The Forest Dragon(2)

"Die, beast!"

Count Liam raises his two meter long blade and rushes towards the Forest Dragon, which then all of a sudden jumps out of the ground with all of its body revealing itself to the world, showing its full size that reaches more than 200 meters in length.

And not just that, behind it, it summons hundreds of more vines from its back, the vines continue to grow in number and size to over 300 meters, evoking the appearance of two huge wings, allowing the Forest Dragon to fly around the sky, which being named as a Dragon is for a reason.

But then, while it was flying, its wings scattered, returning it being tentacled in appearance, because it noticed the Count closes his distance towards it in a specific point of distance.

As the Count made it to the Dragon's range, immediately, all of its tentacle vines struck towards the Count as they all pierced through the air.

What the Forest Dragon did is its skill that summons endless amounts of long vines, sprouting from its back to a point that it evokes the appearance of wings, to allow the Forest Dragon to fly into the air as it wishes to. Not just that, the vines of the Forest Dragon were no joke, the beast can launch them all as strong arrows capable of easily piercing steel in one swoop, it includes Adamantine.

And another fact about its vines is that each of them are surrounded with magic and are extremely durable that not even a Rank-8 Individual with so much Attack Power and strength could cut it easily.

So with all of those, it makes the Forest Dragon a famouthable force that has killed countless living beings and adventurers throughout its life, and being ranked as by the Guild.

*Roarrr!*

[GIF]

*Boom!*

A thunderous sound resounded. The shockwaves of the clash between the Count's magic broadsword and the flying Forest Dragon's tendril vines forced Stella, Herald, and Karen to take a few steps behind.

*Rooaaarrrr!*

The Forest Dragon roared in pain. All of the vines were cutted within an instant and an enormous cut appeared on its body with green blood starting to flow from its wound.

At the same time, the Count took a few steps back and spit out a mouthful of blood, the side of his lips then turned upwards.

"Not bad, but for all those years that is still child's play for me."

The Forest Dragon continued roaring in pain. It trashed in the ground fiercely before finally burrowing in the ground.

Count Liam frowned. He could feel that the Forest Dragon was still nearby, waiting for the perfect moment to attack after regenerating its wound he gave it.

He then looked in the three members of Team 6's direction. When he watches them about to leave, a flash of killing intent appears in his eyes, but it disappears quickly when he knows it's not the time yet and the mission already fails.

In the end, he ignores them and then grabs Stella and his two children.

"Let's go!"

"But dad! What about Basically!"

"Don't worry about them, my little girl! They can escape for themselves!"

The Count smiled at his daughter and put her on his back.

Once Stella and his two children were secured, he looked back at the three one last time before leaving.

Making use of his Rank-9 abilities, he quickly escaped the monsters' encirclement and rushed towards the city.

The Forest Dragon did not chase after him. It knew that the Count was as powerful as him, even though both of them have the exact same level, it still probably would lose.

Instead, it focused on the other group escaping.

Marcel frowned. He looked at the ground and instantly warned his friends.

"Guys, we need to leave quickly. I can feel that the monster is quickly approaching."

Moo replied. "Damn, that thing is big and I got the feeling Xavier is not enough to kill it, you know what, guys. Let's just use our Elytras."

""Agreed.""

With a nod, they then exchange their enchanted diamond chestplate to a more suited for flight. The Elytras.

One second later, they activated their fireworks, and the three took flight.

As for Xavier, Delirious took out a Leash and used it on Xavier, for some peculiar reason, the lead tight on Xavier's body without effort, like the lead was magical and when they flew, Delirious felt like he was holding a feather even though Xavier was over a dozens of thousand tons.

"It seems like the Minecraft physics kicks in." Delirious uttered.

But he didn't mind it as the Forest Dragon's attention was on them now.

In seconds, the group was five thousand feet up in the air.

As the four leave the chaos down below, meanwhile back in the forest, the three remaining Master Realm black-dressed men are still fighting against the beasts, trying to escape the encirclement to survive.

However, the number of monsters was too great. No matter how many they killed, more were there to take their place. The three black-dressed men were soon covered in injuries and filled with despair.

"This is it! We're dead!!" One of them shouted in panic.

"Hold your horses before reinforcements arrive!!" The other said to his partner while he killed a few beasts.

Meanwhile somewhere deep in the forest, one Master Realm black-dressed man was separated from his other comrades, right now he slash down a large Lion beast, as the animal falls down, the Master Realm assassin finishes it using his magical dagger, stabbing the beast multiple times until there is no signs of life in it.

"Stay down, Motherfucker!"

After he kills the Lion beast, he then hears multiple footsteps behind him, he looks behind and sees two 30 feet tall Gorillas and one Legendary Holy Beast he only heard in legends.

[IMAGES]

"You want a piece of me you fucks!? Come on, I'm right here!!"

The Assassin spread his arms, ready his magic weapon to face his final moment in honor.

———

Back to our three heroes, Delirious looks back and sees a huge number of Monsters and Magic Beasts behind them, he couldn't tell if the Assassins they face survive or not, nobody will know.

"This is horrible."

"Say that when you kill that Jolteon." Marcel said to Delirious with a deadpan look.

Before the two could start to argue, Brock steps in. 

"Guys, I know I'm still mad at Delirious for brutally killing it, but it doesn't matter right now. Do you guys feel something odd? Like something bad will happen in the future?"

"..."

"..."

For a moment of silence, Delirious finally replied, "Nah, I don't think so."

Marcel nodded. "I think I agree with Delirious, James said this is the Forest of Death, filled with numerous monsters in there. It sounds kinda normal for monsters to be easily spotted there." 

"Hm, I guess you're right."

Delirious clapped his hands and shouted. "Yup! Let's go home already. I'm tired. It's not like our problem anyway, it's theirs, so what could go wrong?"

———

Later that day, in the Count's mansion, Herald was standing across from his father with a serious look before he sighed.

"...We failed." Count Liam sighed. "Even worse, we lost almost one eighth of our forces in the two operations against them, and despite it, we did not get any result."

Hearing his father's words, Herald bit his lips. He could not help feeling slightly frustrated, and afraid, after today's events.

"Father, I don't understand. You could have killed them earlier when you appeared! We could have said that the beasts killed them and nobody would have suspected us!"

The city lord shook his head. "You don't understand. I wanted to, but I could not."

"Huh? Was it the Golem? Father, we measured that the Golem's strength we observe in battle is at Rank-6, you are a Rank-9 Warrior, you can kill the Golem thousand times already!"

"No, it's not about the Golem, son. It's that... I feel there is something, a strange force that warns me not to go any further to the three. As if a deity was on their side."

Hearing this, Herald's eyes opened wide.

"Impossible! Why would some god or goddess choose some imbeciles like them! They don't act royalty nor belong to some religious faction. Only the most highest members of the churches could have the deity's blessings."

The city lord sighed. "Yeah. Can you imagine it? Some meddling kids with a deity alongside with? Yeah, but I'm still not sure if it's true. And Of course, even if they have the blessing of a god, they are just mere Rank-3 Individuals, I'm confident that I can win if I fight them all. Even facing 10,000 Death Knights with high level enchanted armors and weapons, it's still not a major problem for me."

"Then—!"

"But if I fought them first, you and your sister probably would have died under the claws of the beasts... Herald, even if a Demigod rank weapon is very attractive, I will not exchange it with you and your sister's lives."

"Father..." Herald lowered his head. "...then, are we going to give up?"

Liam thought for a moment. "Let's see what happens. If an opportunity presents itself, we will act. If not, then there is no need to force things. Just keep the surveillance on them."

"I understand."

At that moment—

*Bam!*

Someone opened the door with a slam.

"I knew something was wrong!" Karen said while looking at the ground and clenching her fist.

"Karen—"

"It was obvious. I have met Garold before, and he is never like that. And the men in black, they were your men, right dad?"

"Karen, that is—"

"Shut up!" Karen shouted in fury with tears in her eyes.

Liam sighed and looked at his daughter.

"Father, they saved my life! HE saved my life! I don't know what would have happened if he would have not risked his life to save me!"

"I know." The Count sighed again.

"Then, why did you—?"

"Because the interests of the family are over everything."

Karen bit her lips. She looked at her father with a gaze full of sadness, anger, and disappointment. She was not expecting her father to say something like this.

"...Father, I like him. I... fell for him."

In an instant, Liam and Herald's expression turned complicated.

"Karen, if you help us, I promise we will not hurt him and his friends."

Karen's eyes opened wide. She then looked at her father as though she could not believe his words.

"Not hurting him my ass, I heard you said you wanted to! Means you meant to kill them in your plans! You lying old bastard!!"

An instant later, she turned around and ran out to her room crying.

Liam sighed again and shook his head. Now he was feeling like shit.

"Father, if Karen likes him, perhaps we can..."

"One of the Dukes from the west asked me to marry my daughter to his son one month ago." Count Liam simply said.

Each nation's Major cities have dukes, and most of them are very powerful. It was said that 4% of dukedoms in the continent had at least a demigod behind them.

Herald sighed. Those words were enough for him to understand.

Well, while it was that reason that they disagree on letting his daughter marry Marcel, there is another hidden reason the Count won't highly allow it in his mind, it was that he doesn't like letting his daughter marry to some commoner or worse, a black skin man. It seems very embarrassing for him and his family name.

So in the end, it seemed like the first love of his daughter was destined to be fruitless.

"Let's not think about that now." Count Liam sighed tiredly. "Instead, focus on the horde of magic beasts that attacked today. The fact that so many different species of monsters cooperated to kill people is not normal. I fear there is something strange behind it.

"Then what should we do first?" Herald asked.

Within a few moments, his father, Liam answered calmly, "Just in case, we should send a message not just to every Adventurer's Guild but to the entire Kingdom."