20 seconds, that was the total time elapsed from the moment Nala turned serious until Abigail was knocked out. Even though Inessa had experienced several similar situations before, she couldn't help but be surprised.
It's like watching someone playing chess; the outcome will always be the same, but the process to get there is entirely unpredictable. Sometimes it's smart decisions that lead to victory, but sometimes the most foolish decision can lead you to the same fate...
Unfortunately, Inessa isn't on the side with the advantage at the moment; on the contrary, she's just an amateur playing against a professional who is still trying to understand what happened in the game so far.
But Nala didn't give Inessa time to think about it; soon after making some plans, she focused back on the task at hand. When Inessa realized it, Nala had already started flying rapidly and gaining altitude, coming towards her with unfriendly intentions.
Inessa thought about fighting somehow, but the chances of that choice succeeding would be almost nil. So all that was left was to try to flee... So she began flying away as fast as possible, but it was to no avail.
Nala was in better physical condition, and Inessa barely had the strength to keep flying. It took only 3 seconds for Nala to catch up to Inessa in her attempt to escape. As she got closer, she dug the claws of her front paws into Inessa's tail, completely stopping her desperate flight.
When Nala stopped in mid-air and stabilized her weight, she managed to make a pulling motion with Inessa's tail, while simultaneously rotating her body 180º. With some wing movements and quick hand exchanges, she managed to reverse the flight direction while still holding Inessa's tail.
As she changed position, Nala swung her own tail sideways and precisely whipped Inessa's head, leaving her disoriented and temporarily immobilized.
Once Inessa was stunned, Nala used the opportunity to quickly hurl her towards the ground. But as she began to fall, Nala seized the opportunity to grab Inessa's front paws with her own.
Face to face, Nala bit Inessa's neck and began doing the same thing she did with Abigail. But this time, she was gaining even more momentum.
*BBOOOOMMMM*
After gaining enough momentum and being less than 40 meters above the ground, Nala again used her neck as a lever to launch Inessa towards the ground. And the same thing repeated itself; a second hole was made a few dozen meters from the previous one.
Both Abigail and Inessa were quickly and effectively knocked out. With no means to counterattack, all that was left for them was humiliating defeat. Nala once again proved to be a massive barrier, impossible to overcome by them at this moment.
Even if they had a fanciful and well-planned plan, it's questionable if the result could have been different in any way. Even after so much effort, the two of them together couldn't even land a single effective blow on Nala.
On the other hand, Nala couldn't have been more disappointed and relieved about it. She watched from above for a few seconds to see if either of them would regain consciousness. To her disappointment, neither of them made a move or showed any sign of waking up.
She hoped that at least one of them would resist, but the hopes were not high. Fortunately, she also felt relieved because finally the combat had ended, and she would be able to enjoy the rest of the day with Apollo.
Soon, Nala began to glow, and a slightly yellowish smoke clouded her dragon form, but quickly she transformed into her humanoid form, and the glow and smoke dispersed.
Dropping about 5 or 6 meters in height, Nala landed on the ground without the slightest sign of injury or fatigue. Not even dirt could be seen on her clothes, but they were getting wet because of the sweat starting to trickle down Nala's body.
She had a joyful and relieved expression, as if she were satisfied with the small activity she had just done with Inessa and Abigail. After adjusting her hair and clothes, Nala stretched and flexed backward and forward.
"Huurgghh... Aaahhh... Alright, that's enough for today. I think I'll take a bath..."
After stretching forcefully and flexing her muscles, Nala looked around and soon spotted a small audience about a kilometer away from where she was. So she thought for a moment about what to do and decided...
"He's coming with me..."
At this moment, Nala just wanted to go where her protege was sitting, put him on her shoulder, and jump straight to Avior's bathhouse to enjoy the remaining free time they had before getting busy again.
This is perhaps the thing she enjoys most after she started residing in Avior, five years ago. Even a three-hour session of intense combat training no longer makes her heart race with excitement.
Now, Apollo is the best and greatest source of joy and fun she has found in the last 100 years, or perhaps even more. Just being silent with him is enough to amuse her.
Fortunately, she only needs to make a small gesture with her hand...
Fold a small piece of space...
Step into that fold, and... Here he is... Standing together with three companions about to walk in her direction.
He's been here since the beginning of the tedious combat training between her, Abigail, and Inessa. And as soon as she reached where he was, she opened her arms, put a smile on her face, and said:
"We have an appointment, Kiddo. Let's go take a bath."
_______________________________________________
No matter how hard I try to remember, I never recall reading about Dragons training combat skills. It's always mentioned that dragons are true fighting machines, but it doesn't make sense for them not to be trained for it.
I didn't even know dragons could train for combat until I saw Nala's training for the first time. But if we stop to think, even animals can train their skills, whether in practice or not.
A mother bear teaches her cubs to fish... A mother cheetah teaches her cubs to use speed... A mother tiger teaches her cubs to kill efficiently... Lionesses teach their cubs how to choose and ambush their prey...
It doesn't make sense for a mother Dragon not to teach her children how to fight and hunt... That's exactly why I was so fascinated and at the same time felt so stupid when I saw Nala training with Mom and Abigail for the first time.
There's no reason for dragons to rely solely on their fire breath, especially when the main adversaries are other dragons. It takes skill, fighting experience, tactics, and a lot of effort to achieve victory.
But just like in any other type of combat training, practice is needed to perfect it. It's at this point that I discovered one of the most striking and disturbing characteristics of the Dragon society in this world...
Dragons have a high tolerance for physical pain...
Something obvious to think about, of course. Dragons are a massive structure of pure muscles hardened and tempered by aura covered by a layer of scales as hard as diamonds. So yes, it's not a simple saber sting or a war hammer blow that's going to make a Dragon feel pain.
But the fact is that the tolerance for pain of dragons doesn't work like that, at least according to what I've discovered so far. To better understand, we must compare the body of a dragon with that of any other humanoid...
On a one-to-one scale... If a dragon loses a scale, he feels as much pain as a humanoid feels when a hair is plucked out. If a dragon loses a claw, it's the same pain as a humanoid losing a fingernail.
Apparently all normal up to here... But everything changes when we come to extreme pains, for example, losing an arm. The Dragon feels the same pain as the humanoid, but the dragon can easily continue fighting even without the arm if necessary.
It's like comparing the pain threshold of a professional fighter and a sedentary person... The pain is the same, but the ability to withstand pain is ridiculously different... Dragons are the professional fighters, and it's useless to try to reach them.
Imagine that an elf like Aglaya has a pain threshold rated at 10. You can't accurately measure these data, but I suspect that Abigail, for example, has a pain threshold rated at 100 or even more than that.
Patreon
Ragobur· Feb 14, 2024
