Evil Dragon, Without a Princess, I Had to Transform Myself!-Chapter 50 : Undead Creatures

Thump thump thump!
Just from hearing the beating of the Heart of the Red Queen, Elaphia could already sense Loranhir's high fighting spirit.
This was an indescribable sense of security.
"It's a bit tragic," Elaphia said.
Loranhir looked at the scene not far away without speaking, instinctively wanting to protect Elaphia in front of her.
On the road ahead lay a burning carriage turned on its side, bristling with arrows like a porcupine.
Several dead guards also lay by the roadside, most killed by arrows, with a few survivors huddled together trying to resist.
The attackers were a group of small humanoids with dark green skin. Their limbs didn't look strong, with red eyes and pointed ears, wearing dirty brown rags.
Goblins.
At this moment, these goblins were wielding clubs and swords, surrounding a girl with a light blue ponytail.
She held a greatsword, wearing a somewhat damaged silver armor set. Her proper, beautiful face showed extraordinary spirit—the very image of an orthodox knight maiden.
It was this battle-worn armor that Loranhir found familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere recently, but couldn't recognize it due to the damage.
The girl single-handedly blocked most of the goblins, with goblins cut in half scattered around her. She didn't retreat a single step, as if protecting something.
Looking at her panting appearance, if no intervention came, this knight maiden would probably soon be defeated by the goblins.
"Should we go help her?"
Elaphia raised her hand as if trying to connect sky and earth in a straight line.
Though phrased as a question, Loranhir heard some urgency in Elaphia's voice—a desire to show off in front of her.
"Definitely not," Loranhir shook her head.
Elaphia felt somewhat disappointed.
Rarely was there an opportunity to demonstrate her value in front of the Hero, to prove her strength.
Were they just going to watch?
"If only I went, that definitely wouldn't work," Loranhir looked up with concern, "but if it's you, go ahead—I'll cover for you."
The Hero would cover for her!
Getting this promise from Loranhir, Elaphia immediately perked up.
Just hearing the constantly ringing Heart of the Red Queen was enough to fill her with confidence. If she encountered anything incomprehensible, she could just come back to find the Hero.
Having a powerful Hero who could drive away wyverns covering for her was reassuring just to think about.
Watching Elaphia jump down from the carriage and charge forward, Loranhir quietly muttered.
"If we encounter someone in our team that even you can't beat, come back quickly. We'll take the Princess and run immediately."
Loranhir was quite clear that currently, Elaphia as a warrior was the most formidable existence in their team.
If they encountered someone even Elaphia couldn't defeat, they'd definitely need to take the Princess and run quickly.
Otherwise, who would they send up...
The Princess?
What a joke.
Elaphia charged into the large group of goblins.
It was daytime, so vampire thralls naturally couldn't be exposed to sunlight, but times had changed.
Now, as long as one applied enough special sunscreen, vampire thralls could briefly operate in sunlight without problems.
Elaphia's palms moved like lightning, deflecting incoming arrows in the blink of an eye.
As a fifth-rank warrior fighting with inner magic, dealing with a group of goblins was naturally no problem for her.
Elaphia fought among the enemies, punching fiercely while smashing goblins to the ground, until finally only she stood alone in the center of the battlefield.
The knight maiden, sensing the arrival of reinforcements, took a deep breath and began her counterattack, swinging her greatsword.
Loranhir watched the scene of the two fighting side by side, massacring goblins, feeling quite envious, but this also strengthened her resolve to find Grand Mage Oz.
As long as...
As long as she could reach that place...
○
The noisy sounds of battle around them completely quieted, along with the relaxation of Loranhir's heartbeat.
Patunasankus didn't think much about it and directly pushed open the door, jumping down from the carriage.
Just a group of goblins.
With Elaphia present, if she still needed the evil dragon to step in and cover, that would be unreasonable.
If the subordinate was useless, might as well roast her and be done with it.
Patunasankus looked around and saw Elaphia in the distance talking with the knight maiden they had just rescued.
Goblin corpses were piled on both sides of the road—the two hadn't left a single one alive.
"Thank you for your assistance. I'm Hedica."
The blue-haired, long-ponytailed knight maiden shook hands with Elaphia. The continuous battle had left her panting, her chest rising and falling constantly.
"These goblins were really strange. Usually, after killing so many, they would have fled long ago, but they actually fought to the end. If not for your intervention, a knight maiden losing to goblins would have been absolutely terrible."
Hedica turned her head, looking at Loranhir approaching them, instinctively wanting to offer polite thanks.
"I also thank this..."
But she paused for a moment upon seeing Loranhir.
Though this person hadn't appeared in the battle from start to finish, just from her appearance alone, one could tell she was terrifyingly strong.
Hedica thought of the drum-like pounding sounds during the earlier battle. Originally, she had wondered where such overwhelmingly oppressive sounds came from, but seeing Loranhir, she understood.
There was actually such a powerful expert presiding.
"I also thank you for your help."
Hedica's tone was full of respect for the strong.
"We are a refugee convoy from the ruined city of Astraea, with Bluefin Bay as our destination. Who knew we'd be ambushed by goblins midway? Most of our original guards died, but fortunately, we had help from you two."
Loranhir stepped closer, carefully examining Hedica. That sense of familiarity grew even stronger.
"...I seem to have seen your armor somewhere before," Loranhir said.
"This is standard paladin armor." Hedica patted her chest, the silver armor clanging.
"!!?"
Loranhir's paladin PTSD immediately kicked in.
She still remembered how in Silver City, Chief Adjudicator's son Allen Wahl had threatened to cleave her with a holy strike.
Had the Judgment Knight Order already come after her?!
Seeming to sense Loranhir's wariness, Hedica smiled bitterly. These days, paladins really had an increasingly bad reputation.
"Don't worry about me using forced detection spells like evil detection on you," Hedica said. "I'm ashamed to say, in short, I've lost the power of my oath. I've broken my vow..."
A paladin's power came from oaths, and breaking oaths inevitably led to the departure of power.
She obviously didn't want to reveal why she had broken her vow.
On the other side, Patunasankus looked at the chaotic scene before her. She noticed something very wrong about these goblins. Around them was a kind of very strange magical essence. This essence was very weak, dissipating bit by bit every minute and second. There were no mages or sorcerers here, so others couldn't detect it at all.
But even with disguise, it couldn't escape Patunasankus.
Because the faint stench of decay permeating the air was so obvious to an evil dragon.
The evil dragon stepped forward to examine them briefly.
They were undead creatures.