Dragon pet?

Dragons were fierce beings in Loriana but they were never referred to as monsters. They were majestic beings that could live for thousands of years, they were said to be the creature that had the highest magical affinity. An average dragon could easily break through level 150, and the highest level on the record surpass 300. Being powerful as they were there were only rare cases of them attacking human-like races. It was widely known that dragons and elves cohabitated with each other in the elven kingdom. When she was a kid, Ilirielth always wanted a dragon as a pet. She even almost got caught for the crime of 'dragon smuggling'.

It was very strange to see a dragon in this place, which made Ilirielth wonder if this was in Mordox territory, there was no information about the curse on the dragon's status. No creature could live in Mordox unaffected, that counted dragons.

As Ilirielth was watching, the fight would soon come to an end. The dragon was heavily wounded and the situation look very bad for it. Its attacker was a dragon-shaped monster, with an abnormally big head called 'mutated test subject 40'. Their levels were even higher than the cyborgs. The dragon was 260 and the corrupted one was 258. In this fight between 2 giants, there was no place for an ant like her to step in, she knew she should have run but there was something she wanted to try.

She remembered from a book written by an adventure that he was saved from an assault of bandits by a dragon he helped years ago. Dragons were creatures with great gratitude, if you helped them, there would be a high chance of them repaying you.

Ilirielth swallowed her dry saliva, she touched the tentacle that was wrapping around her wrist. This was gonna be a gamble, she didn't know if the fame of Iliriendil had spread to that corrupted dragon. She thought about the path ahead of her. If this area was gonna be full of monsters like these two, she doubted she could make it out alive. When she thought about that, this idea didn't seem to be that crazy.

Ilirielth rushed toward the two and shouted, distracting their attention. They both looked at her with bloodshot eyes. Ilirielth showed them the tentacle bracelet, she prayed to the goddess that it would work. The corrupted dragon let out a terrifying roar, and when she thought that it was gonna plunged at her, it flew away.

" It worked! I did it!"

She jumped like a child who just beat her older brother in a game for the first time.

" Are you hurt? I could help you."

She imitated a dragon trainer in the elven kingdom, slowly approached, and extended her hand to the dragon. The dragon let out a few groans, retract its wings, its body was shaking, and took a few steps back. She thought it was like a puppy being scared of the new owner. After a moment the dragon didn't shake anymore, it looked straight into her eyes, and when Ilirielth was happy that she finally tamed the dragon her brain froze.

It was said that when a person approached death their brain's process would accelerate drastically. Even before the terrifying murderous intent could reach her, she knew that it gonna attack. Ilirielth just dodged the bites from the dragon by the skin of her teeth. But that was not the end, it immediately follow up with a claw swipe. Its speed wasn't that fast because of the wound but Ilirielth still had a very hard time dodging its attack.

" Please stop! I'm trying to help!"

The dragon didn't listen, its attacks even got faster. It was true that dragons wouldn't normally attack people and could show gratitude but unlucky for her that only happened if this was a normal encounter. This dragon had lived in this hellish place for the entirety of its life. There was no kindness between races in this place, to its view, Ilirielth was just another predator who just won the competition, on the other hand, there was something it need to protect.

On the dragon's back, something was moving and held onto it, a small dragon. When Ilrielth saw that, she instantly regretted it. She gave up the idea of taming the dragon and tried to get away. But her decision came a bit too late. She could feel the violent Mana flow begin to swirl in the dragon's body and then gather at one point, the mouth.

" Shit!"

Dragons were famous for their aoe attack. With this distance, dodging was impossible. There was no chance for her at all. Ilirielth's mind plunged into despair as she awaited her certain death. But then…nothing happened. There was no sound, the dragon's body collapsed in with a loud thud and became motionless. Before Ilirielth's brain could resume its process, a dripping sound was heard from behind her.

" Are you hurt?"

A familiar voice rang into her ears but Ilirielth couldn't help but tremble. Behind her was the figure of Iliriendil who was soaked with blood. In his right-hand tentacle was holding a big red heart, not only that there were thousands of things like internal organs scattered around him.

" Areyouhurtt??"

" No! I'm ok! I'm totally fine!"

" That's good."

Iliriendil turned around, he looked like he intended to leave. Ilirielth broke out of her daze and rushed to him, she held his left hand which was not bloody.

" Iliriendil please don't go! I need you, please help me."

" …"

It took a moment of silence, Iliriendil finally nodded his head.

Ilirielth examined the dragon. It was dead. She turned her head around to look at her friend who was trying to get the bloody stuff out of his body. It would be a lie to say she didn't afraid of him. The dragon's body was looking much thinner than the time she fighting it. Its eyes were missing, and when she opened its mouth, the tongue and teeth were all missing. Near Iliriendil among the mess, there were some white sharp objects scattered around, when she picked up one of those, it had the shape of a beast's tooth. She once again looked at the big heart on the ground and all the mess, the thin corpse of the dragon, and finally stared at Iliriendil.

" What?"

" N-Nothing, don't mind it. Thank you for saving me. Let me help you get these things out."

After these short 2 months, Ilirielth began to doubt her ability. Was she always this weak? She always thought about beating the demon king but at the moment it seemed like a distant dream to her. At least now she had Iliriendil by her side, the chance she survive would be higher.

" Why Iliriendil? Why did you come here?"

" Don't ask."

Ilirielth giggled, this guy must have been very lonely here. She might want to tease him a bit if not for the bloody organs underground. There was a cry ] resounded near the dragon's corpse. The dragon baby came off from its mother's back. It rubbed its head against the mother and lets out a painful sound.

" Poor thing… "

Ilirielth came to the small dragon and tried to pick it up. The dragon resisted and bite her arm but no matter how strong its race was it wouldn't leave a mark on someone who was 100+ levels higher than it.

" Could I bring it with us Iliriendil?"

" Why ask me?"

" Of course, I have to ask you, we're going together after all."

Iliriendil thought for a moment then nod his head.

" Do whatever you like, don't mind me."

" Thank you."

Ilirielth smiled cheerfully, she finally got a dragon pet, she would raise it and train it to become the strongest dragon in her country. But her hope once again ended just a minute later. The dragon child gave up on biting her and became docile in her arm which was a good sign but when she brought it near Iliriendil something happened. It was too fast for her to see and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Before she realize the small dragon in her arm was just a motionless corpse and in Iliriendil's hand was a tiny heart.

" W…Why?"

" It tried to kill me."

" To kill you? How could such a little creature kill you?"

Ilirielth looked at her 'friend' with horrible eyes. After spending those peaceful times with Iliriendil she almost forgot what kind of a being he was and what he had always been doing to the creatures in this place.