It started off only as a throb at his left arm, but he already knew what was going to happen. The further they walked, the greater the throbbing became. As the throbbing reached its peak, his draconic arm glowed with a black light as it converged into a straight line, like a torchlight.

  "A Moros Domain is nearby." Ryder's sight followed the direction the light and saw it was pointing at somewhere beyond the forest next to the road they were travelling on.

  Green narrowed his eyes and trotted next to his rider with caution. The other two dragons, on the other hand, casually strolled behind Ryder as they had been doing for the past two hours.

  "I'm not in the mood for it, Ryder. It's been days since we had a proper feast." Purple callously destroyed all the greenery he was walking through, like bushes and branches, as he complained.

  "Like it or not, the Goddess brought me here to destroy these Domains. It's nice when we receive rewards for clearing them, but we shouldn't expect it. More importantly, there won't be anything left for the Terror of the East to terrorize if we don't save the world."

  "Bah! The world's not going to be destroyed for at least a couple hundred more years. The Goddess recruits people like you because you're a gullible idiot."

  The human glanced back. "If you're unhappy with our arrangement, you can always end our Pact and return to your seal. I've already given you a lot of freedom to do what you want, but this is non-negotiable."

  Purple gritted his teeth and growled in a low frequency.

  "Haven't you realized Domains always appear near a big settlement or city? You'll likely get one if the villagers are still alive," Brown claimed nonchalantly.

  The purple dragon's pupils unconsciously shifted to the upper-right corner before returning to the center. "Hmph."

  Green let out a mocking snort.

  Purple narrowed his eyes and aimed his pointy tail at the green dragon's butt.

Clang!

  Ryder crouched, manifested his draconic eyes, and saw a black figure fighting against a bulky golem. The purple dragon had no choice but to push aside his retribution and squatted next to his rider.

  "Destroy. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy..." The golem with giant hammers for arms repeated. It was moving pretty slowly, so it was easy for the figure to dodge its attacks. It was an odd sight to the dragon rider because the figure had plenty of chances to strike the golem's core and end the fight right away, but they never did.

  When the gang inched closer, they could see black/red miasma covering the golem's body, though it was being partially quelled by the light in the figure's hand. The person fighting against it appeared to be a black woman from Earth in a set of dark combat apparel.

  Ryder wasn't sure if he should reveal himself. However, after Green urged him to, he jumped out and shouted, "Hey! Hi! I'm here to help!"

  The golem immediately turned its attention to the dragon rider and charged toward him. He raised his draconic arm and summoned an earth wall to block the golem, but it wasn't very effective. It took only one swing of its hammer hands to crush the wall and continue its assault.

  When he erected a few more walls, the black woman took advantage of the opening and leaped to the golem's back. She then placed her hand on the golem's core, which was located on its head, and increased the intensity of the light on her palm. It was obvious from her expression that the miasma was searing her, but she didn't let go while the golem continued to smash the walls. A few seconds later, it was as if a flashbang went off before all the miasma around the golem vaporized.

  Right as the dragon rider was about to congratulate her, the woman dismounted the golem and attacked him with spiked brass knuckles.

  Green used his vines to pull Ryder back while Brown shot a rock pillar up from the ground to hit the woman's abdomen. The woman crushed the pillar into chunks with a single swing of her fist before jumping backward. She then opened a portal with a teleportation stone that closed itself after she threw the golem and herself into it.

  "...What the hell was that?" Ryder stood up and raised his eyebrows.

  Green shrugged before hopping forward with a distressed growl. When the rider turned to see what was going on, Purple retracted his tail with a smug grin while Green snarled at him.

  The human sighed. "Why are you acting like a kid, Purple? You're thousands of years old."

  "Exactly." The purple dragon winked with a devilish grin and sauntered. "Let's go!"

  Ryder sighed. He raised his arm and patted Green's head to console him. The dragon whimpered a little before the gang continued with their journey. 

          Less than an hour later, they arrived at a wide empty road that leads to a large village covered in miasma. Large chunks of the wooden walls and gate were destroyed, allowing a clear inside view of the village for the gang. There were golems of different sizes roaming around the buildings, most of which remained relatively intact. At the far center of the village was the core of the Moros Domain, a sphere floating atop of the biggest building in the settlement. It was guarded by a hulking golem covered in miasma.

  Ryder approached the village's entrance and kneeled in front of the Domain's border. The miasma was trying to spread out like a gooey wave, but something surrounding the perimeter of the settlement was blocking its way. Unfortunately, the barrier had started to show cracks at points where there was a thick mound of miasma.

  "Holy magic. Hmph." Purple commented.

  "Seems like the caster isn't strong enough to take down the core by themselves. Still, it's impressive that the barrier is still holding up for a village this large." The human stood up and looked around.

  Green abruptly turned back and constricted its pupils as he growled.

  "What's wrong?" The rider turned back as well and noticed someone was hiding in a bush with his thermal mode draconic eyes. "Hello? Who's there?"

  The bush rustled, but no one replied him.

  Purple rolled his eyes and lifted his finger, causing a gust of wind to appear underneath the person and shot them out of the bush. The person face-planted on the ground before panickedly sitting up. The individual appeared to be a green-skinned teenager with four arms and four eyes, though the lower set of eyes were tightly shut. Their sand-colored robe trembled as they tried to push themself backward so as to escape from the menacing dragon.

  "There's no need for you to be afraid. We won't hurt you." Ryder performed the universal peace gesture and glared at Purple. Then, he slowly strolled toward the teenager with a comforting smile and spoke in a gentle voice. "We're here to get rid of the miasma. Are you someone from this village?"

  The teenager tensed up even further as their lower set of eyes struggled to open. Their lungs heaved heavily as their glittering emerald eyes stared at the dragon rider for a few seconds. Once those eyes closed off again, they gradually calmed down and nodded before standing up.

  "Where are the rest of the villagers? Can you tell me what happened here?" The human approached the teenager further, whose breath became less arduous as time passed.

  The teenager replied with a trembling masculine voice. "T-the chiefs can tell you everything. Follow me."

  Ryder nodded before the gang followed the teenager through the dense forest.