Black Sail
Chapter 309: CCCIX. Dragon Slaying Squad

Chapter 309: CCCIX. Dragon Slaying Squad

Eternal Sect Ruins.

Gold Seekers came to make money; there was no need to risk their lives. After all, there were madmen who didn’t care about dying to wade in the water. Why not wait for others to go first, and then pick up an easy spot? Isn’t that pleasant?

However, if everyone thought this way, they would reach a deadlock.

Liszt lit a cigarette. After all, seeing is believing. He led the exploration troop toward the scorched land area mentioned by the Gold Seekers, twenty li ahead.

But the result was far beyond Liszt’s imagination.

This was an extremely broad expanse of rubble, without a single tree, the heavens overcast, pouring rain falling.

This wasn’t rubble in the traditional sense.

After verification by geologists under Celeste’s command, this vast expanse of open rubble plain had all formed from soil vitrification under extremely high temperatures.

Many black charcoal stones had indeed been found. It seemed this place was a forbidden zone on the island; no living creatures existed nearby.

They had also, as they hoped, discovered two gigantic claw marks, each more than three meters in width, that had sunk several dozen centimeters into the rubble, compressing it as if it were a single piece.

"Fuck, I don’t want to play anymore."

Mika immediately began to beat a retreat. With Fafna’s simple-minded appearance, there wasn’t much hope of her going on a killing spree. The situation now looked like it involved a genuine dragon capable of reducing the land to scorched earth.

All five of Celeste’s subordinates were looking at her, waiting for her to make a decision.

Adult dragons were different from young dragons; they held no utilitarian value and had to be slaughtered.

She hesitated, mainly because there was no intelligence on what type of dragon it was, nor whether it was in a dormant or awakened state.

Liszt picked up a charcoal stone and fiddled with it in his hand, his gaze drifting toward the direction of the Central Temple.

He deeply inhaled a puff of smoke. One of the reasons he had survived until now was that he always kept himself in an appropriate position and never issued orders that couldn’t be executed.

Once an arrangement came from Liszt’s mouth, it would certainly be carried out.

If he were to roll up his sleeves and fucking go in now, nobody would follow. The exploration team was composed of Taylor’s men; they were not his loyal followers, and they had no reason to risk their lives along with him.

Sensing an anxious atmosphere throughout the troop, with many already thinking of retreating, nobody would joke with their lives.

Naturally, Liszt couldn’t order them to advance.

But it’s known that that fucking Doringger is still advancing, how could he fall behind?

Surrounded by crises, waiting for the Dragon Seeking Team, the train task force, Mu Ran No.2 to show up, crisis would follow upon crisis. If he hadn’t even moved into a castle, then it would be over.

"You all stay here. No, this place isn’t safe either. Everyone fall back to the previous ruins of the settlement, and wait for me to return."

Liszt readied his leather armor and took out leg guards from his pack to put on.

Legs were more critical than hands. If he lost a hand, he could still fit a fucking hook or something. But a limp leg would mean he couldn’t run or fight people.

"I shit you not, this is no joke."

Shadi grabbed Liszt. It was the 27th century, and he’s still playing the solitary hero? Pretend cripple Fafna was in Heaven Port, where there were real cripples.

Celeste blinked her blue eyes. The guy was tough, but was that thing something he could handle alone?

Liszt became more rational after being stopped. The Junlin Sword could slice through anything with extreme horror spell power contained within its blade. It wouldn’t be surprising if it could one-shot a dragon too.

Because of the unique properties of the Junlin Sword, Liszt hardly experimented with it and suddenly regretted it. He should have used the Junlin Sword to chop up those fucking Mu Rans—an excellent opportunity for experimentation wasted.

To this day, Liszt didn’t know whether the Junlin Sword couldn’t cut through him because of some legend from beyond the heavens or some other reason.

It turned out that Fen had success in using a resurrected corpse to chop with it since it was already dead; it was only extremely sharp and wasn’t blown to ash by the cursed power.

"It’s okay, today I have to see the Temple, even if there is a dragon, I’ll teach it how to be human."

Liszt pondered that if Fafna could transform into a human form, other dragons likely had the same ability. They were capable of judgment, of thought. "You must be very lonely staying here all by yourself," he thought, "I should introduce you to a little companion, and when the time comes, find seven more dragons and it will be like having nine dragons... pulling..."

He suddenly felt this was a bit ominous. Damn.

"I’ll go with you," said Haywood. Given his sensitive identity, if he were to enter the mainland, he’d surely become a target for all, even for an undying body like his, it wouldn’t be good.

It was rumored that the current Pope of the Eternal Sect was extremely mysterious, having never shown his face in public, not even privately. Even during the annual festivals, he wore a magnificent mask made of platinum. It was said that he was a supreme magician, his Great Power penetrating the secrets of the universe.

Whether others believed it or not, Haywood did.

One had to be careful at every step, firmly establish an intelligence network in the East Sea, and follow the "Demon God Command."

The strength of Da Gun, infused through the boundless void into him, meant that in solo combat, he was undying.

Liszt was moved to tears. His insistence against all opinions hadn’t been a waste; Brother Hai was stepping up.

"F*ck."

Seeing that Haywood, the latecomer aboard, was going to go, Shadi felt like an idiot for not going.

"You don’t need to go; the main force still needs someone to watch over it. You and Mika stay here. I’ll go with... Brother Hai and take a look," Liszt said calmly, planning a wild rampage with Haywood.

"You were about to say ’tool man,’ weren’t you?" Haywood said dryly. He didn’t really mind; he was used to it. But the sudden change of words made it sound sarcastic, which made him a little uncomfortable.

"Since you put it that way, I’ll build you a magnificent tomb if you die," Shadi said seriously.

"My hair?"

Liszt was bewildered.

"It’s said to be a shareholding system, but the new election round is also an issue. If you die, there’ll be many problems. How about appointing someone to take over now? That way, your... ’last wish’ can be fulfilled."

Mika leaned back in a tactical position.

"God damn ’last wish.’ In the past, Emperors rose by slaying dragons; now I, Liszt, will become... a Dragon-Taming Warrior!"

Liszt swore fiercely, though this was just a metaphor. Taming in this sense meant taking care of the dragons.

He didn’t foresee any problems; Haywood couldn’t die, acting as a hate-sink and tank, while he could just slip away when the timing was right. Since he boasted about being undying and invincible, let him take the lead.

After some thought, Celeste decided that sneaking in secretly with just three people shouldn’t be too difficult; it was time to show "loyalty."

Liszt had made it clear that he was willing to share secrets, but it had to be a two-way street; Celeste and the others would need to submit an Oath of Loyalty, thereby joining Black Sail as core members.

"You five stay put here. Boss Li, I’ll go with you," Celeste said calmly, quite confident in her abilities. Of course, not to slay dragons, but getting out of a tight spot shouldn’t be too big of an issue.

This surprised Liszt; the woman had some guts.

"While being a Gold Level adventurer is great, don’t crowd the scene. I’m short on technical staff right now."

Liszt was actually expressing concern for their well-being; skilled academics were rare. While more common inland, finding them in the East Sea was like searching for a phoenix feather or a unicorn horn; just having elementary education could make one boast of fluorescent decay daring to compete with the bright moon, resulting in a chilling cackle.

"Didn’t I tell you? I just haven’t gone for a rank assessment yet. I might even hold up against... Heroic Level for a couple of moves," Celeste joked, though in reality, she was capable of much more than just Heroic Level.

"Ah?"

Liszt was speechless. You really know how to brag, don’t you? Weber, clad in hundreds of pounds of armor and picking up a feat like Fen’s examination, that’s Heroic Level material. You’re skinny and slender; you’d be done in instantly, what’s there to boast about?