Chapter 16: Chapter 16: The Growth of the Young Dragons
Muria looked at the pouncing young dragon, Auston, with a dark expression and immediately dispelled the transformation spell. In his human form, Muria, who now possessed only hand-to-hand combat abilities, didn't have much fighting power.
Just as before, when he had cast the transformation spell, a sphere of spiritual light enveloped Muria's small body. However, whereas the light previously caused him to shrink, it now caused him to grow.
Under the terrified gaze of Auston, the once seemingly weak Muria, who appeared as if a light pounce could kill him, now surged in presence. Soon, his aura matched the formidable and domineering one remembered by Auston.
But it was too late for regrets, as Auston had already pounced towards the swelling magic light, only to be met with a large, fleshy foot, wrapped in a powerful draconic force, emerging from the magic light.
"Boom!" Muria, having just returned to his true form, kicked out, striking Auston's chest and abdomen with perfect force, impacting the young dragon's body.
"Ao!" Auston screamed as it flew through the air, tracing a beautiful parabola and dripping hot dragon blood along the way, having been kicked hard enough to cough up blood.
"Hmph!" The magical light around Muria completely dissipated, revealing his towering eight-meter stature. For the young dragons, which were just over half a meter in size at birth, plus tails reaching nearly two meters, Muria's size was quite oppressive.
"You really are worthy of being called evil dragons," Muria fumed, his eyes seeming to shoot flames, and from his mouth burst small sparks of golden dragon fire. "After all, I hatched all of you."
"Muria, I was wrong." Seeing Auston being kicked away and coughing up blood on the floor, the other five young dragons had already ceased their assault. One of the young female dragons, Cynthia, pleaded pitifully.
"Alright, I accept your apology," Muria nodded, with lightning coiling around his hands, "But, as I said before, mistakes come with consequences. Just let me strike you once, and that will be it."
"Roar!" Hearing Muria's words, the young dragon Andrei roared, "Brothers and sisters, we're punished whether we admit our mistakes or not. Let's fight him."
Then, Andrei, the young dragon, led the charge against Muria, followed by all but the smallest, Renata, with the other three young dragons joining in.
"Typical muscle-brained red dragons. Can't you see the size difference between us?" Muria sighed helplessly.
He easily grabbed the charging Andrei by the tail with his right hand and flung him into the air. Then, Muria used Andrei as a club, harshly smashing him down onto the young dragon Albert.
The two young dragons collided at close range, accompanied by the sound of cracking bones and scattering red dragon scales, hot dragon blood splattered as they rolled into an irregular ball on the ground, becoming two incapacitated dragons.
Muria then strode forward, stretching out both hands, one for each, and grabbed the two fleeing young female dragons, Cynthia and Jessica.
"Let me go, Muria, I didn't attack you," the young female dragon Jessica struggled in Muria's grip.
"That's because you're too weak, Jessica. You tried to attack me twice," Muria chuckled.
"Please, let me off, Master Muria," the young female dragon Cynthia cooed in a milky voice.
This voice made Muria's skin crawl; the fierce appearance of a red dragon contrasted starkly with this voice. Moreover, young red dragons, with their disproportionately large heads and small bodies, lacked any form of aesthetic appeal.
"Cynthia, stop thinking nonsense and accept your punishment," Muria smirked, as golden lightning unhesitatingly surged into the bodies of the two young female dragons.
"Ah!!!" Two piercing screams rang out, gradually weakening until they ceased.
"Thump!" Two dragon-shaped charcoals were tossed at Muria's feet, then he stood still, a six-meter-long spear of lightning gradually forming in his hand.
"Hmm?" Muria glanced at the three half-beaten young dragons, thought for a moment, then split the lightning spear into two, making two three-meter-long "short spears."
Then, under Muria's mental guidance, the two "short spears" of lightning precisely hit the pretending-to-be-dead brothers Andrei and Albert.
"Ao!" After two brief, sharp cries, the two young dragons turned into "black dragons," smoking from the electric shock.
"Now it's your turn, Auston," Muria approached the young dragon, whose chest and abdomen were sunken in from the blow and who was coughing up blood.
"Um, let's hold off for now until your injuries heal, then I'll punish you," Muria reconsidered, recalling the Golden Dragoness's words. He wasn't sure about the young dragons' limits and was slightly worried about accidentally killing Auston with too harsh a punishment.
"Finally, it's you, Renata," Muria looked at the young female dragon cowering in the corner, finding the situation somewhat amusing. A red dragon with such a fierce personality was actually so afraid of him.
"Master Muria, I admit my mistake. I just saw them rushing out, so I followed. I didn't intend to attack you," the frail young female dragon Renata explained, looking pitifully aggrieved.
"Alright, I understand, peer pressure," Muria approached the young female dragon, holding Renata in his hands and looking into her red eyes. "Still, punishment must be administered, but I'll be gentler."
"Zzz." This time, very fine lightning coursed through the young female dragon's body. Although it made her body tremble, it wasn't painful enough to elicit a scream.
"That's it then," Muria placed the slightly blackened, but still recognizably red, young female dragon back on the ground. "Remember, always think before acting and don't blindly follow others."
"Is that all, Master Muria?" Renata looked at her four siblings who had turned "black" and were unconscious, and at her eldest brother who had coughed up blood until he fainted, feeling a bit lost. Compared to them, the damage she received was minimal.
"Children who admit their mistakes still need to be punished, but certainly less so than those who don't," Muria watched the young female dragon with a bit of amusement.
This young dragon, he felt, was born in the wrong race. She shouldn't have been born among the chromatic dragons but among the metallic ones. However, without him, given the sad hatching rate of the red dragon race, Renata probably wouldn't have made it to this world.
"Sophia, prepare enough jerky. These young dragons need plenty of food to recover from their injuries," Muria instructed the head maid, who had been watching the scene from inside the room.
"As you command, Master Muria," Head Maid Sophia nodded, leaving the room with several dragonkin maids to prepare the jerky.
...
As the days of idleness passed, the six young dragons became much more docile after Muria disciplined them one by one. They stopped resisting him and quietly allowed themselves to be kept in his room. And Auston, after his injuries healed, received his belated electrical punishment. Harboring a belly full of rage, he silently harbored resentment...
In his idle days, Muria often flew around the islands near the crystal castle, wandering aimlessly. When he was at his most bored, he would dive into the sea to catch fish or fly in the sky, racing with seabirds.
Of course, during these activities, Muria always had a group of "tails" closely following to protect him. However, he didn't become a reckless "second-generation rich kid" and wander too far.
Having gained a general understanding of the world of Erathia from books, Muria was quite aware of his own position. There were too many beings in this world that could easily kill him.
Truly wanting to wander freely would require surviving for several hundred years. For now, he was better off staying under the protection of the Golden Dragoness.
According to Muria's plan, he intended to stay on the Titan Islands, living a life of eating and sleeping, occasionally reading books and enjoying the scenery, and just like that, easily passing through several hundred years.
However, this idea lasted only a few months before he could no longer choose to continue being a salted fish. Muria discovered that the young dragons he was raising were growing, as rapidly as when he was first born. A sense of urgency appeared in him.
"Whoosh!" Muria, holding a five-meter-long black phosphorus sea fish, broke through the sea surface and walked onto the beach. Behind him, a row of beautiful yet slightly bewitching six-armed naga followed, swaying their long tails.
There were also numerous sea giants with cyan-purple skin standing in the shallow waters, their robust upper bodies exposed above the sea, their lower halves immersed in the water; these were tide giants capable of controlling the waves.
"Prince Muria, your speed under the sea is getting faster. Even us, who were born and lived in the sea, can't keep up with your pace," complimented a naga close to Muria in the common tongue, making several naga warriors behind her turn their faces away in disgust at the shameless flattery.
"Hehe," Muria glanced at the naga leader who was laying it on thick. Neither golden dragons nor titans were oceanic species, let alone that golden dragons were true dragons of the fire element.
Muria could move freely under the sea thanks to his powerful innate racial qualities, but compared to true oceanic species, he was far behind.
"Leader Diana, that's enough for today. Let's go," Muria didn't say much, opening his broad, bat-like golden dragon wings and flying towards the crystal castle.
Muria entered his room, still under the watchful gaze of six crimson dragon eyes. At first, he didn't care about these gazes, but now, he began to feel pressured.
Because the owners of these six pairs of dragon eyes had grown to over two meters in size, plus their tails, they were now four-meter-long young dragons. It was foreseeable that these six young dragons would continue to grow in size.
In the D&D universe, the appearance of golden dragons is outrageously ugly. Therefore, I will set a new standard.
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