Chapter 143
Chapter 143
Huh?
Rawr!
Bianca’s shimmering white eyes hardened into slits of pure malice.
My treasures! My precious little babies just exploded!
Unforgivable!
She raised her head, locking onto the goblins emerging from the bushes.
It must be these dirty little runts! They broke my shiny things!
Her lips curled back, revealing rows of serrated teeth. A freezing white mist began to spill from the corners of her maw.
Whoosh!
Before Bianca could unleash her breath, a blur of blue shot past her.
Azure dove into the fray. Her claws snatched up two goblins—one elite warrior and one scrawny worker—before they could even raise their weapons. With a powerful beat of her wings, she rocketed straight up into the night sky, carrying her captives out of the kill zone.
Fwoosh!
Just as Azure cleared the area, Bianca unleashed hell.
A cone of absolute zero poured from her throat. The nine remaining goblins turned to flee, but frost is faster than feet.
The stragglers were caught instantly, a layer of white rime encasing them mid-stride. In less than three seconds, they were frozen solid, statues of terror preserved in crystal clear ice.
The faster ones made it a few more steps before the cold caught them, freezing them mid-sprint.
Nine perfect goblin ice sculptures stood silently in the clearing.
Bianca’s eyes widened, her rage still burning hot despite the cold. She stomped forward, her massive white claws slamming into the frozen ground.
She reached the first statue.
Smash!
A swing of her tail shattered the goblin into a thousand glittering green shards.
Smash!
A claw strike reduced another to shaved ice.
She moved down the line, systematically demolishing the frozen statues until nothing remained but piles of green slush.
As she finished her tantrum, Azure’s calm voice drifted down from above.
"Bianca. Use your breath to extinguish the forest fire."
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Bianca bristled. The nerve! No one tells the Great Bianca what to do!
"Aiden will be back soon..." Azure added casually.
Bianca froze.
"Okay! Okay! I'm doing it! Rawr!"
She turned her head toward the spreading flames. The goblin who had immolated himself had set the underbrush alight, and the fire was threatening to consume the forest—their temporary home.
She opened her mouth and sprayed a fine mist of freezing air over the flames. The fire hissed and died, smothered by the unnatural cold.
Stupid Azure. Bossy Azure.
Azure watched from above as the white dragon sulkily put out the fire.
"Once the fire is out, add more wood to the cave entrance."
"I know! I know!" Bianca snapped back.
Impatient, but obedient, Azure noted.
Satisfied, Azure turned her attention to the prizes in her claws. She descended, landing softly on a clear patch of ground away from the heat.
She dropped the two goblins. They hit the dirt, shivering violently—not from cold, but from sheer terror.
Azure stared down at them. One was a hulking elite, the other a runt. Her vertical pupils narrowed.
Time for an experiment.
Subject: Goblin Intelligence.
Her long blue tail lashed out, piercing the brush and wrapping around a thick vine.
Snap.
She severed it with a flick of her claw.
Swish.
She dragged the vine over. Holding the terrified goblins in place with her gaze, she began to weave the vine around them.
She doubled the vine, looped it around the neck, then the collarbone, chest, waist, and thighs. She knotted it behind the back, pulled it through the neck loop, spread it wide under the armpits, and brought it back to the chest to form a perfect diamond shape. Finally, she tightened the slack and bound their ankles to their wrists.
Shibari. Or something like it.
She had seen the technique in a tome called The Art of Potent Restraints in the Dragon Inheritance. At first, she thought it was a binding spell. It turned out to be... recreational. She had tossed the book aside in disgust, but her photographic memory retained the pattern.
Useful for transport. And immobilization.
She applied the same intricate knotwork to the smaller goblin.
Soon, both creatures were trussed up like turkeys, lying on their bellies, unable to move their limbs effectively.
They didn't dare resist. They had seen this dragon take a dozen explosive rounds to the face without a scratch. Resistance was futile.
Azure leaned down, her face inches from theirs.
"Escape," she said in fluent Goblin—a dialect of the Mystic Beast tongue. "If you free yourselves, I might let you live."
The goblins’ eyes widened. Hope replaced the terror in their jaundiced pupils.
Life!
They immediately began to struggle.
The elite goblin grunted, his muscles bulging as he tried to snap the vines with brute force.
Idiot, Azure concluded instantly.
She shifted her gaze to the runt. It was wriggling frantically, twisting its body like a worm.
Another idiot.
Azure sighed. Both standard-grade morons.
She glanced toward the cave entrance. Bianca was currently tossing a fresh tree into the fire, making the flames roar high into the night.
The solution is simple.
Any creature with a shred of intellect would roll over to the fire. A brief exposure to the heat would singe the vines and snap them instantly.
Yet neither of them has even looked at the fire.
Disappointing.
Snap.
The elite goblin’s brute strength finally prevailed. One of the vines gave way.
Before he could even celebrate his freedom, a blue claw clamped around his torso.
"Grahhh!"
Azure lifted him up, her eyes cold and clinical.
"Experiment concluded. Phase Two: Anatomy."
"GRAHHH!"
The goblin’s scream cut through the night, high and thin.
Squelch.
A chunk of flesh hit the ground.
The smaller goblin stopped struggling. It stared at the wet sound, its eyes wide with absolute horror. It realized, too late, that the dragon had never intended to let them go.
Azure continued her work with detached precision.
First, the abdomen.
Her razor-sharp claw slit the belly open. A tangle of organs spilled out—intestines, stomach, liver.
She poked through the mess.
Standard internal structure. Heart. Lungs. Intestines. Nothing remarkable.
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