246 Dragons III : The Realm & The Sea Serpen

The rather painful ordeal aside, we had to continue with our journey. The first temple was not so forthcoming with explanations about why a very life like snake was no tattooed on my forearm, or why I had to go through soul searing pain for it to happen.

There was nothing to be found or gained from there, so we packed up and left, leaving behind a temple that looked to be in it's prime, rather than the ruins we met. At least something good came out of the damn thing, now it could become a tourist attraction for dragons, I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

On our way to the next temple, with only my connection to the soul dragon as our guide, Bobo decided to give me the ground work and back story of the realm. And to be honest it was lot more complicated than I expected it to be, so much so that I didn't think finding the remaining temples would go just as smoothly as the first.

This place was simply known as the realm. It was named this way, because dragons didnot want to attach any sort of importance to it, this was not their home, it was only a place of exile. Or to be more exact, it was a quarantine zone.

Many years ago, too long for even Bobo to remember, a magical plague swept across all of Shearath. Like all plagues it was deadly and lethal, however it was unique In the sense that it only ever affected dragons, killing them and culling the once prosperous civilization until only a scant few remained.

In fact the plague was so bad, that entire species of dragons actually went extinct. The fairy dragons, summoning dragons, and holy dragons were the greatest casualty amongst them all. The plague was especially effective against the more magical oriented dragons, hitting them harder and faster than elemental dragons.

With the very erasure of their race imminent, the dragons frantically searched for a cure, or at least a solution that would keep the plague at bay, long enough for them to come up with a cure. They found a solution rather than a cure, but they also found the cause of said plague.

This seemed to have happened in a time long before the vampire war, because the people behind the plague, were actually the elven, dwarven, and fairy race. And their reason for wiping them out was so petty, that even I could not help but wrinkle my nose in disgust.And it was nothing but the simple fault of jealousy.

At the time the human race had a very close relationship with dragons. Those were the time when warriors with dragon oriented classes ruled and held sway over the fate of the world. And the dragons only ever favored the humans, making such powerful classes exclusive to them

There were, dragon riders, dragon mages and dragon paladins. The possibilities were endless, and it was the start of humanities powerful military might. Butthe dragons were not just fearsome in battle, they were wise, intelligent and pioneers of science, magic and technology. They were the most powerful race on Shearath, and given that the elves, fairies, dwarves and dragons have stood on equal footing since the era of the Gods came to an end.

The very resourceful, adaptive and rapidly growing and evolving human race, became a threat. Especially when they were sheltered and protected by dragons. And so in fear of how powerful the human race might become, threatening their countless millennia of established dominance, they banded together and fashioned a plague, a virus magically engineered to take care of the wild card within their equation, and that was the dragons.

Humans could be dealt with. They were fragile and weak, and their lives were incredibly short, but they were also driven by avarice and ego. They lived for benefits, with only a few them ever giving a damn about honor or loyalty, and so the dragons died in drives, until they came up with a solution.

Given that they were all getting sick, and dying, they could not go to war for revenge. So many of them left the planet, leaving for the stars and the countless other worlds that doted the cosmos, like the sands on a beach. And as for those of them that remained, together with their human followers and friends, they created the realm.

A place where time was not really relative, and safe from outside interference. But most importantly, there was no plague to worry about. After the realm was created, the dragons raised the humans with carrying out their revenge, giving them the tools to evolve, grow stronger and wiped out the elves, dwarves and fairies. And then they gave the entrance of the realm to another race, a race of neutral, yet very powerful beings.......the vampires.

And then they came here, where they lived ever since. And while their human friends did go to war for them, and even winning, they did not eliminate the enemiesthey were told to. Rather they ended the war, and went into a truce with their enemies, and that was how the groundwork for the future council of light was laid.

The humans feeling that they didn't need to live under the wings of the dragons anymore, forgot them. The vampires were neutral, and even if they wanted to help, they didn't have the key to this place, as it was given with trust to the humans. This place that was supposed to be a sanctuary for dragons, became nothing more than a prison.

Anybody could come in, but no one could go out.There was a failsafe, or a backdoor of sorts that could lead the dragons out of this place. But it was all in the hands of the two remaining dragon kings on Shearath, and that was the soul dragon, and the fire dragon king. And both of them disappeared the very moment they got here.

So in a nutshell the only way any of the dragons would be getting out of here, was through me and Baeki. Which means we're the hottest commodity in the realm right now, and without a doubt, with our previous light show, every dragon other than Bobo, will be coming for me and Baeki, if only just for us to lead them out of here.

Since we were now 'persons of interest' we had to be careful in the way we moved around, but I don't think it really mattered. I was in place filled with dragons, there's no way I would have been able to hide from them if I wanted to. We continued onwards with our journey, until we eventually arrived at a lake.

There was a pavilion of something of that sort right at the middle of the lake, and from where I was standing I could see that the pavilion had a hexagonal stone table placed in it's middle. Only problem is, said stone table was just like the pillar in the previous temple, it had skin, stone and metal parts.

There was a land bridge of sorts built on the lake, but it was broken in different parts, but that would not be a problem for me, so I just made my way towards it. Walking on the land bridge, and jumping over the demarcated parts of it. I was just about to jump last another one of them, when a massive tail showed up from no where, and slammed my body back to shore.

Even with all of my strength and agility I couldn't stop myself from crashing into the tree line, and taking down a lot of trees with me. I was really strong and resilient, but I think I broke a few things in the process of flying around. I heard roars from three distinct voices, as Soren and Bobo began battling what or whoever just used me to play base ball.

I got back up to my feet to see them fighting what seems to be a giant blue serpent. I recognize what it was from illustrations and books from when I was younger. It was a sea serpent, an off shoot and devolved offspring of water dragons, that roamed the waters of seas, lakes and rivers.

The books explained them as deadly hunters, and were more animal than dragons. Only a few of them were intelligent enough to hold a conversation, and even if they all were. It is believed that they're dulled by their animalistic and bloodthirsty side, preferring to just attack and kill everything they see.

The sea serpent had vibrant blue scales, a hood just like a cobra, whiskers like some sort of cat fish, and a very large mouth filled with fangs and a humongous formed tongue. The bloody thing was tall, practically reaching a height of twenty meters, and being around five meters in width. But part of it's body was still in the lake, so I couldn't properly estimate how long the damn thing was.

The Sea serpent opened it's jaw and sprayed out a late amount of water, that seemed to be shaped into needles, it was only until I looked closer that I realized that there was actually a spell circle over it's mouth. Which means this sea serpent was a very intelligent being, smart enough to form skills and spells on it's own.

Bobo opened his own mouth and released his nature drain roar, countering the incoming water attack, and even pushing the sea serpent back, and just in time too, as Soren opened his mouth and released a huge bolt of electricity onto the surface of the lake. The moment the lightening touched the lake, it didn't immediately electrocute the serpent, it just spread, moving to every edge and corner like a net and leaving the monster trapped right in the middle, and that's when the nature of water being a good conductor of electricity came into play.

REEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIII!

The sea serpent was screeching, wailing and twisting around like nothing I've ever seen before. I could smell the scent of burning flesh, and from my place within the trees, I could see the aura of ferociousness and anger within the gaze of the sea serpent. It was angry, and hurt, and it looked desperate.

"You all will pay for this!"

The Serpent yelled out in anger. However it didn't speak actual words, it was merely screeching, and to Soren and Bobo, it was the nothing more than the death throws of a common animal. Weird, but I think I was able to understand the sea serpent due to my beast tongue skill, I've never had a reason to use it before, but since it came in handy, I opened my mouth to warn both Bobo and Soren about the serpent's words, but it was too late.

The Serpent began to swim round the pavilion, picking up speed with each passing second, much so that after the first five, all we could see was a blur in the water as a massive whirlpool was formed. And then the water rose up, twisting and turning like a tornado, disturbing the air around us, as it carried dust, rocks and a lot of algae and weed from within the depths of the lake.

And then the water tornado surges outwards, slamming into Soren and Bobo, and throwing their forms back into the forest behind me. I called out my shield, and raise it in time, weaving on it, as a very familiar barrier of golden light rose up into the sky, forming a golden wall that brought the surging waves of the lake to a stop.

The surging waters receded, but the tornado was still in motion, which means another attack will come. And it did, almost five seconds later another wave was released from the water tornado, slamming so hard into my shield I had to actually take a few steps back. And then it receded, and returned five minutes later with a vengeance, slamming into my shield and pushing me back.

Whatever ability this was, it sort of worked like a ripple in water. Once you place your finger at the epicenter, disturbing the water, you would release waves after waves, creating a rippling attack that would keep your opponents of their feet, or dead with the first hit, seeing as the wave hit hard enough to fling a dragon into a forest like he was some sort of rag doll.

I had to come up with something fast!So I pulled my sword, and used [Perception Cutting Gleam]. I don't know how effective it was, seeing as I couldn't even see the sea serpent from within the whirlpool, so I was just attacking blind. But it seemed to work, as the whirlpool actually faltered for almost ten seconds, but still remaking upright in the air, almost as if the entire water was frozen in motion.

But that was enough time for me to slash my sword at it, using one of the attacking stance from my [Nine Swords Aura sword skill]. The whirlpool was parted in half,and the sea serpent was revealed in all it's glory, hanging helplessly as my attack left a huge gash on it's side.

And suddenly Bobo was beside me, as he released his breath attack, slamming into the sea serpent, and rapidly turning a lot of it's vibrant blue scales grey, as they aged rapidly and were drained of the life within them. The serpent screeched in pain as it fell back into the lake, accompanied by it's water whirlpool.

The lake sloshed and jostled around a bit, but we wanted to press our advantage. Soren ran forwards, round and around the entire perimeter of the lake with such speed, he was leaving sonic booms in his wake. I understood what he was trying to do.

Since Soren was once a dungeon core, and he managed a lot of monsters, all his battle skills came from them. And the skill he was using now, came from the lightening tailed bats who could build up massive amounts of electricity, the longer they kept moving, and release it in a single massive burst at the enemies or preys. And Soren did just that.

BA-KRAAM!!! BZZZZZZZT!

The power of a lightening strike, coupled with serious amount of electrocution. It was very 'Shocking' sight to say the least, and almost ten seconds later, the sea serpent was floating over the top of the lake, belly up and very much dead. Soren came to a stop beside me, lightening still dancing in and around his paws and mane, and his gaze ferocious. He looked scary, like a predator out for a hunt.

"so I'm not sure this is the right thing at the moment, seeing as we just beat a freaking sea serpent to death, a sea serpent! Those things are nigh unbeatable once they're in water. But we did it, so go team! We're awesome! Now who's hungry."