Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

In the skies outside the Bosque Capital, Samuel was not having a very easy time. His figure could be seen spiraling down towards the ground once again. His body crashed into the devastated field outside the capital.

One had to question whether Samuel's flying skills were really up to par considering his many crash landings. He ended up forming a crater near where he had previously seen the assassin Azrael crumble to nothingness. The fire dragon Pyre landed beside him.

"It's game over for you" Pyre declared with cold eyes. Running outside the capital was a mistake in his eyes. Samuel struggled to come out of the hole and there was now no one to heal him, he might be aiding his helper by fleeing but he doomed himself.

"Urgh…" Samuel stopped struggling. He looked up at the night sky. The capital city was up in flames polluting the sky with its brightness, there were no stars to be seen. The only shine to be found was the cold eyes of the brutal predator before him.

"I failed…" Samuel said bitterly. There was no new epiphany to be had, he was just dead. Samuel could feel his body had not fully digested the potion, but it was too late to do so now. Plus, even if his body had digested it fully, he would at most be able to withstand some more hits. Killing or even forcing the dragon back was nothing but a dream.

Pyre lifted his claw, he was ready to crush Samuel into nothing but a mangled corpse. The claw was about descending-

"Wait!" -When it came to a sudden stop.

Samuel's shout prompted Pyre to a halt. As a dragon, Pyre was not uncivilized, he was willing to listen to the man's last words.

"Can you tell me why? Why the massacre?" Samuel asked from his crippled position. The claw still hovered above his body just waiting to finish him off.

"No" Pyre answered before thrusting down. Samuel flinched, his heart skipped a beat. The earth trembled and Pyre left on the ground a scorched imprint.

There was also steam emanating from it, however.

"Huh? Ah, good stalling" Pyre saw a muddy hole under the imprint. Clearly, Samuel had taken the liberty to slowly gnaw at the ground beneath him. The final question must have bought him the necessary time.

Pyre wanted to chuckle, Samuel might have successfully avoided his first strike but that was all. He was now cornered.

The mighty fire dragon opened its majestic maw and sparks gathered into fire. From within the muddy hole, Samuel's head popped up. He was looking at the flames with an expression of indignant resignation.

His body had held up against the flames previously but now that it was full of injuries, his innards might boil in the infernal flames. The roaring fire shot out!

"Wait!" A new shout from an unfamiliar voice, but the flames had been released and they certainly wouldn't relent.

"Cymatilis!" The unfamiliar voice shouted what sounded like another language. But what they called out was a name.

Pyre's fire stopped spewing, the unrelenting flames had already pounced on Samuel, it was too late.

"Uuuaaargh…!" Samuel let out a muffled cry, his injuries were burning and his mind was dizzy from the pain. By the time the fire stopped Samuel looked like a half roasted mess. But, at least for now, he lived.

Samuel's head which was initially propped up fell back onto the bloody now dry mud.

"How do you know that name?" Pyre shifted his attention from the evidently unconscious Samuel to the person behind him who unexpectedly turned out to be Duke Lansworth.

"I am Calder Lansworth, Duke of Bosque, a pleasure to meet you, your excellency Pyre." The Duke bowed as he spoke, he was indeed no longer sitting on a wheelchair.

As soon as the battle between Pyre and Samuel ensued, the Duke's forces escorted him and the king out of the palace and eventually out of the city. This meant they missed a lot of the development of the fight.

At first, this mattered little to the Duke, it seemed like Samuel would be able to hold on long enough for him to summon his aid. Unfortunately, this was just a delusion of his.

The Duke witnessed as Samuel flew out of the capital with the dragon still hot on his trail. He also saw the broken and bloodied body of Samuel. He also witnessed the unfortunate situation in which Samuel fell towards the ground like a shooting star.

Without hesitation, the Duke reinforced his broken limbs with his mana and shot out after the dragon and Samuel. There he was lucky enough to prolong the survival of Samuel with a simple name.

"I did not ask you to introduce yourself" Pyre said with narrowed eyes. The pressure caused the Duke to feel incredibly small.

"The Lansworth families is what remains of the ancient Achelous family" The Duke said solemnly. The Achelous family was founded by an alliance between humans and water dragons.

Teaming up with the humans had been a desperate attempt from the water dragons to prevent their own extinction. In the end, Cymatilis was the last of those dragons to remain and the main teachings that were passed down to the Achelous family.

That this family changed their name was odd though. The truth was, the foundation of Bosque and its element of nature came from Cymatilis and, an earth dragon. That was Valdivia's last-ditch effort to also leave their mark on the continent.

Valdivia ultimately perished and their body fertilized the lands of Bosque. Oddly enough, when the earth dragon died Cymatilis blessed the water and disappeared. Still, the water dragon left the family with a way to summon them. This was the Duke's trump card.

There was no way for the duke to know if Cymatilis was still alive though. That was why he couldn't guarantee this trump card would have been successful. Thankfully, just the name of the dragon was enough to help in this situation.

Calder, Duke Lansworth, made sure to explain this history to Pyre. The dragon was left in a pensive state. There must have been some gaps in its knowledge.

"I know what you fear. Let's work together!" The Duke declared after finalizing his story.

Pyre who was initially pensive put on a frighteningly murderous expression. The Duke must have struck a nerve.

"Ha! There is one sole thing a dragon fears, you know what that is?" Pyre asked with a hint of mockery.

"A dragon only fears a god" The Duke responded with a serious attitude. A dragon was at the top of the food chain, the only thing above it were the gods themselves. While there might appear individuals that could contend with dragons in the future, never would there be a species.

"You are correct, but how will you help me against such an enemy? You, a puny human" Pyre responded and asked.

"Didn't you team up with a puny human already?" The Duke retorted. The young emperor was no different from the Duke, was he? Pyre seemed to have almost forgotten about the existence of his disciple judging by his tone of voice.

"Hmph, I will admit you are not completely useless" Pyre now had no real reason to refuse.

The descendant of a family of mages would always be useful, especially if the mages descended from a dragon. If they were useless, it was nothing more than a testament to the fall of dragons.

"But do you seriously understand the ramifications of what you are asking to form a part of?" Pyre was not convinced that anyone aware of what they would be facing could be so headstrong.

"I understand perfectly well" The duke responded.

"In that case, you should prepare to give in to my demands" Pyre told the Duke. It was now obvious from whom the young emperor inherited his attitude.

The Duke smiled wryly.

"Of course" His plan was to comb through dungeons to piece together history. Asking a dragon might be a more direct way to learn of the past, however. If he needed to give into a couple of demands there was no problem considering their goals would end up aligning.

"Good, this kingdom will now be annexed by the Volcan empire" That basically meant turning the whole kingdom into a subordinate of the Volcan empire. The Duke didn't find the condition egregious though, it was probably even a bit generous.

"Thank you very much then" He decided to show an amicable attitude.

"If I may be so presumptuous as to ask, could you tell me what happened to the gods?" But it was also possible that was just a front for his more important question.

"I thought you knew the ramifications" Pyre mocked.

"Hmm… Still, I'll admit I don't know much either" The dragons only feared gods, and though they were starting to fall at the hands of the humans, in a way, the gods were still to blame.

The dungeons they created provided the humans with life and death experiences as well as materials and treasures. These treasures and materials strengthened the humans and increased their threat to dragons.

"The gods are dormant, it's only a matter of time until they awaken" Some dragons, especially earth dragons, could live for thousands of years. Pyre was not even 1000 yet, all he knew about the before times was told to him by his parents or other dragons he met in his life.

For the Duke, this hearsay was still shocking news. Would the gods be benevolent? The duke wondered, his ancestor and Cymatilis only left words of warning.

Seeing that the Duke didn't want to ask any more questions, Pyre looked at him before slowly flying away. He was going back into the capital to pick up Mite.

The Duke was left alone to hurry over to where Samuel was located and dig him out for medical treatment. It was just too bad the duke was also injured, as soon as his mana reinforcement wore off he could no longer walk around painlessly.

Miller made sure to rescue them both and provide them with proper treatment at whatever remained of the capital.

The fate of the kingdom was uncertain, what a loss.