POV Vesuvius:
The massive body of the basilisk fell to the ground, neon-red flames slowly consuming it.
The dragon just stood there watching it burn, his anger at the snake's trickery slowly subsiding after its death.
He was still confused about the mysterious system dinging. There was only sound but no text.
'Ding!' It dinged again in his head, making him even more confused.
'Ding!' and then again.
A warm feeling of levelling up spread through his whole body and soul, filling him with adrenaline and warmth.
His pool of mana increased slightly, with his muscles strengthening slightly. He would even swear that the world around him became slower by a minuscule amount.
'Have I just levelled up? But why is there only a sound but no interface? Then If one ding was for level up, what were the other two?'
The dragon looked towards the volcanoes in the background, his heart beating excitedly. He could already feel the hot air and immensely powerful mana rumbling deep under him. He was in his element.
He looked at the dead snakes, his stomach turning just thinking about eating the toxic and contaminated monsters, feeling like they would give him a serious stomach ache.
He flapped his crystal wings, the cracks in them already closing up. The dragon shot towards the sky, his glowing body launching forward with a loud bang.
The explosion of magma and pyroclastic clouds from his hind legs propelled him forwards even faster.
He knew that there was one place on his body that would make it more practical, but he frowned in refusal just thinking about it, 'There is no way that I will explode from my ass!'
The volcano was getting closer and closer, the air becoming even warmer with a pungent smell of sulphur and ash entering his nostrils.
He sucked the air in with even more eagerness, his body filling with energy and his eyes contorting in sheer joy.
'I am finally home.'
The black column of smoke was getting closer and closer. The dragon, surrounded by his own column of smoke, quickly closed towards it, with the bright lights of explosion flashing behind and loud rumbling.
He stopped only when he was above the volcano caldera, his eyes looking straight into it.
The air rising out of it was immensely hot, causing a strong updraft. The orange magma bubbled and flowed inside.
With his mind turning into shambles under the flood of emotions, he dived straight downwards, the blazing heat sending pulses of joy through his scales.
Finally, his heavy body stone crashed straight into the caldera, magma splashing around him.
He was still too large, his body sinking only partially into hot magma, which started to bubble even more violently, slowly turning yellow as it turned even hotter with the dragon bathing in it.
Vesuvius felt his mind shut down, feeling immense bliss as if diving into a hot tub multiplied by tens.
His visions turned black, with tremendous energy flowing into his body.
His consciousness slowly faded away, drowned in relief and bliss.
POV ???:
Heavy snow was falling from the sky, and winds were howling in the narrow river canyon. The sound of steps and scratching of claws on the stone were bouncing between the tall stone cliffs.
Small wooden cottages were sewn all over the freezing-cold canyon. There was no smoke coming out of them, and no chimneys were on their roofs, making them look abandoned.
However, scale-covered bipedal monsters mingled along the small river passing through the canyon.
The snow around them was hissing and evaporating under the heat of their bodies.
They felt no cold, their hearts filled with the will of their sire.
A large wolf that looked made of cooling-down neon-red magma appeared in the distance of the canyon, running down along the river towards the small settlement.
A large kobold with long curled horns on his head and a peculiar red tint of his scales and eyes sat on top of it, his eyes brightly glowing.
The wolf-raiding kobold stopped before an even larger kobold, "Brother firstborn! We found tracks in the snow! They look human."
"Grrr!" All of the kobolds growled in anger, their dislike towards humans awakening deep within them. Humans were everything that they despised.
They were cowardly, tricksters and treacherous.
And worst, the killed kin of their sire, a sire that sacrifices his own precious body marrow to uplift them from their former lowly existences.
"Prepare wolf raiders. We will meet them!"
POV Tanya:
Tanya stood lonely in the tallest central tower of her castle. She somberly faced a large window, looking out into the distance at the incoming trail of carriages quickly moving down the road towards her town.
She felt desperate when looking at the incoming carriages. The time was quickly passing, and she tried to contact her master to proceed with their plan multiple times, but they were gone, nowhere to be found.
It was already a month since they vanished without a single word leaving her alone to her accords.
Without their strength, she couldn't scare away her opponents or mess with count to gain strong political support.
Her only relief was that she could still feel the connection to her master, which meant that they were alive and well.
'They likely must have felt disappointed with my incompetence. They left me because I was useless. Or is this just a trial?'
She looked straight towards the tower in the distance and clenched her soft fists, 'Yes, it must be a test. My master does not need a useless servant, as I was until now. In that case, I must become stronger and get through this by myself.'
She briefly remembered the rumours about the dragon doing some secret research under their tower, 'What if it isn't just a rumour? Maybe they left something for me that can make me even stronger. Maybe some tome of ancient knowledge?'
She turned towards the exit and briskly walked out, her heels tapping on the polished stone floor.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om