Rumblee!

The underground trembled with a series of repeated vibrations that rattled the space. Startled, Raimira quickly curled up into a tight ball, and she let out a surprised yelp as dust began to cascade down from the ceiling above.

With both hands firmly wrapped around her head, Raimira waited anxiously for the tremors to subside. Even if the ceiling collapsed and buried Raimira underground, she would not die. Such a thing would obviously kill humans, and regular demonfolks would be buried alive as well, but Raimira was a dragon. She could easily escape if she canceled the polymorph transformation and returned to her regular appearance.

Naturally, escaping by reverting to her original form would be an extremely foolish and ignorant approach though. Moreover, although it was impossible for her to use complicated Draconic spells as a hatchling, escaping from the underground with magic was something that should not pose any difficulty for her.

Yet, the thought of escape never even occurred to Raimira. She was consumed by fear — fear of the reverberations she felt and the sound of war coming from above. Such thoughts left her unable to think clearly or devise an escape plan, simply filling her mind with dread.

Raimira’s already sensitive senses allowed her to have full awareness of the happenings above ground, even from a distance. In particular, as a dragon, Raimira was especially sensitive to the temperament of mana unique to different existences. This gave her a profound awareness of her surroundings.

The Four Divine Generals were already dead, and it was probable that they had perished without a chance to even resist.

In all honesty, Raimira felt absolutely no pity for the Four Divine Generals who had died; in fact, she found their deaths rather pleasant and enjoyable. However, what truly frightened her was the fragility of life. It had taken only a few seconds for the Four Divine Generals, who had lived for centuries, to perish, reminding her that life was fleeting and delicate.

“Father…. Father…,” Raimira whimpered, searching for her absent father.

She barely had any memories of him. Raizakia, the Black Dragon, was imprinted in Raimira's mind more as the lord of the Dragon Demon Castle than as a father figure.

Raimira had not spent enough time with her father to form any other ideas about him. Even so, Raimira desperately sought out her father, the Black Dragon. At the time of Raimira’s birth, the Black Dragon had placed a fragment of his Dragon Heart inside his daughter’s forehead....