Bab 30: Chapter 28: Deal with a Dragon Slayer
Salem pov
I opened my eyes and saw I was still in the cave a little to my relief but the pain from the previous fights was still very much present but not as bad now. Luckily mages heal a lot faster than regular humans but I still need to get this looked at.
After I requiped and took in some painkillers to ease the pain I walked over to the cave entrance which was still clotted by my ice. I easily broke it with a kick and dragged outside and saw it was close to getting dark. I looked at my phone and saw that the nearest settlement was actually a village simply called the river village, so I transformed into an owl and flew there fast.
A few minutes later
I reached the river village and so some of the citizens were on the move but I didn't worry about that as I asked around where I could see a doctor. After I got the directions, I arrived at a little hospital or clinic.
"Hello anybody around?" I asked, clutching my abdomen as the wounds were opening again.
"Yes, can I help you?" I heard a female voice and so a pretty woman came out the door. She had long brown hair, green eyes, average height, and looked to be in her mid-twenties. She wore a typical fem doctor outfit.
"Yo, I got like two stab wounds I need treating." I told her lifting my shirt showing my injuries.
"WHAT!" She looked horrified. "You have more than just stab wounds. Please follow me, I have to treat you quickly." She frantically said as she guided me to a room.
After she told me to remove my shirt and lay on the bed her hand turned green not long, she sighed. Her hand then turned blue and I could feel my body getting better.
"You're quite toned for someone your age." She complimented.
"Thanks." I mean she was really hot but I wasn't going to say it out loud.
"May I please know your name?" She asked me.
"Oh Salem Shupiwe."
"It's nice to meet you Salem-san my name is Dr. Ryan but you can call me Melissa if it's not too much trouble. Can you please tell me who did this to you because I recognize the knife wound?" She gently asked me.
"Oh, I ran into a dark mage." I simply said but I wasn't sure if he was actually a dark mage or a mercenary, judging from the way he spoke.
"Well, I can sense you're a mage which is really lucky for you since we tend to heal faster thanks to the Ethernano we take. Salem-san you shouldn't use your ice magic to clot your wounds. It might stop the bleeding but I advise you not to use that on life threatening injuries." She lectured me.
"Yeah, I'll remember that." I mumbled. "So, Melissa, why are people a little frantic in this village?"
"Oh, we felt the aftermath of a mage battle in the Lycan forest nearby. Just a few hours age we saw a huge lighting blast visible from here so we thought the fight would reach here so people evacuated but when they saw it didn't reach village they quickly came back and now ever one it hurrying to see everything they left is still in check." She finished explaining the story. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you Salem-san?
"Nope." I lied but she just giggled.
"Don't worry I can tell you don't want to cause harm and there was no damage done." She reassured me. "They're all done." She said moving her hand away.
I got up and flexed my arm and nodded and I didn't feel any pain but the two stab wounds seemed to have left scars. I did a backflip and stood on my hands and proceeded to do handstand standups.
"Salem-san please stop that you'll I might have healed you but you still need to rest first." She instructed.
"Yeah, I got it thanks for the help doc. How much do I owe you anyway?" I flipped back to my feet asking her for the bill.
After she said the bill, I paid her the jewels and put on my shirt. And was about to leave but the young doctor stopped me.
"What is it?" I asked her.
"I just wanted to remind you to rest a little. I just healed your body but not your stamina and magic so please take it easy." She advised me.
"Sure, thanks doc byeii~." Waved and went off.
I stretched my body and strolled along the village and it was small and peaceful. My stomach growled and I went to a little restaurant to get something to eat. After I was done, I left the restaurant using a toothpick on my sharp teeth.
'I wonder if that dude is still around the woods though I should really get some info on why he was hunting me.' I thought the doctor was right, though I should get some proper rest first. If I do go investigate, I might be met up with even more surprises and at least I should face them at top condition.
I wasn't going to pay for a room as I had to be careful with my spending recently as I've mostly been living on that royal reward. I scratched my head and transformed into a cat and ran up a building and decided this while be my resting place for tonight and gathered Ethernano into my body. Over time I've become so proficient with my less costly transformations like ant, rabbit, snake, owl and cat that they barely consume magic so I can even recharge while in their true forms.
I laid on the ground and the full moon shining on me providing an excellent night light.
Next day
I yawned still in my feline form and stretched my body and grumbled at the sunlight hitting my face. I shook my body and checked my magic reserves. They were all filled once again. My stomach growled and I sighed.
"Maybe I should become a full-blown mercenary to pay for my expenses? Now that I think about it, are people from guilds technically mercenaries?" I questioned. I ran down to the streets and saw the residents of the village going about their days.
"WOW MOMMY DID YOU SEE WHAT THAT CAT DID!!" A little girl with brown hair excitedly yelled at her mom.
"Sup." I waved at them. The mother jumped and was surprised , grabbing her daughter who just stared at me with star eyes. "Later" I chuckled and ran off.
I turned back to normal and got myself some cheap breakfast. Arter I was done I stretched and got ready to fly back to the woods.
I jumped and turned into an owl and flew off. As I was flying to the previous battle sight, I thought about getting myself a new flying transformation as while all my transformations were impressive, I still need to expand my arsenal as everyone which I want to get has a roll to fill.
I landed in the area of my battle yesterday and saw my last attack really did a number on this place. The lightning attack spread over, scaring a lot of trees and the ground. I went back to normal and there were literally no traces of the man, not that I was expecting to see him there in the first place as he seemed to be a strong and experienced mage. I was hoping to get some cloth or metal left by him so I could track him down and ask him some questions.
All I know for now was that someone hired him but the question is who and what did they want with me.
'Okay I should get to the original plan. Train like a madman and go after two other anomalies.' I thought as I looked at the map on my phone but the Cerberus one acted strange as it's marked moved around a lot and disappeared from time to time.
I sensed someone coming this way and looked in their direction and got ready for anything. But it was just Laxus in his wanderer get up walking over to me with a very large fish on his shoulders
"Sup Laxus." I waved at him.
"Salem." He greeted me back and looked around and whistled. "What the hell happened here kid?"
"I got in a fight with another mage yesterday." I answered. "But I didn't expect to meet with you again. How's the soul searching coming along~?"
"It's going fine." He breathed heavily. "So, besides the fight with the dark mage, why are you here and where's your sister or mom?" He asked.
"Morrigan and I aren't related and I was just here to do a little training."
"Training you say. Interesting." He hummed. "What are you training for?"
"Why do you care?" I asked him.
"Just curiosity, that's all. Most who bothered to train in fairy tail usually had some reason or goal in mind."
"Let me guys, is their goals something like of 'I want to be strong enough to protect my friends and family' or something cheesy like that?" I mimicked the typical protagonist speech.
"Something like that. They're all a bunch of idiots but that's what makes them all special." He chuckled and smiled fondly looking into the sky.
"Ayo if you have some sort of flashback or happy memories about your guild right now then I have to tell you the position you're in is really weird." I said while giving him a deadpanned look.
"Have you gotten over your break up yet~?" I asked dodging a lightning bolt. "DUDE!!"
"Keep making jokes like that and there will be more?" He said menacingly.
"So why are you still wandering around these parts?" I asked.
"It's complicated kid. I did a terrible thing back at home. Now I can't go back and I forests help clear my thoughts." He said with so much guilt on his face.
"Oh well it's not my business." I shrugged. "By the way, you know Phoenix Mountain, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Did you hear anything strange going on there during your little soul-searching adventure?" I asked him.
"I did hear that there have been strange activities happening in the volcanic areas for some months now so time now a good thing it's far away from any human settlement but those who've tried to investigate haven't come back from what I heard." He told me and hummed.
It looked like the Teostra was actually causing trouble which got me thinking. Now that I think about it, I should take care of it fast while it hasn't gotten attention from who Zeref on loli wife's island I think and or worse , Acnologia. I really don't want that mess.
"Wait, why do you care what's going on there?" Laxus asked me as he sat on a tree stump and laid the fish on another stump.
"I was thinking of going there to take care of the problem." I told him.
"Oh, do you know what's happening there?"
"Yeah, you can say that." I answered.
"Mind sharing some kid information because I was actually thinking of going up there to take a look at the situation as well."
I thought about it and Laxus was a dragon slayer and a pretty powerful one in that matter so I could use this to my advantage. The Teostra was a high s-class monster but with Laxus lightning dragon slayer magic and my water magic thanks to my new form it could perhaps work.
"Hey yeah I'll share some information but only after one condition." I spoke.
"What's that?"
"We only go after it after a couple of days."
"And why is that?"
"Ah~. Ah~. Ah. Do you accept the deal~?" I asked him and gave me a hard glare which didn't affect me.
"Alright, fine , I accept the deal." He accepted.
"Excellent." I Cheered as transformed my head into a wyvern and shot it to his fire wood lilting it up. "The one causing the mess is a dragon." I told him and he gave me a bemused look.
"Not another one." I heard him mumble. "Kid I hate to break it to you but dragons don't exist anymore."
"Oh, you won't proof that it's a dragon then look at this." I took out my phone. "And before you ask what this device is it's a custom lacrima for communication, taking and store pictures, videos and so much more." I summarised my phone before he could ask what it was.
"Amazing I never heard that such a device had been invented." Laxus looked at my phone, impressed.
"Now here's the dragon I was talking about." I showed him the picture of the elder dragon and Laxus just looked at it in surprise.
"I-Is that really a dragon is this some sort of joke!?" He tried to stay cool.
"I'm not joking, my guy. And it's not edited either." I told him. "The best part is I know it's exact location so trust me on this." I wouldn't blame him if he didn't believe me, I mean I wouldn't believe me.
"What kind of dragon is it?"
"It's a fire dragon called Teostra." I told him and I saw the guy was deep in thought. Probably contemplating everything I just told him.
"Alright so why do you want to wait two weeks to go after it?"
"Well one of its weaknesses is water magic and I recently had a transformation which specialises in that but I need to train in it more to get used to it."
"Well, I'm a man of my word so how about I stick around and help you a little with the training section." He offered.
I wondered why Laxus just easily accepted everything and was willing to help me train. Sure, this was the new Laxus and all but I know he wasn't this mellow but I shouldn't complain I mean he was willing to help me so I should take it.
End of pov
One weeks later.
BOOM!!
BOOM!!
The sounds of multiple explosions were in a random mountain of Fiore as two combatants fought, destroying everything around them. It was Laxus and Salem in his hybrid Zingore form duking it out.
"Lighting dragon's breakdown fist!" Laxus threwhrow a lightning long range attack in the shape of a fist.
"Giga volt spear!" Salem threw a lightning attack spear like attack and the attacks hit each other making an explosion.
Laxus zipped behind him before Salem could properly react and was hit by a strong kick sending him flying and smashing in the mountain side making a large dent. Laxus ran to him and was to deliver a strong punch but Salem dodged by jumping in the air. He shifted in his demi- rabbit and delivered a strong foot dive which Laxus blocked but the ground beneath Laxus got really destroyed.
The two engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Laxus mostly using his fists and Salem using his feet and smaller structure to his advantage. Laxus got the upper hand and was about to deliver a lightning dragon's iron fist but Salem dodged by transforming by a cat than a werecheetah and gave him a powerful axe kick sending him crushing to a boulder.
Suddenly Laxus jumped up from his position and charged at Salem faster than before but thanks to his higher speed and reflexes in his were-cheetah form they began zooming around the mountain clashing sending shockwaves. Salem then briefly blocked a kick from Laxus and in that brief moment he shifted to his glacier wolf form and froze his leg.
"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" Laxus's' attack hit Salem directly and caused an explosion.
Salem took a good amount of damage from the attack. Laxus broke the ice of his leg but slipped on the ice Salem secretly placed under him, almost making him fall but it covered his leg entirely and went to his whole body.
'Animal soul: Sea Serpent!' The second Laxus destroyed the ice. "Water slicer!" He threw the sharp razor water attack which Laxus dodged but it cut through a large pile of rubble.
"Raging bolt!" Laxus threw the large ball of lightning but Salem dodged the attack but Laxus came behind him using his lightning body.
"Lightning dragons iron fist!" Laxus' attack landed, sending Salem crashing down. "Lightning Dragon's shocking talon!" He didn't give Salem any room to breathe as hit him with a hard lighting kick sending smashing through multiple rock pillars.
"Lighting dragon's Roaring Thunder!" Laxus throw a stronger version of his breath attack which hit the pillar Salem was on making a large explosion.
Laxus finished his attack and looked at the smoke as the ground beneath him split but he didn't fall in and 6 spikes came flying at him but he easily destroyed them. Salem came out of the dust his hybrid Ankylosaurus form took heavy damage from the last attack.
"Not a bad kid." Laxus complimented. "You actually made me try a bit." He cockily said
"Yeah thanks." Salem remarked sarcastically.
Laxus then fleshed in front of him with his lightning body. Salem could barely track him but the Ankylosaurus form was too slow to react to it and if he could switch transformations, it would be too late.
"Lightning Dragon's Jaw!" Laxus cast the attack directly but thanks to his hard skin helped him tank the attack but Laxus put in more power in the attack causing a massive explosion. Salem was knocked out of his form and kneeling on the ground and tried to get up again but fell to the ground but still conscious standing impressing Laxus.
Over the past week the two had travelled together and Laxus sparred with Salem as a form of training. Laxus noticed the boy's lightning-based transformation and decided to give him some pointers on lighting magic. He was impressed on how strong the kid was and he could say he was much stronger than a curtain she devil was at his age. They also took on some monsters.
Laxus was still finding it hard to believe it was a dragon till Salem showed him a picture of the past anomalies he faced. Laxus never seen any of those creatures and told him stories about them. So he began to believe what Salem was saying a little.
Though he won't admit it, the Strauss siblings are the reason he was doing this in the first place. Salem reminded him of the take-over family so much it gave him flashbacks of his family he pushed away at fairy tail, so him helping the kid was a form of small redemption for himself as he remembered as when the Mira got too cocky for her own good and took a dangerous S-class mission and her youngest sibling got killed. Salem reminded him of Mira a little from back than as if it truly was a dragon or a dangerous monster than he was in over his head.
After sometime the two mages were on a fire cooking some meat from a giant wildebeest. They were done with their training for today.
"Got to admit kid your sure can take a hit."
"Geez thanks but Morrigan was way rougher on me so you can say I built the durability." Salem sheepishly said.
"Damn is she that bad." Laxus raised his eyebrow.
"You have no idea." Salem sighed. "So, what about you what type of training did you go through to get this strong"
"It was hell kid. I trained like a mad man ever since I got my magic. I trained till I dropped, bleed and bones broke day in and day out to prove my strength." Laxus clenched his fist.
"Damn man Must have been really hellish training." Salem hummed. "So ready to go kill a dragon?"
"Don't have to ask me twice kid." Laxus smirked. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Laxus folded his arms.
"Do I look like your private transportation?" Salem gave him a deadpan look.
"If you think we're using a train to get there then you can forget it and besides, didn't you take-over a giant falcon two days ago."
"Yeah, it wasn't for you." Salem argued back. Salem just wanted to add another flyer in his arsenal.
Sometime later
Salem in his giant falcon form with Laxus riding on his back with his arms crossed enjoying his ride. He was glad his motion sickness didn't kick in.
"Hey Laxus, look down there." Salem said getting Laxus's attention and he saw a forest fire and it being put out by a large sum of water obviously made by a water mage.
"Hmm interesting, well what are you waiting for fly down there to check it out." Laxus ordered a little much to Salem's annoyance so he flipped over making Laxus fall to the ground. "YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!" He screamed and Salem laughed.
Laxus landed on his feet and Salem flew down and transformed back to normal landing next to him. They spotted a beautiful blue haired short blue woman who Salem could tell was Juvia Lockser putting out the last of the fires. She than noticed the two males.
"L-Laxus!" Juvia said in utter surprise.
"Well, this is unexpected." Laxus said calmly.
'Hm didn't see this coming.' Salem thought as he was meeting another major character.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone