According to the inheritance of dragons, harpies were not a powerful race. Their level of development was low, and when they hunted, they would move in groups.
Their main attack method was to swoop down from the sky and use their claws to attack the enemy's head. Such an attack was not something to be proud of.
With the typical Five-Colored Dragon's personality, they would have headed straight for the harpies' nest.
But Jose would not do that. He might look down on an incompetent individual, but he would never underestimate an entire race.
In this strange magical world, even unthinking beasts had their own survival wisdom. Furthermore, the harpies were intelligent creatures that lived in groups. Occasionally, there might be Warlocks that could control thunder and storms among them, but the probability was very low. It was even lower than a kobold becoming a Dragon Warlock.
Other than that, he had other concerns.
During the reign of the Mistress of the Red Nest, there were no wild monsters within the range of the Jorgol Mountains. The wild monsters were either killed or taken in by the Red Nest. The nest of these harpies was located at the edge of the Jorgol Mountains. They could have migrated here recently or were survivors that escaped from the Red Nest.
If it was the latter, then he had to be careful.
Due to the advantage of flying, the harpies had always been scouts for the Red Nest. The treatment of a scout was much better than that of the kobolds, gnolls, and other cannon fodder races, and they often received formal combat training. If they had sufficient talent, they could even receive expert training.
If Jose's memory was correct, the leader of the harpies under the Mistress of the Red Nest was a master-level mage.
In order to avoid offending a powerful enemy, Jose decided to first scout for information. At the very least, he had to figure out the number of opponents and the strength of their leader. Then, he would decide whether to conquer, persuade, or flee.
He flew to a certain valley with lush vegetation. He then hid in the dense forest and waited patiently. The valley was a distance away from the harpies' nest, but it was still within their range of activity.
Time passed by slowly, and dawn arrived.
When it was almost noon, his patience was rewarded. Two harpies appeared in the sky above him.
It was a standard pair of hunters.
According to the harpy's hunting habits, they would usually hunt in groups of two. If they discovered a large prey that the two of them could not deal with, one of them would return to call for reinforcements while the other would continue stalking them. If the two of them could handle it, they would attack immediately.
For Jose, the two harpies were weak as ants.
Even if there were more than two of them, as long as there were no experts among the harpies, with only their claws, they would not even be able to hurt Jose's scales.
"Woo woo!"
Jose imitated the ape's cry as it was one of the harpy's hunting targets.
As expected, the two harpies stopped flying and descended towards the canyon. However, they stopped halfway.
Had he been discovered?
No, that was unlikely.
Through the layers of tree crowns, he observed the two harpies with their wings hanging in the air. They were turning their heads to observe the mountain forest below as though they were searching for prey.
Jose hesitated to make a sound again.
The distance between him and the two harpies was neither too far nor too close. If he made a sound, there was a possibility that he would be discovered. Although his flying speed was much faster, they could still make it out of the valley if they scattered. If their distant companions saw them, the enemy would be alerted.
However, if he did not make more sounds to attract them, the harpies would not have the motivation to continue searching for him. They might give up on the prey and leave. In that case, his half a day of hard work would be wasted.
In the end, Jose decided to be more cautious. At worst, he would have to wait for another opportunity.
The two harpies failed to resist the temptation of food. They split up and carefully searched the forest.
One of the harpies suddenly caught a glimpse of a bright red color in the forest. Before it could react, a powerful pressure descended.
Draconic aura!
The draconic aura and dragon breath were both a dragon's specialty. This kind of invisible force, with its natural suppression toward life forms, could bring great pressure to the inferior races, causing them to panic like mice seeing a cat and lose the courage to fight.
Under the influence of the draconic aura, the harpy flapped its wings like it was drowning. Its body involuntarily fell into the forest, and as it fell, it was grabbed by Jose.
When the other harpy saw a Red Dragon emerge from the forest, it was so frightened that its soul almost left its body. It turned around and ran, but was caught by the Red Dragon who was flying even faster. It was turned into a pile of charcoal in the dragon flames.
Jose grabbed his shivering captive and descended toward the canyon, dropping the terrified harpy to the ground.
From a human's aesthetic point of view, if the harpy's skin were fairer, it would have looked beautiful. Unfortunately, they had disgusting spots and fur on their bodies. When they opened their mouths, they even revealed sharp teeth, ruining the beauty of the elves' oval faces.
"Ugly thing, tell me your name!
"Forget it. I'm not interested in knowing your name. Let's get straight to the point. Are you from the Red Nest? How many people are there in your tribe? What's the name of your leader? How strong is she? What's her class? Hmm? Why aren't you answering me? Do you want me to try some extreme interrogation methods?"
The harpy was dumbfounded by the long string of questions. Its mind had gone blank, and it even forgot to tremble.
Jose's expression turned increasingly dark. He was about to try the "Three Steps Interrogation Method of the Red Dragons" that he had learned from the inheritance of dragons on the captive.
First step: Beat it up.
Second step: Beat it until it is half dead.
Third step: Move on to the next captive.
As it seemed like he did not have another captive to beat up, Jose could only flick the harpy's head resentfully.
"Ah!" A miserable scream sounded.
How powerful was a dragon? The harpy's head swelled, waking it from the state of shock.
"Lowly worm, answer my question. Are you from the Red Nest?"
The harpy did not dare dodge the sulfuric breath that landed on its face. It closed its eyes and trembled while responding, "Revered True Dragon, I belong to the third corps of the Mistress—"
"I'm not interested in that." Jose directly interrupted the captive's self-introduction. "No one can save you now. Your only way out is to answer my question. If I'm in a good mood, I can still let you live."
"Next question, how many members do you have?"
"Sixty-four."
"Good, let us continue. Your leader…"
Through the interrogation, Jose learned that the composition of these harpies was somewhat complicated. Some of them had come from the Red Nest, while others had joined later as wandering harpies.
Their leader was a dragonkin that had lost its master, Intermediate Mage Luna Bloodfeather.
Upon learning that the leader of the harpies was a dragonkin, Jose frowned slightly. An Intermediate Mage would have made quite a good subordinate, but unfortunately, the Follower Contract could only be signed once.
Wait, no!
"Did your leader sign a Follower Contract?"
"This… I don't know."
Jose did not make things difficult for the female captive. It was normal for the subordinates to not know the leader's private information.
He decided to take a look personally. Everything would be fine if it was just a dragonkin that was tainted with the aura of a dragon.
But if not…