25 『To the Sky, Brigands I』 (1/2)

Jack had made his leave from the Prison and had taken to the sky, in his scaled dragon form, his filmed wings flapped in the wind. Gaining altitude was easy, as he continued to raise into the air, he kept his nose down toward the surface.

The breeze felt nice. The movement, the freedom of flight. In the previous world, he most definitely never had the chance to feel this kind of experience before.

Hand gliding was a thing of the past. Flight by work of machine wasn't something he trusted, and the games that featured it lacked the realistic feel that came from life.

In this world, he got to witness and experience this as if it was a natural part of him. It took a short time for muscle memory to kick in and he was flying without a hitch.

He was well above the treetops within seconds and many more minutes he was half way up to the altitude of the mountains off in the distance, where he could see a singular frost dragon vanishing from sight behind a mountain's snow cap tip.

From where he was, this world seemed so small.

He took in slow, long, breaths. The scents were varying and of many. Mentally he could map out the area around him and strangely enough, the information wasn't overwhelming. His mind, conditioned, allowed his incredible draconic senses spread out over the vast forest and towards the mountains.

Lizardmen, he could smell them around the lake, though he didn't necessarily recognize them.

However as he continued to take in the scents of the world around him, he recognized one scent. The scent of the blood he and the winged Kobolds had picked up earlier when they had been summoned.

”Found you...” He muttered under his breath, before pausing. There was the scent of more blood than before, death, a fresh kill. Perhaps one of the villagers hadn't been what they wanted?

Gliding with his wings out, he let the wind splash against his face. Small bugs could hardly even be felt against his scaled hide. He almost chuckled when he noticed a small spider landing on his nostril before being blown off by a sudden puff of air.

”Catch a ride somewhere else, bub...” Shaking his head slightly, his eyes rested on a rock formation not too far off, a mountain that smelled of over seventy humanoid beings.

It was the perfect spot for ambushing bystanders and carriages on the road and even raiding villages. There it was likely he'd find the perpetrators who knocked out and stole 'his' villagers.

”Twenty was too low a number.” Jack couldn't help but let out a huff in annoyance to this fact as he started to circle the mass of rock and dirt. There was no one outside, not visibly anyhow.

It was surrounded by a forest, but it was not too far off of the highway between the Re-Estize Kingdom's Cities.

”It seems we have a group of brigands hiding in the mountains. How typical...”

These observations were to be heard by no one as he dove down towards what appeared to be the entrance of a cave. Landing on all fours, the amethyst scaled beast with a beautiful multicolored feathered mane, snorted.

His eyes rested on the corpse of the Village Elder, the oldest of the bunch that had been taken. His throat had been cleanly cut open, likely by a freshly sharpened weapon.

”Interesting...” He muttered to himself. He wasn't about to revive the poor man, he'd probably just die again. Plus, he was useless to his vision for the village anyways. The others however that had gone missing, they were farm hands, people who kept the village alive with their green thumbs.

Shifting his attention to the cave entrance as he could see a group of three men peering out at him. It was clear they were making bets however, rather than showing much fear. What were they betting on? It sounded as if they were trying to find out if the 'little' Dragon was going to eat the corpse.

Jack just narrowed his eyes on them. ”I didn't save the village from the Theocracy's pets so you neanderthals could prey on its inhabitants,” he began to move towards the cave with his body at a low predatory, almost feline, angle.

”Did... That Dragon just...” The man who had been managing the bets dropped his coins and began to step back in fear.

Then just as the three were about to turn and run away, to warn the others inside of the impending doom, Jack cast a spell that froze them in place.

『Time Stop』

Without even bothering to wait until they were freed from their chrono-stasis, he batted all three of their heads clean off their shoulders with a single taloned hand. Their heads bounced like balls, blood splashing onto the stone walls of the cave entrance.

”I hate brigands...” He muttered, though it wasn't as if he'd hesitate on raiding people who preserved as enemies. Looking to the bodies, he couldn't say he wasn't tempted to eat them. They were meat, and he was no longer human.

”Perhaps after I clear this cave... I can make it my personal sanctuary away from home...” The thought was tempting. Making it either a personal place to hide, or a decoy for those whom search for his lair.

His eyes then shifted towards the interior. Three down, sixty seven more to go.

Jack continued his venture into the cave. His ten foot long body slithering in like a snake on four legs. A soft hissing sound escaping from his mouth as he opened it slightly as he adjusted his jaw.

He encountered another group who were playing scrap, a card game made from parchment scraps. At first, they didn't notice his large form until he knocked the torch from the wall.

Immediately they shot up from the ground drawing their swords, and their hatches. However the moment they saw his glowing purple eyes in the dark and the low mystical growl that left his mouth, they instantly began to cower.

”Shit, we have to go!”

”Run!”

Jack immediately pounced on two of them as they attempted to run, killing them instantly as his weight alone was enough to break their necks with the force behind his attack.

”So boring,” Jack laughed aloud before tilting his head and his elongated neck, watching the next two run away, screaming their little hearts out. ”Or not... This is actually rather entertaining.”

Strolling along, he mentally kept count of how many he had killed and how many he could smell ahead of him. There was a total sixty five brigands and whomever was left over, was probably prisoners. Women, children, men.