^^ Vega ^^

— Josef —

My desire to be first to the guild exceeded my rational thought, which said I could teleport into the building at exactly dawn, and instead I stubbornly laid down on one of the couches in the lounge area, in front of the entrance, and ended up sleeping for a bit.

I cracked my eyes when a group of people stepped in just before dawn, and observed them calmly. Two elves, a human, and a massive Bipedal Polar Bear wearing plate armor; the bear was holding what looked like a block of ice on the end of a simple metal rod, like a podunk ice hammer. The magical ice was a Mythical Item, though, apparently from some very, very rare place, and the metal was ordinary steel, though rolled properly to endure the hits of its owner, and therefore SS+. Impressive in its own right, that.

The two elves were vaguely similar, like siblings or cousins; one sported a spear and a grimoire, while the other had an ElfBow over his shoulder, and two short swords on his hips. The grimoire smelled of smoke, as if its contents mostly related to fire, and the staff/spear had a red magic crystal fitted into a hole in its blade. A pyromancer, perhaps? The other held the bow with a casual ease. It was a white wood with black veins, and small crystals seemed to be growing out of the curves, catching the light hypnotically.

Still... The human was the interesting one, funnily enough.

Just as tall as me, or only a few inches shorter, and dressed casually in a sort of leather sports-bra, with leather pants and boots, all Dragon-Hide. Still, she bore no real armor, and a lot of her skin was on display. She had an impressive athletic frame and a collection of scars, each of them massive and savage enough to have easily killed her, if she was mortal. But, being X+, she was like me, essentially a Demigod. Her long black hair was dyed white at the ends, and full of braids of various styles and decorations. It seemed an interesting vanity, but I understood the importance of a few normal things, once you got into the world of god's and magic.

I watched for now, as the group walked past me towards the counter, but the elf archer and the human woman both glanced sideways at me, before continuing on. Their perceptions were impressive, as I had hidden myself as best as one could without magic or skills.

"Party of Lady Vega, responding to an invitation? An SS+ Special Rank Dungeon Subjugation?" The elf with the bow spoke, and the woman at the counter grinned happily.

"Yes, I'll write it down! Duke Eisenberg was expecting you, so he is here already, with his companion. Do you need any information, equipment, or supplies before you go?" She asked cheerfully.

"I envy people who can be so gods-damned chipper in the morning." Vega muttered, voicing my own similar thoughts.

"Agreed..." I replied, not moving or opening my eyes any further.

The polar bear twitched his nose, sniffing and glancing at me, then growled softly. "That one is Dragonkin, Loran... should I smash it?" He asked simply, looking down at the mage-elf.

"No, Jessie, not yet. You're Duke Eisenberg, I assume?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

I sighed and sat up, stretching. "Well, depends on who's asking... It's good that you arrived, finally; now we can get to work. Follow me." I stood up and nudged Vanya awake, heading towards the entrance.

The group followed me after a moment, while I was sitting on a bench outside, soaking up the dawn sun. I lit a pipe full of this world's version of tobacco, and blinked at them calmly while they gathered in front of me.

"So we were informed that you had information about the dungeon? Someone scouted it out already?" The elf mage seemed to be the talker of the group, and the Leader as well, maybe, while the others preferred to let her handle social interactions.

"I scouted it, Yes. Eight days ago." I answered dryly, and blew some smoke circles lazily, leaning back on the bench.

"And it's confirmed as an SS+ Special Rank?" She asked.

"Mmhmm." I nodded.

She hummed softly, and looked at Vega. "We've come this far, should we just take a look at the dungeon? It could be fake..."

Lady Vega shrugged. "I like the idea of a SS+ Dungeon; it's been a while. An ambush can't be worse than a dungeon, right?"

The archer nodded, speaking just as softly as the other two, though I could hear him just fine. "I agree, and my Lie Detection says that guy's telling the truth... but he's also the same level as us, so..."

The bear snorted, and smacked his warhammer into his palm loudly. "Is not!"

I smiled at the childish display, and re-lit the ember in my pipe, as it had died out a little. "If you children are done wasting my time, we have work to do, so make a decision, Ja?" I yawned.

They looked at me, then universally looked at Vega, who sighed, and nodded. "We already decided to do this, enough with the games. Let's get going." She turned her gaze to me.

"Mm... first, can you take your human form, big guy? I don't think I can take you with us as big as you are." I looked up at the 4 meter tall polar bear, and hummed.

The archer scoffed softly. "Of course He can't turn back! Honestly, don't you know anything about therianthopy? To ask that kind of stupid-"

I shifted to my full draconic form in the blink of an eye, then growled softly in his face, halting his sentence. Once silence ensued, I spoke quietly, letting my voice vibrate his sternum and ears. "I know quite a bit about the Moon's Children, Ja... any more Smartass remarks?"

In the perfect silence, I turned to the polar bear and poked his chest, casually Gifting him with the portion of Dragon Prince that allowed control of Shifting. It morphed into Ursine Knight, the bear version, I supposed, and lost most of its abilities, but <therianthropy control> and <intelligence Down nullification> stayed.

Immediately, I destroyed the servant-contract that I'd created, and then on a whim I enchanted his armor to fit itself to him like mine did. "That should allow you control of your shifting, as well as removing that pesky Intelligence Draining Nerf... easy does it, now." The polar bear slowly shrank, and I raised an eyebrow slowly at the very young man who now stood in front of me in full plate mail. He looked to be about 15, (if that,) though he was just as tall as me.

He shivered, and shook his head to Clear it. "Whoa... How did you do that?" He asked curiously, settling his hammer, -now even more ridiculously oversized,- over his shoulders.

"I simply Gifted you a small Title Buff of mine, which gives you-... you have polar-bear ears." I held in a snort of laughter at the image of a plate-mail wearing boy with cute little white ears on top of his head.

He frowned and patted his head, finding them, then grinned, posing for the human girl like an ingenue. "Well, how do I look, Vega? Scarier than you?"

She smiled at him and punched his shoulder affectionately. "You're 1000 years too young to be challenging me!!!"

"Mm, yes, well; while you're all adorable, let's stay focused? Good. Hold on." I wrapped all of them in the circle of my wings, and simply sent us all to the edge of the forest where the Dungeon was.

I settled my wings back against my back, and knelt, sniffing towards the forest. 'A patrol of thirty Naga scouts checks the forest every hour or so. Their stealth skills are Mythical, but their battle potential is weakened once their position is revealed...' I created a basic telepathic link to the others, and spoke calmly.

They looked at me, then each other. 'Stealth? Maybe we just flush them out? No one cares if we burn the forest down a little, right?' The archer suggested.

'I CARE.' I frowned at him.

'Still, clearing the forest is a good idea... as Lord of this land, can you... move the forest?' Vega asked.

I blinked slowly, and tentatively reached out to Evagil. 'Is that... possible?'

'A curious idea... but that dungeon is a disgusting abomination, spreading a plague of madness to all the Creatures in the forest... therefore, burning it out is best. The Green will regrow, stronger for the culling.' He answered casually.

'Good to know... Alright.' I stood up and conjured my grimoire, So rarely used as to have been almost completely forgotten. I opened it to my biggest Fire Spell, and nudged the Mage. 'We're torching the entire forest around the dungeon. Help out a little, Pyromancer.' I showed her the exact area to burn, and then started chanting, while flying up into the sky a bit to get a better vantage point.

"A Spark Ignites,
Kindling Burns;
Darkness takes Flight,
As Light Returns.

It is a Fire,
A horrid Blaze;
A Titan's Ire,
A Dragon's Gaze.

I am become Heat,
I am become Death;
My body is but Meat,
Yet Hell is on my Breath.

Inferno."

I breath deeply, and then opened my mouth widely, breathing a massive gout of white heat at the forest from above, like a dragon scourge from legend, or a true dragon from the stories.

It spread far more than I'd thought it would, and just kept going, devouring the forest like it was made of tissue paper and matchsticks. In an instant, it had devoured near-exactly 1,000 acres, and in a perfect circle around the dungeon, melting even the stone of the mountain and making it all perfectly level volcanic glass; it even charred some of the canopy in the sunken jungle. Even though it immediately sapped every bit of Mana I had and turned me out to the bone, I knew from the Messenger that damaging a dungeon from the outside was nearly impossible, so I chalked it up to a win, overall.

'That... was... AWESOME!!!' The Messenger suddenly squealed happily. 'You just gained the Title: True Dragon, and even the ULTRA-RARE Unique Mythical Skill: Dragon Scourge!!! You can only get that skill if you destroy a populated area, usually, but the amount of land you just 'Ashes-to-Ashes'd is definitely enough, and close to 170 SS+ enemies died, but no Commanders, unfortunately, just scouts and a few roving warriors, plus the various other magical beasts in the forest. All their loot was placed in your Hidden Space as soon as they died, so you don't have to worry about the clean-up!!! Usually you have to touch stuff to take it, but with Hidden Space at X+ now, the rules get bent a bit. Wanna know what you got?' She laughed excitedly.

'Sure.' I smiled and slowly let myself glide down towards the ground, keeping an eye out on the dungeon to see if anything left it.

'—>Loot/Drop Items
   Naga Blade SS+ (42)
   Naga Bow SS+ (51)
   Naga Claw, Charred <Ultra-Rare, X+> (340)
   Naga Dagger SS+ (84)
   Naga Eye SS+ (340)
   Naga Fang SS+ (340)
   Naga Leather, Charred <Ultra-Rare, X+> (170)
   Naga Scale, Charred <Ultra-Rare, X+> (170);

Those Charred Items alone... I mean... Naga are Immune to Fire, Josef. Charred Naga Leather is literally one of the Rarest Items that Exists, just under Charred True Dragon Scales, which no one has gotten in nearly 4,000 years of fighting dragons...'

'Neat. What's that Title give me? And that Skill?' I asked casually, though I was secretly quite pleased with the development.

'Title: True Dragon;
Title Buff: Dragon Transformation
Title Buff: Removal of Enemies' Fear Immunity
Title Buff: Intimidation X+
Title Buff: You Devour your Enemies' Mana
Title Buff: You Devour your Enemies' Skills
Title Buff: Hoard Accrues Value/Rarity.
-
Unique Mythical Skill Buff: Dragon Scourge;
Effect: Your Shadow Breaks the Strongest of Wills
Effect: Siege Damage against Structures UP+++
Effect: Damage in Dragon Form UP+++
Effect: Defense in Dragon Form UP+++
Effect: Lair Defense UP+++++++++
Effect: Territory Defense UP+++++++++

Essentially, you have joined the ranks of Legendary Dragons, and the System has Acknowledged you all on its own... and now you can turn into a real Dragon, not just a Dragon-Man, though you can choose your Were-Dragon form if you like...'

'Very neat.' I nodded, touching down on the very edge of the colossal ring of volcanic glass that was once lush forest.

The other members of the group stared at me for a moment, and then Vanya broke the silence as she began cackling and wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. "You should see your faces!!!" She managed, and guffawed hideously, falling on her ass from laughing too hard.

I snorted, and shook my head. "Get off the ground, Vanya, you're making us look bad."

She stopped laughing immediately, and the entire group took a uniform step away from me, like clockwork.

I deactivated the Intimidation Skill, and shrank to my human form. "Ahem, sorry about that. Stand up, my dear, we've work to do." I helped her stand up, dusting her off, and looked at the pyromancer, who looked particularly terrified.

She squealed softly when our eyes met, and gulped. "I-... I mean-, that is, I-" she began babbling, and Vega smacked her skull softly.

"Enough, he's not the boogieman, Loran." She sighed, and looked me up and down appraisingly. "That was pretty impressive... Josef, right?" She asked.

I bowed properly, then turned and walked towards the dungeon, trudging across the obsidian plain.

'By the way... Unique Mythical Skill Trumps ordinary Mythical, so Draconic Magi was Eaten by Dragon Scourge... you only have four Mythical Skills now, [Herne the Hunter(2nd), Legendary Craftsman, Titled One, and Unique Mythical <Ultra-Rare>: Cadmus]... sorry?' The Messenger hummed curiously. 'Oh, nevermind; your Title Buff upgraded!!! You gained a few effects, such as Unique Mythical Skill <Spartoi>, as well as the Buff: <Athena's Grace> and the Curse: <Ares' Ire>.
Now, You can plant the Teeth of DragonKin Enemies to make Legendary Undead Warriors who will serve you, just like the Spartoi of the Cadmus Legend. As for Athena's Grace and Ares' Ire, they cancel each other out, mostly.'

'Mostly?' I prompted.

'Ares' Ire causes a Nerf to Luck and Intelligence, as well as making your enemies tactically smarter; Athena's Grace causes a Buff to Intelligence and Luck, as well as making your allies tactically smarter.' She explained.

'Huh... okay, that's weird, but I guess I prefer them to cancel each other out rather than Nerfing me.' I shrugged, and glanced over my shoulder. The people behind me were almost all staring at the notification that I'd gained Unique Mythical Skills 'Cadmus' and 'Spartoi'. "Are you going to waste even more time, now?" I asked exasperatedly, and turned forward again as they sheepishly put away their badges.

"So... are you an ArchMage? I recently got that skill, but... I've never seen magic on that level." The mage, Loran, asked suddenly.

"I had the ArchMage Skill a few months ago, but I fed it to a few others, and most recently I had made Draconic Magi from a mixture of Red Dragon, Sage, and True ArchMage, I think... then I fed that to Dragon Scourge, and made Cadmus, which gave me Spartoi, and here we are." I nodded calmly.

She blinked slowly, and cleared her throat. "O-oh... right... of course! So, if one would like to awaken True ArchMage... how would one do so?"

I frowned at her, and raised an eyebrow. "How do you get to X+ Rank as a Mage without being a True ArchMage? I was only Rank S when I got that Skill!"

She blushed, and mumbled something about her Rank being all her Mythical Skills, not her Skill Level, but didn't answer properly.

I snorted softly, irritated by the deception, intentional or no. "Well, luckily for all of us, you brought at least two real Legendary Rank's with you, plus Vanya and myself, so the four of us can kill the Boss while you and the archer can handle the others together... hopefully."

She subsided, returning to her group, and I marched forward again, turning a blind eye to the whining from her feelings being hurt. 'How had she thought to survive this dungeon? Does she have some other skill that makes her useful? Is her talent elsewhere, and she's not a mage at all, but rather a spear-maiden? That could work, I suppose... or maybe she's the healer? That makes sense; healers don't usually have much in the way of combat ability... damn, I suppose I should apologize for being an ass... but I'm so on edge right now, it'd probably come out wrong, so I'll wait a-. Wait... why am I on edge?'

I stopped moving, and then swung a fist on instinct, connecting with the jaw of a Now-visible 'Naga', which looked almost exactly like me, in my Half-Dragon form, though it was a deep purple in color. It reared back, it's jaw broken and bleeding, and then slashed at me on the recoil with its sword. The blade was slick with a familiar purple substance, and it scored a line across my chest armor... except it didn't pierce my skin even a little, even as it slashed my Mythical Leather Armor.

I recognized the massive Defense Buff from Vanya's Shield-Maiden Skill, and grinned savagely at the very confused Naga. "Huh... wonderful..."

Vanya darted in front of me, and then simply rammed her shield into the creature's face so hard that what I hadn't broken with my fist was instantly unrecognizable. It fell to its knees, and she let her spear extend, impaling its brain and killing it mercifully. "You're damned right, I am." She smirked at me, responding to my 'wonderful' comment confidently.