Chapter 1294 - Don't Have To Kill Something that Quinn had to keep reminding himself as he went to face the Dragon, was that his goal in this fight wasn't to defeat it, just to buy time. It was a foreign feeling, when faced with a beast, but eventually it had gotten through to him. It was why he had opted to land on the giant beast's back, allowing him to hold onto its scales as it struggled. As a Vampire Lord his grip strength was enough to withstand the Dragon's efforts of shaking him off, yet given the hardness of its scales it was also almost impossible for Quinn to do the beast any real damage, but he didn't need to. All he needed to do was distract the beast while the tree did its job. Using this opportunity to his advantage and remembering what he had done to the Dragon before, Quinn wickedly used the active skill in his gauntlet. "I couldn't protect someone again!" Quinn screamed in anger as a power stronger than any he had felt before was entering his body. "Someone died to protect your ungrateful scaly ass, you overgrown lizard!!!!" The Dragon, feeling the strange sensation it had felt once before, started to flap its giant wings heading upwards. Quinn, still not having retracted the Shadow Void, understood what it was trying to do. He could tell that the dome wouldn't hold out based on the strength it had shown before, but there was something else he could do… With the Dragon lifting off, it had pushed through the dome destroying the upper shadow, revealing the blue sky above and the beast kept going up. Quinnn was finding it easier to hold on as he had more strength than before, and he could see that inch by inch the tablet had nearly come loose. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂 Next, with one hand on the beast, Quinn started to form a giant shadow portal above. Right where the Dragon was to take flight, and as it rose, it had gone through it, only to find itself appearing right on the ground where it was once before. Quinn had activated his Shadow sink, and with his Shadow overload he was able to produce the shadows wherever he wished. No matter how often the Dragon tried to get him off, Quinn would make them return back to the ground. 'It's working! I might not be strong enough to kill it, but at least I can make sure it doesn't go anywhere!' Quinn thought. After what felt like an eternity, Quinn could finally see that the Roseus tree had completed its task. A thirds of the large tablet had been stuck in the ground which was why it had taken so long for the tree to get it out. The energy drained from the Dragon was powerful but it seemed like the gauntlet had reached some sort of limit, no more energy was being passed onto Quinn. There was no use staying on the Dragon any longer. Running up to the top of his head, Quinn gathered the Qi in his legs and used his strength to push off from the Dragon to the ground where the tablet was. Soon, he started to form a Shadow on his back and from there two large black wings were formed, giving him a safe soft landing. [Dimensional space activate] A shadow appeared underneath the tablet, and it started to sink into Quinn's dimensional space. Allowing him to take it with him. 'Thanks for the power boost.' Quinn gave him a grin, as he wiped away the tears. 'I hope you'll put up a good fight when they try to take you on.' Running out of the open area, Quinn deactivated his Shadow overload skill. He was ready for the backlash of using the skill, checking just how many of his MC points would be taken away. At the same time Quinn made sure to see what the Dragon would do next. As he neared the jungle, he saw the Dragon land directly on top of the Roseus tree, crushing it with its massive weight. Quinn immediately felt the energy escape from his Demon tier Amulet, and he was unable to control it in any way. Quinn was thankful that the tree had helped him out so much, and hoped this had at least been a quick death without much pain. He could have never imagined that one little seed would aid him to this degree. He didn't even want to imagine how much trouble he and the Cursed faction would have gone through without the Roseus tree. 'With the tablet gone, will you remain in this place?' Quinn wondered. 'That's why you stayed on this island for so long, right? As long as you don't follow after me, you should enjoy your freedom for as long as you can.' [You must now pay your debt for using Shadow overload] Quinn knew this was coming. Each time he had used the Shadow overload skill, he had to pay the price for it afterward. The first time, Quinn had very little MC cells to use, so when using his soul weapon it had run out quickly fighting Cindy. It was later that he learned the more MC cells he had, the longer the Shadow Overload skill could last, which was why it hadn't run out even though he had been battling against the Dragon for a while. Quinn just knew that along with the increased time allowing him to use the soul weapon for, the cost had similarly increased. However, he had yet to figure out if the system calculated it based on the duration alone, or the quantity of shadows he used within that time. [-100 MC cells] [10/1000 MC] Seeing this Quinn wasn't too shocked by the result. For one, although it had taken a large amount, Quinn still had a large number of MC cells left. What did surprise him, however, was how close he had been to having used up all his MC cells. It also looked like he had somewhat gotten his answear. That it was a mixture of time used, as well as the amount of shadow Quinn used while using the skill. If it had taken any longer his soul weapon would have deactivated. Right now, Quinn didn't even have the MC cells remaining to cast some of his Shadow skills. Thankfully, the Shadow link skill didn't require any to be used, and Quinn might not even need to use his Shadow powers in the first place, for he was filled with more energy than he could imagine from the Dragon. 'Although the Shadow overload skill is strong, the more I use it, the further I feel like I am getting away from Arthur.' Quinn thought. While looking at his stats, Quinn kept an eye on what the Dragon was doing. It had walked around the place, even digging in places, apparently searching for the tablet which was now in his possession. Unable to find it, the Demon tier beast started to flap its wings. 'Yes, get away from this place! As far as possible, just make sure the Dalki don't catch you!' Quinn thought, but he knew that perhaps they would eventually track it down again, and possibly before them. Thinking about this, Quinn wondered why Eno and Brock hadn't returned. They had been away far too long, they should have at least returned by now, and he also wondered how the Cursed faction were doing. Quinn would have to make a choice between returning to the others, or search for Eno. It didn't take him long to decide that with the Dragon about to take off, his priority was how the others were doing. The Dragon soon went up into the sky, and it looked like it was hovering around the island for a little longer as it was deciding what to do. Quinn wanted to keep an eye on it, but he soon heard the sound of footsteps. Turning his head, he could hear them coming from all sorts of different directions, His eyesight was able to keep up with them all, and he could see. From each direction there were groups, groups and groups of Masked. 'What happened to my friends? Did those Masked manage to defeat them all?' Quinn worried, but other than the connection he felt go earlier, he couldn't feel anyone else in trouble at the moment. A red aura strike came towards Quinn, and moving his hand ever so slightly touching the aura with his finger tips it smashed on impact. The one who attacked Quinn, in seconds Quinn had moved and now had his hand gripped around his throat. "You guys will all pay for this!" Quinn declared, as a large shadow reached behind his back, and consumed the masked person he was holding. Seconds after the masked man started to scream widely. [Shadow eater skill successful] [10 MC cells gained] —— The Dragon continued to hover over the island, roaring in anger, but it seemed to have suddenly realised that there was no longer any reason for it to stay, making it look towards the blue sky above. However, before it could appreciate its newfound freedom, it felt something slam down on its back. The force was so strong that the Dragon screamed in pain, as it plummeted down, shaking the entire island.