My sudden entrance spooked Noknok’s support, but they recovered quickly once they recognized me and continued to heal the Kobold at range. The warpriest hadn’t noticed me, what with being distracted by the Shadow Dragon, who seemed amused by the reinforcements.

  I glanced upwards as I retrieved my Hilt of Holding to see a hole large enough for our enemy to fly through. It clearly couldn’t fit through the smaller tunnels, so that explained how it came and went. This would also allow it to feed on the sun for at least a few hours a day, though there was plenty of room in the cave for it to hide in the shadows if it so chose to.

  My attention returned to the Dragon as it raised its head back and sucked in a breath. A creature of this size would have huge lungs, but the ability it was about to use wasn’t based on how much air it could hold. I knew it wouldn’t have to breathe deep. Hoping that Noknok would be okay, I threw myself in front of the clerics both conscious and not, preparing myself.

  “Breath weapon!” I called out the same time Noknok did.

  My shield glowed white as I activated a martial art. It was attention grabbing, but the light wasn’t enough to illuminate our surroundings so it didn’t mess with my Darklight Goggles. The shield gathered energy and, while the shape of the actual item didn’t change, a translucent shimmer coalesced around it to give it a much larger appearance.

  Pumping more energy into it, I took it one step further. The glow intensified as I slammed the energy into the ground. Air rushed away from me as several translucent tower shields as tall and wide as a Human appeared in formation around and above me, creating a sealed hemisphere of power that stretched out wide enough to protect those in need.

  The Shadow Dragon released its breath weapon. A miasma so magically dark that it nearly blinded me fell on Noknok, who appeared to have cast something at the last second, and raced along the cave floor. The clerics behind me called out for their leader, but there was nothing they could do for him now. I planted my feet, bracing my shield further as the fog of death approached.

  It was a good thing I had, because the sheer force of impact caused me to take several steps backwards. My shield wall martial art held as the miasma tried to eat it away. The attack was wide and spread out across the room with only a cone behind me being spared.

  Power rushed through me after Ferrisdae cast a spell, and I stood up a little straighter as my strength was buffed. I may have been pushed back, but I wasn’t about to buckle. Then again, I really couldn’t complain about having a little extra power in this fight.

  The outer edges of my shield wall started to break, shattering like glass as they succumbed to the brunt of the breath weapon. Only two columns, those farthest from me and thus the weakest, broke. No one was behind that area, thankfully.

  Once the Shadow Dragon’s breath weapon ended, I dropped the martial arts and surveyed the damage. My shield wall had protected those it could, but the stone floor was at least a couple inches lower than it had been before. I was hopeful that we could finish the fight before the monster could do that again, but I wasn’t holding my breath.

  Noknok was still standing, but just barely. It was clear that he had been pushed to his limit to survive the breath weapon at point-blank range.

  “Clerics, heal! Ferrisdae, here!” I yelled, tapping my Hilt of Holding to my shoulder.

  To the healers' credit, they immediately jumped into action. Noknok was healed quickly, though he had taken so much damage that it would take multiple applications to do so fully. So long as he was good enough to fight or escape, I didn’t care.

  Ferrisdae understood what I was asking from her immediately. The Dragon’s attention was on me now, and its slitted eyes narrowed as it looked upon something so much smaller than itself. That changed the moment a bright star was conjured behind me, roaring as it cut through the air towards the beast’s wing closest to us.

  With a flourish, I revealed my blade for the start of the fight. My rapier extended from the pocket dimension residing in my Hilt of Holding. The speed-boosting weapon had broken during my fight with CC after I pierced her vessel and she exploded, but I had more than enough time to get the blade reforged and enchanted again.

  Ferrisdae had increased my strength, and my sword increased my speed. When I took my first step, I almost soared.

  The Shadow Dragon recoiled from my junior’s Magic Missile variant, Shooting Star, and took its eyes off of me. It flared its wings and attempted to dodge, but the spell tracked its target and slammed into the beast with unerring accuracy.

  And promptly shattered against the black scales without doing a lick of damage. I could clearly hear Ferrisdae’s grunt of indignation that her spell had fizzled, but there was always a chance of it. Dragons had an innate resistance to magic that made it hard for most effects to stick.

  It did a fantastic job of getting its attention, however. New spells an opponent had never seen before tended to do that.

  “We’re going to have a discussion,” I said as I passed by Noknok, slapping him on the back with a healing touch before jumping onto the Shadow Dragon paw in front of him. It was large enough that it could easily smash down on ten of someone my size, but I wasn’t about to let that intimidate me.

  “Badger?” he asked incredulously, which I promptly ignored.

  The moment I landed on the Shadow Dragon, its attention snapped back to me. Its claws flexed, and I could feel the muscles underneath the scales moving beneath me. I wasn’t still, however, as I pulled my sword close to my chest.

  Once my target was in sight, I lunged almost straight upwards. The slitted pupils widened as they locked on and tracked my trajectory. I watched as the Shadow Dragon tried to pull back from my strike. Thrusting my sword forward, I increased my range to the max as the tip cut through the beast’s cornea.

  The Shadow Dragon roared as I sliced through at least three feet of eye before it had gotten far enough away to avoid my blade. It hadn’t been a deep attack, but it would be enough to blind him on this side. Not only that, but it would have a new target, me.

  I reached the apex of my leap as the monster roared and shook with rage. Despite my blow, it didn’t waste any time retaliating. Its jaws opened, giving me a front row viewing of teeth as tall as Moose and a long serpentine tongue. Retribution was quick and savage.

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  And Ferrisdae was already ready for it. I tucked my legs in just as a Feather Fall spell caught me. The Shadow Dragon’s deadly maw snapped only inches underneath me, the force of the wind slowing me even further. If she had been a split second later, the damned thing would have taken off my legs.

  It was a good thing I had faith in her. This next part was up to me, and I retracted my blade.

  I landed on the reptile’s jaws and immediately jumped up to its snout. Its one good eye locked on to me as I swung my rapier down low. There were a lot of things I could do here, but I needed to deal as much damage as possible now while I had this chance. Choosing anything less than the most destructive abilities in my arsenal would probably give it enough time to recharge its breath weapon, and my shield wall would take longer to come back.

  Thumbing the rune on my Hilt of Holding, I made a double-edged blade appear where the rapier had once been. This was the divine sword Cheroske had given me, a spatha, and I pulled it back. It glowed blue before I added power from my paladin’s core. This turned it much, much lighter as I mixed my energy with that of my goddess.

  The Shadow Dragon exhaled, causing me to lose some of my momentum as the air rushed out directly beneath me. If I had needed to strike physically, then that would have thrown my timing off. Instead, I sliced the air in front of me. The monster shifted out of instinct, and then the world seemed to go still for a moment before my attack struck.

  Blood spurted from the Shadow Dragon’s snout as a huge gouge appeared. I cut through both nostrils, including the softer lining further in, and almost got its eye. Its scales shattered, allowing my strike to bite deep, and there was now a fissure in the ground where the tail end of my divinity-enhanced martial art struck.

  I barely had any time to react, but I almost got my shield into position as the whip-like tail of the Dragon collided with me from the side. It smashed into my shoulder, causing pain to lance through my arm. I dropped my Hilt of Holding as my fingers went limp. My chest was protected by my quick reaction, though I was still flung to the side. Feather Fall was no longer active since I had technically landed, but I could still trust in Ferrisdae.

  My mass shifted as she used another variant spell that she had gotten during the Dungeon Master’s class upgrade to Celestial Enchantress, Gravitational Thrust. While she had once shied away from the new magic that had altered her wellspring, Ferrisdae had made great strides in the past few months to unlock her full potential.

  Which was good, because it was certainly coming in handy now.

  Gravitational Thrust strained my body as it pushed back against my current velocity. I grit my teeth at the intense feeling of being forcefully slowed down, and I hit the wall at a much more manageable speed. Bouncing off, I started falling to the ground. Looking at Ferrisdae, I shook my head. I could tell she was about to cast another Feather Fall, but I couldn’t risk slowing down for that long.

  The Shadow Dragon’s strike had clearly dislocated my shoulder. I recognized the pain, and I couldn’t move my arm. Gritting my teeth, I smacked my shield against my chest and returned it to buckler form so I could reach over and grab it. Fixing it with magic would take up too much of a healing spell's energy, and putting it back in the socket would alleviate that.

  So, I grit my teeth and took a breath. Once I was centered, I popped my shoulder back into its socket just moments before I hit the ground. The sound of claws ripping through stone snapped my attention back to the Shadow Dragon, and I transformed my buckler back into shield form and held it above me to protect from being swatted.

  Noknok struck first, leaping into the air and kicking the creature’s massive paw twice. His claws glowed with holy power, appearing completely dark in my vision. The martial art was strong enough that the attack missed me by inches, causing the ground to shake.

  “What are you doing here?” the blind Kobold asked. His breathing was erratic and painful even as the glow of healing magic covered him again.

  “Ask stupid questions later,” I bit back, not keeping my eyes off of the Shadow Dragon.

  Words of power erupted from the enemy’s throat, and I took the opportunity to slam my shield into the foot next to me. Noknok did the same with his claws, leaving small gashes in the Dragon’s foot. His attack dealt much more damage, but mine made me feel better.

  At least, it did until my body felt like it was being consumed by unholy flames. I clutched at my chest as I doubled over, fighting the effects of the spell invading my body. My mind went blank before I fought through the worst of the effects. Whatever it was, whether it was an Inflict spell counter to healing or something more potent, it had hurt like hell.

  I noticed that it had only hurt me, too. Noknok looked concerned, but unaffected. That meant the Shadow Dragon had spent a high-leveled spell on me. A part of me was flattered, but another part of me knew that there was more where that came from.

  Tapping myself with another heal, I could tell it wasn’t enough to undo everything the monster had put on me even if I had fought through it. Another Shooting Star was flung by Ferrisdae, but it went unheeded. The enemy was blind in the eye that would have given it sight of everyone else, and was still bleeding profusely from its face and nostrils, leaving huge puddles on the floor.

  I eyed the Hilt of Holding. It had clattered against the wall about twenty feet away. Regaining my divine blade would go far in a fight with an evil-aligned Dragon, increasing the power of my smites and allowing me to break through its tough scales.

  “Martial art!” Noknok warned, and my attention snapped back to our foe.

  I could lift my shield and put my back towards the Kobold, but that was it. The Shadow Dragon snapped forward, head turned sideways, with its teeth coming towards us from either side. Each one glowed with a malicious red light.

  Noknok had the time to activate a martial art. At least, I assumed he had thanks to the glow coming from behind me. The incoming teeth touched my shield, but didn’t scrape off like I had hoped. Instead, they started pushing me back as the Shadow Dragon closed its jaws. I was forced to take a few steps until I could go no further.

  I was now back to back with the Kobold warpriest, his tail squirming against my legs as he tried to keep his half of the monstrous jaws from closing down on us.

  “You shouldn’t be here!” he said through gritted teeth.

  “Should you really be wasting your breath?” I snapped back, turning my head so I could see what he was doing.

  My shield was protecting me, but Noknok had two teeth caught between his glowing claws. I could tell that he was going through a lot of effort to keep them from clamping down on us. There were no doubts that the Shadow Dragon could bisect us both, so potent was its power. For now, however, we were fighting back.

  Just barely, as my rapidly weakening arms could attest, but we weren’t beaten yet.

  I felt Noknok’s tail move from the side of me that was outside of the Dragon’s mouth to the inside, and a warning bell went off in my head. I caught his eye, which didn’t make sense from his perspective because he was blind, and the Kobold grinned weakly.

  “Don’t worry, my friend, I—”

  “Don’t you call me friend after all the shit you’ve pulled,” I interrupted, stepping on his tail.

  Noknok yelped in pain and I shifted ever so slightly. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but I was willing to give it a shot. Hooking my leg around his, I pushed him with my hips. While he clearly had active buffs that made him stronger, the surprise of my actions caught him off guard and made this easier than it should have been.

  He fell onto the ground as the Shadow Dragon’s mouth closed, taking a chunk out of his tail. Nothing that wouldn’t grow back, I hoped.

  I, on the other hand, immediately jumped as the jaws of death clamped around me. The beast’s tongue immediately shoved me against my toothy cage, knocking the wind out of me. I fell over backwards, landing on the wide, slimy organ. Splayed out as I was, I did nothing to stop the inevitable.

  The Shadow Dragon’s laughs reverberated through my entire body, but I managed to cast a spell before it swallowed me whole.