The Dragon's Pact: A Princess for the Flame

Chapter 56 – Bird Demon

The Rock-Helmed Crocodiles usually store their eggs in the bushes near streams, and the more meticulous ones even dig a pit to bury them.

However, when Su Nian arrived at the scene, he found it in complete disarray.

Most of the crocodile eggs were missing, with only seven or eight scattered around, rolling about lonely.

The egg thief seemed to be in a hurry, afraid of being discovered, and some eggs were dropped and shattered on the ground, spilling egg whites and yolks everywhere.

"Polikri, clean up these broken crocodile eggs. Leave the spilled egg whites and yolks, but preserve the ones still inside the eggs for me."

Su Nian swallowed a mouthful of Dragon Saliva, planning to make a special egg soup for his beloved Anna later.

It wasn't that he wanted to drink it himself; these were his children, after all, even if they hadn't hatched yet. How could he bear it?

He was a kind-hearted variant Black Dragon.

Once Polikri had cleaned up the broken crocodile eggs, Su Nian began to carefully observe the scene.

Soon, he found a brown feather the size of an adult's palm in one of the egg pits.

The inheritance from his bloodline told him that this feather belonged to a Harpy.

The dragon bloodline's inheritance regarding magical creatures only records those that can reproduce or be eaten, and Harpies were clearly the former.

Harpies are humanoid creatures belonging to the Chaotic Evil Faction.

Their legends can be traced back to the elves, but they are mostly fairy tales made up by bards.

They have sweet voices but are the most ruthless hunters, loving to hunt and torture.

Now that he knew the identity of the egg thief, Su Nian called upon Big Grey Wolf, who was familiar with the Silvermoon Forest.

"The ones who stole the crocodile eggs are a group of Harpies. Big Grey Wolf, do you know where there might be a Harpy nest nearby?"

Big Grey Wolf thought for a moment, recalling the distribution of nearby magical creatures, and finally shook his head regretfully.

"Great, master, there are no Harpy nests nearby, but recently, a group of Harpies came out of the Silvermoon Mountains and are now likely homeless."

"Homeless?"

Su Nian scratched his chin, exhaling a sulfurous smoke ring, recalling the habits of Harpies.

In summary, they are insidious, cruel, cowardly, vengeful, and love to collect shiny objects and corpse remnants.

Harpies generally don't steal eggs; they are powerful predators, more ruthless than Gnolls.

These eggs wouldn't even be enough for them to eat.

This could only mean that the Harpies were either few in number or injured, and thus didn't dare to confront his followers head-on.

He could roughly guess why these Harpies suddenly came to steal eggs.

Yesterday, when he went looking for potatoes, Brother Hui and Banana Wolf led a group of fierce magical creatures to capture that batch of Rock Goats.

The Harpies lost their food source and, possibly out of revenge, came near the Dragon Nest to steal eggs.

They never fight fair unless they have an advantage; otherwise, they won't attack.

If they find something amiss during a fight, they will immediately flee, preferring to go hungry rather than continue fighting—a typical cowardly race.

So, when they discovered that the herbivorous creatures like Bugs Bunny were near his Dragon Nest, the Harpies didn't dare approach for fear of being discovered and instead settled for stealing the Rock-Helmed Crocodile eggs.

As for finding the Harpies, it wouldn't be too difficult.

A simple method would be to search the nearby high cliffs, while a smarter method would be to set bait and traps.

Among his followers, what could be more suitable as bait than a Blazing Rabbit?

A simple and feasible plan gradually formed in Su Nian's mind.

...

Hana was a happy Harpy leader.

But lately, her mood had been terrible.

The Harpy tribe she led was living well in the Silvermoon Mountains, with plenty to eat and drink, and occasionally they could descend the mountain to hunt female adventurers and collect their jewelry.

But somehow, a group of Deer Eagles suddenly invaded the Silvermoon Mountains.

Even worse, they occupied the Harpies' nest.

These Deer Eagles had a strong killing intent towards humanoid creatures, so Hana had no choice but to flee with the remaining tribe members, leaving the cliff they had once occupied.

More than half of the Harpies were killed by the Deer Eagles, their hearts gouged out and devoured.

Hana could no longer lead the remaining dozen Harpies to claim other territories.

After much consideration, they were forced to descend into the Silvermoon Forest.

Initially, they could barely survive by relying on a Rock Goat herd on a mountainside.

But yesterday, when Hana went to that mountainside to catch Rock Goats, she found a large group of magical creatures had knocked out all the Rock Goats and taken them away.

Hana couldn't understand why powerful Gnolls would mix with Kobolds and even Blazing Rabbits, but it didn't stop her from feeling angry about the magical creatures' actions.

Having their home stolen by Deer Eagles was one thing; they were all flying creatures, and losing was just bad luck.

But a group of land-dwelling magical creatures trying to steal their food was intolerable.

Furious, Hana returned to the nest and gave the order.

Under Hana's leadership, the Harpies prepared to settle the score with those magical creatures under the cover of night.

Hana had even planned the script.

When those magical creatures were asleep, they would swoop down, blind them, then take them back to the nest, toy with them, torture them, dismember them bit by bit.

They loved to hear their prey's screams and believed such food would be more delicious.

Hana swore that even if a dragon protected them, she would lead her tribe to take revenge.

Then, with her considerable knowledge, she bitterly realized.

There really was a dragon there, and it was an even more powerful variant Black Dragon.

It was absurd.

Support us at pawread.com .

She couldn't understand why such a proud creature would confine itself to a small patch of Silvermoon Forest.

It was as ridiculous as a king hiding in a human slum.

In the darkness, the oppressive Dragon's Might made them too afraid to even breathe.

Hana chickened out, or rather, all the Harpies did, but their vengeful and mischievous nature still drove Hana to lead her tribe to steal the Rock-Helmed Crocodile eggs.

Afterward, they fled with the eggs, taking countless detours before finally finding a place to rest.

It was a dark cave.

They didn't dare return to their temporary nest.

A once free-flying race along the cliffs now had to live in a cold, damp cave.

One can imagine how dire their situation was.

Lying in the dim cave, the more Hana thought, the angrier she became.

Those eggs weren't even enough to eat.

Her stomach growled with hunger, and her feathers were sticky and wet, making her extremely uncomfortable.

"Maybe that dragon doesn't even care about losing a few crocodile eggs, after all, it's not a crocodile."

"These lazy legendary creatures do nothing but eat and sleep every day; why would they care about their followers!"

With this thought, Hana decided to stop hiding and go out hunting; she wanted to eat meat!

---

Harpy

Eye Wash