The Crimson Dragon - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

With the blessing from the goddess, the assault squad had better movement capabilities than the agile spirits despite having bodies not adapted for ground movement. The 3-meter-tall sharkmen were climbing hill after hill effortlessly as if they were moving under the ocean, gradually approaching the cave Claudius once resided in.

  Even the estimation by the goddess was not perfect; there was a five kilometre error. The only reason the noob sharkmen mage was brought along was due to his excellent Detection type magic. As the Cardinal had no expectations for this weakling in combat, the mage was allowed to spend all his mana on the magic ‘Dragon Detection’. With the aid of magic, the search for the crimson dragon sped up quite a bit.

   The nameless cave which had a large hole on the ceiling was discovered by the Cardinal, and bulky sharkmen heads gathered as they all peeked through the hole. The cave was currently brightly illuminated by intense sunlight as it was noon. The first to leap down was a sharkmen warrior who did not wear any armour; the densely packed scales with tiny thorns on them and the strong muscles underneath provided plenty of protection already. An ordinary human being had no chance of harming this warrior even if they used a sword. In the hand of this brave warrior was a trident, the favourite weapon of the sharkmen tribe. As he walked, sounds of ‘flop, flop’ could be heard as sharkmen had webbed feet. The second and third sharkmen warrior jumped down not long after, while the Cardinal descended slowly using magic. On the body of this highly intelligent sharkman were numerous accessories made of bones or teeth, and in his hand held the thick and long Choral Wand. A huge yet dull pearl could be seen on top of the wand. The Cardinal surveyed his surroundings, and stomped the floor with his wand. A visible ripple, originating from the bottom of the wand, spread through the whole cave in the blink of an eye.

 “The dragon’s gone, he left already,” the Cardinal lifted his head and gazed at the ceiling.

 “He won’t be coming back, but it would be foolish to think it is possible to escape from the hands of the goddess!” The Cardinal proclaimed.

   An ‘Imaginary Wave’ swirled within the cave, forming an enormous waterspout in the centre. In the waterspout, a few crimson scales could be seen, dissolving into streaks of light shortly afterwards. The Cardinal could see a bright red arrow in his field of vision, pointing directly at the direction of the scales’ owner, Claudius.

   Claudius was almost full, as he demonstrated extraordinary abilities during the day, successfully killing a bull and three boars. Before the dangerously large carnivores appeared, he stuffed as much meat as he could into his stomach. Perhaps it was due to the natural talent of a dragon, Claudius knew how to ruminate without being taught. He swallowed over half of the bull and nearly two whole boar into his stomach, which was approximately one tonne of meat. There were no noticeable changes to Claudius’ body as well, as his stomach had only swelled ever-so slightly after close observation. Even with so much meat inside him, his movement and flying capabilities were completely unhindered. After the meal, Claudius wanted to find a place to rest while ruminating. As his mind fused with perfectly with the body of a dragon, Claudius did not feel disgusted at the act of chewing digested food despite being a former human.

   Claudius hoped to find a place suitable for hiding as soon as possible while soaring in the skies. After all, an eye catching crimson dragon toddler was still tasty prey in the eyes of other skilled predators. With a bit of luck, Claudius found a platform that happened to be carved into the bottom of a cliff. The platform was 20 metres above ground level, and it was covered by the cliff which expanded horizontally, effectively blocking the line of sight from above. It was only because Claudius was flying at a low altitude did he manage to spot this 30-square-meter platform. The dragon toddler swiftly glided down and landed there, settling down after confirming there were no abnormalities. Claudius spat out chunks of meat from his stomach for ruminating, and a pungent smell instantly filled the space. Slightly digested by the gastric juice and the high temperature in the crimson dragon’s body, it was inevitable for the meat to produce such a smell. Regardless, Claudius didn’t seem to mind it at all; his sense of smell deviated from human standards after transforming into a dragon after all. Claudius picked one out of the pile and began chewing it with his sturdy jaw, humming as he enjoyed the bloody piece of meat. Generally, crimson dragons liked to eat roasted meat by burning the meat with their flames. Due to being a human being fused with a crimson dragon, Claudius was simply out of the norm as he fancied munching raw beef like people back on Earth. (ED: Never met someone who enjoyed munching on raw beef)

   The Cardinal led his squad as the leader while proceeding with haste. In his field of vision, the red arrow kept on rotating and wiggling, giving him information of the location of his target, Claudius. The arrow could point upwards and downwards as well, giving the Cardinal three dimensional data. Moreover, the arrow would darken and enlarge as the distance between them and the target reduces. Of course, such a convenient Detection magic skill was not something ordinary; it was a special divine skill granted by the holy symbol of the goddess which the Cardinal carried. It was said that the origin of such skill was from the ‘Beast of Cursed Blood’, Mala the God of Hunting. The Transformation divine skill; it was the true identity of the skill used by the Cardinal. Speaking of which, it was highly probable that such a beast gave its own oracle as well, finding pleasure as he hunted the crimson dragon.

   There was a cost to pay for using such divine magic, and the items consumed were the few pieces of dragon scales they found in the previous cave. The Cardinal determined that the divine skill would end in around twenty minutes, consuming all the dragon scales. Within this time limit, he had to find the dragon toddler.

   And he succeeded.

   A brilliant light which was only visible to the Cardinal appeared in front of the red arrow. With the aid of divine magic, he could see the familiar crimson dragon laying down on a platform near the bottom of the cliff while chewing chunks of meat. As the sharkmen were all clad in the blessing of the goddess, they had sharp senses as if they were back in the ocean. Before the assault squad could even see the crimson dragon, they managed to detect the bloody and acidic smell in the air.

   The task of capturing the dragon toddler as a sacrifice had to be carried out with caution, as the goddess would not tolerate further failure. Looking at the size of their target, the sharkmen realized it was no simple task. At the end of the day, the Cardinal was merely one of the cardinals among all the tribes which worshipped the goddess Anbo. He could not be considered knowledgeable by all means, hence he simply could not tell the hidden meaning behind the size of a crimson dragon. Based on his previous observations of sea dragons, the Cardinal felt that his current squad could easily take down a sea dragon whelp. Similar to how they would seal the ability to swim of a sea dragon, the problem they faced was that they had to seal the crimson dragon’s flight capability. All their efforts would be in vain the moment the crimson dragon lifted off, unless they were extremely lucky or that their target was retarded.