One last chance

“We still have a chance!” the knight said streaming with blood. The archer was confused by her optimism. They had fought the Trunkdrake in front of them for some time now and he was not able to find an opening so far. The two of them had hunted down the beast in one of the forests of the capital. The wind blew through the clearing woods which finished in a ledge next to a cliff edge. Though they had pursued the drake, it was not exactly clear who cornered whom. Their third companion, the hunter, had gone lost again. As usual, his sense of orientation was a disaster. But so far, the archer and the knight had done their best to keep the drake at bay.

Once again, the archer was not able to think for a strategy, as the Trunkdrake readied itself for another attack like a cat preparing to fetch a mouse. The massive body got down to a crouching position, the ice-blue scales illuminated with wind-energy. Lightened by the power of the wind-element, the Trunkdrake pounced towards the archer and the knight who had a hard time to avoid the attack. The knight created an earth-shield that instantly broke. The archer dodged with a roll, immediately firing a counter-shot. The arrow shattered on the drake's scale and infuriated the beast even more.

“Damn, these draconics sure are tough,” the knight said. “Their scales are as hard as steel, they weigh several tons, and they are ten feet tall,” the archer replied. “Thanks for the info,” she replied, rolling her eyes at another time-wasting explanation of her comrade. “Any ideas for a strategy?” she added. “The book mentioned that fighting drakes should best be avoided, as they are comparably strong,” the archer answered. “Yes, I get that. But as we are already fighting it, is there maybe any advice applicable to THIS situation?” she asked. “The book says that one of their weak points is on the front of their necks, especially when charging up a wind blast. During those approximately five to seven seconds, they give up their lightness in order to be able to charge and shoot.” “Thanks for the private tuition in elemental vector manipulation,” the knight said sarcastically. “But I have to admit that this might be a considerable chance.”

The drake started circling them like a vicious wolf before dashing at them with incredible speed. “How do we make it shoot a wind blast?” the archer asked. “Do not know, maybe ask it nicely?” the knight replied before evading the Drake with a dive to the side. Coming to her feet again, she added “Maybe I can provoke it. I could increase speed and charge it several times, so it feels cornered. Then it might consider changing to heavier attacks.” “I do not think this is a good plan,” the archer pointed out. “If you use too much Vitrum, we will entirely run out of options. Additionally, we do not know yet how strong its heavy attacks are.” “I'm sure we can do it! Moreover, do you see any alternatives?” the knight asked. “Separating it from its main elemental source is not possible as we cannot drive it into the sea or under earth. We could try driving it out of Vitrum, but as we cannot assume when the last time was the drake has eaten, the risks of this strategy are too high. Hence, it might not be a good plan, but it might be the only one we have,” the archer argued. “The glass of water is half full then, I guess,” the knight said with a smile. “So, charging for the weak point it is.”

Not having any wind essence with her, the knight started pulling on the wind around her. She felt it melting with her body like a fresh breeze flowing into her mind, her body, her soul. She immediately felt lighter, faster, even swinging. Jumping from one foot to another, she enjoyed the relaxing feeling of pulling on wind. Yet the drake at hand demanded action. Hence, she used her abilities to lunge forward. Tip-first, the rapier in her hand dashed towards the drake's eyes. The beast spun around, whipping its tail for a counter, almost meeting the knight´s face who could barely avoid the hit. She dashed past the beast, which started pursuing her.

In her peripheral field of vision, she could see the archer preparing a strong shot with his bow. The red and golden lines on his skin indicated him pulling on the fire element, which increased his strength. She also saw a small wind-twister building up at the tip of the pulled arrow. Wow, he is putting a lot of energy into that shot. That means I really have to make this opening work, she thought to herself.

After being chased for a moment, the knight pivoted, started pushing on the wind inside her body and formed several vectors on her rapier. While swinging her blade in a horizontal line, she pushed the wind infused vectors toward the drake, creating a wind slice that flew like a half-moon towards the beast. Eyes widening, the Trunkdrake braked but could not avoid the slice cutting through the scales on its chest. Though it was ironclad, the attack still drew blood and left a painful wound looking like a red ribbon. The drake trumpeted with pain, but the knight did not have time to feel bad about it. She had to use the momentum of the fight. Hence, she pulled on the winds again to lunge for another attack. This time executing a combination of slashes towards the drake's legs and tail while dashing past the still agonizing beast.

She knew she had reached her goal, when she stood several feet from the Trunkdrake letting out a growl like rolling thunder. Silvery-blue lines formed across its muscular body and its eyes started glowing like lightning ripping the skies. “Pitch!” the knight yelled, “could it be that Trunkdrakes are able to use the lightning-element?!” “Yes!” the archer yelled back. He had gone down to one knee and further charged his attack. “I hope that charged arrow of yours will do its job then!” “You should support it with another one of those wind-slices. We need more fire power for more serious damage!” the archer responded to her comment. With a high, wind-infused jump, she positioned herself next to the archer. Opposite to them, the drake charged a storm of an attack. The wind around them increased its blow like it would do right before a thunderstorm. Blue lightning zapped around the Trunkdrake, as it opened its mouth to reveal a sphere of charging energy. Looking like the eye of a wrathful dragon, the sphere grew larger and larger, soon covering the beast's whole mouth.

“On the count of three, we will launch our attack!” the archer screamed through the storm. “Let´s do this!” the knight answered. “Okay! One!” The twister on the arrow's tip spun faster than any tornado. “Two!” The knight created another row of vectors on the blade of her readied sword. “Three!” Spun through the twister and enhanced by fire-empowered strength, the archer's arrow released like a bolt fired from a canon. The knight's slash accompanied the arrow in a horizontal line, both forming what looked like a charging ravener, ready to hunt its prey.

Opposite to them, the Trunkdrake shot its lightning blast. A tail of energy followed what looked like a comet made of lightning. Upon meeting the arrow, the Trunkdrake's attack swallowed it with a sizzling sound like fresh wood being burned in a forging furnace. Realising what was happening, the knight and the archer tried to save themselves with a full-length dive. The blast blew them to the sides upon impact with the ground. A triumphal trumpeting Trunkdrake was the last thing the knight saw, before her vision went black.