Dungeon Sniper

I walked closer to the screaming tree, with the ice jet from Omega intensifying as my anger grew.

I had nothing personal on the Dragon Tree. It was Alpha that made me boil inside, his snide voice stuck in the back of my ears like tar.

I stopped some thirty yards before the worm, which had stopped squirming entirely with the ice covering almost all of its lower trunk. I finally turned off the ice blaster and felt that my fingers and hands had gone numb from having held the cold surface of the rifle all this time.

A movement. I almost mistook from its thickness that it was the worm, desperately sprouting out a dormant root from deep within.

But its color was light-green: the muscular, and the only sane, arm of the old Orc hero.

Rafaqa poked his head, revealing the rest of his upper body minus the right arm, and sat dumbfounded amidst the pile of frozen Drakan bodies.

"... You did this, child?" asked Rafaqa, wiping the frost off his bewildered face.

Rafaqa then looked slowly around the icy mess I had created and finally at the dead still Dragon Tree.

"Of course... Snow... The worm had taken away winter... It has been so long that I have forgotten plants cannot grow in the cold," muttered Rafaqa.

"Well, I'm not totally off the blame either. I should've seen it after all those hours spent playing Pokemon."

I shrugged, finally relaxing a little. I did not think Rafaqa's thick skin would be affected by some ice spray, let alone get a single goosebump, but his missing arm did concern me a little.

"You, um, okay? Should we do something about the bleeding?" I asked, pointing gingery to Rafaqa's right shoulder. Despite missing an arm, the old Orc sat straight and casual, but I could tell he had lost a lot of blood for a while now.

Rafaqa did not answer me this time. He blinked slowly, his eyes teary and sentimental.

"It is over... after all these years. Of course, the 'core' at the top of the tree would have to be destroyed, but with it froze as it is—"

"Core? What core?" I asked sharply, not wanting to leave any loose end.

"It is the 'heart' of the worm, the only remaining part that had not turned entirely vegetable."

Rafaqa got up slowly and swayed a little due to the imbalance of the body with the missing arm. He frowned and looked sad for a while, but brightened up momentarily.

"I was going to chop it down because climbing over it was impossible, but with the thing frozen dead like this, all I have to is make a leap... as boring as that is."

"Wait. Did you actually say it's boring now that the worm is dead? You lost an arm, grandpa. Get a grip."

But Rafaqa did not seem to have heard me as he eagerly took a step forward... staggered again as soon as he moved his foot. He looked genuinely shocked this time, to see that his body was not moving as it had done all his valiant, heroic life

I tried hard not to give a pitying look to the damaged hero.

At the same time, Elysia came running back, started a little at feeling the drastically cooled air around us and then at seeing the frozen Drakans. She quickly shook her head and went to help Rafaqa treat the wound.

"This is where I take off my clothes and wrap it around my comrade like a man, no?" I joked lightly, relieved by Elysia's presence and not having to deal with a wounded warrior by myself.

Elysia glanced at me and went back to examining the severity of the wound. Rafaqa, having recovered from the initial shock—albeit not completely—smiled wryly but shook his head firmly.

"We will have to use the Drakan hide for the bandage. You are not wearing enough clothes to cover the wound."

"You heard him, Elysia. He needs both of our clothes. Why are you still dressed?"

Elysia threw me her plain sword, blade-wise. I ducked it easily but still felt a chill.

"Cut off the skin," said Elysia curtly.

"You know these bodies are basically frozen rocks at this point?"

"Find my Trilion. I will skin them myself," said Rafaqa enthusiastically, stirring from Elysia's firm grasp.

"Don't you dare move. It's a miracle you still haven't passed out," frowned Elysia, gently pressing her hand on the old Orc's broad c.h.e.s.t.

"Orcs do not pass out," murmured Rafaqa petulantly.

"Yeah, well, I'll be the first one to see one then."

Rafaqa grunted as Elysia did end up ripping a strip from her shirt and wrapped it around his right shoulder to stop the further bleeding.

Meanwhile, I was doing my best to even just get the blade inside a Drakan skin when—

Crack.

All of us froze. The ice around us was slowly melting, but the one covering the Dragon Tree still seemed intact.

Crack.

Another one. Followed by a multitude of cracking sounds.

"I knew it would not go down so easily."

Rafaqa, to my disbelief, smiled as he stood up shakily. He then scanned the floor and reached for a spot, pulling out Trilion easily with his left hand.

The ice around the trunk cracked and finally shattered.

The ice was not the only one that had cracked. The bark had gashing gaps, widening with each shake and scream of the Dragon Tree.

And I could feel the heat even before I saw it.

Waves of fire flowed out of the hundred hollows and gaps on the trunk and swirled not just the entire Dragon Tree but around the fifty-yard radius of it.

In other words, we were trapped inside a tornado of fire.

"... What's it trying to do?" asked Elysia warily, looking around the fiery wall of at least thirty feet tall from the ground.

"Barbecue us to death, I guess."

Just like Elysia, I was not feeling any imminent danger.

Rafaqa, however, kept the grave expression as he surveyed the surrounding.

"The wall, it is closing in."

It really was. Slowly too. Perhaps too slowly.

"You know, where I come from, if a host takes this long to set up a barbecue, his guests would throw a riot."

"... I don't think it's for us," said Elysia quietly.

"I know. You guys don't have barbecue parties. Or do you? I'd be pissed if I missed one because I love barbecues."

"I meant, I don't think the fire is for us," repeated Elysia patiently.

"The Elfling is correct. The fire is not intended for us. It is to keep itself warm. The worm is afraid. Scared. Panicked."

I wanted to retort by asking whether he heard those feelings from the worm itself, but I, too, could feel the instability of the burning tree that kept spewing out tears of fire and coating itself with them.

The Dragon Tree had been shaking all this time, and smaller branches in flames had fallen off onto the ground. A big one fell nearby us this time, and Rafaqa drove the blade of Trilion hard into the ground to make it stand as he picked up the branch—

And he torched his own wounded area on the shoulder with the fire, barely wincing, while Elysia and I screamed in silence at the unimaginable pain and the gagging smell of burning skin.

"The time is now," said Rafaqa as he flung the fiery branch aside, a strained drop of sweat on his forehead all that was left to remind us the reality of what he had done with his own hands just now.

"It is now or never. I am going to cut off the damn thing."

Rafaqa held Trilion in his hand again and walked forward, precariously at first, but confidently and purposefully by the time he reached the tree.

Elysia and I watched the back of the dwindled hero with apprehension but did not stop him.

Rafaqa, with a belligerent grunt, swung the greatsword back and began to hack at the Dragon Tree. The force and impact of the swing were halved than before, but it was still a formidable strike, a blow powerful enough to send any normal tree to snap like a twig...

"It's hopeless," I said.

"We don't know that. There are no more Drakans. Rafaqa may be able to chop it down this time."

"Chopping it down won't kill it. The heart, the core, that's located on the top of the tree somewhere. If you ask me, Rafaqa's wasting his time and energy... And in this case, what's remaining of his life."

Elysia turned and stared at me, thinking the same as I.

"You don't think—"

"He's an old-fashioned Orc. And the Orcs hate cheating, as far as my impressions about them go. For Rafaqa, the brutality of a battle is always favored over an easy victory... Just look how happy he's swinging his two-handed sword, one-handed."

"But he said he wanted to go home."

"As a dragon slayer, not some old, obsolete has-been who lost an arm against who-cares-how-many minions."

I was not an insightful person by any means, but being a man allowed me to understand the old hero more than Elysia, an even-headed Elfina, could ever hope to.

Elysia apparently was not satisfied by my assessment and had more to say.

"Still, it's his life, our lives at hand—"

Then it happened.

The flame coat surrounding the trunk extended to both the greatsword and Rafaqa—soon engulfing the old Orc in entirety.

Elysia sprang forward as I dashed behind her promptly.

Rafaqa kept swinging precariously with his only hand, but the swinging movement became slow, slower, until he swayed and fell on his back, his body in malicious, undying flames.

I quickly switched Omega back to the ice blaster mode and covered Rafaqa's body with thick ice. As soon as the fire was out, Elysia and I pulled the body safely away from the fiery reach of the worm.

Rafaqa, shuddering, and not just from the cold, opened his eyes and looked between Elysia and me.

"... I have never felt cold in my life," said Rafaqa with a weak smile, burnt and scarred severely, but alive.

Weakened, defeated, but alive.

"But I do now," sighed the old Orc through chattering teeth.

"It's the blood loss. Your body is not able to maintain the optimal temperature," explained Elysia encouragingly.

"... And yet your Human lover had to go with ice instead of water," snapped Rafaqa crankily.

"Sorry. I was in a hurry."

At least Rafaqa did not seem as he was going to die anytime soon, so that was good.

"What now?"

Elysia clicked her tongue in frustration as she clenched her hair and looked around. I followed her gaze and saw that the wall of fire had closed in too proximately for our comfort. The tree itself was not willing to put a brake on its fire puking anytime soon.

I turned my eyes back to Elysia, who was staring at me, blinking at me, expectantly.

"What?" I blinked back.

"What do you mean, 'what?' This is when you always come up with the extraordinary means to save the day. Go on. Do your thing," urged Elysia.

"Do my 'thing?' Thanks for easing me off the pressure, Ellie."

"Whatever you call it. Instinct. Superpower. Heroism."

"I'm no hero," I blurted, almost out of reflex.

"Yes, you are, child. You are a hero, and I can vouch for it," said Rafaqa, lying down, eyes half-closed.

"Go to sleep, old guy... I mean, don't go to sleep. Because in movies, people always die when they say they're going for a nap—"

"I am not dying, fool. Just concentrate on how you will help us out of here like a hero you are," grunted Rafaqa irritably.

Hero. I was sick of the word, actually, and all the more since my surreal conversation with an unpleasant deity aspirant—

'The problem, your problem, is that you never act unless duties are forced upon you.'

'I mean, is that wrong? Who wants duties?'

'Nobody does. That's why heroes exist.'

"It's maddening enough that I had to hear a lecture about heroism from the least heroic guy I know."

I got up suddenly and angrily much to Elysia's puzzled look.

"I'll show who f.u.c.k.e.d up. Oh, I'll show him good," I inhaled deeply, only to cough uncontrollably from the hot, sooty air around the area.

"... Do Humans go a little crazy with extra heat or is it just you?" asked Elysia warily.

"I'll tell you all about it when we get out of this mess alive. But first, I'll need you to take off your clothes."

"... Seriously? Now of all time, Beta—"

"Don't get the wrong idea. I just need enough clothes to gain height."

I pointed to the fiery wall that was now only fifty feet away from us. The heat was getting unbearable as we found ourselves sandwiched between the burning tree itself on one end and the ring of fire on the other.

I loathe hot weather, anything hot, but heat, on this occasion, could not have been more welcomed.

Elysia quickly understood what I meant and looked up between the top of the fire wall and that of the Dragon Tree hopefully as she began to take off her clothes.

"We are not running away."

As much as I wanted to keep my eyes on Elysia, I lowered my gaze and stared down at the burnt, grunting old Orch.

"You will stay and fight. Promise me, child."

Amputated, piteous, but never dying, Rafaqa flashed his eyes fiercely.

"... I'm not like Alpha. I never abandon my friend on the battlefield," I answered back earnestly.

If Rafaqa was touched by the words, he did not show it. Instead, he nodded approvingly.

"So you believe in heroism. I knew you had one in you."

"... I don't give a damn about being a hero, but I do believe in one thing at the moment."

Elysia, half-n.a.k.e.d, and looking amazing as ever, had finished getting undressed and handed me a loosely-tied set of clothes that resembled a tattered 'cloak.'

I then activated the Wind Reader Skill and surveyed the movement of heatwaves around the thirty-feet ring of fire.

"I believe I can fly."