“That sounds way too nice for True Dragons,” Tina commented suspiciously.

  “You are right, of course.” The Lesser Dragon chuckled wryly. “It was a double-edged sword, further sacrificing the recipient’s very own existence to their master. The owner could flood the slave with as much energy as they wanted to with such unlimited access, turning the poor individual into a walking bomb. I’m sure you can imagine the scale of havoc an exploding source can wreak.”

  Asterios shivered, recalling Grea’s warnings and jokes about such things.

  “Or the Dragon could literally descend into the person’s body and use it as their own from a safe distance,” she continued a bit uncomfortably. “For a short duration. No matter how high one’s affinity is, it’s impossible for them to handle a True Dragon’s very existence. But, such a strategy is used exactly for that, to quickly use the strongest moves before the soul and body burn away. A sacrificial pawn, just like the other one.”

  “Then Miria…” Selene gazed at her beloved friend worriedly.

  “Is safe,” Althea quickly reassured her and the rest of the party. “Her inscription has no drawbacks. No True Dragon would ever apply it like that as the recipient is freely able to use all their power against them, as long as they manage to fight back the draconic influence from the bond, of course.”

  “I thought the girls already could draw on my energies freely,” Asterios commented.

  “Yes, but that’s just you allowing them to do so, and it’s completely different too.” His mentor waved her finger at him. “They are drawing on your mana to strengthen themselves and fuel their techniques, things they already know and are experienced in. Miria’s senses grow sharper. Selene’s spirituality becomes stronger. Tina’s spells achieve a new level. Silvia’s control over flames rises. And so on. It’s also a separate matter from them gaining your draconic features through exploring the bond and love you share.”

  “This is all so sophisticated. True Dragons are too complex.” The Summoner Girl sighed. “But does this mean we can all get that inscription?”

  “I don’t know.” Althea shook her head. “You’ll have to ask its creator. Everything I told you, I have learned from her anyway.”

  A girlish giggle echoed in their minds, making it clear that the perpetrator had been listening in closely.

  “I was going to do that later anyway,” Asterios admitted. “Let’s refocus on the matters at hand right now.”

  As he said that, Miria appeared before them, using her shoulder to shield him from a desperate attempt at spitting weird acidic darkness at the group to give itself some breathing room as it was getting its ass whooped by the enhanced panthergirl. The eel was on its last legs, which it technically didn’t have at all, its form full of injuries.

  “Ugh, I’ve made myself way too big for this place. And do I really have to fight that thing completely naked?” She grunted, her rather large behind hovering over everyone’s faces.

  “Allow me to assist,” Umbra joined in.

  A cloud of shadow flowed towards her and hugged her muscular figure. A dark toga materialized in its place, clipped at her left shoulder, and tightened around her waist. It hugged her body tightly while fully displaying her shoulders and legs.

  “I guess I should have asked earlier.” Miria snickered. “Too bad I can’t use my blades. I would have finished it ages ago.”

  “Try this,” Selene shouted from the side.

  Glancing in her direction, Miria saw something already flying towards her. It was rather small compared to her current size, so she prepared to catch the weird black razor, slightly confused, when the spinning object suddenly expanded. Her eyes widened as it elongated while revolving through the air, and she grabbed the pommel of a perfectly-scaled sword with a slightly curved tip.

  “Wait…” Her brows rose in surprise. “Isn’t this the artifact weapon Master used after the undead dungeon?”

  She grinned to herself, feeling it resonate with her much more than in the past. The flames covering her fists sizzled out of existence as she took a battle stance with the sword by her side. The violet edge lit up before fire swallowed it whole, quickly condensed into an extension of it. Compared to Ast’s red and amber combination, this one was pure crimson, relying only on his energy. It didn’t look perfectly stable with multiple tongues licking the air as the surface shimmered, but for someone with no prior experience, it was still astounding.

  Wasting no more time, Miria dashed after the wounded serpent, leaving a half-melted trench in her wake as the tip of the sword grazed the floor. The monster looked utterly frightened by this point and wanted to run where it had come from, but an arc of ferocious energy interrupted its escape. The blood-hungry panthergirl was next to it in a blink, swinging the glowing blade with pure glee. Her opponent dodged here and there, but she slashed it into pieces, creating deep marks in the walls.

  With one last effort, reduced to one-third of its previous length, the pitiful monster spat in her general direction and slithered toward the darkness of the nearby passage. More offended than hurt, Miria gripped the weapon strongly, fanning the flames greatly. She cleaved horizontally from side to side, and a massive wave of fire surged forward, covering the entire width of the chamber. It evaporated her enemy in a flash before digging into the white blocks further than they could see, splitting them in half.

  Silence descended upon the vast hall as she made sure that it wasn’t simply playing dead somewhere out of her sight. Confirming her kill, Miria turned towards the group and beamed at everyone. Two insanely powerful leaps later, she landed in front of them and started hopping up and down gleefully.

  “Did you see that, Master?! I was able to copy your move! And I’m so much stronger! This is incredible!” she gushed at him excitedly.

  “Yes, I can see.” Asterios chuckled warmly. “That and much more thanks to your energetic delight.”

  Noticing where his eyes were directed, Miria stopped immediately and squeezed the flapping fabric that was Umbra closer to her tummy, no doubt blushing furiously for flashing them her privates. Black mist swirled around her figure a moment later, and she shrank down, reappearing before him in her usual size, shape, and even wearing her full gear once more.

  “I will need to think of something for when I shift into that new form.” She looked aside bashfully. “My current clothes can’t stretch that much.”

  “Oh, you are back to normal?” He examined her curiously, roaming his gaze over the same Miria with whom he had sat down in front of the cluster earlier. “I thought we would need to get used to your new appearance.”

  “No, no, no!” She waved her arms between them. “The urge to transform was just so strong that it affected even my spiritual form in Tia’s home! I much prefer being the shorter one, Master! Or are you bored of my lean body already?”

  Asterios stepped into her personal space and embraced the uncertain feline affectionately.

  “You know that’s not going to happen ever,” he insisted, smooching her rounded ears with a myriad of kisses while his palms explored her exquisite fur and athletic physique beneath it. “Whichever form you assume, the slim and deadly one or the buff and strong one, I will always appreciate this gorgeous body of yours.”

  “Ehehe~” Miria purred into his cheek lovingly. “I don’t think I can easily expand my muscles without growing in size, so you might be stuck with this form of—”

  The ground shook, interrupting her. Everyone’s attention snapped to the exit, where massive cracks began forming, running outwards the fissure dug out by the panthergirl’s blow. Things were getting more and more shaky by the second.

  “Uhhh… I don’t want to interrupt, but I think we should take this outside…” Tina chuckled quietly.

  “I’m going to be the first one at the gate this time!” Miria announced and jumped out of Ast’s arms.

  After two steps, she dove into a patch of shadows as if she were jumping into a pool and disappeared.

  “That little…” Asterios snorted and plunged into the ground too.

  The remaining ladies exchanged glances before turning to Umbra, who snickered in amusement and transferred them through his own ability, chasing after the pair who had gotten the head start.

  Miria was going to be quite sassy for a while, wasn’t she?

  Chapter 18

  Perilous Gamble

  Three dark smudges flew through the trembling corridors of a crumbling facility. Each shadow zoomed and zipped from corner to corner, trying its best to take the lead or retain it. While the roughest, slightly unstable one had been the first to take such a position, it soon yielded to the more experienced challengers. It wasn’t left in the dust, but it definitely struggled a little as the trio’s formation continuously changed.

  Unbeknownst to them, the winner had already been decided, standing at the end of their path since the very moment they crossed the starting line.

  Due to the impending collapse of the once pristine and thrumming with power tunnels, numerous residents trampled over each other and even fought directly to escape their cruel fate. Various monsters touched by the darkness, shadows, void, and other aspects ran a deadly marathon. Their actual numbers surprised the trio of contestants, but ultimately, they didn’t care.

  Only their competition mattered.

  In just a few minutes, the finish line appeared in their spiritual sight since they could not use their eyes in their current state. They pushed themselves to their limits for the final straight and slipped through the gap like the wind. Each shadow then coalesced over the ground and revealed its identity.

  The first one represented more than just one person as a group of beautiful girls and ladies emerged from the pooling darkness, victorious smiles adorning their gorgeous faces. The second one turned out to be a white-haired man who cracked his neck two times and sighed dejectedly at his performance. And lastly, a winded beastfolk female literally popped out of the floor with more speed than expected and squeaked in shock before landing on all fours, her breathing fairly labored.

  “Master made it look so easy… Haaaaah…” She stood up with some trouble, accepting the man’s shoulder as her support. “It felt like I was going to break out of it so many times on the way here…”

  Asterios chuckled and gently rejuvenated Miria’s exhaustion with one of his spells fueled by his potent natural energy. “Yet you didn’t. For your first time, it was truly impressive. Recall how long it took me to become comfortable with it. Right, Umbra?”

  The entity behind the success of the all-female group of passengers tipped its fancy hat. “Indeed. It’s a result worthy of all the praise.”

  She beamed at them proudly but quickly looked into her mate’s eyes. “It’s all thanks to you, Master. And Tia, naturally. Honestly, it feels like cheating, but I already promised myself to try and not feel bad for it. In the end, my goal is to keep getting stronger so that I don’t lag behind everyone. With Selene getting her eleventh tail, Silvia achieving her flaming avatar, and Tina contracting a real Lesser Dragon, my simple Physical Strengthening was starting to look weak.”

  “If Professor Grea heard you talk like this, she would spank your butt.” Tina smirked lightly. “She’s well aware that her offensive prowess leaves much to be desired. Besides, your main strength came from your compatibility with Ast’s techniques. Which has now soared right through the roof.”

  “She is right.” Asterios patted Miria’s fluffy hair, now back on top of her head. “Maybe it’s you who should actually be the master in this relationship, with me being your familiar, considering how quickly you grow.”

  The girls chuckled at that idea while Miria’s tail adorably swished from side to side as she squirmed timidly.

  “So, what was all that?” Selene asked what most of them, if not everyone, had been wondering for a while now.

  ~I’ll explain everything in a second.~ Tia’s mischievous giggle echoed through their minds. ~But first, I would advise you to get out of this spire. You weren’t the only ones rushing for the exit.~

  At her words, they became acutely aware of the sounds and noises from behind the broken gate, which were rapidly gaining on their location. While there was no doubt that the door would have held the stampede in its prime, that couldn’t be so certain in the current age.

  “Ah, shit…” Asterios groaned quietly.

  Not waiting to see who would win the second challenge, the gate or the monsters, they made a run for it right away. It was quite fun and entertaining sprinting up the spiraling stairs while catching a few glimpses of Umbra’s past. They didn’t want to miss those by diving into the shadows again, and since the situation wasn’t as critical as minutes ago, they could tackle it at a more leisurely pace.

  Arriving at the top and gathering at the flat platform, they felt a deep shudder at the base of the tower, followed by ominous rumbling. Asterios shifted into his fully draconic form, and everyone hopped onto his back, launching into the air atop their black-scaled True Dragon. A few flaps of mighty wings later, they watched Umbra’s house from above.

  A flood of monstrosities burst out of the opening like a water fountain with somewhat thicker and more irregular droplets. Many beings peaked at certain heights and began falling as the stream of creatures continued to flow. Noticing the weird phenomenon, the Shades dropped whatever they had been doing, mostly praying, and floated into the air to surround their monument of worship.

  “Intruders!” one screamed.

  “Heretics!” another shouted.

  “Kill enemies of the Lord!” someone else ordered.

  With a unanimous battle cry that sounded more like a symphony of screeches, the billowing entities descended onto the monsters. Asterios couldn’t hold in his snicker as their forces resembled pieces of dark cloth trying to entangle someone. Although these pieces of cloth had limbs that they could seemingly mold into dangerous shapes.

  The Holy War began.

  “Are we going to… help them?” Miria asked curiously. “It’s kind of our fault, isn’t it?”

  “No need,” Umbra dismissed her concern without much care. “They can handle themselves. Since they keep staying here regardless of my opinion on that, they can at least clean up once in a while.”

  “Fair.” Asterios nodded his fierce head. “Let’s find a safe spot to land and have a chat while watching how they fare.”

  He brought them to a relatively faraway patch of ground, and everyone slid off his back, landing on the disturbingly white rock. Thinking of it now, if everything were like this in the pocket dimension, they would have had a hard time locating the facility underground. The two colors were basically indistinguishable. It was much easier next to the Darkling village.

  “How long are you going to keep glowing, Ast?” Silvia asked with a trace of a smirk at the edge of her noble lips.

  Asterios had only just returned to his original form and took a look at himself. Surely, the golden radiance emanated from his body just like when he had absorbed the cluster during the first attempt. His gaze moving onto his feline mate, he saw no hint of such light.

  “Curious. I thought it would be Miria who was going to be like this after our ritual,” he shared his thoughts with everyone.

  ~We have redirected lots of energy into her, but it sticks closely to you thanks to your third source,~ Tia said. ~She shares your affinities now, but that doesn’t mean copies of your Dragon’s Hearts or standard sources are inside her. You are still the key to everything.~

  Nodding lightly, Asterios pulled out the damaged badge and held it tightly in his hand. As expected, the radiance transferred into it with some invisible and undetectable force, taking all the remnant mana away. Once more, the light coalesced over the broken-off edge and reconstructed the ancient token.

  “How many more do we need to make it full?” Miria peeked at it over his shoulder.

  “If the sections are more or less of the same size, that feels like three or four?” Althea squinted at the sharp yellow lines.

  “I wonder if that’s the number of all remaining facilities.” Umbra stroked the outline of his chin.

  “I don’t think so.” Asterios shook his head. “If they shared equal bits of its shape, that would mean there are still twice as many out there. Remember that we got this thing half broken, or from a different perspective, half whole. The real question is what is it for?”

  “Seems capable of opening entrances related to that person’s energy,” Abyss joined in with her neutral tone. “A key or an identification plaque. There’s no way he would have dropped it during one of his visits when he was carrying out his devious plan and not noticed, right?”

  The girls shared a glance, then all looked at Asterios.

  “Never say never.” Tina shrugged, and they all chuckled.

  “It would be funny if his grand scheme was foiled due to a tiny act of negligence.” Miria grinned. “Did it get any new functions?”

  “None that I can sense,” Umbra replied thoughtfully. “But its current ones should have been enhanced.”

  “Alright.” Asterios pocketed the artifact away. “Let’s discuss everything that happened before we decide on our next steps.”

  The girls brought out a picnic mat and some snacks, setting everything down atop a decent outcrop to keep an eye on the spire. They poured each other something to drink and dove into the various dishes, fruits, and processed food collected just for this trip. Miria was unbelievably giddy and all smiles, sitting next to Asterios and feeding him anything he laid his eyes on. But the others didn’t blame her. She had all the reasons to be happy.

  ~I shall start then, since I can feel your anticipation.~ Tia broke the comfortable silence. ~Althea has aptly summed things up back in the facility. At first, I only intended to help Asterios and Miria enhance her potential as much as possible with the cluster’s energy, but standing before the two of them, I came to the conclusion that I’m unnecessarily holding back, my instincts still not fully adjusted to the existence of such a kind and loving True Dragon.~