-Afternoon. Nefiru's POV-

After all this time hunting snakes in this forest, I'm experiencing a first-hand demonstration of an excruciating snake bite capable of penetrating my scales while copious amounts of venom injected into my neck feel as if my flesh is burning on the inside. With my neck pressed on the black soil scattered with decaying leaves, I hear the body of the snake slide on the ground approaching my right side and the two gray Dragons heavily breathing rush to bite it over the swaying trees with a gentle wind. 

This toxin hurts like hell, and it's also dissolving the flesh in my neck...just what the hell is it? I endure the pain to freeze the venom and stop it from spreading greater quantities in my body. The wolf used poisonous gases on me, so maybe high-rank snakes found a way to enhance or produce this compound using wind magic? What a nasty substance though, and might explain how they could eat larger prey...by melting the meat with bites to separate sections then eat what fits. I proceeded to mobilize a significant portion of magic and water elementals around the snake head clenching my neck.

I never had a snake penetrate my scales before...their protection only goes this far huh? I affirmed recalling the feeling of fangs piercing my natural armor and making their way in while ripping muscles. Well, I never fought one this big or High Rank which even my siblings who are larger than me are treated as children, and this would be game over right here and now if I didn't have magic. I imagine encountering this creature after jumping from the volcano while losing the strength on my neck, but the pain is numbed after freezing the wound along with the toxic substance.

No... I didn't do something as dumb as looking away in a fight. Although my reaction speed increases with boost, I could have dodged even without it, but the fight was taking too long, repeatable and we were taking more damage than the snake. I recalled the last few minutes fighting the thing. It was a radical measure but miscalculated the penetration power of a Rank 5 snake this big... I didn't think the fangs would go all the way in. That was close though, my head was almost detached from my body, but the circulatory system is mostly safe... I reflect on risk taking without enough information while making preparations to retaliate.

After forming a magic loop around the snake, I move lightning elementals through my left forearm gripping the ground then lift it up to grab hold of the head of the snake and sink my pointy claws under its scales. The beast forcing my body to the ground perceived my resistance and thrashed its body around while dodging my siblings judging by their struggling noises and tries to detach the head from my neck like any ordinary snake would after injecting venom. However, a combo attack is about to take place...

Leaving so soon? Yeah, right! I retorted at the struggling snake pulling my neck back and forth.

Hmph! Keep thinking my magic doesn't have any effect just because you endured my lightning before. I sneered fueling all the water elementals rotating in a loop around the bite to create a white ring of ice as thick as a human waist which added further weight to my already tired neck.

The serpent felt the rapid drop in temperature on its scales and increased the wind to isolate itself, but the surface in contact with my body was bound by frost before the giant circular ring of ice forcibly appeared. Next, I released high voltage current from my left paw then through its brain to close the circuit with the elementals around my wound while changing the potential energy flow making it writhe in agony as the siblings bite to hold it from thrashing around too much until it fainted.

I liked it, so I put a ring on it! I joked feeling the creature stopped spasming then heard it slump to the ground. ...It endured a lot before it fainted. My magic reserves are almost depleted. I use more elementals to change thin sections on the icy ring into water then broke all the ice binding us and pulled out the fangs from my neck before staring at the smoking creature.

Dayum! Even the green scales on the head changed color while I didn't feel much of the shock thanks to improvements in magic control, but the siblings seem to have been shocked biting the snake. I look at the two dragons reluctant to attack the snake again. Well, this isn't a game where my Magic won't affect my allies... hell, I could even get killed by my own magic if I make a mistake controlling it or losing control of elementals while sleeping, but the Spirit adapts to avoid that as long as the ratio isn't changed. Not like I could use area of effect attacks anyway with those rapid movements and a wind curtain insulation that could stop even ice projectiles, but that's not the reason why I saved water magic for last. I recall the reason for making the creature think I was a single Element magician.

A trump card can be something simple like ordinary magic as long as it's used properly and in my case... by hiding Water the entire fight to use when we got a hold of the beast, though in this case it was the other way around, it worked nonetheless. Though I could have used the boost to catch it off guard too, the body is harder to control and do sharp turns around the trees, but in an open space, the siblings would be filled with holes since the trees protected Raiga as she was bait. In the end, it got led to thinking it had the advantage and could afford to switch targets as it saw fit, but that's a terrible mistake from a gamer point of view since lowering the HP of each target simultaneously while they attack back will exhaust yours first. I asserted the killing of right targets one a time a better strategy.

"GRRUA..." I growled at the siblings to stay away from the unconscious prey, then walked on top of the snake body making S-shapes on the ground to the tail and rolled it up like a Spiral.

I carefully stepped over the scaly green coil to cover as much of its body as possible before sending out a magic stream to the head.

I look like a fucking chicken about to lay eggs... I ridiculed myself then electrocuted the serpent below me that twitched for a moment and quickly lost all strength before a wave of Mana gushed through my body. Well, this didn't work as well as swallowing it, but a significant portion of the juicy Mana restored my reserves to around 25%... as expected of a high-rank snake. I give my thanks to the Wind user for the provided Mana and sniff the air for any new predator that may approach after feeling the mana wave.

The Higher in Rank a creature is, the stronger the mana wave after they die since high density accumulated in one tiny space is like an explosion or a loud noise which can travel faster than sound, but the distance traversed or intensity depends on the densities of the ambient and the source.

Alphonse taught me about Mana waves the time he came to tie Raiga's wing, and he also said some disturbing things about dragons being persecuted at Divine Rank, but that's for the far future. I never gave it much thought to Mana waves since I only cared about it the moment I'm collecting it from a creature and it's hard to differentiate them after tens of meters from a Rank 4 beast since the Collar works with those uncomfortable fluctuations all the time too. I recall the peculiar sensation when a great mana wave goes through the body feeling a slight tug.

So, I've lost my sensitivity from having the collar active all the time, but if it stops working then it will have to scan my brain for calibration again, and that's a pain in my scaly behind... Sighs I will have to get rid of it once I learn to make sounds with Magic and learn Dragon language to communicate with other dragons, mainly my siblings after the collar I plan to put on Raiga. I stepped out of the green spiraled sniffed the air to confirm our safety, then unrolled the snake under the gaze of my siblings before signaling them to dig in while I inspect my wound.

Suddenly I heard a dragging sound and turned right to see my siblings dragging the snake's body away.

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Oi! Get back here! You didn't do all the work... Though, moving the heavy snake close to our temporary lair is a waste of energy, best to eat it here. I walked forward and stepped on the head of the corpse being dragged.

"GRRR..." I growled at the two who stopped and dropped their meal before sparks flew.

Can't a Dragon check his wounds in peace!? I still have venom wrecking havoc in me and feels like getting stung by wasps on the inside... I didn't think my dragon life be so painful... I proceeded to look at my wound after confirming the two gray lizards started to rip the snake apart in segments.

I tilt my neck to the left, and black liquid dribbles from the two holes painting the leaves on the ground then produced a stream of water from the inside and washed the punctures before searching for the leftover poison in my body. I neutralized the remaining substance with direct current using electrolysis to alter the molecular composition and let my body absorb the rest then cauterized the wounds with lightning.

"GHAUU!" I yowled in agony making the two dragons on my right interrupt their meal momentarily.

That should do it for now... Though it's dangerous to do electrolysis in the body, as the resulting chemicals are toxic, and were I, not a dragon... lethal. But that venom is something that should be avoided next time. I concluded firmly gripping with my claws to rip off the leather from the head of the deceased animal getting munched.

"Crack!..." I rip the serpent head open and dump the remaining venom from the glands before slurping its brain.

Mmm... medium rare... I left the skull alone and chewed through the neck to separate then threw it away before laying down to comfortably munch the rest of the body from the neck.

We fed on the snake until most of us were satisfied then remained with our bellies on the ground relaxing in the soft breeze of the afternoon, but Sister is looking at her missing scales on her rear while grumbling.

I get up then walk behind the dragoness and stop over her tail before lowering my head to look at it. Hmm, I'm feeling the urge to munch on this tail as revenge... I reached my right paw towards it, but she retracted the tail to her left side as soon as I touched it and glared at me.

Haha, how cute. I approach Raiga's right side and look at the wound on her rump then she tried to run away but stopped under my glare. I pulled off the broken scales and washed the wounds with hot water produced with electricity to disinfect it while she watched.

There! As your doctor, I recommend eating a lot after taking damage, and those scales will grow back in a few days. I slapped her backside with my left paw as a finishing touch which made her tremble.

Hmm, I wonder if I can use lightning and water to speed up healing... Need to contact super grandma soon, and see how one becomes a healer since I do have a light affinity. I determined while showing off the gaping holes on my neck for Sister to realize how lucky she was.

Brother noticed our exchange and extended his neck to watch my gaping wounds from behind Sister as well, but perhaps he's not smart enough to realize these injuries almost happened to him.

In any case, that was some atrocious teamwork, but it could have gone much worse since without communication it's hard to get better coordination. Another issue I need to work on is a long range attack since my ability range is only 15-meter at the moment and this is particularly severe on something that can move in and out of that reach quickly like that Wind snake. I address the immediate concerns and get up pushing the two dragons towards our territory before heading to the Ragefire estate.

...

At the middle of the afternoon, I didn't feel like jumping walls so went to the gate at front and woke up the uncle sleeping on the chair who grumbling called the guards inside to open it and found Alphonse with an armed group by the middle of the courtyard then approached them.

"And... what happened to you?" Asked Alphonse after looking at my neck dripping blood while powering his bracelet.

"A mid Rank 5 snake kissed me in the wrong place... then I kissed it back, and now it's in my stomach...being dissolved. How was your day? Came from a party?" I informed the man dressed in black leather with a thick smell of blood.

"Yes." He nodded tapping the hilt of the bloodied sword sheathed on his left side. "But it seems another one might come after tax day." He informed the changes that may come after tomorrow.

"I'll need you to help me tomorrow with a collar though." I requested getting closer after he dismissed the Auramancer guards.

"Ah, to enslave your Sister." The black haired man smirked resting his hand on the hilt of the sword. "Lester told me." He nodded twice.

"Gah! Don't say it like that. I'm just dying to talk to them, and by the looks of it, they don't have a complete Dragon language either which is as confusing as trying to learn from toddlers, but the collar will translate most of the thoughts making it more efficient." I explained the plans.

"And, are you confident that she will be able to manipulate her Magic?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

The difference between a regular person and a magician or auramancer is the capability of controlling Magic at least inside their body, but most are unable to do this from an early age while others never achieve it throughout their lifetime.

"Well..." I ponder how to answer. "She's always been the evil sister so... the dragoness should be smart enough, and she also expressed interest in magic when I make it which will make this easier for me, but I doubt brother will be able to take magic outside the body for decades, if he is able to manipulate it at all..." I elaborate my examination of the two siblings.

"You want to teach him Auramancy... No rather, you don't know how it works, do you?" Alphonse concluded pondering while grabbing his chin with the right hand.

I shook my head sideways with eyes closed then opened them before walking towards the gate on the right side of the building with the darkness magician on my right.

"First, he would need to know what to aim for before figuring it out on his own, but it's much faster with another Auramancer demonstrating the Mana to Lifeforce conversion process. I could lend you Marlo, the second-in-command once you communicate with them, he's a Rank 4 Auramancer." The man with the appearance on his early forties informed catching up to my pace. "But... an Auramancer dragon huh...? I have yet to see one of those, and I've been around a lot, so I wonder how sturdy he'll get..." He ponders as if searching through his memories.

Indeed, Aura will make a Dragon's High recovery crazy Higher and strengthen the muscles more than Magic, so he'll be fast even without being a Wind user, and stronger than Older Dragons. However, he will have to keep using his body to attack since he's not a human that can wield weapons, unless...we make a durable metal cover for his claws with a sharp diamond tip for penetration. I add more things to my to-do list reaching the gate of the alleyway then the human next to me opens it.

"It's a good combination, right? They are always together, and if Sister learns Magic arts, then I'll help her to devise attacks to fight higher Ranked beasts on their own." I described. "They'll be unstoppable buahah...!" I laugh maniacally through the collar.

"It sounds like you are in a hurry to turn everyone into soldiers... to make someone at my age train into higher Ranks in a hurry..." He sighed after guessing.

"I can assure you that my future won't be a peaceful one." I declared then wondered about his age. "By the way, how old are you anyway?" I inquired to satisfy my curiosity.

"World domination? There's probably a list of people like that, and it has happened in the past, but ultimately they either leave our world to become deities or die." He mocked narrating tales. "I'm one hundred and fifty-three." He proclaimed with a smug face.

I sniffed Shaila after we exit the alleyway conversing and turned left to see her sitting on a bench wearing a black dress under the tree while reading a book. She heard us walking, closed it and left it on the table before approaching.

"Y-you're hurt!?" Shaila stuttered rushing to my left side with a worried face as her white hair flutters in the wind. "You are very hurt!!" She exclaimed and signaled with her hands to lower my neck to her height which I complied before using light magic healing properties.

"Sorry... Ahn, so warm~" I send through Alphonse's bracelet since she concentrates magic on the two holes wide enough to fit her hand inside. "Thanks again...I'm always hurt in some way..." I recalled the previous times she healed me while perceiving my regeneration increase and making the wounds itchy.

Light magic alone only causes the natural recovery to speed up a little which requires a long time to heal large wounds, but Magic would drain before that happens, and it's the reason they are not viable healers.

"Let's go to the table so that you can get comfortable..." I suggested and moved to the tree.

Alphonse told her what possibly happened during my hunt today as I reach the table and lied down before placing my neck over. She arrives and sits down then starts healing again.

"You looked so mature reading a book... what is it about anyway?" I inquire watching the book next to my snout.

"Hehe. It's a book from the Magic Academy, and it has so many wrong things that make me cringe, but it did give me an idea how to fix the problem with making lasers in my hands." The white haired girl informed after giggling.