517 A draconic challenger.
Zaleria grabbed the paste and laid it beside the bond. She slowly got in causing the water to start boiling. She would have needed to get the crocodiles out anyway, if she didn’t they would have boiled to death.
She slowly started washing her scales with the paste, scrubbing her wings and neck. She was surprisingly clean despite hunting in the wild. Her flames always burned all blood and dirt from her body, which is why she smelled of sulfur and pumice.
She then cocked her head to the side, her heart can be heard beating loudly. There was still some time until Cain. This one wasn’t him, it was another one who entered her lair.
She immediately got out of the water. Her body was covered with a blanket of mist as the water evaporated from her scales causing them to shine brightly under the sun.
BAM! She flew up, looking in the direction of the intruder. She could see the large red lump flying toward her. It was a male red dragon, She released her aura at full to make her presence known.
The other dragon stopped and started hovering, he glared at her and then started approaching slowly. He was being careful as he knew of her before even deciding to come here, she wasn’t an easy target. But now, this might be his chance.
As he approached, he could notice her being bigger than him. “An ancient? What brought you to my domain?” Zaleria growled glaring at him.
For a moment the dragon looked taken aback by her, she didn’t smell like a red dragon would. “Inferno, I can to you seeking a new life.” He said. Zaleria wasn’t a random nobody, her nickname was known across all the red dragons as the daughter of the purgatory witch, and everyone kept an eye on her.
It was like when a really beautiful woman gets a daughter, people can expect the daughter to inherit some of her mother’s Beauty. Zaleria was expected to at least have a fraction of her mother’s might.
Now that he saw her up close, he can be certain. Despite her being relatively young, she already became a wyrm which was terrifying.
“I see, you will die. I already have my eyes set on someone stronger.” She turned around to leave, she had no interest in him.
“Inferno, I request my rights.” The dragon growled behind her.
She turned her head, flames gushing from her nose as the sun blazed in the sky. “And I haven’t eaten anything today, get out of my sight before I turn you into roasted lizard meat.”
The dragon froze in place. Calling any dragon a lizard was an insult they never accept, but claiming to be able to burn a red dragon was more than just an insult. She was saying he isn’t even worth to a Red, which caused the veins in his head to snap.
“Inferno, you’re over your limits. Stop me if you can.” He growled charging at her.
Zaleria sighed, she wasn’t joking.
The dragon opened his jaw, and starting with a breath is a standard move that the Red dragon did. They pride themselves on their breath and horns, it was like a human man flexing his muscles.
Zaleria lifted her claws up and smiled, such weak flames, Sofia could probably output more than him. The breath’s flames twisted as soon as they approached her, circulating around her body in a spark of red light, she collected his breath in her palm and glared at him.
“Weak, can’t you put some will behind those flames?” She glared at him, as a flame witch and a dragon, such a thing was child play. Her mastery over flames far surpassed what other red dragons who only rely on their innate power could hope to wield.
“Impossible, even with the age gap, you shouldn’t be able to twist another dragon’s breath.” The dragon gasped.
“Let me show you a move, one that was developed by my twenty-year-old granddaughter.” Zaleria started flying upright, in an instant. Her wings started flapping like a dragonfly, VROOOOOM! They released a loud screech as they ripped the air apart.
Swoosh! A jet of flames released from her hind legs as she grinned, [Burning Feet] Her massive body accelerated in an instant causing multiple shockwaves to rip through the air.
The dragon lifted his arms to protect his head, but he was late. By the time his hands were up, Zaleria’s hind claw was on his face. BAM! In a flash of crimson light, she dropped him to the ground with a stomp cracking the ground.
She glared down at him, his head had become mush under her talon. Such a move was only known for speed when Sofia used it. But its power was ridiculous when such a massive creature like Zaleria moved at that speed.
CRACK! The dragon wasn’t done even though his head was crushed, he swung a claw at Zaleria’s side the moment she looked down.
Her head instantly turned and released a gust of flames from her jaw, charring the dragon’s arm into ash. “Told you, I will burn you to ash. Whether you were immune to flame or not.” Red dragons are immune to flame, that ability is granted by the Draconis fundamentum which absorbs the flames and protects them.
Zaleria had two ways to bypass that. The first was her control over flames, she could just not let the Draconis absorb her flames. Being a witch really gives her an advantage. The second was raw power, if she used more heat than the Draconis fundamentum could absorb, burning a red dragon was possible.
Right now, she could use both. This dragon was nothing to her.
As the dragon bled out, she felt something growing inside his chest. He was either going to explode or go on a rampage. “See, told to leave but you didn’t listen.” She took a bite of his chest.
Her massive Jaw immediately tore through his bones and bit the Draconis fundamentum and heart. She munched on them to stop anything from happening. This was her hut and having him explode was a bad thing.
Since she was already munching with him, she quickly ate him whole as she did with all those who challenged her before.
As she finished and looked at her body, her neck and claws were covered in blood and flesh bits. With a snort, her whole body lit with fire. Every bit got burned clean off and she quickly returned to smell like sulfur and pumice.
“Damn it, I need to bath again!” she growled taking a look at the tree paste, she had used it all…
With a sad face, she started walking the forest sniffing trees for one that smelled a bit nice. After a few minutes, she finally found one.
“I might need to stock on them…buying humans soap would be expensive for my massive body.” She turned the tree into paste again and flew back to the pond. That idiot male has jumbled her schedule and Cain will be there at any moment.
‘Need to hurry, I still haven’t prepared the battlefield yet.’ She thought scrubbing her scales.
Yesterday, she had flattened the ground with Cain to make sure they won’t cause a wildfire when fighting. But, it was then that Cain allowed her to do something.
He said she could trap the battlefield and turn it into her lair to get full advantage, he wanted her to go all out. In the beginning, she felt it was a little bit insulting but when she thought about it, if he had beaten her even though she used everything, wouldn’t that be the best she could have wanted?
She agreed, she will go all out and trust he will beat her into submission. Her draconic blood started boiling and a grin crossed her face.