Chapter 79 - Subjugation (5)

Korbin unsheathed his sword as he ran and covered it with how little mana he had. This dinosaur-like creature roared loudly as it stomped its feet. The ground shook hard as a few of them lost their footing and fell right on the ground.

"Unit 2! Prepare your weapons!" Lance shouted.

Reno already unsheathed his katana and ran towards the dinosaur-like monster, carefully treading through the ground. He helped Korbin damage the monster's feet, but it only produced more earthquakes. The first unit of veteran warriors' moves didn't falter and used the shaking ground as a footing to jump towards the monster's legs. One of them scratched its knee, but at the next moment, he went flying as soon as he was hit by its whip-like tail. That man's bones broke into pieces as it punctured his organs and died. Not only that man, a few people in the vicinity got caught in the aftermath and stumbled on the ground. The monster breathed out fire as it burnt the surrounding area. Fortunately, the warriors noticed it early and went out of its affected area, but they got a few burns.

Dichen cursed then charged towards the monster with his spear.

"Dichen?!" Elodiaren called.

"I won't abide by the rules if my companions are in danger!"

Dichen screamed as he guided his mana to his hand and aimed at the monster's eye. Its head steadied as if it was challenging him if he could even inflict damage on its body. Dichen gritted his teeth in anger and inputted more force in his arms then threw the spear with all his might. The monster scoffed as it caught the spear with its mouth and smashed the iron spear with its teeth. It displayed the incredible strength of its jaw as it shattered the weapon like a candy. They stared wide eyes, stricken with fear as it stomped harder on the ground as it roared louder. Korbin took this opportunity and jumped on the monster's back, then stabbed its neck. The monster roared in pain. It was a thick skin as Korbin put all of his strength as the dinosaur-like monster trashed as it tried to throw out the human on its back.

Reno used this opportunity too as he cut the ligaments of its knee. Then, the monster fell and roared. Korbin injected more mana in his sword and it got through its neck, damaging its spine. When the heroes successfully brought down one demi-dragon monster, another one appeared and it was more imposing than the first one. It was ten meters tall and a hundred meters long. The people who fought heaved and fell back to formation, abandoning the monster they recently killed.

"Unit two to ten, prepare for battle!" Lance put force in his stomach and shouted, earning the growl of the monster in front of them.

Elodiaren and the heroes helped by using their mana as a knife, cutting through the tough innards of the monsters.

"Wha-" Lance muttered as he saw a huge mana stone in the heart of the bigger monster. It was so rich in mana. However, he pondered on what to do about these stones. Surely, these would attract more monsters and their lives would be in peril.

"Excuse me?" A flowery voice emerged out behind Lance. He turned around and he met a woman dashing enough to rival that of Emersyn.

"Uh… you're one of the…?"

"I am Flora. Master wanted me to be of help to you."

"Master? One of the heroes?"

Flora shook her head and gestured at Emersyn who was looking at the horizon. "That is my master. She wanted me to help you with the materials."

"... you have nothing to help now, since we already dismantled these--"

"I have a ring that could store materials."

"Wait what?" Does that exist?

"Yes. Please let me demonstrate them to you."

"O-oh. Okay…?"

Flora nodded then approached the huge mana stone that had just been extracted from the body. When she touched it, it disappeared from their sight and the people around her exclaimed in fright. However, when she extended her hand, it suddenly appeared on the ground. She turned to look at Lance with an inquisitive glance.

"... why didn't you tell us about this from the start?"

"My master and I were afraid that we would be taken advantage of."

"... yes, true. Can I also ask for a favor?"

"Yes. If it is within my master's means."

"Can you also carry the supplies we had?"

"I can go back and collect the carriages too."

"Ca-can you do that?"

"Of course. My master gave this ring to us, so it can hold a lot of things."

Lance glanced at Emersyn with awe. When he looked at Emersyn's fingers, there weren't any rings present, so he concluded that she gave those rings to her servants rather than having one herself. He nodded then turned to look at Flora.

"Then, please. We need more manpower."

"Understood."

"Oh, and, please bring your master with you--"

"I am enough!" Elodiaren quickly quipped.

"Hero Cone? Why?"

"Well… you see..."

"I am strong enough, Elo--Hero Cone. My master trained us hard to protect ourselves."

"... you're right…" Elodiaren mumbled.

"Besides, these people need you, Hero Cone," Flora said.

"... you're right once again..." then he whispered, "Though it is enough for her to go through alone..."

"I am going now, Commander Lance."

"Do you know the way back?"

"Yes, sir. I will come back as soon as possible."

"Good. Take care, Miss Flora."

"Understood," she said then ran immediately.

"We will camp for the day," he said to one of his knights.

"Yes, sir."

Tomorrow came and Emersyn was the one who was on the current night duty. She browsed through her inventory and she saw that her amount of swords were dwindling. She tilted her head then rested her finger on her chin, exclaiming under her breath.

"Ah… I was throwing away the weapons I just used…."

"Master?" Flora whispered as she went out of her tent, rubbing her eyes. Her clothes were also dishevelled that you could see the upper part of her b.r.e.a.s.ts.

"Good morning, Flora. Did you have a good night's sleep?" Emersyn turned her head back and smiled at Flora.

"I did. What do you want for breakfast today?"

"Hmmm… anything you fancy. Whatever you cook will always be delicious anyway."

"But what about your favorite?"

"Beef Curry is a luxury today. Let's eat it once we get home."

"Understood."

"Have some sandwich, Flora," Emersyn offered a chicken sandwich to her and she willingly accepted. She even bowed and received it with care.

"I will treasure it," she was going to put it in her ring when Emersyn stopped her hurriedly.

"Hey. Eat it."

"... understood."

The heroes simultaneously went out of their tents. Elodiaren slumped down next to Emersyn while the other three went out to train.

"You are not going to train, Aren?"

"..."

"Go train," Emersyn demanded.

"... yes, ma'am."

Then, some of the people they hired could also cook, so they took the liberty to do the meals everyday. Since they would be paid double the amount they would get from the original mission. They started prepping the ingredients and Emersyn stood up from her seat to help. Once Flora finished eating the sandwich, she also decided to help out. The main ingredient today was the demi-dragon meat they acquired yesterday. Flora took out chunks of meat and they immediately worked on cutting it to bits. It was hard though, so they resorted to other means to cut it.

After the soldiers' morning exercise, they crowded the people who were cooking and started drooling. When, finally, the long suffering was over, they ate lavishly for the day. They restored their vitality and started marching towards their final destination.

***

"Retreat!!!" Lance screamed on top of his lungs as soon as he was notified that the numbers of demi-dragons increased once again.

"We are surrounded, Commander," Emersyn said.

"... what?"

From the point where they only spotted one, then to the ambush of twenty variants of demi-dragons. Although Emersyn already caught on this, she said that it wouldn't be that dangerous. So, they continued, but they instantly regretted joining the mission. How could they contend themselves to hundreds of demi-dragons? Above all, the content of the mission was the subjugation of a small number of demi-dragons. The reward was also a whopping five gold each person who came out of the mission alive. They were so blinded by greed and ignorance that the heroes will protect them when times get hard.

Wait… heroes? In the first place, why are the heroes in this mission?

Anyway, Lance cursed under his breath. They only had one direction where they could escape from. The north where the number of demi-dragons were dense. They could only gamble and be fortunate enough to escape their encirclement.