"What happened?" Ace asked.
"The undead didn't want any of us to leave. They sent a small unit to chase us. The Misty Forest deserved its name, it was covered with a tight mist.
Maybe it would be good if we ran to the North. Although the contour was hilly, we could still see around. With our sights restricted, one by one of our members was taken by the vampires and their servants.
We tried to fight back against them. However, they ignored us. With their bat-like wings, every day they took 1 to 3 of us. It made us crazy.
And the horrifying thing was, in the next few days, we realized that one of the vampires' servants was our former member. Her face became pale, her eyes turned red, and a pair of bat-like wings on her back. She emotionlessly took our member and flew away.
On the 7th day, our members were 16 fewer. Our morals were at the lowest level. We already gave up all hope. Then we found it. It was an underground cave. We found it incidentally when one of our members fell to it. The entrance was covered by some bushes, just like this cave, so it was pretty hard to see.
After entering it, we found out that the cave led us deep underground. The passage was not too steep, so we could climb down pretty easily.
After climbing down for a dozen meters or more, we felt our feet wet. It was an underground creek. We were glad to find it because our freshwater stock was almost run out. After drinking and filling our water bags, we continued to go downstream.
At some point, we had to dive underwater because the ceiling of the passage became lower. Fortunately, the passage widened afterward. Sometimes we found another passage, so we must choose one. We went down the passage for a few hours until we saw light at the end of the passage.
It was heaven. I never saw a place that was more beautiful than that place. It was an underground garden. Not like the dark passages of the cave, many shining crystals were on the walls, ceiling, and the ground.
Various fruit trees and medicine herbs grew there. All of us then strode towards its shore. We didn't care about our damp clothes, we just wanted to see the full view of the place. And we found out that it was pretty large," Adrian then described the specialness of the place.
However, Ace and his family didn't pay attention to Adrian's saying. Because they got a system notification.
*Ding*
[Alternative Quest: Mysterious Place (Part 1) is triggered]
[Mission: Go to the mysterious place that was mentioned by Adrian.
Reward:
• 10,000 experience
• Next quest (depending on your performance)]
"...."
Ace eyed all the members of his family with meaningful gazed.
***
Meanwhile, in the corner of a dark stony room that had only a big wooden door, Gon was laying on the chilling ground.
"Sigh… Why did I come back? If only to be treated like this," He sighed.
"If you didn't come back, you would become a stray dragon. Trust me! Sentenced to be imprisoned for 10 years is a light punishment. Furthermore, pretending to die in the war is pretty shameless right? How could you get such a silly skill? Hahaha!" A deep voice came from a different corner.
*Snort*
Gon didn't answer the voice owner's mockery.
"We dragons could live for more than a thousand years. Just think of it as a vacation. You can level up to level 30 or 31 by the time you are released if you meditate seriously," the voice was heard again.
"Shut up old pervert! I don't want to hear anything from a dragon that has a hobby of cosplay," Gon couldn't hold himself to shout.
"Call it shapeshifting. Brad! I just want to comfort you. My innate talent is very cool. You must admit it. I can become anyone I want to be. It is better than yours at least a thousand times. A talent to play dead. Hah! That is ridiculous," an earth dragon who was somewhat identical to Gon was walking to the laying Gon.
Looking at the dragon who was very similar to him, Gon only scoffed, "Fake!" He then closed his eyes.
The dragon that was similar to him then sneered, his body then expanded to be at least two times his previous form. On his back then grew a pair of large wings. A short horn also grew on top of his nose and then two long ones grew on top of his head, "Brat! I know that you still can not accept the punishment. However, for doing cowardice like that, you deserved it. A dragon can be evil, can be cunning, can be greedy but he can not be a coward."
After listening to the big dragon's saying, Gon couldn't hold himself anymore. He stood up and glared at him, "Have you satisfied in mocking me? No one wants to die. What's wrong with pretending to die to save your life?"
The big dragon then looked sharply to Gon, "It's about the dignity of the dragon. What will the other giants say if they know a dragon pretended to die to save his life? Not only you will be ridiculed, but our entire clan. Our clan may not be strong. But we are dragons. I hope you will understand someday. That died is better than being a laughing stock."
Gon gritted his teeth, "Shut up! Do you have the right to speak dignity? Do a dragon who disguised himself as King Dragna to mate with his wife have a right to scold me? You are lower than me, Mars!"
"!" Mars, the big dragon seemed to be surprised. A trace of sadness then could be seen from his face. He then came back to the dark corner.
Looking at the retreating dragon, Gon snorted. He then returned to his previous place and lay down. As he wanted to sleep, he heard a noise outside of the wooden gate.
A minute later the door was opened. A dragon then entered the room. After looking around the inside of the room he said, "Be grateful criminals! Mars, Gon, you are given an opportunity to redeem yourselves. His Majesty King Dragna wants to meet you. Be polite in front of him!"
Gon was shocked. He never imagined he would be given a pardon this fast. He then looked at the corner of the room.
"Is it true the King himself called me?" Disbelief could be felt in Mars's voice. He then approached the dragon that just came.
"Y-yes. His Majesty wants to meet you," The dragon looked nervous when seeing Mars who was almost two times higher than him.
"Okay, lead the way!" Mars said in dignified expression.
Gon never saw Mars like that, since he was put into prison with him. In Gon's eyes, Mars was an annoying old dragon who always picked on him.
The dragon then led Mars outside, but he stopped when reached the door. He then turned his head to Gon, "Brad, do you prefer to come out now or 10 years later?"
Gon was startled, he then stood up and followed them.
***