Chapter 95

"Damn it, we finally made it. Those damn sorceresses, those damn mages, actually wanted to leave us behind to eat alone."

After crossing the temporary wooden bridge built from tree trunks, the three brothers of the Reavers were all sweating profusely and cursing loudly.

More than an hour ago, when the stone bridge built by the trolls was collapsed by the knight Eike, the sorceress directly used magic to open a short-range portal and, while they weren't paying attention, instantly brought Geralt and Dandelion to the other side of the bridge.

And a few minutes later, the mage Dorregaray also used short-range levitation magic and secretly ran to the other side as well, leaving only Yarpen's dwarf squad, the three Reaver brothers, and the Holopole scout team—all ordinary people—stuck on this side of the broken bridge, watching them leave with longing, anxious but helpless.

Fortunately, the axes the dwarves carried could be used as felling axes, and the Reaver brothers always kept ropes for binding on hand. With the help of the strong young men from the scout team, they spent several hours successfully using the felled trees to build a temporary wooden bridge and crossed the broken bridge.

To race against time, everyone gave their all, sweating profusely and exhausted like dogs.

Yarpen wiped the sweat from his beard, his heart also cursing Yennefer's heartlessness; there had been an agreement between the sorceress and the dwarves.

Their original agreement was to use the news of the dragon's lair treasure to list the gems previously hoarded by wealthy dwarf merchants as the treasure of the dragon's lair for sale, using this gimmick and the dwarves' trade network that spanned the entire North to earn more profits.

Unexpectedly, when the time came, the sorceress abandoned them, which made Yarpen very angry.

Kozojed and his scout team were the last to pass through the temporary wooden bridge. This forty-year-old shoemaker supported his knees with both hands, took a few heavy breaths, and then took out a tattered rag from his waist to wipe the sweat from his forehead before saying worriedly, "We have to hurry. Building the wooden bridge cost us three hours; maybe those two despicable sorcerers have already killed the green dragon and run away with the dragon's treasure."

"That's our money; we can't let them run away."

As a shoemaker who had lived a life of poverty for decades, having finally grasped an opportunity that might change his fate, Kozojed would never give up on the legendary dragon's treasure no matter what.

Yarpen and the Reaver brothers looked at the shoemaker with disdain upon hearing this, thinking to themselves, what do you mean "our money"? How much we share with you will depend on our mood.

However, after everyone rested for a few minutes and crossed the long hillside without stopping, when they saw the place where Eike had dueled the golden dragon, they were all shocked and dumbfounded by the scene before them.

Because it was completely different from all the situations they had imagined.

A terrifying giant beast, more than ten meters tall and covered in shining golden scales, was sitting leisurely on the flat ground, boredly poking at the flowers and grass on the ground, seemingly waiting for something.

With a temperament that intertwined elegance and ferocity like a feline, and a shining, magnificent appearance, just seeing the golden dragon for a moment was enough to make one understand that this was a powerful legendary creature.

And the sharper-eyed Reavers also discovered that the mage Dorregaray, Geralt, and Dandelion—or to be precise, the witcher and the bard—were using a makeshift stretcher made of branches and cloth to carry an injured person away from the flat ground.

And the mage Dorregaray was using some paper and pens he had gotten from somewhere, seemingly drawing a picture of that beautiful, terrifying giant beast.

The three Reaver brothers first felt a sense of frustration, thinking that their get-rich-quick plan might have already failed.

But soon they thought again: what appeared before them was the world's only golden dragon, the legendary golden dragon.

If they could kill this golden dragon, even if it was just to peel off that golden dragon skin and take that head that combined beauty and ferocity, there would definitely be vain nobles or wealthy merchants willing to pay a high price to buy them.

He looked back at the dwarf Yarpen and the shoemaker Kozojed, seeing that the two of them also had flickering eyes, not knowing if they were thinking the same thing as him.

Just as several people were harboring ulterior motives, planning to use their previous dragon-hunting techniques to test this golden dragon,

a voice like a bronze horn rang out in their hearts.

"Despicable dragon hunters, standing before you is the golden dragon Villentretenmerth, the husband of the green dragon you harmed."

"The reason I appear here is to give you two choices."

"The first choice is to tuck your tails and flee from here, leave forever; I will not hunt down those fleeing rats."

"The second choice is to have a fair duel with me. I allow you to form groups of five, and I will not use magic, and we will have a battle between men."

"Of course, if you choose neither, then I will no longer care about honor and chivalry, but will use magic to kill you." The people originally on the hillside were still planning how to slay the dragon, but were startled by this voice that traveled hundreds of meters directly into their brains.

While shocked and fearful, they also realized that the golden dragon they were facing now was a super monster that possessed wisdom and could use magic, not at all comparable to the green dragon they had imagined before.

Logically speaking, when encountering such an unexpected situation, cautious hunters would choose to retreat temporarily rather than risk an attack.

But whether it was the Crinfrid Reavers or Kozojed's scout team, their minds had been blinded by greed, and they were still thinking about how to use conspiracies and tricks to kill this priceless dragon.

Only the long-lived and knowledgeable dwarf Yarpen knew how powerful such a dragon that could use magic was in legends; it was simply not something a few of them could deal with.

However, he didn't remind the Reavers and the shoemaker; after all, legends were just legends, and if someone could go and test it, that was also a good choice.

A few minutes later, not knowing what they had discussed, the dwarf Yarpen and his few bearded dwarf subordinates stayed on the top of the hillside and did not come down.

And the three Reaver brothers and Kozojed's scout team, totaling more than a dozen people, had already taken their weapons, dispersed their formation, and surrounded Borch on the open ground.

Some held axes, short swords, or spears, and some held warhammers and bows and arrows, but the three Reaver brothers at the head held three powerful dwarf crossbows, which were originally unique weapons of Yarpen's dwarf squad.

The golden dragon Borch saw all this in his eyes, and looking at the dozen or so humans charging over, he let out a long sigh that sounded like a sigh, anger, and a lament for the stupidity of the other party.

"You are seeking your own death; my magic will crush you."

When they were more than a hundred meters away, he directly flapped his wings, took off, and flew into the high sky dozens of meters up.

A burst of dragon-language chanting, like a whisper, slowly rang out.

The chaotic magic in heaven and earth began to condense. The charging Reaver brothers and the old shoemaker only felt that the surrounding air had become heavy, as if countless hands were pulling at them, dragging them into a quagmire.

And just as they felt something was wrong and were filled with regret, Borch's magic was officially completed.

Amidst a huge sound like the sky collapsing and the earth cracking, the land they were on seemed to be pulled hard by an invisible giant; the earth began to shake and twist, and a long, thin crack began to extend continuously, tearing open a huge rift within seconds.

It directly swallowed most of the dragon hunters who were charging over into the rift.

And Borch in the air still did not stop his attack. He nimbly dodged the dwarf crossbow bolts shot at him by the Reavers, his body approached the ground and began to dive at high speed, and after approaching the few survivors, he immediately opened his bloody mouth, which had begun to smoke.

In an instant, surging orange dragon flames erupted from the golden dragon's mouth, carrying extremely intense high temperatures, directly enveloping all the people on the ground.

Skin, hair, clothing, including the flowers and grass on the ground, everything began to burn.

Piercing wails resounded throughout the plain, and in just over ten seconds, those humans enveloped by the flames had all been burned to charcoal.

The battle ended too quickly, and the power of the golden dragon's magic was too great.

Outside the open ground, Geralt's expression was solemn, Dandelion was dumbfounded, and Dorregaray was holding a paintbrush, his face full of excitement, wanting to record all this in his painting.

And in the direction of the green dragon's lair, Wayne was riding on the back of the green dragon Myrgtabrakke, the man and dragon dancing in the high sky, watching everything here from afar, his mood quite complicated.

These people were really reckless, actually daring to provoke a dragon mage who could fly in the sky; they didn't even think about how they could defeat a giant dragon flying in the sky with their two short legs running around on the ground.

But soon, Wayne's attention was drawn by something else. In the forest not far from the open ground, more than a hundred adventurers and militiamen from Holopole were driving chariots passed down from ancient times, slowly moving toward the direction of the golden dragon.

(End of chapter)