The Mandrake mercenary is both a regular and boss monster that players fight in Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, as well as a recurring monster in the Dragon Quest series. The English version of the game differentiates between the two by naming the boss Skraw.
Mandrake mercenaries are yellow-scaled bipedal anthropomorphic dragon soldiers that wield a cutlass and shield into battle. They have a large pair of wings on their back with blue webbing and a blue pair of horns on their head. Their weapons and armor are all silver. They appear as a regular enemies in the past versions of Nottagen Cavern and Hubble area, and as a boss in Providence. Note that these regions can be done in any order once accessible, so which variant players encounter first will vary. The boss version is unwinnable due to plotline restrictions, but the second fight is a regular battle.
Of the three Mandrake monsters that can be found in Dragon Quest VII, the regular enemy variant of Mandrake mercenary is weaker and encountered earlier than both the Mandrake major and the Mandrake monarch (the latter being the strongest of the three).
Mandrake mercenaries reappears in X, being slightly stronger than the majors, but outclassed by the Mandrake marshals and the newly appearing Ash lizards and Red moon warriors. Previously, mercenaries shared a near identical appearance with marshals, but in X, marshals were given darker golden scales instead of bright yellow.
