367 Striking a deal with the bronze
“A mage, the name is Cain Lisworth. Nice to meet you.” Cain said with a smile, Metallic dragons are generally good and Nemmoxon was no different. As long as he doesn’t anger her everything should be fine.
“Well, I guess you are…ROAR!” Out of the blue, she blasted Cain across the alley. His body spun and crushed into the wall.
With a massive headache, the shockwave damage was painful. From his blurred vision, he could see that the shark, coral, and pearls has disappeared along Nemmoxon.
“This little…you won’t run from me,” Cain growled. [Haste] [Fly][Enchanting][Invisibility]
Cain flew tracking her, since she was a dragon he could clearly follow her magic. She was around a hundred feet ahead of running in the crowd while camouflaged in her human form. She must have swallowed the shark and everything else whole.
“Apples, apples are the best eaten fresh! Get at reason…WAA! Careful you little brat!” The vendor yelled as Nemmoxon used his stand as a stepping stone jumping high and climbing a building.
“Leave it to me, I will catch…AHH!” A passing adventurer smiled as he was about to chase Nemmoxon. A weird force threw him to the side and knocked him out.
Looking behind her, she could feel the mage still chasing her. For some reason, she was getting a dangerous vibe from his smile. He was as strong as her if not stronger.
“What is this man?” she growled, this was the first time she preferred to run away. Most people she faced up now got knocked out with her repulsive breath yet this man started chasing her.
‘We will damage the city like this.’ Nemmoxon thought as she looked toward the port. She needs to run into the water..
She quickly run toward one of the city’s stone watch towers and used it as a stepping stone to jump over two hundred feet toward the sea. The guards standing inside felt the thing shake violently.
SPLASH! The moment she landed in the water she transformed to her draconic form and swam to the dark depth. Just there she entered an underwater cave swam to its end and into a dry room which was her lair.
The lair was filled with gold, gems, coral, pearls, and shark bones. Multiple chests with loot taken from ancient sunken ships were dotted around everywhere.
Nemmoxon quickly transformed back to her human form which she preferred. “Where did I put that piece of fabric?” she growled looking around, she hated the smell of seawater around her, also being wet felt disturbing to her. She can only relax when dry.
“Here a new towel.” Cain handed her a white towel that he just bought from the market.
“Thank you…” Nemmoxon took and started drying herself, just to quickly realize he was there and panic.
“How did you come here?” She screamed transforming to her draconic form. She might have to kill him at this rate, could she even do that?
“The way you did, I flew here from the sea. Just used this to protect me.” Cain cast [Lisworth’s resilient sphere]
Seeing his weird smile, Nemmoxon got irritated and released a full-force punch toward him.
Cain dodged the strike by teleporting to the side with [Mist Step] Getting more furious, Nemmoxon started swinging left and right. She refrained from using her breath since her hoard was nearby.
Cain just kept dodging with [Mist Step] while laughing.
“I guess like all dragons, I need to beat some sense into you first.” Hearing his words, Nemmoxon braced herself for a powerful attack, yet nothing happen.
Cain just flicked his fingers and it took her a few seconds to realize and comprehend what happened. Her entire hoard has disappeared.
“Now sit still and be obedient or you will need to beg for real.” Cain gave her an evil smile, the hoard she spent decades collecting was now in his maze. He even took the three coppers she got from begging today.
“Give it back!” She screamed, she was penniless for real now.
“You’re smart, if I died you never see your hoard again. Transform into your human form and sit on the ground.” Cain smiled as he always does.
Nemmoxon had to comply as she didn’t know where he put her hoard. “What do you want?” She growled in her human form.
“I want fresh Kraken ink, you’re the only one that I know off to be able to swim to the depth and force a Kraken to the surface,” Cain said.
“You chased me here, you can fight underwater.” She growled again.
“This place isn’t that deep, fighting in the pressure of the deep is enough of an environmental advantage to tip the battle into the Kraken’s favor. All I need you to do is force one out.” Cain explained.
“Just take a ship to the sea and they will attack, you don’t need my help.”
“I don’t want to rely on luck, those things rarely attack and I want one quickly.” What Cain lacked and valued most was time, he still had to deal with the princess and find a boat to travel with to the elvish kingdom. The adventuring guild will catch up to him and probably do something.
“What are you paying for that, you don’t expect me to risk my life just for my own hoard?” Nemmoxon said with a straight face, she could always run and collect another hoard, time is the thing dragon had the most.
“I can kill the purple one, just drag him to the surface and I will turn him into your dinner.” Cain gave Nemmoxon an evil smile.
Lightning crackled from her hands as she gave Cain a murderous glare. “How do you know?” That growl caused the cave to tremble.
“I do have my own problem with him, I want his heart to be exact. You want to avenge them, right? Let’s work together.” Cain extended a hand to her.
After thinking about it for a moment, “Fine I will work with you, this might be my chance.” Nemmoxon smiled.
Cain flicked his fingers and her whole hoard reappeared, “Take this as a sign of trust,” Cain smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’m also keeping the payment you gave earlier in mind.” Nemmoxon took a ring from her pocket and threw it on the ground, the shark and what Cain gave her earlier spilled out.
“So how about we discuss the bad parts of our deal?” Cain said as he walked to her.
“Yep, I hate being in my draconic form so don’t expect me to transform in public, I also won’t risk my life for you and will run when it gets dangerous. I only eat Sharks and pearls so you have to pay for that as well.” Nemmoxon listed what she has. She was expensive to keep and put her well-being before Cain’s needs.
“I have one problem that you have to put up with, well two to be fair. I’m a dragon rider for a starter.”
.ᴄOᴍ “That explains your strength, killing him might not be a dream. Is your companion a silver one? No, probably a gold one since you’re great with magic.” She looked at Cain with glowing eyes, to her those two types of dragons were to be respected.
“Actually, it’s not a metallic dragon. It’s a red one…” Cain said scratching his cheek.
Nemmoxon face went sour and then dumbfounded. “Stop joking, those things pounce and pound as soon as they spot something with a heartbeat.” She was more concerned with Cain lying than the dragon being evil.
“I also married her granddaughter,” Cain added.
“Stop, are you sure she isn’t the one riding you? Or could be a copper dragon that you mistook for a red?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“No, I know my dragons. She is red and ancient one at that.” Cain looked at her with a wry smile.
“I’m sure it’s a copper dragon that played a prank on you, they are known for having extreme jokes like this. Let’s go and I will expose her to you.” Nemmoxon said with an exhausted face, those copper dragons have been giving the metallic dragons a bad name. Pretending to be the evil reds was something unacceptable.
“She is a red dragon, my wife is a half red dragon, please keep that in mind and don’t attack them,” Cain asked her nicely. Since if she did, Zaleria will just beat her to a pulp.
“I swear to serve for my whole life if you tamed a red, even I wouldn’t mind being with such a capable mage.”
“You know that you have to follow with that right?” Cain looked at her with a dubious eye.
“Yep, I swear and I will if she was a real red dragon.” Nemmoxon was optimistic as she didn’t sense any red dragon around here.
“Well then, let’s go,” Cain said as he grabbed Nemmoxon’s shoulder and teleported to the inn.