The dragons that appeared afterward were not truly alive and conscious.
The dragons who had taken in Natsu and the others resided within them, but those dragons no longer had bodies; only their souls remained. As for the dragons that had appeared during the Dragon King Festival, they had come from the past.
Meanwhile, Saga and Mu led their pursuers in an unhurried, systematic sweep of the area.
In fact, after learning that Li had a way to conceal the fluctuations of his magic, they had immediately begun a carpet search. If they relied solely on that detection device, they truly had no way of finding Li. Before long, however, they noticed that something was wrong with the entire forest. It felt as though countless eyes were watching them, yet they had no idea where that strange feeling came from.
This continued for three days. On the third day, that sense of unease grew increasingly intense. Mu and Saga exchanged a glance. Saga abruptly drew his longsword and drove it straight into a nearby tree.
Under that immense force, the entire tree let out an incredibly shrill scream before withering away.
After that happened, the entire forest seemed to stir faintly. Saga and Mu immediately began clearing away all the trees around them. Some trees were cut down outright, while others let out miserable roars and turned to dust.
The two of them were knowledgeable enough to recognize this as a spell of the Feather Spirit Clan. Yet they did not care whether this would provoke the Feather Spirit Clan's retaliation and simply continued attacking. In their eyes, the so-called Feather Spirit Clan was nothing worth considering.
Before long, the forest fell into dead silence, and they felt the watching eyes around them disappear completely.
Then, at dusk, the village's