My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 325: Hunter And Prey! (4)

As Kace raced between the drakes horns, the monstrous beast snapped its jaws shut and ripped a chunk out of the rear of the airship. The monsters still on the inside of the ship felt like tinned sardines when someone opened the can that protected them! The monsters stared at the drake with fear evidently in their eyes for a moment before they let out roars of their own!

Those who could cast spells unleashed everything that they could think of while the others simply threw anything close at hand! One bloodthirsty orc even threw a goblin into the drake's mouth before rubbing his head in embarrassment for not realising it was an ally he had grabbed!

However, the other monsters around him did not care about his mistake. They might all be dead soon anyway! One goblin suddenly shouted excitedly as Kace came into their view on the drake's head. Kace raised his spear overhead as he judged the timing for his attack. He waited until the drake blinked before downwards and thrusting towards its eyeball!

Ding!!!

A sharp metalling sound rang out as Sylvan bounced off the eyeball without leaving a scratch on it! Kace's mind went blank as his plan of attack failed. The drake's eye fixed its sight on him for a moment before completely ignoring him.

As Kace performed a flip to land on his feet on the beast's snout, he began to consider sacrificing more of his lifespan to make it out of this situation alive

However, the drake suddenly paused mid-flight as all three of its heads turned to look towards the horizon. Although the beast's action took Kace by surprise, he reacted quickly and made a leap for the airship. He braced himself and rolled onto the deck before turning to see if the drake had continued its pursuit.

However, the beast just hovered silently in place. Its intent gaze remained fixed on the horizon as if it were expecting something. As the distance between them grew, Kace felt a strange sensation as if a storm was approaching. He did not know whether to laugh or cry at that sensation.

It was evident to him that the drake had picked up on it first, and that was why it suddenly halted. So although the storm had saved them, Kace was growing concerned. If the storm was that dangerous, then did that not mean that the situation had become even worse for them?

"Gyn! Find a safe place to land! We can't stay in the air!" Kace yelled as he marched towards the cabin through a crowd of monsters hurriedly making simple repairs.

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Gyn raised an eyebrow as he checked the instruments in front of him. "These here aren't detecting any storms nearby, though?" 

"Do you think that beast just let us go for no reason? It's probably trying to judge how dangerous the storm is before continuing to chase or return to its nest!" Kace argued back. Although he trusted Gyn's strange inventions, he could not shake off his own senses coupled with the tri headed drake's actions. 

"I'm telling you there's no storm!" Gyn pouted. He could tell that Kace did not trust his judgement. "Look, these were made using mana crystals that hold wind magic. It could definitely pick up the air fluctuations from that far away."

Kace frowned at how convinced Gyn sounded by his own readings. 'Did I make a mistake?' Kace glanced back towards the drake, but it had not moved at all. Even now. 'No, there's definitely something off.' Kace's eyes glanced over the various instruments and spotted a needle that seemed to be above average.

"What does that one measure?" Kace asked as he hurriedly pointed to the instrument in question.

"That? Just the external heat in the air. But that increase is negligible. It's nothing to worry about. It won't affect the ship at all." Gyn replied smartly as he looked at where Kace had pointed to. 

'Heat?' Kace glanced in the direction that the drake appeared to be so interested in. 'A heatwave, maybe?' Kace frowned as they wondered if the drake had a problem with regulating its body temperature of something. That would explain its strange behaviour if it needed to live inside the canyon to keep cool.

It was possibly a problem that only became apparent in the species as their size increased. 'If that's all it is, then we've gotten lucky this time. A heatwave shouldn't affect us too much.' Kace was about to sigh in relief as a flash of light in the distance caught his attention.

Kace immediately perked back up as his senses screamed at that sight. He waited for a few moments, and then another flash came. A small patch in the sky far away from them had been lit up in an orange colour for a brief second. Kace waited again, and a red flash followed soon after. 

He held his breath as he kept staring. Yellow, orange and red flashed sparked in that area of the sky in regular intervals. However, Kace noticed that the flashes were slowly getting faster in their timing. Gyn, beside him, was staring at the same time with an expression of fear.

"It's a firestorm!" Gyn wailed as he turned to flick another switch. 

This time blue mana crystals lit up all over the ship to warn of a fire. The monsters on board felt as though they were being toyed with emotionally. They had just seen the light at the end of the tunnel, only for another danger to take a swipe at them. 

Still, they rushed throughout the ship and formed chains to pass the water stored in the hull along to wherever it would be needed. Unfortunately, there was nobody amongst them that could use water magic. Soon, stockpiles of water buckets were gathered in crucial areas of the airship as the monsters stood by to tackle the situation as it developed.

Meanwhile, Kace and Gyn watched in horror as the needle on the temperature gauge rapidly began to shoot up. Overall, the situation did not look good for them. Gyn took control of the airship and steered it towards the ground. If the worst came to pass, they could always use the sand in the desert to put out any fires if it became too much.

Flashes of fire began to ignite in the air randomly around them as everyone took cover below deck. After all, nobody wanted to become a living barbecue. Still, they knew if they could make it through this, then they would pretty much be safe. As long as those in command did not decide to jump into another fight anyway.

However, Kace was still feeling bothered by the drake. It did not attempt to flee the firestorm as he expected. Instead, it remained to hover in the air as it allowed the flares to wash over its scales. The dirt and grime were cleansed from its body in such a manner, allowing the sun to reflect brightly off of its body. 

This would have been fine if it was not for the fact that the drake was still focused on the horizon. Kace suddenly had a sinking feeling that it was not the firestorm that had caused it to halt its assault. He quickly looked over the other instruments, but nothing else looked abnormal besides the heat gauge.

Just as he began to wonder what the issue was, a shrill bird call sounded in the sky. Before the drake could react, one of the flares that had appeared nearby took the shape of a massive bird made of fire. Kace immediately realised what the bird was. They were in its territory, after all. 

The Phoenix slammed into the drake's side, and even though its size was laughable compared to the drake's, it sent it spiralling through the air! There was a deep scorch mark left behind on the drake's scales where they had collided, the heat generated by the Phoenix was enough to melt through the tough scales and burn the skin underneath.

The drake glared at the Phoenix as it let out a challenging roar. The Phoenix responded with a shrill cry of its own before the pair clashed viciously with each other. The drake packed a lot of power but was useless against the Phoenix. For one, the firebird was far more agile, making it almost impossible to hit. 

The few times the drake got lucky and managed to land a blow, its attack just passed straight through the flames that made up the Phoenix's body. Kace sighed in relief as he saw the drake becoming frustrated with its opponent. As far as he could see, the battle had already been won.

As the pair performed remarkable aerobatics, Kace watched on to see if he could learn anything about fighting a flying opponent. However, he did not get to enjoy the fight too much as the Phoenix soon overwhelmed the beast and threw it to the sand below.

The drake let out a pitiful growl as the Phoenix landed on top of its exposed belly. The Phoenix let out a triumphant cry as it glared into the drakes eyes. The mighty beast lay its heads down on the sand and exposed its throats in a sign of submission. The Phoenix seemed to snort at that display before flapping its wings and heading in the direction of the airship.

Just as the airship landed on the sand, the Phoenix's flames receded into the shape of a woman. As the last embers disappeared, a beautiful woman who looked to be in her early thirties stepped onto the deck beside Kace, who had been waiting on her.

"Lady Rysa It's a pleasure."