Book 5: Chapter 26 — The Dragonspawn (1) |
Bun Bun was no longer a bunny. This was an important distinction that the tall ones consistently failed to understand.
Yeah, sure, he had long ears and soft fur, which was now interspersed with magnificent scales, thank you very much. And he did hop, but these superficial similarities did not make him a bunny any more than having four legs made a dragon a particularly scaly horse. Him being a bunny was a matter of the past.
Now Bun Bun was a predator. He had always been a predator, even back when he was small and weak and the other creatures in the forest saw him as food. But even back then when he'd been nothing, just another bunny struggling to survive in a world that wanted to devour him, he'd always managed to escape and forage for survival.
The bigger creatures had always hunted him, and the faster ones had always chased him, but despite all of that, he had killed them all and made it here.
Sure, it had taken time and cunning and even a stubborn refusal to die that honestly Bun Bun hadn't fully understood at the time, but piece by piece, bite by bite, kill by kill, he had climbed the food chain until he'd reached this magnificent state. So calling Bun Bun a bunny was a rather deprecating thing to do.
His human could get away with calling him that, since he was the one who had found him and offered him blood that was so delicious regularly. So maybe him calling Bun Bun a bunny because he found it cute was acceptable, since the human was his companion, his partner, his friend.
Well, either way, now after all this time, he was out of that strange unreal place where his human stored all the spoils of war, and once again was with the old one. The dragon who looked human despite smelling completely different watched silently as Bun Bun hopped ahead of him.
Bun Bun was slightly cautious of this old one. He was very powerful, stronger than anything Bun Bun had ever encountered, evoking a sense of awe that even the predators he remembered in his childhood, those that could have killed him easily, had never managed to do. Those predators had never managed to make him want to hide. Bun Bun didn't hide anymore.
So he met the old one's gaze and let out a small chirp. Let's go hunting.
Bun Bun's nose wrinkled. He didn't need training. After all this time? After he'd gone through so much, learned so much, gained so many abilities? Even his human would pale in comparison to him. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but still!
But then again, his human had asked the old one to follow Bun Bun, so Bun Bun would have no choice but to agree.
At Bun Bun's resigned chirp, the old one laughed. Bun Bun let out a soft huff. How dare he laugh at Bun Bun!
But that was fine too. Bun Bun would show him exactly what a proper predator looked capable of, why he was worthy of being a dragonspawn, and then the old one would have to respect him too and would never dare laugh at him again.
Then he thought of his human. Even though he respected and loved Bun Bun, he still laughed at him a lot. Perhaps making humans or human-shaped dragons refrain from laughing at him was a task of futility.
He turned toward the inner cave system, ignoring the old one, his nose twitching. The prey were fewer and hiding deeper in the cave system. Bun Bun could still smell them. That distinctive scent of their fur lingered, almost rotting, but also at the same time it reminded him of the wolves and even the leopard he'd seen back in the forest.
Bun Bun's nose twitched again as he imagined the predators all regrouping somewhere ahead, licking their wounds and waiting for a chance at revenge. That's what Bun Bun would do if he was in their position. But Bun Bun would give them no such chance. He would find them first, and he would teach them why messing with Bun Bun or his humans was a very bad idea.
It took a few minutes of exploring the tunnels, but Bun Bun was quite confident now that he did have a solid trace of where these spider-cats were. He moved through the tunnels with a silent and steady pace that would have impressed even his human. He made sure his paws made no sound against the rocky floor, and his ears swiveled constantly, tracking every sound and whisper, every drip-drop of water, every blast of cold breeze.
The old one followed behind him, and much to Bun Bun's slight annoyance and hurt to his pride, the old one was equally silent despite his larger form. That was rather impressive, one had to admit grudgingly, since the rest of his humans—both the flame girl and his human—struggled to move silently. They were stealthy, sure, but to any true predator such as Bun Bun, the trails of scent they left and the slight pitter-patter of their feet would immediately give them away.
Whereas this dragon, this old one was completely different. He left no traces at all.
He's almost as good as me, Bun Bun thought generously.
It was a few minutes later before Bun Bun spotted one of the first spider-cats. It was alone, separated from its pack, with wounds that hadn't fully healed. Bun Bun tilted his head as he wondered why this spider-cat was here alone. Was it too injured, so the pack had abandoned it? But the spider-cats didn't seem to be those types of creatures, so perhaps this one was a scout.
Either way, he had to take it down quickly. Even injured, it was over twice his level and he didn’t have the humans here to help this time.
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[Cliffhanger Arachleon (Uncommon) - lvl 414]
The spider-cat was crouched in a small alcove to the side of the cave. All its eight eyes were closed, Bun Bun noticed once he approached it closer. That supported his belief that the pack did, in fact, abandon it, making his opinion of the spider-cats plummet even further. It explained why it was here sleeping, trying to recover from its injuries instead of being protected by its pack.
At least Bun Bun felt some sympathy for it. But at the end of the day, he couldn't let the spider-cats survive. Bun Bun leapt at the resting monster using Temporal Warp, and his little body blurred immediately.
The spider-cat's eyes snapped open, all eight going wide with shock, sensing Bun Bun's presence at the very last second. But it was far too late. Bun Bun was already descending onto the chest of the spider-cat, his claws raking across the creature's throat.
It had just enough time to open its mouth before Bun Bun’s Fire Breath poured into the gap. The arachleon didn’t even get to scream in pain before the fire had consumed its breath and burnt it alive. And then, just for good measure, his claws dug into the creature's spine. A crackly snap echoed through the cave as the spider-cat died, going limp in Bun Bun's grasp.
You have killed [Cliffhanger Arachleon (Uncommon) - lvl 414]
You have reached Level 198.
Bun Bun released it and leapt back, the fire having no effect on his excellent fur. Bun Bun paused to groom a spot of blood away from his whiskers. Couldn't let himself look anything but perfect, after all.
Once satisfied with his regal appearance, he sniffed at his kill for a moment, then left the deflated pile of too many furry limbs without nearly enough meat on them with a disgusted snort.
These spider-cats were supposed to be dangerous? Well, this one was also injured and abandoned by the pack, so defeating it easily was nothing to be proud of. His human had made them look much more impressive when fighting them. Which was a good thing, his human needed to look impressive.
"That was a clean kill," the old one observed from behind him. "But it was injured, and you relied entirely on surprise. What happens when your prey is in a much better state and also sees you coming?"
Bun Bun's ears flicked dismissively. Bun Bun would simply be faster in such a scenario. Still get the element of surprise over them.
The old one's eyes glittered with amusement. "That's what you think? We'll see, then."
The second spider-cat saw him coming, just as the old one had predicted.
[Cliffhanger Arachleon (Uncommon) - lvl 427]
This one was definitely a scout, based on how alert it was and how it was larger, stronger and faster than the injured one that Bun Bun had taken out. Its level was somewhere in the 420s according to the status screen that popped up in front of him.
Bun Bun lurked behind a corner, waiting, and when the arachleon came sniffing through, following Bun Bun's scent despite how hard Bun Bun had tried to hide it. As soon as it was in view, Bun Bun struck.
The creature's leg lashed out immediately and caught Bun Bun in the side, Bun Bun's surprise attack being completely ineffective, sending Bun Bun tumbling across the stone floor.
Pain flared through Bun Bun's chest, and he flapped himself upright just in time to dodge a follow-up strike that would have definitely taken his head off.
He immediately used Celestial Aegis, conjuring a shield around himself. The shield protected him from the worst of his enemy’s next strike, but his health still fell.
It seemed that he could rely on no standard strategy of surprise attack and then Fire Breath against this creature, not with how it was circling. Those eight eyes tracked Bun Bun's every movement, just waiting to find a flaw in his shield. It was clear that this one was a true predator.
Well, two could play this game.
Bun Bun pretended a feint to the left, then immediately darted right. Of course the spider-cat saw through this feint and moved to attack Bun Bun when he was moving to the right, but this was exactly Bun Bun's plan.
He immediately twisted and reversed direction mid-step, his powerful hind legs launching him directly at the creature's face. He used Fire Breath first to blind it, then Acidic Bite for good measure as his teeth sank into the spider-cat's skull, scorching its head and throwing in some lightning too for good measure.
The creature screamed, a satisfying sound that echoed through the tunnels. It thrashed wildly, trying to dislodge him, and it was almost successful with how Bun Bun was being slammed against both the ceiling and the floor.
Even worse, one of its clawed legs scored a line of fire across Bun Bun's back, making Bun Bun almost let go as his health fell rapidly. But he didn't let go. He couldn't. If he let go now, sure, the fire would almost certainly cripple the spider-cat, but there was no telling whether it would take Bun Bun down with it.
Bun Bun couldn't let the spider-cat just kill him.
As fire spread from his bite, finally burning through the creature's tough skull and into its barin, the creature thrashed once more and then went still.
You have killed [Cliffhanger Arachleon (Uncommon) - lvl 427]
You have reached Level 204
Bun Bun released his grip and dropped to the ground, his sides heaving. That had been a lot harder than expected. The wound on his back stung. Heck, his entire body hurt with how he'd been slammed around as though he were a stuffed toy, and he was pretty confident one of his ribs was broken, given how every breath hurt.
But he'd won. He'd won, and the arachleon lost.
"How strange," the old one said. "You should have struggled less against this creature to that extent. You are a dragonspawn, after all. You have my draconic heritage. But you did struggle. You are holding back. Why are you holding back?"
Bun Bun resisted the urge to bite the old one's ankle at that. Wasn't it obvious why he was holding back? But he knew that the old one was just concerned for him, so he resisted the urge to commit violence.
The old one hummed, seemingly realizing. "Oh. You're afraid of showing off to Noah? You're using Fire Breath and Celestial Aegis here, in front of me, which you didn’t use in the fight earlier. Even now, you're holding back. Why?"
Bun Bun chittered. If I show off to my human, I'll be sent back to my storage space. Bun Bun… needs to pretend he isn’t the best.
"Hmm. You have such little trust in Noah. I think he'd be proud of you if you did show off. The storage space was due to a variety of circumstances, and unrelated to you showing off. And anyway," the old one said, his grin revealing the dragon beneath the human facade, "if you want to continue to act this way, Bun Bun, then I'll force you to do better."
Bun Bun bristled a bit, his nose twitching. Fine, he thought, licking at the wound on his back. Bun Bun will do better with the next ones. Stop holding back as much.
"I doubt you'll have a choice," the dragon said, which was probably true. And Bun Bun would never admit this, but he felt a smidgen of nervousness at the old one's words.