Adventures of the last Wild Dragon

Chapter 281: A Dragon a Wolf and a Leopard

After the spar between Luna and Willam had come to a close it did not take long before a couple other of the adventures came forward to request a spar of their own.

None seemed eager to challenge Violet however, not that she was exactly upset about that. Violet knew her own strengths and physical combat, particularly when in humanoid form was not her strong suit. Plus if she fought with magic their would be a very high possibility of causing life threatening injuries given the very destructive nature of the void.

So Violet instead became the judge of the matches and Luna’s personal cheerleader of sorts. Not that she was alone in her admiration of Luna, most of the villagers seemed to view her as a near mythical being. She had after all defeated the strongest looking wolf, negotiated the retreat of the remaining wolves and then gone ahead and helped heal all of the injured after everything was said and done.

So yeah, Luna had quite the fan club of villagers shouting their support and suggesting very... novel, ways that she could beat the next opponent.

Eventually Luna had beaten the last of the adventures interested in a match against her, which ended up being every one of them that wasn’t a mage or a healer. Still once that was done the celebration continued for some time until the two companions decided that they would like to return to bed for now.

They managed to escape the celebration and disappeared back into the inn and their room. After a quick icing of the windows and door the two quickly entered the bed once again and soon found themselves back in the land of dreams.

By the time that they awoke the sun was already high in the sky, just past noon if they had to guess. They emerged from their room and made their way downstairs to enjoy some food from a fairly disheveled looking barkeep. Still the food was hot, hearty and tasty so they did not complain.

After that was said and done the two decided that they may aswell just leave now and get a bit of a head start towards the wolves lair.

They made their goodbyes to villages and adventures alike, thankfully none made to much of a scene. Still it had been a enjoyable stop for the two companions, one that they would cherish for quite some time.

Exiting the village the two turned in the direction indicated by the wolf and headed off into the wilderness. They set a fast pace at first, eager to create some distance between themselves and any of the adventures that may have wanted to sneakily follow along behind.

Once some distance had been created the two allowed themselves to return to a more reasonable pace, which was still comparible to a full sprint for a mundane human, whilst no more strenuous to the two of them than a relaxed walk, the wonders of stats making the improbable possible.

The two continued traveling for some time, at first it was quite simple to follow the tracks left behind by the wolves. Yet as they got further and further away the tracks dispersed in every direction making it hard to know which was the one that they were supposed to follow.

That was then they spotted a singular steel flower along one of the many paths available for them to follow, with no better options available to them given how perfectly Steelclaw the giant wolf had erased its own tracks.

Like that the two of them followed the path laid out to them, going from metal flower to metal flower.

Soon they crested a hill and saw before them a truly majestic sight.

A small section of woodland lay in the dell between several hills, the trees were quite large and spread out. Yet this was no ordinary woodland, for every single tree within this area had been transformed into living steal.

The trees still swayed in the breeze, fruits and others flowering plants still bloomed, all now as the paradoxical living steal instead of anything else.

The sight was enough to take their breath away as they observed the truly unnatural sight in all of its splendor.

After taking some time to appreciate the sight before them the two companions slowly made their way down the slope of the hill and entered into the silver tinted trees.

As soon as they passed by the first tree the air around them shifted, and they knew that they had entered into the domain of a beast. This was nothing like the domains that could be claimed by a Lord, those were simply expressions of one’s presence, this however, this was something more fundamental.

It was also the final indication they needed to confirm that Steelclaw was indeed a sovereign, not merely a powerful Lord. That did cause them to tense up initially, yet they felt no rejection or animosity towards them so soon eased up slightly. They both still stayed alert obviously, they were about to be meeting a sovereign in its own territory, but the two of them allowed some of the tension to relax slightly.

Soon enough they emerged in the center of the woodland where a clearing of sorts lay. There they finally saw the first wolf since entering the forest.

It was a regular sized wolf, nothing particularly special about it visually apart from its steel grey fur. However once they walked into the clearing it perked up and looking their way, it sniffed the air and let out a short howl that reverberated through the metal trees in a magical display of acoustics.

And soon enough the two girls watched as the giant form of Steelclaw emerged from behind a tree that most definitely should not have been able to hide her form, still when she emerged the two showed no signs of hostility and simply observed the wolf as it moved into the clearing and observed them in turn.

The silence was broken when Violet threw together a mind bridge of her own, it was in turn accepted by Steelclaw and the three of them were once again linked through telepathy.

"Why stay in those small forms?" Was the first words spoken by the wolf, prompting Violet to tilt her head in thought for a moment before she shrugged.

"No real reason, but I think I’ll change back, don’t be alarmed by the light please."

And like that both Violet and Luna were briefly enveloped in a purple and white blue light respectively. A few seconds later they both stood next to each other in their true form, that of a violet hued dragon with onyx accents along her wings, claws and horns, whilst besides her stood a smaller but still quite massive snow leopard with white and iridescent blue fur.

Whilst they were both quite large in their natural state, neither quite matched up to the truely giant figure of Steelclaw who easily reached 25 meters from snout to tail.

Still they stood there and allowed the giant wolf to observe the two of them in silence, something that they too took the opportunity to do.

Steelclaw was a majestic beast, her fur rippled as she moved showcasing her defined musculature that hid beneath the steel fur that adorned her body. She was sleek and lithe instead of overbearing, definitely focussed more on agility instead of strength.

"Hmm the wilds is indeed strong with the two of you, you share a bond do you not?" The giant wolf asked them with her deep and powerful voice reverberating through their minds.

"We are! Luna is my companion!" Violet enthusiastically exclaimed whilst lifting her head slightly in pride.

The wolf observed them for a poignant moment then let out a huff of amusement.

Luna chose that moment to then speak up, hesitation in her voice. "Umm, about the wolves that we killed..."

But before she could finish her question Steelclaw spoke up with a dismissive snort. "Worry not about them, they were the useless pups of my pathetic brother." Then her gaze sharpened as she focused on Luna.

"And the one you slew was said useless brother." She paused then, assessing their reactions, then with another snort she continued. "You fought well for one so small. He may have been arrogant but he was not entirely weak, still the pack has been weakened by his loss and I will need to raise new pack members to strengthen us soon."

Luna hesitated for a moment, trying to understand what the wolf meant by her words, then with a mental sigh she spoke. "Well, umm, thank you? I just don’t wish for their to be any animosity between us."

The wolf brushed off her concerns. "We are beasts, the strong survive whilst the weak die. It is in the nature of things, you merely cleansed the pack of weakness that was infecting it like a rot."

"That is besides the point however. You intend to challenge the powers of this human kingdom? To tear them down from their false throne and restore order to this land?" Seeing the girls nod at her words the wolf pulled back her lips in a vicious, fang filled smile.

"Then allow me to be of assistance."