The First Dragon God

Ves' breath hitched as she saw Leo crumpled against the rubble. She clenched her hand instinctively, sending fresh waves of pain shooting through her mangled fingers.

"Get up!" She screamed, but Leo still didn't respond as he lay there, unmoving.

'Please get up,' she muttered to herself, with her voice breaking, as she was on the brink of breaking down.

Leo's lay on the floor, his vision swam with stars, his chest a cacophony of sharp pain. He tried to inhale, but it felt like his ribs were collapsing under the pressure.

As the world around him swayed, a dull roar filling his ears like an ocean tide. Somewhere in the distance, a voice shouted—a faint, muffled cry that seemed to rise and fall with the rhythm of his pounding head.

The words were lost to him, but the urgency in the tone clawed through the haze, pulling at his scattered thoughts. And he recognised the owner of that voice immediately.

"Not now," he grunted in pain as he shook his head, trying to shake off the dizziness and disorientation he was feeling.

Images of Ves, the kids at the orphanage, and a blurred image of his parents flashed in his mind.

'I can't die here,' he screamed to himself internally.

He gripped Nightshade's hilt—that was strangely in his hand—tightly and tried to push himself up from the ground, only to collapsed back, and causing a bolt of pain to course through his body.

"This stupid body, what are you doing? What's the use of my [Regeneration] skill? Why is it not working?" Leo groaned in pain.

He gulped a mouthful of saliva and tried to stand back up on his feet again. He stabbed Nightshade into the ground and using it as leverage, pushed himself up.

He slowly stood up to his feet with a few staggers. He coughed, trying to relieve himself of the dull pain occupying his rib cage.

He looked at the Boar and he saw it continuously stomping its feet on the floor and snorting, causing steam to escape from its nose, as it looked at Leo menacingly.

Leo gritted his teeth, as he gripped Nightshade's hilt tighter and raised it, ready to attack.

The Boar snorted when it saw this. Leo's act of raising his sword and challenging it, seemed to have to hurt its pride.

It snorted again, this time louder than the rest, and pawed the ground, as it readied for another charge. The next moment, without warning, it lunged at Leo.

"Not this time, you big, overgrown pig," Leo said when he saw the Boar attacking again.

He took a quick look around as he formulated a plan in his head. The next moment, he smiled as he finally found what he was looking for.

Immediately, he made his move. He dashed towards a building beside him.

The building wasn't actually his target but the shadow it cast onto the ground.

Leo's movement allowed him to dodge the Boar second attack. The boar's momentum carried it forward, crashing into the debris with a thunderous impact, sending shards of stone flying.

As it reared back, preparing for another attack, Leo, now standing in the shadow of the building, gripped his Nightshade's hilt tighter, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Come on, you overgrown pig!" He shouted, taunting it.

The next moment, the Boar roared in response and charged at him. It closed the distance between them and appeared in front of Leo.

"I can't believe how it's this fast?" Leo muttered to himself, as he quickly activated one of Nightshade's skill, [Shadow Step].

As the skill activated, his body immediately melded into the shadow on the ground.

The Boar halted its charge when it saw Leo disappear. It snorted angrily and stomped the ground, but nothing happened.

Enraged, it roared and stomped the ground with enough force to crack the asphalt. Steam curled from its flared nostrils as it let out a thunderous snort.

It pawed at the earth, gouging deep scars into the dirt, its massive tusks swinging as it tossed its head violently.

The ground seemed to tremble under its rage and the guttural growls that seems to promise destruction.

It continuously stomped the ground aggressively as it strutted to where Leo initially was, before he disappeared into the ground.

It got to the place and started pawing and stomping it but no matter how many times it did it, nothing happened. Leo didn't appear.

It let out a growl when it saw that its actions wasn't producing the results it wanted, and it turned its attention to the remaining human left; Ves.

It let out a deep snort and pawed the ground, as it prepared to charge at her.

In the shadow world—the name Leo gave the dark world—Leo saw the Boar's action and he knew what it's next action would be.

"I'm not letting you do as you wish," he said, as he made his move.

He jumped out of the shadow world and attacked, slashing at the Boar's underbelly with every ounce of strength he could squeeze out from his body.

The Boar sensed the danger and immediately tried to dodge, but it was too late.

The attack connected and the following moment, the Boat roared in a mixture of anger and pain. Its chest heaving as steam poured from its nostrils. Then it roared again—a deep, deafening primal sound that shattered the air, reverberating and seeming to shake even the shadow world that Leo was in.

The small eyes that has now gone bloodshot due to its berserk state, locked on Ms Ves and it charged at her.

Each charge left a trail of destruction, deep gouges in the ground and shattered debris marking its path. The boar's repeated stomps sent shockwaves rippling through the ground, toppling debris and threatening to throw Ms Ves off balance.

Leo saw this and cursed silently. He immediately exited the shadow world and chased after the the madly charging Boar.

"Ms Ves, run!" He shouted at her when he saw her still standing.

He wanted her to run and save herself but he saw that even after shouting, she didn't move. Instead, she took an attacking stance, ready to face the Berserk Mutant Boar.

Leo wanted to shouted again but he saw Ms Ves smile at him the next day, and he could only close his mouth and grit his teeth in anger.

He increased his speed wanting to catch up to the beast, but he was unable to. The Berserk state seemed to have increased its speed.

Leo continued chasing after the Boar. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest as he pushed himself harder, the world blurring around him.

Pain wracked his body with every step, his ribs screaming in protest. But the thought of Ves standing alone against the beast drove him forward, his fear replaced by a primal need to protect.

'Faster. Just a little faster.'

But the distance between him and the raging beast only seemed to widen.

Ves tightened her grip, ignoring the searing pain in her mangled fingers. She knew she couldn't outrun it, but she could meet it head-on. If this was the end, she'd face it standing

The boar's tusks gleamed, mere inches from Ves. She stood her ground, eyes locked on the beast, as Leo's shout echoed futilely behind her. And then...