Night Raid

Late at night, a vast number of Half-Orcs were gathering silently in a deep ravine formed where two low hills overlapped.

Their gray-green faces were utterly expressionless as they silently readied their assorted equipment and weapons-long ropes fitted with iron hooks, huge nets woven from tough ox sinew, blunt-tipped javelins, and longbows and heavy arrows. Clearly, they had long since made thorough preparations.

Anything involving dragons had always come with considerable danger, to say nothing of capturing several Red Dragons alive. Even if they were only young dragons, their destructive power was not to be underestimated.

Once all the Half-Orcs had assembled, one clad in simple leather armor stepped forward.

He was exceptionally tall, with a reddish tinge to his gray-green face. Taking the lead, he marched toward a nearby hill with the rest of the group behind him.

Moments later, they approached a cave on the hilltop.

The tall Half-Orc leading them gestured, and four orcs immediately spread out a huge ox-sinew net. Three more of the strongest Half-Orcs stepped out of the group and followed close behind them, heading into the depths of the cave together.

Sol's eyes snapped open. He raised his head from the platform paved with smooth pebbles, his keen hearing catching a series of approaching footsteps, especially clear in the silence.

Only when True Dragons crossed into a new age stage and entered their deepest sleep could an assassin sneak in and kill them with a single strike while they slept.

But even then, the moment they came under attack, they would awaken and launch a frenzied counterattack.

Normally, they were like watchful wildcats. With their bellies and paws against the ground, they could precisely sense the faintest vibrations passing through the earth.

What's coming? There are quite a few of them. Are they Boarfolk? No! Those cowards would never dare set foot in the cave without my permission.

Jumbled thoughts flashed through Sol's mind, and in an instant, he reacted.

With his head raised, he drew a sudden, deep breath. His chest and belly swelled like an inflated ball, lifting his entire body off the ground.

Oil stored in a unique glandular organ inside him flowed back up his esophagus toward his throat. Heated to a high temperature, it mixed with the air he had drawn in and turned into thick smoke, which poured continuously from the corners of his open mouth.

The air inside the cave was already stagnant. The thick smoke quickly filled the entire space and rolled toward the entrance.

The Half-Orcs who had just entered the cave were engulfed by a mass of smoke. Everything blurred before their eyes, and they could see nothing clearly.

Just then, a spark abruptly flashed.

The Toad was called a "gas toad" rather than a "poison gas toad" or "smoke toad" precisely because the gas it expelled was explosive.

Once all the oil in his glandular organ had vaporized into flammable smoke and spread throughout the cave, Sol immediately spat out a blast of scorching dragon breath.

Boom-

A tremendous blast erupted, so loud it seemed to shake the entire hilltop.

At that moment, the relatively sealed cave was like the barrel of a cannon. The powder ignited, and a huge tongue of flame more than ten meters long burst from the entrance.

The Half-Orcs who had just entered the cave were instantly hurled away by a wave of flame carrying tremendous force. Large patches of their skin were burned and covered in blisters, and every last hair on their heads was scorched away.

The Half-Orcs waiting outside the cave fared no better. Swept up in the firestorm, they fell and tumbled across the ground.

Sol, too, was pushed back by the immense force, his back slamming hard against the cave's stone wall.

But thanks to a True Dragon's formidable physique, he felt only a dull ache. The flames swirling around him were no more than a breeze against his face, leaving him completely unaffected.

Xisitana and Kalpu, who had been sleeping soundly, were also flung away by the force and slammed into the stone wall beside Sol.

Fast asleep just moments before, they had been caught completely unprepared. They jolted awake as the pain struck, letting out a series of bewildered roars.

"What? What happened?"

"Damn it! How did I end up flying?"

Sol glanced at the two who had brought shame upon dragons and roared, his voice tinged with frustration at their failure to do better.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he gave his broad wings a powerful beat. A gale swept out, dispersing the smoke and dust filling the cave.

He then focused on the roulette wheel in his mind and jabbed hard at one of its squares. Grabbing the Burning Carbon that appeared, he quickly began to devour it.

Xisitana and Kalpu's heads, still muddled by sleep and the impact, finally cleared. They jolted, raised their heads, arched their backs, and searched all around for the supposed enemy.

Before they could find anything, Sol had swallowed the entire five-kilogram lump of Coal.

His stomach and intestines, like a high-temperature furnace, rapidly digested the high-energy polymers, and a steady stream of heat began to pour forth.

As the heat rose from him, the scarlet scales covering his body grew as vivid as burning flames, and twisting tongues of fire began to emerge from the corners of his mouth.

The air around him warped in the heat, making Sol's figure appear somewhat hazy. He kicked hard against the ground and charged straight for the cave entrance.

Hearing footsteps from inside the cave, several of the less badly injured Half-Orcs hastily scrambled to their feet, spread out the huge ox-sinew net, and moved to block the entrance.

The huge net, woven from the sinews and hide of a Bystin Great-Horned Ox and plant fibers, was exceptionally tough. Even a mammoth, famed for its strength, would struggle to break free once caught in it.

Sol had just charged to the entrance when he saw a huge net descending on him. Before he could spread his wings, it dropped over his head and pinned him to the ground.

He swung his claws with all his strength, bit into the mesh, and pulled hard, only to find the thing frighteningly tough. With his current strength, he could not tear it apart at all.

If an ordinary hatchling had been caught in this net, it would probably have had no choice but to surrender.

But he was different. He was a Red Dragon-the strongest and most savage of all evil dragons.

The Coal he had just eaten had been ground to dust by his powerful muscular stomach and bony plates. Mixed with magic power gathered from the Draconis Fundamentum, it surged into his upper stomach and became a deep breath that Sol opened his mouth and unleashed.

At first, there was only a wisp of orange-red flame, but it swelled wildly in the air in an instant, becoming a wave of fire more than ten meters long.

As Sol swung his head, the terrifying flames instantly engulfed the area for dozens of meters around him.

When the four Half-Orcs holding the net saw the surging flames rushing toward them, they no longer dared stay. They fled into the distance on hands and knees.

When Sol finished breathing fire, the ignited Coal dust did not immediately go out. It continued burning on the ground, turning the area around the cave entrance into a sea of fire.

No matter how tough they were, ox sinew and plant fibers could not withstand the scorching heat of over a thousand degrees.

Sol did not even need to struggle against the huge net hanging over him. Before the shocked eyes of the Half-Orcs around him, it crackled, snapped, and fell away.

The fearsome Red Dragon stood bathed in the raging fire, proudly raising his head. His outspread wings cast a vast shadow of death as he began to roar.

"You lowly maggots dared to enter my territory, so let the flames burn every one of you to ashes!"