“I’m angry… got it? I am very, very angry!” Thunder-like voices aroused from the black hole, more than thirty meters up in the air. Powerful waves of air rushed out of the hole, blowing Blanche’s hair into a mess.
Suddenly, the ground trembled as a giant figure appeared in the way. It was a real giant dragon! The length of the dragon, excluding its tail, reached nearly thirty meters; its grand mouth, full of fire, was extremely horrifying. Based on its size, swallowing seven or eight people at a time would be no problem for such a monster. In fact, Blanche was quite tall, however, she only stood just slightly taller than the giant dragon’s foot. The wingspan of the giant dragon was nearly fifty meters, leaving only a quarter of the previously visible moonlight.
The treants in the villages did not show much of a reaction, presumably due to the fact that they were used to such an occurrence; in great contrast, the unicorns immediately descended into madness, fleeing in all directions in complete disarray, filling the sky with scream after scream.
“Little Blanche, tell me, how are you dissipating my fury?” The giant dragon roared with its head lowered; the airflow from its mouth caused the sand and the rocks on the ground to swirl around. The first half of his sentence sounded aggressive, but the second half was quite the opposite, “Go dance for me, I want you to dance while bathing!”
“Murphy! I don’t have time to joke with you!” Blanche yelled.
“Joke?” The giant dragon lowered its head to scan Blanche, his pair of eyes, like giant lanterns, opened and closed several times. Moments later, he frivolously blew in her direction. Because of his size, the ‘blow’ was beyond most people’s tolerance. Only Raphael, Panven, and Louise managed to stay unmoved, while the others backed off. Blanche’s long dress was suddenly blown high, showing a pair of long and white thighs.
“Murphy!” Blanche screamed while holding down her dress.
“Ok, ok!” The giant dragon yawned lazily, as he suddenly turned up towards the night sky, “I… am missing Dragon City just a bit, little Blanche. I will return as quickly as possible, and we can do things when I return…”
“You…” Blanche was stunned, “Murphy, you don’t want to help us! Right?!”
“Little Blanche, you look stressed.” The giant dragon extended his wings, showing signs that he was about to depart, then enclosed his wings back. “That means, even my ability couldn’t solve your problem, right?”
Blanche bit her lips and said nothing.
“You are Aude’s wife; if you anger the church, Aude will certainly help you. Lola is your best friend, so you have no incentive to fight against her. The answer is clear, you have offended a person you shouldn’t offend; King Nicolas!” Murphy slowly bowed to the ground, his giant mouth nearly touching the ground, as he stared towards Blanche. “Little Blanche, I still need three to five decades to become an Upper-Class Gold Dragon. I am unable to help you right now.”
“Are you scared? Do you remember your promise?”
“Scared? Maybe a little bit… three to five decades is like a second for me, and my power will receive immense improvements. Little Blanche, why are you troubling me at such a bad time?” Murphy’s tone sounded a bit eccentric. “You beg me… you want me to die! King Nicholas has great relations with the Land of the Dragons, with the four Dragon Knights at his service. If you really want me to fight, you should at least allow me to go to the City of the Dragons, to get more allies!”
“I am not asking you to battle, I only want you to get us to St. Petersburg!” Blanche said in a straightforward tone.
“Wh…what?” Murphy was briefly stunned, then began laughing wholeheartedly towards the sky, “Of course, of course, why would the infinitely generous Murphy refuse a friend’s request! Absolutely no problem!”
Murphy’s reply was too late to revert Blanche’s fresh mental scars. She did not say anything back in appreciation, and instead just gazed at Murphy silently.
From a physical perspective, Murphy’s facial skin was extra thick, to the extent that it would be nearly impossible to puncture with a physical attack. However, Murphy still looked quite apologetic, forcing his voice to go softer, as he even bowed to the ground, “You guys are in a rush right? Get up, I will get there right now!”
Blanche gave a few instructions to the elves behind, then stepped onto the wing that Murphy had previously folded behind his back. Raphael’s group also followed shortly behind. Louise’s guards did not have a spot on the wing; everyone, including the unicorns, were to stay put in the Elven Village, except for Lola’s substitute.
Panven suddenly released a magical shield, covering everyone on Murphy’s back. Once they were ready, Murphy dashed forward, then rapidly began flapping his wings as his body shot into the sky.
Yalina once said that Han Jin’s speed in flight was only subpar to the Fire Phoenix and the giant dragons. However, it wasn’t until this point that Han Jin finally understood the distance between him and his competitors!
Murphy’s wingspan neared fifty meters in diameter, and every flap drove him more than a hundred meters forward. Thunderous roars persisted in each passengers’ ears. Panven’s magical shields shifted nonstop in shape due to the intense airflow.
Murphy’s speed explained Louise’s guarantee to return to St. Petersburg in just two days. In fact, two days was just a conservative estimate.
While en route, Murphy initially attempted to talk with Blanche by creating matters of discussion, however, his recreancy made Blanche lose trust. Murphy later became too lazy to speak, as he continued forward without opening his mouth.
After a short while, the moon descended and the sun rose up. The group rested half a day, and when the sun rose a second time, they finally reached St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg was a large castle; all of its residents were members of the Church. The castle was quaint and retangular. However, being the symbol of the Church, there were usually no invaders, and thus, there were not many defensive mechanisms surrounding the city. The height and the width of the walls were mediocre at best. The main purpose of the castle was to separate the power of Nicholas and Lola, and given the difficulties with the Church, they did not want to place much capital in such a location.
Looking from atop, St. Petersburg looked peaceful and quiet. Murphy, with his great vision, suddenly warned the others with suspicion, “Why did I see Nicholas’ battle flag?”
“What?” Blanche and others were instantly stunned, as they got closer to the edge of the magical shield to get a better look.
“That… that’s Nicholas’ battle flag?” Han Jin said in a trance voice. The flag was very familiar! The white background, the red sun, it seemed similar to a plaster flag. The only difference was that the edge of the red sun was densely covered with lights made of gold threads. Being the Kingdom of Magnificent Light, using battle flags of such a shape was no problem, but it still made Han Jin feel a bit weird.
“En.” Panven nodded with a dignified face. “What happened? Maybe… Nicholas had already waged a war? And has seized St. Petersburg?”
“Unlikely, there is no sign of war. ” Blanche continued, “Murphy, get closer.”
“No problem!” Murphy was extremely pleased that Blanche began to talk again, leading him to take the order immediately. At the same time, a bubble appeared with a faded flash, as more than a dozen soldiers and a giant crossbow appeared out of the blue, and a giant arrow, nearly seven or eight meters in length shot straight through the sky towards Murphy. Apparently, there was a magical barrier that hid the soldiers and the crossbow, and it wasn’t broken until the crossbow had launched.
Murphy instantly let out earth-shattering hisses, veering to the side with full force, however, the arrow was fast and caught him by surprise. With a loud puff, the giant arrow punctured deep into his stomach.
“It’s the Demon Annihilator Crossbow! Murphy, are you ok?!” Blanche screamed with fear.
Murphy had no time to answer Blanche’s question. He then waved his wings at maximum force, and reduced his flight altitude to the best of his ability, allowing his body to soar close to the ground. His reaction was entirely correct; the Demon Annihilator Crossbow could adjust its angle, but it couldn’t attack targets below the wall.
Although injured, Murphy flew desperately, much faster than his inbound flight. After a short moment, the vast city of St. Petersburg became the size of a tiny ant in their rear view vision.
“Murphy! How are you?! Talk to me!” Blanche kneeled down onto Murphy’s back, hitting his scales forcefully. Murphy remained silent, as he continued flying forward. The true power of the Demon Annihilator Crossbow was only obvious after you were already struck by it. He talked nonsense nonstop inbound because he was at ease; but now he feared that he would spiral into the ground with a lost breath.
“Gosh! It’s the Dragon Knights! Why are there Dragon Knights in St. Petersburg?!” Panven suddenly exclaimed.
At that moment, each of the passengers turned their around and noticed a vague black spot appearing in the distance, following from afar. Despite the extreme distance, they could already sense an inexplicable pressure.
Panven immediately deployed the magic of Perspective Eyes. A giant dragon with golden scales appeared in front of the onlookers’ eyes. On the back of it stood a knight around the age of forty, with a blue spear in hand, his mouth releasing contemptuous smiles.
Each passenger held their breath uncontrollably except for Han Jin, as their hearts sank into the vast hopelessness. The black, gold, and silver dragons were are all upper class dragons, with respective advantages. In terms of flight speed, the silver dragons were in first place, and the gold ones were in second. Even without his injuries and the exhaustion from the long-haul flights, Murphy couldn’t compete in speed with gold dragons.
Han Jin sighed in his heart; it was time for him to depart. Although Louise and the others were enemies of Nicholas and therefore his allies, he still had to hold some allies above others; for example, if Sunier was present, he would have to fight the gold dragon, even risking his life. However it would be unnecessary to die for a group of random allies.
Murphy instantly sensed the danger approaching from behind as he increased his speed. Blanche, seeing Murphy’s continued quietness, quickly bursted out into tears, “Murphy! How are you? Talk to me! Say something!”
