The power of a dragon!
Alice's POV:
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I was embracing Hiro into my bosom when he suddenly started changing. It was nothing bad and it wasn't a big change either so I didn't mind it in the slightest, though it affected me as well. Although for mortals and humans this little change might be cruel, but in my eyes, this was normal. He should have done so earlier...
Hiro hugged me once more with a lot of strength fearing that I was only a dream. I gave another loving kiss on his forehead as he looked up into my eyes. His eyes were burning with passion for me, for his new life, for his new being. He released quite a lot of bloodlust as well, which naturally wasn't directed towards me but Evan. “It’s time. But should we transform into our true forms now, or after ascending?" I questioned him as I started caressing his hair with a loving smile on my face.
Without thinking even for a moment he answered my question. “I’m curious how a dragon looks like in reality and I’ve never seen a Hydra either before, even though I’m one and since I’m the impatient type... Let's do it now! Hehe~” While talking with me, his tone immediately changed into a gentle and loving one. He would never shout at me. Fufu~ My dear~
As we finished talking, I jumped up and roared with an inhuman voice as I got on all fours. It wasn’t painful, but since dragons walked on four legs... I roared as a huge, powerful and ancient aura flooded out of my body. My skin was shredded into pieces and a green, liquid-like jelly formed in its place. On top of that jelly layer, huge and tough scales formed on my whole body.
On my forehead, three large horns grew out. My scales looked exactly the same as in my battle form. Black. On the back of my neck and on my whole back, long and sharp spikes grew out in pairs, right down to the tip of my tail. This time the tip of my tail wasn’t heart shaped. It had the shape of a huge, double-edged axe. I could easily slice anyone into two halves with a simple swing of my tail. Only idiots would dare to take it on because it's much sharper than our weapons.
Two huge bat-like wings grew on my back while my hands and feet transformed into paws, each of them having five, long and terrifyingly sharp claws on them. Upon feeling that huge strength in my body, I roared out loudly in happiness. The colorful elements started swirling around my body, creating streams of elements, which were visible with naked eyes! Even the elements knew who was the lord here! Hehe~
Hiro laughed happily upon seeing my transformation. He came in front of me with his small humanoid body in his battle form. “Hahaha! Wonderful! Novels and my imagination are shit compared to this! I may have seen many pictures of dragons and I’ve imagined how they would look like, but seeing it in real life is completely different! Alice, you are so awesome!!” He shouted happily while still laughing.
He knocked on my scales, examining their toughness. He put his hand under his chin as he looked up into my draconic eyes and said - "Hmm~ It seems like your scales are much thicker and tougher in your monster form. Also, that jelly layer is perfect for dispersing the damage if you were to be hit by blunt attacks. A true masterpiece! You are a true predator, Alice!" He shouted happily as he hugged my leg.
I was twelve meters high and fifty meters long so he seemed to be really tiny compared to me, but this bastard was teasing me on purpose! [Hiro~ Stop standing there! I too want to see your true form! Don’t you think that you are being unfair? Do it already!] I whined unhappily through our bond because I didn't have vocal cords... My true body wasn't for talking...
Hiro grinned and then finally transformed. He roared with an inhuman voice, just like me and he started transforming. He had the same kind of powerful and ancient aura emanating from his body as me. Almost the same transformation took place, except that instead of one, he grew five heads. His heads looked very similar to mine his, were smaller and he also had longer and thinner necks.
He wasn’t a normal Hydra so he did have wings and his lower body was just like a dragon’s. In reality, the only difference was that he had more heads, hearts, and minds. Our original punching strength was two hundred and forty golems, while we had four hundred and twenty in our monster forms! This was because upon transforming, we gained seventy-five percents additionally!
(AN:\ Illustration which isn’t made by me and the credit goes to the original owner. Imagine Hiro like this but with the same look as in his battle form. Black scales and the green liquid... http://www.deviantart.com/art/Hydra-s-Rage-551175137 Alice is very similar but with a single bigger and spikier head. Also, sorry about the next three paragraph, but it's necessary. I won't do it anymore!)
At the first stage, this was a huge amount! But of course, our strength still didn’t mean that much because the domains were way too powerful. The domains decreased the strength of a cultivator! We are immune to the domain of a cultivator who is at the same stage as us. If we were to meet with someone who is above us, then the power of our domain would be subtracted from that person's domain.
It goes like this - at the first stage, the power of the domain is ten golems, while at the second it's thirty. From that point onwards, its power would increase by sixty, meaning that at the third stage its power is ninety, at the fourth stage it's a hundred and fifty... and at the ninth stage its power is four hundred and fifty. This means that if we were to meet with a cultivator at the ninth stage, we would collapse in that person's domain since we can't have negative strength...
(AN:\ 450 enemy cultivator's domain - 420 their strength = -30 strength +10 their domain = it's still only -20. They can't have negative strength so they would collapse.)
Because of that reason, the stages were very visibly divided since we would gain only thirty golems of punching strength after each stage, yet the strength of our domains would increase twice as much! It was really interesting how these space laws were more powerful than our own strength!
This clearly showed that these space laws were very important. Just these alone could make our enemies almost completely powerless! And considering that we were ascending from a powerful world, it’s very likely that we are going to meet with many people at the ninth stage.
Also, after ascending to the Domain Space Realm, our lifespans increased to six hundred years and we would gain an additional of fifty years after each stage reaching a thousand years at the ninth stage.
Seeing that Hiro finished his transformation, which took only a second in reality, we flew into the air. When we flew through the clouds, I turned back and flew towards Hiro with my jaws wide opened. Since Hiro knew what I wanted through our linked mind he wasn’t surprised. Hiro evaded my attack and as I flew past him, he ‘bit’ into my tail with his leftmost head, but it was like blowing air on me.
[Hey, what are you doing? Something like this can’t even hurt me...] I remarked as I stopped in the air, even though I knew the answer. To be honest, I just wanted to hear it from him.
[W- Well... It turns out that I just can’t hurt you! I'm against hurting women anyway and you are even the most precious person in my life. So tell me... How could I bite you?] Hiro answered, realizing that even though we would be a perfect match for sparring, we have no way to do it because none of us were able to hurt the other one. It's not like I couldn't have bitten into his side when I flew past him...
[*Sigh* I can understand you... it seems like our love is in the way when it comes to getting combat experience. Hahaha~ but I don't mind it if I can have someone beside me who is going to acknowledge and love me for eternity to come. I love you dear.] I answered him and while talking to him, my thoughts broke to the surface and my heart was filled with my love for Hiro in just a moment.
We quickly flew towards the nearby village in our monster forms, since Hiro wanted to kill that little shit and I felt the same. He shouldn't look in such a way at my mate! I spread my wings widely to float in the air. The wind was rushing along my wings and my whole body, which made me feel peaceful and good. When we reached the village, I turned back into my human form and landed on Hiro's back. [Hehe~ I have a mount!] I joked around in a good mood.
We sensed that Evan was in his tent, which came as a small surprise. We thought that he wanted to enter the dungeon, but it seems like he changed his mind. Hiro landed in front of his tent and spew a ball of air, which quickly destroyed Evan's tent. I climbed up to one of Hiro's head to see what's going to happen. As I reached my destination, I saw Evan, who was looking at Hiro with terrified eyes, but upon noticing me, he forgot all about it and his eyes turned into those possessive ones once again.
[Hahaha! Fuck my humanity. I'm going to kill what's annoying me and since he is such a person, he has no way out!] Hiro shouted madly in his mind.
"A- Alice! You've come back! It seems like you've left behind that guy as well! Did you realize that you are in love with me?!" Evan shouted with a crazed face. I seriously don't get him. He seemed to be quite normal when we first met. How did he turn into such a mess? Having enough of this stupid chatting, Hiro simply bit on his upper body, chewing him into two halves in the process.
His lower body fell to the ground but even that was eaten by another one of Hiro's head. He chewed on him loudly and the sound of bones being crushed was echoing in the village. The onlookers were terrified and most of them fell on their knees. I crossed my right leg over the other one as I started tapping my finger on Hiro's head, concentrating on the taste Hiro felt. Interestingly enough, in his battle form, humanoids felt very delicious! I'd never eat such beings in my humanoid form, but I might try out how our next enemy is going to taste. Maybe I should exercise on a monster at first?
This whole thing was strange because I didn't feel any kind of disgust upon seeing such a scene, while we were in that battle against the Shao and the Wu family, it hit me harder. I guess this a perk of being a dragon and now that I can turn into it anytime, my draconic instincts are probably going to turn more uncontrollable. I have to be careful of it in the future...
Since thinking about it was useless, I shrugged my shoulders and 'controlled' Hiro to fly back to the mountain we were at before. We also called our spaceship and stored it, which is going to make things much easier for us. "We should move to a Human Sector before ascending, shouldn't we? I mean, I don't intend to stay among beastmen for now. I've had enough of them for now... We can meet with them in the future anyway." I advised while I was still sitting on Hiro's head happily.
Because of the free-spoken personalities of the beastmen, which came with their actions as well, I didn't feel like seeing them for a while. I don't have any problem with such people either because I'm alike in that, but I don't like those who try to force themselves on others. [Okay. Then let’s go. It takes at most a day of travel. We can enjoy ourselves until then~] Hiro answered through our bond and couldn't help but pin those provocative words at the end of his sentence.
If we were to ascend from a Human sector, then it's likely that we would ascend to a Human Planet. Since there were relatively more planets in a sector in the third realm with differing ruling races, we called them Human Planets, Beastmen Planets, etc...
"It's time~ Let's go!" I said to Hiro, while I felt great excitement in my body. Fearing that we would be separated even a slightly bit, Hiro transformed into his human form and hugged me tightly. It felt so warm and gentle. A divine light shone down on our bodies and we disappeared from our original position.
-------------------- Third Level -----------------------
We appeared on top of a mountain and after hugging each other for a little more, we separated and transformed into our monster forms. We intended to use them often because we felt very good in our true forms. We felt restricted and much weaker in our human forms.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
[Fufu~ Let's look around!] I said happily as I used my mind power to scan my whole surroundings. We didn't have that much before advancing to the Domain Space Realm, but now that we were here... we could easily cover tens of kilometers with a single thought! When using it on people, we could easily sense their exact power levels. The problem was that... although we were able to scan those who were weaker than us, but doing so with those who had stronger mind powers was impossible.
We were able to sense anyone's strength before because no one had mind powers to resist or stop ours. But the funniest - for us that is - is that we had mind powers much earlier than others, which means that our mind powers are much more powerful than the normal cultivators at the same stage. Our strength can't be sensed by anyone below the sixth stage, which was good for us.
We choose a way randomly and then left towards there. We were quite surprised to soon meet a girl...
------------------ Ellery Gold POV: ---------------------
My name is Ellery Gold. The world I was born in is called Pandora. I’m the descendant of the Gold family from the fifth realm. Although the familial love is nowhere as strong among us, cultivators, but my father is quite different in that. It’s interesting how mortals can stay in families so close to each other, while we have to sacrifice these familial feelings because of power, because of strength, because of prestige. I mean, most of the families barely spend time together and only barely talk.
But I guess it’s natural. In my opinion, everything has two sides. Mortals can live their intimate life in those little families, but we cultivators can create miracles that they couldn’t even dream of! It’s not like we don’t like our families, but we aren’t so dependent on them. Of course, there are exceptions to everything. I’ve heard from my father when I was little and sheltered that there are sectors that don’t contain any Universe Energy and that he came from such a place as well. Earth.. was it?
I really pity those people. I don’t know how they live in those sectors. When I was fourteen, I reached the ninth stage of Foundation Realm. When I turned fifteen, I reached the Space Founding Realm and I was teleported into a sector at the second level. It's so weird in my opinion. Why do we even need these realms and why is it that we 'ascend' to the second realm even if we were born in the fifth? It's just so stupid. I don't get the creator of this universe...
I don’t know how it exactly works but since the universe is like a pyramid I know that I’m in one of these sectors, which is connected to the world my parents are in. Luckily for me, there are things, called steles, which are used for communication. Thanks to it, I can easily communicate with my father when I feel like it. We are in a much better relationship than other families. When I questioned him about it, he said that it's because he lived as a mortal before. I was very surprised to hear such a thing from my father!
So actually all I have to do is keep ascending. It doesn’t matter which sector I’m in right now because the final destination is still going to be Pandora. Of course, I know where I am... On the other hand, to be honest I can’t wait!! Considering that I’ve been cultivating only for sixty years yet I’m already here at the third stage of Domain Space Realm if I can reach the fifth level, then I'll be met with a lot of opportunities!
Thanks to my father, I can easily go through the fourth level, so all I have to do is fight my way through the third level! I’m sure that I could surpass even my parents if that were to happen. Unfortunately, I'm not in the position to dream about my bright future because right now, I’M BEING CHASED BY A FUCKING MONSTER!
I came out of the city to this forest so that I could train and gain fighting experience. Who would have thought that after I’ve killed a Red-Striped Tiger at the third stage I’d call forth the wrath of its mate! To begin with, this damned tiger isn’t a weak kind and its mate is even more powerful because it's at the fourth stage! How could I even take it on after a long battle with its mate?!
I don’t know what should I do. I’m running towards the city, but I don’t think that I can hold on for a long enough time. Maybe I should use my mind power, hopefully, I'll find people nearby... Hm? What’s this? I can faintly sense six people before me. Maybe - maybe they can save me! B-but I’m not such an evil girl. I guess I’ll ask for their help.
I used my mind power to contact them about this little trouble of mine. “H-Hello you people, I’m being chased by a monster at the fourth stage and I’m running out of Energy... Could I ask you to help me out? I’m called Ellery Gold and I’m the descendant of the Gold family from the fifth realm! You may don’t know who they are but it’s a powerful family! I’m going to compensate! Alright?”
I hope that they are going to help. Six of them can surely kill this damned tiger. I know that using my title, my family, or my name is underhanded, but who cares when my life is at stake! I have to get help!
A lovely sounding female voice soon answered. “Hello, Ellery~ Fufu~ We are going to help you out, but we need a little information. Also, I hope that you aren't going to attack us upon seeing us. That would quickly turn ugly~” The female said with small and weird laughs, which somehow lightened up my sour mood. I don't know where to put her in my head and what does she mean by 'not attacking us'? Why would I attack someone who has helped me?
Argh! Anyway, it isn't the time to think! Let's answer her politely! “Oh, thank you very much, I'm truly grateful. You can ask me for as many information as you want to and please don't talk nonsense. I'm surely not going to attack you. You are going to help me!" With that, our first meeting should be alright. I think that I was able to make a nice picture of myself!
“Fufu, okaaay~ " The female answered with another small laugh. I don't know if she was crazy or what, but she seemed to be a nice person nonetheless, but I still have to be careful of them! My father always voiced that people who are always strangely happy and who are laughing non-stop could be very dark and dangerous people! Sometimes shady looking people might be much better humans than the smiling and nice one. I wonder what kind of persons are they going to be.
Soon! I can feel them! It's only a bit more!
“Come! I’m here!" I shouted in a despaired voice as I felt that my legs were giving out and this stupid tiger was breathing on my neck! I quickly jumped forward to evade the bite of the tiger. This was all or nothing! If they don't reach me quickly enough, then I'm done for! Strangely enough, the tiger stopped moving and looked upwards, where they were coming from. Does it feel threatened?
“W-What the fuck is this! I’ve asked for help-” I couldn't help but say loudly upon seeing what appeared in front of me. It was a big dragon and a hydra! Such an unusual pair... not to mention that they were visibly high-class divine beasts. I'm sure that they are at least two stars if not three stars divine beasts!
“What are you talking about? Help is here. Are you not happy? Don’t worry we aren’t going to eat you!” The dragon sent her thoughts straight into my mind upon hearing the slip of my tongue. I didn't have any problem with divine beasts and I'd rather not risk losing their support at such a moment, so I quickly replied her.
“W-Wait *pant - pant* I- I was just surprised alright? I don’t mind your race! Just help me!” I shouted fearfully because they were already turning around! Luckily for me, after hearing my words, with a small okay from the dragon, they turned back and landed in front of me, while the tiger jumped back into a defensive position. It was clearly feeling threatened! It seems like they are going to help me! I felt really happy about it.
Now that I think about it, now I know why I sensed six people... What I saw next was something out of my expectations. I've seen divine beasts before, but they were nothing like these two. Could it be that they are that legendary race my father mentioned? The dragon charged forward towards the tiger. The tiger also did the same, but before it could reach the dragon, it was smashed into the ground by the tail of the falling Hydra.
This tiger was very agile, so it quickly jumped up from the ground, only to be get swiped on its face by the dragon's paw. She also used an energy attack, which seemed to be very powerful. Much more than any of my skills, even though I'm from the fifth realm... As its face was struck, a huge bloody wound appeared on its face as it flew backward. The hydra was so perfectly at its place, that I couldn't help but think that this was a choreography.
Did they know what the other one is going to do? But even its position was so perfect... The flying tiger was welcomed with the hydra's tail, which was covered in a thick layer of powerful energy, which felt very... ancient? The tiger crashed into the ground with a loud boom and I'm sure that I've heard numerous cracking sounds. The hydra quickly jumped at the monster and bit on all of its limbs with four of its heads.
But that wasn’t the end. This tiger was ten meters tall, so it was a really big one. It roared out in pain as its limbs were bitten by the hydra's razor sharp teeth. It used its fifth head to tear off a huge chunk of meat from its back. That tiger was done for... I'd have suffered a similar fate, but I somehow felt pity for the tiger.
The tiger screamed out, while the dragon walked towards the restrained monster with a smile? - on her face. She bit into the throat of the monster and tore it out. The Hydra bit off all of its limbs and started chewing on them. Blood sprayed out of its limbs and suddenly, the tiger didn't have strength left in its body so it was only lying there. I saw a pitying look in the dragon's eyes as it jumped at the poor tiger and tore off its head.
The whole ground was bloody, along with these monsters in front of me. Both of them started chewing on its body parts, while the cracking of bones could be heard. The hydra dug its head into the stomach of the tiger and tore out its intestines. In a few seconds, they ate its whole body.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. These two killed it so brutally, that I started shivering in my boots. Both of them were chewing on the last piece of meat in their mouths as the dragon looked up with its razor sharp and bloody white teeth shining at me. Her head was covered in the blood of the tiger, just like the hydra.
The Hydra only raised one of its head, which looked at me while chewing a piece of meat. It moved its head towards the dragon's as they ‘shared’? - the piece of meat as if they would be some kind of lovers eating from each other's mouth!? What the fuck!? A chill ran through my back upon seeing this disgusting scene. I was still shivering and I couldn’t even move. I stood there like a statue and I was stuck in place!
Since they finished eating its corpse, both of them looked up... at me. Cold sweat was running down on my whole body. If they want to kill me like this, then it's better if I quickly kill myself! I don't want to suffer from such a fate. Since they weren't that far and the hydra had a long neck, it moved one of its head VERY FUCKING close to my body as it sniffed once.
Its head reeked of the smell of blood while I saw myself in its white teeth because its mouth was slightly opened. After sniffing me, it moved its head backward and then I saw the most surprising thing ever, in my whole fucking life. Those two turned into humans in just a second and both of them were spotlessly clean.
The dragon turned into a beautiful, wavy long blonde haired, green eyed, eighteen looking, young girl with a sexy and curvy body figure. She had a small nose with full pink lips and thin brows. She was only about a hundred and sixty-five centimeters, so she wasn't a big one. When it came to tallness, that is... I couldn't help but feel slightly envious upon seeing her other sizes...
Unlike her, the hydra turned into a handsome male, with only a single head! He had dark brown hair, the same kind of shining green eyes, a sharp, manly face, without any beard. He was about two meters tall, with a buff, but not an overly muscular body, contrary to the short girl. The guy pointed towards me, no... towards the ground under me.
As I looked down, I had to realize, that the under me, the ground was wet, along with my leggings and... pant... I- I wet myself!? I was so afraid that I wet myself!? And they saw it!? So that’s why both of them were looking away with those pitying faces!?
“N-NOOOO!! This can’t be happening! This is so disgraceful!! I’m the daughter of Weston Gold and I’ve done such… such a thing!?” I shouted as I felt like crying and quickly squatted on the ground, trying to hide my shame, but it was for naught at this point. Even though we can control our metabolism, but since I haven't done so for a while, I had something to pee myself with. From now on, I'll be sure to always and immediately clear out the excess in my body!!!
The hydra-guy turned its back on me silently, while the dragon-girl started walking towards me. Step by step, I felt my fear increase and spread through my body. I started slightly shivering and as she stopped in front of me, I covered my head with my arms, trying to defend myself like an idiot. But to my surprise, all she did was extend her hand out for me, to help me up as she said while slightly leaning forward.
“U-Uhm, sorry. We didn’t want to scare you so much. This was the first time that we have ever transformed and fought in our monster forms and we've got carried away. Also, you don't have to worry because we aren't going to eat you. This was my first time at eating anything in my monster form, so that's why I was so... wild?" She said as she tilted her head with a thoughtful look on her face. As her hair flung in the air because of her movements, a nice smell attacked my nostrils.
If not for seeing the scene from before, then I'd think that she was the most lovely girl I've ever seen. Father! Your words were true! I should never judge somebody because of how they look! Interestingly enough, they seem to be good people, even though they were like that before. Well... intelligent beings are so complex. I can't understand them just by looking at them.
I finally moved my arms from above my head and took her hand. She quickly helped me up and then she shot a ball of water on my body without any warning. No, not my body. On my lower body... and then after combining the fire and the wind element, she quickly dried me and my clothes. To make sure that I was clean, I also purified my body by using my Space Energy.
"We are truly sorry," She said with a small bow and with a sorry look on her face as she appeared beside the guy in a flash. "I'm called Alice" - "and I'm Hiro." Both of them introduced themselves as they embraced each other's back. It seems like they are a couple.
A Hydra and a Dragon!? Who the fuck has ever heard of something like this?! This world is screwed up! NO! Maybe this whole universe is screwed up! This is crazy! Totally crazy! I thought in my mind, not really knowing what to do.
“*Throat clearing*” The guy intentionally 'cleared’ his throat, so that I’ll stop spacing out.
As I slapped my forehead and slowly pulled down my hand on my face, I couldn't help but think: Now I’m starting to think that maybe it would have been better if the tiger would have eaten me...
“So… Ellery right? Would you mind showing us around and providing us with some, information?” The blonde beauty, called Alice, questioned me with her head tilted, waiting patiently for me to process what the fuck just happened.
I looked at them as I sighed out loudly and calmed my heart. Although they seemed to be really brutal just moments before, but right now they seemed like a happy, lovely, and harmless couple... Yeah... totally true... THIS is ridiculous! They are everything but harmless! Father! I’m going to listen to you from now on!
It seems like they aren't harmful as long as they aren't offended. I better watch out for the things they don't like. I'll be sure to talk with my father about this terrible experience of mine, though I'm not going to tell him that I peed myself... I should ask him to reward them with something for saving me, shouldn't I?
Hmm... maybe in the future when we reach the fifth level. Considering that they are Divine Beasts, I'm quite sure that they are going to reach it. Having divine beasts as friends? Hehe~ If they are good people, then it might be possible. It can only help me in the future, I guess. Well, let's see what the future have in store for me!
“Do you want to go to a city?” I questioned in a refreshed mood with a small smile, trying to play it off as if nothing would have ever happened! The more conscious you are of your mistake or failure, the more others are going to notice it as well! If I play the 'I don't care' card, then hopefully they aren't going to mention it or laugh at me for it...
“We would like to,” Hiro said with a nod of his head, while he had an uncaring face. It seems like my method is already working! Hahaaa! I'm the best!
“Alright then. Follow me and we can talk about the details at a good place I know,” I said with a small smile as I started walking towards the closest city I knew of, called Erihall city. I stayed there as well in an inn, so I'm going to lead them towards that place.
Both of them followed after me while hugging each other. They were indeed a weird couple...