Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Dragon Roar

At the bottom of the valley on a night when the river continued to rush forward without respite, the sound of flowing water echoed through the narrow space. A few lights were flickering along the riverbank, moving ahead unsteadily.

On the dark riverbank, four men were braving the rain and carrying lanterns. Three were in front, dressed in coarse linen clothes that were soaked through, all around their twenties or thirties. They held a gas lamp in one hand and weapons in the other, their muscular builds showcasing tattoos on their arms.

Behind these three was a man dressed more elaborately. He wore a dark red suit, black trousers, and a lined jacket. His complexion was pale, with a long face, deep-set eyes, and a hawk-like nose, short brown hair reflecting a cold demeanor as he held an umbrella for himself.

On either side of this man followed two strange hunting dogs. They were almost hairless, with no ears, their dark red flesh exposed, tall and thin, nearly reaching the man’s knees, resembling a grotesque form rather than normal dogs.

This man’s name was Edric, the leader of the robbers… no, more accurately, he was the gang leader in the nearby Wokan Town, known as “The Beastly Dog Ed.”

Edric was treacherous and ruthless, a local tyrant in Wokan Town, feared by all. With the two mysterious hunting dogs that seemed to have come from nowhere, he had climbed to a high position through gang conflicts. His strange hunting dogs were fierce and comparable to wild beasts, seemingly immune to injury, which terrified not only his enemies but also his own subordinates.

Strictly speaking, Edric, as a gang leader, usually wouldn’t engage in such overt attacks on carriage teams. This particular assault was prompted by some unique circumstances.

He needed to obtain something from that carriage team.

“Boss, I see a light—they’re up ahead!”

At this moment, one of Edric’s subordinates, walking in the front, reported after looking ahead. Hearing his subordinate’s report, Edric nodded and then coldly spoke.

“Keep going. Let’s hope the target hasn’t fallen into the river…”

Afterward, Edric, along with the three subordinates and his two hunting dogs, proceeded along the riverbank. Soon, they arrived at the location where the carriage team had overturned.

Corpses of people and horses, along with overturned carriages, laid scattered on the riverbank—this disaster had befallen them due to their pursuit.

Upon arriving at the scene, Edric surveyed the horrific sight and then instructed his subordinates.

“Split up and search. Remember, it’s a white-haired girl around thirteen years old. Find her alive or dead, but preferably alive…”

“Yes, Boss!”

Once Edric had finished giving his orders, his three subordinates immediately dispersed to begin checking the bodies around them and examining the contents of the overturned carriage while Edric stood in place with his umbrella and hunting dogs, supervising his men.

As Edric’s subordinates gradually searched the scene, being members of a gang, they greedily picked up various valuables, even searching the bodies directly for anything of worth. Observing their actions, Edric scolded them coldly.

“Forget about everything else! Find the target first! If you don’t want to be fed to the dogs, hurry up!”

At Edric’s reprimand, his subordinates stopped their scavenging, some casting resentful glances back at Edric, but upon seeing the two strange hunting dogs, they quickly turned their heads back, filled with fear.

They all knew that Edric was unchallengeable, or rather, that his dogs were unchallengeable.

Those were hellish hounds, surely not any normal creatures!

Filled with fear, Edric’s subordinates resumed their search. Gradually, two of them found an overturned carriage at the farthest edge. It was tipping precariously on the slanted riverbank, nearly falling into the water. Fortunately, a rope held it in place, attached to a horse’s corpse wedged between two nearby rocks.

The two gang members climbed onto the overturned carriage to look inside, their eyes lighting up upon discovering coins and jewelry beneath the seats—stockpiled in abundance!

Seeing this, unable to contain their greed, the subordinates glanced at Edric in the distance, noting that he wasn’t watching them. They quickly reached inside the carriage to grab the money, but the coins were in a difficult position, just out of reach, so they began shoving each other into the cramped space to scoop everything out.

At that moment, behind the horse’s corpse nearby, a pair of red eyes was watching the scene unfold.

Seeing the prey had taken the bait, the white-haired girl drew a dagger she had picked up earlier from the ground and cut the rope holding the carriage. The rope had already been partially cut, allowing her to easily snap it completely.

“Ahh!!”

As the rope loosened, the carriage slid down the slanted riverbank into the swift river, and the two gang members who were inside had no time to react. They screamed as they were carried away by the rushing waters, along with the valuables Dorothy had collected earlier and placed inside the carriage as bait.

For riches, one dies. Dorothy didn’t believe a gang of robbers could resist such temptation!

“Beck! Wood!”

Their screams attracted the attention of others. Another gang member, seeing the carriage and his companions slip into the water, rushed to the riverbank to try to help. At that moment, the still-hidden Dorothy saw her opportunity.

“Hey!”

Without a word, Dorothy dashed out and charged at the gang member standing on the riverbank with his back to her, crashing into him hard. Though not an adult, in such an unguarded moment, Dorothy was enough to knock him off balance…

“Ah!”

With another shout of surprise, the gang member toppled into the river, swept away by the rushing current, alongside his previous companion. Dorothy, stumbling, barely managed to regain her balance.

Three down… what comes next…

Suppressing her panicking heart, Dorothy gazed into the distance along the riverbank, where Edric was glaring in frustration at the sudden turn of events.

“Where did that little brat come from… how dare she…”

Witnessing his men be tricked, Edric gritted his teeth and drew a revolver from his hip, aiming it at the girl less than ten meters away. Just as he was about to pull the trigger in anger, he caught sight of the girl’s figure in the dim light.

“The white-haired girl…”

This realization caused Edric to pause, abandoning his intention to sh**t, and he instead ordered his hunting dogs.

“Go and subdue that little brat!”

Obeying Edric’s command, the two monstrous hunting dogs charged forward at high speed towards the girl, ready to take her down.

Faced with the roaring hounds in the rain, Dorothy showed no intention to flee. She held her breath, focusing, and slowly spoke in the face of the impending threat.

What emerged from her lips were deep, ancient, archaic syllables, as if coming from a distant time.

“—Fus—”

At that moment, the words uttered from her petite frame sounded like a drum violently struck on the battlefield, shaking the air and whipping up the wind. An ancient language from another world invoked a phenomenon.

An invisible yet powerful shockwave surged from Dorothy, dispersing the rainwater and sending the two oncoming hunting dogs flying. Even Edric, standing at a distance, was affected; he lost his balance, slipped, and fell to the ground, the revolver slipping from his hand.

Seeing this, Dorothy quickly stepped forward, picked up the fallen revolver, steadied it in both hands, and aimed at Edric, who was struggling to rise.

As he lifted his head, Edric saw the black mouth of the g*n aimed at him. A flicker of panic crossed his cold expression as he hurriedly spoke.

“Wait! I didn’t—”

“Bang!”

Not interested in what the robber leader had to say, Dorothy pulled the trigger directly. With the revolver’s chamber rotating, the hammer fell, and flames erupted from the barrel, the b*llet flying forth, piercing through Edric’s chest at close range.

Then, the gang leader fell to the ground with wide eyes, facing a d*ath he had never imagined.

“Ha…ha…”

Sitting on the ground, shaken by the recoil, Dorothy breathed heavily as she looked at the man who had just fallen, her hands trembling unconsciously, her heart tumultuous. It was impossible to immediately adapt to the fact that she had fired a g*n for the first time and killed someone for the first time.

‘Ha… you killed all those people, you deserved this…’

Consoling herself in this manner, Dorothy steadied her trembling body and slowly rose, one hand touching her throat, echoing the ancient words she had spoken just moments before that had invoked such a phenomenon.

She understood what that phrase was.

It was the way of the shout, an ability she had learned from a game called “The Elder Scrolls,” where dragons used it—powerful language imbued with strength! It was a dragon shout!

What Dorothy had just invoked was the classic dragon shout from the game, the first powerful word of “Fus,” meaning “force.”

The dragons’ breath, a word powerful enough on its own, in “The Elder Scrolls,” such language was a weapon of combat for dragons; every battle became a devastating “war of words.” Only dragons and deities, along with exceptionally gifted mortals and Dragonborn, could wield such language.

Without a doubt, this was an incredibly powerful language, and such power derived from merely three characters, which had required Dorothy to trade her years of learning, over 3000 words of the Prit Common Language…

At this moment, Dorothy had vaguely realized what ability had accompanied her in her crossing.

That is…

To exchange knowledge for knowledge.

To trade knowledge from this world for knowledge from another world…