Chapter 12: The Collective Suicide of the Male Fish
Seven days after the first estrus period ended, the second one arrived.
Livia was well prepared.
From the third day, she felt something was wrong—her scales began to glow pink again, and her breath started to carry a fragrance. She flew to the edge of the Lava Lake in advance, watched the male fish that had just recovered a little for a while, and then flew back to the Main Hall, blocking the fork leading to the Lava Lake with stones.
After blocking it, she thought for a moment and added a layer of lava seal—breathing fire to melt the edges of the stones and welding them to the rock walls, making it airtight.
Then she flew to the Treasure Room at the deepest part of the Main Hall and locked herself inside.
In the Treasure Room, there was only a pile of ore and a single ruby.
She lay down and closed her eyes.
Endure.
Just 72 hours.
She endured it last time; she could do it this time too.
The first day was a living hell.
The fire inside her body burned even hotter than before, and the thoughts in her mind were even more chaotic. She lay on the ground, pinning her hind legs down firmly with her tail, her front claws clutching the floor, nails digging into the rock and carving out deep grooves.
Hallucinations began to appear before her eyes.
They weren't Red Dragons anymore, but all sorts of messy things—majestic dragons, handsome elves, strong orcs, and even a... wild boar?
She shook her head violently, shaking off the hallucinations.
A wild boar?
System, what on earth are you stuffing into my head?
On the second day, she started counting ores.
Iron ore: 347 pieces.
Copper ore: 218 pieces.
Sulfur: 89 pieces.
Ruby: 1 piece.
She counted them three times.
While counting for the fourth time, a sound came from outside.
It wasn't the sound of Kobolds; it was something calling from far away.
The cry was very sharp, like metal scraping against glass, or like a baby crying.
She pricked up her ears.
Stone-Winged Demons.
The three Stone-Winged Demons fifty kilometers to the west were calling.
They cried all night.
On the third day, she lay in the Treasure Room, listening to the movement outside.
The cries of the Stone-Winged Demons were getting closer.
She scrambled up, walked to the Main Hall, and looked out through a crack in the rock.
Above the crater, three dark shadows were circling.
Stone-Winged Demons.
With a wingspan of about fifteen meters, their bodies were covered in grayish-black scales. Their heads looked like vultures, their beaks like eagle hooks, and their claws like iron hooks. They circled the crater, round and round, flying lower and lower.
Livia shrank behind the rock crack, holding her breath.
Rose fragrance—she had tried her best to control it, but on the last day of estrus, pheromones were still being released. Air seeped out from the rock crack, carrying a faint scent up toward the sky.
One Stone-Winged Demon suddenly stopped, its head turning toward the crater.
It twitched its nose, sniffing the air.
Then it let out a cry.
The other two also stopped, sniffing toward the crater together.
The three Stone-Winged Demons lowered their altitude simultaneously and flew into the crater.
Livia stared at them.
The distance grew closer: five hundred meters, four hundred meters, three hundred meters—
They flew into the crater and began circling above the Lava Lake.
The fish on the lake's surface that had just recovered a little—the females that survived last time and a few new males—began to grow restless. The male fish jumped out of the lava, twisting their bodies in the air as if performing a courtship dance.
The Stone-Winged Demons looked down at the fish.
One Stone-Winged Demon dived down, scooped up two fish with its claws, and stuffed them into its mouth.
The other two also began catching fish.
They flew back and forth over the Lava Lake, their claws rising and falling as Fire-attribute fish were scooped up, swallowed, and disappeared.
Livia lay behind the rock crack, motionless.
The daze of estrus had passed; she was now perfectly sober.
Three Stone-Winged Demons were eating her fish in her territory—even if those fish were wild, in this crater, at the entrance of her lair, they were her fish.
She stared at the three Stone-Winged Demons, her mind racing.
One against three—she wasn't sure of her chances.
All three were eating fish, their attention entirely on the lake surface.
If she launched a sneak attack now—
Before she could finish the thought, one Stone-Winged Demon suddenly raised its head and looked toward the rock crack where she was hiding.
It twitched its nose, sniffing the air.
Then it let out a cry.
The other two stopped fishing and looked over together.
The three Stone-Winged Demons flew toward her at the same time.
Livia shrank back.
But the Stone-Winged Demons weren't coming for her.
They flew near the rock crack and stopped in mid-air, heads facing the crack, noses twitching hard as if attracted by something.
Rose fragrance.
Pheromones.
What they smelled was the last residual rose fragrance of the estrus period, but they were coming for the scent—not for her, but for the scent itself.
One Stone-Winged Demon poked its head toward the rock crack, trying to squeeze inside.
The crack was too narrow; it couldn't get in.
It clawed at the edges of the crack; the rock crumbled, and the gap widened.
The other two also began to claw at it.
Livia stared at them.
The gap grew wider and wider.
She retreated to the center of the Main Hall, staring at the expanding entrance.
The first Stone-Winged Demon poked its head inside.
Its eyes glowed in the dark, vertical pupils like a cat's. It saw Livia in the center of the Main Hall, froze for a moment, then opened its mouth and let out a scream.
Livia opened her mouth.
A fireball spat out.
The distance was too close to dodge. The fireball hit the Stone-Winged Demon's head directly and exploded.
The Stone-Winged Demon's head was blown back, its entire body recoiling from the rock crack. Its wings flapped wildly, and it tumbled twice in the air before steadying itself.
It wasn't dead, but half of its face was scorched, one eye was closed, and black liquid flowed from its mouth.
The other two screamed simultaneously and squeezed in through the rock crack.
Livia's second fireball was already prepared.
She aimed at the first one and spat it out.
The fireball accurately hit its already scorched face and exploded.
This time it couldn't steady itself; its body fell, crashing into the Lava Lake and splashing a large amount of magma. It struggled in the lake, wings thrashing, but the lava temperature was too high; its scales began to melt, and its body sank.
The last Stone-Winged Demon rushed in, its claws swiping at her face.
Livia dodged to the side and swung her tail around, whipping it against its body.
It connected.
But the Stone-Winged Demon's claws also hooked into her wing.
The barbs on its claws pierced her wing membrane, making her whole body shudder with pain. She lowered her head and bit into its neck, her teeth piercing the scales and sinking into the flesh.
The Stone-Winged Demon screamed, its claws letting go, wings flapping wildly.
She wouldn't let go of its neck, pinning it to the floor of the Main Hall. Her front claws pressed down on its body, her hind claws pushing against the ground for leverage.
The Stone-Winged Demon was still struggling, its claws scratching wildly at her, leaving trails of bloody gashes.
She gritted her teeth, her fangs sinking deeper.
With a crack, something snapped.
The Stone-Winged Demon's body convulsed twice and then went still.
She let go and stood up, panting.
The Main Hall was a mess. The floor was covered in blood and broken scales. The Stone-Winged Demon that fell into the Lava Lake had already sunk, leaving only a few bubbles on the surface. There was one more outside—the first one, the one she had blown away with two fireballs—flying away, its wings flapping clumsily like it was drunk.
She watched it fly into the distance and didn't give chase.
She didn't have the energy to chase.
Three holes had been hooked into her wing, over a dozen bloody gashes were on her body, and her mouth still tasted of the Stone-Winged Demon's blood—fishy, foul, like rotting fish.
She lay down, panting.
A system notification popped up:
[Battle Ended]
[Kills: Stone-Winged Demon x2]
[Repelled: Stone-Winged Demon x1]
[Bloodline Evolution Points Gained: 6 (3 points per Bronze-rank magical beast)]
[Current Evolution Points: 7.5/100]
She closed the panel. Good girl—no.
She looked down at the injuries on her body.
The holes in her wing were still bleeding, blood dripping onto the ground and sizzling—a Red Dragon's blood had a high temperature, burning small pits into the rock.
She licked the wounds on her wing with her tongue, licking away the blood to reveal the pink flesh beneath.
It hurt.
She continued licking.
After finishing with her wing, she licked the scratches on her body, one by one, until her mouth was full of her own blood.
After licking, she stood up, walked to the dead Stone-Winged Demon, and nudged it with her claw.
Dead.
She dragged its corpse from the Main Hall to the edge of the Lava Lake and pushed it in.
The corpse sank, a few bubbles rose, and then it was gone.
She walked back to the Main Hall and lay down.
It was getting dark outside.
There were no shadows of Stone-Winged Demons above the crater.
She lay there, staring at the rock crack that had been clawed open.
I have to block it up tomorrow.
She thought, closing her eyes.
Before falling asleep, she heard the system ping again, but she didn't have the strength to look.
Forget it.
I'll deal with it tomorrow.
Her dreams were filled with the faces of Stone-Winged Demons—scorched, oozing black liquid, screaming. And those male fish, jumping out of the lava one by one, twisting their bodies in the air, only to be scooped up by claws and stuffed into mouths.
She slept very deeply.
She woke up once in the middle of the night; her wing still hurt. She opened her eyes for a moment; pale light was shining in through the crack—not true moonlight, but that ghastly white light filtering through the clouds of volcanic ash.
She stared at the light for a while.
Then she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.