Chapter 169: Tribesmen
Immediately, Harkon was in front of Vacuse with one of his swords glowing red, and Kagerou was only a bit behind him, his body already partially disappearing.
Vacuse's face went flat and his eyes turned icy. He hated when people threatened his life most of all. He turned to the owner of the voice.
A girl about the same age as him was standing beside the skeleton man. She held a spear in her hand and was looking at the steel dragon construct and those above it with casual arrogance.
"You will do what?" Vacuse asked.
But the girl ignored him and turned to the skeleton man. "That's him? The Dragon heir? He doesn't look like much to me. He looks like someone I can break with my hand."
The skeleton man shook his head. "Looks can be deceiving. And hush, you can't just go around saying everything in your mind."
Vacuse was thinking if he should just give the order for them to engage. Even if he lost some men, he would be compensated by taking that ship of theirs.
But one thing held him back, and that was a familiar aura he could feel coming from all the people on the ship. They smelled like Dragons, but their eyes were not red. They were not Vorrakyn.
So he asked again. "You will do what?"
The skeleton man bowed. "We are only here to see you on some matters of small importance. Would you like to listen?"
Vacuse was indeed curious. Although they smelled like Dragons, it was not as overwhelming as the Vorrakyns. It was something faint that clung to them like a long afterthought.
He shrugged. "Tell me, I will listen."
The man nodded again. "Right. Hundreds of years ago, a Dragon crashed into our island."
Eh?
Vacuse blinked. That wasn't how he expected it to start at all. A Dragon? Island? His curiosity only grew. "Where is this island?"
"Far from here. Very, very far."
"When the Dragon crashed, it carried a man near death on its back. Because it was then and we knew no better, we worshiped him as a god."
There were still a lot of uncivilized places in the world even to this day, so Vacuse wasn't that surprised. He nodded.
"But the man was so wounded and his wounds would not heal, so he spent the rest of his short life with our tribe, where we fed him and worshiped him.
"In return, he shared his Dragon's blood with us. We drank it for years and with it we changed. We gained power, and with our tribe's natural martial arts, we soon became powerful.
"The power is called Black Dragon Martial Art, and only those with the Black Dragon's blood can use it. But all power comes with a cost. It shortened our lifespan so much that our oldest now live to thirty, and it is only decreasing every day.
"At this rate, our tribe will disappear completely."
Vacuse was getting the gist of it. One of his ancestors must have been the one to cause all of this as the Black Dragon. He narrowed his eyes. If there was a tribe like this changed by the Dragon, did that mean there might be more people out there who carried the Dragon without being Vorrakyn?
Suddenly, his eyes widened as a name popped into his head. Blood Spike!
"Tell me, how did you find this place? From what you have said, your island is very far from here. How did you reach this continent?" As far as Vacuse was concerned, things were not what they seemed, and he was only getting more on edge.
The skeleton man smiled bitterly. "How did I find… we were brought here in exchange for our services. The Revolutionary group brought us here after our island was destroyed by a Dragon."
"A Dragon?" Vacuse raised his brow in sincere surprise. As far as he knew, he was the only Dragon to have appeared in years. There had never been another Dragon to appear.
"Yes, a few years ago… ten years ago. A Dragon came and destroyed our island. She took the bones of the Black Dragon with her, and it was then we made the decision to leave before the Revolutionary group found us and told us about the Vorrakyn."
Vacuse felt uneasiness crawl up his spine. So there was a Dragon. "Tell me about this Dragon that came to destroy."
"She was a human like us who turned into a Dragon. Her eyes were the brightest red I had ever seen, redder than your own, and part of her body was made of blood. She is strong."
Vacuse's face became solemn.
Blood Spike.
Blood Dragon.
He had never heard of a human turning into a Dragon. Not ever. It seemed he had a lot to think about in the coming days.
"Then why have you come here to me? Are you looking for the Dragon?"
"Yes and no. We already know that such a Dragon does not exist in the Vorrakyn tribe. And although we were looking for the bones of the Black Dragon, our focus is on finding a cure for the troubles that are affecting our tribe.
"Young Dragon Vacuse Vorrakyn, we are here to give you the jewel of our tribe to mate with so that we can begin to have a new bloodline of a stronger tribe."
Silence followed his words.
Harkon gasped, and Kagerou snorted out a surprised laugh.
Vacuse himself blinked. "What?"
The skeleton man continued, his face smooth. "My daughter is the same age as you. She can hunt and fight with you. You will produce strong children to carry on our tribe's bloodline in a powerful way, and they will also gain the Black Dragon's blood to practice the Black Dragon Martial Art.
"Maybe they will even be able to summon Dragons themselves."
Vacuse sighed.
So that was what they wanted with him? It was not like Vacuse did not want children, but it was something he had never given serious thought to and might never.
Only those powerful could think of that, and Vacuse had not even begun to climb the peak of power.
But before he could even reply, the girl pointed her hand directly at him and snorted.