Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Under the curious gazes of the monsters, the three dragons passed through until they reached the end of the cave and came to a door that was left ajar. The rotting aura that belonged to the Black Dragon was not concealed at all.
Jose pushed open the door and walked in, then seeing the Black Dragon behind the stone table — O’Neal.
At this moment, the Black Dragon was in a half-dragon form. He had the head of a Black Dragon, and his humanoid body was covered with dense black scales. His nails were sharp, and he had a short dragon tail behind his butt. In fact, he looked a little similar to Shendu from “Jackie Chan Adventures” but was slightly slimmer.
“Lord O’Neal, we are under orders to report here. This is our mission document,” Jose said as he handed over the parchment.
Ever since the three dragons entered the room, the Black Dragon’s eyes had never left the shaved ice in Cassie’s hand. He only glanced lightly at the parchment scroll that Jose had handed to him.
Jose placed the parchment on the table and said, “We were told that you liked sweet food and ice, so we prepared a small gift.”
Yaligos nudged Cassie, who reacted by stepping forward and placing the watermelon shaved ice on the stone table in front of O’Neal.
“Hmm, not bad. You guys are quite sensible.”
O’Neal sniffed the watermelon shaved ice and was about to taste it when the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside as a goblin carrying a tray walked in.
“Sir O’Neal, your dessert is here. Ah!”
The goblin did not notice the dragons behind the door. He bumped into the White Dragon and the dessert on the tray spilled all over the ground. He was so frightened that his face turned pale. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
“Lord O’Neal, have mercy! Please have mercy! This servant has served you for many years. Please…”
O’Neal waved his hand that had sharp nails. “It’s all right, Old Cole, my loyal servant. Just be careful in your next life.”
Old Cole’s face had completely lost all color. He stood up and wanted to escape, but just as he lifted his foot, he froze.
Under the gaze of the three dragons, Old Cole turned into an indescribable black, soft substance. The room was then filled with the stench of rotting corpses.
Jose noticed the black halo spreading beneath the Black Dragon’s feet.
Corrosive Halo!
The corrosive halo was the Black Dragon’s innate ability. Within the range of the halo, the Black Dragon had the ability to instantly kill other creatures that were far weaker than itself and corrode their corpses into rotten substances.
“Hmph! Stupid trash!”
O’Neal simply waved his hand, and the body that was just a lump of substances, the tray, and the toppled dessert flew to the garbage heap in the corner of the room.
Even by the standards of dragons, O’Neal could be considered brutal.
Jose lowered his head. The Golden Dragon loli did not even dare to breathe loudly. As for the White Dragon, he was already trembling.
On the other hand, O’Neal acted like he had done something insignificant as he tasted a mouthful of watermelon shaved ice.
Seeing O’Neal’s eyes light up, Jose knew he was pleased with the gift and was relieved.
“Not bad! Not bad! Very good indeed! What’s the name of this food? Who invented it?”
“Sir O’Neal, I’m glad you like it. It’s called shaved ice. It’s my first time making it too.”
“You made it?” The Black Dragon looked at Jose suspiciously. A Red Dragon inventing an ice dessert sounded like a joke.
But he did not think too much about it before asking, “How did you do it?”
“It’s very simple. Just remove the melon seeds and the melon skin first, and the remaining flesh can be mixed with frozen pure water. You just need to smash and mix them evenly.”
“It does sound quite simple. I’m very satisfied with your gift, but…!” O’Neal’s voice suddenly became lower as he looked at Jose with a faint smile. “The mission still has to be completed.”
Jose felt his teeth aching, but he did not dare to raise any objections. “Of course, for the sake of Her Majesty.”
“Everything is for the sake of Her Majesty.” O’Neal nodded and continued, “Your mission is to investigate the abnormal situation in the forest, find the reason why the detection spell failed, and solve it.”
As he spoke, he took out a crystal ball from under the stone table. “This is your mission tool — the Magic Sensing Crystal Ball. This thing can sense subtle magic fluctuations and can help you complete the mission better. It will also record the places you’ve been to, so don’t try to find a place to slack off.”
“Understood!” Jose took the crystal ball and felt that the cold crystal ball was like a fiery grenade in his hand.
“By the way, I won’t take your gift for free. Take this map.”
Jose took the map from him and read it, this was a map of the Northern Lands of the Tedanol Continent. The contents included the Jorgol Mountains, the dark dense forest that bordered both the east and the Jorgol Mountains, the Great Plains to the north, and also the five Northern Human Kingdoms at the bottom of the map.
In a sense, the watermelon shaved ice in exchange for a map of the Northern Lands was an extremely good deal.
One had to know that there were no satellites in this world. Every map was one where a large force had expended countless manpower, resources, and wealth by having their subordinates measure the mountains and rivers with their feet and then piecing together the information they had gathered. Only then could they make a usable map. Such a map had great strategic value.
However, the purpose of the three dragons gifting the watermelon shaved ice had been to exchange for some substantial support and some reduction in the danger of the mission. What use was the map of the Northern Lands that the Black Dragon gave?!
They did not need to investigate the whole of the Northern Lands!
From the perspective of lowering danger, the map given by the Black Dragon was worthless.
Holding the crystal ball and map in his hand, Jose and his two companions walked out of the cave and came to a safe place far away from the cave.
“He sent us away just like that?! That doesn’t make sense!”
Yaligos sighed. “Haven’t you noticed yet that Warf has the same scent as O’Neal?”
“Warf? Who’s Warf?” Jose was startled as the Gnoll Overseer’s mocking smile appeared in his mind.
“He is truly ruthless!”
Most of the middle-ranking positions in the Red Nest were held by dragonkin, not just the family members of the Mistress of the Red Nest. The other dragonkin could also hold important positions.
As the commander of the stronghold, O’Neal had enough authority to assign a subordinate as an Overseer within the Red Nest.
“You should be content with what you have. You offended his trusted subordinate, but O’Neal did not make things difficult for us because of the shaved ice.”
Jose tilted his head and looked at the snowy pine forest on the distant mountain peak. “It seems that he sees no point in making things difficult for us. The dangers in the forest are enough.”
Yaligos was worried as she frowned and remained silent.
Cassie was also silent, but his silence was fundamentally different from the other two dragons’. He simply did not know what was going on and did not dare to say anything.
There was a long silence.
“Do you have any ideas before we set off for the mission?” Jose looked at the Golden Dragon loli.
In terms of communicating with other people, his identity as a Red Dragon might have given him a natural advantage in the Red Nest, but in terms of fighting and taking specific actions, the Golden Dragon loli had likely received a proper education from her parents, so her opinion was very valuable.
Therefore, while Jose was the one in charge of communicating with others, he and the Golden Dragon had to jointly decide on their actual actions.
Yaligos took the map of the Northern Lands and looked at it, saying, “This map is too big. It only has reference value for a small area. We need a guide who is familiar with the terrain.”
Jose looked at the cannon fodder camp not far away and saw a familiar figure. “We’ll use him!”