, even when he doesn't state them." In many ways the man had become something of a role model and father figure to Hriob, even if he didn't fully agree with him at times and had a hard time doing things right in his eyes the first time.

[Py Aster]

"Right now he just wants you to get this done, and get back. And he sent me here to make sure you live, so you better not perform some fancy stunt like that without my permission, or Caleb will have MY hide." Diane stated as they walked on. As they continued on, they encountered several more monsters, but of the weak variety. All just ignored them as they walked through, even a large tiger with blades coming out of its side. "That's a rare one. Adventurers go after that one for bragging rights. The blades beside it are good for working. It's ignoring us because of me, but I'd wager it would rush at you if it was just you alone walking here. Oh, and don't get any funny ideas about attacking it. I'm GLAD it's ignoring us. You think that dragon was a pain in the neck?"

[Kovahl Norzaar Amadan]

Hriob nods, watching the beasts as warily as they watched him, but manages to sport an odd smile at that comment. "I don't think that'd be a problem. I don't like to start fights, believe it or not... it doesn't keep you alive very long."

As they pass the tiger, he locks eyes with it for a moment, and electricity seems to flow down his spine at the exhilaration of the power in its eyes. "I don't like killing the wildlife. I'm more... archeological in focus. I like collecting trinkets from places I've been, studying people and ruins of old to see what might be revealed to the world, recovering lost knowledge... Killing things usually doesn't accomplish much, compared to bringing back something that was lost for others to benefit from."

This, in a way, set Hriob apart from many other mages, here and elsewhere. A lot of people wen to magic for the power of being able to kill, but even if it was a stereotype for some a surprising minority of magic users solely do it for such scholarly causes. Had he not been thrown from his home world, Hriob might have spent his whole life rummaging through catacombs and looking for lost magic in the college he grew up in.

They keep walking, getting closer and closer to the mountain pass through to Carten.

[Turnabout Spaz]

Scarlet slithered through the door of the tavern once again, smiling as she heaved in not one, but two heavy sacks of gold. Her appearance was almost the same as when she somehow left the place, but she carried a bit more weight as her belly poked out quite a bit. Good god, that place was pretty damn tough to get through, but the guards were no problem. That minotaur however... he put up a good fight. Then a sinister smile briefly flashed across her muzzle. And he made a good meal as well...

Hey~ She chimed, showing a toothy grin laced with streaks of red and clumps of dark brown fur.
Just got back from... she paused, taking a moment to recollect her thoughts before she spoke once more. Work. That's it... work.

She slowly dragged the two gold-filled sacks across the ground, with a bit of difficulty, before coming to a stop in the middle of the room. So~ This should be enough gold to last a while, and get some high quality items.

Unsure of what to do at that point, Scarlet set off toward a nearby room, opening the door and going into the bathroom. Within moments, the sink held a hairball the size of an apple and ran pink with a mixture of blood and toothpaste. So, she cleaned the sink out and disposed of the hairball before slithering back down to take a seat at the tables. She wasn't sure if anyone was around, but she didn't worry herself over if anyone heard her or not.

[Py Aster]

Diane closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm getting a bit tired. We can't walk around the ruins of Corneus; we have to walk through it. Let's set up camp. You seem to have some fancy teleport magic; you can leave me if you want. I'll just, make camp here." She stated as she reached into the backpack she brought along and started to erect a tent.

Caleb walked out of his room, yawning a bit. Walking to the bar, he looked around. Bags of gold...must be Scarlet. Lass must be busy.

[Sage Fox of Eight Clouds]

Ran walked out of her room closing her eyes. If what I surmised is true...the reason why Yukari-sama cannot get us is because there ARE no boundaries to exploit. Caleb erased them.... She walked towards the bar and looked at Caleb. "Tell me Caleb...how far does you relalities expand? There's something quite...perplexing about this." She looked at him with stern eyes.

[Py Aster]

What's with this all of a sudden? "I am not sure what you mean, but many people have seen my realities. The only place I guess where they didn't extend to is beyond the portals. But I do not see any point in answering that at all; why ask all of a sudden Ran?" Caleb seemed genuinely confused. "Is there something you're not telling me?"