Even as Ronnae began her attack, the dragon lunged for a nearby cliff face, smashing its massive back against the stone to crush her. Unfortunately, the sudden, violent motion carried it well past the Blast Ray, which it barely noticed sail past its flank. Every once in a while, a human would try the same stunt, apparently not satisfied at hacking at its tail or snout. It made the dragon angrier every time.

The trees came as a brief surprise, as humans generally weren't strong enough to punch down trees (saw, yes. Punch, no); some of the old wooden trunks, brittle as they were, actually impaled themselves onto the creature's barbed tail, transforming it into an even larger implement of doom. It swept barbs and tree trunks both at Sofia, whose figure, sword in hand, it recognized as kin to the countless knights and warriors that have sought to slay it for thousands of years.

Out of sheer dumb luck, though neither explosion nor heat seemed to give it much pause, the explosion from Sofia's spell brought Soren and Sakura's bolt not into range of its heavily armored sides and throat, but almost directly at its eye (an eye that, by the way, was bigger than the harpoon itself). It closed its eye just in time, and the missile struck the membrane of its upper eyelid, sending a brief spurt of red blood up from its face.

The dragon hissed in fury, drawing his head back and shaking his head from side to side; even that singular motion sent the ground trembling once again.

“Insects,” the creature rumbled, his voice a booming, thundering noise that itself seemed almost like an earthquake, “You think to strike at me?”

P.S. Not kidding about how giant this guy is