Chapter 135: A Cry for Help in the Swamp

A wily rabbit has three burrows, so naturally, the Green Dragon’s nest had more than just the one vertical entrance under the Old Banyan Tree. In just a moment, Ron and his group crawled out of another, more gently sloping "back door."

"What should we do with this Green Dragon’s skeleton?" Sera asked, looking back at the Green Dragon’s remains still stuck inside the tree. "Just leave it here, or drag it back to make soup?"

"Making soup with bones over a hundred years old? Isn’t that a bit of an acquired taste?" Aive glanced at the barbarian. "You can actually stomach something like that?"

"That’s nothing! Back when I was in the north..."

While the barbarian once again launched into a rambling tale of her past heroic deeds, Ron walked up to the dragon’s remains and broke off two loose bones from the Green Dragon’s skeleton.

"Hope you don’t mind me grabbing a few raw materials for making Magic Items and for Casting." Ron dangled the bones in front of Aiksuuri.

"Then I hope you won’t mind me doing the same thing with human bones!" A threatening growl rumbled in Aiksuuri’s throat. "Get that thing out of my face—What did you just say to me?!"

’He wouldn’t have minded turning a blind eye, but Ron shouldn’t have dangled the bones right in front of his face!’

Perhaps it was because the Dragon Race exuded an intimidating aura over the surrounding beasts even after death, or perhaps it was because the environment here was so out of sync with everywhere else. As Ron and the group headed back from a different direction, they saw no other moving things aside from a few scattered Undead Creatures controlled by plants.

"Have you been to those mountains over there?" Aive pointed to a mountain range in the distance, shrouded in clouds and mist. "I always thought those were the mountains surrounding the Delusional Land, but I bought a map when I went out a while ago and didn’t see this place anywhere outside the Delusional Land."

"Do you have some kind of unrealistic expectation of me?" Aiksuuri gave the Half-Elf a strange look. "I’m only eight, eight years old! Why do you people always think I’m all-knowing?"

"Well, you’re a Dragon..."

"A Dragon who thought a juvenile Mire Throat Monster was a world-ending catastrophe?" Aiksuuri sneered self-deprecatingly. "Say that again when you’ve become a withered old lady. By then, I’ll be as powerful as you imagine I am now."

"I’ve never been there, and my Kobolds have never ventured that far either. If you decide to go explore there one day, I can’t offer any help besides wishing you good luck. Satisfied?"

"Barbecue Knight?" Delaford looked at the Young Dragon with hopeful eyes. The meaning was clear: he wanted the dragon to join them on their adventure—mainly to serve as his mount, so the goblin could get another taste of being a Dragon Knight.

"No way!"

The scales on the Black Dragon’s face grew even darker.

Although the group had intentionally taken a different route to explore as much of the Delusional Land as possible, this time they had a flying Black Dragon with them. Furthermore, a unique "dragon-made" canyon nearby served as a landmark. As a result, they didn’t run into the same embarrassing predicament of getting lost as they did last time on their way back from the Black Dragon’s Nest.

However, this area wasn’t the hunting grounds for the Kobolds and Aiksuuri, so their path was constantly blocked by numerous beasts and monsters. Ron and the others were forced to slow their travel speed again and again.

"You Casters are such a pain," Sera said, stretching lazily. "I’ve practically been hibernating these past few days—I’m so sleepy."

"If not for that, you would’ve had your hands full with those swarms of venomous snakes and the giant crocodiles when we crossed that stagnant, fetid water earlier," Victoria glanced at her. "I think you should be like Aive and me—wear armor and carry a shield. That’s how you effectively handle all sorts of sudden situations."

"I’ll pass," Sera waved her hand dismissively. "A true Warrior should wield the biggest weapon and charge at the very front of the party! To fight the most terrifying, most enormous, and most deadly enemies!"

"Like swarms of venomous snakes or those insect swarms?" Silvia said with a laugh.

"Like..." Sera shot the Vampire Descendant a ’fierce’ glare, the lingering fear in her eyes vanishing in a flash. "Like giant crocodiles, giant spiders, and giant centipedes!"

’Those little critters swarming together had truly scared her. The Grip of the Vast Wave was completely ineffective against such small creatures. She was practically just a piece of flailing meat serving itself up to their mouths!’

"Luckily, we have a ’big swarm’ of our own." Delaford laughed smugly. Big White, perched on his shoulder, let out a "SQUEAK SQUEAK," as if in agreement.

Over the past few days, there had been times when Ron and the others ran into swarming creatures after exhausting their Magic. On those occasions, the goblin’s summoned swarm of rats was needed to save the day, fighting fire with fire.

"Thanks to you all, I’ve been very satisfied these past few days," said Aiksuuri. Having been away from his nest for a long time, he felt no homesickness at all. On the contrary, he was quite content with his time alongside Ron and the others. "It’s hard for me to catch this much food when I’m hunting by myself!"

Black Dragons have a fondness for suitably rotten food, but as members of the Dragon Race, they won’t refuse any feast, including fresh flesh and blood. This tendency was even more pronounced in Aiksuuri, who had been educated by a Gold Dragon since he was young. It was obvious from how he’d drooled over the roasted venison before; he had a stronger preference for cooked food, especially when it was seasoned.

It was just that he usually had a hard time starting a fire on his own—even if he managed to get a flame from the Kobolds, it was difficult to keep an ember alive in the damp swamp. But there was no such problem when he was with Ron and the others.

"We’re also very... HIC." The two Personification Monsters on the simple cart were equally stuffed. Having had starvation practically encoded in their genes, they had eaten nearly as much in the past few days as they had in their entire lives since birth!

"Those predators insisted on making us their prey, so they can’t blame us for what happened," Aive said, walking at the front. "Thanks to them, all the deer, wild rabbits, and waterfowl along the way have been spared. They’ll probably be able to reproduce quite well for the next few years."

Victoria suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Speaking of which, have any of you heard a sound for the past little while?"

"What sound?" Silvia raised an eyebrow. "Just the calls of animals in the jungle and swamp, right? I haven’t heard anything special."

"No, no," Victoria shook her head. "Listen carefully. It sounds like someone is calling for help!"

"A person? Calling for help?" Sera snorted with laughter. "If you’re not hearing things, then it must be some kind of monster trap. We should just ignore it and let whatever it is howl its heart out."

In the barbarian’s eyes, even if it really was a person who had fallen into danger in such a desolate and treacherous place, they had no one to blame but themselves.

The very next second, however, just as Ron and the others decided to ignore it, a bloodcurdling scream rang out right beside their ears, nearly piercing their eardrums:

"HELP!!!"