Translated by: SaltyTank
Edited by: crimsonwolf8439
Sponsored Chapter. Five left in queue if I ain’t wrong. Enjoy~
Chapter 41
The Udaeus stood silently, awaiting further orders. Claudius, on the other hand, was deep in thought. He suddenly remembered that he had this crappy cheat of opening up an 'attribute screen', thus he went ahead and checked his own status after disregarding the cheat for such a long time. After surviving through a few battles, Claudius now understood that the attributes and stats were only for reference; fighting on the battlefield was completely different from tossing dice to determine the victor.
"This can only serve as self-satisfaction, I guess. Yeah, the values look so awesome but I still got wrecked by another dragon. Caring too much about the stats will only make me careless……" Claudius thought while taking a glimpse at his own six attributes and skills, before moving on to the background section.
The title 'The Crimson Disaster' was shown on his title bar, and it provided further descriptions of how he obtained the title. It clearly stated that Claudius gained his fame by massacring allies and enemies alike during a war at Fire Dragon Bay, and further hinted the relations between him, the elves and a certain Jade Dragoness.
Claudius grumbled, "Seems that there's quite a bit of background stuff about me…… Wait, doesn't it make me look like an evil villain?!"
Another column caught his attention as he looked through the screen — 'Subordinates'. One of the entries was lit, but the one above the lit one was darkened for some reason.
"Flame Myceloids? The heck are those?"
Claudius did not recall recruiting Myceloids as his underlings; no, he was more shocked by the fact that he actually had subordinates as he had never recruited creatures, apart from the retarded gnomes which he killed almost instantly.
Looking at the next entry, Claudius remembered the existence of his army of Udaeus. The glowing word of 'Udaeus' was shown below the entry of Flame Myceloids.
"Challenge rating 6, Strength 18, Dexterity 14, Constitution 16, 12 for both Intelligence and Charisma……Wait, 17 for Wisdom?! Erm, A…… C……, what the heck is this? Nah, screw that. These guys should be pretty good fighters, judging from the stats. If I remember correctly, the challenge rating 6 is their individual value. Hmm, medium sized mythical humanoids. All these fancy battle skills and group tactical abilities too. Damn, they're amazing."
Claudius was surprised by the attributes and skills of his Udaeus army. Apart from their rather high attribute values, they also had Fire Immunity and Damage Reflection as they originated from Claudius' teeth. Their attacks were enhanced by fire elements as well. Yet no matter how hard he looked, he could not find proof that these soldiers did not require food. Claudius had to find food for the Udaeus or risk starving them to death. There was always the option of eating them as well……
At least Claudius was not so insane as to eat his own subordinates. The Udaeus were his first subordinates, not to mention that they had decent combat prowess; there was no reason to eat them.
"Okay, the first order is to disband and rest." The dragon ordered the Udaeus.
Claudius then thought, "Wait, they're not gay, right? I don't want to see them……letting loose." He sincerely hoped that the Udaeus were unlike their Roman counterparts who were enthusiastic about…… well, that.
Claudius vaguely recalled that humans often travelled through the nearby sea, thus he flew towards the area to fetch himself a few boats.
"Ugh, I don't like the idea of becoming a pirate. Hopefully the crazy bitch goddess Anbo won't mess with me again……" Claudius muttered without knowing that speaking a god or goddess' name would actually attract their attention, especially powerful beings like Crimson Dragons.
Claudius had quite the luck as he spotted a small 'fleet' of two ships below him after flying for merely two hours.
"Brigs? They're so crappy! It can't be helped, time to strike a deal with the humans onboard!" Claudius enthusiastically approached the ships, gliding down from the sky without noticing the fact that a dark storm cloud was rapidly forming and condensing above him.
The lookouts on the ship decks soon noticed the approaching dragon, sounding all the alarms on the ships while shouting, "Dragon! Incoming dragon!" Most of the sailors froze in fear despite knowing that they had to take countermeasures, unable to move their bodies while their minds panicked. A dark crimson shade passed by the rigs and darkness engulfed the ships. Claudius, despite the fact that his body was growing every second, was only 25 metres long while the ships were each 35 metres long. It did not matter much as the sailors were all scared as hell. After circling around the ships a few times, Claudius smiled in satisfaction; the two brigs were of the 500-tonne class, which should be more than enough to transport all three of his Udaeus infantry companies.
Claudius proceeded to make the ships his after deciding that they were good enough. After a roar, dragon aura swept through the decks, implanting fear further into the sailors' heads. A metallic voice speaking the Common Language could be heard, "Who's the captain? This fleet is now mine! Captain, follow my orders and travel towards that direction!"
A shivering self-proclaimed captain did appear on the deck not long after and began to speak loudly at the Crimson Dragon, fearing that the dragon could not hear his voice.
"Our respectable…… erm, guest! May I ask what is that you want? Are you sure you want us — we, who were blessed by the Goddess Anbo — to follow your orders? Please, don't do this to us…… We are willing to pay ransom! Yes, gold coins!" The captain recognized the dragon as a Crimson Dragon, albeit having a weird appearance; the scorching breeze confirmed that it was an authentic one.
The captain's speech lacked persuasiveness, but that was not what Claudius was concerned about. The distance between the fleet and his island was a real issue; although he flew casually, he could still fly up to 500 kilometres within two hours. Even if the ships travel at eight or nine knots, it would still take three days to reach his island. By the time they arrived, the Udaeus would probably have died of hunger and dehydration already. Fresh water was lacking in the first place, and the few puddles of water were unlikely to be able to support the 240 soldiers for three days.
"Follow my orders or die!" Claudius scowled.
Claudius had devised a plan to tackle the issue. Now that the problem was gone, he breathed flames right above the rigs, painting the sky red while changing the course of the two brigs. The two brigs, having not much of a choice, began to travel in accordance to Claudius' commands. His plan was to let the brigs travel for a day, then he would fetch a portion of food and water and head back to the island first, so that the Udaeus could receive a part of the supplies before it was too late. Claudius would then kill half of the sailors as the brigs arrived so that they would have enough supplies to travel back. Some might say it was a preposterous and brutal plan, but it was clear that the sailors of the brigs were not your ordinary law-abiding citizens — the smell of blood filled the ships, not to mention to intense malice and resentment radiating from the ships.
To increase their speed, Claudius ordered the sailors to dump their cargo into the sea. From what he could tell, the cargo mainly consisted of cotton and flax, but there was also a certain spice which gave off an interesting smell. However, Claudius could not recognize it. The heartbroken captain and sailors dumped the precious cargo into the sea as ordered by the dragon. After tossing one third of the cotton onboard, the brigs achieved optimal weight which allowed them to travel as quickly as possible without losing balance due to lack of weight.
The storm brewing in the distance became more obvious at this point. The dark clouds were connected to the sea through a thick black storm which almost looked like a waterspout, and countless lightning bolts and thunder resounded within the storm. Claudius could even hear the sounds of thunder constantly rumbling despite the lengthy distance……