The Rise Of A Porter

"The hell is going on here..." The camera operator mumbled. 

"Focus on me, will you!?" Nancy Williams, the reporter from CNN was hovering above the place that was once known as Griffith Observatory. But now it was nothing more than a huge mass of rumble. 

"Y-Yeah..."

The cameraman focused the camera back on the once beautiful and charming reporter but even though she had aged quite a bit, she still had her charm and a zeal to get whatever she wanted. 

They were the first to arrive at the location to cover the story, but they weren't the only ones. At least half a dozen helicopters were hovering above the black sphere, inside of which was the deadliest monster to ever step foot on earth. 

The syndicate had advised them not to get close to the location. But have these people ever listened to anything before? The moment the government prohibits them from doing anything, they immediately start speculating about the 'World ending plans' Or numerous other reasons on how the government would go through with some kind of genocide. 

This time, just like every other time, they were wrong. The information about the appearance of a deadly monster was true. The worse thing was, they couldn't even get a glimpse of the monster and by the time they arrived at the location, the monster had already been sealed into a gigantic black sphere. In all of the years, they had been committed to journalism, none of them had ever seen or heard about such a sealing skill. 

"We've been informed that the nation's top warriors are rushing back to save Los Angeles, the new capital." Nancy continued, "We can see a few warriors standing next to the mysterious sphere. Even Johnny Black is down there and looks like they are busy devising a plan to deal with the monster."

"Regretfully, we don't have footage of the monster at the moment. But our sources tell us that it is a dragon type monster with multiple heads."

Upon mention of the dragon, the cameraman swallowed his saliva and continued filming the scene.

'If so many high ranking warriors couldn't stop him then who could...' He thought. 

Unbeknownst to them, the one who could defeat the dragon was already in the middle of doing so. However, not everything was going as smoothly as the reporting on the outside. 

***

Tiamut swung her gigantic paw and smashed Duke and Bad-Breath into pieces. Now, only four of Arnold's elite summons were remaining and all they had managed was to get rid of its tail. Well, not all of them, but Asterios and Dread. Since they got rid of the tail, Arnold thought they could take a limb or two as well. Man was he wrong. 

Not only did they fail to deal severe damage on Tiamut's legs, but Arnold also lost Duke and Bad-Breath in the process. But the bad news didn't end there. 

"My liege, my strength is fading away..." Abdiel reminded Arnold, "You have only one strike left."

Arnold gritted his teeth. He knew time was running out but Tiamut wasn't concerned with it. She wasn't playing around anymore. The bit*h wanted him dead alright, but he wasn't going to let it happen so easily. 

"I must say, I can't remember the last time I had this much fun." Tiamut commended Arnold and his summons, "However, it would be more fun to torture you and once that's done, I'll kill everything in sight. Don't worry, I'll make sure you get to enjoy the show as much as I do."

"You sure talk a lot more now that one of your head is gone." Arnold gave a snarky reply, "I wonder if you'll talk even more when I slice another one of your heads."

"..." 

'If it had been a debate competition, I'd have won three times already. Sadly, it isn't.' Arnold thought as Tiamut went quiet, 'Either way, I have to deal with that poison spewing head of hers. It won't matter if I sever the head, the poison would keep leaking out and the moment the domain collapses the poison would spread out in all directions...'

Tiamut had admitted herself that her ability had a weakness. He just had to figure it out. Yet, it was easier said than done. He had been thinking for quite a while but couldn't find a solution.

"Talos, can you decode the composition of the poisonous gases that overgrown lizard is secreting?" Arnold turned towards Talos who was standing next to him.

His thinking was simple. If he couldn't find a weakness on the outside, then the weakness must be hidden inside the gas itself. 

"As you wish, master." The automaton replied. 

He immediately took a sample of the gas in his metal body and began analysing it right then and there. Meanwhile, Dread and Asterios were keeping Tiamut busy. 

Dread was being straight forward and attacking the dragon whenever there was an opportunity while Asterios was... showing off in front of the dragon. His actions were very suggestive but Arnold hadn't thought Asterios was capable of doing something like that, that too in between of a fight. 

Arnold was doubtful whether the minotaur's intentions were real or fake. But humping Tiamut's severed tail in front of her certainly got her attention only on the raging bull. 

"Master, it's done," Talos replied and proceeded to inform Arnold about his findings.

The more Talos spoke, the happier Arnold became. He now knew what the poison's weakness was. 

"So that's why that bit*h didn't use the ability while her other head was intact." Arnold was all smiles now. 

"It would seem so." Talos joined in, "The poison is so potent, no know who comes in contact would be able to survive, thus the dragon could overlook the flaw. But since your armour protects you from any harm and you possess the required affinity, I can say you're the perfect counter to her poison ability."

Arnold nodded and turned towards his summons, "Thanks for your assistance boys, but you should probably back down. Cuz things are about to get heated."

Saying so Arnold let go of his mana sword. The following moment his hands burst into flames. Seeing the glow in Arnold's hands, all of the colours visibly drained from Tiamut's poison spewing head. She tried closing her mouth, but couldn't. Something was stuck in her mouth.

She didn't recognise but it was one of Talos' spike that he threw in her mouth the moment Arnold ignited the flames. She had been so focused on the fire, she didn't even notice when it happened. 

The entire domain had already been shrouded by the poisonous gas. So, even if she managed to close her mouth now, it wouldn't save the source of the gas, her head, from blowing up. 

Arnold kept increasing the temperature of the flames. Abdiel, protected him from any damage hence no matter how hot the flames got, Arnold, won't feel any pain. The brighter the flame got, the more agitated Tiamut became. There was no saving her now. 

Arnold threw a continuous barrage of fireballs towards her mouth. The next moment, there was a deafening explosion. The explosion rang the air as if it was hell-bent on shattering the universe by ripping apart every atom. Following the explosion, came the agonising cry of the demigod. As the smoke cleared, Arnold saw the state his domain was in. No matter where he looked, there was only stinking bloodied mass. Tiamut had collapsed on the ground. Only the ice spewing head was remaining at its place. The explosion took not one but two heads along with it. 

Arnold didn't waste any time. He quickly grabbed the mana sword and charged at the dragon.

Tiamut saw him coming but didn't have the energy to fight or move anymore. The explosion had taken too much out of her. With one clean sweep, Arnold decapitated the remaining head as Abdiel along with the armour and the sword faded away into nothingness. The duration of the skill was over.

His summons came rushing towards him. Everyone apart from Talos was confused about what happened there and Arnold was more than happy to tell them about it. 

"Talos, do you mind repeating what the poisonous gas was made of?" Arnold smiled while kicking the corpse of the arrogant dragon. 

"Hydrogen sulphide, Carbon monoxide, and a few other compounds." 

"And even high schoolers know that all of these compounds are not only highly toxic but flammable too. The gas burns rapidly upon coming in contact with fire." Arnold explained while he cancelled the domain expansion, "Since, the dragon's throat was the source of it all, once the flame reached the throat... there was an explosion."

Slowly the domain collapsed and they came back to the real world. Everyone saw the corpse of the dragon and... couldn't say anything. They were expecting Arnold to die but he didn't. Even the reporters nor the people watching the broadcast could believe it.

Multiple questions were racing through their minds. The monster was dead? A single man managed to kill the dragon? Was this guy even human? 

Johnny was the first one to regain his composure and rushed to check up Arnold. But instead of asking, "are you hurt?", what he asked was... 

"How did you..."

Arnold smiled and waved his hand, "It's a long story. I'll tell you later. First I need to check something..."

He wanted to see how much EXP he got from killing a godly beast. 

___

Current EXP: 694,596

___

'Wait. This isn't right... I already had this much EXP before the fight. Is the system still calculating the amount of EXP I got? That could be it. Or...'

Then it dawned upon him. 

"EVERYONE! GET BACK!" He yelled at top of his lungs as he pushed Johnny away. 

Bur before he could save himself... A claw pierced through his abdomen. He looked down at the gaping hole. A black claw was seared with his blood and flesh. He immediately recognised the claw. It was much smaller than it had been previously. Now it almost looked like a human hand. 

"You infidel... You actually managed to defeat me." The formerly hoarse voice was now surprisingly feminine, yet the hatred in it was as strong as ever, "I should thank you for freeing me from that wretched body, but accept my apologies for killing you first!"

The dragon goddess was still alive... 

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