Chapter 171 The End Of A Long Night . . .

Before Balaur could say anything, I threw the bottle onto him. It broke against his metallic scales, and the liquid quickly sipped through his skin.

"What did you do?!" Balaur roared, panic in his voice.

Instead of answering, I took a step back when Balaur was enveloped in red light. His body pulsated, muscles bulging, and slit eyes turning to dot and bloodshot. His size increased and his ATP doubled.

The force around him intensified enough to cut the air around him. Static electricity danced and coiled around his metallic scales and his roar was so intense it shook the earth and stunned all goblins around us.

Entering Rage, Balaur's mind was in haze and he stomped towards the Grendelkin without another word. His legs trampled all the Goblins that barged his way.

I was glad that the potion made him slightly crazed that his bloodlust for his enemy was greater than his desire to kill me for what I did a while ago.

Balaur's body was covered in a red aura of energy, his eyes glowed crimson, and he looked like an enraged beast ready for battle.

He was unstoppable!

The Grendelkin's arms were raised in defense as Balaur charged at him with a thunderous roar. But his charge was halted by the Grendelkin's right arm, which blocked his path.

Balaur's left hand slammed into the Grendelkin's chest, sending it flying back. The Grendelkin crashed against the trees in the woodlands with a loud thud.

With a terrible roar, Balaur attacked the Grendelkin, leaving no quarters for it to recover. While his armor weighs him down enough to slow his flight, he remains quite agile on the ground.

I could only watch from the side as the Grendelkin tried to dodge the barraged of attacks from Balaur, even when he was on the ground. The Grendelkin also had incredible agility and speed.

Balaur's confidence in the durability of his armor was perhaps his only vulnerability. Taking away that advantage makes him much easier to vanquish. And the Grendelkin must have thought of the same thing, too, as he clawed out Balaur's adamantine scales.

Balaur retreated, using his fiery breath and igniting all obstacles in his way. He felt no remorse if he had to fling a few goblins in the Grendelkin's way just to widen their distance.

In extreme circumstances, Balaur might permit a human mage or war priest to ride upon his back. Their spells complimented his brutality, and sometimes they assisted him with healing or protection.

However, I didn't need to do such a thing, as Balaur had the upper hand.

Instead, I summoned minion 0 and rushed forward toward the Goblins. With a single swing of Lucy, dozens of Goblins fell dead on the ground, and dozens more were cut in half at my second attack.

Every Goblin within a twenty-meter radius distance from me was either missing limbs or dead.

Though thousands more were approaching us from all sides, I hurled Lucy forward, opening a path wherever it went before it changed trajectory and hurled back into my hand like a boomerang.

The good thing about these Goblins was that, they were so close to each other, like tunas in a can. Because of their enormous numbers, they were huddled so close together that I didn't have to exert much effort to kill a hundred of them with one strike.

I didn't even have to use some mana. And since I wasn't constricted with things like [Stamina], I could kill all these goblins all day . . . or until I got bored.

Even so, they were still like five thousand of them left.

Lucy's [Blood Surge] meter was full, so I tried that skill on the Goblins.

All Goblins within a hundred-meter radius of me stopped. Within one second, their body jerked uncontrollably. The veins in their eyes exploded, and blood oozes from their ears, mouth, nose, and all the orifices in their body.

All their HP flashed red as well before it stopped in half.

Lucy's meter was depleted, and hundreds of the Goblins' HP were reduced to half. It was enough for minion 0 to one-shot them with its paws alone.

Leaping from one area to the next, Minion 0 tore, clawed, and bit every Goblin who posed the greatest threat to us, like the Shamans and Hobgoblins, whose size was five times that of a normal goblin. Their STR was five times stronger too.

Though it wouldn't make much difference since my ATP was way higher than theirs.

Within four minutes, the goblins' numbers were dwindling, and the Grendelkin could do nothing against the might of a Dragon.

The Grendelkin's HP was reduced to a quarter, then a tenth, and finally, it fell to zero.

The Grendelkin disappeared into thin air leaving only a loud cry of roar in its wake.

Against a Dragon buffed with Rage, the two weren't simply on the same level.

A collection of shrieks came from the Goblins' mouths as they took a step back from our location. Their eyes contained nothing but fear as they scrambled to retreat.

Even though the Goblins still outnumbered us, seeing that they couldn't even come close to me and that the Grendelkin was killed by Balaur, they could do nothing but scattered and ran away.

And with that, the long night of war was finally over.

The mysterious lady was also nowhere to be found. The one which I suspect was the Grendelkin's parent and the one who transported the Goblins' armies here.

<Do you want to give chase, Host?>

Unless Dementia wanted Goblins as payment, I didn't want to waste my time on them.

The students and inhabitants would also notice that the commotion was over, and they would all come out of their hiding places.

There was no one who was watching the fight on the battlements, based on my map. This assured me that no one would link this event to me.

A loud cry made me shifted my attention to Balaur, who was wreathing in pain on the ground.

Ah . . . the effect of the [Rage Potion] must have worn off.

Balaur was back to his human form, butt naked. He was screaming in pain, saliva bubbling in his mouth while veins crawled on his skin, bulging and pulsating. He was red all over, like he was going to burst.

"Y-you . . . what did you do to me?" he gnashed his teeth when his slit eyes found mine.

I was amazed that he could still talk despite his situation.

Instead of answering, I squatted and uttered, "If you don't want to die and live to see Dragon Island again, then become my minion."

"Y-you . . ."

There was fear in Balaur's eyes. Horror and dread for his fate, for I knew he was relieving the trauma he had once experienced at the hands of the wizard.

His scars might have healed, but his trauma would remain forever in his heart. And any pain inflicted on him by a human would awaken that trauma enough for him to do anything just to make the pain stop.

"H-how? How are you still alive? We had an oath! AaArGhhH!"

"It's because I really plan on finding this Dragon Island and tell you where it is. But you don't have to be alive to know that, right?"

There was always a loophole to every deal. His only mistake was to rush into an agreement with me all because I had baited him with the Dragon Island.

Maybe he was also arrogant, thinking that a single player couldn't possibly do anything against him.

Balaur wanted to bite off my neck, but he was too weak and in pain to even move.

"Y-you lied! You don't even know where it is!"

"Oh, I plan to know." I shot to my feet. "That, at least, is the truth. As you can see, I'm still alive."

I extended my hand at him and bluffed. "Become my minion, and the pain will stop. If not, then you'll die without even a chance to come back to your homeland."

I knew he would take the offer. His life's purpose was to live so he could return to his homeland one day. Even he had to be a slave again to achieve it.

". . ." Balaur closed his eyes tight for a moment. "Human . . ." he gritted his teeth and spat, "I shall remember this."

I grinned when a bright light enveloped Balaur's body, and that sweet notification rang in my ears.

<CONGRATULATIONS! You have acquired a minion Dragon, Balaur!>

<Please Name your Minion>

<CONGRATULATIONS to Host for acquiring his first-ever Dragon minion! Rewards! 5 000 Evil Points!>

I retained his name and kept him in the Minions app as a pixel. He was still in Rage, so I let him cool off his head in there first.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)