12. Picked up a dragon

  12. Picked up a dragon

  When the sun rose, Fili was dismayed to find that his remaining troops were standing at the edge of a white-flowered ice sheet. Behind them was a forest full of accumulated snow, and in front of them was an endless sea. Looking south, you could still vaguely see the lighthouse of Emon Port, as well as the black smoke rising from the city - this was the occupying army's wanton destruction.

  The soldiers around him also hung their heads in despair, with bruises all over their bodies from the constant falls. Looking back at the river surface that was as smooth as an ice rink, there was a hint of fear in their eyes. However, Phil still made a turning gesture and led the way back. He suppressed the words of rest that everyone wanted to say.

  They should have made a simple sled or snowboard, but these people were not experienced northerners, and as a result, they crawled and rolled all the way, suffering greatly, with most of them having their hands and feet worn out.

  Unfortunately, they now have to swallow more bitter heads and go back again. Moreover, in order to avoid being noticed by the enemy, they cannot light a fire for warmth. This tragic news made everyone extremely disheartened, but under the threat of possible spirit search teams, they reluctantly turned around under Phil's indication, preparing to embark on another difficult journey.

  But their bad luck seems far from over.

  "Whoosh!"

  The smooth ice surface suddenly cracked open without warning, and cracks appeared on the ice surface within dozens of meters. Several soldiers fell in carelessly, fortunately most people were near the shore, they escaped the danger by scrambling, and also took out ropes to pull out the unlucky ones who had fallen into the ice crevices.

  But what happened next blew their minds.

  "Oh no!"

  A bizarre, seemingly biological entity burst through the ice, its body glistening with moisture as it bobbed up and down in the newly formed cavern. The thing was roughly two to three times the size of Mr. Druin Vini, wrapped in a tangled mass of ice blocks and iron chains, with mud, branches, and debris clinging to it, making it impossible to discern its true nature from appearance alone.

  After piercing the ice, the monster did not continue to react and just floated in the icy water. The crowd was initially frightened and hid in the woods, but when they saw that nothing dangerous had happened, they slowly gathered together, whispering about the monster. A bolder soldier even fired a lead bullet at the monster with his rifle, although it was deflected by the ice block and iron chain, but it triggered an unexpected consequence.

  "Achoo!"

  A loud sneeze accompanied by a fireball and ice blocks spewed out of the monster's nostrils, several soldiers on fire were scared to roll around in the snow, fortunately nothing serious except for some burnt clothes. Fili quickly cast a few defensive spells on himself, then gestured for the soldiers to retreat into the forest, observing the monster's movements from a distance.

  With a loud rustling sound, the monster frantically shook its filthy body, like a cat that had just been bathed, trying to fling off all sorts of things from its body. The soldiers hiding in the woods were still over thirty paces away from the monster, but they were hit again by the garbage-mixed snow and ice, forcing them to retreat with their heads covered. However, just as they were about to scatter in fear, a voice with a crying tone almost made everyone fall to the ground.

  "Oh no! For heaven's sake, who can give me a hand?"

  ****

  "Monster, you say you're a dragon? But why do you look like a hellish chain demon?" Floating in the air with her levitation technique, Fili gazed at the black creature wrapped in iron chains with some curiosity, soon revealing an expression that seemed to be holding back laughter.

  "Hey, you impolite little thing! Call me... Ah-choo! Cough, cough, ah-choo!" The monster angrily twisted its body, but because of the large movement, it sank into the icy water again, swallowing a mouthful of seawater. It was choked, and its snot, tears, fireballs, and ice blocks flew out together. Fili quickly pulled away to avoid getting splashed.

  "......Your name is quite unusual."

  "Alright, alright, stop teasing me! Help me out quickly, or I'll freeze to death at this rate!" Seeing the ice around him start to close in, the monster grew anxious and his voice took on a crying tone, though he wasn't coughing as much anymore. "That old witch Sofia wants to kill me, you Nords can't just stand by and watch me die, can you? Pull me up quickly!"

  "Sophia? Are you from the Spirit Army?" After repeatedly confirming that the big guy in front of him was not a threat, Fili threw a rope at the monster and then signaled to the soldiers to pull it up with force.

  "Hey, hey, don't choke me, I'm almost out of breath."

  "Please bear with it for a moment, I'll ask them to pull it lighter, try not to break it."

  "What did you just break... Ah!"

  The guy looked massive in build, but not too heavy, a dozen or so people on the shore pulled it out of the water like tug-of-war, and the monster was dragged onto the ice, but immediately crushed the ice surface again and fell into the water. This repeated several times until, before it was strangled by the rope or drowned in icy water, the guy finally made it to the snow-covered riverbank. A few dwarf engineers raised their hammers and chisels and smashed open the iron chains on the monster's body.

  "Cough, cough, ah-choo!"

  As soon as the ropes and chains were loosened, the monster began to spew fireballs and ice blocks from its nostrils and mouth again, splashing the dwarf engineers' heads and faces in a most ungrateful manner. Fortunately, this guy had been soaked in icy water for a long time, and even when he started sneezing, he didn't have much strength left, and a light pat would extinguish the flames. The soldiers pulled one end of the iron chain with force, and the black monster began to spin like a top, smaller and smaller fireballs and ice blocks drawing long parabolic lines, flung far away under the action of centrifugal force. Later on, even miniature fireballs and ice blocks couldn't be spat out anymore.

  When the big black thing finally fell to the ground, quietly lying on the riverbank, Feili came out of the woods and circled around it from a distance, watching as it spat acid onto the ground, and was greatly surprised by its efforts in losing weight.

  "Monster Mr., it seems that the Elf Army's treatment of you is quite poor. I'm sure they've deducted a lot of food expenses from your pay."

  "Please call me the respectable Black Dragon Holmes!" The black monster, although looking extremely weak and as if it would fall with just a gust of wind, suddenly gained spirit when its name was mentioned and stood up. However, due to not being able to tell directions and having too large of a range of motion, it unfortunately crashed headfirst into the trunk of a pine tree and immediately fell to the ground with stars in its eyes.

  Yesterday, the first battle of the Spirit Army was fought on this thing, and it's not losing, that's really unreasonable! However, is it really a black dragon? Feili carefully examined this guy again: thin and bony, covered in scars, with white skin lesions in many places, and iron chains grinding against his body, slowly oozing blood. His tall body was hunched over, seemingly slightly asymmetrical. His face was pockmarked, with yellowish small eyes below a pair of large nostrils resembling pig snouts, as ugly as can be. Nevertheless, judging from its overall shape, it still had some connection to giant dragons, which suddenly lifted Feili's spirits.

  Ever since a certain lucky thief made a fortune overnight by killing a sick giant dragon, dragons have been synonymous with huge experience points and diamond gift packs. Although the guy in front of me looks miserable, there probably won't be any treasure, but the dragon itself is a moving gold mine!

  Dragon's blood, dragon bones, and dragon teeth are all extremely precious magical materials, while dragon scales and dragon skin can be used to make the best defensive gear. The bodies of those few low-level green dragons last time earned Phil a pretty penny, so this guy who claims to be an even higher-level black dragon should be able to fetch an even better price, right?

  "Monster Mr., no, I mean Holmes Mr., you said you are the Black Dragon, but how come I can't see your scales? By the way, what's your age this year?"

  "Alas, I've unfortunately contracted a skin disease at sea and it's almost gone. " Holmes sighed, revealing a mouthful of crooked yellow teeth, "I'm 599 years old, no, wait, it should be 600 now. Can I have some hot soup? If there's something to eat, that'd be even better. That damned old hag hasn't given me anything to eat since yesterday and had me soaked in water for a whole day and night. If I hadn't been lucky enough to escape, I'd probably have been tortured to death by now!"

  Does he get skin disease in winter? Nonsense! Looking at the guy's nest, it must have been stolen by a greedy sailor. Feili spat out some dry food from the space ring into Holmes' mouth and asked him a few more questions. Finally, the black dragon who was chewing on the food seemed like an old man who had to answer every question, and he spoke freely and endlessly. From these stories, Feili disappointingly discovered that after gathering a group of useless subordinates, he got another useless old black dragon!

  Holmes' body is about 8 feet long, which is extremely large compared to ordinary animals, but in the dragon clan, it's simply a child's physique. Combined with his age, it's not hard to imagine that he is underdeveloped and malnourished. Moreover, according to him, the Elf Army treated him cruelly, making him go hungry and cold every day, forcing him to gnaw on officer boots, coats, and sheepskin sails to survive. When he was really starving, he even had to gnaw on wooden boards to catch mice, resulting in loose skin, falling scales, and several missing teeth. What a dark life!

  "Deformed body, scales falling off, teeth damaged, skin tissue disease, long-term anemia, muscles so old they're crumbling, and possibly toxic deposits! If you were to sell such a useless thing, I'm afraid you wouldn't even be able to cover the transportation costs!" Phil cursed, understanding from another angle the miserable fate of Old Black Dragon, while also cursing heaven for letting him have a futile joy.

  Just as he was about to abandon Holmes in the snowy wilderness, Roshan's old black dragon told the story of the spirit leader who deceived his superiors by capturing himself in Ser. Thinking that his own team was the first to collapse in this defensive battle, Feri's attitude towards Holmes immediately made a 180-degree turn.

  "Unbelievable that Sophia, that female demon, would treat a noble black dragon gentleman like you so cruelly! On behalf of the New Thayril War Zone Command Office, I extend our warmest welcome to your decision to abandon darkness and join the light!" Phil's face was full of sincerity as he extended an enthusiastic invitation to his former prey, "Are you interested in joining our righteous ranks in resisting Sophia's evil atrocities, esteemed Mr. Holmes?"

  "Of course, I have a lot of confidential intelligence about the Elf Army here. Can you take me to see your superior?"

  "That's great!" Fili's delicate little face smiled like a flower, "Bam! Quickly get a few people to make a simple wooden raft, so that the respected Mr. Holmes can ride on it! We're going to take this reformed black dragon back to headquarters!" He turned around and shouted loudly at his subordinates.

  "I'm really grateful to you, this old bone of mine is truly without strength to move again, I don't know what your honorable name is?"

  "Under Colonel Thayer of the 14th Brooklyn, afterwards our fellow officer, we must look out for each other, Mr. Holmes!"

  "Of course, you're my lifesaver!" Old Black Dragon said with endless gratitude.