Badge in Azure

Chapter 174: Destroying the Body (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When Sika confirmed that the dragon had truly died, she went to move its tail and drag Saleen out. She gave Saleen a sip of the magic liquid. Saleen’s arm was broken and would require six to seven days to recover fully even with magic treatment.

Fortunately, the dragon’s tail was on top of his left arm. Had it been his right arm, his arm might have been crushed already. The transformation of Saleen’s left hand by the Gift of Life had influenced his whole arm. The reinforcement extended all the way from his hand to his shoulder.

Sika did not say much. When she saw that Saleen was fine, she simply picked up her cudgel and walked into the darkness. There were too many things on her mind at the moment, and she did not know what to say to Saleen.

The downpour continued. Very few people passed by this road to begin with, and with the rain right now, no one would travel on this road.

When Nailisi exited from the dragon’s mouth, Saleen and Nailisi had just regained some of their strength. Compared to Sika, those two mages were really too frail.

“Saleen…” Lex called out, a slight blush on her face. When she had seen that Saleen was in trouble, she had immediately tried to rescue him without any hesitation. Since Lex was young, she did not have any friends, so Saleen could just barely be considered her half friend. All of her subordinates, including other mages and swordsmen who attempted to win her heart, were in awe of her.

Saleen was also full of respect for Lex, but Lex knew that Saleen’s respect was purely professional. He respected powerful mages, and that kind of respect was similar to how Faerun thought of sorcerers. Saleen did not even pay any attention to Lex’s royal blood, and he had come to Bitter Water Prefecture out of desperation. Sooner or later, Saleen was going to leave.

The more Saleen wanted to leave, the more Lex wanted to make him stay.

“Lex, we need to be on guard for the people who are in pursuit of this dragon. Let’s clean up this place and leave.” Saleen’s mind was very perceptive. He might not have known about the forbidden equipment, but the dragon had already been severely injured when it appeared, so Saleen had naturally inferred that only powerful experts could cause such injuries.

“Master.” Nailisi was drenched in blood when she came before Saleen. She was feeling perturbed. She had dug out the two dragonshards that had been in the dragon’s head and stored them into her bracelet, so she was not sure whether Saleen would be angry at her for taking matters into her own hands.

“Are you alright?” Saleen asked with great concern.

“Master, I am fine.” Nailisi coughed.

“Since you are fine, get to work. Think of a way to remove the horns, teeth, and claws first. It will be best if you can break them down and store them.”

“How will we split these things?” Nailisi asked worriedly.

At the very last moment, Lex had contributed some effort, so she was definitely going to receive part of the dragon. It had been a little greedy of Nailisi to take the dragonshards first. However, demons were greedy by nature. Nailisi was only worried that Saleen would soften his stance and give away the dragonshards.

“The front half belongs to you while the rear half is mine,” Lex told Saleen.

As she said that, Nailisi began to like Lex. The essence of the dragon was all concentrated in the front half. Aside from the tailbone which was the most precious item in the back half, only the two claws were considered valuable.

“However, I want the dragon skin and tendons. I will make two sets of equipment for each of you.”

“Alright. Nailisi, quick, get to work,” Saleen said urgently. Saleen put away his badge and released his perception cautiously to scan his surroundings.

The rain gradually grew heavier. Saleen projected his perception to its maximum range but he could not detect the presence of any humans at all. Thus, he grew slightly relaxed. Then, he said to Lex, “Can you still fight?”

Lex frowned. There were cracks in her ribs and leg bones, and this was the first time she had experienced such pain. Saleen’s arm had also been broken, but he showed no signs of discomfort or pain. This caused Lex to greatly admire Saleen.

“I can control the puppets and open scrolls, but I don’t think I can continue the journey,” Lex replied in distress. All four war horses had died, so she was fretting over how they would get away from this place in the shortest amount of time.

“Don’t worry. Leave it to me,” Saleen answered calmly. Things would be fine as long as Lex could cast magic. Nailisi could carry her on her back, and Sika would be able to catch up if she was blessed with the Windspeed spell. Furthermore, Saleen’s own Windspeed spell could help them conserve some physical strength. As long as their enemies did not have a sorcerer, any other people would not be able to catch up to them.

When she saw Saleen so composed, Lex could finally set her mind at ease. Saleen was trustworthy. He would never boast about his capabilities.

“Lex, I think we had better split up and guard this area. Sika will not be able to handle things alone.” As Saleen spoke, he began to walk in the other direction. Lex did not suspect that anything was amiss. She simply thought that Nailisi possessed some razor sharp weapon which could be used to dissect the dragon. However, Saleen was just afraid that Lex would realize that there was something wrong with Nailisi.

The two of them separated into the darkness, leaving Nailisi alone with the dragon.

Dissecting magic beasts was Nailisi’s forte. Since the dragon had not advanced to grade-10, its body structure was still very similar to that of a magic beast. Nailisi fulfilled Saleen’s request and plucked out the dragon’s teeth. The teeth were not huge, but there were many of them. After plucking out all of the teeth, Nailisi then proceeded to remove the claws from the limbs and put them away.

The challenging part was removing the horns on the dragon’s head. The exterior of the tiago was very different from other types of dragons. Its head did not have the same long horns, either. Instead, they were small. The horns grew out of the skull directly, so Nailisi had no way of dealing with them. She could only use her teeth to bite off the skin of the neck before using her nails to cut the neck muscles. Once she located the joints of the bones, she would separate them before beheading the dragon.

The black fluff on the dragon’s neck was the most valuable item, and even Nailisi’s teeth were useless against it. That piece of fluff provided protection for the weakest part of the dragon’s throat.

Nailisi tore as many muscles as possible off of the skin in order to make the dragon’s head smaller so that it could be more easily stored.

At the dragon’s throat, there was a piece of hollow bone. The air from its lungs needed to pass through this hollow bone in order for the dragon to emit its powerful breath. Nailisi tried her best to dissect the bones forming the dragon’s head before at last, she was barely able to put it away. Then, she proceeded to dissect the body of the dragon.

“Sika!” Nailisi bellowed. Sika emerged from the darkness and came before the corpse of the dragon.

“Help me skin the dragon.” Nailisi resembled a lizard as her limbs gripped the dragon, using her teeth to bite at the dragon’s skin as she crawled forward.

If the dragon had still been alive, Nailisi’s teeth would have been destroyed by the strength of those muscles by now. However, against a dead dragon, Nailisi was fearless.

“Mm, what do I do?” Sika had no idea how to manage the dragon’s skin, so she stood to one corner and watched Nailisi.

“Use your weapon to cut the muscles underneath the skin. It will make it easier to tear later on.”

Sika’s boomerang was also abnormally sharp. The boomerang could not cut the skin itself, but it did not have any issues cutting into the muscles underneath. Sika climbed onto the dragon’s corpse, followed after Nailisi, and began dissecting the dragon’s body.

The dragon’s skin was the hardest part to remove because it was extremely sturdy. Nailisi’s work was fairly slow. She had only managed to bite four massive holes out of the dragon after nearly two hours. Sika followed behind Nailisi all the while. When Nailisi was finished, the two of them pulled hard at the skin at the same time.

“Sika, do you need this piece of bone?” Nailisi was very relaxed after completing the toughest part of the task. She felt that her gums were swollen and painful, and her teeth were loose. Even Nailisi’s teeth, which were used to cut magic nuclei, could not withstand such stress.

“I want some horns to put on my cudgel.” Sika’s cudgel had been produced from the bones of ancient magic beasts, and its quality was not poor. She did not want to create an identical weapon anymore, but she was eyeing the horns because if they were applied to her cudgel, she would be able to penetrate high-grade magic armor with it.

Such horns could also destroy magic shields with just a tap.

“Hurry up. When master finds his teacher, they can help you produce weapons.” Nailisi and Sika pulled hard on the ends of the dragon skin and finally managed to remove the skin on the dragon’s back.

Without the protection of the skin, Sika’s boomerang could now be used to dissect the dragon’s corpse. Nailisi put away her tail and wiped the blood from her face. Then, she announced softly, “Viscountess Lex…”

There were cracks in the bones of Lex’s legs, so it took her a great deal of effort to walk. When Lex heard Nailisi’s call, she could only cast the level-3 Windspeed spell and limp towards the dragon’s body

“Yes?”

“Armor can be soaked in the dragon’s blood. I think you should take it.”

Lex was tempted. In Dragon’s Tooth Town, she had acquired many pieces of quality armor, but there had been no magic armor at all. If those pieces of armor were soaked in dragon’s blood, they would gain magic defenses.

“Alright.” Lex took a bottle from her waist. This bottle was obviously a special piece of spatial equipment. It could not be stored into another piece of spatial equipment, so it needed to be carried around on its own. Nailisi and Sika jumped off of the dragon’s back. With their strength combined, they actually managed to flip over the humongous body.

Lex sighed after witnessing that scene. It would have been great if there were such tenacious soldiers in the Bitter Water Army. Nailisi in particular was special. If she wore magic armor, she would become a fully constructed puppet with a human form.

Things were not adding up. If Nailisi and Sika combined their physical strength, it would already be close to that of a war puppet. So long as Sika used a square axe, it would not be an issue for her to break the gates of a city.

Sika and Nailisi mustered all of their strength and tried to peel the skin off of the dragon’s abdomen. Lex cast an ice arrow, but it became stuck in its muscles. There was stiff fibrous tissue between the muscles, and even level-3 magic could not penetrate it.

Nailisi giggled. She bunched her fingers together and stabbed them upwards into the dragon’s abdomen, reaching all the way to her arms. Nailisi pulled out her arms swiftly, and Lex quickly brought her spatial equipment forward to begin collecting the liquid within the dragon’s abdomen.

The sun had risen. This caused Saleen to become slightly anxious, for the rain had provided a cover for their auras, and that was why those people pursuing the dragon had not arrived yet. If there was any further delay, the four of them would be in great danger.

This location might have been extremely remote, but it was still beside a trail. Once the rain stopped, there was a possibility that people would pass by. Unless the people were blind, anyone would be able to see such a massive dragon as they passed by.

Saleen could not possibly kill those innocent people if they really came.

Lex was also beginning to become nervous. She and Saleen were unable to help, so only Nailisi and Sika were working to dissect the dragon, and the speed of dissection was not too swift.

“Lex, use a fire to burn this corpse. We will then take whatever is left after the fire,” Nailisi reminded her. Lex came to a realization. She had not thought of it sooner, only being fixated on how to remove the dragon and avoid leaving any traces of evidence behind. Now that Nailisi had already taken all the valuable objects, it would be best to burn the rest of the body. The bones which were not destroyed by the fire would definitely be of superior quality, so Lex did not need to worry either.