Even though Yat's attitude was sincere, the young elite mage beside him remained unmoved, gazing at the stars in the sky, lost in thought.
"Mr. Elias?"
At Yat's call, the young mage named Elias snapped back to his senses.
"Yat, I have a bad premonition. I suggest canceling this operation."
Hearing this, Yat was stunned. Was this guy for real? Was he playing with him? He had spent nearly his entire fortune hiring so many adventurers and mercenaries, and now he was being told to cancel?
The arrow was already on the string; he had to do it whether he wanted to or not!
Suppressing the rising anger in his heart, Yat spoke respectfully.
"Please, Mr. Elias, don't joke. The arrow is already on the string. How could we possibly cancel now?"
Staring at Yat, Elias tried one last time to persuade him.
"I have a premonition that something bad might happen. You know my teacher is an astrologer, and it was precisely because of my keen intuition in this area that my teacher took me as an apprentice."
"Mr. Elias, you said it yourself—it's just an intuition. Besides, you're still only an elite mage. If you really had talent, you surely would have broken through to Platinum by now."
Elias's gaze darkened.
"Are you questioning me?"
"I wouldn't dare. You are a noble mage; how could I possibly doubt you?"
Elias snorted coldly.
"I will not act again. If any accidents occur, it will be a different price. All of this stems from your hypocritical, petty heart."
Seeing this, Yat also withdrew the smile from his face. In his eyes, success was already within his grasp, and Elias, who had taken ten gold coins from him, was now an eyesore. If possible, Yat hoped that he would be "accidentally" killed in the crossfire later.
Elias gently raised his staff and closed his eyes, using his mental power to signal the mercenaries to attack.
The mercenaries, who had already slipped to the bedsides, struck immediately. But when they were less than five centimeters away from the "sleeping" monsters, the creatures suddenly opened their eyes.
Dalu's eyes snapped open. This time, his bovine eyes had turned into red vertical pupils, and his body was rapidly covered in red scales.
"Moo!"
With a loud shout, his thick, powerful arm seized the neck of the mercenary who was about to ambush him.
"H-How... is this possible!"
The mercenary's face turned beet red, and the magic rope in his hand fell to the floor.
"Cunning human! Die!!"
With a sudden surge of strength, Dalu snapped the mercenary's neck.
After dealing with him, Dalu crashed through the window and spread his dragon wings, flying above White Crystal City. Looking out, he saw the sky filled with dense numbers of White Crystal knights.
"What's going on?!"
Seeing the sudden appearance of so many dragon-blooded kin, Yat was stunned, while Elias frowned.
When he had first seen some frost kobolds and white-scaled goblins, he had suspected that there might be a dragon in this city-state.
He had only seen descriptions of dragon-blooded kin in books and wasn't certain then, but now, sensing the aura on them, he was sure—these were all dragon servants, and there was more than one dragon!
As soon as this thought occurred to him, Elias didn't hesitate and immediately pulled out a low-grade teleportation scroll.
He wasn't stupid. Although dragons were incredibly valuable, he didn't think he could defeat dragons of unknown strength who possessed so many servants.
Just as he was about to inject mana, he suddenly froze because he felt someone hugging his waist.
He turned his head in anger and saw Yat's pleading face.
"Lord Mage, don't leave me."
"Get lost!"
This low-grade teleportation scroll could only transport one person and had a limited range. Every second of delay now meant more danger.
He immediately kicked Yat away. Just then, a childish voice reached his ears, making his body shudder.
"At the peak of the dragon world, standing proud above the heavens, where the Black King is, there the sky shall be!"
Looking toward the sound, he found a human child walking toward him. However, Elias didn't dare underestimate him at all, looking as if he were facing a formidable foe.
Gris looked up with a smile on his face, holding a wooden plaque in his hand. He laughed, "Sir, would you like a game of Joyful Fight the Noble? The stakes... are your life."
Whoosh—
Elias immediately injected mana, and with a flash of starlight, he disappeared from the spot.
Gris was stunned. He looked at Yat, who had just scrambled up from the ground, and asked in confusion, "Where did he go?"
...
After sensing the spatial fluctuations, Furiel spoke calmly.
"A bug escaped."
Jonavili was noncommittal. After all, she had seen everything that just happened, and Gris had truly acted foolishly in her eyes.
"Can you sense where he fled?"
Furiel closed her eyes to sense for a moment and said plainly.
"East, beyond the Sleeping Forest."
"Pursue him. We can't let him leak information about us."
The two powerful dragons manifested their true forms and galloped toward the east.
...
Elias teleported onto a tree at the edge of the Sleeping Forest. Lacking a foothold, he slid down the tree and fell to the ground.
His expensive mage robes were torn by a branch, leaving a large hole. This pained him deeply.
Heaven knew that Elias had spent half a year's savings to buy these favorite mage robes.
But now, he couldn't care about that. Only leaving this continent would provide him safety.
"Damn it, if I'd known, I should have learned flight magic."
Elias clenched his fists and looked around. After determining his direction, he ran toward the coast, where the sailing ships they had used to land were moored.
After spending five hours, as the sun rose in the east, Elias was already gasping for breath. Fortunately, he could already see the two sailing ships anchored at the coast.
This gave his already numb legs a new surge of energy, and he quickened his pace once more.
Just then, his pupils dilated suddenly as a creature entered his range of perception.
Before Elias could even turn his head, a fierce wind swept in, making his mage robes flap loudly.
Elias covered his eyes to avoid unnecessary injury.
Boom—
The sound of a massive object slamming into the ground echoed, followed by the sound of a pleasant conversation.
"Look at this, look at this. Who do we have here? Isn't this the human mage who prided himself on being superior? Why are you in such a pathetic state now?"
Jonavili maliciously pulled back her dragon lips. In human society, mages were always superior and highly respected. Even if a magic apprentice killed a commoner in the street for no reason, the punishment would only be a few copper coins as compensation to buy the lowest-grade slave—stronger mages faced no form of compensation at all.
Jonavili was undoubtedly mocking Elias, and Elias was naturally aware of it.
Feeling the fierce wind gradually subside, Elias slowly opened his eyes. After seeing the scene before him clearly, he was completely stunned.
Two dragons, each over ten meters long and as tall as several stories, stood before him. Judging by their size, they should already be in the young dragon stage, and among the larger ones at that.
Rate on N.U.
