Chapter 238 Creature at the Top of the Food Chain

It was hard to describe exactly how Xia Nan felt at this moment.

The gentle breeze rustling through the canopy, the swaying branches, the shouts and warnings of his teammates, the chirping of unknown insects deep in the grass...

Over a violent heartbeat that threatened to pound right out of his chest, everything fell into a deathly silence.

The world before his eyes seemed to grind to a halt in that instant.

On a nearby branch, a squirrel—usually so cautious that the slightest rustle in the grass would send its little legs scrambling for a tree hollow—now lay trembling in place. It pressed itself down so hard that the flesh of its chest visibly deformed against the bark, as if trying to merge its tiny body with the tree.

Its rear was raised high, but its bushy tail draped forward to cover its head in an act of self-deception—both ridiculous and pitiful.

In Xia Nan's current stance, his back was turned to the direction of the roar, facing his squad.

Thus, in this frozen moment, he clearly saw the reaction of every single member of the team.

The half-elf Hai'an still maintained the instinctive guard stance he had struck after his teammates called out a warning.

The Wooden Longbow originally slung across his back was already gripped tightly in his hand. A white-fletched arrow rested on the bowstring, held by the fingertips of his right hand.

With just a strong pull, this dangerous projectile—capable of piercing thick, tough leather—would shoot out with a howl that tore through the air.

But strangely, Hai'an had clearly completed his pre-combat preparations at maximum speed...

Yet his silver-gray eyes—inherited from his Elf mother, which should have been sweeping the surroundings with the sharpest, most perceptive gaze in the forest to guard against danger...

...were now just staring blankly at the sky behind Xia Nan.

His stiff, pale face and dazed pupils formed a stark contrast with his taut body and drawn bow.

It was as if his brain had entirely disconnected in that instant.

Wood's body was suspended in mid-air, diving forward to protect his half-elf young master.

The Short Dagger originally clenched tight in his palm had been returned to the leather sheath at his waist, but a slash had somehow appeared on the side of his black clothes—likely an accidental nick from hastily sheathing the blade.

For a seasoned Rogue, this was a mistake that shouldn't happen even once in an entire career.

But given the absolute resolve on Wood's face under the massive psychological shock, he clearly didn't care about such trivialities.

Sava's reaction was fast; she had sensed that something was wrong even a fraction earlier than Xia Nan.

This, of course, wasn't because her Perception attribute was higher than Xia Nan's, but rather due to the scalding blood quietly boiling and surging within her body.

Unlike Wood and Hai'an, the dragonborn Sava didn't make any drastic physical movements.

But she wasn't like Luca beside her either, who—having yet to locate the source of the danger—was tensely searching the sky in a state of bewildered confusion.

She merely stood in place, her slitted pupils fixed upon the heavens.

Fear, hatred, anger, panic... the tragic history of the dragonborn race caused a tangled mess of emotions to pile up in her eyes, forming an indescribably complex expression.

Only the dull yellow scales trembling frantically on the back of her head revealed the tempestuous emotions raging in her heart.

Somewhat surprisingly, it was the physically frailest member of the entire team, the mage girl Verol...

...who displayed a level of calmness in this instant that far exceeded her appearance.

When the translucent barrier enveloping them—the manifestation of her Alarm spell—shattered...

...she, as the caster, must have already deduced the general direction of the roar and realized exactly what kind of entity they might be facing.

Before she even had time to stand, she remained seated against the tree trunk and raised her staff high with both hands.

An inconspicuous magical radiance burst forth in a flash, causing the air around her to faintly blur and distort.

From beginning to end, even though her expression revealed obvious tension, her sequence of movements was exceptionally fluid. She didn't fall into a panic from the sudden assault.

As for Xia Nan himself.

He felt like a human investigator in some indescribable cosmic horror setting, where taking one extra glance would cause you to explode.

His overly acute Perception might have helped him sense the threat earlier, but it also forced him to experience the danger itself far more vividly than an ordinary person.

The sudden silence in the air and the stagnation of the world were merely his body's instinctive response to the sudden, overwhelming pressure.

It was fundamentally no different from one's life flashing before their eyes before death, or a protective faint induced by extreme pain.

It wasn't until he prepared himself mentally based on the reactions of the people before him and realized what the team might be facing...

...that the stimulatory response—several times stronger than that of a normal person—finally pierced through his physical defense mechanisms under a majestic pressure that nearly crushed his shoulders, acting directly upon his body.

Boom—

A piercing tinnitus, wrapped in the shouts of his teammates, nearly blasted through his cranial cavity.

The hairs on the back of his neck instantly stood on end. His heart felt as though it were caught in the tight grip of an icy hand and yanked violently up to his throat. The boiling blood pumping out squeezed so hard it felt like his ribs would snap.

Despite not suffering any physical attack, and his sharp Perception clearly informing him that there were no enemies with obvious hostility nearby...

...that intangible pressure, seemingly solidifying into substance, forced Xia Nan instantly into a desperate combat state, as if his life hung in the balance.

Buzz—

His messy black hair whipped wildly, and an iron-gray flash of a sword darted past.

He drew his sword and spun around in one fluid motion, a blurry Wolf Head condensing around his body.

And it was only then.

Looking through the gaps in the oak branches above, framed by the blinding sunlight spilling through the leaves...

Xia Nan finally saw the entity whose merely unintentional aura had plunged the entire escort squad into a breakdown, reducing Class Grade adventurers to a pathetic state akin to ordinary villagers facing a Bugbear.

It was right there.

A massive shadow like a moving mountain peak in the heavens. The scales covering its entire body reflected a deep, solidified crimson under the sunlight, as though it were draped in a layer of slowly flowing, scorching lava.

Its neck was as robust as a mountain ridge, supporting the hideous and gargantuan head at its fore. Dark horns, as thick as giant spears, extended backward, twisting and coiling to form a crown of fire and fury.

Tough, thick wing membranes stretched taut between a skeletal frame that looked forged from refined steel. Their dark red hue seemed dyed by the blood of prey and enemies alike. Every slow, powerful flap was a beckon from the reaper in the sky.

A gargantuan, furious, perfectly healthy—

Adult Red Dragon!

A lethal and intense sense of crisis erupted in his heart.

Though Xia Nan still gripped his Decapitating Longsword tightly, he had already begun to contemplate the possibility of using his relationship with the Halfling Alton to pull some strings and sneak into the Goddess of Luck's divine kingdom to enjoy the afterlife.

It wasn't that he had lost his will to fight out of overwhelming pessimism.

It was simply that the chasm of power between them was so insurmountable that he could calmly accept any outcome that followed, death included.

The Challenge Rating of a goblin was 1/4, and they had already been reduced to his stress-relief toys.

The Challenge Rating of a Bugbear was 1. He once had to break his limits to barely defeat one, but now, after his advancement, they couldn't even be called opponents.

The Challenge Rating of an Owlbear or a Petrification Lizard was 3. If he ran into one head-on in the forest alone, unless the circumstances were special, he would most likely only be able to flee in a panic.

Using this as a baseline for comparison.

The Challenge Rating of an average-strength, perfectly healthy adult Red Dragon was...

17.

And this meant it would take a squad of at least four powerhouses with a Class Level of 17—meaning high-tier Transcendent Tier experts approaching the Legendary rank—fully equipped, sufficiently supplied, and properly rested, to even have a chance of defeating it without casualties.

It was worth mentioning that Xia Nan's current Class Level was "1".

All he could say was that, in this moment, his heart had somehow lost all fear and tension toward this formidable enemy.

He was abnormally calm.

He even found it a bit hard to hold back, so absurdly calm that he wanted to laugh.

And perhaps it was precisely because of this incredibly bizarre mindset...

...that Xia Nan was able to carefully and comprehensively observe this behemoth flying over the forest, much like a tourist at a zoo in his past life.

Wrapped in a thick stench of sulfur and warm currents of flame, the dragon flapped its massive wings, which were large enough to blanket houses.

The writhing muscles outlined beneath its dark red scales were brimming with the aesthetic beauty of power, while its hideous dragon head, snorting and held high, embodied the unique arrogance and apathy of a creature sitting at the top of the fantasy world's food chain...

Was there a hint of fury as well?

His gaze swept over the thick dragon tail whipping left and right, and the short bursts of flame shooting from its nostrils.

Xia Nan calmly and composedly recalled the drum-like dragon roar that had come from the sky behind him earlier, feeling the emotion hidden within it.

Coupled with the physical posture and details of the Red Dragon's flight overhead right now.

It was glaringly obvious that this Red Dragon's mood was unstable; it was in some sort of manic, enraged state.

It seemed to be searching for something?

Xia Nan guessed quite easily in his heart, 'What exactly could cause this mighty creature—capable of biting 99 percent of the world's adventurers to death in a single snap—to act so agitated?'

'Could it be that treasure was stolen from its lair?'

After all, his impression of the dragon race—especially the naturally greedy Red Dragons—was that they were exceptionally passionate about seeking and hoarding all kinds of treasure.

If someone had truly managed to steal a treasure or two from its lair, then this Red Dragon had every right to be infuriated.

'Or perhaps its dominion over its territory was offended?'

As an arrogant creature that viewed itself as a sovereign and all other beings as slaves, if some entity dared to openly show contempt and disdain toward it, wasn't instantly turned to ash, and even managed to escape...

Then it was only normal for a Red Dragon to be this furious.

In this moment, facing a Red Dragon where fleeing was useless and a frontal assault wouldn't even touch its body...

Xia Nan even had the free time to ponder the majestic pressure from earlier that had made it hard to breathe and exceptionally difficult to even stand up straight.

'This must be the legendary "Dragon Might", right?'

He wondered if it classified as a mental attack.

Otherwise, if it accidentally triggered his [Gaze into the Abyss] Feat and stunned this Red Dragon for a few seconds, he was afraid he'd be treated to a free cremation service in "return."

Perhaps the Red Dragon hadn't noticed these ant-like, insignificant existences in the forest, or perhaps it had noticed them but couldn't be bothered to care since they weren't the target it was searching for.

In just over ten seconds, the adult Red Dragon flying over the escort squad vanished without a trace behind the canopy, the sound of its flapping wings fading away.

Leaving behind the thoroughly disheveled group, who had just narrowly escaped death.

"Haa... Haa..."

Panting violently, Luca—who possessed a burly physique akin to a Bugbear—slumped to the ground without a care for his image. Sweat had already soaked the shirt beneath his iron armor as he muttered obscenities.

"Damn it, h-how did a thing like that suddenly show up? God bless, fuck, God bless..."

Hai'an still held his longbow, but his legs suddenly gave out after the impact of the Dragon Might. He was just about to crumple to the ground.

Only because Wood, who had rushed to his side, supported him did he avoid falling into the same embarrassing state as Luca.

Driven by an urgent desire to protect his master, Wood might have performed well just a moment ago, but now that the Red Dragon had flown away, it was as if he had suddenly aged several years. His arms trembled as he supported Hai'an, breathing heavily.

The dragonborn Sava remained standing in place. Even her lizard-like head still maintained its skyward posture.

Her gaze was frozen, her expression dazed.

She was as motionless as if she had been hit by some control spell.

Buzz—

The magical radiance burst forth once more, and the distorted, blurred air returned to normal.

Verol dispelled the life-saving spell she had prepared well in advance.

She felt fortunate in her heart that the Red Dragon hadn't attacked them, otherwise she feared she would have had to expend a precious, limited trump card right now, having just barely begun her plans.

For someone with detailed plans for the future, this was absolutely unacceptable.

Her chest heaving, she let out a long breath.

Her front bangs were already glued to her forehead by sweat.

Verol pushed off the ground with her palms, rising slowly and looking somewhat ragged.

Her gaze, however, couldn't help but bypass the others in front and land on Xia Nan at the rear of the squad.

Her expression was complex.

Although she had been completely focused on preparing her life-saving spell just a moment ago, she had still retained a considerable degree of awareness of the outside world.

She had clearly seen the reactions of everyone in the team.

It was entirely understandable.

Facing an adult Red Dragon casually radiating its Dragon Might, it would be normal even if they had pissed their pants on the spot in terror.

Except for Xia Nan...

Verol recalled the brief glimpse she caught just now—the image of him tilting his head up with great interest to study the Red Dragon.

She muttered in her heart:

'Death Omen... Death Omen...'

'As expected of such an illustrious big shot. Even during his growth phase before reaching his peak, he acts completely different from ordinary people.'

Even possessing memories of the future, she couldn't avoid panicking inside when faced with this sudden Red Dragon.

It was just that she had prepared contingency plans for emergencies in advance, so she didn't look as pathetic.

If her memory were truly wiped clean and she were put in Xia Nan's shoes, she would probably flee in panic after a single glance upward.

There was no way she could be as calm as him.

Then, recalling the fearsome reputation this black-haired young man would widely garner in the underworld of the future...

Her body couldn't stop itself from shivering.