By this point in their fight, she had gained a thorough understanding of Andrew's strength. Although he was only an eighth-level warrior, even eighth-level magic could not hurt him. It was simply unbelievable. Given the offensive power of wind element magic, even a ninth-level warrior would not dare take it lightly. Yet she could do nothing against an eighth-level warrior. That sense of defeat...
Andrew paid no attention to what she thought. He was intent on teaching her a lesson. In an instant, he reached the top of the Earth Dragon Beast's head and stomped hard. The Earth Dragon Beast crashed to the ground with a mournful cry.
"Stop!"
The mage's expression finally changed, and she could not help lowering her flight altitude.
Andrew stood on the Earth Dragon Beast's head, his expression indifferent.
"I only came to ask for information, not to make trouble for the city lord's manor, yet you kept pressing me. I don't recall having any grudge against you, do I?"
The mage's breathing was somewhat unsteady. She had already used up most of her magical power, and seeing her magical pet injured made her anxious.
"I don't know about what you mentioned. A battle took place outside Mithril City a few days ago, but the city lord's manor didn't send anyone there."
Andrew cursed inwardly. If you didn't know, why didn't you say so sooner? What a waste of my time.
"Where did the battle take place?"
"East of the city, near the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. I've told you everything I know. You can leave now!" The mage's voice turned icy again.
This time, Andrew understood. That was probably simply her personality.
Putting away the Godslaying Saber, Andrew left with Flame Wolf and Golden Peng. Before leaving, he tossed out a Magic Crystal Card.
"My apologies for barging in. This is compensation for the damage to the city lord's manor!"
The mage caught the Magic Crystal Card. Looking in the direction where he had vanished, she cursed under her breath, "Arrogant brat. If Father hadn't forbidden me from using the magic tower, I would have made sure you stayed here today!" As it turned out, she was Duke Dujuan's daughter, as well as a genius mage of the Yulan Empire. Not yet forty, she was already a magus of the eighth rank.
After hurrying outside the city, Andrew found the battlefield on a small hill. The hill was a scene of devastation. Gullies ran everywhere, and broken stones littered the ground. Seeing this, he could imagine how fierce the battle that day had been. There, he saw an enormous crater, with wind elements still lingering inside it.
"This is Golden Tiger's magic, Wind Tiger Roar!"
He had seen the power of Wind Tiger Roar before and recognized the traces Golden Tiger had left.
"If they wanted to kill Father and the others, they certainly wouldn't have let them escape into the city. The High Priest of the Yulan Empire decreed that fighting was forbidden within cities. Other than Mithril City, Father and the others could only have fled into the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Only under those circumstances would they have had a chance to evade pursuit!"
Andrew quickly reached a conclusion, though it was only a guess.
"Flame Wolf, pay attention to the scents here. Track them!"
Andrew's expression was grim. Beside him, Flame Wolf growled and circled the area, holding his head close to the ground, his nose twitching as he clearly tried to distinguish the scents. Magical beasts had a much stronger sense of smell than humans. Wolf-type magical beasts in particular could often distinguish a human's scent from more than a dozen li away.
After circling back, Flame Wolf suddenly darted off, heading straight toward the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Without a word, Andrew followed closely, while Golden Peng remained perched on his shoulder.
From Flame Wolf's behavior, Andrew knew his guess had been right. At that moment, he felt somewhat fortunate. Without Flame Wolf, finding the correct route would not have been so easy.
Flame Wolf led Andrew nearly a hundred li into the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. The farther they went, the worse Andrew felt. He discovered clear signs of fighting in some places. Judging by the damage to the surroundings, the battles had been very brief, but unusually fierce.
I hope Father and the others are all right! Andrew was anxious, but there was nothing he could do.
"Awoo!"
An hour later, Flame Wolf and Andrew actually arrived at a sheer cliff. Flame Wolf swung his head from side to side before finally lowering it to look at the bottom of the valley.
"You mean they went down there!" Andrew's expression turned very ugly. He took a look. The valley was several hundred meters deep. Even a ninth-level warrior who accidentally fell would certainly lose his life.
Flame Wolf nodded like a human, quite certain.
Andrew drew the Godslaying Saber. Holding the saber in his right hand and carrying Flame Wolf in his left, with Golden Peng perched on his shoulder, he jumped without hesitation. Every few dozen meters, he thrust the Godslaying Saber into the rock face to halt his fall. Then he pulled it out and dropped again. After repeating this dozens of times, he finally reached the valley floor.
The bottom of the valley was somewhat strange. There was no water, and the ground was uneven, but it was spacious. Flame Wolf quickly circled the spot, growling continuously.
On Andrew's shoulder, Golden Peng spoke in his mind. "Master, there's the aura of a level nine magical beast nearby!"
A level nine magical beast? Andrew was not afraid. At any other time, he might well have gone to take its Magic Crystal Core.
"Hurry up and find the way!" Andrew patted Flame Wolf's head.
Flame Wolf had now distinguished the scent as well and headed to the right. Rocks were everywhere in the valley, but they could not stop Andrew. He and Flame Wolf leaped from rock to rock at tremendous speed.
After traveling like this for nearly an hour, Andrew suddenly sensed something.
"There are fluctuations from a battle ahead, and the aura of a level nine magical beast!"
Standing atop a huge boulder, Andrew sensed two immense auras clashing several li ahead. He could not help quickening his pace.
"Roaaar!"
As Andrew drew closer to the battlefield, he faintly heard a dragon's roar.
A dragon?
A question sprang into Andrew's mind.
Dragons were among the most powerful races on the Material Plane. Their bodies were formidable, and they did not fear magic. It could be said that very few of the same level could defeat them. Moreover, as long as a dragon's bloodline was pure, it would reach saint-level upon adulthood. Even members of the Sub-Dragon Race who possessed some dragon blood were at least high-ranking magical beasts! This, too, showed just how powerful a dragon's bloodline truly was.
"It should be a sub-dragon!" As he sprinted, Andrew rejected his earlier thought. Soon, he reached the edge of the battlefield. To his delight, Howard and Golden Tiger were there too!
"Wonderful!" Andrew was beside himself with joy. Whatever the circumstances, he had finally made it, and Howard's danger was over.
As he relaxed, he turned his attention to the level nine magical beast. Sure enough, it was a Wind Dragon. Wind Dragons were wind element magical beasts of the Sub-Dragon Race. They generally reached level nine upon adulthood, and very few could break through to saint-level. However, they were highly skilled at flying, with few equals among level nine magical beasts.
The Wind Dragon beat its enormous wings in midair. Below it, more than twenty mercenaries cautiously resisted it, with Golden Tiger playing a major role.
How strange. Didn't Father say there were only a few people left in his mercenary squad? Who are the others? And there's even a ninth-level warrior among them. Andrew was somewhat confused. He had originally thought someone was pursuing Howard and the others, but upon arriving, he discovered they had actually joined forces with other people to fight a Wind Dragon. This...
Although he had not figured it out, Andrew quietly joined the battlefield. The fighting was fierce. More than a dozen warriors formed a huge defensive formation, resisting the Wind Dragon's magic while protecting the mages behind them. Those mages continuously cast all kinds of spells, attacking the Wind Dragon in midair.
Andrew quietly crept close to the battlefield and waited. At that moment, the Wind Dragon was a full fifty meters above the ground. He could not reach it at that distance. Even if he threw stones, he would not be able to hurt it at all. It was still a member of the Dragon Clan, after all, with a very powerful body.
"Good!" After he had waited quite a while, the Wind Dragon descended slightly, coming down to just over thirty meters. Andrew shouted and suddenly leaped more than ten meters into the air. His Godslaying Saber slashed out a streak of battle-qi roughly two meters long. The battle-qi was blue-green, looking much like wind element battle-qi, but it was actually entirely different.
His appearance stunned everyone, especially Howard, whose surprise and delight at seeing him were impossible to conceal!
The Wind Dragon was highly intelligent. That was hardly surprising. Aside from their strength, members of the Dragon Clan also possessed intelligence far beyond that of ordinary magical beasts. Disdain flashed in its eyes as it faced the blue-green battle-qi.
An eighth-level warrior actually attacking me with wind element battle-qi. How foolish! That was what the Wind Dragon thought. At the same time, it cast a Wind Shield over three meters in diameter in front of itself. With its level nine strength, even ninth-level wind element magic could not break through that Wind Shield!
Not only the Wind Dragon, but even the human warriors thought the same. What interested them more, however, was just who this person was.
Bang! Just as everyone dismissed it, the battle-qi cleaved straight through the Wind Shield and struck the Wind Dragon. With a tremendous crash, the battle-qi split the scales on its body, leaving a deep wound. Dragon blood streamed down from the wound without stopping...
"What a pity. I meant to cut off its wing, but it managed to dodge."
Andrew felt some admiration for the Wind Dragon's reaction as well. For it to protect its wing at the critical instant, its reactions were indeed fast.
"Golden Tiger!"