After crossing the makeshift wooden bridge made of tree trunks, the three plunderer brothers were all sweating and cursing loudly.
More than an hour ago, when the stone bridge built by the trolls was collapsed by Knight Ike, the sorceress directly used magic to open a short-distance portal. While they were not paying attention, she took Geralt and Dandelion and instantly arrived at the other side of the bridge.
A few minutes later, the magician Dorrigare also used short-range levitation magic and sneaked to the other side. Only the Yarpan Dwarf Squad, the three plunderer brothers, the Holopol Reconnaissance Team and other ordinary people were left on this side of the broken bridge, watching them leave, anxious but helpless.
Fortunately, the dwarf's axe could be used as a felling axe, and the plunderer brothers always had ropes for tying things up. With the help of the strong young men in the reconnaissance team, they spent several hours successfully using the cut trees to build a temporary wooden bridge and crossed the broken bridge.
In order to save every second, everyone tried their best, sweating profusely and tired like a dog.
Yarpen wiped the sweat from his beard and cursed Yennefer's ruthlessness in his heart. There was an agreement between the sorceress and the dwarf.
Their original agreement was to use the news of the Dragon's Nest treasure to sell the gems that the dwarven wealthy merchants had hoarded as Dragon's Nest treasures, and use this gimmick to earn more profits through the dwarven trade network throughout the north.
Unexpectedly, when the time came, the sorceress abandoned them, which made Yarpan very angry.
Kozoyed and his scouting team were the last to pass the temporary wooden bridge. The shoemaker, who was in his forties, supported his knees with his hands and took a few deep breaths. He then took out the worn rag from his waist and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He said worriedly, "We have to hurry up. It took us three hours to build the wooden bridge. Maybe those two despicable warlocks have already killed the green dragon and escaped with the dragon treasure."
"That's our money, we can't let them get away with it."
As a shoemaker, Kozoyed lived in poverty for decades and finally got a chance to change his fate. He would never give up the legendary dragon treasure.
Upon hearing this, Yarpan and the plunderer brothers looked at the shoemaker with disdain and thought, what do you mean by our money? How much we give you will depend on our mood.
However, after everyone rested for a few minutes, they continued to climb over the long hillside without stopping. When they saw the place where Ike and Jinlong had dueled, they were all shocked by the scene before them.
Because it was completely different from what they had expected.
A terrifying beast, more than ten meters tall and covered with shiny golden scales, was sitting leisurely on the ground, fiddling with the flowers and plants on the ground out of boredom, as if waiting for something.
The golden dragon has a feline-like temperament mixed with elegance and ferocity, and a shining and gorgeous appearance. Just the moment you see it, you can understand that it is a powerful legendary creature.
The more sharp-eyed looters also discovered that the magician Dorregar, Geralt, and Dandelion, or to be more precise, the witcher and the poet, were using a simple stretcher made of branches and cloth to carry a wounded person away from the ground.
The magician Dorrigare was using some paper and pen that he got from somewhere, seemingly drawing a picture of the beautiful and terrifying monster.
The three plunderer brothers first felt frustrated and thought that their plan to get rich might have failed.
But soon they remembered that what appeared before their eyes was the only golden dragon in the world, the legendary golden dragon.
If you could kill this golden dragon, even if you could just peel off its glittering golden skin and its beautiful yet ferocious dragon head, there would surely be nobles or wealthy businessmen who would be willing to pay a huge price to buy them.
He turned around to look at the dwarf Yarpan and the shoemaker Kozoyed and saw that their eyes were also flickering. He wondered if they were thinking the same thing as he was.
Just when a few people were planning to use their previous dragon hunting techniques to try them out on this golden dragon.
A voice like a bronze horn rang out in their hearts.
"You despicable dragon hunters, the one standing before you is the golden dragon Velentretanmes, the husband of the green dragon you hurt."
"The reason I'm here is to give you two choices."
"The first option is to flee from here with your tail between your legs and leave forever. I will not chase after those fleeing rats."
"The second option is to fight me in an open duel. I will allow you to form a group of five, and I will not use magic. I will fight you in a man-to-man battle."
"Of course, if neither of you chooses to make a choice, then I will no longer care about honor and chivalry, and will use magic to kill you."
While they were shocked and terrified, they also realized that the golden dragon they were facing was a super monster that possessed intelligence and could use magic. It was not at all comparable to the green dragon they had imagined before.
Normally, when faced with such an unexpected situation, cautious hunters would choose to retreat temporarily rather than take the risk of attacking.
But both the Klinfeld raiders and the Kozoed scouts had been blinded by greed, and were still thinking about how to use conspiracy and trickery to kill this priceless dragon.
Only the long-lived and knowledgeable dwarf Yarpen knew how powerful the legendary dragons who could use magic were, and that they were not something that a few people could deal with.
However, he did not remind the plunderer and the shoemaker. After all, legends are just legends. If someone could give it a try, that would be a good choice.
A few minutes later, no one knew what they discussed, but the dwarf Yarpan and several of his bearded dwarf subordinates still stayed on the top of the hill and did not come down.
The three plunderer brothers and Kozoyed's reconnaissance team, a total of more than a dozen people, have already taken weapons, dispersed their formation, and are surrounding Borch in the open space.
Some of them held axes, daggers or spears, some held hammers and bows and arrows, but the three leading plunderer brothers had three powerful dwarf crossbows in their hands, which were originally the unique weapons of Yarpan's dwarf team.
The golden dragon Bolchi saw all of this. Looking at the dozen or so humans charging towards him, he let out a long sigh that sounded like a sigh, anger, and a sigh for the other party's stupidity.
"You are courting death. My magic will defeat you."
When it was more than a hundred meters away from both sides, it flapped its wings, took off into the air, and flew to a height of several dozen meters.
A dragon language chanting like a whisper slowly sounded.
The chaotic magic power between heaven and earth began to condense, and the three plunderer brothers and the old shoemaker who were charging felt that the air around them became heavy, as if countless hands were pulling them and dragging them into the quagmire.
Just when they felt something was wrong and were filled with deep regret, Borch's magic was officially completed.
Amidst a loud noise like the collapse of the sky and the splitting of the earth, the ground where they were stood seemed to be pulled hard by an invisible giant. The ground began to shake and twist, and a long and thin crack in the ground began to extend continuously. Within a few seconds, a huge crack was torn open.
Most of the dragon hunters that were charging over were directly swallowed into the cracks in the ground.
Bolch in the air did not stop attacking. He nimbly dodged the dwarf crossbows shot at him by the raiders, and began to dive at high speed close to the ground. After approaching the few survivors, he immediately opened his bloody mouth which had begun to smoke.
In an instant, surging orange-yellow dragon flame spurted out from the golden dragon's mouth, carrying extremely fierce heat, directly engulfing several people on the ground.
Skin, hair, clothes, even the flowers and plants on the ground, everything began to burn.
The shrill wails echoed throughout the entire plain. In just a dozen seconds, all the humans wrapped in flames were burned to charcoal.
The battle ended too quickly because the golden dragon's magic was too powerful.
Outside the open space, Geralt had a solemn expression, Dandelion was stunned, and Dorrigare was holding a paintbrush, his face full of excitement as he wanted to record all of this in his painting.
In the direction of the green dragon's lair, Wayne was riding on the green dragon Milgata Blake. The man and the dragon were flying high in the sky, looking at everything here from afar, with complicated feelings.
These people really don't know how to live or die. They actually dare to provoke a dragon magician who can fly in the sky. They don't even think about how they can defeat a giant dragon flying in the sky with their two short legs running around on the ground.
But soon, Wayne's attention was attracted by something else. In a forest not far from the clearing, more than a hundred Holopel adventurers and militiamen were driving chariots passed down from ancient times, slowly moving towards the direction of the golden dragon.
(End of this chapter)