Long Live

Chapter 23

Hey, guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter and happy reading!

 

The air felt tense as the group stared at the foreboding cave.

This is it. Jack thought. The lair of the Black Dragon. We're finally here.

He turned to face the others. "Okay, we're going to need a good battle strategy that can be flexible. We don't know what the Black Dragon has up its sleeve, but we can try to avoid it as best we can.

"Elsa, Galaxy, back me up when I'm going to attack," Jack said. "Hiccup and Hannah, try to direct your attacks on the wings and the arms. We want to get those things out of the way. Anna, Rapunzel, aim for the legs and the face. Merida, you're going to be helping them by shooting long range and trying to go for the eyes. If you need to, attack it with your sword and help Anna and Rapunzel. We want to take up any advantages we have as possible."

"What will you do, Jack?" Elsa asked.

"I'm going to attack it head on," Jack said.

"Jack, no! That's crazy!" Elsa said. "That's basically a suicide spot!"

"That's why I told you and Galaxy to back me up for when I'm going to attack," Jack said, his voice even. "There's no time for arguing or miscommunication. Now do we all agree?"

The group nodded silently.

"Good," Jack said. "Now let's go." He turned back to the cave and started walking, the group following close behind him. Despite his confident and professional air he was giving off to the others, inside, Jack was a disoriented mess. He could feel his whole body shaking with fear. His mind kept playing the worse events of what could become of them. He could barely walk without having the fear of falling down and just giving up right then and there.

No. Jack thought. I'm not going to give up now. Not when so much is at stake.

They stood at the entrance of the cave, all holding their breaths, afraid to make any unnecessary sounds.

Jack took the first step inside, his footsteps silent. The others followed suit and walked into the cave.

The cave was much deeper than Jack had imagined it would be. It was twice the the size of the ones where they had encountered the griffon and the trolls. He could barely see the ceiling of the cave. It was that high.

As they went deeper and deeper into the cave, they all noticed something queer. At the side of the walls of the cave, there were torches lit up, as if someone was already expecting them.

This dragon is definitely something different. Jack thought to himself. All of a sudden, he felt himself being crashed to the wall. He didn't hesitate when he shouted to the others,

"Go!"

Jack winced as he felt a burning pain in his left shoulder. He tried his best to ignore it and grabbed his sword which he had let go at the sudden impact. He looked up and realized that the cave was much brighter now, as if they were near the entrance of it.

Now that he could see clearly, he could get a good look at the creature. The Black Dragon. Big was an underestimation of its size. The dragon was around one hundred feet in size. If it stood on its hinds legs, it could be close to up to two hundred feet. Its scales shone like black onyx, its color dragging you into oblivion if you weren't careful enough. And its eyes glowed a menacing yellow, its quick eyes scanning its surroundings.

"Jack!" Elsa's voice rang through his mind. He shook himself out of his thoughts and ran to his comrades' side. They were already trying to attack the Black Dragon.

"This thing doesn't play around when it wants to destroy you," Elsa said.

"By the way it seemed to attack Jack so quickly and suddenly, it seems like it already knew we were here," Galaxy said.

Jack nodded. "I'm going to try to attack it in its vulnerable spot, its chest. That's that only spot where there's no scales."

"What do you want us to do?" Galaxy said.

"Same as our plan before. We can't all go charging up to its chest. We'll be the vulnerable ones if we do that. I want you guys to try to help the others. Even though it has scales to protect it, it doesn't mean it's invincible. I can take care of hitting its weak spot myself."

"But Jack-" Elsa said. A huge claw almost caught her when she jumped away.

"Just do what I told you to do!" Jack shouted. "I don't want you getting hurt! I can do this on my own. Now go!"

Galaxy nodded and ran to help the others. Elsa stood there, still unsure of what to do.

Jack gave her an encouraging smile. "I'll be alright," he said more gently. "Just go and help the others for now. I'll signal for you if I need backup."

Elsa smiled a little and nodded. She then went to help the others as well.

Jack turned back to the dragon, who was trying to attack Hiccup and Hannah. He started to charge at it, dodging the dragon's enormous claws and its fiery breath. He could see Merida trying to aim for the eyes.

So far so good. Jack thought to himself. He found himself under the stomach of the dragon and started slashing and cutting at it. Just as he had guessed, it was the dragon's weak spot. But even though it was vulnerable there, it didn't make it any less harder in attacking it. Jack found out that the dragon's stomach wasn't soft as he had thought it was earlier. Instead, it was like hard leather. It would take some time before he saw any blood come out from it.

He kept on cutting and slashing, never taking a break. He saw that the others were not letting up either as well. Merida had been able to shoot at its eyes a few times and the others had been able to land some hits on it. The Black Dragon had been lucky a few times too in swiping at them. But nevertheless, they fought on with no sign of weakness.

After a particular slash to its stomach, Jack saw that it was now oozing out blood.

"Got it," Jack said to himself. He continued to slash and cut at it, the blood flow getting faster and stronger. Soon, it was like a red river was pouring out of it.

Jack looked up to hear the Black Dragon cry out a furious roar. A small victorious smile came to his lips and he persistently kept slashing and cutting.  By now, there was a huge gaping wound in its stomach.

"Jack!" the others screamed out.

He turned towards them, confused. Suddenly, he felt a fierce pain go through him. He knew that the Black Dragon had got him and he was now trapped between its claws. He felt himself being lifted higher and higher off the ground and soon he was face to face with the Black Dragon. It stared at him with its soulless eyes. Jack could feel himself getting lightheaded. He felt the grip of the Black Dragon getting looser before the Black Dragon let go of him altogether and he could feel himself plummeting.

He was already out before he hit the ground.

AN: Thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter!