Izo swept his tail, gently piling the snow mound back together.
Then, he took to the sky once more, rushing toward the Everfrost Great Rift at full speed.
The howling wind roared past his ears as dark silver moonlight pierced the dark clouds, gleaming brightly off Izo's scales. From afar, he resembled a silvery-white meteor streaking through the pitch-black night sky.
This time, Izo moved even faster, taking only a single day before the massive rift spanning across the icefield came into view.
Before heading down, there was still something Izo needed to do.
He had to test the specific effects of his tail ring first; challenging a "boss" without knowing the strength of a new ability was extremely unwise.
Not far away on the icefield, a massive Frigid-Tooth Beast was leisurely searching for its morning meal.
This Frigid-Tooth Beast was pure white all over, resembling a polar bear. Two giant tusks protruded from its mouth, and its back, waist, belly, and joints were covered in grey "armor."
Although it was not a top predator of the Northern Territory, its strength within its ecological niche was still impressive. An ordinary four-person adventurer party, if ill-coordinated, stood a high chance of being completely wiped out by it.
Clearly, though, this particular Frigid-Tooth Beast was down on its luck.
It had not run into some ordinary adventurer party, but Izo, poised to strike high in the sky.
Izo treated it as a test subject to try out the tail ring's effects.
As a large amount of mana poured into it, the tail ring spun faster and faster, beginning to glow with a faint grey light.
Izo could feel a surge of energy feeding back into his tail through the ring. With a single thought, he could launch this energy forth.
High in the air, Izo aimed the tip of his tail at the oblivious Frigid-Tooth Beast on the icefield.
Buzz—!
After a faint hum, a greyish-white beam of light shot out like a guided laser, tearing across the six-hundred-meter distance at extreme speed.
It slammed directly onto the back armor of the Frigid-Tooth Beast.
The beam burst violently, expanding into a forcefield with a radius of about three meters that enveloped the entire beast, surrounded on the outermost layer by several rings of indecipherable runes.
The forcefield was not transparent; looking in from the outside was like peering through a layer of uneven frosted glass.
Izo landed next to the forcefield. Watching the Frigid-Tooth Beast frozen motionless inside with an alert and panicked expression, he felt somewhat surprised.
The scene before him completely defied Izo's understanding; he had no idea how this imprisonment spell was constructed.
At first glance, it looked as though space itself had been bound.
Staring at the marvelous sight, Izo couldn't help slowly reaching a claw toward the forcefield.
Passing through the frosted-glass-like forcefield, Izo felt only a slight viscosity in the air, without the extreme reaction of complete immobilization shown by the Frigid-Tooth Beast.
Wanting to investigate further, Izo shoved most of his body inside.
Instantly, he felt his mind grow chaotic.
Right then, an unfamiliar ring of runes lit up on the tail ring, and the mental cloudiness vanished immediately afterward.
Is this... materialized mental magic?
No wonder it lacks the hard control of a conventional restraint spell, and it's certainly not a high-level space magic phenomenon. I overthought it.
Crack!
With Izo's entry, the forcefield quickly shattered.
Snapping back to reality, the Frigid-Tooth Beast practically jumped out of its skin in fright.
From its perspective, this six-meter-long dragon was like a ghost, surrounding it in an instant right after a greyish-white light appeared.
Before the Frigid-Tooth Beast could react further, it was met with Izo's gaping, bloody maw.
"Crunch!" Its head was bitten clean off. Gushing columns of blood melted the snow on the ground and stained Izo's silver scales red.
A series of crunching, chewing sounds echoed out before the massive head was swallowed into Izo's stomach.
It tasted somewhat like a mix of chicken and beef—not bad at all.
Thinking this over, Izo picked up the beast's three-meter-long carcass like grabbing a lamb, then flew toward the bottom of the Great Rift.
He intended to bring this food to Goliya so it wouldn't go to waste.
The Everfrost Great Rift was just as usual, with biting cold winds sweeping along icy debris as they howled past.
Passing through the ice cave and several snow tunnels, Izo arrived in front of the dragon lair once more.
This time, he deliberately circled the perimeter to make sure there was no danger nearby.
However, he quickly noticed something amiss.
Outside the dragon lair were massive marks of struggle, along with splatters of dark purple liquid. Izo stepped forward and sniffed; a stench of rot and decay mixed with a metallic rusted smell blasted into his nostrils.
Is this blood?
Did that monster come back? Could Goliya have been killed by it??
He immediately realized the extremely dangerous implications.
Thus, Izo set down the Frigid-Tooth Beast carcass and quietly walked into the dragon lair.
Passing through the long, narrow tunnel, light gradually overflowed forward.
The first sight that greeted him was a battle-scarred Goliya lying on her "throne." Marks of intense struggle were everywhere, and the entire dragon lair looked on the verge of collapsing.
Izo's heart tightened. He didn't call Goliya's name right away, instead looking around to ensure there were no ambushes.
Only then did he slowly step forward, calling out uncertainly:
"Goliya, Goliya."
"Are you still alive?"
Hearing the noise, Goliya abruptly snapped open her glowing purple slitted pupils, though there wasn't much madness left in her eyes.
She slowly turned her head. This time, it was Izo's turn to be startled—one of her pair of dragon horns had snapped off, with twisted crystals growing and extending out from the stump.
The crystals were dark purple, spreading all the way down from Goliya's horn along her body until slowly fading away near her belly.
"How did you end up like this?"
A flash of violence flickered in Goliya's eyes. With a light leap, the twelve-meter-long dragon jumped down from the towering throne.
"After you left, that fellow came back."
"So you won?"
"Of course!! Otherwise I'd already be reporting to the Dragon Graveyard!!!"
"Hmm... You certainly seem much more energetic."
The current Goliya exuded an imposing aura, showing none of her previous sickly appearance.
How strange... She has more wounds now, yet she isn't weaker?
"Yes, I found a turn of events..."
"As long as I consume that thing's flesh and blood, the wounds will heal!!"
"Are you sure?"
Izo looked at the sprawling wounds on Goliya's body and her exposed, dark purple flesh, feeling somewhat doubtful.
"Izo, I need your help!!"
"If you can bring back that thing's corpse, I'll give you everything in my treasure hoard!!!"
Hearing this, Izo hesitated.
What made him hesitate was that the dragon before him didn't quite seem like Goliya.
Based on his understanding of Goliya, this big mother dragon would rather die than hand over her treasures. Besides, she used to treat life and death with utter indifference; her current desire to survive felt unnaturally intense.
Whatever. Even without those treasures, I would still help her.
After all, thoroughly killing that thing is also beneficial to my own development in the Everfrost Great Rift.
Perhaps these repeated near-death experiences have reignited the big mother dragon's survival instinct.
"Alright, I promise you."
Rate on N.U.
