“Is that a human?” Vernon asked. He hovered in the air next to Sera, pumping his wings up and down. The two dragons were above the clouds, staring down at a red figure sitting in a pit. Its legs were crossed, and its arms were folded in its lap. The red man’s eyes seemed to be closed, and his chest moved up and down with every breath he took.

“If that’s a human, then that’s a tomatoing big human,” Erin said, peeking out of Lindyss’ hair. “I think those things are called giants.”

“Everything’s a giant to you,” Lindyss said.

Erin snorted. “But this one’s giant to you too.”

“Can you do something about it?” Sera asked the elf sitting on her head. “I don’t like the smell of it. It smells like death, but at the same time, it smells like abundant life.”

Erin tilted her head and asked herself in a whisper, “What does abundant life smell like? Flowers? It must be flowers.”

“You really think that highly of me, huh?” Lindyss asked.

Sera blinked. “Well, according to Grimmy, you subdued Kondra, didn’t you? Don’t tell me that was a lie.”

“It’s the truth,” Lindyss said. “But for me to bring out strength equivalent to that time’s, certain conditions have to be met. I can’t just subdue dragon patriarchs and matriarchs all willy-nilly now. If I could, do you think I’d be the one listening to Grimmy?”

“Oh?” Erin’s eyes lit up. “What kind of conditions? Does it have to be raining? One of the fairy queens back home could cast a really devastating spell, but only if it was raining above an erupting volcano in the middle of the winter while snow was on the ground.”

Lindyss raised an eyebrow. “The conditions to summon my strongest undead are not that specific.”

“It’s true love’s kiss, isn’t it?” Vernon asked. “You two-legged things love applying the condition of true love’s kiss to everything.”

“If it is, it’s a shame Grimmy’s not here,” Sera said and rolled her eyes.

“I’m not in love with Grimmy! And he certainly doesn’t love me,” Lindyss said, glaring at Sera while resisting the urge to slap the dragon. It’d certainly feel good to, but she’d probably die afterwards.

The fairy in Lindyss’ hair flew out of her head. “I’ll give you a kiss!”

“Shut up, Erin.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Wow, I’m hurt.” Erin’s wings drooped. She landed on Lindyss shoulder and sighed, crossing her legs and placing her hands on her knees.

“Fairies don’t know what love means,” Lindyss said. “Don’t think I don’t know that.”

“Okay, enough joking around,” Vernon said. “Seriously, what are the conditions for you to take care of that thing?” He gestured at the meditating giant underneath them. “Don’t tell me Grimmy made you come with us for no reason.”

“I need a sacrifice,” Lindyss said. “Great power comes at a great cost unless you’re a dragon.”

“What kind of sacrifice?” Sera asked and frowned. “You didn’t teach any of these things to Vur, did you?”

Lindyss snorted. “Of course not. This isn’t something he can learn. Anyways, about thirty S-ranked adventurers will do.”

“Hey…,” Erin said, her face paling. “About those Fangs of Capitis that you swallowed with your shadows outside of that dwarven prison….”

“Hmm?” Lindyss raised an eyebrow. “Fangs of Capitis? What Fangs of Capitis? I don’t recall a dwarven prison.”

“You’re playing dumb again!” Erin bounced up and down. “Stop doing that!”

“Can you do anything without your sacrifices?” Sera asked. “It’d be difficult to find that many people. We have no idea when this thing will start moving.”

“Without my sacrifices, I’m weaker than a dragon,” Lindyss said. “And I used up all my saved ones while taking care of Kondra.”

Vernon narrowed his eyes. “So, you’re useless?”

Lindyss crossed her arms over her chest. “Someone’s worth is not dependent on their strength. I can be useful in different ways, like analyzing your opponent or calling for Grimmy when things go wrong.”

“Well, how about you call for Grimmy right now?” Sera asked and sighed. “It’s not every day you see things larger than a dragon.”

Lindyss placed a finger to her temple and closed her eyes. A moment later, her closed eyes twitched before shooting open. “He seems to be asleep,” she said. “I got sent to an automated voice message.”

Flames shot out of Sera’s nostrils. “Sleeping when he said he was going to watch over the kids and Vur?” Her eyes narrowed at the elf on her head. “Wake him up.”

“I can’t do that from far away,” Lindyss said and shook her head.

Vernon pointed at the giant. “Then be useful the other way and analyze it.”

Lindyss nodded and crept forward, Leaning over Sera’s snout. “Well, for one, it seems to be pretty big.”

“Are you messing with us?” Sera growled. “Has being around Grimmy for so long removed your fear of dragons?”

“I wasn’t done yet! Stop being so snappy,” Lindyss said. She cleared her throat. “And if it’s that big, then presumably, it has greater physical strength than you two because physics and the fact that Grimmy said it’s a danger to dragons. The aura around it is similar to a girl we met before, the one with the sword that you stomped the uncle of. She has the ability to cancel out magic, so it’s safe to assume spells targeting this thing won’t work on it either. You’ll have to turn the spells into physical attacks like destroying the earth and making it fall or freezing it by targeting the air around it instead of its body.”

Sera nodded. “What about its weakness?”

“Not sure,” Lindyss said and shrugged. “If I knew, that’d would’ve been the first thing I said. But everything has a core. It either has a heart, a magic circle, or a central node powering it. Remove that, and it’ll die.”

“That’s not true,” Erin said.

Lindyss turned her head to face the fairy sitting on her shoulder. “Do you know something?”

“You just said everything has a core,” Erin said and nodded. “But it’s quite clear you don’t have a heart. You’re mean.”

Lindyss flicked the fairy’s forehead, knocking the little queen off her shoulder.