The First Dragon God

Inside the bathroom, Leo sat in the bathtub in a lotus form with his eyes closed, and a frown on his face.

It's been over half an hour now and he has been trying to go back into that dark space, but no matter how hard he concentrated, he can't seem to get in.

After a few more tries of futilities, he gave up and decided to take his bath.

"I wonder why it's so hard to get back into that dark space? Can I only access it when I'm using the [Beastmaster's Bond] skill?" Leo asked himself curiously.

He wanted to go back into that space to study it. He was very curious to know what it is, the purple-golden sun, the presence that he felt. He was curious about everything and wants to study them but unfortunately, he couldn't access the dark space anymore.

The memory of the dark space nagged at him. That overwhelming presence, the purple-golden sun, the suffocating pressure—it wasn't just strange, it felt important. Critical. And yet, he was locked out of it, like a door slammed shut in his face.

He closed his eyes again, trying to replicate the feeling, but all he found was silence. Frustration bubbled up in him, his chest tightening. Was it because he wasn't strong enough yet? Or was it something else entirely?

Leo decided to not bother about it for now. He had this feeling that he would find himself back in that dark space very soon. Though he has no idea how soon is the very soon.

Leo took his time, taking his bath, washing off all the dirt, blood and grime that has accumulated on his body from the two fights—with the Mutant Boar and the wolf pack.

Meanwhile, downstairs, the two groups were struggling to cut up the body of the Mutant Boar. They were still in the rib section that they were before the whole incident with the wolves, and they have been trying everything in their power to break it but their efforts has all been futile.

Miguel looked at his red, sore palms and sighed. He had tried hacking the bones with all his strength but whatever force he used always get redirected back to him, causing series of very jarring vibrations to ripple through his body.

He turned to look at Grewishka—the leader of the second group— and he saw that he wasn't in any better condition than him.

He saw how he was panting heavily and constantly rubbing his sore wrists, and he shook his head in disappoint.

'What a disappointment. I thought he was a tough one, who knew that he was actually putting on an act. He now looks like huge stuffed bear.'

Miguel was unable to hold himself as he started laughing to his own his thoughts. He stopped almost immediately when he saw the everyone looking at him strangely.

"Ahem... Guys, how do you all propose we take care of this?" He asked, pointing to the towering ribcage that arched above them.

No one bothered to answer. They have all tried whatever they can but nothing seemed to be working. At this point, they just want to leave the carcass and go back into the building to wait out the rain but they knew it was currently impossible for them to do that.

Miguel has already explained what might happen if they are to leave the bloodied carcass out in the rain, and the wolves were a perfect examples of it.

They all were still thinking of what to do when Mia, the young girl in Miguel's group, slowly walked towards Ves, who was walking towards them after dropping Fiona in the building's ground floor.

"Ms Ves, if you don't mind, can you help us with the bones of the monster? We have been trying but we are not strong enough to do any damage to it," she said with a low voice, while looking up at Ves with pleading look in her eyes.

"Sure." Ves replied, and started walking towards the monster's carcass, following behind the girl.

Even without the girl asking, she already had the intention of helping them out as she saw how they were struggling. So, she wasn't bothered by the request.

She looked at her bloodied bandaged fingers and smiled wryly. She didn't understand why the healing of the wounds was taking so long. Compared to Leo's, it was like it was moving at a snail pace, and this was coupled with the fact that it got reopened during her fight with wolf pack leader.

'Forget it. It would heal at its own pace. After I'm done, I will change the bandage and clean it again,' she said to herself, as she arrived in front of the carcass.

She climbed onto the body, walking on its what was supposed to be the interior of its body, creating squelching sounds as her leg stepped on the sinewy interior.

She approached the ribcage and arriving in front of it, she touched it, running her fingers on it. She stopped feeling it and knocked on it lightly and the bone absorbed the force without the faintest give, producing a dull thunk.

Feeling the toughness of the bone, Ves smiled as she took two steps back, before getting into a punching stance.

She drew back her fist, gathering every ounce of strength she had left. Her vision blurred slightly from the pain, but she forced herself to focus.

The air trembled as her fist cut through it. As her fist connected with the towering ribcage, the sound of shattering bone echoed through the rain-soaked air.

The recoil sent a shockwave through her injured hand, and she nearly stumbled.

Ves cradled her hand briefly, hissing through gritted teeth.

A loud defeaning boom was heard as her fist connected with the bone, followed by a strong gust of wind that whipped against the body of everyone close to her.

After the wind had cleared, the once towering ribcage that had been reduced to nothing more than piles of broken bones on the floor.

Grewishka and his group froze when they saw this. As people who didn't see Ves in action against the Mutant Boar, they had no idea just how strong she was. Though they knew that she was strong from the fact that she was able to go head to head with wolf pack leader, but they had no idea just how strong.

Seeing how strong she was, they felt that they had escaped from the maws of death without even having any idea of it.

....

"What do you think about her, princess?" Elda asked, when she saw Tatiana observing Ves.

Tatiana didn't answer immediately as she continued observing Ves. Her mind had started walking in overdrive when she confirmed that the timeline of the tournament would be moved forward.

The tournament is something that would determine her future as she intends to fight for the throne and take it from her stupid half brother.

"She's perfect, Elda. But we can't make the same offer we we did with Leo. She doesn't look that gullible but of I can get something that will interest her..." Tatiana replied with a smile.

Elda's eyes widened the next moment when she realized what Tatiana was talking about.

"Princess, please don't tell me it's what I think it is," she said with a solemn voice.

Tatiana smiled when she saw Elda's reaction. It's to be expected as what she intends to give Ves is something that would make her if not more human, but extremely powerful.

'Leo, Ves, I hope you all don't disappoint me.'