Miles grunted in pain as he looked around him. There were remnants of flames still burning on the ground. His armor was destroyed. Even the orb was fully exploded. His cape was in pieces, lying on the ground. His left arm was broken and the sword he had stolen from Mihr was stabbed to his calf. The rampant electricity of the armor was still sizzling in the air. Every few seconds, a wild current was washing over his body and stimulating him to stay awake. Miles looked at his body and realized the thing covering his body was his light armor and hood over his face, and the only thing keeping him awake was the wild electricity of the armor. ‘Still protecting me, my old friend?’

Miles removed the sword from his calf and let Coin turn it back to orb form. He couldn’t feel any element when using it but after it turned into orb form he realized it had no element at all. It was strange to see Mihr using such a cheap sword.

There was smoke everywhere and Miles couldn’t see what was going on. Mihr Orril passed out nearby with his skin burned and his clothes were black. Tian Ling was a tad better thanks to his superpower protecting him against the fire.

Miles looked behind himself and saw the icy wall behind him was completely destroyed. From there, he could see that there was a giant area beneath where they were standing. In the pit, there was a slumbering dragon. Despite all this noise, it was still motionless.

The dragon was not a western one but more like an eastern dragon. It had an ugly face with a worm-like body. It had four small claws and one long tail. Its body was icy blue with deep blue markings.

A closer look, Miles noticed that the dragon was too still. ‘Is it dead?’ Miles was bewildered but was too hurt to move. The smoke was getting dispersed and the cave was visible once again. He turned to look at Eloise but saw her panting on the ground profusely. ‘That last attack must use a lot of juice.’ Miles thought but decided to ignore Eloise for now.

‘If I can get to Dragon, I may find an orb that can save me from this peril.’

“Dragon, a real dragon like my ancestors!” He heard Tian Ling’s zealous screams behind him.

Miles turned to look at the idiot blabbering like a lunatic. Miles already knew he was delusional when he saw him meditating after eating beast meat. But calling himself a descendant of an eastern dragon, was he really a delusional man lost in his fantasies of Chinese mythology?

“I will kill you first!” Tian Ling walked to hurt Miles and punched him, but Miles deflected the attack with his hand from where he was sitting. With his relatively okay leg, he kicked Tian Ling in the gut and made him puke blood.

Miles didn’t wait but jumped on Tian Ling who was still puking blood and started to punch him with his only intact hand. “You fucking trash!” Miles punched him in the face.

“You picked a fight with me for no reason at all because you are fucking grandson of the general!” He punched again. It was Tian Ling who picked a fight with him for no reason at all. His men tried to rob him and Tian Ling used the power of his grandfather to exploit the weak.

“You tried to kill me over and over again because of your low self-esteem!” Miles was boiling with rage and was out of character. Tian Ling tried to kill Miles twice. Once when he hired him to hunt creatures in the river and the second time when they were hunting the gargoyle. Then twice as well he tried to kill the Marooner.

“I let you live over and over again, but instead of repenting, you come after me like a rabid dog, you piece of shit!” Tian Ling’s face was disfigured and bloody. His eyes were looking at Miles listless. Miles was panting too. He was hurt but punching Tian Ling right in the face felt too good.

“ARGHHHH!” Tian Ling shouted and got free of Miles. “My ancestors will save me!”

Tian Ling shouted like a madman with his face bloody and his mouth missing teeth as he walked the edge and looked at the dragon. “What, it is—”

“Haha! It is dead. It is lying in its blood.” He said as he looked at the dragon lying in the pond of blood. “I will fuse with the Dragon! Like how my ancestors did! I will have dragon genes and will kill you Marooner!” Tian Ling looked at Miles like a lunatic with his lips curled up. He jumped on the body of the dragon from the edge.

The pit was 10 meters tall, but Tian Ling was able to slow himself down by ejecting a pillar of water to the ground. Tian Ling landed on the head of the dragon and pulled out a sword from the scabbard on his waist. All scions were carrying a good weapon created from monster cores in case they lost all their orbs or electricity to charge them.

“Ling, stop it! It will kill you.” Eloise shouted from where she was lying. She was too tired to move too.

“Haha! What do you know? My ancestors were doing these all the time. I will use dragon marrow and blood to strengthen myself. I will reawaken my genes. Even my superpower is in the shape of a water dragon. This ice dragon is a perfect fit.” Tian Ling laughed like mad.

His sword stabbed into the dead body of the ice dragon and cut open a slit. From there, Tian Ling pulled out a monster core, ice blue in color. “Tch! Not an orb. But it is still fine.” He said as he gulped down the core. Miles looked at him with bewilderment. “He is mad!”

“Power is surging in my body!” Tian Ling shouted and laughed like a lunatic. “I need more!” He cut open his arm and dunked his arm in the pond of blood. Soon the color of the bond got lighter and lighter. “It is surging into my body. My veins are merging with its blood!”

Miles looked from the edge helplessly. He was too tired to move.

“Miles, you should run.” Coin urged him to run.

“Don’t worry. As if something that crazy can happen.” Miles shook his head as he looked at the pit. Tian Ling absorbed the blood. It looked magical how blood was filtered and entered Tian Ling’s body, but Miles still didn’t give any chance of merging with a dragon.

“Everything about this world is crazy. What if it really happens?” Coin asked.

“You have a point.” Miles pondered and struggled to get up. His leg was still bleeding and it was hard to step on it. ‘Can I do that?’ Miles thought and imagined his energy to wrap his wound like a gauze. And soon, a warm current traveled from his heart to his calf and covered his wound like a bandage, stopping the leaking blood.