Bad News

Faster! Run faster!

The red dragon pursuing them relentlessly was like a demon that had crawled out of the abyss to claim their lives. The half-orcs wished they had two more legs as they fled for all they were worth.

Every so often, the red dragon caught up with a half-orc at the rear. After a brief struggle, a piercing scream tore through the night sky, only to fall silent moments later.

One, two, three... Sol led Xisitana and Kalpu in a leisurely game of cat and mouse with their prey.

The intense fear pouring from the half-orcs turned into essence fragments scrolling across the bottom of his vision. The steady rise in their number sent a surge of pleasure through him.

In just over half an hour, the number of half-orcs fleeing ahead had been cut in half.

Only then did the survivors finally realize that if they kept running like this, they would be gradually picked off, like frogs being boiled in slowly warming water.

The tall half-orc, who had been carried on a stretcher and never abandoned, slowly woke amid the constant jolting.

Berserk was a double-edged sword. Although it greatly enhanced physical abilities in battle, it also left the user severely drained once the fighting ended.

After the previous battle, this half-orc had passed out as soon as his berserk state ended. Only now had he recovered a little strength.

Watching the tall grass rush past and his panic-stricken companions, he quickly grasped their situation and growled in a low voice.

"Don't go back to the tribe. You'll lead those red dragons there! Split up and run straight to Blackrock Fortress. Find Lord Storm Fang..."

Among his people, who revered strength, this tall half-orc clearly commanded great respect throughout the tribe.

The half-orcs, who had been too panicked to know what to do, calmed down a little after hearing him. A moment's thought told them this was their only chance of survival.

As one, they scattered, their single straight path spreading into a broad fan.

Flying low behind them, Sol used his darkvision to watch the half-orcs' movements. At the sight, he paused briefly, folded his wings, and landed, roaring to Xisitana and Kalpu.

"Don't go too far, and don't get caught up in fighting. Meet back at the mountaintop cave before dawn."

With that, he beat his wings again and shot skyward in a streak of scarlet light, diving straight toward the largest group of half-orcs ahead.

When the fearsome red dragon descended from the sky, despair seized the hearts of the half-orcs running for their lives.

Surrounded by the others, the tall half-orc looked at the red dragon wyrmling, whose head was round, whose wings were broad, and who still looked distinctly young. He could not help feeling a twinge of regret.

I really should have prepared more before coming. I shouldn't have underestimated these creatures at the top of the food chain.

But it was too late for regrets. Looking straight into the cold gaze of those pale golden slit pupils, he still struggled to stay alive.

"Esteemed red dragon, I deeply apologize for our earlier offense, but we truly meant no harm.

Please show us mercy and allow us to explain."

Sol blinked, a transparent nictitating membrane sweeping across his pupils, moistening his eyes and clearing away dust and impurities.

The half-orcs before him were already his to slaughter, so Sol didn't mind listening to their final struggle.

"Lowly mongrel, you'd better pray your explanation satisfies me."

The tall half-orc steadied himself, forcing down the agony in his legs as he gathered his words.

"Actually, this is all because the great Stormfang Kalundak wishes to meet you. He ordered us to invite you to Blackrock Fort as guests.

We are his dependents. Please, for Storm Fang's sake, spare us insignificant half-orcs!"

Sol snorted two streams of white vapor, a look of disdain appearing on his red-scaled face.

Storm Fang? That sounds like a name those blue cowards would choose. Inviting us to Blackrock Fort as guests? He probably wants to capture us and make us unpaid slaves.

Those blue creatures loved to search everywhere for the eggs of other chromatic dragons. They called it adoption, but in truth, they only wanted to brainwash them into servants who would risk their lives expanding their territory.

"Storm Fang? Never heard of him.

Before the great Sol, no other dragon deserves to be called 'great'! Clearly, your explanation doesn't satisfy me. Now die!"

The moment he finished speaking, he lunged forward viciously, giving the half-orcs no chance to say another word.

Caught off guard, one half-orc was knocked to the ground. Sol's fearsome jaws clamped down hard, ending his life in an instant.

Only then did the other half-orcs react. Knowing there was no hope of escape, they were instead driven to ferocity. With guttural roars, they began a final, desperate fight to the death.

Red dragons had never feared battle. Even though Sol always felt he might have fared better if he had been reborn as a green dragon, he never rejected the savagery flowing through his blood.

His earlier rest and the ample energy replenished by the Dragonvein Crystal had restored both his stamina and magic to their peak.

Glandular organs inside him secreted an oily fluid that slowly rose back up his throat. Heated to a high temperature, it turned into smoke that steadily escaped the corners of his parted jaws.

As a result, Sol left hazy trails of smoke wherever he went, constantly obscuring the half-orcs' vision.

One half-orc after another roared and charged at the blurred red figure, only to become a cold corpse.

The ground was soon stained red with blood, and the air grew thick with its scent.

The battle did not last long. A little over ten minutes later, the night breeze dispersed the smoke, leaving only Sol standing.

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. After glancing at the burning wounds on his body, he paid the corpses strewn across the ground no further attention and flew toward the cave.

As a wyrmling, although he spoke disdainfully of those blue dragons who only knew how to band together, he took them very seriously.

Before long, that blue lizard would likely hear that the half-orcs' mission had failed. Sol had to get as far away from here as possible before then.

With flying abilities far beyond those of red dragons his age, Sol returned to the cave on the low mountain in less than half the time it had taken him to leave.

Because of the explosion he had caused earlier, the entire cave was now a mess. Sol had no intention of going inside, so he chose a projecting rock to land on and waited quietly.

His foolish blood relatives were an important source of Mental Power Essence for now, so he couldn't simply abandon them.

As for the Boarfolk down the nearby slope, there were too many of them, and they moved too slowly. He could only part with them reluctantly.

The thought filled Sol with irritation.

He had gone to great lengths to help the Boarfolk improve their farmland, and they had been on the verge of steady development. Now, in the blink of an eye, he had to flee.

That damned blue dragon! Once I reach adulthood, I'll tear his head off!

As he pondered, a wavering red shape appeared on the distant horizon, rapidly drawing closer.

Sol hadn't expected Xisitana and Kalpu to return so soon. Had they not pursued the fleeing half-orcs at all, but turned straight back instead?

But then he noticed something was wrong. Wasn't that red shape a little too big? And somehow, it looked familiar.