Chương 118: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 118 - Cutting Off the Retreat

"Leader, what do we do now?"

"Hmph." Gus frowned and snorted, his face ashen, jaw grinding. What could he do? Fly up and drag the Black Dragon out of the sky? These underlings were getting more useless by the day, always asking questions with no good answers. He still had no idea how a Black Dragon had ended up here. It had been years since any dragon was sighted anywhere near these parts. Especially around poor backwater countries like this one.

Adult dragons considered the wealth of small nations beneath them, and juvenile dragons lacked the resistances to guarantee a win against a standing army. Gus's cold eyes swept the ground beneath the Sacred Wall of Felinir. The entire camp had been burned down to crystallized earth. That alone told him everything he needed to know about a Black Dragon's breath. Vile green molten flame still trickled through the ruins. Black smoke churned and rolled. Not a single sign of life remained.

The dragon had slaughtered hundreds of his men the moment it arrived. And he had no way to hold it here. All he could do was wait for it to come back, and when it did, have a net ready to bury it.

"Send some lackeys down to sweep the area." Gus exhaled. He wasn't holding out much hope. If any supplies survived the fire, that would already be a miracle.

"Collect whatever equipment is still usable."

"Anyone with all limbs and still breathing, pull them out. Anyone maimed — give them a quick end." Flat voice. Flat tone. The humanoids around him traded glances, a collective shiver passing through the group. None of them said a word. The Black Beast Mercenary Group's combat strength didn't come from nowhere. It came from Gus being exactly this ruthless. He ran by jungle law, survival of the fittest, and he'd always made sure only the freshest blood stayed in the ranks.

"Notify all elites. Prepare to move on the Saint Augustus Royal Capital. Leave a skeleton crew of lackeys at the Sacred Wall of Felinir to hold against any potential reinforcements."

"Yes, boss." The humanoids took their orders and dispersed. Gus stood alone, staring in the direction the Black Dragon had gone, his expression dark. The large hand wrapped around his black greatsword slowly tightened. The leather grip creaked.

"Damnable Black Dragon. No creature has ever provoked me like this and walked away clean. You'd better not come back looking to die — because if you do..." He let out a low, ugly laugh.

"Heh heh heh..." The Black Beast Mercenary Group left. Taking their fury and resentment with them. Their real objective was the Saint Augustus Royal Capital. The Black Dragon had been a disaster they simply had to swallow and call bad luck. There was nothing else to do. But Su Nian hadn't gone anywhere. He had flown far enough to look convincing, then ducked into a stretch of jungle and gone still. He stayed there for a full hour.

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"Anna, do you think those mercenaries have cleared out? Should we go collect the people left on the Sacred Wall of Felinir?" Su Nian lay flat on his back across the grass, his massive frame having crushed the surrounding trees into a rough nest. Anna was bundled in his arms, his dragon wings wrapped snugly around her. Only her head stuck out.

"Well, Brother, I think you already know the answer to that~" Anna was sprawled on his chest, a light flush on her pretty face, her bright peach-blossom eyes blinking slow and content. Her snow-white fox tail swept lazily back and forth across his belly. She was still so small. Lying stretched out like that, she didn't even cover the whole of his Molten Heart. Watching her settle against him so peacefully, Su Nian felt a rush of warmth he couldn't quite hold back.

He let out a quiet, involuntary sound, something between a swallow and a sigh. He sat up, keeping her in his arms. His pale gold dragon eyes turned toward the direction of the Sacred Wall of Felinir.

"Come on. Let's go give the people on that wall a little surprise. I might need your Light Spell."

"Don't worry, Brother. Anna won't miss a single one." Her voice was sweet, bright with barely contained excitement. For her, maybe the happiest thing in the world was this: being at his side, and actually being useful. Not just the one who always needed protecting. Not dead weight. Being needed made her feel safe. Whole. Su Nian understood that better than she knew. He never wasted a chance to let her use her abilities. He'd go out of his way, sometimes, to make sure she understood that he genuinely needed her.

True or not.

"Good girl. My precious is so well-behaved~ When we get back to the lair, I'll give you a big reward~ Heh heh heh..." Su Nian broke into a grin, hoisted Anna onto his back, and launched into the sky, banking hard toward the Sacred Wall of Felinir.... The Sacred Wall of Felinir was the strongest line of defense the country of Saint Orist had. Its reputation for being impregnable didn't come from its height alone. Serestina had poured a fortune into the defensive emplacements mounted along its length.

At the moment the Black Dragon came roaring over the wall. The Tianchao players were still tangled up in the ruins below it, hacking through a swarm of grimy, snarling goblins. Li Chen had survived the dragon breath by luck, he'd been in a peripheral section and crammed himself into a large water vat before the fire hit. If he'd been anywhere near the main mercenary camp, he and the vat would've melted together. By the time he dragged himself out. The Black Beast Mercenary Group's elites were long gone.

All that remained were the cannon fodder, goblins and half-orcs picking through the charred wreckage of the camp. The troll chieftain had already been reduced to ash. Li Chen sat with complicated feelings about that. Part of him was glad the chieftain was dead. Another part resented that he hadn't gotten to do it himself. He picked up his longsword and kept fighting. ROAR,,! A deep, resonant dragon cry split the air. The Black Dragon was back.

Li Chen cut down the last goblin pressing in on him, looked up, and fixed his eyes on it. Monstrous. Enormous. A legendary creature. He reached into the system interface and activated the recording function without thinking twice. He pressed himself into the corner of a ruined wall, the system's built-in camera running, quietly capturing everything the Black Dragon did.

"Anna — Light Spell, nine targets on the left wall!"

"On it, Brother~ Watch me!" Anna's voice dropped into focus, her face going serious. Obscure syllables rolled off her tongue as the incantation built. The Light Spell snapped into shape fast, streaked from her outstretched hand, and detonated in a rapid chain of blinding flashes against the left-side battlements, BANG, washing the wall in brilliant white. The Black Dragon dove in right behind it.

While the goblins and half-orcs were still reeling from the flash, he opened his maw and poured a continuous stream of breath along the wall. Scorching corrosive flame swallowed the entire left section of the Sacred Wall of Felinir, turning it into a churning sea of blue-green fire. The defensive emplacements mounted along that stretch burned to nothing. Clean coordination. Perfectly timed. Su Nian swung back up, carrying Anna with him to a safe altitude.

The humanoids on the far right hadn't even processed what happened yet. They scrambled and shrieked on the right-side battlements, completely useless. If Gus's trained elites had still been at those emplacements, it would have been a different fight. Su Nian knew that. But goblins were too dim to aim. And the half-orcs, while somewhat brighter, moved far too slowly to matter. He worked through the wall in sections, using the same combination each time, until the entire Sacred Wall of Felinir had been swept clean.

Su Nian coiled atop one of the wall's spires, pale gold eyes glinting with cold satisfaction. One move. That was all it had taken to cut off the Black Beast Mercenary Group's retreat. Now he just needed to get word to Serestina, send a small garrison to take the wall back over. That princess knight was already on her way, wasn't she? Give the Sacred Wall of Felinir to her, and it would hold. Gus had no idea.

He was riding hard toward the Saint Augustus Royal Capital right now, completely unaware that the retreat route he'd so carefully prepared had just been torn away by a dragon. And when he finally arrived at the capital, something even better would be waiting for him. ➤ Next: The Arena