I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 463: The Red Dragon Returns

Finley tilted his head back, staring at his teammates slowly descending from the sky, as well as the mysterious man beside them.He realized that his survival was likely thanks to that man's intervention.

Vaguely, he felt like he had seen this figure somewhere before, that there was an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

Suddenly, it was as if he remembered something.

He took a deep breath, and the look in his eyes toward Gauss became somewhat peculiar.

He recalled who this man was.

He had bumped into him and his teammates emerging from the Maze's entrance, and back then, he had been shaken by the aura the man exuded. Out of curiosity, he had instinctively asked a passerby about his identity, learning that he was Gauss, the Guild Leader of the Red Dragon Guild.

A powerful, almost incomprehensibly advanced adventurer.

At least, that was the case for ordinary adventurers like them.

No wonder he could instantly obliterate the dangerous enemies that had cornered them.

All confusion seemed to melt away the moment he learned Gauss's identity.

But at the same time, he couldn't help feeling an inexplicable daze.

For him, an enemy too powerful to overcome was, in this man's eyes, utterly insignificant.

His peripheral vision caught the head of his captain lying at his feet, and sorrow spread across his face.

If only he had even a fraction of the power this man possessed, his captain and teammates might not have died.

Finley had been out fighting for a living since he was young, bouncing between several temporary teams. This current team was one he had finally developed a sense of belonging with.

Unfortunately, an ambush had shattered them completely.

"Sorry."

Gauss landed on the ground, speaking softly.

If he had arrived just a step earlier, he might have been able to save more people.

But he couldn't foresee what was happening here. By the time he sensed the situation, he had already rushed over as fast as he could.

"No, no, no!"

"This isn't your fault."

The few survivors immediately panicked, waving their hands frantically and stumbling over their words.

If they had been some greenhorn newcomers, they might not have understood the situation, but everyone present had at least several years of adventuring experience under their belts.

They knew very well that in the adventurer world, being willing to help a complete stranger was an incredibly rare and valuable thing.

Never mind strangers—even teammates who called each other brothers in the same party were not strangers to backstabbing and corpse-robbing for coin.

Though Gauss was powerful, he had no obligation to save them. A strong man like him surely had more important missions. He had intervened only because he was kind-hearted.

Otherwise, why would they have run into him today, instead of some other powerful adventurer?

Gauss sensed the other corpses scattered through the woodland. Before long, his clay constructs had transported them over.

As the group gathered their teammates' remains, Gauss said little throughout the process.

Or rather, over the past couple of days, he had seen far too many similar scenes along the way. Not just adventurers, but also civilians he encountered had perished in this catastrophe.

He had seen villages burned to ashes, human soldiers slaughtering scattered monster tribes, and monsters gnawing on the corpses of children and the elderly by the roadside...

This was a war for everyone, and only when the colossal beast truly arrived, right beside them, would people truly realize its cruelty and terror.

Whether civilian, merchant, peddler, soldier, or adventurer, no one could remain aloof.

After escorting the survivors out of the woods, Gauss once again rose into the air, mounted Hephaestus's dragon back, and headed southwest.

In truth, if he raced at full speed toward Barry, he could reach the outskirts of the Forest Capital ahead of schedule.

But his Perception was simply too strong—he found it hard to ignore the situations he encountered along the way, forcing him to slow his pace somewhat.

For him, it might be just a few minutes' or a dozen minutes' delay, but it could change someone's entire life.

...

The war on the outskirts of the Forest Capital was still raging, and its intensity far surpassed the smaller skirmishes in other areas. Even after slaughtering countless monsters, more kept pouring in from the depths of the forest.

Fortunately, the frontline soldiers and adventurers had bought enough time. Adventurers and soldiers from Falim and other cities had arrived in droves to reinforce the front.

Including the largest noble family in this Royal Land, the current head of the Xavier family, Border Count Augustine Xavier, who had also dispatched the Iron Guard Knights.

This steel tide was far more powerful than ordinary armies, and no adventuring guild could rival it.

Every single member was a professional, and to become an officer, one had to master professional power at the Master level.

But none of this was their true strength.

The Iron Guard Knights' real power lay in their ability to solidify into tangible military might.

When they launched their charge, that military would elevate the speed and endurance of the entire force to a whole new level.

Every cavalryman's armor was shrouded in a faint white glow, as if under a permanent blessing spell.

After the Iron Guard Knights arrived, the frontline, which had been destabilized by the collapse of various city defense structures and walls, stabilized once again.

Several waves of charges from the Iron Guard Knights threw the Green Dragon Army's frontline forces into chaos.

But after a few assaults, the high-ranking generals of the Green Dragon Army quickly adjusted, deploying their elite troops to counter the charge head-on, with aerial Wyvern units harassing and coordinating from above.

The Iron Guard Knights' captain, knowing when to call it quits, withdrew back behind the wall that was still under repair, where he convened a meeting with the current high-level commanders to discuss strategy.

"How did our aerial forces suffer such heavy losses? Who the hell was in command? Where were our magic cannons and the griffin corps?"

Wynster Xavier, the captain of the Iron Guard Knights, walked into the tent, removing his helmet and placing it on a nearby table. He approached the assembled group, frowning slightly, a restrained irritation showing on his face.

He had just arrived with his men to find a massive breach in the city wall. Without time to communicate with anyone else on the battlefield, he had made the snap decision to attack, driving back the monster legion that was threatening to overwhelm them.

If it hadn't been for the aerial forces of the monster legion, the Iron Guard Knights could have achieved even greater results.

If his memory served, there should have been several dozen magic cannons deployed here, most of which were actually private property of the Xavier family. And the griffin units had only provided sporadic support, as far as he had seen.

What they faced were over fifty Wyverns, hundreds of pterosaurs, along with giant bats, flying serpents, and other aerial monsters harassing them. With the enemy outnumbering them so heavily, how could anyone not be infuriated?

The others in the tent fell into dead silence.

In particular, Kevin Brennan, captain of the Greenleaf Defense Corps belonging to the Forest Capital, wore an uncertain expression. He was a member of the Brennan family, a baron's house in Barry City, and the primary target of Wynster Xavier's scrutiny.

Kevin Brennan wanted to explain himself, but for one, the losses on the front line were indeed severe, and for another, the Xavier family's influence outranked the Brennan family by several notches.

"Alright, Wynster. Calm down."

Matthias Monroe had just withdrawn from the front line as well.

Though he was the esteemed Guild Master of the Barry City Adventurers Guild, the command of the front line wasn't in his hands. It was managed by local noble generals, leaving him to direct only a portion of the adventuring guilds and the Guild's direct troops.

He and Captain Wynster had a bit of a friendship.

Seeing him arrive, Wynster Xavier's otherwise stern face softened slightly.

"Hmph, Matthias. You're still as soft as ever."

He paused, then said so even as they embraced each other.

They had crossed paths in their youth, and Matthias had once saved his life during a joint operation.

"We've been under more pressure these past few days than you can imagine. Don't be too hard on Kevin. Those Wyverns have been throwing themselves at us like they don't care about their lives, destroying the magic cannons at any cost. You know those cumbersome things—once they're installed, they're nearly impossible to move."

"The griffin corps also suffered heavy losses in their clashes with the enemy's aerial forces."

"The Green Dragon Army's flying corps is far more powerful than we anticipated."

Matthias spoke in Kevin Brennan's defense.

And the truth was exactly as he said. Perhaps because the Emerald Forest was ruled by that Green Dragon, along with the vassalage of several juvenile dragons, the Green Dragon Army even included many Dragonborn aerial monsters. These powerful dragon-blooded creatures had caused immense trouble for the humans on the front line.

Including the Green Dragon Army's vanguard general, the Rotwing Drake, which he had been holding back for days. It too had received a True Dragon's blessing, its dragon blood elevating its strength to another level.

Moreover, this was the power the Green Dragon Queen Aetherass had cultivated for over a hundred years, bolstered by what was suspected to be some assistance from the demonic realm. Even just deploying a portion of that force was terrifying enough.

Speaking of juvenile dragons, Matthias's expression suddenly turned wistful.

He couldn't help but think of Gauss, who had accepted the commission to kill a juvenile dragon. He wondered how Gauss was doing now.

Half a month had passed, and he couldn't help but worry about that young genius's safety.

If Gauss were to fall in the forest, it would be a terrible loss.

But oddly enough, the Guild's upper echelons didn't seem to have a deliberate plan to protect him. Though he understood that a greenhouse couldn't grow a mighty tree, he still couldn't help but wonder.

Hearing his old friend's explanation, Wynster Xavier's expression eased somewhat.

"How is Grand Mage Spellweaver doing now?"

In the end, he couldn't help but ask Matthias about his family elder's condition.

It was embarrassing to admit, but even as a main-line member of the Xavier family, ranking among the top five figures in the sprawling Xavier clan, he had been completely unaware that the family's founder, Erich Xavier, was still alive.

His elder brother, Count Augustine, seemed to have known.

As a member of the Xavier family, he naturally worshipped the Spellweaver, who had laid the foundation for the family's prosperity. Hearing news of the Spellweaver on his way here had only boosted his morale.

Whether a count's family had an Epic-level powerhouse made a fundamental difference.

The Xavier family might seem glorious on the surface, but compared to some truly old-money powers, they paled.

Hearing this, Matthias shook his head.

"I'm not sure. To avoid affecting us, the Spellweaver's battlefield was sealed off early on."

"We know nothing about the fighting over there."

At the Epic level, one had many means to take the battle elsewhere, even temporarily entering another dimension.

"I see..."

Not getting the answer he wanted, Wynster sighed.

In truth, he had searched for the Spellweaver's figure earlier but found nothing. He could roughly guess the situation. His question had been driven by concern and a desperate hope to hear good news from Matthias.

But both he and Matthias knew that the Spellweaver's concealment must have a real reason, and most likely, after all these years, his condition was no longer what it used to be.

To hope to use his power to further expand the Xavier family's influence was nothing but wishful thinking.

After inquiring about his elder, Wynster finally returned to the main topic of the meeting, discussing with the others how to deal with the Green Dragon Army's troublesome and powerful aerial forces.

Flying monsters held too great an advantage over ground forces.

This was also why Matthias had been unable to take down the Rotwing Drake. As a paladin, he could master the power of flight, but compared to his opponent, he was slightly lacking in speed and agility.

This small difference, however, decided who held the initiative.

When facing an enemy who could decide when to engage and when to retreat, it was hard to bring your full strength to bear.

The Iron Guard Knights' cavalry held a significant advantage on the ground, but it was difficult for them to charge while simultaneously enduring constant harassment from the skies.

"We're mobilizing more dragon-hunting crossbows."

While dragon-hunting crossbows couldn't hunt True Dragons, they were sufficient to damage smaller Wyverns and flying monsters upon a hit. Most importantly, they were relatively cheap to produce.

Just as the discussion in the tent grew heated, Aria, in a nearby camp, seemed to sense something. She suddenly looked up at the clear blue sky.

"What's wrong?"

Albenia caught her abrupt stillness and asked curiously.

Aria said nothing. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she strained to gaze at a certain point on the horizon.

A vague, inexplicable familiarity rose in her heart, but she had no evidence to support it. She couldn't speak without being absolutely certain, or she would only raise false hope and invite greater disappointment.

Could it be you?

As she gazed, a tiny speck on the northern horizon gradually grew larger.

Finally, that figure became clear.

Sensing that familiar shade of red, Aria's heart began to race. At the same time, the other teammates who had followed her gaze swallowed hard.

They exchanged excited glances.

"Is... is that Gauss back?"

Under their burning gazes, the dragon's figure finally swept down from the north, slowing its flight as it approached the camp's airspace.

Massive dragon wings churned up gusts of wind that howled around the camp.

"A dragon!"

"Is it an enemy?"

Many among those who saw the dragon descending, still unaware, grabbed their weapons nervously.

But a few griffin knights respectfully moved forward to greet it.

"No, no! It should be the Guild Leader of the Red Dragon Guild!"

Someone else, sharp-minded enough, quickly realized.

For one thing, the figure was approaching from the north. If it were an enemy, the other big shots in the camp would never have allowed it to get so close so easily.