Half Elf Ranger

Chapter 367 The Copper Dragon's Labyrinth
The giant dragon in the main material world is also called: true dragon.

Winged reptilian creatures of ancient blood and incredible strength, fearsome for their size, physical strength, and magical abilities, the oldest dragon is arguably one of the strongest creatures in the entire world.

Throughout the continent, many creatures, including dragons, dragon turtles, pterosaurs, and even Thorne's animal companion, the dragon beast, have dragon blood, but true dragons only include two types: metallic dragons and chromatic dragons.

Black dragons, blue dragons, green dragons, red dragons and white dragons are selfish, evil and frightening evil dragons.

Brass, bronze, copper, gold and silver dragons embody nobility and kindness.

Although their ideals and goals vary widely, all true dragons have one thing in common.

It is greedy for wealth, and likes to collect piles of precious treasures such as gold coins, gems, and magic accessories, and then spends most of the time guarding the lair, only leaving when patrolling and hunting.

Although metal dragons are generally smaller than five-color dragons, they have an advantage in spellcasting ability.

On the whole, the combat power of metal dragons is stronger than that of five-color dragons.

Moreover, in its long life, the metal dragon likes to use magic ability to become a human form, and then integrate into a certain cultural society for a long time, walk on the streets of the city, enjoy the local food culture, and observe the lower races by the way. life to have fun.

As for why the five-color dragons don't like to do this, it's mainly because of their alignment. Almost all of them belong to the chaotic evil alignment. Those who encounter the good alignment are prone to fight, and those who encounter the evil alignment are more likely to fight.

Therefore, the five-color evil dragons usually have more enemies. In order to maintain their combat effectiveness at any time, they don't like to transform into human forms that weaken their abilities.

This is like the black dragon Sigrit in the prime of life in the city of ruins. Although her human form inherited all the attributes of the dragon, she couldn't take him down quickly when fighting Thorne.

However, on this point, the metal dragons of the good camp have relatively few concerns. The red copper dragon in Iron Horse Town likes to transform into a human very much and actively blends into it.

Copper dragons live mostly in the hills and rocky highlands, and are hopeless pranksters, jokesters, or puzzle solvers.

Along with their social and docile nature, they also have a tendency to be greedy and miserly.And they can become very dangerous when their treasure is threatened.

They appreciate all forms of humor, and while their own sense of humor can be irritating at times, it's all about being funny.

From the outside, their appearance is very eye-catching. The scales are composed of warm copper and blue, and the color of the rear edge of the wings is red and green mottled. When born, the scales of the red copper dragon are reddish brown with a metallic color.

A dragon's scales become finer and more coppery with age, taking on a soft, warm sheen in youth and turning a verdigris green on very old dragons.

Of course, you can also scientifically think that this is because the dragon scales have been oxidized...

The copper dragon's pupils also fade with age, initially blue-green, and when they reach the ancient dragon, they are like glowing turquoise balls.

For copper dragons, they are especially fond of bards.

It is even possible to give up part of the lair as a temporary residence for the poet in exchange for telling stories, guessing riddles and playing music for him.

Because in the eyes of the red copper dragon, this kind of companionship is the treasure it dreams of.

It can be seen from this that the red copper dragon in Iron Horse Town and the green dragon in Tranquility Forest fought for a bard, not without reason.

At this time, Thorne was sitting on a chair in the tavern, thinking about the copper dragon, sometimes frowning and sometimes lost in thought.

It has been more than two hours since the lord of Iron Horse Town left, and he is the only one sitting here in the dim tavern except for the shopkeeper by the counter.

Although he readily agreed to the lord of Iron Horse Town, when he was about to leave, he was obviously a little hesitant.

As his understanding of the Copper Dragon deepened, his inner hesitation became more apparent.

Copper dragons are a veritable scourge, sometimes roaring and descending from the sky, spraying acid on surrounding trees, only to linger briefly to laugh at the terrified.

The hapless adventurer is then compelled to solve a riddle or provide fresh stories and jokes as a toll to allow them to cross the road.

If the adventurer thinks it is unreasonable and doesn't do what the red copper dragon says, it will be bad luck. These dragons spend all day in the territory thinking about ways to toss and spoof people.

And this kind of scene is happening every day in Iron Horse Town...

Thorn began to worry that he might not be able to handle the dragon. If he really failed, he would be ashamed, or he would have time to sneak away now.

In the end, he made up his mind to meet the red copper dragon.

Even if he fails, he will not lose his life. If he succeeds, in addition to getting help in dealing with the green dragon in the Forest of Tranquility, he can also get a generous reward.

Thorne, who wanted to understand, immediately got up and walked towards the castle where the copper dragon lived.

"Mr. Ranger... just wait a moment." Seeing Thorn walk to the counter, the shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, but stopped him with a loud voice.

"What's the matter?" Thorn stopped in his tracks and cast doubtful eyes.

"That...you and the Messenger of the Silver Crow haven't settled yet." The shopkeeper gave Thorn an embarrassed look, and said boldly.

"..." Thorne was stunned, remembering that the Druid in the Emerald Garden did not pay the bill when he left, so he cursed a few words in his heart and asked, "How much is it in total?"

"310 gold coins." Seeing that there was no look of anger on the ranger's face, the shopkeeper was relieved and quickly replied.

"Why is it so expensive?" Thorne frowned slightly when he heard the shopkeeper's report.

It's not that he has never been to the tavern in Pushang Town, so he knows the price of these foods clearly, so he thinks that the owner of the shop is probably deliberately slaughtering him, a foreigner.

More than 300 gold coins are nothing to him, but if he is cheated, he will be very upset.

"The price for the meal is only ten gold coins. The main reason is that a bottle of elven honey wine is a bit more expensive, worth three hundred gold coins." Noticing the ranger's displeased expression, the shopkeeper's heart sank, and he quickly explained: "You must know that this kind of wine is made of wine. Strange honey brewed...."

"Take it." Before the shopkeeper finished speaking, he was interrupted by Thorne, and then he scolded the silver crow envoy in his heart, paid the bill, and went out directly.

Walking on the empty streets of Iron Horse Town, without delaying any time, he walked straight towards the castle hall where the copper dragon lived.

Looking at the closed heavy door, Thorne directly pushed it open.

"Boom!"

As he pushed the door and entered, what caught his eyes was not a spacious and bright hall, but a deep darkness, filled with various earthy and decaying smells.

At this time, the great hall that used to be the meeting ceremony of Iron Horse Town has been transformed into a complex maze by the red copper dragon using magic such as stone shaping.

That is to say, if he wants to find the Copper Dragon, he must go through this maze full of dangers and traps, and reach the end.

In fact, there is another way to find the Red Copper Dragon in an instant, and that is to enter through the back door.The people of Iron Horse Town entered from there.

Unfortunately, his identity is a stranger. If he breaks in without permission, he will be easily bombarded and killed by the red copper dragon, so he must abide by the rules of the game set by the red copper dragon.

Thorne looked at the maze with winding corners, various dead ends and enough to confuse the most confident cartographers in front of him. He didn't feel any surprise, because the lord of Iron Horse Town had already explained it before he left.

Making mazes is also one of the copper dragon's bad tastes.

It is said that among clans of copper dragons there is a constant competition to see who can design the most puzzling mazes.

Even every few decades, they will hold an annual maze building competition to prove who is the maze master of the red copper dragon group.

It can be said to show their funny attributes to the fullest.

Moreover, the Copper Dragon likes to observe those rash intruders secretly, watching them pass through various corridors, tunnels, false exits, traps and stumbling blocks in the maze designed by themselves.

This is like a child among human beings teasing ants for fun when they are bored.

Sometimes, they will use captive monsters to create a mini-dungeon. If intruders get lost in it, the copper dragon will rescue them before they are mortally threatened, if they are sure they are not enemies.

Of course, if you can get out of the maze on your own, you'll find the copper dragon's true lair at the end.

And the red copper dragon will generally give some rewards to the warriors who can get out of the maze, such as part of their property (1 gold coin, no more).

Similarly, in this labyrinth-like lair, there is usually a more direct escape route, that is, the back door. Basically, only the red copper dragon knows the location.

In fact, the escape function of this back door is only incidental. The real function is because these funny people feel that the maze they designed is too cumbersome, and sometimes they can't get out...

As a designer, how could the red copper dragon play the maze designed by himself, just like the reason why game planners never play the games planned by themselves.

——"Three-ring magic: third-level summoning of natural allies!"

Looking at the complicated maze, Thorn did not rush forward, but summoned six bats.

Under the control of his thoughts, these well-behaved bats were all scattered in various passages in an instant, exploring the way for him.

But he stood still, looking at the maze designed by the red copper dragon with great interest, while waiting for the bats to find the way.

Although most copper dragons like to live in civilized cities, they will still build their own labyrinth lairs in suitable areas nearby to store the wealth they have found.

As a territory dominated by mountainous rocks, the red copper dragon sometimes borders or overlaps with the brass dragon's territory. These two species often get along well. After all, one is funny and the other is chatterbox. right.

The actual situation is that they got along really well at the beginning, and the two talked very happily, and they could almost have a perfect cross talk together.

However, this combination cannot last for long.

As the two funny dragons get in touch for longer, it will gradually develop into a red copper dragon who keeps making jokes to test the bottom line, while a brass dragon spouts trash talk crazily, and in the end, when he is in a hurry, he cuts off his favor and says a cruel word, After swearing that they will get back the scene next time they meet, they broke up unhappy.

Of course, copper dragons sometimes find themselves neighbors with silver, red, and green dragons.

However, the silver dragon will avoid too much contact with the red copper dragon, mainly because it is afraid of being biased by this funny comparison.

Green dragons and red dragons will kill copper dragons or at least drive them away. If they can't do both, they will take the initiative to run away with their tails between their legs. ?

After all, apart from copper dragons, no dragon likes to fight enemies who are very good at using their wisdom to taunt and insult themselves.

Because it is easy for other dragons to explode their mentality before the battle begins.

About half an hour later, the six bats released by Thorne returned one after another.

After Thorn left one to lead the way, he walked directly into the maze.

——"Shadow Hand School (Stance Skill): Dance of Moths!"

The moment he was about to step into the maze, he immediately activated the Shadow Hand faction's stance technique, and then his body floated about two meters above the ground.

In other words, he was already floating in mid-air at this time.

This is a level 5 move, its main function is to use the energy of qi to create a surging shadow to lift his body off the ground, so that he can avoid triggering the various traps arranged in the maze, and can walk to the end unimpeded all the way.

The only disadvantage of this move is that in addition to being unable to run, the movement speed will also be reduced by half.

At this time, Thorne seemed to be floating in mid-air, but in fact, there was an almost invisible shadow energy dragging his body under his feet.

As he walked forward slowly, this shadow energy also moved with his movement, so there was no need to worry about being thrown off.

Under the leadership of the bat, Thorne walked very smoothly in the dark maze, no matter whether it was mud, traps or stumbling blocks, nothing could stop his footsteps.

Of course, during the march, he also encountered a few kobolds and little goblins blocking the way.

But it didn't cause him any trouble, because these poor little guys were killed by the dense traps in the maze while chasing him.

After all, this maze was only transformed by the Copper Dragon's hall in Iron Horse Town, so its scope is not as large as imagined.

Under the leadership of the bat, Thorne only took half an hour to get around.

After walking out of the maze, he immediately put away the Shadow Hand faction's stance skills, and landed slowly. Just as he was about to continue walking towards the red copper dragon's lair, a loud voice with a hint of youth came out.

"Where did the half-elf thief come from! How dare you break into my mother's territory?!"

When Thorne heard this voice, he immediately drew out the two sharp swords hanging from his waist, ready to fight at any time.

"Hey! Half-elf, I have a question for you! Why did you come to my place? Don't you know? This flattened hill belongs to me, this small castle belongs to me, and everyone in the castle belongs to me, too. All the wealth in the castle is still mine, and now you have broken into my territory, then you are mine now."

Hearing a series of chirping green voices, Thorne immediately looked in the direction of the source of the sound, and then he was stunned by what he saw.

Standing not far from him was a little loli about 1.3 meters tall. She was wearing a floral dress with all kinds of dazzling magic accessories on her wrists. Her long dark red hair was tied into two The ponytail hangs down on the shoulders on both sides, and the face looks very cute and moving.

However, on the immature face, there is a vicious and fierce look.

What made Thorne's eyelids twitch even more was that this little loli was holding a leather bag in her hand, and while staring at herself with big eyes blinking, she took out a fried little scorpion from the leather bag from time to time and said it with relish. chewing.

From the shape of the roasted scorpion and the pungent smell it emits, it can be seen that this is a small mutant poisonous scorpion with a high degree of poison.

In other words, this little loli ate poisonous scorpions as snacks.

However, when he remembered the identity of the other party's red copper dragon, he immediately understood.

After all, these funny people regard all kinds of poisonous creatures as the best delicacies.

Their own reason is that toxins can sharpen their intelligence and make them smarter.

Well, Thorne, who almost believed it, felt that their various crazy behaviors were probably due to their drug use and stupidity...

"Hello?! Why don't you talk." Little Lolita walked up to Thorne, looked at him curiously, and asked tentatively, "Are you dumb? Or are you an idiot?"

"Could you be scared silly by my domineering aura?" Seeing that Thorne still didn't respond, the little loli whispered again:
"Probably not? It's not easy for someone to climb out of my carefully designed maze. It's such a pity that such a fun toy is so stupid!
I want to play for two more days... Has he not appreciated my wit and beauty?I still have a bunch of riddles for him to figure out... huh?But it’s okay to be stupid, so I don’t have to give him customs clearance rewards, and I can save another gold coin…”

Just as Thorne was so dazed, the little Lolita in front of him babbled a lot of rubbish again.

(End of this chapter)