In the endless forest, sunlight was abundant, and the climate was humid and hot.
Centuries-old trees could be seen everywhere. There were even towering thousand-year-old ancient trees standing across the uneven land like small mountains.
Beneath that green ocean of trees was a natural ecological garden formed by shrubs, vines, ferns, and moss.
They were a breeding ground for small lives like insects, squirrels, and snakes.
But those tiny creatures were not to be underestimated. If an ordinary person walked through here, even without encountering dangerous monsters, the bites of these insignificant little things could still take their life.
All kinds of diseases humans had never come into contact with could be transmitted through them.
And yet, at this moment, in a patch of woodland, these sinister "assassins" suddenly all went quiet at once, as if they had sensed some terrifying aura.
Even the cicadas that had been singing freely because of the sweltering weather stopped chirping.
Splash!
Beside a calm river, an enormous, majestic, and ferocious head suddenly burst out of the water.
Then came its whole body. Its wet scales refracted a bright red glow under the sunlight.
Clearly, this was a red dragon.
The first thing it did after surfacing was look down at the humanoid creature held in its claws.
After seeing that he was completely unharmed, the red dragon let out a breath of relief.
Then it moved its four limbs and walked toward the dense forest.
Boom!
Only after it had completely gone into the distance did the insects and small animals in the woods dare to poke their heads out of their nests and observe the situation.
Everything seemed lively again.
For the past few days, Hephaestus had felt like he was in a very troublesome situation.
The Green Dragon Queen's transcendent followers in the forest had probably already learned what had happened at the juvenile dragon nest. One by one, they had gone mad, launching a carpet search across the entire Jade Forest, especially around the dragon nest.
Fortunately, Gauss had made the right decision before falling unconscious.
They had gone in the opposite direction. Otherwise, on the very first day after completing the commission, they might already have been blocked on their way back by transcendent monsters.
But that deception could only last temporarily.
After failing to find any trace of Gauss, the transcendent monsters began commanding their many followers to sweep deeper into the forest.
Over the past few days, Hephaestus had already seen the silhouettes of flying monsters passing overhead several times.
Because of that, he had no choice but to carry Gauss deeper into the forest before the ground search teams arrived.
For now, they could not go back.
He was not so confident that he could carry Gauss and fight against transcendent monsters and their monster armies at the same time.
Once they were discovered, endless monsters would quickly swarm over and eventually drown them completely.
During their constant movement, Gauss slept deeply enough that even while being held in Hephaestus's claws and carried everywhere, he showed no sign of being affected at all.
That was probably the only good thing that had happened recently.
Thinking of that, Hephaestus could not help casting a resentful look at his master.
Gauss was sleeping comfortably, while Hephaestus had been living in fear every day because of him.
Hephaestus looked toward the depths of the forest.
After realizing the transcendent monsters were gradually approaching, Hephaestus used his brain with all his might and finally came up with a plan.
Well, to be honest, it might not have been his idea.
The truth was that two days ago, a crisp, unfamiliar voice had suddenly sounded in his head and reminded him.
At first, it had frightened him badly. But after giving him the idea, the voice had not appeared again, so he simply treated it as a hallucination in his own mind.
No, it must have been his hidden brain doing the work and thinking up the solution.
In short, after being enlightened, he decided to go deep into monster territory, pass through the Jade Forest, and enter another completely different monster domain.
If they left the Jade Forest's territory, then those forest monsters would probably be wary of the monsters in the neighboring region.
As for whether this idea was good or bad, there was no one around to analyze it for him.
He could only think based on his own experience. Back when he had acted like a local tyrant around Gold-Silver Town, he had often driven away or even secretly slaughtered monsters that intruded on his territory.
Conflicts between monsters were no fewer than conflicts with humans.
Uniting against outsiders?
That was only something that happened within the relatively disciplined Demon King's Army. Most wild monsters only had bloody daily struggles with one another.
After all, once there were too many of them, they had to compete for limited resources.
And the monster leader of another region would definitely not tolerate the Green Dragon Queen's forces marching so openly into their territory to search.
In the world of monsters, such a humiliation was no different from being stomped into the ground and rubbed there.
He only needed to bring Gauss toward the border between the two domains, then take advantage of the Green Dragon Army's hesitation to find a suitable place to hide and quietly wait for Gauss to wake up.
During this period, Hephaestus had become unable to suppress his exhaustion.
He missed the days when Gauss decided everything.
For the first time, he realized that taking charge and making all the decisions was such a tiring thing.
After this was over, Gauss definitely had to reward him with ten sheep… no, one hundred sheep.
He was going to indulge himself properly.
As Hephaestus continued forward, he finally brought Gauss to the edge of the Jade Forest.
The vegetation gradually lost its lush emerald color, and the heat in the air grew even stronger.
Of course, as a powerful species that could live inside the mouth of a volcano, Hephaestus was extremely suited to this hot climate.
Hephaestus raised his head and looked at the clear sky.
This place was close to the border, and he could no longer see any trace of the flying monsters searching overhead.
At this moment, just as Hephaestus had guessed, the Green Dragon Queen's claws were indeed finding it troublesome to possibly invade another monster lord's territory.
After all, the Green Dragon Queen was not in the forest now. She had taken part of the Green Dragon Army and attacked human territory, so she probably could not free herself in the short term.
If they provoked a war with another monster lord, their direct superiors would probably want to swallow them alive.
They knew how important it was to capture the destroyer of the dragon nest, but should they really risk angering another lord?
Approaching the border, or even crossing into another's territory to search, was undoubtedly naked provocation.
No transcendent commander could bear that responsibility.
In the end, after holding a meeting, they decided to slow the search for now.
They would strictly guard the area along the forest's edge. If the fugitive returned, they could block him at any time.
At the same time, they would send messengers to contact the lord of the red earth region, requesting assistance in searching for the criminal and promising enough treasures in return.
At such a delicate moment, they truly could not afford to make mistakes.
Although the lord of the red earth had received orders from the Demon King's palace not to take advantage of these borderland lords who had launched the first wave of war against humans, if the Green Dragon Army took the initiative to give them an excuse, they would not mind taking a huge bite out of the resource-rich Jade Forest.
It was common knowledge among nearby monster factions that the masters of the Red Earth and the Jade Forest did not get along.
The Green Dragon Queen coveted the Red Earth's fertile grain-growing conditions and magic ore resources, while the Red Earth side also eyed the relatively habitable, species-rich forest with envy.
And so, with the Green Dragon Army abandoning further pursuit, Hephaestus narrowly managed to cross the border just before they could be caught, smuggling himself and Gauss into the Red Earth.
After crossing the natural barrier connected to the Jade Forest—those endless red-earth highlands that looked like giant tree stumps—what appeared before Hephaestus was a relatively barren red wasteland.
Whoosh, whoosh—
The scorching wind of the Red Earth carried tumbleweeds racing across the land.
It was precisely because of the red-earth highlands at the border that desertification had been prevented from spreading further into the Jade Forest.
"Woo…"
Perhaps because the hot climate made Hephaestus comfortable, or perhaps because they had temporarily shaken off the relentless pursuers, his mood relaxed.
Whatever the reason, Hephaestus was now in a very good mood.
This land also made his scales a kind of natural camouflage.
But before formally scouting out the surrounding situation, he still did not dare act recklessly.
Where did the monsters here live? How many transcendent monsters were nearby? These were all things he needed to investigate.
As for monsters below the transcendent level, he was not especially afraid of them now.
He only needed to be careful of a few super-level lifeforms.
His current priority was to leave the border and find an unclaimed place to hide.
As for food, he could still hold out for now. There was no need to go out and obtain food or water.
When he was hungry or thirsty, he could use magic to open Gauss's storage bag.
Gauss had prepared plenty of supplies before setting out, and they had originally been mainly for Hephaestus to eat anyway.
Another day passed.
Hephaestus successfully found an abandoned mine large enough to hold his body.
Across this firm red land, abandoned mines of all sizes could be seen everywhere.
It was just that some of them might contain a small number of resident creatures, such as kobolds, gnolls, goblins, or…
The humans in front of him.
Hephaestus held Gauss in one claw, while scratching himself with the other.
Before him stood a group of terrified humans holding torches and stone spears.
They were wrapped in beast hides and stiff leather. They looked up by the light of their torches at the enormous beast that had intruded into their home, swallowing again and again.
This was… a dragon?
Although they were still pointing their stone spears at the giant beast, everyone's mind had already gone blank.
Faced with such a creature, needless to say, they were no match at all.
Why were they so unlucky today?
They had just been preparing to go out hunting, only to run headfirst into this enormous beast invading the mine.
They could not help wondering whether they were still dreaming.
What they did not know was that Hephaestus was even more stunned than they were.
He almost thought he had seen wrong.
Why were there humans here?
One had to know, this was not the border of the Jade Forest. This was the Red Earth farther south, beyond the long forest zone.
Even if humans lost their way, there was no way they could get lost this far, right?
If it had been before, he would definitely have said nothing and swept away these ants who dared occupy the cave and point weapons at him.
But after spending time with Gauss, Alia, and the others, some of his thinking had quietly changed.
For example, right now, he did not really feel like attacking.
They were too weak.
Even if they aimed weapons at him, they could not hurt him in the slightest.
He could see their real emotions on their faces: fear, retreat, unease…
It was the instinctive terror of the weak when facing something far stronger.
Forget it…
Hephaestus shook his head.
He had scouted the area for dozens of miles around.
There were no medium or large monster forces nearby at all. In other words, this was a piece of wasteland, and even surface drinking water was pitifully scarce.
That also meant there were few living creatures nearby.
It was not that he looked down on these humans, but with their strength, even if they wanted to inform someone, they probably could not contact any monster tribe.
What was more, if they appeared in front of monsters, they would probably be eaten on the spot as lambs that had delivered themselves to the door.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
The aura unconsciously leaking from Hephaestus was far too terrifying.
He gradually approached the humans, yet their bodies remained completely motionless.
They seemed to have been firmly controlled, having lost command over their own bodies.
Just when they thought they were about to be eaten by this dragon…
Thud.
Hephaestus's dragon foot landed in the gap between the people. Then he stepped over their heads.
He ignored them and continued deeper into the cave with Gauss.
Only after he left did the humans regain the ability to move.
Plop!
Most of them sat down hard on the solid ground, cold sweat having unknowingly covered their foreheads and backs.
They looked at one another.
"We're… alive?"
While still shaken, they also felt that it was unbelievable.
Why had that dragon spared them?
And even while passing by, it had deliberately avoided stepping on them.
"D-Dad, just now I think I saw someone in that big creature's claws."
A somewhat thin young woman spoke up to remind them.
Although the dragon's claw had covered the figure tightly, she had still seen what looked like a human shape through the gaps.
"A person?"
The leading man took a deep breath.
His sixth sense told him that the reason their group had survived might have something to do with the human held in that dragon claw.
"Was it a captured fellow human?"
A young man beside him frowned and asked.
With their experience, it was hard for them to imagine what kind of relationship could exist between a human and a dragon.
If the person were food, that tiny bit of human flesh would not even be enough to stick between that giant beast's teeth. There would be no reason to carry him around the whole time.
Besides, judging by the way it spared them, it seemed to be a relatively friendly good dragon?
"Don't think about that anymore."
A bitter expression appeared on the leading man's rough face.
No matter what the truth was, it seemed to have nothing to do with wild people like them, struggling to survive between the cracks.
The red dragon had kindly spared them just now, but if they took the initiative to approach, perhaps it would change its mind and crush them all on the spot.
Beasts were fickle.
"We need to think about something else now."
"Should we move out of this mine?"
Everyone looked at one another.
Moving was undoubtedly a massive project, especially since they had already lived in this mine for many years.
Their water source, passages, food traps, and shelters had all been built relatively well. If they moved, it would be very difficult to find a suitable home in a short time.
More importantly, leaving for a long migration across the surface also meant danger for them.
Although there were not many creatures nearby, some monsters still lived in the area.
But if they did not move, what about that dragon? They could not just act as if nothing had happened and keep living under the eyes of that terrifying creature.
The crowd fell silent for a while.
In the end, they decided to continue with their original plan for the day and go out to gather food.
No matter what, food was necessary. Even if they were going to die, they could not die hungry.
Among the crowd, only the young woman who had glimpsed the figure in the dragon's claw remained dazed.
Although she had not clearly seen that person, instinctively, she felt it was a man.
And an extremely good-looking one.
He seemed to possess some strange magic that made her unable to stop wondering what kind of person he was.
"Nila! Nila!"
"Hm?"
"What are you spacing out for? We need to go out and gather and hunt first. Food is running low. Keep up."
Seeing her father's tightly furrowed brows, Nila finally gave up thinking about it.
"I'm coming, I'm coming."
Despite being a woman, she was one of the best hunters in the tribe. She had even awakened mana and mastered some crude ways of using it.