Chapter 249 Dragon Breath, Heavenly Fire

Screech—

A sharp, ear-piercing avian cry echoed through the cold, damp air.

Tawny down scattered and fell. Its eagle eyes, which should have been filled with the sharp, ruthless coldness typical of avian predators, were utterly panicked.

This was a Highcliff Griffon that had only recently reached adulthood.

As a variant of the "griffon" monster family, it was noticeably smaller than its close relatives commonly seen soaring above forests and plains.

However, its bizarre anatomy—a hybrid of a giant eagle and a lion—still granted it the strengths of both creatures, making it a terrifying predator that countless ordinary beings looked upon with dread.

Its sharply curved beak and iron-hook talons could easily pierce steel. Its eagle eyes functioned like high-powered telescopes, and combined with a massive pair of wings spanning nearly ten meters, allowed it to clearly spot prey on the ground even from thousands of meters in the sky.

Beneath its wings and avian head, its robust, lion-like body ensured that even on all fours, it possessed offensive and mobility capabilities far exceeding those of ordinary animals. It wouldn't end up like common birds that, once grounded, could only flap their wings and hop around like clumsy chickens.

This was a creature with a shoulder height of 1.5 meters, a body over three meters long, and a wingspan wider than the main roads of some small towns.

There was no need for a detailed introduction; just looking at its hybrid lion and eagle appearance was enough to identify its status as an apex predator.

And this was indeed the case. A Challenge Rating as high as "2" was enough for it to put ninety-five percent of all surface creatures onto its dinner plate.

Its natural preference for cattle, sheep, and horses made it the most despised nuisance in the eyes of countless herdsmen, second only to the kingdom's harsh taxes.

But right now, this powerful creature—which should have been safely curled up preening its feathers in its high cliff nest as the rain fell, or soaring through the sky in search of prey like a true predator...

...was instead like a drowning man who couldn't swim, or a fish out of water.

Its limbs twitched and struggled, and its massive wings flapped frantically in the air.

It was as if it had lost its instinctual ability to fly in a single instant.

As for the reason... it most likely stemmed from the chaotic, turbulent rings of airflow swirling around its body.

—Transmutation Cantrip (Zero Circle): Dancing Wind

That harmless spell, which should have only rustled leaves and rattled doors and windows, was being controlled by a mage who possessed numerous spellcasting Feats and Transcendent Tier Grade magical experience.

Under her control, it directly stripped a powerful monster with a Challenge Rating of "2" of its proud flight capability.

"Thud."

With its center of gravity lost, the griffon practically crash-landed, slamming heavily into the ground wrapped in a flurry of its own falling down.

The intense impact drove its four limbs deep into the mud.

It screeched in anger, kicking off with its hind legs. But before it could even pull its two eagle-talon forelimbs out of the dirt—

A fierce, howling whistle erupted right beside its ear.

Awooo—

A high, drawn-out wolf howl, mixed with the piercing shriek of a blade tearing through the air, surged past with a violent gust of wind from behind.

The phantom image of a Winter Wolf with swaying mane and iron-gray fangs flashed briefly in the air.

"Slash."

It was the heavy, dragging sound of a sharp blade severing flesh and blood.

The eagle's screech came to an abrupt halt.

Replacing it was a blinding spray of blood erupting from the severed neck, and the giant eagle head that flew high into the air before spinning back down.

The phantom Wolf Head, formed from shattered leaves and snapped twigs swirling around him, silently dissipated.

Xia Nan stood firmly in place, beads of blood still clinging to the surface of the Decapitating Longsword in his hand.

Behind him, the griffon's muscular body slowly collapsed to the ground amid the sound of gushing blood.

Translucent text quietly flashed before his eyes:

"Proficiency +1"

"[Fang Hunt] lv4: (52/100)"

Long before this escort mission began, during the two months after he killed the Lycanthrope girl and the dark-skinned Half-Drow, the upgrade progress for [Fang Hunt] had already reached nearly halfway.

After leaving Rivervale Town with Hai'an, Wood, and the others, his proficiency acquisition rate had noticeably dropped due to having teammates around and encountering very few battles on the road.

Even now, the upgrade progress bar was only slightly over fifty points.

Speaking of which, the [Fang Hunt] combat technique leveling from lv3 to lv4 hadn't provided him with precious attribute points like the transition from lv2 to lv3 had.

It had only granted a certain degree of improvement in the technique's proficiency, power, and application efficiency.

This perfectly proved his previous hypothesis.

For a combat technique of [Fang Hunt]'s quality, the critical milestones should be "lv1", "lv3", and "lv5", representing "Novice", "Proficient", and "Mastery", respectively.

The intermediate "lv2" and "lv4" were transitional stages with relatively weaker effects.

If nothing unexpected happened, when Xia Nan raised his [Fang Hunt] proficiency to lv5 in the near future, his Class Level would naturally advance to Level 2 at the same time.

He would highly likely gain a considerable yield of attribute points.

Considering that [Spinning Slash] had directly given him a total of two points across Strength and Agility, [Fang Hunt] would only give more, not less.

"Didn't you say this area is all that red dragon's territory? Why are there still monsters like griffons around?"

Beside him, the dragonborn Sava walked over briskly, the flames coalescing on the surface of her rapier gradually dissipating.

Even as she complained, her vertical, lizard-like pupils kept darting toward Xia Nan.

She had underestimated this black-haired young man's strength.

They had been in the same party for dozens of days, and her rather rich experience in reading people—along with a certain degree of Perception—had allowed her to vaguely sense his strength the first time she saw him.

But since they hadn't experienced any decent battles together, she had still harbored doubts about this overly young man.

Now, however, all her questions and speculations were swept completely away.

Sava knew exactly how troublesome a "griffon" could be.

A long time ago, when she had just become a Class Holder, she had run into one.

It was slightly larger than this one, and the merchant caravan she was escorting had to sacrifice three Class Holders and two draft horses just to drive it away.

Of course, "drive away" was putting it nicely; in reality, the beast had simply finished hunting and left on its own.

Though her strength was no longer what it used to be and she was no longer a novice who had just acquired her Class Level, she still wasn't confident she could escape unscathed from a head-on fight with an adult griffon, let alone defeat and kill one.

But now...

Her gaze inadvertently swept over the griffon's severed head resting on the ground and the clean cut at its neck.

Even if Verol's spell had stripped the griffon of its most annoying flight capability, forcing it to fight them on the ground...

The speed and explosive power the black-haired young man had displayed in that brief instant completely exceeded the realm of rookie Class Holders.

At this moment, Sava even mentally put herself in the griffon's position.

If she had been the one standing there just now, could she have blocked that sword strike?

Before she could think any further, Wood's voice rang out beside her:

"Good job!"

"But we need to clear the battlefield quickly. There's not much vegetation around here, so the smell of blood will spread fast."

"Leave the hide and the skeleton, I'll compensate you with gold coins later. The feathers from the inner wings, the talons on the two forelimbs, and the beak can be harvested; they should fetch a good price."

The battle had ended too quickly. This unlucky griffon, which had viewed the escort party as prey, had its head chopped off the moment it hit the ground.

As a result, the dragonborn Sava, Luca, and the others lying in ambush on the flanks hadn't even had the chance to strike.

Thus, the profits from the harvested materials naturally went to the Spellcaster Verol and Xia Nan, who made the kill.

They were all experienced adventurers. Working together, they cleanly harvested the griffon's valuable materials, like its talons, in just a few minutes.

Without lingering, they left the carcass where it lay, and the party of six swiftly departed.

It was worth noting that while gathering the materials, Xia Nan spontaneously sliced two strips of meat from the griffon's flank, figuring they could roast and taste it when they made camp that night.

He wondered how it would taste.

"Don't lower your guard," Wood said, holding his dual daggers as he maintained formation to protect the flank, seemingly replying to Sava's earlier complaint.

"Although the Molten Scale Mountains are that red dragon's territory and lack high-level monsters, there are still plenty of creatures like griffons."

Red dragons were fiercely territorial and viewed everything within their domain as their personal property.

Just like lions on the savannah, they wouldn't allow adult males of their own kind on their turf, and they would drive away slightly weaker predators like hyenas and cheetahs to maximize their own hunting advantage.

However, they wouldn't waste too much energy on tiny, annoying flies in the air, or on "scavengers" that digested bones and carrion.

Given an adult red dragon's massive Challenge Rating of "17", the lowly existences they deemed unworthy of their time and energy were actually powerful monsters capable of wiping out the escort party entirely.

Thus, they needed to be doubly careful.

"So then, what exactly happened back in Molten Scale Town?"

Although the terrain in the Molten Scale Mountains was rugged and uneven, vegetation was relatively sparse. The line of sight was much clearer than in a forest, allowing them to spot any enemies from far away.

Because of this, Sava had the free time to ponder their recent encounters in the town.

"When we were blocked at the exit earlier, you guys said that figure passing by was the Knight Commander of the Duke Morton Family."

"Could it be..."

Having adventured for years, Sava had naturally heard of the Morton Family, a powerful faction entrenched in Sticky-Tree Territory.

And the most famous thing about this duke among adventurers was, of course, the bounty he had posted on the Association quest board, targeting the red dragon that had stolen his family's ancestral treasure.

Right now, their group was within the red dragon's territory, and they had just happened to encounter the Morton Family's knight. With all these factors stacking up, it was hard not to overthink things.

"There's no way it's such a coincidence." Wood simply shook his head. "That item has been missing for years. If there was truly a way to sneak into the Dragon Lair and steal it back, they wouldn't have waited until now."

"Besides, Trevelyan's strength..." The Half-Elf Hai'an added with a hesitant expression. "While decent enough to be called the duke's family's youngest Knight Commander, he should still be a long way from the Transcendent Tier. Let alone bridging the gap between himself and an adult giant dragon."

Xia Nan trailed at the back of the group, not making a sound, just quietly listening to their discussion.

But for some unknown reason, when the people ahead discussed the duke's family's lost ancestral treasure, he suddenly thought of the strange artifact currently in Luca's care—the one named [Dream Weaving Corridor], which he claimed to have casually picked up in an alley.

'It couldn't be that much of a coincidence, could it...'

He felt an inexplicable, subtle sense of unease.

Meanwhile, at the front of the party, as they kept an eye on their surroundings, their casual conversation gradually drifted to rumors regarding the Morton Family.

"Even though the quest details call it the Morton Family's ancestral treasure, I honestly feel it's probably just some sort of collector's item without much practical use."

"It's just that its symbolic meaning is more important because of the history and honor it represents."

Seemingly knowing some inside information, Wood hinted:

"The ancestor of the Morton Family was one of the pioneers when the Servia Kingdom was founded. His background... was even lowlier than yours or mine, yet he still carved out nearly a seventh of the kingdom's current territory for the nation and his family. Needless to say, his strength was formidable."

"So many years have passed now, and the Morton descendants undoubtedly possess vastly superior resources compared to their ancestor. Over countless generations, there has been no shortage of outstandingly talented individuals among them."

"But if that legendary ancestral treasure was truly useful, it wouldn't have been this long without them producing an heir whose strength was equal to—or even just close to—that of their ancestor."

Hearing this, clear disappointment showed on Sava's scale-covered, lizard-like face.

"Is that so? I thought..."

She had only made it halfway through her sentence.

Hum—

Accompanied by a bizarre humming sound, a brilliant crimson light dyed her eyes red.

Almost at the exact same time, the group of six whipped their heads around, looking toward the southeast in unison.

They saw a bright, dazzling beam of red light shooting upward from behind a distant mountain ridge, vanishing into the clouds.

Rumble—

A thunderclap immediately exploded between heaven and earth. The heavy, leaden clouds that had been brewing for ages churned, unleashing an endless barrage of raindrops.

A torrential downpour began.

Crystal-clear raindrops reflected the grayish-black sky as they slid off the surface of the matte-black plate armor, washing away the bloodstains left upon it.

Staring straight in the direction where the red light had ascended, Xia Nan's thoughts raced.

But before he had time to communicate with his teammates...

An all-too-familiar, immense pressure—one that felt as though it could freeze thought itself—quietly descended upon them from above, invisible and formless.

"It's Dragon Might!"

Pupils shrinking, they abruptly looked back.

What entered their sight was the Alarm spell's barrier shattering into specks of light once again, along with everyone's bodies frozen stiff in place.

And beneath the veil of rain, set against the backdrop of the lightless, heavy gray-black clouds, was a pair of crimson dragon wings wreathed in flames, so massive they seemed to eclipse the mind itself.

It was their second encounter.

The red beam of light that had once been used to lure it out of its nest had appeared again, driving the red dragon into unprecedented fury.

And without the forest canopy to block the view as before, the six-person escort party was left entirely exposed to the sight of this creature at the absolute top of the food chain.

Naturally arrogant, the red dragon Kraugbari disdained wasting energy on these annoying little bugs at a moment like this.

However, the irritation of its Dragon Lair being robbed and the boundless rage brewing in its heart meant that it wouldn't mind doing something else before it found that damned thief—the one who was more cunning than a devil and deserved to be reduced to ash by its flames.

It wouldn't mind taking it out on these pitiful ants—these equally insignificant yet audacious insects who had trespassed into its territory without permission.

It would vent a fraction of its fury and send them to meet their destined fate.

And so, capable of melting steel plates into molten iron and turning bones to ash, carrying an aura of absolute destruction amidst the scalding steam of evaporating rainwater...

Dragon Breath, the crimson heavenly fire descended from the clouds.