Ancient Red Dragon

White Horse City's inns were packed with people. In fact, the moment Soren arrived, he heard some bad news: the monsters in the nearby wilderness seemed to have suddenly gone mad and begun a mass migration, blocking every road southeast of White Horse City. All sorts of creatures from the plains and hills had moved into areas inhabited by humans, escalating the fighting around White Horse City. Even the nearby garrison had been sent out on patrol.

The Adventurers Guild had even issued a B-rank investigation quest, offering a reward of 12,000 Gold Dalers to anyone who could uncover the cause.

There was no need to solve the problem.

Simply finding out what had caused so many creatures to migrate would earn the 12,000 Gold Daler reward.

Unfortunately, the news brought back was far from good.

Several groups of Adventurers who had set out first had failed to even enter Black Qi Swamp before being beaten back by a group of Ogres.

Adventurers who dared accept a B-rank quest were naturally no pushovers. Their entire party consisted of advanced professionals above the third tier, and they even had a native Wizard among them. Yet such a powerful Adventurer party had returned in a miserable state, with two dead and three wounded. They had encountered a group of Ogres. That was not the important part, since Ogres did not have a high Challenge Rating. The problem was that there had been a Two-Headed Ogre among them. And it had been a Two-Headed Ogre Wizard!

Its mastery of multiple spellcasting had directly slaughtered the party's mages, after which it commanded the Ogres to surround them. In the end, only three had barely escaped by relying on some items. During their retreat, they had also seen enormous footprints. Some suspected that the Mountain Giants to the southwest had also been driven here by something, and that another Adventurer party might have already been wiped out.

More than a hundred merchant caravans had been stranded inside White Horse City.

Some caravans with stronger armed escorts had tried to push through from another direction, only to run into large groups of Gnolls. Less than one-tenth of them had returned alive. Now, half the roads around White Horse City had been sealed off. Aside from the road Soren had taken to get here, every route toward Falling Leaf City or the coast had been occupied by all kinds of monsters.

Goblins, Kobolds, Gnolls, Ogres, Lizardfolk, and more.

It was as though some terrifying existence had driven every creature near the Domor Mountains out of the entire southern region.

Rumors had already begun spreading that a Dragon had appeared there.

Unfortunately.

No one had brought back any definite news, and no one had actually seen the Dragon's shadow. ...

A muddy, rutted road.

Soren carried Vivian through the filthy streets. He had left his travel horse at the Mule and Horse Market. Because too many merchant caravans had been stranded in White Horse City, every inn in the city was completely full. Even at twice the price, it was difficult to find lodging. People in this era were very hostile toward outsiders, so Soren had no choice but to bring Vivian to the old district. More and more caravans were being stopped in White Horse City. Unless they were willing to take the long way back, they could only wait here for the trade routes to reopen.

This was also very bad news for Soren!

His planned route had been cut off by the migrating monsters. If he were alone, crossing through them would probably not be too difficult.

But with Vivian, it would be extremely troublesome. Soren could not guarantee that he would be able to protect her if a fight broke out.

Ancient Red Dragon.

That was the first thought that came to Soren's mind.

Because aside from an adult Dragon, he could not think of anything else capable of driving so many monsters.

Besides, the center of the monster exodus was roughly the same location where the Ancient Red Dragon had appeared in his memories.

Information traveled slowly in this world. By the time White Horse City finally investigated the reason behind the monster rampage, the timing would indeed coincide with the Ancient Red Dragon's emergence. This Dragon ravaged the south for more than two years, killing countless people. It had even cunningly disguised itself as an ordinary Red Dragon. Only after Players inferred from its strength that its level was far higher than that did everyone learn that it was an Ancient Red Dragon with a Challenge Rating of 25.

If it had not foolishly provoked an Avatar descended by a Deity during the Time of Troubles, there would have been almost no one in the entire southern region capable of killing it!

"Ancient Red Dragon."

"Challenge Rating 25, CR 34, enhanced Dragon Breath."

"Estimated attributes: Strength 42, Dexterity 10, Constitution 35, Intelligence 25, Wisdom 24, Charisma 24."

"Special Feats: Ancient Dragonkind, Epic Spell, Gargantuan Creature, enhanced Dragon Breath???"

"Challenge difficulty: S+."

This was part of the Ancient Red Dragon's attributes as Soren remembered them.

Its challenge difficulty was on the same level as a Lesser Deity. The only difference was that it possessed neither Divine Rank nor Divinity, only the power bonuses of ancient dragonkind. Someone had once foolishly tried to kill it through sheer numbers, only for a single Wing Buffet to kill dozens of people and one breath attack to burn hundreds to death. That had completely crushed everyone's hopes of using a sea of people to destroy it.

Even so, people still wanted to sneak inside, because it contained the entire wealth of an Ancient Red Dragon.

More than five million Gold Dalers, all kinds of Supernatural Items, and at least a dozen Legendary Items. As for Artifacts, they rarely ended up outside. Unless the Deity that created one had already fallen, even an Ancient Red Dragon might not be qualified to possess it. Therefore, it was still impossible to determine whether its Dragon Lair contained any Artifacts.

The only thing certain was this.

Someone had indeed entered the Dragon Lair through harassment tactics and obtained one or two Legendary Items.

That had been the key to succeeding in the later godslaying!

Soren's current class level was only 5. Without a spell that granted resistance to Fear, he would not even be able to stand in front of it.

Naturally, he would not be stupid enough to set his sights on the Ancient Red Dragon. But the monsters had blocked the roads, leaving him unable to take Vivian to Falling Leaf City. This Red Dragon had remained entrenched there for a long time, which meant the roads would stay blocked for quite a while unless someone eliminated all the monster groups forced to migrate.

Otherwise, Soren could only rely on himself to cross White Horse Plain.

The inn was filled with noise.

Carrying Vivian, Soren entered. Adventurers wearing swords and blades were everywhere, along with a number of small merchant caravans.

"Those damned Gnolls!"

A burly man smashed his cup against the table and said darkly, "They just ate Miyad. When I finally found his body, I couldn't even put his head back onto his neck."

Almost every Adventurer was complaining.

The sudden attacks had caught everyone off guard. In some places near Black Qi Swamp, human villages had already been forced to relocate.

Because the Lizardfolk living there had begun launching frequent attacks!

Some terrifying existence had forced them out of the swamp. They needed new territory to survive, so the humans who had originally lived nearby became their enemies.

A figure who looked drunk staggered toward Soren.

"Sorry!"

When he seemed to be pushed and bumped into Soren, one hand deftly reached for Soren's purse. But before it could touch the purse, Soren frowned and instantly seized the man's wrist. With a backhanded twist, he threw him to the ground, then raised his foot and stomped on his knee joint, pinning his entire body to the floor.

The entire inn instantly fell silent.

Only the thief's agonized screams remained. Soren had shown no mercy with that move and directly dislocated his arm.

"Watch where you look."

Soren set Vivian down and drew his Scimitar with his other hand, coldly gesturing along the man's arm. Several people nearby placed their hands at their waists. It was impossible to tell whether they were the thief's companions, but they were moving toward Soren.

"That's enough."

A man sitting at the bar stood up. He first frowned at Soren, then pointed at the thief on the ground. "Break one of his arms, then throw him out."

"Stealing in my establishment? He's asking to die!"

Crack.

The people approaching from all sides of the inn nodded at Soren. One of them grabbed the thief's arm and twisted it, followed immediately by a shrill scream. Two men then lifted the thief up and threw him straight into the filthy ditch outside the inn.

These were the inn's thugs.

It seemed this inn did not have a very clean background, though it was unlikely that any inn in the old district had a clean background.

"Young man."

"You look skilled. Looking for a place to stay?"

The burly man at the bar gave Soren a long look. When his gaze fell on Vivian, his eyes brightened slightly. He said in a deep voice, "Two Silver Dalers a night."

"If you don't like it, go find somewhere else to sleep."

Soren glanced around, took out two Silver Dalers, and tossed them onto the table before picking Vivian up again.

The burly man nodded toward someone nearby and swept the Silver Dalers away.

Very soon.

A heavily made-up female attendant walked over and led Soren toward the inn's second floor.

They were all part-time attendants. They served as waitresses in the inn tavern, while also providing certain special services to guests who could afford them.