Alien world

Chapter 1886, Section 519: Reencounter with the Black Pearl

Annan was caught up in the atmosphere and joined in the off-key chorus.

After he finished singing, Frank invited Annan to say something.

Annan stood up, glanced at Fermi standing to the side, and deliberately shouted, "The ratmen must be eradicated at any time; we can't afford not to!"

"Imagine this: you're farming and singing in your territory, and suddenly it's all destroyed by the ratmen."

"Therefore, days without rats are good days!"

The soldiers burst into laughter, and even Fermi, who had been keeping a straight face, smiled slightly. Only a few resistance fighters didn't know what was so funny.

As the laughter subsided, Annan's relaxed expression vanished, replaced by a solemn tone: "Three years... Three years ago, we were forced to leave our hometown and flee to the Central Plains to recuperate and start a new life. The shadows of the past are fading away."

"We instinctively forget the pain of the past... but the ratmen have no intention of letting us go!"

The atmosphere on the mountain gradually became heavy, with only the crackling of the campfire echoing continuously, illuminating the soldiers' sculpted faces.

The warriors who wanted to win had no smiles on their faces.

"We take a step back, they take a step forward; we take two steps back, they take two steps forward! The ratmen's desires are insatiable, and cowardice will not bring peace!"

"Therefore, we must drive them out, drive them to the other side of the snowy mountains! Let the ratmen disappear from the northern border!"

"Invincible!"

Annan took Fermi's sidearm and fired a shot into the sky.

boom--

Gunshots echoed across the mountaintop, and under the cover of night, a dark figure was seen plunging headfirst into the distant, indistinct mountains.

Annan was startled. Had I accidentally hit the reconnaissance airship?
Fortunately, no soldiers noticed. Annan returned the gun to Fermi and asked what was going on with the reconnaissance airship.

The scout knight said it looked like a dragon had fallen into the Gray Mountain Range.

Such a coincidence?
"Are you sure?"

Annan, realizing something, pressed for an answer.

The goblins chattered and said that they were so frightened by the dragon's might that they wet themselves, to prove that it was indeed a giant dragon.

Let's rewind to two days ago.

When Philosopher's siblings were updating the legion's formation progress as usual, they mentioned that Annan's lover was being hunted down.

Annan did nothing all day; his elder sister handled all his affairs and daily correspondence. After receiving the letter, Italia summoned Annan and asked him which of his lovers was in the North.

"My lover?" Annan looked puzzled.

Don't you remember?

Italia assumed that Annan didn't know what she was talking about, but in reality, Annan was thinking about one of his lovers.

Could it be a black pearl?

The eldest sister wrote back to ask what happened, and it turned out to be a black pearl.

The story begins with Black Pearl losing to the Rat King:

Refusing the offer of a vice-legion commander from the McKennen clan, Black Pearl went out to find the murderer who had absconded with her money and found Annan.

Although she suspected that Annan had run off with the money, Black Pearl had no evidence and was afraid of damaging her image, so she had no choice but to leave and look for a new dowry to marry Annan.

It is well known that ratmen also plunder property to trade with other groups. It is also well known that dragons have a natural sense for treasure, so they can always pinpoint gold mines and build their nests there.

Black Pearl found digging for gold too slow; she preferred quick profits. So, while aimlessly making a fortune in the North, she encountered a pack of elite rats escorting their plundered treasure back to their clan.

Logically speaking, as long as she was clean enough, the ratmen wouldn't be able to find her.

Unfortunately, even though Black Pearl cleaned the crime scene three times, it was still witnessed by the ratmen and the news was reported back to the clan.

Black Pearl stirred up a hornet's nest, turning from an "ally of the Chaos forces" into a "despised enemy of the ratmen," and was hunted down everywhere. Then, her siblings, Philos, who were gathering the ratmen, found out and told Annan.

It seems it's time for a hero to save the dragon!

With that in mind, Annan sent his spies across the northern border to search for any trace of the Black Pearl.

His visit to the front lines to comfort the soldiers was just a spur-of-the-moment idea; he never expected to run into Black Pearl by chance.

"Take me there!"

Annan immediately said, "Black Widow, have the Retribution Legion stand by and prepare to support me."

Evelyn tried to follow, but Annan refused. Black Widow also tried to follow, but Annan refused again.

Watching Annan hurriedly board the Behemoth and head towards the direction where the Black Dragon had fallen, Black Widow hugged her ample bosom and said with displeasure, "There's something going on."

Evelyn's eyes nearly sank in: "No way, she could have a lover from Annam in the middle of nowhere?"

Black Widow raised a finger and poked Evelyn's forehead: "Little sister, never underestimate a warlock's social circle."

……

The Behemoth took an hour to reach the site where the black dragon crashed, but it was too late. All that remained on the ground were the marks left by the dragon and the corpses of rats.

The behemoth descended, and Annan tore open the scroll, cast a feather spell on himself, and flipped out of the airship to land on the ground.

There was no trace of dragon breath, and blood-stained dragon scales were scattered everywhere. Annan jumped into the end of the plowed-out tunnel, picked up a scattered scale, and found that the scale, which could be used as a breastplate, was pitted and covered with traces of fel energy corrosion, indicating that its owner was in poor condition.

The black dragon scales, combined with the corruption of evil energy, almost certainly confirm that the black dragon is the Black Pearl.

Annan looked around but couldn't find any surviving rats, though there was a clear trail of them crawling and being dragged away.

The reconnaissance airship that arrived earlier also said that the dragon landed and never rose again, confirming that it was still in the area and had not left.

Annan raised the Behemoth to avoid being accidentally injured by the stressed Black Pearl, while he followed the trail left by the Black Pearl and circled around in the valley, finally stopping in front of a cave.

The crawling tracks disappeared outside the cave, indicating that the heavily injured Black Pearl had clearly hidden inside.

Annan felt an immense pang of heartache at the thought of the once powerful and arrogant Black Pearl, severely injured in the Ratman's capital, hiding deep in a cold, dark cave, her beautiful, battered body curled up and trembling.

My Black Dragon Princess, wait for me!
……

The light from the magic lamp spread outwards, striking the damp, irregular rock face and reflecting the water's shimmer.

It was clear that the cave was somewhat narrow for Black Pearl's enormous size; the sharp edges of the rock walls had been smoothed out, but some protruding rocks were scraped with sticky dragon blood.

Besides these, there were also the corpses of ratmen. They had been squeezed into a pancake by the black dragon that had forced its way in, and the thin layer of them clung to the rock wall like a mural, which looked quite horrifying.

As they ventured deeper into the cave, Annan also discovered the presence of elite rats. Their fate was no better than that of the slave rats; they were embedded in the rock walls, armor and all. Perhaps, after a long period of geological activity, an iron ore deposit would eventually form here.

After going about two hundred meters deeper, a fork in the road appeared before us.

The scratch marks on the black pearl appeared on the right, but Annan's sorcerer intuition told him that the presence that attracted him was on the left.

(End of this chapter)