Chapter 1868: Baby Behemoths
Chapter 1868: Baby Behemoths
Once the first Behemoth was out of his shell, the others were only seconds behind, all very nearly identical.
Even the patterns on their backs were the same, and Tessa realized with horror that she had four identical boys. How that was possible when they came from eggs, she did not know.
But once they started to move around, she immediately began having issues telling them apart.
It was embarrassing for a mother.
"William, Robert, Ollie, Dale, meet your mother. Everyone say hello." Thor instructed.
The four behemoths turned to Tessa and made what Seraphina could only call a war bugle.
That was an excellent sign.
She struggled in Tessa’s arms, until her mother set her back in the nest with her brothers.
{Hello, I am your biggest sister. That means I’m in charge.} Seraphina declared.
The four brothers turned to each other, then ran over and tackled the little red dragon, licking her face in greeting.
{Damn you! I just got that clean.}
{But now you smell like our sister.} Dale explained.
Seraphina wasn’t sure how to react to that. Yes, she smelled like them now. But she had behemoth slobber on her face. That was... disgusting.
She puffed fire to cleanse her face, and her brothers laughed, then rubbed up against her, making her smell like behemoth again, minus all the slobber.
That was more acceptable.
The four brothers backed up to the corners of the nest, while Seraphina retreated to see what they were up to.
Then, they charged.
All four slammed into each other, their fringed heads and stubby horns colliding with what might have been tremendous force, if they were not five kilos of scaly fury. But their [Divine Lightning Barrier] held up, and they retreated for another round.
{Mom, what are they doing?}
"Trying to determine which one of them is the best at smashing."
The War Disciple stared at her brothers’ game with renewed interest. Perhaps they did understand a little bit about war on their own. They were already training for a full-frontal assault, and determining ranks, so they could do it in the most effective possible way.
Of course, the behemoths saw it differently. They just liked to headbutt things.
In the tavern, Karl sensed Thor’s pride, and leaned over to whisper to Dana.
"The little ones have hatched. Tessa’s got her hands full tonight. Her little War Disciple daughter is possibly the most red dragon thing possible."
The others at the table pretended they weren’t listening, as their sensitive hearing let them follow the conversation.
"Oh? Is she already breathing fire?"
Karl nodded. "Not only that, but her first words were to try to pick a fight with the Black Dragon Avatar."
Dana laughed at the thought of a tiny Immortal dragon trying to square up with the human form of the Demigod Black Dragon. The thought was ridiculous, and even if she wanted to, it was impossible for her to actually harm him.
"I take it that you have a celebration to attend back home?"
Karl nodded. "A Red Dragon Priestess from the Guild just hatched her first clutch."
The Yizimon Clan Elders raised their drinks in a cheer. "That is cause for celebration. The first clutch for a dragon is always a major life event. Is she going to be raising them herself, as she is a red dragon, or are they going to a different Orphanage?"
"She’s actually an itinerant Priestess, she travels to events with us. Or will once she’s gained some more power. She came from the Mortal Realms, you see. Having just reached Immortality, she needs a bit of time to adapt before she starts going out to do dungeons with us."
"Ah, so the little ones won’t be far away.
I’m assuming that the Darklight Host has a Red Dragon run Orphanage somewhere that they are aligned with."
Karl nodded. "More than one of them, actually. The Guild has branches in both the Mortal and Immortal worlds, so we have aligned with many different Orphanages. They’re great for teaching children, but they’re also a great source of new Guild Members."
"Indeed they are. We aren’t aligned with the Red Dragon, but that’s normal for a mining Clan. Most of them are aligned at best with one of the earth or nature Gods. And usually not too closely.
There are some that have dragon Clerics in the Clan that help with nature magic, but mostly mining isn’t all the glamorous."
Karl shrugged. "It never is, but it’s essential. I do hope that you will forgive me for leaving a bit early tonight. I would like to go see the little ones once they’ve had a bit of time to wear themselves out."
"Of course. Once dinner is finished, we would not be shocked if you returned home with your gains so that you can feed the crafting teams with the new supplies."
Karl nodded. "Indeed, we have a Runic Smith at home waiting for the good loot so that they can make new items with extra elemental affixes. If they don’t get that, they’ll be waiting a whole extra day to fill some of the orders that we’ve got placed."
The miners assumed that Karl meant at the store, but Rue was actually waiting for the supplies to make weapons for the rest of the team.
Once they all had Supreme Ranked weapons, she would feel much less wary of sending them out into the world.
They were competent, and she was still in hiding from her old enemies, but that didn’t mean that the world was safe, even for someone like Karl, who feared very little. Having a lifesaving talisman plus a Supreme Ranked weapon should get him out of most of the trouble that he was bound to find.
She wasn’t in a hurry, though.
There were hatchlings in the other room, and once the crowd began to clear out a little, she would go see the new members of the Guild.
Baby behemoths were bound to be adorable.