Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks-Chapter 647 - 419: Hallucination?

The woman's language isn't actually too unfamiliar.

It sounds much like North Language, resembling the accent of those scarce Slav amber merchants who travel the Black Sea trade route.

Losa pondered for a while, suddenly recalling that Rurik Prince named Yaroslav he encountered on the Black Sea; they seem to speak the same language.

Many speculations flashed in his mind, and the most plausible one should be the incomplete Space Magic that Shemir cast earlier, activated by the Ghost Dragon's dying counterattack.

The result of the combination caused him to be teleported to the Slav territory.

The girl, trapped in despair, continued to sob softly, her long eyelashes adorned with tears, arousing pity, yet Losa, accustomed to having beautiful women around him, only felt annoyance, rubbing his brow, trying to calm himself down.

Being transported out of thin air to thousands of miles away, even with his half-dragon transformation allowing brief hovering and gliding, the consumption of this isn't as terrifying as Jeanne's Holy Body but still not a regularly usable ability.

This means that even if luck favors him, boarding an inland river ship on a route where the river is fortunately not widely frozen, it would still take several months to return to Egypt.

By the time I get back, the battle against Saladin will already be over.

Losa was speechless; Richard, these European monarchs, why are they so eager that they even leave their armies behind, rushing to Egypt via Teleportation Array, just to partake in the largest-scale battle seen in all of Europe?

Yet, I happened to miss it.

If I don't personally attend the battlefield, titles like King of Egypt, Alexandria, Cairo, are destined to be out of my reach.

Perhaps, if Kurs manages well, part of the spoils can be preserved; Cairo can be forsaken, and the royal title can be conceded, but Alexandria must be secured, an economic and tax hub not inferior to Constantinople during its peak, it would be disastrous if intercepted by others.

Wait!

If Prajna and her team come searching for me, the battle's outcome might be uncertain.

After my disappearance, it's likely Richard the Lionheart will succeed me in leading the Crusaders. His command abilities are unquestionable, but without strong Casters around him, it's difficult to deal with Saladin's Mage Consultant Team.

So, after my arduous return to Egypt, being intercepted for the spoils wouldn't be so dire. Naturally, the worst outcome is the Crusaders being defeated and the newly seized provinces of Semanude and Damietta falling back into enemy hands.

At that point, even the Duke title might be destroyed.

Losa sat on the ground with a bitter smile; for now, it's imperative to figure out where he's located. The girl in front of him, though in distress, with such appearance and attire, couldn't possibly be of commoner descent.

If I can obtain help from her family, my return journey would undoubtedly become much smoother.

"Can you speak Greek?"

Losa suddenly inquired.

If she's like Yaroslav among the Valkyrie people, it's probable that she adheres to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Many Orthodox classical works are written in Greek, although the clergy in this frigid land must be lacking in professionalism, even at a poor level, they should be able to recite some Greek prayers.

The woman displayed a shocked expression, then said in a clumsy tone: "My soul rests silently, waiting for God. My salvation comes from Him."

She took out a cross from her robe, tearfully showing it to Losa.

Losa waved his hand and drew a cross in front of him, their labored exchange thus commenced.

After a long while.

Losa finally understood that he had reached the far north novelbuddyrod Duchy, and the girl was a Rurik family princess; her father was a Lord of a town by the Neva Riverbank, not far from the cave.

A Demon Dragon had just destroyed the town and brought her to the Dragon's Nest.

Losa skeptically pointed at the ground: "Dragon's Nest, here?"

The girl nodded repeatedly: "Yes."

Losa frowned; given his sensitivity to Giant Dragon's aura, if a dragon truly hid within this cave, he should have been aware.

"Let's go inside and take a look."

Said Losa, intending to walk deeper into the cave.

The girl shook her head vehemently like a rattle drum.

"Forget it."

Losa waved his hand, heading into the depths of the cave on his own.

The girl hesitated, pacing in place for a long time before finally gathering the courage to follow him.

The cave was deep.

The further in, the warmer it became, as if a hidden heat source continuously emitted warmth.

She advanced timidly, although some peculiar fluorescent plants grew on the walls, the light remained dim; as she ventured further, her courage began to wane, but sadly, looking back, the light at the exit had vanished.

Stuck halfway in the cave, feelings of grievance arose, holding back tears, the girl reluctantly crawled further inside.

When a faint light finally appeared before his eyes, reflecting the figure of the prince in resplendent armor, the girl quickly sped up her pace—the source of the light was a series of giant scales on the ground, gleaming red.

On the stone wall, there were massive claw marks of the dragon.

The foreign prince, who couldn't understand the language, was squatting down to earnestly stroke those scales, as if he was sensing something.

The girl anxiously looked around, only relaxing a little when she found the giant dragon was absent.

"Let's get out of here quickly."

She urged softly.

Losa didn't understand, only nodding to her, saying, "You're right, there is indeed a dragon living here, and it's a Karelian Fire Dragon. Judging by its size, it should be at most in its adolescent stage, not difficult to deal with."

Speaking of which, it wasn't the first time he dealt with a Karelian Fire Dragon. Unexpectedly, he encountered this rare dragon species here.

He might as well stay in Northern Europe and complete the milestone of bathing in dragon's blood.

The girl understood a few words from Losa's speech, but when combined, she didn't understand them at all.

Losa tried to choose some commonly used words, gesturing as he spoke, "You said that the giant dragon dropped you off at the cave entrance and went inside to sleep, but judging by the traces, this should be where it usually sleeps. It's not here. I also explored deeper, and it gets narrower inside. It's not easy for that dragon to squeeze in."

The girl displayed a look of amazement.

"I don't know. I clearly saw it going in..."

Losa stroked his chin, falling into thought.

Beast Intuition told him that the girl wasn't lying, so is there something more to this place?

"Something's not right."

He suddenly furrowed his brows. Although he wasn't the one to personally execute the Ghost Dragon, he participated in its slaying. But why hadn't he received a system notification for milestone progress of "bathing in dragon's blood"?

Even if the Ghost Dragon was excluded from the list of True Dragons by the system, given the Ghost Dragon's demonstrated strength, the experience gained from killing it should have been enough for him to level up several times, but why was there no notification from the system?

The Ghost Dragon isn't dead?

Or is this simply an illusion? Is his real self still in Egypt?

Losa furrowed his brows tighter. If it was an illusion, that made more sense. Because if the Ghost Dragon, in its death throes, detonated Space Magic, how could it coincidentally transport him unscathed to novelbuddyrod thousands of miles away?

And, at this time, Karelia should still be under the jurisdiction of the Duke of novelbuddyrod.

How could it be such a coincidence to be sent to the Ghost Dragon's old home during its lifetime?

The more Losa thought about it, the more plausible this conjecture seemed. But if this was an illusion, how was he supposed to get out?

He gave himself a hard slap. The pain was faint, but that was because his defense was too strong. He simply swiped his hand harshly along the sharp edge of a dragon scale, and intense pain ensued immediately.

It didn't seem fake at all.

"It really can't be that simple."

Losa sighed.

If this place really was, as he speculated, an illusion cast by the Ghost Dragon before dying, escaping it wouldn't be easy—he didn't dare to try committing suicide, either, as in many powerful illusion spells, death means truly dying.

The girl looked worriedly at Losa, thinking he was going mad.

Losa's eyes suddenly lit up, speaking to himself, "This here is definitely an illusion. Although I had just eaten before arriving at Rashid, I had already digested it. But I distinctly feel full right now."

He sneered, mocking, "A beast is a beast—bringing such shallow flaws even to a constructed illusion..."

The smile on his face suddenly froze.

It was as if a line strung through his mind.

The words the girl once said resurfaced: "The entire town was set ablaze by this Cannibal Evil Dragon."

"I saw it going in with my own eyes..."

"And this strange sense of fullness."

Losa murmured softly. The girl suddenly gasped and pointed at Losa.

Instinctively, Losa reached out to touch, and found a piece of Scale Armor had stealthily appeared on his cheek.

"This can't be. I clearly didn't perform a Half-Dragon Transformation, and the shape of this scale..."

Losa's heart sank abruptly.

He seemed to understand his current predicament.