Night was impossible to perceive in the cave, but the biological clocks of the three young dragons told them that an entire night had passed.
Blake stood on a protruding rock at the edge of the underground river, his grayish-blue scales glinting coldly in the faint glow of the fluorescent jellyfish. He was doing his final stretches, opening and closing his wings.
“Remember,” Leopold stood beside him, “keep your distance and try to weave between the stalactites. The toad's tongue catapult needs to predict your trajectory. The more you weave, the less it will be able to catch up to you.”
“Really?” Blake was a bit nervous.
“Yes,” Leopold nodded, “and you're the fastest flyer of all the blue dragons I know. I have confidence in you.”
Blake stared at him for two seconds, then snorted and turned his head away.
“Where's Isabella?”
“She's already in position.” Leopold chin-gestured toward the downstream direction of the underground river. “She's perched on the rock wall near the fork. Once you lure the toad over, she'll use her purification magic from behind to help disperse any potential toxins.”
“...Fine.” Blake took a deep breath, slowly spreading his wings. “I'm off, then.”
He kicked off hard with his hind legs, his grayish-blue figure instantly taking flight, flying low along the surface of the underground river.
Leopold looked up, watching the figure disappear around the corner. He also had his own role to play—once the toad was lured away, he was going to rummage through the old harvesting site to see if there was anything useful left.
Blake flew very low. By the time he rounded the third bend, he could already see the black toad. It was still squatting beneath the stalactites, eyes tightly closed, breathing slowly.
“How is it so huge!” Blake gritted his teeth, hovering in midair as his grayish-blue tail twitched anxiously. But in the end, he took a deep breath and dived down sharply.
Hovering three meters above the toad's head, he opened his mouth and exhaled a breath of icy-blue mist, spraying it precisely onto the toad's back. The giant noxious toad's body shuddered violently. Its tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open—a pair of muddy, yellow-green eyes that reflected Blake's figure.
It let out an angry roar, its entire body springing from the ground. Its forelimbs slammed into the rocks, sending stone fragments flying everywhere.
“Fuck! It really is chasing me.” Blake instinctively beat his wings hard, tilting sideways to skim past the edge of a stalactite. Right after, the toad's tongue catapulted out, missing him by less than a meter and sticking to the stone wall.
“Shit, that was close!”
He didn't dare look back. The young dragon shot forward like an arrow toward the main channel of the underground river.
The toad's massive body slammed into the stalactites, sending rocks flying, but it didn't pause for even a second. Powering off with its four legs, its entire body launched off the ground, crashing down toward Blake.
Hearing the heavy sound of rushing wind behind him, Blake instinctively veered sharp right. The toad's body grazed his hind leg as it crashed into the underground river, splashing water several meters high.
“Damn you, Leopold! Just you wait!”
Wait, why did he keep thinking about him?
On the other side, Leopold sneezed. He wiped his nose and cautiously walked into the mine.
The old harvesting site was larger than he had imagined. The mine tunnels branched off in seven or eight directions from the main cavern, each leading to different mineral veins. Scattered across the ground were broken wooden frames, rusted mining picks, and several overturned wicker baskets.
There was plenty of stuff, but most of it had already rotted away. He walked to the nearest wicker basket and nudged the contents inside with a front claw—a few pieces of dark red iron ore, their edges oxidized and flaking off, completely useless. He rummaged through a wooden box next, finding a few bundles of moldy hemp rope that snapped the moment he pulled them.
“Tsk, the goblins' inventory management is pretty terrible.”
Furthermore, the ore here had already been contaminated, making it impossible to mine again anytime soon.
Just as he was about to give up on this corner, something different caught his eye out of the corner of his vision, sitting beneath the stone wall at the deepest part of the main cavern.
Leopold walked over and discovered a small leather pouch.
Flipping the pouch's clasp open with his claw, he revealed a roll of yellowed parchment and a dozen polished crystals.
Leopold stared at the dozen crystals for several seconds before digging up the corresponding name from his memories.
“Mana crystals...?”
His inherited memories told him that these things were used by the dragon clan to increase their mana capacity, making them a very important resource. However, they were useless to other races, serving as mere decorations at best.
Although these crystals weren't very pure, they were incredibly precious to the three young dragons in their current state.
Leopold hesitated for a moment, deciding it was best to split them equally among everyone. He felt he had no right to hog all the crystals for himself.
Leopold carefully pushed the roll of parchment and the crystals back into the leather pouch. Clamping the strap between his teeth, he turned and walked toward the mine tunnel exit.
Just as he stepped out of the main cavern, he heard a muffled boom in the distance, followed by the screams of many goblins.
“...It's started.”
He flew out low, hugging the rock wall. The surface of the underground river was still vibrating, ripples spreading upstream and downstream.
Leopold hovered at the first fork, listening closely. A dense sound of shattering rocks echoed from upstream. Pressing his body low, he flew along the side path and hid behind a natural rock crevice, peeking out with only his golden eyes.
Blake was bursting through the crevice at extreme speed, his grayish-blue wings nearly scraping the rock walls on both sides.
Less than twenty meters behind him, the massive body of the giant noxious toad was wedged in the opening of the fork.
“Ha!” Blake hovered on the other side of the crevice, panting heavily. “You fucking... can't get through, can you!”
But he had celebrated a bit too early.
The toad's tongue catapulted out. Hearing the rushing wind, Blake instinctively dove forward, but to his dismay, he fell right into the toad's prediction!
“Blake!” Leopold swooped down just in time, tackling Blake out of the way and causing the toad's tongue to miss.
“You—” Blake was knocked against the side rock wall. “What are you doing here!”
“If I were half a second later, you'd already be glued to its tongue!” Leopold let go of him and turned back to look at the toad.
Boom!
The rocks at the fork had already been smashed open by the toad. Its yellow-green eyes glared at them, a low rumbling sound coming from its throat.
“Go!” Leopold didn't hesitate, giving Blake a push. “Fly up! Toward the goblin patrol area!”
The two young dragons took flight one after the other, hugging the rock wall.
In a cave not far away, the Fourth Goblin Regiment was resting.
“Miles, how come you didn't manage to trade for any ale today?” a goblin wearing magic armor teased a young goblin beside him.
“Give me a break, Turner.” Just as Miles finished speaking, a dull vibration suddenly shuddered through the rock ceiling above, sending loose gravel rustling down from the cracks.
“What's that noise?” Turner wiped the playful expression from his face, his hand already resting on the hilt of his sword.
Miles stood up as well, his pointed ears twitching slightly as he caught the sound coming from deep within the rock strata—it was getting closer and louder, like some massive creature rampaging through the mine tunnels.
Immediately after, a sharp whistle blew from the direction of the upstream patrol post. Short and urgent, it was the warning for an enemy attack.
“All units, on alert!” Turner bellowed, drawing the magic longsword at his waist.
Miles also drew his weapon—a short-handled battleaxe, its blade likewise flowing with a faint blue magical luster.
Within a few breaths, the thirty-plus goblins of the Fourth Regiment formed up. The front row consisted of heavy-armored goblins holding shields, while the back row was made up of archers and spearmen.
Boom!
The rock wall at the cave entrance suddenly exploded, showering the arrayed goblins with a rain of stones. The shield-bearers in the front row raised their shields in unison, stone fragments clattering loudly against the iron shields.
Immediately following, a grayish-blue shadow flashed through the dust. Before Turner could get a clear look, a massive, dark red figure crashed through the shattered rock wall right behind it.
The giant noxious toad's massive body, covered in dark red warty bumps, crashed down in the middle of the cavern tunnel. The ground shook violently, causing several goblins to lose their footing and fall.
“A... a giant noxious toad!”
“What's going on?”
“Class-one alert! Class-one alert!”
“Something feels off,” Regiment Commander Turner muttered, narrowing his eyes.
Rate on N.U.
