The Crimson Dragon Chapter 9

Translated by: Saltiest Tank Alive

Edited by: Some Red Wolf

Because of some timezone issues, this will be your issue for today! Read all about Some Red Dragon, chapter 9, today!

Chapter 9

 Fortunately, Claudius had 19 Const.i.tution, which was way above the average value of a normal dragon toddler. This granted him astounding self recovering abilities; the torn muscles and bones in his body were already rapidly healing up. If he could rest for a few hours, Claudius would be back to perfect condition. As he just had quite the meal, there was abundant energy for recovery. What Claudius lacked was time.

 He estimated that it would take around twenty minutes for the enemy to reach his location, but they might take even less time than expected. "This cannot go on, I must escape!" Claudius thought to himself as he felt that blood was still dripping from the corner of his mouth. His current body condition was still rather awful, with a few broken ribs and internal bleeding. It was impossible to fly in this situation as he could not command his wings properly, and Claudius' only chance of survival was to run away with his muscular hind legs.

 Claudius barely managed to get back on his feet, chose a random direction, and ran with all his might. Commencing counterattack was never an option; despite being an oversized dragon toddler, his body was merely four meters long, about the size of a grown stallion. The pursuing sharkmen were all three meters tall with the exception of one miniscule magic user. These five fellows were totally out of his league. In this dangerous situation, Claudius finally managed to register the logic of this fantasy world into his mind.

"Who knows what kind of magic or divine skills these guys have in their a.r.s.enal?!"

 Claudius still couldn't figure out why he was hated by the sharkmen, who went out of their way to pursue him on land.

 As long as Claudius remained within the storm, the Cardinal was able to pinpoint his location with extreme precision. The storm enhanced the Cardinal's sense greatly, making hiding from the Cardinal pointless. The dragon gave the Cardinal quite the headache though, as he was travelling at an unexpected speed. As Claudius was bipedal when running, he had much higher pace than his quadrupedal counterparts. In this life-or-death situation, Claudius pushed himself to his limits. He ran and ran, ignoring the painful screams of his body. As Claudius had high const.i.tution, he managed to bear the pain as well as recover himself while sprinting. After noticing his physical abilities, he felt that he could possibly survive this. As Claudius accelerated, he spewed flames to the trees behind him, leaving a trail of blazing logs in the way. He felt that someone was constantly staring at him, and Claudius deduced that it was some kind of magic used for pursuing targets.

 The flames produced by a crimson dragon could not be extinguished even with the power of the storm, blocking the path of the pursuing sharkmen. The blessings of the G.o.ddess granted the a.s.sault squad immunity against flames, thus they would not be harmed even if they went straight through the fire. Even so, the sharkmen stopped their pursuit out of instinct. As beings from the sea, they detested fire and were about to go around the burning area. It was intolerable for the Cardinal as it would allow the crimson dragon to escape, thus he forced the squad to confront their own mental weakness and trespa.s.sed the blazing zone.

 The paralysis effect finally wore off, and immense pain hit Claudius all at once. He almost dropped dead on the spot, but he managed to hold out with his willpower. The fractured ribs were now back in place despite not being fully healed, and the unpleasant feeling he had when breathing subsided. Claudius' condition improved as he continued his escape, but fighting back was still too much for him.

 As the dragon toddler sprinted his way through the forest, the sharkmen closed in at a frightening speed. Claudius racked his brains for a solution, yet nothing came to mind. His 'Earthly' mind could not think of any safe resolution, while magic and skills were still unavailable. The only worthy attempt was to escalate the situation and escape during the chaos.

"It can't be helped!"

 Claudius gritted his teeth and ran towards the territory of the wolf pack which he previously discovered. The pack was led by a ma.s.sive dire wolf which was larger than a bull, and was probably a descendant of the Winter Wolf Fenrir.

 As a matter of fact, Claudius also knew that a Cruel Tiger lived in this region, with a lengthy body of 6 metres, but its whereabouts were hard to grasp. With not much of a choice, Claudius could only try to alert the dire wolf pack. After about ten minutes, Claudius exited the forest and entered the gra.s.sland which was the dire wolves' domain. Another ten minutes or so pa.s.sed, and the sharkmen squad appeared in the gra.s.sland as well. They were now approximately eight metres apart. As the storm summoned with the G.o.ddess' power was an artificial existence, it had limited range and could not reach the gra.s.sland. As a result, Claudius managed to escape from the storm and was no longer under constant surveillance of the Cardinal.

 The dire wolf king immediately spotted the conspicuous crimson dragon. Claudius had never landed in this region, stepped into their territory or stole the wolves' prey, thus the two parties were originally in the state which everyone minded their own business. This situation was different, however. Claudius intentionally rushed into their territory; hence there was no reason for the dire wolf leader to hold back anymore. It didn't mind trying out crimson dragon meat as well; this was a rare occasion after all. Under the command of the king, the dire wolves swiftly formed a semicircle formation and commenced attack. Most of the wolves lacked the ability to penetrate Claudius' scales, but the dire wolf king and queen could easily puncture his scales.

 As they had exceptional abilities, the wolves' tactics centred around the king and queen. The two dashed towards the left and right flank respectively. Claudius decelerated considerably at the same time, allowing the sharkmen to shorten their distance to four kilometres. When the two dire wolf leaders approached the 300-metre mark, the crimson dragon did a one-eighty and rushed head on towards the sharkmen. As they were only one kilometre apart, Claudius began to sprint in an arc. The Cardinal was not an idiot as well; it was impossible not to notice the two ma.s.sive wolves behind the dragon. The sharkmen warriors, however, were busy preparing the nets, and thus failed to notice the wolf pack behind their target. While the Cardinal could tell Claudius had plans in mind, he didn't seem to be too bothered. With himself being Level 12 and the three warriors being Level 10, two mere dire wolfs wouldn't pose much of a danger to the squad.

 With 19 Const.i.tution, Claudius' body had recovered to the point which brief flight could be achieved, but he cunningly pretended to be incapable of doing so. The Cardinal held up his Choral Wand, while the sharkmen prepared to throw their nets. Claudius spread his wings all of a sudden, and with his above average stats of 18 Strength, 19 Const.i.tution, and 11 Dexterity, he managed to take off by twisting his hips while jumping, narrowly avoiding the sharkmen. As the dragon toddler left the scene, the confrontation between the sharkmen squad and the dire wolf pack was now unavoidable.