North Wind Eagle Guard (5)

North Wind Eagle Guard (5)

"Target the Fire Breath!"

Several more short bursts of breath spewed forth, and several Eagle Guards turned into blazing fireballs as they fell to the ground.

The remaining Eagle Guards, just as Alger had wished, fled this place where they had suffered heavy casualties in utter disarray under the wyvern's pursuit, spreading the Red Dragon's fearsome reputation across the entire Anzeta Great Wasteland.

Letting them go was partly because capturing Alger alive would have wasted time, and partly deliberate.

The Lakeman Family's North Wind Eagle Guard numbered only a little over three hundred men in total, yet they had lost a tenth of their force in this single battle. Such a unit was considered absolute elite troops throughout the Northern United Kingdom.

A few days later, news of a "terrifying Red Dragon" on the Storm Highlands spread through many places. The bounty board at North Wind Fortress also displayed a picture of a savage Red Dragon, flames pouring from its mouth.

Location: Storm Highlands, Ember Nest. Target: Suspected young adult Red Dragon, codename "Flying Flame." Bounty: 5,000 Gold Coins. While chatting and boasting over drinks in taverns, adventurers also dreamed of becoming legendary Dragon Slayers. After getting thoroughly drunk, they would often slump over the table and say, "If that Red Dragon had run into me, I'd have chopped off its head and claimed the reward long ago!"

Of course, that was all later.

Alger felt as though his head weighed a ton, his memories in disarray.

At first, he dreamed of the carefree, wonderful days of his childhood. His mother smiled as she stroked his head and softly read stories from a book. He ran through the alleys, played and roughhoused with friends he had only recently met, and laughter filled every corner.

Then the scene changed. In the dream, he wailed in the streets, searching everywhere for his parents, only to find two bodies in a dark corner, their bellies slit open and strange symbols carved into their skin.

A well-dressed middle-aged man whose face he could not make out stood in the shadowy alley. He patted Alger's shoulder and said gravely, "It was devils. The descendants of devils harmed them."

What followed were raging flames, crowds crying out as they fled, blood overflowing into rivers, women kneeling with weeping children in their arms and begging for mercy, while the Silver Sword in his hand gave a cry like an eagle's shriek...

"No!"

"Huff... huff!"

Alger jolted awake from the nightmare and scrambled up. He instinctively reached to his side, only letting out a sigh of relief when his hand touched familiar feathers.

It was his giant eagle.

He checked himself all over. There were no new wounds on his body, but his standard-issue plate armor and the Eagle's Cry Silver Sword at his waist had both vanished.

Heavy iron shackles still bound his hands and feet.

Where am I?

Alger immediately looked around.

The surroundings were dark and damp, with only the torches on the rock walls giving off a faint glow.

Hard stone surrounded him on all sides. Railings made of thick tree trunks enclosed him, and at the entrance, a fat Bugbear leaned against the door, snoring loudly. Its wooden club had fallen to the ground, while Goblins carrying short spears patrolled back and forth through the corridor.

This is the dungeon of a monster nest.

Alger immediately came to that conclusion.

The Red Dragon must have put him to sleep with magic and thrown him into the dungeon. His only goal now was to find a way out, gather as much intelligence as possible, and report the situation here to the duke.

But he had no weapon, and the cell was secured by a sturdy iron lock. Escaping would be difficult.

"Hey, Bugbear, wake up."

Alger waved, trying to draw the sleeping Bugbear's attention so he could gather information and perhaps find an opportunity to escape.

The Bugbear at the entrance abruptly woke. Seeing that Alger was awake, it immediately began shouting.

"Go tell Lord Dolo! The human's awake!"

Alger lowered his voice and said to the Bugbear guard, "Do you want gold?"

"Give me the key. I have—"

"Pah!"

The Bugbear spat at him.

It picked up the wooden club from the ground and turned away without mercy, muttering, "You humans sure love acting clever. Do you take us for idiots?"

"We already stripped you clean. You ain't got nothing, you poor bastard."

"Someone!"

"The human's awake!"

Following the Bugbear's booming shouts, the Goblins ran about spreading the news, swiftly relaying it beyond the dungeon.

"Damn it!"

"Let me out!"

Alger grabbed the railings and shook them with all his strength. The heavy chains on his shackles clattered loudly, but even an Ogre could not easily smash open this cell door. How could a Weakened human possibly shake it open? He was only wasting his strength in vain.

After trying for a long time, the thick wooden railings had not moved in the slightest. Alger finally gave up on forcing the cell door open.

He regained his composure, slumped down, and carefully considered his options.

This Red Dragon spared my life because it has a use for me.

It will interrogate me.

This cunning evil dragon most likely wants to harm the duke and carry out its vile plan. Perhaps it wants to plunder treasure, seize a city, or overthrow the government. But no matter what it asks or demands that I do, I must never answer.

It's a shame everything on me was taken away. Otherwise, I could have kept the Wyvern Venom on hand and been ready to kill myself at any time.

Alger gritted his teeth, already prepared in his heart to face cruel torture.

Sure enough, three brawny Bugbears came from the end of the corridor.

With difficulty, they used a crude key to open the iron lock, removed the heavy chains wrapped around the cell door, and slowly opened it.

The Bugbears' thick bodies blocked the entrance completely, leaving not even the slightest gap through which he could escape.

"Come with me, human. The master wants to see you."

The Bugbear hunched over as it entered the cell and approached Alger.

"Don't touch me," Alger said viciously.

But the Bugbear acted as though it had not heard him. It stepped forward, grabbed his shackles, wrapped the chains several times around its hand, and then hauled Alger out of the cell.

The other Bugbears crowded around as well, lifting his entire body to ensure he had no chance whatsoever of escaping.

"I'm telling you, this human even tried to bribe me."

"But I didn't fall for it, haha!"

"He was so impressive before, but once he got caught, this is all he's got."

"Yeah. Those wyverns are really useless. They couldn't even beat a human like this after eating so much meat."

"Right. Better to give all that meat to us."

As they worked, the Bugbears chatted and joked with their companions.

The Weakened giant eagle rider had no strength left to struggle.

If he were riding his giant eagle through the skies, Alger was fully confident he could kill these ugly monsters alone, perhaps even toy with them at leisure.

But trapped in the dungeon, weak all over and bound hand and foot, this proud giant eagle rider could only allow these Bugbears, who possessed nothing but brute strength, to manhandle him as they pleased. He had no room to resist.