Chapter 54

It's over 5600 words! Thanks to the VIP ticket from Angry Salted Fish. Everyone, if you're interested, go check out his book! Also, I'm asking for anything that can be asked for.

"Damn!" Cook and his group could faintly hear the dragon's angry roar even in the underground river. Cook's speed involuntarily increased, and Big Gray was running frantically with his tail between his legs. Mike, who was originally leading, but after Lariman's roar, Mike seemed to be gradually overtaken by Cook and Big Gray.

"This way! This way, we can't go that way!" Cook shouted at the fork in the underground river, pointing to the direction they had already passed, as Mike was running in the other direction.

"Boss, boss, you should have said earlier!" Mike heard Cook's words, quickly braked, and then ran over to Cook, saying sadly.

"Move! So many words!" Cook glared at Mike and said, then led the way. There was no choice, as the direction of the return path was the same as the direction Cook had rolled the snowball. Although they were underground, Cook couldn't be sure if the dragon's powerful mental power could detect them. Although mental power is weakened and consumed by various substances during detection, if the mental power is strong enough, it can easily penetrate hundreds or even thousands of meters of rock.

What Cook didn't know was that as he rolled the snowball towards the platform below the dragon's nest, the snowball grew larger and larger, eventually forming a snowball hundreds of meters in diameter. As it rolled, it continued to pick up more snow. This snowball, rolling down from a mountain peak thousands of meters high, gained tremendous kinetic energy, causing it to roll rapidly along the mountain gully at the bottom.

"Captain, you're really wise. Our magic wolves can move at night, and their speed on this snow mountain is no less than in the forest." The deputy captain of the Black Riders flattered.

"Hmph, as long as we spend about four more hours, we can cross this snow mountain before dawn, and those griffin riders won't find us." The captain of the Black Riders pointed to the huge snow mountain ahead.

"About that, our magic wolves' speed is not low, but Captain, this is the territory of the dragons, isn't it?" The deputy captain asked worriedly.

"That's what the agreement between dragons and humans says. Do you really think there are dragons? If there were, the empire would definitely note it when gathering intelligence. And do you think dragons are like rabbits, found everywhere?" The captain of the Black Riders said irritably. Indeed, dragons are quite aggressive. Historically, several large cities near dragon nests had to relocate because they couldn't bear the harassment from the dragons.

As for the harassment, the biggest issue is the roar. Dragons love to show off, so they often roar, which is not only unpleasant for humans but also kills many livestock and mounts. Dragons also love treasure, so robbery is a common occurrence. Although there's no evidence, some methods of robbery are beyond human capability. When dragons fight each other and cause collateral damage, there's no place to seek justice.

"That's true!" The deputy captain thought about it and realized it made sense. If there were dragons on the Angons snow mountain, the empire would have issued a warning, and major guilds would have marked it as a dangerous area.

"Rumble! Rumble!" The Black Riders, using the cover of night, quickly passed through the area. Magic wolves move extremely fast, with padded paws and sharp claws, allowing them to move quickly on both rocks and snow. Magic wolves can reach speeds of over 200 kilometers per hour, so crossing a mountain range is easy. Since the night lasts for over ten hours, but just two hours before dawn, the Black Riders heard a rumbling sound.

"Quick, hide in the forest over there." The captain of the Black Riders, hearing the rumbling and feeling the ground shake, shouted and led the way to a forest several kilometers away. The magic wolves, with their speed and excellent jumping ability, reached the forest in just a few minutes. On the other end of the gully, a huge snowball was rolling towards the forest.

"Quick, this is an avalanche, this is not a joke!" The deputy captain, seeing the huge snowball, which was hundreds of meters in diameter and gave a sense of oppression from a distance, shouted. The entire Black Riders quickly moved towards the forest.

"Rumble!" But the snowball was too fast, catching up with the Black Riders.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!" The Black Riders only heard the sound of large trees breaking around them, followed by a cold wind. The snowball was pierced by countless trees, scattering into a huge pile of snow, which, with its inertia, immediately rushed towards the Black Riders.

"Whoo! Whoo!" The forest was silent, but a huge pile of snow and the broken white tree trunks revealed what had happened. A part of the snow pile moved, followed by a whining sound, and a magic wolf emerged from the snow, using its sharp claws to dig out a person who was breathing hard.

"Quick, dig out!" This was the deputy captain of the Black Riders, who quickly ordered his mount to dig out the snow.

"Phew! Damn avalanche!"

"Exactly! Luckily it's not winter, otherwise the avalanche would be several times larger!"

"Nonsense, it's not an avalanche, it's a huge snowball!"

"Haha, he says it's a snowball? Haha!"

The keen sense of smell and sharp claws of the magic wolves were effective. Except for two unfortunate ones who were pinned under the snow, the rest were rescued.

"Prepare for battle!" The captain of the Black Riders, sensing a strong magical fluctuation under the snow, shouted and picked up his weapon. The other members of the Black Riders quickly responded, forming a semi-circle.

"Aldo! Go!" The captain of the Black Riders ordered his mount.

"Awooo!" Several magic wolves pounced, and in just a few minutes, a large pit was dug where the magical fluctuation was felt.

"Diamond coins!"

"Purple gold coins!"

"Crystal coins!"

"Magic cores! Magic crystals!"

"Heaven, at least a level six magic core, I've seen it at the Mage Guild, it's worth 100,000 gold coins!"

The Black Riders were stunned, and after a moment, they exclaimed. They didn't notice that some small tree roots had been dug up, revealing a pile of colorful objects.

"Shut up!" The captain of the Black Riders had a bad feeling, sensing that something big was about to happen.

"First squad, second squad, search the forest. Third squad, fourth squad, stand guard. Fifth squad, count the items!" The captain of the Black Riders then issued orders. Each squad had ten members, with five squads assigned tasks and one squad as mobile support.

"Sir, we've struck it rich, look!" The squad leader of the fifth squad placed the counted items on a blanket on the ground, leaving a large pit in the snow.

"Good! Let's go quickly, I have a bad feeling about this!" The captain of the Black Riders, seeing the sky starting to turn red, knew it was almost dawn.

"Yes! Sir, this time we've gained both wealth and a beauty, capturing a great beauty and obtaining unexpected wealth worth millions of gold coins!" The deputy captain, roughly estimating the value of the treasure, said excitedly.

"Ha ha, this time it's all thanks to everyone. When we return, we'll reward everyone according to their contributions." The captain of the Black Riders, thinking of Yaris in her nightgown and her identity as the wife of Yaris' enemy, felt a surge of heat and resolved to perform in front of Melif, showing him how his wife had become his plaything.

"Thank you, Captain! Thank you, Captain!" The members of the Black Riders thanked him sincerely. Although their mounts and equipment were worth millions of gold coins, granted by the empire, the gold coins were their own, with each member receiving at least 10,000 gold coins, a significant amount of wealth.

"Go!" The captain of the Black Riders waved and led the way, wanting to leave early to avoid unnecessary trouble.

"Roar!" But at that moment, a deafening dragon roar echoed from a distance.

"Captain!" The deputy captain almost fell off his magic wolf, as the level three magic wolves were frightened to the ground by the roar.

"Dragon, why is there a dragon here? Quick, back to the forest!" The captain of the Black Riders felt a chill, knowing they were in the dragon's territory.

"Awooo!" But as the captain of the Black Riders spoke, the dragon's roar almost shook the sky. The magic wolves were already lying on the ground, burying their heads in the snow, their bodies trembling and emitting a foul smell, clearly terrified.

"Damn, why is there a dragon here? Quick, pull these guys into the forest." The captain of the Black Riders, hoping for the best, ordered.

"Ca... Captain!" The deputy captain, trembling, pointed behind them, stuttering.

"Damn humans, you dare to offend the great Lariman? You ants, hand over the items!" Lariman, furious, stared at the group, wanting to tear them apart but prioritizing the safety of his child.

"Th... Thunder Dragon!" The captain of the Black Riders slowly turned around, seeing a hundred-meter-tall creature staring at him with huge eyes.

"Si... Sir, here! Here! We were wrong, wrong!" The deputy captain, trembling, threw out the treasure from his satchel.

"Is that all?" Lariman glanced and asked, not valuing these items, which he had brought back while hunting.

"No, no, that's all!" The deputy captain, unable to stand, waved his hands frantically.

"Filthy creatures, die!" Lariman, furious, unleashed a purple dragon breath, which spread in a fan-shaped area.

"Me...!" The captain of the Black Riders, seeing the purple energy surge from the dragon's mouth, felt despair and screamed, but was instantly vaporized by the dragon breath.

"No, damn, even at the end, you still say no!" Lariman roared, his voice making animals within hundreds of kilometers tremble.

Lariman then began searching for his child. The treasure, under the dragon breath, had completely disappeared, leaving a scorched area of thousands of square meters. Lariman was not worried about the dragon egg being damaged by the dragon breath, as it was also lightning-attribute. However, Lariman soon became disappointed.

Lariman thoroughly searched the forest but found no trace of the dragon egg. He quickly became disappointed, then angry, and then agitated.

"Cunning humans, these guys must have sent the dragon egg away first. Damn, where did these guys come from?" Lariman began to regret and finally realized that the dragon egg must have been sent away by the group.

"Awooo!" Lariman flapped his wings and rose into the sky, scanning the area and flying towards a certain direction.

"Captain, why is there a dragon in the Angons Mountains?" Roland Empire's griffin rider squadron captain Richard, surrounded by fifteen griffin riders, asked. The griffin riders were sitting on the ground, trembling from the distant dragon roar.

"Who knows?" Richard shrugged, then looked at the large griffins. If Richard hadn't given the griffins a hallucinogenic drug to reduce their sensitivity to the dragon's authority, the griffins would never dare to come here again.

"Who are you?" At that moment, the sky darkened, and a huge voice came from above.

"H... H... Great Dragon Sir, we are the griffin riders of the Roland Empire." Richard, looking up, made an indistinct sound in his throat but then realized the dragon was speaking, which is known on the continent.

"Griffin riders, have you seen a group of black-clad riders on magic wolves? They use heavy weapons." Lariman, looking at the fifteen griffins, believed Richard and asked from above.

"Black Riders, they are the royal guard of the Yaran Empire." Richard quickly answered.

"Yaran Empire, those who hide their faces under cloth?" Lariman asked angrily.

"Yes!" Richard was shocked by Lariman's words, knowing that the Yaran Empire had a lot of sand, so they had to use headscarves to protect themselves from the sand.

"Damn, damn! These thieves!" Lariman, furious, roared, and the lightning emitted from his roar scorched several nearby trees.

"Sir Lariman, did they steal from you?" Richard, as a knight leader, couldn't lose face in front of his subordinates.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Lariman looked at him with a wary eye.

"Nothing, we are also tracking those black riders, but we lost their trail yesterday." Richard quickly explained, as anyone being stared at by two eyes nearly half a meter in size would feel the urge to urinate.

"How long have they been active in this area?" Lariman, surprised, asked, not knowing Richard was referring to yesterday night.

"According to our information, they have been hiding in this area for at least half a month. Perhaps longer." Richard was referring to the information gathered by the staff.

"Conspiracy, conspiracy, this is a thorough conspiracy. Which direction is the Yaran Empire?" Lariman, hearing this, felt a surge of anger, as it was clearly a plan to wait for the right moment. He then loudly asked.

"That way!" Richard, not knowing what the dragon meant, pointed in the direction.

"Warning, humans are not allowed in the Angons Mountains in the future, or else, puff!" Lariman, with his eyes wide open, would not have let Richard and his group go if they were in the dragon's territory. In Lariman's mind, humans are cunning conspirators and thieves. He then unleashed another dragon breath, creating another scorched area of thousands of square meters, and flew in the direction Richard pointed.

"Si... Sir!" A griffin rider, trembling, asked.

"Go! Get up, quickly!" Richard, seeing his subordinates, kicked them hard and shouted. With the help of the griffin riders, the squadron finally got the griffins airborne. Unexpectedly, the squadron returned to the capital in half a day, but most of the people ran away the next day, and a few were too scared to stand on high places. As for the griffins, two of the fifteen would never fly again, and the rest dared not leave the capital.

"Damn! I can't run anymore, you run if you want to!" Mike, sitting on the ground, panted heavily, clearly exhausted.

"I can't run anymore either, damn, why is it getting heavier?" Cook, sitting on the ground, tightly held the purple dragon egg.

"Be careful, be careful!" Lori, seeing Cook's actions, quickly ran over barefoot and caressed the dragon egg.

"Uh...!" Cook, about to say something, couldn't look away, as the three women had rushed out, and although Lori had taken her underwear, it was not dry and she didn't have time to put it on. She only wore a rabbit fur coat, which was originally worn over a robe, so it was a bit loose. Lori was holding a light stone to check the dragon egg, so her chest was exposed, and due to the light stone between them, she couldn't see Cook's expression.

"Not small!" Cook, in a moment, sighed, having seen everything, including the pink buds.

"Slap! Not careful, but Cook, how did you get this thing back?" Lori, after checking the dragon egg and finding it undamaged, excitedly patted Cook's forehead and asked.