I led Octavia in the direction of the cave, periodically glancing over my shoulder and squawking to make sure that she was still following. Despite her inability to see, she was still making good progress; apparently, having eight legs made it a lot easier for her to walk on uneven ground without tripping.

"That's good," said Octavia. "Just keep signaling me like that."

I squawked in agreement.

"If there are more ants coming, squawk three times like that, okay?"

I squawked once, hoping that confirmed yes.

"What you just saw me do is a rarity," said Octavia. "It'll be several days before I can do it again. So, if we run into more ants, just make a run for it.

I let out two short staccato squawks with the same timing and cadence as the double-tap that I used every time I wanted to communicate "no."

"I'll be okay, little one. They can't attack me when I'm like this. Or if they do try, they're going to have a very hard time of it."

I looked at Octavia's body, which was still covered in the inky black sludge she'd unleashed before. It was the first time I'd seen anything like it: it was the first time in my short dragon life that I'd seen another creature unleash an attack that seemed anything like the breath attacks I was capable of, something well outside the realm of what I'd expect from an equivalent creature from earth's animal kingdom. Probably no coincidence, then, that Octavia was also the only talking creature I'd met. She probably also had a System, and used it to master a powerful ability that bordered on magical.

If Octavia believed that being drenched in her own sludge was enough to deter attacking ants, I was inclined to believe her. It was a small wonder that Octavia seemed unharmed by the stuff that had swiftly killed so many ants. She probably had innate resistance to her own attacks, in the same way that I wasn't harmed by my own [noxious breath] or [poison breath] attacks. And, much like Octavia had made sure to warn me to stay out of her attack radius before she'd used it, I now had to be mindful about how I used my area-of-effect attacks.

Still, her resistance to the apparently deadly effects of the black muck hadn't prevented it from blinding her. I supposed that was inevitable, to some extent: even if it didn't "hurt" her, it could still stick to her eyes. Thinking about it, Octavia didn't ever blink. In fact, that had been my first impression of her the first time she'd stared me down, before I had heard her talk for the first time: she didn't blink, she couldn't blink, all because she had no eyelids. No way to close her eyes to protect them from the sludge, then. Having eyelids was something I'd always taken for granted, both as a human and now as a dragon. Is that why Octavia doesn't do well in sunlight?

When the ants had first attacked, I'd gotten the impression that Octavia, absent her web, was a great deal more helpless around ants than I was. It was clear that I'd underestimated her. But now, she seemed more helpless than ever, relying on the intermittent croaks from a dragon hatchling to help her navigate the terrain.

We were less than a hundred feet away from the cave when another fire ant horde began approaching, this one more massive than the last. There had to be at least a hundred of them. How are there so many of them? Are the two of us really worth the effort? I turned to Octavia to get her reaction, only to realize she hadn't noticed. Of course she hadn't noticed: noticing threats was my job. I squawked three times.

"Run back, little one," she said. "We're close enough to home that I know where we are by touch. I can make my own way back."

I decided to take her advice. I sprinted back to the cave, trusting Octavia to take care of herself. I started to enter the cave, then thought better of it and stood just outside the entrance, turning to watch Octavia. If any ants decided to change their mind and pursue me, I had more than enough time to escape into the cave, so I stayed outside the entrance to get a better view of what I presumed would soon be a crimson-stained battlefield.

By the time the first of the fire ant swarm reached her, Octavia was perhaps 50 feet feet away, making her way back, close enough that we might have been able to talk (or at least, talk and squawk) to each other if it weren't for the screech of the writhing ant mass: until now, I hadn't ever considered just how loud the ants were: each individual ant could only make a tiny chirp, but collectively, they filled the air with an unsettling din.

Several ants leapt onto Octavia's legs, immediately falling off as they came into contact with the black sludge that coated her body, falling to the ground covered in the black sludge themselves and writhing before their movement stopped completely. Perhaps a dozen ants each tried the same thing, with ants attempting to attack or bite all eight of her legs, but as soon as they touched the sludge, it stuck to their body and they fell down in what I imagine must have been some amount of agony, from the way they were writhing. So selfless, I thought, throwing away their own lives and dying a horrible death for the sake of the colony. It was selfless, but stupid: what were they hoping to accomplish? It didn't seem as if they were slowly whittling down Octavia's health with their strikes: they seemed to fall off of her as soon as they came into contact with the sludge, not managing so much as a single bite. They were throwing their lives away, and for what?

One ant managed to crawl under her, trying to bite her from below. Her underside was the one part of her that wasn't covered in black sludge — the stuff had rained upon her from above — but she flattened herself against the ground and crushed it. She stayed in place, her vulnerable underside against the ground, with the only visible parts of her being covered in sludge.

Within half a minute, maybe twenty ant corpses littered the ground. It was unfortunate that they were dying the way that they were, and I had that thought for entirely selfish reasons: a hundred dead ants would have made a great meal, but they were all dying after Octavia's sludge stuck to them, and whatever that sludge was doing to them was probably something I didn't want it doing to the inside of my stomach. Even the ants that Octavia was striking down with her claws had the black stuff stuck to them. I watched as another ant dove for one of Octavia's front legs, only to be impaled by her claw. The passive resistance of the sticky stuff that covered her apparently wasn't efficient enough for her tastes.

Octavia seemed to be striking blindly, and while the mass of ants in front of her was thick enough that it was hard for her to miss, she did whiff one strike, planting a claw into the ground right next to an ant. The ant that she had missed jumped onto the leg that she had just tried to swipe with. She waved the leg into the air, flinging the ant aloft, and it landed some distance away before charging back at her. Now that's odd. How had the ant managed to survive contact with Octavia's leg? I studied her front legs more closely, and saw that they weren't shimmering with the same black wetness that the other parts of her body were. Then I looked at the ant corpses littered around her, and suddenly realized: each of the ants she had slain had some sludge sticking to it. Every bit of sludge that stuck to them was a bit that rubbed off of her, and she had been doing so much work with her two front legs that nearly all of the sludge that had previously coated them was now gone.

Now, the ants suicidal efforts didn't seem so futile or stupid. Octavia had barely worked her way through a quarter of the ant swarm, and two of her legs were already vulnerable. A minute ago, she had seemed invincible, but now, was it time for me to start fearing for her life? She could actually lose this battle. Would she? Would I have to intervene? Could I intervene? Would an intervention on my part just make the situation worse?

I stayed back, watching the fight continue, contemplating the best way for me to join the fray if my participation became necessary. If I attacked some of the ants that surrounded her, surely some of them would peel off to pursue me instead. I could probably handle…perhaps a score of them, if I relied on the cowardly (smart, but cowardly) tactic of retreating back to the cave, kiting them along and using Octavia's web as a protective barrier. Would doing that actually make a difference — would leaving Octavia with only ~60 ants to fight be meaningfully different than leaving her to fight ~80 ants? Was she really planning to fight them all to the death?

That thought bothered me. Why isn't she moving? This whole ordeal could be over and done with if Octavia just traversed the remaining distance to the cave. She knew where she was, she knew that she could make it there with less than a minute of concerted effort walking, so why was she staying in place? Did she have some other motivation for continuing the fight, like farming them for experience points? This seemed like a dangerous way to grind. Even if that was her intent, why not do it closer to home?

Still, I hesitated to enter the fray. Octavia had given me an instruction (and the assurance that she could handle herself). The last time she'd told me that, she had unleashed an impressive display — the most powerful attack I'd ever seen in my short life, an "ultimate" attack by any measure. Trusting her to handle herself had worked out before, and I watched, hoping that leaving her own devices would pay off again.

Then, I saw movement in the distance. I did a double take, but I knew in my heart what was coming before my eyes settled on the horizon and confirmed the approach of another wave of fire ants. When will it end? Fighting off a hundred fire ants might have been viable for Octavia — she had already chewed through a third of their numbers while I had been ruminating — but they were slowly chipping away at the sludge covering that had served as her armor for the fight so far, and I doubted that she could take a hundred more ants, especially since she couldn't see them coming.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Octavia had told me to run back to the cave and save myself, but she'd also tasked me with a responsibility. "If more ants are coming, squawk three times." I had to let her know.

I squawked, hoping she would hear me from where she was, but she showed no reaction to my cry. The mass of the ants, with their cacophony of chirps, was too loud for me to be heard. With a small amount of reluctance, I left the mouth of the cave to join Octavia on the battlefield and warn her about the next approaching swarm.

As I approached, several fire ants noticed my presence, and split off from the main group to advance on me, perhaps half a dozen in number. That was no problem; I had ways of clearing a path. In what had practically become routine for me, I swung with both my claws, stabbing at the two nearest ants, then emitted [noxious breath].

Fire ant defeated! 2% exp toward next level

Only one of my strikes landed, but it barely mattered; what mattered most was the area-clearing effect of my [noxious breath]. The cloud gave me a wide enough berth that I was able to get within several yards of Octavia, though thankfully the gas cloud didn't extend as far as the position she had staked out. She stabbed a pair of ants with her forelegs while shaking off an ant that clung to one of her rear legs, which had also lost enough of the black goo covering that it too was vulnerable to attack. I squawked three times.

"Dragon? You shouldn't be here! Turn back!"

I squawked three times, and this time, Octavia understood my meaning.

"More ants coming?"

One squawk. Yes.

"More than a hundred?"

One squawk. Yes. Maybe not exactly accurate, but that seemed like the right ballpark.

"Go back to the cave. I'll make my way back."

By now my gas cloud had dissipated. It was at a point where the ants were looking at me with intent to strike, so I hurried back to the cave entrance, sprinting with effort. I didn't want to use noxious breath to cover my retreat, as it would block Octavia from advancing, though on the plus side, the dissipation that necessitated my retreat had also freed up the path forward for her.

By the time I made it to the cave entrance, the ants had apparently lost interest in me, and reverted back to focusing on Octavia. She moved with considerable effort: the ants seemed to know what she was doing, and half the remaining swarm crowded to block her path. As soon as she took a step forward, several ants would leap onto her leg. That necessitated several seconds of flailing on her part as she shook the ants off, and every moment she spent shaking a limb was a moment that limb couldn't be used for striking or locomotion. The gaps in her black goo armor were so numerous that I could see several ants succeeding in landing bites on her: she didn't seem to be pained by the bites, but I could see her flinch at several moments.

I glanced toward the horizon, at the rapidly advancing ant army. Octavia's progress was too slow. She's not going to make it. I didn't want it to be true, but I was almost certain of it. What could I do? Jump in with my poison breath to disperse the crowd? What if I ended up killing Octavia in the process? What I needed was a breath attack that would deal with the ants but not injure Octavia. And then, I realized I could have one.

What's the point of a breath attack that can incapacitate but not kill?

I knew what I had to do. As I rushed forward to Octavia's defense, I spent my last remaining skill point to learn [paralyzing breath].

Paralyzing breath: temporarily debilitates foes. Effects compound over time until foes are completely immobilized. Cost: 2 SP

I threw myself at her and the swarm surrounding her, and let it rip, barely registering the flashing description that had popped up in the moment I'd mastered it.

Current SP: 4

The mass of ants was a mess of chaos and confusion. Around half fled the radius of the gas cloud, some managing to escape before they were too debilitated to move, while the other half continued their assault on Octavia as the haze covered them, their movements — and Octavia's — growing more and more sluggish until they completely stopped moving.

I trampled over a mess of immobilized ants, their puny bodies crunching under my feet as I ignored the "enemy defeated!" exp notifications that flashed across my vision. I wasn't sure how long the paralysis would last, but I was guessing that a paralyzed Octavia wouldn't be making it here without my help. I bent my head down toward her nearest leg, wrapping my jaws around it like a dog grabbing a chew toy. I bit down as gently as I could while still getting a secure grip, hoping that I wouldn't injure her too badly with my teeth, and began dragging her paralyzed body back to the cave, through the gas cloud.

Moving backward while dragging Octavia's rigid body with me proved to be a challenge, not due to her weight as much as the friction and the need to constantly readjust my toothy grip on her to make sure I wasn't biting down too hard on her. I soon realized that by biting down on the claw that tipped one of her legs, I could get a firmer grip. For a few seconds, I worried that I would tear the claw clean off, but it seemed solidly attached to her body. Our movement was slow and methodical, but that was okay: I was relying on the gas cloud for protection anyway, and as long as I made it to the part of the gas cloud nearest the cave entrance before it dissipated, it wouldn't make a difference.

After reaching the edge of my circle of safety, I made a calculated move and released Octavia for just a second to rush toward the cave entrance while spewing another [paralyzing breath] attack, charging as I exhaled, trying to paint as much area with it as I could before rushing back to Octavia to resume dragging her.

Current SP: 2

I had enough gas in the tank for one more [paralyzing breath], and by my estimation, we'd barely make it back.

Once again, my teeth gripped her by the claw, which meant having the tip of her claw inside my mouth, bouncing around as Octavia's body moved over the bumpy ground. As she bounced, the claw inside my mouth occasionally scratched the sensitive surface of my cheeks from within. I winced as her claw scratched my tongue, but the pain it caused was probably nothing compared to the terror she was feeling right now. Could she even feel what was happening to her as I dragged her along the ground? Even worse, she was probably still completely blind. It could be that all she was hearing right now was the screech of more than a hundred ants, all waiting at the perimeter of the gas cloud and hoping for a moment when they could strike.

Once again, I reached the edge of the gas cloud, and with one more [paralyzing breath] left to spend, I ran up to the cave entrance, again doing everything I could to paint it with my protective aura of gas. Spreading the gas like that made it thinner, and several over-eager ants tried to enter through it, one of them even making it close enough to bite my tail, but the bite lasted only a second before the ant was paralyzed and dropped harmlessly to the ground.

I dragged Octavia through the cave entrance, which was a tight fit, but not too difficult, given that Octavia's legs were almost completely horizontal as her abdomen dragged across the ground. After a few more seconds of pulling, we were on her webs. I damaged most of Octavia's webs as I dragged her across them, but fortunately there was enough stray web behind us. I kept dragging, assuming that whatever web fragments lay in our wake would be enough to entangle any ants who tried to follow, and as the gas cloud fully dissipated and the ants streamed through the cave entrance, I proved to be correct: every ant that tried to follow us through the torn mess of webs within the cave got entangled, but that didn't stop a dozen of them from throwing their lives away in the attempt. As they struggled, trapped in the web, the ants chirped and screeched in a way that eerily echoed off the cave walls, and I kept dragging Octavia deeper into the cave, past the flat entrance, down the sloping incline, until we were near the part that seemed to be more of a sheer drop downward, with webs coating the walls (presumably for climbing purposes, though I couldn't navigate them myself). I left Octavia and headed nearer to the cave entrance to confirm that no ants had followed us, then returned to her and waited. And waited.

After a minute passed, I saw one of her legs twitch, then another. I squawked in excitement, hoping Octavia would respond. I heard her make a sound, but it came out muffled. It took another minute before her mouth could move comfortably enough to enunciate a full syllable, and she also regained enough control of her legs to stand up again, supporting her own weight and lifting her abdomen off the ground, testing each of her legs.

"Thank you for coming back for me, little dragon."

I squawked, and tapped the floor with my claw. Yes. Of course I'd come back for you.

She hobbled back toward the cave's mouth. "I need to seal the entrance. Is…is the tunnel clear? It's safe?"

I was reminded that Octavia's eyes were covered with the black stuff, and she was still relying on me to see for her. I tapped once. Yes.

"Let me know if that changes."

Yes. I tapped to confirm I understood.

My first thought was to walk back with her, but I immediately realized if I tried to follow her, I'd simply repeat the damage I had done by trampling her web on the way in. So, I sat back and watched the entrance from a distance as she steadily walked forward by feel, weaving her web and covering all of the spots that I had broken in the process of dragging her into the cave. Then, she continued spinning her web, completely blocking the cave passageway with a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall network of threads. She poked at it several times, seeming to test its strength, then she hobbled back to where I sat.

"That should hold," she said. "I...I think I need to rest now." She collapsed to the ground in an exhausted heap.

Class: Baby Dragon Level: 7 Progress toward next level: 26% Starvation penalty: currently suffering a 10% penalty to all stats, including max HP and max SP HP: 17/24 (27) SP: 0/13 (14) Satiety: 20% Claws: level 1 Scales: level 2 Mouth: level 8 Wings: level 0 (wingless), max reached for current class Traits: Carnivore, Kin sensitive, Carrion feeder Abilities: Sprinting, Noxious Breath, Poison Breath, Paralyzing Breath, Harden scales Unlearned Abilities (Mouth): Hot Breath, Cold Breath, Poison fangs, Roar Unlearned Abilities (Scales): Abrasion, Camouflage