Chương 103: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 103 - Su Nian's Surprise Attack on the Starter Village

"Oh... Brother? What's wrong?" The sudden jolt startled Anna. But her first instinct wasn't fear, it was worry. She looked up immediately, checking if something had happened to Su Nian.

"Ah... I'm fine, Anna. Transforming into a human form still takes some time, so..."

"Brother, I know..." Anna finished the sentence for him. She curled up in the seat formed by dragon scales, her pretty face bright red and burning hot, cheek pressed gently against the scales.

"It's actually not because of the barbs. Anna already — anyway, it's not that, it's not — mainly, it's mostly because Brother's size is just... too huge..."

"If... if Brother could transform into a human form, the barbs... even, even if there were barbs, Anna could still accept it!" That last line came out almost as a shout. It seemed like she needed the volume to push through her own embarrassment. The moment it left her mouth, she regretted it. [How could I say something so shameless] [Brother is definitely going to think I'm some kind of lewd girl now] [But would Brother actually dislike lewd girls] [No. Anna won't be disliked] [Being with someone you love naturally makes you think about things like that. It's completely normal. Brother will definitely understand] Anna kept reassuring herself in a quiet loop. What she didn't know was that Su Nian had heard every single word. He'd been rendered completely speechless. He glanced at Anna's status panel. Half-Elf, fine. Fox ears and fox tail, definitely not a succubus with demon horns and bat wings. Checked her status. Dragonification, okay. Not a big issue... wait.

No. It's a massive issue. Dragonification plus being head over heels in love. Su Nian felt something click. If this kept going, things were going to get complicated. Creatures affected by Dragonification naturally developed intense feelings toward the source. In males, that manifested as loyalty. In females, it was considerably more nuanced, an instinctive pull toward noble dragon bloodline. That explained why the Harpy leader Ji Taimei had been giving him such strange looks lately.

Like a creep on a subway who'd just spotted a girl pressed against the door. Anna already liked him on her own. Add Dragonification on top of that, and thoughts like these were basically inevitable. Which raised the real question: how was he supposed to stop his future female followers from fixating on him all day? Su Nian made a mental note. Once he finished today's business, he was going to sit Ji Taimei down and walk her through some Buddhist scripture. The suffering inherent to all existence.

The impermanence of desire. The purification of the mind through wisdom. While his thoughts drifted, the silence between one elf and one dragon settled in, not uncomfortable, just quiet, carrying a faint tinge of pink and something gently sweet. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Alright, Anna. I heard you."

"I'm not like other dragons. Transforming doesn't depend on age for me. It won't take long."

"Mm~" Anna nodded obediently, burying her fair, flushed face between her knees. Her heart felt warm and tingly. Just as she'd thought. Brother didn't dislike her because of it. Even so, she wasn't going to push any further. Saying all that today had been mortifying enough. She was going to need a long time to recover. While the two of them talked, Sakura Island's No. 6 Starter Village came into view ahead. The players had already respawned.

They were scattered across the village, searching everywhere, visibly agitated.

"Gougouzi-chan?"

"Miss Gougouzi, are you there?"

"Baka! Miss Gougouzi hasn't respawned! She was captured by those evil monsters!"

"What do we do? Should we go rescue her?" The one pushing for a rescue was the same player who'd been "protecting" Meme Gougouzi near the flame arrow tower earlier, the same one who'd gotten a handful of her rear in the process.

"Rescue her with what? Rescue nothing!"

"But if we don't go, Gougouzi-chan is going to be tortured beyond recognition by those monsters! Uwaaah, my Gougouzi..." One player, picturing his goddess subjected to every manner of rough treatment at the hands of those monsters, couldn't hold it together. Grief overwhelmed him. Tears flowed freely.

"What are you blubbering about? Is that really all you're made of? Gentlemen, carry on without me — I have some private matters to handle in my room." Shua shua shua. The sound of toilet paper being yanked from a roll.

"Look!" Someone screamed. Every Sakura player turned. On the horizon, a dark shape was drawing closer and closer. They squinted. It was the black dragon. The same one they'd attacked. It had come to settle the score. How had it found their starter village?! The Sakura players went numb. [Warning! Powerful creature approaching] [Note: Monster siege in progress] [Starter Village protection activated, scanning current Starter Village as Level 1, protection level increased...] [All monster attributes reduced by 50% within the Starter Village area] Fifty percent. So what? None of them felt even slightly smug about the debuff. They'd seen what this black dragon could do. Weakened by half, it was still something none of them could touch. But they had courage. They had the spirit of Bushido.

"Gentlemen! We are invaders! We are players! We cannot disgrace the Sakura people!"

"That's right! Challenging those greater than ourselves is the great and eternal spirit of our Sakura nation!"

"Prepare for battle!" There's never a shortage of people willing to charge into the breach. They always emerge in critical moments, leading the charge, fighting on the front line, leaving behind only a towering silhouette. Some Sakura players were exactly like that. They rushed to the front first, battle cries ringing from their lips. They also died first. [Ding! Starter Village protection active, all attributes reduced by 50% upon entering the protected zone] Su Nian's System prompt.

"What's the coverage radius?" [A spherical zone with a radius of five hundred meters, centered on the Starter Village core, constitutes the active protection area]"Jiejiejie... Five hundred meters?" Su Nian's grin turned sharp.

"More than enough." He spread his wings and tipped into a dive. In his throat, scorching corrosive dragon breath was already building.

"The black dragon is coming down! Dragon breath!"

"Mages, raise shields!" All resistance was futile. Su Nian's method of attack this time was unusual. He extracted almost his entire reserve of dragon breath liquid in one go and launched it downward as a single massive sphere of liquid molten fire. The sphere hit the ground and shattered on impact. The dragon breath liquid, already volatile on its own, was destabilized by the shock, flooded with oxygen, and detonated. BOOM. A sickly green mushroom cloud bloomed above the Starter Village.

Su Nian's silhouette streaked overhead at full speed. He slipped cleanly out of the blast radius without a scratch. Firing dragon breath this way was dangerous. It was also absurdly wasteful. Only a mutant dragon like him, one who was well on his way to treating breath attacks like basic swings, would even consider it.

"Power's a little underwhelming..."

"Nuclear fission from back home is still the real deal. Looks like I'll just have to fire a few more rounds." With that thought settled, Su Nian folded his wings and dove toward Sakura No. 6 Starter Village again.

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