Unlimited Power 02 – The Ranger's Domain

After a couple of minutes, Ryan and Femradiel noticed the light returning to the dragon's eyes, and with it, some misunderstandings happened. The creature got tenser the very moment it felt the level of corruption on Ryan's body. The dragon suddenly got up, but then Ryan stopped the dragon by showing him the Absolute Death Crossbow. After that, he used Telepathic Translation.

"Don't do anything reckless," Ryan said. "We defeated instantly the guys who captured you and that means that you don't stand a chance against us."

"As always, your communication skills are peerless," Femradiel said. "We helped this guy to obtain information about Alissa and the first thing you do when you talk to him and threaten him."

"You are wrong… no, you are right, that is the first thing I did to start the conversation," Ryan furrowed his eyebrows. "But then I saved his life and healed him before doing that."

"Not alone," Femradiel said.

"Yeah… not alone," Ryan said. "Anyway, do you understand me?"

Ryan didn't get an answer, so the dragon probably didn't understand. Now that he thought about it, Telepathic Translation only worked when talking with beings of the same world.

"Just say what you want," Femradiel said. "Did you forget that dragons can talk with humans? We can understand your words easily."

"I don't know about that, this guy seems different from the ones I know," Ryan said. "Even the Azure Dragons can't talk with humans."

"… I understand your words," The dragon suddenly said.

"Good…" Ryan said. "Anyway, my name is Ryan and this is Femradiel. What is your name?"

"Nelron," The dragon said.

"It seems your communication skills aren't that rusty, after all," Femradiel said.

"Don't stop this conversation just to say this type of nonsense…" Ryan said and then sighed. "Regardless, Nelron, we are not your enemies and we are looking for a friend in this world. Does the name Alissa ring any bells? Silver hair, kind of petite, short-tempered."

"I don't know anyone with that name," Nelron replied. "Why would people like you come to this world if you are not interested in slaving my species?"

"I am the one who asks the questions here… I always wanted to say that," Ryan said. "As you can see, I am a man who can transform into a dragon and has a high level of corruption on my body. The woman I am looking for is the same, but perhaps her level of corruption is even higher. She is a bit sad since she lost an important friend."

"… I heard that a weird dungeon master appeared recently, and that dungeon master is a female," Nelron hesitated for a short while. "I heard she attacked other dungeon masters of nowhere and that she freed the dragons under their control."

Ryan looked at Femradiel, and she nodded. It seemed like something Alissa would do; pick a fight with the enemies she didn't know a single thing off without thinking twice. Regardless, it appeared that she didn't make contact with all the dragons.

"Since you guys are being hunted and you only heard rumors about her, does that mean that your species isn't in a single place?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, we can't escape the conflicts by staying in a single place, so we have divided ourselves in tribes for the past hundred years," Nelron replied. "Despite that, we failed at avoiding ambushes and little bit little our numbers decreased. Those who survived the battles were captured and now are being used to breed other dragons."

Ryan noticed when Femradiel's eyebrows twitched. She was trying to stay calm, but eventually, she was bound to snap. Defeating someone or something in a fight for conquest was something that she could understand. The strong rules over the weak. It is the law of the jungle. Since she was originally a dragon, she accepted that easily. However, capture them, turn them into slaves in order to breed more dragons for the sake of farming dragon hearts. That was something she couldn't accept.

"Those rumors that you heard of, according to them, where was the last pace this weird dungeon master was found?" Ryan asked. 

"I believe it was in the Deadly Swamp," Nelron said. "She fought against a certain dungeon master two weeks ago there and since the fight, the swamp has been decreasing in size."

That means that Alissa defeated the dungeon master, and the effects of his world were disappearing because she restarted the level of the dungeons by assuming control over that domain. Still… two weeks ago… It was hard to imagine her staying still for two weeks. Most likely, Alissa moved somewhere else. 

"It might take a while, but I can guide you there," Nelron said. "To repay the favor of freeing me."

"No, thanks," Ryan said. "We will find it ourselves in this swamp. Besides, why would you help us? Are you planning to drag us into your fight?"

Nelron looked away because that was exactly what he was planning. After all, he saw Ryan defeating a dungeon master in a couple of minutes. While corruption was one of the things dragons feared the most, Ryan and Femradiel seemed like decent people if compared to the dungeon masters. Now that Ryan thought about it, something was off. If corruption was one of the things that could create dragons, it didn't make any sense that they would fear it. They should have some resistance against it… as expected, there are still many pieces on that puzzle that were missing.

"Ryan, at this point in time, it is useless to try to avoid this massive battle," Femradiel said. "While this planet is much bigger than Earth, it won't take long before the dungeon masters decide to attack us. We might as well join the fight to decrease the chances of Alissa being targeted by all of them."

Ryan considered Femradiel's words. While it was risky, it would be better to help the dragon since that would make Alissa understand that they were allies and to split the focus of all dungeon masters. Not to mention, it was better than risking fighting some of them on Earth and destroying the world even further.