Chapter 133 The Dragon
Chapter 133: The Dragon
"We shall."
After Leon's words, Louise and Celes' presence sharpened.
They forgot about their differences and their skirmishes for Leon's affection, becoming a unit whose purpose was to secure the easiest path to the demon's hideout. They wouldn't let their feelings trouble their beloved and use his new circumstances to fight for his attention.
It wasn't time to show off who was better or more useful. It wasn't a good moment to get more points in Leon's heart.
Louise also didn't feel as useless as before. Louise felt inferior to Celes in the split spirit realm because the vampiress had done so many useful things for Leon. She had spotted the fortress, ensured their safety, and checked many things with her bats and splendid consciousness control.
But Louise was no longer the same! With a heavy portion of her memories back, Louise had learned many useful stuff and survival skills. She had keen eyes to see through the environment and people, to say nothing of her experience with various races and plotting. And she would use everything at her disposal to spot things that the vampiress and her bats couldn't.
The adorable fox cast her cold eyes at the vampiress, who had already hidden her umbrella in her inventory, and lifted her ass to leave her seat. Upon her descent, Celes summoned a few bats whose forms instantly sank into the forest's canopy, going forth to Leon's next location.
She peeked into Louise's eyes, nodding with a faint smile. "Demons are tricky and lying bastards regardless of their race and families. We can't exclude the possibility of more demons lurking in the forest, waiting for us."
"Correct." Louise nodded with crossed arms, then turned around and took the lead to guide her party. She also smiled like the vampiress, for they had reached an understanding without any words.
Celes took the left side and went around with her consciousness split into the bat forms. Louise was on the right side and kept her eyes on the ground and bushes, sniffing for any enemies below the bats' range.
It made things much easier for Celes.
"I'm so lucky." Leon commented faintly, smiling.
His heart beat with immense pride as he hovered his eyes on Celes and Louise's backs, deeply ecstatic with how these two wordlessly became close companions to support his path. They even encouraged him despite his selfish and irresponsible decision. How could he not treasure these girls?
Leon felt like he could no longer even call them girls. They were mature, independent, and gorgeous women he needed to properly treasure and efficiently reciprocate their feelings.
With those acts like that, these two kept forcing Leon to quickly make a choice!
"Master, should I stay behind to protect our belongings?" Alexandra asked her master, her dragon's heart fervently beating to discard the carriage and aid him in the incoming battle.
Leon looked into her violet eyes and shook his head. "Take reins off the horses and tell the kitty family to hide high in the trees."
"Understood." Alexandra quickly helped the kitty family climb the tree and used leaves to hide their presence. As for the horses, she threw carrots and forced them to run for the food, only to drop them a warning to not die in case some feral bear appeared or anyone else.
The horses shivered and cursed at Leon.
And when the dragon maid returned to his side, Leon caught up to his girls and began the short adventure to the demon's hideout.
"I'll always be able to buy a new carriage. Also, we have all the important stuff in our inventories… It's kinda disappointing that I can't keep horses and cats in card forms, but I don't think any demon will be interested in them. They are clever, too, so believe in their survival…." Leon would hate himself if Alexandra died because of his carriage, so he kept her close to his side.
If there were demons around them, she would certainly be one of the targets.
As for the horses and kitties, Leon believed in them.
"You can't buy a life." Leon added, taking a faint glance at Louise, only to retract it fast to not bother his adorable fox. "And I know you want to be with us."
"Yes, Master." Alexandra felt much better after these last words, curving her lips into a dazzling smile. "Thank you."
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Leon soon hovered his eyes at the cave's entrance.
It was by the mountain's feet, seemingly empty and natural. It was a perfect spot for some feral bears to live in, but Leon and his party hadn't spotted any beasts so far. Without any doubt, the demon had cast some skills to kick away all foreign living beings or at least forced them to stay away from him.
Remembering his words, Leon clicked his tongue. "Well, he uses these beasts to heal himself. I think we'll find many dead bodies inside that cave."
"I smell blood inside, Master." Celes and Louise said in tandem.
Leon focused more on his vampire senses within him and nodded. "Same here."
Alexandra shared her doubts, contorting her pretty face. "I've thought that Heaven Library Guild is a strong guild… How come we can smell blood and something odd within that cave, but their high-level guild members haven't discovered it yet and missed the demon's presence?"
"I have accepted the demon's quest. He's trying to scare us away, so I fail it… Of course, he doesn't want me to turn around and leave, so he's playing with our feelings." Leon explained what popped into his mind after the dragon maid's question.
Celes added with knitted eyebrows on her gorgeous face. "Succubi are horny fucks and use lust to play with others. This demon is the most popular kind that invokes fear in others. And he's wounded, so he doesn't have enough room and strength to show off his skills."
"We can safely enter inside." Louise chimed in and took the lead.
The cave was like your typical cave without any deep meaning, so Leon and his party looked out for hidden traps or anything that could hurt them before the demon's game. Nothing like that happened until Leon, and his girls stepped inside the cavernous interior, where a big black eye floated inside.
Below that eye, Leon noticed a birdcage where the little girl had been trapped inside.
And then, the greenish light burst from the crevices below Leon and his teammates. That light coalesced into a formation that trapped him inside and sealed the exit! From the ground, a high pillar slid outside, reaching the ceiling. Those pillars flashed with the light of the same color, starting the game.
[You have lost 100 HP!]
[You have lost 100 HP!]
"Here's the hero who shall save the little princess!" The eye brimmed with a voice reverberating across the cave, shaking and peeling off some of the stone. "And now that I see you in person, I have confirmed your identities… And I'm bemused to see you… three… Blue Thanatos, Veronica's Third General, and… no… You can't be that woman."
[Aaron Beel Lv. 369 HP: 53125/763 900 MP: 5 400/969 690]
Leon and his girls would have felt frightened by that high level if it weren't for the eye's wounded state and the unusual green orb forcefully planted within his form. It simply meant trouble, yet the green orb emitted so much pleasant aura that Leon and others were sure of their chances.
It severely hurt the demon.
"We don't have time to chit-chat with him." After hearing the demon's words, Louise disliked the uncomfortable feeling within her heart.
Leon noticed her troubled feelings and nodded.
Celes also parted her lips to speak, but the demon was faster.
"Vampires were known as demons, too. Though it was far in the past, you enslaved and used humans and monsters worse than slaves. I believe you have what it takes to step on a demonic path, Celes Diamante. Join me and become my pet. You'll experience the debauchery era of demons by my side." The demon's eyes widened in joy and anticipation of the future.
Celes brought out her bloody threads and used one of her newest skills to use the bloody black threads, turning her uniform sexy and revealing. She wrapped them around one pillar, then exerting all of her strength, Celes brought it down and smashed against two other pillars, destroying a total of three of them in an instant.
"I'm a slave to my heart, which is taken. And I'd rather kill myself than be with a demon." Celes spoke without hiding her disgust: be it her contorted face or displeased tone, the vampiress didn't hide her feelings.
"How about you, Blue Thanatos?" The demon noticed a hint of madness and affection toward a certain someone within Celes' eyes, which made him shiver within his demon eye, so he quickly shifted to someone else, choosing Alexandra as she was the only one left that he could coax to his side. "It hurts my eye to see you wearing maid clothes, serving a human. Your fierceness and fearless heart, with the blood of humans and monsters flowing down in your wake, has inspired countless newest generations of demon spawns. We'll bring you back to your peak and give you battlefields where you can be yourself!"
Alexandra shook her head, not saying a word. That would only reveal her identity and that she was not the evil dragon that the demon thought of… Still, the demon's words had given many thoughts to the dragon maid.
"I'm baffled. How can you stay next to this woman, then? I've indeed seen her once, and I was no more than a brat three thousand years ago, but those cold eyes are too similar to hers! And just like Celes Diamante, she had lost to The Human Emperor! Tell me then! Why are you next to The Nine-Tailed Star, whose claws killed The Dragon?"
"…"
Alexandra and the evil dragon within her froze.
'Even she is frightened…' Alexandra commented inwardly, looking at the naked evil woman within her.