Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Chapter 591 The Dragon Behind

"If it wasn't an echo, it was just some loud-voiced beast, right?" Lyle desperately wanted to forget the roar and didn't want to think about the information hidden behind it.

"It's not my echo; the power in the roar is much weaker than mine. As for the possibility of a large beast... well... I can't rule out the possibility of a mimicry monster, but using the sound of a dragon as bait... whatever it is, it's worth my attention."

The roar had already captivated Mr. Dragon. He spoke these words, but his thoughts were probably the same as Lyle's.

That was the roar of a dragon, another dragon.

The lich's curiosity and the dragon's competitiveness drove the dragon to that location to find the one who dared to provoke it.

The dragon's left bone wing was planted in the ground in front of Lyle, and the dragon's gaze shifted to the side from which the roar came. The drooping bone wing became the steps for Lyle to ride.

"Come on up, Lyle."

Knowing he couldn't stop his excited teacher, Lyle could only support his behavior.

"Teacher, are you sure what that is?"

"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, its roar was definitely a provocative sound in dragon language, even though I myself made a provocative sound. If it really is an overconfident onomatopoeic monster, we can extract its vocal sac and vocal cords, which are quite rare spellcasting materials that can be used to construct some special aberrations. You can also make it into some interesting deception props; the Literature Club has prop experts in that area."

"If it's such a rare material, the teacher would need it, so I won't use it..."

A giant dragon soared into the sky.

"All the spoils from the mimicry monster are yours..."

Before Lyle could even feel moved, the dragon continued.

"Because I'll let you deal with the mimicry monster alone, and the victor will claim the spoils."

"...Another extracurricular test?"

"You can understand it that way, after all, onomatopoeia is too weak for me."

The dragon carried Lyle to his work.

It was a huge forest, with layers of yellowed, withered leaves covering the ground, giving it a soft, pillow-like feel underfoot. And it was summer.

The dragon looked around and began his lesson.

"The Mimic not only mimics the sound of bait, but it also sets up traps and ambushes from the surroundings. The Mimic is a mollusk with a mouth full of sharp teeth. Its skin can mimic the sound of bait, and its deformable body is quite fragile. However, its ambush is deadly, even to living people."

Lyle looked up at the gap in the woods and the marks around him.

“Mentor, I suspect there might really be a dragon here. Look at those broken branches. Judging from the outline of the gaps, its size should be between 27 and 32 meters. There are also claw marks... It flew away, teacher. This area was just a temporary stop for that dragon. The surrounding vegetation is well preserved! It couldn't have left from the ground.”

The dragon nodded approvingly. "Your speculation makes a lot of sense, Lyle. But these could also be traces left by the mimics. They are quite intelligent monsters, biologically speaking, close relatives of highly intelligent aquatic monsters. Here's what we'll do, Lyle, I'll go track down the dragon's movements. You stay here and watch out for the mimics' ambushes."

Lyle nodded. Although leaving himself here was somewhat dangerous, the dragon mentor was certainly more concerned about finding clues about his unknown brethren. Besides, hadn't Lyle faced enough dangers already?

The dragon's bony wings vanished above, and after the wind from their flapping ceased, the forest quieted considerably; the chirping of insects and birds was absent, perhaps due to the lingering power of the dragon. Nia's tentacles dripped slime, and bloody sludge crawled from Lyle's back. Perhaps he was now even more monstrous than the Sound Monster, Lyle joked to ease his tension, glancing around nervously.

Looking around nervously reveals a person's anxiety and unease about their surroundings. When facing an enemy, this is a rather unwise act of weakness, which can give an intelligent enemy a psychological advantage and allow them to launch an attack more quickly.

Lyle is luring the enemy.

The thick layer of dead leaves on the ground provided Nia with the perfect hiding place to conceal herself and explore her surroundings. Lyle stood there, like a timid and flustered novice adventurer. Beneath his feet, tendrils of flesh grew like tree roots from the dead leaves, spreading out a trap.

Lyle quietly wove his web, and before long, the self-righteous predator would turn from hunter into prey.

The tentacles crawled through the gaps in the withered leaves and in the damp soil, five meters, ten meters, twenty meters... Just as the tentacles were about to completely cover his field of vision, Lyle's eyes widened. He realized that the lurking creature actually shared the same thoughts as him.

It's under the dead leaves!

"Roar!!!" A deafening roar rang out again. Right in front of him, withered leaves fluttered in the air, and a colossal creature hidden among them lunged at Lyle. A glint flashed in those shadowy eyes, and a chill crept up Lyle's spine.

These unusual fallen leaves are what the lurking creature uses to conceal itself, because of its enormous size. A large body makes it difficult to possess both strength and agility.

Lyle still had time to retaliate before the claws pounced on him.

"Curse of Aging!" This curse, which reduces the target's speed, is effective in controlling most creatures.

"Nia!" The powerful tentacles helped Lyle move faster, making it even easier for him to dodge the claw.

However, there was no response.

Neither magic nor Nia responded to the gaze of those deep purple vertical eyes. Lyle was like an ordinary person who had been disarmed, only able to watch the massive black shadow rush towards him.

"Magic destruction? Sealing barrier?"

This behemoth is the natural enemy of all spellcasters.

"Roar!!!" Lyle could hear the excitement in the roar; she was overjoyed at the victory that was within her grasp.

A larger shadow descended from the sky, causing Lyle and the hunter to pause for a moment.

The ferocious, skeletal claws descended with the dragon's furious roar.

"How dare you hurt my child!!!"

Lyle saw the dragon fly into a rage, his claws digging into the creature's nape, lifting the entire shadowy figure up and performing a horrific back throw in mid-air, slamming it hard into the ground.

"Roar!!!" The shrill scream spurred the shadowy figure to a desperate struggle for survival. She escaped from the dragon's claws and fled into the shadows.

"Escape? I'll make you die in a desperate escape, and make you howl in agony as I ravage you!"

"Wait, Dragon Mentor!" Lyle stood still, stopping the dragon who was about to fly in pursuit.

“I can feel it, Lyle. That guy can seal magic. Damn it, he almost killed you. Unforgivable. Don’t worry, my teacher’s greatest strength isn’t magic. I’ll tear his body to shreds and bring it back, Lyle.”

"That's not what I meant, Dragon Teacher." Lyle quickly pulled out a black scale the size of a disc from the pile of dead leaves, left behind when the dragon and the shadow were fighting.

"It's alright, Lyle. Injuries are inevitable in battle, and I... these aren't my scales?!"

Nia, who had returned to the game, parted the pile of dead leaves to reveal a clump of thick, black blood.

“Yes, these are its scales. What ambushed me was a dragon.”

Chapter 592 Twilight's Devotion

Nia scooped up some of the black blood and put it in her mouth. Judging from the golden light emanating from her eyes, dragon blood had made its way into her diet.

“There are individual differences in the information provided by Zhiyan, but based on the basic components of the blood, the magic content, and the viscosity, it can still be confirmed as dragon blood.” Lyle picked up a leaf that had come into contact with dragon blood; its blackened edges had shriveled, and a faint sound of corrosion continued. “Even the blood contains the power of shadow; it turns out that there are beings among the dragon race that are equivalent to void creatures.”

The dragon stared at the black stain in the clump of withered leaves, shook its head, and shook off the distracting thoughts.

"The Dragon Priest's memories do not contain any dragons that wield shadow power. These powers, similar to those of evil gods, were rejected by the Dragon Father and should not exist among his descendants. If what you saw, Lyle, was truly a dragon, then it must have been distorted by some being..."

"Will its life be in danger?"

"Dragons do not use shadow, but the bodies they inherit from their dragon fathers allow them to withstand the power of shadow. Their lives are not in danger, but their souls are not necessarily."

"That dragon might be a madman."

Lyle recalled what had just happened. The owner of those deep purple eyes—indeed, a sane dragon would never roar and hunt like a wild beast. Even though it had almost killed Lyle simply by acting on instinct.

The beast-like dragon attempted to harm him, but the resentment he should have felt was transformed into pity for the mad dragon thanks to Mr. Dragon's timely intervention and fierce counterattack.

"You're too ruthless, Teacher Dragon. You tore open the back of that dragon's neck. That's a nerve-rich area. It hurts so much."

The dragon raised its claws, looked at the black blood left on its white, jade-like finger bones, and blew away the bloodstains with its breath.

“That was just a dragon, but you are my student, and I have a chance to be reborn.”

"I thought that you would hesitate to act because of your love for dragons, teacher."

“我是喜爱巨龙，而现在我也是巨龙，更关心自己的未来，没有问题。那条疯龙，揍了就揍了。”

Lyle scratched his head, feeling that the dragon mentor had gone from an animal rights activist to a selfish individual. Although that was the normal thought process for most creatures.

"Well, it's a dragon after all. I'll contact the scholar teacher right away. The dragon priest will be very excited to learn that dragons still exist."

Lyle touches the Ring of Andrei, intending to pass on the news of the new dragon to the Scholar.

Long, spear-like dragon finger bones fell from beside Lyle, embedding themselves in the ground to form a bone cage that trapped him.

"teacher?"

The dragon's claws slowly loosened, leaving five radiating cracks in the ground. The obstacle that had been blocking their view disappeared, and Lyle saw the bone dragon shake its head.

"Let's make contact first, confirm the danger of the target, and then notify the Dragon Priest."

Lyle nodded subconsciously. As for the true purpose of Mr. Dragon's words, Lyle didn't know. He only knew that the claw marks on the ground were very deep.

Tracking down the fleeing shadow dragon was not difficult. The dragon had inflicted a wound on the back of its neck that was difficult to heal. The wounded beast had lost its senses, and even without looking at the bloodstains on the ground, the broken trees pointed out its whereabouts.

Following the trail, Lyle and the dragon found a cave. The cave was surrounded by freshly turned soil, and the outline of the excavated earth and rocks was not beautiful. Some gravel fell from the top of the cave entrance, which was more than ten meters high, giving it a precarious and collapsing appearance.

The dragon's physique was definitely too large to fit inside, and they didn't need to. The cave didn't seem deep; from the outside, one could see the blurry shadow in the darkness inside. The threatening, low roars echoed against the inner walls, making the sound louder, but the bluffing threat failed to scare away the man and the dragon.

The dragon stood like a statue in the forest, its skull level with the treetops, like a green shower cap on its head. It was trying to lower its threat level; the previous attack had left the Shadow Dragon with severe psychological trauma, and now even the sight of its skeletal body made its roars much shriller.

"It seems I can't go any further." The dragon stopped fifty meters from the cave; any further and the injured dragon might act recklessly.

“We need to appease it, mentor, if we want to make peaceful contact with it.”

“You’re right, my student.” The dragon looked down at Lyle’s thin body. “Only you can soothe it now.”

That's great, I've found myself a job taming dragons. The dragon is afraid of the giant dragon that might harm it, but it's not afraid of Lyle, who is its prey. The harmless Mr. Lyle won't provoke the dragon.

“It’s no different from a wild beast that follows its instincts. You need to express your kindness to tame the beast. You can start by addressing its needs…” Mr. Dragon began his verbal instructions, and Lyle, a former animal lover, accepted his advice.

What wild animals need most is nothing more than food to fill their stomachs.

Just give him yourself to eat, that's all... Yeah, right.

Stripping the thoughts of lichification from his mind, Lyle slowly approached the cave entrance, gazing at the pair of large purple bulbs floating in the air. The dragon's imposing presence still oppressed the creature, its survival instinct controlling its appetite. It seemed to regard Lyle as the dragon's possession, believing that taking him would result in punishment. After a few low growls, the creature in the cave shrank back, hiding itself deeper within, preferring to remain out of sight.

Lyle isn't the only source of food.

Lyle kept his distance, standing at the cave entrance, and pulled a piece of dried meat from his leather pouch. It was food prepared by the Nathlan ghost maid, meant for Lyle and Nia. He wondered what preservation techniques the ghosts had used, but the dried meat still smelled incredibly fragrant. A bone-chilling coldness spread from his palms, and Lyle could sense fragments of shattered souls within the meat's texture… This seemed to be a dish imbued with a soul.

I've never had the chance to share Naslan's unique food with others, but now it's a good opportunity.

Keeping a distance from the cave entrance, Lyle took all the dried meat out of the leather bag and piled it on the grass. The salty, fishy, ​​and fatty smells mingled together and wafted into the cave.

"Roar!" The dragon turned its head back, its eyes fixed on the dried meat. A scraping sound came from the cave, the dragon's claws scratching at the wall. This continued for several minutes. Lyle even lit a fire on the other side, the aroma of the heated food making it even more tempting to the dragon.

The Shadow Dragon finally made its move.

Its eyes were fixed on the jerky, then shifted to the dragon, until it realized the dragon wasn't moving, then it continued its slow advance. Driven by its appetite and Lyle's patient waiting, the Shadow Dragon finally emerged into the sunlight.

Its body is not black, but rather a deep purple, gradually lightening in color from its neck to its tail. It is not small, but appears slender in comparison to the dragon. Its streamlined body has a graceful charm, but unfortunately, it is covered in wounds and dust, and its gluttonous appearance as it tears at chunks of flesh completely lacks any elegance.