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Page 23
“It’s not a waste, it’s calculation!” Myris argued, but few people understood his meaning. Fortunately, Eisen understood and suppressed the other elders’ disciplinary decisions.
Eisen gave Camerius a chance to prove himself.
The Kou Tao fishmen quickly organized a fourth climbing attack. This time, they wore goggles that could block out the strong light. Then, Myris made his move, using only one bomb.
As a highly skilled demolition expert, Myris had mastered the speed at which the bombs fell and the time it took for the fuses to burn out by detonating five bombs. He ensured that the bombs exploded just before the Koto fishmen climbing the stone pillar could intercept them, and relied on the intense flash and shockwave of the explosions to sweep the sticky creatures back into the lake.
Then a stalemate ensued. Kou Tao, the fishman, couldn't find a new solution and could only climb up again and again only to be blasted back into the lake.
But this might not be entirely unconventional for the Koto fishmen. With the protection of high-level spellcasters, the Karick tribe's bombs could only slow them down, not truly repel them, nor inflict much damage on their manpower. Yet, the Karick tribe's bombs were dwindling. Iron shells were easy to obtain, but the production of saltpeter from boiling excrement was incredibly slow. The Karick tribe's small population produced only a tiny amount of excrement each day, and the bombs would soon be exhausted.
Of course, the Carrick tribe can hold out for a while, and even if they eventually run out of bombs, with their geographical and equipment advantages, they may still be able to put up a fight against these Kotau fishmen.
The real trouble lies with those grey dwarves of Gravesend!
No one knows what good fortune these dark-faced, bearded drunkards had, but they actually completed their slave-hunting mission ahead of schedule and returned to the city via the Rift Valley, just in time to witness the Koto merfolk's attack on the Kalik tribe. Seeing the Koto merfolk frantically climbing the stone pillars to attack the Kalik tribe, they naturally stopped to watch out of curiosity.
This gathering caused problems. In order to defend against the Kotow murlocs, the Karrick tribe had to expose a lot of things that might interest the grey dwarves: iron-shelled bombs, mechanical ballistae... and a large number of dragon vein sorcerers.
The fishmen are too small to catch underwater, the Karrick tribe is too weak and has the advantage of terrain to be ignored, and the kobolds can generally coexist peacefully with the gray dwarves as long as they hide when the kobolds pass by.
But now, how could the Grey Dwarves allow such a new force to suddenly emerge within their "rule," even if they are unaware of the existence of dragons for the time being?
As the Koto murloc climbed for the third time, Aisen, through his magical pet, saw the grey dwarf slave-hunting team split into two groups. One group of 30 escorted the captured slaves back to Greifsend, while the other elite group of a dozen or so stayed behind, occupying the stone pillar near the Karrick tribe, quietly monitoring the war between the tribe and the murlocs.
The returning slave-catching team naturally called for reinforcements, and judging by the time, the gray dwarf army should be arriving soon. Although Gravesend City wasn't a major city renowned throughout the Underdark, it was far beyond the reach of the small Kotow murloc tribe. If they confirmed that the Karrick tribe posed a threat, they would flatten the entire stone pillar and capture every surviving kobold from the tribe, branding them with permanent slavery.
Just as mind flayers have done to them.
Eisen's worries soon became a reality. Before the Koto murlocs could organize a new attack, the magical pets that had been keeping a watchful eye on the passage leading to Gravesend City discovered that more than 80 gray dwarves were using long whips to drive various slaves, dragging huge siege machines into the rift.
Regardless of the level of the psionic mage leading this gray dwarf team, or how many psionic warriors were in the team.
The Karic tribe had spent months preparing and accumulating about forty iron bombs, but the caravan pulled by the gray dwarf slave barges had over a hundred neatly stacked on top of them, and they looked even bigger and more violent.
"May the dragons bless us... No, that's not right, our dragons are too young now. O dragon, I hope you can hear my prayers, flee, flee from here, flee from this hopeless underworld, live well, grow up well, become the greatest dragon, and bring destruction and domination to these damned grey dwarves, and then rescue your loyal servants... if we are still alive then."
56. War
"Huh, who's talking to me?"
Hearing the whispers, Casalos slowly awoke from his short slumber.
The spell scroll worked very well; it was completely unaffected by the aftereffects of experiencing a formal death and truly completed the expected advancement.
Looking back, the scales covering the metal layer had become wider and thicker, reflecting the light of the lava like flowing water; the flames flickering between the scales were also more dazzling, even overshadowing the omnipresent lava firelight within the narrow cavity—meaning that its innate defense had received a substantial boost. Illuminated by the lava firelight, Casalos could also see mysterious patterns on the metal coating of its scales. If the scales were held upright, it would be discovered that the same was true on the back of the dragon scales and on the dragon skin. These patterns were not color changes like embroidery, but rather were engraved within the dragon scales and skin like reliefs, with dark dragon magic flowing within, stimulating a dazzling aura visible only to arcane vision.
Casalos chuckled. It had successfully embarked on a dragon-specific path of advancement, becoming a Level 1 Carved Skin Dragon.
The voice, like a murmur, roused it from its slumber, and as it awoke from its drowsy state, it finally recognized that it was the voice of the kobold Eisen.
"Oh... I haven't seen you in a few days and your dragon servant's level has increased again. But why are you making me run? Let me see what's going on... Hehe, it turns out..."
Chapter 53
"It's the gray dwarf taking advantage of the chaos."
Before Casalos left, Eisen's dragon servant had already reached level 3. Now, after the upgrade, it had awakened the supernatural power of telepathy, enabling it to communicate with dragons through telepathy. That's why it transmitted its self-prayer whisper to Casalos. Casalos, as the object of the dragon servant's service, could do more through this telepathic connection, such as directly sharing Eisen's senses. In this way, it immediately understood what had happened.
"This is really troublesome. I did this to prevent you from deliberately entering the treasure vault trial early, but I didn't expect you to join us so soon. Let me think about what to do now..."
With these thoughts racing through his mind, Casalos destroyed any traces he had left inside the cavity and followed the lava flow back to the rift valley.
It had no intention of abandoning the Carrick tribe, which it had cultivated for so long. After several months of getting along, these inherently wicked puppies had won its favor with their loyalty. It was by nature that, unless driven to the brink of despair, the Iron Dragon's neutral order would prevent it from easily abandoning its servants with whom it had formed a contract.
We're still far from being in dire straits. Through the magical pet perception shared by Eisen, Casalos has already come up with some ideas on how to completely eliminate the dwarf city's spying.
Of course, all of this will have to wait until the current crisis is resolved.
As they plunged down the lava waterfall, they could see in the distance that the gray dwarves were already directing their slaves to clear the area on the stone pillars adjacent to the mushroom thicket, preparing to set up siege equipment. On the other side, the Koto murlocs, seeing an opportunity, also surfaced one after another, making grand preparations for their attack in their murloc language.
Casalos hovered silently outside the sight of the gray dwarves and the Kotow merfolk, trying his best to scout out the distribution of both sides' forces and high-level professionals. He used his mental link to inform Eisen not to panic and personally directed the Carrick tribe to prepare for defense.
Using the existing tunnels, the kobolds urgently excavated several reverse slope fortifications on the stone pillars where the grey dwarves' siege weapons were located. They moved several simple catapults there and dispersed their stored iron bombs in open areas where they were not easily attacked, preparing to meet the enemy.
In just half a day, the grey dwarves leveled several solid foundations, drove deep piles, and erected four towering gantry catapults. Guided by psionic energy, these machines could accurately hurl large stones, one meter in diameter, hundreds of meters away. Combined with the massive bombs the grey dwarves created, even some drow capital cities would be in serious trouble.
It seems that the Kou Tao fishmen and the gray dwarves have made contact. While the gray dwarves are preparing to test the catapult, they are also starting to climb up the stone pillars under the guidance of a high-ranking priestess of the drowning goddess.
The kobolds received the live situation report from Casalos from the air, activated the boulder-rolling mechanism on the corresponding cliff edge, and dumped all the prepared stones down at once, slightly hindering the Kotō fishmen and dispelling their vigilance.
After testing the rock-throwing gantry catapults with a few volleys and adjusting them, the grey dwarves began long-range bombardment.
One after another, iron-cased bombs filled with black powder were launched into the mushroom bushes and exploded with a bang. The spreading shockwave shattered the soft, fluorescent mushrooms, and the eerie blue fluorescent liquid splattered all over the stone pillars, making the tops of the pillars glow.
After the kobolds took refuge in the trenches of the reverse-slope fortifications, their makeshift catapults, with a range of only a few dozen meters, were completely ineffective against the gray dwarves. Fortunately, the reverse-slope fortifications that Casalos had hastily constructed offered good protection against these fixed-trajectory projectiles, and the kobolds would not suffer significant casualties until they were completely destroyed.
The Koto murlocs clinging to the stone pillars cheered, seemingly already witnessing the doom of the kobolds who dumped excrement on their heads every day. The energetic and agile murloc warriors charged forward, breaking away from the spellcasters and the high priests' cover.
"Now!" Casalos suddenly let out a loud dragon roar, startling the unsuspecting gray dwarves and slowing down their guidance of the gantry catapult.
Knowing of the dragon's existence, Kou Tao, a fishman, was greatly alarmed. The two high-ranking warrior leaders shouted loudly, ordering the charging warriors to turn back.
The sound of the mechanism at the top of the stone pillar was drowned out by the explosion of the gray dwarf bombs. Two sparking iron-cased bombs had already fallen, their fuses burning out at the height of the charging merman warriors. The bright light and the explosions erupted almost simultaneously.
This time, without the protection of a high-level spellcaster, the murloc warriors were riddled with holes by the flying shrapnel. Those who were lucky enough to survive screamed in agony as they fell into the lake alongside the corpses of their companions.
The ringing in their ears from the close-range explosion had not yet subsided when the Kou Tao murloc spellcasting team, still perched on the stone pillar, heard the unique, sharp whistle of the dragon as it swooped down.
The dragon's silhouette was now clearly visible, and its target was none other than the only high-ranking priest among the Kou Tao fishmen.
"You're asking for it, you little dragon!"
A high-ranking Koto murloc warrior roared and hurled his spear at Casalos, who was swooping down.
The other person caught a shield falling from a height and leaped in front of the high priest who was channeling divine power to prepare a spell, becoming its defensive barrier.
57. Bombing
Casalos neither dodged nor evaded, and instead ran headlong into the thrown spear.
With a loud bang, the spearhead, made of some unknown material, shattered against the magical, shimmering metal scales, exploding into fragments amidst sparks. The shattering of the spearhead consumed a significant amount of kinetic energy, but thankfully, the resilient shaft did not break.
Before the murloc warrior who threw the attack could even show surprise and anger, Casaloz had already swept past it with a whoosh, his dragon eyes, protected by two layers of transparent inner eyelids, filled with contempt.
It can now basically ignore the attacks of two level 8 Murloc warriors.
As the name suggests, a Carved-Skin Dragon is one whose scales and skin are engraved with runes imbued with mysterious power; thick, heavy scales and skin are essential prerequisites. Even with the enhancement of Bejuri's Flame, Casaroz's scales and skin still fall short of the standards for advancing to a Carved-Skin Dragon. While their toughness might be sufficient, their physical thickness is significantly lacking. Dragon's Treasury has compensated for these deficiencies through in-game purchases.
Most of the gold coins it invested were used to make up for its innate lack of defense, making its skin scales grow exceptionally thick, and forcibly increasing its innate defense stat from 10 to 20—almost equivalent to an adult red dragon.
In addition, perhaps because its scales and skin are strengthened, it can withstand more of the energy enhancement from the Bejuri Flame. The scale hardening and self-healing effects provided by the Bejuri Flame have also been improved, and its innate defense value has been increased by an additional 2.
Casalos is still a hatchling, but its innate defense already surpasses that of an adult red dragon.
Without any magical weapons, it would be a pipe dream for an 8th-level Koto murloc warrior to break through Casaroz's defenses. This is an absolute suppression of hard attributes, a prerequisite for Casaroz to suddenly have the confidence to fight head-on with Koto murlocs and even gray dwarves.
At this moment, Casalos only had eyes for the level 12 priest; the so-called contemptuous look was merely the illusion of the Kotō murloc.
Once this powerful priest is eliminated, the Koto fishman will have no chance to turn the tide, allowing it to focus on dealing with the gray dwarf army.
Another murloc warrior, holding a shield in one hand and a spear in the other, stood in front of the priest. Casalos, swooping down, chose to crash directly into him. The wing hooks that folded forward into a spear shattered the shield, and the murloc's body, which was barely able to gain leverage by clinging to the travertine surface with its slime, pierced through it and smashed it into a V-shape before crashing into the priest behind him, who was channeling divine power to prepare a spell.
With the shield and the warrior's body providing cover, Casalozs's swift dive attack failed to deliver the fatal blow. It showed no sign of slowing down, continuing its charge into the water while simultaneously slamming into the warrior and priest.
Chapter 54
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The water surface turned like a stone slab during the high-speed collision, giving the priest at the bottom a huge reverse impact. This caused his body, which was being pushed and smashed down, to suddenly stop, fracturing his spine, which was then transmitted to the warrior sandwiched in the middle.
The wing hook that pierced the murloc warrior's body advanced again, with most of the forewing arm piercing through the murloc's body and into the murloc priest's abdomen.
Casalos suddenly exerted force, his wings, which had been folded forward, opened outward, tearing the piercing Koto merman warrior in two. The wing hooks embedded in the priest's abdomen tore at its intestines and abdominal muscles, creating a huge laceration.
The priest's body was already lying in a C-shape and submerged in the water. Casalos's wings continued to fold completely backward, and he straightened his neck and sprang his head forward, passing over the two torn pieces of the warrior's body. He then used his shovel-shaped snout to cut into the wound on the murloc priest's abdomen, slicing it in half as well, before his entire body plunged into the water.
Water gushed forth and then receded, the rippling lake surface burst open, and a fledgling dragon, shimmering with flames, burst out of the water, spread its wings, and flew up with half a murloc priest in each of its two front claws. Under the furious gazes of the murlocs, it stuffed the still struggling upper body of the murloc priest into its mouth and bit off its head in one gulp.
Ignoring the roaring murloc warrior, Casalos flapped its wings and flew upwards—it was no longer able to use its speed, and killing a high-level warrior in close combat was not an easy task.
If these murlocs don't give up climbing now, the dragon vein warlocks of the Karrick tribe, who are covered in dust and full of anger but have nowhere to vent their rage after being blasted by the gray dwarves, will definitely give them a good beating.
It flew back to the stone pillar, seized the opportunity when the gantry catapult was launching bombs, and darted into the small open area left behind the reverse slope fortifications. Several kobolds immediately pushed a cart with two iron bombs, which were then attached to Casaloz's wing hooks. Afterward, it trotted down the cliff and took off, circled once, and flew back over the maintenance area. Each of its four paws then grabbed an iron bomb that had been placed on a rack, and it flew towards the gray dwarves' siege position.
Having witnessed the dragon's swooping attack on the murlocs through means such as spirit crystal servants, the gray dwarves were already prepared for an air raid. The light ballistae mounted next to the gantry catapults were fitted with armor-piercing arrows and raised high, always following the fledgling dragon flying out of the darkness.
"Using a ballista to shoot down dive bombers?"
Casalos chuckled, climbed to the height below the dome, circled twice around the stone pillar where the gray dwarf was, then suddenly rolled backwards and flew in the opposite direction, tilting his body as he swooped down at an angle toward one of the gantry catapults.
The sudden turn nearly dislocated the gray dwarf slaves who were cranking the horizontal winch of the ballista, but under the gray dwarf's whip, they quickly completed the turn and continued to keep the ballista precisely aimed at the approaching whelp.
Casalos changed course again and recovered from his dive, climbing back to a high position and flying over the gray dwarf more than a hundred meters above him. The two iron bombs, whose fuses were ignited by the small dragon's breath, fell in parabolic arcs.
Then it turned and dived, following the bomb for dozens of meters.
As the bomb soared over thirty meters, two psionic blades were hurled from the gray dwarves, easily cleaving through the bomb's metal casing and scattering black powder everywhere.
Casalos, who was right behind him, suddenly accelerated and unleashed a burst of dragon breath that ignited the black gunpowder powder flying everywhere, creating a powerful flash.
Looking up, the gray dwarves and their slaves screamed in agony. Having lost their sight, they also lost control of the ballista. Casalos seized the opportunity to turn and throw four lit iron bombs at the two gantry catapults. Then, he rolled and accelerated down the stone pillar, shaking off several pursuing energy attacks and thrown psychic blades.
Boom!
Four loud explosions, accompanied by flashes of light, erupted one after another, and the two towering gantry frames creaked and collapsed with a deafening roar.
Casalos, having achieved a series of victories, climbed back below the dome, smugly admiring its spoils, and was preparing to return to reload for another round. Suddenly, a strong sense of crisis surged forth, causing all its scales to stand on end in a panic.
58. Shadow Dragon Attacks
A shadowy mass swooped down from the crack in the dome, accompanied by a chaotic aura that Athelon loathed.
At this moment, Casalos's attention was mostly focused on the advanced psionic professionals among the gray dwarves on the ground. It was also at the slowest point of its ascent. The attackers were coming from a vicious and cunning angle, and the distance was so close that even if it reacted, it would have no way to avoid them.
It couldn't be avoided... that shadow was a false illusion; the real attack that made Casalos's scales stand on end came from its side!
The flickering flames of Bejuri through the gaps in the scales cast a blurry line in the darkness, like a laser scanning a model, instantly sweeping from front to back, piecing together a complete image in the dragon's mind, just like a dark and slender dragon stretching out its claws to reach for Casalos's belly.
This is a shadow dragon, about the same size as Casalos, meaning it is at least a teenager.
The shadow dragon, lurking in the darkness, flew close to Casalos's melee range without Casalos noticing. If it weren't for the flash of Bejuri's flame, Casalos would have... well, it seems there wouldn't have been any difference.
Once its eyes spotted its target, Casalos didn't avoid the approaching shadow. Instead, it slightly turned its body, but before it could react, a claw emerged from the shadow and slashed at its belly.
bass……!
A harsh, metallic scraping noise rang out as the Shadow Dragon's claws collided with the thickest, plate-like scales on Casaroz's belly due to the body's twisting motion, scraping and rubbing together to create sparks and leaving four shallow marks.
"Damn it, how can it be so hard!"
A cry of alarm rang out from the dragon language. The shadow dragon, having exposed its form, rolled to the right to dodge the wing blades that Casaloz had swung down with a somersault. It rolled back to the top of the iron dragon hatchling, which had lost its balance under the wing blades, and stretched out its four claws to grab it.
Casalos was slightly startled, then overjoyed, and lunged forward to grab her in the same manner.
Then, with a pop, Shadow Dragon vanished without a trace, like a bubble bursting.
It exploded along with the shadow that crashed into its body.
"Who would be foolish enough to compete with you bunch of jugglers in brute force?"
Light, mocking sounds came from all directions, and another flash of light illuminated an afterimage. The shadow dragon, hiding in the darkness, had already reached below Casalos. A cone-shaped cloud of black mist, billowing like smoke, spewed from its mouth and enveloped it.
Unable to mount any other defense while flying backwards, Casalos could only twist its long neck and tilt its head, unleashing a cone-shaped, covering burst of fiery dragon breath that burned away some of the black mist, but still left a considerable amount that stuck to its body, wriggling and trying to burrow under its scales.
At this moment, the mysterious runes carved on its scales and skin flashed with a dazzling magical light that could be seen without arcane vision, sweeping away the sticky black mist.
The Shadow Dragon's incomplete negative energy dragon breath has been neutralized.
"A dragon with carved skin!? You're just a fledgling dragon, how could you..."
"Want to know? Come here and I'll tell you!"
Casaroz let out a resounding dragon roar, the extra dragon magic flowing from the runes on its scales seeping into its body, permeating its muscles and nerves, instantly changing something and causing its flight speed to increase dramatically. Just now, realizing that it couldn't catch up with the Shadow Dragon, Casaroz had "pointed" its first extra feat gained from becoming a Leatherhide Dragon to increasing speed—saving attribute points, talent points, and skill points for later allocation is basic common sense.
Normally, the acquisition of special skills and other abilities is the result of long-term training, where quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes. Of course, this approach won't work. Only Casalos, who directly purchased his abilities from the Dragon Treasury, could pull off such fancy feats.
Chapter 55
Could this be considered one of the hidden perks of the Dragon's Treasury?
In short, Shadow Dragon, who had just finished exhaling, was completely unprepared for Casalos's sudden acceleration and was knocked right into his arms.