Aurina’s dragon jaws clamped onto the back of the white-scaled half-dragon’s neck, her teeth sinking deep before she wrenched her head to the left with a savage twist.
Her foreclaws dug into its shoulders, while her hind legs kicked to the right with brutal force.
The half-dragon’s anguished scream dwindled to a gurgling whimper, the scene awash in a gruesome spray of blood.
Her ferocious bite sent a shiver of dread through the onlookers, their necks prickling with cold sweat.
The captain, who had just seized a spear, felt a pang of regret claw at his heart.
He had underestimated the dragon—gravely so.
In her human form, Aurina was a vision of innocence, her eyes sparkling with a pure, curious light, like a walking treasury shimmering within reach.
But dare to stretch out a hand, and she transformed into a towering dragon, unleashing her savage, untamed ferocity in battle.
The incantation complete, the bald dwarf mage bellowed, “Slow!”
A faint blue shimmer rippled across Aurina’s scales, but the greasy sheen they had hoped for never materialized.
The spell had failed.
Two precious magic arrows streaked toward her, their tips glinting faintly as they aimed for the side of her draconic form.
With a deft flick of her tail, Aurina swatted one aside, but the other buried itself in the tender pink scales of her flank.
In that moment, Aurina realized this was no place to linger.
She was not the terror-inducing juggernaut of old.
With a powerful thrust of her hind legs and a beat of her wings, she launched into the sky.
The captain charged forward, thrusting his spear with all his might, striking her side.
Aurina twisted her body, mitigating some of the damage.
The captain’s movements flowed like a relentless tide; he leapt, aiming to seize her hind leg.
But Aurina was quicker—she retracted her leg and flicked her tail, evading his grasp.
As he landed, the captain hurled his spear with desperate force.
A searing pain exploded in Aurina’s back as she soared past a sky-blue tent, her blood dripping from her tail to splatter beside the fallen half-dragon.
The captain crouched beside his comrade, frantically pouring a precious healing potion into the half-dragon’s mouth.
“Wake up! Come on, wake up!”
The half-dragon’s head lolled to one side.
“Captain! He’s gone!”
“Damn it all!”
The captain slammed his helmet back on, rallying two of his comrades as they burst out of the blue tent.
High above, Aurina circled the forest, her eyes fixed on the glittering hoard below.
She couldn’t bear to abandon her treasure.
Looping back toward the camp, she saw the mercenaries below scrambling for their crossbows, poised to fire the moment she swooped low.
The bald dwarf mage chanted loudly, enchanting their bolts until their tips glowed faintly with magic.
An elf archer drew her bow with confidence, loosing an arrow in a high arc toward Aurina.
The dragon dodged with ease, only to notice the mercenaries yanking horses into position, preparing to flee.
How could she let her gold slip away?
With a snap of her tail, Aurina yanked the spear from her wound and dove.
The insects below aimed their ranged weapons at her, but she plummeted low, crashing into the treetops.
Her wings glided effortlessly, her limbs bounding from trunk to trunk with uncanny agility.
The crossbow bolts whizzed past, missing their mark.
The elf archer nocked another arrow, but Aurina was ready.
Just as the elf’s fingers loosened on the bowstring, Aurina unleashed a torrent of flame, the blaze obscuring her form.
Emerging through the fire, she whipped her tail, hurling the spear and striking a horse, which reared and bolted in agony.
Closing in, Aurina drew a deep breath, preparing another fiery blast.
But seasoned mercenaries loosed their bolts, one striking true.
As she exhaled her flames, she glimpsed the captain and elf archer firing again.
With a quick push off a nearby tree, she veered sharply.
Several arrows thudded into the trunk, but a few arcane missiles wove through the branches, slamming into her back.
Shielded by the canopy, Aurina ascended once more, glancing back to see only three or four mercenaries consumed by her flames.
Since her diminishment, her breath’s power and range had waned, and every attack traded wounds for wounds—hardly efficient.
Unwilling to relent, she circled the fortified mercenaries below, occasionally darting close to startle them, goading them to waste their bolts and arrows.
But these were no green recruits.
After a few feints, they grew wise to her tricks, glaring up at her with grim determination.
Their enchanted weapons alone were worth nearly five hundred gold coins—a prickly, gilded hedgehog she couldn’t crack.
The mercenaries, staring at the dragon wheeling overhead, felt their own frustration mount.
Their breaths came heavy with tension.
“Damn it, just damn it!” the captain cursed.
“May some god curse her! Is this a dragon? Barely taller than my waist, and yet so vicious, cruel, and cunning. I’ve never seen a beast like this!”
The bald dwarf muttered, “Dragons can see in the dark. Come nightfall, when we’re exhausted, she’ll pick us off one by one. We need to retreat—now.”
“Retreat? You think we can outrun a dragon?” the elf archer snapped.
“She’ll tear into us as we flee. Who here can outpace a dragon?”
“You’re the one who’ll die first, old hag!” the dwarf shot back.
“Why waste breath arguing now?”
“Enough!” the captain roared.
“Mount up and feign a retreat. Lure her in. Mage, forget controlling the dragon—cast Haste on Evelyn!”
Seeing the insects below preparing to flee, Aurina held back, biding her time.
She wanted them to scatter—two legs could never outrun wings.
But then they halted, still wary of her.
The battlefield stalled, a tense stalemate, like a reed striking a wolf—fear on both sides.
Though her wounds had stopped bleeding, the constant movement tore them open again, the pain fueling her irritation.
She burned to slaughter these insects, to teach them the folly of resisting her claim to their gold.
“Aurina! Aurina!”
A familiar voice rang out.
Turning, Aurina spotted Richard leading a band of riders emerging from the forest, charging toward the camp.
Her heart leapt.
“My loyal steed has arrived!” she bellowed.
“I’ve been waiting for my beast of burden—what are you waiting for? Slaughter them! The gold’s yours to share!”
The captain’s eyes widened.
“Richard?!”
Richard, no fool to charge blindly at a woman’s call, reined in his horse and raised his visor.
“What are you doing here? Lay down your weapons, and I guarantee—”
A nervous mercenary, guilt gnawing at him, squeezed the trigger.
A crossbow bolt struck Richard’s armor, snapping on impact.
“—I guarantee your safety.”
The mercenaries, nerves frayed, followed suit, loosing a volley of bolts at Richard.
Seasoned as they were, their aim was true, not a single shot astray.
Richard raised a hand, summoning a “Pious Shield.”
A translucent barrier deflected the bolts, but his horse wasn’t so fortunate.
Riddled with a dozen bolts, it screamed, bolting and throwing Richard to the ground.
“Stop him!” the captain ordered.
Over twenty mercenaries dropped their crossbows, seizing spears to form a bristling phalanx.
Richard hit the ground on one knee, drawing his knight’s sword and charging the spear wall like a tank.
Activating his fire-scale talisman, he barreled through, swinging a “Sacred Slash” at the nearest elf archer.
“Monkey!” the elf cursed, her long legs kicking off as she dodged with graceful precision, only to stumble and roll from the force of her evasion.
The captain gripped his enchanted shield and charged, slamming into Richard.
Richard prepared another Sacred Slash but, spotting the shield’s value—mindful of his five-thousand-gold debt—he chose not to destroy it.
Bracing himself, he absorbed the captain’s charge, which merely slid him back half a meter.
Seizing the shield’s edge, Richard yanked, unbalancing the captain like a turtle stripped of its shell.
Dropping his sword, Richard drew his dagger, shouting, “Sacred Slash!”
The dagger flared with blinding white light, thrusting toward the captain’s neck.
The captain parried with his sword, but the dagger’s tip erupted with searing radiance, piercing the blade, the neckplate, and the artery beneath.
Blood sprayed as Richard hurled him to the ground.
The captain twitched like a slaughtered fowl, his dreams of capturing a dragon bleeding out with him.
Two arrows flew toward Richard’s helmet visor.
He ducked, the arrows snapping against his armor.
“Captain!” the elf archer screamed, drawing her bow and firing as she leapt onto a horse, galloping away.
Richard moved to pursue, but the mercenaries, fueled by grief and fury, charged.
Spears stabbed, hammers swung, and two or three burly men tackled him, grappling like wrestlers.
Another pair seized his arms, while two poleaxes swung at his head.
His speed faltered, trapped in a net of flesh and steel.
Cutting through would take too long.
Then Aurina struck.
With a dragon’s tender care, she pounced on the elf archer, knocking her from her horse.
Mid-air, she shifted to human form, diving toward Richard.
Aiming at the knot of men grappling him, she unleashed a fiery blast.
“Boom!”
The dragon’s breath engulfed Richard and a dozen others, freeing him from the human snare.
Amid the screams, Aurina crashed into him, nearly toppling him.
Scrambling onto his shoulders, her white-silk-clad legs clamped around his helmet, she pointed at the fleeing dwarf.
“Charge, my steed! One left!”
The fallen elf archer staggered up, cursing.
“Die! Die!”
She fired arrow after arrow at Aurina.
Richard activated his fire-scale talisman again, teleporting beside the elf and roaring, “Sacred Slash!”
Aurina shouted, “No!”
The elf’s head soared, but Aurina spared no moment to mourn.
Transforming back into a dragon, she chased the bald dwarf mage, whose horse reared in terror.
Richard sprinted forward, stepping through the dwarf’s lingering Grease spell with uncanny grace.
He hurled a spear, shattering the mage’s shield and piercing his chest.
The dwarf fell, writhing in agony.
Richard approached, pinning the dwarf’s hand with his boot, sword at his throat.
“Surrender, or die.”
In human form again, Aurina stood triumphant, her white dress stained with blood, hands on hips.
“Gahaha! Victory! Under my command, it was too easy!”
Robert turned to the dwarf.
“What were you doing here?”
The dwarf chuckled bitterly.
“Heh, to think the Black Beast Mercenaries would fall to a little girl. Never underestimate a dragon—even one so small. She sniffed out those two idiots scouting, lured them in, and led us straight to our doom…”
Nearby, Aurina toyed with a gold collar she’d spat up.
“Even the captain fell for it, thinking she was just a naive fool. No one saw through her act. Terrifying.”
Richard blinked.
“Hm?”
Crack.
Aurina, now wearing the gold collar, skipped over.
“Hey, little bug, you promised gold would rain from the sky if I wore this!”
Richard stared.
“Huh?”
Both froze.
The dwarf’s chest heaved as he glared at Richard.
“It was you!
You put her up to it!” he spat.
“The great paladin Richard, stooping to use a child as bait. Despicable!”
With a final hack, the dwarf spat blood, his head lolled, and he died of sheer indignation.