The Winston family soldiers tried to stop Diana from walking towards the Dragon yet their efforts were in vain. Ethan didn't stop her but followed her behind. Although the Dragon's physique and innate ability would give the dragon an edge if they battled, he was confident enough in his strength to defeat the dragon if it tried to harm them.
"Relax everyone, I know him" Diana waved off at the guards to lower their weapons. Taking a few more steps, she came closer to the point where Ethan could sense the heat radiating from the dragon's body. They both looked up, in Ethan's eyes, there was a mix of amazement and caution while in Diana's eyes, there was nothing but kindness and warmth.
She reached out as Nightmare gawked reluctantly for a moment before slowly lowering his head to graze her hand with his face. The soldiered were stunned to see Diana tame such a majestic terrifying creature.
"Good dragon" Diana gently stroked Nightmare's scaly head. Somehow her presence made him calm.
"I guess you can go be on your way to the sect then" realizing Nightmare and the woman know each other, the young man stepped aside from the paved road.
Nightmare opened his eyes but kept his head in her hands,
"Ghost is in seclusion, Lady Diana"
"I know. We're here to see Sect leader Claire"
Finally, Nightmare took his head back from her hands. He stared at the four carriages standing behind Diana as well as the Core Strengthening man who Nightmare guessed Diana's husband for a few seconds.
"This is my husband, Ethan Winston. Ethan meet Nightmare"
"Pleasure to meet you, Lord Winston"
"The pleasure is mine"
Ethan was surprised by the dragon's behavior. Many would describe a dragon as ruthless, deadly, terrifying, and many other adjectives but polite would not be one of those words. However, the dragon in front of him spoke in such a cultured manner.
After being forced to sit in all the classes conducted by the elders, Nightmare shed some of the bad habits he picked from Gaya. For instance, giving respect to those who deserved it and conduct in a respectful manner.
For a couple of weeks, the disciples were terrified to sit with a dragon or to see him but after a while, they treated him like one of them. But it didn't mean they weren't afraid of them, they just accepted to live with him.
"Follow me"
Nightmare took as the force of his wing flap pushed back many guards and made the horses even more terrified. It took them a few minutes to calm the horses before starting to follow the dragon.
"You conveniently forgot to mention he has a dragon, Dian"
"Then I wouldn't have seen the look on your face" She giggled. Looking at his wife being happy after a rough couple of days, he was glad he decided to come here.
The paved road made following the dragon much easier, even going up on the mountain never felt bumpy or difficult. Eventually, when they reached the flat land, they began to see more black-uniformed disciples around the area. Some were playing in the snow, some sat under the trees, cultivating, some were carrying bags that looked heavy. Other than the disciples, it was the buildings and the construction sites that surprised Ethan the most.
He could tell these buildings were built in dwarven architecture as the base and modified a little. Each building was surrounded by either a garden or garden with a fountain. Instead of cutting down all the trees, they built the buildings without destroying the trees around them which was the real beauty of the sect.
Regardless of the winter, he could see the construction works going on at full speed. Many disciples including female disciples were helping however they could.
"For a sect that was declining until recently, they're turning the ties pretty fast"
*********************************
After an exhausting day, Michael finally laid under a tree to rest. He looked up at the sky through the small gaps in the canopy. The sky was filled with dark rain clouds, the thunderclaps indicated the arrival of a heavy downspout. Rain was the last thing he wanted in this god-forsaken rainforest.
Others weren't so different from Michael, they too chose a tree to rest their bodies. A few meters away from them, broken money limbs, as well as monkey dead bodies, could be seen. This was the third wave of the monkeys they fought even since they stepped into the forest. The undead monkeys were so weak and fragile as they were more of an annoyance than a threat except for people like Jonah. Surprisingly Ross's daughter Maria was trained in the arts of the spear as she defended herself well instead of relying on her father.
Keak!
Keak!
"Ah shit, here we go again" Michael heaved a sigh of exhaustion. Even if those monkeys bit him, he wouldn't turn into an undead but he had to put on a show so the team members suspect him of something. Especially Marcella who was always keeping an eye on him for some reason. After he massacred the pirates single-handedly, she became wary of him.
The only silver lining of killing these monkeys was their colors. Never before Michael had seen colorful monkeys such as violet, pink, bright red, and green monkeys.
"Only if they stink less" these monkeys smelled so bad that he wanted to cover his nose in the middle of the fight.
Soon the little monkeys surrounded them for the fourth wave of attack. Michael looked up at the tree he was resting under to see at least ten colorful monkeys staring at him. Their skin was slowly peeling off from their bodies but that never seemed to slow down the monkeys.
To make the fight less exhausting, he pretended the monkeys were cricket balls and his Doombringer was the bat. Every time a monkey took a leap at him, he would swing the Doombringer, sending the monkeys flying into the trees. His swings contained enough force as the monkeys exploded when they hit the trees.
Keak!!
An undead monkey jumped at Michael from the tree above, screaming as loud as it could. Its skin from the face peeled away while it was in the mid-air, revealing the skeleton of its face.
"Sixer!"
He swung the Doombringer at the monkey. The moment it came into contact with the monkey, the little creature's skull cracked open as the brain mattered splat all over his face.
"Fuck...gross!' Michael spat in disgust. He never thought the little fucker was so fragile.
Keak!
Keak!
Keak!
The horrible death of their fellow friend not at all slowed them down from leaping at Michael. He continued to swing his Doombringer. Many swings ended up hitting the monkeys but still, some of the monkeys managed to escape the swings.
Michael quickly shook his body as he picked up a rock from the ground. He smashed the rock into the purple monkey while swinging the Doombringer in his other hand.
The rock split open the monkey's head, killing it instantly. This time he closed his mouth so none of the disgusting bits would end up in his mouth.
Just like in the Netherels, the black goo oozed out of the dead monkey's body.
Marcella was standing on a branch. The higher vantage point gave her a perfect spot for killing the monkeys on the ground but when the monkeys swarmed the tree she was standing on, she began to have a hard time. Michael thought since she was using a crossbow, she would have a hard time-fighting in close combat but when he saw Marcella taking out a dagger and stabbing the monkeys in their head, he was proved otherwise.
The way she fought showed him that she's a well-trained person in both long and close-ranged combat.
"Let's move!" Ross shouted. The monkeys kept coming at them. Ross knew soon they would be overwhelmed with superior numbers. The team quickly began to move deeper into the forest.
"David, Logan, hold them!" H shouted at Michael and Logan.
"Go go go!"
Michael and Logan quickly moved towards the team. The two of them fought side by side to keep the monkeys from following the rest of the team. Some of them did manage to follow the team as the monkeys used the tree branches to travel while they were on the ground.
"Damn monkeys!' Logan screamed as he kept swinging his Sledgehammer. Coupled with his body strength, each time a monkey came into contact with the Sledgehammer, the black ooze splattered across.
"Let's go!" Michael shouted hearing more and more screams. He covered Logan while he was retreating back into the forest.
"David!"
"Go! I'll follow you" Since it wasn't the place nor the time to argue, Logan ran deeper into the forest, following the team's trail. After seeing David massacre a group of pirates single-handedly, he knew David is a better fighter and freak than him. Hence, he trusted David to take care of these annoying monkeys even if their numbers were in the sixties.
Michael turned back to see if they had all disappeared from his sight. He could count at least fifty monkeys surrounding him. They all weirdly targeted him.
"Time to wrap up" his lips slightly curved upwards as he put the Doombringer on the ground. He raised both his arms at the monkeys,
"Wind Blast"