Dragons and Dragon Hunters

Chapter 102

The Rossiter district is a gentle place compared to the cold and harsh Avon district.

The eastern part of the country has a warm climate, humid air and flat, livable terrain.

But the West is quite different.

It is a vast no-man's land, dominated by volcanoes and canyons, with complex terrain, where strange and ugly magical creatures crawl through shadow-covered gullies to survive, and where the icy blue peaks of the Avon Snowfield can be seen from afar on a clear day, but such times are rare.

After leaving the fog-covered ocean area, which could only be traveled by ships, Mu Hang's group immediately increased their speed.

Although all the mercenaries were under control and the news was completely blocked, after all, there was no impermeable wall under the sky.

So, they have to make every second count now.

In just half a day, the Rustic Volcanic Zone arrived.

Mu Hang gently shook the sleeping teenager, who was leaning on his shoulder, awake.

Shi An yawned, blinking her sleepy eyes, and grunted in her throat:

"Well ...... what's going on? Are we there already?"

Mu Hang: "Soon."

He rubbed Shi An's hair absently, "But next we need to walk."

Shi An looked out through the window.

Outside is a barren and lonely scene, the land is a kind of charred black color as if it has been burned, withered weeds growing between the cracks of the ground, and people are scarce, and no traces of human civilization can be seen as far as the eye can see.

Not far away were dark mountains and the smoke and shadows that blackened the sky.

Shi An could smell the faint odor of sulfur in the air.

He blinked:

"Volcano?"

"Uh-huh."

Mu Hang lowered his eyes and gazed at Shi An with those quiet blue eyes:

"It's the terrain dragons like, right?"

Shi An thought critically and said, "I think it's a rumor."

Of course, for some dragons.

After all, there were fires burning here all year round, the smell of smoke in the air was familiar and comforting to dragons, and the searing temperatures were perfect for cold-blooded creatures like them.

But Shi An didn't like it much.

The temperature is really ok, but the biggest problem is that it's too bright.

It was fine for a short stay, not for too long, those overly bright lavas would interfere with his sleep.

Shi An prefers the dark, dry caves of the Abyss, where he can sleep for tens of thousands of years.

A fleeting, inscrutable smile swept across Mu Hang's lips, "Perhaps."

The group traveled inside the volcano area.

The further forward you go, the hotter the temperature gets.

As if tiny sparks were floating in the air, the smell of sulfur became clearer little by little, and gradually became unbearable.

Zhuo Fu followed the team with a sad face.

As a researcher who preferred to stay indoors, such intense marching was just not for him.

In fact, from the second day on board, Zhuo Fu regretted it.

Traveling by boat does sound very nice, but only if ...... you don't get seasick.

While on board, Zhuo Fu spends most of his time in his cabin, spending large chunks of his waking hours vomiting and getting dizzy.

And when he fought the mercenaries that night, the magic fluctuations created even bigger waves that made Zhuo Fu almost unable to step on the ground.

So that also happened to be when he threw up the most.

The short stay within the mercenary base was instead when Zhuo Fu felt the most relaxed; after all, he was able to get his feet on the ground there and utilize his specialized skills a bit.

But that time passed too quickly.

Zhuo Fu hasn't even slowed down yet, and he was dragged to this shit hole where birds don't live.

Regret.

It's really too much to regret.

He shouldn't have come in the first place.

Obviously it's winter, and just over that mountain in front of us is the high, cold snowfields of Avon.

Why is it still so hot here!!!

Zhuo Fu Wailer wiped the slippery sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief that had been pinched and crumpled.

He looked up and around the room.

At that moment, Zhuo Fu's eyes fell on Shi An, who was not far in front of him.

He hasn't seen much of Shi An in all this time.

Mostly, Zhuo Fu spends most of his time either staying in his cabin and puking his guts out, or busy searching the mercenary base.

This time it was not easy to see Shi An, Zhuo Fu could not help but be energized.

He hastened a few steps:

"Ann! It's really been a long time, did you miss me!"

Shi An gave a slight start and raised her eyes to look over.

Only after a brief moment of surprise did he show a look of dawning realization and said:

"Ah! Yes oh, you came along too."

The teen pursed his lips and gave a coy smile, "I almost forgot."

Zhuo Fu: "......"

It's not almost, you've forgotten it already.

It really did hurt, thanks.

At that moment, he seemed to have discovered something, and, with eyes widened in some astonishment, he walked twice around Shi An, taking a serious look at the other.

The teenager in front of him had half narrowed eyes, still with a bit of sleepiness that had not yet completely dissipated, his hair was soft and fluffy, and the skin from his cheeks to his neck was fair and dry, with no trace of sweat, and he looked as if he was half unaffected by the sweltering heat of the surroundings.

"Speaking of which, aren't you even hot?"

Zhuo Fu came closer and curiously reached out to touch Shi An's hand.

The teenager's palm had slender bones, and his skin was warm and soft, permeated with a refreshing coolness, like a jade with a soft texture, and in such a scorching temperature, it was simply impossible to resist the urge to touch it a few more times.

"Wow!"

Zhuo Fu eyes light up, look at Shi An's eyes instantly changed:

"Oh my God, are you my savior!"

Witness Wen Yao: "......"

She cleared her throat and coughed hard.

But Zhuo Fu was so immersed in joy that he didn't hear a thing.

He opened his arms, "Come on, come on, come on, let me hold you, I'll buy you ice cream when we get back-"

The rest of the word got caught in his throat.

In that instant, some kind of terrifying sense of danger descended, like being targeted by some large predator, and a creeping wariness climbed and spread down his spine.

Zhuo Fu: "......"

He stiffened and slowly turned his head.

--and then met Mu Hang's emotionless blue eyes.

Zhuo Fu: ".................."

KAM.

It's over.

Wen Yao moved aside as if nothing had happened.

She's been kind.

Five minutes later.

Mu Hang calmly withdrew his gaze and reached out, naturally taking Shi An into his arms.

The teenager's bones were slender and his skin was warm and cool, like a piece of soft jade, very comfortable to hold.

Shi An crossed over to Mu Hang and looked behind her, hesitantly:

"That ......"

Mu Hang's voice is cold and calm:

"It's okay, he likes to serve everyone."

Zhuo Fu tragically dragged the entire team's large bags and moved slowly along with the end of the line.

He had tears in his eyes, which were hollow and desperate.

Just really regret it.

*

Interim Regulatory Service.

All of the captured mercenaries were locked up here, the light inside the narrow prison cell was dim, and a suffocating stench filled the air, some mercenaries buried their heads and passed out, while others simply just closed their eyes and rested their minds.

It was at this moment that two of the mercenaries opened their eyes.

They all looked grizzled, but there was a certain different, strange gleam in their eyes.

Across the dimly lit corridor, the two men exchanged a brief but swift stare.

Immediately afterward, one of them fished out of his pocket a privately hidden, tiny piece of iron.

The sharp blade sliced through the skin and warm blood flowed out, being dipped into his fingers and tracing a small regular circular spell on the ground.

At the center of the spell was a vague totem.

Accompanied by suppressed chants and recitations, the spell slowly lit up, releasing a blood-red light outward.

The man disguised as a mercenary-like figure hung his head and leaned down to put his lips close to the phalanx and whispered a few rambling words.

The other man watched him from a distance.

After a few minutes, the spell dimmed.

The "mercenary" reverently approached the phalanx with his lips, kissing the dusty and blood-stained ground.

In the next second, both men simultaneously picked up their own private sharps, pressed the sharp corner close to their throats, and slowly but surely pulled the opening open, cutting little by little into their muscles and windpipe.

Hot, scarlet blood spurted out, instantly coloring the ground red, and the pattern of the spell was engulfed and disappeared into the smooth, mirror-like pool of scarlet blood.

If anyone in charge of the interrogation had seen this scene, they would have been so shocked that they would have lost their breath.

The first of these two was a mercenary captured during an engagement at sea.

He was the one who revealed the location of the mercenary base.

And the other was captured inside the mercenary base.

What he said was the key clue that would lead to the location of the treasure.

Soon, the two corpses stopped convulsing, the last vestiges of life's exhalations escaping from their half-open mouths, the light under their eyes turning lax, but both with extremely happy smiles on their faces.

*

The place where the mercenaries hid the dragon's treasure was not a cave.

Instead, it's a semi-open volcanic crater.

Gold and silver treasures piled up like mountains, almost filling the entire valley, through the thick smoke and dust, not far from the top of the volcano flickering scarlet bright light reflected in the sparkling smooth surface of the jewels, for the amazingly huge wealth in front of him a layer of evil and ominous red light.

The dragon's treasure reflected a halo of light that lit up almost half the sky.

The bright, tantalizing golden light is dizzying.

Although they had long been prepared, when faced with such a huge amount of treasure, people still couldn't help but show a stunned and dumbfounded look.

Shi An subconsciously stepped forward.

That's right.

These are indeed his treasures.

Every single one of them.

He gazed with bated breath at the treasures, which had been wide open for ten thousand years, and a suppressed fire swept under his eyes.

The nature of the gargoyle screamed at the back of his mind.

Come on, grab all of this!

At that moment, Mu Hang's calm and cold voice came from behind him, he lowered his head and seemed to be ordering something with Wen Yao.

Although he didn't hear exactly what he was saying, it still brought Shi An back from his spellbound state.

He blinked, and the scarlet tyrannical glow under his eyes disappeared.

Shi An took a deep breath and withdrew her eyes.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one else had noticed him, he slowly walked along the hill of treasures, his eyes lingering and wistful as they fell upon the property that belonged to him in front of him.

Shi An noted, half in anger and half in pain, that a number of her own gems had not been very well cared for.

The otherwise smooth and beautiful surface was covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash and looked dull and gray.

He gritted his teeth and tightened his fingers.

Abominable.

That group of mercenaries must pay.

But Shi An suddenly stops walking.

He seemed to think of something and looked thoughtfully into the pile of treasure in front of him.

One thing seems very strange.

If these treasures were from the batch looted from Irving's Auction House, then why had he just made a clear turn around, but none of those gems that the auction house had once listed on the to-be-bid list had been seen?

It would make sense to say that it was covered by other treasures.

But ......

The amount of Abyssal Stones in the pile of treasures in front of him was really not a small percentage.

It's almost like the batch that ...... the other group stole.

*

The abyssal rift had fully unfolded, and a thick, filthy gray-black poisonous fog shrouded the sky, the ugly faces and malevolent eyes of the abyssal species flickering in the darkness, waiting for an opportunity to invade this unsuspecting continent.

"Is that enough?"

Several pieces of metallic ore were piled on the ground.

Very little, but enough to make a dagger.

They are not silver or iron, have strange shapes, are able to exist on their own without needing to be refined, and shimmer extremely brightly in the darkness.

The protective suits on the mercenaries have begun to corrode, even those on Xu Feng.

"Enough."

The black-robed man said in a slow, hoarse voice.

Immediately afterward, he raised his hand and covered the metal with his withered palm.

Dark, sharp nails cut through his wrist, and sticky, black and red blood, as if it were asphalt, slowly gushed out of the wound and dripped down.

The black-robed man's mouth chanted an ancient incantation lowly.

The scarlet glow shimmered in the darkness, expanding little by little until it covered all of the metal in front of them.

Everything looks so evil and uncomfortable.

However, the mercenaries could only feel extreme excitement and fervor.

No one noticed that near the abyssal rift, the black-robed man who had just been wearing the same protective clothing as them was now acting as if he was completely unaffected by the poisonous mist, and was able to resist the erosion of the surrounding abyssal poisonous gas with just his magic power being released.

Xu Feng stares at the metal in front of him, his eyes glowing with greed and excitement:

"It's okay?"

The black-robed man withdrew his hand.

His wounds had stopped bleeding, and his withered fingers, which had been considered pale, took on a sickly whiteness, crumpled and discolored like dampened paper.

He replied, "Yes."

Xu Feng's eyes fell on the black-robed man and asked, "By the way, I remember you said that you came to this abyssal rift with something you wanted to obtain as well? Did you get it?"

At this, the black-robed man gave a hoarse, short laugh.

He nodded slowly and said:

"Yes."

Xu Feng was just asking in passing, and he didn't care whether the other party could achieve his goal.

It was at this moment that one of the mercenaries under his command ran over with a terrified and shocked look on his face:

"Head, head! Just now, I don't know what happened, but our communicator was suddenly able to function ...... Although it was intermittent, but, but we still received a message from our brothers outside-"

Xu Feng looked over, "What?!"

"While we were gone, Administration took someone to our base!"

Xu Feng's expression sank:

"How is that possible?"

He never worried about his men revealing such crucial secrets, not that he didn't want to, but he couldn't.

All the mercenaries who knew the address of the base were bound by a lost spell that ensured that they could not reveal this, it was because of this spell that Xu Feng was able to get away with it for so many years, and it was also because of the same reason that even though he knew that the mercenaries that he had sent out had been captured, he still left the camp without any fear of anyone spilling their secrets.

The mercenary under his command shook his head in bewilderment.

"Are the Administration people still there?"

Xu Feng slightly tightened his brows, and there was a cruel and ugly light in the depths of his slender, glittering eyes:

"No, not anymore."

The mercenary squeezed the communicator in his hand and stammered out a reply, "No, but the brethren on the other side of the room told us where the Administration's men were planning to go next."

It was at this moment that the black-robed man behind him spoke at the right time:

"So far, we have a deal."

Xu Feng twisted his head and looked towards the black-robed man.

Only to see the other party stand up and slowly walk towards him, "In that case, it's time for me to fulfill my promise."

A wry smile lifted the dark-covered face:

"You want to know who the dragon is and where it is now, right?"

Xu Feng narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly.

The black-robed man tucked his ugly hand back into his sleeve and said in a voice tinged with hiss:

"The gargoyles are on the side of the dragon hunters right now, and even ...... are operating with the dragon hunters."

Xu Feng froze for a moment, somewhat unrelieved.

What?

Chiron with Mu Hang?

"Dragons and dragon hunters? How is that possible?" Xu Feng asked rhetorically with a frown on his face, somewhat incredulous.

"Yes, how interesting."

The black-robed man's smile, hidden in the darkness, slowly widened, his wrinkled skin tugged, forming an ugly arc that looked horrible and bizarre:

"Under the terms of our deal, I am obligated to tell you the name of the dragon's hidden identity in human society."

Finally to the point.

Xu Feng subconsciously held his breath, staring dead center at the black-robed man in front of him, waiting quietly.

"It's called Shi An."

The black-robed man let out a hoarse, spine-tingling, rapturous laugh, and said in a terrible, pleasant voice:

"The eldest son of the Toki family in the Central District, a student at the Ability Academy, and ......

Or Mu Hang's sweetheart."

"If you want to hunt dragons, you'd better hurry ...... or I'm afraid the dragon hunters will strike soon."

The black-robed man said with deep meaning in his words.