The Smith stumbled backwards, pushed by the dragon's slash with its claws before it reared its spiked head to snap at him.

And the Smith found his footing, the spikes at the bottom of his boots gripping the hot, hard packed dirt beneath them both. He bent his knees slightly, brought his shield back in front, and tensed the muscles in his right arm, ready for a counter.

The dragon's head darted forward. The Smith shoved his shield forward to meet it.

Thunkkshhh

The Smith was pushed back, scraping across the dirt, but his shield-bash managed to stun the dragon for the slightest moment.

[Hammer Strike]

[Heavy Blow]

BOOM!

James' heart lifted at the heavy sound indicating a successful strike, and then sank as the dragon reared back its head with a hiss and swiped at him with its claws, scraping across his shield.

Screeeeeech!

The fight descended into a slug-fest. The dragon's bulk and height gave it the advantage, allowing it to set the pace of the fight, and it was all the Smith could do to take advantage of small openings to land counters on the dragon.

The dragon was resisting [Heavy Blow].

The pangolin's scales had cracked on the first strike.

The crab's shell had cracked on the first strike.

The Lightning Serpent had fallen from the sky on the first strike.

The dragon's scales stood firm against each and every strike.

Still, the dragon was growing more and more agitated, so the strikes were bothering it. But that only made it snappier and more aggressive.

And James was resisting each slash of its razor sharp claws, claws just as sharp as the mole monsters that James had originally built his first set of armor to defend against.

But the sheer impact of each swipe was straining his shield-arm, and the cushioning of his armor was insufficient, resulting in bruises, and even the design of his armor was failing to dissipate the force of each strike, letting damage through.

James was slowly losing the fight, but he pressed on.

Screech!

BOOM

Screech!

BOOM

Screech!

BOOM

Roaaaar!

The dragon reared its head back and roared in frustration, and then faster than James could react the head darted forward on its long neck, it closed its jaws on the head of his Terra Rosa War Hammer, and jerked its neck, ripping the hammer from his hand and flinging it across the room, dozens of yards away.

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The Smith was sore and bruised and hot and weary and sweat dripped into his eyes and he barely managed to lift his shield in time to catch a swipe of the dragon's claws, then rather than trying to bite him, the dragon rammed its spiky head into his shield so hard it sent him flying through the air for several yards before he landed hard on his back, winding him.

He forced himself to his feet, bringing his shield up, and a wave of heat and light washed over him. His shield whined and his mana drained and the sweat in his eyes vaporized and he forced even more mana into his cooling strips and he could tell he had less than half of his mana left.

His empty right hand reached into his magic bag, and with some reluctance but even more desperation, he withdrew his Ice War Hammer.

His hand grew cold, even bathed as it was in the dragon's flames, as he poured his mana into the [Frostbite] enchantment and resigned himself to whatever damage he was going to take. Clearly the insulation he had put around the handle wasn't enough.

The dragon stopped breathing fire and lunged forward in the same moment, swiping its claws to knock away the shield preventing it from crunching down on the annoying intruder with its powerful jaws.

The Smith spun with the blow, adding the centrifugal force to his own hammer strike, and out of the corner of his eye as he gazed into the maw of the dragon, jaws wide and lined with gleaming sharp teeth, he saw the faintest flash of blue light.

[Hammer Strike]

[Frostbite]

BOOM!

Roaaaaarrrrrr!

The dragon reared back and screamed its rage. The cold swept straight through its scales and bit into the flesh beneath, leaving the side of its long neck and one shoulder frostbitten, stiff, and pained.

The cavern's heat soothed the frostbitten tissue, but far, far too slowly.

From James' perspective, he had landed the hit just as the jaws were closing on him, and only the dragon rearing back in pain had kept the gleaming teeth from piercing right through his armor. Instead, the monster's jaw had snapped shut inches from his face and then the dragon's spiky head had reared back to roar in pain.

He stumbled a step, off balance, but the moment his boots gripped the earth he was pushing off, pressing forward, bringing his arm back to strike again with an underhanded swing into the monster's chest.

Just before he struck, he realized he couldn't feel his fingers gripping the war hammer's handle.

Boom!

Roaaaarrr!

Screeeech!

The Smith slid to the side, blocking the swipe of the dragon's claws, but he had struck true: the scales protecting the dragon's chest had frosted over, even in the heat of the cavern. His boots scraped against the ground and the dragon's head swooped down at him, but slower now, almost awkwardly. He thrust his shield and bashed the dragon's snout, and countered with another swing of his hammer.

[Hammer Strike]

[Frostbite]

The flash of blue was undeniable as his strike connected and the essence-empowered enchantment activated, flash freezing a swath of the dragon's scales.

The dragon slowed even more.

As the dragon slowed, the Smith was able to go on the offensive rather than just countering.

And the dragon slowed further.

Soon more of the scales were frosted over and dull than hot and gleaming. The dragon no longer lunged, and the head barely moved at all on a stiff neck, but its eyes flashed and glared at James with a hate-filled gaze.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

James simply continued striking away at the head, a layer of actual ice now forming on it, the same as if it was just a stubborn piece of metal in his forge. The frost had spread over his own hand, as well.

Awkwardly, he set down his shield and reached into his magic bag with his left hand and withdrew his Earth War Hammer. He raised it high and carefully set his stance, and struck down with all his might.

[Hammer Strike]

[Heavy Blow]

BOOM!!!

Crack!

First, the scales cracked.

BOOM!!!

Crack!

Then, the skull fractured.

BOOM!!!

Crunch!

Finally, the spiked end of his hammer pierced the monster's head and smashed into its brain.

BOOM!!!

BOOM!!!

BOOM!!!

Over and over he struck, until finally an intrusive thought confirmed his victory.

[Enchanter] Class has reached level 9.

[Smith] Class has reached level 9.

[Technique: Hammer Strike] has reached level 6.

The dragon's head was a mangled mess at the end of an icy long neck, misting as the ice sublimated directly to steam in the hot cavern.

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