
Reika and Veylir followed the man without asking further questions. When they arrived, she saw a bunch of unfamiliar faces. Some of them were injured, while the other few only suffered bruises.
Reika quickly noticed their distinct features. They look almost identical to humans. But what makes them different were the horns at their foreheads, which had varying sizes. Some of them possess a single horn, while others have two. Seeing them with her own eyes, she concluded that they're the ogres that the dryad mentioned earlier that day.
So that's what they look like, huh... How unique!
Reika was engrossed in her thoughts that she forgot the purpose why they came there in the first place. While Veylir approached the dryad to ask questions, Reika was there, standing in awe.
Come to think of it, their appearance was quite similar to Onis. Though not the folklore ones, but the popularized versions on anime industries and such...
Amongst the ogres that were evacuated by one of the dryad's sisters, a certain individual whose appearance couldn't be ignored piqued her attention.
That individual had a single dark-purple horn in her head. Her light-purple hair, which is significantly paler than Reika's, was so long that it reaches to her curvy waist.
Although her muscular physique was visible, her perfect body strongly exudes a feminine aura. Surprisingly, her skin was similar to porcelain. Her face was alluring, with eyes of a color similar to her own hair. She was tall, close to Soru's height.
S-she's pretty!
However, Reika's observation came to a sudden halt when the female ogre's expression changed upon noticing her. When the ogre saw her face, she assumed that Reika was judging their appearance.
As a response to her rude behavior, the ogre gazed at her in disdain.
"Hmph! How dare these humans set their gaze upon us with that look on their faces? Presumptuous!"
Everyone at the scene was shocked upon hearing her bold remarks. The female ogre turns away with a sour mood.
"It seems like coming here was a mistake. We'll take our leave!"
All the ogres didn't answer right away and were hesitant to heed her order. Meanwhile, the dryad was worried and stopped her.
"M-miss, some of your kin are heavily injured and need immediate treatment. Perhaps—"
"I appreciate your help, dryad. But I couldn't bear standing at the same ground with these petty humans. Their attitude makes me sick!"
Excluding the man who guided them earlier, Reika and Veylir understood her words thanks to the Translator ability. When Reika heard her rude remark, she was quite annoyed and decided to confront the ogre.
"Hey! That was going a bit too far!"
The ogre was surprised to see a human that could understand and speak their dialect. However, her pride and anger toward humans hinder her curiosity.
"I don't want to engage further conversation from the likes of you. My fellow kins, we'll leave at once!"
Seeing that the female ogre was stubborn, Reika stopped her from leaving by blocking her path. The ogre was ticked by her action.
"Human, how dare you block my path?!"
"I won't let you leave this place. Seeing that some of your people are injured, their condition would get worse if we delayed their treatment."
"Our survival is none of your concern. Move aside while I'm still lenient, human!"
Despite the female ogre's provocation, Reika didn't faze at all and remained in her position.
"I won't let you leave without treating them first. Unless they're recovered, I won't budge even an inch."
Seeing that the irritating human in front of her was serious, the female ogre's patience reached a tipping point and blew off.
"Oh?"
The female ogre unsheathes her greatsword that was strapped behind her back and points the blade at her.
"Even if I use force to make you move from where you are standing?"
Veylir was furious by the female ogre's actions and attempts to confront her.
"You lowly monster! How dare you point your filthy sword...!"
"Veylir, don't!"
Veylir was shocked and halts immediately. Seeing how serious Reika was, she decided to stop meddling and watched in silence.
From the very moment she blocked the female ogre's way, Reika expected this outcome to be like this.
"Force, you say?"
She opened her spatial storage and grabbed the spear tightly.
"If it means to save your kin, then so be it."
Without thinking twice, the female ogre charged towards her.
"Seeing how cocky you are, don't expect me to go easy on you! Hyaaah!"
The female ogre swung her sword with all her might with the intent to injure Reika. However, Reika managed to dodge before the sword reaches her. She leapt several feet away from the impact.
CRRRACK!
The ground shook upon contact with the ogre's greatsword. The ogre quickly retracted the sword and chased Reika angrily.
As their blades clashed fiercely without rest, everyone present at the scene was speechless. But to the ogres, they knew the difference in their strength.
Suddenly, Reika was shocked when the female ogre's strength increased. The sudden change in strength and speed forced her to a pinch.
"Kghhh!"
The force of each of her swings was getting heavier. Her physical strength was overpowering mine!
Reika desperately tries to avoid her barrage of attack. The female ogre noticed her sudden change of tactics.
"Hmph! You couldn't even surpass my strength, yet you dare stand in my way? You humans are nothing but talk!"
Meanwhile, her sibling was watching in the distance. The sibling was cheering at the female ogre with excitement.
"Yeah! Thrash that arrogant human girl, Sis!"
"Shiki! Mind your manners!"
The female ogre's one and only sibling, Shiki, was scolded by an old ogre that came along with them. Shiki turns around and widens its eyes.
"Ehhhh~? Was cheering for my sister's victory a bad manner?"
The old ogre sighed and touched the tip of one of its short horns. He closed his extremely droopy eyes.
"I told you several times already. The blood of a chieftain was coursing in your veins. Acting without manners is a barbaric way of living."
"Aizzz. Enough with your lectures, old man Sukuna. I had enough of it already!"
"Old man... You say?"
Shiki didn't hear Sukuna's words as the young sibling was fixated on the fight again. Sukuna let Shiki do its thing and turned away to check on its fellow kin.
Upon checking their condition, Sukuna noticed that one of them was breathing heavily. It was trying to tighten the cloth that wrapped around its missing leg to prevent blood from leaking out. Sukuna went to that injured ogre.
"Sigh... I told you to cauterize that wound with fire. If we did that earlier, you will suffer less like the others."
Amongst the ogres who lost an arm and leg while escaping from Gargantua's wrath, only he refused to seal his wounds with flame.
"I... was afraid of fire due to a trauma when I was young. Since then, I was extremely cautious on every fire I see. If I involve myself in it again, not to mention use it to b-burn my flesh, I don't think I could handle it..."
Sukuna could see the anxiousness in the ogre's eyes. He closed his eyes and stood up.
"Tighten it further if you don't want to bleed yourself to death."
Without saying a word, the ogre nodded his head and followed Sukuna's instruction.
Suddenly, a familiar figure flew in their direction. Sukuna noticed the figure and faced it. But to his surprise, a sudden scream interrupts his attempt to confirm the figure's identity.
"GYAAAHHH!"
Sukuna quickly saw a flame burst forth from the ogre's injured leg. He twitched and quickly faced the mysterious figure.
"What are you doing? Stop it at once—"
"Dryad, slap that scaredy-cat's face and wrap his mouth so that he can't scream further."
The dryad followed its command and slapped the ogre to its face. The ogre was stunned and noticed that a vine was wrapping its mouth. The ogre couldn't do anything but only muffle in pain.
Sukuna attempts to draw out his straight, single-edged blade without a handguard from its scabbard. Just then, he quickly paused upon recognizing the identity of the figure.
Hm? Wasn't that the familiar who came along with that human girl?
Sukuna got surprised when the familiar spoke to him.
"You dare point that measly knife of yours at your guardian? It seems like even senile monsters like you had forgotten how to show respect."
Sukuna was baffled at the familiar's claim.
Guardian... who?
Suddenly, Sukuna's droopy eyes widened after he was struck with realization.
"Wildfire Dragon Veylir...?!"
Sukuna inspects Veylir for a brief moment, which made him wonder about her unusual appearance.
That creature just now claims that it was our guardian, and only the Wildfire Dragon could make such a bold statement. But its appearance seems... off.
"I know that you had a lot of questions in your mind, especially about my current appearance. However, I have no time to explain stuff now. Maybe later."
Veylir starts to heal the other ogres who only suffered minor injuries. Sukuna was surprised that Veylir was healing them. However, he was curious as to what exactly happened to Veylir without his knowledge.
Sukuna took a glance at the dryad, which is assisting Veylir.
Since that dryad follows its orders without complaints, there's no doubt that's the real deal. However...
Forget its current appearance; why was it tending to my injured kin's injuries...?
Meanwhile, Veylir was busy tending the wounds of the injured ogres. With the dryad's assistance, healing their shallow injuries will be finished soon.
"Ugh... Why am I doing this?"
Veylir nods her head upon realizing that she was doing it for her own sake.
That's right! Since we'll do it later anyway, doing it in advance saves me time rather than waiting for her nagging!
While Veylir and the dryad were busy healing the ogres, an immense aura suddenly engulfed the area. Veylir quickly recognized the aura and turned around to see the one who released it.
"Reika...!"
She used the Draconic Aura ability?!
Everyone at the scene felt the aura emanating from Reika. The man from earlier quickly felt the aura and got suffocated from it, even though he was several meters away from her. He couldn't take it anymore and collapsed to the ground. Even the dryad was affected and lost its concentration.
Meanwhile, the ogres were terrified upon sensing her Draconic Aura. They were immediately supressed and tried to catch their breath out of fear. However, there are only four ogres who slightly managed to withstood her aura. Including the female ogre and its sibling, Shiki, Sukuna, and the other ogre, Satoru, who wields a large wooden hammer, stood on their ground and faced the immense aura.
The three of them immediately went to the female ogre. They draw out their weapons in order to protect her.
"Sis Shiori! Are you okay?" Shiki asks her while struggling from the Draconic Aura.
"Yes... I-I'm okay..."
"To think that a human like you could exude a terrifying aura that belongs to the race of dragons... What exactly are you?" Sukuna asks Reika in confusion.
"..."
Reika didn't respond to the question and only gazed at them in silence. On her mind, she's figuring out how to end this meaningless fight. After realizing what she would do to end it, she sighed and made a serious look.
"I am saving this form for our fight with that overgrown lake creature later, but..."
When it comes to solving arguments, intimidation always works best!
<Draconic Transformation!>
Excluding Veylir and the man that fainted earlier, everyone's jaw dropped upon witnessing Reika grow wings from its back. Accompanied by her Draconic Aura, everyone froze in immense fear and trembled as they watched her change into a different person.
Her dark-purple dragon wings, whose color matches the color of her hair, stands out even from afar. Both of her arms were clad with dragon arms and claws, which closely resembled a gauntlet. Her legs were also covered with dragon legs, whose appearance is almost exactly the same on her arms.
The pupils of her eyes also changed, similar to a dragon's, with two majestic horns on her head. A cute dragontail also appeared a few centimeters above her buttocks.
Witnessing the entirety of her transformation, Reika seems like she changed into an entirely different individual. From a simple human, she was reborn into a majestic dark-purple half-dragon.
The ogres were stunned to the point that all they could do was gasp. The transformation struck fear into their hearts and intimidated them to the core.
Veylir saw that transformation already several times. During their practice for a month, Reika was honing her abilities that she shared with Veylir and Alguis. She worked herself hard and trained diligently to fulfill her goal. The transformation that everyone saw right now was one of the fruits of her training.
"Now she's done it," Veylir murmured.
What a way to terrify them! When did she learn how to intimidate others?
Seeing Reika's transformation with her eyes, Shiki fell to her knees and froze. Tears rolled from her eyes down to her cheeks.
"M-m-m-mon...!"
"Shiki! Get a grip!"
Shiki looked into Shiori's worried eyes and hugged her tightly. She cries on her arms while trembling.
"Noo! Bwaaaahhh!!"
Reika noticed that Shiki was bawling in fear. She felt guilty by her actions, but she had no other choice but to resort to such action.
I'm sorry, kid, but I had no other choice! I'll apologize to you later!
"Admit your defeat... Shiori."
Shiori gritted her teeth as she stared at Reika's Draconic Transformation form.
"Ghk, that bitch! How dare she utter my name from her mouth!"
Although her pride was preventing her from admitting defeat, she was worried about the effects of Draconic Aura on her fellow kin. Since Reika couldn't control her Draconic Aura completely, the intensity grows as the second goes by.
Shiori noticed that Shiki was about to collapse from the aura. Even Sukuna and Satoru couldn't handle the aura anymore.
"Old man Sukuna! Satoru!"
Seeing that her kin was suffering due to her reckless decision, she fell to her knees and dropped her greatsword.
"I..."
Shiori looks at Reika, who is giving her a cold gaze. Her eyes that resemble those of a dragon are ingrained deep in her memory, which she will remember for a lifetime.
I lost.
At that moment, Shiori swallowed her pride and finally admitted defeat.
"I... admit defeat."
Reika heard Shiori's proclamation of defeat and smiled. She deactivates her Draconic Aura ability and reverts back to her original form.
The ogres felt a sigh of relief and tried to recover themselves after being exposed to the intense aura. To them, it was their first time that they felt an extreme sense of inferiority, especially to a seemingly harmless young human girl.
"How wicked her aura was. Earlier, I felt like a thousand boulders were pressing me down." Sukuna murmured.
Is she a half-dragon? To think that she could exert such a terrifying aura comparable to a pure-blooded dragon!
Reika hid the spear and went in their direction to check them. She was worried about what she did to them, especially to Shiori's young sibling.
"Are you guys okay?"
Reika extends her hand to Shiori, who was sitting on the ground, defeated. She heard Reika's voice and lifted her chin.
Shiori stares at her hand reaching up to Shiki, but her expression changes and she shoves it away.
"...We don't need your pity."
Reika was surprised by Shiori's rude response, but she understood why the female ogre acted that way and didn't address the problem further.
The four ogres, along with Reika, went at the ogres to check their condition. Seeing that there are others who lost some limbs, Reika used Restore Heal at them. They were surprised to see her performing miracles and got overjoyed to see their regrown limbs back.
"Human, thank you for your generosity!"
"We won't forget your kindness!"
Seeing that his kin was completely healed, Sukuna went to Reika. Reika noticed him and faced the old ogre.
"To think that we treated our benefactor disrespectfully earlier, I am truly ashamed..."
Suddenly, Sukuna lowers his head. Reika was surprised at his action.
"On behalf of my fellow kin, I would like to sincerely apologize. We will reflect for the sins that we did to you."