"Something is not right." He thought furiously.
He had anticipated a certain level of thickness. That's why he created a powerful weapon made of world power. His phantom spear ought to Pierce through the dragon but underestimated the level of defense that this landmass of a beast is sporting. All of his power and trickery did not let him go past 1 meter on the scale. His phantom spear didn't go past the tip into the scale that is supposed to be the weakest part of the dragon.
The scale should be thick but it shouldn't be so strong. He was wrong both on the thickness and strength of the defense of the dragon. Apparently, he had underestimated a dragon. That is a grave sin. If there is anyone that might underestimate a dragon, it isn't him. He has too much respect and fear for dragons to underestimate them.
He felt that things are out of his expectations but he doesn't have time to dwell much on his suspicions. Already, the dragon is capitalizing on his failure. He sensed the dragon claw swiping at him but he can't evade it. He is in a tricky situation all because he wanted to keep going forward. Now he can't turn back even if he wants to.
This claw attack had been a hasty defense by the dragon to discourage him from going for the chest but he did it anyway because he thought it will be checkmate if he succeeds in hitting its weak spot. He is right about the checkmate despite his failure. It is just that it will be him that is checkmated.
He detonated the phantom spear. It is not a safe thing to do considering he is inside the said phantom spear. But he doesn't have any other choice apart from letting the dragon smack him like a fly. In fact, it is a very stupid thing to let all that power become chaotic and explode because of instability.
So he didn't let the phantom spear explode on its own like a sane person who is forced to make an insane decision like detonating a phantom spear while inside of it. He pumped more power into it and actively shape the phantom spear into the best medium for an explosion. His interference in the explosion allowed him to gain some sort of reprieve by determining the direction of the explosion.
A thundering explosion took place on the dragon's chest. It tore that scale apart and destroyed the flesh below it. The two combatants were both separated from their exchange by the powerful explosion. Both of them took severe damage from the explosion and both of them fell to the ground.
The dragon took the brunt of the explosion and fell to the ground with an unwilling roar. The ground also roared its indignance by making a loud crashing sound as the dragon cratered it. The collision between the ground and the dragon flattened trees and kicked up a lot of debris.
Soverick sailed through the air with his robes tattered and his golden fur burned off. He didn't hit the earth, unlike his opponent that cratered the ground in another explosion. He righted himself in the air with his control of gravity. His eye peered at the grounded dragon in concentration. He wants to determine how much damage he really did. He saw the chest of the dragon. It has been blasted open and the weak scale has also been destroyed so he saw what was beneath it.
It was his turn to roar unwillingly. "Who is fucking with me?"
There's nothing crucially damaged beneath the scale. He can only see burnt flesh that is quickly healing even as he is watching. There's nothing crucially damaged because there's nothing that can be crucially damaged beneath that scale. It wasn't a vulnerability as he thought. It was a trap and it is conclusive proof that someone is intentionally making things difficult for him. How else will a dragon not have a dragon heart?
First, the dragon could use skills. Then its dragon scale is too strong for it to be its weakness. He didn't let that stop him. He managed to overcome the thickness and defense of the scale but it turned out that it is just for show. All that theatrics of the scale lighting up was meant to deceive him. The dragon has no weakness because someone tweaked it not to have a weakness but still looks like it has a weakness.
'Surely someone can't be actively manipulating things to make it difficult for me. It is probably normal. At least it is normal for this challenge. Maybe they did it to make it more challenging.' He thought to himself.
He tried to rationalize why the dragon doesn't have a dragon heart. It is because he considers it having a huge ego and being full of himself for thinking that a competition of this level will be biased or unfair against him. He is not so full of himself so he discarded his suspicion.
He is proud of himself but he isn't that proud. He might simply be ignorant but he can't think of a reason why the sanctity of this competition will be breached just for him. He can think of several reasons why someone will target him but this is a competition run by a world god. It will be egotistical of him to think that a world god is targeting him. Not until he sees some valid proof that he is being targeted personally.
The dragon might just be like that. After all, this dragon is just a weakened copy of the real thing. The changes to the dragon might have been done to pose a challenge to the competitors. Anyone could have faced it and be stumped by the lack of a heart. So he discarded his suspicions of unfairness and decided to tackle the problem anew. Complaining won't do him any good. If he wants to achieve something, the best person to rely on is himself.