"Roar, hissss!"
The Deformed Dragon's soul had been consumed by resentment and rage. Its scaleless body was covered in fragile nerves, and every movement brought unbearable pain.
Yet it rolled and chased after him madly, trapping itself in an endless cycle of suffering.
Daeren no longer felt the fear he had felt upon first seeing it. All that remained was an indescribable, faint sorrow.
So the family had not been without dragons.
Rather, every dragon capable of hatching on its own had been born a congenital deformity.
Even his hands trembled slightly.
In his eyes, it was not a monster or a deformed creature, but an asset the family should have possessed.
A dragon! A genuine dragon!
It had only become deformed because the Magic Tide was insufficient.
"If it had been in my hands, it would never have met such an end."
Thinking of the newly discovered clutch of Dragon Eggs, Daeren's heart filled with regret.
With that thought,
he decided not to leave. He would end this Deformed Dragon's suffering.
A Young Dragon was only the size of a house cat when it hatched. A dragon body six meters long had to have lived for at least three years.
If it had been a healthy dragon, he would have turned around and fled.
But this was a deformed creature with no limbs, torso, or scales. It struggled even to move, and its only means of attack was breathing fire. He was confident he could kill it.
Whoosh!
The Neptune Greatsword slid free, its deep blue standing out sharply against the dark red of the lava cave.
"Kakakaka!"
Lava Head crept over sneakily, intending to bite Daeren's legs.
It was the reptilian monster that had bitten Prince Lewyn.
"I don't know how you were born, but you did well."