Chapter 9 – It starts with a Bang
Draconis and his friend returned later to retrieve the Minotaurus and left again soon after setting the timer on his desk.
I spent some time using my new skills after using up all the charges of my old skills for practice. The longest cooldown per move I had was an hour for a charge, and most had between 5 and 20 uses before their charges were exhausted.
Virulent Twister was a poisonous cloud whipped into a tornado standing a couple of feet taller than me. It could travel 10 meters before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. Using Poison Doubling first created two tornados that could be sent in different directions. Poison Swipe and Stun Web were also enhanced. The first dealt double poison damage on a hit and web unleashed double webs.
Shadow Tether was like a grappling whip that could be used to grab and swing items around and pull them to me. With my Deep Shadows trait from my evolution, I could grab things up to 20 meters away and I could even swing items accurately but for less damage. The force of the swing was based on my magic rather than my body attribute.
Water Clone created an identical copy of me, but translucent and made of water. It followed my thoughts and took basic initiative without needing to be commanded. It was a mana-based skill so it didn’t have nearly the same strength as I did. Harden made my skin metallic for a short time, increasing my physical damage-blocking ability.
Blade Pillar and Mana Beam I wouldn’t use inside my enclosure for fear of damaging it. I didn’t want to be put in a stronger, more secure box or anything like that. My thoughts turned briefly to Angeknight. I don’t want to end up trapped forever. I grabbed the nail from my bed and tested my new Shape Metal skill, changing the piece of metal into a crude-looking spike. It wasn’t the sword I had imagined, so I tried again. It didn’t work. I tried again, imagining something smaller. The blade was barely formed, but the description changed to Crude Short Sword and the damage was a static 496 on hit. Why is it like this?
“Your Shape Metal skill at its current level can create tiny-size items of average quality and small items of crude quality. Crude equipment deals base damage and has a 50% break chance.”
I thought again, this time of a smaller weapon. A long knife. It melted and reformed in my hand into a nicer knife. It was exactly how I had imagined it. I tried again, changing it to a bracelet around my wrist. I practiced on and off discreetly before letting all my cooldowns recharge. I wanted to be ready at a moment’s notice.
Beep! Beep! Beeeeep!
The timer on his desk went off. I checked my own timer and it was right around the five-minute mark. The door swung open and Draconis strode in and shut the door. Alone?
Draconis shut off the alarm and started preparing an area on the desk. I watched intently, imagining all the different ways I could get an advantage on him. All the ways I could end his existence. He pulled out a towel, tongs, a steaming bowl, and 2 bottles. Then he grabbed me.
I didn’t struggle. There wasn’t a point, yet. I was pregnant with this stupid egg and my movements were awkward and clumsy. I couldn’t fight like this. He pulled my dress off and tossed me into the scalding hot water.
FUCK! I activated Rain Armor and Splash. I was protected from burning long enough to cool the water down. I’d never been so happy to have Splash.
The first bottle was some kind of rose petal-smelling soap he lathered me up with and rubbed me all over. It was uncomfortable at best. He was delicate around the stomach with his fingers and rough everywhere else, spending an extra uncomfortable amount of time cleaning between my legs and roughing me up down there.
To rinse me he dunked me. Three times! I coughed and choked on the water before he yanked me out and patted me down with the towel. This seemed a little much and I was getting mad.
I felt a sudden pressure and an urge to push. I rolled over onto my back, knees spread, and could just see the tip of the Minotaurus egg. I pushed harder. Maybe a little too hard. The egg shot out easily and nearly rolled straight off the desk.
Draconis stopped it and set it aside. “Oh, close one! Now for the fun part.” He grabbed me before I could recover and immediately dunked me in the water again and shook my lower half aggressively to clean any egg residue off. “I’ve never tried this before,” He dropped me on the table again and I was starting to get annoyed.
Drip… Drip… Drip…
The second bottle contained a clear liquid that he dripped onto my stomach. I knew immediately what it was. Draconis rubbed the slippery liquid between my legs and along my thighs generously.
Stop! What the fuck! I froze and went into panic mode. I was anxious and was having a hard time focusing all of a sudden. I looked around for anything that could hel-
Smack!
Draconis slapped something against the length of my body, from feet to chest. A smooth-scaled worm with a slender head that got thicker toward the base. The thickest part of the head was the size of a basketball and almond-shaped, but was growing and pulsing against me. The hole in the tip was large enough that I could probably fit my entire arm inside!
What am I doing?
The thing was longer than I was tall and as thick as my entire body, but still smaller than the Giga Mecharex. My hips widened and stretched when Draconis pulled my legs apart, trying to ram his massive thing into my tiny opening. “Just a little more…” He stretched me further and pulled me against his thing. “Almost there, come on!” He pulled aggressively and my entire body convulsed in surprise.
My hips stretched to mimic the shape of his cock. He didn’t stop, pushing until my stomach looked like a watermelon. My legs were shaking and I still couldn’t think straight. I was overwhelmed with sensations and the sound of his voice made me want to choose violence sooner rather than later.
“Mmm, “ Draconis purred. He stroked himself from base to me. I watched, staring up at him, frozen in the moment. His head was leaned back and his eyes were closed, clearly enjoying this bodily violation. I wanted to end things. His groans of pleasure just made me angrier and angrier.
Then he lifted me off the table, enclosing my arms and shoulders in his strong grip with my back against his palm. “Let's try this,” he tried to pump me up and down on his cock. It didn’t work at first, barely able to budge at all.
Pain and fullness were all I felt alongside my overflowing anger. I stared down at his cock. Each pulse made my stomach grow and shrink and his cock started to shift inside of me. He applied more lube and found success.
Schluck! Schluck! Schluck!
I cried out with each jerking motion. He was using me like a fleshlight. Up and down, up and down, like the worst gut-wrenching carnival ride. He went faster and I became discombobulated from the aggressive shaking.
It popped out briefly, then back in all the way up to my breasts, contouring my body to the shape of his manhood. I couldn’t stop shaking. It wasn’t even a quarter of his entire length!
Draconis didn’t last very long. Even with a minute or two left on the elasticity timer. He grunted, each load causing my stomach to expand like a water balloon filled at the tap. He slumped backward, breathing hard, staring at me. “That was… amazing. Now let's see it.”
Draconis pressed down on my stomach with his knuckle, squeezing all the cum right out of me. It sprayed out of me like mentos in coke. I was soaked, the table was soaked, and it dripped freely onto the stone floor below. He slapped his cock against me like a thick fleshy club and I snapped.
Shadow Strangle! My tentacles of darkness rose up and wrapped tightly around his flaccid dragon cock as I touched the metal around my wrist. Shape Metal! The bracelet transformed into a crude blade and I slashed completely through his soft flesh like a hot knife through butter.
Spurt!
Blood gushed over me like a wave. Oddly enough there were no damage numbers when I attacked Draconis. No voice in the back of my head telling me what was going on. My iron blade severed his thinly scaled flesh here easily enough. Would it work on his harder scales?
“WHAT THE FUCK!” Draconis reeled, slamming his claw down on me. Or where I had been.
I had dodged the strike but again there was no indicator that my skill had been successful or activated.
“Blade Pillar!” I shouted. Draconis screamed in pain when a razor-sharp blade burst through the table and through the palm of his claw. The blade itself split into two and broke against his scales when coming through the back of his hand. It actually looked worse than if it had come through normally.
He swiped at me again with his free hand, but he was slow. “Stop this!”
I froze. I suddenly felt like this was a terrible idea. What was I thinking? No! I can’t stop now! I pushed the thoughts from my mind. Fuck this mark and fuck you!
I shot upward like a lightning bolt, kicking off the desk hard enough to crack the wood. Draconis never saw it coming. I slammed the blade straight through his right eye.
Smack!
Draconis hit me like a mosquito that’d just bitten him. I felt like all my bones should have broken in an instant, but I had a trait for that. No damage numbers appeared, but my health dropped nearly 500 points from the strike.
I dropped the weapon and fell back to the table with less than a quarter of my health left. Ouch!
Draconis was clutching his eye. Thick red blood gushed down between his fingers while he tried desperately to staunch the bleeding below and in his hand. He wasn’t doing a good job from what I could tell.
Draconis made a move for the exit. He wasn’t fast.
Fuck you! I shoved the desk with all my might towards the door. It slid easily across the stone floor and blocked his path. This was a far cry from the power I'd had before my final evolution. Draconis turned to face me but I was distracted admiring my own gains with that feat of strength.
“Why! WHY? Just die!” Draconis’ mouth filled with fire and he unleashed a searing hot blast of fire. I barely reacted with Rain Armor, but my health was taken down to one in an instant. It was the most intense heat I'd ever felt.
Resilience had obviously activated, but there was again no indicator. No numbers. The blaze spread to engulf the entire room. It was swelteringly hot. Draconis had turned back to the desk and threw it aside, reaching for the handle.
Shape Metal! I shot through the flames to barely within range of the handle just as he went for it. The handle transformed into a tiny spiked ball and he broke it trying to grab for the original knob.
I kicked off the doorframe and punched Draconis square between the eyes in a wild uppercut while he fumbled the door. Fire burned in his jaws once again. His good eye narrowed on me. His face was a mix of rage and desperation.
I won't survive the next fire breath without Resilience, I thought. My back was to the door and the room was ablaze. There wasn’t anywhere to hide from the flames. I put both hands together, palms together with fingers outstretched facing down my draconic opponent. This usually works in anime and video games, right?
“Mana Beam!” My energy coalesced into a ball between my palms, expanding to engulf my outstretched fingers before unleashing a beam the thickness of a baseball toward Draconis’s mouth.
Draconis threw his head forward, jaws dripping with fire. His jetstream of hot flames collided with my beam of mana. Both attacks stopped the other in a dangerous game of reverse tug-a-war. His fire and my energy collided into a ball of fiery plasma, expanding with every second.
I pushed everything I had into my beam, now only a few meters long and shrinking. The ball of energy was rapidly encroaching on me, threatening to end my existence.
Then I remembered. This isn’t even my Final Form! I focused. My cerulean aura blasted out around me and I braced my feet against the door. Instantly my beam increased in size and pushed back the colliding energy. Barely. It still exploded between us and thick smoke filled the air. I couldn’t see him. He can’t see me?
I activated Water Clone. A watery version of myself appeared. I activated it again and another appeared. I was going to make another when Draconis plowed through the smoke toward the door.
“You,” Draconis roared!
The first clone was swiped out of the air instantly, exploding into water vapor. I shot forward and dodged the next swipe, grabbing my water clone by the wrist and using the momentum from my spin-dodge to throw her toward Draconis with all the might my Sheer Force ability would allow.
Thunk!
The clone caught him in the socket of his bleeding eye and he reeled back, falling on my glass enclosure and crushing the entire table. He fell into the pile of debris and was struggling to find solid footing.
I summoned another clone and we regrouped on the offensive. Draconis’s tail swept around and smacked my new clone into oblivion but I summoned a replacement while closing the distance.
I grabbed the older clone with my Shadow Tether by the ankle. I pulled her out of the way of a wild swipe and swung her around, launching her toward his damaged eye to pull the sword out.
Fire filled Draconis’s mouth once again, but I wasn’t having any of it. I activated Poison Doubling and unleashed a dual Stun Web that encased his jaw in sticky paralytic webbing.
Draconis struck the first clone with another claw strike and covered his eye. No good. I jumped in, pulling his claw away as the second clone jumped in to take over pulling the sword out.
The fire ballooned above us like the webbing was bubble gum, fire seething and threatening to burst right in Draconis’s face. He growled in frustration and blood fountained from his eye when the clone managed to rip the blade away.
Pop!
The bubble burst open, evaporating the clone and showering Draconis in his own fiery vomit.
I used his hand as a shield to protect myself from the rain of fire and my Shadow Tether to pull the blade to my grasp. Draconis screamed and thrashed on the floor, his mouth still partially encased by webbing.
The debris of the desk and my enclosure burned around him and hindered his movements as he desperately struggled to orient himself in the chaos. He flipped to his side and threw me into the air.
I dodged an unpredictable swipe and got clipped by another, losing another 157 health and being sent into the wreckage of what was my house. Rain Armor was regenerating my health but it wasn’t infinite and a solid hit on me would end things instantly. I activated Water Clone and exited the debris of my half-crushed house just as Draconis managed to sit up.
The clone shot up and hit Draconis with an unsuspecting uppercut that slammed his jaw shut as he pulled the webbing away. I grabbed the half-crushed remnants of my house and swung it around in a circle. Once. Twice. Draconis smacked the clone out of the air. Now! I released the wreckage with all my force.
Crack!
The flaming half-crushed doll house sent him crashing against the ground once again, I doubled up another web and pinned one of his hands to the floor with both webs. Then the other. He was disoriented and breathing heavily, already having lost a lot of blood. He looked resigned to his end now, tears streaming from his good eye.
I summoned a Blade Pillar through the wrist of the first webbed-down arm. Partially. It splintered and broke as it went up and through his scales, coming out the other side as splintered needles and shards. He let out a wheezy gasp, his back arching and spasming in pain. I did the same to the other wrist and he struggled less.
“You… Va… lerie…” he coughed up blood as he spoke. “Why…”
I webbed his mouth shut. He mumbled against the web and I rose up into the air. “Just shut the fuck up. It’s time we finish this! Mana Beam!”
It didn’t work. The beam hit him square in the chest but didn’t have the force to penetrate his scales. Even with the increase from my Final Form. I floated to the ceiling and crouched, ready to spring. I launched off the ceiling with all the force I could muster.
Crack!
My blade pierced his chest to the hilt, splitting the scales in two and sending a shockwave through the room. All the glass shattered and cracked the stone floor beneath. Draconis went limp. I dropped to one knee and was hit with a sudden wave of relief and anxiety. I was free, yet still trapped. That’s if he was dead for sure.
The room was a blaze of fire and smoke. I ripped out Draconis’s other eye for good measure and to make sure he was really dead. His body began to disintegrate into a blue sparkling dust that swept around me. I felt despair, and frustration, but also power. A hint of sadness. There were no notifications. I couldn’t access my character sheet at all.
Obviously, my skills still worked, but I couldn’t access anything or see notifications. It was so weird. So quiet. Every piece of him vanished except the eye that I was holding on to. Was that important? I couldn’t see item descriptions either. It was odd. Like everything was normal but I had all my abilities. Does this have something to do with the Owner’s Mark?
I didn’t have time to think about it now. I had to get out of this place. It was burning around me. I rushed to the door but stopped at the bag that’d fallen on the floor when Draconis threw the desk. I used Shape Metal on the clasp and the connector into bracelets on my wrist. I also grabbed two bottles of the healing medicine Draconis always used on the monsters.
My health was steadily decreasing now and I could barely see through the smoke. I went through the doorknob and shaped my way out of the other side, taking the second knob as a crude short sword. Except it wasn’t crude when I looked at it. The design was as smooth as the knife had been. My Shape Metal skill must have improved during the battle, but without notifications, I couldn’t easily tell.
The next room was dimly lit with a large raised dais in the middle of the stone floor and lavish lounging couches here and there. A large incubator was set in the center of the dias, where I’d appeared in this world. Beyond that was the exit hole leading upwards. There were two more doors leading off this room and everything was still quiet if you didn’t count the crackling and smoke coming from the first room. My curiosity got the best of me.
The first door led into another set of rooms, each a giant version of what you would find in a regular home. A kitchen area with a crude stone stove and indents for sinks. There was a tap of water that never turned off next to a fully stocked pantry of containers I couldn’t read. I used Shape Metal on a couple of higher-quality blades I found in the kitchen. I completely skipped the bathroom.
The second door led to a bedroom. There was a massive pillow that took up one entire quarter of the room. Shelves were carved into the walls and paintings of various monsters and other dragons lined the stonework. Sitting on the shelf was a familiar box I'd seen before. The skill gem case that he’d had when we’d visited town. I had a distinct lack of offensive skills then with no explanation for why.
Could be useful later, I thought. I didn’t want to carry it, but I might never be able to return here again. I didn’t want to come back here ever again. I grabbed it and put the medicine and the eye inside. It was a big metal briefcase four times my size. Not heavy, just cumbersome.
With loot in hand, I ascended up through the hole in the ceiling. No sign of other dragons coming. The terrain beyond the hole was mountainous and I saw other structures nearby. I ascended quickly into the night air, breath held in nervous anticipation of being caught.
Six or seven structures sat in a small valley between the base of the mountain and a huge forest. Every tree was like the massive redwoods from my world, but silver. The moon was blood red, showering everything in a sinister light. It was time to go. It was time to find a way to destroy the dragons, and with any luck, the asshole who sent me here.
// End of Part One (Part 2 will continue as normal, but there will be a brief time skip between chapters 9 and 10)