Chapter 123: Chapter 121: Yet There Is a Giant Dragon in the Lair
"Whew, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten something this simple."
Orak drained the bowl of meat paste, which had a few green vegetable leaves mixed in, and let out a long, satisfied sigh. Ever since coming to High Cliff Castle, it had been nonstop feasts of fish and meat; getting a simple meal wasn’t easy.
Back in the Tribe, they never had enough to eat; just having food was a blessing. He never thought he’d see the day he could be picky.
"I only know a little," Orak said, choosing his words carefully. "Although my Tribe is also deep in the Wilderness, we’re actually very far from this one."
"This Tribe is a group of Minotaurs, numbering over two thousand in total. Among them, there are seven or eight hundred able-bodied members who can fight, making it a true major Tribe."
"As for why they’re heading south, I’m not very clear on that."
Levi nodded in understanding. No wonder it had thrown the Wilderness into turmoil, forcing countless Wilderness Natives to flee south to survive.
His Giant Dragon Corps, with just over a hundred Minotaurs, had been enough to make the local natives cry for mercy. Let alone seven or eight hundred Minotaurs who could go Berserk.
These brutes might have seemed like pushovers against him and his Barbarians, but the Lord, having fought them personally, knew that was only by comparison.
No matter where you put them, these Minotaurs were a force tough enough to break your teeth on. In such numbers, they could even threaten an entire Earl’s Domain.
No wonder even Fulina couldn’t sit still. If they allowed these Minotaurs to keep driving the Wilderness Natives south, there was no telling how large a force would eventually gather.
Nipping it in the bud was clearly the best course of action.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the carriages began to roll forward once again, guided by several prisoners of war.
They traveled for another day and night. Along the way, it would be a lie to say the Barbarians weren’t nervous, but it was also true that they would be laughed at if they admitted it.
So, every one of them kept their lips sealed and simply focused on the march.
They would rather bear the tension alone than be laughed at by their brethren—especially by their commander with his booming voice.
If they actually said anything, by the day after they returned, everyone in High Cliff Castle would know about their embarrassing display.
Fortunately, the scene they had imagined—being spotted by the Giant Dragon mid-journey and incinerated by a gout of Dragon Breath—never materialized.
At dawn, just as the sky was turning a fish-belly white, they arrived at their destination, shaken but unharmed.
"Lord, the Giant Dragon’s lair is just ahead," a Leopard-headed Person said respectfully, pointing forward.
Levi looked into the distance. Before them stood a hill, several hundred feet high—though calling it a knoll might have been more appropriate.
But because the Wilderness was mostly grasslands, a knoll of this height suddenly appearing here was particularly conspicuous.
"This Giant Dragon certainly picked a good spot," Levi said, smacking his lips thoughtfully.
"The Giant Dragon built its lair in the basin in the middle of this hill. If you were to position your troops around the perimeter, Lord, you could easily surround it."
’This Leopard-headed Person is actually giving me tactical advice,’ Levi thought. ’And he makes a good point.’
The Leopard-headed Person, in fact, found life to be quite strange. He had originally become a vassal of the Giant Dragon because of a legend that bathing in its Dragon Qi could grant one a Dragon Vein.
But he hadn’t even gotten a whiff of a dragon’s fart before his own Giant Dragon Corps was utterly wiped out. Now, it seemed the Giant Dragon itself was on its last legs.
The law of survival, etched into his very bones, now made him want to win the favor of the Lord of High Cliff Castle and join this seemingly more promising power.
"When we get back, there’s a place for you among the laborers at High Cliff Castle." The Lord didn’t look down on this kind of opportunism; instead, he made a promise.
This made the Leopard-headed Person overjoyed. He had heard that his other kin were all going to be bundled up and sold to slave traders. Although he would only be a laborer at High Cliff Castle, it was far better than being exiled to a foreign land to live a life of wandering and hardship.
If you were to rank all the armies on the Middle Ages Continent by their love for battle, the High Cliff Castle Personal Guard Team, with their so-called "Gift of the War God," would undoubtedly be in the top three. But that didn’t mean they were emotionless war machines; they had just as many feelings as anyone else.
"Are you scared?" Levi stood up on a carriage, pointed to the distant mountaintop shrouded in morning mist, and shouted.
"Scared! Scared to death!" The response from below was surprisingly uniform, followed moments later by a roar of laughter.
Bearing the tension alone was suffocating; this cathartic admission was a release for everyone.
"Bunch of cowards! Then what’s the point of slaying a damn dragon? Turn your asses around and head back to High Cliff Castle!" the Lord cursed, laughing.
"Lord, you don’t need to ask us. We are the sword in your hand. As long as you wield it, it will slay your enemies."
Hog was grooming his Warg Mount’s fur with a bone comb, not even bothering to look up.
"Yeah, boss," Zat grinned, his large mouth splitting to reveal his tusks in a terrifyingly ferocious smile. "Who? Where? When?"
"This is a Giant Dragon. Even the Dragon Slayer Warriors in the Epics only look glorious on the surface. In reality, every one of them suffered heavy losses." Levi reached down and pinched an ant off his trouser cuff.
"Compared to a Giant Dragon, we’re like this ant in my hand. It could easily crush a whole swarm of us." The Lord applied a little pressure, and only a few fine, black fragments of the ant remained between his fingers.
Levi subconsciously brought his fingers to his nose for a sniff. A foul stench immediately assaulted his nostrils.
"Dammit, it was a stink ant!" The Lord, a look of disgust on his face, started cursing, giving his regards to the ant’s ancestors for eighteen generations.
This sent the Barbarians into fits of laughter, clutching their stomachs. After all, it wasn’t often they got to see their boss get one-upped.
"I’ve wrestled with Northern Snow Bears and fought Ice Tigers bare-handed, but I’ve never fought a Giant Dragon,"
Orak said, stroking the Crimson War Axe in his hands. This weapon had been passed down through his Beastman Tribe for generations, having tasted the blood and flesh of countless ferocious beasts. All that was missing now was Dragon Blood.
"We are your subordinates. We exist because of you, and it is by your grace that we have all been fortunate enough to gather here." Hog’s attention finally drifted away from the soft fur for a moment, but he quickly became nonchalant again. After so many battles, he had grown into a true Warrior, and the traits of a hero were now on full display. "You tell us who to fight, and we’ll fight them. Whether it’s a Giant Dragon or an ant, it’s all the same."
"Ah!" Zat, who had been racking his brains for something to say, slapped his thigh, threw an arm around Hog’s shoulder, and said with a goofy grin, "Hog said what I wanted to say!"
The speeches from High Cliff Castle’s three lieutenants drew a roar of approval from the other warriors in the Guard Team. The dim-witted Giants, seeing everyone laughing, also began to wave their arms and laugh foolishly.
Seeing this, the few prisoners of war, hoping to blend in, also started to laugh along foolishly.
’Damn, do you have to be so dramatic?’ The Lord was both touched and creeped out, breaking out in goosebumps.
Then, at Levi’s command, he took a few of his lieutenants to sneak up and scout out the situation.
The Giants, meanwhile, began huffing and puffing as they hauled the Bed Crossbows up the hill.
Part of Levi’s confidence in daring to hunt a dragon came from these Bed Crossbows. The Arm Bows, forged with an admixture of mountain copper, gave the weapons unparalleled kinetic energy, allowing them to fire an Arrow over a thousand paces.
The Tri-Blade Crossbow Arrow was a good fist thick and quite long. Its mountain copper Arrowhead was particularly sinister, with blood grooves carved into its four sides.
A single hit would cause blood to gush out like an opened floodgate, impossible to stop.
Levi had already tested them. With the power of this upgraded Bed Crossbow, not even the toughest Dragon Scale could block it. A single hit would certainly make the beast suffer the consequences and not dare to use its breath weapon at low altitude.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.
On the hill, in the basin, was the mouth of a cave that had clearly been sealed up.
Inside, a Giant Beast lay prone, deep in slumber.
At that moment, whether because it had slept enough or for some other reason, the Giant Beast’s eyelids snapped open, revealing pupils the color of pale mercury.
For now, however, those pupils were clearly filled with a daze. It took a full ten breaths before the beast slowly came to its senses.
"Whew, that was a sound sleep. I wonder how much time has passed outside, and whether Gorgon has collected more treasure for me." The Giant Beast stretched its massive body, but what came from its mouth was pure Common Tongue.
