Chapter 44: Zephyrus: The Ruined Town and A Fire Dragon

"Raiddddeeennn what the helllllllllll!!!!"

Ouch! 

I suddenly appeared face-planting on the ground in an unknown place. 

What the hell was wrong with that fairy? Was it revenge for accidentally burning her shoulder? Ugh. 

According to her, I'm not supposed to use any active skill, right? So how am I going to survive here with active Skill Magic? 

Cherubim, I need your help. Do I have a passive skill?

[Understood. Assessing for a possible list of passive skills]

I let Cherubim do his job, so I decided to look around. The place I actually appeared in was like a ruined building to me. 

I saw a lot of destroyed buildings, like what I often see in historical shows during my day off. Every direction I saw was destruction. I think war has been ignited here that led to this place's destruction.

Maybe this place was once a city; I could tell by those wrecked buildings. Raiden had probably known what happened to this place. 

I looked around and tried to find another living being there. 

I leaped off the ruined building I was in and decided to go to the medieval-style, almost ruined mansion. 

Once I entered the side of the house, which was still intact. I walked through the hall and looked around. 

Wow, even in a half-ruined situation, this part of the mansion screamed royalty just by how expensive the decoration was, not to mention those candle holders and gigantic Chandeliers that were made of gold. 

I looked out the window and saw a cliff. 

Wait, this place was floating or what? 

But wow. Who could afford something like this place? This place looked extremely flashy and expensive, even if only half of it remained. I bet the owner must be a king or some type of ruler. 

"Hello!!!" I shouted in the hall. 

I waited for a response, but I didn't receive any. 

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" I shouted again, making my voice echo all through the hall. 

Nothing. I replied back with a plain silence. Am I alone here? I'm not sure if I was the only one here. This place was huge just to be me. 

After a few minutes in the halls and stairs, I found myself in what looked like a living room. It was a spacious living room that I thought my whole house would fit in. But what bothered me was that the things in the living room looked ancient to me. I had seen so many medieval things in books and museums, and what I was looking at here was the same as what I saw there. Even if they looked old, they would fetch millions if you sold them to any antique store. 

Where exactly am I? Where did Raiden take me to?

Suddenly, I heard a roar coming from outside. 

What the hell was that? I rushed outside to see what was going on. When I got outside, I couldn't believe my eyes. 

A dragon?!" I shouted due to the fascination that I was witnessing as creatures only in fantasy stories could be found! 

Yes! That's a dragon! A real and alive dragon!! 

It was huge and had green scales, and I saw it breathing fire out of its mouth. It was flying around the place I was in a circular motion. 

I can't believe it. I'm seeing a real-life dragon. Wait, if I'm seeing a dragon, then doesn't that mean I am already in Zephyrus? Leo said Zephyrus has dragons, so maybe I already arrived here. But why in a ruined place?

I started to get excited, but that faded when the Dragon spotted me. It soon flew to where I was, and I started to run back to the house, but the Dragon, a few feet away from the ground, breathed fire and blocked my path. I then turned around and ran towards a bridge up ahead. 

I was about to use any active skill, but I remembered Raiden's warning about the barrier above me. 

Talking about luck… ugh.

Ah, Cherubim?

He was not answering yet. He's probably sorting out any passive skill I have. 

Then I realized the move I did. It was stupid. My other paths were blocked by the fire again, and if I didn't want to die, it was either the bridge or going down that cliff that surrounded the house, or Cherubim should speak to me. I chose something that might save me for now. 

Once on the bridge, I deeply regretted taking it because of my fear of heights. When I was on the bridge, the first thing I did was look down and see a raging river going downstream. 

I didn't know what would kill me first, the Dragon or the Fall. I'd rather not do either because they both sound pretty painful. I was getting to the other side, but the Dragon flew down and landed in front of the bridge, and my only shot was to safety. Well, looks like I'm going to be burnt to a crisp. 

Cherubim!

Maybe Cheru-chan still needed time, so I needed to buy him some time. 

"Could you please burn me to the part of my body which won't hurt me?"

"And why would I do that? Watching you humans- oh, you're not human at all! You are a Summon!" 

I blinked. It talked!? I wish I could geek out that fact, but I'm too busy trying not to get killed while waiting for Cherubim. And since the Dragon could talk, I could keep it talking until I found a way out of this. 

"I'm not a Summon! I'm just a blind person!" 

"Don't take me for a fool, Summon. I knew two distinctive appearances of a Summons. Summons have either a pair of black obsidian horns or a pair of opaque eyes. I faced one of them thirty years ago, and I couldn't believe I was facing one now. I thought your kind was extinct. So, do you feel like destroying anything?"

"Excuse me?! Everything here was already destroyed!" 

It wasn't much, but maybe he'll go into a full monologue on his reason. I'll be crossing my fingers to hope it happens. 

"Your kind was tough. I almost had a hard time defeating even a young Summon. And to think I met one today means my boring life here would change," the Dragon said. 

The Dragon just gave a full speech on why he likes fighting my kind. He's also adding stuff about his life, such as who was defeated once. Good. With this, I can find a way out of this. 

[Notice: Assessment complete. You can now view the list of passive skills in your status menu]

I got excited and took a look at what I had now.

[Available of passive skills]

Creation

Dark magic: Summoning (passive)

Extra skill: Sympathetic Magic skill.

Huh? 

What the hell are those Cheru? I swear I have a lot of skill and- 

(Answer: The majority of your skills are all Active. Through assessment, these passive skills are all recommended.]

Isn't summoning a major Active skill?

[Answer: Summoning can be active and passive. Since Creation is also a passive skill, these are highly recommended]

Okay. I'll trust you with this Cheru.

I glanced at the Dragon, and he was still talking. Wow! This Dragon loves himself. I think he's talking about his teenage life now. 

How long is this guy going to talk? Also, how was his life story involved in Summons hunting?

For now, I put away that question and figured out how to look at its status. After focusing on the Dragon briefly, Theia's status reading appeared, showing the Dragon's status.

Name: Bruno 

Race: Dragon

Level: Maxed out (Dragonling)

Attribute: Fire attribute

Skill: Fire Blast Breath.

Huh? If this Dragon has a Fire attribute, shouldn't he be in Fire Nation? I scratched my head. This Bruno Dragon, I think he's lost or something. 

But I don't know if this Fire Dragon was good or bad news. But according to the Status' more information, this Dragon mimics the human voice acquired from consuming humans before. 

Oh! He's a human eater! 

I saw that everything about this Dragon was valuable. Almost nothing is wasted. Even its meat and the taste is out of this world. 

Woah! Is it? 

My mouth watered.

No, no, no.

I shook my head. I must find a way to defeat this flying dinosaur first to survive and have its meat. Since I know the Dragon's status, I should now see what ability I can use. I looked at my menu to see if I had any abilities I could use against the Dragon.

First thing first! I activated my shield for safety purposes. 

This caught the distracted Dragon's attention because he felt a strange presence coming from me.

"Hmm, what's this?" He wondered while examining me. "A Summon uses a shield? That's absurd," Bruno the Dragon laughed hard. "Summons don't need shields. They were abnormally warthirsty. They were naturally born destroyers. Show me that berserk side of your personality, Kid. Give me a fair fight, imbecile."

This Bruno the Dragon was giving me a nerve. I'm sorry, Bruno, but I have to play safe. Usage of active skill was a no for now. 

The Dragon didn't step on the bridge, so I had nothing to worry about.

For now.