Chapter 76 The Dragon Slayers.
Sera caught the scent of the food and emerged from Archer's shirt, surprising the two people present.
She floated towards the food and landed on the side, eagerly beginning to eat the sweet roll-like dish.
Archer watched her with a smile before ordering more food and handing over another gold coin.
"Bring us some more snacks," he said.
Fia returned with even more food, and the two dragons happily indulged while Archer waited for his order.
He particularly enjoyed the panipopo, which had a sweet coconut flavor, and found the rice pudding-like dish to be decent.
After finishing the snacks, they waited for their main order.
A couple of hours passed before Malaki brought over the palusami and coconut cream breadfruit.
"Here, boy. I've never had anyone order so much food before. I'm all out of ingredients now."
The stall owner said as Archer stored all the food in his Iten Box and said goodbye.
He started to leave the town walking further south, at the same time his Aura Detector picked up a few pings heading in his direction.
Archer followed a river towards a lake in the distance, curious about what he might find.
As he walked, he couldn't help but notice the sounds of splashing coming from up ahead.
Intrigued, he picked up his pace and soon came upon a clearing where he saw a group of fantastical beasts frolicking in the water.
They looked like hippos but were twice the size of any he had ever seen on Earth.
Their skin shimmered with a shade of blue, and their eyes glowed with an otherworldly light.
He watched in awe as they playfully splashed around, sending waves crashing against the riverbank.
Suddenly, he heard heavier splashing and turned his head to see another one of the beasts charging at a spot in the water not far from him.
As it got closer, it bit down into the water.
Archer saw a massive puddle of blood spreading out in the water as it dragged up a dead beast.
The hippo started slamming the thing down, a river drake that was trying to get closer to the younger hippos.
He laughed at the foolish river drake getting messed up by the hippo, watching the show for a little while before moving on.
Keeping an eye on his surroundings, he realized he was still being followed. But continued walking for an hour until the afternoon sun was shining brightly.
While walking, he noticed that whoever was following him was getting closer.
Quickly jumping into the air, he hovered there and grabbed hold of Sera, opening a portal.
"Sera, go into the domain now. Bad people are coming," he warned the little dragon.
She looked nervous but nodded as she flew through the portal.
Archer went to take off when his Aura Detection warned him of a group of five people closing in on him.
He started to look around but couldn't see anything, but the pings were telling him that they had surrounded him.
He was getting confused until he heard a rough voice come from behind him.
"Look what we have here, the infamous white dragon."
Archer spun around, looking down as he caught sight of a tall, white-skinned man adorned in black leather armor embellished with various types of dragon teeth.
Standing at nearly seven feet tall, with bulging muscles and a clean-shaven face, Archer guessed that the man was the leader.
Noticing the scaly pattern on the armor he narrowed his eyes as he looked up at the grinning man.
"Ahh, so you noticed. Dragon skin does make good armor if I do say so myself. It looks like you are on your second evolution stage," the man said as he stepped forward with a cocky grin.
His eyes opened wide when he heard this and he wondered how much they knew. When the man saw this, he smiled even more before speaking.
"The old slayer tomes were right. At first, it's two horns, then four."
The man stopped walking as Archer hovered in the air.
"That means you're just about to get your dragon form, which we can't let happen," he said as he motioned for the other men to get closer and try to cut him off from flying away.
Archer looked around him and knew that if he didn't escape now, he would get caught.
He quickly used Cosmic Step to appear higher in the air and started flapping his wings to speed up.
However, before he could get too far, a heavy chain wrapped around his legs, causing him to crash to the ground.
Archer was quickly baffled and reacted by using his claws to slice through the chains that bound him. With his newfound freedom, he swiftly jumped back onto his feet.
Despite using Blink to escape, he found that the slayers were still able to keep up with him as he ran.
Managing to gain some ground, he turned around and summoned dozens of fire bolts.
Aiming the bolts at the group and releasing them, the men were thrown off their feet while running.
Archer continued to cast even more bolts, which rained down on the group.
What looked to be the leader stepped forward and grabbed three of his comrades, shielding them from the incoming bolts.
However, the fifth man wasn't as lucky, as his body looked like a pincushion and crumbled to the ground.
With the leader lowering his shield, Archer couldn't help but show a devilish smile on his face.
Taking a deep breath, he let out a mighty roar that caused the remaining four men to cover their ears.
But that wasn't the end of it. Archer also shot a stream of violet fire at them.
Fortunately for the men, the leader cast his slayer shield, blocking Archer's breath attack and throwing the men to the side.
Archer ceased his breath attack and swiftly used Blink to teleport behind the group.
Without wasting any time, Archer cast Call Lightning, striking most of the slayers with a powerful bolt of electricity.
Dark clouds appeared overhead, and a violet lightning bolt struck the ground near the slayers, another bolt of lightning hit the shield, causing the leader to buckle.
Rushing forward he slashed at one of the men, tearing open his throat with his claws.
He quickly used his tail to swipe at another, forcing him to back up.
However, the leader screamed out as he fired a spell at Archer, shouting.
"Slayer Blast!"
With a swift motion, Archer cast the powerful spell of Cosmic Shield, expertly deflecting the incoming attack to the right.
The force of the impact caused a massive explosion that echoed across the nearby lake, sending ripples through the water and shaking the surrounding trees.
Despite the chaos, he remained focused and ready.
The man rushed at him and drew a sword from his storage ring, and slashed at Archer, who raised his claws to defend himself.
Sword and claw clashed, and sparks flew all over the place.
The leader of the slayer group attempted to cast a Slayer Blast spell, but Archer dodged it and used his tail as a whip, lashing out at the man.
As Archer's tail lashed out toward the man, he quickly deflected the attack, causing it to graze his thigh and left a deep gash.
The man let out a piercing scream of pain, clutching his wounded leg as blood began to flow freely.
As he faced the slayer's leader, he cast a Void Blaze and conjured a basketball-sized ball of violet fire that hovered menacingly above him.
With an evil smile, he looked up at the leader while throwing it at him.
The violet-colored ball flew across the space that separated the two, but just as it was about to crash into the leader, one of the men pushed him aside.
The leader's savior was struck as it exploded in a massive violet glow.
Only the leader and one other slayer remained alive, and Archer approached the two downed men.
But as he closed in on them, he sensed another attack incoming from his left but it was too late for him to dodge, so he raised his wing and braced himself for the attack.
The blast hit him, sending him flying across the lake bouncing off the water like a child skipping a stone.
After crashing on the opposite side of the lake, he came to a stop with a roll.
Archer lay there, dazed and hurting all over wondering where he went wrong in life, his regeneration kicked in and he was able to sit up.
Looking around he noticed a new group running toward him, but there was even more this time around.
Pulling out a health potion, he started downing it, feeling his body starting to repair itself, he looked up to see the new group swiftly closing in on him.
He turned around and started running in the opposite direction as he fired Fire Missiles and Plasma Shots at the new group of slayers.
Hours passed as the game of cat and mouse continued, Archer spammed spells at them as they were chasing him.
They tried capturing him but he always slipped through their fingers, he managed to lose them and was hiding in a rock outcropping catching his breath.
Recalling a notification he had received earlier, he took a moment to check it and refresh his memory.
[Spell Combination Learned]
[Plasma Shot & Fire Missiles Combined: Plasma Missiles]
''Ah nice, at least something good came of this.''
Exhausted, he sat down to catch his breath and retrieved his waterskin to take a long drink.
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