[Vol. 8] Chapter 275: The Honored Lord
Miss Cielru, whose dragon lineage carried a natural wave-like intensity, froze for a moment. Almost without thinking, she lowered her head to glance at her own chest, then her gaze swept briefly over the rather modest curves of a certain priestess nearby, before shaking her head helplessly.
“You really are quite the amusing strong one… but… Violet, was it?”
She repeated the girl’s name in a thoughtful tone, as if mentally comparing it against the many powerful figures she remembered. After a while, finding no match, the White Dragon King shook her head again and cast her pure, flawless gaze toward the battlefield below, where the sounds of shouting and killing thundered through the dark night.
“Miss Violet, to have such strength… in some ways, I believe you already know the situation. My dragon race, together with other divine-blooded beings, has been guarding the Serpent’s remains for over three hundred years. But now, the seal is on the verge of collapse. It won’t be long before this land faces earth-shaking changes.
“Living within the sealed land, our understanding of the outside world is limited. But it’s clear that what’s happening today is just a small preview of what’s to come. We are not your enemy. From you, I can feel a certain closeness, a familiar presence. Since you are protecting this mortal kingdom, I wonder if you would be interested in joining forces with the dragon race to resist this great disaster?”
“…?”
The priestess tilted her head, then quickly showed a playful, curious smile.
“That does sound kind of interesting, and far more sincere than certain people’s empty promises~ But… is this just your personal idea, Miss Cielru, or the attitude of the entire dragon race?”
The White Dragon King’s expression grew slightly more serious.
“The Dragon God does not appear, so the Dragon Emperor holds supreme authority. I am only acting as regent for now, but even so, among the seven clans I still hold significant influence. My words represent the stance of the dragon race.”
“The Dragon God, huh…”
The black-haired girl nodded lightly without saying anything unnecessary, answering in a calm tone.
“As long as the sincerity is there, I’ve never disliked working with others. But there’s one thing you might be mistaken about, Miss Cielru. I’m not the guardian of this country. I just happened to be here by coincidence.
“The one saving the nation and the world is someone else. I’m just a priestess, nothing more. At most, I only do what’s necessary when there’s no other choice. So… it’s better not to expect me to be too active.”
“?”
Perhaps her words were too strange, completely outside the range of answers the White Dragon King had imagined. Cielru tilted her head in confusion, her expression a little adorably baffled.
“What do you mean? What’s ‘doing what’s necessary when there’s no other choice’ supposed to mean?”
“Hmm… for example—”
BOOM!!!
Before the girl could finish, a deafening roar shook the land. A blazing golden beam shot straight into the sky, like a meteor piercing the heavens, lighting up the land and the Purple Mist City beneath the night sky.
That golden radiance, like divine judgment, tore through everything in its path. Terrifying ripples almost strong enough to shatter space spread out as countless twisted, fleshy monsters threw themselves forward to block it, only to be instantly dissolved in the dazzling sunlight-like brilliance, without the slightest effect.
RUMBLE… RUMBLE… RUMBLE!!!
Finally, the roaring golden light crashed directly into the wormhole in the sky that was constantly spewing out monsters. The ground shook violently as a destructive shockwave surged out like a tidal wave, wiping out thousands of alien guardians nearby in an instant.
Like a living thing, the surface of the wormhole instantly grew a layer of fleshy armor, barely managing to resist that overwhelming holy power. But in moments, cracks began to spread across it, clearly showing it was at a severe disadvantage.
Bzzz~! Bzzz~! Bzzz~!
Waves of energy ripples swept over like the tide. The White Dragon King’s not-so-solid phantom swayed under the violent clash of two overwhelming powers, but rather than the risk of her projection shattering at any moment, what truly concerned Cielru was clearly something else.
“This… what is that cannon? Three hundred years have passed, and mortals can now unleash such astonishing attacks? This level of power, if my dragon race faced it head-on, we’d probably suffer heavy losses. If this thing could be mass-produced…”
As if she had already expected such a scene, the priestess only smiled faintly.
“Mass production is unlikely, but the era is different now. The heavens shift, disasters descend, and the shackles on mortals have begun to loosen. Once you, Miss Cielru, lead your people back to this world for real, and come into contact with more people and more things, you’ll likely witness far more than what you’ve seen tonight.”
“This really is…”
The White Dragon King spoke in awe, but in the next instant, her expression suddenly changed drastically.
“This is bad! A high-ranking existence is entering the battle personally!!!”
Along with her urgent cry, the fleshy wormhole, already on the verge of collapse under the golden light’s pressure, suddenly regenerated and changed in an instant!
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle…!
As if forcibly expanded by some unknown power, the wormhole, already tens of meters wide, swelled even further. Blood-red fleshy tumors surged out from it like a dam breaking, flooding over land, mountains, and countless alien creatures. Finally, they condensed into shape, forming a colossal arm as large as a towering mountain!
The arm was over a thousand meters long, yet only its front half was visible, the rest still connected inside the wormhole, as if this overwhelming body was just the tip of the iceberg of some far greater being.
With its arrival came a terrifying, cold snort that seemed to echo across heaven and earth. The giant hand moved with shocking speed and swept fiercely in a single strike!
BOOM!!!
Unbelievably, the blazing golden light that had nearly shattered the wormhole, that incredible power which even Cielru the White Dragon King had praised, was instantly swatted apart by the fleshy giant hand, as if it had no power to resist at all!
Crushing force.
With its descent, the land around the wormhole became tainted by some horrifying energy, mutating into a carpet of flesh and fungus at a speed visible to the naked eye. Countless monsters nourished by it instantly gained unimaginable vitality, and the corruption spread so quickly that in the blink of an eye it had reached the very front lines of the Holy Empire’s army!
“My… my feet?!”
“AAAHHHHH!!!”
“By the Goddess! What kind of blasphemous power is this?!”
“Fall back! Don’t stand on the mutated ground!”
From the twisted land, fleshy tendrils lashed out, corroding everything standing on it. This terrifying curse could not be stopped even by the steel armor of the Holy Knights. The armor itself quickly sprouted twisted flesh. Those who fell were swallowed whole by the tumors in seconds. In just moments, nearly all of the thousand Holy Knights at the front line had been wiped out.
“How could this be? Is it insane?! What could possibly be here that is worth this level of risk, why would it…”
Cielru’s expression shifted several times in rapid succession, but soon, as if making up her mind, her already unstable, flickering soul-form forcibly gathered its power, and she began quickly chanting an obscure and ancient dragon incantation.