Chapter 48 - A Problem Child
POV: Ghislaine Dedoldia
The explosion of light was all I saw before the world around me disappeared. Instinctively, my body reacted. I held Eris tightly, shielding her with my own body as the overwhelming energy enveloped us. My sharp hearing and keen senses were overloaded by a deafening sound, and for a moment, everything went blank.
When I opened my eyes, the scenery was entirely different.
We were in a gigantic cavern, so vast and dark that the ceiling seemed to merge with the horizon's shadow. The walls, hundreds of meters away, glimmered faintly as light reflected off sparse crystals, just enough to reveal the cavern's immensity. The ground was uneven, covered with sharp stones and massive claw marks. The air carried a metallic scent, mixed with something damp and putrid, as if this place had not seen sunlight for centuries.
I carefully placed Eris on the ground. The young girl was stunned, looking around, unable to comprehend what had happened. "Stay close to me," I said firmly, drawing Hiramune.
The sword gleamed faintly in the crystal's light, its blade reflecting the cold determination in my eyes.
I tried to understand where we were. My trained senses, sharp as those of a beast, caught the oppressive silence around us. It felt as if the entire cavern was watching. A shiver ran down my spine.
Suddenly, a heavy presence dominated the space. My gaze instinctively shifted to the top of a rock pile a few meters away. Two pairs of yellow eyes shone in the darkness, fixated on us. Pupils narrow like a serpent's studied me with an intensity that made the hairs on my neck stand on end.
Slowly, the creature emerged. Its massive silhouette became visible as it moved into the dim light. Its breath produced a faint, icy mist that dissipated into the air. Enormous teeth, shimmering blue scales like sapphires, and long membranous wings projected its dominance. It was a dragon. A blue dragon, at least forty meters long, the apex predator of the entire world.
I kept my expression serious and stoic, though my heart beat faster. This was no ordinary foe, and I knew it. I took only a moment to adjust my stance. Every fiber of my body, trained to the limit, was ready to kill.
The dragon tilted its head slightly, its eyes evaluating the warrior before it. Its long, muscular tail moved slowly, dragging stones across the ground.