Under the sky of Tarren Mill, the massive blue dragon circled at a low altitude. He seemed drawn by a pure and colossal arcane energy below—a sensation both familiar and strange. It was similar to the Ley Lines he protected, yet it carried a unique, warm scent belonging to the Sun.
"He looks like he's searching for something?" Anveena leaned against the window, watching the titan in the sky with curiosity. She felt the dragon's gaze seem to settle on their small cottage.
"He's looking for you, Anveena. The Blue Dragonflight fancies themselves the guardians of magic. Releasing arcane ripples as openly as you have is like lighting a beacon in the dead of night. I just didn't expect it to be him..." Rhodes said.
The legendary "Five-Stack-of-War-Trash," Kalecgos.
It was truly bizarre. The muskets of dwarves in Azeroth were roughly equivalent to 17th or 18th-century firearms; even with some magic added, they were just... okay. They were fine for hunting birds, but against a dragon tens of meters long with a sixty-meter wingspan and thick, defensive scales? Even for a Blue Dragon, who isn't the best at melee, it should have been a fantasy. Yet, somehow, this "Garbage-gos" actually got shot down. And severely wounded at that. Shouldn't it have felt like a mosquito bite? A bit of an itch? That would be the normal reaction!
"Him? Rhodes, do you know this blue dragon?" Jaina asked.
"Kalecgos. A... well, a relatively young blue dragon. Lacking in experience," Rhodes chose his words carefully, avoiding the terms "trash" and "useless" for the moment.
Meanwhile, the dwarven dragon-hunting squad hired by Dar'Khan spotted Kalecgos. The leader immediately ordered his team to raise their rifles and aim at the giant beast.
"Fire, lads! We've got a big one! This dragon is ours," Harkut Ironbeard said excitedly. Long ago, his father had been hunted by a black dragon. Since then, he harbored a deep hatred for dragonkind and formed this team upon reaching adulthood. They had hunted proto-drakes and black drakes, but today they finally encountered a proper dragon.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of crisp, loud gunshots shattered the silence of the fields. On a nearby hillside, the dwarven team opened fire. They weren't using ordinary lead bullets, but mage-breaking rounds shimmering with arcane light—magical weapons "sponsored" by Dar'Khan to ensure success.
In the sky, Kalecgos let out a roar of agony. The young blue dragon never expected a sneak attack. The specialized rounds easily tore through his relatively fragile wing membranes and burrowed deep beneath the soft scales of his underbelly, shredding muscle and mana circuits.
The intense pain surged through him like lightning, causing him to instantly lose control. His massive body tumbled and swayed in the air like a shot bird, crashing clumsily toward a cedar forest on the outskirts of Tarren Mill.
BOOM!
A massive thud echoed, followed by the agonizing crack and splintering of trees. A blue dragon had officially been sniped.
"They... they actually shot him down?!" Finnall stood up abruptly, her face a mask of absurdity and disbelief. "With muskets? A Great Dragon? This... this is a joke from the Holy Light!"
Jaina's expression was equally strange. "Even with mage-breaking weapons, to deal such an effective blow to an adult blue dragon... unless he was completely defenseless, or... the dragon himself was a bit... careless." She chose a polite way to say it; basically, even a "noob" shouldn't be this pathetic.
"Hahaha! Is this blue dragon an idiot? I bet a single Lightning Bolt would knock him right over!" Anveena laughed, covering her mouth. It was too funny. Was this really a dragon on the same level as her father, Krasus?
"That's why I said he's inexperienced. Come on, let's go check on this unlucky dragon. He's still part of the Five Flights; we can't let him just 'go dog-stay' (die) like this," Rhodes shrugged.
What are you laughing at, little girl? If I hadn't shown up, you'd have fallen for this guy! The title of Weakest Dragon is no joke.
The four set out quickly and soon reached a marsh. Using View Earth, Rhodes accurately pinpointed the crash site. Upon arrival, Rhodes "accidentally" stepped on Kalecgos's head as he lay in the water, causing the wounded dragon to splash around helplessly.
"Rhodes, you... you seem to be stepping on something," Jaina reminded him awkwardly. For some reason, she felt Rhodes had a lot of malice toward this dragon.
"Oh? My foot just felt a bit itchy," Rhodes said, moving his other foot to step on Kalecgos's hand.
"Move your foot! You're going to crush him to death," Jaina said, exasperated.
Rhodes smiled, nodded, and finally hauled the soaked Kalecgos up by the collar. Kalecgos gasped for air. He had been sensing that magic energy while flying, only to be ambushed out of nowhere, fall into the water, and then get his head and hand stepped on by a giant boot, which forcefully woke him from his faint.
"Cough! Cough!" Kalecgos coughed violently, spitting out muddy water. He could no longer maintain his dragon form and shifted into a handsome but bedraggled High Elf with blue hair. He clutched his abdomen, where blood was still seeping through and staining his blue robes.
"Please, brother, you are too pathetic. Are you really a dragon? From the Blue Flight? Getting shot down by dwarves with muskets—unreal," Rhodes immediately entered mockery mode.
A flush of shame appeared on Kalecgos's pale face. "I... I was careless... those dwarves used specialized mage-breaking rounds, and my attention was entirely on..." He glanced at Anveena, "...on sensing that strange magic source."
Kalecgos looked weakly at the four people before him. His gaze lingered on Anveena, whose arcane ripples felt both comforting and heart-stopping. They looked like ordinary adventurers: a mage, a paladin, and a girl with a mana pool so vast he couldn't even see the bottom of it.
"Strange? You mean me? What do you find strange about me?" Anveena asked.
Kalecgos opened his mouth but didn't know what to say. Should he tell her she felt like a terrifying, living fountain of magic? It seemed impossible. At first glance, he couldn't believe his eyes—a living, humanoid magic source.
"Who are you?" Kalecgos attempted to change the subject. Being heavily injured was not a good position to be in.
"The people saving you," Rhodes said, letting go and allowing Kalecgos to slump onto the ground. "Though I think what you really need is a brain transplant. Being a blue dragon sniped by dwarven muskets... you're truly one of a kind."
"Thank you for saving me, but we should leave quickly. The dwarves who attacked me will likely be in pursuit," Kalecgos said.
"Give me a break, man. You're afraid of a bunch of dwarves? Aside from dragonkind's terrifying melee strength, even injured, you could take them with a couple of spells," Rhodes said, shaking his head.
"I..." Kalecgos was rendered speechless by Rhodes's rebukes, his cheeks turning red with shame and a hint of anger. "The mage-breaking rounds disrupted my mana circuits. Casting is... very difficult for me right now."
Rhodes nodded. No wonder in the manga Kalecgos resorted to using a sword against enemies. You're a mage, why are you playing melee? You're not like me, a master of both magic and martial arts. And even I don't go into melee unless it's a total stomp; casting from a distance is the kingly way.
"I think you're just a typical academic with zero practical experience. Getting ambushed is one thing, but not even being able to perform basic first aid on yourself after getting hit?" Rhodes remarked.
"If you don't leave now, it'll be too late. That dragon-hunting squad is not to be trifled with," Kalecgos urged. He wondered why this human was so full of malice toward him. He had been saved, but the hostility was palpable. Is it some weird hobby to humiliate me in front of a group of ladies?
"Let me help you out. And let's see how much 'combat power' you actually have left, because those dwarves are almost here." A gentle green light glowed in Rhodes's palm as he pressed it against the wound on Kalecgos's abdomen.
It was the Level 1 spell, Cure. With Rhodes's current mana, it restored over 200 health points. The little blue dragon instantly went from "critically wounded" to "normal." Pure natural life energy surged in, and Kalecgos felt a cool, soothing sensation wash away the burning pain. The bleeding slowed visibly and began to heal. He looked at Rhodes in shock—this man dressed as a warrior actually mastered such high-level healing magic?
Just then, the coarse shouts of dwarves and the sound of frantic footsteps echoed from the distance, followed by the metallic click of muskets being loaded.
"Look, speak of the devils. If you can move, stand up. Do I really have to teach you how to fight too? Let me see what you're made of," Rhodes said, sitting down nearby.
That dragon-hunting squad... if he recalled correctly, there were even orcs among them.