Red Dragon Monster Hunter Template.

"I understand, I'm just a little unwilling to accept it..."

Erola glared resentfully at the red dragon hatchling on the ground, her clenched fists turning her knuckles pale from the force.

Just then, a calm voice suddenly rang out, interrupting their conversation.

"Excuse me, I think I've made a new discovery!"

The speaker was a middle-aged centaur with a brown body, long hair, and a thick beard.

He wasn't carrying many weapons, or even wearing armor; he was simply holding a spear, and his eyes were emitting a faint white light.

"Wow—!"

A sharp bird cry suddenly pierced the sky; it was a peregrine falcon circling a thousand meters above the ground.

Its eyes, like those of the middle-aged centaur, emitted a soft white light, as if the two were sharing vision.

Chapter Fourteen: Escape

The middle-aged centaur led the group up a distant earthen slope, pointed to the fallen grass at the top of the slope, and spoke.

"Look here, here, and over here, there are clear crushing marks. And look at these long, wavy lines, what do they look like?"

A centaur with snowflake-like markings trotted its forehooves, pondered for a moment, and then spoke with a hint of uncertainty in its voice.

"It looks like it was left by a snake. Judging from the thickness of the marks, the snake must have been quite large."

"Snakes don't have claws."

The middle-aged centaur shook his head, his strong forelimbs slightly bent, causing his entire upper body to lean forward.

He used his spear to push aside the fallen grass, revealing several neat, long scratches on the dry soil below, as if they had been made by some animal.

"It's at least some kind of large lizard, or rather..."

The image of the captured red hatchling flashed through Lunaris's mind, and an incredulous look appeared on his face as he exclaimed in surprise.

"It's those red dragon cubs. How did they end up near the camp?"

The middle-aged centaur shook his head; this was also something he wanted to understand.

"I don't know! Maybe they're looking for an opportunity to retaliate, or maybe they just happened to be passing by. In any case, we should prepare as soon as possible."

Immediately afterwards, he whistled, and a sharp cry of an eagle rang out in the sky.

After circling once, the agile peregrine falcon chose a direction and quickly disappeared into the distant horizon.

“I will have my animal companions try to find them, but that’s not enough; we need to mobilize more members.”

Lunaris nodded, indicating that he understood, and with his command, more centaurs scattered in all directions like a tide.

Judging from the marks left on the ground, it was just a fledgling dragon about the same size as that dragon beast, and an ordinary centaur warrior should be able to handle it.

True dragons with complete dragon lineages like these could fetch astronomical prices if captured, whether sold to dark elves or tower wizards.

…………

Thor, who was fast asleep, suddenly opened his eyes. His transparent eyelids blocked the dirt falling from above, and his nostrils were filled with the damp, earthy smell.

A sudden, inexplicable unease welled up inside him, and he was completely unable to fall asleep.

Using the tiny bump on the tip of my nose to push aside the loose soil covering me, I carefully poked my head out from underground. What came into view was still the wilderness under the bright sun, with a few clumps of tumbleweeds being blown by the wind, rolling from east to west, looking peaceful.

Am I just overthinking things?

Thor shook the dust off his head; in any case, he wasn't going to sleep any longer.

He leaped out of the ground, flicked his tail, and slapped it twice at the still-sleeping Sistana and Kalp.

"You two lazy pigs, get up! It's time to keep going."

The sudden, intense pain caused the two young dragons to let out a scream, leaping up from the ground and glaring angrily at Thor.

"Weren't we supposed to travel at night? The sun's so bright now, what's wrong with you?"

"Damn it! I ran all night yesterday, I need to rest now, rest, understand?"

Thor didn't bother arguing with his foolish siblings, so he just silently grinned, stretched out a paw, made a fist, and shook it vigorously.

Sistana and Kalp were instantly deflated, like wilted eggplants, and could only humiliatingly obey orders.

After glancing at the notification below that his mental energy essence fragments had increased, Thor led the two hatchlings and continued jogging in the direction he had chosen the night before.

Red is so striking under the sunlight that there is no more vibrant color in nature.

This meant that Thor and his companions had to carefully conceal themselves as they traveled, and immediately find a place to hide at the slightest sign of trouble.

Phew——!

A sharp cry came from the sky. He looked up and saw an unknown bird circling high in the air, probably looking for prey such as rabbits or field mice.

This was a very common sight in the wilderness, so Thor didn't pay it any mind.

After running for another ten kilometers, the sky finally began to darken, and the young dragons decided to stop for their hunt.

Dragon crystals can provide ample energy, to some extent satisfying the survival needs of true dragons.

However, they are still fledgling dragons, and their bodies are in a period of rapid development. They need a lot of organic and inorganic matter to synthesize flesh and bones, which is something that dragon crystals cannot provide.

Thor and his friends were lucky today; they found a wild boar in the wilderness without much trouble.

This is a creature that looks like a warthog, slightly smaller than a wild boar that lives in the forest, but with thicker fur and sharper tusks, making it very dangerous to ordinary people.

But for young dragons, especially the red dragons known for their strength, this is not a difficult prey to deal with.

Sistana and Culp flanked the boar from both sides, while Thor went to meet it head-on and took it down in a single exchange.

What followed was naturally a sumptuous feast, and the faint smell of blood quickly filled the air.

Thor was enjoying the fattest part of the meal when, at one point, he suddenly looked up and stared sharply behind him.

That sense of unease rose from the bottom of my heart again, even stronger than ever before.

A wisp of smoke appeared on the distant horizon, and his keen hearing gradually led him to the thunderous sound of horses' hooves.

Something is coming, and it looks like there's quite a lot of it.

This discovery startled Thor, who swung his paw and slammed it on the heads of Sistana and Kalp, who were still eating, and roared.

"Damn it! Stop eating! Run!"

After saying that, before the two baby dragons could react, he spread his limbs and flew away, skimming the ground.

At this stage, it certainly cannot take off. The young dragon's body is not yet fully developed, and its flight speed in the air will not be much faster than that of ordinary birds, about 50 to 60 kilometers per hour.

Ordinary horses can run at almost the same speed, not to mention centaurs, which are magical creatures and would be even faster.

Once airborne, without the cover of grass, it will be immediately exposed.

If any of those centaurs were high-level professionals, they would probably be caught up in an instant.

…………

"Damn it! The terrain here is all flat wasteland. If we were in the mountains or forests, we would have escaped long ago."

The intense running made Thor feel his heart pounding, and with each contraction and squeeze, he could pump out nearly a liter of blood.

After flowing through the basal vessels, this blood combines with the magical elements inhaled into the body, carrying away harmful substances from the muscles that cause fatigue, while providing a continuous source of power.

However, centaurs are also a race that is extremely good at running. Thor felt that the sound of hooves coming from behind him not only did not get quieter, but actually seemed to be getting louder.

He immediately realized that it was probably impossible to shake off his pursuers simply by speed; he had to think of another way.

Chapter Fifteen: Another Draw

Using a large patch of dense bushes as cover, Thor and his two young dragons suddenly veered to the left, deviating from their original route, intending to shake off the centaurs that were hot on their heels.

Unexpectedly, those guys seemed to have precognition, changing their course a step ahead, which actually brought the two sides closer together.

This unusual situation instantly made Thor's heart sink.

Even if the centaurs behind them were all experienced hunters who could deduce their whereabouts from the clues they left behind, there should still be a process of observation.

But these guys seemed to have X-ray vision; it was as if my every move was under their watchful eyes.

Several subsequent changes in direction further confirmed Thor's suspicions.

Just as he was racking his brains trying to figure it out, a cry of an eagle suddenly came from above, splitting the fog in his mind like lightning.

It's that feathered beast flying in the sky! I thought it was just an ordinary wild animal before, but now I realize it must be a falcon tamed by the centaurs.

Thor glanced up at the sky and, sure enough, a tiny black dot hovered above them as the sky gradually darkened.

This made him clench his dragon teeth, making a crunching sound, wishing he could immediately take to the air and burn the falcon to ashes in one gulp.

Unfortunately, the young dragon's body was not fully developed, and its flight altitude and speed were far inferior to those of these birds of prey, which were born to fly.

Only when they enter adolescence and awaken various magical abilities will it be possible to capture these agile creatures.

Seeing that things seemed to have reached a dead end, Thor's heart gradually calmed down.

Because it was almost completely dark, and most birds cannot see clearly in the dark.

This means they are about to escape the centaurs' surveillance, and at their current speed, the centaurs have no chance of catching up with them before nightfall.

Sure enough, as the sky grew darker, the peregrine falcon's eyes, naturally evolved for strong light, became almost blind, and it could no longer see objects on the ground.

Moreover, its hearing system was already extremely poor, making it not only slow to react but also unable to pinpoint locations accurately, so it could only reluctantly begin its descent.

…………

The shimmering white light in the middle-aged centaur's eyes quickly faded, and he wearily raised his right hand to catch his falling animal companion.

Then, he took out some fresh mutton cut into thin strips and fed it to the peregrine falcon to replenish its energy.

"These three fledglings have incredibly sharp senses. They were detected before we even got close. They're nothing like the reckless red dragons; they're more like cunning green dragons."

Lunaris gazed at the dark wilderness ahead, speaking with some emotion, as he gradually slowed his pace and finally came to a complete stop.

Centaurs don't have good dark vision to begin with, and they don't have the same formidable stamina as true dragons.

Although he himself didn't feel too tired thanks to his own strength, the other centaurs were almost at their limit after running at high speed for a long time.

Arora, with her crimson horse body, strolled to Lunaris's side, her tight leather armor outlining her beautiful curves, and a short bow and quiver slung over her back.

She raised her forelegs and slammed them heavily on the ground. Sparks flew as the hard horseshoes collided with the stones, and she said with a hint of resentment:

"Are we just going to let them get away like this?"

Lunaris shook his head, the night wind ruffling his long hair like dancing tassels.

"We didn't see the mother red dragon. These three hatchlings seem to have been abandoned. I'll have the rangers spread out and search the surrounding area. They can't escape..."

…………

"Damn it! It's finally stopped!"

"Those four-legged bastards, one day I will burn them all to ashes!"

After noticing that the centaurs behind them had stopped chasing, the three young dragons also hid behind a protruding rock, taking the opportunity to catch their breath.

Sistana and Culp were so tired that their tongues were sticking out, looking like fat dogs that had just been walked in the summer.

Thor was in slightly better condition. His physical strength was already much stronger than that of the two hatchlings, and the vitality he gained after loading the pterosaur template further stimulated his deep bloodline, producing a wonderful change.

He glanced at the huge wheel in his mind; the balance behind his mental energy essence had reached 8 points again, thanks to the contributions of Sistana and Kalp.

Thor didn't hesitate to exchange for a dragon crystal, and just like before, he threw it onto the rock behind him, shattering it into many pieces. He casually picked up two pieces and tossed them to Sistana and Karp.

The sudden cracking sound attracted the attention of the two fledgling dragons. Seeing the flying fragments of the "magic crystal," they pounced on them like vicious dogs fighting for food.

After clutching the fragments tightly to her chest, she looked at Thor, who was devouring them, with red eyes.

"Damn it! Just how many magic crystals have you hidden?!"

"Could it be that a vein of magical crystals has been discovered?"