Beneath the Red Dragon

Chapter 44: Chapter 2: Hobis

Karon had to admit, some of the things the mage said did make sense. From his perspective, the secrets in his mind were equivalent to a power amplifier. The more knowledge he possessed, the stronger his foundation became, and the more feedback he would receive.

Using it as a mindless powerful tool would be a great waste. It should be a ladder for one’s transcendence, and not merely a stepping stone on the path to becoming strong.

Perhaps the direction of his future enhancement should shift slightly in this direction. The Red Dragon slowly closed his eyes, gradually gathering his strength. In times of adversity, it was an opportunity for cultivation, using the thorns along the road to hone his willpower.

The days of sailing at sea were extremely tedious and dull, especially since the Juvenile Dragons were confined in the ship’s hold, unable to move freely. They could only hear the sound of the sea each day, and their spirits were quite weary.

The daily feeding time became their most active moment, although the food was scarce, merely enough to maintain the daily physiological needs of the Giant Dragons.

Fortunately, Giant Dragons are inherently Extraordinary Creatures. Their bodies, unlike ordinary beasts, do not require daily excretion. The stomachs of the Giant Dragons could digest almost all foods, but some leftover food remnants that were useless to the dragon’s body would remain.

And the Giant Dragon could condense those remaining useless food remnants in the stomach and discharge them when necessary. Otherwise, the entire hold would have already stunk.

However, with so little food, not much food residue was left for the Giant Dragons. Only the excess Magic Potion slowly precipitated into crystals in the dragon’s stomach.

The bodies of the Juvenile Dragons were restrained, and these harmful substances couldn’t be discharged for the time being. To minimize their impact on the body, they had to make such a choice.

Will Clarence, the noble, would descend from the airship daily, trying to persuade the Red Dragon, but the Red Dragon ignored him.

The days passed like this, and when the Juvenile Dragons had already grown accustomed to falling asleep amidst the waves, the ship finally docked.

The Juvenile Dragons didn’t know where they had arrived, only that after the ship harbored, they were once again shoved into large iron cages covered with black cloth in the dead of night. Each cage was pulled by six tall, robust gelded horses with mixed alien blood, heading into an unknown world under the cover of night.

Karon didn’t intend to reveal his Perception Ability, but his keen ears noticed the number of accompanying people increased significantly. The heavy sound of hooves signaled heavily armed knights, possibly fully armored heavy cavalry. He counted about a hundred knights.

There were also quite a few foot soldiers. Their steps were not light, and they moved without much conversation, clearly a well-armed escort unit sent meticulously. Such a number of knights and soldiers might mean the elite warriors of the Clarence Clan were all dispatched.

This procession moved quite slowly, with light cavalry coming and going frequently, indicating that Will was being extremely cautious, continually sending out light cavalry to scout the situation.

Only during the dead of night would the black cloth over the dragons’ heads be lifted slightly for them to breathe and eat. This would always cause some commotion and shock in the otherwise orderly troop.

Even the knights raised by the Clarence Clan from a young age didn’t know what they were guarding this time, as even these loyal knights hadn’t received any information. They could only watch, eyes wide with awe, the particularly quiet Juvenile Dragons inside the cages for half the night.

In most people’s minds, dragons had already become legends. This world was no longer the ancient, wild era ruled by Giant Dragons, Titan Giants, and other mythical creatures. The powerful dynasties established by the ancient Beastman Empire, Elf Kingdom, and Dwarf Kingdom had also gradually withdrawn from the world’s stage.

Now it was the era of human dominion over the land. They even wanted to conquer the sky and the sea after developing an extremely prosperous magical culture. The giant ships sailing on the ocean and the airships soaring in the sky were testament to this, with some mad mages even proposing to build Mage Towers flying in the sky and citadel cities floating on the clouds.

Those declining races and powerful beings are now scattered in the wilds of the Icaria World. The powerful Five-Colored Giant Dragons and Metal Dragons rarely appeared in the human view, and only in the remote Southern Empire were there said to be Good Dragons who had even been granted titles in the Human Empire.

Even so, many Five-Color Dragons were still slaughtered by the greedy and omnipresent Treasure Hunters and Dragon Hunters teaming up.

Today, only in remote, sparsely populated wilderness marshes and deep mountain forests could information about those Five-Colored Giant Dragons be found. No particularly high-profile Five-Color Dragons appeared anymore.

Even Adult Dragons only dared to appear in sparsely populated frontier towns. Only Evil Dragons who could grow to their prime—when their forces often equated to that of a Monster Kingdom—could brazenly roam the continent.

By that time, only a kingdom or even an empire of equivalent power could muster the strength to subjugate an Evil Dragon, but those who could grow to such a stage were exceedingly rare.

After staying in the black-cloth-draped cage for a few days, the cloth was finally removed, although the convoy was still traveling. It was noticeably more relaxed.

Wide enough to accommodate sixteen carriages side by side, the stone-paved avenue began to show many passing merchants and travelers. Merchants were shouting at their Beastman slaves who drove their carts, as Earth Dragons slowly pulled the vehicles down the road.

Some particularly influential merchants even had Centaur slave guards and Elf slave guards. These slaves wore Leather Armor and were allowed to hold bows and arrows and weapons, guarding the merchants’ carriages.

On the vast fields by the roadside, many farmers stood by, and it was rare to see black-skinned Minotaur slaves working in the fields. The overseers sat by with whips in hand, leisurely drinking and chatting.

Someone exclaimed, ”Dragon!”

”My God, it’s a dragon.”

”Look, there’s a fierce Red Dragon and many Juvenile Dragons!”

The exclamations echoed one after another, quickly spreading along the entire road and the fields, causing a sensation here.

The wide road suddenly became congested and stagnant. Many travelers halted their convoy just to take a look at the legendary dragons, while farmers from the fields also stopped to glance this way.

The slaves of different races, upon seeing the dragons, had eyes not only filled with curiosity and confusion but also some gloom. Had even powerful dragons become commodities?

Thankfully, the escorting Knights were fully armed, with sharp Long Spears glinting coldly, pushing back the crowd surging onto the road. The city guards arrived from afar to disperse the people, allowing the convoy to proceed, though the noisy clamoring continued ceaselessly.

Karon discreetly peeked out from under his wing, looking towards the tall and solid city that rose steeply from the plains by the mountains.

Neatly piled giant stones, city walls towering dozens of meters high, and several wide and grand city gates were opened. On the heavy gates were carvings of hundreds of beast and scroll patterns. Soldiers in full Iron Armor, leaning on Long Spears, guarded the passage, their greedy eyes trailing every passerby through the city gates.

This was the political and economic center of the Gata Empire’s power, the capital where the Emperor of the Gata Empire resided, Hobis.