10 Dispute

After only a few minutes of walking, the encumbering effects of the curse could no longer be felt as I heard a shackle break in my mind; this immediately caused Meridith to draw her daggers and stab me in the right side of my back.

Alarmed, I whipped my tail up and smacked her off my back while turning in the direction in which I sent her flying.

"Who are you?" Meridith asked as she got up nearly unscathed from a small crater in the tree she crashed into. She wiped some blood off her armor and dashed towards me with her remaining dagger.

Meridith's speed was that of a car's on a city street. Her 30mph sprint crossed the distance between us in mere seconds. She finally came to a stop near my right paw. I spun around again, dragging my tail in a 360-degree motion, which caused it to become a fatal whip.

She leaped over my tail and threw her remaining dagger at my head. I ducked the dagger and looked up only to see her above me in a frontflip. Meridith's leading foot crashed down onto my head and slammed it into the ground. I had just suffered a huge blow, but this was no time to stagger. I used the momentum of my head falling into the ground to whip my tail. I wrapped it around her upper waist and slammed her into the ground.

As I stood up, I flicked my tail and smashed her into a small tree. I then jumped forward and punched with all my strength. The tree collapsed and my tail throbbed with horrible pain from the impact. My draconic claws, not meant for punching, caused my sharp talons to stab down into the palm of my hands.

I used my other hand to grab into the crater I'd made and retrieve the body. I assumed she was still alive. Meridith jumped out. Her clothing was in tatters, armor destroyed, and her body bruised and bloody, but she still had the strength to glare at me angrily.

"You little piece of shit," she said as blood dripped from her mouth.

"I do not want to fight you Meridith, just listen please!" I replied trying to stop the bloody dispute.

"Now I am going to come at you with my full power! Beware, for I am The Mirden Menace," She shouted as her blue eyes shifted to green.

The ground between us ruptured and five huge wooden wolves leaped out of the earth. Two of the wolves leaped at me, another two ran to either side, while one stayed back near Meredith.

'If I could only breathe fire, this would have gone so much better!' I thought as I prepared myself for the wolves in front of me.

I slashed my frontal claws at the wolves dismantling them in one swipe. The wolf to my left came at my rear legs and tried to take out my ankle. Before it could do so, I lifted up my leg and slammed it to the ground, crushing the wooden beast.

The two wolves to the front had regenerated and pounced at me once again.

'Shoot, how am I going to defeat Meridith if I am never rid of these wolves?' I thought as I leaped over them. As I landed, the wolf to my left jumped on me and tore through my wing rudder with its claws.

"God dammit!" I swore and grabbed it with my right claw. I got up on two legs and hurled the wooden mutt towards Meridith with all my strength. The biggest wolf, the one that had stayed behind, jumped up and intercepted its brethren, successfully protecting Meridith.

"Just die already you dumb dragon," Meridith screamed out as her eyes went deep black.

When her eyes changed color, an unknown force radiated from her. She became a heater spewing raw power as she looked up at me.

"Die!" She stated angrily. With that, six holes appeared five meters away from me at every angle. Huge vines sprouted from each hole and lashed at me indiscriminately. All five of the wolves ran around to either side biting freely. The battle seemed lost.

I was taking a heavy beating from the vines, and the wolves were taking nips at me, slowly draining my strength. Just when I was going to give in, everything disappeared into thin air; a break from the onslaught at last.

"How?… What?… No!… Stop this dragon! Fight me with your full power!" Yelled Meridith, seemingly confused about how her magic was dispelled.

"You leave me with no choice," I replied in an angry growl and jumped towards her, bewildered at what just happened.

Meridith's eyes again turned green but nothing happened. They flashed back to blue which caused her to panic, but it was too late.

I slammed her into the ground with my full strength and released a barrage of punches. When my fury ended and the dust cleared, there lay a bloody elf barely hanging on to consciousness.

"How?" I heard her say

"How can you stop my magic? No dragon has ever survived my lotus lockdown attack. How did you do it?" She asked, defeated.

"I don't know," I answered and picked her up. Her body lay face up in my claws; a ragdoll with limbs spilling over.

I used my other claw to search for hidden weapons or anything she could use to hurt me. There was nothing, so I took the dagger in my back out and tossed it to the side.

"We could have talked it out you know," I stated as I scanned the surroundings for other enemies.

By the time I finished the sentence she was unconscious. I now had to think of what to do with her. I couldn't just kill her, but I couldn't let her go either. She said the elven city was close, so by the time I got out of this forest, I would be surrounded by elves.

"There is only one thing I can do," I said as I placed her in my mouth. I redirected my system to the second stomach and swallowed her whole for safekeeping. I also completely filled up my second stomach on berries; I knew she would be hungry if I kept her for too long.

I will deal with her later. Now I need to get to the volcano.