Author Note: TRIGGER WARNING WITH MILD SPOILERS. YOU CAN SKIP TO THE "*****" BELOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE FOLLOWING THREE CHAPTERS. I REALLY RECOMMEND IT.

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After flying for a short while, Yasenia spotted a place to land near the mines. She descended carefully, mindful of potential hidden threats, and landed without problems.

The terrain trembled slightly at the weight of the massive creature, but it was hard enough not to be depressed by her weight, even though it had a brown and earthly appearance, like that of a forest.

Yasenia gently urged. "Dears, please jump off from my back. Also, be careful, it is a bit high."

Evelyn laughed. "Are you telling Unification Realm experts to be careful from jumping from a height of a few tens of meters?"

Yasenia turned her massive head by twisting her neck to look at them and pouted. "You must be careful either way!"

Evelyn floated in front of her face and kissed her snout. "Silly."

They all leaped off easily and gracefully landed on the ground. As Yasenia's cultivation grew, her size also increased with it.

Evelyn summoned Sierra, and Andrea did the same with Ebirah.

After Yasenia confirmed they had leaped off, she transformed back into her human form. The process was quick, and in a few seconds, she went from the massive dragon back to her human form.

Tatyana praised. "Your control has come a long way. Soon, you'll be able to start half-transforming."

Evelyn chuckled perversely. "Dragon di-."

BANG!

The tail lash sent her spiraling in a graceful arc and slammed her against a tall and robust tree at the side.

Andrea snorted a laugh. "You deserve it. Have you forgotten who is with us?"

Yasenia felt a long serpent-like creature crawling around her body and smiled. "How was the journey on Mommy's back, dear?"

Kaleina giggled, her length already reaching one and a half meters. "Very fun! I loved it~. Mommy is super beautiful and fast in her dragon form!" Gesturing with her claws, Kaleina continued. "You like, woosh! Like, like, super-fast!"

Yasenia softly kissed her face with a laugh. "Glad you liked it."

Kaleina asked curiously as her golden eyes looked at the returning Evelyn. "Why did sometimes you slap Mama Evelyn, Mommy? You hit her so hard that she flew!"

Angel laughed, and Kali commented. "She was being a bad girl, so your Mommy punished her."

Kaleina nodded and accepted it quickly. "I see."

Andrea commented. "Let's get moving. We don't know what kind of dangers are around here."

They all nodded and walked toward the mines.

Yasenia chuckled a bit and explained to the little dragoness further. "As Mama Kali said, she was about to say something bad. So, Mommy punished her before she said it. You must also be a good girl, okay, dear?"

Kaleina nodded cutely and then asked timidly. "W-Will you also hit me like that?"

Yasenia was quick to deny it. "Of course not, dear. Remember that your Mama Evelyn is very tough, so a hit like that feels like this."

Yasenia tapped Kaleina's forehead softly, making her exclaim out of reflex. But feeling nothing, her reptilian and soft eyes blinked twice. "Oh! It doesn't hurt!"

Yasenia and the others laughed.

Evelyn smirked. "As your Mommy said, even if she slaps me, she knows how to control her strength. Look, my forehead is not even red."

Kaleina nodded and smiled. "That's good! Hurting family is bad!"

Evelyn asked in a hidden manner. "About that… Can we?"

Yasenia sighed and placed one arm over Evelyn's shoulders. "Silly dear, why would I say no? Just remember not to say those things with Kaleina present."

Evelyn placed her head on Yasenia's wide side breast and smiled. "En!"

Yasenia saw a one-meter-long quadrupedal brown furry beast appearing and growling at them. She focused on it and saw that it was a very young beast.

The dragoness eyes flashed. "Oh! What a good chance. Kaleina, love, do you want to fight?"

Kaleina looked at the beast and blinked. "Prey?"

Yasenia chuckled. "Yes. But be careful. This little one will fight back and try to hurt you."

Kaleina slithered off Yasenia's body and approached it, her pupils thinning.

While Kaleina approached, Yasenia looked to the side and felt a powerful aura approaching. 'Hm? The parent of this child?'

"Sweetheart, can you deal with it until Kaleina finishes her fight?"

Cecile nodded indifferently. "Easily."

Cecile's wings flapped, and her body became a silvery streak, followed by explosions and fighting.

Meanwhile, Kaleina stopped before the beast that looked like a large rat, her throat making growling sounds as her body tensed.

The other small animal felt danger and tensed, baring a row of sharp teeth toward Kaleina.

Kali muttered. "Oh? That's a [Rock crushing Rat]. Those teeth are quite characteristic."

Yasenia muttered. "That species has quite a strong bite, can they pierce Kaleina's scales?"

Kaleina jumped forward with agility, surprising the rat. However, the other beast dodged to the side with a burst of speed.

Both beasts were young, so their speed was not that high. However, they were quicker than most mortal creatures.

Kaleina didn't chase mindlessly and regained her pouncing form.

Then, she pounced again when she saw a chance, but the agile rat dodged most of the time and sometimes attacked back, trying to bite her.

However, her agility was much higher, so it was easy for her to dodge.

She patiently waited and attacked repeatedly.

Then, she made a thing her Mommy taught her: a feint.

The clever Kaleina moved forward again, but she didn't jump.

The rat dodged, expecting an attack, and jumped to the side. Kaleina's eyes flashed as she pounced mercilessly and opened her mouth. As a young dragon, she already had a row of sharp teeth that could pierce tough meat.

The young one-meter-long rat tried to dodge quickly, showing that it had strong reflexes.

However, it suddenly saw a strange purple aura lock on its left frontal leg, making it feel as if something had grabbed it. It was a tiny spatial distortion that made space thicker and, thus, helped immobilize.

Kaleina didn't lose the chance, and, like in the spars with Yasenia's tail, she pounced right toward the throat and bit strongly.

For the first time, Kaleina felt her teeth sinking into the flesh of a creature as the taste of blood filled her mouth. However, unlike what others might expect, Kaleina didn't feel anything strange or had strong emotions besides the feeling of success.

With a squeak of pain, the rat moved its head violently and unlatched Kaleina. Yet, this attack was definitive for their fight, as a large chunk of meat was ripped by the strong jaws of the infant dragoness.

Kali asked. "Do we stop her?"

Yasenia shook her head. "Of course not. This is her first prey. Allow her to finish it off."

Andrea frowned. "Won't she become too bloodthirsty?"

Yasenia looked at Andrea with a smile. "The psyche of a dragon is very different. The stimuli this gives are similar to a human child solving a puzzle."

Hence, they didn't move, and Kaleina cornered her prey, coiling around it and biting the neck again.

The young rat thrashed around, but Kaleina didn't release it, her claws sinking into the flesh and her teeth deeply inserted to the point she touched bone.

Slowly, the creature stopped moving, and soon, it dropped dead.

Yasenia appeared by their side, and Kaleina looked upward with a broad smile and a bloodied mouth. "Mommy, I did it! I did it! I hunted my first prey!"

Yasenia leaned down and used a handkerchief to clean the blood. "You did super well, love. My baby is the most talented~. I've recorded it, and we'll see it together once we return to learn where you could've done better. Okay?"

Kaleina climbed up Yasenia's arm and coiled around her neck, licking Yasenia's cheek gently. "Okay~."

Yasenia pecked her mouth and smiled. "I love you."

Kaleina giggled happily and hugged her Mommy's head. "I love you more!"

The group moved forward, and the others didn't exaggerate their praise, knowing that excessive praise was also wrong.

Yasenia's compliments were more than enough to feed positivity.

Cecile returned moments later, her face thoughtful. "Tatyana, this beast was a bit strange."

Tatyana blinked. "How so?"

Cecile commented. "Well, it had deformities, and the scent on it is… strange? No… more like ominous."

Tatyana blinked and asked. "Have you collected the corpse?"

Cecile waved her hand, and a massive rat, about ten meters long without including the tail, appeared in front of them.

Kaleina's eyes opened widely. "Wow! Mama Cecile, did you hunt this one?"

Cecile's usual indifferent face gained a faint smile. "Yes, I did."

Kaleina praised. "Mama Cecile is so strong!"

Cecile softly chuckled, but their attention soon turned toward Tatyana as her aura changed.

They looked at her and saw her face gaining a solemn expression as a faint killing intent leaked from her.

Mirrory and Valeria summoned themselves without Angel's or Kali's order and floated beside Tatyana, looking at the giant rat.

Yasenia asked, worried. "What's wrong?"

Tatyana ignored her while her gaze suddenly locked toward a distant place on their right. "That way, right?"

Yasenia became a bit nervous. 'What is happening?'

Valeria and Mirrory looked at the same place where Tatyana looked. Valeria confirmed it. "Yes."

Mirrory spoke with a voice that left no room for arguing. "Children, go. Yasenia, carry Angel on your back at all times. I'll need to absorb her energy, and she might become weak depending on the situation."

Valeria taped the ground, and the surrounding forest slowly transformed into an army of creatures. Then, her usually gentle voice echoed with an authoritative tone. "Protect them."

Yasenia was confused as the hundreds of plant creatures around them took defensive positions. Her heart became anxious, fearing for Tatyana. "Mom, what's wrong!?"

Tatyana was about to answer, but suddenly, a faint sickening aura was felt by all of them.

Yasenia and the other girls felt their bodies shivering as a chill rushed up their spine. Thankfully, Kaleina wasn't affected because you had to have some level of strength to feel it.

Tatyana clicked her tongue and hastily said, not answering the worried Yasenia. "Later!"

Then, the three seniors became a streak of light and flew into the distance with massive booms because of their speed.

Yasenia was about to chase, but the faint aura became turbulent as if excited by the three people approaching, and a malicious and deformed aura washed all of them.

All their hair stood up as a deep soul-level terror swallowed their bodies.

Yasenia was much better thanks to her strong will tempered in the trial and powerful bloodline. So, her worry for Tatyana increased. 'Tsk, what should I do?'

Of them, the one affected the most was Kali. She gagged and almost threw up, as she was the closest to Nature, and this aura was very disgusting.

However, her face gained an involuntary scowl of anger even though she didn't know where these feeling was coming from. "What is that abomination!?"

When the aura hit this second time, Yasenia was prepared and used her own aura to protect Kaleina, just in case.

The dragoness shook her head and was about to comfort Kali, when, a giant explosion that made the earth tremble occurred.

This was just the first one of many, though.

Explosions that could be seen from where they stood began appearing in that place a few tens of kilometers away.

The dragoness became even more anxious. 'I need to help Mom.'

Yasenia gave Kaleina to Andrea. "Andrea, go. I'm going to give it a look. All of you should not come and protect Kaleina."

Evelyn warned and grabbed Yasenia's hand. "Yasenia, that's beyond our strength!"

Yasenia nodded but looked a bit hasty. "I know. Don't worry. I'll watch from a safe distance first. I will come back if-."

BAAANG!

Their heads turned toward the small mushroom cloud.

Yasenia left one last sentence before flashing toward that place. "Either way, go!"

Then, Yasenia sprinted toward the combat area.

Andrea and the others wanted to follow for a second, but…

SCREEECH!!!

An unholy shriek that created visible airwaves made their steps pause as the energy burst from them to protect Kaleina.

Evelyn and Sierra trembled, feeling somewhat familiar and unfamiliar with the terrific aura. 'This is similar to that thing we saw in the Secret realm!'

Cecile was worried for Yasenia, but she ordered. "Yasenia's mental orders: Ebirah, enter Andrea's soul. Evelyn, carry Angel. I will fly above us to spot danger faster. Sierra, return to Evelyn's soul unless we start combat. The direction Mirrory pointed at is completely safe, so we should be leaving."

They all quickly left.

A few moments later, they all saw Cecile's face paling as she looked back with a worried gaze.

Kali asked urgently as they ran. "What's wrong, Cecile?"

Cecile muttered. "Don't worry, Yasenia's feelings were too intense. She will probably leave soon and come to us. Let's maintain a constant speed. From what I've felt from Yasenia, we will only be burdens even if we go."

Angel suddenly groaned, and her body became soft on Andrea's back. "Ugh, Mirrory is absorbing a lot of energy."

Hearing this, they all sped away toward the direction the seniors pointed at.

If even Mirrory was going all out, this was more than serious.