CHAPTER 100: MY DRAGON FORM...?

That week, their focus was on acquiring the remaining stones, one for speed, one for accuracy, and one for sharpness of sight.

Thalso had told them these were the core traits of a strong warrior, and none of them disagreed. Soon, they had gathered all but the accuracy stone.

"Why is this place so hot?" Taria muttered, swiping sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her tunic.

The chamber was a furnace of glowing red rock, the floor crowded with jagged stone mounds jutting upward like the backs of buried beasts.

"I can’t feel anything," Kaedros said flatly.

"You’re resistant to fire," Rauk reminded him, heat shimmering in the heavy air. "But what are we supposed to do here? There’s nothing to fight."

He was wrong.

The ground ruptured with a deafening crack, and a massive snake erupted upward, its flesh fused with molten lava. Two heads rose, each with four obsidian eyes gleaming with hunger. It hissed, the sound like wind across burning sand.

Both tongues flicked out to taste the air,then both mouths opened, vomiting streams of molten fire.

The trio reacted instantly, drawing on their silver stones, now fused with the powers of the others, and letting the combined energy flood through them.

Kaedros launched himself upward, kicked off the ceiling, and plummeted down on the beast. His fist crashed into one head like a warhammer, making it hiss in pain. The second head snapped toward him, but Rauk was already there, sword swinging in a two-handed arc. The blade bit deep but only cracked the armored hide.

The snake thrashed violently, hurling both of them across the chamber. They twisted midair, landing hard but steady.

Its tail lashed out like a blazing whip, smashing stone mounds and flinging shards of molten rock through the air.

Taria spun her spear in a tight blur, shattering each projectile as she pushed forward.

Rauk dug in, wrapping himself in Lord’s breath, holding position as he searched for an opening.

Kaedros had no patience for waiting. Cloaked in fire, he barreled forward, smashing debris aside with his bare hands. A formation flared above him, birthing a massive fireball, which he hurled into the beast’s face. Red flames engulfed one head, and the snake reeled, roaring in pain.

It turned both heads toward him...

...but Taria was already moving. With a burst of strength and essence, she hurled her spear. It punched clean through the skull of the left head, spraying red-hot blood.

The beast shuddered, its dead head dragging its body down, but its remaining eyes fixed on Kaedros.

His light blade shimmered into his grip. A molten stream surged toward him, but he blasted himself upward with an explosion from his feet, vaulting above the lava. He came down hard on the remaining head, his blade flashing once, shearing away a massive chunk of flesh.

"So that’s it," he said with a sharp grin as they crashed to the ground together, his silver stone absorbing the impact.

"I wonder what rank it is?" Taria asked, yanking her spear free, scowling at the mix of blood and mucus clinging to it.

"Who knows? But it’s strong," Kaedros said, letting his layered spells fade. Nyra had been drilling them on holding multiple formations at once, but so far, they could only manage two.

Rauk eyed the massive corpse. "Would’ve fetched a fortune back home."

"Too bad we wrecked our spatial ring," he added with a sigh. Money was already tight, and he was broke to the bone.

Kaedros thought of the intact spatial ring hidden inside his body... then dismissed the idea. No reason to share his treasures.

"They wouldn’t let us take it anyway," Taria said, wiping her weapon clean on the monster’s cooling hide.

"Let’s just take what we came for," Kaedros said.

From the corpse, red mist rose and condensed into three gleaming stones. They sat in Flow position, drawing the stones’ energy into the silver cores embedded in their chests.

It didn’t take long, they now had every stone Thalso had promised. For Kaedros and Rauk, that meant they carried both a warrior’s and a mage’s strength.

Taria’s natural combat skill still outstripped them in raw warrior technique, but the combination they now wielded was devastating. Kaedros had fought with similar power before as a Noble Dragon, but never this strong.

Then he froze.

His Dragon mana.

He hadn’t felt it in so long that he’d nearly forgotten. Normally, even in disguise, it was always there, like a second body looming behind him, close enough to touch. But now... nothing.

"Kael? What’s wrong?" Taria asked, seeing the sudden pallor in his face.

Cold dread slid into his gut, locking his limbs. He couldn’t have lost it... could he? The power that had made him a full rank two Dragon.

Impossible.

He reached for it, probing...

...and found only emptiness, where that second self used to stand.

It had been more than a week since he’d felt a chill like this crawl down his spine.

Kaedros’s eyes were distant. "I have to go."

How could he have lost it? The whole reason he came here, the whole reason he joined the humans, was lay low and then build his strength. When he turned to human, his full rank two power was locked behind his human disguise.

And now... gone? Years of training, vanished? Impossible.

His gaze hardened, cold as deep ocean water. "I have to go," he repeated.

He started for the door to the great hall, but Taria was already there, blocking the way. Her yellow-grey eyes locked on him, stance bristling. "Where are you going?" she demanded.

"None of your business," he said through clenched teeth.

Rauk stayed back, watching. Kael had always been secretive, but this was different, there was a sharpness to his expression, a barely restrained volatility, as if he was holding himself together by a thread.

"It is my business," Taria shot back, jabbing a finger at him. "We’re partners, aren’t we?"

Kaedros’s lip curled. He didn’t have time for this, he had to see Nyra and figure out what had happened. "Let me pass, Taria."

"Not until you tell me what’s wrong." She planted her feet, shoulders squared.

"Whatever’s wrong is my business," he growled, stepping forward. A formation sparked to life in his mind, ready to manifest with a thought.

Taria tilted her head, drawing essence, her eyes glowing brighter. She didn’t fully understand why she was pushing him but something in her refused to let it go. "You’re always like this," she said, her voice low. "Keeping things from me. You promised you’d talk to me, back in Solmere."

"Did I?" His eyes flared with gold light. A formation unfolded under his feet.

Rauk’s eyes widened. That aura... dark, weighty, the kind only carved into someone by war and terrible survival. Kael had it now. Taria too.

He shook himself, this wasn’t the time. Kaedros seems as if he would crush anything on his path.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Taria?" Kaedros asked.

"If it makes you talk...yes."

They stepped toward each other...

...and Rauk was suddenly between them, palms out, forcing them apart. "What are you doing?"

"Get out of the way, Rauk!" Taria snapped. "This is none of your business!"

"And it’s none of yours!" Kael barked back. His aura was turning more and more baleful.

Rauk’s gaze cooled to flat grey as a formation bloomed above his head.

Then the air itself changed, thickened, crushed down.

They hit the floor hard, as a weight slammed down on them unyielding.

"What...?" Kael gritted out. This pressure...

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100 Chapters, thank you for reading guys!