Chapter 14: The Cave

Watching the trees nearby ignite from the falling fireballs, Victoria couldn’t help but recall what Linde had said earlier. She complained angrily, “They must live in this canyon too. To attack us, they burned down their own home.”

Linde glanced back when he had a moment and saw many of the red creatures burying their heads into the river, seemingly drawing water into their bellies. Then, several jets of high-pressure water sprayed toward the burning trees, extinguishing the flames.

He couldn’t help but praise, “You have to admit, these guys aren’t fools; they’re actually quite smart.”

“Now’s not the time to compliment our enemies!” Victoria wailed. “With so many trees gone, they’ll spot us right away!”

“Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

Suddenly stopping in his tracks, Linde covered his right eye and solemnly recited toward the direction of their pursuers, “Mist, obscure the eyes of my enemies, hinder their steps in pursuit of truth!”

[Weather Command Activated]

[Creates fog within a one-kilometer radius around the target area, reducing visibility.]

[Reputation points consumed: 10]

There was no need to shout any incantations; simply visualizing the target area and weather effect in his mind and confirming the consumption of reputation points would activate the command.

If the available reputation points were insufficient for the command, it would cast the weather effect on the minimum possible area corresponding to the points held.

Linde only uttered the phrase to enhance the atmosphere. Having spent reputation points, it would be dull not to say something.

Victoria’s pupils contracted as she noticed the change behind them.

“What kind of magic is that? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

[Reputation points +5]

Linde hadn’t expected to regain half of the points he had just spent, but he had no time to explain further and quickly said, “I’ll explain later. The fog won’t hold them off for long.”

“Quack quack!” With Shirona’s joyful cry, they successfully entered a nearby cave.

The entrance wasn’t very large; Victoria had to hunch her shoulders to squeeze inside.

The trees and thriving bushes beside the cave provided a natural layer of camouflage.

If one wasn’t paying close attention, the entrance might easily be overlooked.

After walking a dozen steps deeper, the cave began to widen; besides bare stone and moss, small mineral fragments started appearing.

Stalagmites protruded from the ceiling, with water droplets occasionally dripping from their tips, striking the ground with crisp “plop” sounds.

“The air here is quite humid... and—”

Linde licked his thumb and pointed toward different forked paths ahead.

When he indicated the rightmost path, a faint chill spread from his fingertip.

His intuition was correct—there was a subtle breeze.

“There’s likely a large chamber inside, with other exits. We can look around.”

“Alright.”

Victoria responded absentmindedly.

After hesitating, she shared her thoughts with Linde.

“Linde, those red lizard-like creatures must be red salamanders. They spit fireballs, which matches what Shirona described.”

“I thought you already knew what they were.”

“I’m not a dragon encyclopedia. Anything related to dragons, I can’t possibly know it all.”

“Fair enough. I was thinking of asking you if I didn’t understand a creature.”

Linde joked.

“By the way, did you notice the red salamanders have three pairs of gill-like things on the sides of their heads? They’re a bit like that pink little one we met.”

“Hmm, a tiny little thing and those huge fierce lizards definitely aren’t the same species.”

Victoria’s words paused as a thought struck her.

“Wait! Did we lose that little guy?”

“Uh, it was so hectic back then, there was no time to care. Maybe it’s been cooked into a red-braised fish block or dried into a fish jerky by now.”

“Linde!”

Victoria grabbed a handful of Linde’s hair with her mouth and gave him a playful tug.

“Ptooey, ptooey... you deserve that.”

“Tsk, you’re ruthless.”

“America~”

When the familiar voice echoed again inside the cave, both humans and dragons froze for a moment.

The little cutie clinging tightly to Victoria’s tail slowly stretched out a leg, tentatively touching the ground, then shifted its entire body down.

“Hello~”

Linde felt its chirp was perfectly fitting.

Sighing, he thought, since we’re here, might as well take it along.

The cave grew darker the further they went; accidentally hurting the little fellow would be terrible.

Linde carefully scooped it onto his palm, keeping it within sight.

“Let’s give it a name. I vote for Invincible Redfish.”

By now, Victoria had grown used to Linde’s nonsense.

She pondered for a moment and decided on a simpler name based on its appearance.

“How about Pinkie?”

“Chirp.”

Shirona gave an approving sound.

“Two votes to one. Pinkie it is.”

“Such a dark plot...”

Linde mused.

“America!”

Suddenly, Pinkie emitted a different, urgent call.

Just as Linde braced himself, sensing some great danger ahead, a violent pounding came from the cave entrance behind them.

At this point, anyone coming for them had to be the red salamander pack.

Despite the fog’s delay, they had still managed to pinpoint this location.

Based on his earlier guess, Pinkie must have some connection to them.

But there was no need to tell Victoria for now.

Other than worrying the young dragons, it would serve no purpose.

“Let’s run deeper. We can’t afford to waste time.”

“Mm-hmm!”

Shortly after entering the rightmost passage, the loud crashes at the entrance grew more frequent, as more red salamanders took turns ramming the narrow cave mouth.

At the same time, a glowing blue underground river appeared before their eyes.

After running along the bank for several minutes, a hopeless reality confronted them:

It was a dead end.

A solid, thick rock wall blocked their way.

There shouldn’t be, Linde thought stubbornly—there’s wind, so there must be flow.

Beside him, Victoria stomped her foot in frustration and asked dejectedly, “Linde, how cooked do you think we’ll get?”