Chapter 91: Half-dragon
Anse crouched by the side of the ship, whispering with Salian.
“I’ll wait for you at the pass…” Salian grabbed his hand.
“Don’t wait for us, it’s too dangerous. Once you’re out, take the big ship to the other side, don’t linger, go to Beregost.” Anse whispered his instructions.
Beregost is southeast of Claw Bay, east of Candlekeep, deep inland, relatively safer.
“Live well.” Salian seemed to sense something, reached out to hug him, then lifted the oar and pushed the small boat hard away from the riverbank.
Anse watched them disappear into the dim waterway, his expression complex.
The situation was unclear, they couldn’t set a clear route after leaving, rashly waiting might bring danger to each other, better to leave this dangerous area while it was still relatively safe.
This way, the two sides probably wouldn’t meet again for a short time.
After a long while, Anse waved his hand, leading Giant Tail and the others back to the castle.
Sandre silently followed behind, saying nothing.
The waterway entrance was in the castle basement, after coming out, the group didn’t linger in the castle, but climbed the stone steps to the front city wall.
Sir Casanova and his guard team were all there.
“They’re back.” Tim pointed to the night ahead and said, “This time there might be a big shot.”
“Mm.” Anse overlooked the front.
The kobolds had returned, timidly approaching, their glowing eyes flickering in and out of sight, densely packed, truly shocking.
He looked up at the sky, perceiving no movement from the wyvern, and relaxed slightly.
The wyvern’s speed was faster than Nolnos’s, posing a great threat to him. Whether he could beat it was another matter, but not being able to escape was the real trouble.
“Conserve your spell slots, leave the front to us first.” Tim said softly, his tone as gentle as possible, afraid the young man wouldn’t listen.
“Mm.” Anse smiled, saying nothing more.
He silently estimated the distance, from the city wall to the opposite bridgehead was about sixty or seventy meters, and his fireball range exceeded ninety meters, easily covering it.
There were many kobolds, at least thousands, divided into several teams, laboriously dragging several chains, but the closer they got to the bridgehead, the more they shrank back.
“You fools, get up there…” （Dragon Speech）
A hoarse dragon speech came from the darkness, along with the kobolds’ screams.
The effect was immediate, the kobolds’ movements became much nimbler, rushing forward with heads down.
Tim waved his hand: “Rockets!”
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh——”
Over a dozen oil-soaked rockets scattered and shot to the opposite cliff, burning for a long time after landing, illuminating skinny figures one by one.
Among them, one shadow figure was exceptionally tall, standing out like a crane among chickens, clad in metal armor, wielding dual blades, with a ferocious dragon head and a thick dragon tail reflecting green light.
“Dragonborn?” Tim asked doubtfully.
“No, this is a Half-Dragon!” Anse said very affirmatively.
Dragonborn and Half-Dragon appearances differ greatly, Half-Dragons resemble dragons everywhere, with fluid builds and great impact, while Dragonborn lack dragon claws and thick dragon tails, like inferior imitations.
In fact, that’s how it was, Dragonborn were merely slaves of giant dragons, low in status, while Half-Dragons were commanders created by giant dragons consuming “dragon essence” through magic rituals.
Half-Dragons were few in number, with challenge ratings starting at level 5, their dragon breath damage equal to fireball.
The Half-Dragon exposed in the firelight coldly glanced toward the city wall, then quickly retreated into the darkness, cautious unlike a Half-Dragon.
Half-Dragons’ temperaments varied, but they were generally greedy, arrogant, and paranoid.
Anse inwardly lamented the pity, the distance too far for dice to detect target information.
‘He was there just now.’
While the fireball deterred the enemies, it also filled them with vigilance, not daring to easily enter his range.
The Half-Dragon could retreat, but the kobolds couldn’t, they dragged much thicker iron chains and giant wood into another assault.
“That’s an anchor!” Tim said gravely, “Free fire, don’t let them build the bridge.”
Those were merely anchor chains from small boats, but much thicker than ordinary chains, and fireball couldn’t melt them.
On the city wall, dozens of guards each held bows, arrows raining down, occasionally throwing down a bottle of fire gel.
Actually, oil wasn’t bad either, but the distance was too far, even professionals’ flying axe range was only thirty or forty meters, throwing cans of oil that far was very difficult.
The kobolds’ strength was truly poor, dragging the heavy anchor chains was laborious, less effective than before.
This was a good opportunity to harvest experience, just as Anse was about to cast, a dull whoosh suddenly came through the air.
“Woo woo——”
Two metal anchor heads dragging chains emerged from the darkness, one after the other, flying across the cliff, bang bang, smashing into the earth and stone.
The next moment, the chains tautened, the anchor claws firmly embedding into the earth and stone foundation, forming two parallel cableways less than a meter apart on the cliff.
Elite kobolds took the chance to fling thin iron chains from the side, dozens of iron chains flying out, messily wrapping or hooking onto the cableways, surprisingly forming a simple iron rope bridge dozens of centimeters wide.
In a short few seconds, the situation changed abruptly.
The kobolds were just a feint, the Half-Dragon in the darkness was the main force!
‘Smart, good coordination.’ Anse inwardly praised, ‘Looks like at least two Half-Dragons came.’
Actually, Half-Dragons had extremely strong jumping ability, able to leap this less-than-twenty-meter cliff easily, but they were very cautious, determined to let kobolds fight a war of attrition, never risking themselves.
“Shall I send people to destroy the rope bridge?” Tim looked at Anse, his eyes questioning.
“I’ll snipe them, you prepare and cover any gaps.” Anse smiled.
Kobolds had no other skills, but excelled at ganging up with numbers: slings, hitting far and accurately with decent power.
Guards trying to destroy the rope bridge under a hail of stones would cost who knows how many lives.
Magic surged around Anse, focusing to cast.
“”
「Fog Cloud」!
Silently, fog rose on the cliff.
Thick fog descended, engulfing the opposite bridgehead and most of the rope bridge, a misty haze where even the night grew darker.
The kobolds climbing the rope bridge froze, thick fog before their eyes, unable to see the nearby chains, the cliff or companions behind gone, scared to climb further.
‘Not bad.’
Anse was very satisfied, Fog Cloud’s diameter was fully seventeen or eighteen meters, released at night for excellent effect, even he couldn’t discern the fog’s boundary.
Tim was stunned for a moment, the expected fireball didn’t appear, instead thick fog spread.
“This… we can’t see either, what if they sneak over in the dark?”
Anse didn’t answer, but raised his hand pointing below.
“”
Sorcerous Burst-Lightning!
A blue glow streaked through the night, erupting the moment it touched the rope bridge, lightning spreading along the chains into the fog.
The chains shook violently, clanking loudly, amid panicked cries, over a dozen shadows fell from the mist into the deep cliff.
Moments later, experience prompts flashed in Anse’s mind, a bit few but easy.
“Brilliant, still spellcasters are smart.” Tim suddenly sat up, eyes smiling, “Wood fears fire, chains conduct electricity, see what they do.”
The guards were also excited, actually not understanding the reason, just thinking it was spell effects.
Faerun has no electricity, metal conductivity not common knowledge here, most people unaware.
“How long can this spell last?” Tim restrained his smile, asking the key question.
“As long as needed.” Anse said calmly.
Actually, Darkness would be even better, but Darkness was a second ring spell, lasting only ten-plus minutes with high mana cost, not suited for prolonged battle.
Fog Cloud was just a first ring spell, over an hour per cast, with his mana reserves, sustaining a day was effortless.
At this time, the exposed part of the rope bridge began shaking again, clearly the kobolds hadn’t given up.
Anse deliberately waited a moment, casting only when the first kobold had climbed over half the rope bridge and emerged from the fog.
“Boom——”
After the lightning, more kobolds fell off the cliff.
The rope bridge was crude to begin with, the front half wrapped with thin iron chains, the back half just clinging to chains to inch along, shaky even without interference, let alone blind and getting zapped.
It was just that kobolds were small and agile, if ordinary people, even with help, might not cross this nearly twenty-meter suspended iron rope.
Suddenly, a strange wind sound arose.
The fog churned, largely blown away by a green conical storm.
Concentration interrupted, Fog Cloud broken!
A Half-Dragon stood at the bridgehead, coldly staring at Anse, green eyes full of malice.
“Heh…” Anse had anticipated it, raising his hand for another Fog Cloud.
Half-Dragons generally had only five or six dragon breaths, precious as fireballs, while his Fog Cloud cost mere mana.
Thus, the standoff continued.
Whenever a kobold climbed the chain, he zapped it, cantrips costing almost nothing.
Fog Cloud broken, he recast one.
Winged kobolds for surprise attacks, left to the guards.
Tim was cautious, during enemy paralysis, quickly sent people to dig the bridgehead foundation, dismantling the rope bridge.
The Half-Dragon fumed, trying to rebuild, but nowhere to anchor, the giant wood brought burned, temporarily helpless.
He several times wanted to jump over for a fight, but held back at key moments.
No way, the fireball’s afterimage still echoed in memory, each recall deepening the impression.
Anse felt some regret, they had three elite professionals here, four including Giant Tail, if the Half-Dragon came alone, it wouldn’t leave easily.
