Kax walked through the red portal and shielded his eyes from the sudden bright glare. When he was accustomed to the lighting, he lowered his arm and looked around. His surroundings were lush and green, and a faint fog lingered in the area. The red portal closed behind Kax, and a message was transmitted from the root bracelet on his wrist into his mind. “A surprise war of conquest has been declared. Destroy the dimensional monument to secure victory.”

“This place reminds me of the wilderness,” Tafel said, looking through a portal that was floating in front of her face. Above her, there was another portal that was rotating in place.

“Neat trick,” Lindyss said to Tafel as her eyes shifted towards the sky where Tafel’s portal was stationed.

“Thanks,” Tafel said, the view in front of her face changing as the portal above her head rotated to survey their surroundings. “I picked it up recently. After reading through the Trickster’s Book, I realized I wasn’t being creative enough with my abilities.”

“Is that so?” Lindyss nodded. “Good for you.” Her nose wrinkled as she looked around. “Vur. Did you get to pick the location of the residence you wanted to raid?”

Vur nodded. “This one is the best. It comes with a Tree of Knowledge.”

“Elves?” Lindyss asked. “I swear I can smell them.”

Vur nodded again.

“An elven grotto,” Gaegukja Yeol said after listening in on the conversation. “I can’t believe the tower allowed you to invade an elven grotto without any preparations. Elves are….” Her red eyes stopped flaring as she glanced at Lindyss. “Well, I suppose you know what elves are.”

“What’s the plan?” Deowi asked, stretching his arms by swinging them in large circles around his shoulders. “Do you want me to burn the whole place down?”

“Yes, Vur,” Lindyss said. “Let’s hear it. What’s the plan?”

Vur rubbed his chin. “We destroy the dimensional monument.”

Gaegukja Yeol waited for more, but more words didn’t come. “And the plan to do that is…?”

Vur’s head tilted to the side. A brief moment passed. His brow furrowed. “By … destroying it?” he asked in return, raising an eyebrow. He straightened his head before looking at Tafel. “Was my plan too hard to follow?”

Tafel stared at Vur, and with a perfectly straight face, she nodded and said, “Yes. You have to use less words, smaller ones might help too.”

Vur turned towards Gaegukja Yeol. He gestured with his arms, creating the outline of a boxlike object. “Target.” He mimed a smashing motion towards the air where he had outlined the imaginary object. “Smash.”

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Gaegukja Yeol took in a deep breath through her nose, the flames on her head growing in size as she did so. “Please demonstrate.”

Vur nodded, but before he could do anything, shouts came from within the forest. “Over there!” someone said with a sharp voice akin to a bird’s cry. A pillar of green light erupted around Vur’s group, stretching towards the sky. From a distance, it looked like the sky had been split in twain by a green marker. “They’ve been marked!”

Vur blinked and raised his head. Then, he held out his hands and looked down at his palms. He stepped forward, and the green light shining down on him followed. A second later, he whipped his head upwards and stretched his arms out towards the sky, his second pair of arms making an appearance as well.

Gaegukja Yeol frowned upon seeing Vur’s actions and raised her head as well. Several brown blurs streaked into her vision, and her eyes widened. Before she could see anything else, however, she was blinded and deafened by a blast of pure-white light and a sound akin to a volcanic eruption.

Dozens of lightning bolts had shot out of Vur’s fingers, striking down the incoming arrows. Upon being marked, it only made sense for a volley of ranged attacks to follow. Vur snorted, and his body expanded. Blue scales grew out of his skin, and a pair of leathery wings sprouted from his back. A tail jutted out of his rump as his neck lengthened, his head elongating as his teeth grew, narrowing into points. When his polymorph was complete, Vur raised his head and let out a roar, shaking all the trees in the forest and scattering a cloud of birds into the air.

Gaegukja Yeol and Deowi both gulped at the same time, the flames on their bodies visibly dimming to low embers. Kax Ammer gulped as well. Then, he grinned. No matter what, he made the right choice in following the woman who had purchased his soul.

“Dragon!?” someone within the forest shouted.

“Be calm! There’s only one! As long as we work together, it’s not impossible to kill!”

Vur snorted, and his eyes glowed with a golden light as he stood on his hindlegs and spread out his front legs and wings, stretching his neck to make himself as large as possible. Then, the world was set ablaze. Fire filled the sky and air, but miraculously, the trees, elves, and other creatures weren’t burned despite their close proximity to the flames. That didn’t stop the elves from screaming however.

“Where did the dragon go!?” Apart from all the other screams and shouts, someone asked a question that drew everyone’s attention.

Gaegukja Yeol whipped her head to the side to look at her brother. “Is that—!?”

“Shh!” Deowi shushed his sister and pointed up. “Pay attention!”

An elf swallowed his saliva and turned his head side to side repeatedly while backing away with one arm held behind him. He had no idea why the flames weren’t touching him, but it didn’t matter. All he knew was the lake was behind him, and he had to get there before the fire became hostile. His back bumped into something even though his arm held behind him hadn’t touched anything. He turned his head around and froze. A dragon’s head and front paw were floating in front of him. He couldn’t see the rest of the dragon, but that didn’t matter. Just one claw was enough for the dragon to kill him. “P-please, spare me!”

“Dimensional monument,” Vur said. “Where is it?”

The elf swallowed. “It’s by the—”

“Point,” Vur said, interrupting the elf while also causing a stain to appear and grow on the poor man’s pants. The elf looked around in all directions before pointing towards the direction of the village plaza while closing his eyes. Vur grunted, and the elf tensed all of the muscles in his body, his eyes still clenched shut. A long moment passed, and the elf slowly opened one eye. Then, he opened the other. The dragon had disappeared without making a sound.