The drake shook itself viciously to threw Jack off its back, but Jack's deeply stabbed sword provided sturdy handheld.
Jack did not stay idle as he used his left hand's magic staff and continued to fire spells and standard attacks at the drake's back. The drake started jumping around to try to force Jack to dislodge.
The others who witnessed were captivated by the sight. It was like looking at an unusual rodeo, where instead of a horse or bull, it was a giant lizard, and the rider was so tiny it was as if seeing a mouse trying to ride a horse.
"Ranged class, continue your attack!" Jeanny reminded everyone. The mages and archers snapped from their dazes and immediately sent their attacks, while Bowler came over to Jeanny's side and cast Heal on them.
The drake in its frustration, flipped to its back, tried to crushed Jack with its weight.
"I know you are going to use this trick again!" Jack exclaimed. Just before he was crushed by the drake's body, he activated the last switch of his Body Double skill. He switched place and his two copies disappeared as the spell ended.
Jack had expected the drake's move since he had seen it did it to the Grandmother Spider. He had placed one of his copies not far from the drake. So once he switched place, the drake's exposed underbelly was nearby. His Overlimit only lasted two minutes, and it was about to expire. He made fast slashes while the drake was still defenseless.
The Grim Sand Drake did not stay still. It swiftly spun its body back to the upright position. Jack had hurriedly run away once he saw the drake's move. The drake looked at the ant that was trying to run away and gave chase in its rage.
The haste effect from the scroll was still in effect, but Jack could still not outrun the drake. It reached his place in a short time. Jack had no more doppelganger that he could switch places with. He watched in horror as the drake open its gargantuan mouth and attempted to devour him in one bite.
Jack took out a Magic Wall scroll and activated it. The drake's mouth crashed onto the energy wall and it shattered. It stopped the drake's attack though, but the impact created a shockwave that caused Jack to fall down on his butt. He was completely defenseless at this time, but as the drake's movement stopped, an arrow flew in and struck the drake's left eye. Fierce Flame had taken the chance when the drake's movement paused to make her aim.
The drake roared from the pain, but it soon snapped out of it and lunged out in anger at Jack who was in front of it. Due to the lapse, Jack had the time to drink a Reset potion, resetting all cooldown. He then took out another Magic Wall scroll and activated it again. The second wall also stopped the attack and shattered.
Jack had run out of Magic Wall scroll. But he had prepared, he quickly took out a Wind Jet scroll then activated his Dragon's Eye. He was about to use it when he noticed the drake's movement had stopped.
Jack's heart was still pounding so fast. He was having trouble determining whether the drake's movement really had stopped or it was because his Dragon's Eye made it appeared not moving. He calmed himself and looked again at the drake.
He could see the unwillingness in the drake's gaze. Its HP bar at the moment was already completely depleted. It was not even four minutes yet. Their harassment on the drake, even though minuscule, still managed to hasten the drake's demise by over a minute.
The drake slowly disintegrated into dust particles. Jack was still standing there, the Wind Jet scroll in his hand. He only snapped out of his daze when he received the notification from the system. His experience bar shot up considerably. Both his Warrior and Mage classes were now at level 25, with his Warrior close to level 26.
The others in the party also increased in levels. All of them increased by three levels, bringing most of them to level 27 and the rest to level 26. Jack was now the lowest level amongst them.
Jack had experienced a similar massive increase the last time when he kill-steal the Ice Troll Sentinel. But at that time, the entire experience points generated were all received by himself. This time even after being divided by the whole twenty-five people in the party, everyone still leveled up three times on average. But considering the vanquished monster was a level 45 special elite, it made sense. If it died as a non-weakened condition of level 55 Rare Elite, Jack figured the experience gained would be even more insane. But if it was not in a weakened condition, Jack would have run away already once the drake clashed with the Grandmother spider.
Wait, no, the experience was shared between twenty-four people. One of The Man's underlings had died. Wait again, it was twenty-three! Jack counted the green dots on his radar. There were only twenty-three. After looking around, he realized the newest member, Sunset Walking was not there. Although the guy was still registered as a member of their party, he was not near enough to receive the exp for killing the drake.
The others also found the death of the Grim Sand Drake unbelievable. They were still rooted at their places, dazed. Only after they received system notifications and found their levels increased, they broke into a cheer.
"Holy shit! We really did it! I can't believe it!"
"I thought I was a goner already this time for sure."
"I think I peed my pants. Oh, wait! Right, there is no need to pee in this world."
When the Grim Sand Drake disappeared, it had dropped several loots. Jack went over and took a look. There were a total of nine items, a heap of coins and mana cores. The others also came over.
The Man was amongst the first that arrived, his HP had gone back to safe level thanks to drinking potion and Bowler's healing. Jack said to him, "I'm sorry about your man who died."
The Man was grinning when he answered, "no worry, boss. He wore the rebirth amulet. He only lose one level. Even so, I think he is still the highest leveled player in the capital at the moment. He will be crazy when I send him the message that we had actually killed the drake. He will brag about it to the other members in the capital."
"Considering the kind of monster we have just fought, it has been an absolute miracle that we only have one casualty," John said as he came over as well. "Traveling with you truly gives one a heart attack. I will think twice the next time you invite me again."
"Are you saying that you are not happy that you are level 27 now?"
"I certainly am, but I am even happier that I know you are the second lowest-level player amongst us now," John said with a smirk.
"Second? That's right, Sunset Walking. Where is he? He didn't come with you guys? And how come all of you are coming over anyway?"
"What do you mean how?" Jeanny asked. "We are still in the same party. When you get into a combat situation, all of us were notified. That's why we all rushed over. Regarding Sunset Walking, he was with us as well, but he seemed to have run away once he saw the drake."
"Yeah, he is a coward!" Bowler cursed, he was opening his map. "He is at the entrance gate now, running to safety by himself."
"Don't blame him, he is not that close with us yet. His action is understandable," Jack said. "You people that did not run away even after seeing the drake, I truly thank you all for your steadfast support. Having you all as friends were truly a blessing to me."
"Don't count your chickens yet. If I had known you intent on fighting the drake, I would have left you the first chance I got, you lunatic!" John cursed.
"Yeah! I am only here to protect Sister Jeanny. I don't give a shit if you die!" Swellgoing added.
Damn these two, can't they just play along instead of bringing down the mood? And where the hell was that Swellgoing when Jeanny was almost killed just now?
Ignoring those two, Jack turned to Giant Steve. "What's that skill you used? It was amazing that it managed to allow you to survive the drake's direct hit."
Jack had been very impressed when he saw them surviving after receiving the drake's slap. Even for him who possessed tons of HP with an active Barrier protecting him, he almost died from just a graze.
"It was a special defensive skill I got through luck," Giant Steve replied. "It is called Final Shield. It consumed all my stamina to boost my defense and reduce the damage I received. The more stamina I have left before using the skill, the better."
"Oh, so that's why it was named Final. Once you used it, you can't use any other skill as you will have zero stamina at the time."
"Yes, it was a last resort move. In fact, this is the first time I have used it in a real fight. To be honest, I myself was not sure of the outcome. It's a good thing we end up surviving. Oh, and I think the fact that my equipped shield was a Rare grade might also contribute."
"Are you going to leave those?" John indicated on the loots that were still on the ground. "I will love to go pick them up, but I think everyone will lynch me afterward."
