novelraw Chapter 339: A Friend from the Ocean
Chapter 339: A Friend from the Ocean
At the same time, within the borders of the Southern Continent, in the boundless wilderness on the continent's eastern shore, a brutal conflict unnoticed by humanity was fiercely taking place. The dense sound of hoofbeats, like falling raindrops, continuously transmitted from afar, awakening this quiet land. Even those Earthen Goblins sleeping beneath the ground were startled into scattering and fleeing in all directions, staying far away from the distant strife one after another.
"Squeak squeak!"
"Giddy up! Catch up to those traitors!"
Observably, amidst the distant din and dust, fleeing in panic were over a dozen Dragon-kin of varying colors. They originally belonged to the Dragon-kin of the Eastern Branch Tribe that had been absorbed by the Dragon Queen. But within the New Dragon Court, they refused to submit to Dragon Queen Raphaela's rule.
The hatred of having their tribe destroyed by Raphaela and the disdain from the Dragon-kin of other branches caused their thoughts of defecting from the New Dragon Court to grow heavier day by day. Finally, on a silent night, they stole Dragon Magic scrolls forged by the Queen, as well as some other valuable treasures, attempting to flee to human cities to cast off the Dragon Queen's constraints.
The Dragon Queen's guards discovered these traitors attempting to escape at the very first moment. Therefore, they led troops out from Sunset Valley in the south through the night, heading all the way north along the eastern shore. After an entire night of fleeing, whether it was the defecting Dragon-kin or the horses carried by the guards pursuing them, they were all already exhausted. This also heralded that an intense conflict was about to unfold.
"Damn it, the horses can't run anymore!"
The leading Dragon-kin was Haril, the former chief guard of Chebur, the deceased former patriarch of the Eastern Branch Tribe. In that war that annihilated the Eastern Branch Tribe, he had led the main forces of the Eastern Branch Tribe to resist the Southern Branch Tribe's attack. Both sides suffered casualties. Originally, if they held on like that, they could still have gone to request aid from humans. Who would have thought that Raphaela would directly slaughter her way into their main camp from the southeast direction all by herself!
Not only did she slaughter all the Dragon-kin left behind to defend the tribe with just a few punches, but even the strongest patriarch in the tribe had his neck twisted like a fried dough twist by a single punch from her. The patriarch's son also suffered tragically at her cruel hands. Just like that, the Eastern Branch Tribe suffered a total defeat. He had his crimes pardoned by Raphaela and joined the New Dragon Court she created.
In the very beginning, Haril truly wanted to join Raphaela, because the power surpassing all Dragon-kin on her person truly made one unable to straighten their knees. But when the Dragon-kin of several other branch tribes joined one after another, Haril, whose status was originally lofty in the Eastern Branch, felt stifled for the first time. Moreover, because of the Eastern Branch's illicit dealings with humans, they were disdained by other Dragon-kin. Hence, this stifled feeling and dissatisfaction grew heavier day by day, ultimately precipitating his defection."Lord Haril, ahead is the Blood River Strait. There is no more road ahead!"
Haril's expression cooled slightly. He turned his head and cast a glance at the New Dragon Court troops relentlessly pursuing from behind, then looked at the steep cliff blocking the path ahead. Beyond that cliff was the boundless azure ocean. At this moment, he was already at the end of his rope, but he did not give up. He looked down at the glowing magic scroll in his hand and shouted at the Dragon-kin beside him,
"Then let's fuck 'em up! Abandon the horses!"
"Boom!"
But before Haril's words were finished, a bizarre figure spinning rapidly suddenly drilled out from the ground ahead. The instant that pangolin-like shell appeared in Haril's line of sight, he secretly cursed inwardly. He immediately pulled the reins, warning his companions,
"Not good! It's an Armored Species! Stop quickly!"
But after all, it was a critical moment hanging by a thread. The minority of Dragon-kin in the back heard Haril's voice and reigned in their horses, but the several riders charging at the front couldn't brake in time. The instant the Armored Species appeared, the ground in front of them suddenly collapsed, cutting off their forward path like a fissure in the earth. Those several riders who couldn't brake directly crashed head over heels into the extremely deep ravine, wailing in pain.
"Well done, Famaxi!"
The instant the horses in front stopped, behind them, an incomparably huge spider figure dropped from the sky. She held two muskets in her hands. After shooting down the two Dragon-kin who had just reacted, she threw the muskets in her hands and drew the long blade hidden behind her,
"Finally caught up to you guys! Are you Dragon-kin or cockroaches? You can run this well?"
"Siya, be careful. They are Dragon-kin; their Constitution is very strong."
Yes, intercepting this group of traitors right before their eyes were exactly the bandit trio who had robbed Fisher and Raphaela previously: the Arachnid Race Siya, the Armored Species Famaxi, and...
In the next second, an illusory figure descended from the sky. As it turned out, an ethereal-capable Brain Demon Race had constantly been following this bunch of fleeing Dragon-kin traitors above the sky. This was the reason why they could never escape pursuit no matter what.
"Surrender yourselves, Haril. You can't get away."
Haril cast a glance around him. Behind these three demi-humans was an army composed of Centaur Race and other Demi-human Races drawing ever closer. And the Dragon-kin beside him had been ambushed on top of rushing for an entire night; no matter how one thought about it, they couldn't possibly be the other party's match. Then there was only the final method left...
"Don't move. We surrender. We'll go back with you to face Raphaela's judgment."
"Lord Haril..."
The Dragon-kin beside him who were shot by the muskets gritted their teeth. They stood up one after another, hatefully looking at the pursuing troops drawing closer and closer ahead. Then they shouted at Haril,
"At worst we fight them to the death! Even if we die, we absolutely won't go back to that bullshit place! This way we can still preserve a bit of strength to report the situation to the humans side..."
An obvious expression of disgust appeared on Siya's face, sporting six spider compound eyes. She slightly crossed her twin blades horizontally in front of her chest, assuming a posture ready to launch an attack,
"You think so beautifully. With so many people here, you still want to run?"
"Careful, Siya! He took the high-ring magic engraved by Lady Raphaela! Distance yourself from him first!"
Just as Kelili in the sky had just spoken to remind Siya, Haril's expression suddenly became ferocious. He took out an animal skin scroll flashing with faint magic light from his embrace, then aimed that scroll at the wilderness ahead,
"Go quickly! Abandon the horses and jump into the sea!"
After Haril shouted this sentence, the magic scroll in his hand violently erupted with dazzling light. The invisible World's Echo was levered, bursting forth flames like a dragon's roar from the illusion. And not only that, during the process of the flames spreading and burning, a series of continuous Resonance were levered, stimulating violent Explosions, sufficiently proving the one who engraved it possessed extraordinary understanding of magic.
But this definitely brought suffering to the Dragon Court allied forces pursuing this group of traitors. During the daytime, the ocean warmed up slower, and the fierce wind from the ocean blew toward the land warmed by the sun's illumination. The violent flames, carried by the fierce wind, Exploded and spread towards the pursuing troops in the distance. Although the soldiers in the distance stopped in time and thus were not harmed by that violent Dragon-Man Magic, Famaxi and Siya, who were still close by, were miserable.
"Fuck! This bastard, cough, cough!"
The illusory Brain Demon Race Kelili above the sky also hadn't expected these flames to spread so quickly. She watched Haril lead a bunch of Dragon-kin rapidly running toward the direction of the coast, but she had no way to pursue, because her two partners were still trapped in the sea of fire ignited by the magic.
"Plop!"
Just as Kelili was looking at her partners surrounded by flames below with a face full of anxiety, drops of crystal-clear water continuously fell from the sky, hitting Siya and Famaxi's faces.
Was it raining?
Just as Kelili's eyes lit up slightly and she was about to sigh "Heaven is helping me," she looked up, only to see the azure, cloudless sky stretching for ten thousand miles above. Where were the clouds capable of forming raindrops?
"This is... seawater?"
Kelili instinctively stuck out her tongue and licked the "raindrops" on her cheek, suddenly tasting the saltiness within those raindrops. However, why would seawater suddenly fall from the sky?
She turned her head to look toward the coast's direction, only to see that above that ocean, a massive current of water like a tsunami had already slowly risen, covering the sky above this tract of wilderness. The next second, the water flowed down with a crash like a torrential downpour, completely drenching everyone below. But Siya and Famaxi, who were drenched by the seawater to the point of being unable to open their eyes, didn't feel angry at all. Instead, they raised the weapons in their hands and shouted loudly,
"The fire is out! Kelili, the fire is out!"
Kelili in mid-air hadn't even realized what had happened. Just as she was wondering if the Dragon Court had sent reinforcements over, an even more bizarre thing suddenly occurred.
Haril and his group, who were running wildly in the distance, resolutely decided to jump into the sea to escape in order to evade the Dragon Court's pursuit. But what was absurd was that the several Dragon-kin in front had just jumped off the cliff, yet a few seconds later, they were tossed back up, soaking wet. This made Haril, who was just preparing to jump down, struck dumb with amazement.
He turned his head to cast a glance at the extinguished magic behind him, then cast a glance at the companions beside him who had been tossed onto the shore without even knowing what happened. Roaring with his pupils threatening to split, he yelled,
"What's going on?! Why did you come back up?"
"Below... It seems there's someone in the sea. We had just jumped down and got thrown back up. I also..."
"Who is it?! Which bastard dares to treat us like this?!"
Amidst Haril's hysterical roar of anger, a figure suddenly sprang out nimbly from beneath the cliff ahead. Under the illumination of sunlight, the golden light bursting forth from that beautiful figure due to being tainted with seawater was so dazzling. Under the astonished gazes of both parties, a strange demi-human with long blue hair, a stunningly adorable appearance, and a bizarre, giant tail growing behind her leaped up from the sea and stood in front of Haril.
That demi-human wore a suit of well-fitting Golden Armor upon her body, gripping a longsword made of gold in one hand. Looking with some worry at the Dragon-kin before her whom she also seemed quite unfamiliar with,
"Are you guys okay? I just saw you jump off the cliff because of the flames on the shore. It's fine, I've already helped you extinguish the fire, you don't need to jump off the cliff to escape for your lives..."
That young girl's voice was sweet and pure; merely hearing it gave people a feeling of becoming relaxed and joyous. The worry in her gaze did not seem faked. The bizarre language issuing from her mouth, under the influence of the arriving Brain Demon Race Kelili, transformed into the Dragon Court language they could distinguish.
Yes, this was exactly the Whale-kin Jasmine, who had negotiated terms with her mother Xuan Shen a few days ago, left the Ocean Trench, and arrived on the shore. Just as she was about to make landfall, she saw the fire on the shore, and mistook it for people being forced to jump off the cliff to escape for their lives due to the fire disaster. How could the inherently kind-hearted Jasmine care about so much? She immediately stirred up seawater and extinguished the fire for them!
But where would Haril have the mind to thank her at this moment? Veins bulged on his forehead, and the Dragon-kin beside him also all thought the person before them was an enemy sent by the Dragon Court for support. They raised their weapons at her one after another,
"You bastard, go to hell!"
"Careful!"
Seeing this from afar, Kelili thought things were looking bad. Her illusory body abruptly accelerated in mid-air. Siya and Famaxi in the wilderness below also charged towards that bunch of Dragon-kin, deeply afraid these traitors would harm this strange demi-human from the ocean.
"Boom!"
But the next second, Jasmine wearing armor in front merely suddenly turned around. The whale tail behind her whipped toward them as fast as lightning. The instant the immense force touched the bodies of the Dragon-kin before her, it emitted a bone-chilling sound of bones fracturing. They flew backward one after another, scaring Kelili and the others who wanted to step forward into stopping in their tracks, not daring to advance further.
"Ah, ah! Why did you suddenly... I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! If you have something to say, can't we talk it over properly?"
Jasmine looked with somewhat unshed tears at those Dragon-kin whose status of life or death was unknown after being swatted away by her tail, and her heart instantly became flustered as well. The moment she saw other people approaching with raised weapons, she got scared and instinctively counterattacked. She didn't have her mother's experienced combat experience at all. Now this was great; could it be that the people she had finally managed to save were swatted to death by her just like that?
"...As long as you are fine. Truly, thank you so much! If you hadn't taken action to help just now, my companions probably would have been injured... Let me introduce myself. I am the Chief Scout of the First Legion from the New Dragon Court, the Brain Demon Race Kelili. I haven't asked for your name yet, you are?"
It was still the Brain Demon Race Kelili who reacted the fastest. She hurriedly flew ethereally to Jasmine's side and manifested her concrete form. After conducting her self-introduction, she looked with considerable curiosity at that massive whale tail behind Jasmine. She was familiar with many Demi-human Races of the Southern Continent, but she indeed had never seen a demi-human with Jasmine's appearance.
A demi-human from the ocean?
"Ah, I am Jasmine, a Whale-person from the ocean... Huh, wait, I can understand you guys speaking! So amazing! Right, um, Miss Kelili, I would like to ask, what exactly was the situation here just now? Is this the Southern Continent? Also, what is the New Dragon Court?"
Kelili looked with some surprise at Jasmine in front of her, who knew nothing about the situation on the surface, then evaluated the strange armor worn on her body. After confirming the person before her held no malicious intent, she somewhat amusedly turned to look at those Dragon-kin wailing on the ground, explaining to Jasmine,
"Sorry, I entirely forgot to explain the situation here to you. Just now we were capturing the New Dragon Court's traitors, but we accidentally got our path blocked by the flames they caused. Thanks to you taking action in time, otherwise they would have run away via the sea... And this is indeed the Southern Continent. Although I'm not clear what you came here for, I must still remind you, this place is not considered safe; there's strife and bloodshed everywhere."
Hearing this, Jasmine's eyes lit up slightly. Her heartbeat accelerated slightly because of the 'bloodshed and strife' the other party mentioned, but a second later, she still secretly cheered herself up and became composed.
She truly swam to the Southern Continent! She heard that the first stop her mother went to when she was young was the Southern Continent, and she made rapid progress there, establishing the foundation for her future prestige as the Ocean Emperor. She also had to train well here before the war arrived, just like her mother, so she could reach Mythical Species, and only then could she rescue Fisher from the vast ocean of war!
"Thump, thump, thump!"
A wave of dense footsteps transmitted from ahead at this moment. Jasmine looked towards the sound, only to see an army mixed with countless demi-humans approaching this side from afar. There were demi-humans of all kinds in that constantly approaching army: Dragon-kin, Centaur Race, Bat-kin, Sheep-kin, Arachnid Race...
Jasmine was shocked by such a sight. This was still her first time seeing so many different kinds of Demi-human Races staying together so harmoniously. This couldn't help but make her think of a noun Kelili had mentioned to her just now.
The New Dragon Court.
Kelili noticed Jasmine's shock. She smiled, turning her head and saying to Jasmine,
"Miss Jasmine, the New Dragon Court and the Dragon Queen advocate for the oppressed races of the Southern Continent uniting together, cooperating sincerely to resist the invading troops, recapture their own homelands, and create a peaceful and comfortable homeland for demi-humans... Although Miss Jasmine is not a demi-human from the Southern Continent, the Dragon Queen will definitely also be exceedingly curious about you, a demi-human from the ocean."
Jasmine turned to look at Kelili beside her, whose hair and brain were completely transparent, listening to her sincere invitation,
"Since this is the case, please allow me to invite you to return to the New Dragon Court together with us and be a guest, even if it's just to thank you for your help to us this time."
Upon hearing this, Jasmine hurriedly waved her hands, saying somewhat embarrassedly,
"It's not like I helped much, I just did it in passing. However..."
Without finishing her words, Jasmine looked at the various demi-humans who were currently capturing and controlling the several Dragon-kin. They were conversing with each other; even if some people's Dragon Court language was still not fluent, that kind of atmosphere indeed attracted Jasmine, generating a strong interest within her toward the leader with such beautiful aspirations, the Dragon Queen...
"I am indeed very interested in the Dragon Queen of the Dragon Court as well. If you don't fear the disturbance, please let me temporarily follow you to return to the Dragon Court to meet your Queen."
Kelili smiled and nodded. In the distance, Famaxi and Siya holding muskets and weapons were walking over here. They first cast a glance at Jasmine, then asked Kelili,
"This one... what's the situation?"
"Siya, Famaxi, let me introduce. This is Miss Jasmine, a Whale-kin from the ocean. Just now it was she who helped you escape from the sea of fire, and also helped us catch the traitors. I have already invited her to head to the Dragon Court as a guest with the status of a friend. I believe Raphaela will also want to meet a demi-human from the ocean..."
"Ha, there are actually demi-humans in the sea? I thought there were only fish and those big ships of those humans in the sea."
Siya rubbed her head and said this.
"Siya, mind your manners."
Jasmine didn't get angry because of the Arachnid Race Siya's words; on the contrary, because of such a harmonious atmosphere, she covered her mouth and chuckled lightly.
"Everyone, prepare to set out. We're going back to Sunset Valley now!"
Hearing Kelili's words, the demi-humans in the distance turned around one after another. Famaxi and Siya also brought over the chariot they rode here on. After all, the physiological structure of the Arachnid Race was special; it wasn't very easy to ride horses directly.
Jasmine also boarded the chariot along with them, heading all the way south, preparing to return to the New Dragon Court located within Sunset Valley to meet that Dragon Queen named 'Raphaela'.