Draconic Awakening

Chunks of ice fell and flew into different parts of the cavern alongside the party hunters, each landing in a mundane area of the cave. Arya found herself crashing into a massive ice pillar side-first and then falling to her side, Cleaver simply hitting the wall, and Klein breaking a few ice spires before his momentum was stopped.

All but Ragnar and the realm beast remained standing.

The hulking figure let out a dominant roar that shook the entire cave and the hearts of the party members.

Ragnar stared at the beast in the distance — the large tiger-like demon, covered with white fur that oozed out a white smoke. Its size was beyond that of a Wendigo Dreadling, almost reaching up to twenty meters. It almost resembled a tiger, but the Curse of the Realm just had to twist things up a bit more into fashion.

Its face had nothing but its nose and massive mouth filled with rows of jagged teeth, and on its back were dozens of rope-like tentacles that rose into the air. At the end of each was a sharp, metal-like tail that seemed to swing slowly but smoothly in the air.

Ragnar gulped, knowing what that meant… A blind beast that can feel vibrations, smells, has a dozen tentacle-like daggers and four claws with dangerously long nails — a typical king predator.

This was his first time seeing a Dreadling up close, and this was a grade two — much more dangerous than any beast he had ever encountered in Wendigo's Crust.

Ragnar wanted to back off a bit, a small retreat to form a plan based on what he had learned from the beast's appearance. However, the slight shift in his leg stepping on the ice seemed to alert the beast as its face locked onto him.

With a growl, the King predator lunged forward at him with incomparable speed — one that would have surely killed Ragnar if the distance between them wasn't so far.

The young Lord bent his knees and, with all the force he could muster, raced towards the wall of the cave, luckily avoiding the attack from the beast by a mere inch.

The gale of icy wind that hit Ragnar from the attack reminded him of how close he had come to death, and he immediately paused his footing and held his breath, turning his neck to the monster, which was already ready for its next attack.

However, it stayed still, sniffing the air and listening in… It was a truly diabolical being, trying to catch Ragnar off guard.

Still, the young Lord wasn't stupid. As soon as he had avoided the attack, he had immediately activated his cloak skill, which allowed him to be invisible to the Dreadling's efforts to locate him.

He was safe for now. However, the party had no idea of his findings.

Arya, who was rising to her feet, was clearly making noise, same with the other two who were summoning their blades. More ignorant was Cleaver, who spoke:

"Prepare yourselves! It's a Dreadling!"

The King predator wasted no time reacting to the words of the sorry hunter, stamping its claws and racing towards him at full speed.

In the next moment, sounds of struggles and battle filled the air. Poor Cleaver, Ragnar thought, shaking his head, then turning his gaze to the party, which had already begun engaging the beast in a furious battle. Surprisingly, with their numbers, they managed to hold their ground against the beast… surprisingly, that was.

Arya was the most formidable of them. Even without using her armour, she managed to defend well enough against the tentacles of the beast, while the other two faced the full brunt of the monstrous figure.

The battle held out for longer than Ragnar had anticipated, and in the end both sides had to break from the fight to recover — mainly the party rushing to hide from the beast, as they had attained far more injuries than the beast had. Arya was bleeding from her arm, while Cleaver had stunningly lost an arm. Klein was still the only one to escape without much of a scratch.

The King predator too had suffered great injuries — its tentacles missing about ten, its body filled with scars and brutal wounds that let blue blood ooze out of its skin.

It was a miracle they had all escaped the reach of the predator without making a single noise, and this enraged the Dreadling.

The King predator shrieked and swiped its paw around, sometimes hitting down ice pillars and spirals, but never managing to catch its target.

Arya, who was the first to have escaped the reach of the barbaric beast, hid behind one of the many large pillars, her back against it and her eyes for once never leaving the rampaging monster.

Ragnar had predicted this would be the place she would retreat to. After the fight closed the space between the two, she noticed his presence, staring at him with a hint of disappointment.

"Sorry, princess," he muttered in a grave tone — one too low to be heard by the beast — as he got close to her, standing before her and taking the cover of the pillar.

Arya frowned and decided to ask, "You have a plan?"

Ragnar shook his head. "The best step to take is to run for it. We are already past the beast, so we can easily leave this section without engaging in a fight with this thing."

The princess seemed to fall silent to his words, taking another look at the beast, then staring back at the young Lord. "Why should I leave my people to die? And for all I know, you could just leave us if you wanted and survive on your own. I'd just be slowing you down."

Ragnar's grin seemed to disappear at this moment. "Wouldn't that be too convenient for you? After all, you plan to kill me, don't you? By separating me from your party, you can use me as a distraction to the Dreadling, leaving me in this cursed place with those monsters."

Arya nodded slowly, impressed at Ragnar's skill to decipher her like that. "The Dreadling is sensitive to heat and sound. Truly, I wanted you to use your fire to keep your body far warmer than all of us here. It is a perfect plan — I like how you played your cards in this game."

"So what's next now? I'm sure you haven't given up, have you?" Ragnar asked, still puzzled by her plans. He had seen the look on her face in his previous life far too many times — it was a face that meant he was missing something.

"Ragnar…"

Ragnar furrowed his brows. "What?"

"I'll pay you fifty gold pieces if you distract the Dreadling long enough for me and my party to make it out of this cursed place."

As the words escaped the princess's mouth, Ragnar stood there frozen. His eyes grew wide, and he was broken — utterly broken inside.

{Gold… User cannot resist}

Ragnar's face twisted into the most grotesque representation of loathing and evil that could be mustered, as his body felt compelled — no, it moved on its own — to do Arya's bidding.

"Go, Faceless Son of Darkness… be my pawn to trample upon."