Legends: The Emerald World

Ase tapped Shin on his back with her tail, agreeing to follow his lead. His directions were the only thing keeping them alive, if it weren't for him, she would've already died in the burning fortress.

Shin looked back, unlike anyone else who could only hope to see the dragon with their eyes, he could use another kind of vision. It was the same way he knew the dragon was approaching before, the basic ability of cultivators to sense other creatures' aura and power. Unlike the weak humans, the dragon's aura was as bright and majestic as a white steed of thunder running across the night sky.

The blinding aura of fire was still stationary at the base of the fortress, the dragon hadn't recovered yet, which was a good thing.

'Char, get on my head and don't move. It'll feel a bit uncomfortable, but bear with it for now.' Shin's orders reached Char and the spider obeyed.

Shin then reached down with his hand, touching Ase's stomach. She flinched, that wasn't a place that cats willingly let anyone touch. "Keep moving. We'll need this later."

Ase had agreed to follow Shin's lead without asking a question, so she put up with that, sighting, "Tell me later why."

Shin closed his eyes, since Ase was carrying him on her back, he could now focus all of his effort on one thing, sensing and reaching deep to touch Ase and Char's aura.

Just like how Shin can see other creatures' aura, the dragon can see the aura as well, it's an ability that all dragons are born with, it's what gives blindsight, the ability to see and attack even when blinded.

From what Shin knows, dragons have a basic set of overpowered senses that make escaping them almost impossible.

-Clear Vision for around ten miles, and they can see all wavelengths of light, which means even the colors that humans can't see. They can communicate with each other by changing the color of their scales to something humans can't see.

-Hyper Sensitive Nose that can sniff prey from around forty miles away.

-Super Hearing that can even hear a human's heartbeat from five hundred yards away.

-Echolocation thanks to their sharp hearing, which allows them to sense their surroundings up to around 200 yards.

-Tremoursense which allows them to sense and read the faint vibration in anything they touch. This allows them to navigate underground as well as sense other creatures' footsteps from miles away far better than elephants.

-Night Vision which allows them to see in darkness as well as big cats.

-Heat Vision which allows them to see heat like an Infrared camera.

-Front lights, as strange as it seems, the dragon's eyes can glow stronger than a car's front lights, illuminating everything before them. Fire dragons can also ignite a beacon of fire inside their mouths to emit light, or ignite their whole body to use as a torch. Baby dragons can usually be seen igniting a flame at the tip of their tail to use as a light.

-Air Tasting which allows the dragon to taste the air by extending its tongue out like a snake.

-Aura Sight which allows them to see the aura of other creatures, this power is so broken that dragons were infamous for sniping people through walls and over mountains with fireballs.

Dragons are the one thing Shin hates facing the most because of all of their broken abilities. They are an all-terrain assault monster that's a pain to kill and is seldom worth the hassle, especially at a mortal cultivation level.

Taming one is another thing though, the moment a cultivator tames a dragon, over nine-tenths of their enemies give up because no one wants to deal with a dragon.

He knows of a cultivator who offended another who had a dragon tamed. The woman couldn't escape no matter where he went, underground, in the heavens, under the sea, he even built a fortified wall in the underworld, only for the dragon to show up uninvited. The poor woman walked into her bath only to find the dragon sitting in the tub in his humanoid form.

Luckily the other cultivator was a friend of hers and didn't want to kill her, just annoy her. He could remember them coming to him seeking a resolution.

While the two women were arguing, the dragon seemed to be having the time of his life getting to annoy one of them.

"Let's follow the riverside." Ase said but those weren't her words. Shin had started his plan now that he could sense her and Char's cores. "Just in case the dragon sets the forest ablaze or if we need to take a plunge and get rid of our trails."

The captain and the large prisoners seemed to agree with her. Even the old man knew that it was for the best, he would rather die numb from the cold than burn like a piece of meat.

With no one disagreeing with her, everyone kept running inside the forest but kept close to the river. After an exhausting two hours, Shin could see the dragon's aura move, the beast had awakened.

"Ase, Char…don't breathe and endure, this will be the most painful thing in your lives. If you made a single noise, we'll all die." Shin whispered to them, "Ase, at my signal, rush and jump into the river, make sure to submerge your body in the mud as deep as you can. Char, hide inside my mouth so you won't drown."

Ase gulped, knowing that this was it, the deciding point.

"Now." As she heard Shin's whisper, she made one powerful leap and dove into the water, submerging herself neck-deep in the mud.

Immediately, she felt as if a steel wedge was lodged into her chest, grinding her heart. She wanted to scream and cry but didn't even take a single breath, holding out as her consciousness wanted to slip away. Char wasn't doing fine, but at least managed to crawl into a ball and pretend to be dead.

Shin had sensed their aura and was now crushing it, making sure their aura was no bigger than an ant. Such a state caused their hearts to stop beating and their bodies to enter a state close to suspended animation, but with their consciousness still up.

The captain and the large prisoner were baffled as they saw Ase suddenly make such a move. "CAT! What are you doing?!" The captain cried, but none responded to him.

"What is the meaning of this?!" The large prisoner growled.

Shin could never trust them, especially when facing a dragon. And especially so the captain, that's his jailer. When facing a dragon, their staying together is a death sentence. He just can't save everyone, so he takes the liberty of choosing who lives and who dies.

CLAP! A massive thunderclap boomed from where the fort was, and the dragon suddenly stopped in the sky above them with a shockwave. Dragons can fly faster than fighter jets but they almost rarely fly that fast, they don't need to. Almost like how humans can spring pretty fast, but they rarely do it and rather walk.

The captain, the large prisoner, and the old man were standing with their aura apparent as clear as day. The dragon could see them from miles away so running away wasn't going to save them even if they swam in the river.

Shin's first plan of letting Ase swim alone to survive relies on the fact that the dragon won't bother chasing her alone and would stay in the fort to play with the captain and the other prisoners.

The dragon could see Ase and Shin in the river, it grunted as it landed behind the large prisoner. The dragon's biggest weakness was now apparent, his overgrown pride.

Dragons are above scavenging for food, since Shin and Ase already looked dead, he won't even bother giving them a second look. And since he couldn't see or sense the spider that shot him, he focused only on the captain and the large prisoner.

For a second, he could remember Shin insulting him, but he had already concluded that no human could learn the dragon's tongue. Shin probably learned that one word as a fun fact to taunt dragons.

Before the large prisoner could notice the dragon, he got crushed alongside the old man with a single stomp by the dragon.

The captain pulled his sword and lunged at the dragon, cursing as he slashed at the neck. The dragon deflected the attack and smacked him away, chasing him far away.

"Run! The dragon won't sense us if he's playing with his food. They hate nothing more than their fun being interrupted." Shin restored his, Char and Ase aura, ordering Ase to run away as fast as she could.

This was their chance to escape this overpowered monster.