137 The Dragon’s First Flight
Mira opened her eyes, staring at the sky with birds flying. “Where am I?” She mumbled, and Aella stared down at her.
“You fell unconscious out of nowhere,” Aella replied, her hair tickling Mira’s face.
Mira sat, grasping her head, “Last I remember, we were talking with Arad and…” CREEECK! She heard the sound of wood crackling on the other side of the garden. She looked and saw Arad hauling a massive tree trunk to the workers.
“What in the…” She gasped.
“He’s strong, isn’t he?” Aella said with a smile.
As long as it’s something that Arad’s massive draconic body can move, his humanoid body can shake it as long as he gets the balance right.
With each step, help footmarks on the ground, yet he didn’t seem bothered. To Mira, something seemed wrong. Arad barely felt like a human but more like an exotic monster.
“What kind of training do you have to go through for that?” Mira gasped.
“I don’t know,” Aella replied, “He’s a bit special. You won’t find many like him.”
“I know,” Mira replied, standing up and shaking her head, “I never thought someone beside Alcott would move a tree like that,”
“Nina could. There is this other girl Gug I met at the inn we used to stay in, and she could probably do it.” Aella stood beside Mira.
Mira looked at Aella, smiling and pulling the hammer from her waist, “Judging by the sun, I didn’t stay down for long.” She swung the hammer, “I need to finish that gate,”
***
Arad noticed the fog surrounding the house. The trees of the forest seemed to have been swallowed by the mist. “Since when was it this foggy?” He asked.
“Been like that for three days,” One of the workers replied, “We barely managed to bring supplies. Aella guided us,” The worker replied.
“And the strange moose, don’t forget the one who helped Winny. The lad almost died, losing his way for eight hours in what? Half an hour walk?”
[This is an effect of your draconic lair. The presence of a dragon changes the nature around their lair.] Mom explained, [You can expect the monsters serving you to be stronger and that people will find it hard to traverse the land around your lair.]
Arad walked toward the mist, “I will check it out,” He disappeared into the forest.𝒃𝒆𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝒎
After walking for a minute, a group of feral wolves surrounded Arad, “I don’t remember taming jet-black wolves with red eyes,” Arad said.
The wolves stared at Arad for a while before going their way, “What was their problem?”
[They are the wolves you tamed. They evolved from animals to monsters. I can’t tell what exact kind of monster wolves they were, but I hope they develop some intelligence in the future,]
Arad looked around, “So this fog is because of me, and it’s generally safe?”
[Yeah, and we better have it. You can’t have random thugs wandering into your house.]
Arad smiled, stretching his arms, “I want to fly,”
[Don’t do it this close to the city. Let’s go somewhere far away. Use [Void walk to move]]
Arad looked at his stats, noticing that his void walk could move him four hundred meters to a spot he could see. “Wait, can I grab someone, teleport into the sky, and drop them?”
[You should be able to move anything of your weight or less,]
Arad climbed a tree with a single jump, landing on the highest branch and staring at the horizon.
The mountain stood tall in the distance as the clouds swarmed across its peak, “I want to fly there,” Arad said with a smile, his eyes flashing purple.
[As I said, people of Alina could see you. No one should think a dragon is living close by,]
“I know,” Arad replied, [Void walk] ZON! Arad’s body disappeared without a trace and appeared mid-air, 400 meters closer to the mountain. “Haha!” He laughed, “To think I can cover such a large distance,”
ZON! ZON! Arad teleported a couple of times, reaching behind the mountain where no one could see him. CRACK! His body expanded, growing wings and claws as his true form emerged. The black dragon of the night sky soared between the clouds, staring down at the vast forest.
“I can fly!” Arad roared, flipping mid-air as he tested his manoeuvering skills. “Now I want to fight something,”
[Calm down,]
“I want to fly down and blast something with a breath,” Arad then spent a few minutes flying around, searching for troubles. Sadly most monsters hid upon spotting a massive dragon soaring in the sky with an eccentric and excited roar.
After a few minutes of search Arad had moved quite a bit far away, and he finally found a group of bandits attacking a large caravan.
***
“No, listen. Shitface,” The bandit leader, Roger, growled, pointing his sword at the caravan leader, the old merchant Gerald. “We’re taking the good, horses, and the beauties you have in the back. You and the boys can fuck off. We won’t care less,”
The other bandits laughed, surrounding the caravan and shooting the driver dead.
Gerald glared at the bandits, “You think you can take us down just like that?” He looked back at the adventurer he hired for protection.
“Sorry, old G.” The adventurer leader smiled, “We work for who pays more,” He pulled his sword, and so did the other adventurers.
“You scumbags, you work for them,” Gerald growled, pulling the shortsword he kept on his waist.
“Want to fight us?” The adventurer leader swung his sword at the old Gerald.
CLANG! Gerald deflected the strike and smacked the adventurer in the face with his palm, pushing him away.
Thud! The adventurer’s rogue rushed forward, swinging his dagger at Gerald. “Man, Jemmiy went easy on you,”
Gerald stood still, his clear eyes glaring at the rogue dead in the face, “Brat!” CLANG! STAB! Gerald deflected the dagger and stabbed the rogue under the armpit.
The mage pointed her staff, charging a spell. Gerald took the rogue’s knife, and threw it at her, hitting her in the throat. The spearman rushed with his spear, thrusting his weapon. Gerald moved to the side, twisting the rogue’s arm and breaking it as he stabbed the spearman in the guts.
Tuf! Gerald spat on the spearman’s face, “Fucking bastards, look where you got us.” He pushed the spearman away and glared at the bandits.
“Calm down! Old wolf,” Roger smiled, “Is it a veteran we have here?” The bandits pointed their crossbows at Gerald, “One move and you’re cheese,”
“Retried royal guard,” Gerald growled, “You know who you’re messing with?”
“The king won’t care about an old guard dog, let alone one that disappeared without a word.” Roger smiled, “Corpses don’t talk, do they?”
THUD! Gerald was the first to attack, rushing to lift one of the adventurer’s bodies to use as a shield against the bolts.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Three bolts still managed to hit Gerald’s legs, dropping him to the ground. Roger rushed forward, Kicking Gerald’s face. CRACK! “What can you do now?” Roger started kicking Gerald over and over.
“FATHER!” A black-haired woman jumped from the carriage, swinging her fist at Roger with all her might.
BAM! Roger swung his fist, smacking her in the face like nothing. THUD! The woman clenched her teeth, not even slowing her punch down. CRACK! She took Roger’s fist and still punched him hard enough to knock a tooth out, sending him stumbling.
The bandits started laughing, “Boss, she got you good!”
Roger stood, spitting the blood away, “Nothing that healing magic can’t fix,” He rushed forward, punching the woman in the face.
“Roberta!” Gerald growled, bleeding on the ground.
Roger smiled, “Healing magic can fix you too,” BAM! He kicked her in the guts, and she fell on the ground, “I like fiery women, and you’re just the one,”
Roberta curled into a ball to withstand his kicks, and she stood the moment he stopped to take a breath, punching him in the nuts with an uppercut.
Roger growled for a moment. CRACK! He immediately kicked her in the face, and she fell on her back, bleeding from her nose with her consciousness almost disappearing.
BAM! Roger kicked Roberta in the guts, “Damn it, woman! Roberta, did he call you?” Roger glared at Gerald, “You’re mine, and no one is going to save you,”
Thud! Roberta grabbed Roger’s ankle, lifting his leg up as the fire in her eyes didn’t fade.
Tuf! Roger spat in her face, “I can’t help but see that bastard’s eyes on your face,” He pointed at Gerald, “Daughter of the old wolf, you’re as hardheaded as your father,”
“Capture all the women, have fun with half, and leave half to be sold,” Roger looked at the bandits, “For the men, beat them nicely till they become mules for the trip,”
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! The carriage shook as the horrid roar filled the sky, and the birds ran away as the bandits could hear the squirrels freak out. Gerald’s eyes opened up, looking at the sky to see a massive black dragon diving down.