Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Art Comes From Life

That’s right!

That blond-haired boy escaped again.

Iris raised her head and looked towards the edge of the arena, but the spot where the blond-haired boy had been was already empty.

Counting this time, it’s already the fifth time, right?

That blond-haired boy, because he was in a support role in the team, had a legitimate reason to keep his distance.

Every time a battle breaks out, he would just stand by and cast spells or assist his teammates, and as soon as he sensed something was wrong, he would immediately slip away.

That blond-haired boy was the smartest Hero, Iris had ever seen. It was also thanks to him, she was able to meet and fall in love with Naya.

Looking down at the struggling black-haired Hero beneath her feet, she continued to press down hard.

The Hero let out a pained groan.

Over the past five years, there had been very few Heroes with unusual powers—only about six. Including the one beneath her feet, this made seven, and none of them had situations like Naya’s.

She had killed hundreds of beings who could be called Heroes.

Some came in teams, while others challenged her alone.

Without exception, none had ever defeated her.

No matter how many ants there are, they are still ants. They can be crushed with a single squeeze.

The feeling of being invincible was incredibly lonely.

Let me see if the energy within you can protect you, turning you into a dragon, or if you can show me some other way to escape.

Once, there had been a Hero whose energy erupted completely, transforming him into a mindless berserker. After breaking through the limits of humanity, the berserker almost reached the level of a Dragon King. At that time, Iris could only adopt a defensive posture, waiting until the berserker’s energy was exhausted before the battle ceased.

In any case, no matter what tricks the Hero tried, they could not even scratch Iris.

But Iris was still curious about this mysterious power from the void, as it concealed infinite possibilities, limited only by the frailty of the Hero’s body.

One minute, two minutes passed.

If the final trump card wasn’t used soon, the meal Bella prepared for her would be cold.

Forget it.

Once again, it was the same old disappointment.

Her claws pierced into the Hero’s body.

The Hero screamed in agony as she injected him with specially formulated dragon blood.

Then, she released the Hero.

“Ah!!!”

Ze Lan curled up on the ground, rolling around as if every cell in his body were about to ignite.

[System, what’s going on? System, what’s happening to me?]

[The host’s body is undergoing a series of special changes, analyzing… gene mutation… blood mutation… tissue mutation…]

Continuing the analysis, Ze Lan could no longer hear anything.

He felt his body swelling little by little.

At the moment the pain peaked, it abruptly ceased.

From a distance, Illya and Naya watched in astonishment as the Hero’s limbs gradually grew dragon scales, black plates crawling across his body.

Then his limbs transformed into dragon claws, and black wings resembling those of a demon sprouted from his back.

Finally, his body rapidly expanded, and the once-human boy became a massive black dragon.

“Roar!!!”

The reborn dragon boy looked up at the blue sky and let out the primal roar of his kind.

Immediately afterwards, a red palm swatted at him, striking the black dragon’s head with great force.

The black dragon boy lost consciousness.

Iris gazed at the fainted giant dragon, her eyes shimmering with excitement.

“Viltia, bring them down.”

With Iris’s command, she reverted to her human form.

Viltia spread her wings and jumped into the arena, while Flanna slowly carried Illya and Naya toward Iris.

The two big purple dragons transformed into human form.

Illya released Naya’s hand and excitedly trotted toward Iris, who turned around and picked up Illya.

“Mother! You’re amazing!”

Although the story about a Hero fighting a Dragon she heard from her Mama was slightly different, it still came true.

A Hero came to challenge the Dragon King and ended up transforming into a dragon.

The three of them gazed at the giant black dragon that was still in slumber.

“How about it, Illya? Do you want to take the stage next time a Hero comes to challenge?”

“Sure!”

“No way.”

Just as Illya excitedly nodded in agreement, Naya immediately objected.

Even though Illya had royal blood, she shouldn’t be allowed to try challenging the strongest beings among humans at such a young age, and not to mention she didn’t know if the opponent had a System.

With a System, the uncertain factors increased, and she couldn’t let Illya take that risk. Fighting minor enemies was fine, but not a Hero.

“Why not? Mama, the Hero is so weak. Didn’t you see? Mother just turned into a dragon and swatted him down without even using magic.”

“I did use magic, but you just didn’t see it.”

“Hmm?”

Illya tilted her head in confusion.

Elise stroked Illya’s chubby cheeks and smiled slightly.

“Yes, Illya, I used magic to suppress him, so he couldn’t escape from under my feet. But from what I see, Illya should be more than capable of dealing with these Heroes.”

Naya shot a glare at Iris.

As if to say, don’t turn Illya into a warmonger.

Iris turned her head away guiltily, she indeed had thought of that.

She had treated Illya like a treasure for six years, which was already an outrageous thing among dragons. Many dragons learned to fight before even transforming. No dragon parents would spoil their offspring.

But her Illya was like a flower raised in a greenhouse.

What would her Chancellor, Viltia, think of her?

Raising the future Dragon King into a homebody dragon?

However, Viltia, standing behind Naya, merely smiled lightly, seeming unfazed by the fact that she was slightly henpecked.

“But the Hero is still very weak. Mother, why did he turn into a dragon?  You didn’t shed any blood, so you didn’t curse him with dragon blood.”

“Why would I need to spill blood?”

“Because Mama said that the curse of dragon blood can turn humans into dragons. The original hero stabbed the Dragon King with a sword, and then the dragon blood stained him, causing him to transform into an adorable little dragon girl.”

Illya looked at the giant black dragon before her, almost as tall as a small house.

Uh…

Where’s the dragon girl?

This is… a dragon girl?

Iris chuckled softly.

“Naya, what stories do you usually tell Illya?”

Naya shot a displeased look at Illya.

“Illya, I’ve told you not to take my stories literally, they’re just stories.”

“But the Hero really turned into a dragon. How do you explain that? After all, stories are based on real events, right? There’s a saying that art comes from life, isn’t there, Mama?”

Naya sighed helplessly, her gaze shifting from Illya to the black dragon.

“Iris, why did he turn into a dragon?”

That was the real question.

Art does indeed come from life. The stories of Heroes and Dragons she told Illya were based on fragments of memories from her past life, and she hadn’t anticipated that the plot of the story would replicate in reality.

Iris rubbed Illya’s chubby little face.