Chapter 332 - 85: A Suspected Dragon
Chapter 332: Chapter 85: A Suspected Dragon
Assembling the troops didn’t take long. The entire army was soon gathered.
Following the piercing cry of a phoenix in the sky, the human Soldiers, led by their officers, quickly dispersed in all directions.
Before long, two flares from a Lighting Technique shot into the sky. This was Robson’s prearranged signal, signifying that everyone was ready.
Robson glanced up before looking away, turning to Mage Falan beside him.
"It’s time. Let’s begin."
Mage Falan nodded. The Mage Corps behind him began to chant, and in an instant, Robson felt a gentle breeze brush past, flowing toward the lake.
"SCREEE!"
In the sky, Huang Na shrieked again before diving straight down, unleashing a torrent of flame a few hundred meters ahead of Robson.
At first, the fire was contained to a single tree, but soon, embers began to scatter in all directions. Aided by Huang Na’s control and the Mages’ Magic, the blaze gradually formed a wall of fire that spread rapidly into the forest beyond.
Seeing that the fire had taken hold, Huang Na beat her wings and flew off into the distance.
...
The humans had a plan for this great fire.
Not all Magical Beasts were created equal. In fact, aside from innately gifted High-Tier Magical Beasts like phoenixes and dragons, some beasts showed no increase in intelligence even after reaching the Golden Tier.
Of course, such a Magical Beast would rarely reach the Golden Tier unless it was raised in captivity.
Just as Robson predicted, the moment the flames swept through, the entire forest erupted with movement. The sounds of countless panicked beasts came from all directions.
Whether it was due to Huang Na’s intimidating aura or because they sensed the arrival of the human army, the Magical Beasts all stampeded in a single direction—toward the shores of Dong’er Man Lake—without even attacking one another.
...
At that moment, in the swamp beside Dong’er Man Lake, a patch of the marsh was rising and falling rhythmically. Those with sufficiently sharp senses might even have heard a faint, intermittent snore.
Whether it was the sound of the stampeding Magical Beasts on the ground or the cry of the phoenix in the sky, the rhythmic movement of the swamp ceased. A moment later, a massive tail swept out of the marsh.
Two wings erupted from the muck. A dragon had been hiding in the swamp.
"Who is it? Who dares disturb my sleep?"
Everton heaved his body, lumbering toward the shore.
"Which bastard is making that racket? Show yourself! I’ll tear you to shreds!" Everton shook the mud from his body, revealing glimpses of red beneath.
He was a red dragon!
Dragons in this world came in many varieties, and red dragons were known for being the most hot-tempered of all.
Seeing Everton emerge, the Magical Beasts surrounding the swamp seemed to find their pillar of support, and they began to jump about excitedly.
In the past, High-Level Magical Beasts that came down from the mountains to hunt had been slain by Everton.
This hadn’t happened just once or twice; Everton had been doing it for years. Though Magical Beasts were dim-witted, they had instincts, and they had subconsciously come to see Everton as the guardian of this region.
Everton glared at the capering Magical Beasts and lashed out with his tail.
He was hot-tempered by nature, and his injuries only made him more irritable.
The only reason he hadn’t killed these low-tier Magical Beasts before was so they would scare off humans and Beastmen. Of course, there was another reason: he found low-tier Magical Beast Meat unpalatable.
For a connoisseur like Everton, who was accustomed to the finest delicacies, eating low-tier Magical Beast Meat was simply torture.
At that exact moment, the cry of a phoenix echoed from the sky.
The sound made Everton jump in fright. But then he remembered—he had already fled into human lands. How could those stupid phoenixes have chased him all the way here?
Having calmed himself, Everton turned his bowl-sized eyes to the sky. In the distance, he saw a strange, silver-white bird breathing torrents of flame.
The strange bird’s silhouette was identical to that of a phoenix.
’Not even an adult, and it dares to come out for a stroll?’
Watching the strange bird in the distance, Everton gulped.
Everton had no idea what species the bird was, but he knew one thing for sure: it had to be delicious.
’Judging by its aura alone, eating it would probably heal most of his injuries. Then he wouldn’t have to stay in this mud pit anymore.’
Everton grew excited at the thought.
’Since you delivered yourself to my doorstep, you can just obediently become my, the great Everton’s, next meal.’
...
Meanwhile, Robson stood with several of his captains. Under the control of Huang Na and the Mage Corps, the flames surged toward the lake in a controlled wave.
The entire forest had become a sea of flames. Robson led his Soldiers, following just behind the advancing fire line.
Strangely, not a single Magical Beast had run out from the forest. If Robson hadn’t scouted the area himself the day before, he would have started to wonder if there were any Magical Beasts in this region at all.
ROAR!
Just as Robson was puzzling over this, a furious roar suddenly echoed from the sky.
’A dragon?!’
Robson was instantly on high alert. He had read numerous books, many of which contained descriptions of dragons.
Robson was certain that the sound could only have come from a dragon.
’There’s a High-Tier Magical Beast here?’
Robson glanced at Gerard, who stood beside him, but Gerard showed no reaction.
’He probably doesn’t even know what a dragon is,’ Robson thought. ’He just thinks he’s perfectly safe surrounded by the army.’
’After all, even a High-Tier Magical Beast couldn’t possibly run rampant among two thousand well-trained Soldiers.’
Robson looked to the sky. He could hear a dragon’s roar, but could only see Huang Na’s silhouette.
’Where’s the dragon?’
Robson’s confusion didn’t last long. Huang Na circled once in the sky before diving straight for the ground.
’Something’s definitely wrong!’
"You two, watch over the army. I’m going to check it out," Robson said to the two captains beside him.
Though he didn’t know exactly what was happening, Robson could feel Huang Na’s fury through their Magic Beast Contract, as well as the intensity of the distant battle.
’Although I don’t know what made that cry, it’s definitely a High-Tier Magical Beast!’
’A High-Tier Magical Beast... every part of it is a treasure. If I harvest it and ship it to the Southern Kingdom, I could get at least a thousand Gold Coins.’
’That’s a thousand Gold Coins! And if it’s really a dragon, it might even sell for over ten thousand!’
Robson’s heart pounded with excitement at the thought of a potential ten-thousand-Gold-Coin prize.
’You never know how expensive things are until you’re the one paying the bills. After all his scrounging, Lord Robson’s entire net worth was only two thousand Gold Coins, and that didn’t even account for future expenses.’
’Ten thousand Gold Coins... that would be enough for Lord Robson to develop his lands for the next six months without a single worry.’
As for the possibility of failure, of being unable to defeat his opponent—that hadn’t even crossed Robson’s mind.
According to an old treaty, the Legendary-Tier Magical Beasts of the Demon Beast Mountain Range were not permitted to descend from the mountains. In return, the major races who were signatories to the treaty were forbidden from hunting deep within the range.
Any Legendary-Tier Magical Beast that came down from the mountains was no longer protected by the treaty. If a mere High-Tier Magical Beast could get Robson this excited, the prospect of a Legendary-Tier one was beyond words.
Every major power on the continent would probably dispatch its top experts just to get a look at a Legendary-Tier Magical Beast.
As long as it wasn’t a Legendary-Tier Magical Beast, Robson was confident he could escape, even if he couldn’t win.
He was a Golden Second Tier, and Huang Na was a Golden First Tier. Even against a Golden Third Tier opponent, Robson could hold his own for a while.
As if sensing Robson’s approach through their Magic Beast Contract, Huang Na beat her wings and flew toward him.
As Huang Na flew closer, the ground began to tremble.
’This kind of commotion! That’s a thousand Gold Coins, minimum!’
"Stupid bird! You think you can escape from the great Everton?!"
’It can talk! Five thousand! Minimum of five thousand!’
Suddenly, with a whoosh, a fireball shot toward Huang Na in the sky.
’A dragon!’
’Ten thousand! At least ten thousand!’
Heart pounding with excitement, Robson centered himself and gathered his energy, tightening his grip on the sword Earl Wei Man had given him.
The vibrations grew stronger, and before long, a massive figure appeared before Robson.
’A ground-bound dragon?’
Robson stared at the bizarre creature before him. It was clearly a dragon, yet it was waddling along on two tiny legs.
The scene was so absurd that Robson was stunned for a moment.
"A human? So there was a human here. But do you think a puny little human can scare the great Everton? I—"
"Hah!"
Before Everton could finish, Robson suddenly leaped into the air, his Golden Avatar manifesting around him.
Ignoring the rambling, dragon-shaped creature, Robson let out a great shout, focusing all his battle aura into his Long Sword.
All of Robson’s martial skills were now fully mastered. The sword strike was incredibly fast, slashing toward the dragon’s neck in an instant.
The dragon instinctively tried to block with its arm, so Robson redirected his Long Sword to slash at the limb.
Just as Robson expected his Long Sword to sever the arm and continue on to the dragon’s neck, the blade got stuck.
In his haste, Robson hadn’t thought things through. He only now remembered that the sword in his hand was merely a Silver-tier magic weapon. The bones of a juvenile dragon were already material for a Golden Magic Weapon, and this creature before him was clearly no juvenile.
For a moment, both were stunned.
The dragon-like creature howled in pain and finally unfurled its wings, its full aura bursting forth. It was an adult dragon, equivalent to a Gold Second and Third Tiers expert.
Sensing the imminent danger, Everton’s adrenaline surged. The pain from his old wounds from the Demon Beast Mountain Range faded as he fully extended his wings.
"Damn it! A sneak attack!"
Everton let out an angry curse and took flight. Just then, the sword embedded in his body began to glow, as if it were about to awaken.
Watching Everton take to the sky, Robson used the trees and his battle aura to propel himself forward, but he still fell short of catching him. Seeing this, Huang Na immediately gave chase.
Robson stood stunned for a moment, watching the fleeing dragon.
"Hey? Don’t run! My sword is still on you!"
With that thought, Robson mounted his magical beast warhorse, intending to give chase.
But his mount’s courage had been shattered by the dragon’s overwhelming aura.
’What useless junk!’
This was the second time today his equipment had failed him. Robson couldn’t help but curse inwardly. ’When I get to the Royal Capital with the Beastman Prince Armor, I’m definitely getting an upgrade!’