[You were about to head deeper when Winteria suddenly appeared]
[“I knew you were going to do something stupid! Come back now, that place isn’t somewhere you should go.”]
[You were taken aback—you hadn’t sensed Winteria nearby at all just now. You had no idea how she managed to completely conceal her presence.]
[Just as you were wondering about that, Winteria spoke again with an urgent tone]
[“Come home with me, the monster is coming soon!”]
[“Monster?”]
[Your confusion had barely begun when you heard a low, guttural hiss from behind you]
[Thump, thump, thump-thump-thump—]
[The heavy, rhythmic sound of footsteps approached, as if some massive creature was closing in]
[Winteria pressed close, trying to grab hold of you]
[But you blinked, and an unbelievable sight unfolded before you]
[Winteria… had changed!]
[She had transformed into a little girl with long silver-white hair, and her eyes were the same blood-red as when she was in her dragon form]
[An adorable, delicate white noble’s dress wrapped around her small frame. On her slender legs—so thin you feared they might snap at any moment—she wore white silk stockings that showed only a hint of pink at the joints]
[“This character wouldn’t look out of place in Blue Archive at all.”]
[“Huh? What Blue Archive? What are you talking about? Hurry up and come home with me~”]
[Winteria suddenly opened that little mouth of hers and leaned in toward your neck]
[“No way! I don’t want my filial piety to turn into something else!”]
[“Eh?!”]
[Just as you were caught between resistance and acceptance, Winteria suddenly pulled her head away from your neck and stared at you with a strange look]
[And you noticed that something on your body was glowing]
[“Wait, since when did I have a human body too?”]
[You followed the light and saw that on your left chest, the Ancestral Dragon Scale was emanating a faint glow]
[Ancestral Dragon Scale uses remaining: one less]
[“What…”]
[“It’s an illusion!”]
[You immediately backed away several steps, and sure enough, “Winteria” revealed her true form]
[A black face with only four eyes took her place]
[“Squeak squeak!!”]
[Your heart jumped, but your hands didn’t stop moving. You used both Lightning and Armor Break battle techniques at the same time]
[Your Dragon Claw swung, and you felt the sensation of something being severed]
[You retreated and realized the thing was actually a giant spider. Its body was as smooth as an Attacher’s, entirely grayish-black]
[The two front legs you had chopped off clearly caused it great pain, and it let out a bizarre screech]
[“Watch out! It can make you hallucinate!”]
[The real Winteria appeared from the side. Frost had already formed on the giant spider’s body—she must have used ice magic to make the spider release you]
[Beneath the spider’s face was a terrifying mouthpart. You looked down and saw that it had completely crushed all your dragon scales]
[“If it weren’t for the Ancestral Dragon Scale, I’d probably be starting over right now…”]
[You didn’t have much time to dwell on it. The spider quickly steadied itself and scurried toward you at an eerily bizarre speed]
[“Run!”]
[Winteria, no longer caring about how loud her voice was, spread her wings and flew over]
[But now that you were no longer fooled by illusions, why would you fear a mere giant spider?]
[“Cold-blooded Pursuit, Lightning, Armor Break—”]
[Cold-blooded Pursuit was the Talent you awakened when you slew the Giant Wolf in the Goblin Kingdom. The first time you hit an enemy with it, it exposed their position, and the next attack would deal double damage]
[The giant spider was now completely exposed in your field of vision. Relying on the effects of Poet’s Vision and Cold-blooded Pursuit, you precisely carved your battle techniques into its body]
[Your fully matured Dragon Claw was as hard as anything in this world, one of the sharpest weapons that existed]
[With a whistling sound that nearly tore through the air, the spider had no time to dodge and took the terrifying slash head-on, stacked with countless effects]
[“Squeak—”]
[The spider didn’t even have time to scream in pain before it was carved into mincemeat]
[Killed Abyssal Spider Demon. Obtained 10,000 Experience]
[Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 35!]
[This was the first time you had killed such a terrifying enemy. In comparison, even Goblin King Zagul wasn’t in the same league]
[After all, this spider’s prey was a dragon]
[Winteria’s urgent shouting came to an abrupt halt as she stared at you in disbelief, watching you slaughter the spider demon with such ease]
[“You… how did you get so strong all of a sudden?”]
[“Uh, maybe my race is just special.”]
[Winteria was still a bit puzzled, but she accepted your explanation]
[After all, there were indeed some dragon types born with incredible power]
[After a brief exchange, you and Winteria each carried a portion of the spider demon’s corpse back]
[Once back at the cave, Winteria didn’t scold you. Instead, she applied a special herb to your wounds]
[“Good thing that spider demon wasn’t venomous, or you’d be dead.”]
[Your wounds hadn’t festered, but the scales around your neck were all shattered, and a shallow cut had been opened there, with a little dragon blood seeping out]
[Winteria’s herb dressing sent a soothing, cool sensation through the wound, easing the pain]
[Watching Winteria handle things with her dragon claws yet still looking graceful, you thought back to the human form the spider demon had given her]
[“Winteria, can we dragons transform into human form?”]
[“Mm, we can. But why are you asking? Don’t tell me you saw a human in that spider demon’s illusion?”]
[Having been seen through by Winteria, you felt a bit embarrassed. But there was no way she could guess what had actually happened inside the illusion]
[“What do you think about humans?”]
[“Humans… We live far away from them. Sometimes a few reckless humans come to the Dragon Realm to try their luck, but most of them never make it back.”]
[Winteria’s answer didn’t surprise you. She didn’t seem to hold much hostility toward humans either]
[“Winteria, if you transformed into a human, what would you look like?”]
[“Hmm, if I became a human, I’d probably be pretty small. After all, I’ve only lived for a little over thirty years, which makes me still quite young among dragons.”]
[After that topic ended, the two of you fell into a contemplative silence for a while. Winteria finally spoke first]
[“Lai En, do you… actually want to go outside?”]
[There was a hint of expectation in Winteria’s tone, but also a great deal of complicated emotion]
[“Don’t you?”]
[Faced with that question, your answer was simple]
[Who would want to stay in such a dark, sunless place forever?]
[Winteria lowered her head slightly]
[“Actually… I don’t really want to go out.”]
[“You’ve always been curious about those two eggs, haven’t you? They really were laid by me… But those two dragon eggs can never hatch.”]
[Winteria had finally opened up about her past]