-Irvan-

Those cowards! They are taking advantage of the fact that my mistress is not here to do whatever they want!

Well, if that's how it is then as the second strongest it is my duty to teach those bastards a lesson. To think that they would threaten to kill Rax... a kid that likes dragons can only be a good kid, I won't let them get away with this!

Since they are a rather large group it wasn't difficult to find them. At the moment they are walking next to a very strange forest; not only is it strange to see a forest in the middle of this wasteland, but the way the trees just abruptly stop seems unnatural.

Now, how should I do this? If I take the risk of using my 'burning blood' skill I might have a small chance of winning against their boss, but that is only if he fights by himself. There's just no way that I can win against that many strong demons. Perhaps I should try to just fly in, grab him and fly away before any of them realize what I'm doing, but they don't seem like the type to get easily distracted, and dragons are not exactly known for being stealthy.

Before I can think of a better plan, a wind spell hits my left wing causing me to fall down. With a beat of my wings, I manage to stop myself from hitting the ground too hard, only to be confronted by four of the demons I had been following.

"So you noticed that I had been following you."

"You... you have been flying in circles above us for five minutes. How could we NOT notice?"

Oh... well, as I said dragons are not exactly known for being stealthy.

'Shadow chain'

I know this spell quite well, but this one feels incredibly weak compared to when my mistress uses it. I could probably break the chains with just brute strength, but not before the two demons that just charged me stab my head with their spears. Are they really just going to try to kill me without even saying another word? In that case, I suppose that I don't need to hold back.

*Click*

"What?"

"Where did he go?"

Seeing me disappear into thin air and the chains fall to the ground, my two attackers start looking around with a dumb look on their faces. Of course, my human transformation is way faster than that of any other dragon, almost instantaneous, so their confusion is understandable.

Before they can realize what happened, I run to their side and turn back into a dragon. From this position, there's no way for them to avoid my tail sweep, so they both get sent flying for around 30 meters.

'Hurricane'

The wind mage that knocked me from the sky is now trying to push me back, but something like this is nothing more than a breeze to me. A single smack with my claw is all it takes to bring him down, now there's only the dark mage left.

'Shadow lance'

How weak... no, that did actually hurt a little, but after meeting my mistress every other dark mage is obviously going to feel underwhelming.

Just when I was about to knock him out as well, I notice around a hundred or so demons threatening me with various weapons and spells. Huh... I'm starting to think that I should not have come here by myself...

That large man that I assume to be their boss steps forward, sending the unconscious wind mage flying with a kick.

"Well then, what exactly is a dragon doing in a place like this."

"Are you Kalroth?"

"So you've heard of me... in that case, you don't seem to be afraid enough."

"Why should I be afraid of you? I am a servant of the queen of darkness. You don't feel very impressive compared to her."

"The queen of darkness you say? How convenient. Some people have been saying some nonsense about her being stronger than me, I would like to hear your opinion."

After he makes a gesture to an attendant, he hands him an enormous war hammer. He slams it on the ground, using some skill to increase the strength of the impact and causing an earthquake that makes some of the demons fall over.

After the dust settles, I can see that a deep crack has been formed on the ground, going on for a few hundred meters.

"So? Do you still think that she's stronger?"

"Yes, she is. It's not even close, really."

That seems to have angered him, even though I was only telling the truth. Seeing him stare at me while gritting his teeth makes me think that he's not very good at intimidating people, my mistress tends to be scarier on accident.

"Well then... if you still think that I'm weak after seeing that, there's only one way left for me to change your mind. All of you! Step back!"

Does he want to fight me? Why? Even if he beats me, it won't prove that he's stronger than my mistress.

Well, if he wants to give me a chance to get out of this situation I'm not going to complain. He seems far stronger than me, but if his class is warrior and he uses a melee weapon I can try to fly high enough to be out of his reach... uh? I was expecting him to stop me, but he just let me get away.

'Ranged strike'

I see him swing his hammer above him, hitting nothing, and yet, I feel a strong impact on the side of my head... that hurts!

I've heard about 'ranged strike' before, a very rare and powerful warrior skill. To be able to hit something that he didn't hit... not only is it unfair, but it doesn't even make sense!

I crash right next to a bunch of chained beastkin, just outside the weird forest I saw earlier. Rax is also here looking at me with worry... uh, this is shameful.

Kalroth approaches and gets ready for another strike. This is bad, if he attacks from that angle he might hurt Rax. As I thought, I have no choice but to use 'burning blood'... I need to start another conversation to gain some time.

"You bastard... so it was true that you're planning to turn some beastkin into slaves!?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"I think that a lot of people would have a problem with that?"

"So what? I can do whatever I want even if others don't like it. That's what it means to be the strongest."

What is this guy talking about? Of course, the strongest can do whatever they want, but 'can' and 'should' are two completely different things. Anyone 'can' do a lot of stuff like rolling around in manure or putting a wasp nest in their pants, but not a lot of people do it.

There's something about this guy that feels really disgusting... now that I think about it, the elder dragons often got angry whenever I went around bragging about my strength, and I never understood why. Could it be that they were afraid of me becoming like him?

'Hyper crusher'

Kalroth uses some powerful attack, but it's too late now. 'Burning blood' has already activated, boosting all of my stats by 50%. It seems like he was not expecting my sudden increase in speed, so I manage to send him flying with a full-body tackle.

However, this skill is called burning blood for a reason... I won't be able to use it for long before my body gets destroyed from the inside, just activating it at all is dangerous.

"You bastard! 'Ranged strike'!"

Uh... I was planning to grab Rax and run away with my extra speed before he could recover, but he managed to land on his feet and didn't fly all that far. With my increased toughness, his attack does not hit as hard as before, but it staggers me long enough for him to get close again.

I try to stomp on him a few times and he responds with his hammer. Even with the extra strength, I'm still losing, and there's no way that I can keep this up for long.

"I cannot do this... please mistress! Help me!"

At that moment, I feel something strange coming from below me.

"Ah!"

"What is this!?"

"Help!"

All the demons start screaming as an enormous mass of dark mana emerges from the ground. Did my mistress hear me? No, that's not it. This is... could this be that leyline that she was supposed to move?

Everybody has been paralyzed by the dark mana suddenly hitting their bodies, even me and Kalroth, but it looks like Rax was just barely out of range. After a few seconds, I become able to move a little so I take the chance to break the chain that was binding the kid. I attempt to grab him and fly away, but I'm stopped by Kalroth grabbing my tail.

"Run! Into the forest!" I tell him.

"But..."

"Go!"

He's going... I managed to help him escape after all.

"What are you doing!? Chase after that brat!" Kalroth yells to his subordinates.

A group of demons enters the forest after Rax, but catching him might prove more difficult than they expect. I finally remember what those strange trees are; that's one of the magic forests where elves live. Finding anyone in there is not going to be an easy task.

Still, my mistress is amazing! To think that she planned to redirect the leyline here to make it possible for Rax to escape, it must have taken some time for the mana to reach the surface, so she must have planned this in advance. And she did it even though there was no way for her to know where we would be... or when we would be here... or that a random surge of dark mana would help us at all... or that Rax was even going to get kidnapped in the first place...

My mistress is amazing!

Now, I can't wait to see how she planned to get me out of this as well... is the last thought that goes through my head before a war hammer hits the side of my body with tremendous power.

forli

Sorry for taking so long. This month is looking like it will be really busy for me so I don't know how much I'll be able to write.