Chương 267: Dragon Fun (I)
All Zero could think of was that it was quite toasty. He liked the temperature because he was in his dragon form. He could feel the area's warmth, though it didn't bother him as much as the others. Heat waves danced in the distance, making it difficult to see ahead from the distortion.
Death was apparent everywhere they stepped; the bones of dead animal carcasses were littered all over. Even plants were wilted from the heat, unable to sustain much life, leaving the place barren. The plant life was sparse, with the environment and the monsters feral and warped.
The ground was cracked and dried up; even a mixture of Obsidian stones merged with the ground, creating a shiny surface. Quite a few people had to be careful of stepping off at the wrong angle, or they would have slipped and hit their heads on a sharp rock.
Zero could still smell the sulfur smell of the volcanic activity. He saw pockets of magma still bubbling out from the ground in several different areas, creating new obsidian rocks. They were even small areas of hot, jetting water spewing upwards from the ground. A hissing sound could be heard when it hit the floor as the water evaporated.
What Zero noticed was that there were quite several fire monsters roaming around in the territory. One such creature was an ugly Fire Salamander-like lizard with flaming frills on either side of its face. Its tail flickered like Fire, changing its colors ever so slightly from red to orange and then back again as it moved its tail side-to-side. Although, what he needed to watch out for wasn't their Fire but the undeniable danger of its devilish mouth. A single bite from them would leave a horrifying burn on its victims. He kept himself well out of reach of such an attack.
As they traveled through the territory, they met with quite a few numbers of Fire Salamanders as they got closer to their destination. However, it was the first monster that they met. Thankfully, the Fire Salamanders were easily put down because they were usually alone.
They only had trouble with the Fire Salamander when it used its special fire breath. It wasn't a normal fire breath but had a blast of dark energy entwined in with it. When one was hit with the attack, it would slowly burn to death, but the Fire itself would suddenly attack anyone who even approached them to help. Then, almost as if it was alive, it would jump onto its next victim and devour it in its flames.
They weren't just Fire Salamanders but Fire Hounds as well. Made of a strange mixture of Fire and lava, they blazed a brilliant mixture of red and orange. However, worse was not their size, which was the average size of a large hound, but their pack mentality. Zero had seen quite a large pack of them roaming around the open land, and they weren't just ten to fifteen but easily over four to six dozen. In addition, they were a walking fire hazard that he knew they would have trouble against.
The Fire Hounds and Salamanders weren't just passing monsters that people would hunt for the experience. The dark energy wrapped around their body and lethal magic could easily make their attacks difficult or even fatal if they weren't careful.
When they came upon a large pack of Fire Hounds, the fight was intense and even more dangerous than the past fights. Each Fire Hound was smart, and each had its distinctive role.
Working in perfect synchronicity, they would draw a large group away from their main forces and attempt to break the army in half into a more manageable fight.
Zero noticed that they lost more people fighting against the Fire Hounds than any other fights
combined, which meant something. They were extra careful against the Fire Hounds, making sure not to follow the bait. Even still, the Fire Hounds would use different tactics to chip away at the army, making their fights more offensive and quick. General Liam and Zero noticed that the longer they fought against the Fire Hounds pack, the higher the chance of the army being destroyed outright.
If Zero had to choose which fight between the two monsters, he would hands down go against the Salamander any day than the Fire Hounds. Luckily, Zero's sight was quite strong, allowing him to direct the army away from the Fire Hounds as much as possible. In addition, he noticed that the Fire Hounds only attacked when they encroached upon their territory, and even if they saw them off in the distance, the Fire Hounds wouldn't attack, saving them from unnecessary fights.
Now, the problem was the direction that General Liam was pointing towards. It was strange that the closer they got to the volcano, the Zero started to feel very uncomfortable. His senses told him to stay away from the volcano and head the other way. He didn't know the cause of this strange feeling, but it was putting him on edge.
So far, he still needs to get a territory challenge message or if he should issue one. The chance that something very dangerous was coming towards them right now wasn't something he wanted to chance, especially when he felt this uneasy, and Zero always listened to his dragon instinct.
The goal of this mission wasn't to wipe out the monsters but to retrieve an ancient artifact. Right now, the true battle of survival had started, and having more people alive to survive through the oncoming battle ahead was imperative.
"General Liam!" Zero trotted forward, pushing past through the army as he made towards
General Liam, who was leading near the front. "General Liam!" He eventually made it next to
General Liam.
"Dragon Prince. Is something wrong?" General Liam steadied his horse.
"Yes, I need to warn you there are monsters up ahead. Quite a large amount of them too." Zero quickly replied, "Right now, I was able to see some Fire Hounds in about a pack of one hundred or more and some Fire Salamanders."
"I suspected as much." General Liam nodded. "It's good to have keen eyes like yours. If we didn't have you along with us, we might have walked straight into their territory and lost a lot of good men and elves."
"Yes, I suspect something more sinister on this land." Zero carefully spoke, knowing that wherever they were heading, too, he had a very dark feeling that Zero couldn't get rid of. Something evil was on this land, and the ground itself felt tainted.
"You got that feeling too?" General Liam raised his eyebrow, staring off into the distance where they needed to be headed. "I thought it was just my thoughts being too overly excited about the journey's end." He half-heartedly chuckled, but Zero knew full well that General Liam didn't completely mean that.
"It's getting worse every time we get closer to our destination."
"I'm afraid we must go towards the danger for this mission." General Liam sighed, knowing that they couldn't do much about it. Their mission was possibly in the middle of something hazardous, and they didn't know what. "All I can do is pray that we don't stumble upon whatever we are heading towards, though we will take extra precaution on our scouting missions and double our guards working in pairs."
"Do you think that would be enough?" Zero asked. He was curious to know if that was even enough in the first place.
"No, but it's something." General Liam replied.
"True." Zero sighed. "I'll keep watch and tell you if I find anything strange."
"That would be very helpful, especially now." General Liam replied with wariness; he looked around. "These days, I feel we are being watched."
Zero understood that feeling well, especially because he had the same feeling. If he knew any better, someone out there was watching them without their presence being known; he had to wonder why. The closer they got to the volcano, the stronger the set of eyes were staring, and it was becoming more and more frequent.
"I have had the same feeling as well," said Zero. Then, again, he felt the heated stare that bore into the back of his head. He whipped around, searching for the source, but couldn't find anyone. Nobody was staring at him with the strong dark intent he knew of, as most of the soldiers were either busy walking, talking, or zoning out on their march.
"You got that feeling too?" General Liam whispered towards Zero.
"Yes," Zero growled, ducking his head a little lower. "I'm not liking it one bit."
"I'll see what else we find. Look for me when you have anything."
"Yes, sir," Zero replied; he turned around and headed back toward his group. People parted ways to let him through, allowing Zero to weasel his way toward the rear. Agnis, Zeraph, Sekka, Leaf, Valiant, and Reed were huddled around each other, leisurely talking about the day.
Valiant had several skeleton monsters trailing behind him that were still alive through all the past fights. Honestly, Valiant had acquired many skeletons that strayed behind the original army. Of course, only a few people liked the skeleton monster army that followed behind them, but they knew that Valiant's ability was quite helpful in routing and diverting large enemies.
Valiant's little army has reached over a little less than two thousand. So with everybody he could muster, he would create a new legion of skeleton forces following behind him. He even used the dead bodies of his allies as his skeleton army, although he got a lot of disapproval from the soldiers whenever he did that.
Zero was the one who stopped quite a few soldiers from attacking Valiant out of anger, stating that it was a necessity for the army. They only had a set amount of people and needed every firepower they could get. Zero hadn't started on his necromancy like Valiant because it never crossed his mind to use it. Valiant was already doing a splendid job keeping the skeleton army in check and raising a decent size.
This skeleton army was mostly made of boars, salamanders, Kilins, and many more. There were a few human or elven-shaped skeletons, but there weren't as many as the animal types. So far, Valiant had a limit and couldn't get past two thousand. Zero suspected it was because Valiant was still young and didn't even have enough bodies to create many more. They were less powerful than their original form but were still considered a force to be reckoned with. Nevertheless, zero was highly pleased with Valiant's work, allowing him to continue collecting more skeletons from the army.
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