Chapter 62 Awakening (Part )

The bounty for the red dragon has been raised to 10,000 gold coins. Not to mention the northern countries, even in the prosperous Flanders Empire in the south and the wealthy Victoria Harbor beside Moon Bay, it is a huge sum of money - not to mention these poor adventurers.

This amount of money is enough for a fledgling wizard to build his own wizard tower, and it is also enough for a warrior to purchase a set of magical equipment that can be passed down from generation to generation.

Perhaps due to deliberate propaganda by the Rackman family, the Burning Embers Nest is also portrayed as a dangerous and prosperous country.

It is rumored that in the Dragon Valley, the treasure of the greedy red dragon is hidden, and endless gold coins are flowing from the valley - although no one would believe the bard's exaggeration, it does leave adventurers with the illusion that the Burning Embers Nest is a "symbol of wealth."

This attracted countless adventurers, who set out from many cities in the North, full of ambition and lofty aspirations, and headed to Storm Peaks in groups, but most of them never returned.

Of course, these adventurers are not all fools who overestimate their own capabilities. There are still some who are well prepared - such as this adventure group of twenty people lurking behind a rock.

But now ordinary people can no longer see what they look like.

"Have you finished the invisibility potion?"

"Ah."

“There is also the breath-blocking potion, prepare it as well.

"These dragons can use their forked tongues to taste the air. Their sense of smell is incredibly acute. Don't let your guard down."

The person who was speaking was a wizard in his twenties. He was wearing a purple robe, holding a hollow wooden staff, and looked a little nervous.

His name is Bennett, a minor noble from Victoria Port. He hired an elite group of mercenaries from all over the place and came here after months of preparation.

According to the information provided by North Wind Castle, the dragon has been sleeping for a long time.

"Bennett, you may be too nervous. It's just a young dragon or even younger. Even if he is a red dragon, so what?"

"We have investigated the survivors."

"And your prophecy spell also proves that the information is correct."

"Even though they are shaking with fear, hahahaha, look at the cowardly looks of them, an underage dragon is frightened like this."

A soldier with muscular body and scars on his face laughed.

His name was Ivan, a seasoned warrior from the Fadlan Empire. He once followed a thirty-man adventure group and killed an adult green dragon, so he never tired of talking about dragon slaying.

The wanderer who was wearing a black robe and whose face could not be seen spoke up:

"It's about seven or eight meters long, and it has a special breath that can aim at a target. Apart from those exaggerated claims, it doesn't seem to have anything special about it."

His name is Vincent, and he's from a thieves guild.

Ivan laughed heartily and said, "After so much time, the dragon has not been defeated. The only reason is that the people in the North are too weak. They can't even deal with those white beasts, let alone the red dragon."

"But we are different. I am a dragon slayer."

Bennett rebuked, “Damn it, Ivan, put away your boasting, even a young red dragon is not an easy monster to deal with.

What's more... he has built up a huge power."

"This time we are going to sneak in secretly, kill the sleeping red dragon, and then take away all the good things in his treasure house. Do you understand? If there is no good opportunity, we will ignore the red dragon and go directly to the treasure house."

Ivan scoffed at this:

"Haha, sneaking in like a thief in the shadows, I wasn't so timid when I slayed a dragon."

Vincent, who was always silent, couldn't help but retort:
"Shut up your mouth that stinks worse than a goblin."

Ivan puffed out his beard and glared, wanting to say something back, but was suddenly stopped by Bennett.

"Shh - shut up." He pointed to a place not far away, where a patrolling team of hobgoblins were walking back.

Bennett whispered, “Follow them, we should be able to reach the Dragon Valley.

"Damn it! How come these hobgoblins are so tall and look like dragons? They are also wearing armor. These must be what the northerners call 'dragon minions'."

"Everyone, stay hidden and follow them. Don't engage in direct conflict."

The adventure group followed the hobgoblin patrol all the way inside until they could see the rock fortress in the valley.

They hid behind a protruding rock on the hillside and stared at the sturdy city wall: they saw many earth elves stationed on guard, with catapults, giant crossbows and other city defense weapons on the wall, several towering watchtowers next to it, and flying dragons patrolling back and forth in the sky.

"Kanas is like a fortress above."

Ivan couldn't help but sigh.

Although he had seen far more majestic walls in the empire, he would never have imagined that these things would appear in a monster's lair.

"No, this is a fortress."

"There must be humans cooperating with them, otherwise these monsters wouldn't have these things."

Tristan, the usually taciturn paladin, looked at the armored hobgoblins and spoke, his brows slightly furrowed, as if he was thinking about something.

Bennett looked at the fortress with mixed feelings.

On the one hand, this shows that this place is indeed rich and there must be a lot of treasure, but on the other hand, how to escape safely becomes a problem.

After thinking for a moment, he said:

"As you can see, the followers of this dragon are definitely not the goblins that can be found everywhere. Once we face them, it will be difficult for us to escape, so we can only sneak in quietly and must not..."

"Roar--"

A distant roar interrupted his words.

"Dragon roar?"

"Did that guy wake up?"

Upon hearing this, Bennett's heartbeat quickened. Months of preparation and thousands of gold coins spent were an absolute gamble, so he couldn't fail here.

Although Ivan was a little scared of the fortress, he walked forward and said:
"What are you afraid of? It's just a young dragon. We just need to lure it out of its lair."

"Click."

He stepped on the ground in front of him, and complex runes suddenly lit up, with flames gushing out from them.

"Oh no, it's the Guardian Inscription!"

"Get out of the way!"

Bennett quickly raised his staff and cast the spell he had constructed long ago.

"Protect against energy damage!"

A thin, translucent film of light appeared outside everyone's bodies, barely blocking the raging flames, but the foot that Ivan stepped out first had been burned black, causing him to groan in pain.

Faced with this sudden change, Bennett couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his forehead:
"Damn it, how could there be such a spell here?"

(End of this chapter)