Dragon Hunt

After my curiosity on measurements was sated, we went to the guild and checked in with Ann to see if there was anything else we should know. There wasn't so we left the city for the village.

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It only took about 3 hours to reach the village with a few pauses along the way to kill various monsters.

When we reached our destination, we immediately went to the home of the village head and knocked on the door.

A woman looking about 65 opened the door with a polite smile, "Hello, is there anything I can help you with?"

I nodded, "Yes, I'm Max Frost, this is Lila and Elaria. We heard you have a dragon problem and requested the guild to send someone, now we are here. Is there any other information you can tell us?"

Even if it should only be mildly difficult, I firmly believe information is king most times and can help avoid unexpected pitfalls, so I'll take anything I can get, especially if it's free.

Her smile changed from polite to genuine, and she opened the door further, motioning us to come in, "I'll go get Albert to help you, please have a seat, I'll be back in a moment."

She hurried out the back door while Lila and I took a seat at the pine wood table, and Elaria stood behind. I could see the house had a kitchen, dining room, and family room. There were other rooms off to the side, but I couldn't see what they were.

The woman returned following a man about the same age, "Thank you for coming, I'm Albert Burrows, the village head. I'll answer any of your questions to the best of my ability."

"Max Frost, is there anything you can tell us about the dragon?"

He shook his head, "Not much, it's gold in color and comes from the east-southeast every night stealing our livestock. Even if we put them inside, it will break down the structure to get them."

I nodded and stood up, "Alright, we'll go take a look."

"Thank you for your help."

We exited the house together, and he pointed the exact direction it comes from.

We moved in that direction, hoping to find it before it attacked the village again. We could have waited for it to show up, but I wanted to go home tonight, and if it showed up, the village might get damaged in the process.

"Elaria, do you know of any good way to track down a dragon?"

After thinking for a bit, she replied, "Almost all other monsters fear dragons, so there won't be any other monsters in that area. Also, it should emit an aura of its element, such as the surrounding feeling very hot or windy. It also may have trampled the area knocking down all the trees and such."

I nodded, "Alright, let's look for those."

Lila jumped on my back and pressed the heel of her black leather boot into my crotch, saying with complete innocence, "I can see better from a higher place."

Suuuurrrrre.

I could feel the back of my shirt along with the front of her skirt riding up with every step I took.

Suddenly, I could feel some slick skin against my back and almost tripped, "L-Little Pervert, are you not wearing any panties?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her face feign exasperation, "No, they're too troublesome to put on."

What do you mean they're too troublesome? You don't even dress yourself anymore. Not even a child would believe you.

She was achieving the desired effect, and I had to stop her from moving her heel, moving it away as well as pulling my shirt back down, "You're hornier than a succubus, wait till after we kill the dragon."

"Mmm." Her eyes glazed over for a second before returning. "What's a succubus?"

"A sex demon."

Her face turned slightly jealous then pleased. I felt a chill run down my spine and got the feeling I had missed something, even though I was the one doing the explaining.

We reached an area that felt as though not even a cricket was living here. It was an eerie silence with only the sound of rustling grass, giving the feeling like a ghost could jump out at any time.

Walking a little further, it felt as though the temperature kept dropping, even to the point Elaria was shivering. I cast a personal shield around each of us, and Elaria used a small fireball in her palm to warm the air inside the shield. Lila and I weren't affected as much due to our cultivation; it still felt cold but not shivering cold. It seems as though this dragon's element is ice.

We only got about another 100 yards when a pillar that seemed to contain an entire blizard rushed at us.

I didn't know how strong this dragon's attacks were, so I put up several barriers in succession.

Crash!

The first barrier held but a spider web of cracks appeared.

I made Lila get down since I wanted us to be able to move more freely if needed.

Looking in the direction the attack came from, I could see the trees had been blown away, and all that were left were mangled, frozen stumps.

At the end of the devistation, a golden dragon with four legs and wings was charging up another attack. I got the feeling it would be even more powerful than the previous.

I changed the barrier to a frontal shield that would be stronger than an all-around barrier and stacked 2 together. Another advantage of the shield is we could move forward with it, like the smaller, weaker personal shields, so we started moving closer.

"Lila, you attack with the strongest spell you have."

Elaria with only 1 circle probably couldn't even scratch its scales, so I didn't bother telling her to attack.

A large pillar of ice with a sharp point and thicker than a tree hurdled at us.

Boom!

It crashed into the front shield and fragmented into shards, shredding the foliage to the sides.

It was not able to crack the shield this time, but it still had a large drain on my mana. Since it couldn't crack the shield, I dispelled the second one so it didn't drain my mana also. Although a shield not under stress doesn't draw as much mana, may as well not waste it.

A long thin fire spear appeared in the air above that Lila created and flew toward the dragon.

Crashing into the dragon, and I could see it had destroyed a patch of scales.

The dragon roared in anger and cast another pillar of ice.

"Again."

The ice crashed into the shield, and a wind blade quickly followed.

"It can cast wind magic also? I thought dragons only had one type each."

Elaria replied, "I have heard stories of dragons who could cast all types, but they were thought to be a myth."

Lila launched another fire spear at the dragon, hitting the same spot as before and creating a crater in its flesh.

"Attack as fast as you can."

Each attack from the dragon had a severe draw on my mana when it hit the shield, and I wasn't going to be able to keep this up forever.

I don't know why it didn't run away, but it was good for us.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

It attacked again, this time several attacks in succession trying to break the shield, the shards shredding the trees around enough to cut down many, devastating the area.

Sweat appeared on my forehead from the sudden drain of mana defending from such attacks.

Lila's attack also landed finally penetrating into its body, and she followed up with another one.

Black smoke rolled out of the dragon's body as it breathed its last.

We walked around the corpse, and I estimated the height when it stood to be about 7' to the top of its back and 11-12' to the top of its head.

I also found what I think is the reason it didn't run away. Behind the dragon was a large gold egg with an iridescent shimmer and a stockpile of animal corpses encased in ice.

I suddenly wanted to eat the egg, but Kitty discouraged me.

[I recommend not eating this particular dragon egg. It has an extraordinarily rare and special bloodline that is even considered divine in a 10th level world when pure.]

'How pure is this one?'

[It's pitiful]

'Then why can't I eat it?'

[You should try to purify it later]

'How?'

I swear I have to drag the answers out of her.

[This world isn't capable of it, so put it in for inventory and forget it for now.]

'You said I can't put living things in the inventory.'

[This particular one is fine.]

'Why?'

[It's too young to have developed consciousness yet, and it's in a state of stasis due to the growth process not having been initiated yet, so it's fine to go in the inventory.]

After adding the egg to the inventory, I turned to the corpse, devouring a small hole into it to get the crystal. I was pleasantly surprised to find it had a high-grade mana crystal inside. I didn't devour the whole corpse yet since I didn't know what I wanted to do with it yet. Maybe I should sell it to the guild or some alchemists.

I reproduced and gave 10 middle-grade crystals to Elaria and the other 90 to Lila. Elaria should be able to get to a 5th circle with those 10; Lila doesn't need much more mana to get to the 5th circle, maybe only the worth 3 of them.

"Lila, go to the 5th circle due to the massive difference between 4th and 5th circle then use the rest to increase your cultivation. I'm thinking you can probably get to the 7th layer."

They sat down under the wind of the dragon where it formed a small right triangle cave with the body on one side and the wing overhead and started using the crystals.

The chill had left the air now that the dragon was dead, and warmth had returned to the area.

Elaria was first to finish and was grinning happily now that she was a 5th circle mage.

It took Lila a few hours to finish; she had now reached the 5th circle and the 7th layer of Qi Refinement about halfway to the 8th.

She hurried over, grabbing my hand and pulled me inside the space under the dragon's wing. She jumped up and clung to the front of me like a koala, saying in a suggestive tone, "Don't you think this is such a nice place to sleep? All we need is a blanket. The dragon is dead now; I don't mind getting in bed early."

Hmm, she's not wrong, and I did say to wait till after it was dead, though I could say that I technically didn't specify how long after it was dead. Who in their right mind would think of such a technicality in this situation?

Lila got down and and I made a blanket and spread it out on the ground under the wing, then handed Elaria another one for her to put next to it. She spread it out and lay down with a red face, rolling to face the other direction.

Lila immediately laid down, rolling onto her back, slowly pulling the hem of her skirt up in a teasing manner while biting her lower lip with eyes full of hearts and blanking out slightly in anticipation.