I ran.
Correction: I launched.
One second, I was on moss. The next, my body reacted before my brain could process the dragon's descent. My legs bent low and then snap. Power. Like being fired out of a cannon.
The world blurred around me. Trees flew past in streaks of green and gold. Wind screamed in my ears. My eyes struggled to keep up as I shot through the glowing forest with such force it made my teeth rattle in my skull.
Then came the tree.
I didn't see it until it was too close a massive trunk of silver-veined wood thick as a city bus.
"—oh shi—"
CRACK.
I slammed into it shoulder-first.
The impact knocked the breath out of me. My body pinwheeled and flopped sideways into a patch of luminous ferns. I tumbled twice, rolled over a root, and landed flat on my back, groaning.
"Ow... okay… okay," I hissed, blinking at the sky. "That's new. That's so new."
My shoulder throbbed, but not like a real-world break. More like… minor system damage? My HUD flickered, briefly flashing:
[Minor Impact – No HP Loss – Adrenaline Surge Engaged]
I groaned again. "That tree cheated."
But the canopy above me was already darkening again—no time to whine.
A screech like the end of the world tore across the sky.
The dragon.
I scrambled upright, already drenched in sweat. My muscles were singing, my lungs wide open, my heart pumping like I was mid-match. Everything moved. Everything responded. My body wasn't sluggish or heavy like before—it felt like it was designed for war.
But war was apparently coming with claws the size of yachts.
The forest exploded into sound—birds fleeing, trees snapping, something massive crashing down with a weight that shook the soil.
I turned just in time to see the dragon dive.
No hesitation. No warning.
A blast of hot wind slammed into me as its wings flared. Its eyes burned like molten gold, and its mouth opened, revealing rows of curved fangs and a growing core of firelight in the back of its throat.
"Move, move, MOVE—"
I jumped.
Straight up.
And holy crap.
I soared.
Not leapt. Not hopped. Soared.
Like gravity forgot about me. Like the air had hands and just tossed me into the sky.
The canopy blurred beneath me. I rose above the trees—above the dragon's head. I could see the clouds. See the distant mountains. The burn of motion sickness flipped my stomach halfway through the arc.
"Ohhh I'm gonna throw up—"
I landed badly, knees bending too far, crashing through glowing branches before finally slamming into a soft slope of moss and magic-thick dirt. I rolled, coughed, and gagged.
"Nope. Nope. Bad. Bad jump," I wheezed. "Put in a return policy for that leg code—"
The dragon roared again and turned.
Its wings beat once, blasting the air around me with hurricane-force wind. Trees bent like blades of grass. It reared back, flame beginning to glow inside its throat again.
I reached instinctively for the only thing I had.
The gun.
I pulled it from the holster. Still rusty. Still pathetic. It rattled like a can of nails in my grip, and some part of it was held together with string. Literal string.
Please work.
I raised it.
Lined up the shot with that molten throat.
Pulled the trigger.
BANG.
The recoil was violent. My arms snapped back slightly—but the shot hit.
Right in the dragon's eye.
A scale shattered.
The beast screamed and flinched. The flame faltered.
"Oh my god it worked—!"
I fired again.
BANG.
The second shot went wide, but it clipped the base of one wing. The membranes tore with a thunderous snap. Ash and sparks burst out from the wound.
Third shot.
Click.
Silence.
I pulled again. Harder.
Click.
"No. No no no don't do this—"
My HUD pinged.
Weapon overheated. Manual cooldown engaged.
Another ping.
You have used all of your 3 shots. You will have to wait 10 minutes.
"…Ten minutes?!"
Behind me, I heard the dragon hiss, enraged. Its ruined wing twitched. Its eye—partially blinded—glowed hotter than before.
It wasn't going to retreat.
It was going to erase me.
And I had no bullets left.
I ran again—this time not gracefully, not like some overpowered protagonist dancing through trees.
I tripped over roots, slid down a mossy hill, got slapped in the face by glowing branches, and kept going like a woman being hunted by a fire-breathing apocalypse.
The dragon roared behind me, wounded and furious.
It couldn't fly properly now—my shot had clipped something important. But it could crawl. And it did. Crashing through the forest like a mountain learning how to sprint.
"Ten minutes?! Who designs a gun with a ten-minute cooldown?!" I yelled at no one, still clutching the junker pistol in my hand like it might magically reload if I screamed loud enough.
No answer. Not from the voice. Not from the forest.
The only sound was the grinding crunch of scale against dirt and the rising pitch of heat building in the dragon's throat.
I ducked behind a tree.
My HUD flickered again.
Cooldown: 00:13… 00:12… 00:11…
I panted hard, every breath sharp and electric in my lungs. My legs buzzed. My shoulder ached. I had no cover, no backup, and a gun that currently had the firepower of a paperclip.
00:07… 00:06…
The dragon's head reared into view, its ruined wing dragging like torn silk behind it, blood gleaming like lava down its scales. It hissed—hot, sharp, furious. I ducked, heart slamming against my ribs.
00:03… 00:02… 00:01…
The gun vibrated slightly in my hand.
Reload Complete.
A soft chime.
I stood up slowly.
The dragon inhaled, and I saw the glow forming in its throat again—blazing, white-hot flame, enough to melt me into ash in a single breath.
I raised the pistol.
My hand was steady now.
No panic. No hesitation.
Just instinct.
"Finally," I whispered.
A half-smile tugged at my lips.
"Now time to end this."