The Unlucky Thunder Dragon

No sooner had Sordil finished speaking than Yelibell and Grandiere shouted in unison, "We want to play! We want to play this game!"

After successfully fooling the two naive girls (well, I guess you could say that? After all, considering the lifespan of dragons, they are indeed still considered girls), Sordil forcibly suppressed his excitement and smugness at the prospect of crushing them, and said in a calm tone, "Since you two sisters are so interested in this game, let's give it a try. I can also take this opportunity to tell you about the other details of this game."

"Okay! Let's get started!"

After obtaining the consent of the two bigwigs, Sordil began shuffling the cards. While shuffling, Sordil explained the issues of the ante and multipliers to the two bigwigs.

"My two sisters, after receiving your cards, each of you has one chance to bid. The bids are one point, two points, and three points in that order. The bid is called the base score. The person who bids three points becomes the Dragon King and receives the three cards reserved as the bottom cards. In the game, a hand consisting of four cards of the same value is called a bomb. Two Dragon King Card together are called a royal flush, which is the highest-ranking bomb and the highest-ranking hand in the game."

"During the game, every time a bomb card is used, the base score doubles. The base score is the standard for punishment at the end of the game; the higher the score at the end, the more severe the punishment for the losing side."

"Besides bombs, there's another card type in the game called 'Spring,' which is..."

In a jungle in the central part of the Dil'dixiu Mountain Range

"Igneel, that guy's awake and says he wants to see you!"

"You want to see me?"

Hearing Vyseria's words, Igneel sensed something was wrong, because he hadn't seen Baisrogia since the latter learned of his purpose. Igneel instinctively turned to think, then abruptly looked up, checked his surroundings, and then yelled at Vyseria, "You're here? Who's watching that guy?"

"That guy told me he wouldn't run away until he saw you, so that's why I..."

Vyseria's voice trailed off, clearly realizing the mistake he had made. Before he could offer any explanation, Igneel and the other two had already vanished like a gust of wind, heading towards the location where the hostages were being held. Realizing what had happened, Vyseria hurriedly gave chase, hoping to find an opportunity to atone for his mistake.

When Vyseria arrived, all that remained where the hostages had been was a line of footprints, some deep and some shallow, and trampled weeds; the others had vanished.

Dil'dixiu Mountain Range, Main Peak Platform

"Smack!"

"Ah!"

Rubbing his hands, which were practically turning into braised goose feet, Sordil silently mourned his past arrogance for three minutes. At the same time, he also wanted to thank Yelibell and the other woman for teaching him a lesson during those thirty minutes. Because they showed Sordil with their strength that a master is always a master, regardless of time, place, or world. Of course, a weakling wouldn't change their status because of these factors.

"Sisters, shall we play a different game?"

"No way! I've just figured out a few things and I'm about to test if I'm doing it right. How can I switch games now?"

"Exactly! We finally found a trick, and we haven't even used it yet, why switch games!"

Faced with two top-tier players engrossed in the game, the bronze player's hopes of quitting were completely dashed. Thus, another one-sided massacre ensued, followed by a new round of punishment. Once again, with tears streaming down his face, the weakling Sordil cried out in his heart, "Brother Igneel, if you hadn't come soon, my delicate hands would have been ruined!"

Dil'dixiu Mountain Range, near the main peak

"Bang"

A gigantic, dark creature slammed into the mountainside at incredible speed and became firmly embedded in it. Shortly after, four giant dragons of different colors emerged from the direction the black creature had come from.

Looking at the black creature embedded in the mountain wall, Igneel said angrily, "You little brat, you're quite good at hiding, actually thinking of hiding in the swamp. Aren't you afraid of drowning?"

The black creature glared at Igneel, then forcefully opened its fat, sausage-like face and mumbled, "I'd rather drown than be tortured by four scum of the dragon race!"

Upon hearing the other party's words, Vyseria angrily retorted, "We're scum? Then what are you, who broke the agreement?"

"Do you think I'm as stupid as you, trying to keep my word with you scum?"

Vyseria wanted to say something more, but Metalicana stopped him and said, "Why waste words with him? Just knock him out and carry him away! Anyway, we're not far from the main peak. We can drag him all the way up!"

So the four who had reached an agreement rushed forward and started punching and kicking the black creature, shouting as they did so, "You little brat, trying to escape! You wouldn't listen to reason! You tricked me!"

Half an hour later, the four men, having vented their anger, tied the black creature up and took it away.

Having lost twenty-seven hands in a row, Sordil was sweating profusely as he looked at his hand, unsure of what to do. Just then, five saviors flew up from the foot of the mountain, pulling him out of his nightmare. Seeing Igneel, whom he had been eagerly awaiting, Sordil was overjoyed, tears welling in his eyes. He slammed his cards onto the table and said to the two queens, "Sisters, Brother Igneel and the others have arrived. I think we should just skip this round?"

"OK!"

"It's not that I'm cheating, but..."

Sordil, who was trying to explain to the two who refused to end the game that he wasn't cheating, suddenly stopped talking. He looked at the two kings in shock, feeling like he had punched a cotton ball, but the next sentence that reached his ears ignited that cotton ball in his heart.

"Phew! We're so lucky! If Igneel and the others had arrived a few minutes later, we would have been defeated by Sordil's brother!"

"What's wrong? Did he have a good hand?"

"It's more than good! When I heard his hand, I thought he was about to have a winning streak, but he actually folded."

"Really? Then we are quite lucky."

"Plop"

The sound of something heavy falling to the ground came from behind them. They turned around and saw Sordil lying on the ground. They quickly went back to Sordil's side and helped him up.

"Brother Sordil, are you alright?"

Looking at Yelibell's innocent smile, Sordil swallowed the blood in his mouth and said, "I'm fine, I just want to be alone!"

Just as Sordil was trying to calm down, Igneel's five-man group, who had spotted the three of them, were striding toward them.

"Gran... wait, why are there two Grandiere? Where's that jerk Sordil?"

Upon hearing Igneel's words, Sordil nearly coughed up blood, then said weakly, "Sorry, that scoundrel is standing right in front of you!"

Staring at the Grandiere Two before him, Igneel exclaimed in shock, "Brother Sordil, what happened to you?"

Sordil swallowed the remaining blood in his mouth, then forced himself to speak to Igneel, "This is a long story, we'll talk about it later. Brother Igneel, let's first see if you've kept the promise you made!"

"When have I, Igneel, ever failed to keep my word? Brother Sordil, you be the judge!"

Looking at the black creature that Igneel pushed towards him, Sordil asked in surprise, "Brother Igneel, you're not going to tell me that this is the Thunder Dragon you found for me, are you?"

"That's right, this is the Thunder Dragon I found for you!"

"But... he..."

"Oh! He wasn't behaving himself on the way here, so the four of us disciplined him for you!"