"Well, the old schemers have really outdone themselves this time," Stas grumbled to himself as he trudged through the snow, looking around. "Do they think I'm a mountain climber? Though I have to admit, the views here are beautiful."

The earthling had the distinct feeling that a whole new world had opened up before him.

This was especially true when the icy fog retreated, revealing the plains and forests lying below.

Another gust of piercing wind forced Stas to clench his teeth tighter and cling more firmly to the cliff to avoid being blown off. If it weren't for the prana circulating through his body, he would have frozen to death long ago.

But the warmaster's body was a sturdy mechanism, ready to carry its owner even through the towering mountains, clad in ice and snow.

Where there was no path, Stas stubbornly clung with his feet and hands to the sheer walls before climbing upward like a cockroach.

Another problem was that he couldn't maintain the prana circulation indefinitely. He had been searching for several days and needed to sleep at night.

Fortunately, the mountains had quite cozy valleys, devoid of snow and even sheltering some trees.

Using his own hands like axes, Stas easily provided himself with wood for the fire. He also brought along a tent that allowed him to sleep with some comfort at night.

Despite the magical beasts that had fled, animals still roamed the area. And his Earth Sense technique allowed him to find all sorts of hidden game, like rabbits. A jab of his spear into the correct burrow - and he had a rather sinewy, but still tasty, meat for lunch and dinner.

Living absolutely alone, except for Leviathan, Stas inadvertently felt a deep sense of satisfaction.

It felt like all the worries that had troubled him before had unanimously chosen to take a break and not bother him. As if the world itself had decided to give him a respite, coming to a halt.

And if he cursed everything under the sun during the first days of climbing the mountains, by the third to the fifth day, he saw the situation differently.

'This is quite a vacation, isn't it? Clean and fresh air, absence of enemy warmasters wanting to finish you off, overly cunning schemers, and dubious missions. Bliss.'

Of course, his companion didn't quite agree with this view of the situation. Leviathan was desperately cold.

It must be understood that despite all the mutations and changes, she still remained cold-blooded. And although she could move through the mountains, it brought her no pleasure.

Most of the journey, she preferred to travel below, directly through the stone. According to Levi, it was warmer there than above.

Now, they were comfortably settled in Stas's tent, ready for sleep.

The tent itself was small, so with Leviathan squeezed into it, Stas was tightly wrapped in the coils of his pet.

Needless to say, he was afraid that the tent fabric wouldn't hold and would tear.

'Don't even think of mentioning it, master!'

'I didn't say anything.'

'But you clearly thought it! I'm not fat.'

'Of course not.'

'...'

'You're just a little plump.'

'Stop teasing!'

An offended huff was heard in their mental conversation.

'Come on, don't be mad,' Stas soothed Leviathan by stroking her head. He was incredibly amused by how the snake reacted to his jokes. 'What do you think about all this? Have you figured out why all the magical beasts fled?'

'No, master. However, I have begun to feel a strange restlessness.'

'Hmm, can you tell when it started?'

'Yes.'

'Good, then we'll start our search from there. If I understand correctly how this works, we're interested in the center of some influence from which the waves spread. The source can move, because on the third day, when we were quite close to it, it shifted even further north along the ridge.'

A cozy silence fell.

Their tent was placed in a small cave. And at the entrance burned a large fire, spreading warmth inside.

The smoke, however, went out through a hole specially made by Stas in the ceiling.

In this way, there was a chance that wild beasts would think twice before crossing through the fire.

'Tell me, Levi, what do you like to do?' Stas's question made the snake get flustered.

'I like to eat, sleep, and... swim under the ground. Master, why do you ask?'

'Those are good desires,' Stas nodded, leaning back on the soft tail of the snake, which replaced his pillow. 'But I've learned one interesting thing in life. Every sentient being should have a hobby. You don't remember, but when we lived in our first world, I went to work almost every day.'

Levi listened attentively to her master. She indeed remembered very little. Only some vague smells and images. Particularly, the scent of one female lingered in her memory. That female clearly despised her. It was only later that she learned this was her master's former mate.

'At work, I saw different people. Some spent all their free time trying to drown in labor, others lazed and counted the minutes until they left, and some waited for weekends and vacations as if they were their last days on Earth. However, many among them were united by the fact that besides work, they had practically nothing else.'

Stas shook his head.

'Yes, they had acquaintances and friends, but often they were tied to that very work. And the older these people got, the more dreadful it was for them to look ahead. Because ahead was retirement, and all their acquaintances and work would cease to mean anything. They would be absolutely alone with nothing to do.'

Stas poked Levi in the nose.

'Therefore, I would advise you to find a hobby for yourself. A hobby to which you can return to rest your heart and soul. Do you understand me?'

'No, but I'll try to understand,' the snake declared resolutely.

'You're my clever girl. Now, let's sleep. I feel tomorrow will be a tough day.'

Outside, the wind picked up, sweeping away snowflakes, while the fire would bow and then burst forth with new power. Meanwhile, inside the cave, in the dry warmth, two otherworldly beings slept, unaware of the encounter that awaited them tomorrow.

*****

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The closer they got to the source, the more palpable the tension became. It turned out that animals sensed it far better than humans, but as the concentration increased, so did Stas's awareness.

It was like the feeling of impending doom. As if you were personally walking to the edge of a cliff, and everything inside you told you to turn back.

But Stas, ignoring his newfound feeling, stubbornly moved forward.

The earthling and his pet were fully prepared. The warmaster's hands gripped the spear, while the snake never turned off her spiritual vision, scanning the surroundings.

Even so, they managed to miss what they were looking for.

'Halt. I feel something,' Stas commanded Leviathan to freeze, then quickly swung his head around. His senses seemed to go wild. 'Something's not right here...'

"Well, little human. You've found me, after all. Now what?" The voice was reminiscent of the hiss of molten steel, the rumble of rocks, and the roar of an erupting volcano. The mere sound of it made you want to fall to the ground and cover your head from what was coming.

The ground cracked, releasing something enormously huge and blood-red.

Stas struggled to understand how he had missed the gigantic chasm in the ground behind the trees, which were now falling around them, resembling some pathetic shrubbery compared to the one now looking straight at them.

"A dragon," Stas uttered the word surprisingly calmly and without a stutter. "A red dragon," he added, making a very astute observation.

'Crap. Levi, run!' Luckily, the snake obeyed Stas's command and swam with all her might through the ground away from the scene. The dragon only glanced at her for a moment, but then his attention returned to the tiny human who dared to disturb his rest after a feast.

Involuntarily, the remnants of the man's sanity assessed the magical death machine looming over him. At the withers, the behemoth was about ten meters tall. But in length, he was many times greater. He couldn't even tell how much, as he couldn't see the entire body.

Moreover, considering the world, Ordyntsev expected it to resemble the Asian version of a dragon. That is, thin and very, very long.

But reality proved to be cruel.

The dragon standing before him was more akin to the Western variant.

What could Ordyntsev do when a dragon, clearly dissatisfied, fixed upon him a predatory gaze?

Exactly.

Scram.

That's why the fiery tornado swept over already empty ground, while Stas himself, having managed to use his Earth Gliding technique, sank a few meters down.

But Ordyntsev had greatly underestimated the power of the dragon's flame.

The earth not only failed to stop the fire, but it seemed not to hold it back at all!

Now Ordyntsev knew what it felt like to be a partridge being roasted in a clay ball.

Only the fact that he immediately moved away as soon as he descended saved him from the wild mixture of molten earth and fire that had flowed down.

"You won't escape, human!" Despite being underground, Stas could hear and understand every word clearly.

Something trembled above, and then the earth around him cracked.

Ordyntsev was again saved by his Earth Sense, which alerted him to an unexpected multi-ton obstacle right in his path.

Veering to the side, he was horrified to see the dragon's claw sweep by just a meter away, churning the earth.

The lizard had simply stuck his claw into the ground and tried to catch Stas.

How much strength did he have to possess for the rocky soil to create almost no resistance?

The next moment, the man had to urgently slide to the side. Above him, the dragon's spit again tore through, scorching the earth several meters deep.

"You're starting to irritate me."

The Red Dragon slightly bit his own claw, then swiftly pushed it into the ground.

Dragon blood is pure magic, the embodiment of the fire element, if it's a red dragon.

Glowing thin roots shot out in all directions. A couple of them whizzed past Stas. Only one barely touched his armor, and Ordyntsev hissed in pain.

The fire magic nearly burned through the steel from a mere single touch!

And the next moment, under the widening eyes of the earthling, each root began to burn even brighter, as if preparing...

Boom!

Through dozens of fissures, tight jets of flame shot upwards. It was terrifying even to imagine what was happening below.

The dragon listened to something, then exhaled steam contentedly. He no longer felt the life of that little human.

That meant he didn't have to worry about someone disturbing his dreams in this place anymore...

'Wait a minute,' the dragon's eyes narrowed suspiciously, and his nose twitched.

A lunge forward, and the figure of a man, pretending to be a smoking earth clump, suddenly darted down the slope, while the astonished dragon first froze and then, chuckling, chased after him.

He was no longer angry. This persistent human had even surprised him with his tenacity. The lizard was curious to see how much longer he could resist the inevitable.

The dragon didn't feel any particular strength in him, yet the man refused to give up and die. Perhaps that's why the dragon didn't engulf everything around in flames, but only occasionally spat small globs of fire.

Though, how small? Just one of those fireballs would be more than enough to destroy castle walls, incinerate troops of warriors, and spread terror in the hearts of enemies.

Meanwhile, Stanislav furiously worked his legs, trying to carry his ass away from the dragon chasing right behind him. With every jump of the lizard, the mountains themselves shuddered. Avalanches and landslides had already started in some places, and in a couple of spots, the earth split open, revealing fissures.

However, it made no sense to run any further. The descent was ending, and a steep ascent was ahead. Without using prana, it was impossible to climb it. But who would let him do that?

The dragon raised its eyelids with interest when the human suddenly turned around and struck the ground.

He was even more interested in the small stone serpents that rushed towards him.

A sweep of the tail turned almost all of them to dust, while the remaining few managed to bite his leg.

'Hmm, are they trying to drain me?' the lizard smirked. 'And what do you say to this?'

A slight effort of mind, and the dragon's blood flared up, instantly burning the clinging serpents.

The giant looked at the human again, and... he was no longer in place. At that very moment, he was furiously working his arms and legs, literally throwing himself up the slope.

"No one has ever escaped me so easily, little human." A devastating tail swing, from which the air seemed to tear, and the strike landed directly on the cliff, causing it to thunderously split into many falling pieces.

Jump! Jump! Jump!

Ordyntsev tried to scramble up the falling rocks, but he didn't make it.

'Ah, gravity, you merciless bitch!'

The dragon stepped back a few paces, watching with interest the pile of rocks that had landed in front of him.

Finally, the dust settled, and before the gigantic lizard stood a scorched, battered, and bruised man. He felt far from good, his breath wheezed from his chest, but there was no acceptance of his fate in his eyes.

The man's hands firmly gripped the spear, which was pointed directly at him! At the lord of the sky! What insolence!

The dragon and the human froze in a silent standoff, but this could not last forever.

"Goodbye, little human. For the entertainment you provided, I'll grant you a quick death."

The dragon's lunge seemed to make the mountains themselves crumble. The rumble spread in all directions. To reach Ordyntsev, the dragon needed only four jumps.

Stas darted to the side, simultaneously forming as powerful a Bloody Strike as possible in his hand, but he knew he couldn't escape.

Their levels of strength were too disparate.

The creature he was forced to confront could easily fight several supreme warmasters at once. What was for it a freshly minted advanced rank?

"Stop! Yamato-sama, stop! Don't kill him!"

The effort it took for Stas not to strike the suddenly slowing dragon in front of him would be worth a separate book. Ordyntsev stumbled when the dragon's blisteringly hot breath hit him with a powerful wave.

'Did I just hear... Kaede?'

"Kaede-tan, why are you protecting this human?" the red dragon slowly turned his head and looked at the yokai running towards them. "What's so special about him?"

For some reason, although the dragon's voice was still quite loud, it no longer made one's heart drop.

"Yamato-sama," Kaede bowed deeply to the dragon. "He's my friend. We were just going to find out why all the animals fled. And it turns out your presence scared them all."

Yamato thoughtfully puffed out smoke.

Stas, meanwhile, preferred to pose as a statue. When the ghostly possibility of survival loomed before him, he was ready to endure even more.

"Kaede-tan, why didn't you tell me that you didn't come alone but with a companion?" Yamato asked an important question, and Stas was also very curious about the answer.

"Well... I," Kaede giggled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck, becoming painfully reminiscent of Kizashi. "You see, I... kind of met you. I had so many questions, we talked, and I... forgot to tell you about it."

Ordyntsev slowly closed his eyes to avoid seeing the culprit of why he almost became a kebab on the dragon's menu. His spear would have made a fine wooden skewer!

Of course, if it weren't for her presence here, it could have ended even more sadly, but this still didn't provide much comfort to Stas.

"Amusing," Yamato finally declared, eyeing Stas and Kaede with an ironic gaze. "A friendship between a warmaster and a yokai. Such a thing is rare to see. Kaede-tan, while I'm willing to tolerate spirits and yokai, I do not tolerate humans. Leave and relay that for the next few years, this is my home. Anyone who decides to come here will become my food. That is all I have to say."

"Thank you for your leniency, Yamato-sama," Kaede bowed. In Ordyntsev's memory, the dragon was the first entity she treated with such respect. Stas also managed to bow as much as his bent armor and burns would allow.

Spreading his wide wings, the dragon made a sharp flap, sending himself upwards. A powerful wave of air made the surviving trees sway and bend to the ground.

Hit in the chest by the wind blast, Stas didn't resist, allowing himself to be knocked down.

Lying on the ground, he watched with bated breath the heavy beats of the majestic creature.

Somewhere to the side, Leviathan emerged, terrified. For the first time in her life, the snake felt such fear. The disparity between her and the lord of the sky was so immeasurable that she felt uneasy.

A quiet laugh escaped from the earthling's lips, growing into a thunderous guffaw. His body was in excruciating pain, but the laughter kept bursting out from within.

"Shiro-kun, what's wrong with you?!" Kaede ran around anxiously. "Are you in pain?! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"

'I've seen a damn dragon and survived! But the main question is, what do I tell the elders and the onmyoji?!'