The Dragon with Bad Breath

"Sure enough... old people's legs just aren't nimble..." Rosa Kevin looked up at the towering peak before her, her legs beginning to tremble uncontrollably.

"My Mother Earth... how long will it take to reach the top... Why do dragons all love living on high mountains? Can't they live in ordinary houses?!!! They're not people-friendly at all!"

The mountain Rosa Kevin was currently climbing was called Barrier. In the dictionary of the Northern Old Gods, it meant obstruction and obstacle. Interestingly, this Barrier had been created ten years ago when she awakened and disturbed the earth veins. In other words... Rosa Kevin had personally demonstrated a famous saying—"If there are difficulties, overcome them. If there are no difficulties, create them and overcome them anyway."

Day turned to night, then night turned back to day. After climbing for a full day and night, the utterly exhausted Rosa finally reached Barrier's summit. Unlike the mountainside, which was piled with mud and black snow, the summit's environment was not too harsh due to the influence of dragon magic.

It could not be called lush with vegetation, full of vitality, profound and expansive, or full of vitality, but it at least ensured that the dragons' living environment looked pleasant. It seemed Rosa Kevin's curse had not affected this place too severely.

Rosa Kevin took a deep breath, catching the scent of Nanstone Grass. The poplars and roses before the nest were growing quite luxuriantly. Talismans, protective charms, and spell stones hung messily among the surrounding shrubs. Roars echoed from within the nest. Their midday rest had ended, and this was when the dragons awoke.

"Inhale—exhale—I am a god with civilized manners."

Rosa Kevin steadied herself and silently prayed to Mother Earth before shouting into the nest.

"Damn thieves—hurry up and return our treasure—damn four-legged worms, bandits, thieves~~ I XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!"

Before Rosa Kevin could finish, a roar erupted from the dragon cave. Gale-force winds swept through the shrubs atop the mountain, and the immense pressure kept Rosa Kevin from lifting her head. Five earth-brown Common Dragons spread their wings, their bright orange eyes brimming with magic.

"Hmph—is it you who has been spewing vulgarities and chattering incessantly outside our home, disturbing our rest!" Li Laar, the father dragon, said as he gripped Rosa Kevin's head. "Witch, seeing as you are a woman, we will not make things difficult for you. Apologize at once, or else..."

"Or else? Heh heh! Mere dragons dare speak to me in such a tone?!" A pale green energy flowed from Rosa Kevin's body. "I have come to collect a debt. You will return what you owe me!"

"This energy, could you be..."

"That's right! I am..."

"A lunatic who came to the mountaintop for a picnic and decided to jump off a cliff while she was at it?" The youngest dragon interrupted the conversation between the dragon father and Rosa Kevin.

All the dragons and Rosa Kevin turned to look at the dragon spouting nonsense. "Huh?..."

"Th-this..." The young dragon panicked. "I... I didn't say anything... It wasn't me..."

"Uh... but those words came out of your mouth..." the dragon's older brother retorted. "That voice was definitely yours..."

"I really didn't say anything!" A strange light flashed through the dragon's eyes.

"What is going on..." Rosa Kevin turned toward the young dragon. A stream of energy lingered within his body, circling around the center of his brain. As an evil god, Rosa Kevin instinctively sensed that something was wrong with the young dragon. Just as she was about to say something, the young dragon suddenly changed his attitude and snatched Rosa Kevin from the dragon father's hand with one claw.

"If you want to jump off a cliff, jump off a cliff. If you want a picnic, have a picnic. Eating and jumping off cliffs at someone else's doorstep is bad luck, and do you know how troublesome it is to clean up? Did your mother never teach you proper dining etiquette, or did your father never tell you that hazardous waste isn't recyclable?"

Rosa Kevin: "Huh???"

"What do you mean, 'huh'? You're this old and still trying to act cute. Did you grow up eating XXX? Stammering, dithering, rambling, nagging, yapping—does your mouth feel clogged? Want me to give you some watery stuff to rinse your mouth and soothe your throat?"

"Y-you-you..." Rosa Kevin was so affected by the young dragon's mind-numbing attack that her blood pressure soared, and she immediately began trading insults with him. "I XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXXXX."

The young dragon countered, "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX."

The dragon mother tugged on the dragon father's tail wing. "Who did our son learn such foul-mouthed skills from...?"

The dragon father said, "Well... I only complain occasionally... I've never cursed before... Besides, his vocabulary is far richer than mine when I complain..."

"Then that's strange. For the sake of our sons' healthy upbringing, I never curse at home. So where did he get this ability to curse people from?"

After arguing for half an hour, Rosa Kevin was defeated.

"I have lived through hundreds of eras, witnessed the destruction of countless worlds, and know every kind of curse from the past and present. Why did I lose today to a mere Common Dragon? I... I... I refuse to accept this!!"

Rosa Kevin panted heavily, preparing to use her final trump card against this foul-breathed dragon. She shouted loudly:

"I am the strongest Demon King, Mother Earth's youngest daughter, Lord of Decay, the ancient evil god who devoured seven worlds—Rosa. Rafipia. Ulyes. Kevin! Do you, a mere Common Dragon, know the consequences of angering the Demon King?!!!"

"Fuck you—" The young dragon flicked her off the mountaintop with one finger. "Anything calls itself a Demon King these days. Do you have a license? Do you have a contract?"

"Uh..." The dragon father stared in astonishment. "What is wrong with this child? Wasn't he perfectly normal a few days ago? Why is he so irritable today? I had not even figured out who this witch was, and he killed her? Isn't that far too disrespectful to his father..."

"Perhaps his injured brain hasn't recovered yet after fighting with his brothers a few days ago..." the dragon mother answered.

"I see..." The dragon father nodded. "Then remember not to let him stay alone. Have his brothers keep an eye on him."

"Alright..."

The dragon mother flapped her wings and led the dragons back into the nest. Only the dragon father looked down toward the bottom of the cliff.

"Rosa Kevin... wasn't she killed by the Hero ten years ago? Why has she come back to life today? Just how many clones does this woman have..."

The viewpoint returned to Rosa Kevin. At this moment, the evil god had rolled all the way from Barrier's summit to its foot. Mud wrapped in black snow kneaded her into a ball along the way, and she only stopped after crashing into an ancient withered spirit tree and knocking it over.

"I... blegh—" Yellowish-brown matter spilled from Rosa Kevin's mouth. "That XXXXX dragon, how could he be so rude..."

"No!" Rosa Kevin struggled out of the mud. "I am an ancient evil god! How could I be defeated so easily?! Dragons!!!"

Rosa Kevin looked toward Barrier's peak behind her. "You little stinkbugs! I've written your names down in my little Ben notebook! The next time I come back, I will definitely take your lives!!!"

"Grrr~"

"Ah~ no... I'm hungry again..." The vigor Rosa Kevin had just gathered immediately leaked away. Limping, she headed down the mountain.

"Since I didn't get the dragons' treasure, I definitely can't go back to the slimes. That would be too embarrassing. And those sticky things definitely won't have any food for me. In that case..."

Rosa Kevin looked in the direction of Leichina Village.

"Tch... though I'm quite embarrassed about it, I can only go rely on those siblings again. At worst, after I get the treasure back, I'll treat them to a few good meals. If that still isn't enough, I can give them a share of the cities I conquer afterward. But I can't give them the high-end, luxurious city center. That is where money makes money. A pair of rural children can have some uncultivated thin fields in the suburbs outside the city. Anyway, when the city expands later, they'll make quite a bit too..."

"Mm..." Rosa Kevin nodded and praised herself for her cleverness. "Then it's happily decided!"

But after arriving at the village, Rosa Kevin learned just how naive her idea had been. The entire village had turned to ashes. Yellow-green mud and Black Snow were piled atop the shattered remains of houses. Rosa Kevin was the only person on the empty land.

"I... I..." Rosa Kevin knelt before the ashes of Leichina's home and sobbed. Her aged yet plump hands kept digging downward, as if something important were buried beneath the ashes. Yellow-green mud seeped with poison, and black snow continued to fall.

After realizing all her efforts were futile, Rosa Kevin let out a cry of pain and resentment:

"Why... why... didn't they even leave behind a single potato—Ben, this evil god, is fucking starving to death—"

Dusk descended, and the mountaintop began to glow yellow. This was both dinner time for humans and mealtime for dragons. The dragons' mother—Mimilar—had transformed into human form and was making stew in the kitchen inside the nest.

A giant hundred-square-meter pot was simmering with sheep and wild boars caught elsewhere. After being skinned, butchered, and gutted, the meat was now tender, plump, and translucent. It had been rubbed with salt and tossed into the pot along with wild vegetables. Before long, waves of fragrance drifted from the pot.

"Li Laar, make the fire bigger," Mimilar said.

"Alright, dear." The dragon father, Li Laar, breathed fire beneath the pot, helping his wife prepare dinner.

"Ah~ it smells so fucking XXXXX good~" The one cursing was the dragons' youngest son—Bilila. He had hurt his head while playing with his brothers a few days ago, so he now often spewed foul language. "I fucking XXXXXXXXX didn't know dragons could cook. This XXXXXXXXX is different from that XXXXXXXXX game..."

"Little brother..." said Abila, the eldest dragon brother standing nearby. "Although... we did hurt your head before, and I'm sorry about that, but... could you not curse? Um... I'm not objecting to anything you do... after all, you're my brother."

"What the XXXXX are you saying? I think you ate too much XXXXXX and are XXXXXXXX here. The bathroom is so big, I suggest you go take a look. It would greatly improve your speech. I XXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXXXX."

"Bilila! Isn't that a little too much? Big Brother meant well..." Before the second son, Dubila, could finish, Bilila began shouting wildly.

"Fuck your XXXXX, fuck your XXXXXXXXX, I think you're XXXXXXXXXXXX. I'm too much? Fuck your XXXXXX. You lowly XXXXXXXXXXX, you look like a sneaky rat, a filthy rat, a street rat everyone wants to beat to death. I think you've been watching too much Tom and Jerry lately. You dare lecture your XXXXXXXX? Here I come, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX."

"Bang—" Unable to endure Bilila's foul language any longer, the dragon mother Mimilar swung a giant iron ladle down on his head. After a loud "bang," the foul-breathed dragon collapsed to the ground, unable to get back up.

"Um... Mimilar... isn't that a little too harsh? After all, he hasn't eaten dinner yet..." the dragon father Li Laar said.

"Is that so..." Mimilar said very gently. "That child's mouth is so filthy. He won't be allowed dinner as punishment~"

"I see." Li Laar nodded and continued tending the fire for Mimilar's cooking.

Meanwhile, Mimilar continued stirring the stew with her giant iron ladle. That night, every dragon except Bilila enjoyed a delicious dinner.

In this world, dragon species were extremely complex. There were divine Pipilra Dragons, elemental Ralierman Dragons, and even thought-based Lulolinge Divine Dragons. Dragons of different attributes could also be divided into various subfamilies, and dragons from different subfamilies ate different things.

Li Laar's family belonged to the beast type, the so-called Common Dragons. Aside from their size, they were not much different from ordinary living creatures and needed water and food. Even so, they retained the traits unique to dragons—greed and stinginess...