Soverick eyes widened at the attack. He didn't expect the response but he reacted to it and swiftly too. He flicked his spear twice. The giant spear phantom seemed to warp sideways and twist on itself before returning to its previous position. Its quick movement made it slap the two incoming claws aside.
His response was perfect. He used the smallest amount of effort to expertly disable the claws by striking them where they were most vulnerable to an external force. His swift actions preserved his forward momentum so he had almost all of his power. He continued forward with his mission to kill without delay.
Unfortunately, he is not fated to achieve what he set out for because he was sent flying. His clash with the claws, no matter how brief, allowed the dragon to zone in on him. The fight might have been so quick that 2 seconds haven't gone by since it started but the two of them are high-level beings and are capable of extraordinary things. The dragon was also able to react to his attack with that brief window that the phantom claws brought for it. It followed the phantom claws with an attack with its real claws.
Soverick had to defend against the claws with his full power and even then he failed. He was struck flying after his collision with a single claw. He wasn't able to overcome the strength of the dragon at all. A single smash and he was airborne immediately.
He grumbled as he flew in the air. "This is not fair. The dragon can use skills too. This is cheating."
He thought his response to the dragon fire was perfect. But apparently, it wasn't enough. It wasn't because he failed to take into account a possible phantom attack. It shouldn't have been a problem since monsters aren't supposed to be able to use skills. They can empower their bodies to use innate abilities like the manipulation of world power but they shouldn't be able to use skills of weapon mastery. That's just overkill.
The monsters in this world are not the same creatures as the external world. They should be barely intelligent beasts that can't exhibit the use of skills. It seems that isn't the case because this dragon just used the fourth step of weapon mastery. Such a thing needs an intelligent mind and divine sense. He didn't sense any divine sense from the dragon which made him decide that they have rigged the dragon to make things extra difficult for him.
If his eyes had not seen through all that fire and saw the claws waiting for him then he would be the one to be surprised on exiting the flames instead of the dragon. It is as if the strength of the dragon wasn't enough so they had to add skills. Who needs skills when your own strength is enough? It is just overkill.
Unfortunately, no one sympathized with him. His enemy didn't even give him time to breathe after almost crushing the life out of him with a single slap. The dragon advanced on him after that hit. It flapped its four wings and shot forward with unstoppable momentum. Its large size means it can't miss hitting Soverick. It doesn't even need to hit him with anything offensive. A good body-on-body collision is enough to deal heavy blunt damage to Soverick. It is that strong.
The dragon's eyes focused solely on the puny creature that has dared to rise against it. It opened its jaws to take a good bite out of Soverick but it had to swerve aside to avoid something that attacked it from beneath.
A large boulder sailed by the side of its head and rose into the sky. The dragon looked downward to determine the source of the attack only to jerk its head sideways again. Another Boulder flew past its head. It was able to react quickly enough and escape a direct hit to its head.
Somehow, rocks and boulders of various sizes are rising from the ground and aiming for its head. Hundreds of large rocks, boulders, and trees are floating and levitating from the ground. It can't be natural because it looked like the forest was rising to meet them in the air. Trees certainly don't grow in the air.
The dragon hadn't sensed the change because the force that pulled them is based on gravity manipulation and it didn't sense any such thing from its prey after the first blasphemous attempt on its own gravitational field. So it wondered how Soverick managed it.
It is an admirable performance on the part of the dragon that it wasn't caught off guard by the surprise attacks. Unfortunately for it, it had ignored Soverick while evading the projectiles. A large phantom closed in on its chest again just as it dodged another well-timed strike at its head. Soverick took advantage of the distraction to right himself in the air and attack the dragon again.
Soverick bolted towards his target with indomitable force. This is plan B if plan A failed. He had started working on the levitating boulders at the same time he tried to manipulate the gravity field of the dragon. He sent out two large bursts of gravitational force at the same time. The one he used on the dragon had two functions. It was to try and gain control of the dragon's gravitational field and also mask his work down below. Now that the dragon is preoccupied with saving its head, he will go for the heart again.
The dragon responded to the threat to its life with a series of actions. It flapped all four of its giant wings at Soverick. Four large wind scythes formed as the air was riled up and infused with world power. The four wind scythes were also followed by a large wind shield. The flapping wings also helped the dragon to create distance between it and Soverick. It's a triple combo move on the part of the dragon. Attack, defense, and evasion. All done with expert use of the fourth step of weapon mastery.