BXBX NOVEL Chapter 135 - 116: She is my Mom_1
Chapter 135 - 116: She is my Mom_1
“Forget it, you don’t have dragon breath.” With a single sentence from Lightning, Negris was silenced. True to his reputation of being a motor-mouthed hornless horse.
“Six thousand cavalries, that’s quite the number, but what makes them capable of slaying dragons? They can’t even fly. Are you bronze dragons really that weak?” Luther asked with a puzzling expression, stroking his chin.
“Weak Bronze Dragons? Hmph, an adult bronze dragon is forty meters long. Back in my day, I was fifty meters long. I could squash you underfoot just like that. Be careful not to piss yourself when you see it,” Negris declared angrily.
“Ah, what a shame. They’re nearly extinct,” Lightning lamented.
Negris suddenly started shouting, “Ao! Ao, Ao, Ao!”
The bored angel skull and little zombie, who were aimlessly doodling on the ground, abruptly raised their heads, tilted them, and then turned their gaze towards Lightning. The expressions on their faces were similar to the ones they had when the angel skull was preparing its ultimate attack.
Lightning immediately had a bad feeling and exclaimed, “What did you tell them? Why can you speak the Aoao language? No…don’t come over here, ah, don’t hit my face, not my horns, ah!”
The angel skull wielded the holy light gauntlet, pinned Lightning to the ground, and began pounding on him. The little zombie invoked Wraith Armor, ran to the furthest end of the room, and accelerated to charge into Lightning.
Luther, with a disapproving look on his face, sighed and said, “Ah, you guys are incorrigible. I can’t stand it anymore, I’m going to keep watch.” With that said, he scampered out to keep a lookout.
Keeping watch under such circumstances essentially meant: keep it up, I’m watching from outside.
Lightning huddled in the corner, clutching his head, howling, and being desperately pummeled. The space was too small, and his maxed-out dodge skills were of no use. He had no choice but to just bear it.
After venting his anger, Negris snorted and arrogantly said, “You have no idea who I am. I learn quickly when I listen more.”
Then, turning to Ange, he urged, “Ange, there are too many of these bandits. Some of them appear to be elite, and I suspect they genuinely believe they can slay dragons. I cannot allow more of my kin to die here. Please help me find my kin before they do.”
“Alright.” Ange nodded.
“Take them inside, and then ride me to get there. Try to get there first,” commanded Negris.
Lightning poked his battered head out, “Ride me, ride me, you run three times faster than he can fly, oh, don’t hit my horns, don’t hit my face, don’t hit there!”
Rather than getting beaten while cornered, Lightning would prefer to be ridden.
After Ange commanded it, everyone obediently retreated to the Resting Palace, leaving Negris with Ange. The two of them mounted Lightning and set out on a wide detour to head to a distant location.
After running for a while and verifying they were out of earshot of the cavalry, Lightning commanded, “Hold on tight, I’m about to speed up. Let this juvenile dragon witness the speed of the Son of Thunder.”
“Yes, yes. Son of Thunder, when we get back, I’ll ask the Master of Thunder to treat you better. I know how to make a lightning generator. The Purple Corpse should be pleased,” said Negris. He put special emphasis on the word ‘Master.’
Ignoring Negris’ threat, Lightning retaliated, “Oh, no, no, no, Almighty God of Knowledge, you’re understanding and forgiving. Please overlook these minor insults. Watch Lightning’s show now, hold on tight.” Lightning’s tone was noticeably more submissive as he unleashed his full speed, running like a mad stallion.
As he ran, small sparks crackled on his halved horn. The faster he ran, the more violently the sparks sparked. When enough charge accumulated, an arc of lightning shot out, striking the area before Lightning before branching out into numerous smaller arcs, spreading out like a spider web.
Lightning’s next stride landed on this electrical web, whereby currents sparked around his hooves.
It was as if Lightning touched a live wire. Each stride he took, electrical arcs followed, splattering into sparks when he stepped on hard substances.
In a burst of sparks and lightning flashes, Lightning accelerated, his body becoming lighter and speed increasing exponentially, his movements graceful as if on the verge of flight.
Any qualified cavalry unit, when settling, would dispatch scouts in advance, some several dozens of kilometers ahead, to prevent enemy invasion of the camp.
But here in the vast desert, there’s not likely any enemy that might attack. A lone guard, wrapped in his protective cloak, stoking a fire in a wind-sheltered area, heard a disturbance followed by a gust of wind. By the time he spat out the dust carried by the gust, all was calm and nothing could be seen.
“Was….. was something running over there just now?”
Indeed, Lightning’s running speed was much faster than Negris’s little wings.
By daybreak, Ange had seen a patch of green rising on the distant horizon.
They had reached the number one oasis of the desperate desert – Hope Oasis.
Hope Oasis was the first large oasis encountered after entering the desert. Under normal circumstances, a caravan would need more than twelve days to reach this point.
Of course, the caravan’s speed was slow. With standard marching pace, it would only take five days to make it. As for irregular troops, their speed couldn’t be guaranteed and might take even longer than a caravan.
No matter what, Lightning had completed in a single night what would take a caravan twelve days. It had indeed lived up to its name as Lightning.
After completing the run, it downed three large barrels of clean Holy Water. Wheezing, it said, “Alright, don’t… don’t sell the lightning generator to Purple Corpse, okay?”
Negris felt a bit of guilt. It was because of his own words that Lightning was so exhausted. Even though it often talked back, it was undeniably hardworking. “Okay, okay, it won’t be sold. Actually, you didn’t need to run so fast…sigh.’
Once Lightning recovered its breath, Ange released the others, and the group began to walk towards the oasis.
The edge of the oasis was in disarray, filled with rudimentary shelters – simple pits dug into the ground, covered with branches and leaves, leaving a small opening to crawl in and out. This was considered a home.
Such a shelter was cramped and dark on the inside. You couldn’t even stand up straight. It provided some wind cover, but was not rainproof. There was also no proper drainage system, so in case of heavy rain, the inside would surely get flooded.
However, in the desert, if it did actually rain heavily, wouldn’t everyone be happy despite their shelters getting flooded?
Most of the dugouts were unoccupied. A few of them had inhabitants who came out to investigate the disturbance, peering out with wide curious eyes.
They were all children, big-headed and grimy. There were few older people as well but no young adults could be seen.
As Ange and his group walked by, the children crawled out to watch from afar, curious but afraid to approach. Luther waved to some of the children, taking out his beloved sweet turnip strips.
In an instant, Luther was surrounded by a group of children. The elders tried to intervene but couldn’t hold them back.
Luther broke up the turnip strips into small pieces and shared them with each child. The incredibly sweet snack, which tasted like honey, was even more delicious than normal candies, and most of the children happily cried out, eliciting similar cries from Angel Skeleton and Little Zombie.
After pacifying the children, Luther gestured to the few elders from afar.
The elders hesitantly walked over, bowing down to Luther from a distance, then approaching with their backs hunched. When they got to Luther, they knelt in front of him again.
Negris pondered, “It seems the hierarchy here is strict. They dare not even stand straight when speaking.”
The elders timidly raised their heads, giving him a weird glance, and looked down again quickly.
The weird look contained curiosity and surprise, but no shock, as if they had seen Negris before.
Seeing their expressions, Negris had a thought and asked, “Have you seen my kind before? Have you? I am here to find her, she’s my mother..”