50.

“There!” Pomp alerted him, pointing a talon at a piece of wall. Erak lunged in a burst of speed, spear ripping through draconic flesh as the creature roared in agony. Erak put his boot on its chest and pulled the spear free, letting the abomination slump to the ground. He finished it off with a mercy blow, metal meeting eye and then skull.

Dragonman lvl. 15

“Ambush!” Illyria roared, her sword slicing apart a clawed hand as the panels above their heads gave way and a wall of scaled flesh came falling at them. Erak lifted his shield above his head and staggered as one of the beasts landed on the shield. Talons grabbed the edge of the shield and refused to budge, Erak forced to hold the monster above his head.

Erak rammed it into a wall until its talons loosened and it slid to the ground. He gave it the same mercy he had given the first one, and then turned to observed the chaos of the hallway. Illyria and her guards were hard pressed as the near invisible Dragonmen slashed at them, bit, and used heavy tails to try to sweep them off their feet.

Their training showed through, none of them falling as they fought together. Erak admired them for the coordination even as he pounced on a blur of light. Bones broke under his boots and the creature screamed, wide jaws gaping open as its fingers spasmed. Erak crushed its spine where the skull met neck and stabbed the next one.

Rage was building in him, the creatures dying on his blade easily as he slaughtered through their ranks. The Emperor’s perversions were sacrilegious, the great dragon’s genetics tainted and watered down into these creatures. Any of the giant-blooded would demand blood feud for this heresy. He killed them all.

The ambush was crushed as soon as it began, the skinny monsters laying in piles of blue blood smears across the hallway as Illyria gasped for air. The heavy presence of the fear pheromones were affecting her badly, her guards were on the verge of breaking.

“Can you keep going?” Pomp asked for Erak. Illyria hesitated, her eyes sweeping over he guards, before nodding slowly.

“They are fierce and skilled killers, but in open combat they fall easily. I just worry how large this facility is. If these are what are on the perimeter, what lays deeper down?” Illyria asked. Erak shrugged. It mattered not what lay deeper. It would die like all the rest.

“Give me a body Erak, I can scout ahead while they rest,” Pomp whispered. Erak nodded and felt the tug of Essence given. Weight settled on his shoulders as the sinuous dragon was given weight. It bounded off of Erak’s shoulder and floated through the air, body undulating as it swam through the air and down the hall.

Erak looked around the hall they were in and picked a door at random, kicking in the thin steel door. Hinges screamed as they were ripped free and then he was in the room. A small desk was nestled in the corner, machinery that he couldn’t identify consumed most of the room. Everything was quiet and clean, the violence that permeated the rest of the facility haven’t touched the room.

Illyia and her team stumbled in, all of them looking grateful to leave the heady aroma of the hall as they spread out. Erak went to the desk and looked about the top of it. He shoved papers out of the way and then ripped open the desk drawers, locks shattering under his strength.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

More papers, tossed haphazardly across the desk. Then he smiled as he found what he had hoped was in there. A little box of snacks. Sweetened cookies that he pulled his helm off for. He sat in the undersized chair, it groaned in protest as he lowered himself on it, and then ate the sweet cookies. The little round disks were nearly invisible between his gauntlet covered fingers as he popped them in his mouth.

The faint taste of metal, oil, and blood, contrasted strangely with the delicate sweet nature and Erak sighed in annoyance as he tugged his gauntlet off. The heavy clatter of it on the desk drew eyes to him, but he waved off the guards curious looks as Illyria sidled over.

“Did you look at any of these papers before you threw them everywhere?” Illyria asked. Erak ate another cookie and met her gaze unflinchingly. She rolled her eyes but squinted as she read the papers quickly. Erak finished off the small box and tossed it to the ground before rifling through the desk more.

A small bottle of sweet tea, light and swirling in a clear plastic container. Erak sniffed at it then quaffed it all down. He smacked his lips as he continued through the drawers. He found a heavy, old fashioned key that still had trails of Essence clinging to it. Erak tossed it to Illyira who caught it with her free hand without looking. The chair groaned and then cracked, jolting backward as Erak caught himself before falling. He glared down at the scrap metal then kicked it out of the way.

None of the drawers held anything else of use. No food or drink or Essence imbued items. He pulled his gauntlet back on and then helm as Illyria finished the paperwork.

“Fascinating. Horrible but fascinating. Genetic material acquired through bone samples. Flash cloning with different hybrids. Or at least something like that, I can’t get through the jargon. I think these are the rejects though. There are other variables added, different strands spliced in of different creatures. I can’t make heads or tails of it though.” She scooped up all the papers and shoved them into a messenger bag that had been tossed to the side in Erak’s looting.

She pulled the bag on and made sure it was secure before they all left the room. Erak could practically taste the difference in the air as he walked out, the thick stench of pheromones overpowering. They stood around in silence for two minutes before Pomp came back, running on his legs rather than flying.

“No more of the hunters. But there’s more of them further down. Big and ugly, lots of muscle. It’s also where the rest of the staff is,” Pomp reported.

“Any survivors?” Illyria asked.

“I hope not, for their own sakes. They're being eaten,” Pomp clarified.

“Further downward then. Erak, you still ready to go?”

Erak was already moving with long strides, leaving the scene of the failed ambush and the sickly sweet smell of fear. He cracked his neck from side to side. He was growing impatient, but this place needed to be purged.

The hallway ended by a torn open door and the lights beyond were bright compared to the thin blue light of the Essence lamps that had lit the corridors. A white, sterile light that shone down and over the lab they were looking at.

Erak saw what Pomp had meant. These abominations were much larger and broader, and they were eating the lab workers. The lab workers at least looked mostly dead. Then Erak stopped as shock ran through him. Near the back of the massive lab was a trio of the Dragonmen, much more proportional than the behemoths who were eating.

Draconic Spawn lvl. 22

Draconic Spawn lvl. 22

Draconic Spawn lvl. 24

Successful experiments that have managed to retain some of their intelligence

All of them were armed and armored with weapons. Breastplates and greaves with crude cudgels for two of them. The highest leveled of them was holding a curved sword that glinted darkly, polished to a sheen with a glow around it.

Dragon-Bone Sword

Rare

Forged from a Dragon Bone, this weapon imbues the wielder with the wrath of a dragon. Amplifies Strength by 1.2x

Erak looked at the sword on his hip then back to the sword the Draconic Spawn held. He could always use another sword.