1 Chapter 1
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
"Fire Dragons's Iron Fist!"
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
In Mount Hakobe, just north of Town of Magnolia, a young man with pink hair and a scarf wrapped around his neck can be seen laughing like a madman while attacking a horde of Vulcans.
The alpine climate of the place and snow covering it seems to not bother him as he rampaged like a housewife in a mall during Black Friday.
"Natsu, what if you disturb a Blizzardvern? You can't beat one with your current strength." Said a flying, talking, blue cat.
Natsu Dragneel, the pink haired man, just grinned at his partner, "Don't worry Happy, it won't be much of a training if I'm not struggling. S-Class Trials is around the corner, I need to be as strong as I can get before then!"
"Okay." Happy, the cat, or Exceed, nodded at him. "Be careful."
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
Thus, the man and the cat continued their journey climbing the highest peak of Mount Hakobe while blasting every Vulcans they find on the way.
As a fire mage, a cold environment does lower his attack potency as it restricts the power of his flames, so this place is the perfect training ground for him.
Not to mention, by climbing the highest peak of Mount Hakobe where oxygen is thin, he can train his cardiovascular system and even improve the performance of his body.
He used to train on top of a mountain too when he was child and is being trained by Igneel, so he was not a stranger to this type of training.
"Natsu, I'm tired." Said Happy, looking exhausted.
"Hm?" Natsu turned around and looked at his partner who was panting and decided to carry him on his arms, "Here, just rest for now bud."
He looked around, before noticing a small cave not far from where he was.
"Let's go and take rest over there," he said as he approached the cave. He heated up his body, trying to keep Happy warm and ignoring the blizzard.
Finally, after a few minutes of walking, Natsu arrived in the cave as he laid Happy down, letting him rest.
"Sorry for dragging you back Natsu," apologized Happy.
Natsu just grinned and ruffled his head, "What are you talking about? There is no need to apologize for something so trivial. In fact, I should be the one apologizing for dragging you here."
With that, Natsu lit up his hands …however, the moment he did so, the cave began to glow as a bunch of runes written on the ground lit up.
"What the fu—!?"
Before the two could even react, the light engulfed them.
...…
...
…
"Where the fuck are we?!" Natsu exclaimed as he looked around on what seem to be a wide hallway made out of stone-bricks. Base on the moss and cracks, this place should be old.
"Maybe it's a labyrinth?" Said Happy, who was resting on Natsu's head.
"Could be—hm?" Natsu narrowed his eyes as his fists combusts into flames, "Who's there!?"
While it became obvious there'd be no verbal response after the first few seconds... the pair of glowing crimson eyes that appeared in the darkness was response enough.
Practically feeling his skin blanching as he raised his fists at the ready, Natsu stared as the creature slowly... intelligently... made its way into the dimly lit area and analyzed its prey.
"A two-tailed dog?"
"It's a wolf."
No growl. No roar. Not a single warning as the beast, seemingly aware of the danger posed by this single human, pounced with unbelievable speed to try and take him down the first chance it got.
Natsu dodged the initial attack as side-stepped, before bending backwards to dodge a claw strike of the wolf.
"You bastard!" Natsu lit his feet with flames as he kicked the wolf to the chin while doing a backflip, before taking a deep breath and roared, "Fire Dragon's Roar!"
The torrent of flame he spewed from his mouth engulfed the wolf, burning it to crisp.
"Natsu good job!" Happy gave a thumbs up.
"Wahaha! These guys are easy!" Natsu pumped his fist, before noticing a few more wolves emerging from the dark hallway.
He grinned, "Happy, go and hide somewhere."
"Aye!" Happy flew up from his head to observe the fight from above.
"Come and get me!" Natsu's hands lit up in flames, "I'm all fired up!"
...…
...
…
Natsu and Happy slowly advanced to the depths of the labyrinth, easily beating every monsters they come across.
The dragon slayer was having a blast; not only can he train, he can also have fun while he's at it.
Though, he did feel a little exhausted considering he was facing possibly several hundreds, most probably in the thousands of beasts as they continued walking forward.
The labyrinth was huge. They have traversed twelve floors in total and this would be the thirteenth. On the twelfth floor they even saw a river with some piranhas that shoots electricity.
Finally, after a few hours, Natsu and Happy arrived in front of a five meter tall stone door.
"Oh! This might be the last room! There's probably a lot of treasures inside! Let's go Happy!"
"Aye!"
Without hesitation, the two opened the door and went inside.
They were immediately greeted by a dimly lit hall with a large altar on the center, and resting on top of said altar is an enormous chimeric beast made of flames.
It has a head of a lion, a body of a tiger, wings of an eagle, horn of a bull, and has a snake for its tail.
The moment Natsu and Happy entered, the sleeping beast opened its eyes and stood up.
ROOOAAAARRR!!!!
It let out a thunderous roar, possibly trying to intimidate the intruders, unfortunately, he was trying to intimidate Natsu.
"Hehehe, Happy you think I can eat that?" Natsu wiped the saliva flowing out of his mouth.
"If it doesn't eat you first." Replied Happy.
"No problem! Fire won't affect me!"
Natsu ran towards the beast, and said beast let out another roar before spewing out a large torrent of flame.
The dragon slayer ignored the incoming flames, even thinking of eating it.
However, the moment the flames came into contact with his skin, Natsu's eyes widened as for the first time, he felt a 'burning' sensation.
"AAAHHHH!!!" He writhed, for the first time he had experienced what it feels like being burnt.
"Natsu!?"
"It hurts! Goddammit what kind of flames are those!?" Natsu glared at the beast.
The beast roared and leapt towards him, with Natsu quickly rolling to the side as he roared, "FIRE DRAGO'S ROAR!"
The beast was unaffected. On the contrary, it seems to only anger the beast as it chased him around with its flaming body.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
The beast shrugged it off.
"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"
The beast ignored it.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
It was unaffected.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
The beast shielded itself with its wings.
Seeing that, Natsu grinned as he propelled himself forward. He clenched his fist burning in flames, aiming for the head, "Eat this! Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Boom!
"Hehe," Natsu grinned as he leapt back, however thinking that the beast might still be fine, he decided to do another blow, "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
However, much to his shock, the snake-like tail of the beast moved and wrapped itself around him, halting his attack.
"What!?"
"Natsu!"
Natsu's eyes widened as the beast opened its mouth, trying to swallow him whole. However, Natsu reacted quickly as he raised his hand to catch the beasts fangs and stopped its jaws with his feet.
The fangs pierced his palm, but he ignored the pain and grinned as he was now in front of the mouth of the beast.
If attacking it from outside won't work, then burn it up from the inside.
He took a deep breath, "Fire Dragon's Roar!!!"
A large explosion occurred as Natsu set the beast ablaze from inside out.
"Natsu!" Happy revealed his wings as he flew to catch Natsu who was sent flying by an explosion, "Are you okay?"
Natsu shook his head, feeling dizzy from being thrown by the explosion, "Y-Yeah, I think—wait, look!"
He pointed at the beast …or what's left of it. On the floor was a small crimson flame that seems to be flickering and on the verge of dying.
"Let me eat it before it disappears!" Natsu exclaimed as Happy put him down in front of the flame, "Hehehe, I wonder how this tastes."
He picked it up, and almost immediately he felt a burning sensation on his palm. But he ignored it in favor of gulping down the entire fire.
Gulp.
"Holy shit it's delicio—grk, a-argh!?" Natsu's eyes widened as he felt like his insides were being cooked.
"Natsu?"
He dropped down to the floor, writhing and wriggling in agony while clutching neck, "…urgh, krk, h-hurts, it—, it hurts, urgg!?"
"Natsu!" Happy was looking at his partner worriedly.
He couldn't even help ease the pain, the only thing he can do was cry and hoped that Natsu is going to be okay.
"W-Wat—, er, water,—," Natsu croaked out.
Hearing this, Happy wiped his tears and nodded, "Don't worry Natsu, I'll give you as much as you need. Just hang in there!"
He remembered that they saw a river back on twelfth floor, so that's where he will go. He can't bring Natsu there, there were Piranhas that shoots lightning in that river, with Natsu as he is now he can't protect himself.
So Happy must be the one get it.
With his wings out, Happy flew towards the twelfth floor in full speed.
