Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 40 — A Draconian Problem

Noah felt the creature’s aura hold him in place, frozen like a mouse trapped in the claws of a lion. But instead of feeling fear, Noah felt a strange sense of awe as he looked at the creature in front of him. A creature of Myth, now standing in front of him. Which also might want to eat him.

The dragon raised its giant foot, pressing Noah down onto the muddy waters. The projection had blinked long ago, taking the chance to escape as Noah pushed against the claws of the dragon, trying to blink away but found his ability fizzling out to nothing.

A loud roar shook the area, and Noah felt a strange terror pierce his heart, gripping him. He gasped, the murky water now filling his lungs, yet even as he drowned, he found himself paralyzed by the terror.

Your aura has been suppressed.

You have heard a Dragon’s roar. Your soul trembles in fear.

[Terror - IV] inflicted.

That sensation was back again. The helplessness he’d felt against the Wyrm, the powerlessness. It was easy to get drunk on his powers, but moments like these reminded him of how truly insignificant he was in all of this. Dealing with gods and wards of ages, he had deluded himself into thinking he mattered, yet a single dragon could end him on a whim and that would be it for him.

Noah felt the air escaping his lungs, as his vision started to slowly darken. His constitution worked against him now, keeping him alive through the sensation of his lungs being filled in murky water, as he drowned terribly, terribly slowly, healing the damage the moment it happened, but not enough to keep himself from losing health.

The health bar in Noah’s vision slowly continued to tick down, depleting itself. Noah tried to push but there was no strength in his limbs, his aura was too weak to even nudge the weight of the dragon.

Slowly, the water seeped into him, eating through his health, as the edges of despair began to creep in.

Health: 48%

He was dying, a terrible, and slow death, and he couldn’t even resist. Tony shivered and moved around in a panic, trying to activate Metamorphosis, but the ability refused to work.

The symbiote rose into the air, pushing against the dragon’s feet. It was pointless. Noah watched his health now drop below a quarter, as his consciousness began to waver.

Lightning shot around the water a moment later, as the claw lifted.

Noah rose his head, coughing the murky water out as desperately worked to catch his breath. After he’d finally stopped coughing his insides out, Noah looked up at the Dragon and saw Bun Bun flailing around in the dragon’s claws, trying to bit or kick at it.

Slowly the dragon’s eyes turned towards Noah.

“Is this creature yours?”

Noah froze under the low rumbling voice. He looked at the dragon in surprise, before his eyes went to Bun Bun. He considered lying for a moment, but decided not to. If the dragon had some ability that could spot lies, he would be fucked.

“Yeah. It’s my familiar,” Noah said.

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The dragon growled, looking at little Bun Bun flailing around in its claws as the bunny froze.

“Why have you not taught it manners?”

Noah blinked. “Umm, what?” he said, feeling a little confused. Mere moments ago this thing had been about to drown him to death.

“You keep a draconian creature and yet teach it no manners, do you intend to raise a feral monster? Because its hunger will only grow with time, and so will its arrogance.”

“So- wait, I don’t understand. Are you not going to kill me?” Noah asked, not understanding what was happening here.

“Why would we? We’d simply been waiting for you to answer, but you didn’t seem very willing. Even so, we wouldn’t kill you simply because you lack manners.”

“But… you’d been drowning me…” Noah trailed off.

The dragon’s eyes widened, as sparks crackled around it. “Oh, apologies. I forget that you creatures need to breathe to survive.”

Noah looked at the dragon, and felt a strange exhaustion fill him. Had he been about to die… because the dragon forgot that he needed to breathe? Laughter burst out of Noah’s mouth, disbelief, adrenaline and relief all mingling into a strange release of emotions as his legs gave out.

“Are you okay? Did we break you?” the dragon asked.

Noah wiped tears from his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, looking up at the dragon and giving it a smile. “You’re a lot less terrifying than people had led me to believe.”

The dragons snorted. “Do not ever say that to any other dragon. They will kill you for the insult.”

“But you won’t?” Noah asked, curious. “I’m so curious, I’ve always wanted to meet a dragon.”

“You’re a strange one. Why would you want to meet death?” the dragon said, lowering Bun Bun into Noah’s arms. To Noah’s surprise, the rabbit was shivering now, trying to bury itself in Noah’s arms.

“What did you do?” Noah asked. Bun Bun had never looked this afraid.

“We taught it some manners. Nothing much,” the dragon said, then narrowed his eyes. “Oh, that explains it. You’re an Outerworlder aren’t you?”

“Yup,” Noah said. “And you’re a dragon.”

“We are. That explains a lot about your attitude.”

“My name is Noah,” Noah said, looking up at the dragon. “What’s yours?”

“We do not have a name. Not anymore,” the dragon replied.

“What do you mean not anymore?” Noah asked.

The dragon looked down at him, eyeing him silently. “Tell us this first, Noah. What brings you here? Do you seek the treasures buried in this land, to raid and plunder its corpse till not even bones are left, before the realm sinks into the beyonds of the rifts?”

Noah felt a powerful wave of mana flow over him, at the dragon’s question, the creature’s eyes searing holes into him.

“I’m here to save this place,” Noah replied. “There’s a Shard of great power in the castle. Abyssal cultists are trying to gain it to open an Abyssal Rift, likely through here. My goal is to stop them.”

The dragon growled. “Those vermin. Yes, we know. We have killed many, but they keep returning. Their leader lied to us, took advantage of our nature and chained us to this place,” the Dragon said, raising its claws as a magical chain made of bright glowing runes manifested.

“We have weakened, without Ryugan… our strength fades, and mana dwindles. This place cannot support us, and those vermin took advantage of our weakened state,” the dragon said, as lightning crackled all around it.

“You said their leader? Who was he?” Noah asked.

The dragon glanced down, its anger fading. “We could not see. He wore a veil even our eyes could not pierce. The man had arrived with promises of giving us a new purpose and freedom, and in return he had given one of his men a blessing, to change their Paths into a legendary one. The leader of an adventuring team called Iron Fist.”

Noah’s eyes widened in surprise, as he looked at the dragon, pieces of the encounter clicking in place. Aurelia had mentioned that Garett had gained a legendary path all of a sudden, one of lightning magic, even though he’d not crossed any evolution points.

“We killed them,” Noah replied. “Iron Fist. We killed them and the cultists. They’ve been trying to work on this for a while, draining the lifeforce of innocent individuals, and sacrificing people but they need that Shard, and if I can get it before them, I could stop their plans,” Noah replied.

The dragon looked down at him. “I’m afraid we cannot allow that.”

“But… why?”

“Ryugan’s last wish was for us to protect his legacy. To protect this place. We are bound to his wishes, and cannot allow any more people to step foot into this place. We won’t fail twice.”

Noah looked at the dragon, feeling his frustration rising.

“Can’t you see that doing this only helps the cultists? I don’t know who your companion was, but I don’t think stopping me helps you fulfill his wishes.”

“We understand, Noah. We are not foolish. But our nature forbids it. We cannot let you go, not without us accompanying you, and we are chained to this place.”

“What if I break it?” Noah asked.

The dragon looked at him, and then realised his head and laughed. The world shook around Noah from the dragon’s laughter, creatures running away in fear from the nearby forest.

“This chain has the lives of hundreds put into it. Nay, thousands. Weakened though we may be, it still holds us back, drains our strength and prevents us from breaking it. You think you can do what we cannot?” the dragon said, snorting.

“Like you said, it’s draining your power, but I’m free aren’t I? And it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot, I have quite some prior experience in breaking shackles,” Noah replied.

“Very well, if nothing else, watching you struggle with amuse us,” the Dragon replied.

Noah nodded, walking closer. The dragon pulled its claw ahead, straining the magical chain as it manifested. Moving closer, Noah saw complicated threads of magic interwoven into the spell. His [Universal Language Comprehension] perk tried to decode the meaning for a second, before it gave up.

Noah put his hand on the chain, feeling the deep coursing power in it. If his shackles had been a rope binding his soul, then this was multiple giant steel wrapped around each other.

Continuing to let his senses go through the chains, Noah began to let his soul feel out the areas. With his own shackles, he’d learned very quickly that the spell supressing his soul was not equally strong. Like any chain, it was only as strong as its weakest link.

Making his way around the dragon with his hand on the chain, Noah eventually found the spell tying into a larger network of mana threads feeding it energy.

Tony flapped around Noah, chiming.

“That’s… a pretty good idea actually,” Noah said, as Tony jumped around, pleased.

“Hey, do you think if I cut off the supply of this spell, you’ll be able to break it?” Noah asked.

The dragon glanced back at him, looking at the chain tying it. “Hmm. Perhaps. It is worth trying.”

Noah nodded, grabbing the runic chain in his hand, as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Steadying his soul, Noah began to pull.

Mana coursed through his body, as he poured the entire weight of his will, aura and mana into the chain, pulling on it. The chain began to glow rapidly, torrents of mana flowing into it, as it began to resist Noah’s pull.

Noah felt the strength of the chain tugging on him, responding in retaliation by trying to suppress him instead. Noah’s body started to seize up, as the suppression began to mount, but Noah was used to the sensation. He continued to pull, resisting the supression put upon him.

Veins popped in his arms and forehead, blood pounding in his ears as the weight of the magic capable of holding a dragon struggled against his hands.

“Gaaaaaahhhh,” Noah screamed, his spirit aching against the strain as his body was pushed to its limits.

Soul Resistance has reached level 16!

Blood started dripping down Noah’s nose, and a moment later, Noah felt his legs give out as he collapsed on the ground, panting, bleeding from his nose and ears. Noah remained there on the ground, feeling his body aching in every possible area it could ache in.

“I’m… sorry…. I couldn’t… do it,” Noah panted, looking up at the dragon.

The dragon did not reply, holding up its claw as it looked intently at the chain, before its eyes went to Noah.

“No,” the dragons said. “It is miniscule but look here,” the dragon said, pointing at one section of the chain.

Noah stood up, looking at where the Dragon pointed. One of the chain links, with its thousands of runes, had a single rune slightly broken.

A powerful aura rose from the dragon, and Noah looked up to see the dragon baring its teeth out, a menacing look that made him freeze in his footsteps in the creature’s eyes.

“Do you have Soul resistance?” the dragon asked, its voice shaking the world.

Noah gave a nod. “Level 16, it leveled up just now.”

The dragon looked at him, before a low rumble started to escape from the creature’s mouth. A look of fury now taking on his face as he looked at the skies. “Yes, Ryugan. We see what you’d meant now.”

Noah regarded the dragon, starting to feel a little scared by it.

“It has been years since we’ve felt this thrill. Noah, stay with us for some time. And learn. We will teach you how to hone your soul, to sharpen it like a blade, one that can cut any chains.” The dragon said, giving him a terrifying smile.

Noah felt a shiver run down his back.