Oh dear~ Is this truly what it feels like to be an insect?
It’s my first time being an insect, and I’m feeling a little excited. What’s wrong with that?
‘If only there were a maid to raise her foot and step on me, glaring with disdain… that would be perfect,’ Aya Tone mused to herself. ‘Wait, no. It wouldn’t be bad to have Big White try on a maid outfit next time. What an idea, what an idea.’
While Aya Tone was indulging in such fantasies, hidden within Ao Yu’s mane, Ao Yu’s colossal dragon body had already passed through the dark spatial tunnel, entering the core space.
With a dragon’s roar from Ao Yu that shook the very foundations, the stable core space immediately began to tremble violently. Beneath the colossal mountain, the single remaining blood-red vertical pupil revealed profound fear. This was the oppressive might of a superior being, paralyzing it with terror.
“ROAR!!! ROAR?”
After a brief declaration of his arrival, Ao Yu’s roar suddenly faltered.
“Little brother, was that your doing?”
Aya Tone: ‘????’
‘What in the world?’ she thought, bewildered, as she emerged from the sanctuary of the mane.
Not long ago, she had been so focused on escaping with Li Jia that she hadn’t taken a proper look at the core space. But now, Aya Han San was back!
At the center of the core space, a solitary mountain, emanating a mysterious aura, stood silently. A gigantic flood dragon coiled at its foot as if facing a formidable enemy, its vertical pupils brimming with both terror and hatred. Its body snaked like a nimble, dark silk ribbon, its glowing scales tightly fitted, each one seemingly imbued with ancient and powerful energy. Yet, oddly enough, the lower half of this flood dragon’s body was fused with the colossal mountain beneath it.
The mountain itself was composed of strange, greenish rock, covered in enigmatic patterns that appeared to be the handiwork of nature’s divine artistry. Aya Tone squinted, drawn by these patterns. She sensed that something about them wasn’t quite right.
Indeed! The next moment, these patterns actually began to move, like a network of veins, transferring nutrients through its tail, which was fused with the mountain, into the flood dragon’s body. ‘This is!’ Aya Tone gasped, a realization dawning on her. ‘This dungeon is nourishing this flood dragon!?’ The sight gave her the unsettling illusion of being within a placenta.
“ROAR!!!”
Suddenly, upon seeing the tiny insect that had appeared out of thin air, the coiled flood dragon let out a low, guttural roar. The sound was filled with boundless fury. It instantly broke through Ao Yu’s oppressive aura, causing it to shriek wildly at Aya Tone. Its only pair of four claws clenched the colossal mountain tightly; if the mountain hadn’t been incredibly sturdy, it would surely have been torn to dust by now.
The flood dragon’s roar immediately drew Aya Tone’s gaze, her eyes refocusing on its form. Some details she had subconsciously overlooked finally caught her attention. On its grotesque dragon head, of its two vertical pupils, one was completely milky white.
—Blind!
‘Holy crap, do creatures in dungeons get cataracts too?’ Aya Tone, ever the academic slacker, mused that it was indeed better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books. See? Even monsters could get cataracts.
“ROAR!!!”
The flood dragon opened its gaping maw, lunging to bite Aya Tone. ‘Cataracts, I’ll give you cataracts!!!’ But its attack was no different from a child’s tantrum in front of Ao Yu. With a casual flick of his dragon tail, he sent the charging flood dragon crashing heavily against the colossal mountain.
“Rumble!”
The great mountain groaned, and a fine crack rapidly spread from the point of impact. Yet, just as quickly, the crack vanished as if it had been an illusion.
“Eh—!” Aya Tone suddenly remembered something. ‘Wait, that wasn’t cataracts after all!’ When she had been escaping with Li Jia, she felt it wasn’t in her nature to simply run, so she had casually flung a Solar Flare spell behind her. It seemed she could still sense her own magic on that flood dragon’s blind eye. ‘Hmph, so that’s the truth. I blinded its eye, so no wonder it’s so enraged.’ Since it was her mistake, then…
“Big brother, change of plans. Let me handle this flood dragon. You help me find where the fruit is.”
A sinister grin spread across her delicate little face. Since they had already made an enemy, it was only natural to uproot the problem, wasn’t it? And that mountain behind the flood dragon, if she wasn’t mistaken, must be the core Ao Yu mentioned. Looking around, this was the only ‘rock’ of its kind. A flood dragon born from the combined power of the entire dungeon, nurtured by its core. Heh heh. Those patterns, were they perhaps the blood of monsters that died in the dungeon?
“Alright,” Ao Yu responded. A flood dragon that hadn’t been nurtured for long would at most have the strength of an elite monster. Little brother could have his fun with it.
His dragon body remained coiled above, his dragon eyes observing the entire core space. He was searching for traces of those spies.
“AWOOO!!!”
Struck by Ao Yu’s dragon tail, blood gushed from the flood dragon’s maw, most of its scales shattered, its dark draconic body stained crimson, transforming it into a blood dragon. Its roars were ragged and intermittent. It was clearly gravely wounded. Aya Tone absolutely adored ‘kill steals’ on critically wounded foes. In her Solar Flare state, her magic primarily focused on enhancements; offensive spells were simply too dazzling, and without sunglasses, she risked harming herself.
So!
“I’ll be very good to you, punching bag.”
After applying full body enhancements to herself, Aya Tone cackled wickedly, striding with an arrogant swagger, step by step, towards the flood dragon. A gravely wounded, critically injured flood dragon whose movements were restricted? It was nothing more than a colossal punching bag.
She pushed off the ground with sudden force, transforming into an arrow shot from a bowstring. Aya Tone assumed the pose of Ultraman during his giant transformation, her pink fist landing heavily on the bloodied, mangled body of the flood dragon. Her pink fist and the flesh made intimate contact, emitting an indescribable sound.
“AWOO!” The flood dragon let out a cry of agony, but gravely wounded, it was utterly incapable of resisting. It didn’t even have the strength to brandish its dragon claws, only sustained by the life force supplied by the core behind it, clinging to its last vestiges of life.
“It’s alright, this is how it is the first time. It’ll hurt for a bit, then it’ll be over,” Aya Tone said, showing no mercy now that she had the upper hand. Left hooks, right straights, upper kicks, sweeping leg strikes—a veritable storm of blows rained down upon the flood dragon’s body. The flood dragon’s already cracked scales shattered further, sending blood splattering outwards. Each attack was accompanied by the flood dragon’s miserable cries, while the smile on Aya Tone’s face grew ever brighter. Dragon blood stained her innocent little face, the gruesome blood and her pure visage blending, creating a jarring sense of dissonance. The surrounding air vibrated with the violent assault, emitting a low hum. As her pink fists swung with increasing speed, space itself began to distort, as if it might shatter at any moment.
Gradually, the flood dragon’s cries grew fainter and fainter, its body slowly slumping. Finally, Aya Tone unleashed a full-powered uppercut, severing the flood dragon’s body in two and sending it crashing heavily to the ground. Deprived of the core’s life-sustaining nourishment, the flood dragon’s body twitched a few times, then lay still.
Aya Tone patted at non-existent dust on her body, as any grime had long been washed away by the flood dragon’s blood. Naturally, no dust remained.
“Done! This punching bag wasn’t half bad.”