Rotell's expression darkened immediately. "…Damn it!"
The serpent attacked!
BOOM!!
Its massive body smashed through the forest like a living landslide, toppling trees and overturning the earth. Rotell narrowly rolled aside as its enormous frame slammed down exactly where she had been standing moments earlier. A poisonous black haze spilled outward, instantly corroding the surrounding trees into black sludge.
Seeing this, she immediately counterattacked with all her strength.
Clang!
As the beast's large body erupted against the earth, her sword collided with the serpent's scales. The recoil vibrated violently up her arm, yet the impact barely cut through the outer layer of a single scale. Before Rotell could even curse, the beast's tail swept sideways, completely bulldozing a large portion of the forest.
Boom!
She was blasted through the air. Flying through multiple trees, Rotell finally stopped after striking a large rock. Her hair fell over her face as a fresh streak of blood escaped her lips. While forcing herself out of the shattered stone, she fell back to the ground in a severely weakened state.
Feeling a heavy wave of fatigue wash over her, she looked up and gritted her teeth. Although her attacks were little more than a mosquito's bite, the large red eyes staring back at her proved that it undoubtedly treated her as prey. She coughed up blood, staining her lips.
After wiping it away, she forced herself up, but the serpent gave her no time to breathe. It lunged again, its towering form casting a long shadow that seemed to darken the entire clearing. Its speed completely contradicted its enormous body, nearly creating shockwaves from its taut muscles.
Rotell clenched her fist before forcefully circulating her spiritual energy. Her body exploded with power as she shot forward just as the serpent's jaws snapped down like an axe.
Boom!
Its jaw slammed shut right behind her with a deafening crash, gouging out a massive chunk of the earth. The surrounding forest continuously collapsed beneath the violent onslaught.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Rotell's breathing gradually became heavier. This serpent was too powerful! No matter how much she dodged, it was impossible to make up for the massive gap in their cultivation. It was already a miracle she had survived this long under these constant attacks.
What was worse, she was already heavily injured before the fight even began, and the exhaustion from previously climbing the plateau had taken almost everything she had left.
The massive beast suddenly coiled around the surrounding trees before striking from above. Rotell barely raised her sword in time.
Clang!!!
When the impact came, she only had enough time to barely parry the attack before being sent flying. The sword in her hand shattered into pieces as she shot through the air once more. When she finally landed, the impact shattered the ground beneath her feet, leaving her resting in a small crater. Her body was completely bloodied, and the arm that had previously been holding her sword was now mangled and useless.
Pain shot through her body. Her already damaged ribs screamed in agony, and even her spine had begun to tremble.
"…Tsk!" She immediately retreated backward. She knew she had to escape.
The huge snake had no intention of wearing her down slowly; it was trying to finish her off. Realizing she couldn't find any room to breathe, she looked up while clutching her mangled arm. The serpent hissed, the sound reverberating through the air so violently that countless leaves broke free from the canopy and shattered into dust. Its pale yellow eyes remained fixed on her relentlessly.
Rotell looked around quickly and gritted her teeth. "Then I can only use this!"
Her last remaining hand plunged into her bag and pulled out a bandolier of multiple potions she had previously bought from Petra. In one fluid motion, she whipped her arm around, tossing them right at the feet of the massive serpent, smashing all seven bottles at once.
She had no idea what this chaotic mix would actually do, but it was her only hope at that exact moment!
She turned and ran.
While running, she heard a horrifying hiss behind her that sounded many times greater than any previous roar. The forest behind her exploded continuously while trees collapsed one after another beneath the beast's thrashing body. Rotell forced herself to move faster despite the agonizing pain spreading throughout her body. She could only hope for the best.
Eventually, after several more minutes of a desperate escape, the serpent finally seemed to have stopped pursuing her so relentlessly, allowing her to take a desperate break.
Rotell stumbled against a tree while gasping heavily for air. Blood slowly dripped down one side of her arm, and her leg felt entirely broken.
"…What a disaster…" she muttered dejectedly.
She looked around quietly. The surroundings were completely unfamiliar—nothing but an endless forest, leaving her totally lost. She sighed heavily.
After several long minutes, Rotell finally exhaled tiredly before straightening herself up and forcing her body to stand. "…If it's like this, then it's better to regroup at the trial," she muttered. At this point, that was probably the safest option. She could only hope that Cirsen would think the same thing.
With her broken body, she began searching the unfamiliar woods for the pillar trial…
* * *
Soft footsteps echoed throughout the underground tunnel.
The darkness stretched endlessly in front and behind, broken only by the faint, pale-blue glow drifting from Trili's body and the occasional flicker of green light produced by the small green butterflies that flickered around Petra. The atmosphere underground was strangely quiet. The distant sound of dripping water seemed muted beneath the oppressive darkness surrounding them, and only the smell of damp mold filled the air, making both girls and their natural scents more obvious.
Trili walked calmly at the front while occasionally glancing down at the tiny, green-haired girl beside her. Petra walked with her hands swinging back and forth, leisurely stepping across the uneven stone as if she were taking an evening stroll instead of wandering through a terrifying underground abyss. Behind Petra, a silver-haired maid quietly followed, one step behind, remaining fully vigilant.
After some time—
"How long have you been down here?" Trili casually asked without looking over. Only her eyes turned, faintly tracking Petra from the corner of her vision.
Petra blinked. While humming a bit, she spoke in a cute voice, "Just fell down."
"…Fell down?"
"Mm!"
"How did you fall down?" Trili asked with a gentle and somewhat concerned voice. Looking at her, this little girl didn't seem very durable, at least not at first glance.
Petra pointed vaguely upward. "Mm, I saw a spinning light, then fell..."
"…A spinning light?"
"Mm!" Petra nodded.
Silence followed.
Trili decided not to ask further, instead shifting the topic. "Is it only you two down here?"
"Mm, no. I have a few more big sisters that didn't jump."
"…Jump?"
"I meant fall…"
Trili almost smiled. "You don't sound very scared? Why is that?"
Petra tilted her head. "No, I'm not too scared of the dark…"
"…Is it because you grew up in this kind of environment?"
For the first time, Petra paused. Her little footsteps slowed down slightly, causing Wind to look down at her in equal parts confusion. Petra seemed to think of something—something from a very, very long time ago, perhaps even a lifetime ago...
Seeing this, Trili didn't continue pressing the topic. Instead, she asked, "Why did you come to the Royal Ring Secret Realm? Is there something here that interests you?"
Petra shook her head immediately. "We came to Llynun for the calamity preparations. This secret realm is just a way to pass time."
"We?"
"Mm! Me and my family of servants!"
Trili looked at the little girl strangely. "You're a lot calmer than most adults I've met."
Petra proudly puffed out her chest. "That's normal. I am a little adult after all!"
Silence. There was a very, very long silence…
Wind covered her face from behind. Meanwhile, Petra continued walking proudly through the darkness with arrogant little steps, each echoing in the darkness.
-
Time slowly passed.
The underground cavern continuously shifted around them. Sometimes the tunnels widened into enormous underground spaces filled with jagged architecture, while at other times the passages narrowed so tightly that only one person could squeeze through at a time. The sound of water occasionally appeared nearby; at times it was a rushing stream, and at others it was a slow drip.
At one point, something enormous moved somewhere deep within the darkness behind them, but neither side seemed to intend to comment on it.
This continued for some time.
Despite Trili's overwhelming strength advantage, she remained strangely cautious around Petra. The feeling this little girl gave her was extremely strange. It wasn't danger, not exactly. Instead, it felt like a strange void, or even an unknown. Trili couldn't properly sense Petra's aura. Sometimes she felt like an ordinary little girl, while at other times she felt like a collapsing storm hidden beneath a calm pond.
In fact, this description wasn't wrong.
As long as Petra's mind wasn't disturbed, the reflective surface that was her thoughts would be no different from an untouched pond, reflecting everything without worry.
Most importantly, her instincts continuously warned her not to underestimate this child.
After some more walking, Trili suddenly asked softly, "If you don't mind me asking… where do you come from? I'm just curious, that's all…"
Petra smacked her lips, then slowly looked up. Her strange black eyes quietly stared at Trili for several long seconds in silence.
Eventually, after this big blue sister started to inexplicably sweat, she chuckled.
"Big sister, I feel like I get asked this a lot!" Petra tilted her head innocently. "I don't even meet many people, but why does this question keep coming up?"
Trili gave a helpless smile. "That's because a lot of people have high hopes for you. For someone with a bright future, isn't it natural to be interested in your background?"
Petra immediately nodded. "You're right!"
But inwardly, she cursed, 'What 'lots of people have high expectations?' Bah! What do their expectations have to do with the great little me? Humph!'
Suddenly, she struck a bizarre pose.
One hand pressed dramatically against her forehead while the other rested against her hip. At the same time, she stuck out her tiny butt, pushed one leg forward, and proudly poked out her tongue.
She paused in place, completely motionless as she took a cute pose!
Trili: "?"
Wind: (-__-)
Wind silently raised her fist from behind.
Petra immediately snapped out of it before taking two tiny steps sideways, then looked around like nothing had happened.
"Hehehe…"
Then she proudly pointed toward the tiny, horn-like bumps protruding from her temples.
"You want to know where I come from? As you can see, I am a cute little dragon! Here, here! Just look at my lovely horns!" Her tiny tail flicked happily behind her as she showed off her malnourished and ungrown nubs.
Trili lowered her eyes, then quietly nodded.
This time, unlike before, she could clearly feel it as long as she resonated: a dragon aura, but…
But… it was wrong!
No, not wrong, it was mixed...
Inside Petra's body, several completely different powers were chaotically intertwined together. There was undoubtedly the dragon bloodline, but surrounding it were other strange auras that continuously blended together like a tangled knot. It felt unstable, dangerously unstable, but what worried her the most was the complete lack of anything related to her origins.
For a dragon on Trili's level, it was not impossible to discern the ancestors of any member of the dragon race. But looking at Petra, she felt as if she couldn't see her 'roots', which was disturbing to say the least.
The reason this made her so unsettled wasn't that there was a problem, not exactly. Normally, this kind of condition only appeared after a catastrophic qi deviation, where people either went insane or became twisted monsters. So, if they hadn't suffered a severe backlash that had crippled their bloodline, then there were generally only two possibilities left, either Petra was the progenitor of a new dragon bloodline, or she was an artificially created body…
But Petra… Petra still acted completely normal!
That was the strangest part….
The instant this thought appeared in her mind, something in the unseen world seemed to turn.
Like an automated mechanism, it caused Trili to instantly break out in a cold sweat!
Trili suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. Without realizing it, questions immediately began pouring from her mouth one after another in an attempt to distract, no, perhaps to forget something.
"How old are you this year? Do you celebrate your birthday? When was the last time you saw your parents? Do you know where you were born? When was the last time you visited your family? Would you be interested in returning to the Dragon Clan with me? Are you—"
They just kept coming and coming, one after another.
Petra blinked rapidly. "I think I'm eleven? Maybe! I haven't, I haven't, I don't know, I can't remember, maybe never? I have no interest in leaving, I am—"
She answered every single question one after another, without stopping. Even Wind looked slightly shocked from behind. For some reason, Petra could perfectly keep up with Trili's increasingly strange, rapid-fire rhythm, regardless of the line of questioning.
Eventually, the conversation finally slowed down.
For some reason, Trili suddenly felt very tired.
She shook her head.
-
The darkness around them deepened.
Trili slowed her steps slightly. Her bright blue eyes quietly observed Petra's back. Then, almost absentmindedly, one final question escaped her lips.
"…Do you, want to know about the Emerald Dragon Clan?"
Petra's footsteps paused.
* * *