Seven dragonlets in a realm the size of a world. While Dallion was grateful that the dragon hadn’t attacked, he was fully aware of the difficulties that awaited him. There was no telling how strong the dragonlets would be. Everything suggested that it would be weak enough for Dallion to win in a one-to-one fight, but that was the issue: he didn’t have the luxury of entering a fight: his goal was to free one of the creatures, not defeat them. Also, one thing that the dragon had neglected to mention was that if Dallion happened to die in the realm, he’d automatically be ejected in the real world.

Also, to remove any possibility of answering questions, the dragon had disappeared moments after telling Dallion the task.

I have to admit, dear boy, you chose a very precarious way to learn about realm invasions, Nil said. Normally, people start with something simpler.

“I didn’t plan on this,” Dallion grumbled. “I didn’t think it'd be so easy.”

Starting an invasion is usually easy. It’s what happens in the realm that’s difficult. If you had a vast army with you, you might be able to cause a bit of ruckus for a minute or two. As you are now, you’re stranded in a very pretty deathtrap.

That was true, although, unlike the real world, here Dallion could fly.

“Lux, lift me up.”

Wings of flame emerged from Dallion’s back, propelling him up into the sky. The real was vast, seemingly endless, but after a while, Dallion was able to spot the pattern. Despite his size and level, the dragon had clearly settled for something small and cozy. Of course, that didn’t diminish the fact that the realm was twenty times larger than Dallion’s own domain, island and all. There didn’t seem to be any linked objects, or any other buildings, just forests, plains, and mountains. Interestingly enough, there weren’t any large pools of water. Apparently, the dragon wasn’t too fond of such things.

Using music skills didn’t seem to work. While the trees seemed real, Dallion could see that they held the emotions of the dragon, making it impossible to spot a thing.

“I just have to rescue one dragonlet,” Dallion said. That meant finding them as quickly as possible and avoiding all combat. In this sort of situation, there was only one thing to do.

Clenching his fist, Dallion recited the names of the Moons and created nine echoes of himself. In the past, he would have avoided that unless things were serious. If there was anything that the fight with Goth had taught him, it was to make use of anything at his disposal, just not forsake his principles.

“It’s really fine,” one of the echoes said. “You’re not sacrificing us.”

“Yeah.” Another him grinned. “It’s more complicated than you can imagine, so don’t worry about it.”

“All we need is to convince one,” Dallion said, changing the subject. “Lux, you’ll have to jump between us all. When someone finds a dragonlet, let me know.”

The talking done, everyone set off to their respective areas of the realm. One by one, Lux grabbed one of them and flew them to the point they had to be, after which he returned for the next. The land was divided into eight areas on the periphery and two in the middle.

Based on initial estimates, Dallion expected the greater part of the time to be spent searching. Barely had he started when a red rectangle suddenly appeared in front of him.

COMBAT INITIATED

What the heck?! Dallion jumped back, summoning his harpsisword. Was there something else in the realm as well?

Splitting into instances, he looked around. Nothing was to be seen.

“Come out,” Dallion said, infusing his words with pride and arrogance. “I’m not here to fight you, you know. However, if that’s what you want, I’ll gladly oblige.”

If there was a dragonlet—or any other creature, for that matter—it was bound to react. Maybe his music skills weren’t adequate to establish a link to something he couldn’t see, but they would have at least made it create a noise.

AVERAGE WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 10%

Dallion’s first thought was to check if he had been wounded. It didn’t take more than a moment for him to find that it wasn’t the case.

One of your echoes has been killed, Nil said.

“I didn’t know I shared health with my echoes.”

Normally they don’t, but you’re invading a realm now. Your total health is distributed between you and all your echoes.

That was a pretty important rule to be kept secret. Then again, it wasn’t like Dallion had asked Nil or anyone on the matter. Come to think of it, it sounded logical. Otherwise, there would be nothing stopping someone from constantly creating echoes in order to invade a realm. Clearly, the home team held the advantage.

Lux, find out which of my echoes was killed and tell me—

AVERAGE WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 10%

Another one?!

“I never said that my children would let themselves be convinced so easily,” the voice of the dragon filled the air.

“Some of them have similar personalities, others do not. The only thing in common is that they want to prove their worth, and thanks to you, they now have that chance.”

“You made them attack me?” Dallion asked, looking up at the sky in one of his instances.

“I only reminded them that a real dragon wouldn’t let itself be caught by a hunter.” There was an almost audible smirk in the Dragon’s words. “You’ll have to up your game if you’re to have any success.”

AVERAGE WOUND

Your health has been reduced by 10%

That marked a third echo gone. From here on, each Dallion had one dragonlet to face. It was more than alarming that they managed to deal with his echoes so easily. Granted that the echoes didn’t have his equipment or the total of his powers, but they were supposed to be skilled enough to present a challenge at least.

Guys, dissolve! Dallion thought. I’ll take them on myself.

There was no telling whether the echoes had obeyed his request—unlike them, Dallion wasn’t able to read their thoughts—but he definitely hoped so. Having his health chipped down in such fashion wouldn’t be a good tactical choice.

Lux, fly to me!

Within moments, the firebird appeared and surrounded Dallion with blue flames. Almost instantly, a new rectangle appeared in front of Dallion. This time, though, it marked him regaining ten percent of his life.

One on one, dear boy? Nil asked. This is their realm. Something tells me you’ll be facing all seven of them at once.

Probably. Then again, the dragon did say that they had different personalities. Maybe some of them would remain in the background while the rest lead the charge.

Dallion was barely able to finish his thought when he sensed something nearby. His improved senses caught the faint sound of leaves stirring moments before a massive entity flew out of the nearby forest and slashed through half of Dallion’s instances.

Choosing one of the remaining ones to become reality, Dallion performed a series of strikes and slashes in the direction of the attacker.

MINOR STRIKE

Damage dealt is increased by 10%

The harpsisword sliced through the creature’s wing as if it were made of butter. Given its size, that was outright impressive. The name of the creature didn’t give it justice. Due to the way it sounded, Dallion had assumed he’d fight something no bigger than a horse or a cutling at most.

The dragonlet was the size of a large house. It seemed a lot more agile than the large dragon, with a long tail, slender body, and vast wings that had yet to be covered in scales. Dallion had only seen a single real world dragon in his life, but he could clearly see the liveliness shining within the creature; it reminded him of Nox when he was a cub.

“You’re a dragonlet?” Dallion blinked.

The creature gave him no pause, making a loop in the air, then gliding straight at him.

There was no time for markers to react. The dragonlet opened its mouth, releasing a torrent of air.

Extend! Dallion said, raising his armadil shield in front of him. The shield did as instructed, growing into a metallic semi-sphere.

The strength of the shock was enough to push Dallion back, despite Lux’s effort. Done with its main attack, the dragonlet shot up straight for the sky.

“Lux, after him!” Dallion shouted.

Is that a wise idea? Nil asked. Chasing a dragon is a good way to—

“I’ll have more of an advantage in the air. Gleam, start pestering him.”

The whip blade didn’t think twice, flying in pursuit. Even extended she wasn’t able to each the dragonlet, but Dallion knew that the creature would be back. As the old dragon had said, the dragonlets were determined to impress their father, and that meant they wouldn’t run away. All that Dallion needed to do was take advantage and—

Careful! Careful! Lux chirped, performing a sharp and sudden descent just as two more dragons shot through the air, just above Dallion.

Three of them? Dallion immediately performed a line attack in their direction.

The cutting line continued forward, however, as it was about to hit the nearest of the dragonlets, it changed shape, curving to avoid the creature entirely, before straightening out again.

Dragons are immune? Dallion asked.

Creatures made entirely of magic have certain advantages, Nil replied. As do mages.

That was why the dragon had laughed at Dallion. For someone without magic to attempt to enter such a fight, they would be at a serious disadvantage.

Unwilling to leave things just like this, Dallion followed up with a point attack, aimed directly at a dragonet. The destructive force slid off it, without causing any damage whatsoever.

Not skipping a beat, Dallion spun his harpsisword and played several chords. Now that he was able to see the creatures in question, he could match their emotions and potentially start controlling them.

The emotions the dragonlets had were unlike anything he had seen before. They were still overly confident, determined, and extremely competitive, but their emotions didn’t remain mostly static—as they did with people—but constantly pulsed from one to another in a semi-rhythmical fashion. Matching the rhythm wasn’t an easy thing to do, though achievable.

The first few chords Dallion played snapped almost immediately after linking to their target. On the following attempt, Dallion managed to match the rhythm.

You’re using music?! A high-pitched female voice screamed in his head, almost making Dallion stop playing. However, he hadn’t survived all that time in the wilderness by being jumpy.

Concentrating, Dallion kept on playing.

Stop that! the voice said again. The dragonlet in front swerved to the left, taking a sharp turn.

“On it, Lux,” Dallion persisted. He had caught his mark. Now it was up to him to try and tame it.

Two more dragonlets zoomed between Dallion and the target, severing the music link.

“Damn it!” Dallion cursed. It was extremely annoying how the creatures worked together to protect one another. At the same time, Dallion could also feel a sense of competitiveness. Each of them wanted to be the one to defeat him, thus proving their worth.

So far, five dragonlets had appeared, flying along in a very distinctive pattern. For every two that were flying away from Dallion, the remaining three were thrusting at him from the flank, trying to catch him by surprise. That didn’t work, of course—Dallion had enough instances to keep an eye on everything, not to mention that Lux was also making sure to keep him out of harm’s way.

I guess there’s one thing left to do, Dallion thought, then unsummoned the harpsisword

Will we use the cool weapon? Lux asked, eagerly. Will we?

No, Lux. We need to convince one to let us take it out of here, not kill it.

Shooting at dragons with a shotgun did create a rather powerful image in Dallion’s mind. However, he summoned his work hammer instead. This was something that required elegance, grace, and a bit of trickery.

“Go, get them!” Dallion said, then threw the hammer at the nearest dragonlet.

Catching a glimpse of the weapon, the creature in question changed direction, swerving to the side. Unfortunately for it, the hammer did the same.