Chapter 187 - No Coincidence, No Story

In the Rocklands, everything is scarce except for Gnolls and Goblins, which are found everywhere in nests and dens.But Shanoba had no interest in those small Gnoll holes with only dozens or up to a hundred Gnolls.

If she was going to bother, she would bother big.

She remembered that nearby there was an Eagle Cliff with a large cave filled with Gnolls; yes, that was her target.

As Shanoba made her calculations, she flew toward the direction of Eagle Cliff.

Meanwhile, Gaven, who had just received a message from Blackwell Town, was rushing back from Eagle Cliff with the Young Red Copper Dragon, Aivensa, and his personal guard, Stelina, in tow.

After listening to the report from the Messenger from Erde, Gaven’s first reaction was that this was the work of the Santarin Association.

The other party had dispatched a Sky Mage with a Wyvern mount.

Sky Mage.

A special type of Mage trained by the Santarin Association.

Flying mounts were standard for these Mages.

From the skies, they provided assistance and cover for those trading caravans.

Now, they had become an important symbol of the Santarin Association.

In the Enorok Great Desert, seeing a Mage on a flying mount circling a caravan meant, without a doubt, that it belonged to the Santarin Association.

He had only been on guard against the Santarin Association’s assassination attempts and monster hordes attacking Blackwell, but he overlooked the possibility that they could pull the rug from under him.

Fortunately, he placed great importance on the defense of the Blackwell Tribe. As soon as the finances allowed, he had Bede think of all ways to help him custom order and purchase large defense facilities like ballistas, ballista carts, and catapults.

In Felen, these things truly weren’t expensive—compared to magic items that easily cost tens of thousands of gold, they were truly a bargain.

A standard ballista cost only five hundred gold, and even a high-quality one was no more than eight hundred gold, still cheaper than a single Dragon Tremor Bomb.

A light catapult was just eight hundred gold, and a heavy one was only a thousand gold.

Of course, these prices referred to those crafted by ordinary craftsmen. Once these ballistas and catapults were endowed with magic, becoming autonomous ballistas or automatic attack catapults, their value would skyrocket, increasing at least tenfold.

In Felen, the most expensive commodity was magic.

As long as the Gnolls didn’t surrender on their own, it was wishful thinking for one or two Sky Mages to try to take Blackwell Town.

"Wyvern... a Wyvern with black wings, could that be the one the Messenger spoke of?" The Young Red Copper Dragon had good eyesight and was the first to spot the target several kilometers away.

"Could it be such a coincidence?" Gaven asked in astonishment, "Let’s go up and see."

"The direction is right, the characteristics are right, it’s definitely him. A hybrid daring to target my lieges, cut him down!" Aivensa flew towards the Wyvern, seething with rage.

Compared to Gaven, the temper of the Young Red Copper Dragon was far greater.

Now, Dragon Oak Territory was her secure source of livelihood, and anyone who tampered with her bread and butter was looking for trouble.

"A young copper dragon?" The Wyvern’s eyesight was slightly inferior and it only spotted the young dragon when they were just a few hundred meters apart.

But the bizarre situation left Shanoba slightly stunned.

This Red Copper Dragon had a dragon saddle strapped to its back, indicating it was domesticated at first glance.

However, there was no rider on the saddle; instead, there was a Half-Elf hanging from the dragon’s front claws.

What kind of farce was this?

The Red Copper Dragon was clearly enraged and charged aggressively towards her.

A young copper dragon!

A Half-Elf!

Gnolls!

An epiphany flashed through Shanoba’s mind, and she felt she had connected everything.

It was very likely that the Half-Elf before her was the same Half-Elf the middle-aged woman had ordered her to replace, the leader of the Blackwell Tribe.

It wasn’t only very likely, it was certain.

The other party had managed to rally a group of Gnolls to their cause not by their own ability, but by the authority of the Young Red Copper Dragon pulling them along.

In other words, the middle-aged woman had made a mistake.

The Young Red Copper Dragon was the true master of the Blackwell Tribe, and the Half-Elf was nothing but a puppet they placed in the public eye.

The fact that the Half-Elf was hanging below rather than riding on top was clear proof of their master-servant relationship.

If she killed the Young Red Copper Dragon, the Blackwell Tribe would be hers. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on NovᴇlFɪre.ɴet

If the adversary were an adult Giant Dragon, or even a young one, Shanoba would have immediately landed, reverted to her original form, and hidden in the various caves without hesitation.

But if it were a Young Red Copper Dragon, she still had a good chance, especially since the dragon was burdened by a liability.

Compared to Giant Dragons, Wyverns had a body structure more suitable for aerial combat.

Having sorted out all the relations, Shanoba charged aggressively as well.

The first to attack was Aivensa.

She launched with a Slow Dragon Breath.

In aerial combat, slowing down one’s enemy is a surefire tactic that at least secures you the advantage.

I’ve been waiting for you!

Shanoba immediately lowered her body, dodged past the Slow Dragon Breath, and pursued the young copper dragon with the whip-like tail swinging in the air and her wings beating fiercely, pulling off a mid-air abrupt stop followed by a 180-degree turn.

Chasing down the Young Red Copper Dragon.

In a battle with a True Dragon, luring out their dragon breath is crucial.

Only then is it convenient to engage in close combat.

The Young Red Copper Dragon did not turn around but kept flying forward, obviously waiting for the breath weapon to recharge.

Under normal circumstances, the Young Red Copper Dragon would have a speed advantage, but now, it was being heavily slowed by the burden below.

In just a few seconds, Shanoba caught up.

Just as Shanoba was lashing her stinger, preparing to deliver a fatal blow,

suddenly, she felt as if her brain had been hammered, leaving her somewhat groggy.

When she came to again, there was a bone-piercing pain coming from her back.

The Half-Elf previously under the claws of the young Red Copper Dragon had vanished.

Not vanished, but ended up on her own back.

A long spear was deeply embedded in her spine, between her wings, causing agony with each flap.

Without thinking, Shanoba immediately swung her tail stinger, stabbing at the Half-Elf who was riding on her back.

Gaven, without hesitation, twisted the Keen Edge Longspear, and the pain caused the Wyvern to shudder violently. The attack was deformed and the tail stinger felt feeble.

Taking advantage of the situation, Gaven grabbed the tail stinger in his arms.

Realizing her stinger was captured, Shanoba instinctively pulled back and couldn’t help but bellow in pain, daring not to move recklessly anymore.

On his own, Gaven couldn’t possibly control the tail of a Flying Dragon.

But the issue was that his other hand was tightly gripping the Keen Edge Longspear embedded in her body, with a significant portion of his strength acting directly upon it.

The harder she pulled, the more force was exerted on the Longspear, and the more pain she felt.

Asymmetric information, misinterpretation of information.

This led to the renowned Black Dragoness being subdued by Aivensa and Gaven working together, unable to withstand even a single round.

She was completely controlled and utterly helpless.

The Wyvern had three modes of attack: biting, clawing, and tail stinging.

Two were out of reach, and one was restricted.

This was the most frustrating battle of Shanoba’s life.

She had been defeated before, forced to flee in panic, but she had at least been either overwhelmed by brute strength or outmatched by capabilities. Never before had she been defeated in such a muddled and powerless manner.

Enduring the pain in her back, her body shimmered with a Magic Aura.

Shanoba prepared to make her last stand, beginning her transformation even while controlled.

This was her most painful transformation yet, unmatched even by her first when her bones were reshaped (as then, the Law Force protected her, masking most of the pain and leaving her feeling more bodily alien and strange).

She could clearly feel the Longspear inside her body, squeezing, tearing; her plan to extrude the spear by transforming was unsuccessful.

Her plan to fling the Half-Elf from her body also failed.

Gaven, sensing the anomaly, immediately released the tail stinger and firmly grasped the base of the Keen Edge Longspear, shifting his weight onto it.

As Shanoba took on a feminine form, Gaven immediately engaged the Bionic Art—Bull’s Strength, stacking his power above the Transcendent level. Like an octopus, he quickly restrained her arms and wrapped his legs around her slender waist.

It must be said, her waist was slender enough to be fully encircled by Gaven’s legs.

To outsiders, the struggle between the two in the air might seem rather unsuitable for children.

The newly transformed Black Dragoness was naked, and Gaven, to avoid being thrown from the sky, held onto her as tightly as he could.

At this moment of life and death, neither Gaven nor Shanoba were concerned with the differences between men and women.

Flapping her Dragon Wings strenuously, Shanoba screamed, "Let go! We can’t hold on. If this continues, we’ll both be smashed to pieces."

Shanoba’s Dragon Wings were already struggling under the weight of two people, made worse by the embedded Keen Edge Longspear, and Gaven, who was grappling her from behind, complicated matters. The pair began to spiral down, their flapping wings only slowing their descent.

"You’re the one who’s going to die, not me," Gaven said confidently.

Aivensa was hovering above their heads.

"I surrender, I’m willing to surrender," Shanoba quickly shouted.

"Then change back, and we’ll talk on the ground," Gaven was not going to trust a mere verbal promise.

Facing such an intransigent foe who would not yield, Shanoba was completely out of options. She couldn’t wager with him until the last moment.

After all, he had a Giant Dragon on his side, making his likelihood of dying from a fall far less than hers.

With no other choice, Shanoba submitted to the order to revert to her Wyvern form, reliving the pain of her earlier transformation.

If only she had known, she would have surrendered before to avoid this ordeal.

Once she had changed back into a Wyvern, although Shanoba’s tail stinger was freed, she dared not continue her offensive.

It was partly due to the fear of the Keen Edge Longspear,

and partly due to the previous psychic attack that had left her stunned for a few seconds, which she dreaded enormously.

One false move and she would suffer for no reason.

She obediently landed, realizing that was the wisest choice under the circumstances.

At this point, they were only tens of meters away from the ground. Shanoba directly aimed for a relatively flat hilltop and descended.

Gaven neither dismounted from the Wyvern’s back nor intended to remove the Keen Edge Longspear.

When the Young Red Copper Dragon landed, it further ’helped’ by stepping on the Wyvern’s poisonous tail.

Shanoba obediently crouched there, not daring to make any sudden movements.

"Were you the one hovering over Blackwell Town before?" Gaven asked, cutting to the chase.

As expected, he was that Half-Elf from the Blackwell Tribe.

At this moment, with someone stepping on her, Shanoba could no longer feel fortunate about her luck. It was purely bad luck.

Shanoba answered honestly, "It was me."

"Are you from the Santarin Association?"

"No, but my coming here does indeed have something to do with the Santarin Association..." Shanoba spilled everything about the middle-aged woman’s matter, like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube, as she had no affiliations with the Santarin Association. She felt no guilt in betraying them.

No, it wasn’t really a betrayal since there was no relationship between them; the employment was merely a unilateral wish of theirs.

After listening to Shanoba’s story, Gaven believed about half of it. This was indeed a tactic commonly used by the Santarin Association. The only thing he wasn’t sure of was whether the person before him was as innocent as she claimed, defending oneself being a natural human instinct.