Minions of the Demonic Dragon

"Give it a try!" "Lord Newton, isn't this a bit inappropriate?" "Didn't you want a sword that could turn into a hoe?" "..." "Just try it. It's already transformed anyway." "Fair enough. Since it's already come to this, I might as well try it." Luo Wei was easily convinced by Yu Xian. Standing up, he gave the Holy Hoe a gentle swing toward the ground, gouging out a massive pit in an instant. "Incredible!" Luo Wei said in shock, staring at the hoe in his hands. He then went around testing it, digging everywhere. Nearly every strike carved a deep pit into the earth. If this hoe were used to till farmland, it would undeniably be a god-tier tool. "Lord Newton, this is fantastic!" Luo Wei said excitedly, holding the Holy Hoe aloft. Heavyhammer slapped a hand over her face and groaned in misery. "It's over. The Hero has been completely led astray by Newton." "..." Sif and Carmen watched the scene in silence, both casting sympathetic glances at Gabriel the Holy Dragon. "Heh heh. Luo Wei, try pressing it again!" Yu Xian said smugly. Filled with curiosity, Luo Wei pressed the button with a trembling hand. In an instant, the Holy Hoe transformed once more: the hilt shrank rapidly while the blade retracted completely into the crossguard, and a thick tuft of fine bristles sprouted from the opening. In just a few short seconds, the Holy Hoe turned into a Holy Writing Brush. "Lord Newton, what... what is this?" Luo Wei asked, bewildered. Only then did Yu Xian realize: although this might look like a Japanese-style Western fantasy harem light novel world, it was still fundamentally a Western fantasy realm. To him, a writing brush was also a paintbrush, but in Luo Wei's eyes, it was probably just an odd, bizarrely shaped object. "Watch me!" Yu Xian took the brush, dipped it in ink, and produced a table and a sheet of white paper from his storage pouch. The next moment, his brush danced across the paper in wild, sweeping strokes. The others leaned in curiously to watch, instantly mesmerized by the majestic landscape painting taking shape before them. Luo Wei realized immediately that this wasn't just a stick with hair on the end—it was a paintbrush. He had simply been ignorant of the wider world and had never seen an artist's brush of this style before. Once Yu Xian finished, everyone present stared transfixed at the ink landscape. A truly masterful work possessed a beauty anyone could appreciate, and everyone present could tell that Yu Xian had depicted this very snow mountain. The peaks rose in stark contrasts of light and shadow; seen from a great distance, their grandeur was awe-inspiring, while the surrounding villages emphasized their towering majesty. Standing before the painting, one could feel that profound sense of insignificance—like a tiny pebble or a spindly sapling upon a great mountain, dwarfed by the heavens and the earth. "Lord Newton, I want to learn this!" Luo Wei looked at Yu Xian with fervent excitement, ready to bow down and pay homage on the spot. Yu Xian smiled and handed the brush to Luo Wei. "Want to learn? I'll teach you!" "Thank you, Lord Newton!" Luo Wei said with profound gratitude. The women couldn't help but bury their faces in their hands and sigh. Yu Xian had led Luo Wei completely off track. Did Luo Wei even remember that his mission was to defeat the Calamity Demonic Dragon and save the world? As it turned out, Luo Wei had not forgotten his mission. At noon, the snow stopped. A shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds, illuminating the snow outside the cave. Spotting the light, Luo Wei stopped practicing his ink wash painting and said solemnly, "The snow has stopped. We should get on the road." "Yeah, the snow stopped. Time to hit the road!" Yu Xian nodded in agreement. Before Luo Wei could say anything, Yu Xian added with a straight face, "Let's part ways here. I still have to defeat my mortal enemy, who allied with the Demonic Dragon. There's no telling how many perils lie ahead on my path. It wouldn't be safe for you all to follow me." "That should be my line..." Luo Wei said, looking thoroughly pained. Yu Xian gave a slight smile and clapped Luo Wei hard on the shoulder—hard enough to make the Hero grimace in pain—and laughed, "Folk of the martial world have no time for sentimental fuss. Farewell!" With that, he strode out of the cave, leaving the Hero's party behind. "Let's get moving too!" After Yu Xian left, Luo Wei felt a faint pang of reluctance. In the end, he took a deep breath and addressed the others. *** That afternoon. At the foot of the Great Snow Mountain. Luo Wei and the others came across the corpses of several Demonic Dragon minions. Every single one had been sliced clean in two, their wounds charred black. For some reason, everyone immediately thought of Yu Xian's frying pan lightsaber. The wounds looked exactly like the damage that weapon would inflict. Minions of the Demonic Dragon were actually sentient beings whose hearts were already brutal and wicked, corrupted into monsters under the influence of the dragon's dark power. For instance, when humans fell under the dragon's sway, those who were particularly wicked would sprout countless scales, their heads slowly twisting into the likeness of an alligator's. They retained a portion of their intelligence, but they instinctively yearned to follow the dragon. Consequently, after perpetrating massive slaughters, they would quietly abandon their original homes to seek out and serve the Demonic Dragon. Sentient beings other than humans were affected just the same. In the Hero's party, Sif's older sister had once accidentally killed a human. Crushed by guilt, she slowly developed a mental affliction, swinging between sanity and madness. During one of her bouts of madness, she was corrupted by the Demonic Dragon's influence and ultimately transformed into one of its minions. She slaughtered not only Sif's mother, but dozens of patrolling elves as well, before vanishing to follow the Demonic Dragon. Sif had joined the party to slay her own sister, which was why she marched to subjugate the Calamity Demonic Dragon. "It seems Lord Newton is remarkably powerful," Sif said solemnly after examining the corpses of the minions. These minions appeared to have been kobolds. Kobolds were naturally obsessed with serving dragons. Where any rational member of another race would loathe and revile the Demonic Dragon, kobolds were the exception: they cared nothing for what they might become. So long as they could follow a dragon, they willingly embraced whatever hideous monstrosity they were warped into. Upon becoming dragon minions, kobolds received a massive boost in physical strength. Razor-sharp claws sprouted from their limbs, and their chests burned with searing heat, granting them the ability to spew superheated gas akin to a dragon's breath. Luo Wei and the others certainly had the strength to defeat kobolds, but never with such ease—it would take at least three or four exchanges to bring one down. Further down the path, Luo Wei and the others discovered even more corpses of the Demonic Dragon's minions, every one slain in a single stroke. Only now did they truly grasp how immensely powerful Yu Xian was. Realizing that the minions along the path had likely all been cleared out by him, their pace unconsciously quickened. Around dusk, the party suddenly caught the sound of fighting in the distance. "Could it be Lord Newton?" Carmen murmured, gazing into the dim forest and listening to the clash of battle. "Come on, let's take a look!" Luo Wei said after a moment's thought. Yu Xian had slaughtered every previous enemy in a single strike. What kind of foe could actually trade blows back and forth with him? Though nobody said it aloud, everyone was already bracing themselves to back Yu Xian up.