Chapter 293: The Prepared Dragon Troops

Seth held his hands up, signalling his men from behind to halt, the stifling feeling growing thicker.

He glanced at the radar map, a region marked out glowing with a brilliant intensity, the core was so close.

He gritted his teeth, and for the first time Seth did something he never imagined he’d ever do, he went against his instincts.

There was obviously a trap, or danger of some sorts waiting ahead, but he had no choice but to march forward.

He couldn’t retreat, not only because this might be their only shot at bringing the flame dragons to extinction.

And Seth couldn’t miss it, sending streams of alarms to the other six units via essence transmission.

He was able to warn everyone to be on guard, he couldn’t have them going lax at such a crucial juncture.

Space folded in his palms as a familiar-looking talisman flickered into his grasp, while a small dagger appeared on the other hand.

The forest really was an ethereal sight, trees of flames, streams of flowing lava, and small flaming grass carpets coating the surface of the entire plain.

It was almost as though they were in a world of flame, the scorching reality bearing components of the real world.

Only missing the other elemental laws, leaving it no choice but to form what it could with the only element in its possession.

Seth could only imagine this place had to be a paradise of flame elemental evolvers and other flame-attributed creatures.

Seth could feel the rich flow of flame essence; he could only wish Brandon was here, the guy’s combat prowess would probably instantly be elevated.

And he would surely be able to find natural flame-attributed resources, elixirs and possibly fine crystals and ores that would be beneficial to him and his development.

Seth was just having this thought when his ears perked up catching the sound of a distant snap.

His heart skipped a beat, as he halted causing the others to halt as well.

Standing still, his ears twitched, homing for more sounds, the others understood what he was doing and likewise stood still remaining silent.

His helm buzzed as the genetic armour enhanced his hearing range, by several margins, sorting through the rapid influx of sounds.

Seth’s mind sorted through it all, toning down useless noises into the background while he honed further...

There he caught it, another snap... his pupils constricted, his grip of the dagger tightened as he placed the sharp tip over his wrists while the talisman fluttered.

The others caught a hint, charging their energy weapons, they positioned themselves warily, scanning their surroundings, while they still sensed nothing.

Seth’s heartbeat quickened, as the sharp snap rang out again, only now it was closer and Seth could clearly discern it wasn’t a snap.

No, that sounded more like a flap, the sharp beat sounding like a massive wing beating the wind.

A familiar sound of a dragon flying, and it was coming their way...

The sound rang again this time echoing with more resonance, and Seth realized he was wrong again as a chill washed down his spine.

Not that it wasn’t a dragon, but coming their way was a whole horde.

The moment he had this thought, the surrounding lights went dim, as the flaming forest brilliance grew dull as a sudden blanket of shadows loomed from the distance.

This... Seth’s mind went blank at the ridiculous sight, his face tightening into a scowl.

Something wasn’t right, nothing was making sense.

Was this plane really so spacious that it could hold so many dragons? Or could it be that this was the pocket dimension of the dragons?

And also how the hell were these monsters flying without provoking a storm of explosions? Each time their wings beat the wind it was supposed to generate enough violent stimulation from the toxic gasses to blast the limbs of the dragons.

But somehow the dragons remained unaffected, his gut sank and his expression went dark, as he cursed his luck.

He still remained still, as his armour fully activated stealth mode allowing him to seamlessly blend into the surroundings.

The soldier behind him did the same; with the enemy this close already, making further moves would be stupid.

Whether they charged or retreated they would have been making the wrong move as the dragons would have located them easily.

Battling with dragons for so long they already knew the limitations of the dragon race.

Especially when it came to their perception, and how they perceived reality, Seth particularly observed this trait closely.

And he had discovered that like humans, dragons predominantly relied on the sense of sight beyond any other senses, when it came to navigating reality.

And while humans had more focus range when it came to perceiving from a distance, the dragons’ perception from this range mostly relied on motion.

Once their prey moved, they’d lock on its location easily spotting it out no matter where it hid.

Hence why Seth opted to remain still... the horde loomed closer, their shadows casting over the region, as the air became turbulent in their wake.

The horde consisted of nothing less than 28 dragons, carrying a presence that made even Seth perspirate.

The area grew tumultuous, flame trees waving in the sudden influx of heavy gales, while sparks of the gasses simmering in reactions danced in the wind.

But it still inevitably didn’t fully ignite into a large wave of explosions.

All eleven humans stood still, heart racing, as the dragons flew past over their heads, while they hid camouflaged in the depths of the flame forest.

Seth’s head remained still, his eyeballs rolling up to catch a sight of the horde of flaming dragons, the uneasy feeling in his heart twisting with an even sharper sting.

This wasn’t an ordinary movement, these dragons, they were organised... It all made sense now.

The reason they hadn’t encountered any foes so far was because the enemy forces had gathered around the core.

The dragon troops poured all focus towards their core, concentrating all powers to guard the core while the intruders approached clueless of what lay in wait.

If he was right then this was just a scout team, they must have by some means sensed Seth’s unit presence, and came to check it out.

This was bad, it seemed judging the entire race based on the few they had slaughtered was the wrong way to gauge scale.

He stared at the horizon, still not daring to move as the dragon scouts flew farther away.

He couldn’t imagine how many dragons laid in wait beyond.

An organised troop of dragons, the terrifying concept caused Seth to shudder in fright.

His unease finally justified... while the difficulty of the mission soared.