--- Nixilei ---

Nixilei frowned. The odd popping noise the pair had dismissed as an issue was getting louder again as they approached those massive trees that continued to reach up into the sky. Nixilei frowned and said, "You can hear that noise getting louder right? Any idea what it is?"

Asteodia shook her head and answered "I agree it's getting louder but I've got no idea what it could be. I'm guessing it's a monster, if only because I don't know of any spell that would make that noise and provide flight. With these contraptions being quite new as well.. I can't think of anything else it would be,"

"So what, it's a 'popping dragon' or something?" asked Nixilei.

"What is a popping dragon?" asked Asteodia with some confusion.

"Oh, um, it's not real," insisted Nixilei. "It's part of an old children's story for the fae. It's called 'Peter Pippity and the Popping Dragon'. It's one of the stories fae use to teach kids how to talk properly. It's just a book filled with tongue twisters all drawn in a colourful style,"

"Books are pretty fancy Nixilei, not everyone had access to that sort of thing growing up. I mean, I was taught how to read, and my grandmother did hand out books occasionally, but book's specifically for children? That's a lot of money to spend on a kid just to help them out a little," explained Asteodia.

"Oh," said Nixilei. "Sorry, I guess I didn't realise." *I knew that the orphanage I grew up in was top quality for orphanages.. but I didn't realise it was better in some ways compared to other common folk. We might not have always gotten personal attention but I suppose the library was much more impressive.*historical

"Oh, um.. as for the dragon," Nixilei continued after her lapse into thought, "It was a dragon that ate so many popping berry seeds that it made popping noises when it walked, and every time it tried to talk, more popping. The joke was that Peter kept going around and finding other foods that made alliterations trying to find a way to stop the dragon from making popping noises,"

Asteodia nodded, knowing that children's stories didn't always make the most sense.. well that was until she saw something peaking out from the edge of the clouds. Fixing her eyes on the spot, Asteodia waited until she saw movement again, and was surprised by what she'd seen. "I think I know what that story was based on," said Asteodia.

"What?" asked Nixilei confused. Nixilei pointed off in the distance and Nixilei had to lean forward over the controls to see the spot, otherwise the wings would just be in the way. Soon enough, she saw what Asteodia had been talking about.

In the air was a snake-like creature with wings and two large bulbs along its body. The first was just behind the wings and looked like it was large enough to fit the rest of the snake coiled up inside it and have room to spare. The spot seemed to be a big air bladder that slowly contracted over time.

As it dove back into the clouds, Nixilei examined the other bulb. It was near the tail, and only about twice the size. It was quite different though. Whereas the larger bladder seemed to slowly shrink in size, this one was constantly shifting. It rapidly expanded and contracted, belching fire out of the back of it, pumping hot air to a second set of wings the snake-thing had. With every contraction of the smaller blader the popping sound could be heard.

"Ok.. that's a weird looking creature. Why.. why it like that? It can hardly be efficient to move that way.. in fact does the fire even help when it's got proper wings?" grumbled Nixilei.

"So.. you think the popping dragon is based off that?" asked Asteodia.

Nixilei shrugged and said, "How should I know. The story book was apparently based on a bunch of older stories, at least a few centuries old. Perhaps it was based on a similar monster, perhaps it's just a coincidence. Is it dangerous seems like the much more important question," I think you should take a look at lightsnovel.cοm

Asteodia nodded, watching the snake-thing as she did. It didn't seem to be all that interested in coming down towards them. As she watched the larger bulb finished deflating and the snake-thing opened its jaw wide enough to swallow the plane whole. It sucked in a nearby cloud filling the bulb with water and air before snapping its jaw shut and continuing to fly around.

"Welp. That's pretty damn terrifying," said Asteodia. "I'd hate to try and fight something that can just swallow me whole, especially when it looks big enough to swallow me while driving this plane! Still.. it's not coming towards us.. probably. I don't want to attack it and set it off, but the fact the popping noise must've been getting louder for a while now makes me a tad worried,"

"So.. avoid it until it looks to be going on the attack then I'll suit up? If you can scare it with a bit of fire then I should have time to put on the suit," said Nixilei.

"You might want to be a bit more ready then that. I mean, the thing is constantly farting out fire. I doubt it'll be particularly susceptible to my own flames. Not even the wings, considering how close they are to the flames, I'd imagine they'd be fireproof as well. Heck, even just the smell of fire might seem too familiar to it," said Asteodia.

"That is a disturbingly good point. Do you think I should suit up now even with the extra mana drain? I've had a bit of time to recover, but not all that much-HOLY SHIT!" Nixilei's concerns were cut off when the snake-thing stopped being an issue. Instead, they had a much, much larger problem on their hands.

One of the nearby clouds had shimmered for a second before growing massive fucking wings and a giant beak easily twice the size of the plane all by itself snapping out and devouring the snake whole. It The fact that a loud 'pop' accompanied by an explosion of fire told them the snake had exploded in the giant bird's mouth. The fact that the giant bird didn't even flinch told them that the size of the thing was the least of their worries.

It was absolutely massive, and hard to truly get the scale of the thing. It clearly had some illusionary capabilities, and that combined with a pair of giant, slightly foggy glass-like feathered wings and a fluffy white underbelly gave it some scary ambush capabilities. The idea that something bigger then a house could just.. sneak up on them if it wanted was not a pleasing thought. Neither wanted to think about what might have happened if the snake wasn't in front of them. They might've been food instead.

"W-what the fuck do we do about that?" said Asteodia with a shaky voice.

"Well we're not fighting it that's for sure," said Nixilei sounding much calmer then she felt. Her years of practice had sent her into combat mode. She was taking everything seriously and desperately trying to figure out any possible weakness for the bird.

The problem was, it was the size of a house and while a risky, but effective, strategy against many giant foes happened to be striking from the inside of them. Either striking up through the mouth to the brain, or cutting your way out of the stomach and letting the acid damage the rest of the beast's insides. The fact it ate EXPLODING SNAKES for lunch with no ill effects was implying this thing had much tougher then normal insides.

lightsnοvεl.cοm The next most likely weakness would be to go for the eyes, and try to get the brain that way. Well the eyes were massive in and of themselves, and Nixilei doubted a longsword would puncture all the way through the titanic orbs, let alone getting to the brain through it all. On top of that, going for the eyes put you in range of the beak which was clearly a deadly weapon in and of itself.

So perhaps you got the stomach? Good luck getting past the two massive claws that seemed to still be fading in and out of view while the bird was hovering in place. So assuming you could see the giant claws of death approaching you, dodging them would be a proper task. So.. just fly above it then? Go for a blind spot? Yeah.. let's just start flying upwards and potentially get the attention of the giant death bird. Good idea.

"Gonna be honest.. I've got nothing Asteodia. Let's just.. keep going? Try to make it to the trees? I doubt they could stop that thing, but perhaps we can hide in them all the same?" offered Nixilei.

Asteodia swallowed and said, "The trees aren't that close.. but I can't think of a better idea so I guess we're going for it!"