In the following days, Jack just did his routine. Completing Greed's compulsory portal while grinding inside the endless wave portal.
After repeatedly going through the endless wave portal, he was getting more used to the mutated soldiers inside that portal. Hence, his speed of clearing the waves picked up. On his best day, he could even complete five rounds.
Since he counted twenty-two trees that had portals, he wondered what would happen after he completed all of them. Maybe Greed would let him go? Then one day, he saw a twenty-third portal on a tree that didn't have one before.
'Motherf*cker…! Did he add a new one? This is not going to end then,' Jack thought with apprehension.
During his foray into the portals, he met one that he was interested in as much as the endless wave portal. The portal was the one he entered today. The portal took him high up in the sky and placed him on the back of the neck of a large red dragon.
He was alarmed at first when he found himself sitting atop this monstrous beast, flying very high up in the air, nonetheless. He expected the dragon to start tossing around when it found an intruder on its back.
Should he attack first? Was his task to kill this dragon with a sneak attack?
But the dragon was calm. Jack was clearly sitting on it and yet the majestic beast treated this as if it was the most natural thing in the world. So, Jack decided to not do anything rash.
He wished that Greed would just not be so bloody stingy with instructions. Even a few clues would have been appreciated. He instead had to always do guesswork every time he entered a new portal.
As he was still confused as to what he was meant to do on top of a flying dragon. He saw several specks of shadow with wings in the distant clouds.
The shadows were getting closer. As they came out of the clouds, Jack saw that they were three yellow dragons. They did not look friendly.
While Jack was still wondering what the hell all this was about, one of the closest incoming dragons opened its maw and a fireball shot out from it.
"What the…!" Jack was panicky as he watched the huge fireball approach.
"Hey, dodge! Dodge…! Why aren't you moving?" Jack uttered as the red dragon he was riding seem oblivious of the incoming danger.
Jack cast Magic Wall. The fireball shattered the spell and crashed into the red dragon. The fireball didn't hit Jack directly but the resulting explosion engulfed him. He covered himself with Magic Shield but wasn't able to cover his whole body. He was singed by the flame.
Yet, he didn't receive any damage.
"Huh?"
But he saw the red dragon's HP decrease by a third, though. It also uttered a pain cry. Then the other two yellow dragons shot their fireballs. Two fireballs were rushing at him. Despite that, the red dragon was still flying straight.
"Am I riding a brainless dragon?!" He uttered. If those two fireballs hit, it would be a goner.
In his panic of seeing the next two approaching fireballs, Jack was no longer worried about offending the dragon he was riding. He grabbed the two long horns behind the dragon's head and pushed them to the side, trying to force the dragon to look to the left in the hope that it would alter its flight.
And it worked. The dragon flew to the left, narrowly missing the two fireballs.
As the red dragon flew in a new direction, the three yellow dragons gave chase. They continued shooting fireballs as they did.
Seeing that the red dragon didn't mind Jack playing around with its head, Jack continued the act. He steered the dragon by using its horns. The dragon did barrel rolls as it flew left and right to dodge the fireballs thrown by the pursuing attackers.
"F*ck! This is a flight simulation!" Jack said in realization.
Jack looked back at the three pursuing dragons and added, "No… This is a combat flight simulation."
"What's a combat flight simulation?" Peniel asked, she had been clinging to Jack when she saw that they appeared at the back of a flying dragon. Her flight speed won't contend with this creature.
"Never mind that. Can you heal this dragon?" Jack asked while still desperately controlling his dragon in evasive maneuvers.
"I try," Peniel said and cast Fast Heal. The red dragon's HP bar recovered to full.
"Good!" Jack complimented. Aside from focusing his attention to avoid the enemy's attacks, Jack was also checking around the dragon's body. If this was a combat flight simulation, there should be other controls.
He saw two oddly protruding scales at both sides of the red dragon's neck, nearby where his feet were located. Jack placed his two feet on those two scales. Those scales provided nice footing positions. Jack applied pressure on his left foot. The scale moved. At the same time, the red dragon slowed down, letting the pursuers catch up.
"What are you doing?!" Peniel scolded.
"Experimenting!" Jack shouted as he hurriedly pressed the scale on his right foot. As expected, the red dragon picked up in speed. When he pressed the right scale all the way down, a wind jet was produced behind the dragon and propelled it forward. The sudden burst of speed allowed them to dodge a fireball that was about to hit. The red dragon's burst of speed managed to let it put some distance from its attacker.
Yet, it didn't last long. After a constant ten seconds of high speed. The red dragon lost its acceleration. It started to slow down again.
'It has a stamina limit for this speed burst,' Jack thought.
But the sprint had allowed them a head start. Luckily, those yellow dragons weren't given the same advantage. Jack tried to find other controls as the enemies were catching up.
"Where is it? Where is it?" He asked as he looked around.
"What are you searching for?" Peniel asked in bewilderment.
"The weapon triggers!" Jack yelled. His eyes noticed a slightly broken-off bone on the dragon's right horn, one of which he was holding. Or, was it not a broken bone?
He pressed the so-called broken bone. The dragon roared and a huge fireball burst out from its mouth. The fireball traveled to the distance.
"Cool!" Jack uttered. He then noticed another thing. There was another small horn right at the center of the dragon. Jack lowered his position until his sight was in line with that horn. He then pressed the fire 'button' again.
He watched as the fireball the dragon produced traveled into the distance aligning with the tip of the horn in his perspective.
"F*ckin-A! It's a reticle!" Jack exclaimed.
"What's a reticle?" Peniel asked.
"Never mind that!" Jack gave her the same reply. "Time for a counterattack!"
He was not unfamiliar with combat flight simulation. He had played this kind of game in the past. He looked around until he spotted the sun.
He pulled the horn up and forced the dragon to make a pitch. It flew higher and higher. Due to gravity, its speed slowed, so Jack punched the turbo button. The wind jet again propelled the red dragon forward. After getting high enough, Jack did an Immelmann turn. Putting the dragon's back to the sun as he dove down.
The yellow dragons had difficulty targeting as they were blinded by the sun.
Normally, in aerial combat, it was unlikely to hit opponents who flew at high speed in a directly opposite direction, but Jack wasn't normal. He activated Dragon Eye. All the movements around him slowed. He then carefully aimed the reticle of the central horn at one of the yellow dragons. He pressed the fire button.
Jack watched in slow motion as his dragon spit its fireball and the fireball traveled slowly to its even more slow target. The fireball hit. The yellow dragon was engulfed in flame. Its HP bar zeroed and it fell with a charred body.
"Holy…! One hit!" Jack uttered spiritedly.
He received exp points from the kill. At the same time, he also received notification that he had received 20 draconic essences.
'Twenty?' He thought. What a pleasant surprise. It was the same number of draconic essences that he had gotten from killing a rare elite flame drake above level 50 in the Jagara region. But those rare elite flame drakes were very few in number. They also took a lot of time to kill. Not to mention, dangerous.
Now he got the same amount with a kill that was made with one hit. This was a fortunate find! Jack celebrated in his mind. He should be able to upgrade his Divine Gold Dragon Bloodline if he continued to collect draconic essences here.
With that motivation, Jack resumed the dogfight. He did a low yo-yo maneuver after passing the two remaining yellow dragons and came back behind them. His two opponents were not as agile as the dragon he was riding, they were unable to make complex maneuvers. Their speed was also not that fast.
Jack pick one as a target and pressed the brake on his dragon, slowing it down to prevent overshoot. He then fired at it from behind. Another 20 draconic essences were absorbed.
Not long after, the third and last yellow dragon was defeated.
