Red Dragon Emperor - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Large Crack

As his follower led the way, Jose moved along the tunnel from the first living area.

In the dark tunnel, Ergou explained as he walked, “Master, we are heading to the second living area, which has also been in use.”

“The tribe doesn’t have a large population, so the second living area wasn’t fully occupied. We were using that space, filled with the dried grass we collected from the Great Plains, to make the incubation base for our tribe.”

Indeed, kobolds were also oviparous animals like dragons. Female kobolds could lay eggs twice a year, and the number of eggs each time would be between four to nine.

Generally speaking, almost all their eggs would hatch successfully; however, their overall survival rate was less than forty percent. Disease, hunger, and competition with siblings were all obstacles to the survival of a kobold.

“I wonder how many of our eggs were destroyed by the petrified lizards.” Ergou sighed.

After walking out of the tunnel, he saw a spacious and open cavern that was about the size of the first living area. Half of the space was occupied by the kobolds’ tents, while the other half was filled with dried grass piles. There was a small depression on each grass pile, and inside the nest would be fist-sized kobold eggs.

Unfortunately, most of the haystacks had been trampled by some large creatures, and the eggs inside them had disappeared. Some of the haystacks had broken eggshells, but there were no traces of the young kobolds visible.

Jose used his height advantage to scan the area. From the number of intact haystacks, 80% of the kobold eggs of the blood-tooth tribe seemed to have been destroyed, but it was not a big problem. As long as there was sufficient food, they could quickly replenish the numbers.

Seeing the huge Red Dragon, a kobold soldier who was searching among the haystacks came over with a kitten-sized kobold cub in his arms.

The kobold soldier walked up to Jose and lowered his head. “Master, we found some of the little ones hiding in the hay. They were lucky enough to avoid a terrible enemy, but not hunger. This cub is the only survivor.”

Jose looked at the little kobold. The newborn kobold was pale pink in color. Its newborn claws and scales were like translucent crystals, making it look adorable.

However, its eyes were closed, and its breathing was weak, and it felt like its heartbeat could stop at any moment.

At the side, Er Gou frowned. “There is no hope. This cub is unconscious and cannot eat.”

The female kobolds did not have any secondary sexual characteristics, nor did the newborn kobolds need breast milk. They would eat eggshells to replenish their nutrients, just like the dragons, and then they would proceed to other foods, but this unconscious cub could not eat.

“Throw it away.”

“Wait.” Jose stopped the kobold soldier who was about to turn around and took the cub from him.

“It’s your luck to have met me.”

Magic power surged out of the dragon claw, mixed with traces of bloody mist. Dust-like dragon blood seeped into the skin of the kobold babe. Its temperature then rose rapidly, turning its skin red like a lobster. Steam was still rising, but its heart was already beating more vigorously.

The kobold soldier was green with envy and wanted nothing more than to take its place.

Ergou had a complicated look on his face as he muttered, “Lucky little guy.”

“Bring him away.”

The kobold soldier quickly took the cub as Jose and Ergou continued their tour.

However, the second living area was slightly different from the first. There were four tunnels that led to other areas. They were located in the east, west, south, and north.

“Oh, so it has a network structure. I thought it would be a chain structure.”

Although Ergou did not know what the “network structure” and “chain structure” were, he could understand the meaning of the words. “It is indeed a network structure. Master is truly wise.”

Soon after, when Jose saw the kobold soldiers carrying the bodies of the deceased cubs into a tunnel, he was curious and asked, “Where are they taking the bodies?”

“Throwing them away. There’s a large crack in the third living area. All the useless trash like feces and ore slag are thrown into the crack.” Ergou heaved a sigh of relief after replying. He had only glanced sideways a moment ago and already felt immense pressure from it.

Accompanying his master was like accompanying a tiger.

Jose did not know what his follower was thinking, but he was more interested in the big “crack” he was talking about. “Let’s take a look.”

“As you wish.”

After walking for a while, the dragon and the servant arrived at the third living area. Compared to the first and second living areas, the third one was much more dilapidated. The blood-tooth tribe had probably all left this place after the division.

Rather than exploring the history of the kobold tribe, Jose was more interested in the crack. The large fissure in the ground was located at the edge of the third living area, and its width varied between half a meter and two meters.

Jose came to the widest part of the crack and looked down from above.

Deep! It was very deep!

Just the visible depth was more than two thousand meters. Further down, his line of sight was blocked by irregular protruding rocks, but he could still see a hazy red light. This was the light emitted by the magma in the depths of the fissure.

“What’s with this crack? Have you explored it?”

“Master, I once heard that when this crack was first discovered, the tribe explored it, but they found nothing, and many people died. At that time, the chieftain regarded the crack as an ominous sign and forbade the tribe from continuing to explore it. I’m not sure about anything else.”

“Fine,” said Jose, sticking his head inside the fissure. He could feel the flow of air.

“There is wind. This is not an isolated space.”

After determining the direction of the wind, he looked toward its source. Unfortunately, the crack was not smooth, and there were irregular protrusions on its sides. The wide areas were enough for Jose to pass through, while the narrowest part was only a finger wide.

He sniffed and tried to analyze the scent molecules carried by the wind, but the sulfur from the underground magma interfered with his sense of smell. He did not gain much from it and only discovered a unique plant scent.

A plant scent that was completely different from the plants on the surface. It seemed to be slightly rotten…

“It wouldn’t be the Black Forest that connects to the Dark Region, right?” Jose muttered to himself.

No, it was very likely!

The Dark Region, one of the most mysterious and dangerous areas on the Tedanol Continent, was made up of many huge caves connected by tunnels. The largest of these caves were like a miniature of the surface world. Inside, there would be hills, forests, lakes, and underground rivers.

In the vast Dark Region, there were as many species as on the surface. Most of them were evil, such as the widely known dark elves, gray dwarves, eye demons, heart-stealing demons, crowned mermen, and so on.

The Black Forest, on the other hand, was one of the native ecosystems of the Dark Region. It did not see sunlight all year round, and the dark energy corroded the forest, mutating the vegetation into a completely different form. It was distorted, dark, and reeked of decay.

Except for the perverse or necromancers, almost no one liked the Black Forest, due to all the plants there being poisonous to normal living beings.

In this regard, the most common solution of the underground civilizations was to burn the Black Forest to ashes if they encountered it. The fact that this part of the Black Forest was not burned meant that it had not been discovered by any intelligent races, or perhaps they were not knowledgeable enough to do so.

Jose’s eyes twinkled.

There were opportunities and risks in the undeveloped Dark Region.

Legend had it that the Elven Dynasty, which once looked down upon the continent, started its rise from the Dark Region. The lucky elves had dug out some long-lost ancient civilization ruins.

Some people benefited, while others suffered. There was once a human kingdom that discovered an unexplored Dark Region and entered it rashly without any investigation. In the end, it released the plague curse that had been sealed underground, and the entire kingdom was plunged into misery and suffering.

This was how dangerous the Dark Region was, but it was also full of temptation.

“Your ancestors were wise to stop exploring.”

Jose turned away. He would not touch this crack until he was an adult.

“Let’s continue.”