Checkmate

-- POV Gaya --

I was finally surrounded by the people I had come to find and they were all healthy and happy that I had arrived despite a great fear. When they learned of my connection to Freya they all knelt down, but I wasn't the Empress so I didn't want them to kneel down either.

Ever since Freya had confessed her feelings to me I had vowed to stand by her and help her, if she was the iron hand I would be the silk hand. Since I was with her, I had understood that she was not the warmest with the others and despite a soft temperament with Shiro and me she was still very intimidating. Even today I still get chills down my spine at the thought of her piercing and dominating gaze that seemed to read my soul. Even though she was only loving with those she considered family, Freya still retained her extremely dominant side that would always give me chills.

*Sigh*

As everyone got ready, I sighed because I already missed her. I was completely hooked and all I was waiting for was to be able to go home and have her finally marry me. As Empress, Freya had a lot of responsibilities and even though the battle with the humans was over, our wedding had to wait until the Kingdom was settled. I couldn't help but feel excited as I muttered in my corner.

"She told me that she wanted the wedding to be beautiful and that she would like to carry me into the bedroom herself...hihi~"

I was a dragon and had lived much longer than Freya and yet I looked like a shy girl barely out of her teens caught in her nets. As I finished my sentence, my cheeks turned red and hot as very specific images appeared in my mind leaving me with an embarrassed smile.

*Get a grip on yourself, this is not the time to be thinking about this !*

I was trying to get my head around it but my brain couldn't stop thinking about what would happen once I was on the bed. I was completely absorbed by these images where I could almost feel her touching me, kissing me, licking me and even biting me. Sweat was pouring down my forehead as I couldn't hold still and forced myself to forget about these last 5 minutes for my own mental and physical health.

While I was mentally fighting with myself, Yorr and Elyon had approached me discreetly a little intrigued by what I could be doing turned towards the wall.

"Um...Gaya-sama ? We're ready to go !"

Regaining my seriousness despite my red face and sweaty hands, I looked around to see that everyone had the few things they had in small backpacks.

"We don't have much because we ran away with nothing, the ones who are the most loaded are the dwarves who carry stones and minerals of all kinds."

Elyon explained this to me as he pointed at them. The 15 dwarves looked almost mute, in their worlds and unfriendly but appearances were not to be trusted. They looked like the type to grumble and be cheeky but they had already shown great respect when I had arrived.

"All right. If you can carry everything I don't see a problem with you keeping these...stones."

The dwarves bowed their heads in thanks as I smiled before explaining what to do next.

"A horse is waiting for me at the entrance to the cave, it can only carry two or three children at a time so we'll have to take turns. For the moment I will go out and make sure there is nothing dangerous, we are traveling with more than a hundred so any risk must be avoided. I am going to ask you please to wait a little bit more until I come back. Please don't go out no matter what !"

Everyone nodded their heads at my command because no one was unaware that the dangers were real and that one wrong step could lead to their death.

Waving goodbye, I headed back to the exit to inspect the surroundings. Even though I had hidden my horns, I still had the hooded cloak on just in case. The sun was still in the sky for a few more hours which would make us travel a bit by night. The mare that my wife had given me I had named Pearl because her eyes shone like two beautiful pale pink pearls. She was very docile and just as Inferno had done with Freya she seemed to have accepted me.

Pearl was waiting for me at the entrance and as I gently petted her she neighed as if to ask me where I was going. The two horses that my wife and I had seemed particularly intelligent despite the fact that they were "just" horses. As she shook her head I quickly calmed her down and explained.

"Shh stay here okay ? I'll be back soon !"

The mare calmed down as she watched me leave, looking for the least amount of trouble around. The forest was quiet and no creatures dared to approach sensing the difference in strength which made me think that we shouldn't have too much trouble going through it. I was walking without really knowing where I was going, walking between the trees and scanning the surroundings when all of a sudden some voices were raised on my right.

"Honestly, I don't believe in this story !"

"Oh yeah ? And why ?"

"We've been combing the forest for weeks without finding anything. We started by the South, the East, the North and now we are obliged to go towards this enormous mountain but I doubt that this famous wolf is here. If you ask me, it's that little shit of a nobleman who invented this story after having killed his two teammates."

I still couldn't see who was talking and how many there were but one thing was for sure, this human was talking about Freya. The voices seemed to be heading not far away into a kind of large natural hole in the ground almost resembling an arena. It was only possible to enter by road, as natural earth walls surrounded the area, preventing any escape.

*I think I'll go and have a look*.

As I approached this hole hiding among the trees surrounding this place, I could see that the humans had set up a small camp inside. There were 5 tents arranged in a circle and a huge campfire in the middle. The humans must have been adventurers and there seemed to be 5 of them. I couldn't see their levels like Freya so I could only assume.

*They look to be C-rank or maybe B-rank, either way I don't think anyone is above level 15.*

I leaned in slightly to check if I had missed anyone when the same voice was heard again just below me. The same human who had been talking about Freya was still shamelessly talking about her.

"Honestly, if that wolf really exists and we kill it, I think I might actually keep something hahaha~!"

He was an old adventurer, quite muscular, blond with black eyes and while he laughed out loud his companion next to him looked at him horrified in panicked whispers. He was smaller, frailer and had brown hair and eyes.

"You...you don't think about it, it's forbidden ! It's a guild mission and paid for by the Duyer family to boot ! You can't do that, if you do that you are literally stealing from our employer. What if the boss hears you ?"

"So what ? Since that bastard lord died the city and upside down so I can help myself a little right ? I'll just take a fang or two and wear it as a necklace, I'm sure that would be really classy. Oh and stop with the boss, he doesn't need to know that !"

I hadn't lost a beat of their conversation as the blonde haired human talked loudly about skinning my wife. As I walked away to observe from another place, the little adventurer uttered the name of the pretentious adventurer and then at that moment all discretion was no longer possible.

"Wait ! Beauty !"

"PFFHAHAHA~!"

I had burst out laughing. When his name had reached my ears my mind had gone white as it superimposed the image of this proud, pretentious, and...ugly human on his name. Yes, this man was extremely ugly and his name was Beauty. I couldn't help but laugh while holding my ribs because in all my dragon life I had never heard such a thing. Tears welled up in my eyes as the two adventurers spotted me.

"YOU ! GET DOWN !"

Beauty didn't seem to get that I was laughing at his first name so with the idea of gleaning information about, what they were searching for and exactly how many adventurers they were, I complied. As I walked down the small hill to the path, the two adventurers looked at me suspiciously because of my hidden face.

"Why are you here ? Show your face !"

The human spoke to me without any respect as he reached up to forcefully remove my hood and uncovered my face.

"Oh, you should have told me earlier that a goddess like you was hanging around ! What are you doing here ? Would you like to play a little game with me ?"

The ugly man had suddenly changed his tone as he looked at me with disgusting eyes, sliding his fingers over my cheek and licking his pale blue lips. He wasn't shaved and up close his stench stung my nose so much I couldn't help but wince. I was caught off guard and could not suppress my unease. All half-humans or creatures generally had a much better sense of smell than humans and as a dragon I was no exception to the rule so finding myself so close to him made me nauseous.

"What ? What's wrong with you ?"

Beauty snarled as he began to yell at me, holding my wrist tightly and sending a mind-boggling amount of spit in my face. I was still stunned by the horrible smell that kept seeping through my nostrils. I didn't know how long these adventurers had been in the forest, but it had been quite a while.

"You think because you're a little cute you're better than me huh ? You'll see if you'll still be proud with that !"

As Beauty finished his sentence and pulled a dagger out of his sleeve, I was still a little confused and dazed. He pointed it at my face before attempting to cut my skin with it. I barely had time to get out of the way and pull back before he had already touched one side of my cheek.

*Are humans always so touchy ?*

As I stood up with a clear head, I could feel a little blood running down my face. There was a cut just below my right eye on my cheekbone, slight but visible. I had come down on my own to look for information but I was taking way too long.

*Damn it, I should have taken care of it directly !*

I had listened to a man spit on my wife, I had lacket of discretion because of an unfortunate, if funny, mishap, I had almost fainted because of the stench of a human and on top of that I had a cut on my cheek.

It had been over ten years since I had fought a human but there was no time to bring up old demons.

"All right, that's enough..."

As I stood up irritated and serious, I stared at the blonde adventurer with contempt and mostly disgust before speaking to him.

"You ! You can hurt me, stare at me, insult me but I forbid you to talk about the woman I love in this way ! You wanted to play is that it ? Well let's play !"

Just as my sentence was finished, I pulled out the two daggers I had hidden behind my cloak, behind my back before launching myself in their direction. He had not had time to understand that his throat was already cut and his arms broken. Approaching the boy I looked at him with a friendly smile before asking him a question.

"How many adventurers are hanging around the mountain ?"

He was shaking and stammering but I had managed to figure out that most of them hadn't arrived yet, that they would arrive tomorrow at dawn and that for now 5 had been sent out to scout.

"Thank you."

While it was his turn to have his throat slit, three other adventurers came out of their respective tents alerted by the noise, weapons in hand. The lone archer wasted no time as I could already feel two arrows heading at high speed for my position. Jumping up and spreading my wings, I rose into the sky to avoid the projectiles that were far too slow to be able to hurt me.

"A...a half-human...kill her !"

Humans hadn't changed one bit in decades and I couldn't help but wonder if their entire race was so bad as I charged at the archer to punch him in the face turning his neck 360 degrees.

"Die !"

The second one wasn't smart and had screamed behind my back before even launching his attack. I had no trouble ramming my blades into his skull while the last one ran away.

"Wait !"

Running after him and reaching him very quickly, I kicked him sending him flying against the earthen walls of their lair killing him instantly.

"You wanted to play...we played. Checkmate !"

I had gotten the main information about the adventurers and knew that we should therefore hurry and leave. Touching my wounded cheek, I couldn't help but shiver as a single phrase came to mind.

*She's not going to be happy...*

____

FULL STATUS

Name : Freya

Age: 0 years old / Mentally: 25 years old

Sex : Female

Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult

Race : Major Demon

Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.

Dragon tamer

Ruthless slayer

Level : 32/70

Exp needed for next level: 22 100 / 33 000

HP : 90 000 / 90 000 MP : 45 000 / 45 000

Strength : 390

Defense : 386

Agility : 400

Stamina : 403

Speed : 392

Intelligence : 390

Charisma : 410 (imperial she-wolf)

Attribute points to allocate : 0

Married to: Gaya

Daughter : Shiro

Kingdom (menu)

Subordinates : 385

Humans killed : 148

Elements: Ice / Chaos

Skills (all):

Attack - Demon Claws (Lvl 5)

- Bite of hell (Lvl 5)

- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 6)

- Fighting techniques (lvl max)

- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)

- Demonic aura of the empress (lvl 5)

Defense - Ice demon wall (lvl 5)

- Demonic cloak (lvl 5)

Pain Resistance (lvl 3)

Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 1) - (under condition)

Others - Humanoid form

- Ice creation (Lvl 4)

- Storage of chaos (Lvl 3)

- Devouring chaos (Lvl 4)

- Analysis

- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique

- Telepathy

Passives - Commander (lvl max)

- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]