Is this really a Game?!

Beast was not discouraged after seeing his attacks do little damage, however. With his keen strategic mind, he quickly assessed the situation and formulated a new plan of attack.

As the flood dragon focused its attention on dodging Blackie's lightning-fast movements and deflecting Beast's arrows, Beast saw an opportunity to strike.

With a command to his wyvern, Beast directed it to dive toward the flood dragon from above, aiming to catch the massive beast off guard and deliver a devastating blow. The wyvern complied, its powerful wings propelling it toward the dragon with incredible speed.

As the wyvern closed in, Beast prepared to unleash his most powerful attack yet and jumped off the wyvern that continued down at the dragon, striking it from the side with its talons as the dragon roared in anger and shook its body to push it back.

Channeling all of his mana into his bow, Beast conjured a massive tornado of wind energy around the arrow, its swirling vortex stretching high into the sky behind Beast as it gathered strength.

The flood dragon, sensing the impending danger, roared in defiance and unleashed a torrent of water in an attempt to counter Beast's attack. But Beast was undeterred, his focus unwavering as he poured every ounce of his strength into his spell.

Blackie jumped up, positioning himself between Beast and the torrent of water and roaring with immense power, causing a shockwave to strike the torrent of water, stopping it in its tracks as Blackie started falling down, no longer in front of Beast who smirked at the dragon.

With a mighty roar, Beast released the tornado, sending it hurtling toward the flood dragon with unstoppable force. The swirling vortex of wind energy tore through the air, its destructive power unmatched as it bore down on the dragon with relentless fury.

The dragon constricted its eyes slightly at the attack as it roared, the water from the lake suddenly moving before a giant pillar of water, one that was about 6 meters in diameter, erupted from within and met the tornado that was released by Beast.

The pillar struck against the tornado as a powerful blast passed through the forest.

Water erupted all around, making it seem as if rain was pouring down on the forest while the powerful wind from the tornado ripped apart anything and everything in a radius of over 700 meters around it.

The trees were destroyed, the broken bits of them falling down on the ground as Beast fell from the air before landing on the back of his wyvern that roared as it flew through the sky.

The flood dragon was now serious.

The attacks of Beast had truly surprised it, and the two powerful helpers that Beast had were nothing to scoff at.

It now knew why the human was confident enough to challenge it alone, he truly did possess enough strength to be so confident, alas, it was not enough if he wished to take the dragon down.

The dragon roared, and a change occurred.

Aethion's voice echoed in Beast's mind, a warning tinged with urgency. "Kid, be cautious."

"The flood dragon is tapping into its true power, you must prepare yourself for what is to come."

Beast's heart raced as he braced himself for the impending onslaught. He could sense the dragon's energy surging, its aura growing stronger and more volatile with each passing moment.

It was now clear to him that the enemy had not taken the battle seriously before, but that was now about to change.

The wyvern beneath him let out a low growl, its instincts sensing the impending danger. Blackie, too, seemed to sense the shift in the air, its movements becoming more cautious as it circled the flood dragon, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Its lightning flickered around it, and even though he had previously used it and managed to damage the dragon multiple times, Blackie was no longer certain it would work as well as before.

With a deafening roar, the flood dragon unleashed its true power, a devastating display of elemental mastery that sent shockwaves rippling through the forest. Water surged from the lake, forming massive waves that crashed against the shore with bone-shattering force.

The water seemingly started going out of control, many pillars rising high up as the dragon roared again before staring at Beast.

Beast gritted his teeth, his grip tightening on his bow as he prepared to face the dragon's wrath head-on. He knew that he would need to summon every ounce of strength and courage if he hoped to not just survive, but win against the dragon.

As the flood dragon charged toward him with unstoppable fury, Beast's mind raced, searching for a way to turn the tide of battle in his favor. With a sudden burst of inspiration, he once again connected to the spatial dimension inside of him, borrowing the mana of the beasts inside of it.

With a primal roar, Beast unleashed a barrage of arrows, each one infused with the mana of the beasts inside his spatial dimension, as well as some of their abilities. The arrows streaked through the air with blinding speed, their trajectory guided by Beast's unerring aim as they homed in on the flood dragon with deadly accuracy.

Alas, the dragon had expected it.

Just as the arrows reached it, the water around it suddenly froze, forming a thick armor of ice around the dragon which the arrows failed to penetrate.

"Ice?"

'Dammit, it has two abilities, be careful kid.' Aethion spoke with slight surprise as Beast suddenly noticed the temperature drop.

The water that had gone out of control from the lake and soared high up had burst, making it rain once again before the rain froze.

The dragon then utilized its immense mana reserves, which were almost equal to a Tier VII being, and controlled the shards of ice around Beast, launching them at him from all sides.

The wyvern was shocked as well and didn't know what to do. It was, after all, way too young and inexperienced when it came to combat, but Beast was not.

He quickly took out a couple of arrows and threw them around him with his hand before placing it down on the wyvern's back.

The arrows stopped mid-air before being covered in a green hue.

[ Wind Array: Wind Barrier ]

The green hues around the arrows suddenly moved, connecting them before a powerful force erupted, causing the wind to blow and form a barrier all around Beast and the wyvern, keeping them safe from the ice shards, that although numerous, did not possess a lot of destructive power by themselves.

The dragon scoffed at Beast's skill before using more mana.

The shards of ice stopped their attacks before suddenly moving closer to one another and fusing as more and more of them appeared in the sky, turning into larger, sturdier, and sharper shards of ice that were launched at Beast who clenched his teeth and used more mana to thicken the barrier and force the wind that created it to move even faster, blocking the larger shards.

Still, this was a bad position for him.

He couldn't keep this up for too long while the dragon could. It had a lot more mana than Beast had, and with the water of the lake present, it didn't need to utilize too much mana to use its attacks.

Beast was in a similar situation with his wind manipulation, after all, there was plenty of air around them, but he still needed to use more mana than the dragon as he had to create wind and manipulate it, which was a bit more difficult to do compared to what the dragon was doing.

The dragon was also much more experienced than Beast was, and thus, he knew that the dragon would be more than happy enough to continue this current situation as it would definitely come out on top.

"Well, no other way then, it seems," Beast said as he took a deep breath before patting the wyvern's head.

"Ready?"

The wyvern roared in response before the two of them suddenly fused, a black ball appearing where they were before Beast came from within it in his new form.

Emerging from the fusion was a being unlike any other—a dragonoid human, bearing the attributes of both man and wyvern.

Beast's once-human form now boasted the rugged, dark gray scales of the wyvern, shimmering with an otherworldly sheen. Each scale was like a fortress, providing both protection and a striking appearance. His limbs were strong and sinewy, imbued with the strength and agility of the wyvern.

Where once his hands and feet had been, now there were formidable claws, sharp and deadly, capable of rending through even the toughest of materials. His eyes, now gleaming with an intense, otherworldly light, betrayed a keen intelligence and a hint of the wyvern's primal instincts.

But perhaps the most striking aspect of his transformation was the magnificent wings that now sprouted from his back. Large and powerful, they unfurled with a graceful sweep, each beat carrying him effortlessly through the air.