Dragon Slayer part 1

Inspired by the Monster to Maiden thread on 8chan's Monstergirl board. I plan on doing a part 2 eventually, I have stuff written down. But I'm currently too busy to continue it.

Part 1: The Meet Cute

It hadn’t been hard tracking the beast. The swaths of burned forest and animal carcasses had been enough. Dragons weren’t very subtle creatures. Guess that is one of the perks of being a 20 ft. long alpha predator with a nigh impenetrable scales and fire breath.  The carcasses were almost stripped clean, she didn’t leave much. And what she did leave behind was charred. Smart. Discouraged scavengers from hanging too close to her abode. As I approached closer to her cave, I slide off the main path and tied my horse Gunther to a tree. He whined as I gently shushed him and popped an apple into his mouth. Gunther was a good mount, but he was still skittish whenever he smelled dragons. I didn’t blame him a bit.

The most important task in combating a dragon was choosing the right weapon. Many would be dragon slayers used the Zweihander, a massive sword that would cleave a man in twain. It looked intimidating…but it was cumbersome and had to be swung with great force to cleave into a dragon. It was a weapon that got many amateurs killed. A novice’s tool. Bows and spears were also out of the question. A dragon’s curved scales were too thick for piercing weapons to reliably penetrate. There were tales of men who had killed a dragon with a shot to the eye or inside the mouth, but I’ve yet to speak to a slayer in person who had done so.  I knew many mercenaries who favored a broadsword, or the mace, or an ax to fight a dragon. Not a bad idea. Anything that could transfer a large amount of damage to cause internal injury could get the job done. But what I carried was what seasoned professionals used.

I gently unwrapped my weapon, Tyrant’s End, from its protective covering. The warhammer had seen me through many a hunt. It was crafted by a dwarf smithy to be cool to the touch, even when heated. The head of the hammer was a broad, flat surface designed to transfer force into a wide area for massive internal bleeding. The back was fitted with a robust pick, designed to plunge into a dragon’s soft surfaces like an eye or exposed belly. It was a large weapon, but some Dwarven enchantments and metal working allowed me to wield it with one hand while I carried a shield in another. It was imperative to use a shield in my opinion. Heat resistant armor could provide some protection, but a shield would keep a direct blast from cooking your insides and provide protection from the damnable beast’s tail.

The shield was covered in an animal hide I had soaked in a fire retardant liquid. The substance would prevent it from transferring too much heat into my arm. Unlike the hammer, my shield was rarely the same I used from job to job. Dragons had a nasty habit of turning them to slag. But it was better than being turned to ash, so I couldn’t complain. I quickly strapped on my armor. It wasn’t designed to take a heavy beating, but provide mobility and resistance to the flames. It had heavier armor around the chest, knee plating, and the back. I’m telling you, dragons like to be sneaky with those tails. I’d have been run through from behind if not for my back plating. Most of the rest was simply leather armor soaked in the same liquid used to coat the shield.
The last bit I needed was my powder kegs.  My hammer might often provide the killing blow, but fighting dragons head on was bloody stupid. It was important to set up some booby traps to knock the creature off balance. Luckily, I didn’t have a hard time planting them around the entrance to the cave. Dragons are not incredibly cautious due to their nature. A well placed demolition charge in their own cave would bury them, allowing a hunter time to strike at their head.

The beast was asleep; its snores caused the hollow of the cave to vibrate. I quietly set to work planting the charges.   These would blow out the entrance to the cave. The charges were activated by a trip wire. Once it to snap, two different unstable chemicals would flood into the barrels, giving me about 10 seconds before they caused a reaction. I just need to find the creature, piss it off enough to follow me, and then trap it in the rubble when it inevitably chased me. Not easy, but doable.
I checked on Gunther one last time, he gave me a whiney and I patted him on the head. If I didn’t come back, he would be dragon food. But then again, I didn’t have any intention of losing. Power of positive thinking is a great thing. Shifting the Warhammer in my hands I felt powerful. The nervousness of preparing for the hunt was subsiding, replaced by adrenaline.
I felt incredible. I felt great. I.Could.Do.This! With one last sigh, I slide the visor of my helmet over my eyes and walked into the humid, dark interior of the cave.

I don’t understand why a beast this vain and intelligent would settle for living in a cave.  Guess it goes hand in hand with their laziness. Dragons were the type of creature to go out, wreak havoc for a couple hours, and then come back with a full belly and a couple talons worth of jewels and gold. This one was no different.  I held a torch in my shield arm.  This tunnel was fairly new.  I could see claw marks and traces of incinerated debris. The tunnels edges were rather rough; it looked like the dragon bored into the rock with little regard for proper support. Good. The shoddy nature of its construction would make it easier for the kegs to do their job.

The light cast ghastly shadows on the wall, still more cow and sheep carcasses strewn across the floor, these slightly less mangled. Apparently, they were for later.  I tried to keep the rising nausea from bothering me. It smelled like a charnel house in this tunnel.  After what felt like 5 minutes of walking, I came to an expanse in the cave, and dragon’s hoard of treasure caught my torch, creating a dazzling display around me. Dragons have an odd compulsion to hoard treasure. It wasn’t unheard of for a dragon to part from a piece from their hoard. Yet, they wouldn’t use it for any practical purpose. They would stack the stuff into a hoard and meticulously catalogue every piece like some kind of clerk.  Who knew an entire species of giant lizard murder machines could be so obsessive-compulsive?  As I came into the expanse, I saw mountains of gold. I could swim in the stuff it was so thick. Looks like this dragon had been busy. Maybe it had relocated its hoard here? I began to wade through the coins, until I came to the center of the room.

Perched on top of the highest pile was the snoring dragon. The beast was clearly a younger one, probably 20 or so years old. It was only about 20 feet. Not the smallest dragon I’ve ever fought, but still pretty small compared to some of the older ones. It was a brilliant shade of emerald green, with large, wedge shaped scales, and wings webbed with a blue membrane. Smoke billowed out of the beast mouth as it slept.

Okay lesson number 1 in dragon hunting. Dragons are extremely cocky. If you show up in one’s layer it’s much less likely to take you seriously. Coming this far into their den, they see you as an amusement to pass the time. So you need to take advantage of their arrogance. The best way to do this is by pissing them off. Dragons are very intelligent. If you make one angry, it will be twice as ferocious but much more sloppy in its actions. It makes them very susceptible to traps and tricks. Granted you have to have a plan. Otherwise you just pissed off a murder lizard that could incinerate you without a second thought.

I wrapped on my shield with the hammer and let out a loud bellow. The creature’s eyes shot open with a start and it reclined on the mound of gold as it regarded me with amusement.
“Oh what’s this? A little knight comes from the king to challenge me? How adorable” The creature yawned, revealing several rows of sharp teeth.  ‘Well whatever, I was kind of hoping for a snack. I guess you’ll have to do, even if you little creatures do taste so stringy!”
I cleared my throat and did what I always attempted to do when dealing with a dragon. Play it cool and act professional.
“Mr. or Ms. Dragon, my name is Gustave. I am a wandering dragon-human relations counselor. I have been requested by the local barondom of Pieff to quietly ask you to return the treasure you stole from the town’s treasure and request you no longer harm any citizens or cattle of Pieff.”
The dragon regarded me for a moment and then began to make an awful noise somewhere between a hiss and a gargle. It was laughing at me.
“Ohohoho, that’s too rich” the creature wiped an imaginary tear from its eye. Not that dragons have tear ducts. “So the baron sends one little tin man to tell me what to do! Oh this is too priceless!”
“I assure you, I am not just one man. I am a professional with a very specific set of skills. Skills if turned on you would make the rest of your short life very unpleasant and brutal.  But I am fair. If you move to another territory and return to the villagers the gold you stole, I will not use force against you.”
The dragon shot gout of flame into the air. “Make me!” it growled.
“If you insist.” I sized up a stack of treasure next to me and noted a rather beautiful ornate glass ball suspended on a delicate, filigree pedestal. I raised my hammer and smashed it into oblivion with one fell stroke. The dragon let out a shriek and threw itself towards the ruined pedestal. “What have you done, you little monster?! That was one of my best baubles!”
“Odd. Thought I was doing you a favor. Utterly tacky thing.”
The creature gnashed its teeth. “I’m going pick my teeth with your bones when I’m done eating you!”
I smirked “You are welcome to try”.

I brought the hammer in a swooping arc, crushing three more of the beast’s treasures. This time, it shot gout of flame at me. I barely had time to raise my shield. The force of the blast sent me back a ways.  It was on me in a moment, talons wracking into my shield. I barely sidestepped its massive gaping maw. Seeing an opportunity, I smashed the hammer into the side of its jaw. The creature shrieked as blood and teeth flew through the air. While it was dazed, I continued to slam my warhammer into the beast’s face, but it refused to let go of my shield. Stubborn beast. Okay. Claws in shield, Jaw damaged. That just left…

Suddenly, I felt a slash across my back from the creature’s jagged tail. If I had been wearing normal armor that might have given me a wicked large cut across the back. But I know better than to trust a dragon to fight fair. I quickly brought my hammer down onto the creature’s right paw. It let out another screech, and pulled its claws out of the shield. Okay I think I’ve wounded it enough. Now for the easy part.  I jumped over the beast’s tail as I began to run towards the exit of the cave.
“Don’t take this personally, but I have to say you fight like a cow!” I shouted as I ran down the exit. The cave resounded from the beast’s roar. Yeah. Mega pissed. I need to get out of here.

I tossed a couple of vials of liquid behind me. A little present from an alchemist friend. The stuff made fire damn near impossible to catch when exposed to air.  As if on que, the dragon sent a cone of flame at me, only for it to fizzle and gutter in mid-stream. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FLAMES!? I AM GOING TO REND YOUR GUTS FROM YOUR BODY AND SCATTER YOUR REMAINS TO THE FOUR WINDS!”
Ohohoho, that was colorful. Honestly, I’m surprised it could still talk after the beating I gave it. *Sigh* they always had to be such unprofessional creatures.

Wounded from your hammer, furious from the destruction of its property and now indignant over the loss of its most potent weapon, the creature burst at full speed. Dragons move fucking fast, on land or in air. Luckily for me, the lazy beast hadn’t taken the time to properly hollow out the tunnel. Plus I left a few surprises for it. The occasional needle trap, a set of large caltrops…I heard more shrieks of pain as it ran into all of my traps. The beast was practically foaming at the mouth to get me.  Almost at the end of the tunnel, I jumped over the trip wire and then…holy shit was that it’s jaw? The dragon snapped at my feet. Shit, I had not expected it to gain on me this quick. Clearly I antagonized it a bit too much.

With all that thrashing about, the angry beast triggered the tripwire. A sputtering sound told me I had roughly 10 seconds before this place caves in. I threw my shield behind me, catching the beast in the mouth. I looked back in time to see it cleanly bite it in two and spit the chunks to the side. Time seems to slow down as I count off the last couple of seconds in my head.
5 seconds. I can see the end of the cave.
4 seconds. I can feel the heat on my back.
3 seconds. Guess the dampening chemical wore out.
2 seconds. Searing pain shouts through my back as I get caught by a blast from the tip of its breath.
1 second.  The force of the blast propelled me out of the cave.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

The tunnel collapsed on top of the beast. I hear one final shriek as it becomes buried in rubble.
I flinch as I pick myself up off the ground. It’s still thrashing about in the rubble. Guess I need to finish this the hard way. I wince as I shamble over to the dragon. That last blast got me good. My back armor is just about cooked. Even all my counter measures, I’m probably going to have some minor burns back there.

I feel more pain shoot through my back as I walk to the snared beast. It doesn’t take long for me to clear out the rocks surrounding the dragon’s head. Okay, just need one good strike, then I can collect the bounty on this thing and return to Pieff a local hero. Simple as that. Just as I swing the hammer down, the dragon begins to glow a dark crimson and black color. My hammer stops in mid swing, slowed by the strange energy. The hell? This is new. The light begins to expand into a sphere. I gaze at it, hypnotized by the strange colors. Instinctively, I reach out to touch the sphere and it bursts, sending me tumbling backwards.
GODAMMIT! Second time I have been hurtled into the ground today! All right, this time I’m finishing the job.

A small crater is all that remains of that strange energy sphere.  The dragon is….gone? How does a dragon just disappear?  I peered into the crater. There was a definitely something down there. It had wings, and the same emerald scales as the dragon. Slowly it started to rise, trying it’s best to stand on its two scaly, clawed feet.
It was a…young woman? She seemed to be some kind of demi human. Her body was roughly human. She had a beautiful, elegant face with strong brilliant yellow eyes. Her hair was a dark brown hazel color, with a pair of curved horns protruding from her head. Her body was still scaly, but several areas were still covered in pink human flesh, most distractingly her toned stomach and round, perky breasts. Her arms and legs terminated in scaled claws much like the dragon from earlier. Finally, a long tail swished behind her as she stared at me with contempt.

I’m lucky I have this helmet on, or she would see my face turn beet red... She’s completely nude and apparently oblivious to the fact. I try to avert my gaze out of a sense of modesty for her, but she doesn’t seem to care. Who is this girl? Is she the…
“Human, when I’m done with you there won’t be…” she gasped and put a hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened with terror.
“What happened to my voice? And why do I feel so light?”
I just stood there blushing like an idiot. “Uhhh, Ms.…Dragon I presume?”
“Of course I’m a dragon you idiot! What do I like a stinking human to you?” she screeched, bearing her teeth.
“Yes,” you blurt out “That is exactly what I’m saying.  I don’t know what just happened. But it looks like you are half human now.”
The dragon just stares for a moment, and then she begins to frantically check her body, noting the soft, plink flesh replacing her set of scales, and the flowing locks of hair cascading from her head. “What, but I was just…and then you…how!?”
“I don’t know!  I’m just as confused as you are! I’ve been doing this for 6 years and this has never happened before!”

She snarled and began to charge toward me before falling flat on her face. The poor girl tries to get up, only for her to wobble and fall back down again.  Tears flow out of her eyes as she smashed the ground with her fist, creating a fist sized indention. It was a sad sight, seeing a creature like this so humbled. Apparently going from 4 legs to 2 presented some…interesting problems. I’ve got to do something. I feel like an asshole just standing here.  I walk over to her and bend down next to her.
“Hey, do you need some help?” I say in a low, gentle voice.
She looks up at me, her face redden from anger or frustration I can’t tell.  “Shut up I don’t need help from a filthy worm! I’m a dragon! Queen of the monsters! How could I ever receive help from a soft, pink creature like you?”
“Ms. Dragon, I don’t mean to be rude, but you are rolling around in the dirt, blubbering and having a tantrum like a child. Hardly the behavior of a queen. If you continue to behave like a brat I will leave. And then you’ll have to figure out something for yourself,” my voiced softened a bit, “So please, let me help.”

She started to calm down a bit, wiping her tears away with the back of her claw.
“Why would someone who hurt me and tried to kill me suddenly offer to help me, huh? Doesn’t that seem to be the opposite of what you were trying to do a couple minutes ago?"
"A few minutes ago, you were a ravenous, 20ft long winged lizard. Now you are half human and barely able to stand, much less be a threat to me. I’m not going to hurt you.  I came here to stop a dragon from terrorizing the town. I don’t think you could hurt anyone but yourself right now. If anything, you might be killed by some roving beasts while you are still learning your new body. Does that sound convincing enough or do you still want me to leave?
 “Fine, but I still don’t like you” she murmured.
“That’s just something I’ll have to live with for now.”  I gently clasp her clawed hand and mine and pull her off the ground.  “You need to use your tail for balance. Lean on me with your arms, and we’ll walk to my horse. I’ve got some provisions and a tent. You can stay with me until we figure out what to do about your current form.”

She nodded in comprehension, and wrapped her arm around me as the two of us made our way back to Gunther. I blushed as she wrapped her arm tighter around my shoulder. I’d be lying if I wasn’t enjoying playing the part of the chivalrous knight.  Though I think this might be the first time the beautiful maiden was also the dragon.

When we got back to my camp, I gave Gunther another apple and a pat on the head. He snorted and jerked his head nervously when he saw my new companion. She must still smell like a dragon to him.
“Ms. Dragon, this is my good friend Gunther. I’m sorry, but he seems to be a little skittish around you.
“Neera” she spoke suddenly.
“What?”
“It’s my name, human. I’m tired of being called ‘Ms. Dragon’.”
Neera. What a pretty name. “I’m Gustave.”
“I know, you told me back in the cave.”
“Heh, guess I did.”
I unfurled a sleeping bag from my nap pack and set about preparing a tent while Neera watch with feigned disinterest.  “You can sleep in here. I’m going to sleep next to Gunther and keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”
She nodded and climbed into the tent. I sat down next to Gunther, a blanket over my lap and watched the stars pass by. It was a beautiful night.
“Hey Gustave?", Neera called from the tent.
“Yes?”
“…Thank you.”
I know that wasn’t easy for her to say. “You’re welcome.”
We both stayed silent for a while. After an hour, I heard snoring coming from the tent. Hopefully I could do something to help Neera tomorrow. I honestly don’t know the reason I decided to help her. Maybe it’s because she is so beautiful. Or maybe it’s because I’m a sentimental fool who can’t stand to see a woman in distress. Oh well, I can sort through this later. For now, I sleep. The last thing I think about before I pass out is how strange it would be for someone like me to fall for a dragon...
END PART 1