A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Nisha locked hands with a primate and pushed it back.

Right after they entered the second room, the elf and her familiar encountered a group of [Crazy Sea Monkeys], ferocious monsters with deep blue fur and surprising strength given their gangly limbs.

They were not to be underestimated, however, as they had reached the early to mid fourth rank and paid no attention to their own condition at all in a fight.

As long as they could injure the enemy, they would trade wounds for wounds and simply outlast others with their strong physique.

Various subspecies of sea monkey usually lived close to the coast and sometimes climbed the land to obtain fruits and other resources, but all the strong masters returned to the ocean in the end.

Once they were close to the limit of the third rank, these monkeys picked an undersea mountain and marked their own territory, where they dived deeper to increase the pressure on their bodies.

Either they broke through successfully, or they perished in the dark depths below, entering a path of no return.

As a result, no matter which species they were before, only [Crazy Sea Monkeys] returned from the deep sea and lived in colonies among undersea mountain ranges.

In this particular room, one leader at the medium fourth rank and three smaller monkeys at the early fourth rank confronted Nisha and her familiar.

Actually, the dragon rushed into the first room full of momentum and fighting spirit, eager to take on an enemy no matter who it was, but her luck seemed to be kind of bad at that moment.

Instead of a worthy opponent, the elf ran into a [Rigid Sphere Jellyfish], which happened to develop almost completely opposite to the primates.

 

In order to propagate, the adult jellyfish released thousands upon thousands of fertilized eggs every time their mating season arrived, and that was per individual.

A newly born [Stone Jellyfish] was the lowest of the low, an early first rank monster with only a single skill, [Harden].

By calling on the power of the earth, the membrane holding their body gained a minor defense boost, yet even other early first rank monsters easily tore them to pieces and treated them as nothing more than food.

Out of the tens of thousands newborns, if more than a thousand survived their first moon in the shallow waters, it was already a very great achievement.

Following a circle of injuries and recovery, they barely made it to the second rank by stimulating their aura to strengthen their life force.

By then, the second and last skill awakened naturally, named [Petrify].

Infusing the majesty of the great earth into their tentacles, those who came into contact with them slowed down and had weight added to every movement.

Sadly, as earth and water dual attribute monsters, the ground was too far away to offer any assistance to ocean inhabitants and the effect was very, very minor.

It only allowed the jellyfish to escape from predators sometimes, hardening their body to bear wounds and escape once the calcifying effect slowed them down.

From the thousand survivors, perhaps a hundred made it to the third stage, stimulated from the constant cycle of being hunted and barely recovering from the edge of death.

Nevertheless, without any more skills at their disposal, [Stone Jellyfish] still only acted as food for those at their rank.

Only the luckiest and hardiest, those with the greatest desperation and lifeforce could accumulate experience long enough to reach the peak of the third rank and save enough aura to attempt a breakthrough.

 

In the end, only one or two out of tens of thousands of newborn jellyfish had the opportunity to grow into the same state as their parents, turning into [Rigid Sphere Jellyfish] after a life of close encounters with death.

For their hard work, the racial skill [Harden] got a huge upgrade and the constant usage of lifeforce awakened a [Auto-Recovery] ability as well.

As long as there was food and available aura, these hardy monsters could recover from most injuries.

On top of that, the strengthened [Harden] gave their membranes a particular trait, where their nature as dual attributed monsters really excelled.

After every injury, a thick scar of tissue would gather the power of the earth and form a layer of armor.

In the end, their name was derived from the most common form among these jellyfish, where their outer membrane turned into a sphere of stone with outstanding defense over time.

The exemplar that Nisha encountered in the first room exactly showcased the traits that made the species outstanding, a tough defense and overflowing vitality.

In theory, the elf could poke the stone sphere all day with her sword, and it would only make the armor on the membrane stronger than before.

Adding to that, the unstable nature of being broken down and being regrown, there was not a single valuable material on the body of a [Rigid Sphere Jellyfish], the armor was built from a collection of scars and wasn‘t melded together at all.

The healed wounds constantly tore at each other and ripped open tissue, which strengthened the monster as the wounds knit together and formed more armor, but ruined any worth as materials due to its shabby structure.

On the other hand, the tentacles did not gain any upgrade either after the first great divide, only retaining the most basic [Petrify] that slowed down on contact.

Even that minor ability came from the element of the monster itself, so if they were cut off from the main body, they quickly broke down.

All in all, the elf only hit the big stone ball twice to confirm how sturdy it was and directly went out of the exit of the room, looking forward to an actual enemy instead of a punching bag.

 

Fortunately, the savage primates were much more to the dragon‘s taste.

Right now, Nisha and the leader had put their hands on each other‘s shoulder, trying to wrestle the other party down and occupy the upper hand.

Once someone was pinned to the ground, it was easy to beat them up or tear them apart.

There was no doubt that the brawny [Crazy Sea Monkeys] would not hesitate to bite their opponents to death if their fists alone were not enough.

Dissimilar to their brutal means, the elf would not resort to biting and scratching in the middle of a fight with her current figure.

It was the same as her dragon roar, without the enhancement of a dragon body, the effects were really nothing great so it was a waste to do it at all.

Meeting force with force, Nisha and leader swayed left for a moment, then they might overcompensate to return to the center and sway right.

It had really been too long since the girl could really release her strength and fight to her heart‘s content, so she did not use all of her physical strength right away and only matched the monkey to fight him on equal grounds.

Even when the leader bared its teeth and screeched right in her face, Nisha only showed a joyful grin and extinguished the black sparks of fire that sprung into existence around her.

If her dragonflies really erupted, it would probably kill her opponent straight away, and she had not fought enough in close quarter combat yet.

While the master was enjoying some exercise, it fell onto her familiar to pick up the remaining burden.

The bosses were busy shoving each other back and forth, so Little Lia decided to play with the three remaining pricks.

 

Indeed, shortly after clashing with them for the first time, the wolf found out that the short blue fur covering their bodies was as hard and sharp as needles, giving them a natural combat armour.

Compared to her own soft and fluffy coat, the wolf completely disdained them and looked down on their species.

What was the point of having prickly hair if they had no chance to use it at all?

The [Storm Trail Dragon Wolf] did not need to smash them personally to defeat them at all, she simply ran circles around them and employed [Storm Steps] occasionally.

Hovering in the air, it allowed the wolf to step on them and achieve an effect similar to flight, and the chaotic wind energy remained in the form of a wind scar for a period of time.

Without looking carefully, it was very easy for the monkey monsters to bump into them and trigger the follow up explosion, where wind aura and mana exploded into numerous wind blades and ripped up their bodies.

As monsters who had yet to attain spiritual wisdom and open their minds to become beasts, it was fated that the three followers could only hope to catch the wolf as it played them like a fiddle.

One of them already limped as the tendon in its leg was severed by a sharp wind blade and each of them had deep wounds across their bodies dripping with blood.

Normally, Little Lia could simply use her speed advantage and strike with [Storm Tear] once a flaw in the opponent‘s defense turned into an opportunity.

But looking at the skinny monkeys that were all prickly needle fur with hard muscle beneath it, she already felt her paws hurt.

Rather than poking itself on the prickly guys, the wolf lured the monsters to step into the wind scars and spat a blade of wind at them whenever the distance was big enough.

Ordinary creatures would have long since felt the difference in strength and tried their best to run away to preserve their lives, but the Dungeon had no concept of surrendering or fleeing.

Unless the monsters perished, they would never stop attacking the intruders.

 

Together with [Storm Steps] and [Storm Tear], [Storm Howl] made up a complete combat system for the wolf.

It could fight in close combat range, attack from afar and had a movement technique that hindered pursuit and granted an ability similar to flight.

Although there still should be something more, for the moment these three were the cornerstones of the [Storm Trail Dragon Wolf]‘s skill set.

Few familiars were anywhere close to Accalia, which needed constant fights and assistance from their masters to attain greater understanding and form their own systems.

This highlighted the importance of bloodline, just by breaking through and changing her foundation, Little Lia made great progress and could play three monsters at the same rank as her as easily as fighting kids.

Even if the three [Crazy Sea Monkeys] unleashed another skill or went berserk, it was already obvious who would win the fight and that their doom was not far away.

From start to end, the primates did not manage to touch the wolf‘s fur.

On the other side of the cave, the battle between the elf and the leader of the monkeys got increasingly active.

Nisha had not minded the stalemate and matched her own strength accurately to the counterforce, reveling in the sensation of physical violence.

The sparks of dragonfire that ignited in the air from time to time simply spilled over while the [Dragon Force] pumped through the dragon‘s veins, driven with every beat of the Dragon Heart.

Like a furnace heating up after being cold for a long period of time, every circle of the invisible power washed the girl‘s blood and flesh, incinerating small impurities directly and tempering their quality at the same time.

Sensing the improvement in her rank, Nisha naturally did not feel pressed to end the battle anytime soon.

 

As a matter of fact, it was very difficult for the elf to make progress in her aura and mana cultivation in a short period of time.

Since she broke through first and made it past the first great divide, the contract between herself and Accalia and Eisen drew upon her source to improve her familiars alongside the master.

In theory, the dragon had a choice to deny them the nourishment of her own progress, because their contracts mutated through the use of a drop of dragon blood when they contracted with each other.

But if Nisha only forced her own progress and neglected the familiars, sooner or later she would have to take care of them in battles and consider them burdens, or they could not participate at all if the opponents were so powerful that they could threaten their lives in an instant.

Rather than being hasty and forcefully claiming all the progress for herself, the dragon might as well allow her wolf and floating armor to grow to the same height as herself and polish their foundations first.

Only a primal confrontation pitting strength against strength and hunting for survival and dominance like back in the Wilderness could stimulate Nisha, and activate her blood and soul.

An intermediate fourth rank monster barely made the cut and triggered the dragonfire, but it was far from her limit.

Perhaps Nisha could call upon her [Dragon Breath] and summon it to incinerate the leader monkey, yet it would be a pity to cut the fight short.

Considering her upper limit, it would be better to descend another floor and find a peak fourth rank opponent, but it was difficult to say if she could jump an entire rank and persist under an early fifth rank monster.

On top of that, it was also difficult to say what sort of monster she could fight against and what sort of special abilities they had.

As long as another rather passive species such as the [Rigid Sphere Jellyfish] appeared, the elf figured she might have a chance to push the limit and hunt it down.