Chapter 52

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 52: Airplane

In the late night at the southeast corner, the sky was not empty.

Late night and early morning were some of the training times for the Dragon Knights, their training was usually upside down from day to night. The only light sources were the torches on the ground and the sparks occasionally coming out from the dragons’ nostrils. Being able to graduate in this environment, every Dragon Knight could adapt to night battles and poor lighting in the future. On the other hand, even if there were residents who were active at this time, they would casually mistake the passing black shadows in the sky as flying birds.

The residents would eventually need to adapt to the existence of dragons, but not now – as new drivers just hit the road, traffic accidents happened frequently. If people took the level of riding dragons, drawing figure eights, and hitting trees as the norm for Dragon Knights, all qualified Dragonriders would weep bitterly over this injustice.

"Sir, what is that?"

The first to spot the airship was a Dragon Knight, following his pointing finger, a strange-shaped cloud was flying towards the horizon.

All living beings who handed over their souls to the dungeon had given Tasha all their permissions. Just like Douglas and Marion, they gave their souls, so when the image in front of him was reflected on his retina, Tasha also saw that aircraft through his eyes. It looked like a bread, with an oval tip pointing southeast, all covered in traces of man-made objects. It resembled something from a World War I poster, much more recognizable than that strange Magic Cannon, Tasha understood in less than a second that it was an attack from the north.

The white airship was flying towards their territory.

The detection range of the watchtower was tied to its height, Tasha could draw a detailed sand table of the territory, but this comprehensive battlefield map was limited to the plane. She had no radar, no anti-aircraft guns – who would have thought to prepare for that in a seemingly medieval place? Luckily, the dungeon’s territory was not completely defenseless.

Near the border, the Amazonian people received an early warning to hide underground. The dungeon was the best shelter. Two teenagers who were stranded outside were rescued and taken to the medical room. Leading the way in the sky, a huge dragon tore through the blockade of birds, marking the beginning of an aerial war.

The flying "bird swarm" were not real birds, they were more like remote-controlled drones with a strong Aryan style. They were similar to creatures like the Red Setter and Trapdoor Spider. These mechanical birds had heads that flashed red light, bodies covered in bird feathers, and various sharp weapons hanging below them. They flew in formation in the sky with precise coordination, avoiding trees and each other while carrying out seemingly chaotic attacks.

But they couldn’t escape the approaching dragon.

Douglas rode on the neck of a red dragon, holding the reins tightly. He crouched down close to the dragon’s body, enveloped in a red glow. The bond between the Dragon Knight and the dragon created a magical connection, allowing them to communicate and act as one. As the dragon dived at high speed, the Dragon Power protected the knight from the fierce winds that could tear him apart.

Douglas didn’t need a weapon, as the dragon itself was a deadly weapon. The Red Dragon had terrifying sharp horns on its head and scales tougher than the thickest shield. With agility and speed like a jet plane and the weight of a hammer, the dragon struck down fiercely among the bird swarm. The orderly formation was broken, and the mechanical birds with sharp weapons fell one by one, sounding like rain on banana leaves.

"Come on!" Douglas shouted. Flames erupted from the dragon’s throat, creating twisted air currents that threw off the approaching birds.

Like a brush dipped in flames, a long streak was painted in the sky. Feathers turned to ashes instantly, leaving only bare metal surfaces. The flames continued to spew out, with the red glow flickering within the fire. The shells of the mechanical birds charred, twisted, and transformed into metal clumps that plummeted to the ground. The dragon’s airflow, heat, and flames cleared a large area filled with dark shadows in the sky, as if sprayed with insect repellent. The web of slaughter was torn open, allowing the Dragon Cavalry troop to seize the opportunity behind the dragon.

The pseudo dragons made by the dungeon were modeled after bipedal flying dragons, much smaller and lighter than the mighty dragons ahead. Their saddles were placed on relatively flat backs, with reins and stirrups to help the former cavalry adapt quickly to flying in the sky. These pseudo dragons were as agile as birds yet not as sturdy as siege weapons due to their hollow bones and thinner scales. The Dragon Cavaliers resembled traditional knights, armored and armed with spears, charging on their dragons.

The steel spears were quite heavy and required great strength to wield, but the Dragon Cavaliers did not need to swing them. Their mounts were a vital part of their combat prowess. The swooping impact of the flying dragons and the sharp tips of the steel spears were enough to skewer any enemy directly in their path. They lined up, dove down, plowing through the sky filled with mechanical birds like a plow.

Letizia shot her short bow repeatedly at the weak spots, while the dragon riders didn’t need to aim very precisely. Before they could enter the attack range of the mechanical bird, the mechanical bird had already entered their range, carrying a powerful force with its spear tip. The spear might not penetrate their metal armor, but it could break their limbs and damage their propellers. The unbalanced mechanical bird wobbled and fell to the ground, where gravity and the hard earth finished the task that the riders couldn’t complete.

The badly damaged mechanical bird was a good thing for Tasha.

Gnomes and Skeleton Soldiers ran back and forth on the ground, dragging the fallen mechanical birds into the dungeon. None of the birds could fly again; they would become a source of knowledge and nourishment for Tasha.

However, the battle was not completely one-sided.

The giant dragon’s fire breath was tiring. There was a significant gap between each breath, so after clearing the area with flames, it could only resort to charging. The first group of dragon riders was only thirty people, and thirty flying dragons were not enough to cover the sky, while the mechanical birds were scattered throughout the space. After the first wave of attacks, they changed tactics, no longer flying in formation, making their assaults more scattered and cunning.

Unlike on the ground, knights didn’t have to worry about bad road conditions but instead had to watch out for attacks from above. This multi-dimensional battlefield changed rapidly, and even the smartest person couldn’t predict the overall situation.

The first dragon rider fell from the dragon’s back, and a sharp-tailed mechanical bird that passed over his head tore through the rider’s shoulder armor, causing blood to flow from his shoulder. He rolled over in evasion, with only his feet still in the stirrups. The riderless dragon began to fly erratically, while the struggling rider lost his helmet.

Before his vision faded, he saw the bird that was attacking him once again.

"Tell them not to hover in the air!" Tasha said to Douglas. "They have to fall to survive!"

The second falling person quickly kicked off the stirrup, curled up his body to avoid the flying sharp knives around him. The cavalryman looked down fearfully, the trees below seemed so fragile, unable to block the high fall from the sky. It was too high here, the strong wind cut at the exposed skin.

The pilots here didn’t have parachutes, but they had something else.

A corner of the forest lit up with a green light, and trees within tens of meters started growing vigorously. Branches climbed rapidly, weaving horizontally, while green leaves grew even faster, bursting open on tree tops like a huge airbag. The cavalryman fell into this cotton-candy-like treetop, the horizontally growing tree branches did not pierce his body, the elastic branches bent downwards, gradually reducing his impact force with each break. The falling speed slowed down, and the cavalryman landed on the last layer of branches.

This huge tree ball vanished in less than half a minute, the cavalryman landed on the ground, dizzy but almost unharmed. A medical soldier wearing a helmet and armor ran to his side and lifted him onto a mobile stretcher. "How are you feeling?" they asked like in a practice, "Where does it hurt the most? Stay conscious, you’ll see a doctor soon!"

The Druid advanced towards the direction of the "Arborist", ready for action, the tree ball airbag could open underneath the falling people at any moment. The mobile stretcher brought by the medical soldier was made by the Craftsman Dwarf, stable and fast, not worsening the injuries from bumps, and could quickly transport the wounded to the underground medical room. Here, there was an ample supply of hemostatic medicine made by the pharmacist, doctors cleaned wounds, set broken bones, and Jacqueline began to sing the healing song.

The minstrel’s song could not directly affect the wounds, but the song could soothe the pain and fear in the injured. Amazonian boy Alan was no longer in danger, and Letizia, who insisted on staying by his side, stopped crying and shaking. The former lay on the sickbed, the latter lay beside the sickbed, both entering a dream under the gentle song.

Unfortunately, the range of the song could not extend up to the sky.

Most of Tasha’s forces could only fight on the ground, aerial combat severely limited the strength of the dungeon. Amazonian arrows could only be effective in the vicinity, shooting down a few before the mechanical birds ascended, refusing to descend no matter how lured. Ground traps couldn’t harm them at all, and currently, Tasha’s strongest warrior Marion paced restlessly, regretting not having wings. The limit to how high the ghosts could rise was three meters, above two meters felt like walking in gel, the restriction of leaving the ground seemed even harsher than leaving the Dungeon Core on the horizontal line. The only troops they could rely on were dragon cavalry.

Dragons attacking without riders were completely irrational, these wyverns were as reckless and foolish as beasts when not given commands, easily surrounded and eliminated by a strategic group of mechanical birds. Tasha called back the flying dragons and replaced them with reserve dragon cavalry. She looked up at the sky, the airship getting closer, and the mechanical birds seemed indestructible no matter how they were killed.

They couldn’t fly forever, and finally Douglas, who was at the edge of the airship, discovered the answer. There was an opening under the huge airship, from which activated mechanical birds were constantly flying out. The airship was the vehicle for this group of killer birds, reminding people of an aircraft carrier.

The airship was much larger than a giant dragon.

Douglas flew his dragon towards the airship, and the dragon’s claws scratched heavily on the airship. The airship looked soft like a cloud from the outside, but its inflated skin was quite flexible. The claws slid over it, leaving only a white mark. The mouth full of sharp teeth couldn’t bite, so Douglas tried again, aiming to crash into the opening that was producing mechanical birds. This attack had a good effect, causing a bunch of birds just coming out of the opening to fall down with one hit from the dragon.

However, the number of birds shot down was far less than the number being produced.

The opening was not big enough for the dragon to enter. What could be used to block it? Perhaps this opening was the weakness of this thing? It’s difficult for the dragon’s body structure to hover in mid-air. Douglas circled around with the dragon, preparing to gain some distance before charging towards the opening. They flew nearly a hundred meters away, then turned and accelerated towards the opening. Just before reaching the target, Douglas suddenly felt a dangerous premonition.

His intuition was always accurate, and even more so after connecting with the dragon. The dragon rider abruptly tightened the reins, forcing the dragon to turn sharply and stop charging forward.

Right in front of Douglas, where they would have collided at their original speed, something fell down.

"Spread out!" Douglas shouted, his voice swallowed by the wind, then drowned out by a loud explosion.

A new opening appeared beneath the airship, and after the partition was lifted, a series of flat objects fell down. Shaped like persimmons and the size of heads, they fell rapidly, making it hard to see their appearance clearly. These objects scattered in mid-air, falling and exploding.

The Dragon Riders tried their best to spread out. The good news was that they were already somewhat spread out. The flat bombs didn’t explode at exactly the right time, so they didn’t hit anyone directly. The bad news was that the bombs had a big blast radius.

The bombs, of course, were bombs.

The effects they caused were similar to what the circus brought that day. Explosions of black smoke burst in the air, flames swallowed the space around for several meters, and the blast wave had an even wider impact. The shockwave carried metal fragments, causing havoc around, piercing through the Dragon Riders’ armor and bodies at high speed. An unfortunate flying dragon was hit in the eye by shrapnel, piercing its brain and silently dissolving in mid-air. Its rider fell like a stone, and sharp metal pieces left several bloodstains on his cheek.

In the mercenary alliance called the circus, all except the Dragon Knight and minstrel who joined dungeon died in the war. Douglas was focused on finding dragons and not very familiar with the circus itself. Jacqueline was almost a silent shadow, and Tasha doubted if she had a complete personality. Their story abruptly stopped, and dungeon never learned the truth behind the explosion at the outpost.

The bombs had not appeared in the fighting at the southeast corner all along, but just when Tasha almost confirmed they were timed bombs made by Professionals, they showed up here.

Two bombs landed safely almost vertically on the ground without exploding.

Boom!

Irregular circles exploded in the woods, shattering all the trees within the range. The ground was violently churned, as if hit by two angry fists.

Unfortunately, two medical soldiers nearby were thrown several meters away by the sudden impact. One, with blood all over his head, screamed, "Why is there no sound?!" in fear. "It’s gone! I can’t hear anything!" The other just stared in disbelief at the huge crater a few meters away, terrified by the unprecedented attack.

Some Druids were shaken so hard that they couldn’t stand steady, and fell to the ground. As a result, their spells were not completed properly. The newly risen tree ball looked like an undercooked loaf of bread. During this time, the fallen dragon knights landed in the bad loaf of bread, breaking through numerous branches, falling to the ground, their fates unknown.

It was like a ridiculous play. Tasha, who came from the scientific world to the world of magic, stood in the attacked position and witnessed the reaction of soldiers from the age of cold weapons to pistols.

If you look closely, there are numerous cabin doors underneath the airship. It is still flying southeast.

Trying to remember, military airships were also popular during World War I and World War II on Earth. The airship’s massive capacity could carry reconnaissance planes and a significant number of bombs, imagining a bomb depot in the sky was chilling. Perhaps those people up north are also considering this idea. If a bombing were to take place at the gathering place here, the ground facilities would surely suffer heavy losses. Even if people could seek shelter underground, the damage would be enough to turn nearly a year of construction into nothing. But in the modern world where Tasha lives, airships are rarely seen except for advertising purposes.

What was the reason?

Airship navigation was greatly affected by the wind direction, with significant differences in travel time between headwinds and tailwinds, making stability very poor. For transportation, the arrival time of an airship would always depend on whether the weather was favourable or not; for military use, it was difficult to control the route, and could deviate from the target.

—But now it has arrived at Tasha’s doorstep, unbelievably stable, barely moving even when a giant dragon crashes into it. Is it because of its size? Or is it filled with a suitable gas not found on Earth?

Just like the gas filling, fuel for the airship was also a concern. To fly such a gigantic airship from the north to Tasha’s occupied zone required tons of fuel consumption. As the fuel was used up, the airship’s weight should have become lighter, needing to release gas to maintain its flight at the same altitude.

—What kind of fuel?

Tasha had been in this world for a year and had never heard of the two important industrial energy sources on Earth. Whether it was coal, known as the "food of industry," or petroleum, known as the "blood of industry," no matter how people described it to her, she just couldn’t grasp it. While building dungeons, digging three feet into the ground, she had found Magic Stones but never came across coal mines or oil.

She had thought about developing industry before, but lacking the necessary conditions, Tasha felt it wasn’t worth the effort in a dungeon that had never specialized in engineering. She wondered if her luck was just bad, born in a place with neither coal mines nor oil. Later, she considered that maybe the rules in this world were different from Earth, a continent that allowed magic to exist and had many restrictions on science. When the Craftsman Dwarf successfully dissected the products of magic technology and told her that the Trapdoor Spider used Magic Stones as an energy source, Tasha had a new theory.

The energy source in magic technology is Magic Stones.

Using this unscientific thing as fuel for an airship, considering its scientific principles, is meaningless.

But, is an airship that is stable, can stay aloft for a long time, and doesn’t need to worry about fuel and filling gas invincible?

Not at all.

Douglas, riding a dragon, spiraled in an arc and once again collided with the airship. The force of the impact only made the airship sway, and the dragon’s sharp horns plunged into the cushion but bounced off as if hitting thick fat. The dragon kept circling under the airship, consuming the mechanical bird carried by the airship.

As if unable to tolerate the continuous harassment by the Dragon Knight, another compartment below the airship opened.

Douglas kept a close eye on the compartment and noticed its movement at the first opportunity. He pulled the reins, and the dragon instinctively raised its body.

The second dragon breath is finally fully charged.

Blazing flames jetted out, shining like melted gold. The temperature of the dragon flame is several times higher than regular fire, causing the nearby air and clouds to distort. After a brief resistance, the airship’s hull began to melt – although it didn’t matter much if it didn’t melt, releasing the dragon breath at this time was to prevent any unexpected accidents, such as something seemingly made of canvas which isn’t actually fire-resistant. The important thing is, the scorching flames ignited the bombs.

The explosion started with the first one, the flat object’s shell twisted in the high temperature, then triggered. The dragon breath ignited the closest string, causing the ignited bombs to act like lit fuses, leading the high-temperature flames and explosions into the interior of the airship. Like toppling the first domino, the dragon doesn’t need to breathe fire for long, it can retire after the first breath.

The airship exploded.

The external explosion and flames tore a hole, but the internal chain reaction explosions were the cause of the demise of this massive creature. The Ghost at the limit of three meters high looked up at the sky, the explosions in the distance sounded like firecrackers to her ears. The giant, dangerous airship, white and huge, was blown to pieces by its own bombs, like a melon being shot open, with golden-red flames bursting from the center, devouring all remaining parts.

This airship was indeed more advanced than those on Earth, but without the agility of a flying dragon, it had a fatal flaw. The people from the north weren’t lucky, as just when they finally used their trump card of the airship, Tasha happened to have an air force of dragons. History had proven that since the day agile flying machines became part of history, the huge, cumbersome airship was no longer the king of the skies.

The Dragon Knights who received orders and all the people on the ground had already evacuated. The Dragon Knight swiftly moved back, the dragon’s wings flapped at the right moment, propelling them far away with the shockwave from the explosions. The scales on the dragon’s belly were harder than steel, the dwarven masters believed that dragon scales and blood made the highest defense armor, not to mention a real dragon. This Red Dragon, spewing flames, could move effortlessly in the most intense fire, the flames from the explosions were nothing to it, not even iron pieces could pierce its armor, leveraging the shockwave perfectly.

Its upright posture was to protect the knight behind, Douglas held onto the dragon’s neck tightly, even after the heat and strong wind weakened, his skin still hurt. "Fantastic, baby!" he exclaimed excitedly, laughing as the coin fell – one side marked with death and the other with victory – a moment of pure beauty. Douglas, wandering in this unfriendly land in search of dragons, Douglas becoming a Dragon Knight, Douglas being born, all for moments like this, right?

The mechanical birds hovering in the sky no longer had reinforcements joining them, in fact, they started spinning aimlessly like headless flies, leading to numerous air disasters and crashes within a few minutes. Whatever made them run smoothly seemed to have crashed along with the airship, now, it was only a matter of time to clean up what remained.

The fiery wreckage of the airship broke apart in midair, just a few hundred meters away from the nearest human settlement. The Druids hurriedly grew fire-resistant plants where the flames landed, while the Amazonians rushed to put out the fire with basins of water. "Let’s treat it as a forest fire," sighed the Druid as he watched the charred remains, regretting that the storm they summoned was too powerful, and the special conditions needed for rain had withered away.

Tasha stood beside the Craftsman Dwarf, watching him skillfully use tools to open a fallen mechanical bird. This craftsman had experience dissecting Trapdoor Spiders, so he managed to crack open the mechanical bird’s shell soon after the aerial battle. It was like cracking open a walnut.

Inside the walnut, there was indeed a Magic Stone.

For some reason, a heroic melody played in Tasha’s mind as she looked at the pile of captured mechanical birds in the dungeon. She thought to herself, "How does that song lyric go again? Oh yes, ‘Without eating or wearing, the enemy gifts keep appearing.’"