Bear School Astartes

The scales and skin of the Flame King Dragon are dark red, but its high body temperature causes the surrounding air to shimmer, with sparkling scale powder floating down at any time.

This creates the illusion that it is a leaping fiery red.

Lann is clad in a [Fierce Sweating] fire-resistant mist, and the heavy mass of the Flame King Dragon, despite its silent landing due to its cat-paw structure, passed by him.

Its claws didn’t make much noise, but the mass of over twenty meters in length moving over the ground must cause some tremor.

When passing by a person, this tremor reminds one’s body: a terrifying giant is right beside you.

But Lann has become accustomed to the giant creatures around him.

The length of Smaug reaches over 140 meters, so what of it? Not to mention the Molten Mountain Dragon and the skeletal remains of the Ancient Serpent King Dragon in the Valley of Miasma.

Flames continue their rampage in the base, with many buildings collapsing as they burn and lose their structural support.

Fortunately, there are many open-air spaces in the base, allowing Lann to walk freely.

The flames roar, with heat stirring the air into a blowing, explosive sound.

Humans and ancient dragons pass by one another, moving in opposite directions without interference.

And when the Flame King Dragon, following the scent, enters the arena constructed by natural cylindrical rock walls.

A loud but not explosive roaring sound comes from within, spreading upward along the cylindrical walls, releasing a rumbling sound wave toward the sky.

This is the sound of gunpowder dust, lifted by Lann’s [Alder’s Rune], igniting instantly after the Flame King Dragon enters.

But since it lacks the sealed environment of the bomb barrels, there is no explosion, only intense combustion.

Within this fiercely burning gunpowder noise, the roar of the Flame King Dragon, akin to that of a lion, is mixed.

This is not a sound of pain or fright; instead, it reveals delight and comfort.

And just when it is confirmed that the Flame King Dragon has entirely entered the arena.

"Boom boom!"

Two rounds of ammunition are fired from the edge of the fire scene, from Aiden’s light crossbow.

Ammunition standardized by craftsmen in the Workshop District of the New Continent Expedition Team’s 2nd period group, with tail flames boosting it, passed by Lann.

The ammunition pierced through the flickering flame curtain, straight into two bomb barrels he had placed just outside the arena door!

"Boom!!!"

This time, it was a genuine explosion sound!

In it, the structural breaking of rock blocks at the arena gate and the crashing ’kara’ sound are also intermingled.

With only a shirt lining beneath his armor, Aiden rushed in with his light crossbow on his back.

His face, already flushed from the heat, was filled with anticipation and delight.

"Did it work? Did it work?"

Deep within the base, the originally rugged and strong door collapsed in the face of the explosion’s impact and the ’structural defect’ Lann had prearranged.

Large blocks of rock fell, piled up, and the displaced air created a wind, sweeping away the surrounding flames temporarily.

The entire door shattered and collapsed in its original position, not scattering outward.

And from inside the arena, already blocked by large rock fragments, came a heavy sound of a crash.

Then followed a roar like a male lion but with incomparable momentum and volume.

This time, the roar carried pain and anger.

The roar reverberated out from the cylindrical rock wall, echoing distantly throughout the entire valley.

The group retreating in the distance looked apprehensively toward the direction of the burning base upon hearing the sound.

Inside the base, Aiden, a bit confused, looked at Lann, who also bore an excited smile, "What did you do in there?"

"What could I have done?" Lann chuckled, "It must’ve been the falling rock trap; the net ropes for the rocks couldn’t withstand the Flame King Dragon’s high temperature and fell."

"I just adjusted the position of the falling rock trap towards where the gunpowder drifted. Didn’t expect it to actually hit."

"Huh?" Aiden was even more puzzled, "Won’t it run away if it’s hurt? We want to keep it in here!"

Yes, to keep it here. In other words: trap the ancient dragon!

This is something no one in this world has done before, or even thought of doing.

Ancient dragons are at the top of the ecological chain, as godlike beings.

Even the task of driving away an ancient dragon is one that only top-tier hunters are qualified to undertake as a team, and with not a high success rate.

That’s why hunters like Wende, of extraordinary rank, able to handle various ancient dragons alone, become the ace among aces in the Hunter’s Guild, making the entire Fifth Period Team fleet wait for him at the Old Continent’s port for a week.

But even so, the only ancient dragon killed by humans so far is the Celestial Dragon.

Capturing... is even further beyond discussion.

Now, the two of them, as hunters, want to trap the Flame King Dragon in this arena!

"I think its obsession with gunpowder won’t make it care too much about being hit by hundreds of tons of rock."

As Lann spoke, he used Alder’s Rune to suppress the spreading flames around him.

Because the Flame King Dragon was isolated in the arena, the residual heat it left behind began to gradually diminish.

"Why don’t we go have a look?"

Aiden suggested, scratching his short Mohican hairstyle.

Lann naturally agreed.

Despite the heat wave, the two ran spiritedly and expectantly to the shattered entrance of the arena.

When these large pieces of rubble fell, they were almost compacted by gravity, leaving only a gap large enough for a human to crawl between at the bottom where the rubble met the valley’s rocky ground.

Aiden wiped his face and was about to inch forward to lie down and peer inside.

But suddenly, Lann grabbed him and pulled him several steps to the side.

Just beyond the direction directly facing the gap... "Boom!!!"

Scorching flames, like viscous water, erupted furiously from that gap.

Even the rocks beneath these flames turned red and shiny, almost losing their solid form.

The flames had only spewed for a few seconds!

But upon seeing the flames, Aiden and Lann raised their eyebrows instead.

"Did you hear the sound of wings flapping?"

"No, did you?"

"Neither did I! Done!"

The two bumped fists, smiling happily.

Capturing an Ancient Dragon alive is undoubtedly very difficult, if not impossible.

Let alone the Flame King Dragon, which has wings, and the cylindrical mountain walls of this arena are not capped. If it wanted, it could flap its wings and fly away.

Yet Lann, as the ’Idea King,’ dared to propose this idea to Aiden because he believed the Flame King Dragon might not want to leave in these circumstances.

After all, there are indeed lots of gunpowder here that it likes to suck and consume.

Breaking through the door and burning the blocking rocks into lava is a bit arduous, and flying upwards is also tricky, but staying put makes a bounty of gunpowder available for consumption.

Yes, Lann and Aiden couldn’t keep the Flame King Dragon trapped here unable to leave.

But they could create some hindrances for its departure and some fond attractions so it wouldn’t want to leave.

Regardless, as long as it stays in a fixed area for a period, isn’t that equivalent to being ’trapped’?

"We are awesome!" Enthusiastic and cheerful members of the Fifth Period Team raised their hands in cheer, "This is capturing an Ancient Dragon! Let’s hurry and report to the Commander-in-Chief!"

"Whether it’s the Flame King Dragon or its fondness for gunpowder, this is a major discovery in ecological research!"

The angry roars of the Flame King Dragon inside the arena, hit by the falling rock trap, gradually faded away.

After all, the damage seemed not to hinder it much, maybe it didn’t even hit right, just grazed it.

Next came the comforting purrs of a feline-like animal.

Clearly, the joy brought by the gunpowder dust in the arena outweighed the irritation caused by the rock trap.

The latter caused the Flame King Dragon to roar briefly and immediately dissipate with a flame burst.

...Could gunpowder be something akin to catnip for it?

With a spirit of research, Lann prepared to stay back and listen for a bit more, after all, he once interned at the Ecological Research Institute of the Investigation Team.

But Aiden couldn’t endure the heat from the flames any longer.

He dragged Lann away.

"Hey, don’t get excited now, hurry back to report to the Commander-in-Chief, that’s the priority!"

As they walked away from the burning base, the base itself was close to being completely incinerated.

But both Aiden and Lann were aware.

Compared to how they temporarily ’trapped a Flame King Dragon’ using the arena’s environment, losing the entire base was totally worth it!

If in another world, the leaders of the Investigation Team might care about material losses or responsibility and power division.

But in the New Continent Expedition Team, they clarified a certain ecological trait of an Ancient Dragon without human casualties, just some material loss.

And even ’trapped’ it.

Everyone would genuinely rejoice for this.

The Commander-in-Chief, whose stern face seemed unapproachable but is actually good-natured, if he doesn’t smile outright this time, it counts as him being serious.

Aiden and Lann, like buddies who’ve accomplished an ’idea,’ moved forward with laughter despite fatigue and heat to catch up with Tishaya and the others who retreated earlier.

"Speaking of which," Aiden wiped his sweat, suddenly curious and asked, "Why is the Flame King Dragon so fixated on gunpowder? Outdoors combustible rocks aren’t pure, but they can still burn."

"Maybe it’s a different flavor?" Lann irresponsibly guessed.

"The Sun Flame Dragon is carnivorous, and the Investigation Team’s gunpowder formula includes lots of Gunpowder Grass and scales from Bursting Dragon Fish and Bursting Goldfish, right?"

"Those aren’t usually in its diet."

"That’s indeed an interesting guess." Aiden nodded at Lann’s novel theory, "You might want to share this idea with the director of the Ecological Research Institute."