Kayda's voice cut into my thoughts, soft and low.
"Yes. Don't compare adventurer levels with Black Ops. It's like comparing farmers to assassins."
I blinked, glancing to my left to see her walking a few meters away.
"Why are you walking so far from me?" I asked, confused.
"I'm only here to observe," she said quietly, avoiding eye contact.
I raised an eyebrow. "Kayda... Are you shy around new people?"
Her eyes went wide. "I-uh..."
"Come on, just admit it," I said with a teasing grin, moving closer and slinging an arm around her shoulders. With my other hand, I proudly pointed at myself.
"You don't have to be nervous. I'm here, after all!"
She groaned, slipping out of my grasp with ease. "You seriously are... ugh."
"What?"
She just kept walking.
Before I could follow up, a scream pierced the forest-high, panicked, and definitely human.
"AAAHHH!"
My ears twitched. Kayda and I both froze, then looked at each other.
"Oh no, someone's in trouble!" Catrina yelled, already sprinting past me.
The rest of the group followed close behind, weapons drawn and expressions grim.
Kayda tapped my shoulder. "Come on, Nova. We've got to help."
"If you say so." I sighed and took off running beside them.
After fifteen solid minutes of sprinting through uneven terrain and tree-lined trails, we reached a clearing.
It looked like a battlefield.
Trees were snapped and scorched. The earth had been churned up. Broken weapons and torn armor lay scattered. At least a dozen bodies were on the ground, some motionless, others groaning in pain. The smell of blood and smoke lingered in the air.
The forest beyond was lined with crushed trees, forming a tunnel of destruction where something massive had clearly charged through.
"Gods above..." Mary whispered.
"Hey, are you okay? How can we help?" Catrina knelt beside a man clutching his stomach, blood pooling beneath him.
Dalton stood over another, blinking. "Guild employees? What were they doing this far out?"
I stepped over bodies, scanning for breathing. "Why do I always find chaos wherever I go...?"
"I count about twenty-three people," Kayda muttered grimly.
"Huh..." I muttered, squinting at the ruined path ahead. "Wonder if we follow that-"
WHAP!
Kayda smacked the back of my head.
"Can you not?" she said with a glare. "We need to help those still alive."
"Does anyone have a way to get them back to the capital?" Gaby called out, already coordinating with his team.
"No healers," I whispered to Kayda. "Two options: You transform and carry them to the capital, or I do... and reveal what I am."
She frowned, clearly torn.
"There are sixteen that can still be saved," I said, glancing around. "The rest are either already dead or too far gone."
"You'd freeze them to my back?" she asked.
"Exactly. You'll have to leave us here."
"I don't like it..."
"If I go, we leave the others defenseless. Something's going to smell this blood soon."
Kayda hesitated... then nodded.
"Fine. I'll be back within the hour," she said and stepped back.
Then, she began to transform.
Her form shimmered, light bending and swirling as leathery wings unfurled and her limbs shifted. Scales rippled down her body, glowing faintly with magic.
Gasps erupted around us.
"Woah!"
"A-A dragon?!"
avataravatar
Chapter 82: Thats quite a lot
"What, a dragon!?" Dalton shouted, stumbling backward as his wide eyes locked onto Kayda's massive figure.
The clearing trembled under the pressure of the transformation. Kayda's form ballooned with a rush of mana, her human silhouette stretching and warping, bones snapping and reforming. With a guttural growl, leathery wings burst from her back, sending a powerful gust of wind spiraling outward and kicking up a vortex of dust and fallen leaves. Her limbs thickened into powerful limbs ending in taloned claws, and her tail extended with a whip-crack, its spiked end tearing a groove into the earth.
She was magnificent. Terrifying.
Her crimson scales shimmered like bloodied rubies under the sunlight, covering every inch of her dragon body. Each movement of her wings sent a low hum vibrating through the air. Two curved sets of horns arched from her head like a twisted crown, and her glowing red eyes scanned the battlefield with the cold calculation of a predator. She stood a towering twelve meters tall, and if you included her tail, her entire body stretched over twenty-three meters in length.
"Dalton, calm down. It's me, Kay," Kayda's voice echoed, deeper and distorted through her draconic throat. "I don't have time to explain. Get all of the injured people on my back. I'll fly them to the capital and come back for the rest of you."
Her massive wings beat once, shaking the nearby trees. The force of her presence was overwhelming, even to those who knew her.
I took a few steps forward, brushing stray strands of hair from my face, my tone cool and unwavering. "I'll tag the people who can be saved with my ice magic. If they're not tagged, ignore them. They won't survive."
I held up a glowing hand already tinged with frost.
"There will be sixteen people tagged. No more."
Everyone froze, disbelief flashing in their eyes.
"What do you mean, ignore the rest?!" Gaby roared, his eyes ablaze with fury. He stepped toward me, fists clenched, teeth grinding.
I didn't back down.
"Big guy, we don't have a healer with us," I said, tapping my foot. "And Kayda can't carry everyone at once. The tagged ones will be encased in my magic. They'll survive the journey. The others won't."
A web of glistening frost snaked from my feet, branching through the soil and toward the unconscious and wounded. Small blue flames marked those I selected-sixteen in total.
"Tsk... bitch," Gaby muttered under his breath, scowling as he turned away to help with the injured.
I rolled my eyes. 'Charming.'
"Gaby, she's right," Catrina said quietly, placing a hand on his thick shoulder. "We can't save everyone."
'Thanks, Catrina.'
Kayda loomed over us, her wings partially outstretched and tail curling like a serpent behind her. "Move it, people. We don't have all day. More monsters will be here any minute."
Her voice carried the weight of command, and no one dared question her again.
"Yes, Ma'am!" we shouted back in unison, breaking into action.
'Yeah, she's scary when she's like this,' I thought, my pace doubling after one look at her draconic glare.
20 Minutes later.
The injured were laid out beside Kayda's side, their wounds partially stabilized with whatever scraps of magic and cloth we had. Blood soaked the grass in patches, the air thick with sweat, steel, and the iron scent of near-death.
I knelt beside Kayda's midsection. "Kay, you better give me more mana after this."
She was preening her tail spikes when I placed my palms on the earth and started channeling. My frost spread out in glistening arcs, wrapping around her massive belly and sides, reaching for the sixteen tagged survivors.
"How am I suppos-EEEEHHHH!? Why is it so cold!?" Kayda screeched, flinching in surprise.
Her wings trembled and slapped downward reflexively, nearly knocking over Dalton.
"Quiet down," I hissed, not pausing my spell. "You'll alert everything in a three-mile radius."
The ice formed a smooth cradle around the survivors, encasing them gently along her back and ribs, like precious cargo on a frozen sled. Thin straps of ice magic tethered them securely without restricting movement. Each one was breathing-but only just.
'The more mana I pour in, the colder it gets. Still... even I didn't think Kayda would feel it in dragon form,' I mused, a smirk playing on my lips.
"ORC is coming out!" Dalton shouted, voice shrill as he pointed to the treeline.
A hulking green beast with matted fur and bulging muscles barreled out of the forest, howling with rage.
"See? It's your fault for screaming like that," I said, throwing him a dry glare.
"Oh, you-! I'll get you back for that!" He snapped, gripping his axe and charging the orc.
"Hey, Catrina!" I called over my shoulder. "How many orcs can your team handle at once?"
She blinked, momentarily startled. "Uh... three or four tops, maybe ten minutes!"
I nodded, mentally calculating. "Then two each it is. Just stall them."
As the rest moved to engage the beast, I stayed behind, completing the final ice layer around the injured.
"Cough... cough..." a weak sound escaped from the icy pile.
One of the men-short dark hair, strong jawline, but half-conscious-was stirring.
"What the hell is this!?" He wheezed, trying to move his frost-covered limbs.
"Sir, please don't squirm," I said, inspecting his vitals with a glance.
"Who... who are you?" he asked, dazed.
"Relax. My friend here is going to fly you to the capital for treatment." I gestured upward at Kayda.
The man looked up, his expression frozen with awe. "A dragon? Red scales... I heard she received her wings, but..."
Snap snap.
"Focus, buddy," I said, snapping in front of his face. "What did this to you?"
"A king orc," he replied weakly, eyes hazy. "Been killing for a while. Guild said it was halfway to evolving again. That's why they sent forty of us."
"Forty?" Catrina echoed, face pale. "There are only twenty-three of you here."
"Rest might be tracking it. Or dead," the man muttered, eyes closing again.
I pressed my hand against the final seal of the ice, looking up at Kayda. "Kayda, you better come back fast. Even if I go all out, I'm not sure I can kill something like that if it shows up."
Kayda's dragon face twisted into a smug grin. "Who do you think I am?"
"One fat dragon who still owes me mana," I deadpanned, holding out my hand.
She responded by slamming her claw lightly down on my head.
Boom!
"I will make you pay for your mouth one day," Kayda growled, eyes glowing.
"Yeah, yeah. You always say that," I said, smirking as her mana flowed into me.
"Tsk. "Fucking fox," she muttered before she launched herself into the air, her wings beating once-then again-before she became airborne, streaking across the sky like a bloody comet.
"Are you okay?" Catrina asked, running to me as the wind died down.
"I'm fine. But we've got company," I said, eyes flicking to the treeline.
Five more orcs had emerged.
I cracked my neck and grinned. "Oh good. Now we can finish our quest."
"This is not the time to be thinking about that!" Gaby yelled as he charged the nearest orc, shield raised.
"Buzzkill," I muttered, drawing both my katanas from their sheaths. Their blades hummed with stored mana.
These are my best works. Let's see how they hold up.'
"I know they're pretty, but the present is not the time for admiring your craftsmanship!" Catrina snapped.
I didn't answer.
Instead, I stepped forward-and vanished.
Splat.
One orc's head rolled across the dirt, lifeless eyes still blinking.
"Damn," I muttered, disappointed. "Took everything just to do one clean cut."
"She just-" Gaby muttered.
"I didn't even see her move," Catrina whispered.
"Oi, more incoming!" I shouted, spotting six new figures storming from the treeline. "I can't hold all of them!"
"I'll stall them!" I yelled again. "Take out that last one and help me after!"
I flash-stepped toward the next wave.
Appearing behind the nearest orc, I slashed his right leg tendon clean through. He dropped to one knee. I raised my blade to decapitate him-
-but something huge slammed down where I stood.
Boom!
I dove and rolled as a massive club crushed the wounded orc under its weight.
"What the hell!? That person was your comrade!" I snarled at the attacker.
"Too weak," the orc grunted.
'Oh, a smart one. Great.'
I raised a hand and materialized two green mana daggers. With a flick of my wrist, I hurled both at his face.
Thunk! Thunk!
"AAAHHH!!" he screamed, clutching his eyes. His club dropped.
I sprinted up his body, leapt, and drove a katana straight down into his skull.
Thud.
One down.
Another orc blinked in confusion as I turned to him.
"You guys are slower than a brick phone," I taunted, charging with both katanas out again.
He swung. I sidestepped. Simple.
Suddenly-FWOOOSH!
A jet of fire tore through the air past me, scorching the orcs in front.
"Phew! That was a close one," a sultry voice said, followed by the sound of high heels crunching grass.
I turned.
A woman in a crimson dress-tight-fitting, elegant, and completely inappropriate for a battlefield-stepped into the clearing. Her black hair flowed like silk, and her piercing blue eyes locked onto me with interest. She was beautiful, radiant-and absolutely a fire mage.
She smiled. "Hey, where's my tha-UGH!"
I flash-stepped in front of her and slammed my hand around her neck, lifting her an inch off the ground.
Her eyes widened.
"Talk. Now."
Brick phone: it's the first type of mobile phone created in the early 90s, maybe late 80s. They were as big as a brick back in the day. That is where the phrase came from and if you didn't need this explanation.
How does it feel being old? Haha
TheRealSkolliecreators' thoughts
avataravatar
Chapter 83:
"What are you doing to her, Nova?" Catrina's voice rang out, her boots crunching over leaves and loose debris as she jogged toward me.
She came to a sharp stop, eyes wide as she took in the scene before her: me standing over the unconscious fire mage, one hand still gripping her by the throat, though not as tightly now. My knuckles were white, but my expression was calm-almost bored.
"Hmm, you guys already killed all the orcs on that side?" I asked casually, glancing sideways at her. I didn't loosen my grip, not even a little. The mage's face was red and puffy, and her arms hung limp.
"Yes, but can you please let her go? It doesn't look like she can breathe," Catrina said, her voice laced with concern, her brows furrowed as she glanced between me and the mage.
I tilted my head slightly, feigning curiosity. "And why would I care if she dies?"
"She is a guild employee. You'll get banned from the guild if you do anything to them," Catrina explained briefly, her tone growing more anxious.
I sighed and casually raised my other hand, displaying my silver guild plate, the embedded guild emblem catching the sunlight.
"Hmm, but I'm also one," I said with a shrug. "So who cares?"
"It doesn't matter. Let her go, or else." The warning came from deeper in the woods, the voice low, rough, and undeniably threatening.
