Boom!
Caesar slammed a Bulldoze into the ground; the earth shuddered, intensifying the chaos.
What is that?!
Another monster?!
Inside the Sandstorm Instructor Raymond and the students were terrified. They could see nothing, only feel the ground quake as scorching steam and grit slapped their faces.
Was this sudden blue dragon-thing friend or foe?
Whatever it was, the uproar had pulled the crab tide off them and bought a brief reprieve.
The Giant Crystal Crab King was enraged by the Sandstorm.
Its eerie, all-white eyes snapped toward the heart of the storm, sensing the unfamiliar, taunting draconic might.
Screeeech!!!
With an ear-splitting cry the crab-king abandoned the humans and, like a moving mountain, rumbled after the disturbance Caesar had created—most of the horde following.
Aggro: successfully redirected.
Yet a few stray Crystalline Rock Shell Crabs skittered through the edge of the dust cloud and spotted Veronica lying helpless.
The level-20 crabs ringed her, pincers glinting overhead.
Veronica's eyes held despair and disbelief.
Why?
It was only a simple end-term field exam—how had it come to this?
She closed her eyes and waited for death.
At that instant—
A blue blur ghosted into the fray!
Crack! Crack-crack!
The crabs' crystal shells might have been paper: pierced, kicked aside, smashed against distant rock.
Veronica felt herself lifted by the waist.
She snapped her eyes open and met cold, sharp golden slits.
Not human—dragon.
The blue monster-dragon!
A creature she had never seen in any bestiary.
Bipedal, its frame like a savage shark. Deep-blue scales gleamed metallic in the dim light; two brutal horns jutted from its head—raw, primal violence made flesh.
The claw that held her brimmed with ominous negative energy; its chill almost froze her skin.
With one Shadow Claw Caesar wiped out the crabs, then swept Veronica up in the same shadow-wreathed talon and darted from the hot zone.
He hadn't rescued her out of kindness.
In the scramble he'd glimpsed her shield a classmate with a glowing blue defensive spell.
That barrier looked familiar—like the move Protect.
Normal-type factor…?
He raced along the fringe of the battlefield, glancing down at the stunned human female.
Worth a try.
He dipped his head; the barbed tongue shot out and dragged once—firmly—across her blood-and-mud-streaked cheek.
Cold, slimy, reeking of earth.
Aieeeeee!!!
Veronica's shriek could have shattered glass.
Her mind went white.
She… had just been licked—by a dragon?
Yet in Caesar's mind rang sweet music.
[Ding! Active Normal-type factor detected—absorbing…]
[EXP +100! Skill learned: Protect!]
[Protect: expend mana to block one attack completely; repeated use lowers success rate sharply.]
Success!
Inwardly elated, Caesar kept his reptilian face wary and impassive.
He bounded behind a huge rock, still carrying the screaming girl in his Shadow Claw, then dumped her like a sack.
Veronica landed in a heap, head spinning, senses slowly returning.
The noble-born girl touched her face.
The icy, fishy residue turned her stomach.
But… she looked up. The deep-blue figure was now circling the mountain-sized Giant Crystal Crab King, harrying it with agile footwork and ground magic, buying time for the students trapped in the storm—its lashing shark-tail and jagged silhouette looked, absurdly, dependable—
Veronica's heart swam in tangled Confusion.
A wild monster-dragon had saved her.
Why?
As a magical Genius she had dreamed since childhood of contracting a True Dragon and becoming a famed dragon-mage.
But every tome said Dragon Clan looked on Mortals as ants; they would never deign to partner with one.
Had her luck finally turned?
A wild, absurd hope sprouted and ran riot.
Had this unknown earth-dragon sensed her unique gift, her unparalleled charm and potential, and chosen her from among thousands?
That lick—could it be a draconic reassurance, not an attack? Or a healing gesture…?
She recalled the cold energy; the tongue had soothed her Mental Energy, still raw from her pet's death. Yes—had to be!
In an instant she spun a hundred fantasies, her face flushing with feverish excitement.
This was a real Dragon—primitive, violent, mighty, yet able to recognize true Genius!
Whether True Dragon or Sub-dragon, with power like that it couldn't be a mere Mortal beast.
If she could bond with it she might become Lordaeron Empire's greatest dragon-mage, famed across the land—perhaps even share the Dragon Clan's longevity. Her gaze on the distant blue figure blazed with hot expectation—
"…?"
Caesar, busy baiting the Giant Crystal Crab King, glanced back.
The silver-haired girl was shivering one second, eyes sparkling the next, face cycling through a dozen emotions—
What is she thinking?
His stride faltered.
Damn… why do I suddenly feel so cringe?