In front of the two groups of troublemakers, the level 94 dragon saw his two business associates appear at his side. Still, he ignored them to enunciate the punishment of these beings.
"You have disturbed my people. To act in dragon territory is a sin that must be paid for with blood." He said as his aura pressed down on almost every creature in the area.
The only ones who didn't feel it were his two business partners and Minos, whom he couldn't pressure even with this young human exhausted.
Everyone in the area trembled with fear, and the woman of the Sea Folk in Minos' crew said. "But that's not..."
"The entire continent is our territory." The dragon said as he opened his mouth and showed his razor-sharp teeth.
The sea creatures in Minos' group couldn't argue with that and quickly lowered their heads, fearing that this would be the end of their journey.
The Gorgons were even more worried about the situation, angry at the place they had reached because of a group as weak as Minos'.
But amid this tense moment, Minos found a way to stop coughing up blood and stood up, creating a strange image for these three level 94 creatures.
On one side, these three creatures stood up in their humanoid forms, while in front of them, almost all of Minos' group and the Gorgons lay prostrate, pressed to the ground.
"What will be the punishment?" Minos asked with difficulty, trying not to fall while being the only one on his side to stay upright.
The dragon's pressure didn't weigh him down, but his tiredness was getting in the way.
Either way, the surrounding creatures looked at Minos differently, seeing how determined he was to stand up to such a strong dragon.
This muscular being looked at Minos momentarily, narrowing his eyes in curiosity.
But first, he answered Minos' question. "Your groups will have to give up one of your companions. Each of you will have to make a sacrifice to me if you want to live to see another day."
Silence was all they heard, or rather, didn't hear, as they pondered that punishment.
"Choose your victims. You have one minute to do so." He said with a smile on his face.
When he finished speaking, the Gorgons quickly pointed to the weakest of their group. They unanimously decided she would be the sacrifice without giving her companion a chance.
"No! No..." She was about to scream when the dragon moved to her side and lifted her by the neck into the air, then manipulated her body.
Everyone stared, eyes wide, as the dragon devoured the Gorgon without giving her a chance to scream or express her great sadness at being betrayed so easily by her tribemates.
Dunyxa saw this and swallowed her saliva in awe, turning a few degrees paler when she saw some of her crew looking at her.
'I am the one the group would miss the least...' She was thinking this when Minos opened his mouth to answer.
"I offer myself as a sacrifice for my group." He said, surprising most of the people around him.
"You?" One of the dragon's two companions asked, surprised to see someone as talented as Minos willing to sacrifice himself for others.
In Minos' situation, many would sacrifice even their family members without blinking an eye if it meant ensuring their survival!
But Minos shocked these three, and especially the Gorgons, who knew nothing about him.
"You?" The dragon swallowed the Gorgon's body and returned to his humanoid form, looking at Minos strangely. "No. You c..."
"Either you punish me, the crew leader, or you act against all of us. We won't choose someone to be sacrificed." Minos interrupted the dragon.
The creature looked at Minos differently, experiencing the feeling of being interrupted by a creature other than another dragon for the first time in his life.
But he wasn't annoyed. He looked at Minos with interest.
"Why? Why would you sacrifice yourself for these creatures? None of them can compare to you. Few are of your race, and even fewer are of your family."
"Because I promised to bring them to the North Sea. Until we reach our destination, their lives are my responsibility." Minos said with difficulty. "I can't guarantee that nothing will happen to them on the way, but I can promise that I will do everything in my power to bring them to the end of our journey."
"Oh?"
"The North Sea? You're going to the North Sea?"
"That's a dangerous destination..."
"But it makes sense. Your group has a lot of sea creatures and birds."
The three commented to each other, seeing that there was a great possibility that this group's destination was indeed the mysterious and dangerous North Sea.
The dragon believed Minos' words, seeing that this guy had a lot of determination and would certainly try to fulfill his words.
Feeling the dragon's aura and the chaos that existed in this human body, he smiled, for such a personality would not be so uncommon in his tribe.
"Very well, I won't kill anyone from your group... For now." He announced, causing the expressions of the people in Minos' group to improve, while the Gorgons felt immensely hurt.
"But elder..." One of them was about to shout in protest, feeling guilty for the death of her group member, when he glared at her, making her stop before saying more.
"You have nothing to offer me. Don't think you can bargain." He said as he moved, forming a seal of spiritual energy before throwing it in their direction.
"I said the rest of you could live, but I never said you would be free." He announced as he saw the creatures feel the terror of what was about to befall them.
"I sentence you to a thousand years in the Searing Seal! If you survive, you will be free."
The remaining creatures saw their surroundings change as a scorching, scarlet world, an inferno of flames, covered them.
In that situation, they could only scream in despair, feeling the worst punishment they could suffer that day.
When the Demigods in Minos' group saw them being absorbed by the seal created by that dragon, they thanked the heavens for not making a rash decision.
That would have been their fate, too, if Minos hadn't intervened in time!
"As for you, don't think you're off the hook. Two of you have done something terrible." The big dragon looked seriously at Minos' group. "If this one doesn't convince me, you will face the same fate as those Gorgons." He pointed at Emperor Stuart.
"But for now, I'll give you a chance!"
...
