“…oemi~!”

A hot and bothered whisper was carried from a man-made cave by the gentle breeze towards the forest where it dissipated before getting heard by anyone.

Well, almost…

“…?”

A tall black-haired man returning to the cave with a large fish-like monster with meaty lobster legs and claws raised his brows with a rather concerned expression.

“…”

He looked up to see the position of the sun through the branches and shook his head, holding back a long sigh that would definitely carry the words of – it’s so early and yet…

“Alan, I’m back with the food!”

Nonetheless, Zoemi held back the comment to himself and instead cleared his throat and called out from a distance that would allow the young man in the cave to scramble himself together without having to brave through an embarrassing scene.

“!!!”

Although no actual sound was made in the response to his voice, Zoemi could hear the panicked rustling that followed it, and awkwardly looked to the side.

“Zoemi! Y-you’re earlier than usual!”

Zoemi was already next to the cave, putting together the fireplace to start cooking the meal when the young man with reddish-brown hair in disarray popped up from inside and greeted him with a flushed face.

“…”

The black-haired man with his back turned towards the cave bit his lips to not respond with some choice comment about doing things earlier than usual and just shrugged his shoulder.

“I was lucky and encounter a guy that you should be fine with eating. Everything else around here is so poisonous you would suffer from a wide arrangement of symptoms that you would not want to experience.”

Still, it was not like he could remain silent without making it obvious that he knows, so he pointed his thumb over his shoulder and said.

“Oh? Eww…!”

Alan raised his brows and gasped with interest before finally noticing the monster corpse to his far-right – which once seen, caused him to let out a disgusted voice.

“What? Are you allergic or something?”

Zoemi lighted the fire and glanced back with a question.

“Huh?! No, I can eat all kinds of food just fine. It’s just that this… particular beast doesn’t look too appetizing…”

The young man flinched and stared at the black-haired man as if he was crazy, shaking his head only a moment later and explaining gesturing vaguely in the direction of a creature whose looks could certainly pose a few questions about its edibility.

“Lobsters and fish are delicious in their own right, I personally look forward to how it will taste.”

Zoemi didn’t seem too bothered about Alan’s doubt and moved towards the slain creature.

“Hold on, so you are not sure whether…?!”

“GAROOOOOOOOAAAAARRRGHHHHH!”

The young man gasped and his face became pale as he realized that he might be forced to eat something disgusting or go hungry, but his worries about food were immediately replaced by fear when a deafening roar of some new and very much alive beast resounded through the area.

“What in the world?! Is it a boss monster?! Or maybe a rampage started?! We need to get out of here! Zoemi, leave that thing, and let’s get away from here!”

He called out, stepping out of the cave, revealing rather disheveled clothes, and grabbed onto Zoemi’s arm with a terrified expression.

“Zoemi…?”

Alan repeated fearfully, looking up at the black-haired man’s serious expression.

Zoemi was listening in, squinting his eyes as if deeply pondering about something.

“Hey, we need to go, right? Zoemi? Say something…!”

Alan pleaded with concern, pulling on Zoemi’s arm that did not budge even a little bit no matter how much strength the young man used.

“It is not a rampage, but it is a boss monster.”

“Huh?! Really?! I wasn’t serious!”

The black-haired man said hesitantly, causing the young martial artist to cower fearfully and look back expecting some massive beast to bulldoze through the trees to get to them.

“You should be safe with me, so try to relax. Though it bothers me that this fellow is here…”𝑂𝑽𝐿xt.𝗰𝒐𝐌

“What do you mean by that…?!”

Zoemi reassuringly patted Alan’s hand that was already on his arm but ended up only replacing one concern with a different one for the young man.

“Well, for one he is coming this way.”

The black-haired man added as a massive shadow loomed over the trees and Alan clung to him for safety, pressing his forehead into Zoemi’s back.

*THUMP*

“!!!”

That might not have given him the sense of safety that he counted on, because not seeing the thing that made such a loud noise while landing was even scarier than facing it.

“…!”

So Alan braved through the barrier of fear and took a peek.

The creature definitely deserved the name of a dragon, but it didn’t look exactly like the ones described in the books.

It was a gargantuan winged lizard with a long neck and tail, four powerful limbs, and a torso wider than a pagoda, but when it came to wings, the particular one had two pairs, one bat-like made of scales and skin and the second one covered with owl feathers.

“Vile dragon.”

“Unbreakable.”

“?!?!?!?!”

Zoemi and the monster greeted each other calmly while Alan slumped and the ground as his legs turned into jello when the baritone of the dragon’s voice reverberated through the area.

“Nexivroh, you are the only one of your kin who I would expect to come to visit me without a reason… but that is not the case, is it?”

The black-haired man put one hand on his hip and motioned at the vile dragon with his chin.

“You are correct, unfortunately. Although I wanted to seek your advice on the matter of the so-called darkness magic, I am here now because of the order of her highness, the princess.”

The dragon nodded its head and responded, before lowering himself to the ground and extending both the bat-like and the owl-like wings for the easiest access to its back.

“Something disgusting is lurking in the soil, Unbreakable. Whatever it is, it made its lair so deep beneath the surface that not even Tetrion could not get to it. The unknown evil is slowly corrupting the weakest creatures to do their bidding. All of the beasts under its charm seek you.”

The dragon revealed, raising its head and staring into the distance looking very profound.