The Crimson Dragon - Chapter 51

Chapter 51

 Hell Island, if viewed from a normal map where the upwards direction is north, it would an island in the shape of a crucifix rotated by 45 degrees. The priests and paladins of the gods Pelor, Tyr and Lathander were approaching from the south-west direction.

 Although the sea monster residing in the mountains had yet to reveal themselves, their powerful auras could still be felt faintly in the nearby areas. The south-west mountain was like a hand, with the five crumbling peaks being the ‘fingers’ and the sinkhole filled with seawater being the ‘palm’. The sinkhole had a diameter of roughly one kilometre while the depth was unknown. Between the ‘thumb’ and the ‘index finger’ was 300-metre-wide strait, and the adventurers were passing through the strait to reach the centre of the island — the volcano.

 As a matter of fact, not only the gods of the good alignment were interested in this particular hunt. Malar, the God of hunting, who took the form of a black beast and was one of the Deities of Fury like Anbo, also took an interest in the irregular Crimson Dragon. It was a nice prey, and he could even take out the minions of Anbo at the same time — the Deities of Fury were not friendly towards one another at all.

 Malar’s worshippers were a cautious bunch, at least when hunting. Similar to their god, the hunters would take their time scouting their target and making detailed plans before taking action. They were particularly careful this time, considering that their enemy was a Crimson Dragon, which was a species they rarely hunted. For this very reason, they hid among the adventurers in order to scout their prey and map the surroundings. They also did not hold back in killing some sea monsters on their way as it pleased their god.

 Meanwhile, Claudius was still having sweet dreams in his lair. He had been sleeping for several years already, yet there were still no signs of him waking up soon. The river of lava and the sulphurous smoke shrouded a corner of the volcanic crater, and there lay the sleeping dragon. His body had once again grown larger, reaching over thirty metres in length. He could be considered as one of the largest Crimson Dragons in history, with the mega-sized body unfit for his age. The ground which Claudius had been laying on became magma due to the heat he was giving off all the time, causing him to sink slightly into the molten ground. His chin was now submerged in hot molten rock, but it felt comfortable rather than painful thanks to his innate immunity to fire.

 Similar to Earth, lava in this magical world was also rich in all sorts of metals, bringing the heavy metals from deep underground to the surface. As the lava reached the surface and cooled down to form rocks, sparks of metallic shine could be seen. Iron was the most abundant metal, forming Iron Sulphide, also known as Pyrite, after reacting with sulphur. The golden yellow ores scattered all over the magma river bank, with silver ores and gold ores mixed among them. If inspected closely, there were also mithril and adamantite ores in hidden locations. Theoretically, Claudius was now a millionaire — if he could ward off the invaders and claim the island as his property, that is……

 If Claudius could view the cheat screen right now, he would have noticed that the darkened subordinate bar ‘Flame Myceloids’ was now lit like the Udaeus’. The crimson lichen had spread into the volcanic crater, and for some reason hyphae began to attach themselves to the lichen, growing into dense packs of mushrooms in the gloomy corners. The mushroom caps were all shimmering in a metallic glow, and they were a lot heavier than typical mushrooms, much like the ones Claudius grew in his previous lairs. To be honest, they were more like pieces of metal in the shape of mushrooms rather than actual mushrooms.

 The mana-filled mushrooms were not something which could be eaten directly, even though they were first class materials for making medicine. When consumed directly without processing, people would first break their teeth for munching chunks of metal, then suffer from heavy metal poisoning or even gastric ulcer in extreme cases. Claudius, however, had been eating these metal mushrooms for a long time. The amount of metals he had been consumed was equivalent to a whole crate of gold coins, just that he was unaware due to the twisted sense of taste after turning into a dragon. Similar to his previous mushroom farm, Myceloids around 70 or 80 centimetres tall were appearing spontaneously as well. They looked quite cute as their little black eyes and tiny mouth was located on the stem rather than the cap. The red hot Myceloids, contrary to their appearances, were probably even stronger than average humans. Despite their smooth and naked ‘bodies’, the Myceloids were nonetheless semi-hollow heavy metals, hence their defensive abilities might even be better than plate armour.

 The tiny Myceloids poked their heads out of the bunch of ‘normal’ mushrooms as they cautiously peeked at the massive Crimson Dragon. Whenever Claudius slightly moved or breathed a little flame cloud in his dreams, the little mushroom men would immediately hide themselves. However, these little fellows would clean the dragon’s body from time to time, removing the ash and cooled magma from his scales. The Myceloids worked diligently and silently, and Claudius was oblivious to their actions as he was having a nice sleep.

 As Claudius was submerged in lava for a lengthy period of time, a thin layer of dark red alloy condensed on his scaly chin, giving off a metallic shine. The scales on his body also had a matte metallic look which seemed to buff his defences significantly. Even the webbing on his wings was coated in a dull reddish black layer after being coated in magma for a while, despite the Myceloids’ efforts. Although the growth period had yet to come to an end, the golden horns on his head already showed that the dragon was much more powerful than before.

 Yet he was still crap at magic. The only legitimate magic spell he could cast was Locate Object, which could be used up to seven times a day. Perhaps he could use Find the Path after the long sleep, but that was it. It seemed that Claudius would have to look for scrolls or books in order to learn new spells. The class Dragon Disciple had decent spell casting abilities, yet it was all wasted as Claudius could only cast two spells; the Level 0 magic tricks did not count as formal spells. He had already complained a while ago that all dragons could cast a handful of new spells as they reached a new age group, yet he had to study scrolls and book to learn new spells as he only obtained one from the growth, not to mention it was useless.

 Claudius’ nice long sleep was about to end as the invaders were rapidly approaching the volcano. All of a sudden, the sea bulged as a gigantic sea monster was making its way up from deep beneath, seemingly to protect the sleeping dragon. The adventurers changed their course immediately, hoping to go pass the monster before it fully emerged. They would probably crash onshore and get stranded, but it was still a lot better than fighting a sea monster on a ship.

 Soon, the upper part of the gigantic monster emerged from the bulging sea.