POV: Zane
"Rock Lee, attack it!"
"Got it!"
Rock Lee ran forward and leapt into the air, landing a kick on the side of the dragon. It was a large green dragon we found guarding a beautiful tree that looked extremely valuable. The moment we got close, it began to attack.
Right now, only Rock Lee's group and I are here. The other two groups are in different locations.
After taking the hit, the dragon roared and got ready to strike back.
But Ken, Natsu, and I all used gravity magic at the same time, pinning the dragon in place. I shouted, "Now! Use fire magic! Burn its entire body!"
Everyone launched fire magic simultaneously, even Rock Lee.
Since all of us have max-level (Level 10) magic, the heat we generated was intense enough to begin destroying everything around us. Even the tree the dragon was protecting started taking damage.
So I shouted:
"Stop!"
There's no way it survived that… right?
We deactivated our magic—and to my surprise, the dragon was still standing. My jaw dropped in disbelief. "Wow… I really thought that would kill it. Does it have some kind of insane magic resistance?" I don't even remember this monster's name, let alone its abilities.
'Its scales are insanely tough…' Even a direct hit from Rock Lee didn't leave a scratch—and we're about the same power level. Actually, I might be a bit stronger since I usually hunt alone.
The dragon, clearly furious, stomped the ground and let out another roar.
Rock Lee, who was closest, readied to attack again—but I shouted:
"Rock Lee! Switch!"
And we swapped places.
Now face-to-face with the dragon, I used ice magic to freeze its legs. Then, I slashed at the frozen spots with my sword—striking them in rapid succession.
I moved so quickly, it was like I was teleporting.
My sword hit every frozen point on its scales.
ROOOAAARR!
The dragon let out a deafening roar—it was in serious pain.
It started stomping wildly and tried to bite me, but I dodged its jaws and used gravity magic to slam its head into the dungeon floor.
As its head hit the ground, I used ice magic again to freeze it. But even with its head frozen to the floor, its body kept thrashing.
It began pounding its injured legs against the ground, causing tremors—and cracks started to form in the ice.
The moment I saw the ice beginning to crack, I kicked the dragon's head with all my strength, as if I were punting a football. The ice shattered and my kick landed hard.
The dragon staggered.
I used fire magic to blind it and slashed at its neck—but even that didn't deal much damage. "What ridiculous defense. Rock Lee, Ken, Natsu—focus your attacks on its neck! We need to break through those scales!"
"Got it!" the three clones shouted in unison.
The dragon looked worried.
It wasn't overpowering us. Given that all of us are on par with Level 4 or even Level 5 adventurers, it's surprising this monster is still standing.
'Well… I'm the only one actually attacking.'
Even though Rock Lee landed a few hits, I had told the others to let me handle it because I wanted to have some fun.
But maybe doing this together will be even more fun.
"Let's punch it!" I shouted, grinning wickedly.
The dragon glared at me fiercely—then in the blink of an eye, I was right at its neck. I threw a punch with all my strength and felt a sharp pain in my hand as the scales cracked.
I dropped back to the ground and moved away from the dragon.
Once I was out of the way, Rock Lee, Ken, and Natsu approached simultaneously and did the same.
All the clones injured their hands.
But our hands began healing slowly.
The dragon, now bleeding heavily from the neck, was beginning to lose its strength.
"That's enough!" I shouted.
I looked at my hand as it recovered, then opened my inventory and drank a healing potion I'd bought from the shop where Frieren works, just to test it. It tasted terrible—but my hand healed instantly.
The clones backed off, and I drew my sword from my inventory.
The dragon could barely stay upright.
We burned it, punched it, kicked it, and slashed it.
And yet, the moment it saw the tree it was supposed to protect, it found the strength for one final move.
It roared and charged at me faster than ever before.
But everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.
I took a deep breath, and our eyes met. He seemed to understand that he was going to die. Maybe he's smarter than the other monsters here.
I dashed toward him and climbed onto his back.
From there, I looked down at his neck.
With precision, I slashed one of the wounded areas. My sword cut into his flesh and a torrent of blood burst out. I leapt away and used gravity magic to hover in the air.
Floating above, I watched the dragon bleed out as it tried to go after Rock Lee, Ken, and Natsu.
The clones retreated, letting the dragon die.
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I watched the dragon die, and when it finally collapsed, a system notification appeared:
[ You have reached Level 31 ]
"It's been a while since I leveled up." Since I can't see how much XP a clone needs to level up, I have no idea when one of them will actually reach the next level. Not even when I'm using their body.
But Level 31... That's still not enough.
To reach my third evolution, I probably need to hit Level 60.
"Speaking of which… it's been a while since I checked on my main body." When I last stopped using it, it was close to Level 20. Since I get XP from all clones, I've probably surpassed Level 31 by now.
Or maybe not—since clones seem to require less XP to level up. At least, that's what it looks like. I'm still not 100% sure.
But honestly, what really matters is leveling up the "Clones" skill and buying more abilities to prepare for future problems. That body's limited anyway.
With this one, my stats can increase without limit. Same for all my clones.
'Should I return to my main body and check my stats and see how many points I've accumulated?'
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If you want to encourage me to keep writing and read more chapters, here is my patr eon:
patr eon.com/ZhangYe
Next chapters: Chapter 65 - Obtaining information. / Chapter 66 - I want to join the Loki Familia. / Chapter 67 - 64 clones.