Dragonlord

Ep 10. Pay Your Respects. (5)

“Hold.”

Bruton, too, attempted to summon his draconic features. True to his daughter’s words, he found it impossible to summon any of them back. The elder dragon then quickly turned to face the barrier, making his way back to the other side. The barrier offered no resistance.

Immediately after, he summoned his draconic features again – successfully. His wings were perfectly intact, as were his horns and tail.

“…Seems to be the barrier’s doing.”

Bruton gripped one hand into a tight fist as he drove it into the wall to the left, smashing the ice into bits. If it was the barrier’s effect, the dragon figured that he could simply circumvent the translucent wall by breaking open some space to its side.

Unfortunately, what he instead found was not an open space, but an extension of the same barrier. In addition, the ice on the other side was securely intact, as if his strike had no impact across the thin wall of water.

Serenis frowned at the discovery of the barrier extending further, and the fact that the ice on their side had no damage whatsoever. She looked towards Raizel, who had been watching the elder dragon.

“Raizel. Can you try the same on our side of the wall?”

“Smash it? Sure.”

Raizel drove her own fist into the ice from the opposite side. She expected it to shatter effortlessly, just like how the ice had all the way here.

Instead, her strike left nary a scratch as the frozen wall absorbed its impact.

“…Huh?”

Raizel struck again. A thunderous noise echoed from the strike, but no damage was dealt to the cavern’s interior.

And again.

And again.

Nothing.

Finally, Raizel garnered a significant amount of mana as she reinforced her arm, driving it into the wall with tremendous force.

A small dent appeared on the wall of ice. Then, it soon froze back.

“Hah…no way.”

“It’s not your fault. The ice within this barrier doesn’t seem to be the same as outside; it’s been heavily reinforced with mana.”

‘And not by natural means, either.’

Bruton retracted his features once more and crossed the barrier, joining the three within.

“…It’d be a wise point to turn back. It’s quite clear the barrier was not built to welcome intruders.”

“Intruders…”

Serenis thought about the statement.

The barrier had discriminated against the features of the dragonkin. That could only mean the barrier’s creator meant to treat the dragonkin as intruders.

‘Why? What is it about this place that warrants such discrimination against the kin?’

“I’m not turning back.”

Surprisingly, it was Ilias that had broken the silence with her sudden announcement. Bruton sighed as he began to reprimand his daughter.

“Ilias, this isn’t a trip; this place could pose actual dangers. The mana’s density is unnatural, and you’ve already seen how tough the structure is within. We’ve even been robbed of our wings.”

“Exactly, father! How DARE they? I have to see what this place is hiding.”

“What, you weren’t joking, old man? Go home if you want to. I’m not going anywhere until I see the end of this place.”

“Raizel!”

“Besides, I like it here. Now you two know what it’s like to live without wings.”

The dragonlord was still deep in thought.

Morphing into a humanoid body was a tradition amongst the dragonkin, and a skill hatchlings learned at a very young age. But even if they were to morph, most preferred to keep parts of their draconic features intact. Conventionally, these features were the horns, wings, and tail – though some kin opted for more or less.

But if someone were seeking to take that away...

“Ilias.”

“Huh? Yes, lord?”

“Can you try undoing your morph completely?”

“Completely? Um…”

Ilias briefly took a moment as she closed her eyes, concentrating on undoing her morphed form. When her eyes opened again, she let out a disappointed sigh.

“…Sorry. Doesn’t seem like I can do that in here either.”

“It’s not your fault. I only wanted to check.”

Whatever was in here, it was not meant for the dragonkin to reach.

And if Serenis’ heart was in here…

“Any of you are free to turn back if you wish.”

With that, the dragonlord began making her way forward again. Her steps were much slower to avoid the ice that were now unreasonably reinforced, but she still showed no hesitation in venturing deeper.

“Sure, we can leave that geezer behind.”

“Wait, I’m going too!”

As the two girls trailed after Serenis, Bruton let out an exasperated sigh as he followed after them.

“Ilias, Raizel, how about you two go back home. I’ll accompany the lord.”

“What good would that do? You’re weaker than both of us.”

“I hate to agree with Raizel, but this time she’s right, father.”

“How many times have I told you two, with old age comes experience and wisdom?”

“…But isn’t he the oldest one here?”

Raizel pointed at the human boy, or more precisely, their supposed dragonlord. Serenis merely spared a momentary glance at Bruton and turned her eyes away, continuing down the path.

“What’re you so scared of? It’s just some ice.”

Raizel kicked at the nearby pillar of ice to prove her point.

Unfortunately, the pillar lit up in a bright purple light, as if it was angered by the unwarranted violence.

“…Uh. Woops?”

Following suit, three spell circles appeared at Raizel’s side, each of them launching sharpened metallic projectiles at the dragon.

“Raizel!”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

One of the three iron bolts ricocheted towards Ilias, which she caught inches before her eye.

“…Woah, that was close.”

Raizel rubbed her cheek. It was trembling from the shock of the impact, but the bolts had failed to do much more on the metal dragon.

“Close for you, maybe. I barely felt that.”

“That’s because your head’s made of metal. I bet your brain’s full of it too.”

“…Is that an insult?”

“See?”

Meanwhile, Bruton was sighing in relief that neither of them were hurt. But Serenis’ expression hardened as she saw the trap activate.

‘…Any other kin could’ve died to that.’

Could a few iron bolts kill a dragon?

Even dragons couldn’t survive large metallic bolts piercing through their heads in their human forms. However, to have such bolts hit their mark would require them to be fired at an extremely close range, or for the dragon to be rendered immobile – neither of which were normally possible. The dragon would also have to remain in their morphed forms until the bolts killed them, lest the metals become tiny stings after their transformation.

But this cavern met all of those conditions.

The space was relatively enclosed. The excessive mana in the air hindered with detecting such traps, which could then be easily activated at extremely close ranges. Undoing their morph was also blocked.

Serenis looked on ahead. The frozen corridor seemed to stretch endlessly like an enormous maw.

“…What is this place?”