novelhk Chapter 389: When the Red Dragon Descends
Chapter 389: When the Red Dragon Descends
Seeing Gauss return safely, Grom Bates, one of the parties involved, breathed a sigh of relief.If anything had happened to him, he might have lived with guilt for the rest of his life.
"It's good that you're fine, it's good that you're fine..."
Behind him, two small children, a boy and a girl, were peeking their heads out, looking at Gauss who had just flashed into view.
Gauss lowered his gaze, noticing the cat ears on their heads trembling slightly.
It was an expression of nervousness and unease.
However, they neither cried and made a fuss, nor pestered anyone asking about their parents' whereabouts. For children, they were already remarkably strong.
Thinking this, he gave them a reassuring smile.
Then he looked at the others and spoke.
"Let's leave this place first."
Although the place they were currently in was some distance from the Blackwater Town urban area, it still couldn't be considered out of danger. Especially with that Centaur leader sending his subordinates to conduct a large-scale search of the surrounding area, it probably wouldn't be long before they reached their location.
"Alright."
Knowing this as well, the others didn't delay and quickly began moving through the jungle.
Because they were bringing two children, the journey back took longer than the trip there.
Upon returning to the former Gnoll village, now the temporary camp of the Red Dragon Guild, Gauss immediately called for Serlandul to give the children a physical examination.
Having stayed for a long time in the safe room dozens of meters underground, although they had food and drink, it had still left some ailments on their bodies.
To be honest, listening to Aria and the others' descriptions, Gauss found it quite surprising.
The mental fortitude of these two children was perhaps stronger than that of the vast majority of adults. Living for three to four months in a relatively confined space environment was not something just anyone could do.
Fortunately, it was all over now.
Perhaps knowing their parents would never return, they behaved quite resiliently and warily, only showing sufficient trust towards the familiar Grom.
Even so, as the older sister, Seraphina brought her younger brother Edgar before Gauss and the others and bowed to him in thanks.
"Thank you for saving us."
Gauss looked at the two children who had just received preliminary treatment from Serlandul, their faces still deathly pale, feeling a mix of emotions. But facing their gratitude, he did not shy away.
Children so young had already lost the support of their parents. Fortunately, there was still Shopkeeper Grom to watch over their growth. This could be considered a stroke of luck amidst misfortune, right?
He crouched down, reached out, and patted both of their heads.
Then he took out several beautifully wrapped candies from his Storage Bag.
"Try them, they're delicious."
Perhaps knowing that the man before them was the main reason they were saved, the siblings, even though it was their first time meeting Gauss, still felt a sense of closeness from the bottom of their hearts.
"Thank you."
After a moment of hesitation, the older sister accepted the candy.
She unwrapped it, gave one to her younger brother first, and then tasted one herself.
Indeed, just as the handsome big brother before them said, when the candy melted, a sweet, honey-like taste instantly filled their entire mouths.
Perhaps that sweetness stirred up memories of their family, as tears gradually blurred their vision.
But now, they no longer had parents...
...
Successfully rescuing the siblings Seraphina and Edgar was also a good start for the Red Dragon Guild's activities on this trip.
For their safety, Gauss first escorted Grom and the two children to that adventurer camp.
"Shopkeeper Grom, what are your plans from now on?"
"I will raise these two children to adulthood, raising them as if they were my own." Sitting in the carriage, Grom used his rough, large hands to gently stroke the children's cheeks, a kind smile appearing on his face.
The two children were currently curled up on the carriage seat, one on each side, snuggling tightly against Grom.
With his patience, Grom had won the children's trust.
Hearing this, Gauss nodded.
From his observation, Grom probably wasn't married and had no descendants.
Adopting the children of a close friend might compensate for that missing experience of fatherhood for him.
"Please forgive me for not being able to give you the promised commission reward right now. I need to return to Grayrock Town first to deal with those belongings, and then I will take these two children to Falim."
"Falim is safer, and they can receive a better education there."
"That's good too. We can look out for each other then." Gauss expressed support for his decision to move. However, regarding the reward, he waved his hand. "As for the reward, forget it. I didn't come to help you, Grom, for the reward. Besides, raising two children in Falim will also require considerable expenses."
"One thing is one thing. I must give this money." Grom, however, stubbornly shook his head.
"I have hands and feet. If the money's gone, I'll just earn more. As for these two children, their father had already left enough property for them in the safe room in advance."
Seeing his determined attitude, Gauss didn't say anything more.
They could talk about it again when he returned to Falim.
Perhaps he could even recruit Grom into the Red Dragon Guild. Although currently, the number of blacksmiths in the guild was already quite high.
But there was no such thing as an excess of high-level talents like blacksmiths.
The number of adventurers in this world was vast, and among them, the most numerous were Warriors. The number of iron armors Warriors lost in the wild daily, or that were damaged and urgently needed repair, was countless, naturally creating an endless demand for armor.
"Then we'll be off first." Grom bid farewell to Gauss outside the carriage window. "You should head back soon too."
"See you in Falim."
The carriage gradually moved away.
Perhaps influenced by the events in the Blackwater Town urban area a couple of days ago, Gauss noticed that the monsters throughout the entire surrounding area seemed to have become more active.
It seemed there was also some kind of information exchange between monster clans of different races, sharing some important information with each other.
Gauss listened to three Goblins chattering away by the roadside while casting Tongue of Languages to translate.
"Human!"
"Catch the horned human, leader rewards treasure."
"Kill?"
"Kill!"
"Want to eat."
"Can't eat."
Perhaps the translation by the magic Tongue of Languages was lacking, or perhaps the Goblin communication was inherently fragmented. In any case, what reached Gauss's ears was piecemeal information.
Looking at the Goblins who were getting more and more excited as they chatted, as if he, the horned human, was already a sure catch, Gauss couldn't help but feel exasperated.
Even at his worst, he wouldn't be captured by these few scrawny, monkey-like Goblins in the distance, right?
This was also a limitation of ordinary Goblins as a species.
Even if they received information, they couldn't think rationally or analyze the content of the information. Therefore, they couldn't realize that Gauss was actually a powerful enemy they couldn't handle.
As Gauss focused his attention on the three Goblins.
The Goblins, who were arguing about whether to eat him or trade him for treasure, soon no longer had to worry about it.
"Thump!"
The three Goblins foamed at the mouth and soon heavily collapsed to the ground.
When Gauss shared his discovery with his teammates, combined with the experience of having his identity exposed immediately by the leader Centaur in Blackwater Town, he had indeed become famous. Whether in several cities of Coldjade Province or among the monster clans along the coast of the Emerald Forest.
Regarding this, Aria and the others also felt somewhat helpless.
This was perhaps the case of "fame brings trouble, just as fattening invites slaughter."
"Try not to leave any survivors."
Although unsure if low-level monsters had the ability to realize Gauss was the target their superiors were ordering to capture, they still decided to avoid leaving clues.
As long as they killed every single monster without leaving any alive, there was no risk of exposing their identity.
Gauss looked at the distant Hot Stone Mine.
The first commission target of their trip was that open-pit mine occupied by a group of roughly 2000-3000 Doghead People.
This open-pit mine had already been excavated into a deep valley.
Whether it was the former humans or the monsters now occupying this land, none would give up on excavating and exploiting natural resources.
"Clang!"
"Clang! Clang!"
The Doghead People swung their picks, the pick heads landing precisely on the weak points of the mineral deposits on the rock wall.
As metal met mineral, a visible crack appeared on the mineral's surface.
One pick, two picks. Under the diligent labor of the Doghead Person, the crack continuously expanded, finally shattering into fist-sized mineral chunks that fell down. After filling a basket with the mineral fragments, the Doghead Person began to shoulder the basket and walk towards the mine shaft at the bottom of the valley.
There, taller Doghead Person overseers, clad in gleaming iron armor, stood at the entrance, staring with fierce eyes at the hunched-over miner Doghead People, occasionally swinging their whips to lash at sly ones trying to cut in line. Instantly, the skin covered in dark red scales would split open, flesh torn.
"Ah! Aah! Aaah!"
Such scenes occurred frequently before many lines.
At the front of the lines, the miner Doghead People handed over the minerals they had mined and would soon receive corresponding payment, usually one or two lumps of sticky, black substance.
It was food boiled from a messy mix of bone powder, insects, what seemed like mud, trace amounts of rat meat, plant rhizomes, and other miscellaneous substances.
As for pure meat, only those powerful warriors were qualified to enjoy it.
All the low-level miner Doghead People seemed to have no complaints about this.
After eating their share of food and drinking some water from a nearby murky pond, they would continue to shoulder their baskets, pick up their mining picks, and head towards the rock wall.
If one didn't take the human standpoint, the Doghead People were completely a diligent, hardworking, and obedient race.
"Unfortunately..."
Gauss, observing the mine situation from not far away, shook his head.
Even if many of these miner Doghead People here might dig ore until they died without harming a single human, their digging behavior itself was a crime from the human perspective.
They dug out ore, refined, forged, and made it into weapons and equipment, which could then arm many more monsters, giving them stronger combat power to fight humans.
On the contrary, such production personnel were more important than warriors.
For races like Goblins with super-strong reproductive abilities, as long as they had equipment and food, even if they were reduced to less than one-tenth of their original numbers, they could quickly raise a new army.
Just like weeds on the plains, they couldn't be exterminated.
"At all the mine exits leading to the outside world, our people are already in position."
Shadow appeared beside Gauss.
"Then let's begin the operation."
Gauss nodded.
Shadow quickly relayed his orders to all locations.
"Whoosh!"
An arrow cut through the air, finally piercing the heart of a Doghead Person on the watchtower.
The Doghead People below heard the strange noise and were just about to look up to observe the direction it came from.
A wisp of holy moonlight descended from the sky.
That seemingly gentle moonlight now became a kind of terrifying "radiation" energy.
In the blink of an eye, the Doghead People exposed to the moonlight began to "dissolve."
"Exit 1 secured!"
"Exit 2 cleared!"
"Exit 3..."
In less than a few minutes, a total of five exits leaving the mining valley were silently eliminated.
Now, the entire Doghead People clan of the Hot Stone Mine had become a turtle in a jar.
Any Doghead Person trying to leave from here would encounter the powerful resistance of Gauss's Red Dragon Guild members and Clay Creatures.
Of course, the most important was the central battlefield.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
The monotonous, seemingly never-changing sound of metal striking ore echoed through the valley.
All the Doghead People seemed numb to this kind of life.
Even the Doghead Person overseers were the same.
"Whack!"
"Don't slack off! You fool!"
"Ah!"
Only by swinging the whip, lashing it on a fellow miner Doghead Person, and hearing that painful cry could a cruel smile appear on the faces of these overseers.
For monsters, tormenting other creatures was also an important way to have fun, even if the other party was their own clansman.
Noticing the rare look of hatred in the eyes of the Doghead Person rolling on the ground and wailing as it looked at him, the cruelty on the overseer's face deepened. The vast majority of miner Doghead People had already resigned themselves to their fate. Only some newcomers, fresh pups, would show this kind of gaze that excited them.
"Whack!"
Another whip came down. The scales on the Doghead Person on the ground burst open, blood gushing out.
It was precisely this kind of look. Seeing the hate-filled gaze the young Doghead Person on the ground cast towards him, the Doghead Person overseer only felt more excited, his whole body trembling.
However, what he didn't notice was the awe, as if seeing a deity, deep in the young Doghead Person's eyes the moment he looked up.
The Doghead Person overseer's third whip paused in mid-air, not yet fully falling.
The temperature of the surrounding air began to rise violently.
Before any confusion could even form in his mind.
Crimson, sky-igniting magma flames descended from the heavens!
Fire! In an instant, it devoured everything!
Like a purifying fire bestowed by a heavenly deity, miners, overseers, and even the ore beside them instantly dissolved in the flames. Whether it was bone-deep hatred or twisted pleasure, all lost meaning in this thousand-degree heat.
A colossal creature had descended at some unknown time.
It spread its wings, casting a vast shadow on the ground, its crimson scale armor reflecting a blinding, majestic, molten-gold light under the midday sun.
It was a dragon!
Above the valley, the behemoth that had breached the valley flew. It lowered its slender neck, and a pure white, scorching torrent poured forth from its massive maw!
Wherever it reached had already become a hell of fire and heat. It came here only to destroy this clan.
The Doghead People below raised their heads, staring dumbly at the falling rain of fire until it swallowed them.