"Who is this? Where did you find it? What is it? Can I touch it?" Catherine fired questions at me in quick succession as soon as she exited her tent and laid eyes on Yuki who is curled up in my lap.
"I went out when you were sleeping and came across it. It's a fox I think and no, you can't touch it, it doesn't like being touched by anyone." I replied, turning my head around to look at Catherine.
"Then why is it in your lap if it doesn't like being touched?" Catherine asked in confusion.
Turning my head back around and looking at Yuki in my lap I said, "I don't know that either. It didn't want Mio to touch it but apparently I'm fine to touch it." I ran my hand through her fur.
"Yeah. Kiera just suddenly came back with a winged fox with three tails in her arms, it was quite odd but it doesn't seem hostile unless you try and pet it. Also we've decided to take it with us." Mio said to Catherine.
"Hmm.. alright I'm fine with that, what are we going to name it?" Catherine asked the both of us.
"Name what?" Tess said, getting out of her tent with a yawn and rubbing her eyes.
"This fox thing that Kiera found in the forest last night." Catherine said, going to stand next to Tess.
Tess's head snapped in my direction and, when she saw who was in my lap, went wide eyed.
I activated telepathy to communicate with Tess, 'I found Yuki.'
'I can tell that but what is she doing here?'
'She found the dungeon portal and was curious so she jumped in.'
'*sigh* whatever.'
I cut off the telepathy with Tess.
"I don't know what to name it, I'm bad with naming things." Mio said.
"I'm not sure either." Tess followed up.
"What about you Kiera?" Catherine asked me.
"Name her what you wish." I said.
"So I get to name it? Yes! Umm how about.. Angel, I mean she is white and light blue with wings so it sounds good right? Right?" Catherine looked at all of us with eyes shimmering.
"I'm fine with it." Mio said and Tess nodded.
"Yay!" Catherine started jumping around the place and ran over to me, sitting down and staring at Yuki with sparkling eyes, "when's it going to wake up?"
"She is already Awake." I replied.
My point was only confirmed when Yuki lifted her head and looked at Catherine.
"She really is awake. Hello little foxy, you're now called Angel." Catherine grinned.
"*yap*." -> "Really? That's my name? Do I have to?"
Yuki looked at me and I nodded.
"*yap*." -> "Fine. Only since you're fine with it."
"I wonder if she likes it." Catherine said, "hey Angel, can I touch you?"
Yuki, now Angel, snarled, making it clear she did not wish to be touched by anyone.
"Alright then, I'll take that as a no." Catherine looked away and rubbed her head.
"*yip*." -> "Why did she even ask when that other person already said I didn't like being touched?"
Answering Yuki through the use of telepathy I said, 'Not too sure, she wanted to confirm it herself most likely.'
Yuki made a small grumbling noise and shifted about, snuggling further into my lap.
A voice came from another tent behind me, "A fox?", it was Scarlet.
"I'd rather not repeat the same thing to everyone so I'll wait until everyone is out of their tents and then explain." I said.
"That's fine with me but, just making sure, are you certain it is friendly?"
"Just take a look."
Scarlet looked down at my lap and saw Yuki rubbing herself against me. She was currently on her back with her head against my abdomen and her small paws in the air, relaxed. Yuki's tails' were gently swaying from side to side and her wings were unfolded.
"Haha, from what I can see I can tell it seems friendly but that might not be the case later on so don't let down your guard." Scarlet chuckled to herself.
"Okay." We all replied.
Sooner or later everyone was awake and out of their tents and all of which had similar reactions towards Yuki. Those reactions being shock to confusion and then caution.
I told everyone that I found Yuki when I went into the forest while everyone was asleep and decided to take her with me. I included that she didn't like to be touched by anyone with the exception of myself and that she was called Angel, decided by Catherine, to which everyone agreed on calling her that.
Scarlet cleared her through, "Well now that's out of the way, we will eat something first and then continue our way to the volcano where we assume the boss is hidden. We will be going at a faster pace today, alright?"
Everyone agreed and began eating some food which was left over from my, bigger than planned, hunting trip.
After finishing our meal we all packed up everything in the camp and continued our journey to the volcano.
Yuki didn't want to run so I carried her which wasn't much of an issue and I just counted it as extra training. The training would have been more beneficial if she was heavier but I wasn't complaining.
"We haven't seen any monsters yet, this is getting a little bit odd." Adam said, taking a look around, "actually, I don't know why I'm looking around when we have a literal tracking device in the form of a human with us. Kiera, are there any monsters particularly close to us or are they far away?"
'I'm a tracking device now? He is right saying I'm in the form of a human though but my real form is that of a dragon, not a tracking device.'
Not saying my thoughts aloud and answering Adams question, I said, "The closest monsters to us currently would have to be a group of 7 salamanders to the west of our current position at about 822 metres away."
"A kilometre away is a flock of scorched birds, they number about 19. They are also, coincidentally, to the west of us."
"We shouldn't be complaining, it's easier for us to focus on running this way." Catherine said.
"Focusing on running in general or running away from me?" Terry asked jokingly.
"Running in gener- wait, don't you start.. Terry, I swear to the saints if you star-" Catherine, unfortunately or fortunately, couldn't start her ramblings as Terry began running full throttle at her.
"Stop. TERRY! Ahhhhh-!" Catherine started screaming as they ran around the place, Terry chasing after Catherine while laughing and the latter almost in tears and whining that her legs are going to go numb.
'If there were any monsters that didn't know we were here then I'm sure they know now. Though it is a little suspicious how they aren't trying to chase us.'
..
It has been around four days since we began traversing towards the gigantic volcano that currently occupied the majority of our vision.
There were streams of lava flowing at the bottom and magma covering most of the ground, some hard and some runny. There's an insane amount of monsters in this area, more than the ones we have fought since entering this dungeon, and one in particular stood out the most. That being the boss.
The boss, a corrupt ogre, was sitting by a small, still big but smaller than the rest in this location, pool of lava while eating a deer being held by the antlers.
"Damn, look at that thing." Adam shivered.
The ogre, too focused on its meal, didn't notice our group at all.
"I don't think I could beat that.. I'm going to sit this one out." Catherine laughed at herself.
"Mio and Kiera could probably take it on." Scarlet said.
"Actually I don't think I could, I'd probably be a dead weight to Kiera." Mio replied.
"I don't know if I could take it on alone but if no one wants to fight it then I'll try." I said truthfully.
The ogre in front of us was stronger than many things I've fought. Though I've also been getting stronger, I'm still not certain of this battles outcome.
"I can fight it if need be but this would be good battle experience." Scarlet sighed.
"How about Kiera fights the boss and the rest of us fight all the other monsters?" Nova spoke up.
"Why would we do that?" Terry asked.
Nova sighed and explained her thoughts, "I'm sure that when Kiera fights the boss that the other monsters on the mountain will come over here. We will fend them off and make sure they don't interfere with Kiera's fight. We will also get battle experience from this."
"I'm fine with it." I said, causing the others to look my way, "what? Is there a problem?"
"You are alright with fighting an A - rank boss alone and are willing to trust us with fending off the other monsters that, if they intervene with your fight, could get you killed?" Nova asked.
"Yes?" I replied.
"You're trusting us too easily but I'm not complaining." Iris laughed.
"Well, shall we begin fighting?" Scarlet smirked.
"*yip*." -> "what about me?"
"Oh yeah, forgot about Angel, what will she do?" Mio asked.
"She will fend off the monsters with everyone else." I said.
"Hm.. okay. Everyone ready?" Scarlet said.
"Yes." We all replied.
"Let's begin."
..
Name:[Kiera]
Age:[6]
Race:[Black elemental wyrm]
Gender:[Female]
Level:[6/250]
EXP:[983/2500]
HP:[1034/1034]
MP:[1324/1324]
SP:[1099/1099]
..
Strength:[1031]
Intelligence:[1158]
Endurance:[1089]
Mental force/power:[ERROR]
Agility:[1046]
..
Skills - [Scratch] , [Thrust] , [Inspect] , [Bow mastery] , [Perfect aim] , [Elemental breath] , [Bloodlust] , [Elemental master] , [True dragon] , [Copy] , [Spacial storage] , [Sword mastery] , [Fire blade] , [Transform] , [Chef] , [Scythe mastery: 41%] , [Wind enhancer] , [Inferno] , [Poison manipulation] , [Fire resistance] , [Telepathy], [Override], [Limit breaker], [Black flames], Skill set: [Flames of destruction],
..
Passive skills - [Night vision] , [Mastered spacial awareness] , [Steal] , [Regeneration] , [Elemental resistance] , [Polyglot]
..
Armours - [Armour bent from the flames of death],
..
Body modifications - [Armoured scales - activated]
..
Titles - [The anomaly]
..
Blessings - [Blessed by goddess of reincarnation] , [Blessed by goddess of space]