Chapter 257: The Land Dragons Nest (1)
“This is my first time in a dragon’s nest. Where are we exactly?”
“This is like the front yard.”
“Then there must be an entrance to the main house somewhere.”
It’s likely a small, hidden passage.
Based on my experience so far….
The Land Dragon probably also has a human form, like Cayen and Emilia.
Their living quarters would be separated accordingly…
If this is the parking lot for their dragon forms, then their human living space must be accessible on foot.
“Let’s go to a higher place and take a look around.”
“Good idea, child. Then I’ll fly up and….”Emilia’s expression hardened as she realized something.
Her horn is broken….
She can’t transform anymore….
“I’m sorry…. Child….”
“Are you going to apologize every time this happens?”
I flicked Emilia’s forehead.
Flick!
“Ouch!”
“Let’s get some exercise, Emilia.”
“…!”
Emilia covered her enormous breasts with her arms and protested.
“B-But Mommy isn’t out of shape! Don’t tease me!”
“Are you going to spank me with the rod of love?”
“You’re such a meanie….”
That she wasn’t out of shape became apparent an hour after we started walking.
“Pant
It’s hot!
Whether it was geothermal heat rising from the ground or something else, the primeval forest was like a sauna.
The ground was uneven.
It was a pain to have to cut through outstretched branches and ancient plants with Dawn Moon every step of the way.
Emilia, on the other hand, just sweated a bit as she strode along behind me.
“Child, are you tired? Shall Mommy carry you?”
“Or should I clear the obstacles?”
“No, I’ll do it.”
I puffed out my chest and pretended to be strong.
I don’t know why.
Maybe I’ve been playing mommy and child too much….
I didn’t want to look pathetic in front of Emilia.
“Oh my…. My child, you’re such a man. So cool.”
“….”
Emilia massaged my shoulders.
She even opened my canteen and helped me hydrate.
Wah!
This is the life!
“Huhu….”
I decided I had to hard carry for Emilia’s sake.
I popped the last of the preserved food from my backpack into my mouth and kept walking.
Soon, we spotted the Land Dragon’s knights searching for us.
“Emilia, this way.”
I blended into the flow of mana, concealing our presence, and evaded the dragon knights.
We simply let them pass first, but just avoiding immediate detection gave us a significant advantage.
Emilia’s stealth skills, despite her appearance as a sexy dragon mommy, were quite impressive.
Not surprising, really.
She’s a dragon.
She’s lived a much longer life than me.
Even though she couldn’t transform into a dragon anymore, her strength and wisdom from her long life as a dragon hadn’t disappeared.
Should we fight here?
‘I feel bad for these guys, but….’
We have to do what we have to do to survive.
If even one of them gets away to report to the Land Dragon,
Or if they call for reinforcements… we’ll be surrounded.
“If we’re spotted, our goal is to subdue everyone.”
“Yes, child.”
I said that, but the dragon knights’ search formation was closing in on us, suffocating us.
We were like fish caught in a net.
We had to escape this primeval forest to have a chance of entering their nest….
“Search everywhere! For Lady Alremene!”
“Yes, sir!”
Alremene.
Is that the name of the dragon who attacked us?
After Alremene appeared, Cayen started openly targeting Emilia and me.
Perhaps….
Iris seems to have decided to become an enemy of the Empire, even willing to kill me, the Empire’s envoy.
It’s incredibly reckless, even considering there are no other countries to worry about.
Either she’s undergone a drastic change of heart recently, or….
‘Because the situation has changed?’
The Ice Dragon Iris hates the Empire enough to use herself as bait to bury her trainer.
Throughout the long history of the Dragon Kingdom being ruled by the Empire, Iris is the only dragon to have done such a thing.
That’s how deep her resentment towards the Empire runs.
She might have been biding her time when she was powerless, but things change when a hero lends their support.
Especially since the hero is fighting for the noble cause of liberating the gates, she can trust and join forces with them.
But this is all from Iris’s perspective.
The hero has no reason to waste time in the Dragon District, which is in the midst of a civil war.
Defeating the pro-Empire dragons isn’t exactly a trivial task, but it feels like one in the grand scheme of things.
‘Instead of messing around here, shouldn’t they be attacking the city?’
I don’t know.
I can’t understand everything yet.
Enough thinking, I took a deep breath.
Let’s focus on getting out of here alive. Once we defeat the Land Dragon, we’ll naturally learn the things we don’t know.
I don’t know if we’ll get such a good opportunity… but we have to do our best.
Emilia and I lowered our bodies and moved forward.
For now, we had to focus on putting as much distance between us and them as possible.
Once the knights search the area we came from, they’ll find the traces of the dragon’s fall and come back!
‘Quietly, quietly, let’s pass through.’
Holding our breath, we slipped through a gap in the search formation.
…Success.
We let out a sigh of relief and quickened our pace, straightening our backs.
“Child, over there!”
“Where?”
Emilia tugged my arm and pointed somewhere.
A narrow, steep path on the cliff face….
At the end of the path was a dark hole leading somewhere.
From afar, it looked like a small dot, but it was wide enough for a person to pass through.
“Found them!”
“There they are!”
Ugh, dragon knights!
We weren’t the only ones who found the target.
Knights armed with copper-colored light armor, one-handed swords, and shortbows quickly surrounded us.
Damn, they’re not amateurs, are they?
Emilia and I stood back-to-back, watching the soldiers’ movements.
“Target confirmed, the woman with him appears to be a dragon!”
“Her horn is broken, we can handle them ourselves.”
Emilia’s expression darkened at those words.
“I’ll protect you.”
I said, pushing Emilia behind me.
“Child…?”
Emilia looked as if she had seen the sun rise at midnight.
This is embarrassing….
“Just watch me show off, Emilia.”
“Yes, child!”
The soldiers chuckled.
It was clear mockery.
“Hey, I get that you want to show off in front of your lady, but surrender quietly before you get hurt.”
“Then we’ll spare your life.”
“As for the woman… Hehehe, we can have a little fun with her without leaving any marks, right?”
“Look at the size of those milk jugs. A dragon is a dragon after all.”
Any intention of sparing them vanished from my mind.
No one touches Emilia. Not even her husband.
She’s my woman now!
‘Proof of Existence…!’
I cut my arm with Dawn Moon.
“Attack!”
“Block with arrows!”
They’re quick-witted, aren’t they? Must be from handling blades all the time.
But too late!
I dashed forward, leaving Emilia behind.
“W-When!”
“He’s a monster!”
Monster?
With Elizabeth manifested, my movements were faster and more dazzling than any earthly creature, so it was understandable that they would think that.
“Let me tell you this now, you brought this upon yourselves.”
Internal monologue insertion.
The knights in front of me stopped what they were doing and craned their necks.
With light footwork, I weaved between them, slicing their throats as I passed.
A rock falls from aboveA simple one-line monologue.
But by slipping in a cue that humans can’t help but verify, inflicting fatal wounds was no longer difficult.
However, this monologue would be reversed as soon as they confirmed there was no rock, so I had to finish the job within one or two seconds.
“Ugh…”
“Gurgle…”
“Cough…”
In that time, I could easily slice through their necks, which were unprotected by armor.
Not all monologues were inserted simultaneously.
I inserted them one by one, starting with the closest enemy, and sliced them down.
It was a continuous bloodbath, pulled off with extreme concentration.
If Cecil were here, we could have taken out the guys in the back too….
That’s a bit of a shame.
“Attack the woman too!”
“It’s a dragon with a broken horn. Don’t be afraid!”
I knew they’d do that.
Does Emilia look tasty to you?
The arrows aimed at Emilia stopped mid-air, unable to advance any further.
“Aura Deployment.”
Because I blocked them with my aura.
Due to the extremely simple yet powerful aura that repelled anything approaching Emilia….
The arrows, caught between the force propelling them forward and the force repelling them, shattered into pieces.
“T-This… isn’t magic!”
“Run away!”
“Inform Lord Land Dragon!”
I knew this would happen.
I adjusted the range of my aura and the monologue to insert.
Scooping out… the ground all at once!
The fleeing knights disappeared into the sunken ground.
“Ahhh!”
“Aaack!”
“Aaaaagh!”
Leaving behind only screams.
“Child!”
Emilia jumped into my arms.
I basked in the full embrace of the dragon mom’s thick, motherly body.
“It’s the first time in my life someone said they’d protect me, child…!”
Our dragon mom, acting her age, jumped around excitedly.
She was so cute, I hugged her tightly.
“But, was it alright to kill them instead of subduing them?”
“They said they’d touch you, so I didn’t want to let them live.”
“My child…”
Any further explanation would just be cheesy.
I held Emilia tightly and kissed her.
As if to declare our victory, I sucked on Emilia’s lips, ignoring the knights groaning on the ground.
Those who are meant to live will live, and those who are meant to die will die.
“Chup…. Chup…. Mommy…. Mmm…. only has eyes for you, child…”
“They’re over there!”
More are coming from the other side.
I broke the kiss and looked at Emilia.
“Let’s go, Emilia.”
“Yes…”
I took Emilia’s hand, still dazed from the kiss, and ran.
No one was brave enough to follow us immediately after witnessing the gruesome scene I had left behind.
Everyone values their life.
Even the knights are just the dragon’s slaves!
We left the primeval forest and ran up the steep path.
“Ahh…. Ahh…. Oof…!”
“Why are you making those noises while running!?”
“M-My breasts are jiggling….”
I decided not to look back.
I can’t run with a boner, dammit!
“Stop!”
“Halt!”
Damn it!
As if they couldn’t let us escape right in front of them, the knights swarmed towards us.
Arrows flew in a threatening arc, as if they would hit our backs any second.
Just a little further!
“Child, I’ll get rid of the path!”
“The path?”
Emilia stopped and turned around.
“Step back, child. It’s Mommy’s turn!”
I was already busy backing away.
It’s hot!
This heat filling the air, I’ve felt this very recently…?
“Fire Dragon Unleashed…!”
This is… the technique Cayen used.
Using dragon power in human form…!
A burning sword appeared in Emilia’s hand.
It’s this hot, and yet this is a safe zone?
Everything in front of her was already melting.
Then, Emilia stood with her legs together and elegantly swung her sword.
“Draw!”
I watched clearly.
As the steep path melted away like butter!
The thought of her using that on a person… sent shivers down my spine.
Even with a broken horn, a dragon is a dragon….
The knights, witnessing Emilia’s crimson sword, collapsed on the spot.
“D-Dragon!”
“Why is a Fire Dragon here!”
“S-Save me!”
Emilia sheathed her sword and looked at me.
Her smug face was adorable….
I realized something belatedly, and my face flushed.
‘Who’s protecting who here!?’
“Hee hee, I guess Mommy is still useful, right?”
“…Damn it. I’m never saying I’ll protect you again.”
Embarrassed, I turned away, but Emilia clung to my arm and acted cute.
“Child~ Mommy was so happy just by your thoughtfulness!”
When you say it like that… so gently….
It hurts my pride even more that I was sulking.
“The power of the Fire Dragon is unsuitable for protecting someone in battle…”
“Ugh. I don’t need that kind of explanation.”
I’m the one who looks pathetic now!
Emilia’s smile widened even more.
“I love you~. Child.”
Emilia’s sweet, melting voice, trying to cheer me up….
My heart melted along with it.
“…Let’s move on to the next area!”
“Mommy is so happy~ adventuring with you~.”
I grabbed the dragon mom’s breasts for no reason.
“Ahh.”
A lewd sound immediately escaped her lips.
I was satisfied.
We ran towards the bright light at the end of the passage.
“Can you use that… multiple times?”
“Ahh…. Yes…. It’s my trump card, so I can’t use it consecutively!”
Trump card…
So other dragons can also use pseudo-breath in human form if they want to?
I’ll have to be careful.
Soon, we emerged into a brightly lit space.
As I had expected, the passage led indoors.
This was also part of the Land Dragon’s nest. It was the perfect analogy to a bedroom.
At the entrance to this “bedroom,” a man with ash-grey skin blocked our path.
“I knew you would come.”
The Black Dragon, Cayen.
“Step aside.”
“By Lady Iris’s order, you will die here, Geum Taeyang.”
Cayen’s sword pointed towards Emilia.
“We both have to fight in human form due to our injuries, let’s settle this here.”
“Child, step back.”
“Emilia already used her power once.”
It was my turn to step up.
Cayen seemed rather pleased.
“I’d be grateful if you faced me directly, it saves me the trouble.”
“Where’s the Land Dragon who was persistently chasing us?”
“…Alremene is… resting.”
“…And you’re here instead?”
Cayen closed his mouth.
This isn’t even your nest, why are you risking your life to fight?
Because of that woman Iris’s orders?
“Did Alremene promise to marry you?”
Emilia suddenly blurted out.
“Marry?”
“….”
It seemed like a complicated mechanism of dragon society that I wasn’t privy to.
Does the female choose the male?
If so….
There’s no need to ask why this guy is fighting here.
“It was a short acquaintance, but let’s end it here, Taeyang.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
I deployed my aura.
The Anti-Dragon Invincible Barrier.
“I’ll defeat you and go up there to see what this Alremene looks like.”
“…What are you planning to do after seeing her?”
To Cayen’s innocent question, I responded with the expression of the world’s most vulgar, third-rate villain.
It was hard to resist the urge to taunt him.
If I had practiced licking my blade, I would have been licking Dawn Moon’s sharp edge.
“Do I really need to spell it out for you?”
“…You bastard!”
Cayen drew his sword and charged.