The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases

With thinly veiled excitement in his eyes, David's appearance turned fierce and horrifying.

"...Gods above!" Even the man, who had slaughtered countless lives, retreated two steps in shock from the terrifying scene that had erupted so suddenly, bumping into the person behind him.

"What are you doing? Don't disturb me while I'm working."

The other person, who had just turned around, was also startled, then gave an exasperated laugh. "Damn it, you gave me a fright, playing 'ghosts and goblins' again. She's just a Magician girl with an awakened bloodline, and look how scared you are. Anyone who doesn't know better would think you've been possessed by a 'Demon'."

Immediately letting go of the Dragonkin boy, who was by now breathless, he walked toward 'David' with a malicious smile, holding a bloodletting dagger, before he could even speak further.

[Wrath]

For some reason, anger surged within David. He knitted his fine eyebrows and propped up his chin, saying, "It's just that none of you look very vampire-like."

[Arrogance]

David blinked, and in the next second, the two robust human soldiers before him transformed into the pale-skinned, hollow-eyed vampires with sharp, bat-like 'teeth' that matched his 'stereotyped image.'

"Tch, it really is a dream after all, one that could change at any moment according to his will."

Wait! Can Authority stack in a 'Lucid Dream'? Fuck, is this for real?

This sudden, delightful surprise nearly made David laugh himself awake. He hurriedly crouched down and pressed his hands against the ground, following past experiences to maintain smooth thinking and stabilize the nearly collapsing 'dreamscape.'

Meanwhile, the human soldiers—no, the two 'vampires'—who noticed their transformation immediately started shrieking in horror at each other, "What's happening! Ah, my body! No, your face!"

"Kill 'her'! Demon possession! It must be Demon possession! Kill her, and we can change back."

Faced with the two soldiers charging him, David's body—sluggish as if drunk—couldn't react before he was pinned by the neck and repeatedly stabbed with bloodletting daggers until he resembled a hornet's nest.

It stung a little, but not intensely—more like an itch you couldn't quite scratch through thick boots. After all, it was just an imagined sensation reflected in his mind; exceeding a certain threshold would surely wake him up.

"Redscale!"

"Big Sister!"

A group of Dragonkin children finally broke through their fear, wanting to step forward and help, but they ended up dazed or knocked down from a few elbow strikes and straight kicks.

But 'David,' who should have been dead by now, simply wasn't dying. Instead, he instinctively threw flailing punches in self-defense. Though his mind was buzzing with excitement, his punches lacked any real strength. It was as if his body had become a puppet he was awkwardly operating in a game like 'Party Animals.'

Damn it, if only I could use claws like in real life, I'd finish you in seconds, he thought.

[Jealousy]

Then David's right hand suddenly underwent a strange, writhing transformation, as if empowered by Authority, morphing into a draconic claw. SQUELCH!

A single heart-plucking blow indeed finished one off on the spot. The hand that had been tightly strangling his neck also went limp.

"Monster! Demon! AHH!!!"

The other man, terrified by the utterly unexplainable turn of events, pissed himself. Faced with an 'unkillable' monster and frightened he might be next, he immediately turned tail and fled toward the cell door.

"Hey, don't you fucking run!"

David, who was just starting to enjoy himself, instinctively wanted to use the Authority of [Wrath] to pull the 'monster' back. But then he remembered this was all just a damn dream. He hadn't yet figured out which stacked Authorities 'counted,' and he didn't want to waste them lest it be a huge loss. It was just like those many times in dreams where he'd be incredibly excited to find a load of cash stashed in some corner of his house, only to wake up and think, 'Huh? Where's my money?!' What a killjoy!

Wait a minute, is my current body female?

Suddenly realizing this, David instinctively reached toward his chest with his unchanged, delicate hand. Unfortunately, there wasn't the expected soft and fragrant touch; instead, it was a blur of blood and flesh, which was rather disgusting.

Immediately losing any worldly desires, David was distracted by something else. He bent down to pick up the bloodletting dagger, swinging it a few times—like picking up a knife dropped by a teammate in CS:GO—to get a feel for it.

Then, completely forgetting the children who should have been his companions behind him, he wielded the 'long dagger' in one hand and flexed his clawed hand, which looked like something out of a game's 'biohazard mode,' with the other. It was as if he'd been thrown into the backwoods for over a decade and finally got to play a brand-new version of a game, even turning on 'infinite health cheats' and the 'developer console.'

Brimming with excitement, he 'killed' his way out.

"Bring on more monsters, bring on more!"

And the 'dream' quickly responded to David.

"Mage! Use the [Exorcism Spell]! She's possessed by a Demon!"

"Mage? I'll take you out in a second!"

David immediately used a [Charge] fueled by [Jealousy] to appear before the dumbfounded Mage. His dagger, ignoring some unknown protective spell that had materialized, plunged straight into the Mage's neck. The force of David's [Charge] continued, sending several people flying in succession and nailing the wide-eyed Mage to the wall with a dull THUD.

Then David, who had started to get a hang of things, struck the opening stance of the Maiden Masher. With another [Charge], unencumbered by any 'cooldown,' he pounced on another soldier. Under the horrified gazes of everyone else, he frenziedly tore into the already 'dead' soldier, mutilating the corpse.

"What the hell is going on?" The commotion finally seemed to alert someone in charge, who came in with a group of people. They saw David furiously pounding a body, already a bloody pulp, until the cell floor beneath it dented. Only then, with bloodshot eyes, did he abruptly turn around. "Hmm, the arcade combo works. Now let's try this."

David tried to spew forth a Dragon Breath as he would in his true form, but instead of fire, he vomited out two liters of blood.

"Blood works too..."

In David's mind flashed a scene of rampaging through waves of enemies after turning into a zombie in the second level of some Metal Slug game.

[Arrogance]

The newcomers only saw 'David,' this monster, suddenly spew a pillar of blood that shot towards the sky.

After a while, David finally made it outside where a rain of blood was pouring down, but he couldn't 'spawn a single monster' anymore.

He immediately started jumping on the spot, wanting to try flying. At first, every jump would only reach the height of a second or third-story building before he felt the pull of gravity dragging him down. But practice makes perfect. A few minutes later, David, covered in blood and bursting with excitement, completely defied the laws of physics and gravity despite having no wings, soaring into the sky like 'Superman.'

This time, in this 'Lucid Dream,' he was determined to thoroughly enjoy himself.

He was going to have a blast.