“Food and a water source… A cave for a natural shelter would be nice as well.” Aella mumbled to herself, riding atop Aetherion, each of his steps making the ground beneath them shake slightly.
With the new day truly starting, the small group consisting of Aella, Seraphina, Blair, and Indigo traversed the skies above the mountains on their largest dragon, Stormy, still trying his very best to prove himself superior.
“What are you doing?” Seraphina questioned, moving around Aella, who meditated with curiosity flaring.
“Making plans just in case we don’t make it out today. It should be for naught, but it’s better to have something to fall back on if all else goes wrong.” She explained.
More specifically, Aella was gathering Mana as they traveled, having her cultivation grow closer to the next level. She wasn’t going to break through right away as she still felt her body was too young, but having the option to force her way into the next realm in an instant would be nice in case of emergencies.
This entire time, Blair secretly observed Aella. Naturally, the latter noticed, but she didn’t care enough to bring it up. To her, Blair not keeping an eye on her when she was this close to her daughter would be far weirder.
Frankly speaking, this was far slower than Aella just traversing alone with the wind as her guide but considering the lack of Abyss Kin they’ve seen, she didn’t find any urgency in her pace.
“What do you like doing in your free time?” Seraphina’s voice, soft and timid as it was, continued to cut through the mountain air.
Aella, with her eyes half-closed, once again answered without delay. “I like traveling… And fighting. The adrenaline is nice.”
Seraphina’s eyes widened with wonder. “Fighting? Are you trying to become a Dragon Rider?” Aella quickly nodded and gave a half-assed “Something like that.”
“What’s your favorite place you’ve ever explored?”
“The [Acatari Plains].”
Aella’s eyes opened as she realized she mentioned a place from her old world without even realizing it.
“Woah! Where’s that?”
Aella thought about her next words for a few moments before responding. “Somewhere… Very far away. I’ll take you some time if the chance ever arises.”
“What about food?” The face of young Seraphina sparkled as she continued to ask questions inquisitively.
This caused Aella to crack a small smile, her concentration momentarily broken. This was a question that she had to think about. Ever since coming to this world, she’s had so much good food that it was hard to decide what she liked the most.
“I have a weakness for honeycakes. There’s a little cafe in the city that makes the best ones.”
Seraphina’s questions seemed to never end as they flowed like a gentle stream, her innocence and curiosity amusing Aella mildly. “What’s your favorite color? Any siblings?”
Pointing at her hair and shaking her head to answer both questions and answering any more that came her way rather quickly. Despite the distraction, Aella’s meditation continued her ability to focus undeterred.
Amidst the exchange, Aella suddenly stood up in a hurry, detecting a looming presence approaching them from the distance, her amethyst gaze scanning the surroundings. A flicker of chaos crossed her face, and she gestured for silence.
“Something’s coming,” Aella said in a hushed tone, her eyes narrowing as she tried to discern the nature of the approaching threat. Aetherion and Stormy, too, seemed to sense the danger, the prior’s massive form tensing beneath them and the latter finally giving up on its conquest attempts, flying to Aella and wrapping itself around her neck, its two tails falling just below her chest making it look like Stormy was her scarf.
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If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
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The notification caused Seraphina to exclaim, “She’s right!” Showing her parents the system panel.
“The miniboss? What are we gonna do? How are we supposed to defeat a C-ranked miniboss with two baby dragons?” Indigo worried, moving toward his daughter on Aetherion.
Looking around for a bit longer, Aella spotted the supposed Miniboss just as it spotted them.
Mimics were something she had to deal with extensively in her world, and she quickly realized that this was most likely the same type of creature as it appeared to be an Earth Dragon of sorts.
‘What better thing to mimic in a world of dragons than a dragon, huh?’ Aella chuckled, unable to hide her manic smile any longer.
Without turning to face them, Aella spoke with Stormy hissing at the creature over her words. “Seraphina. Tell Aetherion to fly higher. Stay out of the danger zone. This one’s mine!”
“What do y-”
Before Seraphina could finish her words, Aella jumped off of Aetherion, beginning to plummet to the ground, giggling the whole way down as she shouted.
“Finally! Come on, Stormy, you wanted to fight something strong, right? That’s why you kept attacking Aetherion. Well, show me your metal, little guy!”
Stormy chirped happily as Aella’s aura flared outwards. “Verse 1, {Sylpheed’s Whisper!}” as her fan once again revealed itself, along with its true power as her Aura’s oppressive force skyrocketed.
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Ignoring the weird pop-up, Aella flew straight toward the drake as it flung rocks and debris into the air haphazardly in an attempt to create a chaotic battleground. Unbothered, Aella swung her fan with one word escaping her mouth with a giggle. “Rend”
Wind shattered the incoming projectiles into thousands of tiny pieces before catching Aella mid-air and guiding her to the ground. The earth beneath them shook with each step of the dragon as it roared, its eyes fixated on Aella with primal fury.
In a whirlwind of motion, Aella lunged forward, her fan slashing through the air like a comet. The earth drake retaliated, once again hurling massive rocks in her direction. Without the need to stop the rocks from hitting Aetherion, she deftly dodged the projectiles before Stormy leaped off of her, his sharp fangs attempting to sink into its thick scales.
Quickly realizing his bite wasn’t working, Stormy growled angrily before its throat began to bulge. Moments later, a torrent of water came from his mouth, not dealing any visible damage but pushing the mimic back.
Aella’s attacks were relentless; Each swing of her fan caused more and more damage to appear on the drake. She moved with blinding speed, the wind as her support with her fan in one hand and sword in the other.
Clash after clash, the battle raged on with each strike, Aella’s laughter growing more and more freakish.
“Yes! This is what I wanted! I was worried that nothing would be fun in this world after those braindead cultists!” She cheered, Stormy clearly sharing the same sentiment as he briefly paused just to chirp at her.
Wounds fell onto Aella’s body just as they did the beast that mimicked a dragon as her Mana slowly drained with the amplification from her fan.
Despite the formidable and superior strength that the mimic possessed, Aella’s tenacity and skill proved unmatched, to the point that she was dancing circles around the thing. Eventually, she decided to go for the finishing blow, sliding under the fake drake only for her to be surprised by what she saw.
“No reverse scale?! Shi-”
Every dragon had a Reverse Scale. Even in this world which she had confirmed with Aetherion. A specific scale that enraged the dragon upon striking it but also acted as their most vulnerable point.
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As she spoke, the ground beneath her launched her out from under the mimic, its speed drastically increasing for a moment as it darted toward Aella before she could correct herself.
She used her full power to attempt to blow the dragon back, but her wind wasn’t strong enough. “Shit, this is bad!” She shouted, her smile not shrinking even slightly.
Of course, this mimic was able to mimic the abilities of a low-level earth dragon from her world so perfectly, but it didn’t mimic the reverse scale!
Curling her tail around her front and bracing her arms, Aella prepared for the impact, only for a stream of Mana to fly at Canda from above, sending it into the ground.
Surprised, Aella glanced up to see Seraphina not obeying her orders. That was something she could deal with after. For now, she wasn’t going to let this chance slip as she twirled the winds gathered around her unnaturally before striking the now weakened mimic with a force incomparable to what she used before.
At the same time, she threw her sword at the beast, and Stormy fired off another breath attack, this time combining both his water and lightning, creating a devastating effect.
In the final, decisive strike, the drake roared once again, this time echoing through the entire Abyss Nest before collapsing to the ground, defeated.
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