Chapter 104
Chapter 104: The Greedy, Ungrateful Girls
“Ah!!”
After nine rounds, the little pink dragon was knocked down again.
“Hmph, Illya, you lost. Now, beg for mercy and agree to give me the Holy Sword, and I will let you go.”
Semira sat on King’s arm, looking down at the fallen Illya with a condescending gaze.
“No way! My Mama is pregnant with two little sisters. They need the energy from the earth vein to be born, and I want to see my sisters!”
Illya wasn’t entirely sure about her sisters’ condition, but from snippets of conversation between her Mama and Mother, she knew that without the earth vein energy, one of her sisters might die.
This time, Semira finally decided to listen to Illya’s explanation. Earlier, she hadn’t heard a word due to her anger at Iris for stealing the Holy Sword.
“Your mother… is pregnant?”
“Yeah!”
Seeing that she couldn’t beat Semira, Illya changed her strategy, planning to act cute and use wits to win the sacred object.
“Mama is going to give birth to dragon babies soon, she really needs the earth vein relic. Can you please let us have it this time?”
“So you’re admitting defeat, Illya?”
“I… I…”
Admitting defeat to a human felt so humiliating.
Illya stood back up.
“No way! How could this Dragon Princess possibly lose to you, a human? As long as you’re stuck here with me, my Mama can take the relic for herself! And my Mother will definitely find a way to rescue me!”
“King! Beat her down until she submits!”
Semira knew that once she left the domain, she wouldn’t be able to summon King again.
Even if she could just trap Illya inside, it might give her mother a chance to threaten those two adult dragons.
After all, Illya being trapped in the domain meant, to some extent, that she had captured Illya.
King possessed immense power and high defense, so Illya, who only charged recklessly and breathed fire, could never completely destroy King.
Semira could keep fighting Illya indefinitely.
And Illya would eventually reach a point of exhaustion.
At that moment, Illya would truly become her captive.
The only thing she needed to be wary of was Illya finding an opportunity to attack her directly.
So, she remained cautious of Illya’s approach.
Stepping down from King, Semira retreated a few meters and commanded King to attack Illya.
It chased, she fled, she found it hard to escape.
This was Semira’s domain, and Illya had nowhere to run.
“Wah!!! Semira, I just want my sisters to be born safely. What’s wrong with that? You got the Holy Sword, just to become stronger, but my mother needs the Holy Sword to save my two sisters.”
As Illya flew, she lamented her plight.
Semira was unmoved by Illyria’s complaints.
She took the Holy Sword to protect humanity’s homes and revive the glory of the Casimir Knights.
She had her own reasons for needing the Holy Sword.
“As long as you admit defeat, we can still negotiate. For example, if you want the Holy Sword, you could sign an agreement with us from the Goss Empire. You can’t just take the Holy Sword from us without compensation. Illyria, you are a dragon, and I am a human. Ultimately, we stand on opposing sides. As Semira, I sympathize with you, but as a Casimir Knight, it is my duty to uphold the honor of the Goss Empire. I cannot make concessions to you dragons.”
“I won’t admit defeat to you!”
Illya couldn’t become a disgrace to the Dragon King.
In the midst of their conversation, King had already caught up to her and dealt a heavy blow on her back.
Only because she was an emperor-level dragon could she withstand such a strike without being cut in two.
But the pain was still excruciating, and the power concentrated from the earth vein struck Illya’s body, making her cry out in agony.
“Awooo!!!”
Even though Semira felt conflicted about beating up Illya, a young, delicate little dragon, her expression already betraying a hint of reluctance, she still showed no signs of backing down.
“I’ve told you, Illya, if you and your mothers surrender to us, I’ll let you go.”
“Never!”
Illya panted heavily, her eyes locked on the giant armored figure standing nearby.
What now?
As the successor to the Dragon King, would she really be beaten one-sidedly by a human?
Illya hadn’t yet learned advanced magic. All she had was her raw strength and magic power.
“Ancient King, help me!”
At this point, she had no choice but to try calling her only hope.
[Illya, listen carefully. You are surrounded by the energy of the earth vein. Think about it—why can Semira summon King?]
Suddenly, the voice of the ancient king echoed in her mind.
Wow! It actually worked!
“Why is that? Semira, you said the earth vein remembers the armor of the Radiant Knight, which is why you can use its energy to summon King, right?”
“Yes, and what of it?”
[Illya, this space is constructed from the energy of the earth vein. If it remembers the Radiant Knight, it must also remember something else—like the dragons who fought against him.]
“I get it now, Ancient King!”
“Illya, who are you talking to?”
Semira watched the little pink dragon mumbling to herself, concerned that Illya had gone mad.
Illya lifted her gaze to the towering figure of the Radiant Knight’s armor.
Since Semira had awakened her domain power by being stabbed in the chest by the Black Knight, then…
Illya charged toward the massive sword.
The blade pierced through her scales, and bright red dragon blood splattered.
She intentionally lowered her defenses, allowing King, formed from earth vein energy, to injure her.
Then, the earth vein energy seeped into her body.
“Awwoooo!!!”
Flashes of memory rushed through her mind.
Images of battles fought by the Radiant Knight.
Tapping into these memories, Illya roared.
“Come forth, Herax!”
A massive black dragon suddenly appeared behind the armor, opened its mouth, and snatched the armor up, flinging it away.
Crash! The ten-meter-tall armor tumbled across the ground, rolling several meters.
“How is this possible?! How did you summon it?! This is my domain!”
Semira stared in terror at the little pink dragon, her back still bleeding.
Is this your resolve, Illya?
Even if you sensed the earth vein’s memory from King, how could you summon a creature in this domain?
“Heh! If there’s one thing I have plenty of, it’s magic! I fed my magic to the memory of Herax, giving it a physical form. It’s acting based on the memories of its past life, just like the undead soldiers we encountered earlier. Their souls may not remain on this land, but their memories are embedded here. Long ago, Herax was an enemy of the Radiant Knight. Herax’s memory will never forget that armor.”
Illya stood tall, her once-cute eyes now shining with intelligence and a newfound sense of royal pride.
Semira clenched her teeth.
“Hmph! Herax, huh? Just another defeated enemy of the Radiant Knight! A dragon slain by him. King, get up! Carry the glory of the Radiant Knight and once again slay Herax with your sword!”
“Herax, this time you won’t lose! Attack and tear apart the armor of your old foe!”
Illya raised her front paw, continuously channeling magic into Herax.
The black dragon, a mindless berserker, acted only on its memories, flapping its massive wings and charging at King.
The two summoned titans clashed fiercely.
Even though Herax was huge, it seemed to be losing ground under the relentless attacks of the Radiant Knight’s armor.
“Herax, what are you doing? Have you forgotten the shame of losing to the Radiant Knight? You are a dragon! How can you lose to mere humans?!”
“Roooaar!!”
Illya didn’t just shout in frustration, she also poured more magic into Herax.
Finally, with this magical boost, Herax’s strength surged. It grabbed the armor’s helmet with its jaws, seized the upper half with its claws, and with a sudden violent twist, ripped the silver armor in two!
“We won!”
Illya shouted in excitement.
Seeing King defeated, Semira’s spirit shattered. She collapsed to her knees, her eyes blank and lifeless.
The domain collapsed along with her, and Herax disappeared back into the earth vein, but it didn’t matter anymore—Illya was the victor, having utterly crushed Semira.
Both of them returned to the real world.
Illya looked toward where Naya was, only to find her Mama devouring the brown fruit ravenously, with none of the usual grace and elegance she had taught Illya.
When Illya suddenly appeared, Naya froze, staring at her.
Illya transformed into her human form and happily ran toward Naya.
“Mama! I beat Semira!”
“Illya, you…”
Covered in dirt, with her pretty dress torn to shreds, Naya had never seen Illya in such a disheveled state.
When Illya hugged her slender waist, Naya looked down and saw the bloody wound on Illya’s back.
Her mind went blank.
A silver light burst from Naya’s body, and a giant silver dragon proudly appeared in the forest. She tossed the brown sacred fruit into the air, opened her massive jaws, and swallowed it in one gulp.
[Host, calm down! Calm down!]
“Roar!!!”
Black earth vein energy surged from Naya’s mouth, mixed with her silver breath, and blasted toward the stunned Semira sitting on the ground.
“Milady!!!”
Three Casimir knights rushed forward to shield Semira from Naya’s breath.
But how could the rage of a Dragon Mother be stopped by mere mortal flesh?
Black and white beams crisscrossed and quickly expanded.
After a deafening explosion, the three Casimir knights and Semira were blasted several kilometers away.
A deep, crescent-shaped trench was gouged into the ground by the dragon’s breath.
Even the Holy Knight was stunned.
“Holy Knight, sir!”
A golden flash streaked by as Demi hurriedly grabbed the Holy Knight, throwing her over her back, and fled with all her might.
In an instant, the place was deserted, and even the brave heroes who had been watching from afar quickly retreated.
As Naya regained her senses, she realized how reckless she had been.
Even Illya, whom she held in her front claws, was stunned.
The power of that breath must have surpassed even the level of an emperor dragon’s.
Semira… could she have… died?
[Host, you were too impulsive! You just used 5% of the earth vein energy. Such a waste.]
[It was only 5%.]
[But that’s my commission—no, I mean, the earth vein energy conversion rate is not 100%. Don’t you get it? You won’t be able to use that much of it in the end.]
[So what now? Is it still enough?]
[Enough… it’s enough. Just don’t be so reckless next time. Such a waste, really such a waste.]
The system sighed in regret, lamenting the sheer amount of earth vein energy Naya had wasted on something so pointless.
Forget it, no commission. Let’s just convert all of it into soul energy to feed the two children in Naya’s belly.
“Mama…”
“Hmm? Illya, it’s okay now. No one will hurt you anymore.”
“Ugh…”
Illya felt a bit conflicted.
She actually thought Semira was a pretty nice girl. If Mama had killed her, wouldn’t that be a pity?
Though Semira had hurt her badly, it wasn’t anything like the resentment she felt toward Leo and the others. In fact, she was grateful to Semira. If not for her, Illya wouldn’t have gained so much battle experience.
Moreover, the wound on her back—Illya had inflicted that on herself.
Semira’s death was truly unjust.
Naya, however, thought that Illya had been bullied and wronged, which made her even more convinced that using 5% of the earth vein’s energy was worth it.
[Host, hand Illya over to Iris first. I need to start converting the earth vein energy now.]
[Got it.]
Naya gently carried Illya and walked over to the red dragon, Iris.
“Take care of Illya for now. The process of converting the earth vein energy isn’t complete, and I need to absorb more of it.”
“Understood.”
Iris took Illya from Naya’s hands.
She glanced at the deep crater nearby and swallowed nervously. From now on, it was better not to upset her wife. While Naya was usually gentle, when she got truly angry, she might unintentionally destroy an entire city.
Naya didn’t revert to her human form, remaining in her dragon state.
Meanwhile, within her consciousness, the system continued processing the earth vein energy she absorbed.
As the system attempted to channel some of that energy to the two souls in Naya’s womb, it was horrified to discover that they devoured the energy like black holes—insatiable and endlessly consuming.
The rate was alarming, within mere seconds, the two little souls had drained over half of the energy Naya had stored.
The system quickly began creating a folded space to separate the two souls and promptly sealed the flow of energy.
“Awoooo!!!”
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Naya’s belly.
She let out a scream and collapsed, clutching her abdomen as the massive silver dragon rolled on the ground in agony.
“Naya!”
Seeing this, Iris immediately tossed Illya aside and rushed to restrain Naya’s body, starting to analyze her condition.
The two souls inside Naya had never had such an abundant meal.
The sudden flood of energy had sent them into a euphoric frenzy, but when the system abruptly cut off their supply, they threw a tantrum, tormenting Naya’s body, forcing her to release more energy.
“You two ungrateful girls!”
Seeing Naya writhing in pain, Iris frowned slightly, her eyes filled with distress.