Beyond the Virge

Chapter 2: The Demon and the Dragon

Waking up, I noticed a reflection of myself, but I couldn't believe my eyes. I looked different, standing up, I felt muscles. My chest was compressed into a 6 pack and my legs were tightened up. My hair was still black, but I had red streaks of hair within the front and one of my eyes glowed red. Haywire was apparently fixed, but I was still missing an eye. As I stood up, I started walking in a random direction, hoping to find a way out of this hell.

On the way, there were a collection of mid-level monsters, but they were surprisingly easy to beat. My speed felt increased and my dexterity felt stronger. After taking the lives of a few more monsters, I checked my level. The last time I checked, I was level 4, now I'm level 41. It was a huge level hop. Looking at what I unlocked, I saw new skills, and a hidden corrupted skill called "demonic." I remember Elderon telling me that the monsters are around level 7 so I had the most advantage.

I felt like I was going lower into the cavern, but I was slaying enemies left and right. After sneakily attacking some monsters, I realized they were human. Nothing was wrong with them. After hiding the bodies, I walked through the piles of dirt I heard talking in the back.

"This is a feisty dragon isn't she?" one of the men says. The dragon puffs a hot grey cloud.

"Maybe the mayor might take it for himself eh?"

"It's not fair, maybe we should have a turn with the dragon eh?"

"If we get caught, it's your fault."

As they were about to make a move, I jumped up and swung toward one guy, and knocked him out. I then took his spear and killed the other one. Looking at the dragon, it looked injured.

"Hey, don't worry I'm not here to kill you nor turn you in. I just wanted to help," I say, putting my hand out and slowly reaching towards the dragon. The dragon was large and white. I was only ⅕ the size of her. Her scales were white as snow and her horns blue as the ocean. Luckily the dragon went from an alarming state to a more calm state. Her breathing was calmer and her posture changed. "Trust me."

The dragon soon took her claw out and placed it against my palm, then I felt a shocking feeling within my hand and her. "Your name..." a voice says, "Who are you?"

"Clover Imaizumi, and who are you?"

"I am Rii Ida, a snow dragon. I have been locked here because of my divine power and what they thought is dangerous to these lands."

"It's good to meet you. Sounds tough. Here, now let me get you out of here," I say trying to break the chains with Haywire. As I barely chipped the lock, an alarm was raised and I heard footsteps going in my direction.

"You need to hide," she says, "Don't worry about me, I have a plan. The lock is barely broken so I can break free."

Nodding, I hide back in the pile of rubble as the group of soldiers come. Confused, they thought it was a false alarm; then I heard a smack.

"You fool!" an old man says, "the chain has been breached!"

After finishing his sentence the area started to feel colder. Taking a peak, Rii was able to breach and break the steel cage she was once held in and froze the enemies, smashing them into ice cubes. Looking back, I thought to myself This is probably someone I don't want to mess with... As the screams of terror turned into the frozen crackling of ice, I took another peek and she was gone.

"Hey," I hear a voice to my left.

"Gah!" I fall back.

"Oh, did I scare you?" she says.

"Rii?" I ask, confused about who this woman is. She was pale, covered in a white suit with a black rope that flared around the cold and windy outburst from before. Her feet keep her dragon-like species true along with her long black tail and white wings. She chuckles as her blue horns glimmer.

"The one and only honey," she brings her hand to my chin, then kisses me on the cheek.

"Right, we need to talk about this later, there are more people incoming."

"Follow me, I know a safe area we can get..." she realized the state I'm in, "you fixed at most."

As we continued to move on, we were going deeper into the cavern, slaying monsters within the cavern. We then reached a room where it was empty, but it was circular,

"It's a boss room, be careful."

"Good to know."

Hearing a noise from underground, I jump back, and a groundhog-like monster bursts from the ground. Its claws were sharp like a sword and its bucktooth was large. It looked like it could pierce through me with no resistance.

"Careful, this seems tough."

"No need," Rii says as she breathes in. "When I freeze it, use Haywire to pierce through the skin. These guys are tough as nails when it comes to penetration."

Surprised by her knowledge, I decided to follow her and make a spear out of the wire. As Rii freezes the monster, I throw the spear at the monster, making it pierced through it. As the wires cover the heart, I clench my fist, making the monster explode in blood.

"Damn, that was tough."

"That was tough?" Rii asks.

"It's my first time fighting a monster like this."

"Huh, I thought someone with a really high level already knows how to fight those things. Especially with a legendary weapon of the heroes," she says as we continue to walk into a room.

"Wait, how do you know about Haywire?"

"I've been alive for a long time. I can't say much."

"Huh," I say looking around the room.

"Looks like this is a resting place. We should probably stay here for now, after the blow you just got from earlier I'd say at least 2 hours, you need to rest."

"No no, I think I'm fine. I don't need to,-" I was interrupted as a gust of cold wind pushed me back onto the bed and the coldness made me lose my consciousness as I drifted away into slumber.