Adventures of the last Wild Dragon

Chapter 304: Fight at the Farm (7)

As Violet watched the corpse of the red dragon collapse to the ground she felt both a wave of saddness along with a surge of power.

The sadness due to her being forced to kill a member of her own race, a strong dragon that had likely endured a lot to get there. Yet it was a broken beast, its mind no longer its own and its will having been suborned.

The power naturally came from the rush of levels that she had gained from the battle. It was an impressive haul of 6 full levels, it brought her one step closer to reaching into the late stage of tier 4, and one step closer to becoming a sovereign of her own.

However, that surge of strength was swiftly followed by a dramatic and painful shift.

Violet was unable to hold back a grasp of pain as the mana that was previously surging through her empowered body suddenly guttered out in an instant. Her muscles spasmed in strained pain.

Her mind which had been crystal clear turned to mush as complex thoughts became a challenge to great for her to figure out.

Violet slumped to the ground in an undignified heap as her everything hurt. She had instinctively understood that their would be some kind of backlash after using limit break, yet she was simply not prepared for how debilitating that backlash would actually be.

If this were to happen in the middle of a battle she would be left helpless, a shiver ran down her spin as she promised herself to be very carefull in the future when using this skill lest she find herself in a truly deadly situation.

After a minute of pained rest, Violet managed to pull herself to her feet with a groan of discomfort. Her head cocked to the side as she focused in on the sound of nearby battle, curious to see what exactly was causing that noise.

Then her ears picked up the unmistakable sound of a pained hole from a young dragon.

All thoughts or concerns about her own state vanished from Violet’s mind, she instantly took off in a dead sprint. Smashing her way through buildings in her rush to reach the desperate cries of young dragons in pain.

She rounded the last corner in a cloud of debris and the sound of sundering stone. Her still somewhat frazzled mind taking in all of the details rapidly.

Seated before her was an uncomfortable sight. Dozens of dead dragons and slaves lay on the ground at the feet of advancing soldiers, fresh blood seeping out from the wounds littering their frail bodies.

An emerald dragon lay spasming on the floor to one side, yet she did not seem to be suffering from any significant wounds which initially confused Violet. Then she remembered that she was bound to the city lord, and perhaps the pain of loosing that bond had rendered her insensate to the world.

That then allowed the guards to rush forwards and deal with the turncoat dragons and slaves with extreme prejudice.

Even now the guards moved forward, blood spilling from their weapons as they advanced on the slowly retreading former slaves.

Hot anger boiled up within Violet as she witnessed that sigh, the remenants of her weakness banished from her mind as righteous fury surged within her.

A bone rattling roar burst from Violet’s maw as she fully unveiled her presence and draconic aura.

The remaining guards that had been previously advancing on the former slaves had held arrogant expressions, sure their captains had been slain by that terrifying ice creature, but they had overcome it. Then the obstinate green dragon that had been preventing their attacks had fallen over and started spasming.

Finally they could deliver the punishment due to those that dared to try and escape their place in life.

Then they heard a roar that rattled their very bones followed an instant later by a pressure that caused them to collapse to their knees as abject fear struck their very souls, it was as if a true apex predator was suddenly breathing down their necks whilst a small mountain had settled on their shoulders. It was terrifying.

Those capable of it turned their heads in the direction of the roar, their pathetic whimpers of distress was all they got out before bolts of utter nothingness rained down on the now kneeling guards.

They did not survive the onslaught.

A subdued silence settled over the inner reaches of the compound. Those remaining freed slaves and dragons looked on at Violet like she was a storybook hero descending from up high to save them in their time of need.

She truly was from their perspective. They had little hope left in them, they lived in fear of the next beating or of a painful death dealt to them from no fault of their own. The life of a slave was not an easy one.

Yet in came this incarnation of the Wilds itself, she sundered their chains, killed their oppressors and saved them from certain death. What else would they do but gaze admiringly at the majestic sight of the purple and onyx dragon that towered above them all.

The dragons were in much the same state, they had never know freedom, they didn’t even know what it meant until this day. Their mind were stilted, their wills breaking, yet when they felt the presence of the wild dragon before them.

Everything changed, their flickering wills surged with newfound strength and determination. They suddenly desired more, they wanted to experience more, gain more power, they wanted more for themselves than living whilst in chains.

And the noble elder before them had delivered.

Violet observed the crowd before her, pain flickering through her raw emotions as she counted up the remaining escapees.

From the initial amount that numbered in the hundreds, that number had been brutally culled.

No more than 20 former slaves still stood alongside 15 young dragons consisting of 5 infant dragons in tier 1 and 10 young dragons in tier 2.

The slaves were all in tier 2, with the exception of a singular tier 3. It was a painful sight for Violet to witness, so much pain had befallen those that she had chosen to aid. All that pain simply because Violet was simply too weak to protect them, if only she was stronger, better, faster!

Her spelling thoughts were interrupted when a familiar and welcoming weight settled onto her back, the warm sensations flowing through their bond soothing Violet strained emotions near instantly.

"Thank you." Said Violet after a slow inhale.

"Any time, but we have another problem that we need to deal with before we can relax." Replied Luna with some worry in her voice.

That insult snapped Violet back to awareness and her tired mind surged back into action.

"Steelclaw is not doing too well. Whilst most of the guards have been defeated, she is struggling to hold back the sovereign last I saw. I think we need to go help, I don’t know what could happen if she were to fall."

Worry shot through Violet at those words, yet she clamped her will down o her emotions and refused to entertain the thought. Her gaze turned back to the escapees that still looked at Violet with wonder in their eyes.

Violet quickly snapped a mental bridge between her and all the dragons and slaves present.

"You all need to stay here within these runes, they will protect you so long as you stand within the circle. We need to go deal with the remaining guards, we will be back soon."

As she spoke she also quickly etched some defensive runes into existence around the huddled group. Then without warning she leapt into the air, with a mighty flap of her wings both violet and Luna raced towards the wall and the battle between sovereigns that awaited them outside.

**

Steelclaw was in pain.

Countless cuts littered her body, her steel fur marred with copious blood.

Her opponent was not in perfect condition either, yet he was in considerably better condition than she herself was.

At first Steelclaw had thought that she would not have to worry about this human sovereign or his soilders. She had been able to match the power of his domain.

Then she enjoyed a strong start to the battle, able to hold back and even go on the offensive against the metal clad man.

Yet her advantage slowly began to disperse under the unrelenting attack of the man before her.

Craters littered the ground from the force of their clashes. Ragged furrows multiple meters long and deep crisscrossed the innumerable craters. Crumpled corpses of mangled beasts and humans alike littered the surroundings.

Yet that was not what truly worrried Steelclaw. She had been dealt painful blows before, she had endured through fights against stronger foes.

It was the nature of this foe that truly worried her. For this man had a truly insidious domain.

For the longer the battle went on and the more that the guard wounded her, Steelclaw felt her determination falter, her will being sapped and her domain begining to crumble.

She growed angrily at the man, fear begining to seep into her being.

Then she saw it. A purple and onyx dragon flying high in the sky, a grin split her mouth as newfound confidence grew within her.