Chapter 51: Retreat 2 |
Goblins.
They are essentially the same as goblins.
No real difference.
Except that goblins can be said to be enlightened goblins; they are also proficient in alchemy and forging, a low-budget version of Dwarves, and thus often become vassals to the Dwarves who also live underground.
As for goblins, they are unenlightened goblins.
Still eating raw meat and drinking blood, living a primitive life.
However, after receiving this news, Xia'er relaxed.
So it wasn't just her who was being 'pincered from both sides'; the Dwarven Kingdom's situation wasn't great either, and they were even more miserable than she was.
After all, the Fishman King's Court hadn't actually attacked the Star Mist Archipelago.
"Excellent."
Xia'er nodded, then said: "Teller, right? I appoint you as the Dwarf foreman. You will take a census of the remaining Dwarves, list out the warriors and craftsmen, then stay behind and tell me about the structure of the Dwarven Kingdom."
Having said that, Xia'er issued another command: "Valentine, you lead the kobolds, escort them onto the ship, and transport them to White Pearl Island... Rebecca, you follow in the air. If these Dwarves start a riot, kill them all, leave no survivors."
"Yes."
The kobold chieftain Valentine respectfully accepted the order.
Rebecca hesitated for a moment, glanced at Valentina, and also gave a slight nod: "Yes."
Xia'er had completely taken the dominant position.
Otto and Karta looked at Valentina, their eyes filled with anger.
Princess, say something!
This Xia'er doesn't hold you in any regard at all; he even calls himself something like 'Leader of the Cassius Flight, Dragon Lord of the Star Mist Archipelago Bullywugs, Lizardmen, and Kobolds, Xia'er'!
And Valentina was also conflicted.
She naturally understood Xia'er's meaning.
Xia'er was clearly planning to establish his own power!
But Valentina couldn't refute Xia'er either.
After all...
Valentina was an intelligent Blue Dragon.
When the Underwood Dynasty faced life or death, with hundreds of dragons heading to the front lines to fight, Valentina ran away with over a dozen dragon eggs, which was enough to prove her survival wisdom.
Especially since Valentina's biological father was the Blue Dragon Emperor of the Underwood Dragon Flight, the Legendary Dragon known as the 'Storm Calamity,' Salvator Underwood!
Of course, to the Blue Emperor,
Valentina was just one of his more than thirty children, utterly insignificant.
But being able to defy her father and flee during her young adult dragon stage was already enough to prove her survival wisdom.
High emotional intelligence: survival wisdom.
Low emotional intelligence: a bit cowardly.
Given the current situation, Valentina naturally understood the implications of Xia'er's words.
But at this moment, Valentina could only pretend not to know.
Hmm.
As long as I don't say anything, then Xia'er is still my Prime Minister.
"Xia'er, you've done very well."
Valentina slowly opened her mouth, uttering words that made Karta and Otto's jaws drop.
Seeing this, Xia'er also slowly turned his head, looked at this beautiful-scaled Blue Dragon girl, similarly swayed his head, and lowered it, saying: "All these achievements were accomplished under the leadership of Your Highness the Princess. I dare not accept Your Highness's praise. Your Highness's wisdom is like a storm, bringing the blessings of the gods to your subjects."
Hearing Xia'er's words, Valentina breathed a sigh of relief.
It's good that he's still willing to acknowledge me.
Valentina didn't want to fall out with Xia'er.
Because Xia'er was no longer the little Green Dragon from ten years ago.
The current Xia'er had vassal armies under his command, his own body was exceptionally large, and even though he was still two years away from entering the Juvenile Dragon stage, his size was only slightly smaller than her own young adult dragon self. Moreover, he was powerful, capable of easily destroying stone forts that she couldn't handle.
By his side, he also had the assistance of two Chromatic Dragons: Tyrone and Saga.
Tyrone was much larger than Karta.
Saga was probably also stronger than Otto.
Although the Blue Dragon side still had Rebecca, seeing Rebecca's current attitude... she didn't seem to belong to their camp anymore either.
What?
Disos?
Don't be ridiculous, we're discussing dragon combat power here; what's a White Dragon doing chiming in?
If it weren't for the fact that during hatching, you, this White Dragon, seemed clever, a genius among White Dragons, Disos would have been driven away long ago like several of his relatives.
Back when they hatched, there was more than just Disos among the White Dragons.
It was just that Disos was a genius among White Dragons, so he was allowed to stay.
The rest were left to fend for themselves, probably long dead who knows where.
Therefore, in this situation, Valentina, being rather cowardly, didn't dare to fall out with Xia'er either.
Seeing Valentina like this, Xia'er also nodded.
After all, there were still enemies nearby.
He didn't want to conflict with Valentina either.
And this was also a slight test; Xia'er had almost confirmed one thing.
As long as his own strength officially surpassed Valentina's, he could carry out a 'peaceful evolution,' absorbing Valentina's Underwood Dragon Flight into his own Cassius Flight.
"Xia'er, should we launch a surprise attack next, assault the next stone fort?"
Valentina was now somewhat eager, wanting to take revenge and settle the score.
After all, over the past year, she had been suppressed by these Dwarves and felt very stifled. Now, with Xia'er, this stone fort killing machine, she had full confidence to uproot the Dwarves' stone forts!
Hearing this, Xia'er also nodded: "Agreed."
Speed is crucial in warfare; it would be bad if the Dwarves were prepared.
This successful surprise attack, killing over five hundred Dwarves and capturing over a hundred,
was also because they weren't prepared for a Green Dragon.
A year of fighting had led the Dwarves to mistakenly believe their opponents were primarily Blue Dragons, with only one Red Dragon, so their defenses against Green Dragons were minimal.
If they knew that simply deploying a few mages or sorcerers who knew the Gust spell, or priests who knew detoxification magic, or having Dwarves wear gas masks in advance could greatly reduce the power of Xia'er's breath...
And that five-year reserve of poison mist had been mostly expended; the dragon breath he could spit now was just ordinary poison mist.
At most, it would cause nausea, dry heaving, dizziness, and blurred vision.
It might kill some ordinary Dwarves from poisoning, but for higher-level Dwarf warriors, it would only cause nausea and dry heaving for a while.
After all, Xia'er wasn't a young dragon either.
If Xia'er were at the young dragon stage, forget these Dwarves,
even the Dwarves' cities could be mostly brought down with one breath.
Soon, several dragons rose against the wind, and the vassals also ran on land, planning to attack the next stone fort.
However, when Xia'er arrived at the Seventh Stone Fort, he discovered it was completely deserted, not a single Dwarf remained.
"Already retreated?"
Xia'er was extremely wary, circling above the Seventh Stone Fort, not landing directly. Instead, he prepared to have Valentina order the less intelligent magical creatures to go in and investigate.
"These Dwarves, sensing the majestic aura of the great dragons, fled in disgrace!"
Yet at that moment, Karta's huge blue head rose high, letting out a piercing, scornful laugh: "Ha! Cowardly Dwarves! These dwarf stones have long tucked their tails and fled into their rat holes!"
Before his words fully faded, Karta violently flapped his wings, his massive body carrying an overbearing momentum as he crashed down onto the dusty, rubble-strewn, open top of the Seventh Stone Fort.
He took a deep breath, his chest expanding dramatically. Bluish-white, blinding electric light began to madly gather in his wide-open throat, emitting a heart-palpitating crackling and popping.
Xia'er's keen sense of smell caught a whiff of an extremely unusual scent, somewhat familiar.
However, before Xia'er could open his mouth, Karta's fully charged lightning breath erupted from his maw like a bursting dam of thunderstorm floodwaters!
"Boom!"
The destructive bluish-white electric serpents violently poured into the stone fort, instantly detonating the deadly traps the Dwarves had deliberately left behind during their retreat.
This wasn't an empty fort; it was a giant bomb stuffed with barrels of Black Oil and gunpowder kegs!
"BOOM!"
A tremendous explosion. A blinding orange-red fireball, wrapped in thick smoke and a lethal shockwave, violently expanded outward from the stone fort as its center!
Karta bore the brunt. His body, covered in blue scales, was flung away like a toy slapped by an invisible giant god amidst the earth-shattering explosion, wrapped in flames and smoke, violently hurled through the air!
"Stupid fool!"
Xia'er snorted coldly, his dissatisfaction with Karta reaching its peak.