24 Chp.21: Killing

Ethan was over the moon. He clearly recognized that place: it was the point from which he and his companions had entered the valley! The same point that now would be his way out of that nightmare he was living! He couldn't believe it... he was safe!

"What are you doing there dazed? Move!" Haku growled as he started down the path. Ethan hurried to imitate him: he wanted to get out of the great dragon's territory right away!

Haku ignored the man, continuing down the rocky path. While it wasn't very wide, it was still wide enough for a baby dragon to fit through. Haku was pleased: unbeknownst to Ethan he had obtained another important piece of information thanks to him, namely where the exit from the valley was. If his mother, once the time was up, had been willing to eat them, he and his siblings couldn't have wasted time looking for a way to escape from her territory. Now, at least Haku knew where to find it.

The two continued for almost half an hour, and then finally the path widened, until it vanished, giving way to a very large area. Haku finally got a glimpse of the world outside the valley. He had never seen it before. However, all he could see was another forest, no different than what was inside the valley. At least that proved that Ethan hadn't lied, at least about geography; even though Haku doubted that the human had lied to him about anything since the information was too detailed to be false, he couldn't completely trust him anyway, therefore he didn't dislike receiving proof of the truthfulness of his words.

In any case, their time together had now come to an end. "Now my mother won't chase you anymore" he said. "However, I suggest you to keep a low profile until you are back in your kingdom. We dragons are a very resentful species; if my mother would smell you, or if she would notice you when she flies, or if she would learn where you are, even if you are out of her territory she may decide to pursue you. Don't underestimate a dragon's anger, so listen to me. You will die a little later if you'll do it, so do as I advise you if you like living"

Ethan had no qualms about believing him: after all, the rancor and anger of dragons were well known. "I will keep your advice in mind! Thank you very much, your excellency!" he exclaimed with a smile, taking a half bow.

Haku shook his head. "You don't have to thank me, I kept my part of the agreement. However, before we part, I still have one last question for you"

"No problem! Please tell me"

"You said it takes at least four or five legendary level newcomers to defeat an adult dragon. However, does this apply to all dragons, or does it vary depending on how many domains the dragon has?"

Ethan bit his lip. "I see you are quite wise. Yes, I actually forgot to specify that part" he apologized, realizing his mistake. "Four or five legendary levels can take out a standard adult dragon, that is, a dragon with only one domain. However, the more domains the dragon controls, the more legendary level people it takes to take him down. After all, not only a dragon with more domains he has many more spells, but he is also extremely stronger and bigger and has a great experience having lived so long. I know that some time ago in the extreme south of the continent a dragon with three different domains appeared, and it took even twenty legendary warriors to eliminate him"

"Twenty?" Haku narrowed his eyes. "But haven't you said that each nation have a limited number of legendary level newcomers?"

"Yes, but in extreme cases like this, nations generally settle any differences and form a single team by bringing together all the legendary warriors in their possession. After all, no one would want to leave such a dangerous dragon lying around. No offense" Ethan hastened to add.

This was understandable from Haku's point of view. The enemy of my enemy is my friend; it was a natural law. Once, for example, he had seen an ophiotaurus and an indrik fighting over a shrub, but as soon as a gigantic raiju (a very large tiger capable of partially changing shape to fight) appeared, the two animals immediately forgot their fight and they had united against it. Therefore if dragons were the natural enemies of all life forms, then any conflict the newcomers had between them would vanish at the appearance of such a terrifying predator. "Is a dragon with three domains really so dangerous?" he asked.

"Of course! Rumor says that his power was such that he could level a small nation to the ground in a day. He was an absolute force of the nature, comparable to a walking volcano" Ethan replied, sycophantic as usual.

Haku almost found himself daydreaming, wondering how wonderful it must be to feel so powerful. In the same way, however, he realized once again how endangered dragons were. Even a being believed to be invincible by everyone like a dragon with three domains had fallen under the union of all the newcomers.

Suddenly something occurred to him. "Oh, but this raises another question: how do you newcomers use mana? We dragons get a domain every four hundred years, but I understand from your stories that you newcomers use a different approach"

Ethan shook his head. "Unfortunately I'm not an expert in this field, your excellency, so I can't give you a complete answer. For that you would need at least a senior wizard... What I know though is that we newcomers, regardless of what race we are, can use as much immediately any kind of magic"

"Any?"

"Yes, any. However, that doesn't make us stronger. Dragons naturally gain a domain, and the instant they unlock it they are already capable of mastering all types of spells and magic related to it, regardless of their class or however, they cannot use spells of elements other than that of their domain, at least until they obtain another one.We newcomers, on the other hand, can master all spells of all elements without restrictions, but unlike dragons, we have to learn and master them with difficulty , effort and above all a long, long time" Ethan threw up his hands. "That's all I know. I'm not lying, I swear"

Haku had no doubts that it was so: Ethan hadn't lied to him up to that moment and he doubted that he would start now. Now he understood many things. So newcomers could manipulate mana in different ways, switching from fire spells to unrestricted water spells, while dragons instead had to wait for their domains to unlock naturally? However, while he was happy to get such an answer, he now had even more questions. Why was there such a difference? There had to be a reason, right? So what was it? Why did dragons have a domain, while newcomers could use any kind of magic?

Unfortunately, he couldn't have a certain answer at the moment. Ethan didn't seem to be able to provide it and had no one else to ask. He could do nothing but hold on to his questions and hope to find out the truth one day. In any case, that information wasn't useful to his plan, so he could ignore it for now.

"Okay. Thanks for your cooperation" he said, then placed Ethan's diary (which he still held in his paw) back into the dimensional bag, which he then handed to the human. "Here, I'll give you your things back, then you can go on your way"

"Oh, thank you, your excellency!" Ethan exclaimed with glittering eyes, happy to finally be able to get out of that nightmare.

Haku almost laughed when he saw the human take the bag in his hands as if it were a chick. "We put all your stuff in there. Your weapon, your map, everything. You can also check if that makes you feel safer"

"Oh, I would never doubt you, your excellency!" Ethan answered, but he opened the bag anyway. He was happy to see that inside there were really all his things. "Good, here's my crossbow and..."

He didn't have time to say anything more; there was a flicker and then his senses seemed to shut down. A stream of blood spattered onto the parched ground in front of him. Ethan felt all strength leave him and he dropped the bag, then slid to his knees. His hands instinctively went up to his neck, where they smeared with blood. At that moment, Ethan came to his senses and could clearly feel the pain and the shortness of breath, realizing that his neck had been ripped open. As he tried in vain to stop the bleeding, he barely looked up and saw Haku wagging his tail, from which a lot of red liquid was dripping.

Blood. His blood.

At that point everything was clear to Ethan. "Why..." he was only able to whisper, struggling to articulate the words due to the cut trachea.

"I promised you I would accompany you out of the valley, and I did. I never said that I'd let you go alive after this point" Haku replied as he licked his tail off the blood. There was even some flesh left on its sharp scales, which the dragon enjoyed very much. "If you think I'm going to let you go around, risking that you will reveal my plans to everyone, then you're really stupid. I'm not surprised you used to go with those three idiots. You have more knowledge than they, but in terms of intelligence... you're on the same level"

Ethan realized he had been duped. He hadn't fully trusted Haku even before, and in fact he had kept his guard up all the time, but when the dragon had returned his things to him, he had been too excited and self-confident and had lowered his defenses. For that brief moment, he had stopped caring about the dragon. And the dragon had killed him without a second thought. It was really true that dragons, while always keeping their promises, were excellent deceivers...

"Oh, and this stuff is too useful to leave to a cockroach like you. I will know how to make better use of it than any other you would have made" Haku said again picking up the dimensional bag and waving it in his paw. "As far as you've told me, none of the ogres and fairies come near this place, and since you used to come here they probably already gave you a goner. Besides, even if you were sent here by your king, your home kingdom is still far away, so I doubt that the people that sent you here will worry about your not returning very soon. They'll probably just think you had a setback, or that you wanted to inspect something better, and they won't send someone to find you to avoid interfering with your mission. Definitely, no one will notice your disappearance. If I let you go, instead, you could reveal certain things that must remain secret, or you could warn the ogres and fairies, or you could even come back here in the future looking for some silly revenge... so it is better for everyone if you just die right here, right now"

Ethan's body began to visibly shake and his eyes began to lose color. "B... Bastard..." the human whispered with the last breath he had in his body, to then fall completely lifeless to the ground. There was still some spasm, then he didn't move again. Haku was left alone with a corpse and a pool of blood that widened by the second.

"Well, what can I say... thank you for your noble sacrifice. I'll always remember you name and what you have done for me and my family. Your information and your silence could have saved not just one, but seventeen lives" Haku said looking at Ethan's lifeless body. "To thank you, I won't allow the stupid beasts of this forest to make havoc of your body. I will tear you apart and then I will divide you with my brothers and sisters. So be happy: your flesh will satisfy the most noble and powerful creatures of this world. There is perhaps a greater honor for a insect like you?"