Chapter 130: The Outline of the Ruins
The stem of the Poisonous Dragon Lizard Orchid is thick, covered with a scale-like structure—resembling dragon scales. Its leaves, shaped like those of a lily of the valley, all point upward as if filled with sharp swords. Its flowers, however, resemble lotus flowers from a past life, with a delicate pink hue that exudes elegance, though their petals are straighter and lack the beauty and grace of lotus flowers.
After the fruits of several mature Poisonous Dragon Lizard Orchids fell to the ground, their flowers did not wither but bloomed even more vividly. Such flowers are the most valuable part of the plant, but if picked directly, the petals would wither immediately. Therefore, it’s necessary to dig up the entire plant to preserve it intact.
The Poisonous Dragon Lizard Orchid must be fully or nearly mature before it can have medicinal value for humans. Thus, most who understand its worth refrain from damaging its young plants.
The operation went smoothly, and soon Donald had gathered five mature Poisonous Dragon Lizard Orchids. After setting aside some for the Ansel and Thorne families, he could keep three for himself. This harvest far exceeded his efforts and risks.
Just as he packed up the five orchids and prepared to leave, two two-legged dragons suddenly flew from the nest area. They circled and chased each other above the land, gradually descending.
The smooth, brightly colored skin of the two sub-adult dragons, without the dull scales of adult ones, indicated they were young sub-adult dragons that had just reached maturity.
Looking further away, Donald saw among several immature Poisonous Dragon Lizard Orchids one plant quietly uncurling its bud and beginning to bloom with beauty. He immediately realized that a pair of playing young two-legged dragons had been attracted by the scent of the newly bloomed orchid and, unable to resist their instinctive desires, intended to mate for the first time. If he didn’t leave now, the further blooming of the orchid would attract a large group of adult dragons for mating—a scene Donald couldn’t even imagine.
Seeing the two dragons circling downward, the two silver swordsmen guarding the area immediately grasped their swords, ready to attack and rescue Donald, who was still there.
At that moment, a voice beside him whispered, “Don’t fight! Let’s leave quickly!”
The two quickly realized that Donald had silently approached them. Since the mission was complete, the three of them slipped away under the eyes of the two dragons.
As for those two young two-legged dragons, they were completely immersed in their primal desires at the moment and had no time to pay attention to what was happening around them. Apart from the delay caused by the mating of the two two-legged dragons, Donald and his group had a relatively smooth journey—until the invisibility potion suddenly stopped working on their way back to the airship, nearly exposing them to a nearby two-legged dragon. Overall, the mission was completed successfully. Back on the airship, Donald took out the two Poison Dragon Lizard Orchids and handed them to Edwina and Hordonsorn respectively. Edwina, due to their close relationship, didn’t say much, while Hordonsorn expressed his gratitude eagerly. This Poison Dragon Lizard Orchid was extremely important to their Thorne family; otherwise, he wouldn’t have traveled thousands of miles to Celt just to find it while taking his granddaughter on an adventure. “Well, now that Old Mr. Thorne’s Poison Dragon Lizard Orchid is in our hands, it’s time to fulfill the purpose of our journey!” However, since the nest of this two-legged dragon tribe was blocking their path, Donald had to order the airship to take a large detour, wasting considerable time before they could head back in the right direction. But after flying for a few more minutes, Donald suddenly frowned, realizing that an unknown creature was chasing them from a few miles behind. He immediately said to those in the cabin, “Everyone, we’re in trouble! A two-legged dragon is chasing us!” By then, he had already seen what the pursuer looked like through the owl’s perspective—it was an adult two-legged dragon. “Just one?” Ferdinand asked. “That’s right. I don’t know why, but it’s already spotted my airship and is chasing us closely!” Ferdinand said eagerly, “Whatever drives it, since it’s determined to die, let’s take care of it!” He had never fought against a subdragon like a two-legged dragon before—his last visit to the Six Southern Towns was brief, with him returning to the northwest right after completing his task. An adult two-legged dragon, no matter how strong, wouldn’t exceed the Bronze rank, at most reaching the peak of Bronze, making it perfect for him to practice. Besides, this one was alone, far from its herd. On the other hand, Edwina also said, “The venom and blood of two-legged dragons are excellent materials for magic potions, and their claws and teeth can be used for alchemy and enchantment. One should be enough for all of us mages!”
Since time wasn’t urgent anyway, Donald said, “Then let’s go down and fight, so it can’t attack the airship.” He ordered the airship to stop at a distance, and those interested got off to wait for the two-legged dragon’s arrival. In less than half a minute, an adult two-legged dragon was seen flying toward them at full speed. Donald suddenly sensed something was wrong—the dragon seemed panicked and disheveled, not like it was chasing them but rather like it was being chased. “That’s not right; it’s being pursued. There must be something even more powerful behind it. Everyone, get ready for battle!” Only Donald and his entourage, along with the Ansel family, got off the airship. Edwina, worried about her son’s safety, followed as well with three family swordsmen. Hearing Donald’s words, everyone became alert. An entity capable of chasing an adult two-legged dragon like this must possess at least silver-level combat strength. Aside from Donald, the two young people, and the mysterious mage Kelsas, the other four were all silver-level warriors, so they weren’t overly fearful. Soon, the two-legged dragon arrived overhead, ignoring the small creatures below and intending to flee without pause. But when a web covered in withering energy was shot at it, the trapped dragon immediately lost its balance and struggled before falling from the sky. Although a web couldn’t hold back a powerful sub-dragon like this one for long, it was enough to tie it up for a while—long enough for a strong bronze-level swordsman to take care of it. After leaving the two-legged dragon to Ferdinand, Donald and the others turned their gaze toward where the sub-dragon had come from, wanting to see what creature could make a sub-dragon with dragon blood so terrified and force it to flee in such a disheveled state. After all, sub-dragons with dragon blood were generally at the top of the food chain among ordinary magical beasts. Thanks to their dragon blood, they usually possessed some extraordinary talents. The most common was dragon might, which all sub-dragons had. Though compared to true dragons, their weak dragon might was like the difference between a firefly and the full moon. Yet for ordinary magical beasts below level five, it was an innate aura that made them fear them. Some sub-dragons also had a weakened version of dragon breath and magical talents, allowing them to spew flames, acid, and other breath attacks, as well as cast certain dragon-talent spells.
Before long, a dark shadow appeared in the distance, approaching at a speed comparable to that of a two-legged dragon. Compared to an adult two-legged dragon with a wingspan of only about six meters, this creature was far more formidable. The Silver Swordsmen and Donald were the first to see the creature’s appearance, and all of them showed expressions of surprise. The young Silver Swordsman in his thirties couldn’t help but exclaim, “Good heavens! What kind of monster is this…” Donald, on the other hand, remained the most calm. He wasn’t frightened by the monster but rather felt very surprised. It had a huge body with a wingspan of over ten meters, goat-like lower limbs, and an upper body that resembled a combination of a male lion and a dragon—though more like a hybrid of a lion and a bird-like magical beast. Except for the green scales covering its vital areas, its rest was covered in blue-purple fur and feathers, giving it a messy and ugly appearance. What was most astonishing was that the monster had three heads, along with a mane around its neck, making it look extremely fierce and terrifying. All these features seemed familiar to him. As the monster approached, the Silver Mage Edwina also saw its true form and exclaimed in surprise, “It’s a rare chimera? No wonder this two-legged dragon is being chased so desperately!” A chimera is also a monster with dragon bloodline; it could be considered a sub-dragon as well. However, its bloodline is quite mixed. Although dragon blood dominates, other magical beast traits also exist within it. In this world, chimera are generally evil and chaotic creatures, said to have arisen from the chaotic magical energy resulting from battles between ancient mages, gods, and demons. Of course, there are also tamed chimera whose temperaments become gentle and loyal, but that’s not something ordinary stronglings can achieve. “Although a chimera is usually just a level 6 magical beast, its innate abilities are extremely powerful. Even three or five Silver-level warriors might not be able to defeat it. This one seems quite large—probably much stronger than ordinary chimera. It’s safer to have everyone join forces!” Donald agreed with Edwina’s opinion. Without his urging, everyone already felt the menace of the chimera and gathered together to prepare for battle. But while the others were cautious, Donald was more determined to capture this chimera and see how it differed from the level 5 elf troops he could summon using the Book of Truth.
This chimera clearly had an extremely violent temper. As soon as it flew above the group, seeing these humans attacking its prey, it unleashed a bolt of lightning from the mouth of one of its heads without hesitation.
Frost Nova!
While Edwina cast a defensive spell that was weaker than the lightning, Donald’s attack also struck the massive chimera.
Yet this spell, which had always been highly effective, failed this time—its magic resistance was far beyond Donald’s expectations. A Frost Nova, equivalent to a fifth-level spell, failed to freeze it.
However, the chimera paid a price for its arrogance. The Frost Nova wasn’t completely ineffective; the damage from the spell was absorbed by its body. But its powerful magic resistance, inherited from dragon blood, along with its strength far surpassing Donald’s, allowed it to continue flying despite the stiffness in its limbs caused by the icy force.
Perhaps sensing that these tiny humans were unexpectedly strong, the chimera abandoned its prey and chose to flee forward.
Donald and the others quickly dealt with the wyvern, boarded the airship, and chased after the chimera.
Although the massive chimera’s flying speed was on par with that of a fifth-level magical beast like a wyvern, it was slower compared to the lighter bird-like magical beasts. So, despite putting in all its effort, it couldn’t shake off the airship behind it.
But after chasing for a while, everyone on the airship deck stopped focusing on the flailing chimera and stared straight ahead.
In the distance, dozens of miles away, a vast expanse of mist appeared, stretching as far as the eye could see. The outline of a city shrouded in mist became visible under the sunlight.