Chapter 172

By the time Draco left the half-destroyed factory, it was already past 2 AM.

Thick clouds had settled over the moonless sky, allowing only a small trickle of starlight to filter through.

A figure soared through the air, leaving streaks of shadows that resembled an unusual bird, the scant starlight illumination its way home.

Thud!

With a resounding thud, Draco landed on the ground, his legs digging into the soil from the impact.

His gold chain necklace rattled as his body absorbed the shock.

'I really need to learn how to land softly,' Draco thought.

Slinging his shirt over his shoulder, Draco retracted his draconic wings and directed his gaze toward the house entrance.

There she was—his goddess, Bahamut—waiting at the door.

"Welcome back," she said, her voice soft, smooth, and mesmerizing.

Her sleepy expression suggested she had just gotten up from bed to greet him.

A gentle breeze blew over her, causing her long silver hair and nighttime attire to flutter, eliciting a cute yelp as she lazily fought to keep her hair away from her face.

She wore black lace lingerie that outlined her petite frame, meshing well with the silver scales running from the base of her tail, across her arms, part of her chest, and down to her feet.

Perhaps due to the earlier wind, one of the straps of her lingerie slipped down, revealing part of her modest chest.

Bahamut didn't seem to notice, and even if she did, she wasn't one to be embarrassed by such a thing.

Her fair skin was flawless, a perk most goddesses had—something many mortal women would kill for.

Draco gulped, trying to restrain himself from doing anything foolish.

He was taken aback by such a tempting display, even though he knew it wasn't intentional.

His draconic hormones had been out of whack lately, and such stimuli wasn't helping matters, especially since they were a couple.

This was one of the side effects of his accelerated growth, transitioning from his hatchling to juvenile phase quickly, and it might worsen when he transitions to his young adult phase.

'No, resist. Just three more years, and you'll be an adult in society,' Draco encouraged himself.

But he doubted he could last that long, as his urges seemed to grow by the day.

"Yaaaaawn." Bahamut let out a cute yawn, her eyes half-closing.

"Why are you just staring at me? Aren't you coming inside?" she asked, her voice tired.

"Ahem, sorry," Draco apologized, walking toward her.

"Why are you apologizing?" Bahamut asked, a bit confused.

"For indulging too much in your irresistible beauty," Draco replied, walking past her, his tail lightly caressing her face as he entered the house.

He felt a bit embarrassed uttering those words, but it was the truth.

"W-what…" Bahamut stammered, her eyes now wide awake, her heart pounding, and her expression flustered.

'Ugh, I am such a mess,' Bahamut thought as she crouched down, covering her face with both hands.

Meanwhile, Draco rushed into his room, locked the door, and dived onto his bed.

'Aaaah, that was so cringe,' Draco thought, covering his face with pillows as his heart pounded restlessly.

After taking some time and deep breaths, he soon calmed down.

This was how his relationship with Bahamut was—it wasn't bad, but it felt restraining, as neither of them could push for the next step yet.

They were both new to love, hence their childish reactions to each other, which in itself was quite fun.

Saying words and performing actions that made their hearts flutter was enough for now.

Soon, exhaustion took over, and Draco drifted into sleep.

The day ahead would be busy for the Bahamut familia.

...….

The next day, around 9 AM, Draco woke up from sleep.

Struggling to sit up, he pushed himself from bed, stretching to shake off the last remnants of sleep.

'It's a bit late, but we can still make it in time,' Draco thought.

The Goliath was set to respawn between 11 AM and 1 PM, so there was still a bit of time.

Taking care of his morning routine, Draco put on a fresh pair of clothes and followed the enticing aroma of sizzling breakfast coming from the kitchen.

Upon entering, he saw all his familia members gathered, eating breakfast and making small talk.

"You won't believe what happened yesterday…" Vasiliki began, narrating what she experienced with the Astraea familia to Dimitra, Eleni, and Clair.

Meanwhile, the boys were discussing how many evilus members each of them had killed.

Draco couldn't help but shake his head, finding it unnerving to hear such talk of killing and death from kids so young; but this was the new reality, so the feeling was brief.

"Good morning, y'all," Draco greeted.

"Morning," they replied.

"Morning, Draco. How much would you like to eat?" Bahamut asked.

Unlike last night, she wore casual clothes with a cute frilly apron draped over them, looking like one of those chibi dragon girl characters from an anime.

"The usual portion," Draco replied with a smile.

"Hmm," Bahamut nodded, returning her attention to the stove.

As Bahamut focused on preparing the meal, Draco decided to brief his familia on the information he had obtained from the Astraea and Ganesha familias regarding the evilus plans.

"That sounds scary," Eleni muttered, her furry ears drooping after listening to everything.

"Yea it is, but what do we do?" Nikolaos asked, his expression serious.

"We'll have to cut our dungeon hours short and increase our patrol time and size, that's after you all level up," Draco said.

"Ugh, why can't people just get along? What do they gain by causing so much chaos?" Dimitra asked.

"We don't need to know, and we shouldn't try to understand them either; it might make you hesitate when you shouldn't," Vasiliki replied.

"Well, I don't mind some extra patrol time, but we need an actual schedule and teams," Vasileios said.

"Well, that's a job for our new vice captains, Dimitra and Vasiliki," Draco said, cheerfully clapping his hands.

"Wait, wasn't it temporary?" Dimitra asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but now it's permanent. Congratulations!" Draco said.

The others clapped in congratulations, having expected this outcome since Draco had named them temporary vice captains.

"Ugh, I didn't ask for this job," Vasiliki muttered in annoyance; if there was anything she hated, it was paperwork.

"Vice captain Vasiliki, what are your orders?" Clair teased Vasiliki with a salute.

"Don't you start that now," Vasiliki warned, baring her fangs.

"Whoa, calm down. When did you become so feral?" Clair asked.

As the kids dove deeper into puberty, their beast heritage had been rising, causing some random instinctive reactions at certain time's.

"Tsk, why is this happening to us…ny..?" Eleni managed to stop herself.

"Heh, seems like you all lack self-control," Michalis taunted, licking his palm like a cat.

"Heh" Clair barely managed to hold a chuckle, as Michalis looked away in embarrassment.

"Alright, that's enough. Hope you're all mentally prepared to take on the Goliath; you might break a lot of bones," Draco said, changing the topic.

He wasn't going to let any of them die, but he didn't mind if a few bones broke here and there.

"I think I'll be fine. Vasileios, on the other hand…" Michalis trailed off with a smirk.

The Goliath wasn't exactly fast, so his high agility and dexterity would help him evade.

The same was true for the others, except for Vasileios, who would have to tank some blows.

"Honestly, I'm scared. What if I turn into meat paste with one hit?" Vasileios replied, his expression somber.

His statement made everyone pause as they imagined the scene.

"Why did you have to say something so negative? Now I can't eat," Michalis muttered, immediately losing his appetite.

"Relax, I was just joking. Draco nii wouldn't let me die, right?" Vasileios said, eyeing Draco for confirmation.

But Draco didn't reply; instead, he focused on the meal portion that Bahamut had dropped in front of him.

"Right…" Vasileios muttered, his voice almost a whisper.

Soon everyone finished breakfast, donned their dungeon gear, and regrouped at the entrance of Bahamut's house.

"You kids take care, alright? I don't mind if you get a bit roughed up, just come back alive," Bahamut warned, squeezing her fist into a ball in a threatening manner.

Everyone took her warning seriously; the warm, sweet, and understanding goddess they knew was replaced by the menacing goddess before them.

Bahamut had gotten used to being the goddess of a familia, learning how to handle them more easily.

"And you, Draco, bring them home safe, alright?" Bahamut warned, pulling him low enough to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"W-wha…" Draco's voice trailed off as he was taken aback by her sudden bold action.

"For good luck," she whispered in his ear before letting go and returning inside.

"What about us?, don't we need luck too" Michalis muttered, but quickly shut his mouth with a deadly glare from Draco.

The other members just stared at Draco with cheeky expressions.

"Ahem, let's go," Draco said, quickly recomposing himself.

No one said anything, knowing they would face his wrath if they did; he wouldn't hesitate to cut their pocket money short.

With strength in their steps, the Bahamut familia headed to the 17th floor, where their opponent resided.