The goblin array quickly recovered after a brief moment of chaos. The shield-bearers in the front row stepped forward, while the archers in the back row drew their bowstrings to the limit, a faint magical luster flowing over their arrows.
The toad was infuriated by the formation before it. Opening its massive, mucus-covered mouth, it let out a low roar and charged forward violently.
“Fire!”
At Turner's command, over a dozen enchanted arrows shot out in a volley, pinning themselves into the toad's head and torso. The arrows pierced its flesh, exploding into small bursts of electricity.
The toad paused in pain. However, its charging momentum was unstoppable, and its massive body crashed directly into the shield array, sending five heavy-armored goblins in the front row flying.
“Hold! Hold the formation!” Turner flanked around from the side, leaping into the air with his sword raised. His dark silver magic blade slashed fiercely into the toad's right forelimb. The blade cut deep into the flesh, spraying dark red blood.
The toad let out a deafening screech, its tongue whipping out suddenly and shooting straight toward Turner.
Turner's reactions were incredibly fast; he rolled to the side to dodge. However, the toad's tongue wrapped around an archer behind him. The goblin screamed as he was dragged into the toad's mouth, his voice cutting off abruptly.
“Damn it! Keep your distance and shoot!” Miles stepped up to the front row with his battleaxe, rhythmically banging the back of his axe against the inside of a shield. “No close combat without magic equipment! No close combat!”
The twang of bowstrings echoed once more. A rain of arrows showered down on the toad, magical sparks continuously exploding across its body.
Before long, dozens of arrows were embedded in the toad's body, and dark red blood poured continuously from its wounds. Its movements grew noticeably sluggish.
But the goblins had suffered heavy losses as well. The Fourth Regiment had already sustained numerous casualties, and Turner's left arm had grazed the toad's skin, a large patch of red swelling spreading up his forearm.
“Don't give it a chance to breathe!” Miles roared. “Keep shooting!”
Meanwhile, high up in a crevice of the cavern tunnel, Leopold and Blake kept their wings folded tight against the rock wall, holding their breath as they watched the battle below.
“They're fighting,” Blake said in a low voice, a hint of excitement he couldn't hide in his tone. “They're actually fighting. Your crazy idea actually worked.”
“Blake,” Leopold lowered his voice, “we should go.”
Blake paused, turning to look at him. “Now? The toad isn't dead yet, and the goblins haven't retreated either—”
“That's why now is the perfect time.” Leopold had already begun to retreat deeper into the crevice. “Once the toad falls and the goblins have the chance to clear the area, they'll find us.”
He glanced at Blake's hind leg, where a red swelling from grazing the toad's skin had formed. “Besides, you've been poisoned. It's not severe, but it will get troublesome if we delay. Isabella is waiting to purify you.”
Blake looked down at his hind leg. The swelling had already spread below his knee, and he could indeed feel a slight numbness.
“...Tsk.” He cast a reluctant glance back down at the battle. The toad was being forced back step by step by the goblins' rain of arrows. It was a real pity he couldn't watch his prank play out to the very end.
“Let's go.” Blake finally turned around and followed Leopold, climbing upward along the crevice.
The two young dragons traveled silently through the dark cavern tunnels for about fifteen minutes before Leopold was the first to catch that familiar scent of pine.
“Leo!”
Isabella's voice came from above. Leopold looked up to see the white dragon perched on a protruding stone ledge, her icy-blue eyes filled with undisguised worry.
“Are you two okay?” Isabella glided down from the stone ledge, landing in front of them. Her gaze swept over Leopold first to confirm he had no new injuries, then quickly shifted to Blake's hind leg. “You're poisoned.”
“It's just a scratch,” Blake said, pulling his hind leg back slightly. “I just grazed the toad's skin. It's nothing.”
“Sanctus Purifico—” (Holy Purification)
Isabella chanted softly, a pale green glow appearing at the tips of her claws. The light spread along Blake's hind leg, and the red swelling receded at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Blake's tense body gradually relaxed, the tip of his tail twitching slightly without him realizing it.
“...There.” Isabella withdrew her front claw, her breathing a bit more rushed than before. It was clear that the purification spell had drained a lot of her strength.
“Thanks,” Blake said, scratching his head in embarrassment.
Leopold placed the leather pouch on the stone ledge and flipped open the clasp with a claw. “I found this at the old harvesting site.”
Blake leaned in, tilting his head to inspect it. “Mana crystals? And... what's this?”
He nudged the roll of yellowed parchment with his snout. “A map?”
Leopold unrolled the parchment. Complex lines were sketched on it in charcoal, marking the underground river, mine tunnels, and several annotations he didn't recognize.
“An exit! There's an exit in this direction!” Blake pointed at the map and shouted excitedly.
“Are you actually stupid or just pretending? That exit is where we came in...” Isabella couldn't help but speak up.
“...Cough.” Blake turned his head away. “Of course I know that's the direction we came from. What I meant is... there are other markings on this map.”
Ignoring Blake's attempt to save face, Leopold fully spread out the parchment and flattened the edges with his front claws.
“But there is indeed more than one exit. According to the map, as long as we can find the underground river flowing south, we can get out...”
“South...” Isabella murmured. “Our underground river flows east, right?”
Blake leaned in to take a look and nodded. “The main stream flows east, but this fork is about two li further down from the old harvesting site. I flew around that area before, and there is indeed a very narrow tributary. It seems to be this underground river flowing south.”
“Then let's head out now!” Isabella stood up.
“Wait a moment.” Leopold frowned. “Do you two really think we can survive if we go out there?”
“What do you mean?” Blake said, somewhat dissatisfied.
Leopold rolled the parchment back up, stuffed it back into the leather pouch, and raised his head. His golden vertical pupils shone exceptionally clear in the darkness.
“We are far too weak right now. If we go out, not only will the Angelic God Race hunt us down, but other races will also covet the dragon blood and dragon scales on our bodies.”
“As the saying goes, ‘A commoner is innocent, but possessing a treasure makes him guilty.’”
“What ‘commoner’ this, ‘commoner’ that? What does that even mean?” Blake was taken aback.
“Cough, cough, cough... You don't need to know,” Leopold said, feeling a bit embarrassed. “To survive on the surface, we must undergo our first slumber here!”
Blake opened his mouth, then closed it again, his grayish-blue vertical pupils flickering in the gloom. Isabella lowered her head, as if digesting the weight of those words.
“...Slumber,” Blake finally spoke. “Do you know what slumbering means? In our current state, once we close our eyes, we might never open them again.”
“I know,” Leopold's voice was very calm. “But we also know that if we don't undergo our slumber, going out would just be choosing a different way to die.”
He raised his head and looked toward the upstream direction of the underground river.
“Right now, we can't even deal with an injured toad. Even if we escape this mountain range, how far could we run?”
Isabella nodded in agreement.
“Before we enter our slumber, we need to prepare enough food. And the first step requires the cooperation of the goblins!”
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