Dragon—a mythical creature jokingly called a "claw-heel," associated with overwhelming power in stories from both East and West.
This was Loulan's first time seeing a living dragon and his first time experiencing the might of a hunter at the top of the food chain.
【Is it snowing?】
Snowflakes condensed in the air and drifted down. Loulan stared blankly at the sky and saw that the previously cloudless blue expanse had become densely overcast. The weather had changed in an instant!
Run!
Running was his only option!
Loulan had no intention of playing the hero and didn't dare linger in hopes of picking up scraps. The very next instant, he took Lulu from his neck and held her in his arms, then sprinted toward Coldiron City's outskirts with the enormous bearskin backpack on his shoulders.
【Daily life in this fucking otherworld sure is exciting. This shitty white dragon isn't hunting in the snowy mountains but charging straight at a human city. What the hell is it doing?!】
Loulan had read books about dragons, which described the habits and classifications of nearly every dragon species.
【Scholarly name: White Dragon
Evil dragon species, chromatic dragon lineage.
Commonly found in snowy mountains. Proficient in draconic ice-and-snow magic. Physical strength second only to chromatic red dragons, metallic gold dragons, and Gem dragons.
Beast-like in nature. Before reaching adolescence, its behavioral logic resembles that of a wild beast. After reaching adolescence, it develops a fondness for hunting and habitually treats prey and intruders like a hunter.】
【Dragon Growth Stages:
A dragon's growth is divided into three major phases, each further divided into three minor stages. The first minor stage of each phase bears the phase's name.
Namely: hatchling, adolescent dragon, and old dragon.
The detailed stages are: hatchling, very young dragon, young dragon, adolescent dragon, young adult dragon, adult dragon, old dragon, very old dragon, and ancient dragon.】
An adult white dragon's physical toughness had already reached the point where even steel ballistae couldn't pierce it. Its hard scales were several times tougher than steel forged a thousand times.
No city wall built by humans or even dwarves could withstand a direct collision with it!
"BOOM!"
The dragon flew incredibly fast, diving vertically from high above like a large truck charging straight into Coldiron City's wall.
In a single instant, the wall of piled boulders broke apart like tofu, and the white dragon barreled directly into the human city.
The earth gouged apart by its remaining momentum bore a scar fifty or sixty meters long. Blood and shattered buildings covered the entire furrow, making the destructive force of that dragon charge easy to imagine.
Far away, Loulan had fled at full speed to a corner roughly a thousand meters from the dragon. He now stood behind cover on a rooftop, poking his head out to observe the distant scene.
There was no defensive organization whatsoever. The instant the dragon attacked, everyone thought only of fleeing. No organizer could gather them into a defense.
As a result, a colossal beast at least twenty meters long from head to tail rampaged through the city unobstructed, its outspread wings reaching an astonishing span of roughly forty meters!
A casual flap brought whole swaths of buildings crashing down. The fierce, frigid wind it produced could even sweep ordinary people into the sky for a freefall that turned them into pavement jam!
"There aren't any snowy mountains or even cold regions near Coldiron City. It doesn't fit a white dragon's habitat at all. How did this adult white dragon end up here?"
He couldn't understand it. He couldn't understand it at all. Loulan felt that all his reading had been wasted. What was happening in reality didn't match the knowledge he had learned whatsoever.
Although rumors of dragon attacks had indeed circulated recently, no one had expected them to launch an attack so far from their habitat. It was impossible to guard against.
【Forget it. Maven, Lilia, you're on your own. I hope you're still alive when I return.】
Loulan didn't continue watching. He knew perfectly well that facing a dragon with his current strength would be no different from trying to hold back the tide.
Besides, not even the Dragonborn, famed as a dragonslayer—the "Dovahkiin"—could slaughter an adult dragon alone.
There was no reason to remain and watch the spectacle. Loulan simply carried his belongings along the city wall toward the gate.
The garrison had long since disappeared. Carriages overturned in the chaos and piles of cargo blocked the gate completely. Only trained people could leave Coldiron City by this route.
Many ordinary people had reached the area and pleaded to escape the disaster. Countless adventurers and even soldiers scrambled over one another to climb the obstructed gate and flee the city.
Loulan naturally blended into their ranks, drew 【Oni Girl's Delusion】, and escaped the chaotic Coldiron City for the countryside in moments.
"ROAR!!!"
"ROAR—!"
"ROAR~—!"
The dragon's repeated roars echoed across ten thousand meters. In only half an hour, the area for tens of kilometers around Coldiron City was shrouded in a blizzard created through draconic frost magic.
Even Loulan, who had already left the city, was covered in a thin layer of snow.
Winter was coming!
【Sigh... Life is fickle, like a pickle in a pickle. Natural and man-made disasters really do arrive without warning.】
Gazing at Coldiron City in the distance, Loulan felt profoundly insignificant. Under the dragon's threat, all he could do was abandon the city and flee alone.
At the same time, loneliness rose inexplicably within him because he didn't have a single companion he would risk everything to bring out of danger.
"Mm~ Mm~ Mm~"
"Let's go, Lulu. You must've been terrified, right? Here, drink some Allure Brew to settle your nerves."
The cries produced by the slime's wriggling body pulled Loulan from his thoughts. The adorable bluish-purple slime girl kept pushing against his chest.
She truly was frightened. The dragon's roars alone left her feeling suffocated. That was the absolute suppression exerted by a supreme bloodline upon magical creatures!
Looking at the tiny slime monster girl in his arms, Loulan gently kneaded her with the large hand holding her, then took out the Allure Brew and fed it to her one drop at a time.
Walking along the road toward the Darkest Dungeon, he turned his back on Coldiron City, now completely blurred by the wind and snow.
As he bathed in sunlight beyond the magic's range, refugees passed him one after another.
...
【Even with the city under dragon attack, the Darkest Dungeon's garrison won't move?】
Loulan wondered this as he arrived at the familiar Secluded Tower Mountain and saw soldiers still patrolling there.
Although the garrison soldiers at the other buffer checkpoints had all departed, the forces at the final three remained stationed steadily in place, and troops still patrolled the road. There were simply far fewer adventurers.
Most had already hidden in remote forests or even out in the rural countryside.
"We meet again, Mr. Loulan. May you remain free from the encroachment of darkness."
"Thank you. Here are my bounty notice and noble warrant."
Meeting the heavily armored knight at the dungeon entrance once more, Loulan thanked him for the blessing while handing over the necessary "passes" for inspection.
Deeply curious, Loulan asked him a question.
"Coldiron City is under attack by a dragon. Haven't you received orders to return and defend it?"
"The lord cannot command us. Every Darkest Dungeon must remain garrisoned. Even an evil dragon would never attack this place."
"I... understand."