Why did this meat taste like chili peppers?

This hunt had undoubtedly yielded a bumper harvest.

Seeing all the hatchlings looking at her, Agatha stepped forward.

"Let's eat together. This hunt was a joint effort, and every dragon should get to eat."

"The same goes for all our future group hunts."

Agatha swept her gaze around.

Every hatchling she looked at shrank back a little.

No dragon objected.

"All right, dig in."

Agatha turned, caught one of the Kashi in her jaws, and pulled it out of the pile.

Seeing that Agatha had started eating, the hatchlings stepped forward and joined in.

There was plenty of prey.

Enough for all these hatchlings to eat their fill.

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

For a while, the only sounds around them were chewing and the flowing underground river.

Chaos raised his head and glanced at the eating hatchlings, then scooped up a Kashi magic core with his claw.

He popped the tennis-ball-sized white crystal core straight into his mouth.

[Crunch, crunch, crunch.]

A little sweet, a little crunchy.

He sensed a cool current coursing through his body.

His mana was increasing.

Feeling his mana grow, Chaos broke into a Dragon Jaws grin.

Eat up, eat up!

He was full of enthusiasm.

Dragon Jaws opening, he began stuffing crystal cores into his mouth with both claws.

[Crunch.]

The last crystal core went down.

He rolled over and lay on the muddy ground.

I... I can't eat another bite.

His belly bulged into a round ball, like that of a woman eight months pregnant.

He raised a claw and rubbed the thick scales on his belly.

An overwhelming drowsiness washed over him, making his eyelids unbearably heavy.

He didn't resist, slowly closing his eyes in contentment.

The boost from the magic cores had far exceeded his expectations.

Now he needed a good sleep.

[Snore... snore... snore...]

The hatchling's snores came at a steady rhythm.

Looking at the sleeping Chaos, Agatha pushed herself up, walked over to him, and reached out a claw to gently nudge his emerald-green head.

His head rocked from side to side, but he showed no reaction.

He really was sound asleep.

Her crimson slit pupils narrowed. Agatha turned to look at the hatchlings who had been stealing glances their way.

"All of you, come with me."

With that, Agatha headed left, toward the far end of the little riverbank.

She had just been considering whether to explain the truth to these hatchlings.

Now she had clearly made her decision.

The hatchlings exchanged glances in twos and threes before getting up. They had only just eaten their fill, and their little bellies were round and full, leaving them feeling lazy.

Overcome their laziness, or face Agatha's big claws.

Any dragon knew which was the better choice.

The hatchlings trailed behind Agatha to the end of the little riverbank.

Sitting on the ground, Agatha swept her gaze over them and began counting silently.

One, two, three... thirteen.

That white dragon hadn't come. She raised her head and looked toward Chaos.

White Hatchling was lying right beside Chaos, pressed against him.

Forget it. She's an idiot.

Giving up on calling White Hatchling over, she turned her gaze to the hatchlings staring expectantly at her.

"You must all be wondering why I take such good care of Chaos. I'll tell you the answer now."

"Because Chaos is the only male dragon. The only male dragon in this plane, too."

"Agatha, don't you ever laugh?"

Agatha whipped her head around to look at Green Hatchling, who had spoken.

"Why would I laugh?"

Under Agatha's gaze, Green Hatchling's slit pupils narrowed to thin lines as she went on full alert.

Given Agatha's strength, she had no choice.

"Don't be nervous. I don't resort to violence without reason. Tell me why you think I should laugh."

"Lies!"

"You think I'm lying?"

"Yes."

"For now, I have no way to prove whether this is a lie."

"Once we leave this cavern, I believe you'll all understand whether I've lied."

"I believe it won't be long before we leave this cavern."

"When you understand, I hope you'll start following my lead."

"I will lead you in restoring the glory of the Giant Dragon Species, and I will do everything I can to keep every hatchling safe. Of course, under normal circumstances, Chaos's safety will be my top priority."

"That's all I have to say."

Agatha rose and walked toward the middle of the riverbank.

The hatchlings exchanged looks and began a little discussion.

"Do you think what Agatha said could be true?"

"I don't believe it."

"Maybe it is true?"

"Do you even believe that yourself, green dragon?"

"Of course. She's a red dragon."

Red dragons were the embodiment of arrogance. They scorned all lies, did as they pleased, and ruled everything through absolute power.

"What's she doing?"

All the hatchlings raised their heads to look toward the riverbank.

Agatha was sitting in front of a Kashi with her right claw raised over a cut in its flesh. Drops of crimson liquid ran down her raised red claw and fell into the open wound.

Dragon blood nourishment!

As a higher-order species, dragons were treasures from head to toe, and that included their blood.

Dragons could use their own blood to nourish another individual and accelerate that individual's growth.

This nourishment only worked when the Giant Dragon Species gave it willingly. Otherwise, the blood dripping from Agatha's claw wouldn't have been ordinary dragon blood, but blood as searing hot as lava.

Normally, no dragon would do such a thing.

Although they would lose nothing, their arrogance kept them from doing it.

This dragon blood nourishment could also only be performed once every half month.

Yet Agatha had done it.

The last drop of dragon blood slid off her claw tip into the meat.

Agatha withdrew her claw. The wound she had pierced to draw blood had already healed completely, and new, thin, translucent scales had grown beneath the breaks in the old ones.

They would fully replace the old scales in just a few hours.

She dragged the Kashi over and set it down in front of Chaos.

Glancing at the soundly sleeping Chaos out of the corner of her eye, she lay down where she was and slowly closed her eyes as well.

[Sniff, sniff.]

Mm, that smells so good.

Chaos opened his eyes and saw a three-meter-long Kashi laid out before him.

Was this left for me?

He pushed himself up and looked around. All the hatchlings were asleep. He was the only one awake.

He glanced at the big little girl beside him.

The big little girl... seemed to have grown again.

He remembered clearly that she hadn't been this big before he went to sleep. Now, even standing up, he was only as tall as she was lying down.

He looked away from the sleeping big little girl.

Dragon Jaws opening, he bit into the Kashi and tore off a piece of meat.

Delicious. So delicious!

The big little girl must have saved this meat especially for me.

Chew, chew, chew!

His Dragon Jaws stopped chewing.

Why did this meat taste like chili peppers?

The more he ate, the hotter his tongue felt.

He wasn't imagining it. This meat really did taste like chili peppers!