Chapter 1921: A Small Trouble Downtown
Ning and Blake’s phones blared at the same time as alerts rang all over the agency. Ning looked around, never having seen such a thing.
"What’s happening?" he asked.
"A big threat!" Blake said as he quickly pulled up his phone and read through the texts. His eyes went wide open. "There’s a massive beast downtown and the heroes are struggling to stop it. You have to—"
Before Blake could finish his words, Ning was already out of the training facility and flying toward the threat.
It took him not even a minute to arrive downtown, where he saw the stunning scene before him.
A massive beast moved in an awkward manner, smashing along the sides of buildings, tearing walls off in a single swipe. Ning watched the scene that could have only come straight out of a movie from his childhood.
’It looks like a giant lizard too,’ he thought.
It was a giant golden reptilian beast with shiny scales all along its body. It was over 50 feet tall and at least 20 feet wide. With its tail, its length could easily reach over a hundred feet.
The beast staggered, as if it had never walked a day in its life. Dozens of heroes gathered at its feet, all of whom seemed to be trying to get it to stop or outright kill it. But nothing they did was having any effect on the beast.
The beast suddenly roared, two giant wings sprouting from its back where previously there were none. The crowd stirred upon seeing that, each one now beginning to recognize the beast for what it was.
"Oh!" Ning was surprised too. He had heard of these existing in the past, and there were even rumors of such creatures existing on a far-off continent south of this one. But he had never thought he would see one here at all.
"A dragon, huh? They’re supposed to be intelligent. So why is this one acting so recklessly?"
The dragon suddenly roared, causing everyone to hold their ears from the loudness of its voice. Everyone cowered in fear. However, to Ning, the roar sounded like something entirely different.
Because of his ability to understand every language without having to ask the system, he could hear what the dragon was saying.
And it was clearly asking for one more drink.
"A drink?" Ning thought in surprise. He immediately flew down toward the dragon, stopping only when he was before its face. The people below began rejoicing at his arrival, knowing that the bat-like figure in the sky was none other than Blackfang, who had surely come to save the day.
Ning ignored those people at first, thinking of directly flying away with the dragon, but he was reminded of what Blake had told him these past few weeks.
He needed to establish his presence as a hero so he could continue rising through the ranks.
Ning stretched his arms, rotating them as he prepared to deliver a strong blow to knock the dragon out. After that, he could take the dragon back to the—
"Sir Valen?" the dragon roared suddenly.
Ning froze mid-air, surprised by the dragon’s voice. He stared at the dragon for a bit, looking directly into its eyes, and realized that he recognized that gaze.
"Jack?" Ning asked in surprise.
High in the air, no one could hear Ning’s voice except for the dragon.
"Sir Valen, have you come to pay for my tab?" the dragon asked, but the language it spoke was not the Conjoran language at all. "Buy me another round, please."
Ning stared at the dragon for a long moment before realizing what was happening. The dragon was Jack, and the damn thing was drunk as hell right now.
To the crowd below, Jack’s voice was nothing but growls and roars, so many people began moving away in fear. At the same time, Jack took a step forward, stumbled a little, and tried to grab the buildings for support, only to destroy them.
"Alright, you need to go to sleep now."
Ning moved forward and delivered a strong blow to Jack’s jaw, rattling the brain within and knocking him out completely. He then moved behind to catch him before he fell and laid him on the street for the moment so he could take him away later.
With the dragon defeated, the people cheered for Ning as he flew down to the ground. The few heroes surrounded him, each thanking him for his help as well as exclaiming how powerful he was to defeat such a monster that no one else could.
"System, what exactly did he awaken as his power?" Ning asked.
<The Dragonborn is able to transform into the ancient dragon from whom his bloodline descends. The transformation is both self-sustaining and reversible, meaning that he can choose which form to remain in and won’t have to worry about anything undoing it.>
"So he is immune to suppression fields and such, huh? That’s quite strong," Ning said. "But he can’t transform while under such conditions though."
<Correct.>
Having learned as much, Ning could only wait for the drunkard to come back to his senses and then ask him to transform back. Until then, however, he would have to keep him away from the public.
That was for later, though, as he had something else to do for now.
He turned toward the people, transforming back into his human self, and smiled as he waved toward them, causing the crowd to erupt into cheers.
Ning gave a small interview to some local news station, speaking of how easy it was to handle, while also giving credit to the heroes who had arrived before him. After answering a few of their questions, he said his goodbyes, as he had to take the dragon away.
He carried the beast in his arms and flew away from the location, leaving behind a crowd of awed individuals who would no doubt help his ranking in the coming month.
