Is this my end? There is still so much that I have not done yet, especially dad's...

"It is quite painful, isn't it?" Dragoona said. "To die without knowing what your father wanted to tell you. But you know what? These feelings taste so good when you eat them."

Terax tried to speak up, to plead, and to give anything and everything he has to save his life. But no, the [Paralyze] ability she cast on him was so strong that he could not even speak.

"Alright, bye, it was fun talking to you. And I hope it will also be fun eating you."

Dragoona opened her large dragonic mouth and swallowed Terax whole body in one go. The scene took no more than five seconds. Her swift movements proved how used she is to this entire process. But after that, the unimaginable happened.

[Warning - We have warned you so many times to stop eating humans, yet you kept ignoring us and did whatever you wanted. As a result, we have taken extreme measures against you. To stop you from destroying your own body, you will thereby be transformed into a level 1 human. Enjoy your punishment.]

Dragoona coughed hard then threw up Terax body, while she permanently transformed into her punishment; a female human.

***

*Slap* *Slap*

"Wake up."

Terax was asleep on a bed but woke up getting slapped on his cheeks. He opened his eyes, and he saw Dragoona sitting beside him.

"Finally, you woke up." She looked relieved.

"Oh, you are… What!" Terax was about to leave the bed until Dragoona grabbed his shoulder. It was not with the same insane strength she used to have.

"Don't worry, I am not going to harm you. Look, I even bandaged your wounds."

Weird, she did indeed bandage my body…

"Hard to believe it from a person who ate me just a while ago. Wait, how come I am still alive?"

"I got punished by turning into a human and threw you up. You got skin burns because of my stomach acid. Anyways, you do not have to worry about me eating you again. You may even be stronger than me at this point."

"Punished? But who can punish a dragon then turn you into a human? Could it be an archon?"

Dragon's strength rivals angels and demons. And in this human kingdom, no one is capable enough to subdue a dragon to even think about transforming the dragon into a human. The only beings capable of such a feat are archons, the royal guards of the gods.

"No, your imagination went too far. It's my internal defensive system that punished me."

"Huh? What the hell is this system?"

"All dragons receive defensive spells to help them survive once they are born. The system did save me numerous times, but the problem is that it has full control over our bodies."

"Wow, that is amazing."

So I am stronger than her now, Hehe.

Terax placed his two knuckles on both sides of Dragoona's head and grind it hard.

"Ouch, hey, what are you doing. Stop."

"This is your punishment for eating me."

"Do not make it sound I did something weird to you."

***

"Even though this defensive system is helpful, I would rather remove it from my body." She opened her arms to show her new body and gave a long sigh. "Look at what it did to me."

It is a beautiful body what is she complaining about?

"Being a human isn't so bad."

"This is like telling me being an ant isn't so bad. Well, at least my system gave me the body of a good looking female, which is probably because she has higher survival rates."

Terax couldn't deny that. Men would jump at any moment to help and gain the affection of a good looking lady.

"So you no longer want to eat me?"

She looked sad. "Nope, I tried to bite your finger, but it didn't taste good like it used to."

Terax looked at his fingers and saw a bite mark on his index finger.

She continued, "But I do not know what to do with my life anymore. This year was the best in my whole life. I had so much joy in eating human boys. But now that it was taken from me, I have nothing left." Dragoona sobbed loudly.

This is so messed up. She ate me then treated my wounds and is now crying in front of me.

"Since you hate this new body so much can't you revert back to a dragon?"

"It is impossible. The modifications of the defensive system are irreversible. I have no choice but to get used to this body. Or wait, unless…"

"Unless?"

Dragoona stared at Terax for a long while then said, "Unless we have access to your father's treasures, it may be possible. Some of them may nullify my punishment. She grabbed Terax shoulders. "You said that your father hasn't told you where he kept his treasures. But are you sure, absolutely sure that he didn't give you any hint to find them?"

Why is she so close? Calm down Terax, she is a dragon. Why are you shy from a dragon?

"He is not that stupid to throw hints here and there. It's best to give it up. Many people tried to find his treasures, but none succeeded. The only way to find them is to talk to Father about it, and that is no longer possible."

Terax expected Dragoona to look desperate because the situation is clearly hopeless. Over the years he had seen many people begging and offering his father piles of gold to receive just a single artifact, but he always declined.

"Not quite. It is possible to speak to the dead." She gave a confident smile. "Necromancers can."

"Necromancers? Come on they are no more than fables and legends."

Necromancers were believed to have originated ten years after Earth's First Sneeze incident. Billions have lost their lives to the dungeon monsters back then, which created this intense desire to resurrect them. This strong desire gave birth to necromancers, who created many instances of mass resurrection. But, soon enough, necromancy disappeared as quickly as it appeared. On the other hand, some say that the whole concept of necromancy is just a legend and nothing exists of this sort.

"True, necromancy is still a highly debated topic. But the existence of magic was also highly debated for thousands of years. But today magic is everywhere is not it?"

Dragoona opened her hand and ignited a tiny fire floating on her palm, as to emphasize her point.

"True."

Terax agreed. Magic was also known to be a legend just like necromancy. But because the old human technology of guns and bombs had failed to stop the hordes of monsters humans had to come up with something more powerful. And they came up with magic.

"I have lived for two hundred years now, and I did see actual necromancers raise the dead with my own eyes... I think it was 70 years ago. Necromancers do exist."

"Are you saying that we should search for a necromancer? But how will we find them? It will be like searching for a needle in a haystack."

"True, but luckily I have already found one a few months ago thanks to my dragon detection skills. And guess what? There is a necromancer in this kingdom."

Could it be that I will actually find out what were Father's last words?

"Great, should we head for him right away?"

"Not so fast. First, we have to agree on two rules things before we go to the necromancer."

"Sure."

"No one must know that I am a dragon. I am helping you in here to turn back into a dragon. I also have to stick with you to make sure you do not die, that is until I return back to a dragon and feast on your body. We only have a few years until you grow into a hairy adult, so we do not have much time to waste."

Terax felt weird goosebumps all over his body, "You sick lady."

"Call me whatever you want, I have already been called so many things in my homeland then got exiled. But I will never stop doing what I enjoy for the sake of the public."

O boy, her madness is getting out of control.

"Alright... And what about the other rule?"

"Do not tell them about your father. People will definitely go greedy for the treasures, and they will use you instead of helping you. We are dealing with necromancers here, so we do not know what tricks they have up their sleeves. That should be it for the two rules. Do you have any questions?"

Oh, she is giving a human like me the opportunity to ask questions? Argh, why do I feel like my status has gone high? So lame Terax.

"I have one single and a pure request."

"Very suspicious."

She looked annoyed as if telling him to just go on with it.

"Since you already know about what I did yesterday, can I check your third and fourth row of drawers?"

"...Do you have an obsession with drawers Terax?"

"No!" He shouted. "I am just curious."

With a very gentle smile, Dragoona declined Terax's request while twisting his ear like a door key.