Brown finished washing the dishes and pots before reverting back to her dragon form and rest. As for Purple, he burped loudly without a care in the world, deactivated his gravity magic, and fell backward, making a Purple-shaped hole in the ground before sleeping. Green accompanied Ryder to an elevated ground, both sitting against each other and gazing at the heavily fortified entrance of the city. The road leading to the entrance was occupied by a long line of people, illuminated by large fire torches on both sides. There were guards stationed at the gates, and a few were lackadaisically checking the visitors' papers and their carriages.
"What about that one, Green? I think it's...a male....halfling? Definitely an adventurer, even if his armor looks shabby." Ryder rubbed his draconic eyes after putting out his jury.
A small, undistinguishable bulb popped back up onto the ground at the side of the road before returning to the underground. Green nodded proudly, leading to his rider pumping his fist.
"Okay, last one in the line. Uhmmm, kobold? From the horns, I'd say it's female...? Hmmm, could be a mage or a merchant with her robe. I'll go with... mage." The human blinked rapidly before his eyes turned back to normal due to exhaustion.
The bulb popped out from the ground again. This time, however, before it could retract back to the ground, someone jumped toward it, grabbed it, and tore it off from its stem. This made Green growled in pain and retracted his vines from the ground.
"What happened Green? Are you alright?" Ryder comforted him while examining his torn vine.
Green smiled and waved his paw to show that he was fine, which was then followed by a snarl to let his rider know what happened.
"Someone noticed your bulb? How? It's so dark outside." The human reactivated his draconic eyes, causing him to wince slightly, and tried to spot the bastard who hurt his companion. He was able to make out a pair of feline ears and tail on a humanoid. Their slim physique suggested that they're a woman. The kobold nearby stared at her as she resumed digging the hole the bulb was previously been at.
"Wait a minute, I think I've seen her before. Isn't she--"
Andrew showed up right on time with the rest of his party and promptly questioned the catgirl.
"What the hell are he and his clowns doing here?" Ryder pondered as the party then returned to the way they came, which was the city gate, and stopped by a caravan with a bunch of hooded people. Unease was slipping into the human's mind as Andrew's party initiated a conversation with them. Just as he thought nothing was going to happen and was about to return to the camp with Green, the carriage exploded. There were even more hooded figures hiding inside, and some swiftly escaped in different directions. This caused the entire line of people to panic as they scrambled to avoid the battle that had commenced between Andrew's party and the hooded figures.
Initially, he didn't want to join the fight because, regardless of his distaste for his former classmate, Andrew and his party were handling the situation well. None of the hooded figures were attacking the civilians too, so it was just a contained scuffle. However, he swiftly changed his mind when he noticed a hooded figure, who had been hiding in the carriage, flee with a pink, glowing vase in their hands when the knight and his comrades were distracted. After mounting on Green, the dragon, also aware of the situation, raced down the hill.
"Does no one in his stupid group noticed someone is carrying a Lure?!" He clamored as the hooded figure with the vase was on the verge of escaping amidst the chaos.
One of Andrew's companions, the red-skinned man, spotted the hooded figure and chased after them. The Lure was large and heavy, thus it impeded the hooded figure's departure and lead to their capture. However, things took a turn for the worse when the red-skinned man pushed the hooded figure down, causing the vase to break into pieces as it fell to the ground. The sound of the smashed lure attracted all the hooded figures' attention. A moment later, all of them immediately abandoned the fight and sprinted away as fast as they could. The only exception was the one holding the Lure because they had been knocked out and detained by the red-skinned man.
"What the bloody hell are you doing, Andrew?!" Ryder exclaimed as Green skidded and planted his feet in front of the knight. The rider pointed at the broken Lure. "Why is your priority not preventing the Lure from breaking?!"
"What are you talking about, Ryder? What are you even doing here?" Andrew replied with furrowed eyebrows.
"Argh, forget it! Does anyone in your party know how to use holy magic? We don't have much time left!"
"I do, Dragon Rider. I'm a priestess," Andrew's last companion, a fair-skinned woman with horns, replied.
"Okay, great, please go to the Lure and cast 'Halo' around it before purifying the damn thing! I know it sounds odd, but you have to trust me, okay? Now go!"
She nodded and was about to leave, but was stalled by Andrew as he stretched his arm. "What are you trying to do, Ryder? What is this about?"
"Are you-- Goddammit! This place is going to be swarmed with monsters any second now! I can answer your stupid questions after we're safe! Now move it, priestess! I'll head to the gate to protect the civilians and guards! You and your friends just need to make sure she isn't interrupted!"
The knight nodded reluctantly before trotting in the direction of the Lure with his party. As for Ryder, it took only a few seconds for his dragon to arrive at the commotion in front of the gate. All the visitors were shouting and demanding to be let in while the guards were panicking, not knowing how to handle the madness.
"H-halt!" A guard aimed his spear at Green, stopping the dragon dead in his tracks.
"You need to let them in right now! A horde of monsters is going to arrive soon!"
"W-what--"
Suddenly, a small creature howled before pouncing at that very guard with bared fangs. Green swiftly slapped the creature away. The crowd grew even more chaotic as they saw more monsters howling at the edge of the illuminated path.
"Let them in and close the gate NOW! You can investigate them afterwards!"
"W-we can't! The captain said-"
"WHO GIVES A SHIT! JUST GO IN AND YOU CAN BITCH ABOUT IT IF YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!"
The guard bit his lips and relented. He ordered his colleagues to let everyone in and shut the gates afterward. However, the order came too late as a wave of monsters flooded the area.
"Green, once the gate closed, build a wall in front of it. I'll call Brown."
Green nodded and sprouted twirling trunks from the ground to form a wooden dome.
"Brown, someone broke a Lure. There's a group of people protecting a priestess trying to purify it. Protect them." Ryder telepathically ordered. Then he smashed his draconic arm into the ground and transformed a small portion of the grassy field next to the path into a pool of mud. Smaller monsters were successfully trapped, but the stronger ones simply ran around or leaped over it.
He removed his sword from the sheath hanging by his hips while draconic scales and plates rapidly enveloped his entire body, starting from both of his arms. For the monsters in the distance, he raised his left arm and fired green projectiles at them. Once the projectiles were successfully stuck to their bodies, it began sucking the water content of the monsters and grew at astonishing speed. Seconds later, the monsters were completely bound by vines and fell to the ground. As for the ones that assaulted Ryder head on, he coated his sword with paralyzing spore before slashing them lightly.
"Watch out!"
Upon hearing the shout from behind him, he turned back and saw a wolf-like creature sprung in his direction. Right as the rider cursed under his breath for not having enough time to dodge, an arrow was shot through its skull, hurling its body a few centimeters away. The guard from before approached him with a dozen of his comrades. "We'll take care of the left, Dragon Rider. You just focus on the right." Ryder nodded and called out to Green to join him.
