"Target Breath!"
Several more short bursts of fiery breath shot forth, and several Eagle Guards plummeted toward the ground as blazing fireballs.
Just as Alger had hoped, the remaining few guards fled the site of their disastrous slaughter in utter disarray under the wyverns' pursuit. They would carry the terrifying renown of the red dragon across the entire Great Anzetta Waste.
Letting them escape was partly because taking Alger alive consumed time, and partly by deliberate design.
After all, House Lakeman's Northwind Eagle Guard numbered barely over three hundred in total, and this single battle had wiped out a tenth of their force. A regiment like this was an absolute elite throughout the Northern United Kingdom.
A few days later, word that a "terrible red dragon" resided on Storm Heights spread through numerous settlements. On the bounty board in Northwind Keep, a notice was posted bearing the illustration of a ferocious, flame-spewing red dragon.
*Location: Storm Heights, Cinder Nest*
*Target: Suspected young red dragon, codename "Flying Flame"*
*Bounty: 5,000 gold coins*
Adventurers gossiping and bragging in taverns over drinks fantasized about becoming legendary dragonslayers. Often, after drinking themselves into a stupor, they would slump over their tables and boast, "If that red dragon ran into me, its head would've been lopped off for the bounty long ago!"
Of course, all of that was for later.
***
Alger's head throbbed heavily, his memories a tangled mess.
First, he dreamed of his carefree, idyllic childhood. His mother stroked his head with a gentle smile, softly reading stories from a book. He ran through the alleys, roughhousing with newly made friends, the air ringing with bright laughter.
Then the scene shifted. In his dream, he was weeping hysterically in the street, searching frantically for his parents, only to find two gutted corpses in a shadowy corner, strange and sinister symbols carved into their flesh.
A finely dressed, middle-aged man whose face remained obscured stood in the dim alley. He patted Alger's shoulder and spoke in a solemn voice: "It was devils. The spawn of devils murdered them."
What followed was a raging inferno, crowds screaming in flight, blood overflowing like a river, women kneeling and clutching wailing infants as they begged for mercy, while the silver sword in his hand shrieked like a diving eagle...
"No!"
"Hah... hah!"
Alger jolted awake from the nightmare and scrambled upright. He reflexively reached to his side, letting out a breath of relief only when his hand brushed against familiar feathers.
It was his giant eagle.
He patted down his entire body. There were no new wounds, but his standard-issue plate armor and the Eagle Screech Silver Sword at his waist were gone without a trace.
Heavy iron shackles bound his hands and feet.
"Where am I?"
Alger immediately surveyed his surroundings.
It was dark and damp, illuminated only by the faint glow of torches mounted on the rocky walls.
Everywhere was solid stone. Bars hewn from thick tree trunks enclosed him. By the entrance, an obese bugbear leaned against the door, snoring soundly. Its wooden club lay on the ground, while goblins armed with short spears patrolled back and forth along the corridor.
*A dungeon inside a monster den,*
Alger deduced at once.
He must have been put under by the red dragon's magic and then tossed into this cell. His sole objective now was to find a way out, gather as much intelligence as possible, and report the situation here to the duke.
Yet he had no weapon, and the cell was secured by a sturdy iron lock. Escaping would not be easy.
"Hey, bugbear. Wake up."
Alger waved his hand, attempting to draw the dozing guard's attention so he could probe for information and scout for an opportunity to break free.
The bugbear by the door snapped awake. Seeing Alger stirring, it immediately began bellowing at the top of its lungs.
"Go tell Lord Duoluo! The human's awake!"
Alger lowered his voice and spoke to the bugbear guard:
"Do you want gold?"
"Give me the key. I have—"
*Ptooey!*
The bugbear spat at him.
It scooped up its club from the floor and turned away without hesitation, grumbling under its breath, "You humans always love acting clever. You think we're stupid?"
"I stripped you bare long ago. You got nothin'—a penniless beggar."
"Hey! Over here!"
"The human's awake!"
At the bugbear's booming shouts, the goblins scrambled to pass the word, swiftly relaying the message outside the dungeon.
"Dammit!"
"Let me out!"
Alger grabbed the wooden bars and shook them violently. The heavy iron chains of his shackles clattered noisily, but the cell door could hardly be battered down even by an ogre, let alone shaken loose by a weakened human. It was nothing more than a pointless waste of energy.
After straining for a long while, the thick timber bars remained unyielding. Alger finally gave up trying to break through by brute force.
Regaining his composure, he slumped to the ground and carefully pondered his options.
*The red dragon kept me alive; it must have a use for me.*
*It's going to interrogate me.*
*That cunning evil beast most likely wants to harm His Grace the Duke and carry out its vile schemes—whether plundering wealth, conquering cities, or overthrowing the realm...*
*No matter what it asks or demands of me, I will never utter a single word.*
*It's a pity everything on me was taken. Otherwise, I could have kept some wyvern poison ready to end my life at any moment.*
Alger gritted his teeth, steeling his resolve to face brutal torture.
Sure enough, three burly bugbears strode down from the far end of the corridor.
Struggling with a crude key, they unlocked the iron padlock, unwound the heavy chains coiled around the door, and slowly pulled it open.
The doorway was blocked solid by their bulky frames, leaving no gap to slip through.
"Move it, human. The master wants to see you."
A bugbear hunched over and stepped into the cell, closing in on Alger.
"Don't touch me," Alger said venomously.
The bugbear acted as though it hadn't heard a word. Stepping forward, it snatched up his shackles, wrapped the chain several times around its thick hand, and hauled Alger out of the cell.
The other bugbears crowded around, bodily hoisting him up to ensure he had zero chance of escape.
"Told ya, this human tried to bribe me."
"Like I'd fall for that, haha!"
"Acted so mighty before, but once captured, he's just another weakling."
"Yeah, those wyverns are totally useless. Can't even beat a single human—wasting all that good meat."
"Right, should've given it all to us instead."
The bugbears bantered and joked with one another as they worked.
The weakened eagle knight had no strength left to struggle.
Had he been soaring through the sky astride his giant eagle, Alger was confident he could wipe out these hideous monsters single-handedly, even toying with them at his leisure.
Yet trapped in this dungeon, utterly drained, his limbs bound in iron, the proud eagle knight could only let these brutish bugbears manhandle him as they pleased, completely powerless to fight back.
Chapter 34