Chapter 16: The Escaped KoboldAnother half month passed, and snowflakes began to float in the sky on Storm Peak. The Rock Fortress has stood tall at the entrance of the "Burning Nest", blocking all invading creatures. The goblins, who were not resistant to the cold, built simple camps in the valley and huddled together to keep warm. The ogres were treated a little better, occupying several large caves and sleeping soundly in them. Cassius was also sleeping in the Giant's Mouth Cave. At the moment, he was yawning out of boredom, and blew out streams of hot, sulfur-smelling air from his mouth, filling the cave with smoke. Red dragons naturally like warmth, and the geothermal heat in the cave makes them reluctant to leave. Several two-legged flying dragons were squatting at the entrance of the cave to rest. In name, they were there to guard the entrance and protect their master, but in reality they were just taking advantage of the heat in the cave. But seeing how attentive they were, the red dragon turned a blind eye. And Rumple found a warm and secluded cave as a library, where he studied his books all day long and complained to Cassius every day about why the goblin army was so weak and couldn't rob new books from human caravans. "Ow—" The wyvern hovering in the sky let out a howl.
The sound was - someone was coming. Cassius was cheered up, and he slowly stood up with his limbs supporting his body. He shook his wings, walked out of the cave and flew into the sky. For most of the past half month, he either slept or studied magic in the cave. As for food, the hobgoblins led a group of elite hunting teams to surround several mammoths, and even sent one to the Giant's Mouth Cave. The Red Dragon can be said to have everything he wants, from just stretching out his hand for clothes to opening his mouth for food. Just when he was feeling really bored and worried about wasting his excess energy and desire to destroy, things came knocking on his door. When the flying dragons gathered at the entrance of the cave saw that Cassius wanted to leave, they quickly got up in fear and trepidation, bowed their heads respectfully to make way for him, and then followed closely behind him. But when Cassius flew to the entrance of the valley and looked down, he saw the uninvited visitors in front of the rock fortress, and he lost interest. Under the city gate was a group of skinny, short humanoid creatures, about a hundred of them. They are covered with scales, ranging in color from dark brown to black, and their heads are like a mixture of dragons and dogs, with two small light-colored horns on their foreheads - these are kobolds, cave-dwelling reptilian humanoids that often worship evil dragons as demigods. This group of gnolls were obviously not in good condition. Many of them had wounds and blood on their bodies. They gathered in a panic under the city gate, making noisy noises. Cassius could tell it was dragon language, but coming from their mouths it sounded like the noisy barking of dogs. "Yes, it's the great dragon!" "It's really a dragon!" Until one of the kobolds raised his head with difficulty, saw the red dragon in the sky and let out a scream. "We are saved!" All of a sudden, all the kobolds knelt down in piles, muttering indistinct dragon language, as if they were devout believers who had encountered a miracle. "boom--" A red dragon descended from the sky with a loud bang, causing the thin snow in front of the city gate to splash.
"Why are you here? (Dragon language)" Under the pressure coming from deep within their blood, the dog-headed people still knelt and dared not raise their heads. After a long time, a stronger dog-headed man pushed aside his fellow men and struggled to walk out. It threw itself at the feet of the red dragon and spoke in dragon language like a dog barking, with a crying tone in its voice: "Master Dragon, we have come to seek refuge with you—" The red dragon looked down at the small creature in front of him coldly, as if he could crush it into meat paste as long as he moved his body a little. These kobolds were said to have a trace of dragon blood in their bodies, and they were born to love to join the evil dragon, but their strength was really weak, and there were goblins as substitutes, so they were of little value to him. Seeing that the red dragon was unmoved, the dog-headed man secretly raised his head with an extremely sad look: "All of our people were eaten by that monster, and there are only a few of us left. We felt your powerful might, so we all came to you for help." When Cassius heard the so-called "monster" mentioned by the dog-headed man, he finally became interested. "What can I gain by taking in a bunch of weak Kobolds like you?" Seeing a turn for the better, the dog-headed man rolled his eyes and said quickly: "Gold! We can bring you a lot of gold! "Our entire tribe originally lived in the mines, enslaved by human smugglers to dig gold for them. We are familiar with everything there, understand the direction of the ore veins, and know where the most gold is." The dog-headed man behind him also quickly echoed. "Yep." "Yes, I can dig up gold as big as my head every day." "Lord Dragon, you must take us in." Cassius became more interested. Gold is hard currency everywhere. With enough gold, he has the confidence to obtain all kinds of contraband from humans, including but not limited to weapons and equipment, magic books, so as to quickly expand his power. If you can't buy it, it only means that the gold given is not enough. What’s more, there are so-called “monsters” in the story of the kobolds. Cassius continued to ask: "What exactly is that monster you are talking about?" Upon hearing these words, an undisguised look of fear suddenly emerged on the face of the leading gnoll, and the gnolls behind him were also in an uproar, with some of the timid ones even crying out of fear. The dog-headed man leader patted his chest to calm down, then slowly said: "Master, you must believe what I say next." The Red Dragon didn't bother with his address, but just nodded slightly. The dog-headed man seemed to be still immersed in the horrific memories, and spoke in an immersive tone: "It was really a very scary monster. Its body was bigger than a small hill. Its mouth was also very big, bigger than a cave. It could eat ten dog-headed men with one mouthful." At this point, its voice couldn't help but tremble a little. "In the mine, it was everywhere like a shadow. No matter where we ran, the monster could find us. There were more than 700 people in the tribe, and they were all eaten by it. They didn't even spit out the bones." The kobold seemed to be still frightened. "It took me a lot of effort to bring out more than a hundred of my kind from the secret passage in the mine." Having said this, it let out a long sigh of relief. After it finished speaking, the dog-headed people behind it were so scared that they huddled together and dared not say a word.
"Is the monster you are talking about bigger than me?" the red dragon asked with interest. The dog-headed man leader suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and didn't know how to answer for a moment. In its memory, the red dragon is the most arrogant and brutal creature. Perhaps a slight offense from a word could lead to the death of a person. "Tell the truth." Cassius said impatiently. "Yes, yes." The dog-headed man answered tremblingly, and even closed his eyes. "What's your name?" "Gold teeth." Instead of waiting for the expected sharp claws, the ogre leader breathed a sigh of relief, a flattering smile appeared on his face, and the particularly conspicuous gold tooth in his mouth was revealed. (End of this chapter)
