books44 Chapter 611 - 601: Succession
Chapter 611 - 601: Succession
The entrance area of the Dragon Cliff Dungeon has been completely cleared at this moment.
Within a few miles centered around the entrance, all unofficial Demon Race members have been driven away.
In their place are the Emperor’s Blood Guards, clad in dark red armor as if stained with blood, their faces covered with emotionless metal masks, guarding the vicinity.
Emperor Mortis stands at the brink of the entrance, looking at the massive claw prints and signs of dragon’s breath beneath him.
Chief Intelligence Officer Mofulei kneels a few steps away, reporting the latest intelligence on the Fire Dragon:
"...According to all available intelligence, a total of seven villages, two secondary cities, and Duke Eugene’s Beifeng Castle have been attacked by the Fire Dragon emerging from the Dragon Cliff Dungeon. The cities and Beifeng Castle withstood the attacks thanks to large protective arrays, with limited building damage and minimal casualties, but those villages were almost completely destroyed."
Mortis bends down, picking up a small pinch of black ash from the ground with his fingertips: "Eugene’s fortress is one thing, but those two cities not being military strongholds... could also withstand such a dragon?"
Mofulei immediately explains, "Your Majesty, according to consistent descriptions from numerous witnesses, the dragon did not even slow down while attacking. Its breath, rather than being a deliberate act of destruction... was more like a casual attack in passing. Precisely because of this, the protective arrays of those two cities barely survived the single assault."
"A casual attack, huh..." Mortis let out a soft laugh, sending a chill down Mofulei’s spine as she lowered her head even further.
Mortis straightened up, no longer looking at the claw prints or acknowledging the bowing subordinate.
He took a step forward, descending straight into the deep pit without any support.
Upon entering, Mortis flew directly towards the top of the Dragon Cliff.
The blood mist churned, exuding a scent so intense to induce fear in ordinary creatures. All the encountered Dragon Beasts, whether they were fierce Earth Dragons or cunning Shadow Winged Dragons, whimpered and retreated into their nests or crevices, shivering in fear.
Halfway along the Dragon Cliff, Mortis’s eyelids twitched almost imperceptibly.
He saw a dragon corpse.
Not the weathered white skeleton of dozens or hundreds of years past, but a fresh corpse whose flesh had not yet entirely decayed.
This was a young Blue Dragon, its wing membranes torn, its neck twisted at a peculiar angle, with patches of charred and torn wounds marking its once magnificent scale armor. Its dark blue blood had long dried and hardened; the time of death did not exceed a month.
On the Dragon Cliff, the Dragon Race has virtually no natural enemies except themselves.
Mortis’s speed did not slow, but there was a hint of doubt in his crimson eyes.
As he continued to ascend, similar scenes began to appear frequently.
On rocky ledges, cave entrances, and even the giant floating stones suspended in mid-air, there were more scattered dragon remains.
Red Dragons and Green Dragons had died entangled, with claws deeply embedded in each other’s chests; a relatively small White Dragon was torn in half by terrifying brute force; and a Black Dragon’s remains were clearly hit directly by some extreme high-temperature breath, with more than half of its body carbonized...
Civil War.
The traces were so evident that the conclusion was self-explanatory.
As he was about to reach the upper layers of the Dragon Cliff where the Giant Dragons resided, a pair of molten gold vertical pupils suddenly opened in the mountain cliff cave.
A massive adult Black Dragon flew out from a gigantic cave on the side, spreading its wings to block Mortis.
"Little worm! Got lost?" the Black Dragon spoke in Dragon Language, slowly approaching Mortis. "Lately, everyone is in a bad mood. If someone out of their mind happens to mistake you for a little snack sneaking in... that would be quite unfortunate."
Although the words sounded like advice, the Black Dragon’s enormous body leaned slightly forward, its dragon claws gripping the rock tightly, its vertical pupils locked on Mortis, and its tail sweeping impatiently—a hunting stance ready to pounce at any moment.
Suspended in the blood mist mid-air, Mortis didn’t even look directly at this Black Dragon capable of collapsing a small military unit. He simply spat out a brief Dragon Language: "Get lost, worm."
The Black Dragon’s pupils contracted into dangerous slits, black dragon breath roiling in its throat.
Yet Mortis merely extended a single finger, pointing at the black giant worm.
It was then that a colossal shadow descended from above.
A Black Dragon, nearly twice the size of the roadblocking dragon, plummeted from the sky with unstoppable force and speed, crushing the head of the Black Dragon below into the hard stone ground!
Boom!
Debris scattered, the pinned Black Dragon let out a pained and indistinct whimper, its massive body writhing and struggling, its tail lashing causing the rock walls to crack, but to no avail beneath that giant claw.
"Great... Great Dragon!" It squeezed out a voice tinged with fear from between its teeth and the crushed stone.
The Black Dragon, called Great Dragon, said not a word more to its kin underfoot, addressing Mortis directly:
"Blood Race Emperor of the outside world."
"Mother is waiting for you above."
Only then did Mortis lower his arm.
Under the lead of the Great Dragon, Mortis traversed the upper levels of the Dragon Cliff, with no other Dragon Race members jumping out to trouble them this time.
Finally, they reached the peak of the Dragon Cliff.
On the massive floating platform, a dragon of colossal size lay, its form like a winding mountain range. Even a single silver scale was larger than a giant demon; even the large dragon, whose size far exceeded that of its kin, appeared like a small lizard in her presence.
The world’s only Ancient Dragon.
Even without any special abilities, the mere act of mobilizing such an enormous body could cause world-shattering disasters.
However, this Ancient Dragon, possessing such world-altering power, was at this moment enveloped in an undeniable aura of decline.
As a member of the Blood Race that feeds on life, Mortis could distinctly sense the Ancient Dragon had little time left.
"Silvia, it’s been a century since we last met, and you’ve reached your end. I thought Ancient Dragons... were almost immortal."
"Nothing is immortal; what you think is immortality is merely an illusion." The thought was conveyed directly to Mortis’s consciousness, as this Ancient Dragon no longer had the energy to speak.
Mortis had no interest in debating ’immortality’; he got straight to the point: "Your offspring have breached their oath and left the dungeon. But, in your current state... it seems you can no longer constrain them."
"That was an accident. But indeed, as you said, for the children, the ’Dragon Path Conflict’ inscribed deep in their blood has become more important than my orders."
"What about the seal?" Mortis asked the question that concerned him most.
"What I promised, as long as I still breathe, no one can shake the seal in the slightest."
"What happens after you die?" Mortis mercilessly pressed on.
The Ancient Dragon’s somewhat chaotic vertical pupils slowly turned to him: "At that time... you will need to negotiate with the new Ancient Dragon."
After saying this, Silvia slowly closed her eyes.
The Great Dragon at the side rose, crawling outwards a few steps, its massive head turning to Mortis, the dark golden vertical pupils void of any emotion, but the intent to usher him out was unmistakable.
Mortis did not receive a satisfying answer, but faced with the unforeseen circumstance of an Ancient Dragon succession, even he lacked suitable countermeasures.
Blood fog silently enshrouding him once more, before he left, he cast a somewhat curious glance near the Ancient Dragon.
There lay a skeletal figure clutching a decayed lute, and by the bone structure, it seemed human.
However, Mortis only glanced a bit more and did not investigate further.
After leaving the Dragon Cliff Dungeon, he ordered the dungeon to remain locked down and dispatched his subordinates to monitor the changes atop the Dragon Cliff from afar.
...
Elsewhere, as the Fire Dragon flew into the Northern Territory, Lin Jun, using the Fungal Mat’s vision, immediately spotted the massively large Fire Dragon in both size and magic power.
Holy crap! A flying giant red lizard!