Salamander Dragon

Leander was back in the forest, the chilly mountain air making even breathing difficult, and the discomfort of traveling in the mountains were starting to irritate him, but not as much as the fur ball that carelessly lay on his shoulder.

"So how is like... you know... coming out of a va—".

"Can you please stop asking things about my past lives, and I already answered it's wet and disgusting".

Nohrie asked for the hundredth time since Leander had told his history, she had been asking the weirdest questions she could come up with, two days had passed already and she still had a list of questions that never ended.

"Ahhh, enough with questions did you already forget what we are doing here?" Leander was a reincarnate, he had been murdered and endured pain multiple times, his mental fortitude was something that few beings could match, Nonetheless, a black cat pushed his mental stability to the test.

"We are here because you want to learn about spirit magic".

"Exactly, so here is my question how do I capture a spirit?".

"Capture a spirit?" She tilted her head to the side and stared at him as if he was a child asking a dumb question.

"Yes, you said that mages can use spirits in a fight right?"

"Oh, you are talking about assimilating a spirit".

"Assimilate?"

"Yes, there are two methods to control a spirit: assimilate them or make a contract. In principle, the contract is the simplest; you give something to the spirit, and the spirit will be loyal to you, just like me and you, but a contract can only be done with intelligent spirits."

The other one is what we call assimilation, this is more complicated since you have to use a rune spell and also fight the spirit".

"Ok, do you know if there are spirits here?" he asked, taking in what he had just learned.

"Yes, it used to have a lot of spirits here, but I think the majority of them stay away from that field spell Elentiya placed around the house area".

"Hmm... ok teach me the integration technic"

"Are you planning to integrate with a spirit?"

"Yes, it's part of the plan" Since he had discovered the truth about his Family, Leander had resolved himself about what to do from now on.

"What plan?" Nohrie asked excited to know more about it.

"I will tell you at the right time" he flashed a sly smile, making nohrie roll her eyes.

"You should trust more on your partner"

"Perhaps when this companion quits asking ridiculous questions. Let's hurry up we don't have all day just some hours before Celine notices that I'm not in my bedroom".

"Ok, pay attention then"

Nohrie started drawing a set of runes on the ground with her sharp claws.

"First we have to prepare the runes, the assimilation spell uses both Solrien and Luavron magic"

"Wait what do you mean uses both Solrien and Luanvron magic I thought people had just one of these two" He was surprised to see Nohrie talking casually about using two types od=f magic as something normal.

"Ugh sometimes I forget you just started learning magic"

"Is true that people are capable of using just two natures of magic, that's why mages use runes when they have to use both natures"

Using pure mana, she drew three little runes in the air. The white runes became silver, and a little bubble of water formed on top of them.

"See I'm a Solrien mage but I just used water magic, pure mana doesn't have any kind of nature, only when is absorbed into your body is when that mana gains a nature, just like a body, runes are capable of absorbing mana and change its nature"

"Wait but that doesn't mean mages can fight using the two natures?" Being capable of using all the elements could give him an advantage in a battle but Nohrie shock her head negatively.

"No, runes on a fight are completely impractical, unless your opponent patiently waited for a few minutes until the runes finished absorbing mana from the atmosphere".

The bubble of water she made a few apart just after a few seconds of being formed.

"See, the runes take too much time to absorb mana and also can't maintain a spell for much time, that's why you need to prepare the spell before the battle"

She then explained how to make runes using pure mana, he realized when he drew a set of solrien runes they assumed either orange or yellow color, while Lunavron assumed either silver or blue color.

"That's the set of runes to the integration spell".

She Drew two sets of runes, and the runes moved according to her will and arranged themselves in two circles, at the end of the alignment the runes took on a bright red color, she moved the two rune circles to be around her paw as if were a bracelet.

"Now I will cover them with a layer of my own mana to absorb them into my body".

With the final step, the runes vanished, Leander was confused about how runes could be absorbed into the body but he decided to try himself first.

"Now try yourself"

Leander started his first attempt at making a rune spell, he first attracted the mana near him on the atmosphere without absorbing it and using the pure mana he drew the runes, after finishing drawing them he made the two sets move to become two circles and envelop his hand, after having successfully completed the two steps he moved to the final step.

He expelled mana from his mana system to envelope and absorb the runes, the runes began to disappear as they were absorbed into his mana, and he felt them being engraved in his mind as if he had read an entire book in one second and now all that information resided in his mind, Leander also felt the runes mana brimming with power inside his body just waiting to be used.

"Okay, what do we do now?" He asked eager to put his first rune speel to test.

"To successfully integrate with a spirit you need to battle and weaken him first, depending on how strong it will be harder to integrate with them".

"Hmm..."

Leander needed a strong spirit for his plan to be completed; without it, his entire scheme could fail, his magic had been improving but he was still weaker than the merijiya he found in the forest; but together with Norieh, they had a numeric advantage against the opponent, and that could turn the tables in his favor.

"What types of spirits live around here?"

"There are many spirits around, this mountain used to have powerful magical beasts, after they died here some of them became spirits"

Nohrie made the grimoire appear in front of his face and started to babble about the types of spirits that lived there.

"Maybe we should try a Merijiya, a weaker one than the one you faced of course, or there is a really strong one, the humans on that village called Nehem I think is the one that looks like a two-headed snake that has..."

"I think this one is what I'm looking for" Leander pointed at the picture of a spirit on the book.

"T-that one... are you crazy?" She said looking at him with her big feline eye's widened.

"Why not?".

"That's the salamander dragon it's a guardian spirit way stronger than you and me".

"But it's the only one that fits what I'm looking for"

The salamander dragon description said he was born while an ancient temple was attacked, the monks prayed for the entity they believed in to manifest, However, while some of the monks were slain while praying, their faith and determination were so strong making the mana from their corpses coalesced to create a spirit, in an unusual way the dragon salamander was born from the monks' will to guard the temple.

The remaining monks were amazed that an entity had finally manifested to assist them, or so they believed until the salamander dragon began to murder both the invaders and the monks in the temple.

The stench of blood plagued the air while the spirit tore apart soldiers and monks together, the will to protect the temple wasn't the only will that formed the salamander dragon but also the anger that the monks felt toward the soldiers who killed them, the rage blinded the spirit and its will to kill extended to anyone who dared to set foot in the temple, a spirit born of the will to protect and hatred created a creature with a possessive and bloody nature.

Bodies were ripped painting the temple walls red, this incident made people start calling the place the profane red temple.

"YOU SEE THIS, DO YOU SEE THIS?" Nohrie kept pointing at the words killed and massacre with her pawn.

While she freaked out Leander had finished Reading the magic abilities the spirit possessed.

"Definitely the one I'm looking for, it's a spirit that has Solrien nature, has camouflage capabilities, and strong earth and fire spells as well".

"Yeah you just ignored the part that this thing can definitely kill us," She said rolling her eyes.

"It says the spirit doesn't leave the temple and is also a low-rank guardian spirit so we can use this to your advantage, is Worth the shoot".

"A guardian spirit of low level is still a guardian spirit".

A plan to how to defeat the spirit, he knew it was a high risk, but he needed to try it was also a good opportunity to test his actual strength against a real enemy, both his and Nohrie's strength had improved a little over the week but it was difficult to determine how much he has progressed.

"Let's go we gonna fight the salamander dragon".

They both headed to the north side of the hill where the ancient temple was located, the place was hidden among the trees with a long staircase made of stones that led up to its main entrance, the shape of the gate seemed familiar to leander for some reason.

"Looks like the entrance to a Buddhist temple".

He got perplexed after saying that, he remember almost nothing of his life on earth but suddenly the memory of a Buddhist temple came into his mind

"---ey are you hearing me?" Nohrie's voice cut off his thoughts.

"Yes I'm hearing you Nohrie it's actually impossible to not hear you complaining this entire time".

"I'm sorry that my worries about our lives are annoying to you" Nohrie was worried about what could happen, she didn't exactly know the Salamander dragon's strength, for her, this was a suicide mission.

"Trust me even if we lose to him I will make sure we survive

***

The empty temple had a dark atmosphere, knowing its history Leander could almost see how the battle occurred through the claw marks on the walls, the burn marks on the ceiling, and the shattered statues.

He could tell by the smell of blood in the air that anything that went in and didn't get out fast enough was slaughtered.

Leander was in the middle of the entrance, he knew the spirit sense was sharp enough to detect him from distance, and that just standing there was enough to trigger its anger.

The breeze made the bells ring and their sound echoed through the ambient.

"These bells just make everything ten times creepier," Nohrie said, she was riding in his shadows and looking around.

"Pay attention to everything this spirit can camouflage itself".

Suddenly sounds of something breaking far away caught their attention, Leander turned around to where the noise came from but found nothing there besides a broken statue.

"BEHIND YOU IN THE COLUMN" Nohrie screamed.

Without turning around Leander jumped as far as he could, he couldn't waste, and just as he thought a hole opened where he had been standing before.

The salamander dragon turned off his camouflage when he realized that he had been detected revealing his menacing figure

The spirit was four meters high and six meters in length, its appearance resembled something between an oriental dragon and a salamander, both his front and hind paws had thick claws, he had few dark blue scales yet his black skin seemed as tough as they were and made his reddish purple eyes seem more threatening.

Besides the weight the spirit was fast, he closed the distance between him and Leander in a few seconds.

"Nohrie now"

"Got it".

Nohrie used her solrien magic to make metal spikes that came out from the ground, not only solrien mages could control eath but the different types of minerals in it as well, but unlike Elentiya or Celine Nohrie's spell was weaker but was enough to touch the Salamander dragon skin without breaking.

That was all Leander needed, he used his lightning spell on the metal, and his knowledge of otherworldly magic also helped on discover how to create lightning in this world but the result was just as he expected.

"I was right".

The salamander dragon didn't even flinch the electric discharge wasn't strong enough, and the spirit didn't even bother with spikes since they couldn't even scratch his skin, he opened his mouth, and a jet of blue fire came out eating the spikes.

Without wasting one more second he made a thick ice wall appear in front of him, he knew his spell wouldn't resist against a dragon's flame, his control over mana was too amateurish, and he was wasting too much more mana than necessary.

"Nohrie is time for phase two"

"Ok"

Nohrie started to gather mana for her next Earth spell but suddenly her elemental affinity with the element became weaker.

"Leander something is wrong" she shouted her intuition made her look around in time to see walls of earth rising from the ground.

"ITS A FILED SPELL".

Leander started to run immediately, the Earth walls that raised from the ground looked like the ones from the temple, it was as if a replica of the temple was rising from the ground to trap them.

"I thought a field spell wasn't something that can be made in seconds like that" More walls started to rise trying to trap them there.

"It's a simple field spell but still if we get trapped here with that thing we are done for".

Nohrie had seen this type of spell before, To create a simple field spell a mage had to spread his own mana on the atmosphere and manipulate the elements in a wide área, mages used this type of spell to trap someone and she had no idea the salamander dragon had this mastery over magic.

"Right there".

Leander used air magic to propel himself and got through a small gap between the walls, he had to keep running, the spirit had just dissolved the Earth's walls into mud and kept chasing them.

"It's a simple field spell but it still takes a good amount of mana, he is weaker but still not enough" Nohrie had been analyzing the situation to give them the best openings to attack.

"We should move to the last phase then," Leander said amid heavy pants, again his child's physique was slowing him down.

Before going down the stairs he made an ice slope the thin layer of ice made him slide down, yet even as they descended the stairs the spirit did not slow down, Nohrie and Leander had to dodge two more fireballs aimed at thir heads.

"Nohrie now".

Nohrie came out of his shadows, she hung on his head, and launched two fireballs at the nearby trees that began to fall, Leander had cut the two trees in half with a slight push he had set this trap using the forest environment against his opponent.

The trees fell on top of the spirit, pinning him in place, it was the opening Leander needed, using all the mana he could muster, ice spikes as sharp as a metal blade began to rain down, and the ice blades began to make small cuts in the salamander dragon's skin.

"You will have to stop, more than this and you won't have enough mana to maintain the assimilation spell" Nohrie could feel his mana vessels becoming empty.

"All this just gets some scratches on his skin".

Leander searched for the runes of the assimilation spell that were engraved in his mind and released them, the red runes formed in the air around the spirit, mana on the atmosphere reacted by being absorbed into the runes and red lightning struck from all sides, Leander felt that a connection was being established between him and the spirit it was similar to the one he had with Nohrie but different from a contract this one was being forced.

However, the strength of a guardian spirit couldn't be underestimated. Blue flames took his body, burning the trees that imprisoned him.

"At this pace, we're never gonna make it" Leander knew the damage he dealt wasn't enough to make a guardian beast weaker enough to be assimilated. Nohrie's mana was also low, leaving him with only one option.

A six feet tall ice spike started to form in the air; he used all the humidity in the air to make the ice sturdy as a stone; his mana both being used to maintain the runes circle and make ice, and he could feel his body quickly getting weaker.

"Stop it, if you keep using mana like this, it could backlash" Nohrie had been monitoring both his and the spirit mana, she couldn't let leander waste any more mana on this.

"J-just a little bit m-"

While concentrating on the ice spell, the salamander dragon was able to free himself from the trees, his skin completely covered in flames. When Leander finished his ice spear spell, the spirit was already capable of moving freely again, the spell aimed at the head only managed to Pierce the tail, without any care the dragon kept moving thanks to his salamander nature he could easily regenerate his limbs.

The runes circle collapsed since it couldn't retain a guardian spirit by itself. with a clear opening, the spirit shot a blast of blue fire at Leander, and a wall of earth rose up to defend him, but the barrier was not strong enough to contain the flames, and Leander was thrown down a few meters, crashing down the stairs.

"Are you ok?".

"Yes," He covered himself with ice to avoid breaking bones but the rest of his body had some bruises.

"If you are so smart to cover yourself with ice you should also know you couldn't defeat this thing".

The spirit ceased pursuing Leander as soon as he exited the temple grounds, he used a burst of air to descend the stairs faster.

"Still the only damage we dealt on him was with that ice spear"

"His skin was harder than I thought".

"Well it was a good first try, we already know what to do next time"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NEXT TIME"

***

The calm breeze made Elentiya's hair dance in the air, In the distance, there were several destroyed buildings craters on the ground, and marks of flames, it was undeniably the scenery of a battle.

The battle had ended a few hours with Elentiya being the winner, her generals were considered the strongest mages in Altaphor but they couldn't help but feel like children now, standing at her side their title of high-tier mages felt like a joke.

They were suddenly attacked by a group of mages all of them using both Luavron, Solrien, and spirit magic, three of them were strong enough to handle a guardian spirit by themselves, but Elentiya whipped them out as if she was dealing with mere insects.

"Ulric, Eleanor you two will start gathering resources for people who live in this área, let the rebels know that we took back the north of altaphor" She didn't even rest from the battle and already started shouting orders to her generals.

"As you wish my que—" Eleanor was about to start moving when her jay almost dropped on the floor.

What she saw was a woman.

The roots of her hair were black and the rest of her hair was a bright red color, they swayed slightly in the air, her eyes were golden brown and seemed to give off a light of their own, her face had perfect proportions and her black painted lips seemed to give her an aggressive but seductive air at the same time.

Eleanor was sure she liked men, but for some reason, she could not take her eyes off the woman's body, her body was curvy and the neckline in her dress guided her eyes directly to her large bosom that would make most women envious, the way she walked swaying her hips from side to side had an almost hypnotic effect, and her white skin slightly tanned was soft and reflected the light in a mystical way.

Ulric was caught by surprise as well For a few seconds, the woman's figure overleaped with Elentiya's figure in his mind as if the woman's appearance had become similar to Elentiya or even prettier than her, which was confusing, he considered his liege the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"What a beautiful show you have presented me Elentiya, I guess the Solrien wreath never changed after all"

Her voice was as seductive as hers looks, and Eleanor notice something strange it was as if the volume of her voice was only loud enough for one to barely hear making you want to lean closer to hear her better and at the same time it was as if she had whispered right through her ear.

"Amryne what do want here, I don't remember giving you permission to travel in Altaphor"

Elentiya had a contemptuous face looking at the woman when the two of them got close to each other Eleanor unconsciously compared the bust of the two of them, Even though Elenitiya was above average she was beaten by the woman.

"So aggressive I'm only passing by".

"You were here since the battle started and didn't lift a thinger to help me, well coming from someone like you is not a surprise"

"You say that but you should remember we signed the virsune pact, I can't fight inside your domain".

'Virsune pact?' Both Eleanor and Ulric thought at the same time.

Elentiya glanced back for a moment and just as she expected all her generals were staring at Amryne incapable of moving their eyes from her.

"If you want to stay here turn off that little annoying trick of yours at least".

"Oh, my bad you know I can't control this" Amryne replied with a mischievous smile.

Suddenly all of her generals felt as if their attention was back to normal as if before their eyes were driven to her body and face almost unconsciously, Eleanor also noticed that Amryne's figure had lost a bit of its brightness, she was still stunning but she no longer had this mystical aura around her.

'Was that magic?' She didn't know what happened but she doubt it was magic, she was a high-tier mage and even if someone used magic meters away from her she would detect.

Umbestknow to Eleanor, she was right, Amryne was a virsune like Elentiya; Virsunes were one with mana, and magic was their second nature, something they used almost unconsciously, Elentiya presence was like the sun, whatever she stood people would feel the heat coming from her.

Amryne was the same, but her nature was more mischievous and seductive, her body was covered by a thin layer of ice that made her skin shiny, her eye had mana to make them glow, and she often had fun using air magic in her voice to make people bend down to listen to her, but her most know trait was the water spell that made a weak hallucinogenic mist, making people who glanced at her for a little while end up seeing people they considered attractive.

This earned her the title of goddess of beauty, like Elentiya she was a leader, not of a kingdom but of a cult, she loved being worshipped as a deity, and of course, that was just an excuse, in fact, Amryne loved to train and collect humans whom she considered beautiful transforming them into her servants.

Her acts and nature were why Elentiya felt disgusted with her, both leaders also shared a rivalry from ancient times.

"What do want here don't tell me you came into my county just to collect man," Elentiya asked.

"Eh the nerve you got to say something like this to me Elentiya, I remember you had almost as many lovers as I had".

"You don't have lovers Amryne you only use people like toys" Elentiya grunted.

"Pft you Always have been grumpy, and what It's the problem of me snatching some men here and there... don't tell me you're scared I'll end up snatching one of your offspring and having him all to myself" Amryne licked her lips only at the thought.

"DO YOU DARE SAY THIS TO ME BI*CH" Elentiya realized a pressure that almost made everyone there faint, Even Amryne knew she would lose to this woman in a fight.

Amryne had Always tried to seduce one of Elentiya's offspring, she couldn't even imagine how good she would feel when she could accomplish to do this and see Elentiya's face when she discover it, but due to Elentiya's overprotective nature, she never realized her dream but would continue trying.

'~Oh the greatest pleasure of taking your enemy's offspring to the bed, I can't even imagine how much pleasure I would feel' She thought taking one of Elentiya's sons would finally make her the winner in their rivalry, and she also would brag to another virsunes about how she was the first being to take something from the Solrien Wreath.

Because of her second intentions, Amryne had been banished from entering Altaphor multiple times, Elentiya Always made sure she couldn't even come near one of her offspring.

"Well I guess I will have you banned a hundred years again" Eleniya was ready to kick Amryne's ass into the neighborhood kingdom.

"No need to be so aggressive, I'm already going to the Merdjin Kingdon I heard something interesting had been happening there," She said licking her lips.

"As something interesting you a means a young promising adventurer?" Elentiya said with disdain and raised her eyebrows she knew better than anyone else how this woman liked to mess with another kingdom's affairs if she found herself bored.

"This as well... I don't have time to waste on battlefields like you, oh and as a sign of my goodwill I will let my priestess help with your situation, she is strong enough to beat these insects that are troubling you, I think she will arrive in a week on Altaphor please treat her well she is one of my favorites pieces of collection bye"

Amryne opened a portal and vanished to get quickly as possible to the Merdjin kingdom