Like hunting mammoths in the snow, the North Peninsula men roared furiously, surrounding the merchant ship.
Grappling hooks flew like rain from all directions, latching onto the ship, sending wood chips scattering.
“Aaah!” the fat-faced captain shouted in panic.
“Quick! Quick! Get rid of all these iron hooks!”
Aurina tilted her head to dodge a grappling hook, swallowing the bird leg dangling from her mouth.
She watched the sailors, holding shields, trying to dislodge the hooks.
But from below came the frenzied howls of mad dogs, and a rain of spears pierced the shields, forcing the sailors to retreat and abandon them.
The ship was merely struggling in its death throes.
Once the North Peninsula men climbed aboard, it was as good as lost.
Aurina glanced at the captain’s cabin, where treasures worth 257 gold coins lay.
In her eyes, the value of the gold coins coalesced into a sweet red dot.
She then looked at Sophia, pondering whether to choose the 257 gold coins or one beautiful female.
Sophia, however, remained calm, soothing, “Don’t worry, the Lord will not forsake us. Richard is here; he can overcome anything.”
Aurina turned her head and climbed onto the railing.
The red dragon tattooed chieftain hurled a spear directly at her, his muscles bulging as if exploding.
The spear shot like a bolt from a crossbow, aiming straight for Aurina’s face.
Aurina tilted her head to dodge.
“Thud!”
The spear, like an embroidery needle, struck Sophia’s tower shield as if drawn to a magnet, embedding itself in it.
“Aurina!”
Sophia tried to pull her down.
“This is no place for children to play.”
“I want to see how Richard fights, gah! He’s charging in!”
Richard had finished his prayer, and a beam of white light descended from the sky, splashing onto his sword.
Holding the glowing blade, he strode step by step toward the red dragon tattooed chieftain.
The fat-faced merchant clenched his fist and shouted, “Quick! Cut him down! Those skull-worshipping barbarians will flee!”
Several throwing axes flew toward him.
Sophia swiftly struck with her shield, knocking the fat-faced merchant down, causing the axes to miss.
“These ferocious, heretical zealots won’t retreat,” she said. “They’ll only fight to crown the strongest as their new leader, using our blood and flesh to do it!”
Aurina yanked the spear from Sophia’s shield, smashing another aside, and said, “The beast of burden is so dumb. If I were him, I’d run across the sea, poke a hole in their ship, and then flee. Without a ship, what can those sea bugs do, gah gah gah!”
“Why didn’t you block for me?” the fat-faced merchant grumbled as he struggled to his feet.
Hearing Aurina’s words, he said, “If the ship leaks, we can keep bailing water out. By the time it sinks, we’ll all be dead.”
“It’s you lot,” Aurina said. “If the ship goes down, all the treasure’s mine, gah gah gah.”
As Aurina had said, Richard’s bold advance toward the red dragon tattooed chieftain was indeed a gamble.
He raised his sword and roared, “I challenge you to a duel of men! The loser retreats!”
The red dragon tattooed chieftain merely laughed skyward and shouted, “Storm Shaman! Let this so-called dragon-slayer taste lightning!”
The gale ceased, replaced by a bolt of azure lightning splitting from the dark clouds, striking Richard as he raised his sword.
Richard charged through the lightning, as if it had never struck.
He dashed across the waves toward the chieftain’s ship.
The red dragon tattooed chieftain laughed, raising his giant axe, which crackled with lightning.
His shield guards and shield maidens stood protectively by his side.
“Aurina! Transform into a dragon and join me!”
Richard roared as he continued his charge.
The sea before him began to rise, forming a dragon three stories tall in mere moments, lunging to bite at Richard.
It could smash a hole in the merchant ship, causing it to leak.
It could intimidate the soldiers standing on their lofty warships, turning their confidence into the fear of drowning.
The storm shaman respected Richard enough to use a treasured sea pearl against him.
The red dragon tattooed chieftain turned his head, not even glancing at Richard—of course, he couldn’t see him, as the “sea dragon” completely obscured Richard’s figure.
He had absolute confidence in the sea dragon.
He said to those beside him, “Tell the shaman to grant us the power to walk on water—”
Before he finished, a shield maiden slapped his shoulder and shouted, “Look!”
In the moment the chieftain turned his head, he missed Richard’s sword slicing through the massive sea dragon like a beam of light.
He saw Richard part the water, step onto the dragon-shaped prow of the ship, and land on the deck.
With a single shoulder charge, he knocked at least three North Peninsula men overboard.
His sword pointed directly at the red dragon tattooed chieftain.
Never had the battle-hardened shield guards been so shocked by Richard, who parted the sea like a believer of the gods.
Three of them moved across the dragon ship as if on solid ground, advancing toward Richard with their shields.
Richard vanished from his spot, reappearing before the chieftain, who, instead of panicking, laughed.
Almost instantly, he swung his lightning-charged giant axe.
The red dragon tattoo on his arm seemed to come alive, baring its fangs and claws at Richard.
Richard deflected the axe with a single sword strike, stepping closer.
His strength was immense, his steps steady, as he shoved aside the shield guard at the chieftain’s side.
His sword was faster than his steps, blooming with infinite white light like the dawn.
“Holy Slash!”
The red dragon tattooed chieftain’s vision went white, almost believing a Valkyrie from the Hall of Gods had come for him.
A gash opened in his scale armor, the broken plates glowing red-hot as if forged in a blacksmith’s furnace.
The shattered links of his chainmail clattered onto the deck, sizzling as they met the water.
No blood flowed from the wound on his chest, as the searing light had cauterized the flesh.
The red dragon tattooed chieftain said, “Is that all?” With that, he swung his axe at Richard’s helmet.
Richard raised his sword in a bull-like stance, its horns-like guard above his head, the sturdy blade near the hilt blocking the axe.
At that moment, a dragon’s roar echoed from the sky.
Someone cried, “Dragon! It’s a red dragon! She’s a dragon!”
The battle-hardened North Peninsula men, who should have been unshaken, couldn’t help but look up.
In the sky, Aurina, in her dragon form, flapped her wings, though she was only as long as two bulls.
Yet her form was eight or nine parts similar to the red dragons depicted in murals and carved in stone.
Richard stepped back, showing no intent to attack.
The surrounding North Peninsula men encircled him but dared not step within a pace of him.
The red dragon tattooed chieftain, with unspoken understanding, also stepped back.
The shield maidens raised their shields to cover his towering frame.
“Hoo!”
Aurina raised her dragon claws beside her head, unleashing her dragon’s majesty on the North Peninsula men aboard the ship.
She succeeded in startling a hooked fish, which flew off the ship and into the sea.
“Stop!”
The red dragon tattooed chieftain knelt halfway before the dragon.
He grabbed a handful of gold coins and flung them skyward.
“Great and supreme red dragon, accept our tribute!”
Aurina’s dragon form made a sharp turn, diving toward the gold coins.
She opened her mouth, her tongue flicking out, and all dozen or so coins were sucked into her maw.
The storm shaman shouted:
“It’s a dragon! The great dragon!”
Richard said, “She is the daughter of the Dread Dragon.”
“Blow the retreat horn,” the red dragon tattooed chieftain said.
“The dragon has come to claim its tribute!”
They chanted some incomprehensible refrain.
The North Peninsula men who had boarded the ship slid back down the ropes, hurrying to their ships.
They opened their spoils, tossing plundered gold and silver items into the sky.
Aurina’s dragon form circled again and again, not letting a single coin or gem hit the ground.
“What’s wrong with them?” the fat-faced captain said in astonishment. “I’ve never seen these barbarians give up their spoils so willingly. They’d go mad protecting their loot.”
Sophia said, “It must be their custom. You’re the captain; you should know more, but you provoked the North Peninsula men from the start.”
The fat-faced captain protested, “I couldn’t figure it out.”
Sophia said, “If you can’t figure it out, best keep your mouth shut.”
On the dragon ship, Richard gave a slight bow to the red dragon tattooed chieftain, sheathing his sword as if he hadn’t just risked his life charging into the fray alone.
The red dragon tattooed chieftain said, “Let the dragon’s servant leave.”
The shield guards parted to make way.
Richard walked across the waves, waving to Aurina’s dragon form, which was still circling reluctantly, signaling that was enough.
Richard climbed back aboard using a grappling rope.
Aurina’s dragon form swooped down, transforming midair into her human shape, landing with her legs apart squarely on his shoulders.
Richard stumbled, nearly falling.
“Gah!” Aurina said.
“You should kneel to this king, because my appearance saved you. Of course, you’re not bad as the strongest little bug. But your wisdom is twenty years behind this king’s tactic of sinking the ship and demanding ransom, gah!”
“Aurina, stop making a fuss.”
Aurina slapped his iron helmet, shouting, “Kneel, kneel quick, kneel to the great red dragon!”
“It’s incredible,” Sophia said, carrying her shield as she approached through the still-shocked sailors. “Dear, how did you do it?”
“Simple. Since the issue was that the chieftain couldn’t tolerate being robbed by a little girl, what if it was a dragon? Especially the red dragon they worship,” Richard said.
“The situation was deteriorating, so a bit of force was needed to break the stalemate, along with a touch of their wisdom.”
On the dragon ship, the red dragon tattooed chieftain’s expression remained calm.
His chest bore a horrific wound, now bleeding, yet he acted as if uninjured.
The surrounding North Peninsula men looked at him with awe.
He removed his tattered armor, and a warrior beside him took it.
“Throw the wreckage into the sea,” the red dragon tattooed chieftain said with a wave of his hand.
“When we reach the capital, the emperor will surely pay for a fine new set of armor.”
Someone said, “It was a dragon that robbed you. Your martial prowess must have earned the dragon’s recognition.”
The red dragon tattooed chieftain laughed.
“Do you even need to say that? Drink! Everyone, down three bottles of mead to celebrate meeting the heir of the Dread Dragon. Its return to the world is not far off.”
The North Peninsula men believed the Dread Dragon was like the Doomsday Volcano near their land—eternal, never dying.
When the volcano erupted, it was the Dread Dragon awakening.
When it surged into the sky, it was the Dread Dragon’s wrath.
They laughed heartily, grabbing bottles of mead.
A warrior approached to tend the chieftain’s wounds.
The red dragon tattooed chieftain’s smile faded as he tore off his clothing, revealing the wound on his chest.
He looked down at it, his expression turning grave.
One wound was now slowly bleeding, stretching from his shoulder to his ribs, completely cauterized.
A second, smaller wound, only a palm’s length, was thanks to his armor.
It intersected with the first Holy Slash scar.
Though smaller, it bled continuously.
The red dragon tattooed chieftain’s instincts were correct—he had been struck by two blows.
One was a Holy Slash; the other was a mere ordinary strike.
Richard hadn’t unleashed two Holy Slashes.
The chieftain had heard that a paladin could unleash a Holy Slash with any hit, requiring no extra effort.
The red dragon tattooed chieftain muttered Richard’s title under his breath: “Dragon-slaying hero…”