Legends: The Emerald World

After having their meal and resting for an hour, the group slowly crawled out of the cave, still pained by the cold. "Do we need to use the river?" The old prisoner asked, his bones were already killing him from the cold.

The captain stared back at him, "We don't need, we must. If the dragon sniffed us out, we'd be dead." He growled, annoyed at the foolish question.

"You bastard." The large prisoner, "But you're damn right." He looked at the old man he was carrying, "We must push through the river."

Ase looked back at Shin who was on her back, "What do you think?"

Shin knew that the best option was to swim through the river to avoid the dragon's sense of smell, but if this kept going, he'd die in hours from the cold. His starved body wouldn't have enough energy to generate heat.

"The river is our best option, but both I and the old man would die of cold." Shin mumbled with his shaking blue lips.

"I see, but we'll take the river." The captain looked back at him, "We've no other choice."

"Then count me out." Ase stopped walking, "I've got no reason to follow you if Shin is to die." She glared at the captain for a second and then her eyes shifted toward the large prisoner, her claws extending out.

So she and Shin could survive, she must make sure the dragon chases the captain and the large prisoner. Wounding them is the quickest and simplest way.

The captain reached for his sword, but he couldn't comfortably swing it in the middle of this thick forest. Ase has the advantage in a close-quarter fight, and even if she is to run, he can't chase her as the trees would get in his way. Inside the forest, the beasts have the advantage.

"Got another idea beside the river?" He asked Shin. He remember that he said the river was the best option, which meant he knew of other options or at least had an idea.

Ase won't go down without a fight, and so everything is now hanging on Shin's idea, if it's something they can follow all together, they'll survive, if not, they'll die.

"This forest can mask our smells." Shin looked around at the trees and thick vegetation. It's like hiding a small piece of meat in a sack full of aromatic herbs, you'll never smell the meat."

The captain looked up at the top of the massive oak trees, Shin's words were right, the forest should mask their smell, and after swimming for a long time, the dragon shouldn't know where to start looking for them in the forest.

"Aren't dragons known to burn forests?" The large prisoner looked between the captain and Shin, "He'll burn the whole place down."

"Dragons aren't stupid." Shin mumbled.

"They are known to do that, but it's quite rare. Dragons usually avoid burning forests for several reasons." The captain looked around, "This forest is probably not one that a dragon would burn."

"Dragons are beasts." Ase explained with her eyes still fixed on the captain's blade, "This forest is too large which means it's a central piece of the region's ecosystem. Dragons hunt in their territory and rarely venture out."

Shin smiled, "Since the dragon was playing around in the fort, that means this land is a part of his territory, he won't burn a forest in his backyard."

Dragons only burn forests when fighting outside their territory, especially when they are trying to kill another dragon.

"Yeah, he won't…" Shin slowly turned his head and looked back, "It's down."

"What's down?" The captain asked, following Shin's eyes across the river's side.

"The fort, it's melted down to the ground."

Their faces paled and they rushed deep into the forest, they didn't have time to decide, the dragon must be on their trail.

"Where is that bastard? I can't see him flying." The large prisoner growled.

"Dragons can change the color of their scales. When flying in the sky they change color to match the sky and clouds." The captain explained, "We would've sniped him with a ballista had we seen him approach the fort."

"Such a massive monster, you must've at least heard it coming." the large prisoner listened carefully, but he could hear nothing but the wind rustling the oak branches.

Ase was the one to speak next, "Dragon fly as silently as owls. Their bat-like wings are soft and filled with scales to dampen the noise."

They knew a lot about dragons, but Shin knew more, the dragon god was his friend after all. Dragons can change color better than any reptilian or octopus, making them practically invisible. They only need to sleep once a decade and can do it while flying. They can breathe water just as they do air, and they don't have a problem surviving a the bottom of the sea or tens of miles beneath he surface of the ground.

Excellent swimmers, diggers, climbers, fliers, and on top of that masters of survival and endurance, Dragons are known as an all-terrain-assault monsters. It's the last thing you want chasing you as their hunting success rate is nearly perfect.

Then how do you defeat such a monster? What Shin had experienced the hard way in the past is that to kill a dragon you'll need at least ten cultivators of different fighting styles, all are at least two realms above the dragon they want to hunt. That would give them a 50/50 chance of winning a direct fight.

For him and Ase to survive, he needs to exploit the dragon's biggest weakness. Shin looked down at Ase's legs, seeing that she was stepping on the soft dirt. As Ase took a step forward, he looked at her footprint, seeing a dead ant.

Even after knocking him down, the dragon probably only sees them as ants with a painful sting. And even humans struggle to notice every ant they step on. Dragons underestimate other creatures a lot, and they especially underestimate the humanoid's survival ability.

The ant that Ase stepped on suddenly started moving, and it quickly crawled away.

"Ase…" Shin whispered in Ase's ear, "From now on, do what I tell you. Don't Ask questions, just follow orders, every second matter."