"Dragon, please change the conditions. We are companions traveling together, and I will not abandon any of them!"
Shade said decisively, stuffing Mia into the inside pocket of his coat and preparing to take action.
To be more precise, which one is stronger, the Balrog or the dragon, depends on their age and specific race. But since they were able to defeat the Balrog the first time they came, they might be able to defeat a dragon in the "Traveler Mode" where they don't know whether the enemy is weakened or they are strengthened.
Obviously, Shad was not the only one who thought this way. The unicorn's golden horn had also begun to glow, and the witch was even angrier than Shad.
"Change the conditions?"
The giant dragon head thought for a moment:
"Then it's just money, lots and lots of gold, or powerful relics, precious ancient books."
Shade definitely didn't have any of these, and although the witch brought some props that might be able to help them, they were not very expensive.
Thinking about this, the silver-white arc of electricity jumped in Xia De's drooping right hand. He had always heard that the "Lightning Gun" and "Sunshine Gun" had special damage effects on pure-blooded dragons. Since he couldn't verify it in the Sixth Era, he could give it a try this time.
However, before he could actually make a move, the dragon head's cave-like nose suddenly twitched again, and it asked Xia De suspiciously:
"How interesting! I thought I smelled something wrong just now. How come you smell like a female dragon?"
Shade frowned slightly, remembering the "smell of the mother dragon" left on him by the demigod red dragon witch Fiona when he used the time key of Evernight City for the fifth time in the battle of Randall Valley. Although this smell is not just a smell, it will slowly dissipate with the passage of time. Although the power to intimidate wild animals has decreased a lot now, fortunately it has not completely dissipated.
"I know a half-blood dragon witch."
Shade then replied that in this era, not to mention Fiona, even Miss Feliana and Miss Orlanod were not born yet, so even if he told the other party, he would not be able to find any information:
"That witch left some smell on me, but that's not the point. We don't have anything valuable, we just want to get through."
As he spoke, the "power of the red dragon" had been activated. To deal with such a huge enemy, strength was necessary.
The unicorn also walked to Shade's side, and the light from its golden horn had spread to the surroundings. The dragon looked at the hostile people and the unicorn, thought for a while, and gave up some space:
"If that's the case, then you can go ahead. The source of the smell on you is a very powerful female dragon. I don't want to be chased and beaten by other dragons, especially those bad-tempered red dragons."
But Shad didn't see any bad temper in Fiona. On the contrary, the Miss Fiona Drago he knew was somewhat weak in character.
"Let us pass? Let me confirm that we travelers don't need to spend a large sum of money like the last person who passed through, right?"
Because this was in a story, Shade deliberately brought up the title of "Traveler" to make sure the other party would not lie.
"Go ahead, go ahead."
The dragon said impatiently:
"And the last witch who passed by didn't give me any money either."
The voice became much quieter in the second half of the sentence:
"I just wanted to scare you. The last witch beat me up. Otherwise, where do you think the ice crystals on my head came from? I'm a dragon, not an elemental creature. It's definitely not normal to have ice crystals on my body."
It complained as it retracted its head. As a huge shadow passed through the sky, everyone felt a black screen before their eyes. When the light reappeared, they were back in the familiar camp.
The bonfire was bright, snowflakes were floating in the sky, and the surroundings were foggy woodlands in the dark night. I had clearly encountered a dragon and was ready for a fight, but I didn't expect the encounter to end so anticlimactically.
It seemed that the dragon must have been injured when fighting the last witch that passed by, or at least its combat effectiveness was affected. Otherwise, there was no reason why it would let the group pass just based on the smell.
The bard was writing something quickly again. Shade looked at the witch, who shook her head:
"As good as Lux is, I'm sure she can't defeat a dragon of that size alone. The last witch who passed by was definitely not the one we're looking for."
"My sister had just been promoted to the eighth level before she disappeared."
The maid in the black dress also added, and Shade nodded in understanding, while the voice of the god began to narrate again:
"The traveler under the moon had blind confidence, and the path he chose led the group to the dangerous dragon territory. The dragon appeared and asked you to pay a toll or leave some of your companions behind. Although the travelers had nothing in their pockets and were unwilling to abandon their companions, relying on the deep friendship with the demigod red dragon in the past, the traveler under the moon successfully persuaded the dragon to let you continue to move forward."
There was absolutely no illusion in Xia De's mind. The witch and the maid must have glanced at him with meaningful eyes.
"The dragon's wings cleared the way for you, and you successfully arrived at the designated camping site before dark."
On the deck of cards, the next card is automatically turned over, which means that the events of this night were not chosen by them, but appeared automatically as the story developed to this point.
On the card, standing in the background of a snowstorm is a small single-person tent.
At the same time as the four people were confirming the cards, a faint light appeared at the edge of the woods that was not originally illuminated by the campfire. It then became brighter and brighter until it illuminated another small camp consisting of a campfire and tents in the snow.
At that moment, a violent storm mixed with snowflakes blew in their faces, and no one could see clearly what was in the small camp. They could only see the figures of people who were originally sitting in the camp standing up and walking towards them.
There was a smile in God's voice:
"On the sixth night, the travelers arrived at the planned camping site in the snowy night, but they didn't expect that someone was already resting there. Meeting strangers during the journey is also an important part. I just don't know whether the travelers can get along well with this stranger."
The not-so-tall figure walked towards them in the snowstorm. As the figure got closer, the face became clearer and clearer, and Shade stood up. She had long silver-white hair, a gorgeous dress with a brown fur-collared coat. The demigod witch with golden eyes, Miss Chloe Yin Marcus Marcus, walked towards them with her back to the snowstorm.
Even though he knew in advance that Chloe Yin might appear, Shade's eyes widened at this moment. At the same time, the witch Miss Andriana also stood up. She also recognized that this was the demigod from the Zalas Academy.
But Chloe Yin frowned and looked at the man in front of her and the group of animals behind him. She looked as if she didn't recognize Xia De at all.
This was very strange. As a demigod, her memory would not be erased after she left the Silver Mountains. Moreover, the powerful memory of a demigod should not allow her to completely forget about Shade in just twenty years from 903 to 923.
Even if she really couldn't remember clearly, the fact that Shad, as a man, would not trigger the witch's curse would not make her so calm. Therefore, the only explanation is that although Shad did not turn into an animal like his companions, his appearance in the story is definitely not his normal appearance.
"Who are you? The circus leader?"
Although she is petite and has a cold expression, when she speaks she sounds more oppressive than those tall and arrogant witches of the Sixth Era.
Obviously, the test of this incident is to get along peacefully with other travelers encountered on the journey, but what Shad wants to do more is to be recognized by Chloe Yin.
He signaled to the witch Miss Andriana who stood up beside him not to speak. When he was about to say something, the cat in his arms cried out again.
Come to think of it, this cat apparently cried out too many times in the Lost Forest.
"Meow~"
Because the cat had also seen Miss Chloe Yin when Shade entered the Silver Mountains for the second time, so when facing the witch in front of it, the cry was no longer the vigilance and intimidation it would have when facing a stranger.
Hearing the cat's cry, Chloe Yin frowned suspiciously, then looked down at Xia De's arms, as if he had just realized that he was still holding a cat.
This also made Shad realize one thing, although he brought a cat with him last time and this time, in fact, Little Mia had never appeared in the travel stories told by the gods, and the gods had never described Little Mia's existence. Even though it would follow Shad into the scenes in the story, it was not judged as part of the travel team because it did not come the first time.
That is to say—
The cat is real both inside and outside the story.
she concluded tenderly.
"Is this cat...Mia?"
The short silver-haired witch called out the name of the cat that Shade had called before in surprise, and then looked at the man's face in shock. Suddenly, she realized that the man standing in the snow in front of her was actually a man. And the face that she had never seen before also revealed its true appearance when she realized that the other person was a man. Or, she suddenly realized what this face meant.
Twenty years of yearning and memories of the "climbing trip" to the Baiyin Mountains in dreams for twenty years all turned into real emotions at this moment. And the beautiful and unique orange cat also confirmed that this was definitely not an illusion created by the snowy mountains:
"It's you?!"
"You recognized me! That's great. I was just trying to figure out how to explain it."
The silver-haired witch didn't bother to talk anymore. She walked quickly towards Xia De in the snow, one step deep and one step shallow. Then she opened her arms and stood on tiptoe to hug him.
Her whole body was trembling, and the familiar warm breath reminded her of the brief time they had spent together in the tent when they climbed the Silver Mountains. The cat, who was squeezed between the two of them, struggled to get on Shade's shoulder in dissatisfaction, and meowed to express his feelings.