The creature was smart. It recognized that I was not an easy opponent, that I could match its power and survive its attacks, now it was reassessing its strategy accordingly rather than continuing to fight blindly.

{Notice: That creature is a variant of a Supreme Dragon. But none of its kind exist anywhere else in the world.}

[Ah, so it is even a unique monster. That explains why it’s so much stronger and versatile than the Amazons’ descriptions had suggested. They had only seen a fraction of its true capabilities during their encounter with it.]

For context, let me explain what Supreme Dragons are.

They are the oldest and strongest a dragon can possibly get through natural growth and evolution.

It’s the absolute ceiling of their normal biological development, the point at which a dragon has reached the maximum potential of its species without external intervention or divine blessing.

· There are lesser dragons at the bottom of this hierarchy. These ones are as small as a moose in terms of overall body size, or could even be as small as a slightly larger saltwater crocodile if they are particularly young, or maybe stunted in their growth.

They are nonetheless terribly dangerous to normal humans, capable of killing dozens of ordinary people without much effort. And they could still breathe fire — or whatever elemental breath weapon their specific type stood for.

· There was then the Common dragons, the next step up in the evolutionary ladder.

These ones were larger, as large as houses or even larger in some cases, and this was the stage at which a dragon could reasonably call itself a dragon.

They, with their flock gathered around them and a proper determination to cause destruction, could destroy the entirety of Australia in a single night.

Their scales and bodies were absurdly strong, resistant to most forms of attack, and depending on their individual age and accumulated power over the centuries, physical weapons like swords and arrows might no longer be effective at all to put them down.

· There are also Mature dragons, which start at twenty feet in body length and can be as thick and wide as two rooms placed side by side, with wingspans that block out the sun when they fly overhead.

These are basically the dragons that everyone on earth should have some idea about from stories and legends and fantasy literature.

The classic, real dragons. These ones do not move in flocks or groups, unlike their lesser and common cousins.

And they are mostly solitary creatures that take over vast territories for themselves and tolerate no rivals within their borders.

Still hella dangerous, of course.

But I still genuinely think they can be taken down by five elite Amazons working together as a coordinated team.

Though, Heka and the rest of the Amazons greatly underestimate their own abilities, forgetting that they themselves are also anomalies in their own right, far more powerful and capable than an average Amazon warrior.

· The last evolution path of a dragon, the final and most difficult stage to achieve, is Supreme Dragon.

Or sometimes this stage is seen and referred to as Ultimate Dragon.

Those guys are no longer merely massive — that word does not capture the scale of what they have become.

They are sometimes continent-level in size, their bodies stretching across entire landmasses when fully extended, and they have the ability to both shrink themselves down to more manageable proportions, or grow even larger than their already immense natural size.

They could even be as small as a normal crocodile...

The point is that, they are not dragons anymore in any meaningful sense of the word.

They are titans now, beings of primal force and ancient power, on par with most gods and divine entities in terms of raw strength and capability.

Supreme Dragons either live in complete solitude, or they create their own flock and kingdoms, ruling over lesser dragons and other creatures as their subjects and servants.

But they could join themselves with a higher power and serve that greater entity as allies or champions.

"Higher power" here refers specifically to the Dragon gods, the Primal dragons who existed before any mortal, and shaped the very concept of dragonkind through their bloodlines.

And of which I suspect that Seraphina is one of them or at least connected to them in some fundamental way.

There IS a Primal dragon called Seraphina in ancient histories and legends.

One that was meant to play some significant role in the last Celestial war that reshaped the world.

But since everyone in the present day is not gung-ho about such a legendary figure being so close to us, living among us and interacting with mortals as if she were just another powerful being rather than a force of nature, I feel I might be mistaken about her true identity.

It seems too convenient, and too much like something out of a fiction book rather than real life.

Renard even turned her into his personal secretary, assigning her mundane tasks and clerical duties as if she were an ordinary person.

Logically speaking, that should not be possible with a prideful dragon goddess who would rather die than bow to another being’s authority... except that he has her trapped in a pact or a contract that forces her compliance.

Renard might be fishy like that.

Anyway, setting aside all that speculation about Primal dragons, this Grootslang I am currently fighting is a type of dragon.

More comparable in power and status to a Supreme Dragon.

Dealing with Mature dragons, we would’ve already started enduring way too many problems just to survive their attacks and drive them away from populated areas.

A Supreme Dragon is just on another level entirely, a completely different order of existence.

But as it turns out, based on how the fight has been going so far and how I am matching the creature blow for blow and spell for spell... I think I will win this.

I am not at my limit yet. I still have reserves of power that I have not touched even a bit.

And the Grootslang seems to be... tiring. Or at least reconsidering whether this fight is worth the cost.

But I’m not here to defeat it. I am here to ta—

"So...? What do you want from me, intruder?"

Eh...?

What was that?

Suddenly a deep and resonant voice rang out from the serpent’s mouth, echoing across the scarred and burning battlefield between us.

The sound was not quite like a human voice, but something in between — something that vibrated through the air and through my bones.

But where is the voice coming from, exactly?

Is the creature sending vibrations to create sound without moving its mouth?

Its mouth is not moving much, only the slightest twitch, yet the words are clear and understandable. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"I made a speechless agreement — a silent understanding and a non-verbal truce — with the dark-skinned women of the village," it continued speaking, staring at me pointedly with those small but intense eyes. "I allowed them to approach my domain without attacking. And I allowed them to retreat when they realized they could not defeat me. I had even let them continue to maintain the flimsy barrier around my territory, that weak and inadequate construct that could not hold me if I truly wished to leave. So I ask you again: what do I owe this violent assault on my person?"

"...Hm? Assault?" I asked, finally letting go of my curiosity about where its voice was coming from and focusing instead on the actual content of its words. "No, no, that’s not what happened. I came to see you, to introduce myself and perhaps have a conversation, but you started attacking me the moment I entered your territory. I was only defending myself."

"What? You expect me to believe that you approached my domain with such overwhelming magical power radiating from your vessel, and you did not intend to fight me?"

The Grootslang’s voice dripped with skepticism and disbelief, its small eyes narrowing as it studied my face for signs of deception.