The next morning, they left at the first sign of sunlight. The scouts spread out again to look for a Flame Drake below level 50. Jack again went to farm the flame drakelings while waiting for news.
This time, the scouts didn't waste too much time. It was not yet noon when the scouts reported their findings. They found not one, but two suitable flame drakes. One was level 49 while the other level 48.
They decided to head to level 48 one. The lower the level, the higher their taming success probability. One thing though, the level 54 Grim Flame Drake was not far away from where this level 48 was. But it was also not close enough for them to worry, they just need to make sure that the fight didn't get dragged in the direction of that Grim Flame Drake.
After Jack arrived at the coordinates given by Jeanny, everyone started to get into position.
Jack again summoned Arlcard.
When the vampire appeared and saw the flame drake, he said to Jack, "You failed yesterday?"
"Yes... Same arrangement. Please don't kill the drake. Just bring its HP down to 30%," Jack said.
"There is no exp if it is not killed. You are wasting my time with such a fight," Arlcard said.
Though the vampire complained, he still glided towards the flame drake. Jack followed with Domon. The others spread out to encircle the beast.
They pretty much repeated yesterday's process. Once the flame drake's HP dropped to 30%, The Man and the other berserkers threw the restraining ropes. Mage-based classes helped by using their Magic Binds.
Once the flame drake was caged, Jack immediately activated the Tame Draconic Guardian scroll. The taming wheel came out.
When Jack was concentrating his attention on the spinning pin, something distracted him. He saw on his radar a dark and large red dot coming at high speed.
"Oh, shit! Is that…"
"I think it is. Watch out! The Grim Flame Drake is coming!" Peniel shouted to Jeanny.
"What? How? We didn't come into his area of perception!" Jeanny said. They had instead steered the currently caged flame drake away from the Grim Flame Drake.
"Monster with a Grim prefix is unpredictable. Remember how that Grim Sand Drake insisted on following us after being beaten back by the duke. We can't expect this type of monster to behave normally."
"The fact is it is coming!" Jack said. He then turned to Arlcard, "Can you please help to hold it down?"
"All right," Arlcard could sense this new one on the way here was not like the drake they had been fighting.
He glided over in the direction of the incoming Grim Flame Drake, which was coming into view already. It was coming at a high speed. The others spread and determined to assist Arlcard in holding it down while Jack worked on taming the caged drake.
Jack focused himself on the taming wheel. He couldn't afford to be distracted. He had chosen the safe method of hitting the blue area. He took his time, not allowing himself to be hasty. If this taming failed, they were down to just one cage and two taming scrolls.
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He let the needle spin. Only when he was sure then he hit the needle. The cage's HP bar kept on dropping, but there should still be enough time. He heard the others had started clashing with the Grim Flame Drake. He didn't let the sound distract him. He was fully focused.
The needle hit. Success! It's the fourth hit now. One more to go. Jack didn't allow himself to slack when he was so close to victory. His eyes were following the needle closely. Catching the rhythm when it passed the blue zone. He felt the tempo now. There should be no miss.
When he was about to hit, a voice called out, "Watch out!"
He was too focused. He couldn't let himself be distracted. But his mana sense blared intensively. So strong he couldn't ignore it. He instinctively activated Gold Scale Armor, used Flash Step before rolling away.
Even then, he felt a strong impact that caused his body to get lifted into the air before being tossed away.
He fell rolling on the ground. When he stopped, he saw his HP was less than half already. If he didn't activate Gold Scale Armor, he was probably a goner already.
He watched the flame drake inside the cage broke out. The taming attempt had failed again.
"What happened?" Jack asked. Bowler had come and cast Heal on him.
"The Grim Flame Drake!" Bowler uttered. "We are holding it down but it suddenly cast a spell. A large number of fireballs were hurled around at random. We couldn't block all the fireballs, those fireballs also did not fly straight. They seemed to be able to track enemies, similar to our Energy Bolts, and a good portion of them headed your way."
"That's Flame Wrath spell," Peniel said.
"That drake can cast a spell?" Jack asked with consternation.
"I tell you already Grim monster is unpredictable. With its draconic lineage, it allows it to learn one or two spells. Anyway, its target seemed to be freeing that trapped drake, and it had succeeded."
"Retreat! Retreat!" They heard Jeanny's command. Fighting two drakes, with one being a high-level Grim Flame Drake was a tall order.
Jack thought again to summon the Ice Demon Fiend to continue the taming attempt but cancel his intention. Even with Arlcard, the Grim Flame Drake would still cause some casualties, it was better to not push it.
"I will hold them, you all flee first!" Jack uttered.
Jack summoned Therras and clashed with the normal flame drake while Arlcard kept the Grim Flame Drake busy. The Grim Flame Drake might be powerful, but Arlcard could still fight it to a stalemate.
When the others were far away. Jack used Myriad Ensnaring Chains and Therras Imperios Pressure to lock down the Flame Drake. He then unsummoned Therras and summoned Pandora. He went over to Arlcard who had used his Shadow Lock to hinder the Grim Flame Drake. Arlcard jumped to Jack's back and they rode away at blinding speed.
When they regrouped, Jeanny said, "That was so unfortunate just now. We lost six people going up against that Grim Flame Drake. Let's try the level 49 one. It is far from here, we shouldn't be attracting the Grim Flame Drake there."
"Yes, it probably heard our battle from afar and came to check," Peniel said.
"We only have one last cage and two taming scrolls, we can't afford to fail again," Jack uttered.
"Do you mean you can't afford to fail again?" Swellgoing remarked.
Jack gave him a hard stare, he forgot again that this guy was still with them. He was a level 44 summoner now. He wondered if summoner class was the preferred choice of annoying people.
"Anyway, this will be our last chance. We will be packing home whether we succeed or not," Jeanny said.
"We will!" Jack announced.
"Not if you make a blunder again," Swellgoing said.
"Jeanny, can we just take it that we lost seven people from the assault just now?" Jack asked as he took out his Storm Breaker. Swellgoing ran to hide behind Jeanny.
*
Luckily, the level 49 Flame Drake was still lingering around the place where the scout last saw it. Everyone made their preparation. Arlcard was still beside Jack. Despite his grumbling about wasted time, he did not just leave like yesterday.
"Okay, everyone, let's move…"
"Hold!" Jack cut Jeanny's words.
Jeanny looked at Jack who seemed to be focusing on something in the air.
"F*ck!" Jack cursed.
"What's wrong?" Jeanny asked.
"That Grim Flame Drake. It is coming again."
"What? Why it comes here. We are so far from where it was."
"I don't know, but my radar shows a large and dark red dot coming this way. I'm pretty sure it is the same Grim Flame Drake from just now."
"It has probably taken offense. This Grim-type monster is…"
"Unpredictable. Yes, yes, we heard you," Jack cut Peniel's words, which earned him a glare from the fairy. "This Grim monster is probably those that Wilted mentioned with better codings than the normal monsters, so they behave more realistically. Not as realistic as the natives but still realistic enough. If this Grim Flame Drake is like that Grim Sand Drake, it will continue to gun for us. We cannot attempt a taming with it hot on our tails."
After reviewing the situation, Jeanny made the decision. "Retreat! We can't waste our last cage on such a risky attempt."
Everyone summoned their steed and left the area. Jack stayed at the back with Arlcard in case the Grim Flame Drake picked up in speed. He saw on his radar the Grim Flame Drake turned and followed them. It was clear now they were its target.
'Shit! This taming mission is doomed,' Jack thought.
When they entered the Flame Drakeling area, Jack saw the dark red dot stop. It didn't continue its pursuit.
"Hold!" Jack called out.
Jeanny issued the order to stop their march, she then came to Jack. "What is it?" She asked.
"It stops pursuing us," Jack said.
"Meaning we didn't offend it enough," Peniel said. "It probably only takes offense if we come into its territory. That's why it doesn't continue chasing us here."
Jeanny gave the matter some thought. She then said, "Let us stay away for today then. We will try going in again tomorrow. See if it is still chasing us after a day passes."
