The next day.

"Goodbye, mother. I'll take care of myself!"

Nana was carried by Raphael in a princess hold as they took to the air. She stretched out her head and waved farewell to the green dragon Delores who was seeing them off below.

"Calamity Demon, you better not get my daughter into more trouble again!"

Delores was reluctant to let her go, but knew it was inevitable, so she could only warn Crimson Dragon with words.

Raphael steadily held the blue dragon, flapping his huge wings at a high frequency as they gradually gained altitude, with Arnold following closely behind.

After a night of communication, Delores had to let Nana leave because this matter was already irreversible.

"Say, Raphael, are you really going to Leonardo now?"

After flying above the blizzard clouds, the newly risen sun finally shone upon them. At this moment, the Golden dragon approached with concern.

"Why not?" Raphael turned his head to respond.

"I think you should take Nana back to Erl and settle her first before dealing with your personal matters." Arnold glanced at the blue dragon tightly curled up in Crimson Dragon's embrace and made a suggestion.

Due to Nana's injuries, even after Delores' attempts to treat her, she could only restrict the destructive lightning power within the wound, but could not remove the power itself. So Nana's wings were essentially crippled.

For daily flights, she could only rely on Raphael to carry her.

The Crimson Dragon frowned slightly.

"Dragons without foresight will have imminent worries. This is an ancient proverb. Shena's research must proceed! Regardless of whether it's for my status or Nana's safety, this force must be cultivated!"

Raphael had tasted the bitterness of being behind on intelligence.

In the past, he relied on the raven Huginn's bird spies to learn about major world events, which was sufficient in the rugged Loga mountain ranges.

But now, Erl's expansion had to involve humans and the Strife Plain, areas about which he had zero knowledge. The dragon kin's goals were also apparent, and humans could not be trusted either.

So the "dragon kin humanization experiment" was a crucial turning point. After that, he would be able to firmly grasp all inside information within Erl and abroad, greatly increasing his initiative.

"I can't be away from Erl for too long now. If I take Nana back and then return, who knows if more dragon slayers might appear? At that time, she would be facing them alone!"

Raphael immediately rejected Arnold's suggestion. "If we all leave, who will look after Nana?"

"This..." The Golden dragon didn't consider that aspect.

He continued questioning with concern, "Then can you keep holding her the whole way? You won't drop her halfway from exhaustion?"

"How's that possible? You just need to capture those elves for me!" Raphael smiled confidently and turned his head back.

He fully spread his large, thick four wings, with their total area even larger than his body!

Then Crimson Dragon raised his head and let out a resounding roar before charging rapidly westward, his front claws firmly grasping Nana.

...

A drop of morning dew remaining until noon slowly slid off a slender, curved willow branch, quickly attracting a swarm of fluttering butterflies vying to sip it.

A huge black shadow then tried to pounce on the butterflies but failed to catch any due to its clumsy movements.

"Susa! Come back here!"

A sweet voice like rain after bamboo called out. The clumsy, silly black shadow immediately stopped and happily ran towards the source of the voice.

The dense vegetation seemed to part with a life of its own, revealing a tall, pure elven maiden walking out with an innocent smile.

Her eyes were incredibly clear, untainted by secular matters. She wore the tight fur hunting garb of the elven tribe, with an ancient longbow and curved sword on her back, and pouches, quivers, and daggers at her waist.

A small gray bear then emerged and pounced into her embrace, affectionately licking her flawless white face with its tongue.

"Alright, alright! Don't be naughty!" The young elven maiden indulgently pushed away the panting, tongue-lolling bear, then asked, "Well? Did you sense any drakies?"

The little bear immediately shook its head to indicate no.

"That's good then. It seems during winter, even those green dragon minions don't come around here much." The elf girl felt a weight lift from her heart.

This was the border between Leonardo and the Dragon Domain, where bloody conflicts often occurred.

The forest dwellers were extremely wary of these powerful, greedy neighbors who always disregarded any advice or communication requests from other races, using force to take whatever they wanted.

Although the ancient dragons and Dragon Council established order to restrain the dragons from leaving their territory, their loyal dragon kin subordinates were excellent poachers who frequently crossed the border to hunt the forest dwellers extensively.

If they encountered elven warriors, the dragon kin would readily play the part of bandits - capturing them alive if possible, or killing them on the spot. In any case, peaceful coexistence was impossible.

This was unacceptable for the inhabitants of Leonardo, so they formed the "Hunter Organization" with the aim of using the forest's power to resist the invaders, not for hunting.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Of course, this was based on the dragons themselves not taking action. If an actual dragon came, that would often be a dragon calamity - an irresistible terror of annihilation.

"Come on Susa, let's scout the next point." The elf maiden took out a dragonhide map to examine.

"Grrr! Growl!"

Suddenly, the little bear Susa sensed something amiss in the air and urgently stood upright, pushing the elf maiden with its forepaws but unable to reach her due to its short limbs.

"What's wrong?" The elf girl was drawn in by Susa's urgent calls and pointed its paw fiercely while growling in a certain direction.

"Is it... dragon kin? Quick! Susa, let's get up the tree!"

The maiden tossed her braided chestnut bun aside and nimbly climbed up a nearby tree trunk. The little bear also frantically tried to grip the trunk but couldn't use its short limbs as support to climb up, only whimpering pitifully.

The elf girl reached down and pulled Susa up. She then took out a pouch of powder from her satchel and sprinkled it on herself and the bear to mask their scent, as dragon kin had very keen noses.

Finally, she drank a small mouthful of a potion and gave Susa a sip as well.

They soon felt their bodies gradually grow numb and cold - it was a precious potion that could temporarily lower their body temperatures without killing them. Forest dwellers without magic had to utilize nature's power against the serpent-eye spells "instruments" of jungle scouts.

The elf and bear waited silently on the treetop, wary of their surroundings. The only sounds were water dripping onto leaves and the buzzing of insect wings.

Crack!

A harsh, peculiar noise broke the tranquility. Just as the maiden turned her gaze towards the source, she saw more than a dozen vicious brutes enter the woods.

"So they did come!" The young elf girl's heart skipped a beat - this was her first time seeing the infamous, evil dragon kin in person.

"That one covered in red autumn leaves, long like a snake yet with eight spider-like legs, must be a lure drake!"

She quickly identified one of the green dragon's kin.

Lure drakes didn't actually have eight legs - the top four limbs had retractable wing membranes to help them glide between tree branches. Bulky and elongated, their heads were ordinary dragon-lizard types.

Supposedly, these dragon kin originated from flying squirrels whose initial role was to help green dragons collect fruit and morning dew from trees.

"And that is... a raptor!"

Soon, the ground started trembling as an abnormal creature slowly crawled out.

It was ten meters long, with a purple-blue body covered in hard scales except for a hairless rat tail dragging behind. Further forward, thick feathers connected its forelegs to the body, which could function as wings when dragged during crawling. Its head resembled a bird's, with a thick, sharp beak at the front.

This was the green dragons' main kin force. Although lacking the firepower of hammer drakes, in the jungle it was the nightmare of all prey - its massive body was not a hindrance to speed, but rather an asset for rapidly capturing and killing enemies.

The elf maiden had witnessed the mutilated, agonized corpses of many hunters fallen to raptors since childhood, leaving her deeply shaken.

"These drakies really did come! What should I do? This is my first time encountering them!"

The young elf had just joined the hunting squad less than two years ago and was still an apprentice scout. She never expected to come across such formidable foes.

The lure drakes below scattered, gliding between the tall trees as their vertically-slit crimson pupils scanned the area. However, due to the potion, they could not detect the maiden and bear through heat vision alone.

The sole raptor stood upright in a clearing, using its hind legs for support as it preened its feathered wings with its beak, calmly waiting.

"These brutes are even wearing light armor - they must be the personal poaching minions of that evil green dragon 'Lord of the Emerald Nest'!"

The maiden's heart pounded as she saw a nimble lure drake swoop right past her eyes, its custom-fitted scale mail immediately catching her attention.

In this region, due to the barrier of the Loga peaks, the advancements brought by Mu continent's civilization and technology never reached here. Be it the dragon lords or forest dwellers, all remained in the medieval era, with armor signifying elite status.

"Grrrr!!"

Suddenly, Susa could no longer stay quiet as an attentive lure drake drew near, its nose just a few leaves away from the bear.

The elf maiden held her breath, her survival instincts reaching a peak as she could not fathom the consequences if discovered.

"Don't come any closer! Please! I don't want to die!"

Her warm tree home, kind elders, childhood companions - these were all bonds the budding maiden could not bear to sever.

As if hearing her plea, the lure drake did not push aside the leaves to investigate further and turned away.

"Phew, that was close!"

Relief washed over the maiden, though her face then flushed red as she felt moisture between her legs.

The lure drakes below seemed to discuss something after finishing their search before proceeding deeper into the forest along with the raptor.

Silence returned to the woods. The elf girl did not dare leave the tree immediately, patiently waiting with great restraint.

Time passed quickly, and two hours later, as the sky darkened, she was the first to cautiously descend in silence.

"They should be gone by now, right? The elders said dragon kin are as cunning and treacherous as their masters, so we must never let our guard down. I waited two hours before coming down, so that shouldn't count as being careless, right?"

She scanned her surroundings warily. Her excellent elven night vision allowed her to see the environment clearly, and indeed there was nothing amiss.

"Phew...made it through that." The elf maiden let out a relieved sigh and called down to the bear, "Susa! Come on down!"

However, just as the clumsy Susa clung to the thick trunk trying to descend, the maiden sensed something was wrong!

"Why...are the leaves rustling, but I can't feel any wind?"

The young elf froze, swallowing hard as fear caused two streaks of tears to well up in her pure, innocent eyes.

As if in response to her realization, a blinding blue light suddenly flared up in the clearing!

The raptor slowly dispelled its invisibility spell. Its wolf-like bird head dripping with hungry saliva was now right in front of her, its crimson vertical pupils filled with cruel amusement.

"No...no..."

The elf maiden could not accept this brutal reality, shaking her head in disbelief as she backed away powerlessly, tears of terror streaming down her cheeks. The area between her legs was damp with an unpleasant odor.

The raptor had inherited the merciless nature of its green dragon master. When faced with defenseless prey, it always delighted in torturing them before killing, a fate this naive newcomer elf was now destined for the moment she appeared.

Shing!

Suddenly the maiden drew the curved sword from her back and slashed at the raptor, but the creature swiftly beat its wings to evade the strike.

"Susa! Jump down now!" she cried urgently to the bear still on the tree.

The bear leapt onto the raptor's back on cue, opening its jaws to viciously bite into the unarmored, vulnerable wing joints.

"Get off me, you filthy beast!" the raptor screeched in draconic, thrashing its feathered wings wildly from the unexpected attack. Its underlings had clearly not warned it about a second target.

Susu opened its jaws wide and sank its teeth into the raptor's wing joint - an unarmored weak spot. The raptor screeched in pain, rearing its head back.

"Now's my chance!"

Steeling her fear, the elf maiden swiftly seized the opportunity, drawing her longbow and poisoned arrows to let one fly shrieking into the raptor's unarmored belly.

"I made it!" She exclaimed in disbelieving delight, never expecting the battle to end so swiftly in her favor.

It was a special venom extract said to be effective even against dragons, much less their kin.

True enough, the raptor vomited a pool of inky black blood that immediately decayed the surrounding vegetation into white smoke upon contact.

The dreaded jungle predator then collapsed, unwilling but unable to resist as the little bear was flung off to scamper back to the maiden's feet.

"Well done!" She smiled, taking out a piece of jerky to reward Susa, who immediately looked quite satisfied.

"Did I...win?" Silence descended again as she could scarcely believe she had bested the legendary monster.

"But that group of lure drakes never appeared...I need to hurry back and report the dragon kin's winter hunting activity to everyone!" She had the wisdom not to inspect her spoils, instead turning to leave.

"Grrr!"

But after just a few steps, Susa suddenly started growling fiercely again.

"What is it now?" The puzzled elf girl looked toward the bear snarling at something behind them, her heart sinking with a sense of dread.

"What is..."

Before she could turn to look, a blur flashed by, slamming her against a tree trunk and leaving five bloody gashes across her torn dragonhide armor!