The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases
Chapter 49 - 48: Number 2

Chapter 49: Chapter 48: Number 2

David had always been a decisive Red Dragon.

No sooner had he finished devising a plan, well-fed and with nothing better to do, than he rounded up his subordinates—Elves who had pledged loyalty to him for their survival—and promptly set them in motion.

The plan was rough, lacking a detailed agenda. It was a crude modification of the Drow’s previous Dragon Egg theft strategy.

But with three Dragons, three Drow, and over two hundred High Elves mobilizing together, the commotion was undeniable, even as they spread out in a fan formation in one direction.

For a time, the entire Katjana Forest was abuzz with panic and chaos, dark and ominous.

Some Hatchlings foraging alone in the wild keenly sensed ’danger’ and promptly scampered back to their nests for refuge.

At the edge of the forest, in a nondescript, steam-emitting geothermal cave, a somewhat slender Red Hatchling emerged from her tiny temporary shelter. Her stomach rumbled with hunger. With slightly hazy eyes, she stood at the entrance, straightened her front paws, jutted out her backside, and let out a big yawn.

Yet, when she saw the still-grey, cloudy skies and the unending snowscape—identical to the one before her slumber—she couldn’t help but sigh.

As a Red Hatchling ill-suited to the cold, finding enough food to fill her belly in this frozen world was exceedingly difficult.

It looks like I won’t be growing much this year, Lizrite thought.

But she never regretted her decision to leave the Dragon Nest.

Indeed, unlike other chromatic Hatchlings who were cast out after their fledgling period, she had snuck away on her own.

The reason was simple:

Her mother was ill.

Very ill.

At first, her mother was merely obsessed with collecting ancient Elf magic. When hungry, she would occasionally leave the nest to bring back food. After their mother had eaten her fill, Lizrite and her siblings could gnaw on the leftover bones.

However, as her mother began meddling with the remnants of the sealed Mystlocks, their survival became increasingly difficult.

Without the food their mother provided, they had to forage on their own.

But later, her mother’s mental state grew increasingly erratic and unreasonable.

Sometimes she couldn’t even distinguish between them and food, and they were bitten several times as a result.

Once, Lizrite returned to the nest with half a wild boar she had snatched from a snow leopard’s jaws, planning to share it with her mother. It was then she witnessed a sight that would be etched into her memory for life.

In the depths of the Dragon Nest, her siblings were now silent. They might not have always been congenial, but they had at least cooperated occasionally for survival.

And a red Monster, having completely lost her senses, was arching its gaunt body, ceaselessly tearing and gnawing at something on the ground.

Immediately reacting, Lizrite made a decisive move. She dropped the boar meat that would slow her down and turned to run. She ran as far as she could, desperate to get away from a mother who had become as dreadful as a Demon.

She chose not to fly. Taking off in the tangled maze of forest branches was time-consuming and inefficient, and it might have alerted her mother to her escape immediately.

Nor did she entertain the idea of trying to rouse her mother back to her senses.

She lacked the power and the inclination, nor did she feel she owed her mother anything.

She was just a Red Dragon, destined to be as unfeeling and solitary as her mother.

At this thought, Lizrite shook her head vigorously, driving the unpleasant memory—one that always seemed to surface unexpectedly—out of her mind.

The one thing that comforted her a little was discerning the scent of Red Dragon feces. From it, she deduced she was most likely already within the territory of the Red Dragon known as the Crimson Calamity.

In any other place, intruding into the territory of an adult Dragon would be tantamount to seeking death.

But Lizrite had heard some things about this Crimson Calamity along the way.

Compared to other chromatic Evil Dragons, this adult Red Dragon, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere in the Katjana volcano, was particularly lazy. She spent most of her days in deep slumber.

Thus, for Hatchlings, young Dragons, and even juvenile Dragons like them who posed no threat to the territory, the mother Dragon seemed to turn a blind eye. As long as they didn’t do anything drastic, like waking the master of the territory, she tolerated these young wanderers in her domain.

It was even said that some unlucky young Dragons had stumbled upon this "moving calamity" while she was out hunting. Believing their end had come, they ingeniously offered up their collected scraps of ’treasure.’ The great Dragon not only spared their lives but also tore off a piece of her prey as a reward for their ’treasures.’

For this reason, and due to increasingly far-fetched rumors among the wandering young Dragons, the territory of the Crimson Calamity, Pafila, gradually became their gathering place and sanctuary.

This inevitably led to more disputes among the young Dragons. However, fights among Hatchlings rarely resulted in death. Instead, these altercations sharpened their close-combat and survival skills, which was infinitely better than facing the mortal threat of other adult Dragons.

Sometimes Lizrite couldn’t help but fantasize about what it would be like if she had a great mother like the Crimson Calamity, Pafila...

I wouldn’t have to go through that kind of...

That kind of...

"Hm? What’s this fragrance? Could it be... Snowfield Worms?"

Lizrite, her mind hazy from overwhelming hunger, suddenly perked up. Like a small cat scouring for food in the snow, she followed the scent deep into the forest.

After who knows how long, she reached a clearing. There, she saw a patch that looked very much like the secretions of Snowfield Worms. Her Red Dragon instincts immediately took over, and she pounced.

But just before she bit down, Lizrite cautiously sniffed. Upon smelling the rich, fatty fragrance, she could no longer restrain herself and started with a lick.

SLURP.

"Mmm!!!! Delicious!"

Lizrite hadn’t eaten proper food in a long time and was immediately captivated by the taste. Her tail quivered with delight.

The naive little Red Dragon then began to feast with gusto.

Yet she had no idea if this action had triggered something.

CLICK.

From the east, west, south, north, and even from above the forest, five walls made of bundled tree trunks slammed down simultaneously—a Dragon Cage!

This was a trap!

In a split second, the Red Dragon Lizrite unleashed her Fire Dragon Breath towards the ground. She kicked her legs and spread her wings. Using the recoil from her Dragon Breath, she stubbornly smashed headfirst through the descending wooden top of the cage and fled at full speed towards her temporary Dragon Nest.

But as Dragons fly high, they see far.

When she saw three giant Dragons—one red, one silver, and one white—and a crowd of Drow and Elves armed with iron chains ambushing her from all around, Lizrite was completely flabbergasted!

What sin have I committed to be hunted by the Dragon God?!

"Aha, another Red Hatchling! Quite spirited. Catch her for me!"

"I’m claiming this Dragon number two."

Lizrite turned her head in confusion. Then, upon seeing the Red Dragon who was giving the orders, a possibility dawned on her.

She was inexplicably filled with rage.

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