25

Sure they weren't technically my boys, but I'd made a promise to protect them. I wasn't the type to lie or go back on my word. My mother had often called me a lair like my cousin on a daily basis because she knew it upset, and hurt me. It had given me a weird aversion to lying. Sure I could lie. 

Sometimes I would use little white lies, but even those made me feel extreme guilt for a few days. The only time I could lie guilt free was when telling the truth was actually more harmful to the person I was talking to. I started drinking the blood. The taste was enough to make me gag even though I was desperate for any liquid or nutrition. This blood hit me much harder then the blood of the other creature. 

My whole body tried to reject the blood I'd just swallowed. The system informed me that I'd just swallowed a toxin, but that notification was ignored just like the last one. I waited for the pain to subside as the dragon egg started absorbing the blood before drinking even more. Whatever was toxic in the beast's blood seemed to benefit the dragon egg I was hiding. I could only swallow a mouthful at a time. 

Each mouthful made me stop, and grimace in pain for several minutes until the dragon egg started absorbing what it wanted then I would do it again. As sucky as it was I could feel my thirst subsiding, and my hunger pangs became less insistent. I might dislike pain, but I wouldn't stop now that I knew it was working. Each mouthful was a painful reminder that I was surviving only by a hair. Each pang of pain wasn't quite enough to stop me from doing it again. 

Maybe if I did it enough I might get another resistance ability like my pain resistance ability. Luckily my pain resistance went up by one percent after I tortured myself for a while. This allowed my to recover just a little quicker. I kept of this nasty little cycle until I was completely sated. I allowed myself to slouch forward in my little hollow for a little while. 

The sand bouncing off my skin was a relief compared to swallowing that nasty blood. Almost like a sign the beast surfaced again. I was done with this slow passive method for the moment. I wanted to do some damage. I wanted this thing to feel the same pain I was feeling. 

Sure I wouldn't be able to cause this monster a lethal injury, but I could hurt it. Right now while it was above ground. I jammed my mana into the beasts flesh using my second soul fang. Changing it's properties so it would pass through the flesh harmlessly, and damage the mana vein itself. It was a spiteful action. 

I didn't even think it would do much damage, but I could feel the change in the beast's mana right away. I'd observed that particular mana vein so closely that I could tell that my spiteful harmless slash had completely severed that particular mana vein. The beast flinched, and I was thrown free. I threw a blast of fire ahead of me at the sand below. I landed on the molten sand, and felt it burning my feet as the newly formed sheet of glass cooled slowly in the heat of the sun. 

I danced around on the hot surface of the glass. Not by choice. I couldn't stand in one place long. I knew the skin on the bottoms of both my bare feet had been seared off from the heat. I'd used more powerful flames intentionally on purpose to make sure I would have something solid to stand on. 

Hoping that by some small miracle that the beast wouldn't be able to sense me properly on the surface of the glass. The beast sailed on past me. Disappearing into the sands mere moments after throwing me clear. I was glad it didn't seem to notice my sudden departure. I was already in enough pain just from burning my own feet. 

I didn't need to add the pain of running on those burned feet. I flopped on my backside on the still hot glass. Glad that it had cooled enough not to burn my hands or ass through the protection of the armor at this point. I went completely still on the hot glass. Not because I wanted to but because something was perking up my senses. 

It was a fluctuation in mana, and it wasn't far from me. The massive beast reared up angrily. It's deafening roar made it feel as if my ear drums were going to burst. I covered my ears as they rang painfully. I couldn't tear my eyes away.

I was focused on the torrent of blood flowing from the beast's body. The mana that had come out of the severed mana vein had collected where I'd severed it, and blown a human sized chunk out of the monster's body. It seemed as if I'd just discovered something useful. I didn't wait. I used my high jump skill to rush in again. 

Landing on the beast's heavy body with light footsteps as I tried not to agitate my burned feet. My fingers spread out as I sought out another mana vein. It didn't take long to find the torrent of mana. It was just a few steps from where I was now. I took those steps, and severed this mana vein as well before jumping away using my high jump skill once again. 

I wasn't sure if I'd severed this one completely like I did the other, but I didn't have time to make sure. The beast had already flinched, and turned toward where I'd stood on it's body. I was nearly out of mana once again so there really was no benefit to me being near the beast anymore. I landed on the hot sand with a pained wince. Then I went completely still.