I picked one of the doors on the side of the long hall and ran. A jet of flame rushed past me. The hairs on my back started to burn. Boy! I did not miss the feeling of my body being on fire. The side room I entered was filled with tools, raw metal, and more. This forge seemed smaller than the ones I saw outside so this might be a private forge. 

 

“Trying to run? I won’t allow it. Someone must pay for my enslavement. Blood is owed and it shall be SHED!” The dragon said. 

 

Temprus was a dragon but he wasn’t really what I thought of when I imagined dragons. The best examples from my old world would be Dragons like Grigori from Dragon’s Dogma. Intimidating and merciless. They are the apex predator and the personification of the villain at the end of the hero's journey. This dragon fits the theme perfectly. His voice was deep and filled with hate. His body might be thin but it moves powerfully despite itself. If I wasn’t in mortal fucking peril I would be giggling at how cool this was. 

 

“How about we talk about this instead? I know an excellent day spa in Nicodranus where we can get a full-body massage done. You want a manicure?” I asked. 

 

“I will tear the flesh from your bones and feast on your liver!” He screamed. 

 

“Okay, so you are hungry. I know this excellent tavern in Rexxenturm that has the best alcohol. I pay,” I said and leaped over an anvil. 

 

Their massive tail flew over heads and smashed several rows of tools. 

 

“I will rip open the mountain of Uthodurn and expose the city to the sun for the first ever time. Then I will burn it to the ground,” he proclaimed. 

 

The mountain began to rumble with his every attack. The walls began to melt and small streams of lava began to poke from the walls. They must be connected to the volcano. It’s probably some kind of lair effect. A few powerful creatures could turn places into their own personal domains. For example, a Silver Dragon can cover a large section of their domain into solid illusions. I didn’t remember what a Red Dragon could do but I was willing to bet it involved fire. 

 

I slipped under the Dragon by transforming into a deer and escaped back into the main hall. Pasha was still unconscious so I ran to her and transformed back into the giant spartan form. I scooped her up into a princess carry and ran for the exit. The volcano began to shake. This Dragon is going to collapse the whole fucking mountain. I need to get the prisoners out of here. 

 

“Come on Pasha wake the fuck up!” I said and slapped her. 

 

“AAGH! What, fuck, huh?” She screamed. 

 

“Focus. Big Dragon chasing us. We need to move. I am faster so I will carry you. Don’t argue.” I said quickly. 

 

The hallway in front of us broke apart a bit as lava began to pour from the ceiling. The doors behind us smashed open as the Dragon squeezed into it to chase us. They were melting stone as they clawed at us. 

 

“Fucking hell that thing is melting stone. Run faster,” she said to me. Didn’t have to tell me twice as I kicked open the doors to the mines. 

 

Lava was now pouring from all parts of the ceiling. The support beams that held up some parts of the chamber had now fallen. They blocked the way further into the mines. I looked for the prisoners and saw them rushing out the gates leading to the ramp up the tower. I let Pasha down. 

 

“I will hold the Dragon. Go get those people out of here,” I said. 

 

“I will not let you sacrifice yourself. The gods want you for something and I will not fail my mission,” she said. 

 

“I didn’t fucking say I was going to die. Get them out of here then come fucking help me. I should manage for a minute. His fire might actually hurt me but my regeneration still works a little,” I said and shoved her towards the gates. 

 

The Dragon only seemed to weaken my immunity to make me only three-quarters or so resistant to fire. That was more than resistance which halved the effects. And the most fortunate thing was that my regeneration was still working. I got the power from a Hydra so I thought it would stop working like it does with acid but that didn’t seem to be the case. 

 

I turned back into the hall. 

 

"No more running? Good!" The Dragon screamed. 

 

“What can I say? I am willing to make this work,” I said. 

 

I was unsure why I felt the need to taunt this Dragon. I felt bad for them. To be captured for who knows how long and mistreated so badly. This wasn’t a wild animal but a deadly smart and powerful being. Dragons lived for thousands of years and were some of the best natural spellcasters around. Simply having draconic ancestry could make you a spellcaster. To capture one and use them to guard a treasure vault was a disgusting thing to do. No matter what color personality or color of their scales I didn’t wish this on any Dragon. 

I transformed my body to be fully covered in Sea Serpent scales in hopes it would give me the best protection. Next, I blew frost all around me to cool off my body and the surrounding area. There was zero percent humidity here so I didn’t create much ice. If I could have gotten a rest I could have linked with the 10 new Fire Giants. I would probably been able to solo the Dragon then but I will need to hold on till the others get here. 

 

I ran forward. The Dragon unleashed their breath weapon and a torrent of fire spiraled down the hall. I held my arms over my face and kept running. I could feel my scales singe from my heat. I gave some antimagic a try but it had no effect. The flames disappeared and the maw of the Dragon snapped at me. I grabbed both sides of their mouth to stop him from biting me. 

 

“You know I am serious about the help. If you would fucking calm down we can see about getting you some real help,” I said. 

 

Their throat began to light up again so I moved out of their mouth and let go. They snapped their jaws shut hard. Before they could blow a second breath I pushed their head into the wall and held them there with my foot and some tentacles. They responded by swiping their claws at my body. Slashes and cuts I could deal with fine but his breath weapon hurt like a mother fucker. 

 

“I don’t care what you can do. Whatever I want and need I will take! No one will stop me ever again and I will not be shackled,” they said from their muffled mouth. 

 

I don’t think I will be able to talk sense into them yet. Once they die and go to the Soul Dream I might get my chance but for now, I might need to stop this Dragon. It feels weird to kill people and then help them with mental trauma but this dude is talking about killing thousands of people so drastic measures and all. 

 

“This isn’t personal then. I would love to let you go but I can’t let you go on a rampage of destruction,” I said. 

 

All during this fight my entire body has been cooking. The Dragon had an aura that was melting everything around us. More lava has begun to fill the hallway and I have to be careful not to sink into the melting floor. 

 

They smashed their head into the wall causing a bunch of molten stone to splash on my arms causing me to recoil in pain. Free from my grip he bit into my side and pushed me down the hall. I tried to stop him but I was sliding along the floor and couldn’t find friction anywhere. We popped out into the mining area. I couldn’t see any of the prisoners, nor could I see Aqen and Pasha. 

 

“Your pity is vomit-inducing. I am not some weak and misbehaved dog. I am the King of Mountains, Ruler of Magma, and Breaker of Chains. I will not be belittled by some shapeshifting abomination!” They yelled. 

 

“Oh get over your fucking pride. It doesn’t hurt to let people care about each other. You better fucking kill me because if you don’t then you and me are going to talk for a long time about how to deal with your emotions. Shit I know I fucked up doing just that a while ago and it lead to me destroying my life. I got my second chance and have been trying to make the most of it. If I have to drag you kicking and screaming through your second chance I might fucking do that,” I said. 

 

This dude was getting on my nerves emotionally speaking. It's not okay to take your negative feelings out on others by burning their homes to the ground. Are they like this because of their scales? Dragons can be stereotyped by the color of their scales. All the good-aligned dragons were of a metallic color while all the evil dragons were chromatic. Red are the most prideful and wrathful of the bunch. Also the strongest too. So are they acting this way simply because it’s their nature? That is bullshit. 

 

“ENOUGH!” They screamed. 

 

We were tumbling through the mine now. Carts and tools flew into the air. Ore and iron melted around us. I kept freezing my body and sometimes theirs with my breath while he kept burning everything around us. 

 

In the middle of our fight, a shiver went down my spine. I was the hottest I had ever been in my life but I felt cold. A shadow appeared behind the dragon's back and it sliced down at it. The figure of death solidified into Aqen as she slashed the Dragon with her scythe. 

 

“AGH. More of you now? You should all just DIE!” They screamed in pain. 

 

Aqen didn’t have my protection as she and her cloak erupted into flames. She teleported away. I lept back from the Dragon and joined her 50 feet away from the creature. 

 

“Edsom, Pasha has taken the prisoners outside of the fortress and is escorting them to safety. We should leave,” she said. 

 

“No can do. They are going to attack Uthodurn and who knows where else. We can’t let them get free,” I said. 

 

“Are you sure? You don’t look good,” she said and cast a spell to heal some of my damage. 

 

I looked down at myself. I was so focused on the Dragon I didn’t undo transformations just made new ones when I needed them so I was covered in dozens of shrived and charred limbs. Around half my body was charcoaled. I couldn’t feel anything right now. My regeneration was having a hard time keeping up with the damage but it was trying its best. Only the adrenaline was keeping me awake right now. 

 

“I can finish this at least. Might need you to carry me out of here. Also, I would like the final blow if you can spare it,” I said. 

 

“I will see what I can do. Be careful,” she said. 

 

The Dragon wasn’t waiting for us to finish as they had melted a huge pile of mine carts and ore into a molten pool. Then they stuck their body into it and came out covered in molten metal. Damn, that is cool. 

 

Aqen fired off a few rays of necrotic energy and disappeared into smoke. I let the Dragon rush me and caught both of its claw strikes. The first I fully stopped but the second was sticking into my side. I held onto both of its claws and blew a frost breath at the metal on its body. It would only slow him down for a few seconds as the metal reheated. He returned the favor by showering me in fire. 

 

“I don’t normally kiss on the first date,” I said. 

 

“I will probably be fine. Might need to lay down for a day or two,” I said. 

 

“I am going to enjoy ripping out your tongue. And when it heals I will do it again. I might let you live just so I can keep doing it over and over again,” they said. 

 

“Kinky,” I said. 

 

“Wait no. Gross,” they said. 

 

I did a good job of distracting them as they didn’t see Aqen channel a large bolt of necrotic energy and fire it from her fingers. The beam struck the Dragon in the back and I saw what was left of their wings whither and break away. Their thin body began to shake and the scales down their back cracked. 

 

They pushed me down and crushed both of their claws into my sides. The metal they covered their body in melted again and started to drip onto me and into my wounds. I could feel several dozen bones break and my organs boil. My vision faded a few times but I held on barely. It was their mistake to let me so close to his heart though. I shaped my vestige into a spike and stabbed them in the chest. I pierced their chest with my spike but I don’t think I made it far enough. Come on Arsenal kill them. As if answering my prayers I could feel the vestige grow. It extended and came out the other side of the Dragon. The bone white color of the vestige grew a dark crimson.