Driks sprawled on the abandoned building’s floor until the feel of his sweat mixing with the dust began to make his skin crawl. The memories he had seen still threatened to overwhelm him, but he knew he had to act. Masking his distress he forced his typically playful expression to his face and stumbled towards the door. Though still shaken he moved with his usual playboy confidence by the time he reached the door. Yanking it open he cheerfully called out, "Hey everybody! Guess what we get to fight?"

  Dover promptly replied, “Some messed up Draco-Life-Demon thing, right?”

  Driks balked at his reply, stunned by the accuracy and wondering if his efforts had been for nothing. His face briefly soured before he restored his normal expression and nodded. “Yes, though it's undoubtedly more demon than a dragon fortunately.”

  Dover shrugged, “Whatever. Hit ‘em hard enough and they both go down. You have any tricks for banishing hostile summons?”

  “When I summon gremlins, I can simply squash them. For something more powerful I would ensure it was bound in a circle first before I even began the ritual.”

  “Yeah... Nonna happen. It’s already free and too smart to fall into a trap that blatant.”

  “Indeed, the tactics behind its previous attacks definitely speak to its intelligence. Additionally, based on what I sensed, we should assume it is rather formidable. We should plan around armored scales, wings capable of flight, regeneration, and magical abilities.”

  “So basically a faster, combat capable, you?”

  Though mocking Dover’s words were fairly accurate, leaving Driks no choice but to agree. "Though I wish I could say otherwise, yes, it will be significantly faster and more agile than myself. Fortunately, though still resilient, its toughness and armor won't be unreasonably high. Normal attacks should be effective."

  "Got it. Time for the three Ds of doom."

  The others looked at him puzzled, unsure of what he meant. Cynder finally broke the silence and asked. "My Guide, would you please elaborate so that we can properly discuss our approach?"

  Recognizing Cynder's formal tone as meaning she was thoroughly baffled, and seeing obvious confusion on the others, Dover smirked before explaining. "Depletion, Detonation, and Deflagration."

  Being a man of few, simple words, the others couldn't help but stare as if he'd grown another head. The disconnect meant the group had to take a moment before they understood the meaning. Realizing it was a fancy way of saying “blow stuff up” instantly cleared the heavy atmosphere which hung over the party. Once it was clear that everyone was on the same page, Dover continued with a smile. "Same as when I wrecked Driks, we weaken it and blow it up. Then, to be safe, we burn it to hell."

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  The other’s nodded. It sounded reasonable, very Dover-like and no one had any better ideas.

  "Cynder, at the meeting you said I resisted dragon magic. Whatcha mean by that?"

  “My Guide, there is little detail to add. Based on my observations, you are almost completely immune to dragon powers.”

  Nodding as he considered her words he let out a quiet chuckle before responding. "Sounds like I get to tank this fight."

  Once again his words bewildered the group, defense was not something any of them associated with Dover. He was much more focused on dealing damage. Fortunately he didn’t keep them waiting long for an explanation.

  "It's weaker than Driks, anyone can damage it. The problem is hitting the damned thing. If I'm safe from its magic, I'll just grab the damn thing and let the rest of you pound on it."

  “My Guide,” Cynder countered, “I am not entirely sure that would work. Most of us here would likely hit you as often as we hit the target and despite how you feel you are not entirely fireproof.”

  With a sigh and a nod of agreement he turned to Driks. "Can you control it..." He hesitated over the next few words, “Control it like it did the villagers?”

  “Even if I could, I wouldn’t. That’s nasty magic.” Driks replied.

  Groaning Dover said, “I don’t like this. There’s too many questions. We can’t properly prepare. I’ll prep my normal tricks, but you need to get us something to go on. I won’t fight it blindly.”

  Having reached a stalemate where they couldn't proceed without more information the group began to make camp. As the village was relatively unchanged from his last visit, he directed people to mostly intact houses allowing them to rest comfortably. For added safety, he worked with Cynder to place various traps, alarms, and magical protections as well. The upcoming days would be dangerous, he didn’t want any overnight surprises.

  Though he did it from the others, since their arrival Dover had felt uneasy. Compared to his last visit there was a strange energy and taint to the air. This tension was further compounded by their grisly discovery underground. It was obvious, even without knowledge of the increased attacks, that this threat was getting stronger.

  Once they were settled in, Driks' transformed and took flight to search for clues. Based on the ritual still being active he believed the demon to be nearby. The dragon's energy hadn't been fully drained so the demon would need to stay within a certain distance to continue feeding on it.

  From the air Driks was quickly able to detect the demon's scent near the outpost, confirming his expectation. It had indeed stayed close to the village. Unfortunately the scent was inconsistent, suggesting the demon could revert to its host's form. A dragon was always a dragon, even in human form it couldn't disguise its scent. A demon possessed a body and could hide inside it, disguising its presence. The only reason Driks could track it at all was that he still held onto its life thread.

  As he searched from above his eyes eventually caught sight of a strangely decayed section of forest. It looked as if something were stealing its energy, just as the villagers had been drained. Flying closer he was able to see a gaping pit in the ground through the withered foliage. There were no signs of life around the hole, and the forest surrounding it was quiet. While his vision couldn't pierce the darkness, he could smell monsters gathering in the depths of the earth. He had found its lair and based on the number of monsters he detected it was clear there would soon be another attack.

  The key question was where since the six of them could cover very little ground. He feared he had no choice but to take another dive into the demon's memories and hope he wasn't noticed. Then an idea struck him, the poor possessed soul was still there, helplessly trapped in his own body. Perhaps he would know...