A good twenty days have passed since we left Nia.

We traveled at quite an impressive speed, yet it was only now that we reached the outskirts of where that Primordial Dragon could be.

This place, must be it, the thing, that two years ago, I was somehow afraid of, the end of the Iharana Great Forest.

The place we were throding on was completely different from the landscape I had grown so used to. We were currently walking on a strange, barren, mountainous, and volcanic land.

The temperature in this area was simply not conducive to life, and it wasn't just the temperature; the geology and altitude of this land were also unsuitable for any living form.

That being said, there was an exception.

Hovering above us like a flock of birds were dragons, which by Han’s description would resemble very much what a “Fiery Dragon” would look like.

Those dragons are known for their proud, territorial, and violent nature. It is mostly because of those considered the frost counterparts of those dragons, the Frost Dragons, that during the past thousand years, no crusades were fought to the east.

That being said, we were mostly fine since none of them had attacked us so far, so our journey into these mountains went on fluently.

“It’s nostalgic, isn’t it?

“What is traveling like this?"

“Yeah, going South, not knowing what kind of messed up monstrosity is awaiting us. You know… that chill. That’s the true meaning of a journey to me.

“To me too. What about you, Heon?”

“...”

“Well, I guess I was the idiot one, for expecting some sort of vocal answer."

Heon is without a doubt the strongest monster we’ve ever encountered, topping dragons and other mythical beasts by a large margin. She’s simply unstoppable against monsters. Her only weakness, as far as I can tell, would be to have a human opponent. I don't know where this came from, but she’s really pulling punches when it comes to humans. That was displayed well, when we were against me, then Aurora, and finally Solomon, me. It’s like she has something that is holding her back against humans, and she seems to be quite aware of that shortcoming given how hurried she was to back off from Aurora and Solomon. But, fortunately for us, our next opponent is a dragon rather than a human.

I admit, ideally, in this fight, I would’ve liked to win it myself and by myself.

Heon has nothing to do with all of this, though I still have no idea how strong that dragon would be, yet I know that I most likely won’t win this alone. I’m not that delusional, I know that I’m not invincible, I need her help, Heon’s help for this.

“That’s the right spirit.”

“What, needing help?”

“Not that, but needing someone’s help and seeking it. Back in the day, a certain idiot couldn’t accept my help and, to prove to me his worth, he went on to challenge me.”

Hearing these words, I couldn’t help but cringe internally.

“Hahaha… what happened to that idiot now?”

“Oh, he is still an idiot, but he is a fine idiot now.”

“If I were that, I would be quite vexed by that remark.”

“Then be it. What is he going to do? Hit me?”

“Fair enough.”

A few kilometers later, as we were peacefully climbing a mountain that we felt would lead to the place we were looking for, one of the Fiery Dragon flocking the sky descended upon us, then roared his giant and pungent mouth menacingly at us.

In times like this, I can’t help but reflect that stupidity and intellect aren’t something reserved for humans alone but for monsters as well.

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Leaving myself aside, Heon was quite intimidating on her own. Even dragons are actively avoiding her, but I guess exceptions like Ezra and this one still exist.

Thinking about what Nia did that day, I attempted to make "contact" with the earth as well; after all, talking to a dragon should be the same thing, right?

So if I can be “loved” by dragons, I should be, somehow, able to do it as well, right?

“I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“But we lose nothing by trying, right?"

Asking Heon to stay out of this.

I approached the dragon.

I was still thinking as to exactly how I should experiment with it, when it suddenly cowered up and crawled aside, allowing us to pass through.

Not that I was particularly satisfied with this, but since killing it wasn't worth our time, we simply continued our journey.

At the beginning of this journey, I had one question, I somehow, at one point, had to ask myself,

How exactly to find that dragon?

After all, all I knew about it was that it was somehow in this corner of the world.

So far, I’ve brushed off the question. I simply went south, I thought to myself that as long as I went in this direction, I would eventually stumble upon it. But upon reaching this place, the plan changed, and clear directions were given to me.

The dragon is supposed to be a fire dragon, with a primordial one on top of that.

Fire is supposed to be hot, isn’t it, so it should be a primordial dragon too, right? Or at the very least, it should be attracted to somewhere very hot?

I know it sounded like very flawed and imperfect logic, but I nonetheless decided to follow this one, I was here in search of the hottest place in this corner of the world.

So here we are, arriving at our final destination.

The place was a seemingly dormant volcano, yet it was exuding, a sweltering heat. Fiery Dragons weren’t even approaching this place due to how unbearable it was.

Being at the crater’s flange, I ventured my Aina deep within the volcano, and what I found deep within was as I had expected.

I even received a semblance of a reaction.

It’s finally here.

I took a deep breath, I retrieved my sword and announced.

“Can you see it, Han?”

"Yes, after two, no, six years. Here we finally are.”

Six years in these woods, all of these years for today.

“Today, I came to uphold our promise: whatever the outcome of this battle, it will mark the end of our journey, and hopefully the start of our new one.” I announced before jumping into the volcano’s crater.

Not even five seconds had gone by since I jumped in, when something surged from within the supposedly dormant volcano.

A giant pillar of overheated flame engulfed and expelled me, like water out of a geyser.

Basically floating in midair, I repositioned myself, and levitated myself to the ground next to Heon.

The creature responsible for propelling us out of the volcano into midair emerged from the volcano's entrails with an earthquake, like a dormant god awakening from its slumber.

Still dripping with lava, a majestic red and crystalline-scaled dragon the size of a mountain appeared. On its head, two sets of horns on its back were something that one would assume must’ve once been a magnificent pair of wings, but now, there was nothing left of that beauty except some remnant of its past splendors.

"So that's a primordial dragon," I said, clutching my sword, which looked like a mosquito dart in comparison to this creature.

“Talk about being chonky! Damn!”

I knew I had to expect something enormous, but still I couldn’t help but be impressed by its size. It was easily over 150m in length, if not more.

Its size was impressive, but that wasn’t all this aura had. In six years, I’ve never felt something like that. It was faintly noticeable even by me, but my hand was slightly shaking right now.

I heaved a quiet sigh, to calm myself down, yet couldn’t help but be slightly baffled by what happened next.

A voice resonated, “You are?…human… State your name.”

There hasn't been a single movement from her mouth... yet.

It spoke?!

Of course, it spoke; I knew that beforehand, but it was still quite perplexing to witness. Over the years, I came to accept that not only humans had intelligence and a wide range of human-like emotions, but that the idea of a monster being capable of speech was something I came to accept as impossible.

It sounded like a woman's voice.

Glancing at Heon, I felt a noticeable change in her, that I recognized as something similar to what happened two years ago.

This might get more complicated than I had initially expected.

My heart was slightly wavering, but it didn’t change what I came here to do.

I raised my sword toward the dragon.

“That sword ?! What did you do to him?! Don’t you humans, consider him one of your godsents? Why would you do that to him?”

It remembered Solomon, and instantly guessed what I most likely did to him.

From what I can hear, this dragon doesn’t seem to see Solomon in a bad light, I would even say that I heard something that I would go as far as to refer to as "concern" in that strange voice of hers.

Well, not that it matters the slightest what she feels?

I’m here for her skin. Her passive with Solomon has nothing to do with me.

That dragon will be Han’s next vessel.

“I see... Greed, is it? That would explain your presence here. Your boldness is indeed admirable, but do you really think that a mere human can do anything against me, Amira, the Primordial Fire Dragon?”

Without Han, I would’ve been alone all those years. He was the shade in the dark. Today, the time has come for me to honour the contract that initially bound us together.

“I do. For me to see… that sight… that silhouette once again… I will slaughter everything that stands in my way, whether it be an apostle, human, or a primordial dragon such as yourself.”

“I see… Then brace yourself for a death befitting a fool blinded by the little that has been unearnly given to him!”

“Heon, let’s end this, today!” I warcried.

“Yeah!”

“...” Bracing herself, she roared.

Thus started the battle between Amira, the Primordial Fire Dragon, and us.