The Lesser Dragon's Feast
The Lesser Dragon that had finally earned its fame appeared in the Water Realm, its vertically slit pupils fixed on the mature Nepentula. Every time a chilling growl rumbled from its throat, flames flickered at the corners of its mouth. It had only been a short while since I’d become able to summon it in its complete form. Even after two full months of steadily hunting monsters and gathering experience, the amount required to fully summon it had been absurdly high. Still, now that the gauge was finally full, I’d been itching to test it out. And just like that, the perfect opportunity arrived. Without hesitation, I summoned the Lesser Dragon.
Lesser Dragon
“Don’t burn it completely, okay? I need to eat too, you know.”
“Grrrrrr.”
“Of course I’ll set aside your share. That’s what the contract’s for, right?”
At my words, the Lesser Dragon let out a satisfied grin. As a summoner, I’d formed contracts with all sorts of summoned beings. A contract meant a mutual promise—spoken or written—regarding the duties and rights each side would bear. That meant I had to pay the Lesser Dragon a fair price every time it performed. Most of my summons were satisfied with consuming my mana or the act of being summoned itself, but the Lesser Dragon had a very particular condition.
What it wanted was to burn a portion of its prey with its own flames. Only by incinerating worthy targets and absorbing their karma could it truly evolve into a real dragon. If it could shake off the humiliating shackle attached to its species name, the Lesser Dragon was willing to do anything. Its pride was so immense that, not yet being a true dragon, it hadn’t even given itself a name.
“Grrrrrrrr!”
“Kiiiiiiik!”
That was why the Lesser Dragon made no effort to hide its greed as it stared at the mature Nepentula. The moment it charged, the Nepentula shrieked in terror and tried to flee. No matter how powerful the plant-spider monster was, it couldn’t ignore its natural weakness. Ordinary flames might have been one thing, but the Lesser Dragon’s fire was not something a mature Nepentula could simply shrug off.
Taking advantage of the opening, Adela and I closed the distance. With something else drawing its aggro, we didn’t have to hold back anymore and could attack aggressively. Still, the most dangerous threat to the mature Nepentula was undoubtedly the Lesser Dragon. Wounds from my sword-spear or Adela’s claws could be healed by consuming nutrients, but injuries inflicted by the Lesser Dragon healed far more slowly because of the lingering flames. It also burned through far more nutrients. That was why the creature tried to avoid the dragon whenever possible. If we hadn’t been there, it probably would have escaped safely.
“Nice work, buddy! Keep it up just like that!”
“Every hit is a critical…!”
While Adela and I darted around its sides, taunting it and focusing our attacks on its legs, the mature Nepentula’s escape speed dropped dramatically. Even if the wounds regenerated in seconds, the momentary slowdown was unavoidable. With us pinning down its feet and the Lesser Dragon striking during those openings, more and more wounds accumulated across the monster’s body.
“Kiiiiiiik!”
When the injuries kept piling up, the Nepentula seemed to realize it was doomed if things continued this way. It lashed out desperately, but there was no way it could overcome the Lesser Dragon.
BOOOOM!
“Grrrrr…!”
The Lesser Dragon slammed one arm down, pinning the mature Nepentula’s back to the ground. The monster twisted its body, trying to break free, and lashed out with tentacles dripping with lethal venom, but it was useless. The dragon’s tough scales refused to let the stingers penetrate, and the scorching heat burned the venom away before it could take effect.
The Lesser Dragon looked down at its captured prey with triumphant eyes, then opened its jaws wide. Flames condensed at the center of its maw before shooting forward like a laser, piercing straight through the Nepentula’s head. By cleanly incinerating only the head, even when the creature tried to regenerate, the flames consumed the new flesh before it could reform. The mature Nepentula shuddered violently, then finally went still. Confirming the influx of experience points that proved its death, I smiled in satisfaction.
“Good job, buddy.”
“Grrrng.”
I gave the Lesser Dragon’s leg a light punch in praise for its splendid performance. It returned a satisfied smile of its own.
“Grrrrr.”
When the unique dimension had first arranged the contract, the Lesser Dragon hadn’t thought much of it. Since the world itself was acting as guarantor, there was no risk, and although it wasn’t particularly impressed by the summoner’s skill, it had seen potential and agreed. But as time passed and the summoner’s abilities grew, bringing increasingly delicious prey, the Lesser Dragon instinctively realized something. This summoner was the perfect partner to help it fulfill its long-cherished wish.
That was why it hadn’t resisted when I tried to draw out its true form, and why it had received this golden opportunity to burn a mature Nepentula. Compared to the world it came from, this prey was practically an elixir. After incinerating the creature’s head and absorbing its karma, the Lesser Dragon flicked its tongue in satisfaction, then returned to the world of flames.
As the rift slowly closed, the Lesser Dragon glanced back and sent me a mental message. Call me again if you find more prey like this. Once it vanished, I muttered with a pleased expression.
“He really is my kind of friend.”
Maybe it was because he was so full of ambition. There was something charming about how purely he displayed his desire to grow stronger. Anyway, with the biggest problem taken care of, the rest should be easy to handle.
“Let’s get out of the Water Realm already. Neon and the adventurers are probably waiting.”
“After the fight, let me taste the Nepentula.”
“Got it. First let’s deal with the young ones and then we’ll see.”
I nodded vaguely at Adela’s words, which carried a powerful will, and opened the rift leading out of the Water Realm. On the other side, I could see Neon rolling around desperately.
“Ack! Urgh! Uuuuurgh! Eeeek!”
“Kiiiiiiiiik!”
“Kiiiiiii!!”
Just how much had he been tormented for him to be making such bizarre noises instead of actual words? The young Nepentula seemed to dislike those sounds too; they completely ignored the other adventurers and focused solely on Neon. With three of the young monsters attacking at once, Neon rolled, leaped, twisted, and slid, dodging their assaults with all sorts of miraculous maneuvers. Thanks to him, there were no casualties, but the price was that his face looked like it had aged ten years.
Neon, who had barely managed to keep dodging, finally spotted us and screamed.
“Ack! You’re here! Hurry! Help me!”
“You held out well! Leave the rest to me!”
“I’ve seen it for months now, but I still can’t get used to that ridiculous power of his.”
At his desperate cry, I casually stepped out of the Water Realm and began attacking the young Nepentula. Are you saying it’s too half-hearted to act so relaxed when a comrade is in danger? I guarantee that when it comes to evasion alone, I can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Vergo, the Edenberg branch manager and a Master-class adventurer. Whether it’s thanks to his overwhelming real-world experience or some hidden talent even he didn’t know about, his dodging is on another level. On top of that, his black magic gives him incredible aggro-drawing ability, so handling these young Nepentula wasn’t difficult at all.
“There we go. That’s the last of them.”
“Yeah. What a boring fight.”
We piled up the corpses of the young Nepentula in one spot and wore refreshed expressions. Compared to the mature one, they had been laughably easy opponents. The fact that we could now dispatch young Nepentula—which used to give us so much trouble—with ease was proof of how much we had grown. Feeling a sense of pride, we returned to the base camp, only for the place to explode the moment they heard the report.
“What?! You’re saying a mature Nepentula was commanding the young ones as subordinates?”
“Specimens! Please, let us see the specimens!”
“Is it an irregular? It has to be an irregular, right?”
To be precise, it was the scholars who had lost their minds. As usual, the appearance of a new specimen sent them into a frenzy, and the guild staff calmly calmed them down and began directing traffic.
“We thought there was only a mature one, but there were young ones too.”
“No wonder the chaos in the forest was worse than expected. To stabilize the forest quickly, we’ll need to call for reinforcements using the communication magic tool.”
“Please leave the cleanup to us. Since you’ve handled the biggest threat, we need to take care of the rest if we want to earn our keep.”
Thanks to the capable staff stepping up, the forest quickly regained stability. They strategically placed the resting adventurers to prevent fights between monsters from escalating while also blocking the creatures from escaping the forest and spreading the chaos further. It was possible because they drew maximum efficiency from a small number of people. When that became difficult, reinforcements arrived from nearby cities after hearing the news, and the situation was resolved in no time.
When dozens of adventurers poured into the forest and the chaos visibly subsided, the base camp team leader wore a satisfied smile.
“With this, I declare that the Argo party’s designated request has been successfully completed. You may receive your reward at the Edenberg branch. I will personally vouch for the completion of this request.”
Thanks to the team leader exercising his authority on-site, we received official confirmation that the request was complete. We were about to climb onto Ikelos and head off for our next request when the team leader stopped us.
“Ah, there is no need to carry out the designated request from Libertas.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“When we explained the situation here, they said that was sufficient proof and canceled the request. However, they will still pay the full reward.”
“Then what about the monsters that needed to be subjugated?”
“They’ve been posted as regular requests from nearby cities. An adventurer party has already accepted and is on the way.”
Getting paid for a request without even having to hunt the monsters? That was more than welcome. There was no reason to refuse free money, so we happily accepted and returned to Edenberg. Once again, thanks to Ikelos, the journey was swift. In just a few days we arrived at the adventurer guild, where someone was waiting for me.
“The famous adventurer party of Edenberg has finally arrived! I’ve been waiting for you!”
There, I met Veil Edenberg, who had been waiting for me.