The Encounter Between the Forsaken Healing Magic’s Beloved Child and the Betrayed Black Dragon Princess of Calamity - 5

Chapter 5: The Wounded Black Dragon

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Grrr…

“-?!”

A guttural growl echoed through the Dark Forest, blending with the sound of the rippling stream. It resonated deep in my stomach as if shaking the ground, awakening a fear I had been asleep to.

“I-Is it a monster…?”

The sliver of excitement I had felt earlier quickly faded, replaced by the fear of death that seemed to loom right in front of me. I was once again reminded of the fact that I was abandoned in this forest to die. I knew. I knew that my useless life was destined to be taken away in the mouth of a monster, but… But…

“No…”

A soft voice escaped my lips. 

Yes. I didn’t want to die. By the time I realized it, I..

“-!!”

I was already running with all of my might through the Dark Forest. I ran away from that voice, to avoid being caught by the owner of that growl. 

“Haa… Haa…”

I sprinted through the gaps between the towering trees. I didn’t know where I was running to, but I knew one thing for certain. I would be devoured by the owner of that said voice if I stayed there. So… I ran. 

“Ah!”

But then, I tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. True to its name, the Dark Forest was so dark that I couldn’t even see my feet, let alone what was a few steps ahead. Hence why, it was only natural for me to trip and fall like this. 

“I-I need to get up quickly…!”

I leaned against what I thought was the trunk of a tree and hurriedly tried to get back on my feet.

“Ah…”

But it wasn’t the trunk of a tree. It was something big… A big, black mass… No. It was a massive lump of black mass, almost as big as a mountain. 

It was…

“A-Ah…. Aaaaaaa…!!”

Tall enough to barely be concealed by the surrounding trees with jet-black scales, large folded wings and claws that could easily tear through iron… Not to mention, its large mouth that could swallow multiple humans in one gulp and the visible fangs peering from inside that could crush even rocks… Then, a pair of enormous crimson eyes, followed by the deep guttural ground that I had heard earlier…

“Grrr…”

Yes. Today, I encountered a creature known as a dragon. 

Ah, I see. I’m going to get eaten by this dragon. 

This was a creature that no human could possibly fight against. As a weak prey, all I could do was wait to be devoured by that huge mouth… No. That was not quite right. The reason why I couldn’t do anything was because I was paralyzed by fear and despair. I was too scared to look. My body was shivering all over. There was nothing I could do even if I wanted to. I didn’t want to see the incoming death, so I squeezed my eyes shut as tightly as I could and waited for my demise, but…

“Huh…?”

The end never came no matter how long I waited. Confused, I slowly opened my eyes.

“Grrr… Grrr…”

“Ah…”

I had been crying because of how terrified I was, causing my vision to be turned into a blurry mess. Hence why, I couldn’t see very well, but… The dragon’s body was stained with red. Could it be… Blood?

“Ah… U-Umm…”

I didn’t know why, but before I knew it, I was already calling out to the dragon. 

“GRRRRRRRROOOOOOAHHH!!”

“Hiii!!”

The dragon opened its massive mouth, roaring to intimidate me. The sheer force of the roar was enough to shake the forest. I immediately screamed. My legs gave way, causing me to collapse on the spot. And yet…

“Yo-You’re injured, right…?”

Pushing the fear to the back of my mind, I crawled closer to the dragon and asked again. Until just a moment ago, my mind had been clouded by fear and due to the nature of the Dark Forest, I couldn’t see clearly what was ahead of me. I hadn’t noticed it before, but upon closer inspection, I saw that the dragon’s scales were partially peeled off and red blood was flowing from those open wounds. Its face was wounded all over too, to the point even I started to feel sorry for it. 

“GROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAHH!!”

“It’s okay. Look. Someone like me would be dead in an instant just with the tip of your finger. See? I’m so small that you only need the pad of your finger to flatten me.”

By the time I realized it, the fear had disappeared from my mind. The dragon was still able to growl loudly, but it seemed the dragon had to force itself to do so given how wounded it was. The dragon was probably fearing for its life too. Hence why it tried to intimidate me. I was the same. I didn’t want to die either. So…

“Grr… Grrr?!”

“Stay still.”

I placed my hand on the dragon’s body and cast a healing spell. A soft glow emanated from both of my hands, gently enveloping the dragon’s massive body.

“Ugh… Your body is so big… It’s so hard…”

My healing magic wasn’t anything special. I could only heal minor wounds. I doubted my healing magic could heal the dragon or if it could even work on a dragon at all. The healing magic might not have any effect or worse, the dragon might misunderstand my intention and go on to eat me instead, but… But still, I wanted to help. 

“Haa… Haa…”

I climbed up onto the dragon’s body. At least for now, I managed to cast healing magic on all the visibly wounded areas. However, I couldn’t tell if the wound had healed or not due to the dragon’s black scales. 

“Ehehehe… Even if it does heal, magic of that level can only provide you with a small bit of comfort though.”

I stood there in front of the dragon’s face, scratching my head with a wry smile awkwardly. Strangely enough, while I was casting the healing magic, the dragon didn’t do anything. It just stayed still, letting me do whatever I wanted. It didn’t even roar again. 

“Well, then, I guess I’ll go now.”

This dragon wouldn’t eat me… Probably. I didn’t have any real proof to back my assumption. It was just my feeling, but I tried to trust my guts anyway. I was about to leave the dragon, but…

“Huh? Wha-What…?”

Suddenly, I lost all strength in my body and collapsed right here and there.

“How… Strange…”

I tried to stand up, but my body refused to budge. On top of that, I felt extremely sleepy and the Dark Forest seemed to grow even darker. 

Then, just like that… I lost my consciousness.

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