Chapter 144: The Last Dragon in the Desert

Chapter 144: The Last Dragon in the Desert

Kai and Graetri fought a proxy battle over the desert for over a month. They never once exchanged blows, for all that they threatened from time to time. Instead they fought over merchants, soldiers, and above all the investigation of dragons.

When the first golden dragon had been spotted, Kai had been relieved that it wasn't all a false errand after all. After so long, he was beginning to wonder. From a distance Kai had only seen it arcing overhead, a golden serpent larger than any monster he'd ever seen except the behemoth. It had been strangely beautiful, even before considering its golden scales, and he'd been glad to see it even if he couldn't take advantage.

An eagle-eyed merchant and his crystallier had been the fastest, flying out over the desert to intercept. According to the rumors in camp, their results had been poor: one soldier became Dragontouched and some of the others said they felt blessed. The crystallier had received nothing and she'd tried to attack the dragon, which promptly flew away. They'd been driven out of the camp by all the other hopefuls the next day.

Training, working, and fighting had finally accomplished what all the Krysali exercises couldn't: Kai had gained a Physique level. He wished that he'd been able to do it sooner, but then again he'd always known the E rank would be more difficult and his Physique was already on par with many of the strongest fighters in Krysal.

Alternatively, he might have been pushed over the edge by the poison attempts. More than a few people had tried to target him because the Crystallier Cooperative got in their way exploiting the others, and their attempts took the form of poison after he trounced the first. He'd been getting better at detecting poison by taste alone, but none of them had done anything. No poisons in Krysal seemed dangerous enough to get through his monstrous abilities except whatever poison Omilaena used.

He'd killed plenty of monsters during his work, but only one had been strong enough to form an essence in his soul. A monster they called a Pitbeast lived beneath the sand and let people fall into a sandy pit before eating them alive. It had taken several victims before Kai managed to kill it, though its surprisingly vicious attacks had actually drawn real blood.

That incident had made him realize that all his work wasn't in vain, or just a mark on a ledger. More people than he had expected, from civilians to soldiers, had come to offer something for his injuries as thanks for his help. They probably all thought he was trying to be stoic when in fact he needed to hide the fact that Aquagorgon's Health was regenerating the wounds faster than a human could.Expploore uptodate stories at novelhall.com

His greatest frustration was that he hadn't been able to merge his monstrous abilities effectively. It wasn't solely that his attempts didn't feel right, he thought he was running up against some sort of barrier. More than anything it reminded him of when he had been hitting the 99 Power limit to his soul.

It had taken a special pill to break that barrier, and he doubted there were any equivalent pills for monsters.

There hadn't been any dragons seen for a week and people were beginning to trickle away as the realities of the search set in. When Kai received his next pay, he tried to tell himself that the money alone was worth it. He had a total of 74,000 Eagles now, which put him within a stone's throw of his goal. It was no draconic blessing, but it was a more practical step toward his goal than betting everything on fate. Many of the crystalliers he'd met had burned significant parts of their fortunes on the futile chase.

Then, just as many were beginning to pull away for good, a dragon descended on the dunes.

After so long in the desert Kai had learned how to estimate sizes despite the endless dunes, and this one was big. Probably the biggest dragon they'd seen during the entire hunt, even larger than some of the wild stories he thought had been invented. Even hidden by rolling dunes he could still see the wings glittering like golden sails.

This time there was no one else in the way, and no one else was prepared. An opportunity had finally fallen into his lap. Kai dropped the wagon he had been carrying and launched himself into the desert.

"Not so fast!"

As soon as Kai heard the shout, qi bolts began bombarding the sands around him. He ran faster instead of trying to dodge, then managed to shoot a glance over his shoulder. As expected, Graetri was flying after him atop one of the smaller crystals, releasing attack after attack.

"Oh great dragon, please grant me your blessing!" Graetri moved forward, raising his hands over his head as if praising the beast. It watched him without showing any sign of caring.

Kai stood back and held his breath. All the information he'd been given, both from Orillia and other seekers, suggested that the dragons didn't understand their language and didn't want praise. Whatever their blessings were, they were something the dragons did naturally, possibly in response to the smell or spirit of the person approaching them. Or it might truly be pure luck, as some claimed.

The dragon lifted its neck slowly, stretching somewhat like a cat. It moved closer to Graetri without any real haste, bumped a carriage-sized head against his chest, and then sniffed him.

Golden flame glowed within the beast's mouth, and for a moment Kai thought that a dragon was going to attack for the first time, but then power began to suffuse Graetri.

He laughed and stared down at himself as a golden glow merged with his soul. Everyone else had said the dragons had mysterious powers, but seeing up close Kai could identify it: this was chakra. It was wilder and more fiery than what he'd seen when he fought Anaelina, but he recognized the power. Did that mean the dragons were from Rosemount? The revelation only made Kai more eager to see what he could gain, because he hoped to balance mana, qi, and chakra eventually.

"Dragontouched?" Graetri stared down at his hands in satisfaction. "But I can't access... come on, dragon, won't you grant me the breath?"

It let out a slow breath and lowered its head as if no longer interested.

"Fine then... get out of here, you!"

In a display of pure insanity, Graetri powered up his crystal necklaces and launched a technique into the dragon's side. The qi splashed off its scales and the dragon growled. But instead of moving angrily, it only pushed its head forward, thumping Graetri on the chest and knocking him further away.

Kai grabbed the man's shoulder and tossed him further back. "You absolute bastard. What do you have to gain by trying to stop me?"

"A gain for opponents is a loss for you." Graetri shrugged off his hand and smirked. "Lord Suortril is going to ask me to fight you eventually, I'm sure of it. But go on, even if you get a dragon ability I'll still crush you."

As much as Kai wanted to hit him for the betrayal, that wouldn't be any smarter than it had been before. He glared at the other man and then smoothed his expression before he began walking toward the dragon.

It opened its eyes again, watching him. Once more Kai felt a flicker of anxiety, especially since he still didn't know just how powerful the dragon was, but he restrained himself. Perhaps it was the fighting, but the beast appeared a bit antsier, rising and twisting its neck as he got close.

The enormous head shifted closer, the dragon sniffed him... and it let out a roar.

Before Kai could react, the vast wings flapped and chakra surged. The dragon pushed itself into the air, faster than such an enormous creature should have been able to move, and in an instant it was flapping overhead. Kai found himself staring up into eyes that burned golden white, for a moment transfixed.

Then the dragon opened its jaws and the flames poured out.