Warm Dragon

Chapter 35: Half-Ghost Beasts

“Half ghost beasts are beyond saving. Perhaps if the Baron intervenes and Lord Ross helps, the Snow Demon’s interference could be driven away,” Charles said, sipping his tea as he explained the situation to Russell.

“Even if the interference is removed, the half-spirit beast can at most revert back to a normal beast. It’s unlikely to ever evolve into a true fantasy beast, so it’s probably not worth the effort,” Charles continued.

“We have to try, don’t you think?” Russell replied.

“My lord, I mean your mere effort is enough,” Charles laughed. “There’s no need to bother the Baron. Just doing the Wildcat sisters a favor will be enough. When we deal with Lone Wolf Lisbon, the Wildcat Sisters could be useful allies.”

Charles’ words were pragmatic, but they represented the most advantageous choice.

Russell didn’t respond to that, as he had plans of his own. He asked the servant Tom to bring out the chessboard and decided to play a few games with Charles to pass the time.

“Aren’t you going to rest?” Charles yawned and asked.

“No hurry. I want to see what the half ghost beast looks like first,” Russell said, arranging the chess pieces. “We’ll play until late.”

“Fine,” Charles sighed, rubbing his eyes, resigned to staying up late with Russell.

At two in the morning, Eric returned with the armored knights. Behind them, a cart carried the Half-Ghost Beast, which had been brought by the Wildcat Sisters.

“What kind of half ghost beast is that?” Russell asked, watching the dying creature in the wagon.

The half ghost beast resembled a wolfhound, but was covered in massive, grotesque tumors that made it look horribly deformed. Even its head was swollen with tumors, causing its eyelids to bulge, and it could only emit weak whimpering sounds.

Eric, who had studied it on the way, replied, “It’s a regular wolfhound, likely a mix of sled dog and hunting dog. It’s a mutt.”

“Mm.” Russell nodded, clearly not wanting to look at the beast any further.

The tumors were incredibly repulsive, but he still endured and examined the creature carefully with Eric.

It was clear that there were two opposing forces clashing inside the half-spirit beast: one from the Earth’s power and the other from the Snow Demon’s interference. These invisible, intangible forces were constantly eroding its body.

“If it’s not treated, it won’t last much longer,” Eric said.

“Do you have a way to treat it?” Russell asked.

“No.”

“What about Charles?”

“I’m sorry, my lord, if the Baron can’t persuade Lord Ross, there’s little hope of saving this poor dog. I can’t think of any other solution,” Charles clicked his tongue, sounding regretful but ultimately indifferent.

After some brief discussion, it was clear that they had no solution. The half ghost beast was placed in the now abandoned kennel outside the manor, which had previously been used as a storage room.

Morris, the butler, and the servants spent some time cleaning up the area, making it a temporary home for the half ghost beast.

“My lord, should we have the servants keep watch over it tonight?” Morris asked.

“No need, let them rest normally. Oh, since it’s so late, tell the servants they can sleep in a bit tomorrow, and the kitchen too,” Russell replied casually.

“My lord, you are so merciful,” Morris said, obviously moved.

To Russell it was just a casual remark, but to the servants it felt like a great act of kindness. The standards for noble lords were indeed quite low.

Resounding Water River Cave

Inside the dry cave, although it was small, the interior was cozy, giving off a homey feeling. A small campfire was crackling, illuminating the entire cave room.

“Do you think the young lord will really ask the baron for help and save Kevin?” Catherine asked, furrowing her brows. The deep lines on her face made her appear much older than her age, even though she was only in her twenties.

Sitting on the other side of the fire, Katie looked far younger despite being in her early thirties. She looked more like someone in her mid-twenties.

“I don’t know,” Katie replied.

“Don’t know?” Catherine scoffed. “Then why did you send me with the message and bring Kevin here? What if they kill him and eat him? You really have become cruel, sister. Kevin has been like family to us all these years!”

“I know.”

“You know what?”

Katie lifted her head and looked at her sister with a serious expression on her face. 

“Catherine, how can you talk like that to your older sister?” she chided. “No matter what happens, let Kevin protect us Wildcat sisters one last time… If they kill Kevin, then we’ll abandon any hope and side with the Lone Wolf Leader.”

Catherine hesitated, “But what if they don’t kill him?”

“Then that means Russell is at least a trustworthy lord,” Katie replied quietly. “Catherine, life in the caves is too dark. If I have the chance, I want to see the light again… My life may be like this, but I hope you can live under the sun… get married, have children…”

“Sister…”

“You always dreamed of the life on the manor, didn’t you?”

“But we’re free now, aren’t we? Lone Wolf Leader may be powerful, but we’re not afraid of him. We can always avoid him!” Catherine tried to reason.

Then she clenched her teeth and added, “Russell may be handsome, but he’s no gentleman… He slapped me several times!”

“Who told you to get caught in the act?”

“I just wanted to slip a letter through the window and see what this gentleman looked like. Who knew…” Catherine was still confused about how she had been caught that night when she had been able to come and go freely from the manor before.

Katie sighed deeply. “Forget it… Lisbon has already forgotten his lowly status. He’s playing with fire… Just watch, he’ll burn himself one day. The Dusklight Baron won’t tolerate a lowborn making trouble in the territory.”

Catherine suddenly whispered, “Sister, is it true that the Lone Wolf leader really found a mushroom bug?”

“Who knows?”

“It must be true. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so arrogant. Tsk tsk, if Dusklight Baron hears about this…”

At that moment, the campfire flickered out.

Katie clapped her hands. “All right, our heart-to-heart time is over. Sleep now, Catherine. We’re running out of food, so we’ll have to go out for mushrooms and moss tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, in the outbuilding of the manor, Russell once again entered the Dark Dreamscape. With a sharp “quack,” the Little Dream Dragon appeared as expected.

“Come here, Snowcone. I may need your help today,” Russell called.

The two of them, a human and a dragon, flew swiftly and illuminated the magical lights in the dark dreamscape.

Russell immediately spotted the location of the kennel, where two dim lights, blue and white, were intertwined.

“Let’s go!”

“quack!”

Little Dream Dragon soared with Russell to the kennel. They could clearly see the blue and white light intertwining, outlining the shape of the half-Ghost Beast wolfhound, including the grotesque tumors on its body.

“The white light should be the earth’s power, while the blue resembles the power of the Ice Hail Pearl. It’s obviously the interference of the Snow Demon,” Russell analyzed.

“quack?”

“Snowcone, do you think you can draw out the blue light, the Snow Demon’s power?” Russell asked. 

The reason he had agreed to help Katie was to test Snowcone’s ability. He suspected that Little Dream Dragon, being a dragon, might have the same healing ability as Lord Ross. 

After all, if  the wyvern Lord Ross could heal the half ghost beasts, Snowcone, as a giant dragon, should be able to do the same.

Besides, after Little Dream Dragon consumed the Ice Hail Pearl, the Dark Dreamscape had expanded. If Snowcone could devour the snow demon’s power from the half ghost beast, it might further enhance the Dark Dreamscape.

Finally, if they could heal the Half-Ghost Beast’s wolfhound, they might be able to win over the Wildcat Sisters, which would be a tremendous help in Russell’s dealings with Lone Wolf Lisbon.

In short, it was a rare experimental opportunity that Russell, both emotionally and logically, couldn’t afford to miss.