Chương 83: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 83 - The First "Great" Step

The night passed in a blink. Dawn had barely touched the horizon when Su Nian started his inspection, circling the Dragon's Nest to assess the work his monsters had done through the night. The isolation perimeter was finished, exactly as he'd ordered. Within a five-hundred-meter radius centered on the Dragon's Nest, the forest had been cleanly severed from the rest of Silvermoon Forest.

And within that outer ring, a second perimeter ran at a two-hundred-meter radius, wrapping tight around the Nest itself — forming a layered ring structure. Double insurance. If those Sakura Island players got desperate, he wanted them to have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Setting up the perimeter wasn't complicated work. Dig the trenches wide enough, and the tree lines separated themselves. He hadn't ordered them to cover the entire Silvermoon Forest — that would've been pointless.

Too much ground, not enough time. One night was already pushing it. And he didn't need it. The human players had clearly been talking to each other. Even without knowing the exact location of the Dragon's Nest, they knew the general area. Their attack would be focused. Targeted. If the Sakura Island players turned out to be so spectacularly stupid that they couldn't even find the right direction, Su Nian had already prepared for that too.

He'd station a few monsters to play bait, draw the players toward the Nest, then close the net around them all at once. After his inspection, he brought Anna down near the Flame Arrow Towers.

"Woof — woof whimper..." Sporadic grunting and barking drifted from the cliff face. A crew of Kobolds were up on the high rock wall, draping the vines and woven leaf nets from last night over each tower.

"Brother, what is that?" Anna tilted her head from her perch on his back, watching the Kobolds with open confusion.

"Why are they putting clothes on the Flame Arrow Towers?"

"It's called a Ghillie Suit," Su Nian said.

"Heh heh heh."

"Ghillie Suit?" Anna stared blankly. She knew every one of those words. Individually, they made sense. Together, they meant absolutely nothing to her. Was she stupid? She bit the tip of one pale finger, her pretty peach-blossom eyes swimming with genuine bewilderment, and simply hugged his neck and waited.

"Don't worry, it's normal you've never heard it." Su Nian walked a slow circle around one of the towers, taking it in.

"It's a term from my homeland. All you need to know is this: when the humans come, they won't be able to spot these towers." He was, frankly, delighted. The Harpy Tribe were expert weavers, they spent their lives arranging feathers, and that precision translated beautifully into camouflage. The Ghillie Suits they'd woven were seamless. From a distance, the five Flame Arrow Towers looked exactly like five oversized bamboo shoots jutting from the cliff.

The players would walk right up to the Dragon's Nest, notice the bamboo shoots, maybe furrow their brows for a moment, and think nothing of it. By the time someone thought to cast Appraisal, it would already be too late. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Anna was quick.

Once he explained it, she caught on immediately, and her mind went straight to imagining the scene: a column of players approaching, spotting the towers, frowning in confusion, the horrible moment of realization, She burst out laughing, a short bright sound she couldn't hold back. Two small dimples appeared in her cheeks.

"Brother, you're terrible." She was still grinning.

"Those humans are so done for."

"Hmph." Su Nian climbed to the highest point on the cliff face. His eyes swept the distance.

"That's how it works between races. Kill or be killed."

"I can't afford to bet that human goodwill will meet mine halfway. That's not optimism. That's stupidity." His pale golden eyes held something cold and still.

"Those who are not of our kind will never truly be on our side. The only exception is if I'm the one ruling them." Below, not far off, he could see the experimental fields. A large group of human soldiers and players were working the land, heads down, focused. He had nothing against humans, not really. Under different circumstances, he might have chosen friendship. But those invading players were a different matter entirely, and more than that, his nature was the problem. He was a Black Dragon.

That single fact placed him on the opposite side of every human in this world. It didn't matter what he wanted. Unless something miraculous happened, or unless he grew strong enough to rewrite the rules by force, there was only one ending waiting for him. Covered in wounds. Everything stripped away. Killed by the native humans anyway. His heart carved out. His skin peeled off. Placed in a human auction house, exactly as that great knight had described, while buyers haggled over his remains.

The thought surfaced, and with it came the memory of seven days ago. The female mage outside the Dragon's Nest. The way it ended. That was the right call. Peaceful coexistence. What a joke. What an embarrassingly naive idea. Only someone whose brain had been thoroughly rattled would believe a juvenile Black Dragon, weak and barely established, could make peace with humanity and have it stick. Anna didn't know what he was thinking. But she could feel it anyway, some wordless shift in the air around him.

Without a sound, she rose to her feet on his back, wrapped her arms gently around his neck, and pressed her cheek against the cold iron of his scales.

"Brother." Her voice was soft.

"Anna will always be your Anna."

"Anna doesn't belong to anyone. Not any person, not any faction, not any race." A pause.

"Anna belongs only to you." The words were simple. The feeling behind them wasn't. It was devotion, plain and total. Affection and attachment, with no conditions attached. His scales were cold, colder now than before his last evolution. But she pressed her cheek against them anyway and found the warmth underneath, the warmth that was specifically hers, that had always been hers. If he was good, she was good.

If he was something darker than that, she would follow him into that darkness without hesitation and call it home. The last of the night's shadows peeled away from the cliff. The sun climbed fully above the horizon, and the world around them sharpened into morning color. The fox-eared girl and the Black Dragon sat together on the high rock face, bathed in the early light, warm and quiet. Behind them, a dozen Kobolds scrambled up and down the Flame Arrow Towers, busy and oblivious.

Whatever passed between the two of them dissolved into the cool morning breeze, heard by no one. But something had settled between them, wordless and certain, that wouldn't easily come undone.... Outside Silvermoon Forest, on the Mori'gan Plain. Sakura Island No. 1 Newbie Village. The green light screen, visible only to players, broke apart into drifting specks and vanished. Newbie protection had expired. The safe zone had done its job, and now it was gone.

Yamaguchi Murakichi stood at the village entrance, watching the sun rise over the plain.

"Today's weather," he announced grandly, drawing out each word, "is very yoshi!" Wasn't that red sun the Sun Goddess herself, looking down on him? A sign of victory, without question. He turned to face the crowd of fully armed players at his back. The ambition in his eyes had gone molten, burning bright enough to warm the morning air. This was Sakura Island No. 1 Newbie Village, where he had first stepped into this world, where the Yamaguchi name would begin its rise. Today was the day.

The first step, and the greatest one. He raised his wine cup overhead. Clear liquid caught the light as it arced through the air, the sharp smell of alcohol spreading across the crowd in a wave. Players straightened, chins lifting, energy crackling.

"Gentlemen!" Yamaguchi Murakichi's voice rang out across the plain.

"We march on the Dragon's Nest! Kill them all!" ➤ Next: Ever Seen a Facehugger?