"I'd rather not meet with a desperate man on a battlefield. They always have some tricks up their sleeves that no sane fighter would ever think of using.

I’d never want to meet with someone who has nothing else to lose, for they have given up even the barest sense of self-preservation to end you.

But the worst of all? Being the cause of their losses, and the target of their revenge. You want to run to the other side of Nortanis, my boy.”

-Unknown warrior to his child.

Nashariel pov

“C’mon, you can stop sulking now!”

/…/

Nashariel chuckled. Once she had come out of her inner world, brighter than ever, she had to listen to the pissed ashen skill ranting about the unfairness of the system.

At least she didn’t blame Nashariel for it.

So, after Asha had given her kind, sound, and absolutely not vulgar opinion, Nashariel had invested the rest of the night to create more Cores.

*Omni-Core (x1 small, x2 Medium)

High quality. *

Not hurrying to make them had improved their quality by a longshot. They would either give her an emergency power source, or a small but regular influx of points every day.

Arthur stared, ever-curious. As a slime, he needed even less sleep than Nashariel, even while exhausted. Probably none until his stamina reached zero, which made Nashariel quite envious of the newest addition to her team.

The dragokin stopped at three Cores. She didn’t want to face the next day without any resources right at the start. I can’t wait to try the Light thing! She mentally cheered, patting the silent Arthur.

He wiggled in happiness.

“I talked to the other leaders. These Citadels and Strongholds are in the direst of need.” Callen unceremoniously declared, passing each of the Templar a Quest. Compared to the others that Nashariel had received at the Bastion, these had the barest amount of words possible. Not even a proper name…

*Quest assigned.

Objective: Help in any way you can the exhausted Stronghold of Varasha. The presence of hostile dragons has been confirmed.

Reward: ??? *

Her friends also wore similarly confused expressions. “And our job is…?” Aside from killing more monsters and healing some people, that is.

“You’ll be debriefed on site.” Callen briefly answered. On a second look, the man had heavy bags under his eyes. He also shot frequent glances in the giant Core’s direction. “I’ll teleport you there. The rest of the squadrons will follow shortly, but they have no more time left.”

Nashariel nodded. “No time to waste, then.” She said, winking at the others. “Don’t die, alright?”

Dan and Vel chuckled while Dorel and Arthur nodded gravely. The latter waved a little tentacle at her.

Callen grabbed her extended hand. “I seriously can’t thank you enough, Comrade.”

Nashariel smiled. “We all do what we can, don’t we?”

The mage gave her a tired smile, then the world became white.

Nashariel reappeared in a broken room.

She was surrounded by two mages, who promptly fell unconscious on the spot. Crap. Nashariel checked them for wounds, finding little scratches here and there. Thank Astill this is only mana-exhaustion.She thought, looking at the dull sparks coming out of their skin. Glancing back, she saw a similar Core mass turning off with a humming sound.

/Aaaaand no backup. Of course, why am I surprised? Oh, wait, I'm not!/

Right? Nashariel stood, rushing out of the open hole in the roof. The battle cries reached her a moment later.

She rose in flight, rapidly assessing the situation.

A small band of Paladins had banded together, defending a heavily reinforced building, probably an Infirmary by the looks of it.

On the other side of their steel barrier, a tide made of monsters clashed against them, probing the humanoids with claws and fangs.

Nashariel snarled, shifting back to her true self as a Protection dragoness. She furiously beat her wings, swooping down on a wagon-sized black bear.

The dragoness’ razor-sharp claws tore it up to pieces in a second, then she activated her [Defender’s aura] and its beacon active, granting everyone additional resistance to harm. Small damage numbers rained down on her massive health bar, getting regenerated almost in the same instant. A moment later, her racial aura sprouted to life, providing much-needed restoration to the humans below and around her.

Relieved cheers and terrorized screeches filled Nashariel’s ears in equal measure. She ignored both of them, swooping some monsters with her massive tail against a ruined building.

/We’re not going to pay for that, right?/

She rolled her eyes, as the reinvigorated Paladins helped her to defeat the last monsters.

As the fight ended, one shouted at her. “Wounded here!” He pointed at the building.

Nashariel returned in her Healing dragokin form, searching for an entrance. Finding all of them sealed tightly, she barreled through a window. As the debris fell down, she shifted to Healing and unleashed her breath weapon.

A few spells hit her, quickly cut off from their casters. She paid them no mind since her entrance had been… sudden. And hostile dragons were in the area; she couldn’t forget about them.

A literal minute later, holy energies had infused the very stone of the building, leaving the occupants to marvel at their rapidly healing wounds. Nashariel had also made sure to never let her aura waver, counting on that and the light to hide her shift to Healing.

“Thanks for the help, Templar.” A Paladin said while approaching. “A healer is a blessed sight to see in these dark days. I’m Aghe, pleased to meet you.”

“I’m Nashariel,” Nashariel half-chuckled, half-grimace. “and this isn’t the first time someone says that to me.” Nor the second or third. She replied, shaking the woman’s hand. “Is everyone left in there?”

The Paladin closed her bloodshot eyes, sighing. “Hopefully? No, but… most of us watch from Alka’s side.”

Gods, what a massacre. Nashariel remained silent, dropping her head low. Nothing that she could say would fix the woman’s grief.

Aghe shook her head. “We have no time to dwell on the departed, not right now. With you here…" She frowned, looking around. "Are you the only reinforcement?!"

"Callen said that I needed to hurry and that others would follow me later. The two mages that summoned me here have fainted. And the Core stopped working.”

The woman cursed loudly. She barked an order to a pair of Paladins nearby, causing them to rush away in the mages’ direction. “That’ll have to do, but-”

"Why did the screams stop?" A hissing voice asked.

Every Paladin immediately fell into a fighting stance, their faces completely bleaching.

“I do not know, my dear, but they still stand.” Another replied.

Aghe clenched her weapons until the hilt creaked in protest. “-but we needed help with them. They allowed the monsters to overrun us!”

A pair of dark creatures with glowing lines of green appeared from behind a tall building, as sudden and heart-stopping as a nightmare in the middle of a good night’s sleep. Their barbed bodies scraped against the ruins, slowly, like the executioner with their axe.

Cursed dragons.

*Curse-Dragon (Young) Lvl 138-144 *

The pair instantly focused their gaze upon Nashariel. “Ah, my dear, it seems like a lonely healer was trying to play hero…” The male said, stretching the last word.

“Oh?” The female caressed the building nearby with the tip of her claws. “And didn’t she know how it usually ends?”

The building silently fell, cleaved through by her jagged natural weapons.

/Well, shit/

And here they are. We have dealt with worse.

/Not with vulnerable people around/

Nashariel looked around. Her light had dispelled a few curses, but perhaps she hadn’t realized their potency.

Or hers.

“It’s not the first time that I kill dragons,” She shouted in response. “Leave or die, the choice is yours.”

The duo cackled. “Aw, the little healer has gotten some teeth!” The runes on both of their bodies started to glow ominously. “Let’s hear you screaming while we rip them away!”

/Why did you even bother?/

Eh, the force of habit. It worked with the ratkins tho. She grinned. Let’s try out the new thing!

/I couldn’t wait!!!/

Nashariel reached for her Apex skill. It answered with the rush of a healer, the dedication of a defender, and the righteous fury of a holy warrior.

The aura that she had cut off resurged to life, brighter than ever, enveloping the whole city with its brightness. The people behind her found their bodies, minds, and souls filled with holiness to the core, a sense of safety and resolution filling the air.

Nashariel answered the mute prompt, automatically adding [Aura of Radiance] and [Defender’s aura] to her Apex skill. Her resources dropped to half their maximum size, leaving her stumbling for a moment.

Every trace of darkness vanished without a trace, except for the two startled dragons.

Nashariel extended a hand toward the pair, taunting them. “Let us dance, then.”

The two Cursed dragons were already being relentlessly assaulted by the light. They snarled, powering their auras at the same time. Together they managed to hold most of the burning light off their scales.

Still, they shook their heads, blinking rapidly.

Nashariel didn't wait for them. She returned into her Protection self, charging the duo in her dragon form.

Blinded as they were, they didn’t see her coming.

Unfortunately, they didn’t need to.

As soon as Nashariel needed only to lunge to reach her opponents' scales, a set of runes exploded from under her.

Even though the damage had been minimal, the force behind the blast sent her crashing down off-course.

Paying more attention, Nashariel noticed that the entire battlefield was littered with runes. Her skill was trying its best to dispel them, but they greatly resisted her efforts. Runes? Can Cursed dragons use them before maturity?

/Either that or a Mature dragon is watching us. Be careful; I'll be on the lookout too/

Nashariel grunted her agreement.

Her distraction bought enough time for the dragons to recover. “Let’s dance…”

“…at our rhythm!”

Their auras changed, pulsing more green than black.

The runes glowed stronger.

Some under Nashariel exploded, forcing her to step backward. Another did the same, only forcing her to move right.

“Good, hero, you can move! Now let’s go a bit faster.”

Rune after rune, Nashariel avoided the explosions. She had no trouble keeping up, other than feeling very much annoyed. At some point, she ignored a rune just to approach the cackling duo.

The thing scorched her scales. It wasn’t that much damage, but she calculated that reaching for the duo would have cost her a great deal of health.

Fortunately, her Apex skill could cover that.

Seeing that the Paladins were still safely inside the Infirmary, Nashariel removed [Defender’s aura] from her Asylum, replacing it with [Shell of succor]. Then, as soon as the skill’s capacity was filled up, she substituted it with [Aura of hope]. The added dispelling force weakened the trapped field even further.

She equipped herself with her [Defender’s armor], then took flight.

“Careful! Cheaters pay tribute!” The female shouted, cackling.

An unnoticed rune exploded in the Infirmary, busting an entire wall. It threw a few Paladins against the other wall and shattered her Shells, stopping her heart for a brief moment.

The amount of redirected damage reassured Nashariel about their survival. Still, she landed again. She angrily huffed from her nostrils, charging on land.

Runes lit like firework show from under her body. The additional vitality provided by the Armor was quick to deplete, but the dragoness kept going, relentless.

The two dragons welcomed her with claws and dark magic.

They Breathed in tandem. The large mass of greenish smoke was quickly dispelled, and a part of it got dissolved in mana for Nashariel.

Right, my Territory absorbs some attacks. My Asylum must have weakened them considerably. Smirking, the omnidragon returned the favor with an Omnia-infused breath of her own. The Omni/Protection skill met a green shield, rose for the duo’s safety. Of course, Nashariel simply didn’t stop channeling for a few more seconds.

Her special resource, her Apex skills, and sheer persistence shattered the protective barrier, leaving the dragons open for her charge.

Nashariel bit the female’s shoulder and slashed at the male’s left leg. Her Light-Infused claws and teeth drew blood, searing the wounds closed just a moment later.

They returned her ferocity. Blows rained down on Nashariel, each trying to rip off as much flesh as possible with barbs and jagged natural weapons.

Most attacks had a hard time getting through her Armor and resilience, but, the few that did, ripped away her scales with ease. The female tried to hurt her wings, but their reinforcement gotten from this form’s body had reinforced them enough that her strikes found no purchase.

Level difference or not, Nashariel had to respect her opponents. They were still dragons, after all.

The exchange lasted a few more moments, until Nashariel decided to retreat and heal. She glared at the dragons’ closing wounds while they licked their teeth.

/There’s a skill called [Pain feeding]. They are using pain to heal themselves!/

Annoying.“Stopped laughing, uh?”

“Don’t provoke the one who engraves your lair, little hero.” The male hissed. He gestured toward the Infirmary.

His tattoos pulsed.

…

“What?!” He snapped toward the building, mouth half-open.

Nashariel smirked. I have to say, using two dispelling skills at once feels good. Very, very good. She finished healing her wounds, then charged once more. “I gave you a chance!”

The dragons frantically inspected each rune that they had previously laid on the battlefield, finding none.

Suddenly, Radiant strikes struck them without mercy.

"For Alka!!!" The Paladins shouted loud enough to rattle the ground. Mages unleashed holy spells, and fighters shot arrows after arrows at the Cursed dragons. “For Varasha!!!”

Finally! Nashariel switched her active auras to [Defender’s aura] and [Omnidragon infusion]. Uh, Omni doesn’t count as Dark-attuned. Neat. She changed the latter skill to [Shell of succor] and, a moment of unreservedly burned Omnia later, [Regenerative aura].

“This won’t be a second Althei.” She snarled, taking for the sky. She hadn’t forgotten about the two-hundred people that died against only two dragons. She couldn’t.

And no one would die today.

No innocent, at the very least.

The Paladin vented off what must have been the built-up stress of weeks.

Even when the Cursed dragons, rendered powerless by Nashariel’s Apex skill, asked for mercy, the people didn’t even slow down.

They mowed both of them with weapons and magic while Nashariel watched, too horrified and uncertain to act. These had been cruel beings, but killing them like that… went against all her teachings.

When the female cried out a broken scream, Nashariel shook from her stupor. She swooped down and quickly beheaded both dragons with her razor-sharp claws.

*Curse-Dragon (Young) Lvl 138-144 slain.

Reward assigned.

Omnidragon superiority doubles the reward. *

Some people looked at her with hate.

Nashariel steeled her gaze. “Are you monsters like them?” She roared, slamming her tail against the floor. “Because I’ve seen no Light warriors in the last minute!”

That seemed to shake some people away from their stupor. They also looked at the corpses and their hands with some horror. No remorse, but Nashariel didn't blame them.

Even tho she was against cruelty, these dragons had likely directly and indirectly killed hundreds of people. They deserved to die.

After a moment had passed, Nashariel continued. “I’ll sweep the city for monsters and survivors.” Her aura’s last second ticked away, leaving her with a temporary sense of utter exhaustion. Not the soul-kind, at least.

She retook for the sky.

The city from above looked much like she had glimpsed at the moment of her arrival.

Monsters roamed the streets, sometimes attacking each other.

They didn’t last long.

Sometimes, Nashariel's senses or Asha hyper-focused attention heard the faint cries of survivors. The moment they saw a Healing dragon wearing armor made of light, they sighed in relief.

Nashariel brought back each one of them before continuing her search. The Paladins seemed to have calmed down, and they were re-fortifying the Infirmary.

She also focused on detecting other sources of Curse. It was likely that those two had built a Lair in the vicinity, and even more likely that they had filled it with the riches of the city. These people needed everything that they could put their hands on to rebuild, but there could be something for her too.

She was still a dragon, after all.

Nashariel remembered how well the temporary lair of those Fire dragons had been hidden from mortal’s eyes, so she charged Asha to sense the Flux.

/Your skill has cleansed the entire city. I can’t detect anything but your signature/

Dang it. Nashariel briefly thought about her studies, trying to remember what she had read about draconic lairs. She recalled that Dark dragons liked, surprisingly really, dark places often situated underground.

So she tasked Asha to keep searching for survivors while she eyed out any suspiciously crumbled building.

She found it after sweeping the city for the third or fourth time. If there were any more survivors, then they were beyond her capabilities to detect.

The city hall had once been an imposing building, judging from the remaining arches. Now it was only the lid to a place stinking of corruption, even after Nashariel’s definitive cleanse.

The dragoness removed the rocks blocking the entrance, crawling in the hole. She was a lot larger than those two, apparently. Or less nimble.

The short tunnel led to a surprisingly clean room twice the height of the tunnel.

Every chandelier, massive painting, good-quality pieces of furniture, statues… they had been organized with maniacal precision and an eye for detail. The only thing just vaguely messy was the giant pile of gold, jewels, and artifacts lying in the center of the room.

It reached Nashariel’s dragon shoulder, but it also covered the whole floor. She could still taste in the air the runes surely put on this place’s protection.

Seeing the sheer size of the hoard, [Draconic hoard] tingled in pure greed. Nashariel ignored it, taking a look at some of the paintings. They had clearly not been painted by human hands, but they… they weren’t half-bad, even though seeing a clutch of Dark wyrmlings put Nashariel at unease. And each side had a painting of a familiar Cursed dragon. She… didn’t want to think about that.

She searched for dangerous artifacts. One Cleanser had been enough for now.

She dug into the pile, uncovering some ex-Curse-attuned artifacts. Nashariel grimaced. Well, this is just a shame.

/I don’t know, they look kinda nasty to me/

Nashariel crushed the wicked-looking dagger with her paw. Yeah, but they could’ve been studied or re-attuned to Radiance or something like that. Anyhow, how do we get this stuff sorted out?

She could just chuck everything inside her mantle and be done with it, but spending hours to separate her stuff from this sounded like an awful pastime. Nashariel shrugged, leaving everything as it was. I’ll just alert the people in charge of the Lair.

While going out, her tail accidentally smacked a pile of gold. As soon as she heard the sound of shuffling papers, Nashariel snapped back to attention, eyes opened wide.

She hadn’t read a book in… way too fricking long.

She saw the tome on the ground, some of its pages bent. Cursing at her sin, Nashariel returned a dragokin. She gently held the book, folding the paper back into position. The title read 'Rune circles: A hundred and one formations for your every need. Vol.1’.

Of course, it's a curse-related tome, what else did I expect? Nashariel chucked the book inside her mantle, then approached the hoard once more. Her thoughts briefly ran to Alandra. I wonder how much she would salivate over these volumes.

/… What are you doing?/

Searching for the other volumes, obviously.

Asha sighed deeply. /Obviously/

I could read about a receipt book and cry with joy anyway.

/I know, Nashariel, I know/