Good grief, this little dragon girl was seriously fierce.

Chaos hurriedly lifted the claw he had been pressing against the White Hatchling's back.

He braced his foreclaws against the ground, lowered his weight over his front half, ducked his head, bent his hind legs, and stuck his big butt up.

The instincts in his blood told him this posture would let him take off faster.

The cliff outside the cave entrance was still quite a distance above the ground. He estimated a drop of seven or eight hundred meters. Very high.

If they dove too slowly and the feeding Xelila in the pit reacted fast enough, their first hunt would most likely end in failure.

The pit below wasn't far from the Underground River, either-only a hundred or two hundred meters away.

If the Xelila reached the Underground River before the hatchlings swooped down, they would lose this hunting opportunity.

[Rustle!]

At the cave entrance, a row of hatchlings all stuck their big butts up, ready to dive.

"Go!"

The instant he heard the little dragon girl give the order, Chaos pushed off with his hind claws.

His body leaped out of the cave entrance.

[Whoosh!]

The wind roared past his ears.

His body plummeted at tremendous speed, yet not a trace of fear arose in his heart.

He didn't spread his wings. Almost all the hatchlings around him did the same, dropping straight down with their wings folded.

Seven hundred meters, six hundred meters...

One of the Xelila keeping watch spotted the predators diving down from above.

It raised its two enormous pincers and snapped them together hard.

"Clack, clack!"

The pincers slammed together with a deafening clatter.

Every feeding Xelila froze.

A moment later, they all moved, their eight legs carrying their bodies sideways as they rushed toward the Underground River.

Five hundred meters.

Four hundred meters.

Fifty meters.

[Whoosh!]

His heavy wings, covered in emerald scales, spread wide.

In an instant, Chaos felt he had mastered the ability to fly etched into his blood. His slightly swaying body quickly steadied, and with a beat of his outstretched wings, he swooped toward the Xelila he had already singled out.

Whoosh!

Fifty meters was a long distance on the ground.

But falling through the air, it took only a few seconds.

He flew above his chosen target.

His outstretched wings instantly folded.

His body plunged.

"Splurch!"

His sharp claws drove straight into the pitch-black shell, and emerald threads of potent venom flowed into it through his claws.

The venom instantly spread throughout the Xelila's body.

[Crash!]

Thrown off balance, the Xelila toppled to the ground and skidded five or six meters before slowly coming to a stop.

Even after bringing down his prey, Chaos didn't let down his guard.

Instead, he warily watched the Xelila fleeing around him.

Though his inherited knowledge dismissed these Xelila as all but worthless, they were still magical beasts. If those enormous pincers caught a hatchling like him, he certainly wouldn't come out of it feeling very good.

Soon, however, he realized he had worried for nothing.

These Xelila really were timid. All they knew was how to run. Even when one of their own fell ahead of them, they simply hurried around it and kept fleeing toward the Underground River.

Fighting back never even crossed their minds.

Standing on his prey's shell, Chaos held his head high.

Without entirely relaxing his guard, he looked toward the other dragons.

Only then did he realize he had been the first dragon to make a successful kill.

The other hatchlings hunted much as he did, landing on the Xelila's backs and attacking. It was a blind spot for the Xelila; their enormous pincers couldn't reach their backs.

As his gaze swept around, Chaos spotted the little dragon girl.

She had landed directly on the ground.

She turned to face a Xelila charging toward her, too late to change course.

As it drew close, she raised a claw and slammed it straight into its head. Half its head, heavy shell and all, shattered into mush amid a spray of minced flesh.

The enormous pincers it had raised to attack dropped limply, and its body crashed heavily to the ground.

It had clearly died on the spot.

The little dragon girl didn't stop there. With another swipe, she grabbed a Xelila passing beside her.

The captured Xelila tried to fight back, snapping its enormous pincers at her.

She raised a claw and smashed the incoming pincer to pieces with a single blow.

Then she pressed her body down on the resisting Xelila and struck again and again, until she had torn off its remaining enormous pincer along with all eight legs.

There was no technique to any of it-only the purest aesthetics of violence.

Good grief, this little dragon girl was seriously fierce.

After that inward exclamation, Chaos looked away and turned his attention to the prey beneath him.

The hunt had already ended with the last Xelila's escape into the Underground River.

Only six dragons had caught prey in this hunt.

But none of that had anything to do with him. He had food now, and that was what mattered.

His sharp claws sliced through the heavy shell on the Xelila's back, cutting an opening.

Dark green flesh was immediately exposed.

Why was it green?

Whatever. It looked pretty tasty anyway.

"Chomp!"

The instant he opened his jaws and took a bite, his emerald slit pupils narrowed to their utmost.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"

As he spat, both claws frantically scraped at his tongue, trying to get rid of the taste.

It tasted awful.

If he had to describe it, it was like the taste of raw fish bile spreading through his mouth-fishy and bitter.

Extra-strength fishy and bitter!

The taste in his mouth seemed to have faded a little.

Chaos raised his head and looked at the other hatchlings eating.

They all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their meals, their slit pupils already widening into circles.

Seriously, this stuff tasted so awful. How could they enjoy it that much?

Or... were they eating something different from him?

Stretching his neck, Chaos finally got a look at the crab roe another dragon was eating. That really was crab roe. It was yellow.

Unlike his, which was dark green.

The venom threads!

The answer struck him at once.

Well, what was done was done...

Fine, he would try the pincers instead.

The venom threads probably hadn't spread that fast.

He raised his claws, grabbed both pincers, and began pulling them apart.

After biting at a pincer's joint several times, he finally bit it off.

Tender white meat showed through the broken joint.

The sight of that tender white meat brought Chaos a wave of relief.

Good. The venom hadn't spread to the joint.

He lowered his head and continued taking it apart.

[Scrape, scrape...]

Something heavy was being dragged along, and the sound was drawing closer to him.

The instant Chaos raised his head, he saw the little dragon girl moving toward him with a Xelila corpse held in her jaws.

[Thud!]

The prey landed heavily on the ground.

Agatha raised her head, her crimson slit pupils turning toward the wary Green Hatchling before her.

"Eat!"

Her young, girlish voice coldly uttered that single word.

Chaos: ...

Seriously, what was with this little dragon girl? Was she some domineering CEO?