A few moments later, Purple released his claws, letting the duo land next to Green, who was surrounded by mud baskets. Without their rider's input, Green and Brown immediately used their respective magic to build a small dome to protect their supplies.

  Ryder, standing beneath the hovering dragon, shouted, "Purple, what do you see?"

  "A mole dragon and a horde of bat wyverns soaked in miasma. Ho ho, haven't seen any of those for quite a while."

  He wanted to ask more questions, but the shouting he heard on his left was getting louder and louder. Shifting his sight, he saw a group of panicked guards pointing at the dragon above them, as well as the horde at the horizon, and arguing with each other. Then, a few of them noticed the teenager and aimed their weapons in his direction. Green, upon detecting the guard's hostility, leaped to his rider's side and growled, causing them to clamor even louder.

  Ryder quickly waved his hand. "Woah, hey! We aren't here to cause trouble! I-"

  Thump!

  All the guards promptly turned back and scrambled to line up. During the chaos, the human saw a guard with markedly better armor and a giant hammer marched speedily from the entrance gates toward the rest. That guard passed by her colleagues and didn't stop until she was staring down the teenager.

  "You are the Dragon Rider, yes?" A deep voice rumbled from her blue throat.

  Ryder tilted his head backward so his eyes could meet with hers. "Uhm, yes. I am. We aren't-"

  "My name is Salay, the captain of the guards. Time is running short, so I'll cut to the chase. I would like to ask for your assistance to protect our town against the horde's assault. We'll reward you handsomely if you are willing to lend us your aid."

  "I was already planning to do that, but uh, thanks." He smiled stiffly and patted Green to calm him down.

  Salay blinked and laughed, startling him. Her laughter stopped abruptly, and she proceeded to explain, "My apologies, Dragon Rider. People in these parts rarely, if ever, extend a helping hand without compensation. If only we had someone like you here for the previous attack." She glanced at the cracked walls.

  "I see. Can you give me a second?"

  She nodded.

  The dragon rider lifted his head and exclaimed, "Purple!"

  The purple dragon peered downward.

  "Stall them for as long as you can! And remember, don't kill them!"

  "Ugh. Must I?"

  "Yes! You said they're covered in miasma, so this falls under our responsibility!"

  The dragon snarled and soared towards the horde.

  "Sorry about that." Ryder turned to the captain. "What can you tell me about this horde and the previous attack?"

  "They appeared out of nowhere yesterday and attacked us. The mole dragon is the horde's leader. It directed the bat wyverns to distract the guards first before it rolled toward the wall at high speed, smashing it repeatedly. We thought they wanted to tear the wall down, but we thought wrong when we deployed our mages. The wyverns immediately started picking on the mages instead, and the mole dragon kept us guards busy from protecting them. Once all the mages had been injured, they left as quickly as they came. Right now, almost all of our mages are still lying in the hospital, and our walls were barely repaired."

  "You didn't request additional help from the guild or other towns?"

  "I did, but they haven't arrived yet. We're lucky that you decided to visit at this time."

  "I see."

  "Salay!" A guard approached them and saluted. "The horde is going to arrive soon! What should we do?"

  She turned back to Ryder. "Do you have a plan, Dragon Rider?"

  "Let me discuss with my dragons real quick." He dashed back to Brown with Green and relayed the information.

  "We could try to dig a deep hole for the mole dragon to fall into?" The rider proposed.

  Green nodded his head, but Brown shook hers.

  "A really, really deep hole...?"

  Green shrugged while Brown still disagreed before explaining, "A mole dragon is sensitive to seismic activity. Any earth-based traps will not fool them. Additionally, even if they fall down into a hole, they will be able to burrow out of it faster than I could bury them. Brute force is the most effective way to stop them, but they will be severely injured, especially when they're under the influence of miasma."

  "What about Green's sleeping spores?"

  "They won't remain in place long enough for the spores to take effect. My sticky mud likely won't be able to hold down a mole dragon at full speed, if I can even hit it."

  "Then we need a way to make sure the mole dragon stays in one place long enough for the sleeping spores to take effect. Or we can change the direction of the mole dragon's momentum so it flies off to somewhere else? No, that won't solve the problem at all. How about..."

  Green mimicked his rider's behavior as the both of them racked their brains trying to come up with a strategy.

  And then, an idea flashed in the green dragon's head. He growled to tell the other two about his idea.

  "That's the slippery wood, right? It may derail the Mole Dragon's course, but how would it--"

  Green quickly drew a circle with his claw on the sand and showed a spinning motion while growling more. The other two promptly understood the idea, and the trio rapidly finalized their plan.

  In the distance, Purple was getting annoyed distracting the wyverns. If not for his rider's order, he would've just killed them all. All he could do to slow the horde was by making them dodge his relentless attacks. However, the horde soon realized he wasn't going to actually harm them, so they ignored his attacks and charged at full speed.

  "You better have a plan ready, Ryder, because they finally noticed I'm purposefully missing my attacks." He spoke through the telepathic link.

  "I said don't kill them, not don't knock them down! You can totally do that! In any case, just ignore the mole dragon and bring as many wyverns down as you can!"

  "Wind or lightning?"

  "Whichever you want! You just need to make sure they won't be able to help the mole dragon!"

  "There's better be a feast later!"

  "We can discuss that later! Just do it!"

  Purple proceeded to flap his wings with incredible force and mumbled. Moments later, a small tornado formed among the wyverns, successfully preventing them from following their leader. Instead of stopping, the mole dragon picked up even more speed as it hurled itself toward the walls. As it got closer, it sensed there were activities underneath the ground in front. The dragon ignored it, believing that it would not be enough to halt its momentum.

  "I hope your plan works, Dragon Rider." Salay and her guards watched apprehensively, weapon in arms.

  "It will work." Ryder assured as he readied himself.

  The rumbling sound of the mole dragon grew louder and more terrifying with each second passed, though it also meant he finally got a good look at the dragon's size. He grinned as sweat formed on his temple. "It seems like your estimation of the mole dragon's size was correct, Brown. This is going to work. This is definitely going to work. Please work."

   When the terrifying ball of destruction finally arrived 50 meters away from them, the dragon rider bolted forward. "NOW!"

   Brown, who had reverted back to her dragon form, slammed her tail, causing a small part of the ground to protrude in an angle that turned the mole dragon's vertical rolling motion to a horizontal one as it zipped through the air. She then slammed her front paw downward, revealing a big hole in the ground with a ring of yellow wood within. Ryder leaped into the air and shot out a rock pillar from his draconic arm and hit the mole dragon, ensuring that it would fall into the ring.

  The mole dragon initially wanted to expand itself back to its full form, but soon realized that would be a bad idea as his rolling momentum had remained the same in the ring. If it expanded itself now, its neck might get snapped in half.

  Brown and Ryder swiftly covered up the ring and signaled Green to pump out as much sleeping spore as he could. Everyone could feel the ground shaking as the Mole Dragon circled around the ring. The shaking gradually decreased as time went on. Finally, minutes later, all of them heard a crash, which was followed by silence. The plant dragon made sure there were no more sleeping spores left in the ring before the cover was lifted.

  The dragon rider gang and the soldiers saw the mole dragon's body had lodged itself into the ground. Ryder jumped down and checked the dragon's condition. While doing so, he muttered a spell, and the miasma covering it evaporated. Once he confirmed the dragon didn't suffer life-threatening injuries, he exited the hole and ride on Green's back. The duo ignored the guards' celebration as they headed toward their purple companion.

  The rider's heart sunk when he saw the wyverns' corpses littered around Purple, who was staring at him with a smug grin. He dropped from his partner's back and roared as he stepped toward Purple. "You killed them! I told you not to kill any beings taken over by miasma!"

  "I didn't plan to kill them. But, as I recalled never tasting bat wyverns before, and the amount of meat gathered here seems to match my appetite, I did what my stomach told me to. You said killing for food is acceptable, didn't you?" The purple dragon licked his lips with anticipation.

  "You--" The human pointed at him and groaned frustratingly. A resigned sigh then escaped his mouth. "If you want me to roast them, you're going to prepare the meat yourself." He jumped back on to Green's back, who glared at Purple for upsetting their rider.

  Purple winked and showed an OK sign at Ryder before the human returned to town. It made Purple flip his OK sign a couple of times, wondering if he did the sign wrong.

  "Dragon Rider! What happened to the wyverns?" Salay asked as Ryder descended from Green.

  "They're... dead. All of them were killed by my dragon companion." His voice rang hollow.

  The guards cheered loudly at the news, to the surprise of Ryder.

  "The bat wyverns have been a nuisance to our town long before they show up with the mole dragon. We are grateful that your dragon killed so many of them." She smirked with appreciation.

  "You're... welcomed." Ryder sigh again.

  "What do you suggest we do with the mole dragon, Dragon Rider?"

  "The spores would probably keep them asleep for around 3 hours. Drag them as far away from town as you possibly can within that time. If they belong to a pack, killing them would cause their pack members to seek revenge. It's better to not take the risk"

  "Will do, Dragon Rider." Salay barked a series of orders to her fellow guards as Ryder absentmindedly sat down against Green's body. The dragon rubbed its snout against his rider's body to cheer him up.

  "Are you alright, Dragon Rider?"

  "I'm just... tired."

  "If you need a place to rest, I can offer you a lodging. Your dragons are welcomed into the town too, as long as they do not damage public property. Once the sun sets, we will celebrate today's victory with you as our guest of honor."

  Ryder stood up and dusted off the sand on his pants. "Lead the way."