Boom!
With a not-so-loud bang, the explosions at the hull of the ship were set off. The large holes quickly began to sink the ship into the sea. The deep blue water was covered with a faint green mist coming from the land of Orcs, a realm filled with mystical toxins but far from the real danger that lay ahead.
The water teemed with five-headed snakes, giving the place its name, Hydra Bay. The snakes were extremely poisonous and grew as large as fifty meters, with legends speaking of half-a-kilometer-long giant five-headed serpents.
Blop!
Blop!
With a few last bubbles, the ship fully sank to the bottom of the sea. Meanwhile, Sylvester, accompanied by the Beastkins, watched the vessel go down, killing all the pirates onboard.
Sylvester clapped his hands clean and looked at the crowd of freed Beastkins. "What about you all? How will you return to your homes? The Beastkin region is close by, isn't it?"
"It's not," Avanss voiced. "Goblins and Orcs frequent these parts. They are always hungry for more territory and try to enter Beastkin land through the coastline."
Sylvester nodded and looked around their location. Beside the sea, he could see the strange tall green mountains in the south, likely the home of Orcs. Then there were some gray mountains to the north, and finally, lush green land. Further down from the land of Orcs was the dark forest of Goblins and Werewolves, sharing the boundary with Alfia below.
Where he stood was the shore where Beastkin's regions started. The trees were dense and colorful there, and the grass was vibrant, with Solarium filling the air in abundance.
"Since the Inquisitors here are also stationed with the Beastkins, it's better we pay them a visit. They were supposed to be my backup, but communication with them has increasingly gone silent. There could be an enemy Cardinal stopping them here," Sylvester made up his mind. "Spartacus, where is the Inquisitor camp?"
Sir Dolorem, acting like a slave, answered with a lowered head. "They are stationed on the western coast in the middle of the coastline, master—the bull tribe lives there along with other herbivore tribes."
"Then we have a destination." Sylvester nodded toward Avanss and let him take the lead. It was better if a local man talked with the Beastkins. Otherwise, the chances of his disguise being ineffective were high.
Sniff!
"Maxy," Miraj whispered into Sylvester's ears. "Do you smell it?"
"I can—something is rotting here. The entire area reeks of the scent of hatred. Fly up in the sky and see if there's anything interesting nearby," Sylvester suggested to him and kept his senses open for any sudden movements.
Soon enough, they started their trek through the forest. Since the Beastkins were natives of the land, they knew better how to find the right path to reach the Beastkin city. It was mostly all forests around them, and neither farmlands nor major roads appeared in view.
The reasons were quite simple. The Beastaria was a much more divided society as compared to Sol. In Beastaria, the Beastkins never came together with Orcs and Goblins since the latter were too violent. There was no point in making a road. The Dragons were too proud to be kind to any smaller species. The Giants liked to remain isolated. The societies on the continent were self-sufficient.
Meanwhile, in Sol, the Kingdoms all took part in trade and lived as one species. There could be wars or differences, but trade never stops.
Woosh!
"Maxy… ugly little people are coming toward here." Miraj notified in whispers.
Sylvester became alert. "What do they look like? Any weapons?"
"Umm… they are short, fat, dark green, long ears, and ugly. They got big wooden sticks and a few swords."
"Goblins?" Sylvester stopped walking and looked to his left. His eyes gleamed with light, and finally, he sensed the repugnant scent of hatred in the air. "You know what they say. A good goblin is a dead goblin."
"HALT!" Sylvester roared, capturing everyone's attention. "Goblins are coming to attack us. Stand back and let Avanss and I deal with them."
The Beastkins quickly huddled behind each other, while the strongest among them acted as a shield. But they had no need to do anything as Sylvester and Avanss were sufficient.
'Here they come.' Sylvester sensed the scents peaking.
"Haaaaa!"
"Kill! Kill!"
"Cat women!"
Sylvester shook his head in disappointment. Goblins were half-witted beings whose lives centered around their religion and multiplying. Since they lacked women of their own kind, they resorted to abducting other species.
'I'd rather have these pests eradicated until the last goblin in the future.' Sylvester made up his mind, for he could not envision Goblins being a part of a future peaceful world order. The creatures could not be trained, only eliminated.
"Leave this to me." Avanss gestured to Sylvester and stepped forward.
From behind the trees, nearly a hundred goblins came running, shouting and screaming. Their tongues were hanging out of their tired mouths, and their eyes looked red. Some held clubs, and some held swords, which they likely stole.
"Yeyeyeye…" Like barbarians, they screamed and inched closer.
Woosh~!
Avanss began to wave his hands on either side. In response, the wind started to pick up around him. The leaves on the ground rose in the air and whirled around Avanss' body. The trees also shook heavily, creating noise and releasing more leaves to fall.
"I missed you, goblins," Avanss said. "You folks have trained generations of us elves by being our loyal target practice puppets."
Fwoosh!
Abruptly, the leaves hovering around Avanss got launched with rapid speed, and they traveled like a blur toward the Goblins. At first, it remained confusing what actually transpired. But once the small storm of leaves passed by the crowd of goblins, something happened.
Thud!
One after another, the goblins fell down, and their throats started to bleed out profusely. It became clear then that their throats were slit by mere leaves.
"Forests are my home turf—fools always forget this," Avanss shook his head with the job well done. "Let's not waste more time here, Zohron. This was just a scouting party since there were only a hundred. I reckon a few thousand will soon attack us."
Sylvester nodded, and soon they started trekking again. However, Sylvester didn't let his guard down since the peculiar scent and disgusting feeling still didn't fade away. 'The goblins are dead, then why does the scent still persist? Now there are more negative scents.'
However, nothing new happened while they walked down the path. Sylvester and Avanss remained behind the Beastkins to give them protection and also keep an eye out if they chose to have any funny ideas.
"Later, can you get me religious scriptures of all species of Beastaria?" Sylvester asked his 'uncle.'
Avanss was intelligent enough to understand what Sylvester wanted to do. After all, he had also spent years reading various scriptures to understand the secrets of the world. "I have them at High Regnum Palace. What are you looking for, in particular?"
"The book that you gave me mentioned so many gods that existed throughout the times. Yet, they all seem connected by the same fate, and I wish to look for something that combines us all—that will be the key to a peaceful future between our worlds," Sylvester stated, revealing an ounce of his wishes.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Here they come." Avanss stopped again. "It's Goblin war drums. This time, I won't stop you from massacring them—they exist for this."
Sylvester didn't shy away at all and faced the incoming sound. The drumbeats intensified with time and picked up speed. The ground seemed to shake a little due to the marching goblins. The numbers would likely be in the thousands as even the wild animals seemed to run away.
"Wraaaa!"
Woosh!
"GRAAAA!"
Abruptly all heads looked up, including Avanss. The previous strong and confident aura of the elven man disappeared, and he grabbed Sylvester's arm. "Quick! Use the Earth elemental and hide in the ground—it's a dragon in the sky!"
'Dragon?!'
"No need," Sylvester raised his hand and wielded light magic. It was basic knowledge when it came to turning invisible. He only had to ensure that the light did not reflect on him, and simultaneously, he produced light of the same color as the ground itself to cover.
Woosh!
Sylvester and Avanss stood quietly beside a tree trunk while gazing into the sky. The gigantic wings of the dragon were so strong that the trees violently shook, and some dried ones fell apart. Its roars were deafening, and it seemed to circle around in the sky.
"Stay here," Avanss warned Sylvester. "Whoever it is, he will attack us if he sees us—just because we're elves. Considering its loud roar, it's a fully matured, unmutated dragon."
"Unmutated?" Sylvester questioned. "What mutation?"
"Not all dragons have such a huge body. After a dragon reaches the age of one thousand, they can choose to mutate themselves into a smaller humanoid form—they retain their scales, power, and wings and appear like seven or eight-foot-tall humanoid dragons," Avanss explained to Sylvester. "Those are much harder to deal with... but this too…"
Shhh…!
Sylvester felt intense heat enveloping them all. "It's spewing fire on the goblins. At this rate, this whole area will burn apart."
'I will be perfectly fine against fire, but…' Sylvester noticed the struggling Beastkins. Since most of them were furry beings with no sweat glands, the heat was unbearable to them. 'They won't survive much longer.'
Bam!
"Quick, enter this tunnel," Sylvester tapped his foot on the ground once and created an underground bunker for them. "It's filled with some water, so keep yourself cool."
With thankful gazes, the Beastkins hurried into the bunker. Then Sylvester and Avanss also jumped in. After that, Sylvester closed the entrance, plunging everyone into darkness. But not for long, as he took out a light crystal.
"Thank you, Lord Zohron," a Rabbitkin female thanked Sylvester. She had the face of a human but with rabbit ears, a nose, and a tail. In contrast, some others of her kind had furry faces.
Shhhh…!
The ground began shaking all of a sudden, and the heat started to rise. The battle on the surface seemed to have intensified.
"What in Solis did those Goblins do to Elder Krakazan?" a male Tigerkin wondered aloud.
'Solis?' Sylvester felt amazed. 'They have accepted the faith?'
"Do you know this Elder Krakazan?" Sylvester asked them. "How strong is he?"
"He's the Lord of the gray mountains north of here, at the edge of Greenpeaks. Of his power, I do not know, Lord Zohron," the man answered.
'The heat is rising rapidly. At this rate, there will not be enough oxygen, and... if I open a hole to breathe, fire will enter.'
Sylvester felt a rush in his body. "Avanss, you know me well… Will I be able to defeat this dragon?"
"..."
"What? Why? I mean, yes…" Avanss was taken aback. "But it will be a demanding battle. His fire can incinerate stones as though they were mere grass."
Sylvester smiled, for the fire was like an extension of his very being. "If we stay here, both of us will live, but they won't."
Avanss looked at the anxious faces around him. "It's too dangerous."
Sylvester nodded, acknowledging the concern. Nonetheless, deep inside, he also longed to learn how formidable dragons truly were. In Sol, he could defeat top-level Grand Wizards, so he wished to clear that uncertainty swiftly and find out his correct place in the food chain.
Clank!
Sylvester's spear materialized in his grasp, thanks to Miraj. He fixed his gaze on the ceiling above and waited until he sensed the dragon right above them in the sky.
"Though I do not desire any fatality. I suppose… It's time the legend becomes a reality."
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