Black Dragon

In this battle, the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group had lost thirty-seven men in all, with no fewer than twenty others wounded. For the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group, though the blow could not be called fatal, it was still far from small.

The other mercenary groups and adventuring teams, large and small, had come to the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group's base at the first invitation of Harisa, the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group's leader. Every one of them had already begun making his own little calculations.

Follow them into the desert to take revenge on those big fellows? What a joke. On what grounds?

Every Geryon Giant stood over three meters tall, possessed terrifying strength, and had skin as hard as rock. A mid-level warrior could only barely handle a single Geryon Giant. With the strength of the people in Windfire Town, going to fight them would be nine deaths and one life, with no hope at all.

In this battle, the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group had lost nearly half its fighting strength. The others had hurried over, but what they were thinking about was nothing more than whether their own mercenary groups might raise their status in Windfire Town from now on and gain greater benefits.

Sure enough, after Harisa proposed that all the mercenary groups in Windfire Town form an alliance and head into the desert to take revenge on those big fellows, he was met with a wave of ridicule.

"Harisa, you're not joking, are you?"

"I admit those vicious big fellows went too far. Spiritually, I support you in taking revenge, Leader Harisa, but our mercenary group recently accepted a small job, and we can't spare the time."

"Our mercenary group is the same. It's only a small job, but we have to have professional ethics and think on behalf of our employer."

"Harisa, just accept it. Adult big fellows all have strength above that of high-level warriors, never mind the outstanding ones among them."

Some mocked him, some advised him, but not a single person agreed to Harisa's proposal.

Harisa sat upright without saying a word, his face as dark and gloomy as the night outside.

"If it were only for a Gold Mine, do you think I would send so many brothers to their deaths?" Harisa said in a deep voice, his lightning-like gaze sweeping over everyone.

"There is a Black Dragon in the Geryon Giants' habitat, and it is a Black Dragon that has been badly wounded and is about to lay eggs."

Harisa's words exploded like a fireball cast by a high-level mage. Everyone was shocked, then came back to themselves and instantly burst into an uproar.

"A Black Dragon? Are you sure it wasn't a third-rank Magic Beast, a Black Wind Python? Could they have seen wrong?"

"Is this news true?"

"Impossible. How could a Black Dragon stay together with those ugly, filthy big fellows?"

"If it really is a wounded Black Dragon about to lay eggs, then we're going to get rich."

Everyone discussed it fiercely, faces flushed red, and the scene instantly turned fiery and lively.

"Though I didn't see it with my own eyes, Nake, who led the team, was certain he hadn't seen wrong," Harisa said in a deep voice. "At first, they went to look for the Gold Mine, but when they drew near the mountain range where the Geryon Giants lived, they suddenly heard strange roars. When they went to investigate, they discovered that a Black Dragon had occupied the giants' nest and was demanding that they offer it food. At the time, the giants didn't discover Nake and the others, but the Black Dragon sensed them. Nake and the others withdrew in an emergency, but they were still badly wounded by the giants. After he returned and told me this news, Nake, whose injuries were too severe to heal, died."

As he spoke, Harisa's lightning-like gaze swept over everyone, and he said, "You all know what sort of man Nake was. His words were truer than real gold. Besides, I asked the others who came back, and they all saw that wounded Black Dragon with their own eyes."

The hall fell into deathly silence.

"Leader Harisa, you organize it." Barnier, leader of the Fire Dragon Mercenary Group, whose strength was only slightly below that of the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group, broke the silence and said, "You are a Grand Battle Master, and also the strongest among us here. If that Black Dragon truly is wounded and about to lay eggs, then it's not impossible for us to slay a dragon."

At the words "slay a dragon," everyone became even more excited. A saint-level Magic Beast, the Black Dragon—its whole body was treasure, not to mention the possibility of obtaining a dragon egg.

"Those who agree with Barnier's proposal, raise your hands," Harisa said, sweeping his gaze around. There were thirty-four people in all, and every one of them raised a hand high.

"Good," Harisa said. "This news will probably spread through Windfire Town very quickly. After all, too many people saw it at the time. There's no time to lose. Everyone go back and make arrangements at once. Be sure to bring the strongest elites in your respective teams. If the dragon-slaying succeeds, we'll divide the spoils according to merit."

They discussed the timing and details of the operation for a while longer, and these warriors, whose blood was boiling at the thought of soon slaying a dragon, kept talking until deep into the night before dispersing.

By the time Li Junshan received the news, the sky was already bright. This secret, which ought to have been treated as absolutely confidential intelligence, had spread throughout Windfire Town in less than half a day.

There was no helping it. The people in Windfire Town were too mixed, and the relationships between the various mercenary groups were complicated; even Harisa and the other mercenary leaders knew this perfectly well. By noon the next day, under the instigation and leadership of Harisa and more than ten other mercenary group leaders, a Dragon Slayer Team of more than three hundred people—formed from seven mercenary groups of various sizes, twelve adventuring squads, and some of Windfire Town's permanent residents—set off in grand formation toward the Northern Desert.

"Xiaoshan, you're not allowed to go this time." Seeing Li Junshan's eager expression as he kept circling around the tavern, Anna advised him, "That's a Black Dragon. Unless their minds have been bewitched by the undead, who would go throw their lives away?"

"You think they have no chance of succeeding?" Li Junshan stopped.

"It's not that there's no chance," Fate said from the side. "If it's like they say, and this Black Dragon is badly wounded and about to lay eggs, then maybe they really can slay it. Think about it—something that could wound a level-nine Black Dragon would at least be a saint-level Magic Beast or a saint-rank powerhouse. In that situation, the Black Dragon's injuries definitely wouldn't be light."

"A camel that starved to death is still bigger than a strong horse," Anna snapped. "You know shit. As long as it hasn't closed its eyes, it's still a Black Dragon. One sneeze from it could shake the earth and mountains."

Fate wisely shut his mouth. He did not dare provoke Anna.

Li Junshan, standing off to the side, was itching unbearably. That was a dragon, and the most fatal thing was that it was about to lay eggs. He knew perfectly well there was absolutely no way he could summon that Black Dragon, but if it laid a dragon egg, it was not impossible for a Xenomorph to possess it.

A Xenomorph with a Black Dragon as its host—how powerful would that be!

Just thinking about it made Li Junshan feel hot blood surge straight into his head. He was about to speak when he saw two people running over at full speed.

"Aunt Anna." The one running in front was Sally. Her body was actually faintly glowing with cyan Battle Qi. She rushed in with an anxious face and said, "What do we do? What do we do?"

"What happened?" Anna hurriedly went to meet her. At that moment, Xilu, behind Sally, came huffing and panting after her.

"My father and Xilu's father followed them into the desert," Sally said, so anxious she nearly cried. "Xilu and I couldn't stop them. Aunt Anna, what should we do?"

"Those two old bastards." Anna trembled with rage and hurriedly chased toward the north side of town. Li Junshan and the others exchanged a glance, then followed as well.

The normally noisy Windfire Town was now quiet. Aside from a large group of beggars leaning against the corners of walls and lazily sunning themselves, there was almost no one else to be seen. By the time Anna, Li Junshan, and the others reached the north street of town, the Dragon Slayer Team was already nowhere in sight. In the Northern Desert, wild winds had wrapped up sand and dust across the sky, and nothing could be seen.

"What do we do?" Sally cried. "That's a Black Dragon, and there are so many big fellows too."

Li Junshan gently patted her shoulder in comfort, while a plan began forming in his heart.

"Xiaoshan." Anna's brows twisted together as she said, "Can you catch up to them?"

Li Junshan smiled. Seeing no one around, he moved his will, and a Xenomorph appeared before them.

"Hiss..."

Aside from Fate, the others all sucked in a breath of cold air. Single-minded Xilu raised his axe and charged forward.

Li Junshan hurriedly stopped him. Under the command of his will, the Xenomorph shot several hundred meters away like lightning, then turned and flashed back in the blink of an eye.

"This is... your... Summoned Beast?" Looking at the Xenomorph, which was filled with a brutal aura, drool dripping now and then from its huge mouth, all the fat on Anna's body began to tremble.

"Mm." Li Junshan nodded with certainty and reached out to touch the Xenomorph. Like an obedient village dog, it docilely lowered its head and let Li Junshan caress it.

"This should be a fi... fifth-level Magic Beast, right?" Sally's beautiful eyes went perfectly round, her pink lips slightly parted, her face full of disbelief.

"I don't know." Li Junshan shook his head and said, "But they've already hunted and killed many fifth-level Magic Beasts."

"Ah!" Sally's mouth opened even wider.

"They?" Anna took several deep breaths, subconsciously avoiding the Xenomorph's savage gaze, and asked in surprise, "How many Summoned Beasts do you have?"

Li Junshan simply summoned the remaining four as well. Five Xenomorphs lined up in a row. Apart from the Xenomorph that had used the sixth-level Great Water Rhino Beast as its host being slightly different, they were almost exactly the same.

Seeing the utterly shocked expressions on everyone's faces, Li Junshan felt immensely pleased inside and said, "Aunt Anna, I'll ride them to chase after the Dragon Slayer Team. I'll definitely think of a way to bring Andri and Uncle Hark back."

"I want to go too." Sally tugged at the corner of Li Junshan's clothes and said with a pleading expression, "Take me with you."

There was no need to even mention Xilu. That kid was bold enough to cover the sky; carrying his axe, he started climbing onto the Xenomorph beside him. Li Junshan hurriedly soothed that Xenomorph, and only then did its raised tailbone lower.

"What are you running off for?" Anna's face darkened as she said, "There's nothing good in the desert, and it's so dangerous."

Anna was extremely well liked in Windfire Town, and with her husband having once saved Windfire Town, many people respected her deeply. Sally's mother had fallen ill and died very early, so she had practically taken Anna as her own mother. Sally did not dare talk back either; her watery eyes were full of pleading as she kept tugging at the corner of Li Junshan's clothes.

How could Li Junshan have ever seen her act like this? For a moment, he felt a little dizzy.

"Aunt Anna, you saw the speed of my Summoned Beasts too, and they can maintain that speed for most of the day. Even if we run into danger, we can flee quickly. I swear to Chairman Mao, I absolutely won't let Sally come to harm."

Although she did not know who Chairman Mao was, seeing Li Junshan's solemn face, Anna thought for a moment and said, "Fine. You're only going to chase after Hark and the others. At this speed, you should catch up very quickly. Don't go deep into the desert, and don't get any wild ideas about following them to slay the dragon. Once you find them, hurry right back to me immediately."

Sally jumped up in excitement, her face full of joy. Li Junshan agreed repeatedly and directed the Xenomorphs to crouch down. After the few of them climbed onto them separately, he again reminded Sally and Xilu to hold on tight. With a movement of his will, one of the five Xenomorphs opened the way, and the other four swiftly followed.

"Come back early." In the blink of Anna's eye, Li Junshan and the others were gone.