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TWL Chapter 346: Dragons, Blood, and Betrayal
🕑 Added 2025-03-31 15:27:08 +0000 UTC"Ga—" The green dragon raised its head slightly, but sharp dragon claws immediately dug into its scales. The massive Keltullis pinned the green dragon beneath its weight, rendering it immobile. In close combat, size was strength.
"What’s your name? Whose daughter are you? Where is your territory?" The red dragon’s blood dripped onto the green dragon. Even though it had been attacked, it did not immediately kill the smaller dragon. Instead, it questioned her background, as if reprimanding a misbehaving child.
There were not many dragons left in the world.
"I have never seen other dragons in Mahakam. Why do you choose to help the dwarves?"
The green dragon struggled twice but to no avail. After hearing the red dragon’s words, her pupils reflected deep guilt. Then, a voice as deep as a bell echoed against the rock wall: "Killing, war... will only bring irreconcilable conflicts. I don’t want you to suffer as one of my kind, but the dwarves are also... an indispensable part of his plan. I only ask—beg—you to leave here first, to wait until I find a better way to resolve this dispute before—"
With a loud thud, before she could finish, the red dragon’s claws fiercely slammed onto her neck, pressing her deeper into the rock wall.
"What naive words, what immature thinking. Did you just leave home? Were your parents gone before you even hatched?" The red dragon now felt angrier at the green dragon’s ideals than at the attack itself.
The green dragon ignored the pain and continued to plead, "You were once one of my only two role models! You lived in peace with the dwarves for centuries—proving that coexistence is possible! I just want you to recall the moment you signed the agreement with the dwarves. Peace is hard-won!"
"Peace? Equality?" The red dragon’s tone grew increasingly mocking. "We are dragons! You want to find a better way? Right now, this is the best—Ahhh!!"
The red dragon screamed again, spraying blood, and not only it, but the green dragon also wailed.
Four arrows as thick as arms were embedded in their bodies.
Looking back, Vavrinek and four dwarf warriors were not far away, and four giant crossbows as big as carriages were vibrating with long strings. Even the roofs of the dwarves’ houses might not have been able to accommodate such massive crossbows.
This level could already be regarded as a siege weapon. No matter how hard the dragon's scales were, they could not provide more defense than city walls.
"Look, look, a better way? They were prepared! You are helping them, but they want to kill you too!"
"Did you forget your aim in the mine? Shoot at the vital points!" Vavrinek loudly scolded the four crossbowmen. But this was already the limit for these dwarves. The best warriors in the clan had gone out, and these four crossbowmen had not even handled the dragon-hunting crossbows more than a few times.
They didn't get a second chance to shoot, and the dragon flames descended again. Fortunately, their short legs moved quickly, and the red dragon was determined to crush the four dragon-hunting crossbows to ashes, giving them a chance to escape.
Despair flashed in Vavrinek's eyes again. The dragon-hunting crossbows were destroyed, and the green dragon would never protect them again after being attacked. But the red dragon in front of him, although covered in blood, had the most violent posture in history due to its rage.
He closed his eyes and felt only the strong wind covering his face. There was no heat wave as he had imagined, and no flames burning his body afterward.
Vavrinek opened his eyes in confusion, only to see the back of the red dragon flapping its wings as it left. The strong wind was just the reaction force from its wings.
Why did the red dragon leave?
It was not until this moment that a distant shout came from the valley, which seemed to explain the reason.
“My—God—!!”
...
With a flash of golden light, Lann appeared in the dwarf town. Before the warriors of the Ferenc clan could ask him for help, a sun-like light spot appeared under his feet, as if a throne had risen from the ground and lifted him into the air.
The wind and snow began to roar, and the dwarves of the Ferenc clan stared at the ice giant and Lann on the ice giant's shoulder in amazement, momentarily forgetting to speak.
Only Vavrinek opened his mouth wide, swallowed a mouthful of wind and snow, then jumped up excitedly as if waking from a dream: "Duke Lannister! Duke Lannister! There is another dragon there, kill it!"
Vavrinek pointed in the direction of the green dragon that had just emerged from the rock wall.
After hearing what Vavrinek said, the green dragon that had just saved the Hag's Pit suddenly paused, and the wound on its body, shot by the dragon-hunting crossbow, was still dripping hot blood onto the ground.
She looked up, and her dark golden vertical pupils met another pair of dark golden eyes. However, the green dragon unexpectedly did not see any anger or murderous intent in those eyes, but a kind of peace.
This expression was exactly the same as the one she had felt from the owner of those eyes when looking at her during the previous trip, unchanged despite her transformation.
He knew. The green dragon muttered in his heart.
"My God!" The ice giant roared to the sky without knowing why, and the wind and snow suddenly became violent. He seemed to want to use this green dragon to make up for the fighting spirit he had not been able to vent on the red dragon before.
But Lann kicked the ice giant hard, forcing the big guy to hold back his emotions again. Then, with a flash of golden light, he appeared above the green dragon's head, holding a rune sword in his hand. His body traced a dazzling arc of light as gravity pulled him downward.
At the same time, a subtle voice reached the green dragon's ears: "Go away, let's talk somewhere else."
The next second, the green dragon, who had shown no fighting spirit just now, suddenly burst forth with a tyrannical force. With a wave of its claws, it grabbed Duke Lannister, who was still mid-air with nowhere to land, and flew toward the Mahakam Mountains with a flap of its wings.
Vavrinek was about to cheer, but he froze in place like an ice sculpture.
The ice giant scratched his head, looked left and right, and after roaring "My God," he also took big steps toward the green dragon and disappeared into the wind and snow.
...
Every time the dragon's wide wings flapped, a whistling wind blew through Lann's hair. The sun shone through the dark clouds, illuminating the snow on the mountaintop, reflecting bits of brilliance as if a layer of shattered diamonds had been laid upon the mountain.
With a flash of golden light, Lann had emerged from the Green Dragon's clutches and appeared on top of its head. He grabbed two horned bone spurs that looked like a crown and sat down, closing his eyes and looking up to enjoy this novel flying experience.
The green dragon noticed Lann's movements, and her pupils shifted slightly upward. She looked at the light golden semi-long hair that was more dazzling than the sun and did not know what she was thinking.
After a long time, a low hum like a horn came from her throat, as if to remind him. Then her entire body began to descend, gradually pressing closer to the mountain wall. The air pressure from the flight broke the snow on the mountainside, making it dance like elves in the sunlight.
They passed a hill, a mountain lake, and half a black pine forest. The green dragon slowed down until she was sure there were no traces of dwarves around.
With a flash of golden light, Lann appeared on the ground. Then he felt the griffin medallion on his chest begin to tremble violently, and a huge wave of chaotic energy fluctuated around him. Looking back, he saw that the nearly ten-meter-long green dragon was covered in dazzling light, which then began to compress and reshape, finally turning into a human form.
When the light dimmed, it revealed skin that, while not delicate, gave off a bright and smooth appearance, curves comparable to the undulating mountains of Mahakam, golden-brown semi-long hair, and hesitant eyes.
With a pair of dull thuds, two dragon-hunting arrows fell into the snow.
Lann looked at the beauty of Mahakam as if admiring a work of art and spoke his first words after landing: "Are you okay? How are your injuries?"
Saskia looked at the two wounds on her body that seemed as minor as those caused by ordinary arrows, lowered her head, and answered irrelevantly: "You don't seem surprised."
Lann nodded. He not only knew Saskia's identity, but he also knew Saskia's future. This was all information he had sorted out in his mind when he first met Saskia, but since the time had not been right, he had kept it to himself.
