novelraw Chapter 241: Rewards and Goodbyes?
Chapter 241: Rewards and Goodbyes?
A silence settled over the group as they stared at the crispy corpse of the turtle that had seemed to intimidating not long ago. Then the girls gaze moved over the the regal dragon standing proud over his kill despite the wounds still dripping blood that marred his body.
That was broken when Olivia rushed over to the older dragon with worry, she stared up at his large form as she worked up the courage to speak up. "A-are you alright?" She eventually squeaked out, her voice several notes higher than usual.
Vithrax looked down at the small human and let out a short chuckle only to wince slightly in pain. "Hahaha, urgh... I’ll be alright, little Susan here is already healing me up, I’ll be back to normal in no time."
Olivia visibly relaxed at his words and glanced over at the dogkin who was studiously healing the various wounds on the red dragon. "That g-good, you were r-real cool!" She half murmured, yet loud enough for everyone to hear it.
Vithrax smiled down at her but did not say anything else as everyone settled down to rest somewhat after the short but intense fight.
The group rested up for a good hour after the battle, Violet and Vithrax having suffered the largest wounds they took the longest to be fully healed up under the ministrations of Luna and Susan respectively.
Only when the two were back in working order and the two healers had regained the majority of their mana did the group stand once again.
Looking around it was first unclear where they were supposed to go to leave this floor and proceed to the next one. However, after some searching around they discovered a new landmark had been added to the floor.
A eerily familiar black monolith had appeared in the center of the forest, it towered over the surrounding trees and could be spotted from most places as it pierced the sky.
The group began to make their way over to the structure, on their way however they began to encounter beasts of all sorts. It was the remaining beasts that made up the stampede, they had apparently learnt of the death of the turtle and had begun to return to their domains within the forest.
Thankfully they did not seem hostile to the group, if anything they seemed reverential towards them, particularly towards Vithrax as if they knew that it was that dragon that had dealt the finishing blow to the terror of the woods.
Before too long the group arrived in front of the towering monolith, on one side stood the familiar tall yet thin grand doors that would lead them into the inbetween floors and their potential rewards.
Vithrax stood before the door with a solemn look on his ancient visage. "Well welp, I guess this is where we say goodbye." He rumbled.
The girls all turned to face him at that various looks of understanding and reluctance adorning their faces. "Surely their must be some way to bring you with us?" Asked Violet, to vigorous nodding from Olivia.
The old dragon chuckled at her words. "I do not believe that I will be allowed to exit this dungeon, I was integral to its formation and it will likely not want to allow me to leave regardless of my wants." He explained in a conciliatory tone.
Violet growled in frustration yet was unable to come up with any workarounds that may allow them to bring the older dragon out with them. She simply knew too little about dungeons and how they worked to even begin to come up with a solution other than just desperate hopes.
However, their was one individual present that did know a decent bit about dungeons and who had grown attached to the ancient dragon.
Olivia spoke up. "Umm, I might know a way." She hesitantly spoke up, yet flinched slightly when 5 sets of eyes locked onto her. "It’s just a guess, but it’s the only way I know of to bring a dungeon creature out of a dungeon."
Seeing everyone continue to stare at her expectantly she carried on with her explanation. "A f-familiar contract." She stated simply, yet upon seeing the confused looks on her companions faces she hurried to further explain.
"A familiar is basically a contracted beast. The contracted beast would primarily reside in its companions soul, but can be summoned at will."
"That sounds perfect! So how do we do this contract?" Violet asked with interest.
Yet it was Vithrax that replied first. "A familiar eh, hu. Child you do know the restrictions that are generally placed on a contracted beast don’t you? If I went through with this I would be unable to deny a single one of your orders. I would be in effect a slave."
Hearing that explanation caused the proverbial hackles to rise on Violet and she looked over at Olivia in shock, yet the human spoke up to try and clear the air. "I-I know, b-but that is only the case with a a cruel master. There does not have to be any binding contract." She hurried to explain.
Vithrax hummed in contemplation for some time at that before he once more spoke up. "And who would be the person that I would be contracted to?"
"It needs to be done between a beast and enlightened. So myself or Susan, although a-she has a companion bond so will not be able to gain a familiar. S-so it w-would need to be m-me..."
A silence settled over the group as they processed Olivia’s words, they understood that this was Olivia trying to offer an alternative to being stuck in the dungeon for the rest of Vithrax’s life, yet it was also a cruel suggestion, to go from one form of servitude straight into another.
Still the girls all understood Olivia’s personality a decent bit after traveling with her the past few days. They all agreed that she would not be the type to take advantage of such a power dynamic, or at least they thought that they knew her well enough to guess that about her.
Vithrax however, had only known her a scant few hours, not nearly long enough to gain a full understanding of her personality. But Vithrax was still a dragon, an ancient dragon at that, his instincts were sharp and well refined over hundreds of years.
He had long ago learnt how to gauge a persons character, and he had long since come to an understanding on Olivia. Still he remained silent for some time as the group stood before the grand doors of the monolith.
Eventually however, he spoke up once again. "I will trust you on your words Olivia, I will enter a contract with you. But know this, should you break my trust of force me to go against my morals, I shall do all in my power to put you down." As he spoke his presence washed out over the group, its power put on full display as Vithrax made his intentions known.
Olivia gulped but remained facing the dragon dispite his presence being out on full display. "I understand, and I thank you for this show of trust. I shall do my utmost to not let you down and shall strive to be the best that I can be in all things."
The two stared at each other for several long moments before Olivia slowly raised her hand, palm facing out. Vithrax slowly lowered his massive head until his snout rested against the tiny palm of the human before him.
A glow began to form on the point of contact between the two, a beautiful mix of emerald and red. The two lights began to intermix as their radiance increased.
Soon the glow was all encompassing forcing the girls to look away least they blind themselves.
When they looked back they watched in awe and Vithrax’s body began to dissolve into soarks of emerald and red, each of these soarks in turn began to be sucked into Olivia’s body, soon enough the last of the multicoloured sparks had entered her body and a ethereal bell tolled out as the familiar contract was completed.