MTLNOVEL Chapter 129: Dragon Sighting
With a wild roar that echoed through the wilderness, the group of Druids calmly stopped their carriages at the edge of the meadow. Their bodies swiftly grew a wooden texture like that of Treant Skin, and they swung their weapons or crossbow bolts, pinpointing the Goblins charging toward them.
As for the wolves, tigers, and leopards mingled among them, the muscular Druids, who looked like incarnations of Lu Zhishen and Wu Song, managed to withstand their assault. They pinned these large animals to the ground and expertly soothed them.
When the animals struggled, their claws and teeth could only leave a few tooth marks and scratches on the Druids' Treant Skin.
The wave of attacking beasts came to a complete stop in less than ten minutes. It then took about half an hour to clean up the battlefield, collect the Goblins' corpses, and burn the remains. Otherwise, if left unattended, it could easily cause a plague.
Is that even possible? David had considered that this wave of Goblins coupled with the beast tide might not inflict much damage on these Elf Druids.
But he hadn't expected that the Druids would deal with the situation so cleanly and efficiently.
The mere three injuries that did occur were quickly rejuvenated under the Druids' Healing Words.
The only thing that slightly reassured him was that the Druids from the Nature Sect, in order not to harm the wild animals, chose to appease them rather than swiftly kill all approaching threats.
Otherwise, it might have taken them only a few minutes to clean up.
This was especially fortunate for David, who was trying to buy time, as it worked out accidentally in his favor.
However, the way these Druids treated the animals, especially the females, with such gentle and careful gestures and expressions made David feel inexplicably squeamish.
When the Druids had disposed of a nest of Goblins and were back on the road, David, unable to see any sign of his father or think of a better plan, decided to resort to his old trick.
So the Druids, who had only recently set off again, encountered another wave of beasts charging at them.
This time, in order not to delay the main task of transporting the Century Aroma seeds, they took less than half the time they had before.
By the time the third wave of the forest's beasts attacked from the roadside, even the most simple-minded among the Druids realized that something unusual was happening.
The High Elf responsible for this transport mission gently soothed a female wolf's emotions, and with Animal Friendship, he won the wolf's affection.
But right now, there was no time to deepen their relationship; after a quick exchange using Beast Speech, the High Elf's expression changed, and he shouted loudly,
"A Dragon is lurking nearby! All troops, be on alert and proceed with increased speed!"
Seeing that the High Elf convoy had reacted quickly and was, in just a short moment, nearing the cliff where he and his father, Attilicia, had agreed to meet, David truly had no other options left. He clenched his teeth.
Tch, I'll have to steal it by force then!
Worse comes to worst, I'll just finish this job and head back to the Old Continent to lay low.
Just as the persistent David was crouching down, wiggling his behind, preparing to dive toward the Elf transport team below the cliff, he suddenly felt someone grabbing his tail.
His draconic instincts took over, and he whirled around to bite.
Fortunately, he managed to stop himself in time and then cursed at the newcomer,
"Why are you only arriving now! For something this important, couldn't you have come earlier? If I hadn't found a way to hold them off for a while, the alarms of Dewensen would probably be ringing by now."
He then saw his father, the Silver Dragon, still disguised as a female Drow, giving him an apologetic look and gesturing for silence before whispering urgently,
"Got held up by something. Who could've expected they'd arrive early! I was afraid flying straight here would alert them, so I had to run all the way. No time to explain, where did you bury that shield?"
At this critical moment, David didn't have time to argue or blame him and reported a set of spatial coordinates as per his father's previous requirements.
An anxious Attilicia eyed the transport team's position, began calculating on the spot, and started drawing a Magic Circle the size of a manhole cover on a large banyan tree in front of them. But after a few glances, he noticed something was off,
"Why are they moving so fast! Their speed is completely different from what I had anticipated!"
What else could it be! David fumed. If that wasn't my own father in front of me, I'd really want to whip him dead with my tail!
"I need to alter a parameter… No! There's no time to recalculate from scratch! Think of something to slow them down—quick!" Facing the prospect of a night's calculations going to waste, Attilicia grew frantic.
What the hell! Faced with his father failing at such a critical moment, David, feeling his Wrath surge, had the urge to curse out the Dragon.
But if cursing at Dragons was effective, I could have cursed my ancestors back eighteen generations! he thought, then an idea struck him as he recalled their previous reaction.
Eureka!
In a moment of desperate ingenuity, David looked up and bellowed to the sky,
"ROAR! ROAR ROAR ROAR!!!"
Hearing his son's voice, which sounded akin to a Dragon in heat during its mating season, the Silver Dragon father, whose Drow face was already dark, saw it grow even darker.
"What are you yelling about!"
WHACK! He was met by a slap from David's tail directly on his rear, eliciting a moan that could melt a Dragon's soul:
"AHH..."
Attilicia, quickly catching on, instinctively covered his mouth, his face a mixture of shame and rage. What are you doing! he was about to scold David.
But from the corner of his eye, he saw the Druids on the road urgently reining in their startled horses as their leader commanded,
"Slow down! Slow down, there's a Dragon in heat nearby! Don't disturb it at all costs!"
A Dragon in heat was, at the very least, a young adult Dragon—a threat capable of endangering their entire transport team.
Attilicia then realized this was the impromptu strategy David had come up with.
Of all the ways to handle this, why did he have to choose one so embarrassingly shameless for Dragons!
If word of this got out, could I, Attilicia, ever show my face as a Dragon again?!
Yet, considering the astronomical debt he carried, he didn't wait for the visibly angry David to urge him on. He too, somewhat flustered, began to call out.
As he called out, he had to suppress the mortifying feeling of social suicide in front of his son while setting up the Teleportation Magic Circle.
"Captain! It sounds like an Elf's voice. Could it be that some passing maiden... is under attack? Shouldn't we go to the rescue...?"
The suggestion, however, was met with a righteous and well-reasoned refusal from the Druid captain,
"Hmph! With such wanton cries, it couldn't possibly be our pure High Elves. It must be some shameless Drow battling a Dragon in heat out in the wild! Let's move! The mission is critical. We'll report this once we're back in the city."
"..." Not only were the Elves stunned into silence, but David and his father were also struck mute by this mental blow. Attilicia, now labeled by the Elf captain as the 'shameless, wanton Drow,' felt two streams of tears slide down his cheeks.
How can I ever face my son again!
I, Attilicia...
have no face to be a Dragon anymore!!!
"AHH!!!" Overcome with desolation, Attilicia let out a plaintive lament.
At that very moment, just as the second cart pulled by the Elven Druids rolled over the shield David had buried, which was similarly marked with a Teleportation Circle,
the Magic Circle finally took shape under the trembling hands of David's Silver Dragon father.
A portal, glowing with a deep blue, mysterious light, appeared on the trunk of the banyan tree.
Attilicia signaled with hand gestures, "If anything goes wrong, remember to pull me out!" then plunged straight into the Teleportation Gate.