CH 14

After dinner, Slair slid briskly to the stable. Choco and giant squirrels were there. The whole inn had fireplaces lit up, and it was warm, so the giant squirrels did not hibernate. They scooped out the pine cones, which they stored underground during the fall, hopped up, and handed them to Slair.

「Slair」 Grieve followed him. He grabbed Slair’s right hand——Gordon squeezed so hard that he made Slair’s hand red.

「I know there are some potions that can temporarily increase strength,」 He whispered,「But those are not good, and they will damage your body…Don’t do it again. There is a story in the 《Book of Dragons》… Fine, don’t give me that look. I know you miss Choco. Go play with him but not for too long. When you get back, I must explain this chapter clearly.」

Slair stuck his tongue out——Of course, he did not eat anything strange. With the Anemo element’s help, it was more than enough to defeat Gordon. Grieve sighed helplessly, got up, and left, gently closing the door.

「Choco, promise me! 」 Slair wrapped his arms around Choco’s neck and pleaded in its ear,「For the sake of our ten-year friendship! You just need to take me to that village, and then you can come back here. I will use the Anemo element to speed you up, and it won’t make you leave the master for too long. Do you miss Alex and Rhett? They must miss me very much, just like I miss them. I want to go back to them just like you want to stay with Grieve.」

Choco licked Salir’s face, and it was tangling inside ——Emotionally, it was much closer to Slair. Still, it was instinctive for the scaled horse to obey its master. Hence, the behavior of sneaking behind the master was really rebellious.

Slair took out a brush. The pyro element and hydro element were converged in his hand, the brush was immediately stained with hot water. Slair hummed a little tune and started to brush the scales for Choco. This comfortable touch reminded Choco of the ten years of living on the floating island, full of delicious food and enjoyment.

「Speaking of it, the only reason why I fall to the mainland is your fault for stumbling.」

Choco froze. It drooped down its ear guiltily and finally gave a weak 「Chirp」.

「Great!」 Slair hugged it,「I will be waiting for you tomorrow morning.」

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The next day, Grieve found that Slair had a fever.

「Why is it so hot !」 He touched Slair’s forehead,shocked「I told you not to eat anything strange! We are so busy right now, I am not sure if Enya has time to take care of you .」

Slair did not have a fever. It was just the result of the converging pyro element. It was also making Slair very uncomfortable by doing this, so he stared at Grieve eagerly, hoping that he would leave soon. This look was interpreted by Grieve as「Go ahead, I will be fine.」

「I will tell Enya and let her brew you some medicine. Can you take the medicine by yourself ?」

Slair nodded quickly.

「Then I will go for now. Have a good rest.」

As soon as Grieve left, Slair jumped out of bed and fanned desperately. It took him a while before he felt that the temperature was normal. Slair took out the ration that he stored for the last few days from under the bed. He packed the food and his clothes then looked out the window. Choco had not yet come out of the stable, so Enya was probably over there right now.

He rechecked the map and studied the route for a while. He heard footsteps coming from outside the door. He immediately put the package under the bed, wrapped himself backed on the bed, and gathered a small amount of pyro element on his forehead.

「Oh, poor kid.」 Enya brought the medicine and place it on the bedside. There was a giant squirrel with her.「I still have a lot of work to do, so I can’t take care of you. However, this squirrel is the smartest among all other squirrels, and it will definitely help you.」

Slair nodded at her gratefully. It would be bad if she stayed and fed the medicine to him!

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Enya hurriedly went downstairs. Slair heard a faint「tweeting」sound downstairs. He grabbed the squirrel and held it in his arm, and looked out the window. It turned out that Choco was already waiting down there. Still, it seemed to be highly anxious and kept spinning in circles. Besides Choco, the squirrel was acting strange too. It suddenly struggled violently and making sharp「Squeak」sounds

「Don’t run !」 he saw Enya chased a few squirrels out. Those squirrels jumped in an unusually anxious manner. Their tails stretched straight, and their hairs stood up.

「Tweet——Tweet——Tweet—」Choco shouted with his head raised.

Enya’s expression changed, and she yelled desperately:「Oh my God, is the rat wave here already? The ice wall has not yet been repaired!」

They came in like a cyan tide.

Grieve stood on the ice wall and pulled his bow. He could easily shoot the rat king among the rats. However, he only brought one barrel of arrows. Soon, the arrows were shot out, the warriors drew out their swords, and some raised their axes, but they knew they have little chance to survive — The winter came earlier than usual. Cyanrats did not have time to store enough food. Therefore the rat wave was more extensive than ever. Even the strongest warriors had limited strength. Once they fell, large groups of cyanrats would climb over the unfinished ice wall and binge on everything they could.

「FIGHT TO THE DEATH!」 Gordon raised his sword and roared.

「FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! 」

Grieve was telling with everyone. He prayed in his heart——Dragon God, father, mother, and teacher! Please forgive me for failing to avenge my grievances and leave a bloodline. I want to fulfill my value as a man today and fight to my death here!

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One by one, the cyanrats gathered under the wall. Some of them had already passed the wall through the hole underground to find food, and more of them climbed up on their companions’ bodies. Whenever one was about to reach the top of the wall, the warriors would cut off its head. However, the number of the cyanrats kept on growing — some got bite through their calves, some accidentally fall off the ice wall, and the cyanrats ate their flesh. Below the ice wall, it was full of blood and the sound of chewing flesh and crushing bones.

「Squeak——Squeak——Squeak——」

「Squeeeeak——」

「Squeeeak——Squeeak——」

Suddenly, screams of a large group of cyanrats came from the direction of the inn, then screams sounded from all directions. Those sounds were extremely stern and containing tremendous despair and warnings. As a result, the group of cyanrats hesitated to climb the ice wall, and the attack had slowed down. Some of the cyanrats turned around and collide with the cyanrats that continued to rush forward, trampling and biting each other. For a time, the warriors could catch a break.

『Roar——』

Then there was a deafening dragon roar.

No cyanrats rushed forward anymore. The cyanrat wave retreated quickly, and even the cyanrats who had crawled past the wall quickly slid back.

The warriors looked back in surprise. They jumped off the ice wall, knelt in the snow, raise their heads, and looked for any traces of the dragon.

「Dragon God——」

But there was no dragon.

There was a scaled horse rushing from the wind and snow, it was Slair riding on its back, and there was not even a single snowflake on his long black hair. The wind envelops him and separates the snow from him. A closer look revealed that neither did the scaled horse’s hooves have any snow on them. It was running in the wind, and there was no hoof print on the ground.

「Please allow me to reintroduce myself,」Slair said,「I was raised by the blue dragon Alex and the red dragon Rhett. My name is Slair, and I am a Dragonmaw. 」