Native Savages

Screams echoed from inside the cabin.

About half an hour later, a subordinate came up with a blood-stained Seafaring chart, bowed respectfully before Soren, and said, "Your Excellency, we've gotten everything out of you! That dragon might have gone here."

Soren's men spread out a Seafaring chart in front of him. It was a map of the waters near the South Coast, found on the corpse of the Northland Pirate leader. He pointed to an island near the northwest on Seafaring chart and said in a deep voice, "Sir, this is it. It looks like a place called Shark Reef. They believe the dragon's lair might be nearby."

Um?

Upon hearing this, Soren reached for the Seafaring chart, frowned as he examined it, and then asked, "What about the route? How long will it take?"

The subordinate beside him quickly bowed his head, turned around, and ran down to ask, before returning to say, "Sir, there aren't any dangerous areas on this route, but there are quite a few hidden reefs in this area, so we need to be careful. As for the time, with our ship, it should take a day at most; we should reach this place by tomorrow morning."

Shark Reef.

Soren tapped his fingers lightly on the table, pondered for a moment, then opened his eyes and said, "Summon Old Sea Eagle."

One minute later.

A robust middle-aged man appeared before Soren. Unlike the other pirates under his command, the Old Sea Eagle seemed to possess a noble air. It was a very distinctive quality, setting him apart from the other pirate leaders under Soren at first glance. This middle-aged man was indeed originally a minor nobleman, a lord in the South Coast region. Unfortunately, for some reason, he lost his title, his lands, and his wealth, eventually turning to the sea and becoming a pirate of some renown.

He was a minor leader who later submitted to Soren.

Soren actually had many such men under his command, after all, most of the pirates in the entire South Coast region had to obey his orders.

"Deliver this letter to the master of the Wizard Tower."

Soren looked up at the composed and mature-looking middle-aged man before him, took out a quill pen, quickly wrote a letter, sealed it with wax, and handed it to him, instructing, "You will take your men to deliver the gifts on the ship later. I have already arranged the location and route for you. You will travel from the estuary here to Glacier City. Once the gifts are delivered, just wait where you are. If the master of the Wizard Tower has any questions for you, just answer whatever she asks."

There are valuable gifts on this ship.

Soren had no intention of using this ship to challenge the White Dragon, after all, it was a fully grown Dragon. Dragon, when truly desperate, could easily capsize a ship. Therefore, he planned to split his forces into two groups: one would send his trusted men to deliver the gifts to Goria's Wizard Tower, while he himself would lead a contingent of Elite Troops to search for the White Dragon. A pure-blooded, Adult Dragon shouldn't be given up so easily, especially since it was injured and presented an opportunity. Soren intended to use the Northland Pirate ' ship to find it.

He wouldn't even care if he broke it!

The middle-aged man nodded slightly, then put the letter away respectfully, saying, "Rest assured, Your Excellency. The item will be delivered perfectly intact."

"Hmm." Soren gave him a satisfied look. He reminded him, "Don't trespass into the Wizard Tower. Just deliver the message as I told you, and she should see you after she receives it."

"Alright."

"You may proceed!"

Soren was always decisive and efficient. After deciding to split his forces, he immediately sent his men to the North Tower, while he himself went to the Dragon-headed Warship where the captured pirates were located. He knew that numbers weren't always effective against Dragon, as many could only watch helplessly as the dragon took to the sky. Therefore, he only brought Elite Pirate, a total of about twenty men. As for the captured pirates, they remained on the ship; those who could be recruited would be, and those who couldn't would be sent to do hard labor.

Otherwise, Soren would have already taken their heads.

Soren has quite a few men under his command. However, compared to the other two Pirate King, he still lacks a bit of foundation. If he wants to fight a decisive battle with Pirate King Asroder in the future, he will probably lack stronger elite pirates. These Northland Pirate are basically all at least Tier 2 in strength. With a little training and more battles, Tier 3 pirates can be selected through a process of natural selection.

These are the true backbone!

The two warships soon separated. Soren's original ship continued its voyage, delivering the gifts to the North Tower, along with a letter from him. The Dragon-headed Warship from the Northland Pirate headed to a place called Shark Reef, the most likely location for the White Dragon to build its lair. If it found it, Soren would destroy it; if not, Soren would abandon the plan and head North.

A day actually goes by very quickly.

Because he had brought prisoners who knew the route on board, Soren easily traversed the area with the reefs.

Then, around dawn the next day, a cluster of islands appeared before him, somewhat resembling the distribution of the Spratly Islands. Dozens, even hundreds, of islands of varying sizes were scattered across the vast ocean, none of them particularly large, with the smallest being only a few dozen meters wide. However, one large island could be seen at a glance, its diameter probably exceeding thirty kilometers. The entire island stood alone like a cliff, filled with dense forests.

Because it's located in the North, the island has a rather peculiar topography!

If I had to compare it to anything, it's a bit like Ice and Fire Island from the novel The Heaven Dragon Slayer and Dragon Saber. The northern part of the island is clearly covered in ice and snow, while the southern part features a volcano. However, it seems this volcano hasn't erupted in a long time; it's unclear whether it's extinct or Active Volcano. This kind of terrain is indeed very attractive to Dragon; many Dragonkind like to nest in such environments, so it's highly likely that the White Dragon flew here.

"Dock!"

Soren picked up his Monocular and looked at the island in front of him, then ordered, "Let's dock at this better spot and go check out the situation on the island."

About an hour later.

The Dragon-headed Warship docked on one side of the island. Soren led a group of elite men onto the beach, leaving three or five Guard on board. Upon arriving on the island, Soren immediately noticed something amiss. The reason was simple: animals were scarce, and the entire island was unusually quiet. Even in the dense forest, there were hardly any birds. Normally, this place should be teeming with animals, and birds would typically nest here.

This may seem like nothing at all, but it can only prove one thing: there's some terrifying creature nearby.

The most likely candidate is Dragon.

Dragon Fear is an area-of-effect ability. Even a weaker White Dragon, as a pure-blooded Dragon, possesses Dragon Fear's Might. Any creature that approaches it must undergo a forced Will Save test, or it will be overwhelmed by fear and terror. Dragon Fear repels other creatures near the Dragon's lair; unless they are its enslaved servants, no other creature dares to approach. There don't seem to be any seabirds here, probably because Dragon occasionally fly by.

"Chirp chirp!"

Some strange noises caught Soren's attention.

Just as he raised his hand to signal the others to be careful, a sharp sword suddenly shot out from the woods, striking one of his men directly. Then, a tremor ran through the bushes ahead, and dozens of short, disheveled, paint-smeared humanoid creatures emerged, wielding crude weapons but moving with swift and ferocious speed. These creatures had human-like outlines, but were extremely thin and Monkey -like, standing only about 1.2 to 1.4 meters tall. They moved with incredible speed, their eyes filled with wildness and ferocity, howling as they pounced, as if intent on slaughtering them all.

"They're Native Savage!"

A pirate captain shouted, his voice low and menacing, "Everyone be careful! These Native Savage are incredibly agile! Watch out for their weapons; they might be poisoned!"

Clang.

A blade of light appeared in Soren's palm, but then something unexpected happened. His strike missed the charging Native Savage; the savage's short, wiry body twisted Dodge in mid-air, avoiding Soren's attack with virtually no Dodge in mid-air. But that was all it could do. After a brief moment of stunned silence, Soren's other hand flashed with cold light, and the Native Savage was sliced in two.

--"Sword Momentum: Waist Cut!"

Soren sheathed his sword and defended, each gripping a Scimitar to block the attack of another short native. He then leaped back three steps and unleashed a powerful forward lunge, executing the ' Sword Momentum: Whirlwind Dance '.

Pfft!

Blood splattered everywhere.

A series of documents appeared before Soren's eyes:

"Target eliminated!"

"You successfully activated the Sword Momentum: Waist Cut!... You dealt 76 points of cleaving damage (critical strike) to the target!... Target is dead!..."

"Extracting Soul Energy"

"You have gained 1800 points of Slaughter Experience!..."

"Target eliminated!"

"You have successfully activated the Sword Momentum: Whirlwind Dance!... You dealt 56 points of cleaving damage (critical strike) to the target!... Target is dead!..."

"Extracting Soul Energy"

"You have gained 1560 points of Slaughter Experience!..."

A series of Slaughter Experience prompts appeared.

Soren was quite surprised to discover that the Native Savage before him were probably at least Tier 2 in strength, yet most of them possessed Superhuman Dexterity values of over 20 points. Furthermore, the Slaughter Experience they provided seemed to be about 50% higher than any enemy of the same tier Soren had previously encountered; each of the Native Savage possessed approximately 1500 points of Slaughter Experience. (To be continued~^~)