22. Putting the dragon to sleep

Back at Azure.

The white haired Claire was walking through a beautiful garden to a luxurious villa.

This was the Slither family's he where they reside in. It wasn't far away from the castle though, so Claire can visit the castle whenever she wants.

The reason she came home today was to speak with her parents.

Entering the house through the glass doors she was greeted with a beautiful interior. The walls were white and there were shelves with various antiques everywhere.

"Hey Claire!"

Claire's eyes shone as a beautiful smile spread on her face. She turned around and saw a young demon with short black hair and the same blue eyes as her.

"Mael! You're back." She then went and embraced the man.

"Yeah. We're all back." The young man whispered before hugging his sister back.

Mael Slither was the younger brother of Claire Slither. Upon the age difference, they looked like twins.

"I thought you were living at the palace?"

"Yeah, I came to speak to mom and dad."

"Mom and dad went to the primal garden."

Hearing her brother Claire stopped going into the villa and turned to her brother.

"Whatever you want to tell them I think you should keep it on hold till they are done with the harvest."

Of course, the harvest. A thing done by the slither family alone. It was a period whereby the slither family harvests ripe fruits and implants new ones.

Though Claire wanted to be part of them she knew that she wasn't old enough. She loved the garden more than anything.

"Come, let's go and talk about your adventure." Claire said and dragged Mael into the villa.

...

By morning Minova and Vernox said their goodbyes to the village and began heading towards the forbidden forest. The forbidden forest isn't far from the letcher village and they rode there in less than thirty minutes.

"I heard that there is a powerful creature in the forbidden forest that kills trespassers,"

Minova told him as she was quite scared when he told her that he's going to the forbidden forest.

"Yeah, it's a dragon, a really strong one."

Of course Vernox was aware of the dragon's strength and was aware that he was nowhere near it.

"We'll sneak into the forest through a cave."

He remembers that there was a secret path in the forbidden forest. There were monsters within the secret path but they were weak.

After a few hours of riding they finally reached the forest. The forest was a little bit dark due to the trees blocking out the sun. It was really spooky and Minova was already frightened just by the silence in the forest.

"Let's go."

He tied the horse to a tree that was not close to the forest and walked into the forest with Minova following closely behind him.

Deep inside the forest, a large black dragon that was sleeping suddenly woke up as it felt the presence of two beings.

It's eyes were crimson red and ferocious. It's jaw slightly opened, revealing a set of sharp white teeth. The set also had four canines that was longer that the other teeth.

The top canines were so long that it came out of the dragon's lips.

*ROOOAAARRR*

The dragon let out an ear piercing roar as it opened its large wings. With a single flap, the dragon disappeared into the skies.

...

Minova and Vernox were still going to the cave as they saw the sky darken more than usual.

"What's going..."

Minova couldn't talk anymore as her eyes were wide open. She tapped on Vernox who was still thinking of where the cave was.

"What?"

He turned back and saw Minova's widened eyes looking up so he took his eyes there.

"Oh shit."

He looked up at the black dragon that was staring at them with an angry face, as if it wanted to skin them alive.

*ROOOAAARRR*

"RUN!!"

He picked up Minova and started running leaving dust behind and the dragon immediately chased them.

Vernox activated a speed rune in himself as the dragon was very fast, even though the trees were obstructing it.

*shooouuuu*

The dragon blasted a stream of fire at them but Vernox was agile and made zigzag steps. Soon they got to a part of the forest where the trees were too close to each other and he ran in. The dragon couldn't see them from above and started flying in circles.

Vernox dropped Minova a few hundred metres from the entrance of the more thicker path. He then looked at Minova who was shaking in fear.

"Don't worry about your safety." Vernox said as he stood up and wanted to walk away.

"Hey, don't tell me you're going to face that thing?!"

Minova grabbed his arm as she didn't want to be left alone in this dark place.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." he smiled.

Yesterday, after defeating those goblins the system screen popped up again with this message.

=====

[You have saved the letcher village from destruction.

Rewards-

Enslavement crest- Your own crest which you can place upon any living thing that is on the same level as you or weaker than you.

-The crested person will have an undying respect for their master.

-Crest's owner can communicate via telepathy.

-The target will be in pain if they ever try to betray the crest owner. ]

=====

The dragon is not too stronger than him now but he can use the sleeping dust on it. With this enslavement crest, instead of killing the dragon he will make it his subordinate.

He peeked out of the tree and used his eyes of dominion to bring out the dragon's stats.

====

[Name: none

This black dragon was made to protect the forbidden forest from outsiders as there is a demon weapon hidden in the forest.

Title: Protector of the forbidden forest

Level: Pinnacle Soul emperor

Soul energy: 599,000/600,000

Strength - 450

Speed - 300

Agility - 130

Intelligence - 110 ]

=====

Of course the agility wouldn't be too high as this creature couldn't easily dodge the trees and it's movements were slowed.

Vernox then proceeded to check out it's skills.

=====

[Fire breath - It sends out a stream of fire that consumes everything around it.

Cost - 100 soul energy per second]

[Fire bomb - It sends out a condensed ball of flames that explodes upon contact with the target.

Cost - 400 soul energy per ball]

[Dragon king's crown - Temporarily activates whenever the dragon wills it.

It's body lights on flames and a flame crown appears over the dragon's head.

All elemental skills' power will be boosted.

The dragon's stats will tripple.]

[Space vortex - The dragon can suddenly summon a vortex that will take it anywhere it wants.

Cost - 100,000 soul energy ]

=====

Vernox has already expected this. He fought this boss in the game too and it was not easy. It's nice that he can see the skills of his target, it's nice too.

"I have been thinking of how I'll test my enslavement crest." Vernox said with a smile.

Vernox then ran out of the thick place and a bright light rune appeared in his hand.

The dragon that was flying around noticed the running Vernox and the light and chased him immediately.

*ROOOAAARRR*

The dragon dived towards Vernox at high speed.

'I have to be careful to not make it use those skills on me.'

Vernox saw the dragon diving at terrifying speed towards him. Immediately, he brought out the bag of sleeping dust that he got from saving the lich village a few days ago.

It was when Vernox was planning for this forest that he noticed that the sleeping dust applied to all creatures.

He bit on the edge of the bag of sleeping dust and continued running.

'Almost.....Now!!'

The dragon swiped it's large claw at him. Vernox had already timed it as he jumped on the hand and kicked himself towards the dragon's face.

Seeing Vernox jumping towards him the dragon opened it's large jaws and clamped him.

'That's it, let's see if this works'

He held the upper jaw with his hand and used his body to keep the jaw from closing. The dragon started shaking it's head and bit harder on him.

"Ahhhh....shit."

His hands were bleeding as they were bare. He used his mouth to toss the bag of sleeping dust into the dragon's mouth and it went down it's throat.

The dragon's eyes shone as it whipped Vernox out of it's mouth with it's tongue. Vernox crashed on the floor and stood up to observe the dragon. The dragon didn't know what went down it's throat but it knows who was responsible for it.

"Why hasn't it worked?" Vernox looked at the dragon that was now standing on the ground.

*ROOAAARR*

The dragon leapt at him in anger.

"Shit." he closed his eyes.

*Bang*

"Huh?"

Vernox opened his eyes to see the dragon laying on the floor, unconscious!

Vernox looked at the large ferocious beast in front of him.

"This should be the most dangerous thing I've done since I came to this world." Vernox said and made his way to the neck of the creature.

'It's time to test my enslavement crest'