Hav's squad moved rapidly through the valley, soon approaching the location previously marked by Bone Guard Two.
"Careful!"
A dog-kin's nose twitched as he caught an unusual scent in the air.
"There is a faint smell of wood shavings and the fragrance of vegetation ahead. It does not smell like natural fall, yet there is no scent of any other creature."
Hearing this, Hav immediately issued an order. "All units, battle stations. Proceed with caution."
Hav slowed his pace and took the spear from his back, infusing it with mana until the tip glowed with a rhythmic red light.
The other dragon-kin also drew their weapons and fanned out, maintaining their formation as they advanced slowly.
The squad members moved forward until they reached the target location.
The dog-kin pressed his nose to the ground, carefully sniffing the lingering scents in the air.
"Dogge, where is this anomaly you mentioned? You haven't spent so much time with those filthy kobolds that your nose has gone dull, have you?"
Dogge did not respond to the mockery. Instead, Hav turned and glared at the speaker with a cold gaze.
Seeing the captain's warning, the talkative dragon-kin could only offer a sheepish smile, signaling he would stay quiet.
Suddenly, Dogge seemed to catch a scent. His limbs tensed, and his claws extended, digging into the soil. His mouth hung open, and his entire body began to tremble.
"Dogge, what is wrong?"
Noticing Dogge's strange behavior, Hav questioned him while leveling his spear across his chest and scanning the surroundings.
"Dra... Dra... Dra..."
Dogge shook so violently he could not speak clearly. He even lost control of his lower body, and a large puddle of urine stained the ground yellow, spreading toward his teammates behind him.
"Dra? Dragon? Dogge, you really have spent too much time with those kobolds. You cannot even control your own waste now. How disgusting."
The teammate who had mocked him earlier spoke up again. Although he had promised Hav to stay quiet, this dog-kin's disgusting urine was about to reach his feet. Surely saying something now was justified.
Hav was also extremely dissatisfied with Dogge's reaction. He raised his spear and fired a flame impact into the ground next to Dogge.
BOOM!
Dust and debris flew into the air.
"Dogge, speak clearly. What did you find? If you do not give me a satisfactory answer, you can get out of the third squad and spend the rest of your life with those kobolds."
Hav's threat snapped Dogge back to his senses slightly, and he spoke with a trembling voice.
"I smelled a Dragon..."
Before he could finish, a spear flew in from the east at incredible speed, aiming straight for Dogge at the front.
Hav lunged forward, swinging his spear in a crescent arc to intercept the projectile by predicting its trajectory.
However, the expected impact never came. The spear completely ignored Hav's weapon and pierced straight into Dogge's body.
A chilling aura emanated from the spear. The dragon-kin present immediately grew tense. They finally understood why Dogge had looked so broken just moments ago.
"A Dragonslayer!"
Hav tapped his toes against the ground and retreated quickly into the formation, staring warily toward the direction the spear had come from.
He never expected the enemy this time to be those notorious Dragonslayers. In the past, facing these lawless madmen required dozens of dragons to lead the way while dragon-kin like them followed as support.
He did not expect to have to face one personally today.
While the dragon-kin focused their attention on the physical spear of Bone Guard Two, Flideng had already silently flickered behind them.
Then, the spear shuddered and slowly pulled itself out of Dogge's corpse. It floated in the air, gradually pointing its tip toward Hav.
As a veteran dragon-kin captain, Hav was well-traveled, but he had never seen such a bizarre Dragonslayer weapon.
Hav did not intend to wait for death. He poured mana into his spear, activating the magic within.
【Dragon Tongue Magic: Blazing Dragon Scales】
Intense flames spread from the spear to Hav's entire body. The magic enhanced his defense while granting him berserk strength and destructive power.
Hav took the initiative, thrusting his spear toward the floating weapon in the sky.
The spear suddenly retreated at high speed. Hav kept his eyes locked on it, and then, a skeletal hand reached out and gripped the shaft.
"A skeleton? A Dragonslayer?"
Hav could not believe his eyes, thinking he had fallen under an illusion.
"Falina, use Clarity!"
The snake-kin, Falina, raised her hands high and released a wide-area Clarity spell.
Hav felt a wave of coolness wash over his mind, but the skeleton before him did not disappear.
"How is this possible? How can a skeleton be a Dragonslayer?"
Hav found it impossible to believe. How could a skeleton, which could not even defeat a centaur, be a Dragonslayer?
But before Hav could think further, an icy chill exploded from behind him.
Taking advantage of the little snake-kin mage's casting of Clarity, Flideng had secretly condensed three Frozen Orbs. Flideng hurled them into the dragon-kin squad. The piercing power of the ultimate cold exploded one after another, instantly freezing the nearby dragon-kin into ice sculptures.
The Frozen Orbs acted like a signal. Countless ghosts surged out from the cliffs on both sides, pouncing on the remaining dragon-kin.
Hav saw his teammates surrounded by ghosts and tried to move to their rescue.
But a spear fell from the sky and slammed into the ground in front of him. Bone Guard Two's skeletal body landed lightly on the butt of the spear, blocking Hav's path.
"Cute little dragon-kin, you are my prey."
Hav let out a furious roar and gripped his spear with both hands, launching a frantic assault on Bone Guard Two.
Bone Guard Two dropped to the ground, pulled out his spear, and easily parried Hav's attacks.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Your technique is lacking, and your strength is insufficient."
Hearing Bone Guard Two's mockery, Hav flew into a rage. He swung his spear, preparing to kill Bone Guard Two again.
Squelch!
A longsword pierced into Hav's body from behind.
Xuan Chu quickly withdrew his sword and delivered a backhanded slash, sending Hav's head rolling onto the ground.
"If you want to play, I will have my Lord find a dungeon for you to play in later. But now is not the time."
Xuan Chu glanced at Bone Guard Two and then summoned a ghost to read Hav's soul while it was still fresh.
Bone Guard Two shook his head and shrugged. There was nothing he could do. It was a professional habit of a hunter; when he encountered interesting prey, he always wanted to toy with it.
Xuan Chu ignored him and directed the ghosts to devour the souls of the entire dragon-kin squad.
Before long, the ghosts finished their feast and shared the digested memories with Xuan Chu.
Xuan Chu sorted through the dragon-kin's memories and ordered the ghosts to continue lying in ambush in the valley. He then took Bone Guard Two back to the Undead Kingdom to report the situation to Chen Xu.
...
Inside the Dragon God Temple in the Dragon Court.
Crack!
Blake, the black dragon, looked up to see Hav's soul crystal ball shatter.
Blake raised a dragon claw and pulled a fragment of the crystal ball toward him.
On the fragment, the scene Hav had witnessed in the last three seconds of his life was replaying.
"Skeletons? The Evil Spirit of Ice? Heh. First it was Hell, and now it is the Land of the Undead. Lord Dragon God, what exactly did you bring back from those outer realms to allow these special worlds to invade the Dragon Court one after another?"
Blake let out a sigh. He could not criticize the Dragon God's actions. As a priest of the Dragon God, his duty was to manage the Dragon Court on the god's behalf.
Blake took out another crystal ball and infused it with mana.
"Blake, what is it?"
The head of a golden dragon appeared within the crystal ball.
"Griffinlie, assemble the Dragon Court Guard and the young dragons. The time has come to show our loyalty to the Lord Dragon God!"
...
Atop the Overlord's Castle in the Undead Kingdom.
Xuan Chu and Bone Guard Two knelt before Chen Xu.
"Are you saying there are more than twenty thousand dragons in the Dragon Court?"
"At the very least."
"At the very least?!"
Sitting in his reclining chair, Chen Xu broke out into a fit of maniacal laughter.
Rate on N.U.
