She had actually succeeded for real.
The little dragon was roughly the size of a normal adult human, making Leia and Xuefei look like giants by comparison. At that moment, the vast difference in their power was on full display through their physical development alone.
Xuefei harbored no such illusions.
In her eyes, the fact that Tilly could transform into a dragon was already impressive enough. She herself had even spent some time preparing to learn the same trick, so by comparison, Tilly was nothing short of a genius!!
But to her surprise, after Tilly flapped her wings a few times in a token effort and flew a short distance, she completely ran out of steam.
She froze in place, curling up stiffly into a ball before plummeting into free fall.
“Tilly, you little dummy! Why aren’t you flying? Do you really want to smash yourself to death?”
Terrified, Xuefei hurriedly scooped up the little dragon with her claws and lifted her right in front of her eyes.
She was still holding Tilly, but this was the first time they had both been in dragon form.
Xuefei examined Tilly once more.
Evil Dragon scales were typically dark, and Tilly’s were similar to Xuefei’s—black flecked with deep purple. The scales on her head were neatly arranged, while those on her body were especially sharp. Two bone spikes protruded from her wings, a feature that only showed in dragon form; otherwise, she looked just like Leia.
“Mama… too tired. Don’t wanna fly. Want hugs~”
The little dragon spread her wings and let out a few soft, drawn-out cries.
Because her dragon body was so small, Tilly’s voice sounded just like it did in human form—a far cry from Xuefei’s earth-shaking roar. If anyone saw Xuefei and her daughter side by side, they would surely marvel at the contrast between a colossal beast and an adorable pet.
Tilly’s petite frame made her eyes appear especially large, giving her an irresistibly cute and milky look.
But Xuefei wasn’t falling for it:
“If you want hugs, then that’s game over. You lost, Tilly—no wish for you.”
“No way! I want hugs! I want Mama to hold me!”
If anything, this little one’s wish seemed to be nothing more than getting a bit cozier with her.
Even so, Xuefei stuck to the rules of their little contest:
“So… do you want to lose?”
Tilly hesitated for a long moment, swiveling her little dragon head left and right, before declaring happily:
“Nope!”
“Where’s the logic in that?!”
Xuefei felt a headache coming on, but then she remembered Tilly was Leia’s child, and it all made perfect sense.
As expected from my kid—greedy to the core.
She picked up the little dragon and set her atop her own head. Tilly clung tightly with her claws and wings, looking utterly blissful. With a helpless sigh, Xuefei spread her wings and took to the skies.
An Evil Dragon’s flight speed was absurd—far beyond anything an airplane could achieve. In a mere 0.3 seconds, Xuefei shattered the sound barrier, and that was while holding back to accommodate Dragon Baby.
Tilly felt no discomfort; instead, she gazed at the blurring scenery around them and cheered in delight.
“Yay! Mama’s the best!”
Carrying her contest opponent across the finish line did feel a little strange.
It took almost no time at all—literally an instant—before Xuefei reached the mountaintop Leia had described.
Thick mist blanketed the area, limiting human visibility to less than ten meters, but it was no obstacle for an Evil Dragon’s sharp eyes. The summit was coated in frost and snow, with patches of exposed black rock peeking through here and there, resembling a massive sundae of chocolate ice cream.
“This mountain is called Edrick—one of the Demon Race’s tallest peaks.”
“Why ‘one of’?”
“Were you even listening to Mama Leia’s lessons? Actually, she probably just tells you stories… It’s one of the tallest because Demon Race mountain ranges are crawling with Demon beasts. Their activity triggers crustal shifts, so the heights change every day.”
Tilly nodded thoughtfully.
“Sure enough. If I drink a lot, Mama’s (meow~) get a little smaller too.”
“…You noticed that, huh?”
Xuefei’s face flushed red.
She was a mother now, so a touch of bashfulness wasn’t exactly new.
But she wasn’t all that old, and as an Evil Dragon, she was nowhere near some crone. It was perfectly natural.
“Was it Mama Leia who made them bigger? Waaah, when will mine be as big as Mama’s?”
Tilly gazed enviously at Xuefei, who had just touched down on the Edrick Mountains’ summit. She gave her a gentle nudge with one dragon wing, then whispered:
“Probably when you get yourself a lover.”
“Why can’t my lover be Mama?”
“…I keep telling you, that’s not what lovers are.”
Xuefei set Tilly down on the ground. From this angle, Tilly looked no different from a cute little bird, but in others’ eyes, Xuefei herself was the giant. That was why so many people might keep their distance from her—the price of turning into a monster.
The moment she gave birth to her child, Xuefei felt a long-lost sense of belonging. And it went beyond merely validating her new identity.
“Tilly, leave your mark on this mountain. That way, the competition will be complete,” Xuefei said.
As she spoke, she gently drew a straight line on the mountaintop with her dragon claw. Rolling stones tumbled down the cliffside, so Xuefei had to lighten her touch a bit.
“Anything goes?” Tilly asked.
“Yeah, just a mark will do. Then I’ll send you back.”
“Okay!”
Tilly used her tender little dragon claws to vigorously push aside the thick layer of snow and began carving on the stone. She looked like an archaeologist—or like a child sitting on the ground fiddling with her favorite toy. Seeing that Tilly would be at it for a while, Xuefei settled down beside her, closed her eyes, and took a brief rest. After all, the energy drain from such a massive body was enormous. She was starting to understand why the legendary Evil Dragon required so much nutrition to sustain her enormous dragon form day after day. No wonder she ate like a beast.
Tilly fiddled away for who knew how long before finally stopping. She flew up to land on her mother’s head—that was the extent of her “exercise” in this competition. Clinging tightly to Mommy’s head filled her with a profound sense of security. Xuefei stirred awake, but Tilly promptly fell into a deep sleep.
“The little dragon’s already asleep and still thinks she can win the contest? Have I been spoiling her too much?” Xuefei muttered to herself, then let out a contented sigh.
She was just about to take off when she suddenly turned back, as if remembering something.
“What did Little Tilly write?”
Xuefei dilated her pupils and peered intently at the ground. Only then could she make out a row of crooked, barely legible characters beside the fissures in the rock.
Once she read the sentence aloud, Xuefei gently stroked the sleeping little dragon—who had curled up on her head like a hat—with her wing. Then she spread her wings and flew away.
At first, Xuefei had imagined Tilly had inscribed some profound philosophical poem or lengthy treatise. But in the end, it was just four simple words.
A thickening blizzard gradually blanketed the long, narrow dragon claw gouge—and the even tinier scratches hidden beneath it that formed a single line:
“I like Mommy.”
