Chương 67: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 67 - Planting Potatoes

In a newly excavated cavern not far from the Dragon's Nest. A group of Sakura Island players woke from their dazed stupor one by one, eyes snapping open to find a ring of ferocious Gnolls looming over them, each one over two meters tall, each one bearing the [Strong] prefix hovering above their heads.

"Yo. You. Awake?"

"Move, wall, now. Hands up!" Grey Wolf grabbed a player by the throat, shoved him against the rock face, and ordered him to raise his hands.

"Damned monsters! We, will not yield!"

"That is right, that is right! We, are the Emperor's people! Samurai spirit!" The Sakura Island players weren't afraid at all. Every one of them was yelling with righteous indignation, like martyrs freshly thrown into a POW camp.

"Hope, later, your mouths, are still this tough." Grey Wolf regarded the group with cold eyes. Since they weren't cooperating, fine. It turned to the Gnolls and Kobolds flanking it and gave the order:"Go. Pin them." The pack surged forward in a wave, seizing the weak and feeble human players, pressing down on their arms and necks until no one could move an inch. But not everything went smoothly. A panicked shout rang out from somewhere nearby.

"Chief! This one — we can't hold her!" Grey Wolf looked toward the sound. One of its Gnolls had been flipped clean off its feet by a female human who stood a solid 1. 9 meters of pure muscle. Said female human had a fat male human slung across her back and was already charging for the cave exit, knocking Kobolds out of her path as she went.

"Motono-kun, I will get you out of here!" Inoue Orihime declared this as she plowed through another two Kobolds. Her eyes burned with unwavering resolve and the fire of love. By her reckoning, she and Motono-kun had now faced death together. That practically demanded a marriage certificate and a hundred children. She would make the whole world bear witness to their great love.

"... Cough — just kill me. Please." Haruta Motono, rattled half to death across her shoulder, offered this trembling suggestion. They hadn't actually been captured trying to rescue anyone. They'd simply had the rotten luck of stumbling into these particular monsters.

"Motono-kun, I will not let you die." Haruta Motono: "..." They were nearly at the exit when Grey Wolf stepped into Inoue Orihime's path. All two and a half meters of it. CLAP! Grey Wolf slammed its fists together in front of its chest, twisted its wrists until they cracked, then rolled its neck through a full rotation that fired off a burst of pops like frying seeds. Then it raised one knee, balancing perfectly on a single foot.

One wolf-claw came up to guard its face, elbow jutting forward like a blade pointed straight at Inoue Orihime. The other claw beckoned. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Picture the Blind Monk's Muay Thai poster. That was the pose. That was exactly the pose. Inoue Orihime's eyes lit up. She dropped Haruta Motono on the ground with a thud, raised her fists, and settled into a karate stance.

"Monster. You, have samurai spirit!"

"I accept your duel invitation!"

"Let us fight with honor! If I win, you let us go!" Grey Wolf didn't respond either way. Its scarred wolf face gave nothing away, but the pair of eyes behind that scar were full of killing intent and raw bloodlust. The fight didn't start immediately. Grey Wolf was waiting. Then, from somewhere in the back, a group of Kobolds appeared. They were struggling under the weight of a two-meter-long cleaver, huffing and puffing as they hauled it up to Grey Wolf.

Grey Wolf wrapped a hand around the handle, gave it a test swing, and let its mouth split into a wicked grin. The Black Dragon boss had once taught it: a gentleman does not rely on brute force. And if a gentleman wolf wasn't going to rely on brute force, what exactly was it supposed to use to conquer its enemies? A cleaver. Obviously. Grey Wolf let out a long, rising howl. And launched itself at Inoue Orihime, who had gone completely blank-faced. Half a minute later.

Grey Wolf dragged Inoue Orihime, bruised, battered, and looking like she'd lost a fight with a wall, back to the rock face, with Haruta Motono limp as a dead dog tucked under its other arm. It dumped the two of them with the rest of the humans like a pair of trash bags.

"Hah. Ptui~" It spat a fat glob of phlegm before it left.... Meanwhile, outside the cavern. Su Nian arrived fashionably late, fresh from a bath, with Anna riding on his back. Gua Tailang and Banana Wolf trailed behind him. That interrogation room from earlier had been absolutely vile. Even a brief stay left the smell clinging to you. Outside the cavern where the humans were being held, two rows of imposing Gnolls stood at their posts like planted spears, eyes front.

The moment they spotted Su Nian, every one of them snapped to attention and threw up a salute.

"Salute, to, the great, master!"

"Good. Work hard. Lunch is potatoes with rock mutton."

"Yes! x2" Su Nian clapped the lead Gnoll on the shoulder. He could feel how much denser the muscle had gotten. Satisfying. He gestured for his retinue to follow and crawled inside. The moment he entered, every monster in the cavern stopped what it was doing, stood straight, and either raised a hand in salute or snapped their eyes to attention if their hands were occupied.

"Report, Master!" Grey Wolf stepped forward and lowered its head.

"All humans. Secured." Along the rock wall, the Sakura Island players were still restrained and still cursing at the top of their lungs. A few had tried to call for outside help, only to find their maps completely blacked out. They had no idea where they were.

"Good work." Su Nian gave a nod, then moved down the line, studying each player's status panel in turn. The players stared back at the Black Dragon with wide, unsteady eyes. Some of them had been at Yamaguchi Village Chicken's briefing and knew there was a Black Dragon BOSS somewhere in the Silver Moon Forest. They just hadn't expected to run into it this fast. And then there was the little girl on the dragon's back. The otaku players couldn't look away.

Whatever 2D wives, whatever figurines they'd been devoted to, garbage, all of it, compared to what was in front of them right now. She was dainty and adorable with an edge of effortless charm, skin like pale porcelain, fox ears and a fox tail, and a single black scale on her forehead. The perfect little girl, stepped straight through the dimensional wall.

"Little sister. If you are, being held captive, blink."

"Do not worry, we are, righteous players! We will rescue you from the Dragon's Nest!"

"Heh heh heh... ah heh heh... how many years is that sentence... mine is very criminal!" Su Nian's dragon face twitched. He glanced sideways at Banana Wolf. Banana Wolf understood immediately. It pulled on its deerskin gloves, clipped in its nose plugs, reached into a special cloth sack, and produced several thumb-sized black pellets. It stepped forward, seized the jaw of the player who was doing the lewd laughing, and forced it open despite his struggles. The black pellets went in.

Then Banana Wolf fished out a pair of large underpants, crusty, ancient, smelling of things best not described, and wrapped them around the player's head, layer over layer, until his mouth was sealed tight.

"Mmmph, urk — " The player's pupils shrank. He fought with everything he had. His body tried to vomit. The vomit had nowhere to go. It went back down, or it came out his nose in thin spurts. The cycle repeated. Back down. Try again. Back down. His HP ticked steadily lower. His muscles lost coordination. His body started working against him from both ends at once. The smell hit the air like a fist. Every Sakura Island player in the room went pale. The legend that monsters fed you filth. It was real.

"Heh heh heh." Su Nian's grin was not a kind one. His dragon eyes moved slowly across the row of prisoners, voice dropping to a low, hoarse rasp edged with killing intent.

"Say one more word. Any of you."

"Same thing happens." He let that sit. Then:"Now. Who here knows how to farm? Specifically, potatoes." ➤ Next: Warm and Even More Charming