Tussle Upon Dragon's Peak.
Written by HumbleHeretic
Featuring an OC by Kakira Irjath.
"Huff~ huff~"
Climbing a cliff face was certainly not the easiest thing in the world, it was an especially difficult feat when one was fully clad in armor. The difficulty was made clear as sweat ran down the young man's face, dripping down his cheeks and annoyingly getting into his eyes. His breath was ragged, and he couldn't help but grunt with each movement of his tired arms and legs. As tired as they were though, Gus needed to power on as losing his grip at the current height would end in much more than just a few broken bones.
"Ungh~!"
The young man refused to look at the ground pulling away beneath him and instead distracted himself with his thoughts as he grabbed onto jutting rocks of unknown sturdiness one after the other. He mainly thought about how he'd managed to find himself in such a situation.
It had already been about three months since Gus had found employment as a mercenary at the guild, while the pay was good depending on the job he did, it was far from enough for the young man's goal. The whole reason he had entered into such a dangerous occupation in the first place was because he really needed the money. His mother, his only guardian after his father had passed, was currently sick at home and in need of treatment for a terminal illness of a unique kind.
The unfortunate reality of the world though is that it's run on money. Even the church rarely ever did things for free, the treatment that his mother needed costed a sum that was far out of reach for a pair of lowly commoners like themselves. Such was why Gus was now forced to do his best as a mercenary, and although the pay was good, the young man couldn't be sure that his mother's condition wouldn't worsen before he'd gathered the necessary funds.
"Gugh! Fuu!"
Hence why he was now scaling such a dangerous cliff face, he had recently overheard a story from travelling adventures that there was a certain monster living on the top of this cliff. A dragon, the beast of legend said to be able to defeat even heroes in mortal combat.
Now obviously Gus was no hero, the young man didn't even entertain the thought of possibly subduing, much less slaying the legendary beast. Instead, his aim was to confirm whether there was truly a dragon's lair atop the cliff face and whether there would be anything valuable laying around. If there was one thing dragons were known for, it was their love of precious metals and treasures, just the scraps left behind in an abandoned dragon's lair would be enough for a poor man to live the rest of his life with food on the table.
Since early morning, Gus had been keeping a close eye on this cliff and hadn't seen any large shadows enter or leave all day. This birthed a few possibilities in the young man's head; maybe the dragon had already abandoned this lair, which would undoubtedly be the best-case scenario. Other than that, it could either be sleeping or there may not even be a dragon at all.
Honestly, it was blatantly crazy of him to pull such a stunt just based off of the words of a couple passing adventurers that he didn't even know. All evidence pointed towards a more than 90% possibility that Gus was halfway into a wild goose chase. However, even a 1% possibility was enough to someone that was desperate. Worst case scenario: he gets eaten. Best case scenario, he actually manages to find something valuable. Supposing the dragon in question actually does exist, then even if he doesn't get any left behind gold or silver, then even just cast aside shedding from the beast's body would do. A dragon's body was worth as much as their legends ascribed, just a single scale was worth a hefty sum.
"Hngh!"
It was with this determination that Gus neared the top of the cliff, fingers sore and his body drenched in sweat, the young man now dearly wished that he wouldn't be attacked by whatever is up here, in his current condition, even running away would be difficult. Now that he thought about it, no matter what was waiting for him, he was going to start the encounter with his back to a literal cliff.
Gripping his fingers on the cliff's edge, the young man put all of his wavering resolve into hoisting himself onto the ledge! Gus wanted nothing more than to roll over in exhaustion at this time, however, young as he may be, he was an experienced mercenary. Before his foot touched the ground, his hand was already grasping his hilt. A forward roll later and he was in a low stance, his feet planted firmly on the ground and his bade drawn and positioned defensively in front of him.
The young man tried to steady his labored breath, however it almost halted completely when the sight before his eyes registered in his brain!
Truthfully speaking, he had greatly doubted that he'd actually run into a regular monster atop this plateau, much less a dragon, therefore it came as a shock when he actually came upon the scaled beast! Speaking of scales, they were glossy like the ripened green apples he'd seen on his cousin's farm. Rather than the large, rough plates that he'd imagined, they were smaller and more refined, forming a smoothly flowing transition along the beast's skin. There were also sizable spots of more grassy green scales scattered here and there.
Large, webbed wings sprouted from its back with menacing spikes growing from the tips of the spurs. An extremely robust tail dragged across the ground where the beast lay, horns thick at the base and slender at their pointed tips sprouted from its head. It was the very description of the magical monsters Gus had heard of in countless legends, or at least it would be if that was where the descriptions ended!
There was actually something about this beast that the human never would have expected, a big something that betrayed the image he'd had in his mind to the point that he was now crouching there frozen despite the apparent danger.
"A... woman?"
This mutter leaked from his lips as he gazed vacantly at it, no, at her.
Her curly horns sprouted not from the long head of a reptile, but that of a human with fine green scales covering her face. Curly brown hair fell from her scalp, down her regular sized neck and stopped near the aforementioned wings on her back. The word "demi-human" came to mind as Gus stared at her form that was standing on two feet, however while her shape was human, her size most certainly was not!
The Dragon woman was HUGE, not just in terms of height, but mostly with regards to sheer body mass. Her scaly thighs were thicker than two of Gus combined, her pudgy belly was hanging out and her breasts were absurd! Normally Gus wouldn't find himself staring so intently at a woman he'd just met; however, this woman was supposed to be the ferocious beast of legend that he'd resolved his life to face just a few seconds ago!
The human had no idea what he was supposed to be feeling right now or how he was supposed to be reacting. He simply maintained his frozen posture at the thought that his quest seemed like a failure just as it'd begun.
"Hello, can I help you dear?"
"?!"
And she spoke too! Gus finally took his eyes away from the dragon woman's overly conspicuous body and found her purple slit irises to be staring back at him.
"..."
The human didn't know what he was supposed to say, he'd come all this way and went through all this hardship to put his life on the line by robbing a dragon's den. Instead, he'd run headfirst into the "dragon" that was far from what he'd imagined, she was even properly wearing clothes after all!
"... are, are you the dragon that inhabits this place?"