Chapter 7

In the evening, Naruto walked back to the park filled with bruises and cuts, which was the same for Ella. The gates of death were open indeed and Naruto learned firsthand what that meant as the city was infested with the creatures who were all bloodthirsty for his life, mortals and the demi's.

'Even then it was very productive, we got some armor for both of us and Ella seems to pick up techniques perfectly with her eidetic memory.' Naruto walked with a painful gait as he had been mauled by countless beasts and had learned the painful way to not carried away in destroying monsters or else many of them would gather to end him.

"Ahh" Ella screamed as she fell from the sky, she had insisted on carrying herself not to burden him but it seems the damage was bad. He quickly moved and caught her, even with the armor that covered her upper body below the neck she didn't weigh much.

"Ella, I will carry you so stop moving" Naruto said gently as he looked at his new friend with worry

Ella looked at him and saw that it hurt him to see her in pain so she nodded demurely.

"If you had just listened and done this systematically instead of getting carried away because of the time limit, you would have been alright. It's not even that close as you still have two weeks and even if it goes down by a few days, it should be enough for you to fight the dragon." Gaia's voice entered his ears and he could feel that she was very annoyed at his recklessness

"Sorry but I need to best I can do with your method I would not have gained as much. This pain is bearable but death of innocent life would haunt me forever knowing that I could I have saved them as such I cannot risk it. Those little one depend on me so I have to live up to their expectations." Naruto replied in a determined tone, he felt the innocence of the nymphs and their pain so he wished to liberate them

Gaia sighed and smiled, "Okay I accept that but please be careful. I do not like to see you in pain."

Naruto could feel the affection in her voice and the pain she felt communicated through her words and nodded.

"I know you will not like this but I wonder if I died would I also be able to walk out through the gates." Naruto asked with a controlled tone while keeping his eyes away from Gaia

"You can but don't ever let that happen as the place you will appear is one of the most dangerous places for you. You will appear on Tartarus who will be able to sense our connection and try to have you killed by hordes of monsters. To make it worse I won't be able to accompany you there so you won't grow stronger to fight them off." Gaia said in a serious tone hoping that day never came as Naruto would most likely perish without getting at least one of his artifacts back.

Naruto felt a chill go down his spine, "Good to know." He said with a sigh as he had lost one more easy way to power and even gotten an actual restriction unlike other monsters.

"Is there any news of the Olympians?" Naruto asked to change the topic

"You are safe as they are being occupied by the Gigantes, my other children that have opposing abilities to the Olympians." She said while looking down in shame as she wished they didn't exist anymore. 'Curse Him, for not letting me do what I want.' She really wished to curse him but was scared he might do something really bad for her and it could be anything.

"So that vision I had of a demi fighting was probably against one of the giants"

"Whose child?"

"Zeus"

"It should be Porphyrion; he is the King of Giants that opposes Zeus." Gaia said thoughtfully knowing they would fail already as the Olympians had heroes on their side to turn the tide.

"He seems to be out in the wild so we can meet him first and see how it turns out after I have tamed the dragon."

"What? Tame the dragon, you didn't mention that." Gaia spoke with accusation in her voice

"Well we need a ride or else how am I supposed to move around. I can't fly and I don't have my speed anymore, this is the only logical route obviously that is if the Dragon surrenders." Naruto said as he looked at the tiny figure floating in front of him. She stared back equally with a powerful gaze and nodded as she understood.

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"Welcome Naruto, how was your outing" Alice came and greeted them at the entrance, she felt filled with hope seeing that the champion was trying his best as witnessed through his many wounds

"Very productive, though if you wouldn't mind do you guys have any fruits to eat." Naruto asked as he really wanted to taste food and the things out there were not natural he could sense impurities in them; he didn't want scavenge the whole city for just some food when he was already occupied.

Alice felt happy that they could be of use and nodded, "The dryads can provide you with healthy fruits as you desire, these can increase your vitality and heal wounds." She explained with smile on her face as she guided them towards the location

She told them to sit down while she went and brought some fruits while they were waiting Naruto put Ella down and started healing her with the remaining energy he had so that her wings don't get crippled.

She moved and moaned in pain as the healing set everything right and by the time he was done, he felt completely drained.

"Now I understand how normal people feel, how can they even do so much with such low reserves of energy?" Naruto muttered in disbelief as his new energy was truly just a drop of his real reserves.

"That's what strong people always ask, as they see the weak doing things through ingenuity." Gaia answered as she understood what he meant; she had also encountered such scenes before in her endless life.

Naruto also knew that but he really couldn't see himself getting use to this as he always had such high reserves. He looked at Ella and smiled while messing with her beautiful hair as she rested her head on his lap and giggled when she felt his touch that made his fatigue lower seeing such a pure person.

The wind nymphs had already started gathering around them and enjoyed the feeling of his energy while he healed Ella. Before they could all pounce on the blonde champion, Alice came to the rescue.

"Children, do not disturb them." She said in a maternal tone and they retreated while looking back with sad expressions.

"Sorry about that but they seem to have gotten attached to your presence."

"It's alright, I like it when they gather around me and it makes for a beautiful scene."

Alice nodded and put down some fruits in front served on a leaf, "Here are the fruits as you wished, please enjoy."

"Thank you" Naruto said as he picked one and fed it to Ella

"No problem. I wish to ask, if you would require our service in fighting the dragon" Alice asked as he floated beside them and it didn't seem like she wanted to leave

Naruto took a bite out of the fruit and saw the wandering gaze of Gaia; he smiled and picked up a small treat to feed her. She opened her tiny mouth and nibbled on the treat while his hand held it, the scene was really cute and he could help but smile widely. After she had finished Gaia looked away to hide the happy face while Naruto looked towards Alice.

"I didn't wish to do this but yes, I would require the wind nymphs to cause trouble for the dragon in the air and the water nymphs in case of a fire so they can be ready to douse it out. I will do the rest along with Ella." He said as he his hand picked up a fruit to eat

Alice nodded thoughtfully and she hesitated before saying, "Can I be of assistance? The dragon is an aerial threat and you don't seem to have flight capability and it would hinder Miss Ella if she carried you. So in this case I can help provide flight capability for you." She finished her words with conviction and slight embarrassment

Naruto knew she just wanted to help as Ella would have zero problems carrying him with her increased powers, even then he still asked with curiosity, "How?"

"By combining, a nymph of high level has such a capability. I would become the armor your wear and take flight against our enemies." She said with determination while hiding her embarrassment

"Haha" Gaia couldn't stop herself from laughing which made the scene awkward and out of place

Alice was lucky that she couldn't be seen clearly or else she might have felt worse. Naruto could see that it took courage to consider such thing so he didn't dismiss it but enquired, "Can you show me how it works?"

He said gently while putting Ella's head down on the grass bed while standing up. Alice nodded with excitement as this ability was inherent to them and no nymph had ever done it because it was sacred and not something done with just anyone along with the requirement of affinity which Naruto passed with high marks.

Naruto stood waiting for her to do the thing and she didn't disappoint as she started, the wind picked up and as she extended her hand touching Naruto her body flowed around him. As it moved it started taking shape of a wind armor that had wings on the back and crown on the head made of wind, Naruto felt warm as he was embraced by Alice.

He understood why she felt self-conscious when suggesting it as her body had embraced him and he was lucky that he was wearing clothes. But it was well worth it, he felt power once again and felt that his movements had become smoother and faster.

"You should be able to move like the wind" Alice's voice rang inside his head

Naruto nodded as he took flight and checked if he could move like before, the test was a success and he had no problem moving. His wind attacks had also received a boost making his planned method of attack easier.

'I should make a version of this once I get my powers back, it looks cool.'

Naruto landed near Ella who was looking at him with excitement just like all the other nymphs who felt more willingness to believe in him once they saw Alice give herself to Naruto.

"Do I have a chance now?"

"It really shouldn't be difficult anymore with all our resources unless it brought back up or the parent decided to attack."

Naruto nodded, "You heard it Alice. With your help it became easier to do this task." As he said it Alice separated from him and he could feel that she was fatigued slightly by the fusion.

She smiled happily at being of use and not having to completely rely on someone else.

"Does this cause you to lose energy fast?"

Alice wanted to deny it but she looked at him and knew that he already understood, "Yes but we can definitely go on for an hour." She said desperately as she didn't want him to change his mind

Naruto would have preferred an alternative but it was impossible, "Okay but take care of your body."

Alice nodded and excused herself to rest so that she was in full health for the encounter.

"So why did you laugh?" Naruto looked her accusingly as she almost made the poor woman cry

"Nothing much, it just looked like an out of the way confession" Gaia said with a calm tone and smile

"No such thing, Alice was just trying her best to provide assistance."

"Yeah, provide help" She said meaningfully as she took flight and sat on the tree

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A.N Hope you enjoyed and comment

I hope this was good.

This use for nymphs just came to me when started writing today and completely changed what I had planned before. It looks like the transformation, Yuno from Black clover has with the wind spirit

It seems people had kind of had the similar thoughts about the dragon as what I had planned. I didn't think of any other monster to tame so you could recommend one and I will think about it.