《The Crimson Dragon》


 CH 1

    Chapter 1


    In a distant galaxy, there was a planet named Floren. As there are numerous planets within the endless universe, it was inevitable that some would collide with one another ¡­¡­


    Legends say that somewhere next to the mountain located near an unknown sea was an endless world named the Mission World. Created by the Mage of the Seashore, the Crystal Realm consisted of countless connected worlds: The Upper Realm, The Lower Realm, as well as a lot of other major realms. Floren was the most renowned realm of all realms, yet forgotten by all. This, was a story occurring within this mysterious realm.


    Located between all the realms was a universe filled with huge boulders the size of an island. These so called wastelands had odd features, some being the body of a dead god, some being a volcanic island, spewing flames and smoke without a magma chamber. It was in itself extremely unscientific, yet, this was an unscientific world. It could be called ¡°normal¡± even if a volcano spewed out ice blocks¡­¡­


    The story begun on an abnormal volcanic island, which drifted between realms. The island was so small in size that it felt like an olive pit, with a size of roughly 30m by 100m. Naturally, the volcano was also pocket-sized, with a height of barely 20m. The volcano extended both upwards and downwards, forming a symmetrical shape. Despite being so short in height, the volcano boasted an asymmetrical volcanic crater with a diameter of 30m filled with magma and sulphur. In the middle of the crater was a tiny island formed by metals with high melting points, around 20 square meters in size.


    On the island, there were four large eggs with rough, crimson surfaces, all covered in ash and sulphur. The eggs had been here on this nameless island for an unknown amount of time, since time did not pass within this universe. Only those who returned to the major realms could regain their lost time. At that very moment, a ripple appeared on the membrane of the Crystal Realm created by the Mage of the Seashore, and a weak spirit crashed from the endless universe into the world. In fact, this was something which occurred all the time. To those weak spirits, this world was extending its arms, welcoming them here. This, however, did not apply to strong or void spirits. Anyway, the weak spirit naturally fell into the endless universe between realms after penetrating the Crystal Realm, and it managed to bump into this nameless volcanic island. This weak spirit, according to an unknown law created by the Mages of the Seashore, drew a perfect arc and slammed straight into one of the four eggs. With a blinding crimson light, the weak spirit created a surprisingly enormous force, which pushed the whole island towards those massive major realms.


    Similar to how a meteor gets attracted by the Earth¡¯s gravitational force, the tiny volcanic island was attracted by one of the major realms. While meteors get burnt up by the atmosphere, the tiny volcanic island combined with the major realm named Floren like a drop of water absorbed into the sea. Behind the Moulin city on the Floren continent, on the seashore which was located next to countless mountains, The Fire Dragon Bay, a small volcanic mountain suddenly appeared. However, none of the gods or intelligent beings noticed the significance of this event. Combining with an island from the universe between realms was nothing special, but combining with the body of god was indeed a special occasion.


    In the volcanic crater, light began to appear from within the crimson egg. The light itself was not bright, but the surroundings were heated to a high temperature as a result. Out of the four eggs, the light began to diminish within two eggs, while a dark red glow continued to shine within the other two after a bright flash. As time passed, the red hot crater gradually cooled down. After combining with Floren, all volcanic activity immediately stopped, and the magma lake condensed into a large piece of sulphur as well. The only place with magma was the area around the metal island where the eggs are located, despite being covered by a layer of semi-condensed magma.


    ¡°What was this place? Who am I?¡±


    An intelligent mind spontaneously became active, yet its activity was extremely slow. Only after a year had passed did the mind begin to question his identity and where he was. Without his five senses, he could not come to a conclusion. Skyscrapers, airplanes, Wifi networks, the smartphone which he held all the time¡­¡­. Countless messages and ideas swarmed out of this intelligent mind.


    ¡°That¡¯s right! I¡¯m a human! Yet I can¡¯t seem to remember my name¡­¡­¡±


    An image of a green humanoid with 2 tentacles poking out of its brain flickered through this intelligent mind.


    ¡°I am an Earthling who forgot his own name¡­¡­¡±


    Despite not being able to identify himself, this intelligent mind began to process at an incredible speed after recalling the memories of himself and knowledge from Earth. At this moment, he finally gained was one of his senses. I¡¯m floating in water? He thought to himself. With the sense of touch, the man felt that he was floating in a viscous fluid, yet he couldn¡¯t feel the sensation of suffocation. Actually, he couldn¡¯t feel himself breathing at all. As the muscles around his eyes could not support his movements, he was still deprived of his sight. However, he could feel that his hands had nails through shaking hands with himself, and also feel that he had grown an extra organ.


    ¡°Was that an extra pair of hand on my back?¡±


    He could barely feel an extra pair of hands exhausted on his back, yet they were not as flexible as his normal ones. After a bit of testing, he discovered that he could slightly extend his arms on his back, and a film of skin existed between those ¡®hands¡¯ and ¡®fingernails¡¯. Not only an extra pair of hands, he also sensed the existence of a tail on his body. With the help of his tail, he finally determined that his small world was surrounded by a smooth layer.


    Of course, this person was not a fool. With all the knowledge from his previous world, he deduced that he was currently in an egg, and his body was longer humanoid¡­¡­. He could clearly remember all the novels he had read, the ones which the main character was transported to a different world. Under current circumstances, he could only believe that he became one of the main characters of such novels, that he was transported to a different world.


    ¡°Hmm, what kind of egg am I in? What am I? A tail¡­¡­ Those hands on my back should be a pair of wings. A pair of hands and legs, a pair of wings and a tail, I suppose my luck¡¯s not bad.¡±


    All of a sudden, the man suffered an intense headache; an unstoppable flow of information rushing into his brain without any warning.


    ¡°Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus! That is the true name of my Dragon form!¡±

 CH 2

    Chapter 2


    Claudius honestly didn¡¯t want an Ancient Roman name; it sounded extremely chuuni. The unstoppable flow of information just now was actually the inheritance ceremony of the Dragon tribe, and he confirmed that he had truly transformed into a dragon in another world. The knowledge burnt into his brain just now was of a specific species, the Crimson Dragon. The true dragons here could understand the dragon language the moment they were born, along with sufficient knowledge to maintain daily life. As the dragons grew up, they awakened to all sorts of abilities and magic. These were all benefits from the inheritance ceremony of the Crimson Dragon. The moment a dragon egg is laid, their parents¡¯ respective knowledge would be fused and inserted into the egg as a magic circle. When the eggs were about to be hatched, the knowledge would be implanted directly into the brain of the dragon whelps. However, some would not be able to handle such a massive flow of knowledge and die as a result, while some could not seal the knowledge they were unable to absorb into their brains, ending up as retards. These weaklings were all removed from the scene through natural selection, which showed no mercy to the weak.


    Luckily, the Earthling belonged to those who managed to live through the challenge successfully. Due to the special nature of Earthling spirits, he even managed to absorb half of the knowledge while sealing the rest into his brain, which meant that there was no knowledge loss. Compared to normal dragons which could usually only inherit one sixth of the knowledge, Claudius was much more knowledgeable, but that was probably the only advantage brought by being an Earthling¡­¡­ or perhaps not? Along with the flow of knowledge, the true Dragon name given by their parents was also implanted into the brains of the whelps, but Claudius was special. Originally, his parents did not give him the name Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, but he hated his original name so much that he filled in a random name in the short moment that his true Dragon name was formed. If he was a moment late, he would probably die a horrifying death, with his head exploding. As a result, our main character was now named Claudius, which was nothing close to his original name given by his dragon parents.


    With his mind fully under his control, Claudius felt that this small world could no longer contain him, hence he struggled. Honestly there wasn¡¯t much of a choice, as the oxygen in the egg was insufficient and he was suffocating. With a strong kick and a tackle using his hard and pointy nose, small cracks finally appeared on the shell. While Claudius felt excited, he also realized that oxygen levels had reached a critical level, probably barely enough for him to kick once or twice more. ¡°This cannot go on forever!¡± This crimson dragon with the mind of a person released all of his energy in a burst, and fresh air gushed in all at once. The hot air filled with sulphur could totally kill a person, but this atmosphere is extremely comfortable for a crimson dragon.


    After a few breaths of the pleasant air, Claudius began expanding the hole on the egg. A short while later, a red dragon whelp with the size of a foal fell and rolled out of the broken egg, covered in gooey liquid. This fellow began spitting the liquid stuck in his mouth while shouting a few ¡®Earthly¡¯ swears, and a column of flames of a few ft long (TL Note: 1 ft=0.305m) spewed out of his mouth.


    ¡°Hmm, so a newborn dragon whelp can already spew fire. I¡¯m now pretty confident I can survive in this place,¡± Claudius muttered, using the dragon language of course.


    With sulphur entering his lungs, his respiratory system began to mature rapidly. It became difficult to speak in ¡®earthly human¡¯ language as his throat did not allow the necessary movements.


    As new born crimson dragons are usually hungry, they tend to eat their own shell in order to receive nutrients for growth, and Claudius was no exception. Reborn as a crimson dragon, his senses became completely different from humans on Earth. Normally the egg shell would be considered disgusting, yet the tough and rough shell full of sulphur tasted like chips for Claudius. After munching his delicious egg shell, he felt a sense of satisfaction from his stomach. With such a good mood, Claudius began inspecting his surroundings.


    ¡°So there are four eggs including mine. It seems that only one of them is glowing though? The other two seem quite static.¡± Claudius stuck his head onto one of the static eggs, yet he couldn¡¯t hear anything coming from inside.


    The glowing egg showed some movement though. ¡®Tok, Tok¡¯ sounds could be heard; the fellow inside the egg was probably working hard to break the egg. Cracks appeared on the egg, and a crimson dragon whelp tumbled out of the egg along with the gooey liquid.


    ¡°This is probably my twin¡­¡­sister?¡±


    Claudius was sure that he was a male dragon, and he could tell that the crimson dragon whelp rolling on the ground right now was a female dragon. Perhaps due to their instincts, the two siblings could determine each other¡¯s gender. This dragoness looked smaller than Claudius, having a cute looking nose with a little horn on it, and the pair of horns on her head has yet to show their full length. The baby dragoness shook her head a few times, and looked at Claudius cautiously. In her eyes, this brother of hers was probably a bit weird.


    Claudius¡¯ size and looks were slightly different from the images obtained through the magic circle, and he had a strong pair of hind legs, giving him the ability to walk with his hind legs while maintaining balance with his tail. The pairs of horns on Claudius¡¯ head were also quite different from other crimson dragons, as crimson dragons normally have only a pair of horns. Apart from the two horns pointing backwards, there was also a horn pointing sideways on each side of his head. Sharp little horns also uniformly lined up on his snout like trees along a path, unlike the single pyramidal horn normal crimson dragons have. If not for the tingling sense of being blood related, the young dragoness probably couldn¡¯t recognize this weird dragon as her own brother.


    These doubts could wait, because she had to eat her own egg shell before starving to death. Claudius stared at the young dragoness as she devoured her meal while shooting glances at him. As she finished her first meal, Claudius pointed at himself and spoke in the dragon language, ¡°I¡¯m Claudius! What¡¯s your name?¡±


    The dragoness proudly raised her head and spoke, ¡°Orfesta!¡±


    ¡°Such a strange name, I¡¯ll call you Britannia instead.¡±


    Without getting her consent, Claudius renamed his little sister to Britannia. The young dragoness shook her head, and after a bit of thought she agreed. As Claudius was a name which did not comply with the naming rules of the Crimson Dragon Tribe, and she could guess that it was a false name, hence she didn¡¯t mind getting a new name from her brother. In fact, Orfesta was also a fake name she made up¡­¡­


    After the two dragon whelps had their first meal, they were hit by an irresistible surge of fatigue. Cuddling against one another, Claudius and Britannia had a nice long dream next to the pool of lava. While they were asleep, the two experienced their first ever growth.

 CH 3

    Chapter 3


    Two young dragon whelps were lying in the crater of the nameless volcano, which was gradually entering the state of hibernation. The intimidating aura surrounding the two was also gradually fading, preventing them from being found by predators. This was the effect of the growth they experienced during their long sleep, as they were unable to do so before. As they slept for about a year, Claudius began to regain consciousness. After shaking his tail and stretching his limbs, he discovered that he had already grown from the size of a foal to that of a stallion.


    As expected, the two eggs idling besides him still showed no change. Claudius was pondering on whether to eat the eggs or not as his stomach grumbled.


    ¡°This feels like cannibalism¡­¡­¡±


    While Claudius was having an intense battle within his mind, Britannia woke up as well. Her body was as small as always; around two thirds the size of Claudius. Without any sense of sympathy, the young dragoness bolted towards one of the eggs, sending a powerful bite to the tough shell.


    This shocked Claudius for a second, as he looked at his cute yet brutal sister munching on an egg. However, Claudius immediately grabbed the other egg as Britannia turned around and said to him, ¡°The eggs can no longer be hatched, they are dead already. Now, if you don¡¯t want to eat, how about giving me the other one as well?¡±


    Despite being an egg which could be hatched, it did not seem to be rotten at all and simply tasted like chicken eggs back on Earth. Claudius gobbled up the egg, and sighed as he sat down with a full stomach. At this very moment, Claudius could hear sounds at the back of his mind.


    ¡°Ding Dong!¡±


    A bright screen expanded in front of the eyes of this abnormal crimson dragon.


    There he saw a large painting; a painting of a crimson dragon to be more specific. The dragon in the painting looked extremely similar to Claudius, and there were six words below the dragon: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Charisma, and Wisdom.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t these the attributes of D&D? Looks like I got an awesome cheat for being transported.¡±


    As a former person who had read countless web novels, Claudius totally agreed that every transported person should at least receive a cheat.


    It seemed that the cheat for him was the attribute system, but the various fancy skills were all gone. All that remained was a list of skill names, like ¡®XX Leap¡¯ or whatnot.


    ¡°The system can also tell this is not a game, huh? As this is now reality, the modifiers are probably pointless. You can¡¯t throw the die and run around in real life right?¡±


    Speaking of his previous life, Claudius was actually quite curious about the kind of life he led before becoming a dragon. ¡°Eating, drinking, having fun, a load of useless knowledge and nothing else. What the hell was I?¡±


    Anyways, he started looking at his own attributes.


    ¡°Hmm, 18 Strength, 11 Dexterity, 19 Constitution, 12 Intelligence, 10 Charisma, and 11 Wisdom. Are these numbers good or bad? If I were human I would totally be a genius, but I guess I¡¯m a dragon now,¡± Claudius scratched his head while thinking. He had no idea whether these stats were normal or not, hence he turned and looked at his little sister Britannia, who was still busy eating the egg. As he focused on  Britannia, her stats showed up on the screen. There it read: 17 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 15 Constitution, 10 Intelligence, 10 Charisma, and 11 Wisdom. Looking at the stats, Claudius believed that these are probably the standard values of normal crimson dragons. He could tell that Britannia was a superb dragoness despite not harbouring a human soul.


    ¡°Are my stats increased due to the fact that I¡¯m a dragon with a human soul? Oh, the experience bar is empty, not even a single point. It looks like I can¡¯t level up now; should I go kill some grunts for experience points?¡± Claudius said to himself while staring at the class above his stats, which had the words ¡®Crimson Dragon (Level 1)/Dragon Whelp¡¯ on it.


    Despite having such attributes, Claudius knew from the knowledge he gained from the inheritance ceremony of the Dragon Tribe that it was not the time to show off his own strength. As a baby dragon whelp, he had to live with his tail between his legs for at least five years. At the age of five, they would develop into dragon whelps which could handle common beasts, while they would have to wait for 25 years before becoming invincible against most, if not all, creatures living across this continent. Hence, Claudius had to find a comfortable place to live in before reaching his prime age. According to the knowledge he obtained from the inheritance ceremony, underground caves were the ideal environment for crimson dragons as they had bright, shiny crimson scales.


    Perhaps Britannia also had the same thing in mind, for she began to wander around the crater to find a suitable cave to live in. Claudius, however, thought that hiding in a hole in a volcanic crater was not a good idea.


    ¡°Be it humans or whatnot, every single being on this continent should know that crimson dragons like to reside in warm, volcanic areas. We can never tell when good-for-nothing fellows will come and search this place. Normally we would be protected by our mother, but for some reason this damn mother of mine decided to abandon her eggs,¡± Claudius said to himself.


    After thinking thoroughly, Claudius decided to climb up the walls of the volcano and explore the land nearby before he got hungry again. It would probably be impossible to find food in a volcano anyways, so he might end up digging a small cave somewhere nearby. Yet Britannia appeared to not be interested in his plans, as she took off on her own and began expanding a crack in the volcanic crater with her sharp claws.


    The Fire Dragon Bay was a mountainous region, hence a wide range of animals lived there. Claudius climbed up the 20-meter-tall wall and rolled down the slope of the volcano. After surveying his surroundings, he found a relatively suitable location under a pile of igneous rocks. The huge rocks supported one another, and an upward slope could be seen further inside. Claudius climbed up the slope by digging his claws into the igneous rocks, and right in front of him was a large platform. Rays of sunlight were passing through the gaps of the ceiling, illuminating the 100-square-meter space which could be used as his hidden home. Claudius was pleased with his new lair, but just to be careful, he decided to sleep at the corner which was dark and not visible from the outside.


    Just like that, Claudius made his first step towards becoming a full fledged ¡®Earthly¡¯ crimson dragon in this new world.

 CH 4

    Chapter 4


    Crimson dragons; one of the creatures located on top of the food chain in the world of Floren. Earthlings, however, are the beings who are located on the very top of the food chain in the real world, the world which the Mages of the Seashore reside in. Not one of the creatures at the top, but the only being on the very top. Throughout millions of years, the upright walking apes were always the most atrocious carnivore ever existed. The amount of living beings massacred by them even outnumbered the total amount of living beings killed by all other carnivores by a large margin.


    ¡°By combining the two, what would you get?¡±


    Claudius once thought about this question, yet he couldn¡¯t reach a conclusion on what he actually was. However, he was a 100% carnivore when it came to hunting pathetic prey. Cannibalism was a concept abandoned by Earthlings merely centuries ago, and Claudius didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by consuming humanoid animals. It was worth noting that Claudius had not yet met a humanoid creature after he had become a dragon, though.


    With the size of a stallion, Claudius was probably one of the largest carnivores back on Earth, but here in Floren, things were different. Creatures with the size of a stallion were not even worth mentioning in Floren.


    ¡°These fellows are all larger than bulls, not to mention stronger in strength as well. I totally don¡¯t want to mess with them,¡± Claudius muttered while peeking at the nearby mountain where the bears live in.


    Claudius was confident that he could handle a single wolf, probably a wolf pack as well. The scales on his body were an indestructible shield to most wolves living in the forests, but there were also magical beasts, such as wolves enhanced by magic.


    As the scales Claudius had were bright and shiny, he ended up being a good boy and chose laid low. He originally wanted to hide and sneak on his prey, but his dream shattered the moment he realized how eye catching his scales were. Apart from hiding in lava, it was impossible for his prey to not notice his presence. Let¡¯s be realistic, why would there be lava-drinking creatures? Even if there were, Claudius wouldn¡¯t stand a chance at all. In fact, he himself would probably be the one killed.


    As a result, Claudius ended up as a pathetic fisherman who only went to the sea to catch fish at night. He was scared and didn¡¯t dare to step out of his lair during daytime, and even came to the conclusion that sleeping while concealing his intimidating dragon aura. Luckily, dragon whelps have really weak aura, and it was relatively easier to conceal. Claudius also went to visit his sister Britannia, only to find out that the young dragoness has become a worm eater. The volcanic ash contained large amounts of organic substances, and there lived a bunch of excessively reproducing worms. These worms feed on volcanic ash, and were around 1 to 2 meters long. Although the worms would sometimes spit corrosive sulphur liquids, but the attacks were ineffective against crimson dragons. Being able to hunt such delicious prey without much effort, Britannia lived an easy life and had grown up quite a bit.


    With Claudius suddenly visiting her base, Britannia tensed up quite a bit, fearing that her brother was here to occupy the place. The most important thing, though, was the piece of gold which appeared out of nowhere. Occasionally, gold would condense within the lava, and the young dragoness happened to find one, treating the gold ingot as her most valuable treasure.


    Claudius snorted at her sister¡¯s foolish actions. He was no ordinary dragon. Through combining the soul of a human into a dragon, the greedy nature of dragons has vanished into thin air. Claudius was probably the only dragon in Floren which had no interest in valuables or treasure. ¡°What is the point of being rich if you lose your life?¡± Claudius retorted in his mind.


    Catching fish wasn¡¯t too difficult for crimson dragons as they could swim in shallow waters, despite being somewhat clumsy. Although he was not a dark dragon which dwelled in swamps and mud, he still managed to satisfy his appetite through catching fish fairly easily. The only problem for him though, was the hydrophobic nature of crimson dragons.


    There were plenty of different monsters living in the ocean, but there were also intelligent beings such as sharkmen. Although Claudius was cautious when hunting in the sea, it was inevitable that the strong creatures in the ocean would discover his location.


    For now, a sharkmen tribe had found out the existence of Claudius, and could tell that the dragon whelp had quite the appetite as it came regularly to hunt every night. The sharkmen tribe of this location were rather poor as cargo ships seldom passed through the region, but now they had hit the jackpot: a tasty crimson dragon whelp.


    Of course, the sharkmen tribe had to report this event to Anbo, the irrational and evil goddess which they believed in. In the open space within an undersea cavern, the Cardinal of the sharkmen tribe repeatedly called out to the goddess, eagerly awaiting her response. The seawater which had evacuated from the half empty undersea cavern suddenly gushed out from the endless void, polluting the chamber of water into pure darkness. At this moment, a strong will descended into the mind of the Cardinal. Without wasting a single second, the Cardinal reported the incident while trembling out of both fear and gladness.


    ¡°RESTRAIN IT!¡±


    It was the only order given by the goddess.


    Nonetheless, catching a crimson dragon was still not something the sharkmen could easily achieve, even though their target was a dragon whelp. In order to capture Claudius alive and offer it as offerings to the goddess, the Cardinal assembled a whole squad of sharkmen hunters, silently waiting for Claudius to get baited. With two sharkmen mages, four sharkmen warriors, and even the Cardinal himself, surely Claudius had no chance of winning.


    Yet Claudius did not come as planned. This fellow had been devouring everything he could for the past few months, almost killing off all the fish within the region. The most devastating fact was that he was not a picky eater. Be it crabs, clams, shrimps or even seaweed, the crimson dragon whelp could eat them all, as if he had no dignity as a crimson dragon at all. Perhaps he might have saved up enough nutrients and was now experiencing a growth while sleeping.


    ¡°This is the true pleasure of being a crimson dragon. Who would have thought that you could gain experience through eating? It really feels like playing a game, gaining experience for whatever you do,¡± Claudius said while looking at the full experience bar which only he could see. This was actually an unintentional discovery for Claudius as he once felt bored while hunting and opened up the attribute screen, and there he saw his experience bar being filled up just a little, with 3/100 points. Afterwards, he stopped hunting for a few days to find what action allowed him to gain experience. When he could no longer stand the hunger, Claudius went back and caught a small whale to satisfy his grumbling stomach, only to realize that hunting and eating actually gives him experience points¡­¡­


    The experience bar was full, yet the option to level up was not available, but Claudius felt extremely tired, which was similar to the time he first broke out of his egg. For safety reasons, he dug another hole within the cave and hid inside, only poking his snout out of a little hole before sleeping.


    Claudius sleeping was not a big issue, but triggering the anger of the Cardinal of the sharkmen tribe was the real deal. Sharkmen could not stay on land for an extended period of time, yet Claudius¡¯ cave was over 10 kilometers away from the sea. As Claudius could fly, it only took him one hour to reach the ocean, but the sharkmen could not possibly walk such a long distance to capture him, despite its location being predicted by the Cardinal using divine skills. To the Cardinal, dragon whelps were only pathetic beings that could use neither divine skills nor magic. Without the protection of their parents, dragon whelps could rarely live until they were fully grown. For dragon whelp orphans who lacked protection by their parents, such as Claudius and Britannia, over 90% of them died before reaching the adolescent stage.


    The Cardinal was extremely troubled by Claudius¡¯ actions. As Anbo was an irrational goddess, it was hard to tell if she would grant them the ability to travel on land or instead annihilate the whole squad along with the Cardinal himself. Given that Anbo was also an impatient goddess, the Cardinal had no choice but to report to her that he lacked power to fulfil her order while cowering in fear¡­¡­

 CH 5

    Chapter 5


    In the same underground cavern, the Cardinal prayed towards the holy symbol while cowering in fear. The sea water turned dark all of a sudden, and a large amount of dark water came gushing in, bringing along bunches of seaweed. As a sharkmen, the Cardinal was an aquatic creature, yet he could not resist the impact of the gush of sea water. The dark waves mercilessly slammed the Cardinal onto the wall, and blood splashed out of the Cardinal¡¯s mouth. He activated a defensive divine skill on himself all the time, yet it was rendered completely useless. The cardinal could feel that half of his ribs had fractured from the powerful impact, and it was certain that he would die soon due to excessive blood loss from punctured organs.


    The moment the dark sea water gushed in, all the divine magic he prepared beforehand vanished without a trace. The Cardinal was quite sure that the goddess has been angered, yet the moment he resolved himself for certain death, the sea water began to subside and a ¡®Lesser Heal¡¯ has been casted onto his body. This divine magic could stop the internal bleeding temporarily, yet he would still die if Medium Level Damage Removal divine magic was not applied in time. To the bright side, this meant that the goddess was probably no longer angry, which was actually the case this time. A voice resounded within the mind of the Cardinal, leaving behind a divine message, granting the Cardinal authority to cross the land with the squad to capture the dragon whelp who hunted in the sea without permission. The message itself had no divine power whatsoever, but the goddess casted a special divine magic onto the soul of the Cardinal afterwards. It was an Area of Effect magic which allowed sharkmen to move freely on land without suffocating or dying from dehydration. The only issue with this divine magic is that it is only effective for 24 hours the moment it has been casted.


    The goddess also revealed the approximate position of this bold dragon whelp to her faithful Cardinal, yet she could not pinpoint the exact location. As the gods of Floren were not omnipotent, Anbo could only predict the location of Claudius with an error of 5 kilometres as Claudius was not a disciple of hers. While the Cardinal was busy arranging personnel for this expedition, Claudius was snoring away cosily in his lair¡­¡­


    Claudius had more than enough nutrition intakes as well as significantly more activity than other dragons, resulting in him having unparalleled catabolic rates. His sister Britannia, was more active than your average adolescent dragons, but she would only dig and eat a few worms at the volcanic crater once every three days at most. If she managed to fully satisfy her hunger, Britannia could sleep for a whole week without hunting. In the world of Floren, Claudius was probably the only dragon whelp who had such an overwhelming appetite and went hunting every single day. Despite eating a mountain of seafood the previous night, Claudius would always wake up in hunger. As he didn¡¯t dare to leave his lair during daytime, he could not help but have the urge to devour everything in his sight at night. While Claudius was busy searching for food, he couldn¡¯t help but lower his guard. This was only one of the reasons that he was discovered though, the second reason being the bright and reflective crimson scales on his body.


    While Claudius was still asleep, the hole he dug for himself before sleeping could no longer contain his ever growing body, forcing over half of his body out of the hole. His crimson scales were as eye catching as burning flames in the middle of a night, and the unique horns on his head had grown thicker and were now a shade of dark red. His wings had also grown even larger, and thorns were appearing one by one on his scales. The most distinct change was the ratio of his body, gradually changing from that of a dragon whelp to grownups. This was way faster than any other crimson dragon whelps which normally required 3 to 5 years to reach this stage, whereas Claudius only took 1 year to do so.


    If a description was necessary, Claudius as a large sized horse of a small sized breed before the changes, he would probably be at the size of a large stallion right now. After fully extending his wings, they could reach over 3 meters, which was approximately the same length of his body. However, Claudius boasted an exceptional height when he stood up on his hind legs. This was due to his more developed and strengthened hind legs with a larger proportion, unlike normal crimson dragons whose limbs were adapted for crawling on all fours. Speaking of his physique, his body was shorter yet stronger than normal crimson dragons, with his neck one third shorter than usual. With the developed hind legs and hips, a strong and slightly rigid tail, this fellow was more of an atrocious beast who ran around on two legs. His long tail acted like a spiked meteor hammer, but also served as a tool for balancing his upper body and the large pair of wings on his back, granting him enhanced mobility.


    While crimson dragons crawled on the ground, Claudius decided to walk on two legs, yet everyone could tell that he was a crimson dragon. With his ever developing wisdom and thin yet present dragon aura, one could tell he was a pure blooded crimson dragon, not one of a mixed species. The crimson dragon which was being praised so much was currently sleeping with his b**t facing the sky, paying no mind to the approaching danger. At the volcanic crater 7 kilometres away from his lair, Claudius¡¯ sister Britannia was still maintaining her normal routine. Digging up and eating fat worms every three or four days, as well as collecting any sparkling rocks and minerals she came across. The current Britannia was still petite, with the size of a small horse. It seemed that she would need at least a few years before growing larger in size, which was the normal rate for crimson dragon whelps.


    The only difference between Claudius and Britannia was their growth rate, and they both received the complete set of knowledge from the inheritance ceremony. It is due to the rapid growth of Claudius that he could unlock sealed knowledge earlier than Britannia, who was growing up at a normal pace. Before Claudius slept, he was fantasizing about using all sorts of fancy magic, yet he was shut down by the knowledge obtained through the inheritance ceremony. He was merely a beast, a slightly smarter and stronger beast at best.


    The Cardinal chose 3 of the Warriors with class level of 10, as well as a level 4 sharkmen mage, forming a five-man-squad including him, the class level 12 mage. In fact, this squad had more than enough power to handle a crimson dragon whelp, hence a dragon whelp was simply not to be feared. As the squad reached the land, everyone felt rather uncomfortable. The Cardinal chanted a divine spell while holding the holy symbol of the goddess Anbo. Immediately, a transparent bubble wrapped around the members, automatically adjusting to their body sizes, and they felt as if they were still in the sea. No matter what the circumstances were, they felt unaffected by their surroundings, blocking off all the sunlight and unpleasant wind. The squad walked along the seashore slowly but steadily towards their designated target. As this was a no man¡¯s land, they could safely travel without worrying about sudden attacks by adventurers.


    Unknown to Claudius who was in deep slumber, his first magic skill had finally formed within his sleep. The surrounding land began to dry up and cracks could be seen, as if there was a red hot barbeque right at the center. The area was small though, with a radius of only 30 centimeters from Claudius at the center. Along with Claudius¡¯ growth, this ¡®Ring of Blaze¡¯ would enlarge to cover a huge area¡­¡­

 CH 6

    Chapter 6


    In this region, the Cardinal¡¯s squad was actually considered a decent combat force; the level 10 classed sharkmen Warriors had inhuman attributes, with each attribute having a minimum of 16, while Strength was at the stunning level of 20. Each of them had at least 6 feats as well¡­¡­¡­if Claudius¡¯ cheat attribute screen worked normally, these would be the stats of the sharkmen. Yet in fact, the numbers could only be served as a reference. (ED: Feats are talents or areas of specialization. Another DnD reference.)


    Although the Level 4 sharkmen mage was a noob who could only cast Level 2 water magic, the Level 12 Cardinal was not to be taken lightly; ¡®Group Strengthening¡¯ divine magic, ¡®Single Target Healing¡¯ divine magic, ¡®Dispersal¡¯ divine magic, as well as ¡®Damage¡¯ divine magic granted by the goddess Anbo. All of the mentioned magic could be utilized by the powerful Cardinal.


    Furthermore, the assault squad also received blessings from the goddess, granting them the ability to move freely on land and enhancing their physique. Apart from strengthening their senses, they also had more precise control over their bodies, as well as immunity against a normal dragon aura. This assault squad was the best of the best within the sharkmen tribe, so the Cardinal thought that catching a little dragon whelp wouldn¡¯t be too difficult. The only troublesome thing was to find out the exact location of the dragon whelp, capture it and return to the ocean within 24 hours.


    As if sensing something approaching, Claudius awoke after having merely a few days of sleep.


    ¡°Huh? My whole body is aching like hell! Did my muscles and joints get swollen during my sleep? Eh? My body is now larger?¡±


    As a side effect of rapid growth, his muscles, bones, tendons¡­¡­ everything became swollen and painful. The full and round stomach he had before sleeping could no longer be seen as well. Claudius looked at his skinny body; his ribcage was pressing against his bare skin from the inside, as if there were no fat in between at all. Claudius¡¯ stomach grumbled as loud as thunder, and hunger instantly took control of his mind.


    ¡°Meat, I need meat! I need a mountain of meat right now!¡±


    Claudius, who was on the brink of starving to death, could not afford to fly towards the ocean for seafood. There was no choice but to take the risk and hunt for food in the mountains in broad daylight. He was starving so much that he would probably eat anything edible without regarding its taste. However, his enlarged body could no longer pass through the original entrance to the platform. Claudius desperately smashed the igneous rocks and dug a large hole. After crawling out of the cave rigidly, he looked at the large mess he left behind. This meant that the cave had finished its job and could no longer be used. The crimson dragon toddler flapped his wings a few times, and with a strong leap, he soared through the skies.


    ¡°It seems like the muscles on a dragon¡¯s wings and thighs are extremely strong. Only tiny birds can take off with a leap, larger birds all need a run up before flying,¡± Claudius exclaimed.


    Meat was the most important thing on his mind right now. In the dense forests of the Fire Dragon Bay peninsula, not only were there all sorts of beasts, but also various relics and ancient ruins. Though for Claudius, the only beasts he could hunt were probably boars or goats. As powerful beasts resided here, a mere dragon toddler, be it normal ones or special ones like Claudius, wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against them. It was also doubtful that a dragon toddler would be able to have an edge over the underlings of these frantic beasts. As Claudius understood that his lifespan could reach thousands of years, he honestly didn¡¯t want to seek his own doom right now. With his dragon senses, Claudius could also sense traces of a Jade Dragon. Despite both species being part of the Five Coloured Evil Dragons, the two species were definitely not friendly with one another.


    The crimson scales were still a severe issue for Claudius though. With sparkling scales, the so-called hunting session ended up with him circling in the air only to find nothing. Even back on Earth, both present and in the past, skilful hunters utilized the terrain for cover and silently approached their prey, delivering the killing blow with a sneak attack. Claudius also wanted to adopt such tactics, but his sparkling scales ruined his plans. If he was discovered by the prey at a long distance, he lacked the strength and dexterity to launch a successful attack and kill it with a single blow. While Claudius could fly long distances with ease, short dashes were simply not the type of flight suited for dragons.


    As Claudius was getting cornered by his hunger, he thought up a method to increase his chances using knowledge from Earth. Despite the risk of being attacked by flying beasts, he decided to climb up to a high altitude and hide himself within the lower layer of clouds. After confirming his target, Claudius would dash straight down at a high speed with the help of gravity. This was a test of both luck and skill, as he might end up as minced meat along with his prey if he couldn¡¯t decelerate in time.


    Due to the nature of this method, it was easier to catch a large target. Claudius was lucky to find a large bison not far away, which he designated as his prey without hesitation. This bison could reach almost two meters when standing on its hind legs, with a pair of horns individually thicker than an adult human thigh. It would not be an exaggeration to call this creature monstrous. The bison was no weaker than Claudius in terms of strength, and the dragon toddler undoubtedly could not handle such a monstrous creature when fighting head on. With the help of the laws of physics, Claudius accelerated to a high velocity by dropping down from a high height, converting potential energy into kinetic energy. While Claudius did slow down his own speed to prevent uncontrolled landing, the high velocity impact still managed to break the spine of the bison. Claudius also suffered immense pain due to the action and reaction force of the impact, but it was way better than the condition of the bison. This was the difference between hunters and the hunted.


    The bison was paralyzed, and so Claudius grabbed the corpse of it with his front legs while ignoring the pain of his hind legs. Holding the neck of the bison, he delivered his first bite into its soft throat. While the bison was living its final moments, Claudius was already devouring the stomach of it. He couldn¡¯t care less about the blood flowing from the neck of his prey. If the bison was injured but still alive, the bison horde nearby would fight to the death with the hunter. Yet the moment the bison seemed to be killed, the horde lost their will to fight and deserted the battlefield, leaving behind their dead comrade.


    It was absolutely terrifying to look at a hungry crimson dragon munching its prey, and it was more so in Claudius¡¯ case; He had a wider mouth than normal crimson dragons, and he paid no mind to the ¡®inedible parts¡¯ of the corpse. Tearing fractured bones and muscles with his mouth, Claudius didn¡¯t bother chewing the parts before sending them into his stomach. As if his stomach was a black hole, over half of the one-tonne bison was consumed within merely 30 minutes. Even so, Claudius had no choice but to give up on the rest; the smell of blood had attracted other predators, ones that he couldn¡¯t afford to fight with.


    While Claudius was enjoying his meal, the Cardinal was travelling across the land with difficulty. Even with the blessing from the Goddess, the body structure of sharkmen was simply not suited for travelling long distances on land. The instructions from the goddess were also unclear, as the location was only estimated with an error of 5 kilometers; the only description available was ¡®a short volcano is visible there¡¯. In fact, their efforts would be in vain even if they managed to discover the place, as Claudius has already left his lair¡­¡­

 CH 7

    Chapter 7


    With the blessing from the goddess, the assault squad had better movement capabilities than the agile spirits despite having bodies not adapted for ground movement. The 3-meter-tall sharkmen were climbing hill after hill effortlessly as if they were moving under the ocean, gradually approaching the cave Claudius once resided in.


    Even the estimation by the goddess was not perfect; there was a five kilometre error. The only reason the noob sharkmen mage was brought along was due to his excellent Detection type magic. As the Cardinal had no expectations for this weakling in combat, the mage was allowed to spend all his mana on the magic ¡®Dragon Detection¡¯. With the aid of magic, the search for the crimson dragon sped up quite a bit.


    The nameless cave which had a large hole on the ceiling was discovered by the Cardinal, and bulky sharkmen heads gathered as they all peeked through the hole. The cave was currently brightly illuminated by intense sunlight as it was noon. The first to leap down was a sharkmen warrior who did not wear any armour; the densely packed scales with tiny thorns on them and the strong muscles underneath provided plenty of protection already. An ordinary human being had no chance of harming this warrior even if they used a sword. In the hand of this brave warrior was a trident, the favourite weapon of the sharkmen tribe. As he walked, sounds of ¡®flop, flop¡¯ could be heard as sharkmen had webbed feet. The second and third sharkmen warrior jumped down not long after, while the Cardinal descended slowly using magic. On the body of this highly intelligent sharkman were numerous accessories made of bones or teeth, and in his hand held the thick and long Choral Wand. A huge yet dull pearl could be seen on top of the wand. The Cardinal surveyed his surroundings, and stomped the floor with his wand. A visible ripple, originating from the bottom of the wand, spread through the whole cave in the blink of an eye.


    ¡°The dragon¡¯s gone, he left already,¡± the Cardinal lifted his head and gazed at the ceiling.


    ¡°He won¡¯t be coming back, but it would be foolish to think it is possible to escape from the hands of the goddess!¡± The Cardinal proclaimed.


    An ¡®Imaginary Wave¡¯ swirled within the cave, forming an enormous waterspout in the centre. In the waterspout, a few crimson scales could be seen, dissolving into streaks of light shortly afterwards. The Cardinal could see a bright red arrow in his field of vision, pointing directly at the direction of the scales¡¯ owner, Claudius.


    Claudius was almost full, as he demonstrated extraordinary abilities during the day, successfully killing a bull and three boars. Before the dangerously large carnivores appeared, he stuffed as much meat as he could into his stomach. Perhaps it was due to the natural talent of a dragon, Claudius knew how to ruminate without being taught. He swallowed over half of the bull and nearly two whole boar into his stomach, which was approximately one tonne of meat. There were no noticeable changes to Claudius¡¯ body as well, as his stomach had only swelled ever-so slightly after close observation. Even with so much meat inside him, his movement and flying capabilities were completely unhindered. After the meal, Claudius wanted to find a place to rest while ruminating. As his mind fused with perfectly with the body of a dragon, Claudius did not feel disgusted at the act of chewing digested food despite being a former human.


    Claudius hoped to find a place suitable for hiding as soon as possible while soaring in the skies. After all, an eye catching crimson dragon toddler was still tasty prey in the eyes of other skilled predators. With a bit of luck, Claudius found a platform that happened to be carved into the bottom of a cliff. The platform was 20 metres above ground level, and it was covered by the cliff which expanded horizontally, effectively blocking the line of sight from above. It was only because Claudius was flying at a low altitude did he manage to spot this 30-square-meter platform. The dragon toddler swiftly glided down and landed there, settling down after confirming there were no abnormalities. Claudius spat out chunks of meat from his stomach for ruminating, and a pungent smell instantly filled the space. Slightly digested by the gastric juice and the high temperature in the crimson dragon¡¯s body, it was inevitable for the meat to produce such a smell. Regardless, Claudius didn¡¯t seem to mind it at all; his sense of smell deviated from human standards after transforming into a dragon after all. Claudius picked one out of the pile and began chewing it with his sturdy jaw, humming as he enjoyed the bloody piece of meat. Generally, crimson dragons liked to eat roasted meat by burning the meat with their flames. Due to being a human being fused with a crimson dragon, Claudius was simply out of the norm as he fancied munching raw beef like people back on Earth. (ED: Never met someone who enjoyed munching on raw beef)


    The Cardinal led his squad as the leader while proceeding with haste. In his field of vision, the red arrow kept on rotating and wiggling, giving him information of the location of his target, Claudius. The arrow could point upwards and downwards as well, giving the Cardinal three dimensional data. Moreover, the arrow would darken and enlarge as the distance between them and the target reduces. Of course, such a convenient Detection magic skill was not something ordinary; it was a special divine skill granted by the holy symbol of the goddess which the Cardinal carried. It was said that the origin of such skill was from the ¡®Beast of Cursed Blood¡¯, Mala the God of Hunting. The Transformation divine skill; it was the true identity of the skill used by the Cardinal. Speaking of which, it was highly probable that such a beast gave its own oracle as well, finding pleasure as he hunted the crimson dragon.


    There was a cost to pay for using such divine magic, and the items consumed were the few pieces of dragon scales they found in the previous cave. The Cardinal determined that the divine skill would end in around twenty minutes, consuming all the dragon scales. Within this time limit, he had to find the dragon toddler.


    And he succeeded.


    A brilliant light which was only visible to the Cardinal appeared in front of the red arrow. With the aid of divine magic, he could see the familiar crimson dragon laying down on a platform near the bottom of the cliff while chewing chunks of meat. As the sharkmen were all clad in the blessing of the goddess, they had sharp senses as if they were back in the ocean. Before the assault squad could even see the crimson dragon, they managed to detect the bloody and acidic smell in the air.


    The task of capturing the dragon toddler as a sacrifice had to be carried out with caution, as the goddess would not tolerate further failure. Looking at the size of their target, the sharkmen realized it was no simple task. At the end of the day, the Cardinal was merely one of the cardinals among all the tribes which worshipped the goddess Anbo. He could not be considered knowledgeable by all means, hence he simply could not tell the hidden meaning behind the size of a crimson dragon. Based on his previous observations of sea dragons, the Cardinal felt that his current squad could easily take down a sea dragon whelp. Similar to how they would seal the ability to swim of a sea dragon, the problem they faced was that they had to seal the crimson dragon¡¯s flight capability. All their efforts would be in vain the moment the crimson dragon lifted off, unless they were extremely lucky or that their target was retarded.

 CH 8

    Chapter 8


    As a Level 12 Mage, the Cardinal could not use divine skills which sealed the skies as none were available in the goddess Anbo¡¯s list of skills. There were a bunch of divine skills which could create storms and tornados though. Although the power of these skills were reduced due to the lengthy distance from the sea, it would be sufficient if the dragon could not fly properly, obstructing its escape. Time was ticking away, and the Cardinal decided to give it a go. Ultimately, the goddess Anbo was an illogical goddess known for causing storms and tsunamis out of the blue. The Cardinal which she chose would naturally be of similar personalities, hence he was not proficient in tactics and strategies.


    After confirming their course of action, the three sharkmen warriors prepared their nets made out of tendons of beasts or seaweed enhanced with divine skills. Even if the storm failed to stop the dragon from flying, the net could definitely tangle the crimson dragon given that the warriors could get close enough to throw them. The Cardinal could more or less understand the characteristics of a crimson dragon; as the representative of chaos and evil, the crimson dragons were often over confident. They were the type to fight head on no matter how dire the situation was, living up to the name as the most atrocious among the Five Coloured Evil Dragons. This was also the reason why most crimson dragon whelps and toddlers couldn¡¯t survive; they fought recklessly without knowing their lack of power and were killed by other magical beasts. In fact, the number of crimson dragons was always very low. The Cardinal prayed in his mind that the one in front of him was also one of the reckless ones.


    The Cardinal started to chant the divine words. In order to summon a thunderstorm inland, he was forced to expend plenty of energy and concentration to communicate with the ¡®Kingdom of Gods¡¯, praying earnestly to the goddess for her to lend her godly powers. Areas within a ten-kilometre radius instantly darkened, with the skies covered in stormy clouds and intense wind gusting everywhere. It seemed that the goddess¡¯ reply was way faster than expected.


    Claudius was still eating up on the platform, oblivious to what was happening around him. With a pathetic stat of 11 Wisdom, he simply did not have the ability feel the powers of Anbo, not to mention the approaching squad of sharkmen. At least, it was impossible for Claudius to detect their presence unless they entered a certain range.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the weather? The mild breeze and warm sun were still present a moment ago, how could a tornado appear all of a sudden¡­¡­The rapid change of weather is really intriguing.¡±


    The current Claudius had yet to adjust his mindset despite being in a fantasy world, thus he unconsciously gauged the current situation with his knowledge as a human. Even if he constantly reminded himself that this was not Earth, and was instead a part of the D&D universe, his subconsciousness simply couldn¡¯t be changed in a short period of time.


    Under the cover of the heavy rain, the sharkmen sneakily approached Claudius. Raindrops as large as duck eggs fell from the sky, and it was no different from a hailstorm. Claudius¡¯ scales protected him from the maelstrom of rain, yet he also thought that the impact force was a bit unreal for raindrops.


    ¡°The rhythm of rain hitting my scales actually feels quite comfortable, with the power not too strong or too weak. I really hate rain though¡­¡­¡±


    Claudius¡¯ ¡®Ring of Blaze¡¯ went to work, evaporating the raindrops hitting his scales, surrounding the crimson dragon with white steam. Claudius couldn¡¯t be injured by simply inhaling the hot steam, but it was irritating for him nonetheless. Crimson dragons preferred steam from magma and red hot sulphur instead of water vapour.


    Losing his appetite due to the steam, Claudius stood up with his muscular hind legs. It was unnatural behaviour for a crimson dragon, but intellectual beings could tell from the shiny crimson scales and the barely noticeable flares that it was undoubtedly one; at least it was what the Cardinal and the sharkmen warriors thought. As a dragon toddler, Claudius¡¯ growth was slightly unexpected, but his dragon aura did not surpass those of the same age. This meant that he could stun a few small-scale herbivores, weak earth spirits or gnolls at best. With his size, Claudius could probably scare off human civilians, but even an average human warrior would not be afraid of him. His pitiful dragon aura was basically non-existent in the eyes of the Level 10 sharkmen warriors and the Level 12 Cardinal. They continued approaching Claudius speedily, and they were about to enter the effective firing range of the nets.


    However, there was a slight error within the Cardinal¡¯s calculations. Claudius, unlike other dragons, did not crawl on the land. Even if his neck was rather short, Claudius could still observe further distances than typical crimson dragon toddlers as he was bipedal. With an observation range of a teenage dragon, it was natural that Claudius managed to notice the approaching sharkmen quicker than the Cardinal thought he would.


    The next thing Claudius did completely changed the Cardinal¡¯s opinion on crimson dragons. Claudius turned around and fled immediately. He actually ran away!


    Claudius¡¯ actions were the complete opposite of an ordinary crimson dragon. The cocksure crimson dragons would never escape from a fight. The moment he discovered the five sharkmen drawing near, Claudius spread his wings and prepared to escape. With a leap, Claudius flew while opposing the strong headwind. He had a hard time maintaining his balance in such stormy weather, and was nearly blown back to the ground a few times. It was enough for him escape from the firing range of the nets though. Claudius also had supernatural adaptability, as he began utilizing the strong wind to glide upwards. This was only possible with his knowledge in aerodynamics, with him constantly adjusting the angles of his wings to gain lifting force.


    That being said, the Cardinal didn¡¯t stay silent as well. He summoned a streak of lightning from the thunderstorm with divine magic, and the lightning zigzagged through the air towards the rising dragon. Summoned lightning was not something that a dragon toddler could dodge, and Claudius was hit. The enormous current penetrated his scales, causing his muscles to convulse and losing control of his body.


    ¡°Damn, screw this!¡±


    Claudius was powerless in such situation, and could only swear in the dragon language while being tossed through the air by the tempest of wind.


    The lightning bolt managed to inflict severe damage on the dragon, but the unpredictable wind blew the dragon away from the squad. The Cardinal felt that it was ridiculous, but all he could do was to search for the dragon. He believed that a mere dragon toddler could not possible recover from such injury in a short period of time.


    Claudius, who was hurled into the forest by the storm, was in a dire situation. The branches could not inflict harm on his hard scales, but the blunt impact force severely bruised his body. Not only were his muscles torn, his internal organs had also received a great shock, which felt uncomfortable. The only advantage brought by the lightning was paralysis, numbing his senses temporarily, and that included the sense of pain. It was doubtful that Claudius could withstand the surge of pain the moment the effect of paralysis wore off. As shown by the red hot blood dripping from his mouth, Claudius knew he was in a dreadful state.

 CH 9

    Chapter 9


    Fortunately, Claudius had 19 Constitution, which was way above the average value of a normal dragon toddler. This granted him astounding self recovering abilities; the torn muscles and bones in his body were already rapidly healing up. If he could rest for a few hours, Claudius would be back to perfect condition. As he just had quite the meal, there was abundant energy for recovery. What Claudius lacked was time.


    He estimated that it would take around twenty minutes for the enemy to reach his location, but they might take even less time than expected. ¡°This cannot go on, I must escape!¡± Claudius thought to himself as he felt that blood was still dripping from the corner of his mouth. His current body condition was still rather awful, with a few broken ribs and internal bleeding. It was impossible to fly in this situation as he could not command his wings properly, and Claudius¡¯ only chance of survival was to run away with his muscular hind legs.


    Claudius barely managed to get back on his feet, chose a random direction, and ran with all his might. Commencing counterattack was never an option; despite being an oversized dragon toddler, his body was merely four meters long, about the size of a grown stallion. The pursuing sharkmen were all three meters tall with the exception of one miniscule magic user. These five fellows were totally out of his league. In this dangerous situation, Claudius finally managed to register the logic of this fantasy world into his mind.


    ¡°Who knows what kind of magic or divine skills these guys have in their arsenal?!¡±


    Claudius still couldn¡¯t figure out why he was hated by the sharkmen, who went out of their way to pursue him on land.


    As long as Claudius remained within the storm, the Cardinal was able to pinpoint his location with extreme precision. The storm enhanced the Cardinal¡¯s sense greatly, making hiding from the Cardinal pointless. The dragon gave the Cardinal quite the headache though, as he was travelling at an unexpected speed. As Claudius was bipedal when running, he had much higher pace than his quadrupedal counterparts. In this life-or-death situation, Claudius pushed himself to his limits. He ran and ran, ignoring the painful screams of his body. As Claudius had high constitution, he managed to bear the pain as well as recover himself while sprinting. After noticing his physical abilities, he felt that he could possibly survive this. As Claudius accelerated, he spewed flames to the trees behind him, leaving a trail of blazing logs in the way. He felt that someone was constantly staring at him, and Claudius deduced that it was some kind of magic used for pursuing targets.


    The flames produced by a crimson dragon could not be extinguished even with the power of the storm, blocking the path of the pursuing sharkmen. The blessings of the goddess granted the assault squad immunity against flames, thus they would not be harmed even if they went straight through the fire. Even so, the sharkmen stopped their pursuit out of instinct. As beings from the sea, they detested fire and were about to go around the burning area. It was intolerable for the Cardinal as it would allow the crimson dragon to escape, thus he forced the squad to confront their own mental weakness and trespassed the blazing zone.


    The paralysis effect finally wore off, and immense pain hit Claudius all at once. He almost dropped dead on the spot, but he managed to hold out with his willpower. The fractured ribs were now back in place despite not being fully healed, and the unpleasant feeling he had when breathing subsided. Claudius¡¯ condition improved as he continued his escape, but fighting back was still too much for him.


    As the dragon toddler sprinted his way through the forest, the sharkmen closed in at a frightening speed. Claudius racked his brains for a solution, yet nothing came to mind. His ¡®Earthly¡¯ mind could not think of any safe resolution, while magic and skills were still unavailable. The only worthy attempt was to escalate the situation and escape during the chaos.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be helped!¡±


    Claudius gritted his teeth and ran towards the territory of the wolf pack which he previously discovered. The pack was led by a massive dire wolf which was larger than a bull, and was probably a descendant of the Winter Wolf Fenrir.


    As a matter of fact, Claudius also knew that a Cruel Tiger lived in this region, with a lengthy body of 6 metres, but its whereabouts were hard to grasp. With not much of a choice, Claudius could only try to alert the dire wolf pack. After about ten minutes, Claudius exited the forest and entered the grassland which was the dire wolves¡¯ domain. Another ten minutes or so passed, and the sharkmen squad appeared in the grassland as well. They were now approximately eight metres apart. As the storm summoned with the goddess¡¯ power was an artificial existence, it had limited range and could not reach the grassland. As a result, Claudius managed to escape from the storm and was no longer under constant surveillance of the Cardinal.


    The dire wolf king immediately spotted the conspicuous crimson dragon. Claudius had never landed in this region, stepped into their territory or stole the wolves¡¯ prey, thus the two parties were originally in the state which everyone minded their own business. This situation was different, however. Claudius intentionally rushed into their territory; hence there was no reason for the dire wolf leader to hold back anymore. It didn¡¯t mind trying out crimson dragon meat as well; this was a rare occasion after all. Under the command of the king, the dire wolves swiftly formed a semicircle formation and commenced attack. Most of the wolves lacked the ability to penetrate Claudius¡¯ scales, but the dire wolf king and queen could easily puncture his scales.


    As they had exceptional abilities, the wolves¡¯ tactics centred around the king and queen. The two dashed towards the left and right flank respectively. Claudius decelerated considerably at the same time, allowing the sharkmen to shorten their distance to four kilometres. When the two dire wolf leaders approached the 300-metre mark, the crimson dragon did a one-eighty and rushed head on towards the sharkmen. As they were only one kilometre apart, Claudius began to sprint in an arc. The Cardinal was not an idiot as well; it was impossible not to notice the two massive wolves behind the dragon. The sharkmen warriors, however, were busy preparing the nets, and thus failed to notice the wolf pack behind their target. While the Cardinal could tell Claudius had plans in mind, he didn¡¯t seem to be too bothered. With himself being Level 12 and the three warriors being Level 10, two mere dire wolfs wouldn¡¯t pose much of a danger to the squad.


    With 19 Constitution, Claudius¡¯ body had recovered to the point which brief flight could be achieved, but he cunningly pretended to be incapable of doing so. The Cardinal held up his Choral Wand, while the sharkmen prepared to throw their nets. Claudius spread his wings all of a sudden, and with his above average stats of 18 Strength, 19 Constitution, and 11 Dexterity, he managed to take off by twisting his hips while jumping, narrowly avoiding the sharkmen. As the dragon toddler left the scene, the confrontation between the sharkmen squad and the dire wolf pack was now unavoidable.

 CH 10

    Chapter 10


    Claudius was uninterested in the brawl between the sharkmen and dire wolf pack, nor did he plan attack the sharkmen while using the wolves as decoy. He understood that escaping hastily was the best option right now. It was the complete opposite of what a crimson dragon would do, and Claudius pretty much just forsook the pride of the proud Crimson Dragon Tribe.


    Despite having a more ferocious look than any other dragon toddler, Claudius flapped his wings frenziedly as he flew further inland. Claudius¡¯ Dexterity was considered high among dragons, and he could travel freely and speedily in the skies. The Cardinal felt utterly defeated; he clearly knew that it was risky, and he had lost the bet in the end. Dire wolves were territorial beasts, and they were labelled as enemies or food the moment they laid their hands on the grassland. Furthermore, Claudius was nowhere to be seen, thus the dire wolf King and Queen instinctively switched their targets to the invading sharkmen.


    Apart from the excellent Dexterity and Strength, the most troublesome thing about the two was their ¡®Area Control¡¯ ability: a roar which could inflict ¡®Fear¡¯. Their Constitution were nothing to joke about as well; they were basically tanks which could withstand tonnes of damage. The three Level 10 sharkmen warriors were by no means better than the two dire wolves in terms of attributes, and their Dexterity were drastically lower. Their will to fight were being shaved away bit by bit the fear-inflicting roars as well. The blessings of the Goddess was about to wear off, hence apart from protecting them from dehydration, its effects against the roar were almost negligible. The Cardinal understood that their attributes were no longer enhanced by the blessing, and it was pointless to use divine skills to remove the ¡®fear¡¯ status from the warriors. Even if they managed to kill the pack of dire wolves, that dragon bastard had already escaped. This meant that the Cardinal has once again failed his mission, and he could not even bear thinking about the awaiting consequences¡­¡­.


    As it was a worthless battle, the relatively intelligent Cardinal wanted to withdraw and return to the ocean. However, it seemed that the passionate warriors were already engaged in heated combat with the dire wolves. The Cardinal invoked an area-of-effect Stun divine skill, stunning everyone, including his companions, in the area. He then used violent means on the sharkmen warriors to bring back their drifting consciousness and hurriedly retreated. Even so, the dire wolf king would not give up easily, since dire wolves were vengeful beings. With two of their companions killed by the sharkmen during battle, the pack was determined to avenge the deceased.


    What happened next, though, was none of Claudius¡¯ concerns. He was only worried about the predators which could kill him, such as adult griffons or whatnot. Fortunately, griffons resided in lofty mountains, and the only terrain in sight was the endless forest. Claudius only had to pay attention to predators lurking on the surface while being mindful of the territory of the Jade Dragon which emitted a barely noticeable dragon aura. What about Britannia, his twin sister? Claudius once took the time to visit the young dragoness despite being occupied by hunting. Britannia sneakily poked her tiny head out of the cracks of the volcanic crater, only to squirm back to her lair quickly, and was nowhere to be seen afterwards.


    ¡°That fellow, unlike me, was living quite the leisurely life. Nothing could possibly spot her anyways.¡±


    After an hour of flying, Claudius was 200 kilometres away from the grassland. Regardless of how the sharkmen managed to travel on land, it was impossible for them to pursue him anymore; at least that was what he thought. Claudius was still a toddler after all, and he was not knowledgeable enough to know of the existence of various ¡®Detection¡¯ and ¡®Teleport¡¯ divine skills or magic. The dragon inheritance ceremony was not omnipotent as well, and it couldn¡¯t be helped if the bearer was careless and didn¡¯t search through all the existing knowledge. His conclusion this time was correct though, as the Cardinal could no longer track Claudius even with his wide range of skills. Claudius left a marking at the location where he got struck by lightning, and he was currently at a distance which even that could not be seen.


    As this new environment might be a lot more dangerous than the seashore, Claudius suppressed every bit of his dragon aura after he landed. He could sense that countless fierce beasts lived here, and it would be bad if he attracted their attention.


    ¡°In the end I¡¯m still digging holes and hiding¡­¡­¡± Claudius moaned as he excavated the dirt with his forelimbs.


    Quite frankly, Claudius despised this unpleasant task even though it was necessary for survival. As he dug downwards, ground water gushed out when the hole was 3 metres deep. The wet and humid environment was really irritating for Claudius, thus with his intelligence he thought up a new plan. The crimson dragon toddler found a suitable place next to a stream and designed his new cave thoroughly before acting. Before the preparations were complete, Claudius had to sleep beneath large trees or boulders. As he slept outdoors, Claudius felt that dwelling in the volcano and eating volcanic worms everyday like Britannia was actually not bad at all.


    With his detection senses, Claudius could tell it was safe for now as there weren¡¯t any threatening presences nearby. After a few days of work, Claudius managed to create a large pit near the stream. He was vigilant all the time as other beasts might notice his actions if too much sound were produced. This time, Claudius still dug 3 metres into to ground. Before water flooded the place, the crimson dragon swiftly created a horizontal path. The path led to a short hill not far away, and Claudius emptied the inside of the 20-metre-talll hill with his claws. It was no simple task as he had to dispose the dirt bit by bit. After flying back and forth while carrying dirt away from his lair for 10 days, his lair was finally completed. The large pit was currently flooded with water, but the empty space within the hill was unaffected. Claudius made sure to create a path for air ventilation as he did not want to suffocate in his comfortable home. The hole used for ventilation was somewhere near the massive pit.


    It was actually rather similar to crocodile lairs back on Earth, but there was a significant difference between the two. The inner surfaces of Claudius¡¯ lair was roasted by his flames and ¡®Ring of Blaze¡¯, hardening and dehydrating the muddy walls. Still, the pitch-black cave could not be called a cosy home; it was at best a base purely used for hiding. Claudius settled down in the cave as there wasn¡¯t much of a choice.


    Back at Fire Dragon Bay, huge waves relentlessly clashed with the land while countless storms were ravaging the ocean. The sharkmen tribe were having trouble hunting in the irregular currents. They recently appointed a new cardinal, and he was told that the poor weather reflected the goddess¡¯ anger and wrath.


    The forests were quite densely populated, as beasts and spirits both resided there. The spirits constructed villages within the forests as well. Claudius designated several zones as restricted areas after brief surveying. These locations were the territory of ferocious beasts with intense auras, the villages of the spirits, and the most important of all, the region which belonged to the jade dragon of the Five Coloured Evil Dragons. It was a zone which could not be trespassed. Even so, Claudius could still find various types of food in his surroundings. Deer and boars could be seen sprinting in the grassland, and there were these larvae of humongous worms available as well. The stem of the plants here were edible as well. The matter which bothered Claudius the most was his insatiable hunger. He prohibited himself from overhunting as it might expose his existence. Claudius then decided to expand his lair a bit and created a humid area. Due to the fact that fungi had unparalleled growth rate, Claudius began planting mushroom inside his lair. This was probably the only way to feed himself without exterminating the nearby animals¡­¡­

 CH 11

    Chapter 11


    ¡°As the Crimson Dragons are the strongest among the Five Coloured Evil Dragons, their dragon whelps must be the most powerful among all dragon whelps as well.¡±


    This belief was actually flawed. Although these little crimson whelps had an advantage in terms of attributes, they lacked inborn talents when compared to the other four. All they had from birth was immunity against flames and heat, which was undoubtedly underwhelming.


    Despite having a human soul, Claudius was no exception. Apart from being fine with extreme heat and fire, he had no other talents. His swimming and diving was mediocre at best, but this already gave him an edge over other crimson dragons. Claudius could hunt in the ocean, on land, as well as in the sky, and he could spew a short flame column from his nostrils. Frankly, this was nothing special when considering that all kinds of magic and supernatural skills existed in this world. When confronting his enemies, Claudius could either burn his targets or slash at them with his sharp claws like a madman. Practically speaking, crimson dragon whelps or toddlers could be considered no better than dead if they were unprotected or abandoned by their parents. Not even one out of ten of them would be able to survive until the age at which they would develop the skills to survive on their own.


    Back to Claudius, he now hunted surreptitiously every once in awhile. On the days he did not go hunting, Claudius would pick and eat the mushrooms grown on the logs in his newly created room.


    ¡°Well, life is full of ups and downs, and things will not always go the way we want them to. I guess it¡¯s fine to feel frustrated sometimes. Just you wait¡­¡­ Things will go my way after a century or two!¡± Claudius comforted himself while chomping on mushrooms.


    To be honest, cultivating mushrooms was actually a good move. It was a stable source of food, allowing Claudius to hide in his lair all day long. This prevented others from noticing his presence. Without the power to protect himself, Claudius thought that chilling in his underground lair all day long was a fine idea.


    ¡°May the gods bless me with plentiful harvest and fill my food storage with mice! It¡¯s a pity that mice won¡¯t even come anywhere near me due to my dragon aura though . . .¡± (TL note: this is a reference to another CN novel. The plentiful harvest part is self explanatory, while the mice part means that the harvest was so good that mice would swarm to the food storages for the overwhelming amount of food available.)


    While Claudius looked at the fermentation log covered with mushrooms of various sizes in a joyous mood, he also felt grateful that his ¡®Earthly¡¯ techniques were of use. Crimson dragons were carnivores, but with his life on the line, feeding on mushrooms  was actually not so bad. The mushrooms had a light taste that resembled meat. Claudius also went out to hunt from time to time, so it was not like he merely had fungi for his meals.


    The massive pit he previously dug became a pond, and fish were present in the artificial pond. Animals would often appear to drink water, and predators could be seen lurking in the shadows nearby. Claudius made sure that he did not hunt near his lair, as there was a risk of attracting unwanted attention, especially those who could easily kill him. At his young age, it was still too early for Claudius to enslave gnomes or goblins.


    ¡°Gnomes taste like crap anyways . . .¡± Claudius thought to himself.


    There were a lot of wild gnomes in this region, and he had seen a handful of them near his lair before. These yellowish green creatures had a pungent smell, and Claudius simply had no appetite whenever he tried to eat one of them. Although they often roamed the forests in groups, it was troublesome to catch them. The gnomes would scatter the moment they felt frightened, and even if they were caught, they had no discipline at all. It was a pain to manage them. Claudius once caught six gnomes on a whim, and it was not fun at all. Normally, he would not consider doing such a dangerous act. Claudius was a powerless dragon toddler, and it sounded like a joke for him to gather useless underlings. He might even have to pay for the gnomes¡¯ mistakes, which was definitely undesirable. The desire to enslave creatures was rather understandable though, considering the fact that Crimson dragons often enslaved other monsters. Well, Claudius was going through his knowledge obtained from the Inheritance Ceremony at that time and understood that Crimson Dragons always enslaved creatures like gnomes, goblins, orcs and maneaters. They used them as disposable pawns. It couldn¡¯t be helped if he felt the urge to try enslaving a few gnomes after knowing this.


    Claudius admitted his failure; it was utter defeat. He could not even properly control six gnomes. They could not understand any of the languages which Claudius spoke. Thus, Claudius could not command them, even though he was the boss. Claudius learned how to speak the Dragon language, the Common language, the Spirit language, and the Orc language from the Inheritance Ceremony. It was only made possible with his high Intelligence of 12. Even if he was such a genius, Claudius was still unable to control the gnomes. The Gnome language was slightly related to the Orc language, but all Claudius heard were incomprehensible screams and shouts. He was no master of language after all. In the end, Claudius killed the gnomes out of despair. There was also a chance that these retards would spread information regarding his lair, so their deaths were justified in his mind.


    Another thing which troubled Claudius was his so-called cheat. The attribute screen could show the attribute stats of a being, but that was it. Claudius could not edit nor allocate points to his attributes, and he recently lost the ability to look at the stats of his enemies or prey, which was previously possible. This so-called cheat did not give him the choice to decide when to level up, nor was he able to choose attribute modifiers to strengthen himself. In other words, this was the attribute screen of the old-school RPG games; those games which only gave the player information about himself and did not allow stat points to be distributed freely.


    ¡°If I can¡¯t allocate my attribute points, then why was this even given to me in the first place! Having cheats was the benefit of being a transported, yet all I can do with my cheat is looking at my attributes and a photo of myself. What the hell is this garbage cheat supposed to be!¡± Claudius propped his chin onto his claws while mentally swearing.


    Looking at Claudius, he somewhat resembled a Cerulean dragon. His short neck and strangely shaped head was similar to that of Cerulean dragons, but Claudius was not aware of it himself. Claudius had never seen a cerulean dragon before, and there weren¡¯t a lot of pictures of cerulean dragons in the knowledge transferred to him from the Inheritance Ceremony as well.


    Fortunately, a dragon¡¯s growth process included extended periods of sleep. Thus, Claudius did not feel bored at all. He could sleep as much as he wanted to, and it would even save him some food as dragons do not feel hungry in their sleep.


    The growth cycle of mushrooms in this world was even more astonishing than that of Earth. It was at the point that it could be considered unreal. As long as he continued to add bits of woods along with burnt branches to the fermentation log while maintaining the humidity in the room, mushrooms would grow vigorously with the aid of heat produced through fermentation. The walls of the room were unexpectedly fully covered by the rubbery mushrooms as well. The effectiveness of the mushroom cultivation techniques from Earth were way out of Claudius¡¯ expectations.


    Claudius felt full after consuming large amounts of plant based protein, but he still preferred meat over mushrooms. Though in terms of safety, consuming plants was the better choice among the two. After satisfying his appetite, Claudius would often enter a period of deep sleep. From his internal biological clock, Claudius could tell that the deep sleep sessions each lasted for one month. He would then be active for around ten days before falling asleep once again. This actually protected Claudius from danger as well, as his active days were reduced by a large amount. Crimson dragon whelps generally lived together and would hide together during their growth period, unlike Claudius and Britannia who lived separately. Speaking of which, Claudius could confirm that his little sister was still alive through their blood connection.


    Time flies, and three years passed in the blink of an eye. Claudius expanded his lair by further excavating the hill. Currently, the 20 metres high and 100 metres wide hill was almost emptied by the Crimson dragon. Five metres underneath the surface of the hill was hardened soil roasted by his flames. The exit remained near the pond, but it had been enlarged to a ten-metre-wide tunnel. Claudius¡¯s body also experienced some changes. He was now almost seven metres long. He was now larger than most dragon toddlers. Claudius pretty much did not leave his lair for three years. Thus, he only gained a little experience points. Thanks to the special trait of dragons, experience would be automatically gained as time passed. Claudius¡¯s attributes were now 22 Strength, 14 Dexterity, 25 Constitution, 14 Intelligence, 13 Wisdom, and 12 Charisma. He could be considered as a relatively tough character. With skill modifiers such as ¡®Proficient in Grappling¡¯ and ¡®Smooth Strike¡¯, he could now easily defeat a dire wolf in a head on fight.


    ¡°I have finally made the first step on the path to awesomeness!¡±

 CH 12

    Chapter 12


    To be honest, Claudius was already on the path towards awesomeness a long time ago. Be it the Five Coloured Evil Dragons, the Metallic Dragons or any other dragon species, their Dexterity remained as 10 throughout their whole life. Mercury Dragons were the only dragon species which had increased Dexterity as they grew. From time to time, there were exceptions which had 11 or 12 Dexterity instead of the standard 10, but none of them could raise their attribute stat like Claudius. He was the first ever dragon to have increased Dexterity as he aged and levelled up.


    The 7-metre-long Crimson Dragon felt that he was currently a decent fighter. This tiny bit of arrogance was most likely the side effect of fusing the human mind into a dragon. Claudius¡¯ arrogance was somewhat justified as well, as he could now suppress most beasts and monsters with his power. As a confident Crimson Dragon, Claudius finally left his lair in broad daylight, spreading his wide wings under the warm sunlight. His wings were also around 7 metres long, and his bright Crimson scales shone with brilliance as they reflected rays of sunlight. Under the pleasant sky, the Crimson Dragon raised his head proudly.


    Claudius looked much more intimidating than other Crimson Dragons of his age. He gave off a valiant atmosphere as he stood on his well-developed hind legs. Claudius¡¯ front legs were not inferior to his kin as well, and on his Cerulean Dragon-like neck was a ferocious looking head. As Claudius observed his own reflection in the pond, he scratched his chin with his claws and thought, ¡°Perhaps my mother had some dirty secrets with a Cerulean Dragon?¡±


    Claudius¡¯ chin certainly resembled a Cerulean Dragon; his mandible had began to enlarge and protruded slightly as he grew up, which looked like a triangle support soldered onto an armoured truck. (TL note: basically big as hell and looks weird)


    ¡°Such a large chin¡­¡­¡±


    Claudius then stroked the horns on his head. Out of the four horns, two pointed backwards while the other two diverged towards the left and right respectively. The horn on his nose was also different from normal Crimson Dragons, but it was nothing like Cerulean Dragons this time. Such knowledge was purely obtained from the Inheritance ceremony, and it was also how Claudius knew that prognathous jaws were the characteristics of Cerulean Dragons. Typical Crimson Dragons had a single tiny horn on their snout, while Cerulean Dragons had two significantly larger horns which bent sideways. Unlike the two species, Claudius had two horns on his nose, with the longer horn in front while the shorter one was behind.


    ¡°They look more like rhinoceros horns, though my horns are definitely smaller¡­¡­¡±


    Claudius felt a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu as he looked at his own reflection, and he began searching through his mind for clues. As he continued to recall various designs of dragons in games back on Earth, Claudius eventually found what he was looking for.


    ¡°Ah ha! Finally got it!¡± Claudius slammed his fist onto his chest, ¡°Look at me! I definitely look like a young Deathwing! Just that my chin¡¯s not made of steel¡­¡­¡±


    Claudius then revelled in his awesome look for half a day before realizing there were things which he had to do. After living in this region for 3 years, Claudius was familiar with the territory distribution of the area. He now did not have to worry about his safety, as the only creature around which could be troublesome was the Brutal Bear. It was obvious that bears could not fly, so Claudius could easily dodge its attacks by simply flying. While numerous beasts resided in the forests, Claudius had yet to spot a human. Floren was a rather barren land, with approximately 60 to 70% of the land void of humans or human-related species such as beastmen. Gnomes and goblins couldn¡¯t really be counted as humans. Without the intervention of mankind, nature prevailed and vegetation was overabundant. Some strange grass even grew on the burnt soil in his lair, and Claudius could feel magical power from the grass. The magical power felt quite similar to his magical power as well.


    After sunbathing and appreciating his own looks, Claudius¡¯ stomach grumbled. He leapt from the spot, flapping his wings as ascended. A huge air pressure was exerted on the ground, blowing soil and dust everywhere. From the mini sandstorm, the Crimson Dragon gushed out a burst of flames. Even in the skies, Claudius was now safe from attacks. The attacks from the Giant Eagles could not even put a scratch to his enhanced scales. Claudius was now larger than the Giant Eagles as well, not to mention he could utilize his four limbs in battle while the eagles could only use the two claws. Claudius¡¯ combat power was superior to the eagles, and apart from adult griffons, nothing could pose a threat to him in the air. This also meant that he could freely choose his prey.


    ¡°I¡¯m done with the damn mushrooms!¡±


    As he groaned in ¡®Earthly¡¯ languages, Claudius found that his first language was Chinese. His thought processes were completely in Chinese, but Claudius could also speak English, French, Russian and a bit of Japanese. Other than Chinese, he was more proficient in the Common language and Dragon language than ¡®Earthly¡¯ languages. Claudius was only slightly better in the 4 languages when compared to the Spirit language and Beastmen language.


    On the surface, plenty of herbivores could be seen munching grass. Claudius was now flying above the grassland instead of the forests, hence animals such as bulls, wild horses and donkeys, as well as antelopes were present. As hunting was a somewhat troublesome task, Claudius wanted to finish it as soon as possible. Thus, he chose the largest one among the grass-munching animals: an adult bull.


    If Claudius chose to hunt antelopes or wild donkeys, he would have to hunt a few more of them in order to fully satisfy his hunger. Hunting the agile horses required too much effort, therefore the slow bulls were the ideal targets. Claudius did not even consider preying on unicorns and minotaurs, as hunting magical beasts was too much of a hassle. Why should he risk his life battling the magical beasts when he could kill a bull without breaking a sweat? When Claudius was younger, he was already capable of killing bulls, although the method was a bit dangerous. With his current power, the Crimson Dragon swiftly killed his target and began devouring the corpse.


    Utilizing his claws and his enormous mouth, the body of the bull disappeared in no time. After spending 30 short minutes, all that remained were bones and the head, which would soon be consumed by carrion-eating animals. Without the harassment from other carnivores, especially the Brutal Bear, it was a pleasant meal for Claudius. He rubbed his stomach with satisfaction, as it was the best meal Claudius had had in the past few years. After Claudius began hiding in his underground lair, he rarely had the opportunity to eat meat. This unusual dragon did not have the hobby of hunting, and he would never massacre other creatures just to satisfy his ego like other dragons. Now full, Claudius instinctively flew towards the highest hill nearby. Crimson Dragons had the habit of resting on high ground while overlooking the vast land.


    Coincidentally, there was a suitable spot on one of the close mountains. The rocky mountain had a vertical slope, and had an altitude of around 100 metres. To the adult Silver Dragons, Gold Dragons and Crimson Dragons who liked to idle on mountains, this height was way too short, but it was already quite incredible for a minor like Claudius. After landing on the rocks on the peak, Claudius laid down and observed the boundless land. Most of the visible area belonged to the Brutal Bear, while the Savage Wolverine controlled the regions on the edges.


    ¡°This will all be mine very soon!¡± Claudius proclaimed while unintentionally breathing sparkles of fire from his nostrils.

 CH 13

    Chapter 13


    The juvenile Crimson Dragon casually lay down on the peak of the rocky mountain while observing the surrounding forests. The Fire Dragon bay, despite its name, was actually a location not suited for Crimson Dragons. The dense forests and complicated terrain were more fitting for spirits, treants, druids and Jade Dragons. The treants and druids inhabiting somewhere among the trees gradually grouped up, and a Spirit city was founded within the forest. It was located at a dark and spooky spot, thus Claudius did not intend to visit that place anytime soon. On the opposite edge of the forest, Claudius could feel the aura of an adult Jade Dragon. As a Crimson Dragon, his senses were completely disproportionate to his Wisdom attribute.


    Claudius did say he would rule this place in the future, but deep down he knew that he could not live here forever. As a Crimson Dragon, he would someday leave the area to find his true home. Crimson Dragons ultimately belonged to the volcanic areas, not this region filled with vegetation. Before the time came, Claudius could move freely without restriction. Even if Claudius could not rule this place, he could at least become the most feared predator in this area. Well, the ambitious Crimson Dragon needed time to become a bit stronger before he could proudly proclaim his domination over other species.


    Crimson Dragons usually remained active for around 2 weeks before entering a dormant state similar to hibernation, which could last from 3 to 6 months depending on its age. During their slumber, the Crimson Dragons would experience a physical growth as well as awaken to new knowledge and skills which was previously sealed. It was almost like they were a privileged species, gaining power by simply sleeping in their lairs. In theory, they had unlimited potential and could continue to grow stronger as long as they slept.


    While Claudius remained vigilant of the potential attacks from the Brutal Bears and Savage Wolverine, he was not too concerned about the bear. Claudius had confidence that he could defeat a Brutal Bear in a one versus one situation, though it was doubtful if he could deliver the finishing blow before his opponent escaped. This was not the case for the Savage Wolverine. The fact that they were over 10 metres long was enough to send Claudius running with his tail between his legs. If he could not fly, Claudius would certainly not go anywhere near the territory of the wolverine. There were actually 4 Brutal Bears, but Claudius could not spot the differences between them as he flew up high, thus he believed there was only one bear. Nonetheless, none of the two species could do anything about Claudius as he soared up high. They were also intelligent enough to tell that the dragon would soon become a supreme being which they could not afford to anger. For the sake of their own survival in the future, they would rather maintain a peaceful relationship with Claudius.


    Recently, the spirits in the forests also caught wind of the existence of an evil dragon near their city. The residents knew from the beginning that their arch-enemy, a Jade Dragon, resided somewhere north of their hometown. The dragoness Sylvia, also known as ¡°The Poisonous Breath¡±, was an adult Jade Dragon that loved eating spirits. With their nemesis in the north, the appearance of a Crimson Dragon in the south was somewhat troubling. From the reports of the patrol squad, it seems that it was a teenage dragon. The Crimson Dragon was spotted over 300 kilometres away from their town, thus it was not as threatening as the Jade Dragon which resided merely 100 kilometres away. Sylvia the Jade Dragon was almost like a mobile army, as there were countless goblins and low level gnomes under her command. The main threat, however, was her army of gnolls, ogres and forest beastmen. With Sylvia¡¯s nest as the centre, a massive camp packed with beastmen, gnolls and ogres filled the 10-kilometre radius. With hundreds of these monsters under her control, the Jade Dragoness would sometimes initiate attacks on the spirit town. The Spirit, Treant and Druid elders could foresee that it was only a matter of time before a large-scale decisive battle between the two forces would take place in the forest. With this in mind, the spirit armies constructed a monitoring network with Greenliner city as the core. Numerous spirit camps and druid huts were set within the forest, and the information collected would be delivered to Greenliner.


    Claudius made sure not to enter the territory of the graceful spirits. In the past, he once spotted a few spirits who were monitoring him. Even with his sharp sense, Claudius barely managed to see through their camouflage. The spirits were covered in vines, and antlers could be seen protruding from their heads. It almost looked like a bunch of humanoid vines. By observing their shadows, Claudius could finally spot their bodies protected by leaf-like body armour as well as the longbows carried on their backs. As for their looks, Claudius could not get a good look at their faces as their camouflage was excellent. It was only his preconceived belief that the spirits¡¯ appearances were graceful. After this random encounter, Claudius mentally marked the place as the spirits¡¯ territory and warned himself not to enter the area in the future. Although Claudius thought that the few spirits could not really take any actions against him, the antlers on their heads and the bows on their backs was a slightly threatening scene.


    Claudius did not want to develop a hostile relationship with any species for now, as he was currently rather harmless to his neighbours. He only caused a bit of trouble for the Brutal Bears and Savage Wolverine as he flew above their territory all the time.


    It was rather unfortunate that things did not go as planned. Sylvia¡¯s nest was an egg-shaped structure, formed by twirling humongous trees which were magically enhanced and experienced abnormal growth. Elegant yet poisonous vines coiled around the trees like curtains, and colourful flowers sprouted from the stems. In the centre was a pile of gold coins, and on the mountain of coins laid the huge Jade Dragon. The 15-metre long dragoness peacefully looked forwards as she was deep in thought. A voice filled with fear and trepidation could be heard from behind the curtain of vines which enclosed Sylvia¡¯s room from the rest of the structure.


    ¡°Lady Sylvia, we just received some intel from the spirits, and I believe some might be of interest to our majestic leader.¡±


    In front of the curtains, an elder beastmen, who held a wooden staff in its hand, awaited her response. The beastmen spoke in a respectful tone as it reported the news to their ruler. After a short while, the Jade Dragoness responded in the Dragon language, ¡°Enter. You better be sure that it really is something which can interest me.¡±


    The elder beastmen entered the room with a massive scroll which was about 1 metre tall. The elder beastmen then bent its back and carefully opened up the scroll on a stone platform in front of Sylvia. It then stepped aside, waiting for further orders.


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­Intriguing indeed. Who would have thought such a fellow would appear here?¡± Sylvia was trying to sound elegant, but in the elder beastmen¡¯s mind, it only sounded forceful. ¡°When compared to Silver dragons, this is¡­¡­¡± The old guy pushed his treacherous thoughts into the deep void, and then began explaining the situation to its current ruler.


    ¡°Yes, Lady Sylvia. Rumours of a teenage Crimson Dragon appearing in the south have been spreading recently. While we would like to confirm the situation ourselves, our forces could not infiltrate the blockade set by the spirits. Nonetheless, I believe that the spirits have no reason to make up such a lie. Hence, it is very likely that a Crimson Dragon is now situated at 300 kilometres south of the spirit town Greenliner.¡± The elder beastmen reported its analysis on the situation in a humble manner.


    Sylvia paid no heed to her chief analyst¡¯s report, as she had a firm belief in her own intelligence. ¡°A Crimson Dragon¡­¡­a teenage dragon, huh? Such a reckless bastard. Perhaps we should go and teach him a lesson? As a fully grown dragon of the Five Coloured Evil Dragons, I guess I have the responsibility to teach it the necessary knowledge of being one of the most powerful beings here,¡± the Jade Dragoness rose up on the pile of coins and announced, ¡°I will personally go and find the Crimson Dragon.¡±


    Going back to Claudius, he felt that it was about time to go back to sleep. Before returning to his lair, Claudius filled his stomach with several bulls. Claudius even spent a day flying back to the volcano where Britannia lived, tossing a dead bull into the crater before his cute sister chased him away in fear of him stealing the pile of precious metals.


    ¡°No matter what, we still hatched from the same batch of eggs. I should at least visit my only relative in this world. Occasionally.¡±


    Before Britannia¡¯s dragon instincts kicked in, Claudius could feel a sense of relief and security coming from the look in the young dragoness¡¯ eyes. It seemed that Britannia was worried about her dear brother after all.

 CH 14

    Chapter 14


    As a symbol of chaos and evil, Crimson Dragons were known for the destruction they brought along to the places they visited. Claudius, well, displayed unparalleled chaotic behaviour. He would basically dig holes wherever he liked and temporarily live there, causing pits to appear everywhere in his surroundings. With Claudius¡¯ current strength, there was almost nothing to worry about unless the Savage Wolverine ambushed him during his sleep.


    Ultimately, the pits were for short-term purposes and were not suitable for his ¡®hibernation¡¯. They only served as places to stay in when Claudius was travelling around. When Claudius was about to enter a lengthened period of sleep, he had to prepare a comfortable and safe place to hide. Perhaps due to the sly nature of the human mind, Claudius seldom returned to his underground base near the pond after he left. It felt kind of unsafe to stay in the same safe house repeatedly, especially after it had been in use for several years. Without fail, the human-minded Crimson Dragon would always empty a few holes in the ground and randomly choose one of them as his home. The rest were used as decoys to fool his enemies, even though they were pretty much non-existent. Of course, this time was no different. Yet as Claudius was about to sleep comfortably and experience growth, he had a bad premonition.


    ¡°I have a bad feeling about this¡­¡­ It feels like something is staring at me from the void¡­¡­¡± Claudius muttered to himself.


    Perhaps being slightly superstitious, Claudius immediately abandoned all lairs he previously created. ¡°Gotta find a new place quickly!¡± he thought to himself. With his current ability, it wasn¡¯t too tough for Claudius to leave this place behind and travel to a distant location. That was exactly what he did as well. As he flew along the coastline, Claudius still could not figure out how the sharkmen travelled so deep inland from the ocean. He was only searching for a nice place to sleep though, and thus did not give too much thought about it.


    After searching for a while, Claudius found a massive reef near the ocean. A gap was visible on the top of the reef, and it seemed that the inner part was empty for some reason. The cavity was isolated from the ocean as well, eliminating the chance of this reef being the altar of the goddess Anbo. From the knowledge of the Inheritance Ceremony, Claudius instinctively knew that it was best to stay away from the altar of all gods. Nonetheless, the cave was perfectly concealed and even without the use of magic, the terrain alone was sufficient to enshroud the body of Claudius.


    Claudius squirmed his way through the gap and lay down in the cave, but this was indeed an unbefitting place for a Crimson Dragon. Apart from the humid interior, the onshore wind was almost like a tempest, causing a continuous shriek simply by passing through the gap. Let alone Crimson Dragons, probably no living beings could fall asleep in such an environment. Of course, the sound was unbearable for Claudius as well, but he had the knowledge of a human. He grabbed two large bunches of seaweed from the surface of the reef, slightly roasted them with his Ring of Blaze, then plugged the make-shift earplugs into his ears. After blocking out the annoying sounds, Claudius went to sleep immediately.


    Going back to Sylvia, while the Jade Dragoness did say that she would personally capture the Crimson Dragon, it was not as if she could depart instantly. As the leader of a humongous force, she simply could not leave at a moment¡¯s notice. Furthermore, the situation with the spirits was rather tense at the moment, and skirmishes were breaking out between the two forces. If Sylvia left without giving out orders beforehand, her retarded subordinates would undoubtedly do something foolish and things would go south quickly. Sylvia had to make arrangements in advance, as well as preparing a magic formation which had the power to turn the situation to her favour even if she was not present. After a whole week of preparation, Sylvia was finally able to set out to find apprehend the Crimson Dragon. From what Sylvia knew, Crimson Dragons were aggressively territorial. They rarely left the area under their control after settling down. From this, she deduced that it was highly probable that the young dragon had claimed the zone as its territory. The territory of a teenage dragon was, naturally, smaller than a fully grown dragon. If the target was instead an adult Crimson Dragon, Sylvia might have to search a thousand square kilometres just to locate it. But more importantly, she would definitely not do so as Crimson Dragons were a bad matchup for Jade Dragons in battle. Sylvia might even have to pray that she would be unnoticed as she hid in the forest.


    When Sylvia left the forest, her target was already fast asleep in a reef. This time, the irrational goddess did not seem to notice that the prey she once failed to capture had once again stepped into her territory. Even gods and goddesses were not omnipotent in the world of Floren after all.


    Claudius¡¯ abnormal behaviour basically slapped Sylvia in the face; who would have guessed that a Crimson Dragon would ¡®hibernate¡¯ by the sea?! Unless the Jade Dragon had fortune-telling abilities or legendary-class Prophecy magic, the chances were low that Claudius¡¯ location would be exposed.


    The enormous shadow of Sylvia swept through the forest, causing the Spirits to raise the battle alert to the highest level. Sylvia once considered sending a capable underling to lure and capture the Crimson Dragon with traps, but she rejected the thought in the end. The reason was that she simply could not find a person capable of capturing a Crimson Dragon. Sylvia¡¯s army of ogres and gnolls were basically a bunch of brainless battle junkies who could only fight, and the only suitable person was the beastmen Zamed. However, it was dangerous to allow such an intelligent individual to roam free, thus she decided to head out herself.


    While Sylvia¡¯s long journey to hunt the Crimson Dragon began, Claudius felt a bit ill even during his sleep. While previously he would remain unconscious throughout the whole sleep process, Claudius was now in a hazy state while feeling irritated by something. The source of this sense of discomfort was the changes occurring within his body. If there were endoscopes in this world, Claudius could have seen what had happened to his body structure.


    Dragons were well-known for their breaths, and while it was generally known as a physical behaviour, it was also partly an inborn magic skill. Normally, all the breaths of dragons were bound by this rule, but the current growth changed the physical structure of this unusual Crimson Dragon. On the upper end of his throat, a new organ appeared out of nowhere. The flames in Crimson Dragons¡¯ breaths originated from their blood which granted them control over the fire element, but a sac had formed on Claudius¡¯ throat. The sac could secrete and store highly flammable liquids which would further enhance his breath attack. Inside this newly grown organ was a tube which connected to the upper part of his trachea, and valves were present to control the flow of the liquid. The viscous fluid would ignite the moment it came into contact with air, forming flames of extreme temperatures. Besides the new organ, Claudius¡¯ lungs also underwent reforms.


    For the sake of flight, air sacs were present in a dragon¡¯s body and their bones were semi-hollow, similar to birds back on Earth. As the body mass of Claudius increased, the air sacs had to enlarge and multiply in order to support his weight, especially next to the lungs for rapid gas exchange. Strong muscles enclosed the lungs and their air sacs, and valves connected the sacs to form an empty loop. The changes allowed Claudius to inhale a large volume of air into his lungs, then compressing the air to a high pressure in the loops with the help of the surrounding muscles. Apart from increasing his rate of gas exchange, Claudius could also utilize the compressed air to enhance his breath attack. Passing through the trachea at a high velocity, the flammable fluid stored would be exhaled along with the compressed air, forming a stream of terrorizing flames. By controlling his muscles, Claudius could freely manipulate the volume of liquid exhaled in each breath, as well as the shape of the flames. He could spew anything from a tiny fireball to a fan-shaped area-of-effect attack. Additionally, the flammable liquid would stick onto any surface due to its viscosity, causing the target to burn continuously. While it seems that the breath attack was purely physical at this point, but the fire elements would automatically adhere to the flames as the breath was exhaled. The fire elements would then convert to wind elements, bringing in oxygen to induce vigorous combustion. What Claudius did not know was that in terms of range and temperature, his breath attack was no weaker than that of an adult dragon.


    At this point, it was almost five years ago that Claudius broke out of his egg and ventured into the world of Floren. This should be the phase which a dragon whelp develops into a toddler, but he was long past that stage. At the age of 5, Claudius already had the physique of a teenage dragon¡­¡­By the way, Britannia was currently experiencing growth in her ¡®hibernation¡¯ as well. As usual, she was still hiding at the same volcanic crater where she was born. Although her body also grew quite a bit, Britannia¡¯s size was nowhere near Claudius¡¯; she was only slightly around 5 metres long while her brother was over 7 metres long.

 CH 15

    Chapter 15


    Sylvia was currently in an extremely bad mood; her target, the Crimson Dragon, was nowhere to be found. Unless she could use fortune-telling abilities or legendary-class Prophecy Magic, it could be said that the proud Jade Dragoness had lost track of her prey.


    ¡°This goddamn fellow!¡±


    Rendered powerless, all Sylvia could do was swear and curse to relieve her anger. While she could kill anything in her sights right now, it was simply not her habit to use magic randomly for petty reasons such as massacring nearby animals. There were always exceptions, though. Sylvia did not mind killing magic beasts or mutated predators, and they were good targets for venting out her displeasure.


    That was how the Savage Wolverine met its fate. As soon as the wolverine sensed the intimidating dragon aura, it hid in its lair and had not come out ever since. From the strength of the aura, the wolverine could immediately tell that an adult dragon was approaching. It was an existence which rendered resistance futile. Along with other mutants such as Brutal Bears and Dire Wolves, these animals were referred as ¡®The Violent Beasts¡¯. Despite their name, they were still intelligent beings who knew when not to pick a fight. However, perhaps applicable in any world, escaping from the problem was simply delaying the issue. The furious Jade Dragon dived straight down towards the Savage Wolverine, breathing poison onto the poor wolverine. Shrieks could be heard as the poisonous breath rapidly corroded its body, and it soon became a lump of gruesome-looking rotten meat. It was undoubtedly a painful way to die. The surrounding trees were also victims of the attack, as they withered instantly and leaves fell one after another. None of the scavenging animals nearby dared to eat such ¡®food¡¯, but the bugs did not seem to mind as they swarmed towards the remains of the ex-ruler who once controlled the territory.


    With her anger now slightly dissipated, Sylvia decided to continue her search on a larger scale. It was rather troublesome to prepare for the trip, and was therefore a waste if she went back empty-handed. Sylvia had left her lair 2 days ago, and she could probably spare a few more days before her retarded subordinates would do something befitting of their intelligence. The ruthless army might really launch an offensive on the spirits if Sylvia did not make preparations before leaving. After a bit of consideration, she decided to search in only one direction, but she would conduct a detailed investigation instead of simply circling around in the skies.


    It was only natural Claudius had no knowledge of Sylvia¡¯s actions. After undergoing changes in body structure, he finally entered the true state of ¡®hibernation¡¯ and experienced growth. Claudius gradually grew in size by consuming his storage of nutrients in the body, with his length now reaching 10 metres. If he could bring out his cheat screen right now, Claudius could see the continuous increases in attribute values. Constitution was already over 30 despite his young physical age, and he now had 27 Strength as well. The abnormal fellow also experienced increase in Dexterity, which was now 16. Contradicting common sense, Claudius gained speed and mobility as he grew larger, and did not even suffer from the attack precision debuff which was present for huge animals. As physical abilities were his forte, the values of Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma only rose slightly, with nothing groundbreaking like his Dexterity. Claudius front and hind claws developed significantly and were now at a whole new level of sharpness; unintentional movement in his sleep caused deep drains to appear on the surface of the hard reef. Although his head had once again grown larger, its growth was not as large as his body¡¯s. When compared to his previous body-to-head proportion, he was now much closer to that of normal Crimson Dragons. Furthermore, Claudius¡¯ chin sort of looked like a shovel, slightly extended out. Large fangs protruding from his mandible were now externally visible, and the sizes of the razor-sharp fangs in his mouth had reached the level of a T-Rex.


    ¡°Muuuuuu¡­¡­Finally found you, pesky little fellow!¡± Sylvia knitted her eyebrows like a human as she drew a perfect arc with her green body, gliding towards a short volcano which Claudius was familiar with¡­¡­


    When Claudius awoke, 6  months had already passed. As nutrients stored before his sleep were used up during growth, Claudius was currently starving. Wanting to feast on random prey, he impatiently stood up and tried to leave the reef.


    ¡°What the hell? Aren¡¯t I growing up a bit too fast? I can¡¯t even get the hell out of here!¡± Claudius retorted as he failed to squeeze through the gap which he breezed through 6 months ago.


    If the place remained as it was, it was certain that Claudius would not be able to reuse the cave as it would not fit his massive body. Before attempting to leave once again, Claudius noticed the change in the cave. For half a year, his Ring of Blaze had been constantly roasting ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) the reef walls while expanding to a radius of 1 meter. The uneven floor was in an even worse state, as Claudius had dug countless drains into the floor during his sleep. The Crimson Dragon could only sigh while praising his own masterpiece. Claudius begun to excavate the reef walls to expand the entrance; attempting to squeeze through was impossible. Normally, even a steel pickaxe would have difficulty mining the reef walls, but the walls felt like soil when he used the enhanced claws. Along with the falling pebbles, an enlarged gap of almost twice the original size came into view. Due to the change in the inner environment of the cave, the onshore wind produced a low pitch sound instead of irritating shrieks.


    The young Crimson Dragon climbed his way up to the top of the reef, expanding his enormous wings while standing up. Before the storms reached his location, Claudius leapt and began his flight back inland. After the growth, he now had the power to rule a territory as the supreme ruler, unparalleled by all beings. Even if the Savage Wolverine had survived the ordeal, it would not have been a threat to Claudius. Crimson Dragons who had reached Claudius¡¯ growth level would usually search for a place and settle down in a permanent lair. After developing into their next stage, it would be time for their debut as a full-fledged evil dragon.


    In the territory of the Brutal Bears and Savage Wolverine, goblins and gnomes were almost non-existent. Apart from a handful of intelligent creatures, most animals were just herbivores or beasts that roamed around in the grassland and forests. This prevented Claudius from gathering his subordinates such as gnolls and goblins, but it did not bother him too much. Perhaps due to the influence of the human mind, suddenly having a bunch of monsters serving him was a bit odd, and he needed time to adapt to the change. While it was a dragon¡¯s nature to treat precious metals as their beloved treasure, Claudius was simply uninterested in the so-called precious metals which had no practical use at all. The 10-metre-long dragon circled in the air with a smug look on his face, looking down on the vast territory which was now his. The family of Brutal Bears were long gone already. A few days before Claudius began his journey back, a group of spirits and Druids gave the Brutal Bears a ¡®friendly visit¡¯, successfully persuading them to become warriors of justice. Of course, the spirits also gained precious information regarding the Crimson Dragon from the bears. It seemed that it was a young one, and it did not appear dangerous as the young dragon remained peaceful during its stay in the area.


    There wasn¡¯t much to do anyways, so Claudius thought he should just (ED: Netflix and) chill and eat. Eat, sleep, experience growth and stay alive until he became an adult dragon; this was his crude plan for the future. Claudius¡¯ temper and slyness deviated from the norm of Crimson Dragons, which was a species that resolved everything head on with violence. For example, Claudius knew that the spirit city in the forest had plenty of treasures and gold, but he would not risk his life just for a few gold coins. He couldn¡¯t use it as a dragon anyways, so there was no point in doing so.


    After wandering around for a bit, Claudius headed towards his birthplace. Yet, a sense of discomfort struck him as the volcano looked a bit out of place.


    ¡°What¡¯s this? Isn¡¯t it strange?¡± Claudius muttered as he landed besides the lava lake.


    Numerous volcanic worms were wiggling on the ground, drilling holes on the volcanic walls. They would then lay eggs in the holes for reproduction. Compared to his previous visits, there were way too many worms right now. As they grew to a certain stage, the worms would become food for Britannia, limiting their numbers.


    ¡°EHHHH??? Where did Britannia go?¡± Claudius roared loudly, howling his sister¡¯s name in the Dragon Language only to receive no response.


    ¡°The heck? She abandoned such a comfortable place?¡±


    Only resounding silence remained in the volcanic crater.

 CH 16

    Chapter 16


    That¡¯s right, Britannia was indeed missing. It was impossible for Claudius to locate his sister, as he had yet to reach the stage of acquiring magic from his sealed knowledge, let alone learning from others. Even though they could sense each other through the connection of blood, Claudius was unable to determine Britannia¡¯s location. It wasn¡¯t like Claudius had no clue about what had happened though. In the air, a tingling smell of rotten plants was present. After taking in a deep breath, the air seemed to turn pleasant for a split second before becoming a wave of nausea engulfed him.


    ¡°What¡¯s this? So a guy with such a smell came here, and after that Britannia¡¯s smell became barely noticeable¡­¡­Was she caught by someone? Well, I can¡¯t detect the smell of sulphurous blood, so perhaps it¡¯s a fortune out of misfortune that she¡¯s still alive.¡± Claudius mumbled.


    Apart from smelling with his nose, Claudius also stuck out his tongue to taste the lingering smell. By analyzing the results, he could guess approximately what had taken his sister.


    ¡°A Jade Dragon? Why would a Jade Dragon be here? Did it get so bored that it took a Crimson Dragon whelp as a pet?! Geez, this is really troubling.¡±


    In fact, Claudius was unaware of the fact that he was also in trouble. Now that Britannia had been kidnapped, it was possible for Sylvia to lock on and trace him with magic. As long as Sylvia wanted to capture Claudius, she could always locate him with magic through the connection of blood between the siblings. Fortunately, Sylvia¡¯s army of retards finally made a move and attacked the elves, and she had to return to her lair and command the army.


    While Sylvia was busy carrying Britannia back to the forest, her mixed army of gnolls and beastmen could no longer contain their lust for battle. They divided into squads and went on the offensive. At this point, the ongoing skirmishes finally escalated into full-blown war. After suffering around 300 casualties, the beastmen elders and gnoll leaders gathered their armies and went straight towards the elven line of defence. There was no turning back, and even Sylvia did not have the power to contain the war anymore. The Jade Dragoness had no choice but to assume command of the army, assaulting the elves with the plan which she developed for years. It would be best if they could capture the elven city.


    However, Jade Dragons were not outstanding commanders. While Sylvia may have been a strict and brutal queen, her commanding ability was mediocre at best. As she spent her time ¡®taming¡¯ the newly acquired Crimson Dragoness with magic, it was no surprise that her army could not get the edge over the elven army. The elves had a major disadvantage from the start, and that was the lack of new war potential. From the moment a spirit was born, it would take almost a century before they were fit for combat. Furthermore, their birth rate was nowhere close to that of humans, beastmen and gnolls. Purely looking at the combat ability of both sides, the elves had no chance of winning the war if they fought head on. Knowing such, the elves of course did not do so. That was why Sylvia¡¯s army could not even take over a scout outpost. Under the coordinated attacks of elves, druids and treants, the gnolls were suffering severe casualties.


    The Jade Dragoness did head out to battle a few times, but her power was limited. When battling with the elite elves as well as High-Class Druid Knights and Mages stationed in the Spirit city, Sylvia could not dominate her enemies due to their fierce attacks. Sylvia would not have left her lair filled with traps if she had not controlled Britannia with magic and took her along to battle. Things would be against her favour if Britannia was not there.


    Although it might seem that the elves were having success in the war, it was not the truth. They could not push the battlefront away from their town, and were simply defending the place. Once the elves left the area protected by the Yggdrasil, their battle ability would drop as fighting in the poisonous forest with twisted trees was difficult. While the elven army was busy slaughtering the invaders despite having smaller numbers, the contamination of the forest was gradually spreading. Under the influence of the Jade Dragoness¡¯ magic, the blood of her dead subordinates had the ability to contaminate the area even under the protection of Yggdrasil. Slowly but surely, the contamination was spreading towards the elves.


    The Warriors of Justice, consisting mainly of elves, rangers and druids, gathered as soon as they received the distress signal from the elves in the city. Most of them travelled to the battlefront by sea, while a few skilled warriors could teleport using advanced magic. It might have seemed like a small-scale war at first glance, but it was simply a delusion. The war had yet to reach its climax. Nearby countries sent their armies as reinforcements for the elves, while gods who had a sense of justice as well as their friends sent their believers to aid the elves through oracles. A huge coalition under the banner of justice was marching their way through the Fire Dragon Bay, everyone determined to gain victory over the evil Jade Dragon army.


    Originally, this war was none of Claudius¡¯ concern, but it seems that some of the reinforcements for the elves would trespass his territory. It was rather unfortunate that Claudius was now in his active period as he just woke up not long ago.


    ¡°Damn, how am I supposed to fetch Britannia out of all the chaos?¡± The thought of saving his sister was an idea of his human mind; normal Crimson Dragons would not care too much about their relatives or whatnot. What Claudius did not know, was that he was already discovered by the coalition.


    In spite of his young age, Claudius¡¯ body size was nothing to laugh at. Furthermore, he was hunting frequently in the skies. It was inevitable that the intelligent and agile monkeys in the forest would discover his existence. Even if they did not, the local elves would also eventually find out that a young Crimson Dragon was residing nearby. It was only a matter of time anyways. Crimson Dragons of this stage would normally have collected quite a bit of valuables, probably with a few magic swords or armour mixed in the pile. To defeat such a Crimson Dragon, a squad of Level 10 warriors, mages and priests should have been more than enough. It was also a major security concern for the elves as the symbol of evil and chaos may have settled behind their city.


    It was common sense in Floren that discovering a dragon equated to finding a stack of treasure, hence quite a handful of rangers, druids and mages went out of their way to attack Claudius. The number of priests who did that was scarce, though, as the objective stated by the oracle was to save the elven city, not dragon slaying. Claudius had the advantage of mobility, as he did not have a fixed lair. More importantly, defeating Claudius would not make the dragon slayers rich; this Crimson Dragon was a broke bloke¡­¡­ Up until now, Claudius still showed no sign of awakening to the sense of dragons. Regardless of whether they were merciful or evil dragons, they both shared a common trait, which was their lust for wealth and greedy nature. It was not that Claudius never had the chance to find such precious items, but he would always forget about the items before moving to another lair. He once found a shiny ore inside a beast¡¯s cave, and Claudius also found some gold inside a certain volcano. Yet, he would simply appreciate it for a while before tossing it somewhere, and he would not bother finding it when changing lairs.


    Without treasure and a lair, it was hard to track down this irregular Crimson Dragon. Claudius wandered around to his heart¡¯s content, and the area was up to several hundred square kilometres. It would take a long time for the hunters to locate a single dragon in such a huge area. In fact, someone did manage to find a ¡®lair¡¯, but it was just a random pit which he temporarily stayed at. Claudius had pretty much forgotten about the location of his temporary lairs, though it was not like he would use them again anyways. Claudius was used to sleeping anywhere, and he could always create a new pit without much effort.


    Yet, there were always those who got lucky. Right now, a squad of warriors and mages was staring at Claudius who was busy hunting.

 CH 17

    Chapter 17


    It was a squad of rangers, with 2 druids responsible for magic attacks while the other 3 were warriors. They carried magic scrolls for magic attacks as well. The five were fully prepared, with killing the young Crimson Dragon as their sole aim. After killing it, they could salvage valuable body parts from the corpse and sell them for high prices, not to mention the pile of treasure (which, sadly, did not exist) awaiting them at its lair. With everyone over Level 12, the squad of rangers believed that failure was impossible. There were also squads in nearby locations, and they could call for help in case things turned bad.


    After going through the forest, they discovered their target. Claudius was flying clumsily with a bull in his mouth, probably heading to a safe place to eat.


    ¡°Follow it! I think we can find his lair without much effort this time!¡± One of them shouted happily.


    Disappointment struck the five the moment Claudius dumped the bull on the fields near a river. Claudius simply tore and devoured the bull at a random location, and he was nowhere near his lair.


    It was hard to spot his appearance in the air, but once it landed the rangers could tell something was strange about this Crimson Dragon.


    ¡°The heck is this dragon? No matter how you look at it, it does not look like a Crimson Dragon! Maybe it¡¯s a half-bred? Man, I¡¯ve never seen a half-bred descendant of the Five Coloured Evil Dragons.¡± Another one of them said.


    Truth be told, Claudius did not look like a Crimson Dragon. The only thing which classified him as a Crimson Dragon was the bright red scales covering his body and the aura of flames surrounding him. Standing on two legs, having a short neck, a protruding mandible, the 4 horns on his head, as well as the two triangular horns on his snout; these features definitely did not belong to an ordinary Crimson Dragon. Claudius was never bothered by others¡¯ comments, not that he could hear the rangers discussing his appearance though. He had yet to discover the lurking rangers, and all that mattered to him was satisfying his appetite. Claudius tore a chunk of beef off the dead bull, placing it on the ground. Spreading his mouth, a stream of flames emerged and roasted the chunk of beef. The medium rare steak gave off a sizzling sound, and oily fat were oozing out to the surface. It gave off a tempting smell, and Claudius could not hold back anymore. He began munching his meal with satisfaction.


    The elves were not vegetarians, and there were also humans, rangers and druids in the coalition of justice. The teachings of their beliefs did not forbid them from eating meat; it only prohibited them from excessive hunting. That was why the bunch of squads nearby were attracted by the delicious scent in the air. Even if they were not hungry, the pleasant smell still left them drooling.


    Previously, Claudius would devour anything edible for his meal, but things were different now. He was now a slightly picky dragon, as he only ate most delicious parts of the bull. The tongue, internal organs and ribs were a godsend to Claudius. Meanwhile, the rangers had finally finished deploying their members at different locations, and could launch an attack any moment.


    The dragon slaying started off with a series of magic. The first to strike was a magic which created thorny vines. The eerie vines wiggled like a snake through the air, multiplying rapidly in the air before tangling Claudius.


    ¡°Screw you peeps for messing up my lunch!¡± Claudius subconsciously swore in Chinese.


    In the Floren realm of the Eberron universe, language contained magic power. For example, the Void Language, the Heavenly Language, and especially the Dragon Language, were languages which held the laws of magic. It was shown through the fact that a lot of magic spells were written in the Dragon Language. Chinese belonged to the group of languages which were incapable of utilizing magic, similar to the Common Language used in Floren. It was also the case for other Earthly languages, as Claudius had once tried speaking all the Earthly languages he knew, but none of them were able to resonate with magic power.


    The vines grew at an unnatural pace, shredding the corpse of the bull. The vines then proceeded to attack Claudius, binding him to the ground. Claudius was unable to fly as his movements were restricted by the magical vines. But that was all the vines could do. The thorns which could penetrate metals had no effect on Claudius¡¯ scales. They also gave off sounds which made it seem that they were about to break, but in fact the vines were not breaking anytime soon. The vines continued to strangle Claudius, growing thicker by the second. The aim of the druids that casted the magic was to restrain the Crimson Dragon and keep it on the ground. What followed next would be simple, as all the melee rangers had to do was stabbing its neck or heart with a magically enchanted weapon endowed with armour penetration element. The scales of a young dragon was not as sturdy as adult dragons, thus it should be enough to deal the killing blow.


    It was indeed a tough task to break free from the vines with brute force, as the vines were elastic and could withstand greater force than steel wires of the same thickness. However, vines were also plants, and all plants had a natural nemesis. While Claudius was still unable to break free, the vines also failed to pin him on the ground. Claudius widened his muscular legs and stood his ground, raising his Ring of Blaze to maximum power. The Ring of Blaze now had a radius of 3 metres and could produce up to 600 degree Celsius. Under the intense heat, the growth of the vines slowed down significantly.


    However, the quickest ranger was already right next to Claudius. He looked like an elf, but he wasn¡¯t one. The person looked like a human with a large beard on his face, but it was hard not to notice his pointy ears.


    ¡°Che! Just a puny half-elf?¡± Claudius snickered as he looked at the approaching swordsman.


    The half-elf ranger held a curved sword in each of his hands, and everyone could tell that he emphasized on agility over power from his equipment. The swords were more suited towards assassination and stab attacks, and did not seem to have strong slashing power. The movement of the half-elf was so quick that it looked as if he was unaffected by gravity. The fellow ran up the body of Claudius, aiming to attack his throat.


    Arrows after arrows continued to strike Claudius, providing cover fire for the agile swordsman. On the edge of the forest, about 30 metres away from Claudius, was a ranger holding a longbow. The ranger fired arrow after arrow, aiming at vital spots such as Claudius¡¯ eyes, nose, and mouth. It forced Claudius to constantly dodge the arrows by swinging his head around. The arrows were probably not enhanced with magic, thus the steel headed arrows were unable to penetrate his scales. Claudius felt that it was only natural for his tough scales to repel mere steel headed arrows, but in fact the archer was astonished by such a sight. Regular young dragons did not stand a chance against those finely refined arrows; even older teenage Crimson Dragons would at least suffer slight damage at less protected areas such as its stomach, limbs and snout. This abnormal Crimson Dragon which looked like a young dragon only prevented the arrows from hitting its head, and did not care about the raining arrows striking his torso.


    The third ranger was a bit slower, but in his hands was a medium-length spear which approximately reached his eyebrows when placed vertically on the ground. Out of the three weapons, this spear was the most dangerous one. It was longer than the dual swords, long enough to puncture his organs by simply attacking his back or chest. A simple strike was sufficient to kill the struggling Crimson Dragon.


    One of the druids continued chanting to maintain the vines, while the other one morphed into a huge bear after a roar. With a thick wand in his palms, he rushed towards Claudius.


    The dual swordsman was jumping around, stabbing Claudius¡¯ legs randomly. Under the effect of Claudius¡¯ Ring of Blaze, the half-elf had to consume his energy to repel the high temperature. Thus he also got exhausted quickly, but he was still moving at a speed which was hard for Claudius to lock on. Unable to lock onto his target, Claudius failed to land an attack the annoying pest at his legs. The rain of arrows was also irritating, and it was at that moment that one of the steel headed arrows finally punctured the corner of his mouth. Boiling hot blood streamed out from the wound, creating sparks of fire as the blood reached the ground.

 CH 18

    Chapter 18


    Claudius the Crimson Dragon roared while swaying his body, but his dragon aura was still incapable of stunning the rangers and druids. No matter how quick his growth was, Claudius was still a young dragon. Moreover, Crimson Dragons whelps and toddlers were under the jurisdiction of the step-mother of the Dragon God. Out of the Five Coloured Evil Dragons and Metallic Dragons, Crimson Dragons were the only ones which could not use magic as whelps and toddlers. Their only weapons were their sharp claws and fire.


    With his exceptional ability, the dual swordsman leaped all over the place, attempting to create wounds on the Crimson Dragons¡¯ body while dodging its clumsy attacks. Claudius was still restricted by the magical vines; hence his attacks were rather slow and could be easily avoided. The five-man squad, however, did make a fatal mistake, which was underestimating his scales. Unless the half-elf strike with all his power at an opening, it was hardly possible for him to penetrate the scales.


    Claudius¡¯ high constitution helped out quite a bit, as his wounds were closing up at a considerate rate. Even if the swordsman did manage to stab through his scales and create a big wound, it would stop bleeding and gradually recover after a short while. If that was all the half-elf had, he would not be able to take down Claudius despite his high level of 14. However, it was not a duel between the two from the start. The spearman has finally joined the fray.


    The spearman ranger was apparently one of those people who emphasized on strength, unlike the swordsman who focused on agility. The spear was probably enhanced by magic as well, as it was clad in a magical glow. The length of the spear was also suitable for dealing heavy damage towards a dragon. Claudius did not want to get hit by that weapon at all, but that was not for him to decide. The druid, now morphed into a bear, had also joined the 2 melee fighters. The bear ran on all fours, and its speed was even higher than the spearman. The high level druid did not morph into a cute cub, but a gigantic bear which was similar to Claudius in size. Its claws were not inferior to the Crimson Dragon¡¯s as well. The archer continued the barrage of arrows, and the bastard had decent accuracy. The high level archer had all kind of buffs such as increased accuracy and firing rate. Due to Claudius¡¯ tough scales and the high price of magically enhanced arrows, Claudius had yet to become a hedgehog. Yet if things went on like this, it would only be a matter of time before his eyes would get hit. It would all be over then, as he could only await death in darkness after losing his sight.


    The magical vines casted by the other druid were extremely irritating as well. Furthermore, the druid continued casting magic which extended the spell, making it last much longer. As things stood, it was extremely probable that Claudius would be killed.


    ¡°These goddamn monkeys! Stop moving dammit, I can¡¯t even bite them!¡± Claudius screamed as he sent out a deafening roar.


    Due to his movement, the spear which would have originally punctured his chest now jabbed his thigh. The magic weapon tore through his scales, dealing significant damage to Claudius. His centre of gravity was affected after having his thigh damaged, and he could only barely support his weight. The morphed druid¡¯s attacks were also unbearable. Its claws could only leave tiny scratches on Claudius, but the heavy paw also acted like a blunt weapon. The shockwaves from the attacks entered his body, fracturing a few ribs. The dual swordsman took the opportunity and stabbed at the scratches, dealing extra damage to the cornered Crimson Dragon.


    Legends say that this was how the ultimate ability that shocked the entire Toril, Floren and multiverse; the ultimate ability which affected the whole Crystal Realm created by the Mages of the Seashore, came into being. The ultimate ability known as ¡®Claudius took a deep breath, and¡­¡­¡¯ appeared for the first time ever on the Floren continent. As he roared loudly, Claudius took in a huge, deep breath, compressing the air with his strong muscles. Ignoring the incoming attacks, Claudius continued to compress the air inside his body, and it felt like an eternity as he took a lot of damage from the five-man squad.


    The Crimson Dragon¡¯s wings were tattered, most likely torn apart by the vines and the morphed druid¡¯s attacks. On its body, wounds could be seen everywhere and the dragon was about to drop down onto the ground as its leg was punctured. The squad believed that once it fell, everything would be over. Yet at this very moment, Claudius opened his large mouth.


    Intense flames sprayed out of his mouth frenziedly, and the flames gradually changed from red to white in colour. Claudius did not spew fire in a specific direction, but instead sprayed a full 360 by twisting his neck. As he was covered in flammable dragon blood, Claudius¡¯ body ignited as well, covering him in white flames. The young dragon had quite the range, with his breath reaching up to 40 metres long. Claudius changed the breath of flames into a fan shape instead of a stream of fire, grilling the surroundings. With Claudius as the centre, everything within the 40-metre radius was incinerated, creating a 5000-square-meter large scorched hell.


    In the distant future, the ability known as ¡®Claudius took a deep breath, and¡­¡­¡¯ was a skill which had multiple variations but created the same results for the enemies. Utter annihilation and nothing else. As the first to use such ability, Claudius of course wrecked all his enemies with the attack. If not, he would not have been alive and the ultimate ability would not be passed down the generations. With extreme temperatures even higher than the flames of an adult Crimson Dragon, the attack which had no blind spots instantly destroyed the druid which turned into a bear and the melee-oriented rangers. The flames were not only enhanced by magic; the flammable fluid stored in Claudius¡¯ weird organ also played a major role. As the fluid came into contact with air, it spontaneously combusted and created a high temperature, which further increased the power of the attack. Even a dragon of the Five Coloured Evil Dragons would be in a dire situation when attacked with such a breath. Crimson Dragons were not included though as they were immune to fire.


    Having Fire Immunity was essential for dragon slaying, more so for a Crimson Dragon. It was necessary for their equipment to have such magic, but these second-rate magic items did not stand a chance against 4000 degree Celsius. The flames were so strong that all the oxygen within the 5000-square-meter area was used up for combustion. The first to get killed was the morphed druid. Although the fur had fire immunity properties, the scorched hell was simply too large for the druid to escape in time. Inhaling the flammable fluid into his lungs, the druid was burnt from the insides. The blood of Claudius further strengthened the hell of flames, rendering the druid¡¯s fire immunity powerless. The huge brown bear became a pillar of flames not long after, with bluish white flames spraying out from his orifices (including his butt), grilling the unlucky bastard inside out.


    The half-elf was more fortunate at the beginning, as he was on Claudius¡¯ neck during the breath attack. The blind spot soon disappeared, as Claudius¡¯ body was soon clad in flames. The Fire Immunity enchantment soon lost its effect, and the swordsman could only stand in awe as he became a burning candle.


    If high level mages had been present, they would probably have escaped safely. Most mages would keep a few spells on standby mode, setting them auto-cast when they were about to get hit by fatal enemy attacks. Even less complex spells like short range teleportation would be sufficient for them to escape from the scorching region. The wide range breath attack outlasted the Fire Immunity enchantments the squad had, not to mention that the enchantments were useless in the first place. Claudius was still spewing flames, vitrifying the ground.


    The spearman ranger also met his demise, and the magical vines were long gone. The archer and druid who casted the vines were out of range of the breath attack, thus they were more or less unharmed. As they moved cautiously, the Crimson Dragon suddenly made an unexpected move. After stretching its body, the Crimson Dragon who could have easily finished them off ran away¡­¡­

 CH 19

    Chapter 19


    Claudius¡¯ was not in good shape right now. The metal spearhead and handle were melted by the high temperature, but the large wound on his thigh showed no signs of recovery. Even if all the vines were burnt, damage had already been dealt to his body. The nutrients stored within his body were insufficient for complete recovery at this point. This was all due to the exaggerated breath attack Claudius used a while ago.


    The breath attack exceeded his physical capabilities. It was common practice for Crimson Dragons to attack by breathing a column of fire between intervals when their bodies had yet to reach a fully developed stage. Spraying fire continuously placed a huge burden on his still-developing flame gland and air compression sacs, damaging them as a result. Both tired and hurt, the Crimson Dragon desperately fled the battlefield, hoping that his wings could still function properly.


    Claudius could detect various movements coming from a distance; it seemed that other adventurers were now rapidly heading towards the scene. If the five-man squad that had just fought Claudius had faced a typical young Crimson Dragon, their prey would be dancing in the palms of their hands, struggling pointlessly before getting eliminated. It was just that Claudius was out of the norm. Although everything in the area had pretty much become ash, the fire burned on even when physical fuel was absent. The flames were supported by magical elements, making the situation more of a magical phenomenon rather than a normal fire. The place would probably continue burning for at least 10 minutes, but Claudius did not plan to stay there for even a second more. Flapping his wings, the burning dragon flew towards a distant location.


    ¡°The great me would go west if a fellow with even a bit of power appeared right now¡­¡­¡± Claudius moaned while enduring the stinging pain in his chest and throat.


    The pain originated from the torn throat muscles, damaged lungs and air sacs, which were forced to withstand too much pressure during the breath attack. There were no sensory neurons for pain detection in the organ which secreted flammable fluid, thus pain could not be felt. However, it was dysfunctional beyond doubt right now. Claudius could not spew even a single spark of fire right now.


    The burning torso was extinguished after Claudius flew for a few minutes. After fleeing from the fight, his wounds had recovered to the point that bleeding had stopped, but any further recovery was impossible. The cut muscles and tendons remained as they were, and wounds which looked like smiley faces were visible. During the flight, Claudius ground his teeth as he removed the arrowheads embedded into his body. The intense pain caused him to swear for a while, cursing the bunch of goddamn rangers. Luckily there were only 5 of them, and none of them were professional mages. If Claudius had to face mages of similar level in addition to the five-man squad, it would be a miracle for him to make it out alive. With that in mind, Claudius once again decided to migrate to another region, abandoning his newly obtained territory.


    ¡°If I were an adult dragon, you noobs would have had to run as far as you could! Hmph! Just wait and see!¡±


    Claudius decided to settle down in a location which was far away from civilization in order to stay away from intelligent beings. Fortunately, Floren was a vast continent. The majority of the continent was unexplored and unpopulated by such beings. After flying westward for who knows how long, Claudius finally found the ideal place. At the very end of the Fire Dragon Bay, the Crimson Dragon discovered a cave on a cliff near the seashore and designated it as his lair. Just to be safe, Claudius surveyed the surroundings and found that no elves or whatsoever were present; the only creatures which could be called ¡®intelligent beings¡¯ were the dumb gnomes. Before reaching the stage of a teenage dragon, Claudius had no intention of leaving the place. Once again, he decided to pick up the art of mushroom farming to minimize the chance of exposure. The attacks he suffered most likely became traumas for Claudius.


    Things finally got more peaceful after moving to his new lair. As a former person, utilizing tools was an inborn talent. Claudius felt embarrassed and ashamed of himself when he recalled the days which he had to dive into the ocean to catch fish. For this very reason, Claudius collected a large bunch of vines from the nearby trees and dried them under the sun. After pulling the vines into thin fibre threads, he soaked the threads in water and dried them repeatedly. The fibre threads were then grouped to form tensile wires after processing. Claudius¡¯ large claws, unlike other Crimson Dragons, had a similar structure to human hands. This allowed his claws to perform much more precise and sophisticated actions. With his human-like claws, Claudius tried to weave a fishing net with the wires.


    Although there weren¡¯t as many species in the nearby as forest when compared to the peninsula which he previously resided in, prey were still available. The largest difference would probably be that boars were the fiercest omnivores in the current region while they were small fries back then. With the spare strings, Claudius made a handful of snare traps and scattered them around. This was a useful and practical technique from the godly book known as The Ultimate Survival Handbook back on Earth. The harvest was decent as long as Claudius could retrieve the trapped animals before the gnomes did. The pesky gnomes always stole the captured prey before Claudius arrived at the scene. For this reason, Claudius proclaimed quite a few times that he would one day annihilate all the damn gnomes in the region. In the end, it was all talk as he was simply too lazy to do so.


    Despite his intelligence, Claudius still faced difficulties when using the fishing nets. A few times, the net broke as he dragged it across the ocean. It was not due to the lack of strength of the net, but the overwhelming amount of fish caught in the net. The massive load of fish caused tension to build up, breaking the knots as a result. As suggested by the saying ¡®failure is the stepping stone to success¡¯, Claudius improvised his design and finally made a satisfactory net after a few months of experimenting. By simply dragging the net across the ocean as he flew, the harvest was enough to fill his stomach for a while. Claudius was still aware of the potential danger of the sharkmen tribe, thus he did not fish frequently. He wanted to stay away from trouble, and getting attacked by sharkmen again was indeed troublesome. It was pretty obvious that sharkmen were aquatic creatures, thus it was unlikely for Claudius to get assaulted once again if he refrained from excessive fishing. Apart from fat, the mushrooms could provide more than enough nutrients as they had a very short growth cycle. With a bit of meat as a side dish, having mushrooms as the main dish was not that bad. While it may seem surprising for a Crimson Dragon to live a reclusive life, it was actually understandable. Crimson Dragons of his age would most likely still be under the protection of their parents, thus they would stay in their lairs all the time as well. The only difference between Claudius and the other Crimson Dragons were that he did not have the protection of others.


    Even if Claudius had left the area for a while, those who wished to become a dragon slayer would not give up so easily. They continued to search the area for the Crimson Dragon, but it was a task doomed to fail. It would probably take them a while to notice that the dragon they were looking for was long gone. The rangers discovered a lot of the temporary lairs which Claudius previously used, and they were greatly rewarded ¨C with chambers of emptiness one after another. Not a single gold coin or valuable item could be found. It was not as if their hard work were wasted though. Some people managed to find Claudius¡¯ secret mushroom garden, and the mushrooms turned out to be expensive magic ingredients. The mushrooms were constantly immersed in Claudius¡¯ dragon aura and were granted magical properties. With dragon saliva as fertilizer, the mushrooms also contained magic power. While the mushrooms were undoubtedly valuable ingredients for alchemy and potion brewing, further research was required to identify their actual uses and effects.


    As Claudius hid in his new lair far, far away, the war between the elves and Sylvia the Jade Dragoness dragged on and became a war of attrition. With the aid of elves of other regions and crusaders, the battlefront was slightly pushed away from the elven city, but that was it. Without talented and high level adventurers, the elves were unable to kill the two dragons, especially Sylvia. The Jade Dragoness alone was already a challenging opponent, but now a young Crimson Dragon joined the fray. Furthermore, the two of them rarely left their lair. The scent of battle attracted nearby beastmen and evil creatures, and Sylvia gladly assigned them to her army as reinforcements. For a war between elves and dragons, it was not uncommon for it to last over a century as both species boasted longevity. From the look of things, this one was no different. It was not a war which would reach a conclusion anytime soon.

 CH 20

    Chapter 20


    30 years had passed in the blink of an eye.


    When compared to Sylvia, Claudius was now much larger in size. Sylvia did not grow much as since she was already in her adulthood, only barely reaching 20 metres in length. Claudius, on the other hand, now looked similar to an adult Crimson Dragon despite his age being a teenage dragon. To be exact, Claudius¡¯ body was now 25 metres in length, 15 metres in height when standing on two legs, with his buttocks at around 12 metres from the bottom of his whole body including his tail. Meanwhile, Britannia was only 15 metres long.


    The Crimson Dragon now stood outside his cave on two legs. It was a comfortable place, but it was finally time to bid farewell to this place. The cave was too small for Claudius, and he had a difficult time crawling out of the cave entrance. Without any lingering feelings, Claudius leapt off the cliff and flapped his wings, creating vigorous waves in the ocean below.


    Magic was the ultimate dream of people from Earth, thus Claudius was quite interested in learning magic. As he now had a greater understanding of himself, Claudius knew that his magic resistance was much higher than his counterparts. This was one of the benefits of a human soul, a soul which originated from the home of Mages of the Seashore. The soul which came from the world which was free from divine interference granted Claudius immunity against the exact same thing. The most significant benefit of being transported was the immunity against the power of gods and goddesses, but Claudius was still unaware of this fact. The Crimson Dragon flew casually while looking at the semi-transparent attribute screen. As usual, the option to modify attributes was not available. This good-for-nothing screen could only display his attributes in an irresponsible manner. His six attributes were now clustered together and effort was needed to identify the values of each attribute. For example, the attribute of Strength which was 37 and Constitution which was 40 all garbled together. The screen did not display his HP as well. Furthermore, the skills such as Climb, Leap and whatsoever were only glowing words without a value next to them. There was also a list of proficiency skills like Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Destroyer and Cleave, but they were densely packed together to the point which made it incomprehensible. The descriptions were also extremely lacking, as it did not show information of a skill if Claudius was not aware of the skill itself. Claudius had the property Divine Immunity, but he had no knowledge of such property, thus it did not show up on the screen. In short, it only showed stuff which Claudius was aware of.


    ¡°Why the heck would I even need you? You useless screen.¡± Claudius muttered as he turned the screen into thin air.


    The only thing Claudius learnt from the screen was that his stats were pretty awesome, and he only had 1 magic skill. That was it.


    ¡°Locate Object, huh. It¡¯s useless, right? Not like I have to find my keys in this world.¡± Claudius sighed, ¡°In the end the only things I can trust are my claws and flames.¡±


    The Crimson Dragon now headed towards the tip of Fire Dragon Bay, which was the battlefield of the 30-year and still ongoing Dragon-Elven war.


    In merely 30 years¡¯ time, this originally nameless region has been granted the name of The Bloody Hills. Countless elves and humans have fallen there, sacrificing themselves in order to stop the invading army of beastmen and gnolls. The invaders also suffered severe casualties, and they would have been extinct by now if not for their outstanding reproductive capabilities.


    Today, Britannia, also known as The Red Comet, was patrolling the area. The pitiful Crimson Dragoness was captured by Sylvia long ago and was forced to work under Sylvia through a magical contract. Fortunately, Sylvia lacked the power to completely dominate Britannia, hence her soul was still intact. For the past 30 years, Britannia had incinerated countless enemies as well as so-called allies with her flames. Elves, humans, beastmen and gnolls; all of them were massacred indiscriminately. Once on the battlefield, Claudius¡¯ sister could no longer contain the burning rage of being controlled by Sylvia within her. Without identifying the targets¡¯ affiliation, she would vent out her anger by burning every living being to ash. For some reason, Sylvia did not seem to mind too much and allowed Britannia to do as she wished during battle.


    The Crimson Dragoness expanded her 20-metre-long wings and flew across the battlefield. Nothing but reddish black soil could be seen. Currently, the war was in a stalemate, thus the dragon army temporarily withdrew while the elven coalition stayed on the defence in preparation for the years of siege to come. The beastmen constructed fortresses with logs on one end, and the elves built their fortified their strongholds with living trees through altering them with magic. Britannia was currently flying above elven territory. She flew with vigilance as these living fortresses were not something she could handle by herself. As she circled the area, Britannia could sense that the elves were panicking as if something scary was headed towards them.


    Waves of magic rippled across the area along with fear. Claudius wanted to fly right over the elven city Greenliner, but the tall magic tower and intense magic power swelling within the building changed his mind.


    ¡°Obviously that¡¯s an anti-air field¡­¡­ Not a good idea to fly through that thing!¡±


    What Claudius did not know was that the tower was constructed by legendary-class elven mages. For a few times, Sylvia and Britannia almost managed to break through the absolute line of defence, threatening the safety of Greenliner. It was then the mages united their powers and constructed the magnificent magic tower, denying entry of all life forms which dared to invade the city. Of course, it was powerful enough to knock down a dragon as well.


    Claudius chose to avoid the area as he was aware of the power of the elves, and he did not really want to destroy a city for no reason. Putting aside whether or not Claudius had to ability to pull it off, his conscience as a human was already enough to stop him from doing so. Watching cities bombed by nukes in a television programme felt completely different from annihilating a city with his very hands. The Crimson Dragon turned 90 degrees away from the current course, but the elves¡¯ magic was still lingering in the air, observing his every move. It couldn¡¯t be helped; Crimson Dragons were known for their destructive nature after all. Although Claudius did not look like an ordinary Crimson Dragon, his dark crimson scales, overwhelming dragon aura and the heat haze surrounding him all indicated that he was indeed a Crimson Dragon, a true descendant of the fire dragon species. The elves couldn¡¯t really be blamed as he also had the size of an adult dragon. No one really knew when the chaotic and evil Crimson Dragon would feel like crushing stuff, thus it was only naturally for them to be on guard.


    Claudius¡¯ flew away from Greenliner, and it was the best possible outcome for the elves. Claudius had keen eyesight, and he could clearly see the elven city which was barely above the horizon. Elven structures were scattered on the branches of a few gigantic trees which were several hundred metres tall. As it was just a quick glance, Claudius did miss a lot of the details, but it was enough to spark his interest in the elven city.


    ¡°Those thick and hollow trees without branches must be the magic towers. Heh, it definitely reflects the racial characteristics of the elves.¡± Claudius said to himself.


    Claudius¡¯ changed his course of flight, circling around Greenliner. With the city as the centre, Claudius flew around the spot in a circle with a 100-kilometer radius. It was a distance which he could fly without being constantly vigilant of incoming attacks. For normal dragons, the circumference was a distance which would require at least a few hours to complete. They could only fly around 500 kilometres per day, but Claudius was, not surprisingly, different. With his Dexterity over 20, Claudius could fly over 2000 kilometres in a day if he wanted to.


    As Claudius flew, he observed the area below. The distribution of elven forts was getting denser and denser, and the elves stationed there were all holding their weapons while staring at Claudius. However, they did not commence attack; hence Claudius did not pay much heed to the alerted elves. What attracted his attention was the reddish black no man¡¯s land in the middle of the green forest.

 CH 22

    Chapter 22


    ¡°Ah, such a nostalgic dragon aura.¡± Claudius exclaimed.


    He could feel an aura from a distance, and that was undoubtedly a dragon aura. Due to the connection of blood, Claudius could immediately tell that his sister was the one emitting the aura.


    ¡°Britannia? Finally found ya! Thank goodness you¡¯re still alive!¡± Claudius did not expect to find his sister here and he was truly glad.


    Britannia recognized her brother¡¯s aura straight away as well, and she could tell from the connection of blood that Claudius was headed for her. Despite being the same age, the dragon aura Claudius emitted was a lot stronger than Britannia¡¯s. Claudius¡¯ aura was almost on the level of an adult dragon.


    ¡°Brother, I knew you were powerful all along, but this is really unexpected. It¡¯s a bit hard to imagine that we are siblings of the same age, you know?¡± Britannia muttered to herself.


    Britannia confirmed Claudius¡¯ location through his dragon aura and began flying towards her long lost brother. She decided to ¡®visit¡¯ the elven forts at a later date as their reunion was way more important. All dragons were born with keen eyesight, which allowed Britannia to spot Claudius after a short flight. Her brother¡¯s silhouette had rather distinct features, and his was almost double the size of hers.


    Of course, Claudius could also see Britannia from a distance. Unlike a certain special Crimson Dragon, the dragoness was simply an ordinary Crimson Dragon with ordinary power and ordinary physique. The two approached one another swiftly, with Claudius being extremely carefree while Britannia was being slightly cautious. Within Britannia¡¯s soul, Sylvia was peeking at the touching reunion of the two siblings. Noticing the peculiar Crimson Dragon, Sylvia understood through magic that this was her original target 30 years ago. Perhaps it was fate that brought Claudius to Sylvia, as his sister was now a subordinate of the Jade Dragoness.


    After all these years, Sylvia could finally closely observe the dragon which she truly wanted. With atrociousness which far exceeded other Crimson Dragons and a well-developed body, there was no doubt that her original prey was significantly stronger than Britannia. Although his dragon aura was slightly inferior to full-fledged dragons, it was still above average for his age. Sylvia only had visual on the situation, thus she could not hear the conversation between the siblings.


    ¡°Augustus! Help, please help me!¡±


    ¡°Eh, what happened? You look all good to me though?¡±


    Without any knowledge in magic, Claudius was still unable to comprehend things such as magical contracts, but Britannia explained it to him. Staying besides Sylvia for all those years, Britannia managed to learn a bit of magic; hence she knew more magic skills than other Crimson Dragons of her age. If Claudius could view her attribute screen right now, he would be able to see that Britannia now had an occupation of Dragon Witch or Dragon Mage, or something along those lines. Claudius, on the other hand, did not have an occupation; he was just a Crimson Dragon, a mere teenage dragon.


    Through a self-improvised magic skill, Britannia directly implanted the information of her current situation into Claudius¡¯ mind. It was actually a magic skill which had limited usage, as information could only be exchanged between contracted individuals or close relatives connected by blood. But by simply using such magic skill, it proved that Britannia indeed had talent in magic, and her Intelligence was most likely above average.


    ¡°Hmm, removing the contract¡­¡­ This is probably beyond me, as you who are more knowledgeable in magic was unable to break free. For me, there¡¯s only one solution! I¡¯ll storm my way through her army and force that damn dragon to annul the contract! She even wanted to make me her slave, unforgivable!¡± Claudius shouted.


    After understanding the whole situation, Claudius thought that it was all ridiculous. Claudius was now enraged, and his dragon nature had finally awoken. The symbol of evil and chaos, the representative of rage and rashness; these were all titles given to Crimson Dragons. With rage clouding his judgement, Claudius rushed towards Sylvia¡¯s lair. Immense heat instigated strong winds as Claudius released his powers, and even Britannia could not stop him. Britannia tried chasing her brother, but his exceptional Dexterity made it impossible for her to catch up. On a side note, Claudius learnt of the location of Sylvia¡¯s lair through the information given to him by Britannia.


    There was not a single being capable of intercepting the raging Crimson Dragon. Be it the beastmen or gnolls, they could only stare in awe as they were not well-versed in anti-air combat, not to mention to dragon aura which caused them to tremble from the bottom of the hearts. To the gnolls and beastmen, going up against the Crimson Dragon was a scarier thought than being tossed into an erupting volcano. Unless Sylvia made a move herself, nothing could stop Claudius in his tracks.


    The rash Crimson Dragon rushed towards the palace made out of twisted branches, crashing into sparkling barriers intentionally. The impact force of his massive body crushed the barriers in an instant, rendering them useless before they could fully recharge. Claudius planned to roar majestically as he descended, then set everything on fire to force Sylvia to annul the contract.


    ¡°Just a measly Jade Dragon! Back then I lacked the power to fight you, but times have changed! Brace yourself, you old hag!¡±


    From the knowledge of the inheritance ceremony, Jade Dragon ranked third among the Five Coloured Evil Dragons. As the first among all true dragons, Crimson Dragons totally had the right to look down on Jade Dragons.


    But things did not go as planned. The Jade Dragoness did not curl up in her magically protected palace, but instead stood right in front of the structure without a sign of nervousness. Elegant jade scales were almost like emeralds, covering the curvy body of the dragoness. From the point of view of a dragon, Sylvia was undoubtedly a rare beauty among the Jade Dragons. In fact the same went for Britannia as well; she was certainly an attractive Crimson Dragoness.


    ¡°Eh? What¡¯s this? Standing here like nothing happened? The heck is wrong with her¡­¡­¡± Claudius felt troubled at the unforeseen situation.


    But this did not stop him from wrecking havoc. During his flight, Claudius already compressed a large volume of air into his air sacs. Now fully developed, the air sacs and flame gland granted him the ability to spew a terrifying breath attack. This was exactly what Claudius did. Without any signs of preparation, Claudius sprayed a fan of flames. He made sure to avoid the Jade Dragoness, as it was unsure what would happen to Britannia if the contractor died. It would be disastrous if the contract did not disappear on its own, bounding Britannia for life. There might also be secret mechanisms which would be triggered by the contractor¡¯s death, thus Claudius did not want to take the risk.


    As Sylvia chose to face the raging Crimson Dragon, she of course had trump cards to play. From her point of view, he was nothing more than a teenage dragon. Although he had quite the temper, Sylvia thought that the Crimson Dragon couldn¡¯t really do anything to her. She was not looking down on Claudius simply because of the difference in age, but also due to his pathetic proficiency in magic. Claudius¡¯ breath attack did manage to cause Sylvia to change her view; for a dragon which could reach this size at such a young age, it was no easy opponent even if her opponent was not proficient in magic. The title of being the strongest among the Five Coloured Evil Dragons was not for show.


    Claudius¡¯ flames were all bluish white, turning the twisted trees and branches into ash at the blink of an eye. The front wall of the palace was blackened, almost as if a charcoal sketch was smudged with a slice of bread. Moreover, the Crimson Dragon seemed to be able to conduct such a devastating attack effortlessly. Claudius landed in front of the Jade Dragoness and stood on two. His height was a chunk higher than Sylvia, and Claudius imposed a threatening look as he glared at Sylvia from above.

 CH 23

    Chapter 23


    Sylvia the adult Jade Dragon had a casting level which almost reached Legendary-Class with the help of multiple buffs. The truth behind the superiority in magic of True Dragons was their bloodline ¡ª the blood which flowed within their veins was basically magic power. When facing dragons which relied on brute force, Sylvia was rather confident that she held the upper hand.


    For the past decades, she had been enslaving Claudius¡¯ sister, thus Sylvia had a good grasp of Crimson Dragons¡¯ capabilities. With that said, Claudius displayed power which exceeded her expectations during the flashy fireworks show just now. There was a moment which Sylvia doubted her decision of coming out of her lair.


    But now was not the time to review her actions, nor was the time to regret the decision. The adult-sized Claudius was now glaring at Sylvia with superiority from above. Noticing the Cerulean Dragon-like chin pointing at her and the sparks spewing from his snout, Sylvia could not help but think that this Crimson Dragon was an indestructible being forged by metal.


    As a spellcaster, Sylvia was naturally clad in a ton of defensive spells, as well as a few spells which could be triggered immediately if required. The prowess Claudius showed was on the level of a young adult, but to be frank, Sylvia was not worried in the least.


    ¡°Erm, I guess we can talk¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Hah? You wanna talk? Talk about signing a slave contract with me, then working me hard for centuries? Or did you want to discuss about the compensation for what you bastard did to my sister?¡±


    Words filled with malice and mockery came out from Claudius¡¯ mouth. Sylvia looked troubled by the verbal attack which originated from the dragon which seemed to be forged by crimson steel.


    ¡°In consideration of your petty life, annulling Britannia¡¯s slave contract would be the best course of action. I would definitely be pleased if you can at least do that much, you know?¡±


    Red hot magma-like fluid was tumbling in Claudius¡¯ mouth as he spoke. Looking at his stance, it was clear that the Crimson Dragon was ready for action. If Sylvia¡¯s answer was not satisfactory, he would spew a mouthful of that stuff before ¡®nicely¡¯ asking her to reconsider.


    Forcing Sylvia to annul Britannia¡¯s slave contract ¡ª that was Claudius¡¯ sole purpose for the sudden visit. As for Sylvia¡¯s attempt to kidnap him, he did not really feel mad about it. Honestly, if Britannia hadn¡¯t told him that he was Sylvia¡¯s original target, Claudius would not have even been aware of the Jade Dragoness¡¯ intentions. Speaking of which, Claudius did feel like someone was gazing at him back then, but that could not really be counted as being aware of Sylvia¡¯s intention.


    It was most likely due to the nature of Crimson Dragons that Claudius suddenly lost control of his temper. Fortunately, the rage was all vented through the disastrous breath just now. The breath also marked the completion of fusion between Claudius¡¯ soul and the body of a dragon. From now on, the nature of Crimson Dragons would no longer affect his will or sub-consciousness.


    Meanwhile, Sylvia was preparing to invoke an illusion-type spell on herself. Of course, this was an improved spell tailored for monsters. True Dragons naturally had high magic resistance, especially to magic which manipulated the mind and soul. No matter how powerful or skilled a mage was, even for Sylvia who almost reached Legendary-Class, a normal illusion-type spell was nothing more than a scratch to True Dragons.


    The Jade Dragoness chose to resolve the problem through a business-like manner. The first thing which had to be done was to annul the contract, or else further negotiations were impossible. Crimson Dragons (in fact pretty much every dragon species) hated the idea of being bound by magic. While covenants could be made with dragons, they were no more than business contracts ¡ª the caster would pay money or valuables, and the dragon would lend the caster its powers in return. Enslaving a dragon, a Crimson Dragon at that, was pushing the limits of magic.


    As one would expect, Sylvia was unwilling to annul the slave contract of Britannia, but things were going downhill right now. If she showed any sign of resistance, the atrocious dragon in front of her would undoubtedly show no mercy. In terms of close quarter combat, Sylvia was certainly the weaker one as she was a spellcaster.


    ¡°Fine, to show my sincerity, I will annul the contract. However, a ritual has to be setup before that could be done. Please take Britannia here as she needs to be present for the preparation. It will take some time to prepare as well.¡± Sylvia answered.


    Claudius was a retard in terms of magic, thus he could only accept her terms. Crimson Dragons during their youth were known for their barbaric and brutal actions, not their intelligence and magic after all. As he was one of the few dragons which would actually care about their family, Claudius had no choice but to ¡®spare Sylvia¡¯s life¡¯ this time for the sake of his sister.


    As for who was actually the one spared¡­¡­ It was better not to discuss such hypothetical things. If Claudius, who was renowned for his insane flames unbefitting his age were to fight Sylvia, who boasted complete knowledge in magic, it would be difficult to accurately predict the outcome.


    Anyways, a red spot appeared in the sky. Britannia was flying as fast as she could, but she was still a distance away from Sylvia¡¯s now destroyed palace. After around 20 minutes, Britannia now stood on the burnt and hardened ground next to Claudius. The condition of the surroundings was obviously caused by Claudius¡¯ breath attack and Ring of Blaze. As she tottered around, Britannia could only stare at her brother in awe. Britannia knew from the start that Claudius was special; even with her newly acquired magic, she was still no match for her brother who had a ridiculous growth rate.


    ¡°Ring of Blaze!¡± Britannia unintentionally spoke. The strength of the ring was on a whole new level; one which was probably unreachable even in her adult stage.


    Britannia crawled on all fours while Claudius stood with two legs. This made the Crimson Dragoness seem like a German shepherd obediently sitting by its owner. At last, Claudius could get a good look at his little sister ¡ª she had a body befitting of her age, with proportions similar to other Crimson Dragons. The only thing worth noting was probably her slightly petite size. It was not really much of a concern as Britannia would continue growing for the coming decades until she became an adult.


    While Britannia was being enslaved, her living conditions did not seem to be as poor as Claudius had anticipated. Sylvia allowed Britannia to practice magic, taught her the battle stances and forms for dragons, and even granted her access to the library in the palace. In a sense, Sylvia was Britannia¡¯s teacher in combat.


    Sylvia was a farsighted dragon, thus she clearly understood that enslaving a Crimson Dragon for eternity was but a dream within a dream. In a war, having a Crimson Dragon on her side was advantageous, and there were a myriad of methods to achieve this goal ¡ª enslaving a Crimson Dragon despite lacking the power to control it was the worst choice. That was why Sylvia did not treat Britannia harshly, even going as far as teaching her magic. This, of course, was also done with an ulterior motive in mind. As Britannia experienced growth in magical and physical power, Sylvia would also gain attributes points proportional to her growth. The cost of such was that Britannia would need more time to learn magic and grow up physically. This was something which the Crimson Dragon siblings had no idea of.


    At the same time, Sylvia was upset about the fact that she captured Britannia instead of Claudius decades ago.


    ¡°If I had caught this irregular dragon back then, perhaps I would have become a legendary or mythical creature by now¡­¡­¡±

 CH 24

    Chapter 24


    Sylvia intentionally took her time constructing the magic circle for the ritual as Britannia had little knowledge in magic circles. With the ritual involving her as well, Britannia did not dare to interfere with Sylvia¡¯s work. She lacked the knowledge to see through the components of the magic circle, thus there wasn¡¯t much that the Crimson Dragoness could do to help.


    As for Claudius, he basically knew nothing about magic. The only magic which he could use was Locate Object, and it was a simple spell which was irrelevant in this case. It was so simple that Claudius could not learn much about magic from the spell as well, which was why he had been holing up in Sylvia¡¯s library. Well-versed in threatening others with violence, Claudius forced Sylvia to grant him access to the library in her palace. Sylvia lacked the power to transfer her books into a sub-space, not to mention that dragons rarely built magic towers.


    Sylvia told Claudius that the ritual required a leaf from Yggdrasil, the tree of life which the elves guarded with their lives. As a blockhead in magic, Claudius had no way of knowing the authenticity of Sylvia¡¯s words.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know much about magic; are you sure you¡¯re not lying to me?¡± Claudius spoke with suspicion.


    Sylvia had finally found the weakness of Claudius ¡ª his brotherly love for Britannia. For Crimson Dragons, this was indeed extremely rare.


    ¡°So you¡¯re basically telling me to fight your war and fetch the leaf? Can¡¯t we just threaten them to hand it over? They probably don¡¯t want to fight too, right?¡±


    Sylvia shook her head.


    ¡°Why the hell are people in this world so stiff?¡± Claudius spoke while feigning ignorance. However, he was extremely clear on the fact that Sylvia bore ulterior motives. Either she wanted him to crush the elves, or the other way round. It was unlikely that the Jade Dragoness would overlook such a great opportunity to turn the tide of the war.


    ¡°If that bitch really did not have any plans in mind, should I say that she¡¯s a damn retard, or that everyone in this world are all na?ve and righteous people?¡± Claudius had such a meaningless thought.


    Without any effort to conceal his presence and intense dragon aura, both the elves and beastmen armies knew that a Crimson Dragon had joined the fray. With a Crimson Dragon joining them, the morale of the gnolls and beastmen reached a peak levels. With 3 dragons on their side, the army of evil once again commenced attack on the elves.


    ¡°Get the leaf of Yggdrasil for me please¡­¡­ Ah screw that, I¡¯ll get it done myself!¡± Claudius sighed before springing into action.


    The Crimson Dragon travelled swiftly through the skies, landing somewhere near Greenliner after a short while. Claudius made sure not to travel too deep into the elven territory, as he did not want the elves to feel too threatened. While he did manage to break through the elven line of defence without breaking a sweat, Claudius did not attack a single elf. He was now standing before an elven fort 30 kilometres away from Greenliner, which should be enough to force the elves into negotiation without threatening their hometown too much.


    ¡°There¡¯s something I would like to discuss with you elves.¡± Claudius spoke in the Dragon Language.


    As he was not proficient in the Elven Language, Claudius opted for the Dragon Language. The elves should be able to understand him to a large extent; they had been in war with the dragon army for decades after all. The elves stationed in the fortress glared at the dragon with caution and a bit of hatred. The atrocious-looking Crimson Dragon stood on his hind legs, looking at the elves from above. Despite its appearance, the elves understood that it was speaking in a relatively mild manner. However, average elven soldiers did not have the authority reply Claudius. After a while, a slim and slender elven woman in delicate silver armour appeared before him.


    ¡°Crimson Dragon.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine to call me Caesar.¡±


    Claudius refrained from threatening her right away, opting to speak in a mild and respectful manner. It would be better if they could discuss things in a peaceful and civilized manner, even though he would indirectly threaten the elven woman during their negotiation. In Claudius¡¯ mind, the key to a successful negotiation was to maintain a smile on his face while pointing a sword at the other party.


    ¡°Pardon my rudeness, Mr. Caesar. May I know the purpose of your visit?¡± The beauty spoke while applying all sorts of defensive spells, including Fire Immunity, to herself.


    ¡°I¡¯m not asking for something outrageous like the seed of Yggdrasil. I just want a leaf of Yggdrasil. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard to obtain, right?¡±


    When the elf was about to reply, Claudius continued.


    ¡°Before you reject me straight away, please consider your fellow tribesmen.¡± After the threat, Claudius followed up with a proposal, ¡°Perhaps you could name a price, and we¡¯ll see if we can reach a deal which both sides would be satisfied.¡±


    The elves were not brainless; they could understand the hidden meaning behind those words, but this did not stop them from being a rigid tribe. While the elves¡¯ lifespan were nowhere near that of a dragon¡¯s, the two were both species which boasted longevity. With time at their disposal, the elves eventually got used to a slow-paced life, causing them to take things slowly.


    As expected, the elf declared that she did not have the authority to decide such things on the spot. According to her, a meeting with the elders would be held, and they would decide their course of action during the meeting. From the twisted looks on the elf¡¯s face, Claudius could already tell that the answer was without doubt a ¡®No¡¯.


    Before the elves could recover from the war, Claudius had no intention of killing them off as the only one who would benefit from that was Sylvia. Even if the elves rejected his offer, Claudius did not consider the option of forcing his way through the elven city just to grab the leaf. He did not have the confidence to emerge victorious against four magic towers.


    ¡°Banishment, Maze¡­¡­¡± Claudius mumbled.


    He was no longer a blockhead in magic, as he had been studying in Sylvia¡¯s library for a while. Claudius now had basic knowledge of spells at the very least. It was a pity that Locate Object was still the only spell he could use.


    The spells which Claudius was mumbling about were all troublesome spells to deal with. They were all spells which could transport him to an annoying location or dimension. His magic resistance was not applicable to these spells as well.


    Right now, Claudius was taking in deep breaths, storing compressed air into his now-mature air compression sacs. Not only did he have lungs with massive capacity, the two air compression sacs which were located below his lungs (somewhere near the bottom of his wings) boasted an even larger capacity. Valves separated the muscular air sacs into several compartments, and by utilizing the surrounding muscles, the air sacs could simultaneously compress a considerable volume of air.


    According to Claudius¡¯ own estimations, over 100 cubic metres of air could be stored within the two air sacs, not to mention the additional volume stored in his lungs. A strong current of wind would be produced when he used his breath attack, scattering flammable fluids up to a hundred metres away.


    This was all for the sake of forcing the elves to comply with his demand in case they stubbornly decide to refuse repeatedly.


    ¡°Should I take a stroll and crush a few forts to increase my persuasiveness?¡±


    Claudius noticed the curious gazes from the elves in the large fort while he thought of the dangerous idea. The elves had probably never met such a Crimson Dragon; not just his appearance, but also his behaviour. Anyways, Claudius looked nothing like the Crimson Dragons which lived on the Floren continent, and it could not be helped that the defenders would find Claudius intriguing.


    Speaking of Crimson Dragons, Britannia was circling the area behind Claudius. As she was rather far away from Claudius, it seemed that Britannia was keeping the beastmen and gnolls under control. Rushing deep into elven territory like her impulsive brother was something she could not afford to do.

 CH 25

    Chapter 25


    Claudius gave the elven elders quite the headache; as realists, they had been trying to negotiate with Sylvia for a cease fire. After undergoing decades of war, the residents of Greenliner were inevitably weary, both physically and mentally. Yet due to the existence of gods and goddesses, the elven priests and druids opposed the peace talks. As a result, the possibility of both sides reaching a ceasefire was basically non-existent.


    For the elven elders, the opportunity to end the war lay in the Crimson Dragon which demanded a leaf of Yggdrasil. It was quite obvious that Claudius was trying to obtain the leaf through negotiation, but his current position also implied he was willing to take it by force. The elders of Greenliner may have been slow thinkers, but that did not necessarily mean that they were dumb. After living for all those years, they could more or less understand the stance Claudius was taking on the matter.


    However, understanding Claudius¡¯ stance did not equate to giving in to his threats. At the very least, the elders still had a sense of pride and were insistent on certain things.


    Claudius waited impatiently as the elves continued to fortify the fortress with layer after layer of barriers. It was just a simple task of activating the magic circles, but the elves still did their job with diligence.


    After being ignored for two hours, Claudius could no longer withhold his rage.


    ¡°No answer, huh? It seems that I¡¯ve been underestimated!¡±


    The ground shook as Claudius stomped his legs, and sparks were sprouting out of his widened jaws.


    Noticing his actions, Britannia led the evil army towards the fortress, worsening the situation. Naturally, the Crimson Dragoness also plunged into action. Battle broke out between the two armies in an instant.


    Without any sign of hesitation, the elves fired the magically enhanced crossbow, which was more like a stationary turret, at Claudius. If not for his high Dexterity, Claudius would have had a gaping hole in his body right now. Despite the anger swelling up within him, Claudius still managed to keep his cool. He spread his wings and left the battlefield, but he was not fleeing; the enraged Crimson Dragon headed towards a small-scale elven outpost located at the frontlines. With his humongous body and wings covering up the sky, Claudius gave off a terrifying aura. The heat haze surrounding the shadow further dignified his presence.


    Elven fortresses and outposts were all wooden structures, but they were no ordinary logs. These were all living trees which were shaped into forts with exclusive magic which only the elves could wield. While the trees were not hundreds of metres tall, they still had thick branches which tangled to form sturdy walls. The sturdiness of these magically enhanced walls was comparable to walls made of steel, not to mention the sharp thorns which could prevent enemies from climbing over. Hiding behind leaves which were as tough as leather, the elves could focus solely on firing their longbows and catapults, decimating the invaders.


    No matter how sturdy these fortresses were, their major weakness was still fire. Nothing could be done towards the Crimson Dragon diving straight at the outpost; it was impossible to station high level mages and warriors at every single outpost and fortress. The capable druids and elven mages were all in battle with Britannia, thus the elves at the outpost could only fire their arrows at Claudius in despair.


    Flames flooded the area at the blink of an eye. The sparse white fumes from Claudius¡¯ breath attack ignited after travelling around 1 metre in the air, descending down to the outpost like a fiery cloud. Claudius almost scraped the ground as he sped through the area, incinerating everything to ash. In the 20-metre-long path, nothing but ash and burnt soil could be seen. Elves, beastmen and gnolls were all mercilessly burnt to death indiscriminately. A blackened path was formed, and the number of gnolls and beastmen who died far surpassed that of elves.


    Claudius descended in front of another elven fortress without paying much heed to the rain of arrows. The arrows endowed with magic were rendered useless against the Crimson Dragon. Before reaching Claudius, the arrows all ignited and disappeared into the thin air due to the overwhelming heat surrounding the dragon. The elves swiftly evacuated deep into the fortress, shutting the air valve to prevent the heat from gushing into the interior. The circular fortress was clearly well-made, as it could withstand the weight despite only having a 30-metre radius.


    Claudius lowered his wings as if covering up the fortress. Raising his head, the Crimson Dragon took a deep breath. He then prepared his wings, and with a flap while leaping backwards, Claudius was now showering flames with a crackling sound at the fortress.


    The compressed air released at a high velocity produced a screeching sound before slamming into the top of the fortress. Boiling hot air and mist seeped through the tiny gaps into the interior of the elven fort, causing the air to rapidly expand. It was unfortunate that there was no such thing called airtight doors and compartments in this fantasy world; the hot air deflagrated within the fortress, burning it from the inside.


    With just a simple breath attack, Claudius turned the fortress into hell in no time. This was the power of the teenage Crimson Dragon. The devastating power and variability of his flames rivalled, no, surpassed that of adult Crimson Dragons. It was a breath attack on an unprecedented level for the elves. Over a hundred elven warriors became torches, and the circulating air brutally scraped the charcoaled body parts of the skeleton of the burning elves. Only darkened bones remained, and the survivors could only freeze in terror while awaiting their demise. Suffocation soon struck the remaining elves.


    Not only did the elves died miserably, the gnolls and beastmen almost shat their pants at the display of overwhelming might as well. The will to fight could no longer be seen on the battlefield as the evil army scattered like ants. Britannia was also stupefied by Claudius¡¯ attack, and could only stare at the scene while hovering in the air.


    As Claudius could not be hurt by his own flames, he roared while standing on top of the fiery fortress devoid of life. Under the bright sky, a dark shadow could be seen amidst the fire. The monstrous appearance and overwhelming presence of the Crimson Dragon was carved into the minds of all those who witnessed the terrifying scene.

 CH 26

    Chapter 26


    With just a single breath attack, the outpost fell like a sand castle. The darkened wood and collapsing structure reflected the might of the Crimson Dragon. Claudius was spewing sparks from his nostrils while expanding the pair of wings with a smug look on his face. The adult-sized teenager jumped off the fallen fortress ¡ª walking with two legs instead of crawling on fours gave off a peculiar feeling of agility, which contradicted common sense.


    Claudius¡¯ dragon aura received a shocking buff from the breath attack, scaring off the attacking beastmen and gnolls. Britannia¡¯s dragon aura was almost like child¡¯s play and was unable to encourage the army to push onwards. Claudius ran through the area at high speeds without much effort; he was like a Humvee with the speed of a racing car.


    A fortress on the side began to retaliate, firing mithril-headed spears at the dragon with their massive stationary crossbows. Time was probably the only thing the elves could spare, thus their weaponry were all polished to perfection. Magic circles or enchantments were applied to each and every part of the massive crossbow, granting it terrifying power and firing speed. The rate of fire was comparable to handheld crossbows, and the loading speed was much faster than the ones used on Earth. They had power comparable to triple-bow arcuballistae, not to mention their accuracy-correction ability.


    But their actions were futile ¡ª Claudius performed the perfect demonstration of ¡®Bullet Time¡¯. With movement as smooth as flowing water, Claudius twisted his body while sprinting. The spear passed by the Crimson Dragon with a ¡®Whoosh¡¯ and struck the ground faraway. The elves¡¯ reloading speed was commendable, firing off their second ¡ª and also last ¡ª spear at the incoming dragon. As if the results were predetermined, the spear missed its target as Claudius casually moved his body while retaining his speed. A fireball then struck the walls of the fortress, disabling the crossbows with a flashy explosion. The operators were all ignited by the sparks, rolling on the ground in a desperate attempt to put out the fire on their burning bodies.


    The elves were regarded as the race of beauty by the intelligent beings on Floren, yet Claudius showed no sign of sympathy for them. He failed to noticed that his sense of aesthetics greatly deviated from that of humans; in his eyes, Sylvia and Britannia were both ¡®beauties¡¯ while the elves were no more than ¡®meat¡¯ or ¡®food¡¯. That was only if he did not pay attention though ¡ª Claudius was able to identify the female elf representative back at the previous fortress as a ¡®hot¡¯ elf.


    Britannia was rendered speechless as her brother lit another elven base on fire. From the looks of it, Claudius alone bore more than enough firepower to mow down the entire elven frontline. Yet this time, Claudius refrained from using his breath attack in full power. The panicky look on the elves as they frantically put out the fire on the outer walls of the fortress should suffice as a warning for the elders in Greenliner. There was no need to push things till the point of no return ¡ª that was solely due to them having the leaf of Yggdrasil though. Frankly, Claudius could not care less about the elves.


    Claudius voiced his demands once again in a large voice which could cover the entire battlefield. It was a bit embarrassing to speak in the Elven Language though as it was half-baked at best. Unable to endure the awkwardness, Claudius left the area to search for his next target.


    ¡°Britannia did ask for help, but she was kinda enjoying herself in battle, wasn¡¯t she?¡±


    After observing his little sister for a while, Claudius discovered that Britannia seemed to be taking pleasure in the war. The vigorous look on her face as she commanded the army and battled was something Claudius did not overlook. It also did not seem that Sylvia was willing to concede such a useful tool ¡ª the battle prowess of a Crimson Dragon was nothing to joke about. Owing to his little sister¡¯s pleas, Claudius had no choice but to take action to free her from the slave contract. Participating in the war did not interest Claudius in the slightest; to him, it was just a farce between adults and races.


    After landing on top of the third fortress, Claudius breathed flames at the structure while paying no attention to the rain of incoming arrows. Yet this time, his flames dissipated after clashing with a large green screen, which was most likely a barrier of some sort.


    ¡°Heh, what¡¯s this thingy?¡± Claudius was not shocked at all, but instead found it rather interesting.


    The bubbly shield was able to block the incoming breath attack, showing strong resistance against the magical component of the breath attack. However, Claudius¡¯ flames were a mixture of magical and physical attack. The flammable fluid adhered to the surface of the green screen, burning at high temperatures of at least 1000 degrees Celsius. The droplets permeated the screen and ignited the surface of the fortress bit by bit. The screen reacted to the change immediately, causing the living branches to secrete liquids which extinguished the fire. The areas which were burnt to ashes were now regenerating as well.


    ¡°Hmm, although I did say that the leaf of Yggdrasil was needed, I did not expect you to actually find or obtain one. I would have been satisfied with a leaf of the Elven Spirit Tree, but it seems that you have quite the luck.¡± Sylvia¡¯s voice was transmitted to Claudius through magic, and she sounded extremely excited despite her attempt to sound calm.


    ¡°AHAHAHA! Not even a god can stop me when luck strikes! Oh wait, there¡¯s a goddess of luck called Tymora if I remember correctly, but that trifling stuff does not matter right now! AHAHAHA!¡± Claudius shouted without paying any respect to the gods and goddesses.


    The green screen which specialised in neutralizing magic cracked and was soon smashed after Claudius slammed his body into the screen a few times, trampling the fortress. Resolving problems with brute force was Claudius¡¯ forte after all.


    Claudius could detect magic to a certain degree despite his magic was at the level of a newbie. The senses of Crimson Dragons far exceeded that of elves and humans from the start, thus it was only natural for him to have exceptional senses. Naturally, Claudius headed for the location where intense magic power swelled, which was the centre of the defensive screen. He brutally tore apart the steel-like wooden walls with his claws and squeezed his way through the gap.


    The elves fought valiantly, welcoming the uninvited dragon with all sort of magic weapons. Arrows, swords, spears¡­¡­ All sorts of infantry weaponry struck his scales, but the damage Claudius received was basically negligible. After succeeding in impaling his scales with much effort, the damage inflicted onto the dragon was no more than stabbing a toothpick on a human. The spearmen which managed to scratch Claudius were all shredded after being slashed by the razor-sharp claws. If Claudius was not focusing on searching for the leaf, he would have annihilated the entire defence force stationed in the fortress by now.


    As Claudius chewed the unlucky elves, the metallic taste of blood and flesh stimulated his mind; it was probably the only saving grace of the mundane task of searching for a leaf within a fortress.


    ¡°So this was the reason why there was a legend saying that Jade Dragons like **ing (consuming and corrupting?) elves, huh? They are quite delicious indeed.¡±


    The crunching sound and dripping blood struck fear into the elven warrior¡¯s minds, but they also had the weapon called ¡®magic¡¯ apart from physical attacks. A myriad of magic was fired towards the Crimson Dragon, but it was all for naught.


    Before the troublesome spells such as Banishment and Maze could hit Claudius, the floating leaf on top of the altar was already within his reach.

 CH 27

    Chapter 27


    Nothing could stop Claudius from reaching the leaf of Yggdrasil, and it was impossible for the elves to hide the leaf which was larger than them. From the books in Sylvia¡¯s library, Claudius learnt that it was rather common for the thousand-metre-tall Yggdrasil to have leaves larger than a man, or elf in this case. The leaves were much more powerful and rarer than those from normal trees and the Elven Spirit Tree, thus they were mostly used as spell-casting components by the elves. As there was no doubt that the leaf was the magic core of the fortress, it most likely had other uses other than providing defence magic.


    The function of the leaf became crystal clear right after Claudius grabbed it from the altar with his claws ¡ª the magic skills imbedded and the Nature Magic elements which belonged to the leaf struck the thief like a thunderbolt.


    Dragons were immune to Sleep Magic, but they could be hit by spells such as Maze. As a matter of fact, Sleep Magic could have limited effects on Claudius due to his human soul.


    Anyways, Claudius was currently trapped in a pitch-black maze and stars surrounded the Crimson Dragon. He smashed wall after wall but only more walls awaited him, and it seemed that the stars had hypnotic effects. The world spun and spun, driving Claudius closer to sleep. As he was about to succumb to the magic and doze off, an inner voice resounded within his head, ¡°Oi, you piece of shit! Wake the hell up right now!¡± Claudius instantly became conscious, and he continued to smash the walls vigorously.


    While Claudius was struggling in the endless maze, a Jade Dragoness made her appearance. She broke through the elven frontlines with ease, leaving a large opening in the already tattered defence. With a Crimson Dragoness following closely behind, the duo headed for the fortress which had a dimly lit green screen.


    Claudius suddenly realized that the leaf was no longer within his claws. Although he was a novice in magic, he could tell that things were going south. Indeed, Claudius¡¯ premonition hit right on the spot. The leaf was now miraculously floating above the altar within the half-torn fortress, and in front of it was Sylvia¡¯s face, lit up with glee.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about your brother; this weak magic can¡¯t deal too much damage to him. Finally, our great plan is about to reach its finale!¡± Sylvia proclaimed while she took hold of the leaf elegantly (at least that was what she thought).


    Meanwhile, Claudius was still stuck in the maze. He was wracking his brains to find a solution as he finally noticed that smashing the walls was not going to work.


    ¡°Dammit, where are the minotaurs? If only there were minotaurs, then I would have been able to follow them out of the maze. Speaking of which, I haven¡¯t tried eating minotaurs yet, huh? I wonder if they taste like beef or not?¡± Claudius muttered.


    He thought this was what people would call ¡®divergent thinking¡¯, but it was more like random banter instead. It seemed that it would be difficult to break through the maze with brute force, but Claudius was afraid of that he would diminish into nothingness after staying here for too long. This was a needless worry though; this was simply the Maze spell, and it was not some ultimate ability or insta-kill skill. It could not do something ridiculous like dimensional implosion or whatnot.


    Sylvia leisurely left the fortress with the leaf without looking back, but Britannia slightly hesitated. She stared at the now-empty altar for a while and finally left when the space above the altar began twisting. While Claudius was busy finding his way out, the world suddenly spun once again and he was back at the fortress for some reason.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s gone. With this, Britannia can finally be released from the contract. It was the best I could do anyways.¡± Claudius shrugged as he looked at the empty altar. He decided to visit Britannia once after the contract was annulled before leaving for a long journey. A whole new world was awaiting him, and Claudius could finally explore freely without worrying about his safety. As for the reason for that, it was simply out of curiosity ¡ª due to his human soul, his curiosity was above typical Crimson Dragons and was at about the level of Metallic Dragons.


    Claudius did not have much knowledge regarding Dragon Gods and Goddesses, but he was currently inclined towards the Dragon Goddess Aasterinian, the chaotic yet cheeky goddess of invention who loved to travel around. At the same time, Claudius was satisfying the requirements for the Dragon God Io, the main Dragon God who represented eternal knowledge and peace. He belonged to the neutral alignment, and he travelled a lot as well. On the other hand, Claudius was completely uninterested in the five-headed evil Drgaon God Tiamat. Despite his lack of knowledge, Claudius still understood that all was lost once he died if he had not become a follower of a god or goddess by then. This was only applicable to dragons which naturally died of old age, thus it was not be something which Claudius should be worried about for now. It would take thousands of years for him to reach that stage, and he should have solved the issue by that time. As an Earthling, especially from the liberated Eastern Asia, Claudius was more or less an atheist, and the Wall of the Faithless was probably the only thing he ¡®worshipped¡¯. Claudius remembered that he once said, ¡°Mozedonik1 is my lord!¡± for a while as he found the phrase quite chuuni after reading it from a book¡­¡­.


    It was obvious that Sylvia took the leaf of Yggdrasil due to the lingering smell of **2as well as rotten logs in the air. Even so, curiosity prevented Claudius from being taken over by rage and anger as he was interested in the ritual. He extended his wings and jumped, breaking his way through the roof of the fortress, and then headed straight towards Sylvia¡¯s lair.


    Claudius¡¯ flight altitude surpassed any other True Dragons, not to mention his top-notch flight speed. As a result, he arrived only slightly after the two had returned despite leaving the fortress later. Just as Claudius wanted to land and greet them, Sylvia placed the leaf of Yggdrasil into the centre of a magic circle while chanting some kind of incantation along with Britannia.


    ¡°Eh? Is this how you annul a magic contract?¡± Claudius thought.


    Claudius circled above the magic circle while observing the two dragonesses. All of a sudden, a dark green ripple surged from the magic circle, spreading throughout the forest. The affected trees and vegetation began to twist and grow abnormally. From the looks of it, it was a large-scale magic which could corrode the elves¡¯ barriers. It was quite a good move by Sylvia as the elves would have no choice but to surrender once their territory are corroded.


    ¡°Hah? Where¡¯s the goddamn contract? Don¡¯t fool around with me, you bitch!¡± Claudius swore in Chinese, ¡°Do you really think I¡¯m a damn retard? Or perhaps you¡¯re so confident that you could defeat me, huh?¡±


    This was the first time the Crimson Dragon named Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus got tricked by ¡®women¡¯, and this was certainly not the last. Throughout his lengthy lifespan, ¡®women¡¯ were always his worst enemy. ¡®I live for the pussy, die for the pussy, fight for the pussy, suffer for the pussy, get tricked by the pussy and ultimately die by the pussy¡¯ was probably the best description of his life¡­¡­


    Back to the current situation, Claudius was about the vent out his anger for being deceived by Sylvia. He was not a goody-two-shoes, and he was not going to let this slide easily¡­¡­


    1. A meme D&D character of Mao Zedong


    2. No idea what was censored

 CH 28

    Chapter 28


    Claudius¡¯ outburst of rage was not so simple such that he would plainly attack Sylvia straight away; he was waiting for the opportunity to make his dramatic entrance. Sylvia commanded the beastmen and gnoll armies to march onwards, and the armies with high morale began their attack on the ragged elves. Ironically, Claudius¡¯ brutal fighting style was the reason their morale was so high. Who would have guessed that they were about to be decimated by their very source of their morale?


    Claudius, who had been circling in the skies for a while, released his dragon aura and began his revenge. This was out of Sylvia¡¯s expectations ¡ª she thought that the Crimson Dragon would be trapped for a lengthy period before he could break free. Unlike the Maze casted by mages, the duration of the spell which entrapped Claudius was independent of the mage¡¯s caster spell, the reason being that the source of mana for the spell was the Leaf of Yggdrasil. Despite losing its power source due to Sylvia¡¯s ritual, the initial mana consumed by the spell should have been sustained for no less than three days and three nights. Sylvia¡¯s estimation was right on the spot for typical Crimson Dragons, but she failed to take Claudius¡¯ human soul into account; not that she knew about it anyways.


    Spell Resistance ¡ª this was the gift, or perhaps nature, of the human soul. Wherever Earthlings went, the place would be gradually turned into an anti-magic region. It was a long lasting process, and the rate of conversion was proportional to the population of Earthlings. Once the Earthlings left, the anti-magic region would rapidly dissipate, returning to its normal state. The hidden effect of this was that the duration of Damage-Over-Time spells casted on Earthlings would be significantly decreased. In Claudius¡¯ case, he was a violent Crimson Dragon with an Earthling¡¯s soul, allowing him to destroy the maze within a day. In truth, the maze which entrapped Claudius was not simply the Maze spell. It was an advanced lock spell in the form of a maze, a lock which utilized the Leaf of Yggdrasil as its core.


    As usual, Claudius had no idea about these things, but it was undeniable that Sylvia misjudged the situation ¡ª this was probably karma at work. He could silently dive down to surface from the sky, but Claudius disliked the idea of being stealthy and modest; it was time for revenge, and there was no point in doing so if it was not showy enough. He erected the scales on his wings, creating small passages along with the multi-purpose thorns which were present on his wings as well. Sharp squeals could be heard as air passed through the passages at high velocity. After adjusting the posture and angle of his wings, Claudius descended towards the armies of gnolls and beastmen. Utilizing the headwind blowing against his face, Claudius widened his mouth to gather and compress air within his body. He compressed the air in his lungs before storing the compressed air within his air sacs. Claudius began to ¡®brew¡¯ flames in his mouth after completely filling his lungs and air sacs.


    Particles of magic elements gathered around his body, and it was a rather contradicting scene. With the innate ability of spell and magic resistance due to his Earthling¡¯s soul, magic elements would normally be repelled. On the other hand, dragons were magical creatures which could gather excess amount of magic elements.


    But Claudius was a special dragon; his body had reached the state of equilibrium after adapting to the contradictory state for decades. The ability to create anti-magic regions was deprived from his human soul, turning into magic and spell resistance instead. At the same time, his ability to gather magic elements could be fully displayed thanks to the change, allowing Claudius to gather magic elements like a normal True Dragon.


    The formation of the evil dragon army crumbled in an instant. The gnolls and beastmen began to scatter once they heard the squealing sounds and could see the Crimson Dragon diving towards them. They could not help but raise their heads and stare at the massive crimson shadow in awe. Claudius approached the marching army while flying in a violent yet graceful manner. Before Sylvia and Britannia could take action, flames rained down from the sky.


    Even veteran soldiers could not withstand the intense heat generated from the fully expanded Ring of Blaze that was further buffed by his dragon aura. As they began to scramble for their lives, the clouds of flames were already right above their heads. The breath attack this time was an Area-of-Effect which was spread in a large fan shape. The flames spewed reached up to several thousand degrees Celsius thanks to the combustion caused by the flammable fluid and the gathered fire elements. It reached a temperature comparable to that of the Sun itself.


    The flaming smoke shrouded one of the brigades of gnolls and beastmen, and the entire army was roasted by Claudius not long after. Under extreme temperatures, the armour of the evil army either oxidized or melted into the vitrified ground. The rapid expansion of air caused by the heat flooded the area in the form of a burning shockwave. The heat also generated storms which trampled the remnants along with the shockwaves. The shiny scales of the Crimson Dragon reflected the blazing region, and evil laughter resounded throughout the burning hell.


    Both Sylvia and Britannia were frightened by the scene and did not dare to stand up against the raging Claudius. They could only look in despair as the armies which were gathered with much effort were annihilated. In less than five minutes, over 3000 beastmen and gnolls were burnt to ash, sending their souls to the Boneyard.


    Criticizing Claudius¡¯ actions was not an option, and it did not seem to be the right time for negotiations, not that they were given the chance to do so though. Claudius intensively flapped his wings, ascending to an altitude which could not be seen with the naked eye momentarily. He made use of the rising current caused by heat to ascend, allowing him to disappear from the battlefield abruptly. Due to Claudius flapping his wings, the air current was forced towards the ground, sending the ash of the deceased elves, gnolls and beastmen into the air. They mixed together within the stormy clouds, returning to the soil as fertilizer in a rainstorm caused by the storms.


    The plan which Sylvia spent decades of effort on was now down the drains, but the elves were by no means in a better situation. They lacked the manpower to counter attack, and they still had the mission of stopping the corroded Leaf of Yggdrasil from contaminating the entire forest. There were survivors from both campaigns who personally experienced the wrath of Claudius, and many others observed the ridiculous assaults by the Crimson Dragon from afar with various means. The might he displayed was etched into their minds, teaching them an unforgettable lesson.


    This was Claudius¡¯ debut in war, yet he displayed overwhelming power which trampled both sides of the war. This was also the origin of the famous legend of ¡®The Crimson Disaster¡¯, the Crimson Dragon which thoroughly reflected the evil and chaotic nature of its species. ¡®The Deadly Poison¡¯ Sylvia and ¡®The Red Comet¡¯ were no more than mere foils in his legend¡­¡­


    Claudius clearly understood his extent of power from the one-sided battle just now. He was free; he could now explore this whole new world to his heart¡¯s extent. The Crimson Dragon could not contain his excitement as he flew away from the forest.

 CH 29

    Chapter 29


    A new member had been added to the list of atrocious Crimson Dragons on the Floren Continent, but ¡®The Crimson Disaster¡¯ himself was oblivious to the fact that he had made himself well-known throughout the continent with just a single breath attack. After venting his anger, Claudius swaggered away like a boss. The war between the elves and Sylvia may last for centuries, but that was none of his concerns anymore. There were countless evil organizations within Floren, and wars were constantly waged between these organizations and countries. Claudius had left the pathetic Fire Dragon Bay, and the broad continent of Floren was awaiting him.


    This was a world dominated by small countries and city-states as an empire was nowhere to be found. The empire had probably fallen, splitting into various countries as a result. From Claudius¡¯ point of view, things would not be too different even if an empire existed right now. The degree of prosperity was similar to that of the Medieval Ages in Europe, but the level of productivity was way higher due to the presence of magic. The wilderness gave off a vibe which resembled New Zealand, and eerie ruins could be seen from time to time; at least that was what it felt for Claudius, who was looking from thousands of metres above ground level.


    There were quite a few towns and villages, but the villages were more of a ¡®gathering of people¡¯ instead; over half of the villages only had several hundred of villagers. Gnomes, goblins, gnolls, ogres and the likes were roaming in the wilderness, and there were also a handful of dragons. On Claudius¡¯ left were mountains which seemed to touch the skies. He was rather sure that a number of Crimson Dragons, Copper Dragons and Bronze Dragons were nesting among the mountains, thus he did not want to intrude their territory. Directly in front of him, a desert could be seen. The air was steamy due to the heat and the golden sand reflected rays of sunlight. The name of the desert was Calim Desert ¡ª the place where Cerulean Dragons and Brass Dragons resided in.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like the freaking desert, but should I go to the mountains? Argh, is there somewhere I can stay for at least a while? Screw this; I¡¯ll see how things go after going there!¡± The juvenile dragon thought while pondering on where to land.


    Claudius understood that he was complete garbage in terms of magic; advanced spells like human transformation was way out of his league. The pressing matter right now was finding a place to settle down. He would then be able to sort through the knowledge learnt during the stay at Sylvia¡¯s library and search for useful stuff from the sealed knowledge from the Inheritance Ceremony.


    ¡°Perhaps I might be able to exchange knowledge with the dragons there. Or should I ¡®buy¡¯ some stuff off the dragons there?¡±


    Along with the completion of the fusion of his soul and body, the concept of ¡®buying¡¯ things in his mind was more like ¡®robbing¡¯, ¡®blackmailing¡¯ and ¡®scamming¡¯ rather than actually paying to obtain something¡­¡­


    Doing things as he liked, Claudius made a sharp 90-degree-turn like a yoyo and flew towards the Starspire Mountains. Unless they were ostentatious dragons like Crimson Dragons, almost every single True Dragon would not release their dragon aura all the time. With the ability to freely control their own aura, the True Dragons tended to suppress their aura in order to conceal their presence.


    Unlike typical Crimson Dragons, Claudius was more of a cautious guy, thus he did not want to proclaim his arrival to all the other creatures in the mountain. Crimson Dragons of his age tended to be less reckless than the youth and adult counterparts as well, opting for a less conspicuous course of action before reaching adulthood. Claudius did not want to overthink about the location as he was just going to stay there temporarily. There was no need to go deep into the mountains to find a comfortable place.


    Claudius landed on a random hilltop. He surveyed his environment, looking in all directions. Directly below him was a vertical cliff which was connected to the ocean while a craggy mountain was on the other side, making it a rather hard to access for others. Claudius was satisfied with the current location; despite being near the ocean, the ground was rather dry due to the mountain¡¯s high altitude. It was certainly better than the humid and moist cave which he once lived in.


    Before constructing his lair, Claudius first circled the mountain for a while to check if someone else owned the territory. He decided not to fly this time as being too conspicuous would alert the owner of the area, given that there was one. Claudius chose to walk around the area; Crimson Dragons were good at leaping anyways.


    Although it was meant to be less conspicuous, Claudius still reached 15 metres when he stood on his pair of hind legs, not to mention his 25-metre-long body. His cautious stroll turned out to be extremely obvious, but the huge crimson shadow was enough to scare off all the inhabitants of that particular mountain. Without even sensing the dragon aura, the creatures all fled once they saw a Crimson Dragon.


    Up till now, all the creatures Claudius saw were more or less the same as those back on Earth. There were some which looked slightly different from their Earthly counterparts, but they were nothing outrageous. There was something which caught his attention; at the bottom of a valley, there was rather strange-looking creature. This was probably the ¡®owner¡¯ of the mountain as well.


    An ancient tree with intertwined roots stood at the bottom of the valley, but the scarred surface of the tree bark made it look odd. After closer inspection, Claudius thought that the bark seemed to resemble a pair of closed eyes, a nose and lips.


    ¡°Perhaps this is a treant? I have only seen them in books though.¡±


    Claudius walked around the 10-metre-tall tree in circles before poking the back of its ¡®head¡¯ with his claws.


    ¡°Is this really a treant? Perhaps it¡¯s really just a large tree?¡± Claudius thought, but he was proved wrong not long after. This was the first strange creature he came across in this world ¡ª it was undoubtedly a treant.


    Gudebar ¡ª that was the name of the treant who had been living in the valley for over a century. For certain reasons, Gudebar left his kin in the Wealdath Forest and went on a tough, long journey towards the Starspire Mountains. The lone treant settled down in the valley of a nameless mountain and had been living a quiet life until a Bronze Dragon came 80 years ago. The two hit it off straight away and became friends. As treants were long-living creatures that did not have quick minds, he was always slow to react to the dragon¡¯s jokes and pranks. Although the Bronze Dragon¡¯s pranks left behind several scars on his body, Gudebar was never angry towards his friend. The fact that someone was there to accompany him was enough to make him lively once again.


    And right now, he was awakened by some noise. Since he began his slumber a few years ago, this was the first time he was awakened by external influence. Gudebar initially thought that it was his friend Achilles playing a prank on him, but the possibility was denied once the fellow who woke him up appeared in front of him.


    ¡°What the hell is this?!¡± Gudebar gasped.


    The treant looked at the monsters in shock. A massive body crimson in colour, a lingering smell of fire sulphur along with an atrocious and scary appearance; Gudebar had never seen such a ¡®dragon¡¯ in his entire life. Nonetheless, the treant was able to identify the monster as a genuine Crimson Dragon from the vibe and aura it gave off. Sure, the dragon was somewhat different from his memory, not to mention it stood on two legs instead of crawling, but it was undoubtedly a Crimson Dragon.


    Crimson Dragons were the creatures which Gudebar hated the most ¡ª not one of the most hated creatures, but the only one.

 CH 30

    Chapter 30


    Gudebar had no intention of negotiating with a Crimson Dragon, nor did he have the leisure to do so. He immediately pulled out his legs from the soil while slamming his thick arm onto the detestable dragon. As long as he could connect the attack, Gudebar would be able root his enemy to the ground; what followed afterwards was self explanatory. The Crimson Dragon would be beaten to death by his thick arms while being unable to counter attack.


    But his initial strike missed. The Crimson Dragon which walked on two legs dodged his attack with motions as swift as the wind. From Gudebar¡¯s point of view, the dragon was almost like a ghost, avoiding every one of his all-out attacks with ease.


    ¡°Oops, examining and interpreting the creatures with Earthly knowledge was a bad idea. Clearly there weren¡¯t plants with consciousness and would attack people like that back on Earth!¡± Claudius mumbled in Chinese while dodging the incoming attacks.


    The old yet strong treant¡¯s attacks were powerful, but they lacked speed. It didn¡¯t matter how powerful they were if Claudius could not be hit. While the treant struggled to land a single hit, Claudius was enjoying the situation. It was amusing to see a plant which had emotions, could move and even strike people randomly¡­¡­.


    After dancing around for a while, Claudius took action. He did not burn the treant straight away, as he was interested in the structure of it ¡ª to be precise, Claudius wanted to see if it had wooden organs or something along those lines. Due to this weird reason, he could only use his claws and tail to take down the treant.


    ¡®Never get hit¡¯ was his motto as a veteran player of Heroes of Might and Magic. Despite knowing that this was not the world of that game, Claudius figured that the special skill of treants should more or less be the same. The idea of getting entangled by vines after getting hit once was a terrifying one; it would only end in one-sided trampling if that happened.


    Treants did not seem to have blood, thus blood vessels or the likes were also absent. As the bark probably had a bad taste to it, Claudius was at a lost as to how to knock down Gudebar.


    ¡°Might as well end it with my claws and tail then,¡± Claudius thought.


    A single strike with his tail contained comparable power to an attack from a battering ram. Adjusting his posture, Claudius turned his body and swung his tail. The low-pitched sound of the hit resounded throughout the valley. A cracking sound soon followed, and it obviously originated from Gudebar. A deep indent could be seen on the treant¡¯s torso, and shallow cracks were running across his entire body. Losing his balance, Gudebar tilted to his side.


    The second strike landed as Gudebar tried to regain his posture. This time, the attack came from the sky; Claudius leapt up high and sent a mid-air rotational strike with his tail while the treant was busy standing up. It was a critical hit ¡ª the sharp thorns on Claudius¡¯ tailed brutally slammed into the treant¡¯s pelvis (the connecting point of the two supporting roots). The shallow cracks turned into deep fissures, extending up to Gudebar¡¯s chest like lightning. The treant was in a severe condition; resin was leaking out through the fissures as if a tree being chopped by an axe. He was currently in a dilemma ¡ª trying to attack would most likely break his body apart, yet awaiting death obediently was not his style.


    Guderbar was not given the time to think; Claudius was not a sympathetic dragon. Swinging his arm, the three razor-sharp claws mercilessly punctured the trunk of the treant. Claudius¡¯ claws were by no means inferior to a steel axe or machete; in fact, their sharpness and durability were above steel products. Embedding his ¡®thumb¡¯ deeper into the trunk, Claudius began twisting the treant in a manner similar to wringing dry a soaked towel. Along with a heart-strickening sound, poor old Gudebar¡¯s arms were being fractured bit by bit. Claudius was a robust dragon, not to mention his muscular hind legs. Utilizing power from the pair of muscular legs, Claudius continuously dealt damage to the treant with his two front claws. Branches and bits of bark scattered everywhere along with the shrieks of pain from Gudebar. The life of the treant was fading away.


    As Claudius had never met a treant before, he did not know their weak spots. Unlike experienced treant slayers who would have excavated the trunk to remove the treant¡¯s heart, Claudius was more like torturing Gudebar by dismembering him. Apart from breaking all the branches, he even chopped Gudebar into two large chunks of log; it was a miserable way to die.


    ¡°What a weird creature.¡±


    That was Claudius¡¯ reaction after ending the treant¡¯s life. Dissecting the corpse, it was mostly identical to an ordinary tree. There were no organs or whatnot apart from a single heart-shaped structure which could be easily excavated from the trunk. For the first time, Claudius learnt about the exotic creatures of this world.


    He then proceeded to chop the corpse into smaller pieces for further examination. Even so, Claudius could not find a brain within the whole treant. He initially searched the part of the treant which looked like its head, but there was nothing even after breaking the entire corpse apart. ¡®Trying to apply biological knowledge from Earth onto the creatures of Floren is something only a drunktard would try¡­¡­¡¯ was Claudius¡¯ thought right now.


    The mindset of applying knowledge from Earth into this new world was something involuntary though. Despite having lived in this new world for over 50 years, the influence of studying for over 10 years on Earth was still way stronger than that of sleeping and hunting for several decades.


    For the natives of Floren, they would be able to salvage a lot more spoils of war after defeating a treant. Wooden organs such as eyeballs, the heart, skin (bark) and resin-filled branches could all be obtained. These were all expensive and useful materials with a wide range of uses, such as being the component for rituals, spells, armour as well as potions and alchemy purposes. Due to his lack of knowledge, all Claudius gained from the battle was the heart of the treant, which was also the most expensive and rare drop. The heart of treants would initially look like a wooden sculpture, but soon it would turn into a texture similar to an amber stone.


    ¡°Is this thing even useful at all?¡± The ignorant dragon thought as he sensed magic elements gathering on the heart.


    Claudius did find a good use for the other body parts though ¡ª he began roasting bulls and boars with the remains of Gudebar. He found that meat roasted using treant wood gave off a special flavour which was more delicious than using normal logs. It was almost as ¡®tasty¡¯ as the favourite type of women Crimson Dragons loved to ¡®eat¡¯ ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã).


    ¡°It might be a good idea to plant some treants and use them for firewood.¡± Claudius muttered while thinking that dragons and humans have similar sense of taste.


    While Claudius was barbecuing in the valley, a pair of jade eyes was glaring at the Crimson Dragon in fury under the surface of the nearby sea.

 CH 31

    Chapter 31


    Bronze Dragons ¡ª they were Metallic True Dragons who had mastered the water element and were known for their kindness. One of them had lived in the far end of the Starspire Mountains since two centuries ago; the now mature adult was still a juvenile dragon back when he met the lone treant Gudebar and became good friends. Though the treant was a bit stubborn, he had good temper and was tender-hearted.


    Achilles was a mature adult Bronze Dragon with a long bronze-coloured body of 20 metres. Despite his size, Achilles could still move freely in water without restrictions. He was resting when the fierce battle between his friend Gudebar and Claudius broke out; the fight was so intense that shockwaves caused by the scorching dragon aura and the treant¡¯s hits travelled all the way to his lair, waking the Bronze Dragon from his sleep.


    One of the mountains near the sea had been excavated by Achilles, creating a large cave which he used as his lair for rest and hiding treasure. Winding tunnels connected the cave to an undersea entrance, allowing him access to the nearby sea.


    Achilles rushed out of his lair, but it was all too late as he could only witness his close buddy getting shredded to pieces by the peculiar Crimson Dragon. He noticed the weird appearance of the attacking dragon as well, but Achilles knew it was undoubtedly a Crimson Dragon. From the knowledge obtained from the inheritance ceremony and his life experience, Achilles could distinguish its species from its dragon aura and the Ring of Blaze which clad it in a pale red glow.


    ¡°There¡¯s a possibility that this dragon is of the Infernal Bloodline¡­¡­¡± Achilles thought as he carefully observed the Crimson Dragon which had a weird look and abnormally strong hind legs. The Bronze Dragon was a knowledgeable dragon who had encountered various peculiar creatures, thus he took his time assessing the Crimson Dragon which killed his friend.


    It was a fair guess, but Claudius was a purebred Crimson Dragon instead of having the Infernal Bloodline or whatnot. Oblivious to the Bronze Dragon beneath the sea, Claudius continued to enjoy the barbecue session. It was a short but pleasurable meal, and just as he was about to leave the area, Claudius felt a gaze locking onto him.


    ¡°Something or someone is staring at me¡­¡­¡±


    The sensation of being observed was not a good one; only formidable enemies could withstand his dragon aura and have the leisure of peeking at him. Claudius immediately took off and searched through the region with his keen eyes.


    The camouflages of Bronze Dragons were extraordinary, and they could blend into the surroundings as long as they remained within water. As a result, Claudius could not discern the location of Achilles who was spying on him. Achilles even went as far as to hide most of his body within corals; Claudius stood no chance of finding the Bronze Dragons. Pointlessly looking around was a waste of time, thus Claudius could only bitterly give up his current operations and proceed to construct a lair.


    As a fellow who had made countless lairs during the past few decades, Claudius was a veteran when it came to lair construction, but he was not interested in digging a large cave out of nowhere. Claudius casually chose a concaved spot on one of the mountains and dug downwards a bit before excavating sideways. After a while, a semi-open lair was completed.


    He gathered the remaining pieces of Gudebar¡¯s body in a corner and spat a gobble of water on the wood (he carried the water from a nearby stream in his mouth). Claudius then scratched his balls a few times and wiped his claws on the pile of logs.


    ¡°I¡¯m definitely getting tinea cruris1 one day if I keep storing hyphae2 on my body like this! Ew, this is f**king gross if I do say so myself. Nah, even I can¡¯t stand this shit anymore, gotta find a new way as soon as possible! F**k this shit¡­¡­¡± Claudius slapped himself in the face out of instinct before realising he hadn¡¯t washed his claws, ¡°I¡¯m so f**ked¡­¡­¡±


    Claudius dumped his whole body into the nearby stream and began rolling around. The feeling of salt condensing on his scales was irritating, thus he chose to clean himself in a stream instead of the sea.


    After splashing around in the stream for a while, his scales were still rather dull and did not have a crimson shine, but Claudius still returned to his lair nonetheless.


    ¡°One day I¡¯m gonna polish wax my scales to make ¡®em shiny!¡± he muttered in Chinese while staring at the tiny white and red coloured fungi which were already growing on the corpse of the treant.


    In reality, Achilles¡¯ and Claudius¡¯ lairs were merely separated by 300 metres of rock¡­¡­


    Achilles could not view the other side of the mountain beneath the sea, but his magic allowed him to confirm that the Crimson Dragon had settled down on the other side of the mountain.


    ¡®If this could be endured, what else could not?¡¯ ¡ª Of course, Floren did not have Chinese idioms, but there were idioms with similar meanings among the natives as well. As a Bronze Dragon, Achilles could not tolerate the fact that a Crimson Dragon made a lair in close proximity to his own, but as a mature adult, acting out of impulse was a big no. While he did not see the fight between Gudebar and Claudius, Achilles still labelled the Crimson Dragon as a dangerous target. The Crimson Dragon was more muscular than any other True Dragon, especially the pair of hind legs, not to mention his mega size body and the Ring of Blaze which covered the surroundings of his lair. Achilles believed that he would almost certainly lose if they went for close quarter combat. As a righteous Bronze Dragon, Achilles was nothing like the stupid and dobe Brass Dragons and Copper Dragons which could not read the mood and situation. To avenge his friend, Achilles began devising strategies and tactics to defeat the evil Crimson Dragon.


    Meanwhile, Claudius was inspecting every inch of his body to make sure he was now clean; having fungi growing on his body was the last thing he wished for. It was simply pathetic for a mighty Crimson Dragon to suffer from such diseases. Other dragons would probably laugh and mock him for millenniums if that actually happened. Fortunately, Dragons were supernatural creatures, and it was extremely unlikely for such things to happen. Claudius¡¯ scales were not clean as a whistle, but the skin underneath did not suffer from any form of sickness or disease as well. Just for the sake of soothing his worries, Claudius sanitized his entire body (especially his balls) with his flames and Ring of Blaze¡­¡­


    It was quite the shameless act, but Claudius recently realized that his sense of shame had been disappearing bit by bit. This was proven from the fact that he could blatantly fly in the air with his balls dangling and not worry a single bit.


    Anyways, Claudius could not find the Bronze Dragon spying on him, thus he chose to slump down onto the walls of his lair and chill for a bit. His lair was a wide and spacious one with a tall ceiling, but the only downside was that it was in the shape of a funnel, with the upper areas being wider and the lower areas being crampier.


    After settling down in a comfortable posture, Claudius began to brainstorm ways to record his memories and knowledge, as well as creating a ¡®notebook¡¯ for studying magic. In Floren¡¯s terms, it would be known as a grimoire.


    ¡°Slicing my own skin for books is a bit too ridiculous, I guess. Paper isn¡¯t available in the wilderness as well, while writing on leather and hides were pretty much impossible¡­¡­¡±


    Claudius felt a bit frustrated, but then realized there was something he had yet to utilize, ¡°Right, tree bark! I got a stack of bark from the treant!¡±


    Recalling the battle in his mind, Claudius remembered that the treant had tough bark which contained traces of mana. He flew back to the murder scene, but could only recover six pieces of bark which were around 1 square metre large each. In terms of scale, it was like a pocket notebook for Claudius. It was a pity that the rest were already burnt as fuel during his barbecue session¡­¡­ Frankly, Claudius was rather disappointed at himself, but recovering 6 pieces was still better than none. Asides from ¡®paper¡¯, Claudius still needed pen and ink in order to write. He could use a branch as a makeshift pen before finding a proper one, and he was prepared to use his own blood as ink if a suitable substance could not be found.


    After thinking this issue through, Claudius began to fiddle the Heart of Treant with his claws. He thought that it was a piece of garbage which looked like amber stone and contained unknown mana ¡ª Claudius¡¯ ability to assess items was the shame of all Crimson Dragons¡­¡­


    ¡°Meh, this broken thing is crap.¡±


    Not giving a single damn about the precious item, Claudius threw the Heart of Treant to the pile of fungi. The essence of mana gathered by Gudebar throughout his life was now being used as fertilizer for cultivating fungi¡­¡­


    1.  A type of skin disease


    2. Basic cell/unit of fungi

 CH 32

    Chapter 32


    Ignoring his pile of fungi, Claudius began to recall the knowledge he learnt from Sylvia¡¯s library; to be precise knowledge regarding meditation. According to the books she had in her library, the first step to becoming a spellcaster was to meditate. He tried to follow the steps mentioned in the books, but to him, meditation was no different from taking a nap. Every time Claudius tried to meditate, he ended up falling asleep.


    Five days had passed since he settled down on one of the mountains of the Starspire Mountains. Claudius now had a general grasp of his surroundings, excluding Achilles. He did manage to discover another Bronze Dragon living around 60 kilometres away though; it was rather easy to spot as its lair was a small limestone hill with multiple holes. The Bronze Dragon seemed to know of Claudius¡¯ activities too, as it always hid somewhere during his patrols. Various animals and magical beasts resided near Claudius¡¯ lair as well. The most notable discovery was a dead volcano; the volcanic crater had collapsed to form a pitch black cave, and the entrance of the cave was so spooky that it almost seemed to be a path to the underworld.


    Claudius concluded that nothing could really threaten his safety, thus he shifted his focus to magic. After falling asleep a number of times while ¡®meditating¡¯, he worked on magic tricks, which were basically Level 0 spells, instead. Claudius managed to cast a few of the Level 0 spells without much effort despite not understanding the underlying principle. They were all nothing noteworthy though; he merely changed the colour of a mushroom with his spell. It was quite intriguing nonetheless, as meditation was regarded as a must for even the most basic spells. This was probably the inborn ability of dragons given the circumstances.


    Claudius repeatedly casted the Level 0 spells, attempting to grasp the flow of mana. The results were not much of a surprise; magic was similar to a task, where one would complete a process to obtain the desired result. The authority to access spells increases as the casting level of the spellcaster rises. It was nothing deep or complicated like ¡®discovering the secrets of dimensions, feeling the reality of the world and sculpting magic from the sea of mana¡¯ as stated in one of the books he read. Magic research was more or less a repetitive process of trial and error, with the fortunate researchers creating a complete spell from random fragments.


    At least that was what Claudius could apprehend after messing around with Level 0 spells. What he failed to observe, was the fact that he did not require meditation to cast spells successfully. Claudius¡¯ compatibility to magic would gradually increase over time as a benefit of harbouring a human soul from the world of the Mages of the Seashore. Sylvia¡¯s combat ability lay in her wide collection of spells; what Claudius read and learnt was merely the tip of an iceberg. His knowledge in magic was mostly about the structure and language of Level 0 spells; though they held insignificant power, it could still be counted as Claudius¡¯ first step into the realm of magic.


    Claudius was troubled about whether or not he should record the Level 0 spells on the precious bark he obtained. The books clearly stated that the caster would forget about the magic structure of the spell after casting it once, but that did not happen in his case; he could clearly recall all the structures of the spells he had casted before. Unlike others, Claudius had a cheat which broke the restrictions of being a spellcaster. The cheat was called Mana-Dependent Spellcaster ¡ª as long as he had sufficient mana, he could cast the spell as many times as he wanted to. A normal spellcaster could only cast a limited number of spells before resting regardless of how many spells a caster knew or prepared.


    As Level 0 spells were rather puny when compared to other spells, Claudius believed that they were not regarded as ¡®proper spells¡¯, which further caused him to have the misconception that the rules did not apply to Level 0 spells. Without the need to record down the magic structures, Claudius thought about noting down the descriptions and features of the creatures he came across instead. The problem, however, was that there was no spell which allowed him to record pictures on the pieces of bark, and his artistic talents were¡­¡­unsightly. After giving it some thought, he ultimately decided to record all Level 0 and 1 spells which he knew on the pieces of bark. It was pointless to make ¡®books¡¯ regarding creatures if he could not add pictures.


    Claudius used a piece of processed treant branch as a pen; it was first sharpened with his claws, then dried and hardened with his Ring of Blaze. He bit himself on the left paw for blood, which was used as ink as he could not find a proper substance for the job. Claudius had to bite himself quite a few times as his high Constitution automatically healed the wound faster than he could draw blood.


    Claudius could now cast a range of Level 0 spells, but things were not as smooth for Level 1 spells; every time he tried casting basic spells such as Endure Elements, Mage Armor and True Strike, they would fail right before the spell could be casted. The reason for his failure was due to his Earthly soul and the Mana-Dependent Spellcaster cheat. These overpowered traits and abilities came with a cost; the difficulty to cast spells was increased. For Claudius, casting Level 1 spells was equivalent to normal spellcasters casting Level 3 spells. Thankfully, the level of difficulty to cast Level 0 spells was still 0 after applying the multipliers; 0 would always be 0 no matter how many times it was multiplied anyways. This also meant that Claudius would most likely be unable to cast Level 6 spells before reaching an old age. Other Crimson Dragons would probably be casting Level 8 or 9 spells at that stage though.


    Despite being Level 0, the spells he knew were still sort of useful at times. As his lair was semi-open, it would be brightly illuminated by sunlight during daytime. Dragons had night vision as well, thus night time was not an issue for Claudius as well. It would not have been a problem even if he had no such ability; his body was a massive dark crimson light bulb of around 100 watts. Spells which were generally regarded as useful such as Light were pointless for Claudius, but he still casted Light for a whole hour just for the fun of it. Originally, the duration of the spell reflected the spellcaster¡¯s caster level; Level 6 was required for casting a Light spell with duration of 1 hour. Well, at least that was the case for ordinary spellcasters. The duration of Claudius¡¯ spells were random variables; the minimum duration would be equivalent to the duration of the spell being casted by a spellcaster with 1 caster level below Claudius¡¯, while there was no upper limit. Mage Hand was also a fun spell to fool around with, but he could only exert a maximum force of 5 lbs. Apart from babies and mice, it was impossible to kill anything with such a tiny force. He might do well as a street performer though.


    Claudius happily messed around with his newly acquired spells while writing down information about several interesting creatures on the spare bark. Writing on a 1 square metre large bark required a lot of effort as his claws were much larger. The huge claws could only hold relatively thick and wide objects, thus the ¡®pen¡¯ was almost as thick as the thigh of a human adult. Thankfully Claudius had perfect eyesight, allowing him to read the tiny letters he wrote. If he was short sighted, it would have been impossible to write on such a small piece of ¡®paper¡¯.


    At the same time, the plan to purge the Crimson Dragon was proceeding at a steady pace. It was only made possible thanks to Achilles¡¯ efforts; as a dragon representing order and kindness, he was an organized dragon. It would be a big mess by now if other dragons were in charge; for example, Copper Dragons were also righteous dragons, but they were rather simple-minded and sometimes chaotic in a sense. This was further proven by the actions of Sleipnir the Copper Dragon. As a well-known prankster, Sleipnir had already thought of several pranks to trick and fool around with the new inhabitant.


    Back to Achilles¡¯ plan, various other powers also played a part in purging the uninvited Crimson Dragon. Apart from Copper and Bronze Dragons, other righteous creatures such as Unicorns, Giant Eagles and Druids which led a reclusive life in the mountains were also included in the plan. They all joined hands due to a single piece of information which Achilles acquired ¡ª the new inhabitant was confirmed as Claudius ¡®The Crimson Disaster¡¯ who had made his debut in the ongoing war known as The Emerald War (the war between the Greenliner coalition and Silvia the Jade Dragoness¡¯ army).


    1. My best guess is Zazesspu

 CH 33

    Chapter 33


    Oblivious to the Bronze Dragon¡¯s plans, Claudius was busy searching for materials to make notes on; the tree bark had already been used up, and the attempts to use leather and hide failed. At first, leather was both soft and durable, making it the ideal material for writing, but they all turned into dried and cracked pieces not long after due to the high temperature in his lair.


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­ How do I tan leather?¡±


    After trying out different methods, Claudius came to the conclusion that leather might be good for making armour, but definitely not useful as paper.


    Starspire Mountains were a bunch of mountains with steep slopes and high altitude, thus True Dragons who loved the mountain terrain gathered there. About 10 or so True Dragons resided in the Starspire Mountains in the current era, as well as a bunch of mystical creatures and who-knows-how-many ancient ruins.


    The Copper Dragon Sleipnir was currently its way to one of the ruins on top a mountain within the Starspire Mountains to find the flying apes living there. As a matter of fact, the actual name of their species was Derhii, and they looked no more than apes with a pair of wings. These winged apes were equipped with various leather products such as belts and pouches as well as weapons, including large machetes and throwing spears. The Derhii habitually sided with powerful creatures such as dragons, and Sleipnir was in control of the Derhiis residing in that specific ruin.


    These apes were troublesome opponents to face off against on the battlefield. Apart from their physical strength, they also boasted high mobility and 3-Dimensional manoeuvres due to their wings, making them stronger fighters than the average warrior or soldier.


    Even though they were tough subordinates, the Derhii were not the best troops ¡ª Achilles had to personally visit the port town somewhere near the Starspire Mountains to muster them for battle. The main industry of the town was resupplying cargo ships and fishery, with surrounding flatlands providing crops for the townsmen. It was a small and ordinary town with around 1000 residents, nothing compared to the large cities throughout the continent. In this ordinary-looking town, traces of the battle tribe Udaeus could be found.


    As Achilles was already recognized as a comrade by the battle-loving Udaeus a long time ago, he did not need to pass certain criterion like others to seek their aid. The Bronze Dragon morphed into a tall, muscular man and headed towards a house which resembled the traditional Japanese Nagaya1 houses. The long house had its doors shut all year round and was located at an inconspicuous corner of the town. Just as Achilles opened the heavy doors and stepped into the spacious living room, the large fireplace which occupied most of the area suddenly ignited. Greyish ash turned bright red, and pale white shadows sitting with crossed legs appeared besides the fireplace while the column of fire roared on.


    These humanoids were all as white as bones, and they were all thoroughly equipped. Though their faces were covered, the tattoos on their arms and thighs were still visible. They wore chest pieces and helmet for protection, and every one of them was further equipped with finely forged spears and round shields ¡ª the appearances of these warriors were close to ancient Roman soldiers.


    A voice could be heard from under the centurion helmet of the shadow on the edge of the fireplace, ¡°You¡¯ve come. What is the matter this time?¡±


    ¡°A Crimson Dragon.¡± Achilles replied in a formal manner.


    While Achilles was having a dialogue with the Udaeus, Claudius was still searching for materials to record the knowledge obtained from the Inheritance Ceremony and Sylvia¡¯s library before he forgot any of the important ones. All of his ideas up till now were splendidly shot down. He could not tan leather properly, nor could he find durable and large leaves for writing. The bark from ordinary trees became moldy all the time, and cave drawings could not be taken away when he wanted to change lairs. Claudius could write on clay before roasting the pieces with his flames, but it was bulky and inefficient as expected. He had not spent much time on researching magic and spells, thus magic tools like automatic-recording clay boards were simply a fantasy for the current Claudius.


    Claudius adopted the method of using clay boards, since that was better than nothing. He dug chunks of clay and mixed them with water, creating a large moist board. Claudius hurriedly wrote his knowledge onto the board, mostly in Chinese while small bits here and there were in English. Unless there were people who had Legendary-Class Language Decryption or Language Learning skills, it was incomprehensible scribble for the locals of Floren. Turning them from clay to ceramics was rather simple; all he had to do was placing them near himself to dry the clay before roasting the pieces with his flames. Repeating the process, Claudius filled his lair with pieces of ceramic boards.


    ¡°It will be great if there¡¯s ink. I can use letterpress printing once I find ink!¡±


    While he was choosing what to record on the ceramic plates, Claudius went through his current knowledge and strengthened his memories as a side effect. Claudius was now motivated to work on deciphering the magic structures behind Level 1 magic as he made remarkable progress while sorting through stuff in his head.


    He thought to himself, ¡°Maybe a few years till I finish examining my first magic skill? For god¡¯s sake, Level 0 spells work on an entirely different system than that of Level 1 spells¡­¡­Geez, they are almost completely unrelated. I have this acid fluid spell or whatnot, yet I don¡¯t have the Level 1 spell to launch it¡­¡­ How strange.¡±


    Back at the port town, Achilles has signed a contract with the Udaeus, officially hiring them as mercenaries for battle. If Claudius caught wind of this news, he might find it intriguing that True Dragons, who were commonly known as misers, would actually be willing to hire others to fight for them. Well, not that Claudius had any rights to comment on such things as he was the poorest dragon throughout the entire history of Floren¡­¡­


    Speaking of which, Claudius had never seen the currency of this world. While valuable materials and gear were sometimes found, Claudius had yet to find a single coin. ¡®I¡¯m not a damn crow¡¯ was his mindset which banned himself from gathering shiny stuff such as magic tools, money and minerals. Instead, Claudius took pride in gathering the bones of strong mystical creatures. The skull of a mega-size bull pinned on the wall of his lair, and his current favourite exhibit was the skull of a Dire Wolf. Keeping the skin was the normal practice, but Claudius only cared about the bones themselves, thus his collection consisted only of bare skulls.


    Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the Starspire Mountains, Sleipnir had finally found the Dehrii.

 CH 34

    Chapter 34


    If Claudius had seen the machete-wielding Dehrii, he would surely feel that they were way, way more threatening than the Flying Monkeys from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Just the looks of them holding machetes was enough to scare the hell out of people. A few Derhii dived down towards the flying Sleipnir, with a silver-haired leader leading the team.


    The Derhii eventually agreed to join the force to purge ¡®The Crimson Disaster¡¯; though no one knew how the Copper Dragon managed to persuade them. The campaign was now in full swing, yet ironically, the target himself was completely unaware of it. As Claudius was focused on the clay plates, he failed to notice that there was a Copper Dragon nearby.


    He thought, ¡°A mere young dragon dares to play pranks on me? Impossible!¡±


    Claudius barely slept, as it was currently his active period. Most of his time was spent hunting and messing around with clay plates. Due to his increased activity, Claudius had a larger appetite than usual. He easily wiped out every single herbivore within tens of kilometres from his lair; even the native predators had to move away from his hunting zone due to the lack of food. Thanks to his habit of planting mushrooms, the hunting was still at an ¡®acceptable¡¯ level. Claudius would have devoured all life forms if there had not been a mushroom farm. An extra benefit of consuming mushrooms were their rich fibre content, which prevented Claudius from constipation.


    The mushrooms cultivated in his lair were no ordinary mushrooms; they were either blood red or bright red in colour, as compared to the normal black and white. These colourful mushrooms also had a tint of warmth to them for some reason. Most people would most likely die from consuming one of Claudius¡¯ mushrooms¡­¡­


    Their growth rate was also shocking, with a bunch of mushrooms growing rapidly on Gudebar¡¯s corpse every day. The mushrooms required less than an hour to grow from hyphae to a fully grown mushroom around the height of a human adult. Even Claudius, who had experienced plenty of weird stuff himself, thought that the mushrooms had to be haunted or cursed; he had already completely forgotten about the Heart of Treant he had tossed into the farm days ago.


    Even more fascinating, some of the mushrooms experienced an interesting change; it was just that Claudius himself was unaware of it. Some of the shorter mushrooms, around the height of a 10-year-old, began growing cute limbs and facial features. Concealing their presence under the taller mushrooms, they avoided the fate of being consumed. Claudius could not really be blamed for not noticing it, as he would only casually grab a bunch of the fully grown ones without paying too much attention; there was no need to pay much attention to the looks of his staple food. He recently tried writing on the hardened mushroom caps of over aged mushrooms, but the attempt failed ¡ª they were still too soft.


    The spontaneous appearance of Myceloids, the mushroommen, was due to constant exposure to the radiation released by Claudius and the nourishment of the Heart of Treant. The Myceloids had the innate ability to communicate with telepathy, thus they were still undiscovered by Claudius despite living in close proximity. The Crimson Dragon had thought that something weird was going on within the mushroom farm, but he dismissed the issue as bug or mice infestation and did not investigate further. One thing to note: the Myceloids were of the good and righteous alignment¡­¡­


    The ¡®normal¡¯ mushrooms Claudius grew could earn him a stockpile of gold coins equivalent to his body mass if he sold them as materials for alchemy. Eating mushrooms bursting with mana was both a luxury and a great waste, but Claudius could not care less. He had no idea his mushrooms had such a high value, and he had been consuming them for lengthy periods of time already. It was now a habit to eat mushrooms as the main course while meat was more of a side dish.


    The purge had finally begun while Claudius was working on clay plates. He had a powerful and intense dragon aura, but it had limited range due to his age. Achilles challenged Claudius with a roar before declaring, ¡°Leave right now, murderer!¡± in the Draconic Language in front of his lair.


    The 20-meter-long Bronze Dragon had long morphed back to his dragon form and was currently circling above Claudius¡¯ lair. White mist covered the entire region at the blink of an eye.


    ¡°So there¡¯s a Bronze Dragon here, huh. The f**k is wrong with him? I¡¯ve only minded my own business after settling down. This is none of his business! Maybe he¡¯s a Silver or Gold Dragon disguised as a Bronze Dragon?¡± Placing down the clay plates, Claudius walked out of his lair and leapt into the air.


    The scorching air dyed the mist red, and Achilles could only see a massive shadow crashing out of the dense mist. Claudius dispersed the mist with a few flap of his dark crimson wings, flooding the area with heat at the same time. Although the Bronze Dragon hated the evil and chaotic Crimson Dragons, Achilles could not help but admire the ferocious and mighty look of his enemy. The steel-like body, dark crimson scales, as well as the two pairs of horns extending in different directions all suggested that the Crimson Dragon in front of him right now was special and was ridiculously powerful.


    Contrary to Achilles¡¯ hatred, Claudius was brimming with curiosity ¡ª it was his first time seeing a Bronze Dragon in person. The mature adult dragon was smaller in size than Claudius, with his body around the size of Sylvia. Claudius simply thought that the Bronze Dragon was looking for trouble; he thought that Achilles lacked the strength to overpower him in combat. But physical strength was not the only thing which mattered, as Bronze Dragons could utilize magic fairly well.


    ¡°That guy over there! You¡¯re a Bronze Dragon, right? What brings you here, eh? I don¡¯t remember killing any of your kin though? Making me leave is also unreasonable, you know? Too bad I plan on staying here for a long while!¡± Claudius tried to talk things out.


    Claudius blocked half of Achilles¡¯ field of view with his massive body, attempting to intimidate the Bronze Dragon.


    ¡°You killed my friend, poor old Guderbar! Furthermore, this is my territory! Crimson Dragons are unwelcomed here!¡±


    Achilles wanted to solve the problem without having to fight to due to his kind nature; it was best if the Crimson Dragon could leave quietly. In his mind, threatening the target was necessary was necessary to achieve his secondary goal. That was why he brought along Sleipnir the Bronze Dragon.


    The little Sleipnir was merely 3 meters long. No matter how Claudius looked at it, it was still something he could probably finish off in one bite. He would have mistaken Sleipnir as some other creature instead of a Copper Dragon if not for his knowledge from the Inheritance Ceremony; it was his first time seeing a Copper Dragon, and Sleipnir¡¯s size was simply too tiny when compared to his own.


    ¡°Did you guys really think you could fight me just because it¡¯s 2 versus 1? Just a puny young Copper Dragon and weak adult Bronze Dragon, and you guys thought it would be possible to fight a Crimson Dragon of my tier? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s something retarded like believing ¡®Justice will always be victorious over evil¡¯! Pfft, the definition of ¡®righteous¡¯ and ¡®evil¡¯ is subjective anyways¡­¡­¡± Claudius was about to burst into laughter.

 CH 35

    Chapter 35


    Claudius didn¡¯t really like or want to fight, thus it was best if things could be resolved peacefully, achieving a win-win situation which everyone would be satisfied with. It was also obvious that Achilles had yet to decide whether or not he would kill the Crimson Dragon, or just banish it from the region. It was an undeniable fact that Claudius killed his friend Gudebar, but there would be considerable casualties among his allies if they went to battle. The kind Bronze Dragon could not bear to see his allies suffering simply for his vengeance.


    Claudius, however, helped Achilles make up his mind. He went straight back to his lair after mocking the two dragons, ignoring them as if they were non-existent. Seeing the arrogant act of the Crimson Dragon, the young Lammasu which had been hiding behind Sleipnir sprung into action. The Lammasus were winged lions with a human face, and they were magical beasts of the good alignment, often saving the weak and suppressed. The Lammasu was friendly with Sleipnir, and was one of the trump cards of Achilles. The Lammasu had the spell Dimension Door, which allowed the Derhii and Udaeus to deploy all at once.


    A door of light appeared behind the Lammasu. Fully armed Udaeus and adventurers who joined the campaign after hearing about the details rushed out of the door. The Udaeus lined up in formation rapidly, forming a small legion. The adventurers numbered around 5 or 6, and they made preparations on the flanks of the Udaeus legion.


    The Derhii also joined the fray through the door. The flying apes began to climb up the air, occupying the high ground. They could not afford to be careless; the enemy was a Crimson Dragon after all. After ending the Dimension Door spell, the Lammasu also flew up high, reflecting sunlight with its golden armour. The luxurious armour attracted the attention of everyone on the battlefield ¡ª even Claudius, Achilles and Sleipnir admired the shininess for a split second.


    Claudius, who was on the ground, grinded his teeth in rage.


    ¡°Going to battle straight away? The temper of dragons is as hopeless as ever,¡± he sighed.


    He casually took a breath and sprayed flames in a fan shape. The red hot flames spread in an arc of 120 degrees with a radius of 40 metres, reaching up to 40 meters into the air. Swaying his neck, the flames covered all 360 degrees of his surroundings, blocking all advancement of enemy forces.


    Claudius was not serious with the attack ¡ª he thought the Udaeus and Derhii were merely small fries which did not pose a real threat. To Claudius, it was no more than a farce. Little did he know that he was entirely wrong; they were much more dangerous than their looks. The Udaeus and Derhii all had well-made weapons, and these weapons were even enchanted with some sort of blessing for some reason. Against such weapons, the defensive capabilities of dragon scales were no more than mere leather armour.


    Claudius immediately suffered the backlash of his carelessness. The Udaeus legion spread out while closing on to the Crimson Dragon, avoiding the incoming wide area attack from hitting everyone at once. Holding a spear and shield in each of their hands, the Udaeus marched into battle. They tossed their spears at their target in an orderly manner, which surprised Claudius. It was a prearranged plan to take out the Crimson Dragon when it was unprepared, and it was extremely effective. After blocking several spears, a handful of short spears struck his torso from another angle.


    The blessed weapons easily punctured Claudius¡¯ tough scales, and Claudius roared loudly in pain. The Udaeus were all talented soldiers; the spears dealt much more damage than the previous rangers he encountered. They were an army, unlike the small team of rangers. The cooperation and tactics deployed by the Udaeus were much more advanced than mere adventurers and rangers. Spears poked out of Claudius¡¯ body with blood trickling out of the wound, forming a burning puddle on the ground. In response to the unexpected attacks, Claudius instinctively roared and released his dragon aura in full power.


    At the same time, the vanguard ¡ª Achilles ¡ª joined the battle against the Crimson Dragon. The Bronze Dragon opened up a path with a lightning bolt; the attack which had comparable power to a Cerulean Dragon struck Claudius like a whip, staggering him. Not wasting the opportunity, Achilles, who was under the protection of Fire Immunity, lunged at Claudius and attacked with his claws and teeth. Claudius did not have outstanding balance in the first place as he walked on two legs; despite his excellent agility, his balance was rather mediocre. Right after regaining his posture, Claudius was immediately struck by the barrage of attacks. His scales were crushed by Achilles¡¯ claws, while his own left claw was bitten by Achilles and was immobilized.


    Claudius had elemental and physical advantage over Achilles, thus he began his retaliation despite suffering from injuries. He attempted to bite the Bronze Dragon with his jaws stuffed with razor sharp teeth, but Achilles managed to dodge the attack by a thin margin. If Claudius actually landed his bite on Achilles¡¯ neck, the Bronze Dragon would most likely die straight away. After missing his attack, Claudius proceeded to release his Ring of Blaze at maximum power, cladding his body in a dim red glow. Without caring about the injury on his claw, Claudius sent a swipe towards Achilles.


    The Udaeus were about to throw their second wave of spears towards Claudius when the Ring of Blaze engulfed them. They swiftly retreated, but the connection points of their armour were melted by the heat, slightly burning their bodies as well. They also experienced difficulty in breathing as their lungs were scorched by the intense heat. The ground dried up and cracked rapidly, and the spears, including the metal spearheads, were all burnt and melted by the high temperature. In order to engage Claudius in close combat, they had to acquire Fire Resistance first.


    The Dehrii also pulled back along with the Udaeus; their fur was even weaker to fire than normal armour. Meanwhile, Achilles was at a disadvantage in the fight with Claudius. The Bronze Dragon was at the stage of a mature adult, and his stats were around the level of a juvenile Crimson Dragon. It would have been around the same level as Claudius if he was a normal Crimson Dragon, but his abilities were way above the counterparts of his age. Claudius¡¯ claw attacks landed on Achilles one after another, tearing the flesh of the Bronze Dragon. From his battle experience, Achilles determined that the bite of Claudius was a fatal attack, thus he desperately dodged the incoming bites despite suffering from injury. Achilles would rather endure the strong hits from Claudius¡¯ wings and claws than being killed by a single bite. For this very reason, Claudius was able to land a ton of attacks on his enemy, shredding the webbing of Achilles¡¯ wings and dying the ground red with blood. Claudius¡¯ body was covered in flames, but the Lightning Breath attack still managed to electrocute his shoulders, charring his scales in the shape of a viper.


    ¡°Soon, this guy will reach his limit. When I manage to land a single bite, this will all be over!¡± Claudius thought.

 CH 36

    Chapter 36


    Indeed, Achilles was in deep trouble right now. As a mature adult dragon, losing to a juvenile Crimson Dragon in battle was rather disgraceful. However, that did not mean Achilles was weak; it was just that his compatibility against Claudius in battle was horrendous. Claudius was physically stronger than others of his age, and he had the cheat of having high magic resistance, negating most of the Bronze Dragon¡¯s magic attacks. Magic Missile was a weak magic in the first place, and Achilles could not cast Ray of Frost and Wall of Ice in time. They were now engaged in close quarter combat, giving Claudius the clear advantage due to his massive size and high Dexterity. Without using breath attacks, he was pushing Achilles back with only his claws and jaws.


    The Lammasu rushed towards Claudius; it had to help Achilles with tanking the incoming damage as its healing magic could no longer catch up with the damage the Bronze Dragon was taking. With a bit of acceleration, the winged lion lunged at Claudius, forcing the Crimson Dragon to step back. Achilles took the opportunity to retreat from the fight and began healing himself. He also thought of ways of countering the Crimson Dragon, such as using ice magic.


    But time was running out ¡ª the Lammasu was getting its ass whipped. Achilles did not have time to chant and cast the spells he had in mind as the winged lion was getting trampled. Although it looked powerful and almighty in its enchanted golden armour, the armour was rendered pretty much useless when facing Claudius.


    Claudius not only had the advantage in terms of body size, his claws and teeth were also much sharper than the Lammasu. He even had the leisure to think of something retarded like ¡®Is that a Sphinx?¡¯, which of course was a wrong guess. Though the Lammasu used Smite Evil on Claudius, it only managed to scrape off pieces of scales from his shoulders and inflict a small wound. Claudius retaliated by slapping the Lammasu¡¯s head in with a back-claw, almost squishing the head of the mighty lion. The Lammasu¡¯s face slanted comically to one side and most of its teeth fell from their sockets. While Claudius had weird body proportions due to his habit to walk with hind legs, his claws were still as powerful as Crimson Dragons of his age. Storing power in his muscular hind legs, Claudius transferred the energy to his wings a performed a follow up wing attack. He twisted his body and struck the tattered Lammasu from the bottom, sending it up into the air before slamming it back down to the ground with his other wing. The Lammasu¡¯s feathery wings were then bitten by Claudius, and crunching sounds which were somewhat similar to cracking branches could be heard.


    This was the scene Achilles saw after resting for merely 10 seconds. It looked as if the Crimson Dragon was about to rip off his ally¡¯s wings before killing it; Achilles could not afford to stand back at this point. Achilles widened his jaws, sending a thick thunder viper crackling through the air, accurately striking the wound on Claudius¡¯ shoulder briefly afterwards. A large chunk of scales were once again torn off Claudius¡¯ shoulder, and blood was flooding out of the wound.


    Claudius released the Lammasu from his jaws as his consciousness went hazy for a split second. The winged lion which barely managed to maintain its consciousness instantly dropped to the ground ¡ª at least it was supposed to. Achilles decisively wrapped his tail around his ally and pulled it out of range of Claudius¡¯ attacks.


    ¡°Sleipnir!¡±


    Responding to Achilles¡¯ call, the Bronze Dragon swiftly appeared and dragged the Lammasu away from the battlefield while applying healing magic on the gravely injured lion. Thanks to Achilles¡¯ intervention, the Lammasu managed to retain its wings despite them almost being reduced to lumps of flesh. Claudius¡¯ teeth had punctured the muscles, tendons and bones like an ice pick puncturing ice, crushing the components of the wings. The wings would have been amputated if this were to happen on Earth, where magic was non-existent.


    The Udaeus and Derhii got themselves Fire Resistance from who knows where, but that did not matter anyways. They daringly rushed and attacked Claudius, placing their very lives on the line. Claudius¡¯ massive body was a double-edged sword ¡ª it gave him the advantage when fighting against Achilles and the Lammasu, but it also meant that it was impossible to evade or block every attack from the Udaeus and Derhii.


    With short spears in their right hand and Roman scutum-styled shields in their left hand, the Udaeus surrounded Claudius like hunters closing in on their prey. They attacked and retreated in an orderly manner, avoiding Claudius¡¯ attacks while inflicting damage on his massive body from all directions. The flying apes also cooperated with the Udaeus, diving towards Claudius while swinging machetes with their strong arms. Under the effect of momentum and blessed weaponry, deep cuts appeared all over his wings and back.


    These wounds were unable to force Claudius into retreating due to his high Constitution. The combined forces would have to attack Claudius for over half a day just to immobilize him if they could not further increase their firepower. Although the weapons were blessed and could cut dragon scales with ease, a portion of the damage was still being negated by Claudius¡¯ inborn damage reduction. The tough muscle layer underneath his scales also served as a secondary shield.


    Achilles was once again being suppressed by Claudius, but the same could be said for Claudius as well. He had to focus on the Bronze Dragon, yet he lacked the power to finish it off. The Copper Dragon on the sidelines was also fighting the battle in its own way ¡ª it was mocking the Crimson Dragon, demoralizing the enemy while raising their own morale. As Claudius¡¯ appearance was quite different from typical Crimson Dragons, there were plenty of things to mock about; the Copper Dragon could probably write a few joke books and publish them at this rate.


    The righteous forces knew Claudius¡¯ alias ¡ª ¡®The Crimson Disaster¡¯, but they did not know his actual name. They had tried to pry his information with various spells, but they all failed splendidly. It was not a surprise though; most, if not all, True Dragons had high resistance towards divination spells that attempted to obtain their information, especially their name. Trying to find out the name of a dragon without using Legendary-Class spells was simply unrealistic.


    Claudius felt irritated as the Copper Dragon continued to mock him with songs. He could now understand the feeling of the Monkey King when together with Xuanzang; it was like being surrounded by thousands of buzzing flies, yet they could not be killed or driven away. Even with the help of Sleipnir, Achilles was still being overpowered by Claudius. The Bronze Dragon tried to temporarily retreat a few times, but all his attempts failed as his path was being blocked by his enemy. Escaping was his last resort as it also meant that he was betraying his allies in a sense, leaving them to meet their own demise while saving his own ass. Achilles had no plans of escaping right now, but he would not be given the chance to do so anyways ¡ª the moment he showed his back to Claudius would also be the moment of his death.


    One of the adventurers, who seemed to be useless at first, suddenly casted a spell at the dragons engaged in battle. The tall and slim warrior who looked like a half-elf released a barrage of icicles ¡ª the target of this attack was Claudius, who had just managed to land a bite on Achilles¡¯ wings¡­¡­

 CH 37

    Chapter 37


    As Crimson Dragons were True Dragon which belonged to the fire sub-type, they were immune against fire. On the other hand, the effects and damage inflicted by frost attacks were increased, which was why the female warrior decisively casted a spell which belonged to the cold element. In fact, cold elemental magic was one of her fortes.


    Claudius instantly released Achilles from his jaws despite almost being able to puncture his internal organs. After dumping Achilles, Claudius displayed his extraordinary agility by performing phantom-like movements. He zigzagged left and right as if dribbling while pulling back, changing his centre of mass constantly. With a swift turn, Claudius picked up the Bronze Dragon who was lying on the ground as a meat shield.


    Despite performing astounding stunts while dodging, Claudius was still hit by a handful of icicles ¡ª the spell relied on line of sight of the caster to home in on the target. One third of the barrage of icicles landed on Claudius¡¯ body, easily breaking his scales apart. Unlike previous wounds, blood did not spurt out; the areas which were struck by the icicles began to freeze and form a white layer, reducing his mobility.


    ¡°Holy shit! There¡¯s a hidden boss?!¡± Claudius swore. He did not have the time to reflect on his carelessness as the attacker was a real threat.


    ¡°Three freaking dragons! Shit, I got tricked real bad!¡±


    Claudius immediately recognized the aura of the female warrior after getting hit by her icicles. It was the most distinctive, as well as the most hated dragon aura for Crimson Dragons ¡ª the dragon aura of a Silver Dragon. Even Achilles himself did not know that a Silver Dragoness was on his side; the young Silver Dragoness, Elialaz, was in her human form when she overheard Achilles¡¯ ¡®righteous plans¡¯. Elialaz lived in human towns and led a casual life, forming parties with adventurers from time to time. After learning of the plans to purge a Crimson Dragon, Elialaz joined the forces of justice along with her party members. The reason was simple ¡ª Crimson Dragons were the archenemies of Silver Dragons. This alone was more than enough for the two species to fight as soon as they meet.


    Concealing her dragon aura, Elialaz joined the battle in the form of a tall female warrior with golden hair and porcelain skin. Silver Dragons loved to mingle around in human societies in their human forms, and Elialaz had been living among mankind for a while already, thus she could acquire news and information much quicker and easier than Achilles. Just not long ago, she thought about joining the adventurer squads to the Fire Dragon Bay, which was a bit north from where she was, but did not do so in the end. Before Elialaz could join the war between the elves and the Jade Dragoness, she received intel regarding ¡®The Crimson Disaster¡¯, the Crimson Dragon which indiscriminately attacked both sides from the messenger elves and druids.


    The Silver Dragoness learnt of Claudius¡¯ unorthodox appearance and overwhelming power, yet she did not inform Achilles. Perhaps due to arrogance and carelessness, Elialaz thought that the descriptions of the Crimson Dragon were rumours which were exaggerated, thus she did not pay heed much heed to the information. Indeed, the enemy in front of her right now undoubtedly had unparalleled battle prowess of dragons among his age, but everything was still under control. Perhaps Claudius was invincible in close quarter combat and had exceptional flames, but he was lacking in terms of mana and magic. Noticing his weakness, Elialaz was rather confident that she could suppress Claudius with her commonly used spells. In gaming terms, this would be a world dominated by spellcasters and magic. Those who could not use spells and magic were weak despite having superior physique or whatnot.


    As Silver Dragons belonged to the cold subtype, they were the natural nemesis of Crimson Dragons. Furthermore, it could be said that Elialaz one-sidedly trampled the pathetic Claudius in terms of magic ability. It was not Claudius¡¯ fault; even Crimson Dragons that had reached the stage of great wyrm did not have convenient spells or spell-like abilities which could be casted all the time. Although Elialaz was stunned by Claudius¡¯ barbaric fighting style, she still managed to save Achilles by launching the icicles just in time. As a matter of fact, the blessings on the weapons and Fire Immunity granted to the Udaerus and Dehrii were all Elialaz¡¯s deeds.


    ¡°A juvenile dragon, huh¡­¡­¡± the Silver Dragoness muttered, ¡°It already has the body size of an adult dragon, not to mention the Ring of Blaze which even some adult Crimson Dragons fail to obtain¡­¡­. It¡¯s hard to imagine it being one stage younger than myself; a dangerous foe indeed.¡±


    After getting hit by the icicles, Elialaz determined that Claudius was no longer a threat. As long as she continued to infest the Crimson Dragon with her spell, it was only a matter of time before Claudius would die from the frost. Having earned a bit of time, Elialaz proceeded to chant a healing spell for Achilles before morphing back into her natural form. The Silver Dragoness had an elegant body which was by no means inferior to Claudius in terms of size, but she was not as tall after landing on the ground. Her scales were matte silver in colour and did not reflect light like mirrors.


    The party members along with Sleipnir and Achilles dropped their jaws to the ground in shock after Elialaz transformed into her dragon form. There were extremely surprised by the fact that their companion and ally was actually a Silver Dragoness. Revealing her identity also served another purpose; the morale of the warriors which belonged to the good alignment was boosted to levels which were off the charts ¡ª the tables were now turned.


    Claudius also knew he was screwed. Fighting against three True Dragons was simply impossible, even if the Copper Dragon was just a weakling who could do nothing but mock him on the sidelines. He could not even win against the ¡®small fries¡¯ in his current condition. After Claudius reflexively spewed fire at his own body to melt the frost on his body, he took in a large, deep breath.


    Agility served its purpose right now; Claudius dashed here and there among the Udaeus, making sharp and unpredictable turns. The Udaeus could only repeatedly dodge as they would be killed if they got hit by the massive body which was five times their own. In a sense, the Udaeus became a temporary shield for Claudius. Elialaz could not cast large area spells right now, and she had to spend a portion of her attention on protecting her allies with spells. This reduced the suppression effect of her spell on Claudius, giving Claudius a chance to retaliate.


    An explosion occurred the next moment. Claudius split his breath attack into two portions, the first one scattering milky vapour throughout the air with the help of his wings, while the second one was a fan-shaped flame breath which ignited the fluid and caused the explosion.


    The Derhii all shrieked in pain as the sticky fluid burned on their skins. Even the tough apes could not bear the pain of having their lungs and trachea scorched, and the Fire Immunity spell was destroyed in an instant. Six of the Derhii dropped dead on the ground immediately. The Udaeus also faced a similar fate; their armour was being burnt along with the exposed areas. If not for Elialaz¡¯s wide area healing spell, severe casualties would have occurred among the righteous forces. But casualties could not be avoided ¡ª the human companions of the Silver Dragoness did not have high stats when compared to the others, thus the rogue and archer were roasted dead by the hot air before the healing spell could be cast.


    The smoke and debris blocked the vision of the area, throwing everyone into chaos. Claudius flapped his wings rapidly with his best effort, managing to lift off before the Silver Dragoness could come to her senses. There was only one option right now ¡ª get the hell out immediately.

 CH 38

    Chapter 38


    Claudius¡¯ wings were quite tattered; the webbing had plenty of injuries and holes. As dragons¡¯ flight capabilities were more like magical abilities, Claudius still managed to lift off despite having damaged wings, defying the laws of physics. Due to the nature of the magic, all dragons flew rather clumsily and had limited speed; Claudius was probably the only exception to this rule. He had exceptional speed thanks to his Dexterity, and by adjusting the angle of his wings, he could gain speed while increasing altitude. Eliaza realized that it was too late to try and pursue the Crimson Dragon, but she still chanted a spell before Claudius was out of range.


    The attack missed. Claudius dodged the incoming spell by nose-diving and continued to fly just above the sea. The seawater parted and splashed out from either side of Claudius due to his speed, rippling the surface of the sea. As a dragon, Claudius did not have any equipment; there was simply no space to equip items or armour given his size. He was, once again, a broke bloke ¡ª all the mushrooms and ceramic plates were left in the lair.


    The dragon himself did not feel heartbroken at all though, as he thought that successfully escaping was already a decent outcome.


    ¡°Maybe if I did not mess around, I would have obtained the title of Dragon Slayer,¡± Claudius comforted himself while flying further away, ¡°That lil¡¯ bitch, it was damn painful! Look at these f**king wounds, all the muscle tissues are probably dead! Argh, Silver Dragoness, this is real f**ked up! Now there¡¯s bad blood between the two of us for no reason!¡±


    After cursing for a while, Claudius thought that Elialaz actually had a decent appearance. His value of aesthetics was once again proven to be seriously affected by his lifetime as a dragon¡­¡­


    With a messed up body, Claudius wanted to find a place and rest for a while. Most of his external wounds, apart from those suffering from frostbite, had already been healed a while ago. New scales were replacing the broken or missing ones, and they looked no different from the old scales unless observed closely. However, the internal injuries did not heal as quick. Cold magic elements infiltrated his body through the wounds, dealing considerable damage to his organs before they were dissipated by his own flames. Although Claudius had sterilized his wounds with his own fire breath and fire magic elements, the frostbitten organs still required time to fully heal. Currently, he was suffering from extreme fatigue, and seemed as if he would fall from the sky any moment.


    More than an hour had passed since Claudius escaped from the battle. With his exceptional speed, he was now over 700 kilometres away from the Starspire Mountains. No other creature on Earth could reach such speed; it was almost on the level of a piston engine fighter back in World War II. Of course, this was not without costs. Apart from constantly flapping his wings, Claudius also had to force the magic elements out of his body to enter the state of acceleration and propelling.


    Unless Elialaz used teleportation spells, there was no way for her to catch up with the fleeing dragon. Claudius felt safe after fleeing for hundreds of kilometres, thus he began to search for a place to land and rest. The raging sea almost seemed endless at first, but after climbing up several hundred metres up into the air, he spotted a thick black line which seemed to be the horizon in the far distance. Claudius knew it was an archipelago located slightly away from the Fire Dragon Bay, but he could not recall the name of the islands no matter how hard he tried; he probably did not memorize the whole map in his previous life.


    ¡°Hmm, this should work as a shelter for a good while. Might as well think of the future after I have fully recovered, there¡¯s no need to hurry anyway. It¡¯s a pity I lost all the ceramic plates though; it¡¯s troublesome to write everything again¡­¡­¡± Claudius thought while landing on one of the quiet islands of the Velen Isles.


    The island itself did not have a name as it was relatively small; it was at most four square kilometres in size. The island did not have a beach, thus it was more like a 50 or 60-metre-high rocky mountain with dangerous cliffs everywhere. Spiky black reef surrounded the island, and the lowest point on the island was 10 metres above sea level. The only life forms present on the island were short shrubs and seagulls of several different species.


    There was not a single trace of intelligent life forms on the island, and it was certainly not a location which ships would stop by. It was hard to approach the island due to the spiky reefs, but no one would do so anyways ¡ª the rocky island lacked freshwater. Water seemed to be trickling out of the gaps between rocks, forming a tiny stream, but it was most likely accumulated rainwater from the previous rainstorm. The environment was so harsh that even the fishmen tribes would not bother to visit, and it was certainly not a place for dragons to reside in. Bronze Dragons would stay there if they had no choice, but any sane Crimson Dragon would definitely avoid staying in such a humid environment and short mountain.


    This time, Claudius made sure to search the entire region in detail before settling down. Much to his delight, he found that the surrounding sea was rather deep and turbidity currents were constantly formed due to collective effects of the incoming sea current and the spiky reefs. Only balanidae and ostreidae could survive under the strong currents, and fish could rarely be found. The tough environment combined with lack of food ensured that no Bronze Dragon would actually live here, which was why Claudius was glad.


    Crimson scales reflected sunlight as Claudius landed on a slightly slanted slope. He decided to rest for a while before working on his new lair; the injuries and fatigue was taking a toll on his body.


    ¡°Tchh! One day I¡¯m gonna rule a nice territory!¡± He snorted while pulling out the spearheads embedded in his body.


    ¡°The roman-styled soldiers are actually pretty competent. Erm, what were they called again? I think the noisy Bronze Dragon called them ¡®Udaeus¡¯? Maybe I should try planting some with my teeth as well.¡±


    Dragons would regrow their teeth anyways, so there was nothing to lose. Claudius plucked several of his wobbling teeth with his claw, which reminded him of how hard the Bronze Dragon¡¯s attacks were. During their fight, Achilles managed to land several hits on Claudius¡¯ face, knocking a handful of teeth out of his mouth while others became wobbly. Crimson Dragons, similar to sharks, would regrow their teeth after the old ones became blunt, which was why Claudius did not feel pain as he plucked his teeth. He then casually ploughed the ground with his claws and planted the dragon teeth into the soil.


    Meanwhile, the victors were distributing the loot in Claudius¡¯ previous lair. The two main contributors, Achilles and Elialaz, had high expectations regarding Claudius¡¯ possessions. The Bronze Dragon learnt about Claudius¡¯ acts during the war between elves and the Jade Dragoness while getting healed by Elialaz, thus he believed that such a powerful dragon should have plenty of treasures.


    ¡°What a disgrace! Does this Crimson Dragon know no shame?! He¡¯s a disgrace to his own species!¡± Everyone swore once they stepped into his lair.


    It was right on the spot ¡ª porcelain plates were dumped all over the place while not a single gold coin or treasure could be found. Let alone gold coins, not even a copper penny was present. The porcelain plates contained worthless knowledge, not that they could read it anyways. The pieces of treant bark were originally worth a bit of money, but they were reduced to trash thanks to Claudius¡¯ writings.


    The group managed to find unexpected loot as they entered the mushroom garden. Achilles knew that Claudius most likely took Gudebar¡¯s heart back to his lair, but he was surprised to find it in the corner of a charred room. Furthermore, everyone was shocked by what they saw on top of the logs next to the Heart of Treant ¡ª the red mushrooms.

 CH 39

    Chapter 39


    Hiring mercenaries required money, which was why Achilles and Sleipnir were muttering ¡®We¡¯re screwed¡­¡­¡¯ in disbelief right now. While the Derhii did not sign a formal contract with the two dragons, the duo still had to reward them for their participation and compensate their losses. As for the Udaeus, they were contracted mercenaries, and had to pay a certain amount of gold for their assistance in battle. Thankfully, the Lammasu was a warrior of justice who volunteered to help and did not demand anything in return. They searched around the mushroom garden filled with fire elements along with Elialaz, only to find nothing but Myceloids hiding within the bunch of mushrooms on the logs.


    How they managed to communicate with the Myceloids was a mystery, but that was irrelevant at the moment ¡ª they realized that the mana-filled mushrooms could be sold for a decent price. Grown on precious treant logs and immersed in dense dragon mana, the mushrooms were extremely rare materials which could be used to make potions and for alchemy purposes. Even after Claudius abandoned the lair, the mushrooms were still growing, albeit being less valuable due to the absence of dragon mana supply. In fact, Achilles could simply move his lair slightly towards the mushroom garden to grow mushrooms which had properties of the water element, unlike Claudius¡¯ mushrooms which had properties of the fire element ¡ª the element of the mushrooms depended on the element of the dragon mana they were immersed in.


    Hundreds of kilometres away, Claudius was sunbathing on the mountain slope. For obvious reasons, he was ignorant of the loot distribution going on in his lair, but he did not care much about his possessions in the first place. The wounds and injuries were gradually recovering thanks to his high Constitution while the warm sunlight calmed his mind. Without the interference of battle, the frostbitten organs were slowly being thawed by the circulation of fire element-filled blood.


    ¡°If only this was a volcano, I would be fully healed after taking a nap in lava¡­¡­¡± Claudius thought while enjoying the warm and cosy feeling which he had not felt in a while.


    Beside Claudius were a few bloody spears poking out of the ground. These were originally the short spears used by the Udaeus, but now they served another purpose; the spears were used as a marking to indicate the locations where he planted his teeth. Claudius fully knew that knowledge from his Earthly days was a lot of times inaccurate, but he still went ahead and tried planting Udaeus soldiers with his own teeth nonetheless; it did not cost anything anyways. The legends regarding Udaeus on Earth were rather vague, but it was clear that planting the soldiers was nothing like planting crops. Claudius thought that a few spells or rituals had to be casted for it to succeed, but he lacked the knowledge to do so. Trying to grow Udaeus just by covering dragon teeth in soil was pretty much a joke.


    The integrity and morality of the Mages of the Seashore was not something to be overestimated; they had a nice history of messing up their own plot and setting. Whether or not Claudius would actually grow Udaeus was all up to the Mages, but things were already set the moment he buried his teeth in the soil. The Mages were all conservatives who supported the dragon with an Earthly human soul, thus they would faithfully follow the plot of a certain ancient myth ¡ª they were nothing but small fries when up against ancient Greek gods.


    Just when Claudius was about to construct a lair since his injuries no longer hindered his movement, he sensed the change from underneath the ground. The soil where the teeth were buried curved upwards slightly and the dragon blood on the surface was all sucked into the ground without a trace. Faint heartbeats could be heard when Claudius stuck his ears to the floor.


    ¡°The heck? It actually worked?¡± Even Claudius himself was amazed. ¡°I never thought that it would work though. It was just a random experiment in the first place¡­¡­¡±


    However, he did make a slight error. Similar to newbie stock traders who thought they earned money while it was actually book profit, Claudius assumed that the reaction from the ground meant he had succeeded ¡ª no one knew what was underground at this stage.


    These turn of events did excite Claudius a bit, but he was not so foolish or impatient as to immediately dig the soil and see what happened. After observing the soil for a while, he proceeded with his original plan. The texture of the rocks on the island was slightly tougher than clay, making it quite suitable for excavating caves. Melting the rocky surface with his flames, Claudius dug the semi-molten rocks with his claws with ease. To be honest, it was an inefficient method. Given the sharpness of his claws, Claudius could have just straight out dug with his claws. It would almost have been like digging soil with a shovel as his claws were tougher than steel and were as sharp as magic swords with several enchantments.


    Typical dragons usually first dug a long, winding tunnel which led to a large room, usually used as a living room. They would then dig another tunnel from the living room, connecting the treasure chamber which also served as the sleeping room. Of course, the tunnels would be filled with traps after construction. To Claudius, it was redundant and boring. All his previous lairs or caves were in the shape of a cashew nut, and the newest one was no exception. The entrance was a simple one; it was basically a large opening from where he began digging. On the other end was an air passageway around the height and width of 2 adult humans. Obviously, it was the air ventilation system for his lair, allowing fresh air to constantly enter the cave inside the mountain by throughflow. Perhaps Claudius was a slight neat freak¡­¡­


    Claudius then expanded his cave within the mountain. The ceiling of the cave was roughly 40 metres above sea level, almost as tall as the mountain itself, whereas the entrance was at 10 metres above sea level. The cave itself was not as deep as his previous lairs; the deepest part was no deeper than 40 metres. The outer walls were also merely 5 to 6 metres thick, but were sufficient to support the cave. Instead, it had a width of 100 metres, which was a large place for Claudius. The inner walls were all rough and scratched from all the digging, but the inhabitant himself had no intentions of decorating or smoothing out the surface. He also specifically flattened the area near the entrance and removed the rocks above to create an outdoors platform, which also allowed him to have brief view of the exterior even from deep within the cave. As mentioned before, this was a rocky mountain without a beach, thus the edge of the platform was a cliff which led straight to the bedrock beneath the sea. From Claudius¡¯ observations, the surrounding sea was at least 50 metres deep.


    ¡°It seems that I, once again, became a fisherman. Sigh, I can¡¯t even grow mushrooms here. What¡¯s with this dull menu¡­¡­¡±Claudius complained.


    Claudius planned to stay on the island for a while, leaving revenge for a later date. Yet this was a bit of a na?ve thought; he totally forgot that the surrounding seas lacked fish due to the raging sea currents. To satisfy his monstrous appetite, he would have to travel tens of kilometres out to the coral reefs or open sea, but that region was a trading route frequented by cargo ships, not to mention the humans living on the nearby islands. It would be undoubtedly be a problem for a Crimson Dragon to appear near human civilization regularly.


    The residents of these islands were mostly pirates or people who dealt in illegal trades though. If Claudius knew of this, he could easily live leisurely on his own rocky island. He could just threaten to destroy their islands, then demand a ¡®protection fee¡¯¡­¡­

 CH 40

    Chapter 40


    Claudius was probably the only one starving among other Crimson Dragons of his age; he finally realized the surrounding seas could not support his appetite.


    ¡°This freaking island¡­¡­ Even the closest areas are deep sea zones! Gosh, all the fish are small as hell too! Am I supposed to eat oysters all the time?!¡±


    Although Claudius was complaining, he had no intention of leaving as he had just finished constructing his lair. Rarely did dragons die of hunger either, so he thought it would be fine one way or another¡­¡­


    There was larger prey available within a hundred-kilometre radius, ranging from whales and sharks to huge colossal squids and weird looking sea monsters, but things were not that simple. Carrying the large corpse all the way back would be tiring and troublesome, not to mention how difficult it was to battle and kill these creatures in the sea. For lazy creatures like dragons, this was too much work just to satisfy their bellies. There was a better solution when there was insufficient food ¡ª sleeping. Dragons were magical creatures in the first place, thus experiencing growth after a period of deep sleep without eating or drinking was rather normal for them. However, Claudius quite enjoyed his current lifestyle and did not want to fall into slumber for who knows how long. It was troublesome to travel so far all the time, but it could be done. To solve the problem of transporting the corpses, Claudius decided to eat as much as he could in the sea before returning with a stomach full of meat.


    Such a leisurely life gave Claudius tonnes of free time. Judging from the texture and thickness of the topsoil, it seemed that the thin layer of soil was formed by the wind-eroded rocks mixing with humus. The barren area had nothing but black rocks; not even a speck of soil was present. It was impossible for Claudius to make ceramic plates with such rocks, and all he could do was make carvings on the walls of his lair. It did not matter much though, as he was too tired and lazy to do so; at least not until he felt too bored¡­¡­


    Apart from wandering around and chilling on the island, Claudius would only leave and hunt for a whale once every few days or so. The reason for not hunting everyday was that the risk was huge; his injuries had not fully recovered yet, and he would rather avoiding showing up all the time and end up fighting again. The fact that this was a dangerous world was now made clear to Claudius. He understood that simply by living on this continent, someone might hunt him down just for the single reason of him being a Crimson Dragon. Another reason was that catching a whale or sea monster of considerable size was not a simple task. Claudius¡¯ body structure and size granted him superiority in air and on land, but fighting underwater was a different matter. It was inconvenient for him to move in the sea, and without his mobility, he lacked confidence to kill the massive sea creatures safely.


    Given the circumstances, Claudius could only follow the group of whales while flying in the sky and strike when the whales surfaced. With his momentum, Claudius would try to smash the skull or spine of a whale before proceeding to enjoy his meal. It had to be finished quickly though, as the blood would attract extremely powerful monsters from the deep sea zone and Claudius did not want to fight them by all means. The whole hunt would be wasted if he could not stuff as much meat as he could into his stomach before the monsters came.


    Even with his intelligence and battle prowess, it was still quite difficult for Claudius to successfully kill a whale with one go all the time. Once he screwed up the timing and missed his initial strike, the whales would submerge for a while before reappearing, forcing the dragon to follow them for a long while. It wasted a lot of time and it was not fun at all, thus he would entertain himself by singing on his way back and in his lair.


    ¡°Speak softly, love and hold me warm against you heart. I feel your words, the tender trembling moments start¡­¡­¡± Claudius sung the opening theme of Godfather while recalling the scenes of the movie in his head to pass time. He also had idle thoughts such as how his Udaeus would look like after they were fully grown.


    After the teeth were buried for a month, the Udaeus finally climbed out of the ground. As the ground rumbled and shook, Claudius jumped aside immediately while paying close attention on the situation. Rocks broke off and collapsed, rolling down the slope while an arm armoured in bronze gauntlets poked out and pushed the ground, sending the upper body out of the rocky floor.


    ¡°Heh, not bad, not bad.¡±


    A humanoid clad in armour stood in front of Claudius, with the helmet covering its face, only showing the pair of glowing red eyes. Similar to the Udaeus he fought a while ago, the exposed body parts were pale white, but the tattoos were flame red stripes instead. The surroundings became hot and steamy as the Udaeus¡¯ upper torso protruded out of the rocky ground.


    The Udaeus soon pulled itself out of the hole, and it was fully clad in Roman-style armour. They were born with a massive rectangular shield, which from the look and weight of it, seemed to be fully made out of metal.


    Claudius thought, ¡°Quite strong, aren¡¯t they?¡±


    Their weapons were arm-length broadswords and spears which were as tall as one and a half human adult. It was a similar case with the shield; the weapons were almost made solely out of metal. Although Claudius did not know too much about weapons and metals, he could tell that the equipment were all made with high quality metals and had exceptional craftsmanship. Crimson Dragons had the innate talent of appraisal, allowing Claudius to have a rough grasp on the value of the equipment. The weapons would each sell for at least a thousand gold coins ¡ª they were enhanced magic weapons which were blessed by condensed fire elements.


    Claudius planted three of his teeth, thus according to common sense only three Udaeus should appear, but the Mages of the Seashore apparently interfered with things here ¡ª not three, but three Udaeus companies popped out of the ground. There were around 240 infantry fully armed in Roman-styled equipment, and their looks certainly coincided with his true name, Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. The two-metre-tall soldiers stood in tight and tidy formations in the shape of an inverted pyramid while awaiting Claudius¡¯ orders.


    Claudius was troubled as to how to handle the soldiers, ¡°Holy shit! What should I do with the army? There¡¯s nothing but rocks here, how am I supposed to feed them?¡±


    Now this was worrying situation. To keep the army alive, Claudius had to somehow snatch a few boats and let the Udaeus travel to nearby islands which were more suitable for living ¡ª there was nothing he could do apart from planting more Udaeus on the rocky island.

 CH 41

    Chapter 41


    The Udaeus stood silently, awaiting further orders. Claudius, on the other hand, was deep in thought. He suddenly remembered that he had this crappy cheat of opening up an ¡®attribute screen¡¯, thus he went ahead and checked his own status after disregarding the cheat for such a long time. After surviving through a few battles, Claudius now understood that the attributes and stats were only for reference; fighting on the battlefield was completely different from tossing dice to determine the victor.


    ¡°This can only serve as self-satisfaction, I guess. Yeah, the values look so awesome but I still got wrecked by another dragon. Caring too much about the stats will only make me careless¡­¡­¡± Claudius thought while taking a glimpse at his own six attributes and skills, before moving on to the background section.


    The title ¡®The Crimson Disaster¡¯ was shown on his title bar, and it provided further descriptions of how he obtained the title. It clearly stated that Claudius gained his fame by massacring allies and enemies alike during a war at Fire Dragon Bay, and further hinted the relations between him, the elves and a certain Jade Dragoness.


    Claudius grumbled, ¡°Seems that there¡¯s quite a bit of background stuff about me¡­¡­ Wait, doesn¡¯t it make me look like an evil villain?!¡±


    Another column caught his attention as he looked through the screen ¡ª ¡®Subordinates¡¯. One of the entries was lit, but the one above the lit one was darkened for some reason.


    ¡°Flame Myceloids? The heck are those?¡±


    Claudius did not recall recruiting Myceloids as his underlings; no, he was more shocked by the fact that he actually had subordinates as he had never recruited creatures, apart from the retarded gnomes which he killed almost instantly.


    Looking at the next entry, Claudius remembered the existence of his army of Udaeus. The glowing word of ¡®Udaeus¡¯ was shown below the entry of Flame Myceloids.


    ¡°Challenge rating 6, Strength 18, Dexterity 14, Constitution 16, 12 for both Intelligence and Charisma¡­¡­Wait, 17 for Wisdom?! Erm, A¡­¡­ C¡­¡­, what the heck is this? Nah, screw that. These guys should be pretty good fighters, judging from the stats. If I remember correctly, the challenge rating 6 is their individual value. Hmm, medium sized mythical humanoids. All these fancy battle skills and group tactical abilities too. Damn, they¡¯re amazing.¡±


    Claudius was surprised by the attributes and skills of his Udaeus army. Apart from their rather high attribute values, they also had Fire Immunity and Damage Reflection as they originated from Claudius¡¯ teeth. Their attacks were enhanced by fire elements as well. Yet no matter how hard he looked, he could not find proof that these soldiers did not require food. Claudius had to find food for the Udaeus or risk starving them to death. There was always the option of eating them as well¡­¡­


    At least Claudius was not so insane as to eat his own subordinates. The Udaeus were his first subordinates, not to mention that they had decent combat prowess; there was no reason to eat them.


    ¡°Okay, the first order is to disband and rest.¡± The dragon ordered the Udaeus.


    Claudius then thought, ¡°Wait, they¡¯re not gay, right? I don¡¯t want to see them¡­¡­letting loose.¡± He sincerely hoped that the Udaeus were unlike their Roman counterparts who were enthusiastic about¡­¡­ well, that.


    Claudius vaguely recalled that humans often travelled through the nearby sea, thus he flew towards the area to fetch himself a few boats.


    ¡°Ugh, I don¡¯t like the idea of becoming a pirate. Hopefully the crazy bitch goddess Anbo won¡¯t mess with me again¡­¡­¡± Claudius muttered without knowing that speaking a god or goddess¡¯ name would actually attract their attention, especially powerful beings like Crimson Dragons.


    Claudius had quite the luck as he spotted a small ¡®fleet¡¯ of two ships below him after flying for merely two hours.


    ¡°Brigs? They¡¯re so crappy! It can¡¯t be helped, time to strike a deal with the humans onboard!¡± Claudius enthusiastically approached the ships, gliding down from the sky without noticing the fact that a dark storm cloud was rapidly forming and condensing above him.


    The lookouts on the ship decks soon noticed the approaching dragon, sounding all the alarms on the ships while shouting, ¡°Dragon! Incoming dragon!¡± Most of the sailors froze in fear despite knowing that they had to take countermeasures, unable to move their bodies while their minds panicked. A dark crimson shade passed by the rigs and darkness engulfed the ships. Claudius, despite the fact that his body was growing every second, was only 25 metres long while the ships were each 35 metres long. It did not matter much as the sailors were all scared as hell. After circling around the ships a few times, Claudius smiled in satisfaction; the two brigs were of the 500-tonne class, which should be more than enough to transport all three of his Udaeus infantry companies.


    Claudius proceeded to make the ships his after deciding that they were good enough. After a roar, dragon aura swept through the decks, implanting fear further into the sailors¡¯ heads. A metallic voice speaking the Common Language could be heard, ¡°Who¡¯s the captain? This fleet is now mine! Captain, follow my orders and travel towards that direction!¡±


    A shivering self-proclaimed captain did appear on the deck not long after and began to speak loudly at the Crimson Dragon, fearing that the dragon could not hear his voice.


    ¡°Our respectable¡­¡­ erm, guest! May I ask what is that you want? Are you sure you want us ¡ª we, who were blessed by the Goddess Anbo ¡ª to follow your orders? Please, don¡¯t do this to us¡­¡­ We are willing to pay ransom! Yes, gold coins!¡± The captain recognized the dragon as a Crimson Dragon, albeit having a weird appearance; the scorching breeze confirmed that it was an authentic one.


    The captain¡¯s speech lacked persuasiveness, but that was not what Claudius was concerned about. The distance between the fleet and his island was a real issue; although he flew casually, he could still fly up to 500 kilometres within two hours. Even if the ships travel at eight or nine knots, it would still take three days to reach his island. By the time they arrived, the Udaeus would probably have died of hunger and dehydration already. Fresh water was lacking in the first place, and the few puddles of water were unlikely to be able to support the 240 soldiers for three days.


    ¡°Follow my orders or die!¡± Claudius scowled.


    Claudius had devised a plan to tackle the issue. Now that the problem was gone, he breathed flames right above the rigs, painting the sky red while changing the course of the two brigs. The two brigs, having not much of a choice, began to travel in accordance to Claudius¡¯ commands. His plan was to let the brigs travel for a day, then he would fetch a portion of food and water and head back to the island first, so that the Udaeus could receive a part of the supplies before it was too late. Claudius would then kill half of the sailors as the brigs arrived so that they would have enough supplies to travel back. Some might say it was a preposterous and brutal plan, but it was clear that the sailors of the brigs were not your ordinary law-abiding citizens ¡ª the smell of blood filled the ships, not to mention to intense malice and resentment radiating from the ships.


    To increase their speed, Claudius ordered the sailors to dump their cargo into the sea. From what he could tell, the cargo mainly consisted of cotton and flax, but there was also a certain spice which gave off an interesting smell. However, Claudius could not recognize it. The heartbroken captain and sailors dumped the precious cargo into the sea as ordered by the dragon. After tossing one third of the cotton onboard, the brigs achieved optimal weight which allowed them to travel as quickly as possible without losing balance due to lack of weight.


    The storm brewing in the distance became more obvious at this point. The dark clouds were connected to the sea through a thick black storm which almost looked like a waterspout, and countless lightning bolts and thunder resounded within the storm. Claudius could even hear the sounds of thunder constantly rumbling despite the lengthy distance¡­¡­

 CH 42

    Chapter 42


    Claudius flew ahead of the brigs while letting the sailors catch a glimpse of his massive shadow from time to time, which prevented them from thinking that they were out of reach of the dragon. As a matter of fact, most sailors in this world knew that trying to escape from a dragon was futile. Their cruising speed was lower than most dragons, and there was no way for the ships to evade attacks from the sky. After travelling for a day or two, the sailors were forced to hand over one third of their rations and water, and Claudius spent a few hours flying to his island, carrying the supplies for his Udaeus army.


    Back on the island, the Udaeus were hiding in one of the natural caves while huddling in small circles to reduce heat and energy loss. They were experienced warriors, thus the soldiers were familiar with what to do in case of lack of food and water. The soldiers each drank a sip of the water before suppressing their own desires, trying to suppress their need for water to minimum. From the look of things, they could probably survive up to three days with that tiny amount of water. It was tough for the Udaeus, but the suffering had come to an end as their commander returned with sacs of food and vials of water, allowing them to each as much they wanted to.


    The sailors, on the other hand, tried to outsmart the Crimson Dragon by changing their course bit by bit, trying to revert to their original course. The crew were worshippers of Anbo, and they firmly believed that the goddess would protect them from danger. It didn¡¯t matter where they went; as long as they could arrive at a populated island, they would be able to reach their goddess through an altar. All the populated islands among the Velen Isles had altars for worshipping Anbo as most people living there worshipped her.


    However, their plan did not go unnoticed. Claudius pretended to overlook their actions, and instead of punishing them for the attempt straight away, he forced the crew to hand over half of the remaining rations, leaving them with one third of the original portion. After delivering the supplies to his island, Claudius launched his attack on the brigs.


    Thick, long tentacles filled with sharp thorns and suckers shot out of the sea just as Claudius began his assault.


    ¡°Tchh, pets of the freaking goddess! That irrational bitch¡­¡­¡± Claudius snorted while pulling up, dodging the attacks from the tentacles.


    A massive torrent of flames flooded out of the Crimson Dragon¡¯s jaws the next moment, and the first victim was the unlucky Giant Octopus which attacked Claudius. The gigantic monster had only showed his tentacles, hiding its body under water. With tentacles longer than Claudius, it would be safe to assume the octopus was at least 50 metres long. Yet size did not matter right now; the Giant Octopus did not have any sort of fire resistance. A sizzling sound could be heard as its tentacle became delicious-looking grilled octopus tentacles. The thick layer of skin could block normal fire and fire elemental spells like Fireball had little effect, but this was the first time the octopus had faced flames which such temperature and intensity. Claudius dived down and easily pulled the cooked tentacles out of their sockets, munching on the tasty snack as he pulled up once again.


    The Giant Octopus poked its huge bald head out of the sea and growled in rage after suffering severe injuries from the previous attack.


    ¡°Just how? Octopi don¡¯t have vocal cords, nor do they have organs to store air. What a mystery¡­¡­¡± Claudius mumbled as his mouth was stuffed with tasty tentacles.


    The Crimson Dragon was not given much time to enjoy his snack as freezing air and ice arrows were formed in front of the octopus. Spitting out the remains reluctantly, Claudius dived towards the incoming attack without hesitation.


    Claudius sucked in large volumes of air into his lungs and air sacs by utilizing the tail wind as he dashed forwards with his Ring of Blaze at full power. The massive dragon made a sudden brake with a flap of his wings, pulling upwards and slightly backwards by the lifting force. A gigantic cone-shaped fire breath attack ravaged across the sea surface; even the sails of the brigs, which should be out of the attack range, were burnt to ash while the now naked sailors screamed in pain and terror as they rolled on the deck. Their skin was suffering from burns, but most of the pain originated from their scorched tracheas as the inflamed throats prevented them from breathing.


    As the primary target of the attack, the Giant Octopus was in an even more dire situation. If not for its rapid reaction, diving back into the sea right before Claudius attacked, its entire body would have been turned into charcoal like its tentacles. They were no longer edible like the ones before as they were no more than a lump of bitter charcoal right now. The freezing air was replaced by baking hot air while the arrows evaporated among the raging flames. Steam rose from the bubbly and sizzling sea as the surface was now boiling. Claudius casually stretched his body, fanning the steamy fumes towards the two brigs unintentionally.


    At this very moment, a massive whirlpool appeared along with a waterspout while storm clouds gathered unnaturally. The temperature drastically dropped, and a salty and pungent smell of dead fish filled the air.


    Claudius thought, ¡°Oh crap, something¡¯s wrong.¡±


    There were pretty much no survivors on the two ships by now, but he still shredded the deck into pieces nonetheless. With the interior now in sight, Claudius immediately spotted the glow of magic in the captain¡¯s room at the very end of the ship. He smashed the walls into smithereens, and there he found a fancy crate along with a piece of machinery which looked like a manual operated water pump and was decorated with a fish head. Claudius had not sensed anything the few days he was with the brigs, but now magic was radiating from the items. Having a bad premonition, the dragon snatched the crate and the machinery with his claws and began to flee from the stormy region.


    A thunderous voice growled in rage as something clad in lightning chased after Claudius, only failing to catch up with the fleeing dragon in the end. Just as he left the area, Claudius swore that he heard a sharp shriek of a woman¡­¡­


    Most dragons would have been caught by the unknown pursuer, but Claudius was not one of them. Accelerating without paying heed to his personal safety, he rapidly flapped his wings despite having the risk of tearing up some of his muscles. Within a short period of time, he accelerated up to over 400 kilometres per hour; this speed could be considered first rate in this world, and was only inferior to teleportation spells. Claudius dashed straight towards his island without trying to fake his destination.


    ¡°Even with the power of Anbo, breaking apart a whole island into tiny pieces is not an easy feat. Well, unless the mad bitch decides to descend into the world and waste her divine powers, I guess.¡±


    At least that was what Claudius believed; even for the gods and goddesses, altering the environment in the physical world require a lot of divine power and effort. His guess was right on spot ¡ª in terms of changing the terrain of the world, they were even inferior to some of the great mages who lived in Floren.


    Claudius was glad to find out that the piece of machinery was a magic tool ¡ª a water pump which could magically generate infinite amount of fresh water. The magic tool was connected to the water elemental plane, dredging up to a thousand gallons of water per hour. ¡®Not sure how the captain got such an awesome thing, but that¡¯s certainly useful for sailors,¡¯ was what Claudius thought. His appraisal ability told him that it was worth around 30000 gold coins; unless the captain somehow managed to please the goddess, it was unthinkable that he got it with legitimate means.


    As for the crate, the contents were just as fancy as its appearance ¡ª a whole crate of gold coins. With just a glimpse, Claudius could tell that there were around 3000 delicately crafted gold coins in it. If any other Crimson Dragon found such awesome loot, they would have stuffed the magic tool and crate of gold coins into the depths of their lair, but Claudius seemed to have different plans for the future¡­¡­

 CH 43

    Chapter 43


    Perhaps someday the island would be named after its owner, but currently it was still nameless. None of the humans knew that Claudius was residing on the island, but the gods and goddesses, especially those related to sea and water, knew about the abnormal situation.


    Claudius began to excavate the island with his claws, albeit reluctantly. He had planned to delegate the task to his soldiers, but the Udaeus had nothing but valuable weapons in their arsenal. There weren¡¯t any large trees on the island either, with the tallest one being merely 50 centimetres tall. They were pretty much toothpicks instead of logs¡­¡­


    Now that the plan to mobilize his army for construction work like in the game ¡®The Settlers¡¯ was screwed, Claudius had no choice but to build a cave for the Udaeus to live in by himself. Thankfully, he was experienced in the matter as he had been digging holes and caves all the time previously; he could now finish a high quality cave with little time and effort. The rectangular dwelling was completed swiftly, and there were even ¡®windows¡¯ for air ventilation. In for a penny, in for a pound, Claudius even smoothened out one of the pits and connected it to another small cave with tunnels ¡ª it would be his water reservoir from now on. Placing the magic tool in the pit, water began to gush out and fill the reservoir with fresh water. There was no need to worry about water supply anymore, and a stream was formed on the rocky hill as well, though it was unintentional.


    The Udaeus could support themselves for a while with the rations obtained from the ships, thus Claudius turned his focus to the crate of gold coins. He was so excited at the sight of thousands of gold coins that he shouted, ¡°My dear relatives, the day that I, the great Claudius, got rich¡­¡­ Wait, what¡¯s my name back on Earth? Ah screw that, not that it matters in this messed up world anyways. Back to the real issue, I¡¯ve never seen so much money in both my lives! Too bad I can¡¯t drink liquor in dragon form though¡­¡­¡±


    Although there were 3000 gold coins, they were not palm sized coins as normally portrayed in fantasy novels. The size of the coins in this world was similar to their counterparts on Earth, and the gold coins were roughly as thick and large as a 50-cent RMB coin. With a body over 25 metres long, trying to pick up these tiny coins with his claws was kind of hard. Claudius dumped all the coins into his lair and began inspecting them carefully for almost half a day. He even got so excited that he licked his claws for some reason, but that brought an unexpected discovery. His taste buds immediately recognized the metallic taste on his claws ¡ª it was the sweet taste of a certain metal.


    ¡°Mhmmm¡­¡­ Oh shit! Heavy metal poisoning! Ptui! Ptui! Gotta spit that crap out!¡± Claudius spit everything he could out of his mouth as the alarm in his mind continued screaming ¡®Dangerous!¡¯ ¡ª Heavy metal poisoning, mercury in this case. Unaware of the few gold coins melting besides him due to his saliva, Claudius rinsed his mouth thoroughly with flames. He should have noticed that dragons could digest metals and would not suffer from metal poisoning by now¡­¡­


    While Claudius knew that humans could eat gold without issues, he had no idea if that was the case for dragons. For this very reason, his desire for gold coins decreased even more ¡ª any other Crimson Dragon would never experience such a feeling. Sweeping aside the coins with his claws, the ignorant dragon lay down and took a nap.


    His coming days, however, was destined to be filled with trouble; it was only a matter of time before the raging goddess could find him. Claudius was more or less immune to fortune telling spells, and typical gods would not bother spending their precious divine powers just to track down a Crimson Dragon, but that did not mean that the storm gods and goddesses would not do so ¡ª they were clearly retarded and dumb, and Anbo was the prime example.


    As expected, Anbo issued an oracle to her worshippers, providing the exact location of the Crimson Dragon. The holy crusaders and priests of Anbo, as well as the pirates in the region, mobilized and headed for the island. The goddess even spent a generous amount of divine power to generate a huge wave and storm, with the target obviously being Claudius¡¯ island.


    Still half asleep, Claudius looked out of his lair into the turbulent sea. His mind was still hazy as he was not fully awake, thus he could not understand why the sea began raging all of a sudden. The yawning Crimson Dragon failed to comprehend the meaning behind the gathering stormy clouds and the familiar salty smell as well.


    Thinking that it was just bad weather, Claudius went back to sleep without care. Meanwhile, his Udaeus soldiers spent the day undergoing training on formations, combat skills as well as cleaning their own weapons, resting only during mealtime. They could not care less about the incoming storm either; perhaps they did not have the concept of gods and goddesses in their minds. Looking from the middle of the rocky mountain, the storm seemed to be quite far away from their island. The splashes and waves looked puny as well, being merely as tall as a fingertip due to the distance between them.


    Contrary to their thought, the storm was travelling at an immense speed. In fact, it was no longer a simple storm; it became a strong typhoon which would reach the 12th grade on the Beaufort Wind Scale back on Earth. At the blink of an eye, heavy rain assaulted the island along with the intense wind. Claudius, who had just awoken from the influx of rainwater into his lair, was not given time to react as the 40-metre-tall waves crashed into the island one after another. The tsunami smashed into the entire island, covering all but peak of the mountain. The rocky mountain was now a big mess; the island looked nothing like it was before, having transformed by the ways, and the rocks on the side of impact were crushed to dust by the sheer force of the incoming tsunami ¡ª and Claudius¡¯ lair was, coincidentally, on this side of the island as well.


    Claudius was immersed in seawater as the waves flooded his lair through the air ventilation tunnels and the entrance. Choking on the sudden influx of water, he immediately stood up and dug his claws into the ground to secure his position. Claudius then crawled his way to the entrance against the incoming current of seawater, sinking his claws into the rocky cliff while climbing up towards the relatively unaffected peak. Torrents of water continued to devastate his island while the intense rain, thunder and lightning raged on. The Crimson Dragon roared in anger while standing atop the mountain, looking at the destruction of his home.


    The power of nature was showing its might, but it also granted the ferocious sea monsters access to the now-flooded island. With the constant rain moistening their bodies, which prevented death due to dehydration, a large group of Sahuagin and Sharkmen approached the island. After landing on the island, they gathered together and a magical yet divine glow covered their bodies. The invaders were hell-bent on completing the mission given to them through the oracle of their goddess ¡ª anyone who dared to humiliate the might of the goddess Anbo must be sent to hell.

 CH 44

    Chapter 44


    The storm deities were basically a bunch of chaotic retards with divine powers; they often did pointless things where the costs outweighed the benefits. For example, the goddess Anbo was now punishing Claudius for destroying of a fleet under her protection, but the divine power she spent on the matter was way more than that the sailors had given to her through worshipping and praying. As a matter of fact, praying to Anbo did not guarantee safe travelling among the seas; at most 60 percent of the ships that gave their prayers would survive the trip. 20 percent of the ships would be destroyed by a random storm she brewed up for no apparent reason, while the remaining vessels would be attacked by pirates, who, ironically, also gave prayers to the goddess.


    Destroying her fleet was not the main reason for inducing her wrath; the way Claudius threatened the crew members and captain was. If he had been a worshipper of Anbo, she would have ignored the incident and treat it as a test or challenge among her own worshippers, but clearly no sane dragons would worship such an insane goddess.


    Claudius looked around and noticed the shape of the island had been changed. Luckily, the waves had reduced power at higher altitudes and did not cause much direct damage to the Udaeus¡¯ dwelling. The Udaeus were experienced soldiers as well, thus they rushed out of the lair the moment the first wave struck the island. Securing themselves by nailing chains into the platform Claudius made beforehand, they somehow managed to survive the rest of the assaulting waves. They proceeded to form a formation within the waist-deep water level just as the Sahuagin and Sharkmen began their attack. The 20 sea tribe warriors had an average level of 14, but they were all half baked mages and second rate paladins. Even with the pirates who worshiped Anbo, their battle force only numbered around 200, not to mention that only several of the Level 16 or above Naga priests and paladins had the ability to damage Claudius. The rest were just a bunch of garbage trying to surround the Crimson Dragon with numbers.


    The typhoon enhanced with divine power now had unparalleled destruction power, forming a non-fly zone; even a hundred-tonne dragon would tumble around in the intense winds. Given the circumstances, Claudius folded his wings to prevent himself from being blown off the peak. The rocks rumbled and rolled down the mountain, but her blessed crusaders moved as if the wind and rain was non-existent and gradually approached the dragon.


    A lightning strike over 10 kilometres long struck the massive conductor on the peak of the mountain. Claudius¡¯ scales and horns contained traces of metal, and the lightning naturally travelled through the shortest route with least resistance to the ground ¡ª his body. It did not hurt much though as Claudius only felt slightly limp. As if it was the signal for attack, the battle broke out after the lightning struck the Crimson Dragon. A myriad of divine spells like Harm was casted by the attackers, but they were all either blocked or dissipated by the dense white mist generated by their target. The Naga paladins threw themselves at Claudius, swinging magical weapons which could penetrate his scales and deal massive damage due to their huge size.


    Unfortunately for the Naga paladins, Claudius had a weapon called agility. The paladins would not have been able to scratch his scales, let alone landing a strike, if not for the limited size of the battlefield. Despite the undesirable landscape, Claudius still managed to dodge all the incoming attacks for now; having gaping wounds on his body was the last thing he wanted. The Naga paladins, on the other hand, were having trouble handling the dragon. They could not attack all at once as they would only go in the way of each other, allowing their target to demolish them in a single strike. Claudius had a wide range of ¡®weapons¡¯, ranging from his claws and jaws to his tail and even his muscular legs, which could be used to squish the enemy. His bite was especially powerful, being able to puncture through layers of divine protection spells and barriers. One of the Sahuagin paladins proved it the brutal way; it was chopped into two chunks with just a single bite by Claudius. The 4-metre-tall Sahuagin paladin tried to fight against fate just before it was killed, using its magic spear to stop Claudius from closing his jaws ¡ª but that was the wrong decision; it should had stabbed his mouth with all its might. As a result, the divine protection spell and its weapon shone brightly for one last time before getting crushed by the overwhelming force, and the rest was obvious. A torrent of blood flooded out of the lower half of the Sahuagin paladin as it dropped to the ground, with its tail wiggling a few times before it came to a rest.


    The current invaders posed much less of a threat than the previous dragons he fought against; the only reason Claudius had yet to completely demolish the invaders was that he had to divert part of his focus to the sky filled with divine power. He was aware of the possibility that Anbo would personally descend to the mortal realm due to her personality. Without caring about the downpour of rain, Claudius began spraying fire everywhere. The red hot flames evaporated the rain and seawater flooding the island, producing a white misty dome. Although the fire elements were rather inactive in the region, his flames were still as powerful as ever. The flammable fluids in the breath attack could still ignite and burn in the rain as the fluids had a hidden property; not only were they flammable, they were also strong oxidizing agents. It was extremely unscientific for a body to generate strong oxidizing agents, but this was nonetheless the fact.


    While rain did not affect the intensity of his flames, the wind brought by the raging typhoon lowered the surrounding temperature. Combined with the rain, heat was being dissipated at an alarming rate, lowering the temperature of flames to a level which could be resisted by magic. But not everyone could use magic to shield themselves from the fire; only the priests and crusaders had the power to do so. The pirates who managed to resist his dragon aura thanks to Anbo¡¯s blessing now shuddered in fear as they witnessed the scene of their comrades burning like candles. Only a few of them died, but it shook them up enough to scatter their formation.


    Right after Claudius¡¯ breath attack, his Udaeus arrived at the scene. They pushed forward in a strict formation, ignoring the heavy raindrops slamming on their armour and shields. With helmets hiding their faces, shields and spears in hand, the Udaeus marched towards to lousy pirates. The pirates had never seen such a strict formation ¡ª it was exceedingly rare to see armies in a standard formation due to the abusive use of magic.


    If Claudius could check the attribute screen of his army right now, he would notice that the Udaeus had received massive buffs due to his presence. When near him, the Udaeus soldiers would receive a buff to their attack and defence stats, as well as having magic resistance comparable to that of a dragon. Like bubbles drifting in the air, the pirates disappeared one after another. They were turned into corpses by Claudius¡¯ subordinates, each being killed without resistance like a punctured sack of flour. Some ran, some pleaded for their lives, some sent their ¡®comrades¡¯ to their death to keep their own lives, but none of them were spared at the end ¡ª they were up against a merciless army of killing machines. The pirates were all at least Level 10 and were considered the strongest among the pirates of the Velen Isles, but they were no stronger than a pig or a dog right now. Even dogs would bite their enemies in danger; all the escaping pirates did was chopping everything which blocked their escape route, killing their own comrades while fleeing. None of them survived the onslaught, with spears going through their bodies as they breathed their last breath in fear. The pirates were mercilessly slaughtered, but that was well-deserved considering the evil deeds they had done in the seas.


    The outcome of the battle had been crystal clear from the beginning ¡ª it was only much more one-sided with the Udaeus arriving at the scene.

 CH 45

    Chapter 45


    The numerous corpses of the pirates covered the battlefield, and the blood oozing out of the dead bodies was flushed away by the downpour of rain. Only the raging roars of the Crimson Dragon and booms of thunder could be heard. Darkness devoured the island, and only the silent onslaught by the marching Udaeus could be seen during the quick flashes of lightning that temporarily lit up the battlefield.


    A series of contre-jour images were formed by flashes of lightning. All of them were scenes of tiny warriors fighting a massive dragon without exception. The warriors performed all sorts of attacks, trying their best to penetrate the dragon¡¯s defences, but it was not going well. The high level divine spells provided buffs to the Naga Paladins and Priests, but they were still no more than annoying cockroaches who could not be killed. The Crimson Dragon had ridiculous magic resistance, rendering all but the divine lightning spell useless. Even the buffed warriors could not deal much damage on the massive dragon; it was a battle of attrition which both sides lacked the finishing move.


    Divine spells were not spells which could be used casually without costs, thus the priests did not prepare a lot of divine lightning bolts in advance. The Naga ¡®Paladins¡¯ also did not know the most symbolic move of all paladins, Smite Evil; technically, these warriors could not be called paladins. As followers of the storm deities, they should be called Blackguards or Divine Warriors as their gods were chaotic in nature, with some of them belonging to the evil alignment while others remaining neutral. As a result, the Blackguards were only capable of Smite Good and Smite Law, but unfortunately the two skills were ineffective against dragons. In the end, the desperate Blackguards resorted to tanking Claudius¡¯ attacks with their buffs while sneaking in attacks from time to time.


    With this, the flow and pace of the battle was under Claudius¡¯ control. He chose not to take off into the sky as it was still filled with divine powers which irritated him, not to mention the risk of dropping into the sea due to lightning paralyzing his wings. Falling onto the ground was no big deal, but ending up in the raging ocean, which was under the mad goddess¡¯ control, was a nightmare. Thankfully, Claudius also knew that this would end soon enough. The bitch goddess might go on rampages from time to time, but most of the time she had to consciously channel her divine powers to defend herself against her boss Talos the destroyer.


    The divine power gathered in the sky dissipated along with the weakening storm. The goddess¡¯ Blackguards and priests also began their retreat as their divine blessings began to wear off. Currently, Claudius lacked the power to stop the Naga invaders from retreating, but that did not matter much. He was slightly confused by the entire invasion as something seemed off.


    ¡°The heck was that? Just two ships and you make such a big scene for revenge? That bitch is overreacting, for f**k¡¯s sake. To be honest, was it really Anbo? It feels like the Golden Lady Waukeen was trying to kick my ass for messing up her trades.¡±


    The pirate transport ships were all stranded on the island due to the storm, and the remaining pirates could only curse their goddess as they make their last stand. Not only the Udaeus, but also the Blackguards were slaughtering the stranded pirates. The Blackguards were probably trying to punish the pirates for tainting the goddess¡¯ name with failure.


    ¡°ÎÒÏ뺣±I‘ªÔ“ÊDz¨ÌmÈË (Extremely offensive ¡®joke¡¯)¡° Claudius thought as he mocked the dying pirates while watching from above.


    The rain stopped and the clouds were gone not long after, revealing a bright full moon up in the sky. Waterfalls appeared everywhere as rainwater and seawater brought onto the island by rain and tsunamis rushed their way down the rocky mountain. The meagre layer of soil and bushes were flushed away along with the waterfalls, turning the mountain into nothing but bare black rocks. Without the layer of soil, water could not be retained on the island. Puddles and streams could be seen as the remaining water continued their way out of the cracks on the ground, but they would be gone as soon as the sun went up. The island would undoubtedly end up as a dead island which could not support any kinds of life forms. The caves which the Udaeus lived in were mostly undamaged, only being thoroughly cleaned once by the influx of seawater by the tsunamis, leaving behind a thin layer of salt crystals on the cave walls. The magic tool was still pumping fresh water as usual, becoming the only source of fresh water on the island. Unfortunately, all the food stored was gone. In order to keep his army alive, Claudius would have to run several major raids on the surrounding islands. He had always lived a free and leisurely life, without being bound by anything, but it seemed that the proud dragon was now bound by his personal army.


    The Sahuagin and Nagas disappeared into the vast sea at the blink of an eye. Claudius did not bother chasing them either as he was having a headache on what to do with the Udaeus. He did not really care about the whole battle either, as he did not suffer any losses apart from the sacks of food and supplies; his level of insensitivity was nothing short of legendary¡­¡­ His own lair was flooded with seawater during the storm as well, and smell of seawater being dried by his Ring of Blaze was so intense that he would rather sleep outdoors. The thousands of gold coins were gone as well, but Claudius was unconcerned as the soft metal could not be forged into sturdy equipment, making the coins useless to him.


    After ordering the Udaeus to remove the corpses on the island, Claudius began investigating the stranded pirate ships. The two stranded galleons were large ships with three masts, and they seemed to be in fairly well conditions.


    He thought, ¡°Thank Tymora for the blessing!¡±


    In fact, Beshaba, also known as Lady Doom, was probably his goddess of ¡®luck¡¯ considering his tendency to encounter unlucky events. Nodding at the two galleons in satisfaction, Claudius began devising plans on how to get the ships back into the sea. The ships were stuck between two gigantic rocks and were 20 metres away from the sea. The hull and the deck would be distorted if they remained in this state for too long, and that would be it for the two ships.


    Claudius, unlike the goddess Anbo, was unfamiliar with curses and the like. His only spell Locate Object and the bunch of Level 0 magic tricks were useless in this case. With curses, it was possible to break a ship into a phantom ship then reconstruct the actual ship in the sea, but that was beyond Claudius. After thinking for a while, he settled with the plan to dig chutes. First, Claudius had to remove the rocks beneath the ships, tilting the ships back to sea level before holding them in place with rocks. Afterwards, he would have to dig a chute to slide the ships back into the sea.


    Reducing the weight of the ships was essential, thus Claudius ordered his soldiers to unload the cargo from the ships as they were done with the previous task. Much to his relief, the problem of food shortage was now solved thanks to the food stored on the ships. Numerous pieces of dried meat and sacks of flour were found in the cargo bay along with bottles of oil and dried vegetables, and the bottles of rum outnumbered everything else. The Udaeus also transported crate after crate of gold coins off the ships, and several magical weapons were found within the living quarters. What interested Claudius the most were the four mysterious crates which released a considerable magical glow.


    ¡°Crates, open up!¡± Claudius hummed as he carefully opened up the crates which were only the size of the fingertips with his claws. A pair of boots was in the first crate, while a diving cap which covered the entire face was in the second crate. The third crate was clearly opened frequently, and inside it was a leather scroll. The last crate contained a large conch lying peaceful on top of a pile of goose feathers. Claudius¡¯ appraisal ability allowed him to estimate the price of the items, but the actual abilities of them could not be immediately recognized or identified purely based on the appraisal. The issue was resolved by equipping the items on the Udaeus Centurions and making them test the items out. After searching through his knowledge from the Inheritance Ceremony and using his ability to detect magic, the effects of the items were finally made clear.


    Boots of Water Striding: Grants the ability to walk, run and jump on water when equipped. The duration of the effect is equivalent to the level of the equipped person multiplied by 30 minutes.


    Helm of Underwater Action: Grants the ability to breath and view normally underwater, as well as negating all water pressure. The duration of the effect is equivalent to the level of the equipped person multiplied by 15 minutes.


    Automatic Nautical Chart: Automatically charts all areas in range of the lookout of a ship. The scroll also comes allows sailors to determine the distance between objects and acts as a compass. It will expand on its own if the charted areas exceed the initial capacity of the scroll. This specific scroll had charted all areas in the region of the Velen Isles and Fire Dragon Bay.


    Horn of the Tritons: The most expensive item in the market among the four. Summons sharks as a guards when blown. Level and ability of the summoned guards is dependent on the summoner¡¯s level. The Level 10 Udaeus Centurion summoned two Dire Sharks, which replaced the 10 normal sharks which were summoned by the pirates.

 CH 46

    Chapter 46


    Claudius stared at the sharks while thinking, ¡°Dire Sharks, huh. Double the size of normal sharks, almost as large as a great white shark, I guess? So that¡¯s the level of power the Centurion has.¡±


    The Dire Sharks swam around for half an hour before abruptly disappearing into the sea. No matter how hard the Udaeus Centurion blew the conch, the sharks still left and dove back into the deep sea region.


    ¡°So once a day, thirty minutes at a time? This is pretty much useless¡­¡­ It should be useful for the ¡®party¡¯ after raiding ships though.¡± Claudius shrugged and gave the Centurion the Horn of Tritons. All three Centurions in his army each owned a magic tool, while Claudius kept the leather map for himself.


    The operation of digging chutes was proceeding smoothly. Claudius was talented in digging in the first place, not to mention his flames which could be used to melt and reform rocks in the way. Using the buckets obtained from the ships, the Udaeus constantly supplied him with water for cooling and lubricating the ground, and the chutes were completed in no time. Claudius slowly walked down the chute, using his massive body to prevent the ships from crashing into the sea at high speeds. Step by step, the ships slowly slid down the chutes and eventually back into the sea. He then went ahead and started building a pier and breakwater on a whim. The project seemed to have awakened his inner playful self as Claudius began building happily like a child digging channels and building sandcastles on a beach.


    After a week of work, the pier and breakwater were finally completed. ¡°This can accommodate ships with waterlines of up to 20 metres deep! Even cruisers could fit in this wonderful pier!¡± Claudius admired his own work for a while before asking the Udaeus if they could sail a ship.


    As soldiers who closely resembled Roman soldiers, the Udaeus honestly did not know how to sail ships like galleons. They might be able to sail a galley, but the pirates ships with three masts were beyond their ability. The problem right now was that the troops would weaken over time if they continued staying on the island; they had to find a place where they could support themselves. It would be great if there were farmers, but just a fertile piece of land where the Udaeus could farm themselves would be good enough. Looking through the large map, Claudius found the perfect location for his troops to settle down ¡ª Santa Cruz Island. Even Claudius was amazed by the name of the island as it sounded like an island back on Earth.


    ¡°It would be nice if I don¡¯t have to fight the Battle of Santa Cruz though¡­¡­¡±


    Santa Cruz Island was a typical continental island of about 300 square kilometres, one of the medium sized islands among the Velen Isles. The foundation of the island was a thick layer of rock, with layers of dead coral reef and sand forming the main mass. It had a rather smooth terrain, consisting of a continuous chain of short hills, with the highest peak on the island being merely 60 metres above ground level. Tropical plants thrived on the island, covering it in dense vegetation. If not for its location, being far away from the main islands of the Velen Isles, and its lack of minerals, it would have become a densely populated island by now. Even so, it was not like the island was beyond the reach of humans. A small port town and villages connected by seaside routes were present on the island. Around 3000 residents were living a subsistent life, surviving purely on fishing and farming.


    Although the main religion of the island was the religion of Anbo, there were also those who believed in the grain goddess Chauntea and Pelor, the god of sun. It was a relatively peaceful island, but it was all destined to change the moment Claudius laid his eyes on it.


    The Santa Cruz Island was 100 kilometres south of Claudius¡¯ nameless island. It would only take him only half an hour to fly there even if he flew casually. It seemed that Claudius failed to locate the island previously as he always headed north when hunting as a habit.


    Claudius lowered the sails on the newly acquired ships and strapped the thick ropes around his body. Fanning his wings, he pulled the two ships as he flew. It was really tricky as he had to control the speed and angle of flight with caution to prevent the ships from crashing into each other or flipping over. This was also the reason why he chose not to pull one ship with the other connected behind it; it was impossible to stop the ship behind in that case.


    The only problem right now was speed. Pulling two ships was not a big deal, but it was difficult to travel quickly while trying not to crash them. Claudius gritted his teeth as he was worried about the bitch goddess; he might attract her attention if he stayed in her territory for too long.


    ¡°You guys, get on my back now. Quickly and one by one¡­¡­ Good, 20 soldiers at a time! Just 12 rounds and we¡¯re done. Hopefully nothing happens while I¡¯m gone¡­¡­¡± Claudius hovered besides the ships as the Udaeus got onto his back. He also cursed as the effort spent on making the chutes was wasted while hoping that Anbo would stay quiet this time.


    ¡°Hah, did that bitch launch a large scale attack on my island just to grant me two new ships? How generous! She might as well be my long lost wife if she treated me so well,¡± Claudius laughed in his mind while refraining from speaking his thoughts as the goddess might be able to detect him sullying her.


    He flew at a low altitude of 20 metres above sea level while controlling his speed. It took around 15 minutes to deliver the first batch of the Udaeus soldiers to the beach, and the entire operation took roughly six hours; the sky turned dark just as the last of the soldiers and supplies were transported to the island. Claudius was lucky that Anbo, as if experiencing a sudden change in personality, left his ships and soldiers alone as he flew back and forth. It was a mystery as to why she did not attack the ships ¡ª Claudius was sure that the goddess could locate the two ships as they were ¡®blessed¡¯ by her divine powers.


    Perhaps Anbo spent a bit too much divine power in her previous rampage, forcing her to focus solely on resisting the corrosion by the Storm God Talos. Anyways, the Udaeus knew what to do the moment they landed as they were elite soldiers. They set up temporary camps for the night while scouts were sent to figure out the nearby terrain and routes. While the Udaeus were busy on land, Claudius was pulling the ships to the shore on his own; it was much easier, now that he did not have to worry about unintentionally throwing a few of his soldiers into the sea.


    As expected, pulling the ships was a troublesome task. It took almost eight hours to reach his destination, arriving at the island just as the sun was rising up beyond the horizon. The ships were also in poor condition as Claudius focused on speed and bumped the ships into one another all the time; they looked more like massive floating ruins in the shape of ships right now¡­¡­


    ¡°It might take over 10 hours if I pulled the ships slowly¡­¡­ Eh? It¡¯s just a few hours more? A few more hours for better ship condition? Nah, screw that. I can¡¯t be bothered to think about such stuff, my Intelligence is merely¡­¡­ let¡¯s see¡­¡­ 14 after all.¡± Claudius mocked himself while he shook his head.


    To be fair, the decision to transport the Udaeus to the island with his body was the right decision. A night was all it took for the soldiers to scout the nearby region and have a good rest, and the Udaeus could not have done so if Claudius pulled the ships with them onboard. By the time Claudius arrived with the tattered ships, the Centurions had already devised battle plans and formations for marching. It would take around two to three hours to reach the first village according to their estimation. They would then obtain supplies and intel from the villagers before proceeding to conquer the entire island.


    Claudius decided to leave everything to his subordinates as it would not end well if he took part in battles; only burnt villages and scorched soil would remain if he attacked. It was the exact opposite of what he was trying to do, thus leaving everything to the Udaeus was the best choice. This was, in the end, a mission to find a place for his subordinates to settle down, and it would only be right if they took part in the mission.

 CH 47

    Chapter 47


    To the Udaeus, the quality of the road was irrelevant to their marching speed. They could march at equal speeds on both big broad highways and rough mountainous paths. Despite their equipment were similar to that of ancient Roman heavy infantry, their physique far surpassed mankind, allowing them to travel a lot faster than their Roman counterparts. The soldiers marched as Claudius overlooked them from the skies. He planned to return to the rocky island after having a brief look of their first battle as the island gave him a sense of security.


    Marching onwards, the Udaeus spotted the first village in the distance. Trees and bushes were replaced by farmland and wooden walls which guarded their target. The Udaeus changed into battle formation while marching, forming a horizontal formation to surround the entire village. They finished their deployment as soon as the alarm in the village rang loudly, causing panic from within the wooden walls.


    ¡°Truly an elite force. They could probably take over the village without stopping their march by the looks of it! This is gonna be good!¡± Claudius praised his soldiers while gliding down towards the village, ¡°Might as well give them a little help.¡±


    Claudius spit his flames in a thin column with precision, burning nothing but the wooden walls. He then left the rest to his army and flew away after all the villagers soiled their pants while trembling. Without the village walls, it was impossible to defend from three Udaeus companies ¡ª to be honest, it did not matter much as only a handful of towns in the entire Floren had the military power to defend from such an invasion. The wooden walls were only slight obstacles which would not change the outcome; it was all pre-determined the moment the Udaeus reached their walls.


    Claudius¡¯ faithful soldiers easily took over the village without massacring everyone; only a handful of unlucky retards dared to fight back and were killed. Judging from the petty look of the wooden house which they used as a temple for worshipping the goddess of grain, the few apprentices and the lone priest lacked combat power and could not repel the invaders. The tidy formations of the Udaeus and the shadow of the Crimson Dragon flying across the village proved that resistance was futile. The priest decided that they would most likely be spared if they surrender and negotiate with the highly disciplined invaders.


    The elders and the priest quickly calmed down the villagers and surrendered. The Udaeus did not loot the houses in the village, only occupying the storage silos while demanding the representatives of the village to provide water and food during their stay. The invaders also demanded logs and livestock from the villagers. The Udaeus plan to resupply and prepare siege weapons in the village before marching onwards to the core town of the island ¡ª Saint Cruz Port.


    As the capital of the island, Saint Cruz Port had a population of 2000 people. The majority of the residents were either fishermen or farmers. From Claudius¡¯ point of view, the town was no more than a place with a few buildings, several roads, and a handful of people running around. The stinking smell of fish was all over the place, but thankfully, the town was still relatively clean. He also thought that occupying the town was a simple task, as the strongest warriors in the town were the twenty or so guards who were on patrol all the time. The fishermen and farmers, who often idled in the only three bars in the town, also had considerable strength, but they were not trained in combat. The scarce stone structures were the temples of Chauntea and Pelor, which accommodated the priests and apprentices of the grain goddess and sun god ¡ª they were the only spellcasters in the town, but they were only slightly troublesome as their levels were low. As for the professionals ¡ª the priests of Anbo, their stone temple was located outside of the town, with half of the structure submerged in the sea. They were good at divine spells, but their levels were low nonetheless. There were not even shops which dealt in scrolls and materials for spells, let alone mages; able to cast a few Level 0 magic tricks was already considered superb for the townsmen.


    There was not much to do, so Claudius went ahead and headed back to his own island. Tonight, Santa Cruz Island was bound to fall into the hands of a certain ¡®evil¡¯ organization led by a Crimson Dragon.


    ¡°Tchh, there¡¯s probably less than 300 full-time soldiers in the entire Velen Isles. The Udaeus should be more than enough,¡± Claudius thought.


    How the Udaeus planned to rule the island was none of his concern. From what Claudius knew, the Udaeus were capable of producing offspring. Perhaps he might find over a thousand soldiers when he returned after roaming around for several decades. Their combat abilities would certainly be inferior to the first generation soldiers though.


    Now that the problem of food shortage for his army was out of the way, Claudius could live freely back on the rocky island. However, the evil sea goddess Anbo was a mad and vengeful bitch. For some reason, Claudius¡¯ island was shrouded in storms and typhoons all year round, just that they were less powerful than the previous all-out assault and the island was not hit by gigantic tsunamis. The surrounding sea was filled with all sorts of sea monsters and magical beasts, which was most likely part of the goddess¡¯ revenge. Just for the sake of gathering her faithful servants, Anbo even tampered with the ocean currents ¡ª she created a branch from the warm flow from the south and cold flow from the north, and converged the two branched currents right at the barren island. The torrent of warm and cold seawater provided energy for the storms, as well as massive schools of fish which were misdirected by the new currents.


    Claudius¡¯ island was given the name ¡®Hell Island¡¯, and the surrounding sea brimming with monsters was named ¡®Sea of Death¡¯. Even with the large schools of fish living in the area, the nearby fishermen had no choice but to avoid the area due to the overwhelming number of monsters. As no one dared to explore the region, Claudius¡¯ existence was yet to be discovered. He disliked the moist environment, but the constant rain and storms provided cover, shielding him from invaders. It was clear that Anbo¡¯s revenge failed spectacularly ¡ª not only did it not deal any damage to its target, it even gave him benefits. Rain and wind corroded the rocky mountain, creating countless rocky spikes. The rain also polished the rocks, creating a semi-shiny effect on the surface of the rocks. The reefs in the sea were also forged into razor-sharp rocks by the raging waves, tearing apart any approaching ships. Sunlight rarely reached the island thanks to the non-stop storms and pitch black rainclouds. Flashes of lightning could be seen all the time; it ended as the primary light source for the region as clouds blocked the rays of sunlight.


    The environment might be harsh for humans, but it was more like the gods were farting from time to time for Claudius. He lay in the lair, ignoring the signs of the goddess¡¯ anger and rage outside.


    Claudius thought, ¡°These pathetic storms and rain is a bit annoying, but the benefits are the real deal! Just look at all those monsters and fish out there, thanks for the meal, my dear Anbo!¡±


    Certainly, there were numerous monsters in the nearby seas, but none of them had to ability to strike enemies in the air. The smaller ones ended up as a steady food supply for Claudius as he could sneak up on them from above, or even better ¡ªbaiting them like fishing back on his island. White mist shrouded a certain part of the mountain all the time, and that was the location of the Crimson Dragon¡¯s lair. Rain brought into his cave would be evaporated into mist after coming into contact with the blazing hot dragon, forming such a spectacle.


    Claudius¡¯ presence brought about change in the terrain ¡ª despite his young age, the rampaging magic elements surrounding him incited activity of lava beneath the island. Hell Island was originally not a volcano, but it was in the process of turning into one; he could feel the churning flames and molten rock deep beneath the ground.

 CH 48

    Chapter 48


    The battle of Saint Cruz Port had already begun by the time Claudius returned to take a look at his army. However, it was not a sneak attack as the news regarding the unknown combat force appearing on the island had been widely spread by the magic communication devices in the temples. The fact that they were supported by a dragon was well known as well. Three companies of elite soldiers was not something a port town with 2000 residents could defend against.


    The battle progressed quickly as expected. The Udaeus ¡®hired¡¯ some farmers from the previous village to transport siege weapons with their bulls, then proceeded to construct the weapon right in front of the town walls. Saint Cruz Port announced that they would demilitarize after their main gate was hit by a few ballista shots, which, to be honest, was no different than surrendering immediately. What came as a surprise was that there were so-called nobles even on an island with only 3000 residents, such as the family of Earl Saint Cruz. It was understandable, given that their family name was the same as the island¡¯s name, but their status was now a matter of the past. The Earl had thirty warriors under his command, but they were nothing compared to hundreds of professional soldiers.


    Contrary to the Earl¡¯s fears, their safety was guaranteed and none of their family members got executed. Not only were their lives spared, they even managed to retain their status of ruler over the island in a sense ¡ª the only difference was that now they had to report to a superior. The Udaeus ordered the island to submit to their rule only in name as was their tradition to do so. They would only take taxes in the form of food supplies and labour from time to time, leaving the people alone most of the time. In this case, the Udaeus ordered the townsmen to demolish the town walls and use the materials to construct a barracks nearby.


    Claudius knew how the Udaeus planned to rule the place from his mysterious power, Telepathic Bond. It was a bit weird as he could roughly sense what the Udaeus were doing, but nothing could be detected from his ¡®first¡¯ subordinates, the Flame Myceloids. Claudius¡¯ fully recovered long ago, and he felt that his Strength, Constitution and Dexterity had increased. As for Intelligence and Charisma, it was not something he could judge without the screen and he had no intention in doing so anyways.


    ¡°There is no need for fancy speeches when you have the strength to back your own words,¡± was what Claudius thought. He breathed in satisfaction and two 10-metre-long streams of flames burst out of his nostrils, causing the wall in his lair to cave in while splashing molten rock all over the places. Claudius¡¯ lair was in a big mess, with the cave walls having all sorts of weird patterns which were formed as molten rock cooled down. The ground was also uneven for the same reason.


    A few uneventful years went by. Claudius spent most of the time sleeping in his lair, occasionally scribbling random things on the walls. He had pretty much given up on his investigation regarding magic as it was rather unsuccessful, but he managed to awaken to a new skill, Find the Path, nonetheless. As for the Level 0 magic tricks, Claudius somehow managed to enhance their power to spell-like abilities. The number of spells he knew was quite a lot, at least for his class Dragon Disciple. Considering his age group, Claudius could be considered a prodigy even among humans, with his command of all Level 0 magic tricks and several Level 1 spells; only a select few humans had the ability to cast Level 1 spells freely as 16 or 17-year old teenagers.


    For the past few years, storms still shrouded Hell Island all the time. With a record breaking rainfall of over 400 millimetres per day, there was no such need to worry about supply of fresh water. The low-lying areas were all turned into small ponds, and waterfalls could be found on the cliffs near the seashore. The constant downpour of rain diluted the seawater which surrounded the island ¡ª the seawater within up to a few metres outwards and tens of metres deep were so diluted by rainwater that it could be considered as a slightly salty ¡°freshwater¡± region¡­¡­ (ED: Paradox but meh)


    Claudius could now clearly hear the grumbling noise from deep underground. Recently, minor earthquakes were occurring frequently, indicating the changes beneath the surface. As the transformation took time, Claudius had a lot of spare time to sort through the remaining knowledge from the Inheritance Ceremony and to think about random things. ¡°Now that I think about it, it¡¯s a miracle that Anbo¡¯s priests did not try to demolish Chauntea¡¯s temples. Maybe the presence of Pelor had an impact on her?¡±


    The long awaited change finally occurred. Just as the sun was showing its glow from beyond the horizon, blue and red flashes lit the dim sky. Claudius, awakened by the rampage of magic elements, stood on the platform in front of his lair as he admired the scene.


    ¡°How gorgeous!¡±


    The ground shook intensely the next moment. Claudius had no idea of the principles of the Richter scale, but he knew it must be rather severe as it felt as if the entire island was tossed three or four metres into the air. Large fissures ran across the whole island and rocks tumbled down the slopes. The ground shook for thirty seconds before coming to a sudden rest.


    At this point, the island could no longer be considered as an island. Claudius hovered in the sky as he overlooked his home which had now split into four large chunks from the centre of the island. Thankfully, he had managed to grab the magical water pump right before the place broke into pieces, but the gold coins were all lost once again; not that he cared anyway. Coincidentally, his lair also remained intact as it was located on the largest chunk and was not split into several parts during the reformation.


    After a short while, an even more severe earthquake struck the remains of the island. The seawater which was greedily filling up the newly opened up spaces exploded into the air all of a sudden. Claudius was lucky enough to witness a giant Dragon Turtle helplessly sucked into the torrents and was blown to smithereens during the explosion. The sea turned into a pot of boiling water as the cross-shaped crack continued to spread due to the earthquake. Fragments of rocks broke off one after another and even Claudius¡¯ lair was not spared from the destruction. The peak of Hell Island was now merely twenty metres above sea level.


    Just as the entire island was about to be crushed into nothingness, the split island began to gain height along with booming sounds which seemingly shocked the skies and ground. Waves with unprecedented height originating from the growing island ravaged the surrounding regions in circles one after another, spreading further outwards until they could no longer be seen. Claudius hummed merrily as he looked at the enlarging black dot from above. Among the thick white mist and sparkles of rock shrapnel, a volcano was emerging from the sea. The sea looked as if it was disappearing as magma immediately vaporized seawater as the two came into contact. Gigantic pillars of smoke connected the sea surface and the skies. The growing island was, obviously a volcano. A huge volcano.


    The wondrous sight of fire and water intertwining continued for an entire day. When the shaking finally came to an end, a massive volcano with a peculiar shape could be seen. Occupying over forty square kilometres of space, a thousand metres tall with a 500-metre-wide volcanic crater, the volcano could roughly be divided into five parts. A seemingly normal-looking yet oversized volcano was in the middle, being surrounded by four shorter rocky mountains which were the remains of the previous island. The volcano was no longer erupting, at least for the moment, and a thick sheet of ash up to six metres deep covered the entire place. Magma continued to flow out of the crater into the sea, expanding the volcanic island slowly but surely.


    The storm clouds which were briefly pushed aside by the volcanic eruption gathered once again, bringing a downpour of heavy rain as usual. This time, however, the rain brought the ash along as it reached the sea. Countless marine creatures met their demise as they suffocated due to the ash covering the sea surface. Some of the ash mixed with the rain to form mud, smudging the volcanic island in a brown, gooey paste.


    ¡°This reformed Hell Island is worthy of its name, if I do say so myself¡­¡­¡±


    The merry Crimson Dragon danced around in the air for a whole day as he inhaled the sulphurous air filled with fire elements with pleasure.

 CH 49

    Chapter 49


    ¡®Hell Island¡¯ was indeed a very suitable name for the new volcanic island. It was not the only volcanic island in the Velen Isles; a lot of other islands were larger and taller than Claudius¡¯ transformed home. Having only forty square kilometres and a peak height of 1000 metres, Hell Island could not even make it into the top 10 largest or tallest volcanoes in Velen Isles, but its specialty was something else ¡ª it had the most dangerous terrain. As a newly emerged volcanic island, the spiky surface had yet to be smoothened out by corrosion over long years, and the rough surface also made it almost impossible to climb up the volcano. Volcanic ash with rich organic matter and minerals sunk down to the sea bed as sediment, inducing rapid growth of aquatic life once again. Schools of fish reappeared due to the two branch currents, replacing their dead counterparts. Various sea creatures lived in the submerged reefs and reproduced despite the chaotic water current. If not for the sea monsters, fishermen would be scrambling towards the area.


    Claudius was optimistic about the situation as the supply of seafood was secured once again. He thought that the stormy weather made it hard for plants to survive on the island, let alone forest animals, thus it was nice to at least have unlimited supply of sea creatures for food. It was, however, a mistake to assume that vegetation could not grow on the island. The active volcano was erupting on a daily basis, and it seemed to have brought along a new plant. Patches of dark crimson lichen which were giving off heat like fire could be seen near the volcanic crater, and the plants soon covered the entire crater as they grew quickly.


    ¡°So they can¡¯t grow on magma, huh? What the hell are those anyways, giving off heat on their own¡­¡­¡± Claudius was confused as he had never seen such strange plants. He noticed that the growth rate of the weird moss reduced as they were further away from the crater, but was unsure what it implied.


    Claudius then began to rebuild his lair, since it was demolished during the transformation. This time, he simply decided to make a lair in the volcanic crater as it was comfortable. As the pool of magma in the centre of the crater erupted regularly, clouds were constantly dispersed by the current of hot air. This meant that heavy rain could not reach the insides of the crater, and that was exactly what Claudius was looking for. Occasionally, rain might be brought to the crater by strong winds, but they would end up as hot steam before long. Japanese people might treat this island as a paradise as geysers and hot springs could be found all over the place. Claudius, as a Crimson Dragon, liked a different type of ¡®hot spring¡¯; his lair was located near a stream of molten rocks and metals.


    Claudius casually flattened a part of the crater as his lair and used the inclined wall as the roof. He made sure to excavate the rocks in front of his lair so as to allow the magma to flow near his home. The smell of sulphur soon flooded the entire lair, and the Crimson Dragon felt extremely pleased.


    ¡°The smell is nice¡­¡­ Oh, I can even toss the remains of my meals into the magma too! That¡¯s much more convenient than before.¡± He continued digging until a magma moat was formed, isolating his lair with molten rock.


    This lair was an ultimate failure from a normal dragon¡¯s point of view. There neither was a well-hidden entrance nor trap-filled tunnels, not to mention the lack of valuables in the main chamber and a backdoor in case he had to escape. To fulfil his desires as a Crimson Dragon, Claudius dug a tunnel through the wall, connecting the lair to a platform on the outer wall which served as his exclusive sightseeing deck.


    His newly built lair was empty as expected. There were neither gold coins nor large chunks of valuable metals, but a tiny water pump was present. An endless flow of boiling freshwater originating from the magic tool gushed through the cracks on the volcanic wall, creating a small waterfall full of rainbows. The effect was only available at the volcanic crater as sunlight could not pass through the storm clouds in the nearby areas. People then learnt that the lair of a certain Crimson Dragon was nearby if they ever saw a rainbow near a volcano, but that was another story for later on.


    Claudius thought that Anbo¡¯s revenge was simply pathetic at this point as it was clear that the plan failed miserably. Unless the goddess personally descended into the realm, her actions were more like an annoying bug. As his continued to grow over time, Claudius came to believe that the bitch goddess could not kill him even if she descended into the body of one of her believers; he could feel the power growing within his body. Right now, the island which he settled down was already nothing like before. Even if he currently was not one of the legendary creatures in the world, his very presence was enough to gradually turn the island into a volcano in the middle of an everlasting inferno.


    The ¡®battle¡¯ between fire and water never came to an end, with the volcanic island expanding every time it erupted. The stream of magma flowing from the volcanic crater into the sea also contributed to the island¡¯s expansion, creating new land along with small-scale steam explosions. The heavy rain also brought the volcanic ash into the sea, providing unlimited supply of food for the sea creatures and nutrients for aquatic plants. Claudius was now deep in slumber; although he was somewhat different from others of his species, he was a Crimson Dragon nonetheless and his activities still obeyed the activity cycle of a normal dragon.


    The numerous sea monsters which gathered due to the goddess¡¯ command still surrounded the island. They had nothing to fear as long as they remained in the sea, despite the fact that the smaller ones would sometimes be attacked by the Crimson Dragon from the air and end up as food. The campaign was rather successful as the crowd of monsters achieved their goal of limiting the dragon¡¯s region of activity with only little losses from time to time. Claudius could only hunt in the shallow regions as the sea monsters lurked around the large schools of fish in deeper regions, denying him free access to easy prey. Some amphibious monsters also kept him from leaving the island unattended for extended periods of time as they would demolish the lair as soon as the master was gone. Sensing that the Crimson Dragon was hibernating, the sea monsters began to infiltrate the volcanic island.


    Hell Island was almost like a short and thick crucifix, with the centre part being the volcano which Claudius resided in and the four chunks on the sides being the remains of the previous island. The large fragments were turned into 500-metre-tall rocky mountains after they were lifted upwards by the emerging land from beneath the sea during the transformation. As they were all fragments of the previous island, it was inevitable that large gaps and sinkholes were present on the inside of the four mountains. It was a spectacle to witness the insides of a mountain being filled with seawater, but that also proved to be a danger for the sleeping dragon. Four powerful sea creatures claimed the mountains as their homes, and the fearless creatures were all under the command of the bitch goddess¡­¡­

 CH 50

    Chapter 50


    Four sea monsters, each occupying one of the rocky mountains, yet they did not dare to make another move as they feared the Crimson Dragon in the centre ¡ª at least not until the goddess decided to dish out punishments. Meanwhile, Claudius was still in his period of hibernation. It was the same with all other dragons; his rate of activity would lower drastically, falling into deep slumber for years or even decades. As dragons were vulnerable during their sleep, they tended to hide in their lairs and set up all sorts of traps and magic to ward off invaders. Claudius, obviously, did not do so. All he did was enlarging the magma moat and making it deeper, as well as modifying the ground a bit to make it more comfortable to sleep on. He was confident that no one would dare to disturb his sleep and the magma moat should be able to deny access to most invaders. Unless other dragons or devils decided to attack him for some reason, it was very difficult for other species to cross the wide river of molten rock. Devils were unlikely to attack either, as materializing in the main realm was extremely troublesome for them.


    The hibernating Crimson Dragon was about to reach his hundredth birthday, which also indicated that he would soon be a young adult. By the time Claudius woke up, he would receive a whole new list of magic spells as well as a significant increase in the six attributes. Typical Crimson Dragons would be making themselves well known across the continent at this stage, but Claudius was an exception ¡ª he already had quite the reputation. The title ¡®The Crimson Disaster¡¯ was given to him after the war with Sylvia the Jade Dragoness, and he became even more famous after the Battle of the Four Dragons. Forces of various affiliations were well aware of his achievements and were paying attention to his every move.


    Now that Claudius was asleep, the dragon aura which he had been emitting all the time was reduced to negligible levels, attracting all sorts of seabirds and predators to gather. Although there were comparatively more sea monsters in the region, the predators from other places still chose to hunt there due to the abundant amount of fish. The four strongest sea monsters were now staying near the volcanic island as well, causing the nearby sea to lack a strong presence. The seabirds brought along seeds, dropping them across the island. The volcano provided fertilizer in the form of ash and kept the place warm all year round, not to mention the ample amount of rainwater, allowing the plants to grow at a fast rate. In merely five years¡¯ time, the entire island had been covered in vegetation ¡ª apart from the area near the volcanic crater where crimson lichen dominated the place. The lush plants and trees growing on the island were in much better condition than their counterparts at other locations. For example, a certain type of tree would normally only grow up to three or four metres tall in five years, but the ones on the island looked as if they were decades old. Various insects also somehow reached the volcanic islands, growing into large and fat creatures, with some even mutating into gigantic versions of their original species. If Claudius woke up right now, he would be happily gathering all sorts of insects and plants to make specimens.


    The volcano also remained inactive for the past few years. Hot, sulphurous air still emerged from the volcanic crater and cracks on the volcano on a daily basis, but it had been years since the last eruption. Only streams of lava flowed out from the crater, creating smooth paths on the outer surface as they cooled down. With the master of the region remaining dormant, the sea monsters gradually formed an ecosystem on their own and reached equilibrium. Several brave fishermen also attempted to approach the surrounding seas with small boats, and they managed to make it closer to Hell Island after studying the patterns of the sea monsters. The fishermen could barely see the white mist and dim red glow at that distance, and there was no need to travel closer as fish was most abundant at this distance. Of course, it was a high-risk, high-return location; some fishermen still died from the attacks by sea monsters from time to time.


    The dangerous yet rewarding situation attracted the attention of the so-called adventurers who seemed eager to meet their demise. The Velen Isles was not as big as one would expect as it was overshadowed by the island nation Lantan on its south. Adventurers gathered at the Sundrah port on Lantan Island, and from there they arrived at the main island of the Velen Isles. After staying there for a while, the adventurers learnt from the residents that the volcanic island on the north was filled with all sorts of sea monsters and treasures. They even managed to buy more detailed information from one of the residents, learning about the possibility of a dragon on the island. The word ¡®dragon¡¯ alone was tempting enough as it came along with treasures and gold most of the time. Up to a hundred adventurers began their search for the island after making preparations.


    It could be considered a large scale hunt as the islands in Floren were nothing like the cities on the main continent, where full-time adventurers were as common as stars in the universe. In fact, a lot of the ¡®adventurers¡¯ who joined the search were simply merchants, sailors or even pirates who sort of knew how to fight. Bound together by their greed, numerous small ships scrambled towards the north like an army of cockroaches. The exact location was unknown as Hell Island was a relatively new island, and it was nowhere near the major shipping routes. Only a handful of fishermen from Santa Cruz Island or other nearby islands knew of the exact location, thus the greedy adventurers had to either hire the fishermen as guides or somehow manage to buy a map.


    The adventurers first had to face the onslaught of sea monsters, but little did they know that they were being used by the priests of Anbo. The goddess told her priests about the island¡¯s location and that a hated enemy was living on the island. The priests had always wanted to get rid of the dragon to please their goddess, yet their combat capabilities was so pathetic that fighting against an ¡®adult¡¯ dragon was nothing but a dream. By luring the adventurers towards the island, the priests could sit at their temples and reap the benefits without being exposed to any risks. While in theory, the priests could control the sea monsters and open a safe path for the adventurers so that they could fight the dragon with their full strength, but it was unfortunate that the monsters were under the direct control of the goddess and there was nothing the priests could do to stop the attacks of the monsters.


    Among the ¡®adventurers¡¯ were believers of the righteous gods as well. Claudius¡¯ Udaeus army conquered the entire Santa Cruz Island, notifying Chauntea and Pelor of his presence indirectly. The two deities and their believers labelled their conquerors as a neutral force of order as the soldiers did not instigate a reign of terror or rule in tyranny. The fact that the island was conquered did not affect the residents¡¯ daily life significantly, and nothing had changed apart from the ruler in name. The Udaeus only took taxes and food supplies from time to time, occasionally ¡®hiring¡¯ some women as well, but they did not commit crimes like rape or mass murder. However, everyone still knew that they were the subordinates of a Crimson Dragon, and according to the common knowledge of the world, Crimson Dragons bring nothing but chaos and destruction. The two deities and the residents could not help but stay alert.


    The grain goddess Chauntea was not a big threat to Claudius as her believers were not proficient in combat, but Pelor was part of an alliance of the deities who belonged to the good alignment, thus his followers would all go to war just for the sake of ¡®righteousness¡¯. A handful of priests, paladins and adventurers who worshipped Pelor thus joined the hunt for the dragon in order to obtain more information about their target. They were all combatants at their prime ages of around forty years old, having well-developed physiques and strong wills. Female teenage paladins fighting Crimson Dragons was something which would only happen in games or novels¡­¡­


    The monsters on the outer regions all had their own territory, thus it was possible to sneak through the opening after killing one of the leaders, but that would not work for the four gigantic sea monsters residing within the island. No matter which direction the adventurers approach from, it was almost certain that they had to fight at least two of them simultaneously. After the paladins and priests slew a massive shark with a weird appearance, the group headed for their destination ¡ª Hell Island. They were going to climb the volcano in the centre from the converging point of the four surrounding rocky mountains, hoping that they could find the Crimson Dragon after all the hard work.

 CH 51

    Chapter 51


    Hell Island, if viewed from a normal map where the upwards direction is north, it would an island in the shape of a crucifix rotated by 45 degrees. The priests and paladins of the gods Pelor, Tyr and Lathander were approaching from the south-west direction.


    Although the sea monster residing in the mountains had yet to reveal themselves, their powerful auras could still be felt faintly in the nearby areas. The south-west mountain was like a hand, with the five crumbling peaks being the ¡®fingers¡¯ and the sinkhole filled with seawater being the ¡®palm¡¯. The sinkhole had a diameter of roughly one kilometre while the depth was unknown. Between the ¡®thumb¡¯ and the ¡®index finger¡¯ was 300-metre-wide strait, and the adventurers were passing through the strait to reach the centre of the island ¡ª the volcano.


    As a matter of fact, not only the gods of the good alignment were interested in this particular hunt. Malar, the God of hunting, who took the form of a black beast and was one of the Deities of Fury like Anbo, also took an interest in the irregular Crimson Dragon. It was a nice prey, and he could even take out the minions of Anbo at the same time ¡ª the Deities of Fury were not friendly towards one another at all.


    Malar¡¯s worshippers were a cautious bunch, at least when hunting. Similar to their god, the hunters would take their time scouting their target and making detailed plans before taking action. They were particularly careful this time, considering that their enemy was a Crimson Dragon, which was a species they rarely hunted. For this very reason, they hid among the adventurers in order to scout their prey and map the surroundings. They also did not hold back in killing some sea monsters on their way as it pleased their god.


    Meanwhile, Claudius was still having sweet dreams in his lair. He had been sleeping for several years already, yet there were still no signs of him waking up soon. The river of lava and the sulphurous smoke shrouded a corner of the volcanic crater, and there lay the sleeping dragon. His body had once again grown larger, reaching over thirty metres in length. He could be considered as one of the largest Crimson Dragons in history, with the mega-sized body unfit for his age. The ground which Claudius had been laying on became magma due to the heat he was giving off all the time, causing him to sink slightly into the molten ground. His chin was now submerged in hot molten rock, but it felt comfortable rather than painful thanks to his innate immunity to fire.


    Similar to Earth, lava in this magical world was also rich in all sorts of metals, bringing the heavy metals from deep underground to the surface. As the lava reached the surface and cooled down to form rocks, sparks of metallic shine could be seen. Iron was the most abundant metal, forming Iron Sulphide, also known as Pyrite, after reacting with sulphur. The golden yellow ores scattered all over the magma river bank, with silver ores and gold ores mixed among them. If inspected closely, there were also mithril and adamantite ores in hidden locations. Theoretically, Claudius was now a millionaire ¡ª if he could ward off the invaders and claim the island as his property, that is¡­¡­


    If Claudius could view the cheat screen right now, he would have noticed that the darkened subordinate bar ¡®Flame Myceloids¡¯ was now lit like the Udaeus¡¯. The crimson lichen had spread into the volcanic crater, and for some reason hyphae began to attach themselves to the lichen, growing into dense packs of mushrooms in the gloomy corners. The mushroom caps were all shimmering in a metallic glow, and they were a lot heavier than typical mushrooms, much like the ones Claudius grew in his previous lairs. To be honest, they were more like pieces of metal in the shape of mushrooms rather than actual mushrooms.


    The mana-filled mushrooms were not something which could be eaten directly, even though they were first class materials for making medicine. When consumed directly without processing, people would first break their teeth for munching chunks of metal, then suffer from heavy metal poisoning or even gastric ulcer in extreme cases. Claudius, however, had been eating these metal mushrooms for a long time. The amount of metals he had been consumed was equivalent to a whole crate of gold coins, just that he was unaware due to the twisted sense of taste after turning into a dragon. Similar to his previous mushroom farm, Myceloids around 70 or 80 centimetres tall were appearing spontaneously as well. They looked quite cute as their little black eyes and tiny mouth was located on the stem rather than the cap. The red hot Myceloids, contrary to their appearances, were probably even stronger than average humans. Despite their smooth and naked ¡®bodies¡¯, the Myceloids were nonetheless semi-hollow heavy metals, hence their defensive abilities might even be better than plate armour.


    The tiny Myceloids poked their heads out of the bunch of ¡®normal¡¯ mushrooms as they cautiously peeked at the massive Crimson Dragon. Whenever Claudius slightly moved or breathed a little flame cloud in his dreams, the little mushroom men would immediately hide themselves. However, these little fellows would clean the dragon¡¯s body from time to time, removing the ash and cooled magma from his scales. The Myceloids worked diligently and silently, and Claudius was oblivious to their actions as he was having a nice sleep.


    As Claudius was submerged in lava for a lengthy period of time, a thin layer of dark red alloy condensed on his scaly chin, giving off a metallic shine. The scales on his body also had a matte metallic look which seemed to buff his defences significantly. Even the webbing on his wings was coated in a dull reddish black layer after being coated in magma for a while, despite the Myceloids¡¯ efforts. Although the growth period had yet to come to an end, the golden horns on his head already showed that the dragon was much more powerful than before.


    Yet he was still crap at magic. The only legitimate magic spell he could cast was Locate Object, which could be used up to seven times a day. Perhaps he could use Find the Path after the long sleep, but that was it. It seemed that Claudius would have to look for scrolls or books in order to learn new spells. The class Dragon Disciple had decent spell casting abilities, yet it was all wasted as Claudius could only cast two spells; the Level 0 magic tricks did not count as formal spells. He had already complained a while ago that all dragons could cast a handful of new spells as they reached a new age group, yet he had to study scrolls and book to learn new spells as he only obtained one from the growth, not to mention it was useless.


    Claudius¡¯ nice long sleep was about to end as the invaders were rapidly approaching the volcano. All of a sudden, the sea bulged as a gigantic sea monster was making its way up from deep beneath, seemingly to protect the sleeping dragon. The adventurers changed their course immediately, hoping to go pass the monster before it fully emerged. They would probably crash onshore and get stranded, but it was still a lot better than fighting a sea monster on a ship.


    Soon, the upper part of the gigantic monster emerged from the bulging sea.

 CH 52

    Chapter 52


    A gigantic fishman head emerged from the sea, with a large fin extending all the way down from the middle of the skull. Five protruding eyes lined up in a row on the ugly face, and below the jaw filled with nasty teeth were octopus tentacles ¡ª a lot of tentacles. It looked like an obese, mega-sized fishman from the speeding ship, but different from other fishmen, this massive monster had octopus-like skin instead of fish scales.


    ¡°This¡­¡­ this monster is over twenty metres tall?!¡± The adventurers were so shocked that they could not take their eyes off the emerging monster. Seemingly poking through the clouds, some adventurers even thought that it was one of the legendary titans.


    The monster was unmistakably staring at the sailing ship. It rapidly approached the fleeing ship, and the adventurers could only try and outrun the pursuer like there was no tomorrow. They headed towards the shore at full speed, ignoring the fact that they would get stranded afterwards ¡ª being stranded was better than getting killed after all. Getting attacked by the monster in sea was no different from certain death, thus they all did not care too much about the return trip, only hoping to survive the ordeal.


    Perhaps being favoured by their gods, the ship crashed onto the shore right before they got in range of the tentacles. The paladins and priests leapt off the deck all at once and began their battle by using the wrecked ship as cover. The priests started chanting together, equipping the paladins with a full set of ¡®armour¡¯ ¡ª a myriad of divine buffs was applied on the paladins while they released their divine aura to increase attack power and defence. Under the blessings of multiple gods, the paladins were turned into mobile fortresses one after another.


    Yet the problem of size difference still remained. As the sea monster approached the shallow waters, the paladins realized that they underestimated the monster¡¯s size. The walking octopus should be well above thirty metres tall, and its grotesque shape made it even more fearsome. Apart from the four limbs, there were also a ton of tentacles swinging around, making it look like a slimy and slippery goo in the shape of a monster. The paladins were holding meteor hammers and two-handed swords, but the weapons were no more than tiny toothpicks to the gigantic monster. Even the two-handed sword with a blade of 1.3 metres long failed to make a deep cut ¡ª it most likely only managed to cut through part of the fat under its skin¡­¡­


    While the warriors of justice were having a desperate fight, the Malar believers who were heading from a different direction encountered another one of the four monsters living inside the island. It was a 20-metre-long fishman, with a fish tail replacing its legs. The upper body was similar to the octopus sea monster, but this one had a trident in its hands. It was also a very dangerous and troublesome monster to fight against, at least on sea. To the believers of Malar, this was one of the toughest enemies they had fought against.


    Claudius was still oblivious to the two battles nearby as he had just been awoken by a thunderous roar from the sea. The roar even managed to cause massive waves to ripple through the seas.


    ¡°The heck?¡± Claudius who was still hazy from his sleep stretched his arms and stood up while yawning. He exercised his wings for a bit while releasing his dragon aura at full throttle. Reaching over 20 metres tall after standing up, Claudius crossed the magma moat with ease, shattering the cooled lava on the ground while doing so. A giant crimson shadow rose from the volcanic crater as he took off with a leap, flapping the reddish-black wings to support his weight. After five years¡¯ time, the Crimson Dragon had once again returned to inspect his territory.


    The sea monster in the north-east mountain was responsible for waking Claudius from his nice sleep. It looked like a cane toad, having rough skin which looked like shattered bones. The body of the monster was ten metres long and it had hind legs of equivalent length, not to mention the large mouth with occupied half its body size, making it look extremely weird. It was busy eating the drowning adventurers as it had just crushed one of their ships with a sonic wave. Claudius headed straight towards the source of the annoying sound which woke him from his sleep, only to find a giant toad screeching with all its might while looking at him. The toad could not even escape as it was suppressed by Claudius¡¯ ravaging dragon aura and could only try to shock the dragon by screaming in order to earn a little bit of time for escaping.


    ¡°This thing is a living stun grenade¡­¡­ The screams are at least 150 decibels! It¡¯s almost as loud as a volcanic eruption, much louder than those little cannons on the ships. Oh, I feel a bit sorry for those adventurers, really. To have their ear drums shattered before getting eaten is surely gruesome.¡±


    Claudius was experiencing a slight headache as well due to the noise. His sense of hearing was much stronger than humans, thus he was also affected by the loud screams of the toad. Thankfully, Claudius was well known for his strong physique and being a dragon also mitigated a bit of the damage. The noise was making him annoyed and slightly painful in the head, but it was not enough to stop him from diving down from the sky towards the damn toad.


    In fact, the giant toad was not inferior to Bronze Dragons in terms of Strength and Constitution, and it even had decent spell-like abilities at its disposal. Claudius did not know much about the toad, but he felt that the toad could not stand up against his dragon flames. The toad immediately spit all the ¡®food¡¯ he ate just now in reflex as a last resort to distract its predator after noticing the rapidly approaching dragon. Pieces of meat and bones, along with pungent and slimy digestive juices, covered the sea.


    ¡°What the f**k! This is way too disgusting!¡±


    Nonetheless, the gross attack managed to serve its purpose as Claudius could not endure the intense smell. He roasted the entire region with his flames in order to get rid of the vomit.


    Sensing the opportunity to escape, the giant toad dove straight back into the sea while Claudius was holding his breath due to the smell. It was so afraid that it continued to dive all the way down even though it was already beyond the reach of the Crimson Dragon. The flames burned on the sea surface, boiling the disgusting mixture along with seawater. Noticing his failure, Claudius immediately flew away from the area ¡ª it got even worse. The smell of boiling digestive fluids and seawater was absolutely disgusting, and he would rather burn in hell rather than poisoning himself with such smell.


    Continuing his inspection, Claudius¡¯ eyes sparkled like a child receiving a new toy when he found out that a few massive sea monsters were living in the four surrounding mountains. The obese octopus and the trident-wielding fishman immediately escaped from their respective battles, while a gigantic Alaskan king crab was running towards the sea while spewing bubbles everywhere.


    ¡°The shell of this oversized crab is well over 20 metres! Damn, stop running away so quickly! I wanna taste the gorgeous brown crab meat!¡± Claudius swore while pounding his chest for the mistake he made, ¡°If only I went here instead¡­¡­ That damn toad was f**king disgusting!¡±


    Although Claudius¡¯ actions saved the humans in a sense, he did not even give a single damn about the tiny figures running around down below. He was busy assessing the fleeing sea monsters ¡ª whether they would taste good or not, whether it would be fun to battle them¡­¡­ After thinking about such nonsense for a while, Claudius was hit by a wave of fatigue.


    ¡°Eh, I guess it¡¯s about time to head back and sleep in the warm lava. It¡¯s still my hibernation period after all.¡± Claudius muttered as he sluggishly flew back to his lair.

 CH 53

    Chapter 53


    Satisfied from his inspection tour, Claudius flew back to his volcanic crater. It was only then he noticed that island had enlarged quite a bit during his sleep. The height also increased a bit, but it seemed that the growth was nowhere near as quick as before, now that the volcano had stopped erupting.


    Much to his surprise, Hell Island was now a green island filled with vegetation. Over 70 percent of the island¡¯s surface was covered in all sorts of tropical plants; it was a pity that there were not any animals though. Seabirds rested on the trees from time to time, but that was it. Funnily, a handful of them were frightened to death when Claudius released his dragon aura when he woke up. The birds lacked natural enemies such as snakes to stop them from reproducing excessively, thus there were a lot of birds in the region. If most of the adventurers managed to reach the island, rats might be introduced to the island as well.


    However, Claudius had yet to know about an important change in the island. When he was snoring away in his lair, an intense eruption which changed the underground terrain occurred. Tons of ash and magma were displaced from their original location, and the earthquake caused a large crack to appear beneath is volcanic island. The newly formed ravine was seemingly bottomless as it was impossible to determine the depth of the dark passage. The only source of light was the magma which gave off a faint dark red glow, but the bottom was still beyond anyone¡¯s sights. From that day onwards, Hell Island was connected with the Underworld beneath the Floren continent. Only time could tell if some underworld creatures would travel through the new rift and appear on the island.


    Although Claudius was only briefly awake, he still managed to discover the hiding Myceloids .


    ¡°Haha! This is truly interesting. There are even sentient mushrooms in this world! Speaking of which, how did the mushrooms get here in the first place? Did my balls really get infected with jok itch?! Shit! Gotta get some medicinal lotion!¡±


    After careful inspection of his body, Claudius gave up as he did not notice any sort of symptoms which indicated that he had such sickness. He felt it was a bit retarded to make a gag when there were no audiences¡­¡­ Anyways, he saw the glowing bar of ¡®Flame Myceloids¡¯ in his attribute screen, thus he decided to look at their information as there was plenty of time.


    It turned out that the Myceloids were decent farmers, especially in cultivating edible mushrooms. They were also competent workers as most of their skills were related to daily life. As for combat ability, their Strength and Constitution were rather average, but their defences were extremely high. The problem was that their attack power was pathetic, with low attacking range and speed, not to mention their ability in handling weapons ¡ª they could only use simple weapons like wooden forks and clubs. The only ¡®bladed¡¯ weapon was the scythe used for harvesting¡­¡­ Claudius could not help but chuckle when he imagined the Myceloids going to battle with weapons in their hands.


    Their combat skills could not be worse either; the Udaeus had all sorts of ¡®Weapon Mastery¡¯ skills while the Flame Myceloids only had ¡®Simple Weapon Proficiency¡¯, let alone simple attacks like Cleave. Their classes were also limited to production classes like farmers, with the only combat class being ¡®Peasant Soldier¡¯ which could not be levelled up at all. In short, they were hopeless in terms of combat power.


    Thanks to the word ¡®flame¡¯ in their species name, the Flame Myceloids had the trait of being immune to fire.


    ¡°Perhaps I could use them as tanks and pin enemies down. Then I could freely use my almighty flames to roast the target¡­¡­ This sounds good!¡± Claudius laughed as he recalled one of the shameless tactics he used in a certain game in his previous life. He also cheered up a bit from the realization, no longer being down in the dumps due to the fact that his new subordinates were bad fighters and the massive crab which slipped just from his fingertips.


    Claudius slumped down in his lair and swiftly when back to sleep without paying much heed to the humans he saw a while ago.


    ¡°Why would people want to come and get killed?¡± Claudius thought.


    However, he was gravely mistaken. He had forgotten the fact that, similar to games, slaying a dragon brought along wealth, fame and experience. Perhaps his sub consciousness was still being slightly affected by his human soul, Claudius often forget that he was a mobile experience and gold pack.


    The Mycleoids continued their daily routine after their master went back to sleep. They cleaned the scales of the Crimson Dragon before searching for new places to cultivate more mushrooms. After all, the little mushroom people all spontaneously appeared among ¡®normal¡¯ mushrooms, thus it was also the only way to increase their population. Unfortunately, the volcanic crater was not a fitting place to plant mushrooms, even though they were heat resistant. The Flame Myceloids found a little crack in the volcano wall and decided to explore the place. Even though it was called a ¡®little¡¯ crack, the inside was wide enough for the Myceloids to line up in a row and walk in teams. The passage made a sharp bent after walking through the crack, creating the illusion that it was a tiny opening while it was in fact a massive one. The Myceloids judged that the passage which slightly inclined downwards was suitable for mushroom cultivation as it was dark and moist.


    The sentient mushrooms went to work like worker ants, transporting pieces of moss and logs from the outer region of the volcanic crater and the nearby forest. They dragged the slightly burnt logs into the dark passage, then moisturized the logs with freshwater from the magic tool before planting hyphae and fungi. There was no time to rest as the Myceloids now had to fertilize the logs with volcanic ash rich in minerals and Claudius¡¯ saliva. As a matter of fact, the ratio of Myceloids to mushrooms was very low; only around five to seven mushrooms could develop in Myceloids while the others would grow into little crimson mushrooms. Among the mushrooms which did not turn into Myceloids, one or two of them would experience abnormalities and turn into large mushrooms, almost as large as the mushroom huts in The Smurfs. These abnormal mushrooms could reach up to seven metres in height and diameter, and it was the perfect structure for the Mycleoids to reside in. They would first empty the stem of the mushroom while it had yet to become rock solid, then make windows and doors on the surface on the stem. The mushroom people also had a simple diet of fermented bark and lichen along with sufficient water. They could theoretically eat meat as well as they had tiny sharp teeth, but they did not have the chance to do so as Claudius did not leave any behind for them.


    The construction of the mushroom farm took the Myceloids a few days. Coincidentally, the adventurers also took similar time to organize themselves and create camps. It was rather ironic as Claudius, their prey, was the one who saved their sorry asses from the sea monsters which were still hiding right now. After transporting all the supplies from their ships to their base, the adventurers sent out several thieves and rangers to scout out the environment. The funny thing was, most of the adventurers did not even know one another beforehand, and the squads which had more or less ten members were mostly put together during their ride to the island ¡ª the sea monsters played a major role in forcing the adventurers into teams as they could not fight the gigantic monsters individually.


    The crusaders of the righteous gods was the team which was least affected by the unexpected encounter. None of their combatants were injured or dead and they even managed to save a handful of sailors. The crusaders built simple huts which could withstand the constant rain before transporting all their supplies on the ship to the shore. Leaving behind the sailors to guard the huts, the 23 paladins and priests began to explore the island. The experienced priests only took two weeks to get close and scout out the volcano, but it was no simple task to travel there as a team ¡ª the forest was not friendly towards their intrusion as none of them were followers of the forest gods.

 CH 54

    Chapter 54


    The only notable creatures in the forests were the three-metre-long frigatebirds as monsters had yet to appear in the newly grown forest. Unlike the forests on the main continent, the crusaders did not have to look out for sneak attacks from lesser monsters such as gnomes, goblins and gnolls. They only had to search for suitable places for resting from time to time, but that did not mean it was an easy hike either; they travelled slowly as the terrain was extremely rough and the ash was giving them problems. They often found themselves stuck in knee-deep ash, and some unlucky ones even fell into large pits of ash which almost drowned them. The thick, entangling branches and vines also blocked their path, and the paladins had no choice but to use their magic weapons to cut those apart. They were rather frustrated for the fact that they were using valuable magic weapons to clear weed.


    But the most troublesome thing was the heavy rain. Rainstorms were all over the place, and the island was soaking from the downpour of rain most of the time. The humidity was extremely high, thus it felt extremely hot and suffocating even though it was only around 25 degrees Celsius. The Druids would probably explode in delight if they found the island with such dense vegetation, but the crusaders were so pissed that they were almost about to renounce their teachings and curse the gods. It was really hard for them to camp in the forest as it took half a day just to clear out an area for the tents. They then had to set up the tents and flatten the ground under the rain, and it almost took them an entire day before it was all set. They might as well stay behind if they had to go over something so troublesome every time they decided to rest for the night. Luckily, there was this thing called ¡®magic¡¯. The Lathander priests had a divine spell which allowed them construct a little hut with magic and they also had a magic tool which could deploy Leomund¡¯s Tiny Hut once a day. It was an expensive crystal globe, but the effects were worth the price as it could deploy the hut for up to eight hours per day. With this, the problem of camping was resolved, albeit a bit pricey as the priests had to recharge the globe with two divine spells of equivalent level. The task was left for the priests whose abilities were not suited for forest exploration.


    Even so, their hiking speed was still very slow. As there were no animals in the forest, the crusaders had to rely on Create Food and Water after consuming all their food supplies. They were way behind schedule at this point and it might take them one more month just to get close to the volcano, not to mention the additional time needed to search for the Crimson Dragon. Perhaps a blessing from Lathander, the completely soaked crusaders continued to press onwards with a cheery mood. It got hotter and hotter as they closed in on the volcano, and it was almost like a tropical rainforest by the time they reached the outskirts of the volcano. With constant rain and temperature of over 35 degrees Celsius, the place was almost like hell filled with plants, puddles and fallen leaves. Apart from some insects, there were no signs of animals. The problem was that the insects were no ordinary ones ¡ª bumblebees were as large as their heads, while spiders and scorpions were almost as long as a whole person. Although these bugs were no challenge for the crusaders, the accumulating fatigue from fighting wave after wave was still worrying.


    Making their way past the obstacles with difficulty, the invaders finally managed to reach a certain height where the air became dry all of a sudden. The green forest was replaced by rocks covered in red moss which gave off a faint tint of glow and heat, defying all common sense. The temperature in the region was no less than 40 degrees Celsius due to the moss. Even though it was rather hot for humans, the crusaders still cheered as they realized that rain could barely reach their location ¡ª their clothes would finally be dry for the first time throughout their entire journey.


    While the crusaders were climbing the volcano from the south, adventurers in groups of five or six were doing the same on the northern slope. As the volcano was rather tall and wide, most of them did not know the locations of the other squads. In fact, several squads of adventurers were still treading through the forest behind the crusaders, but they were a rather unfortunate bunch as their equipment were all worn out already.


    Claudius did not notice the invaders who were about to pay him a visit, thus it was only natural that he did not notice the people who were admiring the rainbow waterfall from down below either. At this point, the largest threat for the climbers was lava. It was really tricky. The surface of the rocks may have looked solid and black despite the flowing lava beneath, but it would be the end for those who stepped on these ¡®traps¡¯ and did not have Fire Immunity charms on them. As the dry and scorching air was over 50 degrees Celsius, a normal adventurer would most likely die from fatigue if they ever reached this place. However, this was nothing for the priests and paladins who were blessed by the gods. At least compared to dungeons and ravines filled with negative energy, this place was less tolling on their bodies.


    The believers of Malar also made it through the forest. As their god was a beast, they could adapt to life in the forest, thus the hunters were in better condition than the crusader. The insects also did not pose a threat for the hunters as they slew the creatures with ease. In fact, the sea monsters they fought on the ship were more troublesome as Anbo was commanding the sea monsters to attack the Malar believers relentlessly ¡ª it was a pleasure for her to see the followers of Malar suffer from her army of monsters.


    The slope of the volcano peak was almost 80 degrees and chunks of rock and magma often dropped down the slope, but that was not enough to stop the invaders in their tracks. They tried to search for cracks in the volcano wall, but they decided to do it the good old way by entering through the top after searching for a while. Not that they could not find one, but it was extremely time consuming as fortune-telling spells and Find the Path did not seem to work. After another day of climbing, the crusaders finally reached the peak ¡ª they were the first to reach the peak, and the believers of Malar would probably need another day before they could catch up with the crusaders. As for other adventurers, they were so scattered that it was impossible to predict when they would arrive. Sulphurous air shrouded the priests and paladins, and through the sparse white mist they saw a lake filled with boiling magma. There were absolutely no signs of the Crimson Dragon, or rather, it was hard to distinguish between magma and dragon through the smoke.


    ¡°We must make our way down there,¡± the crusaders all expressed their opinions and came to such conclusion.


    The way down was relatively simple as the lava had cooled down and turned into rocks, almost like a staircase which spiralled downwards. The crusaders had to pay attention to the pieces of molten rock which occasionally popped out from the magma lake during their walk; even with all the buffs and enchantments, they would still die right away if hit. After applying True Strike to themselves, the crusaders carefully went down the staircase while dodging the flying balls of magma and finally reached the bottom. They looked around only to find themselves standing on a hundred-square-metre large layer of rock which seemed to be cooled lava.


    ¡°We went the wrong way¡­¡­This is not the lair of the Crimson Dragon,¡± The youngest paladin squinted his eyes as noticed the barely visible path near the magma lake in the distance, ¡°The Crimson Dragon is most likely on the other side.¡±

 CH 55

    Chapter 55


    The young person who spoke was a Paladin blessed by god. His strength and divine powers were powerful despite his young age, and this enhanced his Wisdom stat as a side effect. That was why he could sense the right direction even though Claudius¡¯ dragon aura could not be felt at that distance.


    At the same time, the believers of Malar were also in a similar situation; they went down the wrong path as well. Claudius¡¯ lair was located at a rough and ragged section inside the volcanic crater right next to an almost-vertical slope, making it impossible to descend from above unless one could fly. The magma moat surrounding his lair had also expanded quite a bit during the past few years as the magma continued to melt the surrounding rocks. Red hot magma kept seeping out from the cracks on the platform which Claudius was resting on, gradually hardening into black rock. Just when the rock layer was about to be formed, it would be torn apart by the underground pressure which forced more magma out of the gaps. The endless cycle repeated over and over again, making Claudius¡¯ lair look like a red, massive spider web. The cause of the phenomena was none other than Claudius; Crimson Dragons were heat sources due to their nature which gathered fire elements. The magma beneath his platform was the hottest and most active inside the entire volcano.


    The Fire Myceloids could not care less about the harsh environment, though. They were born in such intense heat, and their metallic nature allowed them to resist heat to a large extent. Their bodies could be used as raw materials and refined into heat-resistant metal alloys as well. Anyways, the Myceloids still carried out their duty of cleaning Claudius¡¯ scales, keeping the dark crimson ¡®armour¡¯ shiny.


    The Malar hunters¡¯ aim was just to investigate and scout out the interior of the volcano. They were originally cautious hunters, and they were being extra careful this time as it was a massive operation dedicated to their god. Hunting a True Dragon was surely a holy event which would please their god, thus they decided to take it slowly. In fact, Malar was already rather glad as his followers had been slaughtering Umberlee¡¯s underlings throughout the journey. The ¡®gods of fury¡¯ was never a united team; it was rather natural for them to be baring their fangs at one another. They were just a bunch of maniacs who loved seeing other gods suffer and were granted the name ¡®gods of fury¡¯ by others due to their similar nature.


    Several squads of adventurers were treading the path near the lake of magma. Only the strong could pass through as even anti-fire magic and air magic could not completely erase the heat ¡ª magic was not omnipotent and had its limits as well. The adventurers breathed in the scorching air which reached over 150 degrees Celsius, only barely surviving thanks to the magic buffs. It still felt like breathing in a fireball every time they took a breath though, and the sweat evaporated through the skin pores before they could gather into drops of visible sweat. There were advanced magic spells which could negate the heat completely, but the adventurers had to hold back from such luxury as they had to preserve mana for the fight with the Crimson Dragon. They were alerted at all times as they did not know when they would run into the dragon due to the low visibility caused by sulphurous smoke.


    The shore was not continuous as parts of it was flooded with magma. The adventurers had no choice but to climb the rocky walls to get over the flooded paths. They would be roasted to death while climbing tens of metres above the raging magma if not for their defensive buffs, but it was certainly worth the risk. The volcanic eruptions had brought magma along with minerals from deep underground, and these precious metals were scattered on the walls and inner platforms in the crater.


    The crusaders were not interested in such natural treasures, but the adventurers had different thoughts. They stopped their march and began collecting the metals on the ground as pursuing further to find the Crimson Dragon was nothing but suicide to them. The adventurers used mini-pickaxes to break the rocks on the surface, carefully separating the tiny grains of metals from worthless rock and lining them up according to colour. Gold and silver were the easiest to spot as they were in relatively large pieces when compared to the grains of mithril and adamantite which were no larger than sand. The time needed to gather a little bottle of mithril grains was longer than needed to fill a leather pouch of gold or silver, but the abundance of the legendary metals in the volcano was already high enough to be considered as a mithril and adamantite mine. The low level adventurers who went on the journey to pursue the dragon were overwhelmed with joy that they completely forgot about the harsh journey as they continue to collect the precious metals, not to mention rare gems and diamonds which appeared from time to time during their mining session. The only reason stopping them from having a party immediately was the fact that a Crimson Dragon was residing somewhere inside the volcano.


    Typical Crimson Dragon lairs consisted of multiple compartments connected with puzzle-like tunnels inside a volcano or mountain. Various traps would then be installed to kill invaders and magic alarms would be setup to notify the owner in case something managed to breach through a part of the traps. Claudius¡¯ lair clearly did not have such advanced features; it was simply a rough platform surrounded by a wide magma moat, without any sort of traps, alarms and defenders. Unlike other Crimson Dragons who would station gnolls and ogres inside their lair as defensive troops, Claudius only had the Flame Myceloids who were no good at fighting. They could not even be considered as small fries for the invaders who were strong and brave enough to fight a Crimson Dragon.


    The crusaders spent an entire day crossing the magma lake while the adventurers stayed behind and began mining. The journey across the lake was a tough one as the crusaders had to risk being found out by their target as they camped on ¡®flatland¡¯ using magic tools and magic. It was a challenging night even for the skilled warriors, but they still continued pressing on after offering a prayer to their gods in the morning.


    Their target could finally be seen in the smoke after travelling further for a while. The massive Crimson Dragon had dark reddish scales which seemed to be well polished and its atrocious-looking head was half-submerged in a pool of magma. Its wide wings and muscular legs were stretched as the dragon was in a sleeping pose, clearly unaware of the invaders in the distance. Man-sized mushrooms which appeared to have limbs seemed to be waving their arms in a supposedly frightened gesture while shouting as well.


    Actually, the Myceloids could rest easy as the crusaders were still separated from Claudius by a 30-metre-wide magma moat. The Paladins could not possibly extend their Smite Evil across the moat while the Priests were reluctant to launch a long range bombardment as it was simply not powerful enough to kill a Crimson Dragon which appeared to be in its adult stage, possibly older as well. The believers of Malar approached the sleeping dragon from the other side, but they only caught a glimpse of Claudius¡¯ tail before retreating, hiding in the distance while waiting for an opportunity to steal the kill from the crusaders. Of course, they recorded all the data regarding the terrain and their target with magic before doing so.


    The Flame Mycleoids always worked silently, but that did not mean that they were incapable of waking their master up. It was a comical scene which metallic mushrooms crashed into one another to create a large ¡®Clang¡¯ sound on top of the Crimson Dragon¡¯s head, but that was not the main point.


    ¡°Nghhhhh¡­¡­¡±


    Claudius lifted his head while shooting a column of magma from his nostrils. He opened his eyes shook his body sluggishly.


    ¡°Oh dear gods in heaven¡­¡­¡±


    The crusaders all began muttering their prayers in fear.

 CH 56

    Chapter 56


    It was understandable for them to be so awestruck. If this had been the world of Azeroth, people would have been screaming ¡®DEATHWING!¡¯ while soiling their pants as soon as they saw the protruding jaw of the dragon covered in patterns which looked as strong as steel, along with the razor-sharp canines poking out, not to mention the four large horns on its head. Well, that was not the case here in this world. The crusaders could only mutter ¡®So that¡¯s The Crimson Disaster mentioned in the oracles and rumours¡­¡­¡¯


    The topaz eyes of the awakened dragon were locked onto the crusaders. The divine blessings blocked the overwhelming dragon aura surging from the Crimson Dragon, allowing them to take a defensive formation without being affected by the aura. Claudius stood up on two legs as the invaders regrouped and continued to observe the unwelcomed guests on the opposite of the magma moat. He now looked majestic and powerful as he now had a far larger body than others of his age, but contrary to his atrocious appearance, Claudius was more intrigued rather than angry about the fact that humans managed to make it into the volcano. Speaking of which, it had been decades since he somehow ended up in this world, but the number of humans he had since encountered were no more than a few. Claudius had had fights with gnolls, ogres, beastmen, druids and even other dragons, but he had yet to inspect a normal human thoroughly¡ª he did not pay much attention to the shady merchants and pirates he met before as they were identified as ¡®meat¡¯ instead. He had also met elves, but their appearances were pretty much identical to what he had expected, just like the elves in Japanese fantasy games. The beastmen were ugly bastards with wild looks and barbaric tusks like their counterparts in World of Warcraft, but the humans were rather¡­¡­ ordinary. They slightly resembled humans in World of Warcraft as well, but they looked more civilized than those in the game. It would be more accurate to describe them as typical muscular characters you would find in American comics or movies.


    This was probably also the reason why the crusaders looked so manly and masculine. Even the old priests were muscular uncles and every one of the crusaders kept a beard of considerable length. The beard of the youngest crusader was shorter than the rest, but Claudius still found it uncommon for youngsters to keep such a long beard; he probably did not have the leisure to shave during the harsh journey throughout the past few weeks. The older members did not seem to mind their messy beard which clearly did not go well with their shiny metal armour though. The paladins¡¯ armour sets were all well-made equipment which released a magical glow. Claudius considered them as glowing ¡®Milan-style cans¡¯ though, considering the difference in size between the two parties. As for the priests, their protection gears were completely identical, the only difference being the white cloak they wore on top of the armour. The paladins held broadswords in their hands while the priests were equipped with various brutal-looking weapons ranging from spiked maces to meteor hammers.


    ¡°Damn, I would rather get chopped by those swords then getting smashed by those things!¡± Claudius mumbled.


    The crusaders shouted loudly as they immediately casted barriers on themselves as they thought the dragon was about to cast some sort of magic ¡ª they had mistaken Claudius¡¯ grumble in Chinese as chanting. Claudius could not help but laugh at the funny scene where dozens of little humans shout together as they get covered in tiny bubbles of light.


    ¡°What are you people here for?¡± Claudius asked the crusaders a simply question, in the Common Language of course.


    Obviously, the crusaders sortied as commanded by the gods through oracles. Their objective, however, was not to slay the Crimson Dragon. Gods¡¯ servants were all valuable assets, and Claudius was not so notorious that the gods had to kill him even if it meant sacrificing their own treasured troops. There was a young paladin among the crusaders who was particularly powerful, being blessed by the god Lathander, but the others were only medium-ranked combatants. The isles in the sea were not a well-established base of the righteous gods, thus the number of high level Priests and Paladins were limited.


    What happened next surprised Claudius ¡ª the priests casted Detect Evil on him, lighting his body up in a bright glow. That was not all; the originally blue glow suddenly changed into red.


    ¡°Haha! So this is the divine spell which determines the alignment of the target? Fascinating, I wonder what criteria the spell considers when determining evil from good.¡± Claudius was worked up for some reason.


    ¡®Let me try this,¡¯ Claudius thought as he pictured scenes of volunteers of The Red Cross saving civilians in wars. He then imagined people praying in the Saint Sophia Church, and the results were as expected ¡ª the glow turned from red to blue as he thought about the two scenes in his mind. Claudius then began recalling various scenes in adult videos from his previous world, but that did not seem to affect the spell¡¯s judgement. The moment he thought about the scandals of certain priests raping children, the glow turned to red. Continuing his plan, Claudius began thinking about imprisoning certain people in concentration camps like Hitler did back in World War II. The red glow intensified as his imaginary ¡®plan¡¯ became more detailed. For the sake of fun, Claudius imagined the most ¡®evil¡¯ thing he could think of ¡ª inflicting ¡®A Thousand Year of Pain¡¯ on the gods¡­¡­ The glow on his body went haywire like a light bulb about to explode from receiving too much power input.


    ¡°HOW EVIL!¡± The crusaders shouted in unity, but Claudius continued to laugh while ignoring the provocative shouts.


    ¡°This is simply too fun! Too bad I can¡¯t mess with these dudes for too long; they might come at me for real if I do that. It would be fun to try out various things¡­¡­¡± Claudius then effortlessly changed the glow on his body from the brightest red the crusaders had ever seen back to blue. The muscle-headed Paladins who were prepared to throw their lives at the dragon dropped their jaws to the ground at the unexpected change. The priests, on the other hand, were also shocked to a large extent but still managed to maintain their composure. The paladins stayed on guard while the priests decided to have a talk with the dragon; they were well-versed in diplomacy and communication as their main duty was to spread the teachings of their god after all. There was nothing to worry about even if their target this time was a dragon.


    ¡°O Great Crimson Dragon,¡± the eldest priest was the one to break the deadlock.


    ¡°Claudius,¡± the Crimson Dragon pointed his finger at himself, ¡°What is the matter?¡±


    It was clearly a dragon capable of communication, but its motives were remained unclear at this point. Did it do so out of cautiousness, or was it trickery? The priest was uncertain as to how to continue the conversation. The Crimson Dragon was waiting for his response, and the only thing the priest could think of was the rumours regarding Saint Cruz Island. It was said that Saint Cruz Island was occupied by forces backed by the dragon in front of him, but the island was completely fine during their inspection. Public order on the island was as satisfactory as ever, and there did not seem to be any slaughtering or evil rituals going on. This was insufficient evidence to warn the dragon from interfering with human settlements, let alone slaying it. ¡®The existence of Crimson Dragons are evil, so they have to be killed on sight¡¯ was something politicians could accept, but it was simply too lame of a reason to be announced to the public. It was not enough to justify the casualties caused by the pointless subjugation.


    The two exchanged their thoughts on the events regarding Saint Cruz Island, and much to the priest¡¯s surprise, Claudius readily admitted that the Udaeus occupying the island were his subordinates and that it had nothing to do with gods or religion.


    ¡°Why the hell would I want to get involved in religion? I don¡¯t care what you people believe in, okay?¡± This was Claudius¡¯ response to the priest¡¯s question about his faith. The experienced priest could already tell that the dragon was unrelated to the evil five-headed dragon queen Tiamat, but he still asked Claudius another question just to be safe.


    ¡°Oh, that old bitch dragoness with five heads? That whore has so many lovers that her pussy is probably destroyed from all the sex she had, hahaha! Not that I give a damn though.¡±


    The priest was astonished by Claudius¡¯ response as it was a taboo for a Coloured Dragon to disgrace dragon deities, but he simply thought of it as a slip of tongue as the Crimson Dragon was rather talkative.


    Thankfully, Claudius did not know much about Lathander and Pelor, or else the crusaders would be offended at some point during the conversation and the fight would have been unavoidable. Some of the relatively high ranked priests were inclined towards persuading the Crimson Dragon to join their religion ¡ª the fact that some beings from the Baatoor Nine Hells and the Endless Caverns converted their faith from evil to good years ago convinced the priests that even though the process might take a while, it could be done.


    After conversing for a while, the priest thanked Claudius and left the place along with the rest of the crusaders. They all had different opinions, but the ultimate decision was not theirs to make; they would inform the gods of the situation and await their decision. From their point of view, the dragon could still be ¡®saved¡¯ and guided away from the path of evil, not to mention its frivolous personality.


    Claudius could not care less about the crusaders¡¯ opinions of him as long as they did not bother him. Even if he had been forcefully awakened by the Flame Myceloids, his mental state was similar to that of a drunken person. As a matter of fact, there was a large chance that Claudius could not even remember having the talk with the priest. The only thing he wanted to do right now was going back to sleep, and he quickly fell asleep once again in just a few minutes.


    The Malar believers continued to lurk in the distance as the dragon lay back down while snoring¡­¡­

 CH 57

    Chapter 57


    As a matter of fact, the believers of Malar were mostly demi-humans instead of humans. Species such as ogres, gnolls, beastmen, werewolves and weretigers often worshipped Malar while humans had a wide range of faiths. The leader of the hunting party this time was a werewolf disguised as human by using a transformation necklace filled with divine power from Malar. Along with a few human rangers, the hunters hid within the sulphurous steam as they observed the interaction between the Crimson Dragon and the crusaders. Contrary to their expectations, the crusaders left after conversing with the dragon for a while. This was abnormal, considering that Crimson Dragons were the symbol of evil while crusaders represented good. The hunters could only feel annoyed as they continue to observe the weird-looking Crimson Dragon which probably also had a twisted mind as typical Crimson Dragons would have attacked the crusaders at first sight. Their splendid plan was now ruined ¡ª they were going to kill both parties with a surprise attack during their intense fight. It would certainly please their god by offering not only a Crimson Dragon, but also the crusaders which Malar hated so much. Well, they now had no choice but to settle with only offering the dragon.


    ¡°Sniff sniff¡­¡­ A familiar smell.¡± Claudius lifted his head slightly and sniffed the air, ¡°Wait, no. This isn¡¯t just a smell, something¡¯s gonna happen real soon!¡±


    After identifying the source of the smell, Claudius began stretching his body. The Flame Myceloids were trying to protect their master from the crusaders during their conversation by waving their arms and making fierce looks, but now that they were gone, the shy mushroom people immediately fled back into the crack in the wall. Claudius dunked his upper body into the magma moat, poking his head out of the moat after a short while. Magma dripped down his head as he dunked his snout back into the river.


    It was a volcanic eruption at an unprecedented scale. The crusaders who had just exited the volcanic crater and were currently climbing down the volcano all dropped to the ground due to the sudden shaking. The experienced priests immediately deployed dome-shaped barriers to cover their comrades while everyone firmly held onto the rope in their hands. Storms of flaming rocks, bubbles of lava and boiling hot ash rained down from the sky, assaulting the barriers which somehow managed to hold up. The eruption was so intense that it seemed as if the entire magma chamber was emptied by an explosion which blew up the bottom of the volcano. The trees did not stand a chance against the earthquake and collapsed ¡ª even the four rocky mountains surrounding the volcano began to grumble and collapse.


    The believers of Malar only had a second to growl before turning into ash. Meanwhile, Claudius was bathing in the gushing torrent of magma, enjoying the gushing force which was as comfortable as a massage. The intense eruption occurred without any signs, but it also ended rather quickly. During the sudden volcanic eruption, Claudius, for some reason, learnt how to cause volcanic eruptions with the ample supply of fire elements surrounding his body. Crimson Dragons, especially aged ones, had a large influence on their surroundings ¡ª some Crimson Dragons which managed to live till the stage of Wyrm even turned their graves into an eternal sea of flames.


    After the volcanic eruption ended, Claudius realized that he had to temporarily leave the place as the platform he was staying on was crushed. Before the upper layers of magma could cool down to form rocks inside the volcano, he had to live somewhere else.


    ¡°Eh? What¡¯s this?¡± Claudius was about to fly away when he noticed a magical glow inside a crack on the wall. The source of the glow was a necklace. Using his claws, he picked up the necklace and inspected the accessory which was most likely a magic tool. He also saw his little mushroom army vigorously waving at him from another crack ¡ª just like their master, they were also immune to fire, thus it was only natural that they too survived the eruption.


    Claudius now stood in the sooty ruins which had been a forest not long ago, inspecting the necklace hung on his claws. With his inborn appraising skill, Claudius could even roughly guess the type of spell or magic applied on a magic tool as he was top tier creature.


    ¡°This is¡­¡­ Transformation?¡±


    Claudius scratched his head while pondering on what to do. Dragons, especially True Dragons, were all mages the moment they were born. Although most of them relied on awakening to spells through ¡®growths¡¯ instead of actually studying magic, they still had the ability to distinguish spells as the knowledge was passed down through the Inheritance Ceremony. As mentioned above, Claudius could only roughly guess the spell type on a magic tool with his innate appraising skill. The reason he could clearly identify the spell was due to the fact that all dragons had the ability to distinguish spells using knowledge from their ancestors.


    The magic tool in Claudius¡¯ claws was indeed a permanent transformation necklace. As it was created with Malar¡¯s divine powers, it could also be treated as a ¡®divine tool¡¯ which was of higher quality than typical magic tools.


    The Skin of Malar: Automatically adjusts its size to fit the equipped creature. Grants the ability to transform into three types of beasts or two types of humanoids. The user will lose the ability to cast a Level 4 magic or divine spell when transformation is active. If the user does not have Level 4 spells, three Level 3 spells would be deactivated instead, and so on. Note: only usable by believers of Malar.


    Claudius was about to crush the necklace in rage. ¡°What the hell! So you¡¯re telling me I can¡¯t use this shit at all just because I don¡¯t worship some shitty god? Yeah, f*ck you Malar, f*ck you and your ancestors!¡±


    Claudius relentlessly lashed out against the god without caring that Malar could hear it if he spoke out his name. It was not his first time doing so, and the case with Umberlee certainly did not teach him a lesson. As always, he was a carefree yet rather arrogant dragon and nothing could be done about that. Anyways, he thought that smashing the necklace was a bit wasteful, thus he decided to keep it for now.


    ¡°Eh, might as well keep it and see if someone could alter this thing for me. Maybe those crusaders could help me out? I guess I can guarantee their temples¡¯ safety if they do that,¡± he muttered before digging up a hole, preparing to sleep once again.


    Just as Claudius lay down on the ground, sounds of digging could be heard and a Myceloid suddenly poked its head out of a hole from the volcano wall.


    ¡°Quite the competent bunch, aren¡¯t they?¡± Claudius sighed in relief as he passed the necklace to the tiny mushroom, ¡°Take care of this for me while I sleep, okay? Make sure no one steals it.¡±


    Ignoring the Myceloid¡¯s stunned look, the Crimson Dragon plopped back down and fell asleep straight away. The volcano slightly shook as his heavy body slammed onto the ground, causing chunks of rocks to fall down and cover the cave along with a magma ¡®waterfall¡¯. Thankfully, Claudius¡¯ tail still left a metre-wide hole for ventilation.


    The Flame Myceloids did not stop working while Claudius was asleep. With their considerable strength and semi-metallic bodies, they were quite good at excavating. The metallic mushrooms began to dig a tunnel which connected the new ¡®lair¡¯ to the insides of the volcanic crater. Now that Claudius was ¡®hibernating¡¯ in a different location, both the crusaders who set up a teleportation point before leaving and the raging believers of Malar lost track of the Crimson Dragon. Umberlee¡¯s four sea monsters were still staying in the four surrounding mountains though, keeping each other in check. The climate of the volcanic island also prevented them from proceeding further.


    The Myceloids¡¯ planting regime worked out superbly. The mushroom cultivation farm in the volcano was now filled with flame mushrooms after magma flowed into the crack, illuminating the place while providing heat. It also increased the number of Myceloids to over 100, and they now had enough manpower to conduct all sorts of construction work.

 CH 58

    Chapter 58


    Hell Island, which had been dormant for several years, was now active once again. After Claudius casually triggered the large-scale eruption, the volcano would now erupt at regular intervals, shooting out lava and ash at least thrice a day. The forest down below was destroyed, transformed into a rocky surface dyed black and red. The frequent eruptions also changed the climate of the island. The heavy rain and stormy clouds no longer enshrouded the volcano, only covering up the four surrounding mountains. This caused warm and cold air to converge between the two, further intensifying the storms and rainstorms. The eco-system on the island was further worsened due to the sudden change in weather.


    Some of the trees managed to survive, but most of them died as their species were not suited for heavy rain. The rotten trunks and leaves turned the island into a breeding ground for all sorts of poisonous insects, making the island into an uninhabitable place for humans. Well, perhaps gnomes or goblins could manage to survive somehow in such harsh conditions. The disappointed adventurers stopped their advance as the island did not seem to harbour any sort of treasure and there weren¡¯t any signs which indicated that the dragon they were looking for was still on the island.


    Apart from the weather, the terrain also underwent changes. The layer of crust at the bottom of the sea was fragmented into multiple chunks due to the frequent earthquakes, with some protruding upwards while others sinking downwards. Warm and cold currents also converged at that region, forming complicated undercurrents and intense waves. Volcanic ash full of minerals and organic matter gushed into the seas along with the rain and cultivated an endless amount of plankton, which in turn allowed fish to reproduce explosively. The sudden appearance of large schools of fish and shellfish attracted predators from nearby regions to hunt there; all sorts of sharks, whales and even sea monsters roamed around as there was an ample supply of food. The complex seabed also served as home for the monsters. As a result, even the Sahuagin underlings of Umberlee did not dare to invade the region, but their goddess paid them no heed. In fact, she was a goddess who took pride in threatening her own subordinates and enjoyed watching them offer sacrifices as they trembled in fear.


    The coastline of Hell Island mainly consisted of rocky cliffs, with several sandy beaches covered in ash in between. The cliffs were all vertically connected to the seabed while waves splashed against them to produce snowflake-like mist. Even the beaches were not a safe place as they were constantly hit by large waves, though it would probably be a popular surfing spot if it was back on Earth. To briefly conclude the situation, this was not a place for vacation where you could enjoy the sun on a beach. Anyways, it was a view which basically no one could look at as Floren was a large place with little people. Over half of the continent had yet to be explored by humans, and most people would not bother travelling to such a distant and dangerous place. If one were to stand on top of the cliffs on Hell Island, he would be able to witness all sorts of weird yet ferocious creatures, such as fish with man-sized dorsal fins, not to mention sea monsters with thighs as thick and strong as stone pillars. Just like that, the condition of the sea remained the same for all eternity, but that was for another time. The Crimson Dragon who once lived on the island disappeared without a trace, and most of the hunting party decided that the dragon was gone and was no longer within their grasp.


    Nothing much happened in the next ten years or so. The large crack inside the volcano wall was now a mushroom haven, stuffed with red mushrooms which glowed in a similar fashion to the river of magma flowing nearby. The mushrooms came in different sizes, ranging from small ones with the size of one¡¯s fingertips to humongous ones which were as large as an apartment. Among the forest of mushrooms were Myceloids with different heights, with some of them plucking mushrooms ready for harvest and others humming merrily as they slammed their fists into the wall to open up the path to the underworld.


    This was the grand project of the Myceloids. For the past decade, they had already extended the tunnel up to ten kilometres long. As they dug their way through the rocks, they found new underground caves and rivers as well as several magic nodes. The Myceloids also cultivated mushrooms along the tunnel, but due to the lack of magma, they were only normal mushrooms and could not turn into Myceloids.


    All of a sudden, a creature which did not seem to belong to this world flew out of the gap which the Myceloids were opening up. Sparks flew everywhere as the creature collided into the metallic mushroom caps. The creature looked like a bald eagle covered in scales, and more of those rushed through the gap right after the first one.


    Elsewhere, the Myceloids had accidently discovered a pitch black tunnel during their excavation. They could barely see the outline of a massive horned beast as light seeped through the gaps, and in front of the beast laid a skeleton of an unknown creature.


    Claudius was on the ground as if he was dead, staying dormant inside the hollow volcano wall. Two or three metres below the entrance of his so-called cave was boiling magma with a little platform which connected to a nearby crack in the wall; it was a frequently used path built by the Flame Myceloids. Claudius now had a terrifying look ¡ª most people would have mistaken him as a Lich Dragon or Undead Dragon considering his bony body. The thick skin under his scales now stuck closely to his skeleton; it looked as if he had been starving for a long while. His muscular legs had also shrunk, as if the muscles had disappeared into thin air. The most horrifying part was his head ¡ª it was almost like the skull of a Black Dragon.


    However, he was clearly alive. The tiny mountain of rocks under his 40-metre-body had melted and Claudius was now submerged in magma filled with potent fire element as the rocks gradually melted, courtesy of his Ring of Blaze. Despite his bony look, his scales were still in perfect condition thanks to the Flame Myceloids who frequently cleaned and wiped them. This was the reason why dragons had to construct a heavily guarded lair before they entered hibernation ¡ª Claudius¡¯ breath was so slow that one would have thought he stopped breathing, and his body was in a condition which only seemed suitable for dead dragons.


    Slowly but steadily, his breathing rate arose once again. The crimson torso began spewing bright flames while magma came surging from underground. The skinny body gradually regained its muscles as it was now completely covered in magma, but it was still nowhere close to the condition before his hibernation.


    The breath of the Crimson Dragon slowed down again as the change in his body ended, slumping down into the magma. Even though Claudius was not releasing his dragon aura, people would still freeze out of fear due to his new look. No one would be brave enough to stand in front of him without having their hearts filled with terror ¡ª no one.

 CH 59

    Chapter 59


    Claudius¡¯ body sunk further down the magma as time passed. By the tenth year, his body was completely submerged. After twenty years, he was in between the newly formed magma chamber and the main magma chamber of the volcano. Another five years was all it took for Claudius to sink all the way down into the main chamber.


    As for the Myceloids, ten or so of them died from the attack of the unknown creatures, which were actually Hook Horrors from the Underdark, but the others managed to escape and sealed the entrance. Although the Myceloids had high defence, their ability to fight was pathetic as their occupations were not combat-oriented. The Hook Horrors greedily tore their prey apart, only to find out that the metallic mushrooms were inedible. The bright environment was also unsuitable for the creatures from the Underdark, thus the Hook Horrors swiftly returned to their own territory, but that was something the Myceloids did not know.


    It had been years since mankind last step foot on Hell Island. There were neither ancient ruins nor mazes on the island, and the dragon lair had been destroyed a long time ago. The lava which condensed on the island¡¯s surface contained plenty of minerals and metals, but it was not valuable enough that people would risk their lives to traverse the dangerous sea and make their way through the thick forest brimming with poisonous insects. The risk was great not only because the journey was tough, but also due to the fact that the volcano erupted on a daily basis. As for the island¡¯s owner, ¡®The Crimson Disaster¡¯, its legend was still being passed down across the continent, but most of them lacked the most important part ¡ª the ending. There were minstrels who turned Claudius into the main antagonist of a song which spoke of brave warriors who slew the evil dragon though.


    Hell Island had also underwent significant changes throughout the past two decades or so. The ground level had been raised due to the regular eruptions, and the island had expanded as a result as well. The cross-shaped island was now hundred-kilometre-wide, and the distinctive cross shape was now only barely visible when looked from above. Apart from the 2000-metre-tall volcano in the centre, the island was now covered in a wide range of tropical plants with the distribution of species depending on the altitude. The four gigantic sea monsters still remained in their respective lairs and fought each other from time to time, completely ignoring the fact that they were all Umberlee¡¯s underlings.


    The magma chamber also grew large as the volcano grew taller, which was also one of the contributing factors to the heightened ground level. There were numerous geysers and hot springs across the island, and a handful of air vents which spewed sulphurous air from time to time as well.


    Now that the island was full of vegetation due to the frequent rain, it was inevitable that insects would thrive in such a terrain. They were poisonous creatures, but they were not the most dangerous threat on the island. Excluding the four sea monsters, the most life threatening trap on the island was the seams on the ground. These seams were often covered up by plants and thus were hard to spot, and a drop was all one needed to meet their demise, be it falling into a hundred-metre deep pit, a pool of magma or even into the Underdark.


    The smoke from the eruptions formed an everlasting pillar which reached the skies and could be seen even from Saint Cruz Island. Speaking of which, Saint Cruz Island also experienced huge changes. There were several more villages now after cutting down a part of the rainforest. The new area provided farmland for the new villagers, and the farmers were now farming crops like potatoes and wheat on the new fields. The population size had increased to ten thousand, which also meant that the demand for food and housing had risen. Bakeries and houses were built to meet the rising demand, turning Saint Cruz Island into a lively place.


    On the contrary, nothing much changed for the Udaeus. They were still the same soldiers as decades ago and their looks remained mostly unchanged as well. That was only natural as Udaeus, a species created from dragon¡¯s teeth, had a much longer lifespan than humans. There were new faces in the Udaeus barracks ¡ª the newcomers were half-human-half-Udaeus born from the Udaeus who mingled with humans. Although their skins were pale white like their fathers, the dim crimson tattoo was not passed on to them. They were all prodigies at war despite not being as powerful as their previous generation. While their combat abilities were below the original Udaeus, they had an advantage over their fathers ¡ª the ability to learn. Obtained from their mothers¡¯ genes, the half-Udaeus were talented in learning non-combat skills such as blacksmithing and leatherworks. They also had a long life, although not as long as the original Udaeus. Typical half-Udaeus could live up to 300 years, with around 200 years of their life at their prime stage. It was regretful that their mothers were all rather old now; typical humans who were not priests or warriors would be considered rather lucky to reach 80 years of age. The half-Udaeus would certainly be witnessing their own mothers¡¯ funerals if they did not die in battle, which was a depressing thing.


    The rate of birth for cross-breeding between humans and Udaeus was by no means low. Typical human women could give birth for a maximum of around five or six times in their lives, while the number would be reduced to two or three if it was between a Udaeus and human. The first generation of Udaeus were all male, but that was not the case for the subsequent generation; about half of the half-Udaeus were females. They were not as strong as their fellow brothers in battle, but their offspring would probably be stronger than them if they were to marry another half-Udaeus. With that said, they would never be as strong as the first generation. The pure-bred Udaeus were creatures born from Claudius¡¯ teeth, granting them the ability to grow stronger over time like dragons.


    The Udaeus were now capable of constructing galleys ¡ª to be precise, the Udaeus forced the residents on the island to construct them. The residents were unable to reproduce the pirates¡¯ galleons, but they somehow improved on their own cruising technology and created ships which were larger and had better control on its movement through the use of sails and oars. The Udaeus also held their promise of not oppressing the residents, only requesting a reasonable level of tax. They even implemented tax-free periods for farmers who farmed the new fields obtained from chopping down the forest. Their children, the half-Udaeus, also led a simple life which they tended the fields and fed themselves, not snatching away the hard work of the human farmers. With their physical abilities, they were actually a lot better than the human farmers.


    On the seas, however, they were not as benevolent. Along with their fathers, the half-Udaeus roamed the seas as pirates. They chased the merchant ships with their agile galleys and requested a ¡®protection fee¡¯ for passing through the region. Those who complied would be left alone, while those who did not would get completely robbed.


    The pirates who used to control the area were not as fortunate ¡ª the Udaeus navy eliminated them all, sending them back to their goddess Umberlee¡¯s embrace. Even though the pirates had Umberlee priests and Dark Warriors among them, they were no match for the Udaeus who were granted magic resistance by their creator, Claudius. The Udaeus also had enhanced physical capabilities which allowed them to swim quickly and hold their breath for lengthened periods of time. Even if their ships were sunk, they would rarely drown to death, but that was not a concern at all. Although the Udaeus ships were not equipped with expensive magic cannons, their main weapons were rapid-fire crossbows and suspension bridges. The suspension bridges were especially feared by the pirates as their fates were sealed the moment the bridges latched onto their ship ¡ª all that remained was a one-sided massacre. The galleons which had high decks were safe from this strategy, but they were expensive and only a few rich pirate captains could afford it in the region.


    After they controlled the surrounding seas, the Udaeus moved on to their next plan. Several years ago, they began approaching Hell Island in an attempt to land on it ¡ª they could sense that their master was inside the volcano, right in the centre of the island.

 CH 60

    Chapter 60


    The Udaeus could easily kill all the pirates, but that did not mean they were good at fighting against overwhelming amounts of sea monsters. They would get surrounded by monsters, and their methods of attacking were limited as they were not fighting on land. After all, the sea belonged to the sea monsters and the Udaeus were the trespassers this time. Nonetheless, the Udaeus were seasoned warriors and had the ability to adapt to changes; if travelling quickly to Hell Island was not possible, then they might as well travel slowly while clearing out the monsters.


    Currently, there were three agile battleships travelling towards Hell Island, carrying a total of 30 Udaeus and 90 of their offsprings. They simultaneously slew a bull on their battleships, tossed the internal organs into the sea and hung the corpse above the sea surface as blood poured down into the sea. It immediately attracted a group of sharks which leapt out from the sea in a frenzied attempt to snatch the dead bull, but none of them reached their target before getting stabbed to death by multiple tridents. The dead sharks¡¯ blood further attracted other predators, and the cycle continued until the group of sharks scattered due to the appearance of a powerful monster, which was also the Udaeus¡¯ primary target.


    A massive caesious-coloured dorsal fin which was as tall as three human adults poked out from the sea. This meant that it was a monster which underwent abnormal changes, turning into a rare variant of the original species ¡ª if Claudius were to see the monster, he would immediately know that it was a Dire Shark, also known as Megalodon. As the Dire Shark approached, the Udaeus released the chains and dropped the dead bulls into the sea. Some of the elite warriors carried well-polished single-bladed swords and climbed down the ladder to the sea surface, awaiting their chance to strike. High-power crossbow bolts and spears went flying as soon as the Dire Shark showed its head.


    The enraged Dire Shark began its retaliation. Considering its size, it could easily crunch the battleships into two with a single bit. The Udaeus prepared countermeasures such as installing metal spikes on the ships¡¯ sides; by biting the ship, the Dire Shark would suffer significant damage due to having its jaws punctured. It still bit the ship nonetheless, but not before all the Udaeus jumped off the deck with weapons in their hands. One of the battleships was gone, but the Udaeus did not suffer from any casualties while the Dire Shark was wriggling in pain. They then snuck their way near their target, anchoring themselves onto the Dire Shark by stabbing their swords into the shark¡¯s body. Numerous wounds appeared on the Dire Shark, and they were further opened up as it shook its body in agony.


    Just like that, the Udaeus gradually made their way through while slaying sea monsters on their way. It was treated as combat training as the monsters at the outer regions were relatively weak ¡ª the true challenge began as they got closer to Hell Island, with the four gigantic monsters on the four mountains as the final bosses.


    However, it would still take up to a decade before the Udaeus could set foot on Hell Island in a large scale. There were previous adventurers who travelled to the island, but they were simply aiming to search for riches or go on an adventure, unlike the Udaeus who aimed to recover the entire island. The adventurers probably had no plans for their return trips either as most of them gave up midway.


    However, the volcano on Hell Island had been erupting more and more frequently. Small-scale eruptions occurred all the time, turning the upper part of the volcano into a region void of life. Toxic gas enshrouded the area and killed all the plants; some of the plants which were relatively further away were also affected. The magma pulsed vigorously inside the volcano, churning out pieces of red hot rock from time to time.


    Earthquakes were also a common occurrence. As the ground shook, rocks on top of the mountains would roll down the slopes and trample everything in their way. Massive waves were also generated due to the tectonic movements.


    The Myceloids cheered and danced as they looked at the magma chamber while hiding inside the volcano wall. The magma began surging upwards not long after. Noticing that, they carried all their valuables and climbed out of the volcano swiftly. They then rolled down the slope while clinging onto one another as it was the fastest way down. The magma continued its way up as the ground began to shake, producing thunderous booms in the process. Thankfully, it was an active volcano ¡ª if a layer of rock had formed on top of the magma chamber, the eruption would have been way more disastrous.


    Millions of tonnes of ash and lava sprayed out of the volcanic crater. They reached up to several thousands of meters in altitude before plummeting towards the ground. The ash covered up the sun, and the only light source in the pitch black area was the pillar of lava spewing out from the volcano. Lightning and thunder lit the sky and roared, as if the scene was not dramatic enough. The rumbling sounds were so loud that even people on Santa Cruz Island, which was over a hundred nautical miles away, could hear the noise clearly. Soon, rain began pouring down from the skies onto Santa Cruz Island, but it was no ordinary rain ¡ª the rain was boiling hot and muddy. The cause of this phenomenon were the tonnes of ash mixed into the clouds, heating up the rain while turning the clouds muddy.


    Back on Hell Island, a terrifying roar which was louder than thunder could be heard ¡ª a dark crimson shadow appeared from the magma pillar. After 35 years of hibernation, Claudius was now finally a young adult dragon. Although his roar sounded powerful, his looks were rather shabby. Claudius was so thin that others might mistake him as a Zombie Dragon, and chunks of magma which had cooled down covered up his scales. Part of the dark rocks on his scales began to crack and fall off as he moved his body, showing the scales which were now in a dark red colour; even darker than blood. The webbings on his wings were grey in colour which made it seem as if they were made out of ash.


    According to the traditions of the True Dragons, they would add a new middle name to their already-lengthy name after reaching the first stage of adulthood. This tradition was especially treasured by Crimson Dragons, thus some of them even gave themselves middle names every time they reached another stage. This was also why some of the dragons which had reached the stage of Great Wyrm had such ridiculously long names.


    Claudius was well aware of this tradition as well. Even though his stomach was grumbling in hunger, he still enthusiastically gave himself a new middle name: Tartarus.


    ¡°I am now Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Tartarus!¡± (ED: Even thou middle should be in da middle, it¡¯s at the end?)


    The wild yet childish laugh resounded throughout the entire Hell Island. With a simple leap, Claudius dived straight down towards the nearby sea ¡ª it was time for lunch.

 CH 61

    Chapter 61


    The Crimson Dragon trailed ash and flames as he dove straight into the sea. A cloud of white steam instantly rose from the sea as the lava on Claudius¡¯ body cooled down and solidified into rocks. As he shook his body, the rocks fell off his scales and sunk, revealing the 40-meter-long crimson body. His size was record-breaking for adult dragons; it was already on the level of a dragon that had reached the stage of Wyrm. Claudius¡¯ chin and horns were now glowing with a metallic shine, the former in glossy black while the latter in a chrome red.


    Claudius jumped back onto the shore after having a quick bath. The two columns of saliva flowing from the corners of his jaws and his skinny body clearly showed that he was starving. Claudius was craving meat, but hunting for fish was both tiring time consuming, thus he decided to kill the four huge sea monsters nearby.


    The thought of satisfying his appetite was the only thing in his mind right now.


    ¡°A crab, a fishman, an octopus and a toad, huh. I¡¯ll spare the crab since it¡¯s troublesome to remove the shell. Let¡¯s see who¡¯s the unlucky one, HAHAHAHAHAHA!¡±


    The sea turned calm as all the sea monsters ran and hid as soon as they sensed the terrifying aura. Claudius roared as he soared through the sky while releasing his dragon aura. Flapping his 45-meter-long wings, Claudius overlooked the sea as he searched for his targets.


    It only took awhile for him to find the four humongous sea monsters; they were all hiding in the sea.


    ¡°Hoh, you guys have grown up quite well. Great, more meat!¡±


    It was no wonder that the originally huge monsters grew even larger. With the ample supply of fish and monsters in the nearby seas, they could eat as much as they wanted. Anyway, they were all hiding hundreds of meters below the sea surface, concealing themselves in caves or pile of rocks. If not for Claudius¡¯ innate ability, Eye of Truth, he would not have found the four hiding monsters.


    After pondering for a while, Claudius decided to attack the Giant Octopus as it was hiding in the shallowest location out of the four. The terrain was complicated and dangerous, but it was only slightly over a hundred metres deep. The Giant Octopus hid in a small seam in the rocks, utilizing its physical properties as an octopus, but Claudius was planning to drag it out and kill it in one bite.


    Sleeping for decades seemed to be a waste of time, but that was certainly not the case for dragons ¡ª Claudius had learnt a new spell during his sleep. Normally, the spells learnt during hibernation were weak or useless, but what Claudius learnt was Wall of Force. The wall created was so weak that a farmer could probably break the invisible wall with a hoe, but the spell was also useful under certain circumstances.


    Claudius created a large cuboid with his new spell around the Giant Octopus and spewed flames into the enclosed region. The flames were a lot stronger and hotter than before, and it did not take long before the sea water evaporated. Without evaporating all the water in the cuboid, Claudius held the rock which the Giant Octopus was hiding under in his claws and snapped it into two.


    It had been a while since Claudius last looked at his own attributes, thus he did not know that his Strength, Dexterity and Constitution were higher than any other adult dragon. It was a pity that his Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma were below average though. Viewing the six attributes as a whole, he was no different from a typical Crimson Dragon of his age.


    With his attribute inclining towards the physical side, moving and splitting a rock was as easy as pie. The Giant Octopus responded by spewing black ink and tried to escape from the seam, but it was already too late. If the goddess did not restrict their actions with her powers, the four giant monsters would have fled long ago to hide. In terms of battle prowess, the four monsters could definitely put up a good fight against an adult Crimson Dragon, and their chances of winning would rise exponentially if they fought in water. Who would have thought that a Crimson Dragon would willingly dive into the sea and fight a sea monster?


    Claudius sunk his claws into the Giant Octopus¡¯ slimy body and forcibly dragged it out of the sea. Huge waves spread towards all directions as the octopus struggled, but it was futile. It swung its tentacles frenziedly, smashing rocks into smithereens while creating a mini earthquake ¡ª but it was also futile. The Giant Octopus was being bitten as it continued its desperate attempt to flee; it would have been long dead if not for its outstanding vitality.


    Claudius could no longer wait ¡ª he was already eating parts of the Giant Octopus¡¯ body even before he had delivered the killing blow. Upon reaching land, Claudius pinned the octopus down with his hind legs as he repeatedly bit the octopus like a mad man while ignoring the slashing tentacles and magic casted by his victim.


    ¡°Eh, this magic is¡­¡­? Perhaps this fella has the blood of the Great Mother flowing in its squishy body?¡± After several bites, Claudius finally had the leisure to care about the magic spells casted by the octopus.


    ¡°Ray of Enfeeblement and Ray of Frost! Holy shit!¡±


    Claudius body shuddered as he was hit by the spells. A tiny section on his body was frozen, but that was it ¡ª the spell could not penetrate his Magic Resistance.


    ¡°Even Disintegrate?! Just how strong is this thing, shooting twelve shots of Disintegrate consecutively?¡±


    The problem was that Claudius¡¯ Constitution was overwhelmingly high, not to mention his Magic Resistance. The Giant Octopus was a high-level spellcaster, but it was still insufficient for Disintegrate to overcome Claudius¡¯ Constitution and deal damage.


    All was lost for the Giant Octopus ¡ª Claudius snapped its head off with a single bite. Right before losing its consciousness for all eternity, the octopus retaliated in the only way it could think of. After breathing its last breath, the corpse began to decompose rapidly. It was revenge ¡ª the corpse gave off an intense smell resembling rotten fish immediately. Even though Claudius was hungry, he had no choice but to give up the idea of eating the rest of the octopus. Even for dragons, who could even breathe in toxic gas and eat heavy metals, the smell was still unbearable. Claudius immediately fled the area as he felt that he would puke by staying any longer.


    Claudius was still hungry. His empty stomach was screaming for protein and fat, and he also needed food to restore his physique. Fighting the other three huge sea monsters would be tough as he was still bad at magic and could only rely on physical strength, but there was another option now. Claudius could now slowly hunt the schools of fish as his hunger was temporarily satiated after devouring part of the Giant Octopus.

 CH 62

    Chapter 62


    Dragons stood at the summit of magic beasts; not only did they have high rates of recovery, they also had a distinctively insatiable appetite. It was rather common for them to eat minerals and gems, and they could even eat food heavier than their own body in a single meal. This was especially true before reaching adulthood.


    After devouring half of the Giant Octopus during their fight, Claudius used spells and his dragon aura to strand a school of chum salmon onto the beach. Just like that, he ate over ten tonnes of fish. Even Claudius did not understand how he could fit so much food in his stomach; logically speaking, his stomach would have been overloaded and might even burst.


    What followed next was even more dramatic. Like a balloon being inflated, the shrivelled muscles regained their former glory and began to fill up the gaps between his skin and bones. The dangling skin and scales were once again supported by layers of muscles. By the time the transformation was over and his stomach was grumbling once again, Claudius had already turned into a magnificent-looking Crimson Dragon. The powerful Crimson Dragon had returned from its slumber.


    Claudius walked back and forth as he adjusted himself to his new body. His body was over forty metres long, and he was slightly below twenty metres tall when standing on his hind legs. He could probably appear in Ultraman as a monster and fight on par with the heroes with this body. Claudius¡¯ head was now much larger than ordinary Crimson Dragons and his chin was now coated in a layer of unknown metal. Looking at his own reflection on the water surface, Claudius almost mistook himself as a Deathwing.


    He stroked his metallic chin which was quite smooth despite its rough look; ¡°This makes me question my own bloodline¡­¡­ Well, the two horns on my snout are quite different from the black dragon king though.¡±


    Claudius suddenly craved for different food after devouring another school of fish ¡ª for some reason, he wanted to eat the metals near the volcano. As he cursed himself for having such weird desires, Claudius also understood that it was his instincts as a dragon. What were the robust bones and tough scales made of? Metals were obviously consumed during the formation of those body parts. By breaking down metals during digestion, dragons could grow solid and durable scales through regrouping the metals in a closely packed molecular structure.


    Claudius gave in to his desires. He gobbled everything in his sights ¡ª rocks, sulphur, metals, everything.


    ¡°Never thought rocks were so tasty! Hmm, so this is the instinct of a dragon, huh? These things are tasty because my body needs more minerals and metals¡­¡­ Then what about human women? It seems that dragons think that women are ¡®tasty treats¡¯, I wonder what¡¯s so tasty about them¡­¡­¡±


    The awakening of the Crimson Dragon was a huge threat for the creatures on and near the island ¡ª at least to those which are intelligent. The insects were unaffected as their tiny brains could not understand the concept of ¡®danger¡¯, but things were different for the sea monsters lurking nearby. With Claudius running around like a kid, the dragon aura he emitted was like a gravitational field, putting a large pressure on the sea monsters. The pressure creatures felt from a dragon aura was proportional to their intelligence ¡ª the smarter they were, the more frightened they would feel. The smartest creatures nearby were, of course, the four, no, three gigantic sea monsters residing in the four surrounding mountains. The most affected one of the three was the fishman ¡ª it was holding a trident while sitting on his undersea throne with a troubled look on its face. With its 30-metre-long body and high intelligence, the fishman dominated its counterparts and ruled over them as a king. Its underlings built a Roman-styled palace at the bottom of the sea, and in the middle of the palace was the throne. Due to corrosion, the palace looked like an ancient ruin past its days of glory, but it was still magnificent nonetheless. Even though the undercurrents were strong, sunlight could still reach the palace as if the crystal-clear seawater was non-existent. The territory of the fishman king was the most beautiful and silent region, with mountains blocking off most of the waves while rain clouds rarely formed in the area due to the volcano¡¯s activities. If not for the fishman king, the sandy beach and clear water was certainly a good place for humans to settle down and enjoy a peaceful life.


    The fishman king was troubled by his own intelligence ¡ª he had dreams, nightmares to be exact. The dragon aura brought nothing but fear and nightmares for the king. It was always vigilant and tense as it thought the Crimson Dragon would attack it out of the blue and eat it, which was a reasonable worry to be completely honest. Calling the fishman king ¡®it¡¯ was perhaps disrespectful ¡ª Freimer was his name. Despite being a sea monster, he had intelligence and emotions far above the level of typical monsters. Freimer¡¯s favourite activity was to appreciate the beauty of his territory from his throne, and the next on the list was chilling on the beach while enjoying the breeze and warm sun.


    Now that the Crimson Dragon was awake, all was over. Freimer was a clever monster, thus he was now considering if he should continue his duty as commanded by Umberlee. From the start, Freimer never considered himself as a faithful servant to the goddess; he was more of a mercenary. There was no point in risking his life as he was not a devoted believer of Umberlee, not to mention that the goddess never paid him anything for his work. With that in mind, Freimer decided to take things into his own hands and protect his own interests.


    His stay was not a complete waste of time though; with the abundant amount of sea monsters in the region, Freimer managed to create his own forces by turning monsters and other fishman into his slaves through magic. With his influence and manpower, Freimer was confident that he could create a whole new undersea kingdom somewhere else ¡ª a kingdom beyond reach of others, a peaceful kingdom solely for himself.


    For this very reason, it would not be surprising for Freimer to suddenly vanish from his territory. What about the goddess¡¯ anger and rage? As if Umberlee had spare divine power to care about such trivial things. Freimer believed that the goddess¡¯ weak underlings could not stop him from leaving. Perhaps someday, he would create a kingdom so strong that the goddess would seek help from his citizens.


    The Giant Toad was also preparing to escape. Although it was a beast and was nowhere near as smart as Freimer, it realized that staying any longer meant only death awaited it. Although the excavated mountain had rocky walls tens of metres thick, the toad still felt unsafe as it had to spend one third of the day in shallow regions or on land as an amphibian. There was no choice but to run away ¡ª it was clear that the Crimson Dragon would not be stopped by mere layers of rocks.

 CH 63

    Chapter 63


    The Giant Toad is a mutant species. They are usually giant toads that are about one meter in length. Their body length is half the length of the legs.


    The Giant Toad¡¯s have not seen their own parents since they hatched from their eggs.


    In order to live, the Giant Toad eat his brothers and sisters before he could successfully grow. Once grown, it is over 30 meters in length. It is a rare super giant monster.


    In fact, the Giant Toad is the first of the four sea monsters ¨C at least in terms of strength and constitution, it is better than Fishman King, Freime.


    Giant Toad also has a talented spell-like ability, but if spells such as Corrupted Water Sources let Claudius know, it is likely that the previous generation of Giant Toads might have the black dragon in their genes or something.


    At the moment of opening, the flame has already flowed in from there. When it is all lifted, the king crab is already dead. Claudius was very happy to eat¡­ Claudius put the huge crab shells and crab claws into the crater of a volcano. The crab shell does indeed have fire repellent to a certain extent. It is shown that it could resist Claudiushigh-temperature fire magic. The general fire spell should not be able to hurt at all.


    Now it was placed in the crater of the volcano, the crab shell began to soften and shrink. Although the appearance did not change much, it was obviously the shell was shrinking and was becoming 56 meters in diameter.


    But the color has become red¡­. ¡°Damn it! My memorial is ruined.¡±


    After waving the dragon teeth army to go back, this guy started to grow teeth in the still hot ash, and he did a few control samples for this ¨C he used his claws to pull out the ditch.


    Drainage cooling ash, newly falling still hot volcanic ash, hard volcanic rocks and semi-molten volcanic rocks are among the magma. ¡°It is necessary to see if we can produce a few big ones.


    ¡°Let us see if I can take some dragon teeth? Hahahaha. The next step is revenge! ¡±

 CH 64

    Chapter 64


    Claudius, even after several decades, even after given the name of Talos, still did not forget the disgrace of running around with Bronze Dragon and Silver dragon with their dogs. The Golden Dragon overlooked Claudius and was thought to be part of the dogs. Even though there is a silver dragon, this does not prevent Claudius from waking up in the middle of the night and spend five minutes to think about each other possible antecedents.


    ¡°According to the Dragon Clan, the Silver Dragon is a disgrace. He must be living in the vicinity of human settlements. Bronze dragon¡¯s lair should be nearby where I live.¡±


    ¡°After thinking for five minutes, Claudius decided not to retaliate immediately. He now has a greater interest in the dragon teeth. While thinking about this, the mushroom people began to follow Claudius and gradually began to spread across the crater outside the volcano. The mushroom people are actually scared of everything. Even after many years, they have not tried to go outside the crater and plant mushrooms. Now that Claudius is awake, the area of activity expands to the whole island, and the mushroom man finally climbs out of the crater and begins to march towards the other parts of the island. The dragon-Soldiers almost immediately accepted the presence of the mushroom people¨Cthis is because they know it is Claudius¡¯s creation. Also, they are able to feel that the mushroom people are inherently a friendly race¨Ceven if one is good and one is evil. Mushroom people can¡¯t fight, but they have learned to work very fast. Their houses were made out of mutant mushrooms


    ¡°These small mushrooms are really useful. Carpentry, masonry, construction, they can do anything. They even learned how to be blacksmiths¡±


    Claudius had an unexpected surprise and did not expect the fire mushroom people to be good farmers. Because of their fire characteristics, they take longer time in making weapons, but the weapons seem to be no better than the dwarves


    The Dragon soldiers, with the help of the mushroom, built a magnificent temple on the ground above the port of Hell Island, and Claudius would often be satisfied resting inside the temples. The mushroom people have a great talent for architecture. The Fire mushroom people are half-metal monsters. Their body is hard and they can freely mine the volcano. There are a lot of rocks on this island. These mushroom people have lots of strength and can use big pillars to build houses. Claudius remembers the time when he was a person from Earth. As a child, he loved science and read comic books. ¡°How many years has it been? I can¡¯t remember. ¡­.. What kind of person was I? ¡±


    The memory of his past life still made Claudius happy, but he finally opened the same as the tasteless property sheet to see if there are any mutations or changes in the mushroom people. The changes occur on the fungus lid. The original red color has changed into different colors. Also, the red mushroom people grew out colorful spots, which looks like a pile of poisonous mushroom people ¡­ ¡°flame mushroom Man (farmer), these little guys got a job? Let me see¡­¡­. Oh, the blacksmith, the cobbler, the architect, the Mason, the carpenter, and every mushroom all got a job. What happened to this grapefruit ¨C colored mushroom. They turned into soldiers. But this attack and defense attribute ¡­ Attack 1, Defense 3, damage 1~3 What¡¯s this?


    ¡°Claudius looked at the mushroom man¡¯s attributes for half a day. The special effects of a grapefruit-covered peasant mushroom made him feel a little bit evil.


    However, Claudius decided to not watch the mushroom people and let them work. With the help of the dragon soldier, the mushroom people finished building a town at lightning speed. Claudius did not think that the half human and half mushroom people would be so good at doing labor.


    The only regret Claudius has right now is that Hell Island does not have any fields. The frequent eruption of the volcano makes planting crops bad.


    The dragon teeth soldiers have become strong, adding a number of figures to their personal attributes.


    The more comrades the soldiers have, the stronger they get in both offensive and defensive stats. Claudius looks at the property table and feels very good.


    The four ranks of soldiers are awesome¡­¡± Claudius was talking about the four ranks because he saw a Roman number 4 next to the icon representing the name of the Dragon Teeth soldiers.


    Of course, the mushroom man¡¯s icon has a 1 next to it, ¡°attack 21, defense 18, close-range attack, cluster attack ¡­ ¡­


    All this mess caused Claudius to not notice the data of the half-dragon, and the Dragon Teeth Soldier¡¯s data, which was on the ¡°next page.¡± As to how the half dragon-toothed soldier evolved into a dragon-tooth soldier, Claudius did not know the answer to. He has always thought that the attribute is the data of the dragon teeth.


    ¡°Now I have class 1 soldiers and class 4 soldiers. The problem is class 2 soldiers, class 3 soldiers, and class 5,6, and 7 soldiers. I¡¯m very curious about what happened.


    ¡°Claudius, thinking about this question, thoughts were interrupted by a huge sound. Like the first time, the Earth began to swell, the helmet first exposed the ground, followed by continuous growth, ¡°Hell!¡±  Why is this happening?¡±

 CH 65

    Chapter 65


    As time went on, under volcano dust, the dragon teeth soldier first showed their head, then chest, then stomach, and feet, and then became the same as the previously planted dragon teeth soldier while wearing magical armor, shield, spear, and sword. There is only one problem¡­ ¡°Under normal situations, one dragon seed could grow a hundred soldiers¡± Claudius was surprised since he was not expecting this place to grow soldiers.  Yet soldiers grew from the hot volcano dust and hard volcano rocks. Every spot that he planted grew a soldier.


    This completely collapsed Claudius¡¯s delusions to the ground. He originally thought that a tooth can make a hundred people.  His dream of making legions of soldiers is now crushed.


    Now, Claudius realized the rules of the world of Feilun. A tooth can theoretically plant 3 to 5 dragon tooth soldiers, depending on the magic and power of the dragon.


    Only one soldier can come out of one tooth. Want to form a legion? You slowly pull your teeth.


    Claudius looked at the three newborn dragon soldiers. The dragon soldiers grabbed their chin and went and stood next to the old soldiers. They put their attention on the last lava. The growth of this dragon tooth soldier is obviously slower than that of other dragon teeth soldiers, and it is much slower. But Claudius understands that this dragon tooth soldier is completely different from other dragon tooth soldiers. The fact that a half helmet growing out of the dragon tooth soldier¡¯s head proves Claudius¡¯s point.


    The dragon tooth soldier one by one floated up from the lava. Claudius was surprised. ¡°It¡¯s really beyond my huge expectation!


    ¡°So it is like this.¡± What appeared in front of him was a very gorgeous and complicated close-fitting armor. The gold-red armor consisted of a lot of medium-sized and large-sized plates.


    The shoulders that are lifted and overlapped, the nesting skirts are clearly the Milanese style body, but they are very rich in ancient Roman style.


    It also has a huge geometric metal wing, like the metal wings of the folded swan wings. It even covers the entire leg and even covers the foot. The most conspicuous thing is that the armor¡¯s chest presents a distinct feminine design¡ªyes, the dragon¡¯s tooth soldier¡­ is a woman.


    Under the colored armor and the golden red helmet, the soldier has long brown hair with a spear in her hand and a round shield with a height of half a person. Shen Yun. ¡°This red dragon recalled the most beautiful girl he had known in his human memory, and found the closest one among to the dragon tooth soldiers among the many female beauty.¡±


    Under the gaze of the red dragon, the female dragon soldier slowly opened her eyes after completely exposing from the lava. Her eyes were beautiful and determined The dragon¡¯s chin rested on the ground, the part of the nose was far above her head, and the golden dragon of the red dragon was looking at her. The dragon tooth soldier stepped back a half step and hit her chest with her right hand with a spear, slightly lowering her head.


    At the same time, a golden red halo appeared directly at the foot of the female dragon tooth soldier, which was full of complicated graphics.¡±Focus, command, durability¡­ the combination of the three auras.¡± As her creator, Claudius naturally understood the light at the foot of the dragon tooth.


    The red dragon looked at the female dragon soldier in front of him. ¡°Hero unit?¡± Claudius thought for a moment. ¡°Do you have a name?¡± Claudius asked, the female dragon in front of him.


    The soldier looked at the red dragon and shook her head. ¡°Ha ha ha, lying is not necessary, no need to flatter, Miss. But I am very happy to take your flattery.


    After Minerva gained a high position in the soldiers rank, the actions of the dragon tooth soldiers suddenly became more active and flexible. They assisted the flame mushroom people in the construction and installation of the temple.


    While the Dragons and the Half-Dragons constantly decorated the Santa Cruz Island and Hell Island, Claudius let them get used to combat training under the control of Minerva


    The current dragon tooth army, including the half dragon tooth soldiers, has 1,800 soldiers. Although they are still incomplete, they can barely call it ¡± an army.¡±


    Soon, only about 120 soldiers with armor were left on Hell Island to guard the port and the temple. The rest of the dragon tooth soldiers and most of the mushroom people left the island and went to Santa Cruz Island ¨C but the flame mushroom people are still on Hell Island.


    The place where Claudius is now staying is mainly within the extremely majestic shrine, which is different from most red dragons.


    I don¡¯t like the complicated cave structure very much. This ancient Greek and ancient Roman temple style are quite suitable for Claudius. Staying inside always makes this guy feel very strong and very powerful.


    But no matter how strong Claudius thinks he is, he still can¡¯t solve the hostile behavior of the ocean goddess Ambori. Although Claudius doesn¡¯t care about her, the torrential rain and the gust of wind that came every day made him feel annoyed by the crazy women. ¡°But this stuff still can¡¯t be fixed.¡± Claudius now has a roof on his head. Anyway, the rain and the storm have nothing to do with him. His attention is now on a huge stone in front of him.¡±


    There was a little necklace on the table. ¡°How do I get the Marathon power on this transformation necklace¡± Claudius wondered. All of his current subordinates did not know how to help him. Migne Wae went to Santa Cruz, and now should have completely ruled the island. He is working to turn the island into a large militaristic port¡­

 CH 66

    Chapter 66


    ¡°The necklace left by the Marathist believers, not the black beast, can¡¯t be used. ¡°This guy is really short tempered,¡± Claudius said. Claudius couldn¡¯t think of any plans. This broken necklace will become ash soon, and he can¡¯t do anything to break the restrictions so that he can use it.


    But thinking of the issue of having a religion, Claudius began to look for information about the Dragon¡¯s religion. ¡°If I don¡¯t want my body to be taken and hanged on a wall after death, I better choose a religion soon. Claudius understands that the god of true dragon ¨C the evil dragon who is also the rainbow-colored dragon- have always thought of conquering the world. But the good metal dragons and the gods of good dragons are kind-hearted and nice. There are also some gods under the two main dragon gods. These dragon gods constitute the dragon system.


    He knows that most of the evil dragons ¨C besides himself- does not care about the evil five-headed dragon. They may respect him, but they are all shallow believers. As for himself, he does not really care.


    However, the good dragons have a more realistic belief in Bahamut. The evil dragons keep an eye on the Platinum Dragon God, but still admires him. Claudius has the same feelings too. But, there must be a belief that might interest me. If I am not careful, I will be hanged on the wall tomorrow. I have no confidence in beating Mi Er Kou¡¯s stupid dog head. ¡°Here, the crimson dragon shows great contempt for the god Fenren. From the time he was born, the crimson dragon never learned how to talk to a god. So provoking a god could be understandable.


    When looking for a god to believe in, if Mozedong allowed believers to join him, Claudius is more than willing to believe in Mozeddong ¨C the Lord of the Death Magic and the leader of the Red Guardian. Claudius is kneeling in the temple and counting each god one by one with his hands. Basically, gods who rule the humans or humanoid gods are ruled out by Claudius. Not that they cannot accept a dragon¡¯s followers. In fact, most of the gods are happy to have a dragon believer, but Claudius cannot accept most of the rules that these gods make. Claudius is uncomfortable with all the rules  of having to say stuff like ¡°I believe in you.¡± What other gods can I believe in?


    Most of the gods do not care about this red dragon. In Claudius¡¯s opinion, these guys are similar to those human gods. After that, Claudius decided to simply believe in a ruthless god. ¡°Who said that they are not true gods? Maybe the world is also a dream made by one of the ruthless gods. Since Claudius feels that this world is full of magical mysteries and he himself is one of them, then fearing these gods who control time and space is a good thing. The fear and curiosity about time and space made him choose that one as his own belief. ¡°The key to the door, all things belong to one, now I am your believer! Please bless me and protect me in the future.¡± In a tone that is absolutely not pious, Claudius chose his faith. And of course, without any surprise, he did not receive any grace or God¡¯s magic¡­


    Only a ghost would know whether you are a believer of the true God, Claudius is satisfied that he will not be hanged on the wall now. Now he is thinking about whether to get back to the field. There are a lot of things to retrieve. But the mad woman, Ambry, might appear in front of him, and if it does happen, Claudius would not know what to do. This is because when Claudius was on Earth, among the novels that he has seen and almost forgotten, this Ambry usually appears as a huge ocean giant. Since he has never fought with her, he does not know how strong she is.


    Since there is no way to find the goddess, there are only a few metal dragons left. The problem is that if the soldiers are going with Claudius, the fleet must be fixed. And even if they tried to fix the fleet, it will take a long time. Claudius¡¯s revenge plans were to leave in the morning and attack during the afternoon. So the red dragon decided to do it himself. Anyway, the bronze dragon is definitely not stronger than him. But if the silver dragon comes and joins the battle, the outcome might be hard to determine. Claudius hasn¡¯t really measured his own powers.


    Claudius decided to switch to dragons that are good at magic. This is because the Golden Dragon and the Silver Dragon is good at magic. Claudius also wants to use the prophetic type of spells to predict the enemy¡¯s position and intelligence. But Red dragons aren¡¯t good at magic. But the Red dragons have the intelligence of a genius. Of course, Claudius also grew up to adolescents, and the highest level of spells he can perform at the moment is some second-rated magic spells. But there are also spells that can¡¯t be judged by levels. Unlike other red dragons, Claudius can not only use these as warlock spells, but he can also turn these spells into their own spell-like abilities.


    The red dragon flew in the sky while thinking about the bronze dragon¡¯s location. It¡¯s been decades, and according to the habits of the dragons, it¡¯s hard to say whether the bronze dragon has changed his nest. Under normal circumstances, a dragon¡¯s nest will take at least a few hundred years to make, and the bronze dragon is a good metal dragon, and should not have been slaughtered by those justice adventurers. The Red Dragon has determined this and flies toward his original nest.

 CH 67

    Chapter 67


    Claudius was able to control his dragon tail since he was born. Although most of the baby dragons at this stage cannot talk about the dragon tail, the red dragon converges the dragon tail. But Claudius can¡¯t let his huge figure disappear from the sky, so he was flying in disorder. (I have no idea what this part meant but this is the literal translation)


    Back in the days, Claudius would like to fly fast and far. So when he had free time and the strength to fly,  he would fly. ¡± Wah, I can¡¯t believe I actually flew this far already! And in such a short time¡­!¡± Claudius was proud of his skills. But now. he must slow down and not rush things. If the bronze dragon sees him, the bronze dragon might run away and not fight. ¡°The metal dragons are all good at spells. But if the bronze dragon simply thinks that the situation is not in his favor, he will run away. How am I going to find him again if he runs away?¡± Claudius is still thinking about this problem. The silver dragon is also good at spells. If I am not careful, I might be defeated by them.


    But now, Claudius feels that he should still be able to win the fight against the bronze dragon and the silver dragon. Also, to dragons, it is not normal for dragons to stay with other dragons. ¡°One silver dragon and one bronze dragon living together¡­ that is impossible.¡± Claudius is nearing the bronze dragon¡¯s nest and Claudius is ready to begin the fight. ¡°On the way, I can also go see Green Dragon Silvia and his sister Brittania. Maybe I can ask them about what happened during the fight with the elves?


    Claudius¡¯s flight speed is much faster than other dragons. He is also one of the largest dragons. The red dragon flew high in order to avoid trouble. He directly penetrated the clouds and flew very high. At this height, there are very few birds or other flying things. Claudius flew all day and night, and he crossed the distance of thousands of kilometers. He reached the place where he was born.


    The crater can still accommodate his body, but Claudius found that the volcano has now become a complete extinct volcano. The magma chamber under the volcano is empty, and a large amount of water poured into this place, forming an underground lake. Claudius stepped on the ground. He knew that the place would collapse sooner or later. In fact, some places in the center and edge of the crater have collapsed. Sunlight shimmers from the cracks to the lake below. Claudius can feel the hollow space below, which is similar to echolocation or super-sensing. This place is like other places in Feilun. There is always a passage to the dark area, and naturally, Claudius feels that there is something in this lake. Anyway, no matter what is inside, it is not able to fight against a Red Dragon. Also, Claudius does not want to open the rock formations to fight the creature. The red dragon just walked around the crater. His moving feet caused a slight vibration each time he took a step. Sure enough, when the red dragon took off with a foot, a huge crack appeared on the ground inside the crater. With the deafening sound of breaking, the ground of the entire crater collapsed ¡­.. The waves splashed more than ten meters high.


    Claudius looked back at the birthplace where the volcanic wall began to collapse. ¡°The new volcanic lake¡­¡± he whispered aloud. The height of the red dragon is still very high. This is because Claudius is avoiding the people on the ground. The forests of the elves seem to have no change. ¡°No. There are some changes in this forest.¡± Claudius said, ¡°It is obvious that the orcs are not the forest protectors anymore.¡± In the orc¡¯s eyes, the forest has disappeared and is replaced by a black ground. The war with the Green Dragon lasted for decades, and both sides lost a lot of people ¨C mainly the orcs and the wolves.


    Claudius saw the ugly and dirty barracks of the orcs. Claudius attempted to count how many people were in the orc¡¯s army. It was a difficult task. Claudius can only get the number of tents, and then multiply it by an approximate number to get the orcs¡¯ army, which was about 3,000 orcs.


    It is true that the war against the orcs and the evil green dragon has become an event important enough to be recorded in Ferren¡¯s history books. Although Green Dragon Silvia has not yet become a legendary dragon, she has done a good job of assembling evil forces and controlling them.


    The Green Dragon has also gained enough attention to get the support from some gods¡ªespecially a female dragon with five heads and some evil human spirits.


    Brittany¡¯s dragon tail is seen by Claudius. The powerful red dragon in the sky thinks that his sister is also very strong now. It should indeed be the experience of the battle and the devotion of the gods. ¡°It seems that Brittany is a believer of the five-headed dragon.¡±


    Claudius felt that seeing a dragon tail does not mean that it is a dragon. At least Claudius did not see the figure of Brittany. This guy stared at the center of dragon tail. ¡°This doesn¡¯t make sense. How can the big tent fit Brittany without it being broken? Can she somehow make herself smaller? The red dragon was very surprised.

 CH 68

    Chapter 68


    Claudius was extremely surprised. Brittany is as big as him but was able to fit into a small tent. ¡°I still need to see if that is Brittany.¡± Claudius said, ¡°Maybe I can find out how she made herself smaller?¡± The red dragon began to hover. Claudius still didn¡¯t want to land on the ground yet. He wanted to observe the situation. The battlefield between the orcs and the elves runs through the forest. The dividing line between the two sides is distinct. The forests are the elves¡¯ side, and the part where the forests are mostly cut down is the orcs side. The location of the Green Dragon Silvia is also very obvious. There were huge twisted vines and strange looking trees. That is where the green dragon is. The green dragon was more powerful than Claudius. There are magical elements surrounding the green dragon. The magical elements are proof that the green dragon is a legendary dragon.


    Claudius saw great goblins in the orcs army. These guys were holding rough metal weapons and wearing the same rough metal armor or leather armor as orcs. From time to time, they gathered into a small team, and wowed to launch a tentative attack on the elves¡¯ defenses. Claudius finally saw Brittany. She was in the largest decorated ornate tent. She walked out of the tent. She was a tall, muscular woman with long, red hair. Claudius saw the magical light in this woman¡¯s body. The woman was equipped with magic equipment in several places such as her wrist, the belt and her weapon.


    Brittany, who walked out of the tent, seemed to be very dissatisfied with the attacking squad. She raised her hand and a black light flashed continuously, turning some of the orcs into a waste of skinny bones lying on the ground.


    Brittany didn¡¯t feel happy today. She doesn¡¯t usually attack the orcs. But today, she suddenly wanted to execute some small reptiles to reaffirm her authority. After using a dark magic spell to extract life from the orcs, Brittany was pleased to find that the little reptiles looked at her eyes full of fear and awe. The armies¡¯ loyalty rose at least thirty or forty percent. At this time, the long and majestic dragons in the suddenly fell to the ground. Almost all the orc soldiers were so scared that they all immediately lie on the ground bowing to Brittany. Brittany was shocked. But then she raised her head and looked at the sky. She then noticed someone she knew.


    The huge figure pierced the clouds and swooped down. When Brittany saw the dragon¡¯s face, she immediately recognized who it was. ¡°Claudius? When did you come?¡± Her brother looks extremely powerful and majestic at the moment. Even the huge body of an old dragon can¡¯t compare to Claudius¡¯s powers. Brittany is sure that her brother is one of the strongest red dragons. Of course, Claudius proved this through the horrible fire he caused years ago.


    The name Crimson Disaster appeared in the world once again. The elves also saw the scene in which the red dragon circled down. The appearance of the red dragon made the elves¡¯ army scared. The elves have always remembered things that happened decades ago¡ªthe flame that killed many people. The red dragon that caused all these disasters now appeared in front of them again. The elves recognized the distinctive appearance and the particularly huge body.


    The red dragon stands on the ground with his 20-meter-high body. An equally strong tail straightly sweeps around the air to balance the huge head and strong forelimbs in front. Only a tall woman dared to stand in front of this huge World of Warcraft. This woman is almost one meter tall but she is still insignificant in front of Claudius.


    This red dragon can hold the woman in his hand with a paw. ¡°Aha, I haven¡¯t seen Brittany for a long time,¡± Claudius spoke first.


    ¡°Yeah, I haven¡¯t seen you for a long time, Claudius.¡± Brittany¡¯s tone seems happy.¡±Have you learned metamorphosis?¡± The powerful red dragon asked, but did not get an answer. The next moment, in the flash, a small red dragon can appear in front of Claudius. This is a red dragon with a very normal appearance, a long neck, four limbs on the ground, only half of the length of Claudius from beginning to end.

 CH 70

    Chapter 70


    Silvia¡¯s palace is not where it used to be. It is now in the place where Claudius saw her. There were three young green dragon guards there. Silvia finally agreed to let Claudius go to her palace to get a commission. ¡°This red dragon can really negotiate. If he ever gets mad and betrays us, it will be a problem¡± thought Silvia


    The three little green dragons outside the palace have been hiding until the moment Claudius approached the palace. The Red Dragon¡¯s huge scary figure made these little green dragons afraid. Claudius is now interested in the Longsheng. This is the first time Claudius has visited other dragon¡¯s palace.


    After walking through the palace, he felt that the palace was a little disappointing. The mountain of gold coins and the beds covered in gems, none of that was there. ¡± What happened to the million gold coins? Jewels? Magical things¡­¡± Claudius was disappointed. This is not what Claudius thought the dragon¡¯s treasure was. This huge red dragon turned his head out of the palace. After he went out, he glanced at Brittany. What happened to all the gold coins?


    ¡°Silvia, you penniless dragon.¡± Claudius doesn¡¯t like collecting money anyway. But he doesn¡¯t know if other dragons care about wealth. In fact, in terms of Silvia¡¯s age and race, her strength and collected treasures are far better than the majority of the world¡¯s red dragons.  The games from earth gave him the wrong idea of how the dragon¡¯s treasure would look like, so he was quite disappointed with Silvia¡¯s palace. ¡°I accept your employment, but I need you to do something for me. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s definitely something you can do. I have a necklace, a magical necklace. I can¡¯t use it. The Marathist¡¯s magical powers are stopping me from using it. I need you to solve this problem for me.¡± Claudius told Silvia his request.


    As an Archmage dragon who has entered the Eight Rings and is about to enter the Nine Rings, Silvia has not seen the divine necklace before and can not be sure if she can remove the problem. But ¨C this is a divine necklace, who wouldn¡¯t want to use this power? When Claudius asked Silvia to help him solve the problem, whether she could solve the problem or not, Silvia promised Claudius that she will help. In fact, there are not many guys in the world who can take these artifacts and research them¡­


    Claudius was too lazy to sign a contract. In short, he thought that the contract was completely unnecessary because they knew each other and are friends. ¡±


    ¡°You just want me to burn some things right. Would you like me to help you burn those elf cities?¡± asked Claudius ¡°Is there a meaning to destroying the city?¡± asked Silvia. The good-looking Claudius shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Well, whatever you say boss¡± Then the red dragon started to open his huge wings and jumped. He took off into the air.


    The orcs and other creatures charged after the red dragon. The battlefield was filled with orcs, gnolls and countless goblin kobolds. If the elves had the courage and organization to attack back, they would¡¯ve had a chance to win. But the elves didn¡¯t. The elves could not stop their own tremors and fears.


    Claudius did not start to breathe fire yet. The elves who used protective magic have gotten rid of their fear of the dragon tail. But the weapons in their hands can¡¯t hurt the red dragon. The elves shouted, ¡°Red disaster! Crimson disaster! He really came back! ¡±


    Unlike the past, this time Claudius did not launch an attack. He always used his loud roars and dragon tail to scare the elves. It seems that the orcs weren¡¯t doing too good. Dozens of orc heads were cut off decisively. Like the elves, Brittany was also afraid of Claudius¡¯s dragon tail. Such a dragon would even scare Silvia.


    After the elves recovered, they began to pray to the altars. The altars responded by casting protection spells to help the elves. The protection spells were constantly emerging. The protection spell may not have been useful, but it still protects the elves while encouraging their morale. The more they prayed, the more courageous they were. Claudius looked at the elf who quickly restored order and morale. ¡°This is too boring. Let us take it easy. ¡± Claudius thought.


    The war lasted for decades. Claudius was not the only dragon that Silvia hired. There also used to be a red dragon that helped Silvia on the battlefield. But they were defeated by the so-called ¡°adventurers.¡± Even Silvia herself was defeated by the adventurers.

 CH 71

    Chapter 71


    ¡°The guy is back.¡± The female nobleman with the crystal ball said to the man in the crystal ball. ¡°My spell told me that he is back. ¡°The man in the crystal ball had a bitter face and did not say anything. He let the female nobleman keep talking.¡±


    Claudius was arbitrarily hovering in the sky. When he started to descend from the sky, the battlefield became calm. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you breathe fire?¡± Brittany asked. ¡°Does it really take that much energy to breathe fire? These elves might start to retreat today. ¡°Sorry, I forgot that you don¡¯t have to pay me¡­¡± Claudius said jokingly while laughing. Breathing fire is a very laborious task. First of all, it is necessary to take a deep breath, and it takes a lot of energy to compress a large amount of air into my lungs and airbags. At the same time, it also takes a lot of effort to secrete flammable liquids and mix them. Breathing fire also requires a lot of muscle power. In summary, fire-breathing is indeed a very labor-intensive thing.


    We didn¡¯t even waste any physical movements and still achieved what we wanted. I just opened my wings and flew around. You can solve many problems just by flying close to the ground. As for the one who is paying the money, is she not satisfied? Claudius landed on the ground happily. He casually laid down on and rested. Of course, none of the orcs were within a few kilometers of his body. There were only a few goblins who came over and tried to help clean up Claudius¡¯s body. The dragons always enjoyed getting their bodies cleaned. The servants helped them clean their scales. It was one of the most comfortable things for the dragons.


    As for those dragons that have undergone transformations, they would like to take baths like humans¡­ It seems that Brittany and Silvia are those kinds of dragons. Claudius can see that Brittany and Silvia have transformed back into human form again. It seems like they do not want to remain in the dragon form. However, Claudius thought that Brittany and Silvia looked good in dragon form. As for the human forms ¨C Claudius has not been in a human form for many years and has forgotten how he looked. How is it like to be a human again? A large piece of the cow was sent over to Claudius. ¡°Those people must think that I am a beast?¡± Claudius looked at the tent. Brittany had a knife and fork. She was enjoying the food that Claudius had not seen before. Claudius shook his head and gently sighed.


    The red dragon is not irritated by this kind of treatment. In his case, he feels that being treated differently is stupid and boring. He felt that the big chunk of bloody beef is quite suitable for his taste. After burning the beef with a controlled flame, Claudius asked the goblins for water. The orcs sprinkled salt and pepper on the beef. Then, Claudius ate the beef happily. Here, the money that Claudius spends on making his food is no less than the amount of money Brittany spends on her high-class food. Salt may not cost much, but the spices are definitely costly. In Feilun, there are only southern islands. Spices can be found on different continents.  There are several types of peppers and myrrhs and these things are very valuable in Feilun.


    After eating the beef happily, Claudius raised his head and looked at the fortresses of the elves. Claudius noticed that the elves have begun to retreat. The elves are very decisive. ¡°The red dragon praises the elf commander¡¯s decisive decision. It is very likely that the Front Fortress will be broken by the red dragon. It is better to retreat early. After many years of war, the elves have many high-ranking fighters and wizards.¡± There is also the priest¡¯s sacred warrior, which is enough to strengthen their defensive powers to a level that can withstand the red dragon. After decades of leaving the Feilun continent, the elves¡¯ combat power has greatly improved. In the past, the red dragon was able to rely on his own flames to burn down everything the elves had. But now, the elves had enough spellcasters and priests to cast protective spells that resist Claudius¡¯s flames. The elves also stopped the invasion of Silvia¡¯s superior beasts. They also indirectly stopped Silvia from conquering the lands to the north, south, andeast. They also protected the Door of Bode and the Fort of Tasher. Of course, the elves also got assistance from these places.


    The elves have proposed a plan for joint operations. But the political wrangling and the pride of the elves caused the joint operation to fail. The plan was to combine forces to defeat Silvia¡¯s orc army. Unfortunately, the plan was not successful.


    In the elves¡¯ camp, there are two dragons. One is a bronze dragon and the other is a brass dragon. Over the years, these dragons were raised by elves. The two dragons resisted the red dragon Brittany ¡°True Red Star¡± and the Green Dragon Silvia ¡°Emerald Dragon.¡± They are masters in advanced combat power.


    I am not in the mood either. ¡°Damn! The bastard is still alive. He is coming again! What should I do now!!¡± Achilles touched his neck and body scars. This man is a young male elf with long green hair. There were scars on his neck and body. The scars were tooth-shaped. Achilles bragged about how his scares were are medals he won for fighting the powerful red dragon. He showed off his scars and danced around for three days and three nights in the elves¡¯ pubs. But now, Achilles can only think about how he got the scars.


    For many years, Achilles has known the name of the red dragon.¡±Claudius!¡± He said with a bite. The silver dragon¡¯s call came in too late. (I think they are calling each other with magic) That damn red dragon. ¡°How can Brittany have such a strong brother?¡±


    Claudius did not know that his enemies were nearby. His attention was drawn to a group of dwarf goblins. Although these goblins have long pointed ears, they look more like gnomes with sharp noses. They are quite different from other goblins.

 CH 72

    Chapter 72


    These goblins do not smell bad. This is the first time Claudius smelled odorless goblins. Claudius looked up. He saw Brittany on the other side. He motioned Brittany to come over. ¡°Where did you get these goblins?¡± Claudius asked Brittania.


    The female Red Dragon glanced at those goblins for a few seconds. Then, she gave Claudius an answer: ¡°This is just a group of goblins. There is nothing special about them. Who has the time to remember where the goblins came from? Aren¡¯t these just regular goblins? ¡°Claudius thought about it for a few seconds. ¡°She is right. These are just regular goblins. It isn¡¯t even worth the time of a dragon to record where they came from.¡± ¡°Since the elves are retreating, I will leave first. I have something to do.¡± You know my name, and you have enough power to call me through spells. OK? Very well, I¡¯ll leave first then.¡±


    Claudius found some iron bars and welded the bars into a large cage. In the end, he stuffed all the goblins into the cage. He then grabbed the cage and flew to the sky. The mighty Red Dragon took off again, causing a commotion in the elves¡¯ fortress. As the Red Dragon swept over their heads and disappeared into the sky, the tumult gradually subsided.


    Claudius spent a day to return to Hell Island. He landed in the temple doorway, tore open the iron cage, and released the goblins. These goblins are not the same as regular goblins. ¡°It¡¯s a different kind of goblin,¡± the Red Dragon said. Then, he looked at the Minerva who had stood at the door of the temple. She was arranging supplies for the goblins to make their nests in the crater.


    These goblins buried corpses instead of eating them, which is the second thing Claudius observed. The goblins took great interest in various machines that the flame mushroom people built. The goblins were 10 times more interested in the machines than the mushroom people. Red Dragon¡¯s Hell Island is extremely hot because of Ambry ¡®s anger. There are torrential rain and wind on the island. Because of this, the place is a magic tower where people can absorb a lot of magical elements and it is a good place to practice spells. The elements here are extremely active. It even reached a level that affects the local organisms. The island¡¯s continuous towering trees are the same. They are just ordinary trees, which have been in place since the seabirds brought the seeds to the island. These trees have also mutated.


    The fire mushroom people are actually a plant variation. These kinds of variation started to affect the goblins. The Red Moss plant, which was originally located near the crater, was like a living creature. When the goblin ¡°snapped¡± the plant, a new moss grew near the goblin. Then the moss grew on the goblins¡¯ body and infected all the nearby goblins. Claudius heard a report from the Dragon soldiers who controlled the goblins. The goblins who were infected by Moss had died¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª All kinds of accidents are not unexpected. Of course, most of the goblins fall apart and explode ¡­ The goblins are not the same as the fire mushroom people. Their first improvement is using the power source. The mushroom people are powered by human power, sometimes with water, but the goblins use a variety of fire power sources¨Csuch as steam¨Cone of the most common sources of power to start with.


    The goblins did not die. Claudius never received Brittany¡¯s call, but he was told that the recent progress of Sylvia¡¯s army had been very good. They gradually approached the Elves¡¯ city. But there was a little trouble recently. There were some Druids and Rangers that formed squads and attacked the Orc army. They oftenly attacked the Orc scouts and logistics units. According to the remnants of the dead, it seems that they are called Harp League. ¡°The name sounds a little familiar?¡± ¡°Claudius always felt as if he had heard of such an organization, but it seemed that Sylvia and Brittany didn¡¯t pay any attention to the guerrilla organization.¡± So Claudius had enough time to observe the mutation of the goblins¨C


    Goblins were mutating at a very fast rate. This is also the first time Claudius sees the moss infecting other organisms. Obviously, the dragon teeth soldiers and mushroom people did not get infected by the moss. The symptoms of the infection are high fever and loss of sanity. About one month later, the goblins didn¡¯t die from the infection-¡°it seems that mosses are living in their bodies?¡± Wait a minute! Is this supposed to be exothermic? Are these mosses made of nuclear materials? ¡°Claudius was surprised. But, distinguishing these things from alpha, beta and gamma rays is something Claudius cannot do.


    When these goblins wake up, the high fever has receded, but their bodies are left with a permanent red birthmark-like traces. Each one of the goblins had different marks. Claudius also found new species of men in his property: burning goblins.


    In these guys descriptions, it says that they are good at engineering and inventing ¡­ But the concrete description is vague, ¡°is this because their final mutation has not been completed?¡±


    Claudius shook his head and felt that it was possible that the Goblin¡¯s lair had not yet been completed, and that their attributes were not yet fully revealed.


    But there was another surprise¨Cthe mushroom people also appeared to have the same heroic unit as Minerva ¡­

 CH 73

    Chapter 73


    Appearing in front of Claudius was a mushroom man with grapefruit-colored fungus, and it was clear that the mushroom man had become the leader of the mushroom people. The leader of the mushroom people didn¡¯t do any work. Through various languages and body movements, the leader ordered the mushroom people to do multiple tasks. This mushroom man had a glowing halo on the bottom of his feet. Claudius decided to grab the mushroom man to look at his stats. ¡°Well, this mushroom man is a heroic unit. I will just call you Grapefruit.¡± The Red Dragon glanced at it and gave the mushroom a name.


    There was no surprise in the mushroom man¡¯s stats.  On the line, there were only question marks. There was a sentence after the question marks. The sentence was written in small letters saying, ¡°I wiped the mushroom.¡± The mushroom man still had the halo under his feet. This halo is called ¡°God-foot¡±. The effect of the God-foot is still unknown. ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve heard this name somewhere.¡± While reading the text, Claudius slowly lets go of the small mushroom man.¡±


    The goblins¡¯ building skills were very good. After they finished building their houses, new baby goblins started to pop out ¡­ ¡°I wonder. What is the pregnancy rate of the goblins?¡± Claudius said. ¡°It won¡¯t be long before the goblins start to follow me around.¡±


    Fortunately, the goblins did not know how to grow food. They rely on the industrious mushroom farmers to provide food, so their growth rate is controlled by the mushroom leader and the Dragon Soldier leader. Also, the mushroom people¡¯s population started to grow ever since the mushroom leader emerged. Almost every day, there were several mushrooms in the mushroom plant. Soon, the number of people on the island became four digits. The growth of the dragon teeth soldiers became slower. Besides the new half dragon teeth soldier, the original dragon teeth soldiers didn¡¯t have any growth at all.


    This morning, Minerva gave Claudius a large pile of parchments. Frankly, Claudius didn¡¯t understand anything that was written on it. But he did know that it was a floor plan. ¡°Are you saying you want to build a shrine?¡± This is not a problem. But there are not many stones here that can be used to make a shrine. But which God do you want to worship? Jupiter? Or do you want a shrine for yourself? Claudius thought it was quite interesting and immediately agreed.


    The mushroom people began to mine for stones. These guys are really born to be farmers, masons, blacksmiths, builders and so on. Goblins have joined in on the project, and they were speeding up the progress. At the same time, they caused a number of explosion accidents. The explosions killed many of the goblins. But the goblins¡¯engineering has made considerable progress. In any case, the goblins¡¯ population is growing quite fast. It is fine if a few of them die.


    This time, Claudius received a letter from Brittany.¡±You guys in trouble?¡± The red dragon spread its wings and flew towards the battlefield. Indeed, there was trouble. The friends of justice had assembled, and had repeatedly attacked the logistic positions of the Orc army and carried out decapitation tactics. Sylvia, Brittany and hundreds and thousands of people fought on a small battlefield.


    Right now, the good guys are not fighting badly. Thanks to Claudius, he attracted the attention of the more powerful guys. The beautiful and noble Silver dragon now became a capable businesswoman and adventurer. She joined the war in the name of the god of Justice. She had used her influence as a nobleman and her financial resources to support the elves.


    Silver Dragon is also a spell master. She has assembled the bronze dragon Achilles and other powerful paladins and druids, which have been a great blow to the Orc army in several battles. They burned the food of the orcs. Sylvia and Brittany were taken by surprise. Now, as a result of the Silver Dragon¡¯s attack, the front-line of orcs has lost their courage and morale. This caused Sylvia and Brittany to put more effort into helping the army and stopping the attack on the elves. So they called Claudius.


    The Red Dragon went in alone. He did not want to put his men into the battlefield. The mighty Red Dragon is about to enter the mainland. At this time, a magic spell was activated. Many chain-like lights started to wound Claudius¡¯s body.


    Ambush. These guys were able to detect my whereabouts and set up a trap beforehand. So, magic like this can always give you an unexpected surprise! The Red Dragon growled and landed straight on the ground to avoid being a fully exposed target in the air.


    There are several people on the ground waiting for him. There was the druid in fur, the priest in the robes, the Mage, and the Paladin as shiny as the light bulb. Finally, there were some guys who were dressed in not adventure like clothes. But, they were the most dangerous ones.


    The leader is a tall, beautiful lady. Her hand holding a knife and she also had a shining dazzling magic sword. They were all tiny compared to the giant red dragon. The body and appearance of Claudius, whether it is the human or the Dragon form, had a majestic and charming feel. The tall, beautiful lady, had a Knight outfit. The woman said, ¡°it¡¯s been a long time.¡± Crimson Disaster! You should have stayed on your island. Why did you come to die? ¡°Ah ha ha, this lady. Ah no, this Dragon Lady. I didn¡¯t get your name. How do you have so much confidence in knowing that you will kill me? Oh, yes, and you¡­ The red dragon, wrapped in flames, grunted and answered the words of the silver dragon in a frivolous tone.

 CH 74

    Chapter 74


    The Red Dragon¡¯s huge body stood on the ground. The huge, metal-like jaws were open. The Red Dragon roared with laughter, ¡°Stop with this nonsense. Let¡¯s fight.¡±


    Such a roar made all attempts to speak a little tactful. The druids tried to persuade the red dragon to stop fighting. The priest gave up on that idea. Many of these soldiers have seen the destructive power of the Red Dragon. So the last thing they want to do is fight. But looking at the huge red Dragon¡¯s body¨Cfrom the chin to the tip of the tail, he is almost just over 40 meters in length. In the land of FeiLun, you can not find a 40 meters long true dragon. You would have to go into a dragon¡¯s nest to find one. For example, in the silver dragon¡¯s memory, there is one silver dragon who had the same length as Claudius, but his power is far inferior to Claudius.


    His jaws, claws, hind legs, wings, and tails were not his only weapons. He also has his serrated teeth from the back of his head to his tail. The Red Dragon was basically a weapon armed from top to bottom. The guy was more ruthless than the tooth dragon. What¡¯s more, the reason why Claudius is called the ¡°Red disaster¡± was because of his famous Flames. His Flames seems to burn at a high temperature and shoot out like a laser beam. No one knows how powerful his Flames are, but it is on the same level as the old dragon¡¯s flames.


    The magical chains, summoned by the magic circle on the ground, wrapped around the red dragon. The chains locked his wings and body. The red dragon cannot move at will. The chains even locked his head. The creator of this magic circle knows that this spell costs a lot of mana. The magician is running out of mana and the Red Dragon will soon be out of the chains. When the red Dragon flies into the sky, most of the people here will lose their ability to fight the Red Dragon. The Mage and most of the priests know that Illaraza is a silver dragon, but no one mentioned talked about it.


    The attack almost immediately fell on the Claudius. The spells hit Claudius very hard. But most of the spell was repelled. The Silver Dragon began to chant a spell. The Silver Dragon is ready to use an ice storm spell to open the way and beat the red dragon to hell.


    The spells were not able to penetrate Claudius¡¯s dragon scales. This guy was born with spell resistance, and the soul of the earth gives him extra spell resistance. But the spell that the Silver Dragon was using was able to give Claudius pain. But it¡¯s a pity these weapons don¡¯t look much bigger than toothpicks in Claudius. Although these weapons can break the hard dragon scales in the hands of these high-class warriors, these weapons did not cause much damage to Claudius.


    Claudius roared and began to twist his body, struggling to open his wings. The invisible chain on his body broke down. To stop Claudius from flying into the sky, those people focused on attacking Claudius¡¯s foot. Some of the more agile people tried to jump to the dragon¡¯s back, and some tried to shoot arrows at his eyes. Claudius had to close his eyes and shake his head.


    The next moment, the Red Dragon suddenly opened his mouth, and flames rushed out of his mouth.


    The Silver Dragon, with a black robe and cloak behind her, started to conjure a spell. In her two hands, two ice storms were suddenly created

 CH 75

    Chapter 75


    The surrounding became an icy hell. The hard dragon scales were cut off like paper, and a few ice blades were in Claudius¡¯s body. The wounds were deep enough where one could see Claudius¡¯s bones.


    The pain did not knock down the Red Dragon. The cold caused him to suffer double the damage. During this time, he was able to arouse the Red Dragon Fury. The Dragon blood burned all the ice. Claudius shook his body and more blood came out of his body. The chains were all shattered. The red Dragon began to inhale deeply, allowing the icy blades and the cold winds to bleed into his airways. In the next moment, fiery blue flames poured out, and his respiratory scars gradually began to heal. The flames were 70 meters long. All the people who tried to escape were caught in the flame too. Because of the ice storm, all the fighters were far away from Claudius. Now, they are running away and trying to avoid Claudius¡¯s flames.


    Fortunately, these warriors were powerful and had the support of divine magic spells that helped them run like the wind. Originally, Claudius did not want to rely on the flames to burn the people. He looked up at the sky and saw that the heat of fire began to counteract the effects of the ice storms. The Red Dragon began to fly, but he did not fly high. He began to dive and was ready to kill the group of people who started talking first.


    The Druids started to transform into bears. Their huge body can be said to be extremely powerful and their meat can be used as shields. The bears were almost immediately caught by the dragon. The dragon ripped the bears to pieces. The pieces of meat disappeared into Claudius¡¯s mouth. The Red Dragon stood on the ground. One of the paws catches the hind legs of a huge bear. The bear is six meters tall. The giant bear was caught. Then, Claudius took a bite at the bear. Some of the Druids turned into flying animals. Some became leopards. This allowed them to escape.


    Soon, another dragon rushed over and knocked Claudius over. This is the silver dragon. It was more than 20 meters long and its body was graceful and noble. Now, its teeth were gnawing on Claudius. A series of spells mixed with the physical attack attacked Claudius. Almost at the same time, a small bronze dragon also jumped over. Scales and Dragon blood were flying everywhere


    The red dragon bit the bronze dragon¡¯s neck. The bronze dragon was struggling and losing a lot of blood. His strength was getting smaller. The front paws of the bronze dragon were pushing against Claudius more and more weakly. Soon the bronze dragon¡¯s life would end. Silver Dragon was angry but also very anxious. She had no idea that the Red Dragon in front was only 50 years ago.


    At the same time, the Silver Dragon tried to hit the Red Dragon¡¯s wing.


    The Silver Dragon¡¯s attack took effect. Claudius¡¯s neck was partly affected by the icy dragon-breath. He had to let go of the Bronze Dragon. Because the cold makes Claudius muscle paralysis, it is difficult to exert greater strength, and if this continues, his whole neck will be frozen. Claudius stepped on the bronze dragon with his feet causing the bronze dragon to lose more blood.


    The Silver Dragon alone did not do much harm to Claudius. Even though the red dragon is covered in injuries, he was still beating them. Claudius¡¯s size brought him an absolute advantage and a bit of a disadvantage-though he was far more nimble and quick than the other dragons, it was hard to give the Silver dragon a decisive blow under these circumstances. The Silver Dragon¡¯s paws held a strange sword. It was similar to a small dagger, but every time it stabbed into Claudius¡¯s body, it caused unbearable pain.¡± Claudius recognized what it was. It was a dragon sword, a special weapon specially designed to kill the Dragon Clan.

 CH 76

    Chapter 76


    It was a huge two-handed sword. The shining silver sword contained Mithril ¨C or another way of saying it is that the sword was forged with Mithril.


    This sword is about 5 feet tall. There are not many people who can wield a sword made out of Mithril. The magical light emitting from the sword is extremely dazzling, but in Claudius¡¯s eyes, this big sword emitted a red glow. The little dagger that the Silver Dragon was holding also emitted a red glow.


    The Dragon Sword was very effective. Even if Claudius had magic resistance on his body, he would still not have been able to fight the power of the Dragon Sword. When the sword cut his scales, it was like a scissor cutting a paper. The pain was not only coming from the sword but also from the wound on his body when he was attacked by the ice storm. His wounds stopped healing the moment he was stabbed by the Dragon Sword. Not only did it stop healing but it started bleeding again. Claudius began to retreat. He tried to jump and fly to the skies, but he was blocked by the silver dragon¡¯s attack. Claudius began to counter the Silver Dragon¡¯s attack. Claudius¡¯s counterattack caused bruises on the Silver Dragon. The beautiful silver scales were torn apart, and it caused intense pain on the silver dragon. Her skin was constantly twitching, and her body has clear bite marks from Claudius¡¯s mouth. If she did not use the Dragon Sword, she would¡¯ve ended in the same situation as the Bronze Dragon.


    Claudius snorted and began to unfold his wings. He was flying with open wounds. He flew toward the south. Silver Dragon did not have the power to pursue him. She and the other soldiers began to help the unfortunate bronze dragon Achilles. This time, they miscalculated. They didn¡¯t expect Claudius to be so strong. But they succeeded in preventing the Red Dragon from entering the battlefield in the north, forcing this powerful red dragon to be out of the battle.


    Claudius looked a little embarrassed. The sword greatly weakened the dragon¡¯s physique, causing the dragon¡¯s vitality to drop so much that the dragon¡¯s wound could not heal for a long time. It is said that the wielder of the sword is hated by the dragons, but when the holder is a dragon, the situation becomes more complicated. The dragon sword¡¯s special effects are very strong. Such damage will last for dozens or even hundreds of years. Although his situation was not good, he knew that he would never die in this situation, and it would only take ten years to heal. It will be a few years. However, this also made him more and more fierce at the silver dragon. When the last time the silver dragon came, he was driven out of the mainland. The red dragon was not angry then, but now, he began to feel a little annoyed. In the end, it was the special effects of the Dragon Sword.


    ¡°I will retaliate back sooner or later! But this damn silver dragon took the thing, and it is estimated that she will not have any good results.¡± Claudius flapped his wings with hatred and looked at the sea. The heavy body of the red dragon landed in the crater, facing Minerva and the grapefruit colored mushroom. Claudius only said: ¡°I have to sleep for a while, no big deal. No need to bother me.¡± Then the Red Dragon sank into the magma lake, only showing his back and his head on the lake.


    The construction on the island is still in progress. The goblins used the explosives to fry everything, and the mushroom people used their hard bodies to smash the stones. The goblins have improved their engineering skills. The Dragon Tooth soldiers had become designers and supervisors. Minerva made the construction drawings of the entire town on a large parchment paper transported from the port of Santa Cruz. There were designs of many large stone buildings.


    Using explosives and machines, the goblins and mushroom people extracted huge stones. The mushroom people used their hard, metal-like hands, feet, and heads to sculpt the stones into the appropriate shape, and then use the huge construction machinery to lift them to the right place. The Dragon Army soldiers served as engineers. They built ancient Roman-style buildings. The huge volcanic rock was polished and smoothed.


    Minerva decided to build a huge temple-style palace on the volcanic mountain, which is a palace for Claudius. Minerva had the dragon tooth soldiers build the palace. Of course, there would be wide squares and beautiful gardens on the central axis, and extremely majestic battlefields and grand theaters on the other side. Between the fields would be a marble bath corridor linking the large baths of the Colosseum. All the floors would have perfect sewers, smooth marble ground, and fruit trees on both sides of the main road. There would be many decorations of in fountains, gardens and almost all public buildings.


    Of course, all of this is still on the drawing, and Minerva is ready to spend a lot of time building the city.


    The silver dragon did not pursue the red dragon. She could not pursue him because she has more important things to do ¨C treating the bronze dragons and those druids, pastors, and holy weapons. They needed to prepare for the fight against the Army of Green Dragon Silvia and Red Dragon Britanny, who was already approaching the Elven City.

 CH 77

    The army of Green Dragon Silvia and Red Dragon Brittany has approached the city of the elves, but they are now unable to move forward due to the logistics. The elves are in a dire situation. The army approaching the elves¡¯ cities will cause damage in the area controlled by the elves. Such damage would cause the elf city to weaken. The elves can¡¯t accept this. They are inevitably accumulating power to try to counter Silvia¡¯s orc army.


    The world is orderly but biased towards evil. Even with so many gods of justice, this world¡¯s ruler is still an evil god. It should be said that most of the rulers are lawful. They are neutral and partially evil. Now, the Hartman League, which is known as the noisy organization in the future, is on the stage for the first time. Silvia¡¯s Orc Army was unable to move forward early and was forced to organize another route, but at this time, the power of the rear spurt suddenly became stronger. Druids, rangers, mages, or thieves from all parts of Feren have formed a combat squad of three to five people. They were destroying the orc army.


    Six months after Claudius returned home, he told Brittany in a magic newsletter why he did not appear on the battlefield. He announced the current status of the silver dragon and the bronze dragon. Achilles certainly can¡¯t appear on the battlefield. The bronze dragon is dying and the silver dragon has the dragon sword. And the fact is, as Claudius said, the Silver Dragon, who used the Dragon Sword, was cursed by the Dragon Sword. Now she is in no better shape than Claudius, who was injured by Dragon Sword. This silver dragon laid in her lair. The scales on her body became dull, and there were cracks in her body. Several high-ranking priests prayed around the silver dragon. They sprinkled magic on her body. She can not use the dragon sword again.


    The rebounding damage is now enough to make the silver dragon suffer for at least 20 years. Claudius announced to Brittany that the silver dragon could not become their opponent.


    The main problem is the Hartman League.  They have good relations with the good dragons, the metal dragons, two young brass dragons and a young Golden dragon. They joined the Elven army and became a powerful combat force.


    After a day and night of battle, Silvia and Brittany had to withdraw from the battlefield. Even though the brass dragons did not have spell powers as strong as Silvia and Britany, Silvia and Britany lost the battle because the opponent had two young Golden Dragon. Silvia lost almost one wing, and the scales of Brittany¡¯s body were almost broken. The two dragons rushed out of the battlefield and left their army. In fact, there is nothing to be ashamed of. The orc army died as fast as Silvia and Brittany running out of the battlefield.


    The orc army that has not yet joined the battle has also begun spontaneous disintegration. The orcs who were already in battle were elites. The orcs were losing in battle. There were only about a thousand orcs left who can still fight the opponent¡¯s army. The orcs that were left were defeated within half an hour¡­ The entire forest was full of orcs¡¯ bodies. The orcs that Silvia brought to the siege were almost all dead, so painful.


    Silvia has never experienced such failure. Now, all she can do is try to hold onto the forest.


    Then, some new forces have extended a helping hand to her¡­¡­.

 CH 78

    Chapter 78


    On the edge of the forest, the green dragon Silvia is on a platform raised by vines and exotic flowers. She tries to masks what happened to her as much as possible. She tries to maintain an arrogant look in front of the humans that were meeting her. It was some humans dressed in black clothes. It is rare to see human beings in Silvia¡¯s armies. Most of the humans who came to Silvia were some adventures looking for money. Some were just pure evil. But there were more average adventurers then evil ones. But most of the adventurers died in the battle. Although there have always been new people joining, Silvia still prefers to use Orcs and Wolves.


    Now, after the fiasco, the orc army has decreased by an incredible amount. Many small orc tribes have sneaked away from the army of Green Dragon Silvia and Red Dragon Brittany. Originally, the orc army had up to 30,000 orcs. The orc army suddenly shrank to less than 10,000. There was still the human army who decided to join.


    If Claudius saw the human leader and his army, he would know that this group of people are bandits. There were no organization and military disciplines in this group of humans. The human army had about 1,500 people or so, and each soldier¡¯s words were more influential than the whole orc army. Now, their leader standing in front of the Green Dragon is claiming that they want to join the Green Dragon army. ¡°So, what do you want?¡±


    ¡°Of course, we want to destroy the city of the elves ¨C this is the wish of my Lord. And we also hope that we can proclaim the teachings of my Lord in the future.¡±


    As for Red Dragon Brittany, her situation is no better than Green Dragon. Her pride in herself was damaged. She now wanted to kill the leader of the army who had failed her in the battle. She failed to do that. She failed to kill the leaders. The leaders and the army quickly fled from the Red Dragon¡¯s wrath. The Red Dragon proudly watched as its ¡°army¡± disbanded.


    The elves approached the edge of the forest. The elves who were inspired by the victory had high hopes. They could end the war that had lasted for nearly a century. There were almost 3,000 elves. They were jumping in the forest and marching completely without formation. Soon, in front of them, were messy orc barracks. This time, standing in front of the orc barracks is a group of humans. They were waiting for the elves to come.


    The humans did not go forward. Instead, a lot of goblin creatures, the evil races of the goblins, bear goblins, and ogres, emerged from several large passages.


    Claudius was not interested in the war that was happening. He was healing himself inside the magma. Due to the disappearance of the storms, plants on the islands started to grow wildly, and the rich volcanic ash greatly promoted plants to start breeding. The huge fish farms formed by the convergence of the warm and cold currents around the island have made the Hell Island a paradise for seabirds. The island, which has no natural enemies of birds and no large predators, is now a paradise for life.


    Through the connection to the dark areas of the mainland and islands, many animals have gradually migrated to the island. Those small islands are suitable for black dragons to live in. The bronze dragons can¡¯t live in those islands though. They prefer to play pranks and have fun with animals. But there isn¡¯t any black dragon near any of the islands. The black dragon did not want to gamble his life. He thought he might be killed if the red dragon saw him.


    Claudius doesn¡¯t care how many animals are on his island. This guy is now sleeping. On the island of Hell, the magnificent grandeur of the port was polished with smooth granite. The buildings were built under the command of Minerva. The Colosseum, where several dragons can fight inside, has taken shape. The city¡¯s underground waterway is now working. Claudius was amazed by the work done by Minerva.

 CH 79

    The red dragon enjoys the lava foam on the island. While in the lava foam, he watches cities get built on the island. Sometimes, Brittany would call Claudius and declare that they have almost captured the elve¡¯s cities. Claudius didn¡¯t know much about the situation. Anyway, his source of information was the magic communication. He didn¡¯t take the initiative to care about the progress of the war. This was originally a war that had nothing to do with him, and the Red Dragon is not interested in sending spies to get information. The world has a relatively common development of spy technology because of the existence of prophetic spells.


    The war of the Green Dragon has now gradually become a war that is not her¡¯s. The human army that joined seems to be quiet obedient to Silvia. Brittany has no feelings about the war. She is just proud of her growing power. The orc¡¯s tribes are gradually marginalized.


    Claudius has not received any magic newsletter for a long time.


    Claudius¡¯s injury is almost fully healed. He has been flying in the air to patrol his territory more than once. In these two decades, the dragon tooth soldiers extracted precious metals and gems from the volcanic rocks and traded with the cities on the mainland of Fei Lun. They export precious metals and precious stones, as well as some magical plants or marine raw materials, and import a large number of farmed animals, seeds and other things. Since the mushroom people are good farmers, they produce quality wheat and flour.


    Hell Island not only produces a lot of wheat and flour but also potatoes, oats, and barley. The alfalfa from the Feilun continent is planted in large quantities and then mixed. Oats and barley are used to feed cattle, sheep, pigs, and birds.


    Different races of creatures eat different things on the island. Mushroom people are not able to eat wheat flour and meat, but the dragon tooth soldiers eat what regular humans eat. The goblins can eat anything. But there is a big stomach king on the island ¨C the appetite of the red dragon Claudius is very large.


    Claudius has to eat at least six cows a day to be full. Fortunately, there are not many people on Hell Island and the place is quite large, so the farm can raise a large number of cow, sheep, and pigs. Of course, Claudius is also accustomed to drinking a lot of milk.


    Hell Island is probably going to be renamed to Paradise Island¡­.. There are no aristocrats or taxes here. The only thing that is bad is the volcanoes and the red dragon.


    The Big Library is the second giant building that Hell Island has after the Colosseum. The shape is simply a replica of the Roman Pantheon, but much larger. The use of concrete made of volcanic ash makes the construction work faster. The dragon helped by melting the copper extracted from the volcano and then casts it into the magnificent dome.


    After finishing this, Red Dragon understands that his injury has completely healed, and 20 years have passed. It is time to get back to the game.


    Claudius decided to find the nest of the bronze dragon Achilles first, then ruin the guy¡¯s lair to vent his anger. The bronze dragon has once again escaped his wrath.¡±Let me think about this. Where is the old nest?¡± The Red Dragon considered this issue on the huge polished granite floor of the temple.


    The volcano erupted again. The dragon tooth soldiers and the mushroom people on the island have long been eccentric. This time the eruption was accompanied by a huge red figure. The red dragon spread its wings and hovered around the island.


    Just in the Arctic Mountains near the ocean, there is the nest of the bronze dragon Achilles. For many years, this bronze dragon has been there. Although this guy did not say it, the old residents in the town here know that Achilles is actually a dragon. The talkative Achilles certainly understands that everyone knows this. Recently he was less active, and he just recovered from a heavy injury. He has never said anything about this, but he is now bragging about the taverns he often visits, bragging about how he repelled the horrible red dragon known as the ¡°Red Disaster.¡±


    Of course, people in Zazespo(the town of the Suldarkens River below the Starring Mountains) the bronze dragon Achilles favorite and the most frequent place in the bar, immediately familiar with Achilles. The adventurer and the local residents joked with this bronze dragon that turned into a human form: ¡°Red Disaster? Haven¡¯t we heard of this red dragon? Achilles, you must be bragging again.¡±


    While Achilles was bragging, Claudius is going to the place where he thought was the bronze dragon¡¯s lair was¡­

 CH 80

    Even though Achilles brags a lot, he is quite good at hiding and protecting his own nest. Claudius landed on the ground and looked for Achilles¡¯ lair. Achilles¡¯ lair is very well hidden.


    His heavy steps shook the ground as he walked up and down the hill. After not being able to find the lair, he flew to another mountain. Claudius was able to find the first nest he made, but it has become a paradise for the kobolds. Of course, after the Red Dragon arrived, the dog-headed people immediately fell to the ground and bowed to Claudius. Claudius did not want to kill these group of people. It was a waste of time.


    Claudius did not pay attention to the group of kobolds. He just scanned around the nest. The kobolds have made his nest dirty. The red dragon looked at the patterns and handwriting that he had carved out with his claws on the wall and sighed. The Red Dragon is only one step away from the nest of the bronze dragon, but he estimated that it will take some time to find him


    Claudius¡¯s magic has always been bad. As a red dragon, the spells that he awakened with at this age were extremely powerful, but he does not really know how to the power of the spells to its full potential. At the moment, he has learned a few tricks and first-level and second-level spells.


    Claudius is sure that Achilles¡¯ nest is definitely not far from here. But he can not find it. Claudius can not believe how lucky the bronze dragon is. The chances of him escaping a third time are very slim. Claudius decided to continue to look here for a few days. If I can¡¯t find it, I¡¯ll just go join the Green Dragon Army. They haven¡¯t contacted each other for many years.


    The bronze dragon¡¯s lair was really well hidden, but the red dragon eventually discovered clues ¨C he noticed a passage that is the size of the bronze dragon. He walked into the passage.


    The bronze dragon¡¯s lair is not small. There should be a huge hall that can house his whole body. He kept walking into the passage but came to a dead end. He decided to dig through the passage to see if there is something there.


    After digging in about a hundred meters, Claudius finally dug a big hollow hole. Then Claudius expanded the hole to the extent where he could pass and step into the bronze dragon¡¯s lair. This place is quite large, but it seems to be a little too small for Claudius. Claudius cast a spell to light the place up. This hall is about 50 meters high and is about 10,000 square meters. The ground is not flat. There is an obvious high platform and catalog book collection.


    There were a lot of coins in the lair. There were about 10,000 gold coins, of course, gems were not included. However, the bronze dragon does not seem to have many precious gems. Most of the gems he collects are pearls and corals. Claudius sneered a few times. Then the dragon walked to the gold coin and swallowed a mouth full of coins, chewed a few times and then ate it¡­.. Real dragons are able to eat inorganic substances. Metals can also enhance their defense and physical abilities. Metal dragons usually eat inorganic substances. But colored dragons usually eat meat because it tastes better.


    Claudius once ate gold coins before. This stuff never fills his belly, but it doesn¡¯t taste bad. Claudius thought the taste of gold coins were similar to chocolate. But after eating it, he did not feel his body strengthening. It didn¡¯t do anything to him ¨C but at the moment Claudius is quite happy tasting the gold coins. The gold coins tasted very good and Claudius couldn¡¯t stop eating them.


    Now, Claudius has cleaned up Achilles¡¯ treasure house. While eating the coins Claudius thought, ¡°It is a good time to find the silver dragon¡¯s lair too.¡±

 CH 81

    Bronze dragon Achilles, who kept bragging and bragging, suddenly felt a that his life was in danger. He felt that something worse then death is coming for him. Achilles hurriedly ended the bragging activity.


    The suspicious Achilles carefully returned back to his lair. The Bronze dragon is not a fool. Before he returns to his lair, he first determines whether there are any markings left by intruders. He made several detours on his way home to make sure he was not followed. After many detours, he finally came to his nest. It is important not to go directly home. The bronze dragon likes to make sure that he is safe, then go home. Now, when he has made sure that he was not followed, he went into his lair. Once he arrived, he noticed that all his gold is gone. ¡°Who dares to steal my things!¡±


    ¡°Ah, hahaha¡­..¡± The bronze dragon sounded like he was crying. ¡°All are gone¡­¡±


    His whole nest was burning. The gems and artworks that he cherishes in the cave have all been turned into ash¡­ The Bronze Dragon asked the Silver Dragon to come and find the culprit.


    But Achilles finally found a possible culprit. It¡¯s not just the walls, but the ground that melted. Achilles now finds traces of the culprit on the ground ¨C a huge footprint with three toes. There are two footprints, one on the left and one on the right. It is obvious that the culprit¡¯s footprint is really big, much bigger than Achilles¡¯s own footprints. Achilles put his forefoot and foot in it and still couldn¡¯t fill the huge footprint. The bronze dragon swallowed his saliva, and he understood who left the footprints.


    The memory of the bronze dragon is very good. He remembers the time when he almost died. When he saw this footprint, he immediately remembered the bigfoot that stepped on him and almost broke his bones. It was a big red foot with a dark red lava-like scale. ¡°Claudius¡­¡± Bronze dragon muttered with fear. ¡°No! I have to leave here! I can¡¯t stay in this place! That damn bastard will appear anytime!¡± The bronze dragon rushed out of his own nest, and even refused to check if there were any remaining treasures. He quickly spread his wings and flew to Tassel.


    Claudius did not go to the Green Dragon¡¯s Legion. He flew back to Hell Island. For a dragon, revenge needs to be exacted slowly and calmly. So he was not in a hurry, and Claudius was very happy to wipe out all of Achilles¡¯s treasure. So he decided to let the bronze dragon go this time. But the next time he sees him, he would tie the head of the bronze dragon to a pole.


    The temple of the Red Dragon was the first building to be completed. The main structure of the huge temple has been completed. All that is left is the internal decoration work. The extremely magnificent columns and triangular roofs and the base underneath the boulder pile form the perfect golden ratio. The main body of the open temple is spliced into a beautiful floor with huge polished smooth slabs, and then piled into a huge rectangular stone platform with the same polished smooth stone ¨C this stone platform is where Claudius stays. His sleeping place was at the end of the temple. The only thing that has not been completed is the huge dome. The first half of the temple with the triangular roof has been completed. Now, Claudius is sitting on the stone platform. He spread a huge map in and looked at the possible locations of the Silver Dragon¡¯s lair.


    ¡°According to the living habits of that damn silver dragon, she should be mixed with humans or elves, especially in those cities.¡±


    She should be in the center of the Xingxuan Mountain Range. There are also many cities within a 500 kilometers radius. Where will this stupid silver dragon stay? Claudius looked at the map slyly. ¡°Perhaps I can force the Silver Dragon to jump out by attacking those cities?¡± Oh, this is a good plan! ¡°The red dragon made a decision.


    ¡°Before that, I also need to help build a gantry crane. After all, I should help make this city since it is dedicated to me,¡± said Claudius.

 CH 82

    People haven¡¯t appeared for a long time. According to the manor servants, their hostess has departed from the house and may take a long time to come back. A few years later, the butler received an order from the hostess. The hostess offered a sum of money to dismiss most of the servants and closed the door of the manor.


    In the far-off mountains, above its towering peaks, there was a smooth platform; at the end of the platform is a cave. In there was the nest of the Silver Dragon, her real dragon nest. The dragon nest was filled with lights.


    The temperature inside the nest was altogether pleasant and it¡¯s not as cold as the outside. The power of magic isolated the nest from the outer world. Inside the nest was a spring while the outside endured winter.


    In there were many gold coins, which was much more than the dragon bronzes. There were, in addition, gemstones with beautiful and noble artwork.


    In the middle of these treasures, was a Dragon, that¡¯s more dazzling than any treasure inside the cave. Her silver scales shined brightly, like the radiant Silver Light of Dawn. The elegant Silver Dragon was in pain and suffered several huge wounds on her body.


    A group of Cloud Giants served the Silver Dragon and provided her with food and care. These mighty humanoid creatures with milky skin and blond hair were as beautiful and elegant as the Silver Dragon. Two beautiful tall female cloud giants were the caretakers of the Silver Dragon. Their owner was wounded by a big dragon. It had been more than 20 years and had barely begun to indicate signs of improvement.


    Ilya Lhasa was a distinguished good Silver Dragon. As a benevolent mediator of good and intelligent creatures, this Silver Dragon was known as the ¡°Silver Dawn¡±. She displayed a significantly good relationship with the gods. Although she remained a believer of the Platinum Dragon God, she was highly valued among other gods.


    Ilya Lhasa had been cursing the Red Dragon Claudius for years. And that damn dragon forced her to use the Dragon Sword which caused a negative effect on her. She was absolutely certain the Red Dragon wasn¡¯t dead ¨Cthe dragon sword was the proof.


    If it slayed a dragon, even if the dragon died on the other side of the continent or the outer plane; the soul of the killed dragon will be swallowed up by the nameless Dragon Sword. But now that this Dragon Sword doesn¡¯t display any reaction, this concluded that the evil and powerful Red Dragon hadn¡¯t died yet. But Ilya Lhasa was sure that Claudius got more injury which was definitely worse than her.


    This didn¡¯t prevent Ilya Lhasa from cursing the damn Red Dragon. But now Ilya Lhasa had been healing and the injury had improved tremendously. Her fight against the Green Dragon Silvia and Red Dragon Brittany¡¯s orc army equally gained a pleasing result.


    The Green and Red Dragon suffered severe failures and the tortoise was in the vicinity of her genuine nest for more than ten years. Not long ago, it had completely lost its trace. It seemed the forces of Evil Gods, who later rushed to them, utilized them to deport or imprison the two dragons.


    But thinking of it, Ilya Lhasa still sighed. The situation of the elves wasn¡¯t ideal. The Green Dragon army had essentially become an evil coalition. Most of the orcs had been killed, and the orcs had once again begun to advance to the elves¡¯ city.


    This time, due to God¡¯s intervention, the situation was indeed worse than the first time the Green Dragon invaded the city. Her injury had made her unable to go out for so many years. She once again cursed the unusual Red Dragon.


    The cursed Red Dragon suffered nothing. The distance between Claudius and Ilya Lhasa was more than 3,000 kilometers. Claudius didn¡¯t know he was being cursed by the silver dragon. The current Red Dragon equally suffered his own troubles; Hell Island frequented an active volcanic island.


    Although there was only one towering volcanic cone, there were actually several lava houses in the gushing magma on the ground and underground cavities. Claudius on top received reports from the mushroom people that there were a group of people who didn¡¯t worship Claudius.


    The group of people was founded by the mushroom people. The mushroom people weren¡¯t fools. They didn¡¯t rush out to stop the group of people and were careful. The mushroom man compiled records of them. Looking at the images that were recorded by magic and the information provided by Minerva, Claudius bore a little trouble but he didn¡¯t feel angry.


    ¡°Fire Giants? I didn¡¯t expect the group of people to come. These guys merely came here and didn¡¯t even say hello. Are they looking forward to death? ¡±


    There weren¡¯t many flame giants, only about a dozen of both men and women. They had burning hair and burning red briquettes. Each giant received at least a two-handed sword. They climbed out of the underground lava cavity and looked at the towering volcano in front of them then laughed wildly.


    The flame giants continued moving beyond. They could detect the presence of the Red Dragon, but the Red Dragon wasn¡¯t a formidable opponent for them. As the group of flame giants was capable to expel the adult Red Dragon. They took fancy to the majestic volcano and wanted to take it for themselves.


    The flame giants were advancing; both men and women flame giants were excellent soldiers. Along the way out of the cave, after a round of ridges, the giants recognize a city; a spectacular city built with gray rocks, huge towering stone pillars, with reliefs and sculptures decorated on the rocky roofs. All of the Fire Giants were fascinated.


    This caused the eyes of the Flame Giant Leader show greed and laugh wildly. On the huge slate square in front of him, there was a team of soldiers wearing.

 CH 83

    Looking at the seams of the helmet, the soldiers were all expressionless. The naked skin part of the body was pale and had dark red tattoos. These soldiers grasped a tall spear and long shield in their hands and silently waited.


    The Fire Giant, moreover, retained a military formation. With the giant leader at the center, they form a wedge-shaped array; they were ready to hit the people in front of them and kill everyone. The first to launch the attack is the Fire Giants. The 5-meter giants were able to shake the earth.


    When the Fire Giants entered the front of the dragon tooth formation, their heads started to hurt. The fierce soldiers threw their spears into the air and started to charge at the Fire Giants. The power level of the giants are about 30; usually 33, but the strength of the dragon tooth soldiers has reached more than 25.


    And under the addition of Claudius¡¯s attributes ¨C yes, the people living inside Hell Island also has the strength of 30. Under the addition of Claudius, the strength of these dragon-toothed soldiers has reached 30. The agility of the Dragon-fighter has reached 24; their physique has reached 30. Their intelligence was almost 12.


    In fact, in Claudius¡¯s personal view, these dragon tooth soldiers were unique. But there was one thing that Claudius knew; the dragon tooth soldiers were slightly weaker than the fire giants in their power attribute, but they were nimbler and more durable than the fire giant.


    What¡¯s even more horrifying was that the dragon tooth soldiers are a group combat race and their combat power has grown tremendously. At the moment, the spears were basically smiting the head of the fire giant.


    The leader of the Fire Giants wore his impenetrable armor, but his armor still got penetrated. The spears pierced the body after running through the armor. The burning flame-like blood flowed like waterfall along the handle of the spear. The head of the Fire Giant leader was struck by a spear, which was thrown by a female warrior holding a huge round shield in a magnificent armor. His face was crushed; from his head, his flame-like brains and shattered bones were brought out by the spear.


    The scene was extremely fierce. All of the Fire Giants stopped. Their sovereign lords have died. They died like a mouse. The Fire Giants morale has gone down to the ground.


    At this time, the shadows obscured the sky. The helpless giants looked up and saw a huge Red Dragon that they had never been seen before. It was an unusual Red Dragon. He was completely different from the Red Dragon they have seen in the past.


    The dragon and his lingering flames around him proved this he was an extremely powerful Red Dragon. The Red Dragon landed on the ground. When his firm feet stepped on the ground, the earth shook slightly. The Red Dragon lowered his head and looked at the Fire Giants.


    From the ground to the Red Dragon¡¯s chin, there were at least 134 meters. Naturally, the height of the lower half was equal to the giant. He looked at the giants in front of him, but he wasn¡¯t sure how to deal with these guys.


    Since Claudius¡¯s head was right in front of the Fire Giants, it was very convenient for them to hit him. Therefore, one of the Fire Giants wielded his two-handed sword to Claudius¡¯s head. The Red Dragon smiled, and let him hit his head. The two-handed sword broke in half and half of the sword flew to the skies. This Red dragon easily broke the giant sword. The Fire Giant, who suffered a broken hand from hitting Claudius, fell to the ground. In fact, all the fire giants have lost the courage to face Claudius.


    ¡°From now on, you are my slaves!¡±


    The Red Dragon made a rumbling voice, inclined his head, flew high and returned to his temple. The dragon-toothed soldiers surrounded the Fire Giants and used the spears to stab the Fire Giants: forcing them to line up and throw their weapons down. The Fire Giants followed the dragon-toothed soldiers to the city


    The Red Dragon himself expressed contempt for these giants. The Fire Giants were terribly weak in his view. Although their strength was mightier than that of the Dragon Tooth, their population is on the low side. There were 600 dragon tooth soldiers per teams and there was a total of 1000 teams. Hell Island was now rapidly shifting.


    During the time when Claudius was wounded, there was a barbarian who rode a ship to Hell Island; the one-eyed barbarian leader asked to meet with Claudius. Claudius was very curious so he let the barbarian leader come to see him ¨C knowing there weren¡¯t really many mortals who could actually find this the Red Dragon¡¯s Lair.


    There were only a few mortals who dared to come to see Claudius. In the magnificent temple, Claudius saw the barbarian leader who was 2 meters tall. This barbarian was a one-eyed man with a blindfold on his other eye. He¡¯s dressed in a fur coat and has a crow spear with a faint thunderbolt around it.


    There were no rules in the temple of Claudius. The visitor didn¡¯t need to put down his weapon to see him ¨C the Red Dragon has always been confident in his abilities.


    ¡°Oh? Who are you? Which god do you believe?¡± The Red Dragon looked at the barbarian leader who bowed slightly to him and asked.


    Here comes the problem¡­


    ¡°Conan! My name is Conan. I am a servant of the Lord of the Storm, the King of the Sea in Ice Floes. I have come from the North, and have wandered a considerable distance to find you, the Deep Red Disaster; The Mighty Red Dragon.

 CH 84

    The sea of ice floes, which is the home of strong north winds and brave pirates. One of the barbarians lives there, relying on fishing, raising pigs in the caves and looting coastal cities to survive. He makes a living from fighting. In Feren, barbarians like that have their own unique name¡ª¡±Vikings.¡± These rough, brave, and big men paddle the dragon boats across the ice and sea, and they are almost all faithful believers of the storm Lord Talos. The king of the Vikings, tribal leader Wang Conan, the legendary one-eyed pirate king, now faces Claudius.


    The removal of one eye was his sacrifice to his god and the proof that he and his body are on the road. Wang Conan was a legendary warrior, but he also had a fairly high priest rank. For him, destroying a city single-handedly was not a problem, especially since the majority of the ¡°cities¡± in Feren had a population of less than 30,000.


    The legendary warrior was now before him, but Claudius felt no pressure. Yes, this man was extremely strong, but he was only one man. Claudius had absolute confidence that he could beat this one-eyed man.


    Claudius was immune to the power of the gods. This was recently made clear when he was recovering from his injury. Because of this, he was looking into the face of the legendary warrior Conan. Claudius thought that this person seemed very interesting. He did not think of any possible consequences if he were to engage in a battle with this man. Regardless of strength or physique, Claudius had absolute confidence in his ability to suppress Conan. Conan could not block Claudius¡¯s attack since he does not know all of his attacks.


    Sure enough, there was a discussion of equals between the two strong men. Conan traveled for a long time to convey some words from his god to Claudius. The power of Claudius was recognized by the gods. Although the gods did not know the characteristics of the power, the power of Claudius and his magical resistance was noticed by both Talos and the storm gods, and he wanted Claudius to help him. The powerful god of Talos never pays attention to other gods, including the ocean goddess Ambori. Talos expressed his complete disregard for the conflict between Ambori and Claudius for many years. He did not help Ambori because he believes that the storm gods started this conflict. Talos had stood by and watched the conflict between Ambori and Claudius.


    Therefore, Talos felt that he could ask Claudius to pay a reasonable price, and perhaps he could even make this powerful red dragon his follower. However, such temptations made it inappropriate for the savage king to ask the man himself. Claudius himself refused to Talos. For this reason, almost everyone on both sides of the temple began to fight. The temperature began to rise, and the fierce, murderous Claudius opened his mouth slightly to reveal the lava-like color and light inside. The savage king Conan was not there to fight. He also had a ritual of Talos, so he could make the next request while hiding his anger. He hoped to let his god build a temple on Hell Island, and of course to ask the Red Dragon to help.


    The answer given to him by the red dragon was ¡°Go back to your mother!¡±


    Conan was furious, and pulled out his two-handed sword¡ªthe legendary weapon ¡°Sword of the Giants¡±. It was a two-handed sword with a length of more than two meters. It was beautifully decorated, and the hilt was a snake. It was heavy and sharp. Despite its size, Conan could use it freely. After he became a believer of Talos, Conan acquired this sword in one of his many adventures under the guidance of Talos, killing giants, sea monsters, and dragons.  Now the giant sword and the red dragon¡¯s claws clashed against each other, and Claudius¡¯ claws were cut off by the legendary sword. Conan also temporarily stopped attacking because of the strong earthquake caused by the blow. The legendary warrior was as terribly efficient as a meat grinder. With Conan¡¯s power and mana levels, an ordinary dragon was no more difficult to deal with than a piece of steak. Unfortunately, he was facing the red dragon, Claudius.


    The legendary warrior fought Claudius hard, and cut off one of Claudius¡¯s claws. Claudius retreated like a ghost using his unordinary agility. Then his next breath filled the whole Temple of God with flames.


    The flames were extremely hot. They were not the usual red, but blue and white. In the high-temperature flames, the legendary warrior Conan turned to a speck of black as the flames gradually disappeared. The stones and sculptures in the temple were blessed with their own strength, mainly by the blood of Claudius, and were able to withstand high temperatures. But despite the stone¡¯s strength, there were signs of melting. They only remained because Claudius had not used a strong breath, so the fire did not last for long. After the flames disappeared, the king, Wang Conan reappeared. At the moment the flames began, he had activated the space treasure to try to escape into the half-plane, but he had failed. The ring of space was an artifact obtained in an adventure, so it could not be activated yet. He had to rely on the strength of the great sword and his own strength to resist the flames, and though he survived he lost the leather jacket made of the legendary ice bear that he had killed.


    The leather on Conan burned, even his hair and whiskers smoldered, but there was no trace of burns on the strong body that was revealed beneath the jacket¡ªthe only scars on his body were left by his past adventures. Each scar represented a strong man who died by his hand. Claudius looked the sword that had broken his nails and looked at the soldier in front of him.


    ¡°Do you still want to fight? I will not hold back this time. Your mission for the gods will end. You are still alive for now.


    The brave king of the Vikings put the sword in his hands down onto the ground, and he took a deep breath. ¡°Good! If you are not willing to build the temple for my Lord, then my Lord asks you to do three things for Him!¡±


    ¡°In return, your god must also help me do one thing! Otherwise, tell him to come to the human world to talk to me himself!¡± Claudius sneered in response to the king Wang Conan.


    What happened next is obviously not that Conan talked to Claudius, but God himself came.


    What a special occasion.

 CH 85

    Translator: Xeroa


    Editor: knit


    When Conan put down his weapon, he was already inhuman. Silhouettes of gods appeared over the legendary warrior, and his array of swords transformed into thunderbolt spears. ¡°Talos¡±, Claudius said carefully. Facing the wrath of a True God was still quite dangerous for the Crimson Dragon. He still had to be cautious despite ridiculing Anbo, the crazy bitch, for so many years.


    Talos was the embodiment of storms and destruction. He represented nature¡¯s violence and ruthlessness. Being the god of chaos, Talos used fear and violence to rule those who follow him. As the ruler of storms, Talos was unpredictable. In front of Claudius however, Talos was unexpectedly calm and straightforward. ¡°I think you can do something for me¡±.


    ¡°You have to pay the price Talos. Don¡¯t use flowery words with me.¡± Claudius did not want to regress and directly drew boundaries. ¡°I know that you are the God of Earthquakes. I can do a few things for you but you must repay the favor,¡± the Crimson Dragon replied. ¡°I don¡¯t want to owe you anything. What do you want?¡±. Claudius knew that the Gods were shameless. They were hard to get rid of and he wanted to break any relations between them before it got bothersome.


    He asked Talos to push Santa Cruz Island and Hell Island together and move them to Feren¡¯s mainland. Although it would take decades or even centuries to complete, joining the two islands together was something all-powerful gods could do. Claudius was surprised when Talos agreed. He believed that it would be normal for Talos, the God of Storms, to fight instead of talking things out peacefully.


    This was because Claudius looked down on himself. Claudius hadn¡¯t realized how unique his abilities were. Talos was not remotely threatening or powerful compared to Claudius. The savage and violent god could detect that his power was completely suppressed by the Crimson Dragon¡¯s aura. Talos had a cold sweat.


    Talos agreed to Claudius¡¯ conditions. In exchange for moving the islands, Talos wanted Claudius¡¯ help to clean up his enemies on three occasions. Both parties were satisfied with the treaty. ¡°Wasn¡¯t the benefits of the contract not proportional to the cost?¡± When the Crimson Dragon listened to the Udaeus¡¯ leader, Minerva, he chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t care. Pushing an island isn¡¯t something that I can do, so the exchange is proportional. Besides, the six gods in the mortal world will have friction with me sooner or later. It isn¡¯t bad to get some help now¡±.


    Several years after the agreement, the waters between Hell Island and Santa Cruz Island slowly shrunk and became closer to the mainland. Claudius was in a good mood. He retaliated against the Bronze Dragon Achilles but he hasn¡¯t gotten his revenge with the Silver Dragon. Claudius had a score to settle with that damn Dragon¡­ Claudius was still trying to find her location. His horrible luck with women proved itself once again and would be his downfall in the future¡­ As for the Jade Dragon Silvia and his sister Britannia, he can feel that the dragon was fine through blood connection. It seems that his sister was still busy playing the game. In Claudius¡¯ view, it really was similar to that game¡­ even if he only has six hundred men on hand.


    Claudius was now looking at the drawings and models that Minerva presented to him. It depicted a model of a volcano. Winding steps ran across the outside of the volcano until reached the center of the crater. A platform connected the stairs to a temple and a large arch was placed at the entrance. What was this? ¡°Do you want to arrange the 12 Gold Saints to be stationed here?¡± Claudius said with a smile. The Crimson Dragon thought it was very interesting. ¡°Minerva, I think that you can stay inside the temple. It seems that your image doesn¡¯t even need to be created. Hahahaha ¡±.


    The female Udaeus¡¯ next words, however, made Claudius stop laughing. ¡°Lord, this will be the road for inheritance ceremony of the Udaeus Soldiers¡±.


    The Crimson Dragon snorted a few times. ¡°Minerva, you said that this is where the Udaeus will take off? Where have they been planted with my teeth?¡± Claudius thought that she had taken some of his teeth to plant more soldiers. It was really successful to go to that lava plant where he got Minerva¡¯s heroic unit. Although his subsequent attempts to plant more heroic units failed, other Udaeus soldiers were still planted.


    According to the markings on the drawings, the inaugural preparation will be for the Udaeus¡¯ descendants. As descendants of the dragon and human bloodlines, the blood of the children and grandchildren of the Udaeus soldiers will be mixed. Their blood will be dominated by dragon characteristics because dragon blood is stronger. These children will embark on this trial at the age of sixteen. At this time, the children will test their physical strength by climbing the volcano and testing their fighting skills in the temple. Carried out by Minerva and the rest of the Udaeus soldiers, their final trial will be activating their dragon bloodline. They will become Udaeus soldiers and have the same bloodline even though their physical appearances won¡¯t change.


    ¡°I feel that this idea is very familiar¡­¡± Claudius sighed. ¡°Minerva, you really haven¡¯t read any comics? For example, JOJO or something¡­¡± Of course, Minerva said she hadn¡¯t seen anything like JOJO at all.


    The teenagers will acquire their own standard weapons when they become Udaeus soldiers. The legend of the Udaeus is that they can acquire weapons without forging it themselves. As for the success rate of becoming an Udaeus soldier¡­ Claudius learned from Minerva that the best result is also one out of twenty. ¡°It¡¯s really hard.¡± The Crimson Dragon felt a sigh of relief. The flame Myceloids can be first class soldiers when they are born. The second-level goblins can reach the abilities the fourth level soldier easily, but it was so difficult to create to become an Udaeus soldier?


    Furthermore, the birth rates for cross-breeding between humans and Udaeus was lower than humans. It was better than the rates of the elves and dwarves though. On the bright side, Udaeus offspring had much longer lives than their human counterparts. The first batch of Udaeus soldiers planted by Claudius still hadn¡¯t shown any signs of aging. Typical half Udaeus could live up to 300 years, with around 200 years of their life at their best. Although the birth rates were low, Udaeus soldiers could still have 3-4 children within the life cycle of their human wife.

 CH 86

    Translator Kuhaku


    The temple, Dragon Bing, was ordered by Claudius to be built as soon as possible. Now, it is not necessary to use so much effort to build temples. The engineering machines that the goblins made reduced the chances of explosions to an acceptable level.


    To some extent, the mushroom people are using the goblins to help build the architectures. As for the dragon tooth soldiers, they do not do any construction work. The fire giants are the one to do all the heavy lifting.


    Claudius does not feel guilty enslaving these things.


    I really think that these things taste like the lava that has just been extinguished. They are not delicious at all.


    The fire giants are very obedient and hard working.


    Hell Island drifted towards the southeast at sea. The flow of cold and warm currents is also magically drifting along with the islands. Naturally, the fish moves with the currents. Around Hell Island, the complex seabed terrain in the sea also moves, which makes the relatively stupid sea monsters with poor perception move along with the island. Anyway, Claudius doesn¡¯t live off of eating fish and sea monsters anymore.


    Claudius noticed a small dragon coming towards his island. ¡°Are there still other dragons and giants coming here? I want to give them a reward for being so courageous! The red dragon spread its wings and flew toward the location where the little dragon was. The location was located near the sea beneath the cliffs of Hell Island.


    The dark hole is connected to the sea, so the 20-meter-long sea surface that extends out of the cliff on the beach still has rising tides. The sea is very flat due to the shelter of the cliff


    The quiet, clear water is a paradise for marine life. The dragon tail that Claudius discovered was here, but not on the beach, but below the cliff outside.


    The red dragon carefully examined the cliffs. He discovered a hold that has been hollowed out by the waves. The hole is hollow is enough to become a dragon lair for a bronze dragon.


    The dragon¡¯s lair is a very good hiding place. Claudius remembers that he has seen such a nest on the island, but that is the nest of the sea monsters that he can¡¯t name at all. There are many sea monsters in the surrounding area that build such caves.


    There is indeed a dragon here, a young dragon. In horror, the young dragon climbed out of his hiding place and waited. There is an inexplicable sense of familiarity. Hello, my name is Claudius. Why are you here?


    Claudius knows that such sea dragons exist in this world. He knows there are snake dragons, but he has never seen a sea dragon.


    It seems that the sea dragon is still quite strong for a water dragon.


    The red dragon fell on the ground, and he lowered his head and looked at the little sea dragon. ¡°How old are you?¡± Claudius asked. Then he got a number that surprised him a bit.


    ¡°Just a few hundred years old.¡±


    That¡¯s amazing. How are you this strong when you are this young. You can be stronger than the bronze dragon in your prime. The future is boundless. The red dragon sighed. Then the red dragon spread its wings.


    ¡°Stay safe boy. Oh, I should call you Obosinen right, hahaha.¡± Claudius flew into the air and left


    .


    The young dragon nodded and said goodbye to the dragon flying away.


    Claudius is in a good mood. The Seadragon was not hostile towards the Red Dragon. On the contrary, he feels that this sea dragon was kind.


    After returning to his temple, Claudius once again tried to find the location of the silver dragon. The silver dragon is pretending to be perfectly fine. She can be perfectly integrated into human society.


    For Claudius, finding such a dragon¡¯s whereabouts is rather difficult. Claudius is not a brute that would destroy a whole city just to find where the silver dragon is.


    He enjoys intellectual stimulation, and how to find a silver dragon is one of them. ¡°Unfortunately, I will not give up that easily silver dragon.

 CH 87

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Some people may ask, ¡°Why not ask the people of the village where the Silver Dragon is?¡± Well, it is better to not get involved with these people. Anyway, the dragon had a lot of time on his hand, so he decided to take it slow. The silver dragons belonged to the spirit of the gods, and Claudius remembered very clearly that the Silver Dragon was the object of the


    gods¡¯ attention, which made it hard for Claudius to kill her.


    Claudius looked at the huge map in front of him. The map records uncharted places. The map had become huge. The map even recorded where the carrier had been. This map is similar to the maps in video games. The user of the map is able to move the map around (similar to Google maps), and Claudius now looked at the place where he was last attacked. There were several towns within a 500 kilometers radius of the place he was attacked. Claudius was sure that the druids would not run far, but it would be different for the Silver Dragon. So this was a troublesome predicament. Through the merchants who came, Claudius had obtained a lot of information about the activities of the Dragon, but there was no information on the Silver Dragon.


    The huge claws moved on the map of Feren, and Tesser and Carlins appeared next to his claws, and Claudius whispered, ¡°There is a red dragon near the edge of the desert. It¡¯s a blue dragon¡¯s territory, there is more than one green dragon in the Wildas forest¡­ My peers are much closer to each other than I imagined. Claudius moved to his island on the map again.


    On the map, Hell Island was no longer a small, unnamed island. It was no different from Ioma Island, the big island in the Nilsel Islands. The entire island was a sloping cross, and in the south, there was an island approximately one-half of the size of Hell Island. The island was gradually coming closer towards Hell Island.


    The mushroom people had constantly reported that they had caught a variety of creatures. Of course, the main ones were the kobolds. These creatures have short, thin, long-nosed lizards. They were basically loyal servants of various evil dragons.


    The red dragon already had a mushroom man as his servant, so he did not care about the appearance of the kobold. Anyway, these guys have a similar lifestyle to a mouse, and they were quite dirty, so the red dragon allowed the group of kobolds to live in the sewers of his city. The sewers were built under Minerva. There were also some goblins that appeared with the Kobold. The Goblins and the Bear Goblins were mostly killed by the mushroom people. A small part of them escaped outside of the city, relying on rubbish for a living, with the Kobold. A direct competitor on the niche. Therefore, outside the city, there were often fights between the kobold and the goblin. They tried to solve the problems as much as possible, and they did not want to let the mushroom people find out.


    Among the cities, there were even human beings. These people who came across the sea were mainly businessmen, but there were also some adventurers. As for ordinary farmers, there were none. The flexible businessman basically knew that the island was a red dragon¡¯s territory, and the adventurers who were interested in the ¡°wealth¡± of the red dragon were now with the dragon tooth soldiers hanging outside the city. Greedy adventurers who tried to sneak into the temple of the Red Dragon were killed very easily. The bodies were framed with two metal poles, five or six or ten, lined up on the special shelves on the hillside. It was as if they were still marching. The bodies of these adventurers gradually rotted, and finally turned into a city with a string of enamel on the metal pole, and a hollow eye socket looking at the city. As for the adventurers who only wanted to collect some materials in the vicinity to sell money, they were doing good in the city. There were enough houses in the city to rent them, and there were no large wild monsters on the island except the red dragons and his subordinates.


    Strange magic influenced the magical plants and materials on the island. In this city, merchants had established stores to purchase these materials, and also sell all kinds of goods on the mainland of Feren. The biggest advantage was that this place had not yet collected taxes! The red dragon that lived in the volcano did not rob and did not levy on the city that belonged to him. In particular, they were asked to give these businessmen a confession. This was what amazed the businessmen. But the priests of the gods who came here from merchant ships were disappointed. Most of the merchants¡¯ believed in the goddess Woking. They wanted to build a temple here. The magnificent city had stimulated them and they felt that there was a great future. However, their application was rejected and even the requirement to establish an altar was banned. Only allowing them to keep the property that belonged to them. You could have your own altar, but once you allowed other people to come, the mushroom people will come to get you. In addition, you would have to eat a few free meals in the cell of the city.


    Claudius was very wary of the gods. Now, just outside the sea on Hell Island, a huge black dragon was rapidly approaching the island¡­

 CH 88

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Chapter 88


    The black dragon¡¯s figure casted a huge black shadow onto the sea. In the sunlight, the dragon¡¯s scales reflected a purple light. This was an adult black dragon. This dragon was an abnormal one


    This dragon was far bigger than the ordinary black dragon. This guy did not seem to be weaker than an adult red dragon. Just an ordinary black dragon is already bigger than a white dragon.


    In addition to its large body, the dragon was no different than other black dragons. The dragon was not quite different in appearance and was similar to Claudius. But this black dragon¡¯s dragon tail seemed to indicate that this dragon is strong. This dragon is not weaker than an ordinary red dragon. Such a guy could be regarded as a genius of the Black Dragon family. Curved and knotted corners extended from the left and right sides of the head. The head of the black dragon was slightly more inclined to the outside compared to the other black dragons, almost similar to a cone-shaped type.


    When Claudius saw the black dragon¡¯s features, the black dragon seemed a little different. There were gray hairs on the nose, mouth, and chin, almost like a beard. Plus, it had deep red eyes in its eye sockets.


    Among the Black Dragons, such a look was peer beauty¡­


    Black Dragon Visarionovich, who was three hundred years old, was now desperately eager to fight, and his target was on Hell Island.


    The target¡¯s name is called Claudius ¨C the most powerful red dragon nearby.


    When approaching Hell Island, Visarionovic was immediately spotted by Claudius.


    ¡°Hey, this dragon is very strong compared to the Silver Dragon.¡±


    The red dragon didn¡¯t seem to go anywhere. Claudius, who was admiring the fire giants, raised his head. The red dragon stood up and spread its wings to take off.


    The red dragon fanned its wings and saw a black figure that was rapidly approaching.


    ¡°Is it an ancient black dragon?¡±


    With the same momentum, Visarionovic began to rush straight toward the huge red figure in the distance.


    The closer it was to Claudius, the more fierce it looked.


    The black dragon was hovering a few hundred meters from the red dragon. Claudius looked at the black dragon, who was three-fifths of his length, in front of him. But he was quite curious. He had never seen such a dragon.


    The more Visarionovic looked at this unusual red dragon, the more angry and confident he got.


    ¡°Looking for something?¡± Claudius took the lead because he saw a living black dragon. He was in a good mood at the moment, so he asked about the black dragon¡¯s intentions. Claudius waited for a response.


    The black dragon suddenly screamed, ¡°My name is Visarionovich! Give me back Hora de Guna¡¯s purity!¡± Then, the black dragon madly rushed over to the red dragon, opened his big mouth and squirted a green looking acid onto Claudius.


    The red dragon first used a small fire to remove the acid off of him, and then greeted the black dragon without mercy.


    There was a huge and dull percussion in the sky, accompanied by a low scream. The two huge figures fell straight down. Soon, the figures separated, the black giant dragon lost its flight ability and slammed into the sea. How can such a weak black dragon go up against the red dragon Claudius?


    The red dragon swooped down and ignited the sea. The red dragon swept across the sea at high speed and forced the underwater black dragon to swim in the direction of the island.


    Trembling, Black Dragon Visarionovich, who was forced to board the beach of Hell Island by the Red Dragon, seemed to have shrunk halfway. The black dragon looked at Claudius who was standing in front of him. Claudius is now eager to sing happily ¨C the pain of this dragon is the foundation of my happiness, ¡°Come, poor Visarionovic. Tell me what made you this angry. What happened to this Hora de Guna?


    ¡°I was told that she was defiled by a red dragon¡±


    Hahahaha. ¡°The red dragon gloating laughter resounded through the sea and the island..


    ¡°Are you a fool? Visarionovich! There is more than one red dragon in my neighborhood. You can come and check with me. I¡¯ll help you.

 CH 89

    Translator: Kuhaku


    The Red Dragon, Claudius, liked his encounter with the black dragon Visarionov.


    The first suspected target is the old red dragon Tibelius. Although Claudius had never seen the old dragon, it did not prevent Visarionovich from going to find the red dragon. But before that ¨C ¡°You think you can just say sorry and pretend nothing happened?¡± Claudius showed a sly smile. Looking left and right, the Black Dragon Visarionov felt uncomfortable. It is not like the black dragon had any money on him. Originally, Claudius had no interest in gold coins, but he wanted food.


    In front of him, he saw a black dragon that looked very edible¡­ Claudius thought carefully since he still did not intend to kill the black dragon in front of him. So this fierce red dragon thought for a long time and finally waved his paws. ¡°Forget it! Leave before I decide to eat you again.¡± After that, the red dragon ignored the black dragon. He spread his wings and flew back. Claudius may have caused Visarionov a lot of damage. Visarionov decided to not go and find the old red dragon Tibelius. He quickly left the waters of Hell Island. Instead, and flew to the swamps of the Amn region ¨C that is where the black dragon¡¯s lair is. ¡°You are really useless you Lolita.¡± Claudius was a bit disappointed, but he also admired the red dragon that was interested in the Black Dragon Lolly. It is interesting that a red dragon can actually have sex with another kind of color dragon. The mother black dragon can just breed during their youth, and they are quite strong. As far as he is concerned, he never thought that Black Dragon¡¯s face was good looking. Instead, the green dragon Silvia looked appealing to him. In addition, Claudius must admit that the silver dragon is a rare ¡°beauty.¡±


    As for his sister Brittania, to be honest, Claudius did not really look at her. She¡¯s just¡­ normal. Thinking about the Green Dragon and his sister, Claudius suddenly wanted to know how the war is going, and he hasn¡¯t heard the news of the Battle of Wildas Forest for a long time. Because of the merchants left the battleground, they are not well informed about the Battle of Wildas Forest.


    Because of the war, the original merchants who went to Greenleare to purchase the products and works made by the elves, traders have not been able to go to Red Dragon¡¯s Hell Island to trade and provide news of the Wildas Forest Update. Fortunately, there is magic in this world, especially some prophetic spells. These spells are definitely treasures to journalists and paparazzi on the earth. After paying some money for some materials, Minerva, who accepted the order of Claudius, found a mage in the trading caravan to cast a spell. Unfortunately, almost all spells were weakened near Claudis.


    The news obtained was incomplete, and the only thing that could be confirmed was that the two dragons were still alive and that the war is still going. But in fact, the war has come to an end. What Claudius didn¡¯t know was that Green Dragon Silvia and Red Dragon Bretania had been expelled. The humans have taken over their army. They were betrayed. Now, the original Green Dragon Army is gone. The green dragons and the gnolls and orcs that were originally the main force of the army have almost disappeared. Now there are only human beings in the army. There were only about 3,000 human beings in the army.


    Now, this army has basically besieged Greenleaf and has begun negotiations with the besieged elves. The elves will be forced to give up their city, otherwise, they will be destroyed together with the city ¨C at this point, the elf gods can¡¯t stretch their hands to help them. There were too many evil spirits. In this war, even the human god of war, Tampas, and his gods and the storm gods have started to help the evil army. And the gods of justice, such as the Lord of the Morning and the Lord of Justice, can hardly continue to support this war against evil. When Greenlear looked at the prophecy, Claudius had already negotiated with the human army of the besieged city. The elves will take away their only possessions, and under strict surveillance, withdraw from Greenlear from a fixed route, and they are not allowed to destroy the city, and they can no longer be in the Wildas Forest. The elves are driven out of their forests. Claudius learned the news only a few months later, and he was really surprised. ¡°Sylvia and Brittany have been driven away? These two guys are really useless!


    However, since the prophecy has already announced that the two dragons have not died, Claudius is not in a hurry to find them. Anyway, he does not owe them anything. There are several things that Claudius cares about right now ¨C from the construction of the city to the revenge of the Black Dragon, and finding that damn silver dragon. As for the bronze dragon Achilles ¨C he has been sadly forgotten. But Achilles did not forget the red dragon, Claudius. This guy¡¯s centuries of savings were destroyed. The bronze dragon has never felt this sad before, but he did not dare to retaliate. The bronze dragon was the one behind the Black Dragon¡¯s attack. He manipulated the black dragon and used a spell to let Visarionovic lose his mind. Unfortunately, the Black Dragon is definitely not Claudius¡¯s opponent. Now Achilles is helpless. He has given up his original lair. He fears that the Red Dragon will come to him again. This time, if he is found by the Red Dragon, he can¡¯t hide anymore.

 CH 90

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Claudius believed that he didn¡¯t need to take any responsibility for Achilles¡¯ mental health. Normally, if Achilles sees Claudius from far away, he immediately hides away from Claudius. And Claudius did not deliberately try to find this bronze dragon. All of Claudiu¡¯s focus is on the silver dragon, but Claudius feels that it is really difficult to find this silver dragon. So, instead of worrying about the silver dragon, Claudius put his attention on the construction of the city.


    Due to the slow drift of the island, the terrain beneath the earth has changed, and the geological activities on Hell Island are extremely active. Every hour, the island would start to shake. Under the suppression of the storm, there was no major earthquake, and there was not much volcanic activity. However, the vast underground caverns have indeed become hell. The terrain can change at any time. It might even collapse because of how unstable it is. The shallow surface caves where the mushroom people live are still peaceful, and the lava lake where the fire giants are now live is a quiet place, but other places ¨C especially the huge hollows and undercuts that connect the dark areas of the mainland ¨C are not as peaceful. The abyss is changing every day. New roads are created and old roads are cut off. There were many dangerous creatures in the underground caves.


    Some of these underground races are not afraid of death. The gray dwarfs and minotaurs are the first intelligent creatures that appeared in the shallow surface. The mushroom people now protect the animals because the dwarfs and minotaurs like to eat the animals on the surface. If the dwarfs and minotaurs are spotted by the mushroom and the dragon tooth soldiers, they will both be captured. At the same time, the mushroom people will start to investigate this underground cave. But none of the mushroom people knows how smart the dwarfs are¡­ If the Minotaurs and the gray dwarfs appear some unexpected situation might happen.


    The terrain below the surface changes every day. Sometimes there is a crack on the road and sometimes the crack is gone This is how the gray dwarf appeared in the plantations of the mushroom people. It was a rather large underground cavity. At this time, a hole in the wall suddenly appeared. The early-prepared mushroom people avoided the falling stones, but in the next moment, the meat-like creature suddenly emerged from the place where the wall had collapsed. These creatures have gray skin and red eyeballs. These guys were wearing practical metal armor, and metal-built ax and hammer.


    Unfortunately, they ran into a real problem¡­ This place is located just below the city of Red Dragon. It is the closest layer to the surface of a compound cave, so it is greatly affected by the red dragon. The mushroom people were able to gain some powers from the Red Dragon. Even though the mushroom people were as small as the dwarfs, they were actually much heavier than the gray dwarfs¡­ These mushroom people were born with natural armor in their body. The mushroom people¡¯s strength was not weak. In addition, the mushroom people were also a militia, with a small round shield. So the gray dwarfs immediately attacked the mushroom people, but they simply couldn¡¯t break through the line of defense that the mushroom man had. At this point, the mushroom people from the surrounding area came over to help out. There were so many different mushroom species that it was almost impossible for the gray dwarfs to distinguish which mushroom was which¡­ Then a small team of dragon tooth soldiers who stayed at the hole arrived. Dozens of gray dwarves were immediately pressed back by the heavily armed dragon tooth soldiers. A dozen of dwarfs had died and a dozen gray dwarfs were wounded and screaming on the ground. Then the next moment, the green goblins who came over at the same time threw out the alchemy bombs in their hands¡­ The gray dwarfs hated the light. In the huge flashes and explosions, these gray dwarves, one by one, quickly lost their balance and rolled to the ground. Of course, the next step is for the mushroom people to embrace the aftermath of the gray dwarf with chains. The gray dwarf who was sent to Claudius almost lost all his courage and will. He looked at the huge red dragon in front of him. The dwarf explained everything to Claudius.


    ¡°A war has broken out in the dark area¡­ The scale of the war was large so most of my people had to go underground. We had teams of dozens of people looking for food and taking food back ¨C unless there is a high-ranking pastor or a powerful mage¡­ ¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just a refuge.¡±


    The next moment, the Dragon Tooth soldiers reported the presence of the Minotaur in the magical spar zone on the lower layer of the mushroom cave.


    Due to the size of the body, the Red Dragon cannot enter most of the underground world, but this is not an excuse for him to give up on going to the underground world. Although his subordinates can¡¯t say that they are good at striking battles in complex and dull passages, he can not let the minotaurs do what they want. Because the gray dwarf has a lawful nature, they were very obedient. They were very good prisoners. But the minotaurs on the other hand,,,


    These Minotaurs, wielding huge double-edged tomahawks, were not taller than the Fire Giants. The dragon tooth soldiers were listed in three rows of squads, each with ten people, vacant about 50 meters in front. The Minotaurs appeared from the darkness of the cave, and four or five Minotaurs rushed towards the dragon tooth soldiers with a chaotic formation waving a battle ax. The minotaurs were quickly slaughtered. ¡°They taste far worse than beef!¡± Claudius groaned. There were a few bullheads in front of him


    Claudius had killed all the minotaurs. The gray dwarves became slaves and were forced to go to the dungeons. They had a lower status than the Fire Giants. But even then, Claudius thought that his actions were a bit too nice. Claudius only allowed the dwarfs to live because he didn¡¯t feel like eating them.

 CH 91

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Claudius has long known that the current Hell Island has grown a lot, and this place now has complex terrain and ecology. Claudius often says to himself that if the volcano is a little higher, and if there was a plateau attached to the volcano, this place would be better to live in because it would create a colder climate. Of course, this place would be renamed Rhode Island¡­¡­..¡±


    Hell Island grows up every day, and the broken hills in the north are constantly growing under the influence of underground magma, and the small plains that surround the hills are constantly raised. These hills grow so fast that there are huge cracks in the area and the main island, and a large amount of magma flows to the left and right sides, further expanding the area of ??the island. Thanks to the geological changes, Hell Island is now a large island with an area of ??more than 6,000 square kilometers. The terrain on the island is extremely complex and the geological activity is fierce. The highest point of the island is the volcano. It is an active volcano with an altitude of more than 2,700 meters. This volcano has a majestic symmetrical and beautiful volcanic cone. The mountain is shrouded in gray-white volcanic smoke, with red light shining through the clouds from time to time. The island has rainforests, plains, rivers, grasslands, mountains, lakes and swamps. The climate is hot due to the volcano and the surrounding mountains. The only shortcoming is as the Red Dragon Claudius said is the desert and low amount of grassland.


    Red Dragon likes the island very much. His volcano and the city built on the volcano and the cliff port below have deviated from the center of the island during these years of geological activities. It has become a bit more northeast. It is the affiliated area of ??the plain hills of the northeast. The large fertile volcanic plains outside the city and the rivers that flow from the hills surrounding the volcano make it a food production site for the entire island.


    The contest between the Kobold and the Goblin continues, which is a life-and-death crisis between the two groups of gangsters. The goblins are now mainly relying on picking up garbage from the small forests outside the city. They dream and want to go into the sewers of the city to pick up garbage. But the Kobolds will never allow this kind of thing to happen. The breeding ability of the goblin is still above the Kobold.


    Fortunately, the Kobold has a god! Kurtmak, as the god of the kobolds, protects the group of people. The dog-headed people built the altar of Kurtmak in the city¡¯s sewers ¨C of course because this is the city of the red dragon, there is ¡°heresy¡± among the kobold. Now, in order to pray for the victory over the damn goblin, the dog-headers will sacrifice the goblin in front of the altar of Kurtmak. With the constant flow of blood, the holy emblem of Kurtmak on the altar is getting brighter and brighter.


    ¡°It¡¯s really timid!¡± Red Dragon Claudius perceived the surge of divine power. The Red Dragon never held any kindness to the gods who dared to mess around on his territory. The red dragon screamed at the head of the dragon tooth soldiers, and Minerva stood took the full force of Claudius: ¡°Go! I began to regret letting the group of kobolds live in the sewers! Minerva, kill them and smash their altars!¡±


    The city¡¯s huge sewer gates were opened, and the two neatly arranged dragon-toothed soldiers marched along the trails. It is a reservoir and a center for the gatherings.


    In the upper town hall, Minerva ordered the goblins to gradually close the strips of sewers. The hinged organ lowered a heavy metal watertight door from above, gradually sealing off the waterways, forcing the dogheads to retreat to the center hall¡ªthe kobolds who were scattered behind the watertight door would be organized. At this time, the dragon tooth soldiers entered the hall from the largest waterway stepping on the neat pace.


    The wide hall is enough for the two hundred soldiers to line up. They face the Kobolds, who looked confused. The kobold quickly performs their magical skills, body strengthening, strengthening defense, and healing injuries for a large number of kobolds. But in the face of the dragon tooth soldiers who did not even think about communicating with them, all this has no effect. Even if the kobolds strengthen their strength, they are still far from being stronger than the dragon soldiers.


    The kobolds were unilaterally slaughtered in this way, and they were massacred in front of the small altar in Tiamat. The dragon tooth soldiers did not recognize this as an altar but thought it was just another statue of the Kobolds. On the altar of Kurtmak, the power of fury was emanating, but the altar was completely shattered by a huge metal shield. Several dragon soldiers waved their shields and gave birth to the altar of red light. It became gravel, and the magical power of Kurtmak screamed and dissipated¡­ In contrast, the altar of Tiamat began to shine inconspicuously

 CH 92

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Before Kurtmak¡¯s divine power disappeared, a final eruption occurred. The pile of Kobold bodies began to melt. Then, from these muddy corpses, stood a huge kobold. It was taller than the tallest cloud giant. The ten meters tall Kobold used his double-headed spear to try and attack the dragon toothed soldiers.


    The dragon-toothed soldiers began to withdraw. Their movements were agile and neat. They were able to evade most of the giant Kobold¡¯s attack. Some were swept by the Kobold¡¯s double-headed spear and had lost their metal shields. At the same time, they were marked with huge wounds. The other dragon soldiers escaped the attack.


    Just as the Kobold began to sweep again, a dark red figure appeared at the entrance of the magnificent sewer. It was for the Red Dragon Claudius. He entered the sewer. The tall red dragon was much larger than the divine Kobold. Claudius was not afraid of this kobold who had been given temporary power of a God. This red dragon looks at the strange guy in front of him. He thought the kobold looked interesting. ¡± What a big lizard head. This Kobold would¡¯ve been looked better if it had a dinosaur head. Can this lizard take on the full force of my flames?


    In the next moment, flames swept through sewers and hit the center of the kobold¡¯s body. The divine power is powerless against Claudius¡¯s flames. The kobold is completely covered in flames. In the roaring flames, the Kobold¡¯s skin quickly turned black. Although he tried to hurt the red dragon in front of him, he was still beaten by the red dragon¡¯s tail. The Kobold has been burned by the flames at this time.


    The two groups of the Kobolds on the ground, although still bouncing, were rapidly shrinking. Soon, the flame began to gradually melt the Kobolds¡¯ corpses. Such incineration did not leave any scars on the roof or walls of the hall. Claudius controlled his flames perfectly to ensure that nothing damages the walls or roofs.


    Kurtmak¡¯s divine power was lost and had dissipated. Claudius certainly noticed this and looked at the altar with the Tiamat emblem, which depicts the five-headed dragon. The red dragon sighed and was ready to start smashing the altar of Tiamat.


    Suddenly, a light begins to appear above the altar. It was the goddess of evil dragons.


    ¡°Aha! Tiamat! How come you have time here today? Go back to your cave and go to sleep.¡± Claudius used a mocking attitude to talk to the goddess of evil dragons and the five-headed dragons.


    The middle head of the five-headed dragon is a red dragon. Claudius estimates that the main head of the dragon goddess is the red dragon. Obviously, after listening to the red dragon with a mocking language, Tiamat did not show any trace anger but looked at the powerful red dragon in front of him.


    Claudius is very different from other red dragons. Others would be too scared to mock this goddess. But Claudius is one of the only dragons who dared to talk to this goddess in this manner. The goddess of evil dragons is a god who knows all evil dragons. She knows where they are born and where they live. When Claudius was born, the goddess already is informed of his existence, but she didn¡¯t really care about him. But as he grew, he became stronger. The Five- headed dragon started to pay attention to this dragon¡¯s movements.


    The red dragon that is about to enter adulthood is already stronger than Tiamat, especially the surging violent energy under the hard scales between the red dragon and the chest. ¡­. Tiamat can see through the flow of power on the red dragon.


    Claudius is now getting goosebump because of how ugly the five-headed dragon looked. He felt really bad. From the very beginning, he had no respect for the goddess of the evil dragons. Even for him, the five dragons were really ugly. At this moment, the dragon god looked at him.


    In a very disrespectful tone, the red dragon said: ¡°You have so many heads, but I have a question. Is it full of brains or white mucus? Ah, yes. I forgot that both are white! Hahahaha. Come back to me when you only have one head!¡± Claudius waved his front paws and directly shattered the altar in front of him. The next moment, the red dragon turned directly away from the hall, leaving the image behind the dragon.


    Claudius doesn¡¯t care at all about the possibility of angering the dragon. Claudius never liked the gods. The wrecked altar had caused the dragon goddess to lose a little bit of her power. This should make the goddess angry, but it seems to bring Claudius some new surprises.


    A gust of wind started to blow towards Hell Island, and there was a crack in the plane that made Claudius surprised. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± The red dragon looked at the narrow blue crack that suddenly appeared in the dark clouds above his head. ¡°Do you want to leave the world and return to Earth?¡± Claudius was also excited, but then he realized that it was impossible to get to the Earth ¨C the Coast Wizards would not allow this kind of thing ¨C at least for now.

 CH 93

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Editor: Zeratul


    Claudius didn¡¯t want to go back to Earth. He knew that he couldn¡¯t go back , and even if he could, he is now a red dragon, There is no place on Earth he can return to. The Red Dragon looked at the crack in space and sighed. Even though he was a person who came from Earth, there were many things that he has forgotten since crossing over to this world, for example, his original name and how his life was on Earth. The only thing that he can remember is that people in China speak the same language. And now he is a dragon. Plus, he would only get to live a maximum of one hundred years if he went back. Claudius wondered if there is any need to go back to being a human? Of course, the down side of this place is that there are no electronic games, movies, entertainment, information, and so on.


    Claudius has been thinking about this world for years. This world feels real, but in Claudius¡¯s memory, he remembers that Feilun was a forgotten game template from the TSR company. Everything here is imaginary, yet real at the same time.


    Right In front of his eyes, the original plot of the west Hell Island has undergone tremendous changes. Originally, this island was just two or three hundred metre wide with a jungle and the volcanic crater in the ground. It has now grown a lot and has become an irregular square land. ¡°It has now expanded to four or five hundred square kilometres. It seems that this might be because of some god¡¯s divine power¡­¡± The red dragon looked at the road that was being formed in front of him.


    There were mountains growing from the ground, the streams and lakes in the mountains had also grown a lot, but the craters on the ground have not been reduced. The towering peaks, plus the underground volcano had only resulted in the interception of water vapour heading towards the sea. Claudius could assume that it will be raining everyday.


    The forests in the mountains have not increased yet, but in terms of the climate and precipitation, it is almost certain that when Claudius wakes up again, it will have become a jungle.


    ¡°It¡¯s really interesting¡±. The red dragon turned his head and looked towards the southwest. Because of the great changes in the terrain, the growth of the western region had also allowed the land in the southwest to grow to a certain extent. The nest of Sea Dragon Oboshinen was there, and Claudius noticed that the sea dragon was swimming fast in the sea. Claudius landed on the ground again, and he stood by the sea waiting for the arrival of the sea dragon.


    Soon, Obosinen¡¯s head was exposed above the water, and the sea dragon greeted Claudius very reverently, then followed Claudius who had started walking towards the mountain as he had noticed a dragon on the peak of the mountain. Claudius walked with a fast pace in this still empty terrain, and Sea Dragon followed by swimming in the river. However, when it had almost made it to the foot of the mountain, it ran out of water to swim in. This was a problem for the sea dragon as its body was not suitable for activities on land, especially for activities such as climbing, and Claudius didn¡¯t want to grab the sea dragon and take him flying.


    So Claudius and Obosinen yelled at the dragon to come down, forcing the dragon to come and see them. ¡°I¡¯m the lord here anyway, you are a guest and are required to meet the landlord. This is a  courtesy.¡± Claudius notices that this dragon is a lot weaker than him and has no malicious intent.


    The clouds in the sky became very thick and low, and there is a thick fog on the ground, forming a hazy mist that merges with the falling clouds in the sky. In the thick clouds, there is a small figure rolling . Soon the fog near Claudius was burned out by the red dragon, and the figure in the clouds came into the sight of the two dragons. ¡°Aha, it seems to be the same type as you.¡± Claudius made a judgment.


    Indeed, the dragon in the sky also had a long body, and the head is similar to the sea dragon, but there are huge fin-shaped limbs on the back of the head and the hind limbs and the body, and the sides of the lower jaw are long. This dragon has no wings, but he is floating in the sky. However, this dragon is very small, about five to six meters long. ¡°Hah, the dragon that can¡¯t talk.¡± Claudius smiled.


    ¡°¨¡ m¨£ z¨² m¨£ g¨¡ z¨² q¨ª.¡± the Obosinen said. ¡°What the hell? What are you talking about?¡± The red dragon didn¡¯t hear it at all, and looked at Sea Dragon with a low head. ¡°I mean his name is Ama died and died, dear lord.¡± The sea dragon Obosinen replied.


    ¡°¨¡ m¨£ z¨² m¨£ g¨¡ z¨² q¨ª?¡± The red dragon looked at the sea dragon, and Obosinen nodded his head. ¡°He is part of my dragon family.¡±


    ¡°This gorgeous name! The name of this mouthful¡­.. Wait! I seem to be able to interpret the name.¡± Red Dragon always felt that the name was a bit familiar, and then he began to recall, ¡°Hey! It¡¯s a Japanese name pronounced in a Roman sound.¡± The Red Dragon understood the meaning of the pronunciation, and suddenly laughed with a mocking tone, then he approached the sea dragon and the dragon that started to approach them and circled them in good faith.  ¡°From now on, you are called Tianjin. It is decided.¡± Claudius said in Chinese. Then he gestured to the sea dragon to greet Obosinen. Claudius turned around and prepared to return to the Temple ¨C Recently his active cycle is getting shorter and shorter. It seems that in order to enter the next stage of life, he would require a long sleep.

 CH 94

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Editor: Zeratul


    ¡°It¡¯s awful. I just had a little bit of time.¡± The red dragon landed in his temple, struggling to resist his drowsiness, and thought about this  ¨C he felt that he still had a lot of things to do, but this sleep cycle is unprecedentedly strong. Claudius had not felt the urge to sleep in such a long time. It is estimated that it is the result of the changes in the land. In any case, Claudius only had time to explain the things he wanted Minvera to do for him. After that, Claudius sank into the magma and fell asleep.


    The Red Dragon entered the last dormancy before adulthood, and he himself did not know how long he would be dormant for. Anyway, he hoped that it would not exceed one hundred years otherwise, he would¡¯ve wasted a lot of his life sleeping! Although the Red Dragon entered dormancy on Hell Island, the construction of a city for trading did not stop. Under the wisdom of Minerva, whether it was urban construction or caravan trading, it continued to flourish.


    In the first decade of the red dragon¡¯s dormancy, the huge Colosseum, which was constructed by digging into the mountain, was completed and had entered the interior decoration stage. The temple of the Red Dragon was also completed, and was decorated with a variety of gardens, sculptures and weapons. The Shangcheng District, where the dragon tooth soldiers lived, has been completed. The neat apartment building is surrounded by small squares and fountains. The manor houses are surrounded by huge barracks, which are limited by the dragon tooth soldiers. The entire upper city is still empty. The huge and luxurious public baths and Unicom¡¯s theaters are also the first large-scale buildings that have been completed. The public baths can accommodate 3,000 people. The baths are maintained by a large number of unlucky slaves such as the gray dwarves who come through the city but are captured. Of course, the main purpose of the maintenance is to keep the heating pipes under the large bathroom in good condition and to transfer the magma into the boiler room below the bathroom, while continuously cleaning the cooled magma block. Midtown is a home built by the goblins. There are always explosions occurring everywhere. At the same time, the various architectural styles of the house are the characteristics of this place. Except for the main roads of the upper and lower towns of Unicom. The main roads are not allowed to be built illegally. The place can be called a mess¡­


    The place where the mushroom people live is behind the temple. They live in huge caves in Midtown. These caves lead to the dark areas, and the mushroom people built their homes in a few shallow hollows. Xiacheng District only divides the blocks with stones and slabs, and at the same time builds grid-like roads, and builds a small square and fountains. It also builds up to six in the lower city, although not so luxurious, but equally huge. There are also a number of small and medium-sized theaters in the public baths. The road leading to the terminal is a continuous warehouse on both sides. The dock below has not been expanded. It is still a small dock that can park six merchant ships with a load of more than 100 tons.


    In the second decade, houses began to appear in the Lower Town, and the pub was the first building built. The danger was getting smaller and smaller, since Hell Island is getting closer and closer to the mainland. According to the contract, Minerva assigned their land, but they must be planted in accordance with the orders of the City Hall, and they cannot grow any crops they wish. The fertile volcanic soils caused by the volcanic eruptions, as well as the abundant rain and warm climate, make this a productive place for food. The only problem is that there is still no name¡­ Red Dragon Claudius does not name the city, and Minerva will not make a name in his place. The citizens and farmers here usually only call the city ¡®a city¡¯. Thanks to the unique aura of the Red Dragon and the anti-magic power, the island produces a variety of exotic magical materials ¨C in this respect, Sea Dragon Obosin and the Dragon Earth in Tianjin ¨C these two dragons have played a huge role. In the area where they are active, they can get a lot of magic herbs and ores, especially the mountains where the dragons are located. They live in mountains that are piled up with huge magic crystal mine.


    The silver dragon has now fully recovered, and the beautiful dragon scales shine with silvery light, and traces of scars can no longer be seen. The beautiful silver dragon turned into a tall half-elf beauty, and the three tall cloud giant maids accompanied her to take their own dragon holes ¨C it was a cold and fresh cave in the mountains. Not long after, the successful businesswoman in the city of Tassel completed another venture and successfully returned to her estate. ¡°Claudius!¡± The beautiful businesswoman and the female aristocrat crouched on the parchment in her study, whispering the name of the red dragon. The silver dragon had already known that the Red Dragon was safe and sound, and also understood that her attempt to kill him was declared a failure.


    If Claudius knew that the Silver Dragon still regarded him as the biggest villain, it is estimated that the Red Dragon would say: ¡°This paranoid *****¡± But now, the silver dragon does not want or can not fight this biggest villain. The silver dragon knows where the red dragon lives. However, the silver dragon believes that such a strong red dragon, his lair must be extremely dangerous, must be full of all kinds of evil spells and institutions, not a place where silver dragon can easily break into. Not to mention that the owner is the strong red dragon that withstood the power of the dragon sword.


    The silver dragon began to prepare for magic. She was going to collect some magical props. In order to complete a magical ritual ¨C for which Ilya Lhasa was ready to spend ten or twenty years to collect slowly, she needed a magical ritual to implement a plan. A plan that gives the red dragon a fatal blow. Silver Dragon knows that Claudius should be in a dormant period. This is what she learned with prophetic spells and collected intelligence.

 CH 95

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Editor: Zeratful


    In the third decade, the biggest change that occurred was the merging Santa Cruz Island and Hell Island, Which resulted in a huge island. Now, Hell Island no longer had its original cross shape. Now, The Hell island boasted an area of ten thousand square meters.


    The dramatic geographical changes, had brought about the regeneration of the entire island¡¯s topography, and Cruz island¡¯s plates are clearly inserted obliquely below the ground beneath the northern part of Hell Island. Due to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, the original northern part of the island had been uplifted and had formed an extremely steep high mountain range, and the plain between the mountains had been elevated and formed a plateau. The plateau was completely surrounded by mountains and was covered in snow during the entire decade. The northern mountain range covered more than 6,000 meters and the plateau covered more than four kilometers. As the mountains and the plateau blocked the water vapour from entering, this place gradually became a desert.


    ¡°The Wall of the North¡± was the name given to the newly raised mountain range by the inhabitants of Hell Island. This mountain had not only caused the plateau to become a desert, but had also blocked the original Santa Cruz Island from Hell Island. If someone wanted to go to the port of Santa Cruz from Hell island, there are only 2 paths ¨C either sailing from the port of Cruz Island and going along the coastline, or crossing the desert.


    The Silver Dragon had received information about Claudius from the gods, and the activities she had done to gather allies had not gone well. She needed more allies.


    Claudius had finally awoken. After thirty years of sleep, he finally went from a young adult to a full-fledged adult. When he woke up, the volcanic lava began to surge like never before, and the originally calm lava was blown into the sky. Once again, Hell Island was covered in acid rain. Smoke filled the skies.


    Claudius, who was at the center of the magma, slowly stood up. The magma was flowing down his body. His body, which had already broken the record for red dragons in the world had grown even larger. Now, after 30 years of sleep, his body had reached a height of 60 meters and a height of 200 meters after standing.


    The dragon tooth soldiers and the mushroom people were already in an arrangement to prepare for the awakening of Claudius. As for the goblins, they had been ordered by Minvera to launch fireworks into the sky and use firecrackers. The firecrackers were louder but most of the attention went to fireworks due to the patterns they formed when they burst.


    The clear bread, ale, honey, and meat were distributed in the public square for the public to eat, as well as large chunks of cream and whole barrels of olive oil to cook the meat with. This day was celebrated as the day of hell every year on Hell Island.


    Claudius shook off the magma on his body, ¡°Hey, has the temple of the Dragon¡¯s teeth been made?¡± He looked at the temple near the crater. Then he flew to the lake outside the city, Sea Dragon Obosinen showed half of his body, slightly looking at Claudius. In a distant place, among the thick tumbled rain clouds, a blue-and-white figure revealed half of its body and pays tribute to the red dragon.


    ¡°Ah, adulthood.¡± Claudius felt the new power in his body. He knew that his power had risen to a whole new level in terms of strength and physical fitness. he had entered the level of the three legendary dragons.


    The biggest change happened to his fire breath. His breath can reach more than six thousand degrees Celsius, which is the temperature of the sun¡¯s surface.


    The temperature has reached the level of plasma, and the air of the Ferron will also be plasmaized at this temperature, which makes Claudius¡¯s breath reach a brand new height. ¡°Speaking of which, I am basically a nuclear bomb!¡± He said happily. The fuel stored in his  ¡®sub-spit¡¯ gland would take half an hour to spurt out.


    On this day, the strongest red dragon in the history of the world had been born. Although his magic was originally a tragedy, under his own aura, which was made from magic, all his minions or allies would gain an incredible buff. The effect was very ridiculous, and usually, it would also buff the Claudius but he already had the highest physical strength in the world. And another thing he was very excited for was his spell. Because he had entered a new age range, Many spells in his spell list had changed from gray to bright, and he had been able to cast them. He could now use more advanced spells compared to what he had available earlier!


    After landing in the public square and accepting the congratulations of his men, Claudius returned back to the temple and was excited to begin performing deformation.


    There was a bright light in the temple as Claudius¡¯s huge body began to shrink. Within the next few moments, a naked man was standing up slowly with a knee-squatting, bent down and bowed.


    ¨C This is the famous lens performed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the famous ¡°Future Warrior¡± or ¡°Devil Terminator¡±¡­

 CH 96

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Claudius had seen Arnold Schwarzenegger¡¯s face before. He had the face and muscles of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Claudius had a large mirror made by Feren¡¯s alchemy which resulted in it being a good and sturdy mirror. He was two meters tall and had an incredible physique. He first found a pair of pants and put them on. He then ordered Minerva to enter the room and let her tell the mushroom servants to make him a customized pair of pants. , After taking a humanoid form, Claudius had a beard, and his body showed human like features and did not seem to have the appearance of an elf such as a pointed ear like the silver dragon¡¯s human avatar. Claudius¡¯s hair was not long, and the face of his human form was quite familiar to him.


    ¡°A familiar face, I always feel like I have seen it. Seems like I have a Westerners face.¡±


    There is a limitation to his strength in his human form. His strength, agility and physical fitness have decreased, especially the strength and physical fitness.  But his intelligence was not affected. As for the variety of combat skills, they have weakened. He could not bite or use his claws and wings because they were all gone. The magic resistance was still the same.


    He reached out and took the Toga robes that Minerva had handed over, put on sandals, and looked around. ¡°Feels a bit weird walking as a human. It is really troublesome.¡± Claudius quickly got used to walking without a tail as balance, and then he walked along the passage in the temple. Minerva, the leader of wisdom and war, had already prepared a room suitable for Claudius, but the throne carved out of marble still made the red dragon feel uncomfortable. But the Dragon-toothed soldiers did not pay attention to the somewhat uncomfortable expression of the king. They were neatly lined up in the huge temple of Claudius.


    ¡°Since I have become human, I can do things that I have been wanting to do for a long time.¡± Claudius thought.


    As the general manager of the Red Dragon, Minerva would never try to harm him. She would only help him and meet all his wishes. Minerva had absolute confidence in his power. She did not think that anything on the continent of Faeren could cause damage to her master. So, without waiting for Claudius to make a request, Minerva had already prepared everything he would need. ¡°This is the equipment you need, please review it.¡± The heroic female general took Claudius to a long table.


    There was a whole set of armor, several weapons, and a bag. Claudius recognized that the armour has been milled with the dragon scales that he had shed, and also had been treated with alchemy syrup, which made the armor hard and tough against impacts. ¡°These are well made!¡± Actually, the dragon scales were twisted into silk as if they were ivory, and then weaved into a soft armor in the active areas such as the waist and abdomen. Claudius looked at the chest area of the armor in front of him. He expressed his admiration for the craftsmanship. In addition to this half-length armor, there were also trousers that had been carefully woven with Mithril, and a pair of boots made of Mithril and leather.


    Claudius tried out the armor and found it very suitable for his body, for which he greatly praised Minerva. Then he touched the weapon next to him. Because of his strength, Claudius needed a sword that was fit for him ¨C Claudius could never be an assassin or thief. Therefore, the weapons that had been placed on the long table were basically heavy weapons or long weapons. Fortunately, the long table was carved from a piece of volcanic rock, otherwise the table would not be able to support the weight of these weapons. Claudius first picked up a big sword with both hands. This was a weapon that barbarians would normally use. The blade was about four feet in length and the handle was about 50 centimeters in length. The sword, which had been forged with a lot of fine gold, was heavier than the steel sword of the same size.


    Claudius held the big sword with one hand and swung it a few times. ¡°The balance of sword is really good! Who made this amazing sword?¡± He asked Minerva, the female general replied directly: ¡°The giants who live on this island.¡±


    ¡°Sure enough, they are excellent blacksmiths!¡± The red dragon sighed. Then he put down the big sword and looked at the double-edged axe. The axe was the same size and was forged with the gold. It was heavier than the big sword. Claudius tried out all the weapons one by one. He gave up on the spear, dragon gun, sledgehammer and the scepter. Even the dragonfly was put down. As for the longbow, Claudius knew that he could not aim, so he finally chose a straight-edged sword, a two-handed sword and a double-edged tomahawk and a mace as his weapons. His only regret now was that these weapons did not seem to fit in the final pocket, which was a space bag, and also one of the trading items between Hell Island and the mainland. It costs a lot of money to buy this from merchants.


    Fortunately, Minerva had also prepared a belt to hold these weapons. Claudius picked up the belt and looked at it carefully for a moment. Then he raised his head. ¡°Minerva! Has anyone said that you can be a good wife?¡± Claudius looked at the belt and noticed that the belt has an ability. The ability was that once a weapon is placed on the belt, it will shrink and the weight will disappear greatly. It will transform into a small weapon. When the user removes the weapon, it will be restored to its original size and weight.


    Everything was ready and Claudius told Minerva to ready a merchant¡¯s ship to the mainland. Nobody on the ship would know that there is a dragon on board.


    .


    .


    Translator: Kuhaku


    Editor: Zeratul(Zukirin)

 CH 97

    Translator: Kuhaku


    Editor: Zeratful


    Claudius was very poor. He literally was the poorest dragon alive. When he stepped into adulthood, Minerva counted all the money he had. ¡°Five gold coins and thirty-seven silver coins. Zero copper coins¡­.. This is all I have? I¡¯m so poor! Any other dragon would have more money. This is crazy. No way I have this little.¡± The next moment, he saw Minerva¡¯s report, which was a report on the entire municipality, including the price of food on the market. Claudius glanced at the price of flour, honey, salt, olive oil and beef, and thought to himself: ¡°I feel a lot better now! I can buy at least five cows. Honestly, I have been a smart creature for two generations. But this is the first time I am rich!¡± Because everything in the market is low price, Claudius was actually carrying a lot of money. That is why he only had five gold coins and 37 silver coins in the space bag on the ship that was preparing to sail to the continent of Clareus.


    Whether it is the Red Dragon or Minerva, they have issued their own decrees ¨C of course, these decrees were all issued in the name of the Red Dragon, which had strict protection of private property. This decree was written by Minerva, but it was also endorsed by Claudius At the same time, Claudius had named the city before he had left. Claudius had stood in front of the throne in the middle of the temple with a single breath and declared: ¡°From today on, the city will be called Rome! The Eternal City of Rome! Hahahaha.¡± Minerva did not raise any objections. The name Rome was written on parchment, and the mushroom people, goblins, and the slaves were told to quickly release the news of the city being named Rome.


    Claudius had left on a paddle boat that weighed about 70 tons. It was a journey between Feilun and Hell Island ¨C now called the Rome. These merchant ships purchase a large amount of grain and ale, mead, distilled spirits, wine, and a wide variety of metal ingots. The demand for merchandise ¨C especially all kinds of leather and pottery, as well as a large number of alchemy products was also huge. Since Rome offered free trade, and the proportion of commercial tax collection was not high, and there was almost no corruption, therefore commercial activities were also booming.


    This kind of development had made the traditional people on the mainland of Feren¡¯s continents focus their attention on this new trade city. Pirates had begun to appear on the Ferron-Rome route, but they were annihilated by the sea dragon Obosinen who was told by Claudius to help protect the merchant ships. The sea dragon, which had grown to nearly 20 meters long, sank  all the pirate ships that it encountered. Sometimes, even Obosinen¡¯s subordinates ¨C who were mostly sharks ¨C attacked and sank pirate ships. On the day of Claudius¡¯s boarding, Obosinen had just gone with his sharks to raid a pirate¡¯s nest near the city of Metrama. These pirates had all been praying to their goddess, Ambry. For this reason, Ambry had been keeping a record against Claudius. Furthermore, since the establishment of Rome, Claudius has already destroyed several pirate forces which had believed in Ambry. This led to the sailors and merchants gaining a safe route, and had also led to a considerable reduction to Ambry¡¯s offerings. This was basically a serious embarrassment for the gods of the storm, who were basically relying on violent natural disasters to intimidate people to gain believers and faith. Of course, their leader, Talos, was excluded.


    The merchant ship Claudius was riding on, had a name, but he did not bother to remember it as he did not care much about the ship. Anyways,  it was possible to travel the entire distance in two days and one night, so why bother remembering the boat¡¯s name? Now Claudius was sitting at the stern and was enjoying watching the sea from a different perspective. The rough sea made the whole boat sway up and down. However, Claudius did not get seasick and watched sailors running around to adjust the sails, while some were holding pots of wine and were having a bite. On the far side of the sea, there was a tail that was poking above the water. Sea Dragon Obosinen approached the oars, but the sailors did not find the sea dragon snorkeling under the surface of the sea. Due to the frequent movement of the sea dragon, the sea monsters on the channel have already been far away. Sea Dragon and his subordinates paid tribute to Claudius. The red dragon nodded and the sea dragon went underwater. He had gone back to his home near Rome.


    The destination of the ship was the seaport city of Zazespo. Thanks to the trade with Rome, the city had also begun to prosper. Of course, the underground powers had also gained enormously.


    On the morning of the third day, the ship, which had waited for a whole night outside the port to enter the port safely, put down its passengers. There were many people who went to Rome by this boat, but there were not many people leaving Rome. Claudius set foot on the ground of Faeren. Behind him, the ship¡¯s crew was rushing to unload the cargo. While quickly replenishing freshwater and food for another trip to Rome. Rome never limited any type of creatures or activities, as long as it obeyed the government¡¯s orders.

 CH 98

    It was fine during the day, but horrible during the night. Claudius¡¯s pseudonym was Hank. It was unwise to expose his glorious name as soon as he had reached the island. Now Claudius was sitting in the lobby of the pub/part-time hotel, eating rough meat, drinking ale and cocking his ears to listen to other people¡¯s conversations. He had enough money to stay there for a while, approximately 10 days.


    Claudius then looked at the long-term mass purchases of various things outside the city, such as ore, soul stones containing magical creatures, and even things like goblin equipment. He was prepared to earn some money so he could buy valuable things. He would also try to step into the higher-level society to try and find the whereabouts of the Silver Dragon. Claudius knows that the two dragon species, Silver Dragon and Gold Dragon, usually never go places where there is a lot of money involved. They usually go to middle class areas to camouflage themselves. But after meeting the Silver Dragon several times, Claudius has reason to believe that she is definitely a rich noble woman. (EN: soul stones were originally called tissue papers here)


    However, there were indeed places outside the city where you could make money. There were monsters everywhere in the Starring Mountains, as well as legendary ruins, magic materials and mineral mines. Claudius¡¯s human form looked like a typical barbarian warrior. He resembled the Northland Berserker. Strong people are rare in the south, so it didn¡¯t take long for someone to come up and talk to him. It was a halfling. He first invited Claudius to a glass of ale, and then began to introduce himself: ¡°Hey, brother! You look strong! You must be a skilled warrior! My name is Klimov. Look¡­¡± The self-centered man pointed a finger at several men and women sitting on a table behind him. ¡°We are together, and are going to the Starring Mountains to find some pocket money. How about joining us?¡±


    The halfling seemed like a good person. Claudius looked at the men and women around the table and found that there were five people, and there was actually a paladin wearing full armor. There was also a young mage wearing a mage robe. Claudius noticed that there was not much magical power coming from the mage. Most of the people in the group looked like they just started. The halfling must have been a thief, and was carrying a short knife with a bow and arrows. In theory, it should have been a forest patrol. The last one was a female priest. The pendant on her robes was also proof that she was a believer of the sun god. Claudius thought about it, then looked at the halfling. His palm patted the table gently. ¡°My name is Hank. Nice to meet you too¡± Claudius habitually took out his sword and kept in his hand. This was not something that adventurers should have in this pub, except for the paladin. (EN: apparently paladin is also called holy samurai nowadays).


    In fact, the half-human thief named Klimov had good eyesight. Otherwise, why would he pick claudius? There were so many other adventurers in the pub. Why him? It is because not only do Claudius¡¯s muscles resemble a high-ranking barbarian¡¯s , but the most important thing was the metallic luster that appeared in his sword. Claudius put his sword down on the table. The light reflected in it is slightly blue. This was noticed by the Halfling due to his good eyesight. He basically judged that this barbarian¡¯s two-handed sword was mostly blended with fine gold. Such a sword has already surpassed his entire squad¡¯s equipment. Anyone who can wield such a weapon, is by no means a rookie.


    Claudius finished eating the meat and went to the table where kilmov¡¯s team was seated, with the wine bottle, and then the whole team introduced themselves, except for the halfling Klimov. The Paladin, Tasman was accompanied by the pastor Ms. Mara and the Ranger who called himself Panther. His real name was unknown. The team leader was  called Link, but he also did not reveal his job or level.


    The mining industry was also one of the economic pillars because of its proximity to the Starring Mountains, but the miners seemed to have been having troubles lately. The entire pit area was constantly brushing out undead and monsters. Many miners had been killed, and mining operations have had to stop ¨C miners had refused to go down. For this reason, a long-term reward was offered to the people who exterminated these monsters and undead. This kind of thing had always been the favorite of the paladin. Claudius was not interested in these monsters. Even if it had been a vampire or a mummy, these high-level undead were still too easy for Claudius to beat. Unless there was a lich or a dead dragon, Claudius would not be interested in such things, but he had to do this one because he needed money.


    After replenishing the food and clean fresh water, they prepared to go to the mine. The paladin and the mage had space bags for storage, although they were of the lowest quality, they helped in reducing the hassle of carrying the bags of equipment and food. Claudius also had a storage bag, but as a newcomer, he had limited trust, so the team just spared a little portion of the food and fresh water, as well as sleeping bags and ropes for him to carry. However, Claudius did not mind, even if there was no more dry food, he could catch animals on the road.


    The city was about 30 kilometers away from the mine, which was in the Xingxuan Mountains. Some of the mined ore would be transported into the city and some would be smelted on the spot.  There were many adventurers in the town, basically to destroy undead creatures and underground monsters. Thus, of course, Tasman saw several saints. The general mobility of people in Feilun was not strong, and the same was true for low-level professionals. Therefore, these paladins knew each other. Soon they reached an agreement, and the adventurer teams entered the mine together to carry out the extermination of the undead.

 CH 99

    The entrance to the mine was rather large, and there were even tracks which led into the darkness. Beside the entrance was a flipped minecart which had evidently been derailed. Claudius looked over the smattering of ores on the ground and noticed that some of them shone with a green light. ¡°Is this a copper mine?¡± He then noticed some red and yellow lights as well. ¡°Is this also an iron mine?¡± The mineshaft went fairly deep into the ground, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as structurally complex as the mines found on Earth because of magic. Only in places where the natural magical energy was disrupted were there wood or steel supports to be found.


    The adventurers used an Everburning Torch. It wasn¡¯t too expensive and was the best choice given the current situation. However, there were also a lot of people with either night vision or darkvision. The halfling in Claudius¡¯s team had darkvision, and while it wasn¡¯t as good as a dark elf¡¯s, it was definitely better than a human¡¯s. Claudius himself had both darkvision and actual eyes, but his senses were much more complex because they were shared. He could use his ears to ¡°see¡± ahead of him or use his eyes to ¡°hear¡± things around him. Basically, he was like a bat or a rattlesnake, except he could also sense the flow of air or heat.


    EN: Eyes to hear? Excuse me?


    TN: Night Vision is when someone can see further at night with the same light source and darkvision is when someone can see in the dark with no light source or something along those lines. Basically darkvision > night vision.


    As expected of a melee-based adventurer, Claudius was at the front of the group. There was also a thief at the front who was being guarded by a pack of adventurers. A priest and a paladin tried to cast protection-based divine arts on Claudius, but he turned them down and said, ¡°I think your divine arts will be more useful elsewhere. Anything other than skeletons is a waste.¡± However, the truth was that divine arts, whether they were buffs or debuffs, had no effect on Claudius.


    Claudius wore chainmail armor and a pullover underneath it. He didn¡¯t bother wearing a pauldron because he didn¡¯t need it. In fact, even the chainmail was unnecessary given that his skin was literally made of dragon scales. It turned out that there wasn¡¯t any point in this charade though, because most people knew that barbarians could use the cocoon skill even if had Claudius forgotten.  For things that Claudius is interested in, like fighting, he really was a genius. In other things, though he really was na?ve and average.


    Claudius¡¯s chainmail was made of refined mithril, and as such was very valuable. However, it looked just like normal chainmail. Without trying it on, there would be no way to tell the difference. In his hands, Claudius held a short sword. This is because of the limited space in the mine. If he were using his greatsword instead, then both friend and foe would have been caught up in his attacks.


    Claudius never really bothered to test out his combat skills and whether he could control his weapons because he was always too lazy. However, when he gently swung his short-sword to find its center of gravity and to try and control it, he realized that he must have been a martial arts genius because he was instantly able to use it. ¡°Qiao Feng¡¯s martial god is here¡±, Claudius said to himself in Chinese.


    TN: I¡¯m assuming Qiao Feng is a proper noun here. Maybe it¡¯s a reference to Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils?


    Using his darkvision, Claudius saw something moving deep in the mines. The others only heard something hard-hitting the ground, while those with better eyesight also saw a faint red glow in the darkness ¨C they were flames burning in the eye sockets of skeletons. In fact, the number of flames was increasing, and the noises were getting louder. ¡°Hey, where did all these skeletons come from? Is the boss an evil demon or something? Or is it that the miners here don¡¯t care whether their slaves live or die? Do they just toss the dead bodies in a hole or something?¡± Claudius watched the continuous stream of skeletons appearing and estimated that there must be at least 100 of them.


    More people noticed the skeletons thanks to the Everburning torches, and even though there were more than 100 of them, these 20 or so adventures weren¡¯t scared at all. The topography of the tunnels meant that these skeletons could only approach the adventures in a single-file so it would be easy to defeat them. The only concern was whether the group would be flanked through the side tunnels or backstabbed by any skeletons behind them, both of which would lead to the group being overpowered. As for the strength of the skeletons, both the warriors and paladins treated it like no big deal. Half of the yellow-boned skeletons didn¡¯t even have any weapons, while the other half had what could only be considered as rusty iron bits. All things considered, these skeletons couldn¡¯t even be considered a proper enemy. They were just bits of bone to be cleaned up.


    Claudius didn¡¯t even bother infusing his sword with his energy, and simply half-heartedly swung it around. In his hand, the sword was like an iron rod that was used to smash the oncoming skeleton¡¯s skull and spine. The other warriors did the same because it was much more efficient to crush them with something blunt like a shield than to cut them with a sword. These skeletons were so weak that the paladins and priests didn¡¯t even need to use exorcism-based divine arts. Needless to say, everyone was in a good mood. No matter how you looked at it, instantly taking out over 100 skeletons in one go was a good thing. Some of the weaker adventurers could even head back outside to declare their victory and collect the rewards.


    For Claudius, killing these skeletons was like breathing, but he thought it was a bit strange that there were so many skeletons, to begin with. Did so many miners die here that they didn¡¯t even bother retrieving the bodies so they could be given a proper burial at home? Did the miners like mining in a graveyard? While Claudius thought about this, he continued smashing in the skulls of the skeletons around him. However, stronger enemies quickly presented themselves.


    A new type of skeleton appeared, and while they looked the same as the last batch, the weapons they held were anything but. They had swords, shields, and even spears. Moreover, while these weapons were a little beat up, they weren¡¯t the same as the rusty bits of scrap the last group used. The new skeletons also more fluid movements, and they were almost as strong as the average adult human. None of this was a problem for Claudius, but it did call into question his theory of where these skeletons were coming from. If the first group were from dead miners, then his theory could still hold up. After all, this mine has been around for hundreds of years ¨C it¡¯s not unreasonable for there to be one or two dead bodies which weren¡¯t retrieved. However, this new group had weapons. Did a squad of soldiers die here as well or something? They couldn¡¯t have just materialized out of thin air.


    ¡°Wait, no¡±, Claudius realized. ¡°They definitely can materialize out of thin air. As long as the right things are communicated, and a stable connection is formed¡­¡± Due to the inheritance ceremony, Claudius had knowledge about a wealth of subjects, including the fact that places where a large number of people have died may spawn monsters like these skeletons.


    TN: If you¡¯re looking to spawn some skeletons, what Claudius really says is ¡°just communicate some of the right places and form a stable passageway¡±. Make of that what you will, future necromancer


    ¡°I wonder what exactly those guys dug up?¡± Claudius was a bit curious, but he was more interested in the monsters that will spawn later, and whether they¡¯d be any fun.

 CH 100

    Even though the weapons used by the second group of skeletons could be considered passable, they still couldn¡¯t be considered the adventurers¡¯s equal. Similarly, the priests, paladins and mages didn¡¯t even need to use magic or their divine arts, just taking turns hitting the skeletons with a morning star would solve the problem. Claudius played an important role as he didn¡¯t need to take turns, he switched his shortsword out for a mace. As he was already at the level of a martial arts god, he didn¡¯t have any misgivings about accidentally injuring his teammates with his weapon. Even though he didn¡¯t really care about them and wasn¡¯t interested in killing them, who would kill a colony of ants on purpose?


    TN: Literally, Claudius is a Gan Jiang, a reference to a historical/mythological Chinese story. Look it up, it¡¯s a bit of a wild ride.


    The mace Claudius was using was a heavy mace made out of iron which was about 1.3 metres long and had one thick and one thin end. After hollowing out the core, its center of gravity was remarkable. Swinging it around took no effort. This sort of wild weapon was suitable for Claudius¡¯s power as well as his appearance ¨C a barbarian. A berserker waving this sort of thing around was totally normal, the berserkers were even called  ¡°human meat grinders¡±. The skeletons couldn¡¯t even fight back, the mace smashed through their armor.


    After clearing out the skeletons in front, floating translucent human-shaped beings started emerging from everywhere, their lower bodies were fuzzy. They didn¡¯t just come from down the tunnel, some of them even emerged from the walls. ¡°It¡¯s a ghost! Fuck! So many!¡± Many people were shouting things like that. Ghosts were hard to kill because there was a high chance physical attacks would not work on them, especially physical attacks from normal weapons, which were 100% ineffective. That¡¯s why, from that point on, the main attack force was replaced with paladins, priests, and mages who will weaken the ghosts with magic before smashing it with a hammer. Or, just kill it with magic directly. These are all good ways to take care of these ghosts ¨C as long as the level of these ghosts aren¡¯t too high.


    Claudius didn¡¯t care, his weapon was made of refined gold which made it easy to channel his soul energy. The ghosts definitely ate all the damage. It is like if the priests or paladins use holy spells. In the adventurer team, the ratio of paladins and priests was very high compared to other classes. It was really unfortunate for the ghosts. If it were any other team of adventurers, they¡¯d be looking at their own destruction. But who told the ghosts to pick a fight this team, made up of mostly-paladins.


    TN: soul energy is literally ¡°the flame inside his body¡±


    The Crimson Dragon didn¡¯t want the spotlight. After swinging his mace a few times, he handed it off to Tasman who held a cross in hands. It glowed with the radiancy of white gold and was a holy symbol. It cut the ghosts like butter, one at a time. These ghosts really were low level. However, they still weren¡¯t wiped out when, with a terrible stench, a group of zombies walked out from the tunnels. Claudius felt a bit angry, he didn¡¯t like these sort of noisy smelly creatures. He started to think about what methods he could use to eliminate them all. But, he didn¡¯t need to do anything, the priests made a move.


    Claudius didn¡¯t know much about the power of the gods, so he didn¡¯t recognize what the priest had used. He only saw a white light rush down the tunnels. The ghosts that were hit by the white flame burned up immediately. The zombies were also charred and turned into dust. The disgusting smell in the air also disappeared wherever the white light passed. ¡°It¡¯s a really good divine art. Cleans everything up with no remains¡±. Claudius sighed, the ant¡¯s skills impressed him. But, something felt off about the next group of undead.


    TN: Talk about a broken move. Why didn¡¯t you start off with this?


    EN: Only a noob would use their ultimate attacks from the start.


    The temperature suddenly dropped to below zero. ¡°Are you messing with me? A wave of skeletons, a wave of skeleton soldiers, a wave of ghosts, a wave of zombies¡­ The next wave has gotta be skeletal warriors or a wight? What do you think you¡¯re doing?!¡± Claudius looked into the distance and said that with a slight smile. The Everburning Torches were already limited, but Claudius could see that whatever was approaching basically melded with the shadows. As it approached, the temperature kept dropping. The adventurers¡¯s breaths condensed into little ice crystals that fell onto the ground or onto their clothing. ¡°Frost Protection!¡± The priests had already begun using protection divine arts. The temperature right now was absolutely not suitable for human activity. If they were normal people, they would have gotten frostbite or would have been completely frozen by now. The figure in the darkness had a pair of blue eyes, or maybe it was two blue flames in its eye sockets. ¡°Retreat, everyone, our adventure is over¡±, Claudius yelled.


    TN: Literally, ¡°In a single breath, you gave me all this for what?¡±


    Tasman was full of youthful vigor and was being controlled by his sense of justice for a while. ¡°Hey, Hank. Why are we retreating?¡± The mages began to quickly retreat. The priests and paladins didn¡¯t say anything, but they also didn¡¯t retreat. However, the halfling and mage in Claudius¡¯s group also began to retreat. ¡°Obviously, it¡¯s because of this! This isn¡¯t something you- I mean something we can deal with¡± Claudius almost misspoke, but fortunately he quickly corrected himself. ¡°The legendary necromancer, maybe it¡¯s even more powerful than the average lich¡±, Claudius said to himself with a smirk.


    At this point in time, the quickly approaching enemies were finally in range of the Everburning Torches. The cold had also reached a point where almost all metal weapons could not be held in their hands, unless they wanted to tear off their skin while putting away the weapon. The frost protection was also becoming weaker. Some of the mages and thieves with weaker physiques began to tremble and back away, but when they saw the enemy clearly, they screamed in terror and turned around and ran. Some mages began casting dimension door out of desperation, while those with money, used their dimension door scrolls. Those without money simply ran as fast as they could, or at least used retreat scrolls. The paladins and priests collectively breathed in a deep breath of cold air and began to pray. They figured today was the day they will return to God¡¯s side.


    The monster had a humanoid form, and it looked as though there were black flames condensed around it. It was more than 3 meters tall. All five of Claudius¡¯s senses were unclear as to what this thing was, but the only thing that was certain was that it¡¯s blue eyes could see through a person¡¯s heart. ¡°The Shadow of the Void¡­ I¡¯m so lucky!¡± Claudius muttered. At this time, the remaining adventurers also quickly turned and ran. Even if the monster in front of them could have been equally fast and that it might have been impossible to run away, it was better to run, rather than stay and wonder¡­


    PS: One hundred chapters! Although I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯ll continue


    EN: Hey there! I have a question for you. Have you ever wanted faster uploads for crimson dragon? Have you ever wanted to annoy the staff so that they release the chapter faster? Or have you ever wanted to just be in a server with lots of nice , funny people? A server where even the staff is nice and doesn¡¯t get mad for stupid reasons? Well i¡¯ve got the perfect thing for you! Our discord server is the solution to all your problems! And best of all, it has awesome bonuses like early sneak peaks in chapters, roles that alert you as soon as a chapter is released, a staff that will answer all your questions and the best thing ¨C It¡¯s free and barely takes any time!

 CH 101

    TN: I¡¯m trying a new way of leaving TNs. All my footnotes will start with a ¡®T¡¯


    The Shadow belonged to a monster with a challenge rating of 26. Most adventurers wouldn¡¯t encounter one in their lifetime. The Shadow of the Void and it¡¯s sibling, the Shape of Fire, are both extremely rare, and even the winterwight and lavawight that they spawn are legendary monsters. The party that Claudius was in had a few level 10+ paladins and priests, as well as some level 5-6 mages who were currently running away, as well as some level 10 warriors, rangers, and thieves.


    Claudius would have had a bit of a headache dealing with this thing. If he was in the Crimson Dragon form then he could kill them as they arrived. However, he was currently in human form. As a human incarnation, Claudius was just a regular barbarian who had taken a step onto the road of legends.  ¡°Aha, it looks like I need to run quickly. If I transform into a dragon here, things will get messed up.¡± Claudius immediately put the mace on his belt then turned and ran. ¡°Hey, Hank!¡±. Shouted Tasman, the paladin. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m Fatalis [T1]. Who¡¯s Hank?¡± Claudius shamelessly replied.


    [T1] Fatalis is an elder dragon from the game Monster Hunter. Claudius seems to be memeing


    Tasman stared blankly at Claudius, but then quickly grabbed onto him. ¡°In that case, will you please at least¡­¡± Claudius returned to the priest Lady Mara, who was still unaware of the situation, and flung her onto his shoulder. ¡°Take her with me, right? No problem. After using Chinese to shout the last four words, Claudius ran away with the beautiful priest on his shoulder leaving behind a trail of dust. The lamentable paladins and priests had short legs and so there was no choice but to leave them to the top of the tank [T3].


    [T2] ·ç½ô³¶ºô (F¨¥ng j¨«n ch¨§ h¨±): ¡°wind tight pull call¡±, meaning that the situation is tense and so it¡¯s time to leave


    [T3] ¶¥¸× (d¨«ng gang): ¡°top of the tank¡±, a metaphor for handing off the current calamity


    A high level undead like this Shadow of the Void wouldn¡¯t just appear in a place like this, so there must be some sort of conspiracy behind it. Claudius, happily thought that, even if the adventurers and undead fought to death, it still wouldn¡¯t affect him. Instead, because of the fact that these evil creatures had appeared, The Silver Dragon might appear due to her sense of justice, which would reveal her location to Claudius.


    The Crimson Dragon¡¯s movement speed was very fast, and even after he transformed into a human his agility still broke the watch [T4]. Even though he moved faster as a dragon, his large size made others think that he¡¯s not actually that fast. Carrying Lady Mara, Claudius easily overtook the weaklings who ran first. The people all rushed out of the tunnel and returned to the sunlight-covered surface. The Shadow of the Void wasn¡¯t scared of the sunlight, but this was the South and the extreme heat always made the legendary undead a bit uncomfortable. They prefer the cold weather of the Icewind Dale. [T5]


    [T4] ÆƱíÁË (P¨° bi¨£ole): ¡°broke the watch¡±, a metaphor for setting a new athletic record


    [T5] Another DnD reference. Icewind Dale is located in the northernmost region of Faer?n


    ¡°Aha, they¡¯re all gone?¡± The Crimson Dragon had just exited the tunnel when he noticed this. It seemed like the paladins and priests that stayed behind were all dead. The thieves, mages and rangers who also escaped the tunnel were trembling. It looked like the Shadow of the Void didn¡¯t chase them, otherwise Claudius figured that apart from him and Lady Mara that he was carrying, no one else could even consider escaping.


    ¡°This just got a lot more complicated. Looks like the next time I go back, the Shadow of the Void will still be there. Let me think¡­ based on the remains of the poor bastards [T6] that got done in by that thing, those paladins and priests could probably be turned into 3 or 4 winterwights. ¡°Hah, this mine basically turned into a legendary dungeon.¡± Claudius shook his head and sighed. In all honesty, while on the road he felt that brother Tasman wasn¡¯t a bad person. Even though he was a bit na?ve, he also very friendly. As for whether or not to avenge brother Tasman? If Claudius could find the Silver Dragon Eliaza ,then he didn¡¯t mind doing it.[T7]. He thought about his abilities. The challenge rating of the Shadow of the Void is 26, and the challenge rating of its winterwights is 23, but the Crimson Dragon Claudius was very confident in his ability to clean up this trash. He was also very confident in his flames and materialistic aura [T8]. As for the winterwight¡¯s fighting ability, even though they can easily handle any ordinary dragon, they still couldn¡¯t beat someone like Claudius who was special even in terms of a Crimson Dragon.


    [T6] µ¹Ã¹µ° (D¨£om¨¦i d¨¤n): ¡°unlucky egg¡±, meaning someone who¡¯s ill-fated


    [T7] ¸ÉһƱ (G¨¤n y¨© pi¨¤o): ¡°do one vote¡±, meaning to do something once but typically used by gangsters and the like


    [T8] ΨÎïÖ÷Òå¹â»· (W¨¦iw¨´ zh¨³y¨¬ gu¨¡nghu¨¢n): ¡°materialism halo¡±, I have no idea what this is supposed to be. Maybe it¡¯s like his immense pressure or something


    In this sort of situation, the survivors need to return to the city and report the situation and get some sort of reward. However, the city officials and local nobles would surely get a headache after hearing about how some legendary undead had appeared in the mines. This wasn¡¯t something that regular adventurers could help with right now. This would be handed off to the so-called unnamed adventurer team [T9], like the legendary door-kicking team [T10]. But Claudius knew that this city¡¯s officials will have a headache for a long time.


    [T9] ÎÞÃûðÏÕÕ߶ÓÎé (W¨²m¨ªng m¨¤oxi¨£n zh¨§ du¨¬w¨³): not sure if this is some reference I¡¯m missing or meant to be taken literally


    [T10] ÌßÃÅÍÅ (T¨© m¨¦n tu¨¢n): again, I¡¯m assuming this is some sort of reference I¡¯m missing.


    It was true, when the city officials and the mine owners heard the report from the survivors ¨C by the way, Claudius didn¡¯t go submit a report, he was busy bringing the confused Lady Mara to the temple of the Sun God. Claudiua didn¡¯t have any sexual desires [T11]. With his twisted sense of beauty, he thought that dragons were much prettier than any human. After hearing the report, the officials and the nobles were a mess. They couldn¡¯t believe that the Shadow of the Void would stay in the mines without leaving and making a mess. The objective of destroying or at least sealing away that Shadow of the Void was given the highest possible priority. They started using their connections to the city of Faer?n, although they only really requested help from the cities around the desert and the kingdom.


    [T11] ÄÐÅ® (N¨¢nn¨·): ¡°men women¡±


    Claudius didn¡¯t want to wait around like this. Without revealing his identity, he wanted to know how a Shadow of the Void appeared in this mine. So he began planning on how to go alone, but before he did that he needed to make some preparations. Since he¡¯s already a human, he needed to learn how to act like a human. Since he was already a barbarian, he needed to learn how to act like someone with that class. That¡¯s what he needed to prepare. Claudius wasn¡¯t someone who would treat himself poorly. He took some of the money he just received, and plus the money he had on him which made 10 gold coins and 53 silver coins. Then he bought a lot of smoked meat and other rations. But before he officially headed out, Claudius still wanted to have one last drink at the bar.

 CH 102

    The temple of the sun god Lathander was across from the temple of the god of justice, Tyr. After completing her routine prayers, the young priest Lady Mara found that it was very chaotic outside. To be honest, it really was a wild time, even girls like Lady Mara quickly recovered in a few days. Anyways, Faer?n always had people who were risking their lives. The number of casualties of paladins who fought for justice and good wan¡¯t low at all¡­ after all, Faer?n was a world where evil forces were superior. Lady Mara discovered several paladins and fully geared priests who rushed out of the temple of Tyr and were heading towards the City.


    In the pub, Claudius stepped on the badly beaten face of a noble¡¯s son. There were weapons lying on the ground, and blood from his nosebleed had smeared on his body. Outside the pub, a group of soldiers were lying on the ground. They had all fainted because they had taken some heavy hits. Claudius also had a bit of a headache, ¡°That was quite easy¡±. The Crimson Dragon felt like he barely moved, although the warriors of Tyr had not agreed.


    ¡°Hey! Big guy! Put down the weapon!¡± The old warrior took one look at Claudius and shouted out. Even if it was Tyr¡¯s warriors, they only used force when they needed to maintain order. In a situation like this, they shouted out of habit ¡ª Claudius only fought using hand-to-hand combat [T1] and had drawn no weapons. ¡°Oh, I refuse! I¡¯ve settled everything with these kids. Did I break the law? Hahaha, I¡¯ll admit it. However, I¡¯ve gotta go now! [T2]¡± Claudius roared with laughter, then sped upstairs, jumped from the balcony, landed outside the encirclement, and ran away [T3].


    [T1] һ˫ȭͷ (Y¨©shu¨¡ng qu¨¢nt¨®u): ¡°a pair of fists¡±


    [T2] ¾Ü²¶ÅÜ· (J¨´b¨³ p¨£o l¨´): ¡°resist arrest and run¡±


    [T3] Á½Ìõ³¤ÍÈ (Li¨£ng ti¨¢o zh¨£ng tu¨«): run way with ¡°two long legs¡±


    This sort of ridiculous movement amused Claudius. As a dragon, this was also a novel experience ¨C it wasn¡¯t anything special to be beaten by humans [T4], the Silver Dragon had done it twice. However, after turning into a human, this was the first time Claudius had done this and he thought that it was pretty fun. The warriors of Tyr weren¡¯t in a rush to chase Claudius, it was just a bar fight. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the soldiers had also been defeated, this sort of news would never reach the paladins. There was another important reason, the evil from the mines had caused the various temples to greatly increase their vigilance, in case some evil being came to town to cause trouble.


    [T4] ±§Í·Êó´Ü (B¨¤ot¨®ush¨³cu¨¤n): ¡°to carry your head and flee like a mouse,¡± referring to fleeing after failing at a task


    Even though the mines here were a bit pitiful, they still needed to be sealed up. The priests and city officials spent a large sum of money in order to hire some mages and made preparations to seal it. As for whether or not it would succeed, no one knew. No matter how you looked at it, this legendary necromancer¡¯s challenge rating had already greatly exceeded most demons and devils, and it had the home advantage. The surface of the mine had been covered with frost, and the temperature had nearly dropped to the freezing point. It was important to note that this place was located in the center of Faer?n, where it¡¯s understood that the four seasons are distinct and that the temperature would only fall below zero degrees in winter ¨C right now was autumn.


    Claudius did something like this in the past. He knew he couldn¡¯t stay in the city anymore, and he also didn¡¯t want to ask the dark side of the city to help him hide. He knew his own objectives, he only wanted to find Eliaza. Claudius gambled on the Silver Dragon¡¯s sense of justice. ¡°Hehehe, based on common sense, you should be nearby. Eliaza, I¡¯ll see exactly how you deal with this. A legendary necromancer¡­ Fighting a cold-type monster as a cold-type dragon will be an uphill battle, will it not? [T5]¡± Claudius said to himself, feeling giddy inside. When he thought about the Silver Dragon¡¯s challenge rating, he wanted to laugh out loud. The Silver Dragon, who had just stepped onto the road of mighty dragons [T6], wasn¡¯t a match for the Shadow of the Void and the winterwights. As for the Crimson Dragon, he imagined returning to his Crimson Dragon form, taking a deep breath, and snuffing out the Shadow of the Void and the winterwights [T7].


    [T5] ʱ¶¹¦°ë (Sh¨¬b¨¨ig¨­ngb¨¤n) : ¡°Twice the effort, half the accomplishment¡±


    [T6] ׳ÄêÁú֮· (Zhu¨¤ng Gi¨¢n l¨®ng zh¨© l¨´): ¡°Strong year dragon¡¯s road¡±


    [T7] »Ò·ÉÑÌÃð (Hu¨©f¨¥iy¨¡nmi¨¨): ¡°Extinguish the floating gray smoke¡±, meaning to quickly disappear


    Eliaza already knew what had happened in the mines in Zazesspur [T8], which had taken the lives of many promising paladins and priests in nearby cities. Losing these people, who were intended to become the backbone of the temples, was a considerable blow to the cause of the gods. Eliaza found out through the senior priests and patrons who knew her identity. The Silver Dragon¡¯s own spells also made her aware of the situation. ¡°Shadow of the Void! Even if you went to the north, you couldn¡¯t be confident that you¡¯d find it, why did it appear here? It¡¯s not right!¡± The Silver Dragon understood that she couldn¡¯t handle this situation by herself, she needed to rely on her friends¡­


    [T8] This was mistranslated as Zazespo in Chapter 97


    First to mind were the senior paladins and priests. Although none of them were legend rank, with the support of the gods they could at least fight the winterwights. It¡¯s just that even at their peak [T9], they would just be harassing the monsters. Fighting head on was definitely impossible. Eliaza looked at herself. Unless she asked for help from the Cloud Giants, her own combat power wasn¡¯t enough to go against the Shadow of the Void and the winterwights. Next, Eliaza started thinking about magic. It would be best if she could convert the mine¡¯s cold properties and use it to suppress the combat ability of the undead ¨C and there should be something for this in the temples. However, if there wasn¡¯t a legendary warrior to fight, it would still be very difficult. Although Eliaza was already a legend rank mage, she still hadn¡¯t entered the legend rank in terms of melee ability. Also, her most powerful attack, her cold breath [T10], was useless against cold-type undead.


    [T9] ¶¥Ìì (D¨«ng ti¨¡n): ¡°top of the day¡±


    [T10] º®ÀäÍ (H¨¢nl¨§ng t¨³): ¡°cold spit¡± lol


    The Silver Dragon took out a leaf and a small horn and with a bit of regret, rubbed it. The golden leaf spontaneously combusted, and in the smoke, a voice said ¡°Respected lady, in response to your request, I will honor our agreement!¡± Then, Eliaza blew on the small horn. Fortunately, she was in human form right now. As a dragon, it would be quite impossible to use the horn. The small horn made a very loud noise which shook the entire manor, and a magnificent dragon appeared in front of Eliaza.


    In front of Eliaza was a golden light, inside of which was a noble figure. ¡°Marlborough, I need your help!¡± said the Silver Dragon. ¡°An evil presence has shrouded Zazesspur. I need you, Marlborough the Golden Dragon. I need the power of your radiant flames ¨C our enemy is the Shadow of the Void.¡±


    EN: Hey there! I have a question for you. Have you ever wanted faster uploads for crimson dragon? Have you ever wanted to annoy the staff so that they release the chapter faster? Or have you ever wanted to just be in a server with lots of nice , funny people? A server where even the staff is nice and doesn¡¯t get mad for stupid reasons? Well i¡¯ve got the perfect thing for you! Our discord server is the solution to all your problems! And best of all, it has awesome bonuses like early sneak peaks in chapters, roles that alert you as soon as a chapter is released, a staff that will answer all your questions and the best thing ¨C It¡¯s free and barely takes any time!

 CH 103

    ¡°We will not tolerate this disrespect!! We need to have a proper discussion about this,¡± said Marlborough, standing in front of the scenery. Eliaza¡¯s face twisted slightly, but she maintained her composure very well. However, her expression suddenly became very animated as she realized that she could use this opportunity to hurt the temple a little bit. After all, maintaining justice always comes with a price, does it not?


    After Eliaza finished negotiating with Marlborough, she started reaching out to the priests of various temples. Zazesspur was a very important city in the trading network so the population was quite high and most of the main gods had temples there. It could be considered a very religious town, although it couldn¡¯t compare to the Silver Dragon¡¯s hometown of Tethyr. Because of this, the various temples were more concerned about the legendary necromancer than local municipal affairs. They put a lot of effort into recruiting adventurers by using their various channels and by offering large sums of money.


    Claudius was out in the wild, it¡¯s not like he feared the cold temperature. The only thing that annoyed him was, how easy it was to get dirty. As for food, it didn¡¯t matter since a crimson dragon¡¯s tastes were slightly different from a human and after so many years, Claudius was already used to it. To him, steaks served in the city pubs tasted the same as baked ox. In fact, he thought that burnt or raw things were more delicious than that food that had been meticulously prepared. He was a bit bored; he still hadn¡¯t waited long enough for the Silver Dragon to emerge.


    Fortunately, Claudius found something to do ¨C just now, someone dressed as a ranger jumped out of the mountainside forest, went to the edge of the pit, and gazed inside. He was immediately recognized by Claudius, who shouted out ¡°Aha! It¡¯s you! What was your name again? Achilles! Hey hey hey, kid, we meet again!¡± Between dragons, there¡¯s no way to disguise their appearance to each other. That¡¯s how Claudius was able to instantly tell that the pitiful ranger in front of him was actually Achilles the Bronze Dragon, and how Achilles was able to instantly recognize the barbarian which had suddenly jumped out from behind him was his worst nightmare, Claudius the Crimson Dragon. ¡°Why are you here!¡± The Bronze Dragon thought that today really was not his day ¨C it seemed like a good time to go to the Platinum Dragon Bahamut. The Bronze Dragon clumsily dropped his bow and arrow ¨C it¡¯s true that it was a magical artifact but even if you didn¡¯t use your brain you¡¯d still know that against the Crimson Dragon, it was useless. After the Bronze Dragon dropped his weapons, he immediately began considering whether he should teleport, or transform into his dragon form and fight it out. However, the next words from Claudius immediately dispelled any thoughts of fighting.


    ¡°If you dare to consider transforming into a dragon, I promise today will be your last day in this world! And don¡¯t even think about running! There¡¯s not enough time for you to start your teleportation! What¡¯s more, as you know my situation is a bit special, it¡¯s very easy for me to disable your spells! I don¡¯t think you want to be sent to the Nine Hells of Baator, so come, Sit down and let¡¯s talk it out!¡± The Crimson Dragon casually gave the Bronze Dragon an ultimatum. Achilles ground his teeth, but he didn¡¯t dare take the risk. The Crimson Dragon¡¯s aura made it extremely difficult to use his teleportation ability, and his spell¡¯s structure crumbled. Achilles was too scared to try again, since he didn¡¯t know what might happen even if he succeeded. Since he couldn¡¯t run and he couldn¡¯t fight, he could only accept his fate. He obediently sat down on the large rock and waited for the Crimson Dragon to begin talking.


    ¡°Don¡¯t activate your aura and don¡¯t transform. Just follow me and we¡¯ll enter together!¡± said Claudius. ¡°Have you become a defender of justice, or are you scheming something, Claudius?¡± the Bronze Dragon said in a disappointed tone. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that a thief who stole all my stuff would become a crusader for justice, so you must have something evil planned, Claudius!¡±


    ¡°Fucking hell, are you coming or not!¡± Claudius swore. ¡°Yes! I¡¯m obviously coming!¡± replied Achilles in a tone that suggested he was being forced to. In truth, Achilles was also curious about the situation in the pit. Whether it was the legendary necromancer or the rare Shadow of the Void, just thinking about the sort of treasure that these monsters would drop almost made Achilles drool. If it wasn¡¯t for his instinct telling him that he couldn¡¯t win against the Shadow of the Void, he would¡¯ve gone on a treasure hunt already. But now he was thinking about Claudius¡¯s plan. Even if he couldn¡¯t backstab Claudius and take all the goodies for himself, after taking care of the problem he could justifiably ask the Crimson Dragon to split half of the loot with him. ¡°Yes! This¡¯ll work for sure!¡± The Bronze Dragon secretly clenched his fist in victory.


    Claudius didn¡¯t really care much about Achilles¡¯s intentions, since he mainly wanted to satisfy his curiosity. If he could catch the Silver Dragon Eliaza, then that would be all the better. As for loot from killing the Shadow of the Void? If it¡¯s some magical artifact or whatever then Claudius didn¡¯t care about it, and if it was money then it¡¯d be fine to give it all to Achilles. Doesn¡¯t Claudius usually treat money like dirt, anyways? He doesn¡¯t really think about matters like how he only has a few gold coins on him. So what if the city wants money, does the wilderness want money too?


    Claudius looked Achilles up and down and then said, ¡°just a bow and arrow? That¡¯s not very effective against the Shadow of the Void and winter wights, right? Do you have your priorities straight? You¡¯re just like a poor piece of shit! Fine, I¡¯ll lend this to you. You better return it to me afterwards!¡± The Crimson Dragon stared at the foolish Bronze Dragon, shook his head, and sighed. Achilles really was irresponsible, even if his equipment was passable. No matter how you look at it, he was still wearing a mithril hauberk. As for magical equipment though, Claudius didn¡¯t see any telltale glowing. Looks like he really cleaned out Achilles¡¯s stash that time. However, a bow and arrow really were absolutely useless, so Claudius tossed out a golden mace. Achilles¡¯s eyes shone, and he held the mace tightly. ¡°Gold! Such high-quality gold! Let me appraise it! I think it¡¯s worth at least 5000 gold coins! Just the materials would be worth that much!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m leaving now! Misers die first, you know! No wonder everyone in the world thinks dragons are penny-pinchers, look at your cheap ass! Pah! I really despair at the image of dragons!¡± Claudius really couldn¡¯t bear the sight of this display. To be honest, he wasn¡¯t really familiar with the greed of dragons, although here was a prime example right in front of him. The two dragons in human form entered the mine one after the other ¨C no one came to stop them. When it came to the mine, the people in the city didn¡¯t even have the courage to send one of their own to keep watch.


    At the same time, Eliaza¡¯s help had arrived. It was a tall and slender elf with black eyes. He was dressed stylishly. In his hand was a longbow. He looked at the Silver Dragon and said, ¡°In accordance to the vows between us, I¡¯ve come to provide assistance to you, respected Lady Eliaza.¡± The Silver Dragon also responded to the elf with respect and courtesy, ¡°Mensal, I¡¯m very grateful for your help. Under the ancient treaty, I will accept your assistance.¡±

 CH 104

    Ignoring the group of defenders of justice that Eliaza had gathered, the temples in Tethyr were also gathering their forces. The news of a legendary necromancer that had appeared in Zazesspur¡¯s mines had long escaped the city boundaries. If the Shadow of the Void ever decided that it no longer wanted to stay in the pit, then the entire region of Tethyr could forget about maintaining peace. Monsters of this level, especially winterwights, if they ever grouped together, even if it was only 5-6 winterwights and one Shadow of the Void, could completely annihilate a city.


    Since it wouldn¡¯t be great if Tethyr was turned into a perpetually frozen hellscape, defeating or at least sealing off the Shadow of the Void became the Silver Dragon Eliaza¡¯s top priority. If the necromancers became aggressive, then Eliaza¡¯s sources of wealth that she had accumulated over the years as well as her property that she wouldn¡¯t have time to move would be done for. As a Silver Dragon, any action which would cause damage to her property was utterly unforgivable.


    Claudius swaggered into the mine while Achilles, who was a little hesitant, still fearlessly followed Claudius into the vast expanse. ¡°Step up the pace! Move your ass! What the hell are you afraid of, we literally just went inside! The Shadow of the Void¡¯s way at the bottom, we¡¯re nowhere near it yet!¡± Claudius loudly swore at Achilles. However, shortly thereafter he gestured to the Bronze Dragon indicating that they should stop. ¡°There¡¯s something following us, aha! It¡¯s a curious little kid!¡± Claudius suddenly made a move, but it wasn¡¯t to draw his sword. Instead, he punched the air, which shimmered like the surface of water. A petite figure appeared in front of Achilles. ¡°Sleipnir! Why did you come?¡± The Bronze Dragon recognized this figure, and while he was surprised, he also thought this was pretty normal behavior ¨C Copper Dragons are curious and love mischief and jokes. As such, for the Copper Dragon to show up here wasn¡¯t completely unacceptable. Plus, his nest was on Starspire Mountain, which wasn¡¯t that far from here.


    TN: Lots of slang in this paragraph


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d know you¡­ let me see, I remember when I met you, Sleipnir the young girl.¡± The Crimson Dragon held the loli-like Sleipnir in one hand and scratched his chin with the other. However, the Copper Dragon was really flexible, and with a twisting movement she managed to slip free of Claudius¡¯s grasp. ¡°Are you a part time monk?¡± Claudius felt amused. ¡°That movement was amazing, how old are you? Are you an adolescent yet? Can you use transfiguration?¡±


    When the Copper Dragon Sleipnir expelled the Crimson Dragon Claudius, she didn¡¯t really care about it either way, but she still beat the crap out of him. However, it didn¡¯t really hurt the Crimson Dragon too much, so even though a dragon¡¯s memory is very good, Claudius had long forgotten this dragon. Now, Claudius didn¡¯t particularly care about this dragon. So what if she was young, or if she had advanced to the Gulong level? She wasn¡¯t the Crimson Dragon¡¯s opponent.


    TN: Lots of slang in this paragraph too


    When the Copper Dragon Sleipnir was outside the attack range of Claudius, she began singing a mocking song. Claudius didn¡¯t really understand the song because it was sung in a Tethyr dialect, but the song that the loli was singing sounded fun. Claudius immediately said: ¡°Your song¡¯s garbage. Watch me sing an actual good song!¡±


    TN: In Chinese, an idiom is used to describe how Claudius speaks and it roughly translates to ¡°when you¡¯re angry enough anything is possible¡±, but this entire scene seems pretty lighthearted so I assume it just means he¡¯s really getting into it


    ¡°Mamaandpapawerelayinginbed!Mamarolledoverandthisiswhatshesaid: Oh,givemesone¡­¡± This asshole immediately began singing this song. The language of Faer?n was actually a variant of English, and when a true dragon sings they also use the communication magic, so most intelligent creatures could understand the words, so Claudius was able to sing this kind of song without stuttering. ¡°These asterisks represent Ho Chi Minh, but you can replace it with anyone you want to mock. ***isasonofabitch!Gottheblueballs,crabsandtheseven-yearitch!¡±


    TN: Wanna know what Claudius was singing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJNQZ_fot0A


    The loli Copper Dragon was very interested to finish listening to this famous **. Anyways, everyone here was a dragon so no one really cared about humans breeding, so this shouldn¡¯t sound like a love song to the dragons? But this song was really catchy, so the Copper Dragon learned it really quickly and immediately began changing the words. Before this, the Copper Dragon thought the inner mine was really interesting so she also wanted to take a look. Of course, the bottom was very dangerous but that didn¡¯t matter to the Copper Dragon and Claudius also wasn¡¯t obligated to remind her. Furthermore, the Bronze Dragon also liked to fool around and he also didn¡¯t care about the dangers below, so the small loli followed the group as they went deeper.


    TN: The asterisks are intentional


    Normal necromancers didn¡¯t show up at all, the mine was completely frozen. Where water once dripped were now frozen icicles. The cave felt like one of those ice caves in the northern mountains. The ground was frozen solid, and the further inwards the group went the colder it got. Claudius didn¡¯t active his Flaming Aura since he wasn¡¯t afraid of the cold. He led the group deeper into the cave, using the dragon¡¯s darkvision to see.


    The three dragons moved quickly because they didn¡¯t need any lighting equipment, but a light emerged ahead very quickly. Emerging from the ground and the ceiling were numerous ice shards, all emitting a bright white light. Normally ice shards weren¡¯t too bright, but the ones in front of them were terrible. It wasn¡¯t dissimilar to looking at multi-layered clouds during the daytime.


    Claudius crouched down and poked at the shards with his shortsword. It was some sort of metal, harder than iron, frozen inside the shard. Claudius¡¯s weapon could withstand cold temperatures and his strength was great so he effortlessly pried the metal pieces up. However, the pieces quickly disintegrated and turned into glistening dust on the ground. ¡°This should be the body of the paladin who ran the furthest¡±, the Crimson Dragon muttered to himself. This place was pretty far from where he first ran into the Shadow of the Void. It looked like those paladins weren¡¯t completely brain-dead. But it looks like no one survived, the people in here walked their last steps and gifted new winterwights to the Shadow of the Void.


    The Bronze Dragon also wasn¡¯t all fun and games. For some legendary monsters, he could also get the necessary information from the shared dragon consciousness. Achilles really hated Claudius, but wasn¡¯t he kidnapped right now? Besides, he couldn¡¯t handle the current situation himself since he couldn¡¯t defeat a winterwight, so he was quite excited to see what Claudius would do.


    ¡°The winterwights are ahead of us. Against it, your bronze dragon breath is completely useless. As for the copper dragon, your strength isn¡¯t nearly enough. You can¡¯t even give them a nice warm bath with your breath. So we¡¯ll use weapons to handle this.¡± Claudius looked at Achilles. ¡°Let me make it clear, I¡¯m not interested in transforming into a dragon and finishing this in one shot. You know why, so don¡¯t overthink it!¡±

 CH 105

    Both Achilles, the Bronze Dragon and Sleipnir, the Copper Dragon, spotted the figure in the distance. It was a huge skeleton encased in a layer of ice. Each piece of ice had formed into sharp icicles, with most gathered around its joints. Even more horrifying were the eyes of the skeleton glowing with an ice blue flame, while black flames burned on its head. There was definitely no mistake, it¡¯s a Winterwight- a challenge rating of 23, legendary undead monster.


    This monster can even use the Dimension Door freely. Furthermore, as a being of ice, it¡¯s immune to fireball ¡ª a common high damage fire attack. Claudius knew that if he wasn¡¯t here, Achilles and Sleipnir would be lucky to even escape its grasp. Claudius picked up his blade and sighed. Both dragons behind Claudius instantly knew what he meant. Of course, after seeing a Winterwight they knew what they were going to do.


    The winterwight hadn¡¯t noticed the trio yet. Claudius furrowed his eyebrows after looking at it for a while and thought to himself, ¡°Should I fight or not? It seems I can¡¯t kill it instantly. Its power is so high, I¡¯m not sure if I can even win in this form. Plus, if I start attacking, it¡¯s guaranteed other winterwights will notice. If they all come at once, I have to return to my original form and fight. I probably can¡¯t capture that clown if I change forms.¡± Claudius finally decided to avoid a battle and to instead take a detour.


    The mine had been operating for years. The zig-zagging paths form an intricate maze. Unless you¡¯re a minotaur, you¡¯ll get lost even if you have been mining here for your entire life. Claudius isn¡¯t a minotaur- he can¡¯t remember pathways clearly. His path-finding abilities aren¡¯t as effective inside the mine and so he couldn¡¯t determine which way was correct. The abilities only went as far as letting the crimson dragon know which way was a dead end. If the path moved, the spell would be useless. It¡¯s lucky for the Claudius that is leading two other dragons. Even if he was alone, he¡¯s confident that he can figure out a way. If all else fails, he¡¯ll just capture Eliaza another time and return to his original form to defeat the winterwights.


    EN: Eliaza is the silver dragon.


    While leading Achilles who was planning on escaping, and Sleipnir whose spirit is still high, Claudius randomly chose a path leading away from the winterwights. They all entered the mine. Small icicles glowed faintly in the darkness. The temperature was cold as always. Although there weren¡¯t any winterwights in Claudius¡¯ sight, there are ice shards scattered across the floor and what looked to be the remains of a few of their brethren. ¡°Looks like winterwights would even kill their kin. Speaking of which, before, there was quite a few frozen bodies and skeletons lying around. Can¡¯t believe there isn¡¯t a single soul remaining.¡± Claudius murmured.


    Claudius looked at the ground and saw something trapped under the ice. He took out his weapon and slashed at the ground so hard, it released sparks. The object flew out upon impact, twirled in the air, and landed on Claudius¡¯ hand. ¡°Aha! A gold coin!¡± he said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe a gold coin is trapped in ice here. Are we heading towards another winterwight¡¯s nest?¡± Claudius scrutinized the coin. Its size was larger than a normal gold coin. Its diameter was almost five centimeters. A very delicate badge-like pattern was engraved on its surface. Unfortunately, it doesn¡¯t have any signs of magic on its surface. Claudius threw the coin backwards and into Achilles¡¯ hands. The bronze dragon took a look at the coin and proceeded to stash it in his pocket. ¡°You really are greedy, aren¡¯t you?¡± commented Claudius, while looking back. He didn¡¯t require Achilles to respond and proceeded forward. Sleipnir kept looking down in hopes of finding something worth a fortune again.


    The crimson dragon and his gang casually ambled onwards, they were in great luck as no troublesome obstacles appeared in their way. Claudius drew in his mind, a mental map of all the paths they had taken. Although rough, his map showed the general area of the mines. The winterwights were wandering around the entrance of the mine. If they continued forward they should arrive at where the Shadow of the Void was located. While walking, the ice shards and the dim lighting they emitted suddenly vanished. The dragons had been using night vision, so they continued without slowing down. They soon realised that quite a few unrelated objects had started to appear in the mine, notably coins and jewels, which made both Achilles and Sleipnir jump up and down in excitement. They rushed to gather as many coins and jewels as they could, especially Sleipnir, whose tiny body looked like a kangaroo after stuffing her loot in her chest.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t supposed to happen,¡± the crimson dragon murmured. The further they went into the mine, the more uneased Claudius felt about the situation. The coins and jewels lying on the ground were really out of place. Then Claudius found what seems to be the reason behind the abnormality, or so he thinks.


    They found a dead dragon. The unlucky dead bastard was lying in the center of a huge chamber. The chamber is completely the opposite of the mine. The floor is unbearably hot with signs of lava seeping out through the cracks in the ground, lighting the entire chamber with an ominous red. When Achilles and Sleipnir saw the scene, Claudius asked, ¡°Do any of you know who¡¯s the dead bastard here?¡± Both dragons shook their heads in unison.


    Claudius looked at the dragon¡¯s corpse. The body had purple scales and a snake-like neck, tail, and head. The entire body looked slim, which was very apparent on the wings. It wouldn¡¯t have been considered a large dragon. Claudius estimated the corpse to be about 15 to16 meters long. ¡°This is a rare sight. I never would have thought there¡¯d be a dead dragon underneath Starspire Mountains.¡± Achilles analyzed the species of the corpse. At the same time, he noticed the coins and jewels under the corpse of the dragon.


    ¡°The one who killed it must be really strong!¡± Claudius exclaimed while looking at the fatal blow on the dead dragon. The wound was so large, it almost cut the corpse in half. All of its internal organs had spewed out everywhere, soiling its coins and jewels. Looking closer, there seemed to be a lingering white flame over the wound. It¡¯s the same case with the spewed out organs. The corpse of the dragon also had a number of horizontal and vertical slash wounds, each with the same residual white flame. ¡°Now let me think. Where have I seen that kind of fire?¡± Claudius thought he had seen the flames before. He closely recalled the white flame from the memories of his ancestors. He sighed and spoke to the two dragons who were busy picking up all the dead dragon¡¯s loot, ¡°Okay guys, the expedition is over! Let¡¯s go back. Speaking of which, do either of you know how to teleport?¡±

 CH 106

    Translator: Fwapy


    Editor: Moop back at it again.


    I hope Zeratul is still alive and well after being licked aggressively¡­


    Neither the bronze nor the copper dragons knew how to use Dimension Door or Teleport so Claudius could only walk out of the mine and wait for them. Claudius couldn¡¯t have cared less. After a final look at the corpse, he turned around, ready to leave. Achilles, on the other hand, was still happily picking up the treasure left behind by the dead dragon. The same went for Sleipnir. The two dragons occasionally fought each over the loot. Claudius didn¡¯t pay them any heed and promptly left through the same entrance from where they entered.


    Eliaza finally finished gathering her righteous team: Morning Lord, a bishop, and Righteous God, a holy knight, all became the center of the team. An elf with white skin and black eyes stood on the side by themselves. Next to Eliaza was a young man. He opened a door with beautiful carvings for Eliaza before entering into the room himself.


    Right next door was Tethyr and Zazesspur. The exit was located at the center of the Morning Lord¡¯s Shrine. The local bishops had already finished their preparations and were waiting at the exit which had just appeared. They welcomed the teams who came to subjugate the evil within the mines. The first that came out of the exit was a half-elf lady dressed like royalty. Behind the half-elf was a young man who was also in royal clothing. Next came an elf with white skin and finally, a group of bishops and holy knights from the upper shrine of Tethyr brought up the rear.


    The pope had the local bishops guide them to the carriages which then left the government facility to head towards the northern mines.


    Claudius had already left the mines. He leapt behind a pile of rocks and started playing around with them. His fingernails were actually claws, so when he scratched the rock, pieces flake off easily. It took no time for him to finish a weird carving on the rock. The Crimson Dragon waited for his target to approach. He wasn¡¯t sure if the silver dragon would come at all, but this was the fastest way to meet with her if that young female dragon was really as heroic and crazy as she seemed. From Claudius¡¯s perspective on the situation, he¡¯s sure that she¡¯ll come. After all, she can wield a Dragon Slayer to hurt another true dragon. A dragon like her was more than crazy enough.


    Claudius stood again. He threw away the carved tablet in his hands while observing the distant carriages that were heading towards the mines, and smiled ferociously. ¡°I knew she¡¯d come! Eliaza, I have a surprise for you.¡± Claudius retreated behind the rocks. He wasn¡¯t stupid enough to rush out and start attacking. The carriage was emanating not just Eliaza¡¯s aura but as well as another dragon¡¯s aura that¡¯s much different than the silver dragon¡¯s. Even if Claudius thought with his ass (even if he didn¡¯t have any brains, Chinese phrasing is hilariously colorful), he would have known the carriages following behind Eliaza¡¯s wouldn¡¯t contain any weaklings. If he rushed out, he¡¯d definitely be swarmed and beaten up again.


    Suddenly, the ground shook violently. A low roar could be heard from the mines. It¡¯s a dragon¡¯s roar. ¡°I¡¯ve told you already. The adventure is over. You¡¯re stupid for not listening!¡± Claudius felt Achilles¡¯s aura along with the little guy¡¯s. The floor was still shaking violently. It¡¯s most likely something hit the ground hard or even worse, there was an explosion.


    Those in the carriages also felt the aura. After all, these people were experts in their fields, especially the ones who believed in god. They could all feel the imminent danger ahead. The holy knights and bishops hastily exited the carriages and assumed battle formation. Both Eliaza and Marlborough, the gold dragon, stepped out of their carriages. Upon seeing the duo, Claudius immediately hid himself completely behind the rock. ¡°Gold dragon¡­ you found a really strong helper didn¡¯t you Eliaza?¡± It¡¯s impossible for dragons to use transformation magic to hide from other dragons. Thus, Claudius instantly knew that the young royal-looking man was actually a gold dragon, an adult one too.


    From the third carriage came the white-skinned elf. It made Claudius even more cautious. Although he couldn¡¯t discern which species it belongs to, he knew it wasn¡¯t a regular elf. From what Claudius could infer, that elf was definitely another legendary warrior. The slightly larger ears of the elf allowedClaudius to recognize it as a rare breed. The remaining carriages spilled out bishops and holy knights which Claudius didn¡¯t want to provoke either. They all seemed to be on par with the legendary class. It certainly could be said that the Morning Lord and Righteous God had gathered all of the best fighters from around the desert and kingdom.


    ¡°Damn¡­ I can¡¯t beat them all unless I return to my original form.¡± Claudius murmured. It was true that even if Claudius wielded his gold-gilded weapon, he could only take on at most the two dragons and maybe five holy knights. If the legendary elf and the other troops joined the battle, Claudius would most likely need to surrender. If Claudius returned to his original form, he could probably stop the troops, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to ascertain how strong the gold dragon or the elf was. So the crimson dragon decided to stay outside the mine while the team eneteredit. His target was only Eliaza anyway.


    The silver dragon had casted a spell when she stepped off the carriage. Claudius was a complete moron when it came to spells so he couldn¡¯t tell what kind of spell she casted. Though he could still guess that it was a language spell since she ordered the troops to enter the mines. Claudius¡¯ extremely sharp ears heard the few words: ¡°Achilles, Sleipnir, be careful.¡± He thought to himself, ¡°Of course they¡¯re in danger. I bet those two idiots went back to their dragon forms and are fighting the enemies. The enemies, on the other hand¡­ If I guessed correctly, they¡¯re definitely not something the two dragons can handle by themselves. If they can¡¯t handle it neatly, there¡¯ll be even more surprises coming.¡± The crimson dragon waited for the assault team to enter, then followed them after waiting for 30 minutes. Then he waited for the right moment to kidnap the silver dragon and begin his revenge.


    Claudius couldn¡¯t hide his facial expressions after thinking about his plan to kidnap the silver dragon. He decided to take out his weapons, and started cleaning them to calm himself down, despite his weapons being resistant to corrosion. The broadsword, battle-axe, and shortsword were all gleaming. They glowed with a bright purple colour under the sunlight. ¡°Oops! I forgot to ask the little guy to return my mace. I hope the idiot doesn¡¯t died before I arrive.¡±

 CH 107

    Translator: Fwapy


    Editor: Moop


    Oof¡­ Moop also got licked since the previous chapter. Zeratul, on the other hand, starts memeing crimson dragon chapters to release the stress of being licked.


    I currently don¡¯t see any problem with getting licked, but anything that tortures Zera is entertaining. ¨C Moo:P


    Meanwhile, Achilles and Sleipnir were struggling- it¡¯s going to be hard for them to leave alive. The two of them had returned to their dragon forms with Achilles acting as a meat shield for Sleipnie, who¡¯s currently hiding behind Achilles, shooting spells towards the enemy like there¡¯s no tomorrow. The enemies in question looked like skeletons covered in magma, the Lavawights. Obsidian shards at the tip of their fingers make up their claws. Their skulls are the only spot untouched by magma, but in exchange for the lack of cover, a white flame burns on the top of it. Achilles is already regretting his choices. He exclaimed, ¡°Lavawights! What are they doing here?¡±


    This place really was cursed. It¡¯s just a mine of a harbour town. Its size wasn¡¯t even considered big when compared to other towns in the kingdom. Although the mine was confusing to traverse, it was still within the Starspire Mountains. Even the mountain range is considered small within the Faer?n kingdom. It¡¯s unbelievable that Shadows of the Void and Winterwights were appearing inside. Now, even Lavawights are in the mines, whose powers are on par with that of the Winterwights. Claudius knew instantly that something was wrong with the dead dragon. It¡¯s obvious that the flames on the corpse indicated something bad, especially since their temperature was lower than Claudius¡¯s. However, the fact that they stayed on the victim¡¯s body was more terrifying and cruel than Claudius¡¯ flames.


    The crimson dragon waited outside the mines for a while and before suddenly standing up to follow the righteous knights into the mine. Eliaza had already entered  with her team and was hurrying towards the battle. At the same time, she sent a message to the two dragons. ¡°Back up!¡± Exclaimed Achilles, ¡°Back up has arrived! Sleipnir, we better hurry and escape!¡± If the room was even slightly smaller, the two of them would not have been able to return to their original forms and, of course, would have been instantly killed by the two Lavawights. Achilles should thank Claudius for forgetting his mace. Achilles, with his pitiful claws and scales, wouldn¡¯t have been able to defend against the enchanted obsidian claws of the Lavawights. Disregarding their claws, Achilles was barely clinging onto his life faced with the power and speed of the Lavawights. He was also incredibly lucky to survive up till now without the Lavawights knocking his mace away from him. In Sleipnir¡¯s case, her only option was to constantly throw out Area of Effect spells to control the situation. Poor Sleipnir wasn¡¯t that great of a spell caster herself. Her spells are at most on the level of an intermediate spellcaster. Therefore, most of her spells were completely useless against the Lavawights. Even if the silver dragon didn¡¯t send her a message, the two were already at their limits. They could only prolong the battle for three more minutes. After that, it would all be over.


    It¡¯s lucky that the silver dragon arrived so fast. The white-skinned elf was even faster,  heading towards the battlefield. When Achilles could no longer hold up the mace to defend himself, a longsword flew out of nowhere, blocking the claws of the Lavawight. Without a moment to spare, the elf slipped into a splendid front flip attack, breaking apart an obsidian claw. Achilles and Sleipnir quickly returned to their human forms. Without the heightened abilities of the dragon form, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive until now. Their giant bodies were easy targets. They were alive all because of the elf throwing their longsword and blocking the attack for them.


    The elf¡¯s abilities are unrivalled. It looked like she was dancing when she blocked two attacks from the Lavawights. In the blink of an eye, the two wights received more than ten hits each. Most of the magma on their bodies fell off, revealing the black skeletons underneath. It¡¯s obvious that the two wights were not a worthy enough opponent for the elf. They couldn¡¯t use Dimension Door to their advantage as the elf moved too quickly, so much so that she occasionally left an afterimage in her wake, seeming to teleport to random locations, giving the two wights a heavy beating. Surrounding two enemies alone was an ability characteristic of the legendary species leShay.


    Eliaza¡¯s team came quickly. Mensal, the leShay, easily stopped the two lavawights, buying enough time for the gold and silver dragons to cast spells. The bishops also started casting spells at the Lavawights in hopes of exterminating them. Speaking of which, everyone looked kind of pale. After seeing the lavawights, those who knew of the legendary monsters fell to rock bottom. Things were already very troublesome with the winterwights and a Shadow of the Void. They never imagined an enemy with the polar opposite attributes could have appeared as well. In the worst case scenario, there might be a Shape of Fire waiting further inside of the mines. This wasn¡¯t something to celebrate about. It was a mystery why the two elemental monsters of naturally opposing attributes didn¡¯t fight each other. It would pose to much of a challenge if it came down to simultaneously facing off against both the Shadow of the Void and Spirit of the Fire, along with their legendary class underlings. From the looks of it, the team wasn¡¯t prepared to fight three legendary class monsters at the same time. It¡¯d probably be best to ask for a god to descend and deal with the situation. In truth, both Eliaza and Marlborough believed that even if a god did descend, the situation would only escalate in the wrong direction if things were handled poorly.


    As a being of cold, the silver dragon had the elemental advantage over lavawights but she would definitely fail if she got into close combat range of the lavawights. Using spells against them would be the best course of action here. Of course, she could also return to her dragon form and attack with her icy cold breath. For Marlborough, he wasn¡¯t scared of the fire type Heat Aura attack from the wights, but his spells and dragon breath are half as strong as theirs. Holy attacks weren¡¯t effective against lavawights thus Marlborough could only copy Eliaza¡¯s attacks. With Eliaza¡¯s blizzard attack and Marlborough¡¯s imitation blizzard, the two lavawights lost all their magma armour and were left with crumbling black bones. Mensal dealt the finishing blow with a double spiralling punch to both wights. With a soundless roar, the two lavawights turned into ash in a torrent of flames.


    ¡°Nicely done, clown.¡± Claudius thought to himself, ¡°But things aren¡¯t settled so easily. Isn¡¯t the best option right now to leave the cave and seal up the mines? If you are so eager to solve it right now, you¡¯d better hope to turn into an ancient dragon and that leads a team of legendary adventurers. Only relying on a leShay, a golden dragon, and a bunch of slowpokes isn¡¯t enough for this situation.¡± The crimson dragon is stood from afar. Up until now, he hadn¡¯t found an opening in Eliaza¡¯s formation. The mines also had a size limit so he couldn¡¯t return to his dragon form. Claudius began to feel that his human form was more of a prison as it prevented him from using his destructive power. He would probably be considered a legendary warrior in his human form, but his current power isn¡¯t even comparable to his dragon form. In fact, he can¡¯t face a single winterwight nor lavawight head on in his human form. ¡°Still can¡¯t battle the skeletons¡­¡± the crimson dragon murmured while shaking his head.


    It looked like like the silver dragon wasn¡¯t entirely stupid. After discussing with her team, they started to head back. Claudius quickly hid in a side path to so he wouldn¡¯t be discovered by the abnormal detection power of the team, especially Mensal¡¯s. Her powers are far greater than what Claudius had imagined. As the silver dragon and her team inch closer to Claudius, Claudius felt that he couldn¡¯t hide any more. His location was about to be revealed to everyone.


    At the same moment, a low, ominous roar was heard from where the dragon corpse lay. Dread instantly filled the entire mine. Those in Eliaza¡¯s team who weren¡¯t strong enough or were too young couldn¡¯t stand the roar and fainted instantly¡­

 CH 108

    Translator: Fwapy


    Editor: Moop


    Here at Kuhaku TL, everyone is at whim from the reader overlords. No one is ever safe from the aggressive licking from the readers.


    Please lick zera more, it¡¯s very entertaining. Keep warm for the winter or cool for the summer wherever you¡¯re at!


    Claudius could still see a bit of the mine, after all a dragon¡¯s eyesight is stronger than the average organism¡¯s. Something definitely happened in the mines¡ªthe two lavawights had died, but in their place the dead dragon had stood up once again.


    ¡°It hasn¡¯t died too long ago. Did it start to rot the moment it became a corpse dragon?¡± Claudius pondered while reflecting on how mysterious the world was. He didn¡¯t know how soon a dead dragon would start to decay after dying, but the corpse he found was definitely fresh. If it was human, the body was new enough to have died just a moment ago. The moment it turned into a corpse dragon, its appearance changed within a fraction of a second. Along with a horrid smell, the corpse instantaneously decayed before their eyes. Huge chunks of meat turned black, falling off the body, revealing bones underneath. Its skin and scales rotted just as quickly. Some of them got stuck in the decaying meat clinging to the bone. Its eyes became small fireballs. Its decayed wings sagged, forming huge holes in the skin. They looked like a worn-down tent. ¡°Lucky for us it doesn¡¯t spawn any maggots.¡± Claudius murmured. The silver dragon didn¡¯t hear him as his voice was muffled by the corpse dragon¡¯s roared.


    A corpse dragon is a high-level undead monster. Claudius was sure that the dragon was even stronger than when it was alive, albeit he hadn¡¯t known the dead dragon. The fact that the dragon¡¯s aura was pinning down the holy knights and bishops still remained. In death, a dragon¡¯s spell resistance actually increased compared to when it was alive. Spells that can easily dispatch a middle-level undead monster could no longer harm it now.


    Fortunately, the gold dragon could use a fire breath. After taking three fire breaths, the corpse dragon miserably fled into the mines to hide. Claudius didn¡¯t watch until the end. He left the mines to wait for the silver dragon behind the rocks again. Claudius made up his mind, convincing himself of the impossibility in defeating the silver dragon and her underlings inside the mines¡ªhis human form wasn¡¯t strong enough. He would transform back to a dragon outside of the mines. ¡°It¡¯s just a silver dragon, gold dragon, bronze dragon and a copper dragon. I think there¡¯s a fighting chance¡± Claudius thought to himself. Achilles and Sleipnir will undoubtedly tell Eliaza that Claudius was here, so there¡¯s no way a surprise attack would work. ¡°There¡¯s only one way remaining¡± Claudius reasoned, ¡°First let¡¯s see if I can find out which city the silver dragon usually dwells in. Then I¡¯ll see if I can capture the bishops and holy knights for interrogation. Hell, I would never forget to interrogate the little guy.¡±


    Claudius¡¯ predictions were correct. The silver dragon led Mensal and Marlborough, the gold dragon, out of the mines. All of them were on their highest alert, holding out their magic shields to defend against any imminent attacks. Both the golden dragon and the silver dragon cast a spell, yet they couldn¡¯t locate the crimson dragon. ¡°Did he leave already?¡± Achilles asked. ¡°No way! The Crimson Disaster isn¡¯t known for his intelligence. I bet he¡¯s waiting somewhere to strike all of us down.¡± Eliaza replied. Both Marlborough and Achilles secretly glared at Eliaza. They both thought that a dragon using a dragon killing sword on even the ÎåÉ«Áú(five-coloured dragon?) was a shocking and unbelievable thing.


    Zeratul: The five coloured dragon is tiamat, What they are trying to convey here is that they were shocked that eliaza used the Anti dragon sword herself, normally dragons would never use it, even against tiamat


    Claudius stalked the group while thinking about how to defeat the silver dragon. He was still indecisive about whether to continue as is or to rush in, knock them out, and then proceed to abduct the silver dragon. He also needed to consider the legendary leShay warrior, Mensal. Messing around with the bishops and holy knights was just icing on the cake for Claudius. He continued to ponder and plan while stalking the group.


    ¡°Fuck it! I¡¯ll just go and beat the shit out of them!¡± Claudius finally decided after a while of thinking. His temper has always been short. Tailing Eliaza to her nest was too slow of a process and he would easily be discovered. Despite debating for half a day, Claudius still ended up doing what he was most talented in, which was to rush in blindly.


    The crimson dragon let out a low roar¡ªthe deeper his voice, the louder the roar. He quickly took off his expensive armour thinking it¡¯d be a shame to dispose of it after one use. He turned back into his huge dragon form while the air was still shaking from his roar. Using his legs, Claudius then launched himself into the air, flapping his wings for extra support. The flapping cleared the ground of soil and sand, causing strong winds to blow wildly across it. Claudius adjusted his direction in the air and started flying towards the silver dragon and her crew.


    Claudius¡¯s legs tensed up and he leapt into the air. While flying, he opened his mouth and inhaled, sucking in the surrounding air to prepare for his high-pressure spit attack. Both he and his opponents were ready. Dragon aura enveloped the sky. Claudius knew then that the four dragons were ready and prepared for a battle.


    Claudius was surprised when he saw the leShay riding on the silver dragon¡¯s back. she looked like she was ready for a tough fight. Claudius didn¡¯t have time to think or plan accordingly as all sorts of spells ranging from blizzard to ice storms were hurled at him. The effectiveness of his skills were once again proven. As spells closed the distance on him, their strength quickly dwindled. The blizzard hail spell which had worked wonders on him in the past wasn¡¯t much more effective than a normal blizzard. Although his movement was slightly impeded, any spells that entered his domain evaporated into thick steam and blazing winds.


    The gold dragon, the largest of the four, was only a third of Claudius¡¯ length and was barely comparable in size. Achilles, recalled his depressing past and attempted to hide, looking for an escape as Claudius approached them in high spirits. Sleipnir was only a few dekameters in length. She was clearly dragging everyone down.


    It looked like Eliaza had all her bets on Mensal as it took her over 100 years to form a bond with the leShay. Mensal¡¯s power level exceeded both Eliaza¡¯s and Marlborough¡¯s. Even if both of them evolved into ancient dragons, they still wouldn¡¯t be able to hold a candle to her. As an EPIC species, true dragons were only of the common pre-legendary class. Even when they became legendary class, they were still weak when compared to other EPIC species. The three legendary dragon species were an exception though, as their power level weighed in to be around midrange for the EPIC species. Undeniably, there are special individuals who could battle strong EPIC species, that upon sight, even gods run away from. Claudius was one of those very individuals. He most likely will be the last remaining colored dragon on the Faer?n continent¡­

 CH 109

    Editor: Moop


    Mensal¡¯s apparently a trap. Poggers. -Moop


    Claudius¡¯s attacks were fast, but Mensal, who¡¯s on the silver dragon¡¯s back, was faster. To the leShay tribe who have 45 agility, the air was about the same as a solid ladder. Should they imagine it, the air could solidify enough for them to step on it . And so, Mensal was able to quickly leap from the silver dragon¡¯s back and rush towards Claudius, all in midair. At the same time, he took out his two double edged sword from nothingness. Every leShay could use this ability but they have to pull from their life force in order to form energy swords with +10 sharpness. To them, these swords were an extension of their bodies as they didn¡¯t restrict their movements nor slow them down. Each swing with the swords fully displayed their battle prowess and damage-dealing power.


    And thus, the leShay tribe was also known by another name: Sword Spirits. They are the elves who wield swords, the true masters of dual-wielding. It was about time Claudius experienced the true power of a leShay. With 45 agility, the damned leShay¡¯s speed was insane. He appeared in front of Claudius in the blink of an eye.


    Facing the humongous crimson dragon, Mensal, who stood at 190cm, was a mere angry wasp in front of a towering human. He clenched his hands into fists and started hammering at the crimson dragon¡¯s head. Although his weapon looked small compared to the crimson dragon, it easily sliced through Claudius¡¯s scales as if they were paper¨C after all, it was a legendary +10 weapon. Claudius, with his relatively high agility, deflected the attacks with the side of his horns. When it collided with the dragon¡¯s horns, Mensal¡¯s sword slid and if he was a normal human, his bones would have shattered into a thousand pieces. Using the impact from the rebound, Mensal flipped himself onto Claudius¡¯s neck.


    The weapon had inflicted a deep groove into Claudius¡¯ horn. His horn was even stronger than gilded gold, but in spite of that, a part had been chipped off from Mensal¡¯s attack. The piece that was cut off, stood taller than a human and had a diameter of 50cm. Fortunately a dragon¡¯s horn doesn¡¯t have any nerves running through it, otherwise, Claudius¡¯s pain would¡¯ve been unbearable. Claudius didn¡¯t even care about the other four dragons. Their dragon spit had no effect on him whatsoever, with the exception of the silver dragon¡¯s ice-cold spit. If they were fighting close range, even with the silver, gold and bronze dragons, all three of them wouldn¡¯t even come close to the crimson dragon in terms of skill. Currently, the sum of their lengths barely equaled Claudius¡¯s. Fighting him would be the same as three kids attacking an adult. Their attacks could only do so much to him.


    For Claudius, Mensal was the most troublesome one. He struck Claudius like a saw would slice through wood. Each hit was so fast that Claudius¡¯s blood splattered everywhere. His strong scales couldn¡¯t do anything to stop the blades, instead, his skin and muscles made up for them. Claudius could reach Mensal with his claws but the leShay was so agile that he always dodged any attack. Although the spewing blood looked absolutely terrifying and painful¨C for Claudius, it was more like a small misshapen wound from a razor. Mensal would need to try much harder if he wanted to kill Claudius.


    Claudius¡¯s area of effects already made things difficult for Mensal¨C had it been any other crimson dragon, he wouldn¡¯t have as much trouble dealing with them. Claudius, on the other hand, had his spell-effectiveness-reduction-aura that disabled Mensal¡¯s unnatural strength. He had to rely on his own body to recover his lost energy. That¡¯s right. Under Claudius¡¯s skill, he lost energy far more quickly than in normal situations. He could easily go for the kill if it was any other dragon. Even a gold dragon couldn¡¯t withstand his barrage of attacks. Under Claudius¡¯s skill, Mensal had used the majority of his strength on destroying his scales and dodging his attacks. It was the first time Mensal started to gasp for air and sweat from the back of his head.


    Claudius then proceeded to light himself on fire. It looked like he was entirely covered in lava. He concentrated his own flames to one area, then released the pressure, creating a huge explosion from his body. The shockwave made the three dragons, who were trying their best to contribute something to the battle, fall backwards. Eliaza was hoping to see Claudius fall from the sky, preferably in chunks.


    Eliaza was guaranteed to be disappointed.


    The explosion caused Mensal to jump off the crimson dragon¡¯s back. He couldn¡¯t control the shockwave well enough. The heat from the explosion caused Mensal¡¯s armor to melt and his sword to bend. The explosion had severely damaged Mensal. After the dust from the explosion settled down a bit, Claudius emerged. Even though he looked quite miserable, his fighting spirit had been raised to a whole new level.


    ¡°Motherfucker! I don¡¯t even care about my life! I¡¯ll make sure you lot die today!¡± Most of Claudius¡¯ scales were broken. Underneath the broken scales, flaming blood gushed out like lava, making Claudius look like an active volcano. His ¡°Self Destruct¡± explosion had dealt more damage to himself than all of Mensal¡¯s attacks combined. His intimidating aura ballooned out even further.


    Claudius opened his mouth. The compressed air within his lungs was further compressed by his lung muscles before he shot it out. Mixed with flammable liquid, the air burned vigorously. Due to Claudius¡¯s skills, hot mist columns had begun to form and spread at an insane speed, causing the temperature to rise sharply. Not even Mensal could take on Claudius¡¯s abnormally intense, flaming spit head-on. Neither the Endless Depth nor the Nine Floors of Hell, where the intense heat from raging fires were well known, could compare to his flames. Only the fire elemental¡¯s realm could¡¯ve emulated the same sweltering heat. While the dragons and Mensal were busy dodging his attack, Claudius moved at a speed never seen before. In that moment, the air gave way around the crimson dragon as he swept through the sound waves. That¡¯s right, Claudius had broken the sound barrier.


    The resulting sonic boom swept across the land. The carriage horses that had been panicking were now dead. As for the carriages themselves, they had flipped over, completed crushed by the pressure. The bishops inside couldn¡¯t use magic to deflect the sound waves as they were all still inside of Claudius¡¯ spell nullification zone. The effects of the sonic boom were devastating. As the boom billowed out, the dust on the ground swept into a storm. The carriages exploded from the pressure. Despite wearing iron armor, the bishops and holy knights were thrown into the air like dried grass. Mensal couldn¡¯t even get close to Claudius under the effects of the sonic boom. His strength was limited, and unlike Claudius, he couldn¡¯t break the sound barrier. Without further ado, Claudius went straight for Eliaza. Judging from the silver dragon¡¯s scream, Claudius had only swept past her. But the resulting pressure from his movement completely tore apart her wing¡¯s patagium (skin that helps creatures glide). Given some time, she could easily heal the wound. Unfortunately, she could only helplessly fall, spiraling down to the ground like a spinning top. Even if her flying techniques were outstanding, the damage from Claudius¡¯s continuous waves of sonic booms, combined with having only one functional win, her balance was completely thrown off.


    The sky felt as if it had been torn apart. Rolling sonic booms were forming under Claudius¡¯ wings as he propelled himself forward. With his supersonic speed, everything in his wake became a death zone. Claudius began to slow down while simultaneously aiming for Eliaza.

 CH 110

    ¡­ K is so earnest. Also uhhhhhhhh the author is into some¡­ things¡­ mine innocent eyes have left the chat. And I still can¡¯t tell if Mensal is a dude, so it¡¯s anybody¡¯s guess- le Spicy Moop


    Even after decelerating, Claudio was still close to the speed of sound, so the shockwaves from his sprint were just as fatal as the blazing flames that enveloped his entire body. Cloaked in this deadly storm, he swooped close to the ground, burning through all the oxygen, causing the priest with a weak constitution to suffocate to death. His flame resistance magic managed to block the high-temperature incineration. Both the Golden Dragon and Bronze Dragon didn¡¯t dare to stop Claudius¡¯s onslaught. He crashed into them, their drastic difference in weight enough to shred them completely. Mensal, the legendary warrior, was struggling to even chase after Claudius. He wasn¡¯t able to break through the sound barrier, nor could he resist the high temperatures and high-pressure shockwaves, so he failed to keep up with the Crimson Dragon. As the Silver Dragon fell to the ground, she roared in pain, screaming because of her useless wing. Claudius rushed over to her.


    He decelerated again as he didn¡¯t want to turn Elisa into a messy pile of meat. The mother dragon had hurt him twice. How could he be so cheap to let her die an easy death? Ignoring her screams, Claudius wrapped his own wings around her to protect her, suffering  various injuries from their impact. He then proceeded to speed away with the broken silver dragon. Mensal stopped his chase, staring after the Crimson Dragon who¡¯d disappeared, then turned around to ask, ¡°Do any of you know the Crimson Dragon¡¯s lair?¡±


    The high-speed air flow filled Elisa¡¯s mouth. She never knew that supersonic flight was such a horrible thing. Her skin and scales were in pain from the lethal air drag. In some places, her scales had been violently ripped out from the friction of their speed. On top of that, Claudius, was still bleeding. His blood burned her skin, causing her even greater pain¨C enough to pass out. When the Silver Dragon woke up again, she was lying on the ground, but she couldn¡¯t see the sky. The hard stony floor was uneven, confirming her suspicions of them being in a cave. The light coming from the mouth of the cave streamed from behind her. Elisa whistled, her injuries were far from shallow, one of her wings was completely useless. It probably would take her several months to heal, not to mention the countless abrasions on her body. But this wasn¡¯t what she was worried about¨C the important thing was that she fell into the hands of the damned Crimson Dragon, Claudius!


    Then, she saw him. The mighty Crimson Dragon was beside her, standing there, looking on as she was assessing her injuries. He stood more than twenty meters tall, the blood from his wounds forming a burning stream on the ground, causing the temperature of the cave to have risen rapidly. Claudius was severely damaged from his fight and escapade. He could tell that many of his muscles had suffered severe lacerations. Many of his scales had been shattered, but it was all worth it. Claudius looked at the silver dragon Ilya Lhasa hatefully, his face breaking into a smug smirk, ¡°Now your damn chick is in my hands! Hahaha!¡± His rumbling laughter echoed around the cave, but the echoes gave way to her crisp voice, ¡°I will never give in to evil!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care if you yield or not! I just want to fuck over your mother!¡± the Crimson Dragon sneered while cleaning his wound with flames. He was relieved that the Silver Dragon¡¯s injuries made it impossible for her to escape, not to mention she probably wouldn¡¯t fly ever again. Even if she tried to run on her four feet, Elisa still wouldn¡¯t be very fast. Plus, Claudius was faster, and he had an advantage in strength and size. At this distance, there was no hope of fleeing for the silver dragon. ¡°Turn back into your humanoid form!¡± Crimson Dragon threatened, stepping stepped on her. ¡°I refuse!¡± Ilya Lhasa may be afraid of death, but she didn¡¯t want her demise to be worthless. She could tell the blade she¡¯d hidden had moved slightly. It was her only contact with Mensal¨C the leShay was trying to find her. Furthermore, she was embarrassed by what the Crimson Dragon had ordered her to do, so for the time being, Elisa decided to disobey his order.


    The wound on Claudius was almost coagulating. He shook his head, scratching it with his paw, before pulling out a bone spur, ¡°Ah that¡¯s better, this thing is like a thorn in your nails, it¡¯s better to get rid of it sooner than later.¡± This being a fragment of his own horn that Mensal had cut in battle. The fragment was still attached to the horn. As it had not fallen off, it made Claudius very uncomfortable. There was always high stakes whenever he did anything, so he didn¡¯t think too much of it. He casually dropped the shards from his horn into a small lava pond that his blood his pooled into, causing flames to temporarily shoot up. Claudius looked at the silver dragon with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.


    Claudius was an adult dragon. Around this age, male dragons have already entered their breeding period and were beginning to mature¡ªmuch later than female red dragons. Fortunately, when male dragons entered their Archaic period, they were also capable of reproduction, in other words: ¡°male happiness¡±. So inevitably, the Crimson Dragon had started to change in some cases. Generally speaking, male dragons could go into ruts. However, as Claudius¡¯s soul came from the earth, he was capable of going into rut anytime. It wasn¡¯t surprising then, that Claudius¡¯s resolve cracked from temptation.


    When women were captured, they often suffered a worse fate than their male counterparts. Elisa was about to experience this. She noticed Claudius¡¯s gaze had changed slightly. Before she could completely process what was going on, he fell on top of her, pinning down her forelimbs. Elisa was forced to the ground, her body twisted into a precarious position. Dragons usually mated in the doggy position, limited to a small number of other positions because of their bodies. The idea that something terrible was about to happen, dawned upon Elisa, and her heart dropped. So when her tail was forced aside, she immediately understood what Claudius wanted to do. Elisa screamed and cursed, struggling hard, even tossing her fear of death aside to resist him. It was futile.


    Claudius was so strong that she couldn¡¯t move at all, even so Elisa continued to strain against his hold. All in vain, as barely a moment had passed before she began to cry in agony because Claudius had succeeded¡­

 CH 111

    Contrary to popular belief, the dragon is not a reptile. They belong to the dragonian subclass of creatures with two openings for their reproductive systems. Dragons are warm-blooded animals. Therefore, a dragon¡¯s mating is similar to that of a mammal¡¯s. The process involves continuous movement, composed of various thrusts- unlike snakes, tortoises, lizards, and crocodiles, who simply insert and stay. Dragon mating happens at a much more unrelenting pace¡­


    So when the Silver Dragon, Ilya Lhasa was forced to the ground by Claudius¡¯s strength,  she could only passively endure his thrusts. The absolute gap in power made her resistance futile. In addition, a dragon¡¯s reproductive system is no different from that of a mammal¡¯s. They don¡¯t have a cloaca unlike birds or lizards. They also have two separate holes, and Claudius unintentionally inserts into the correct hole. This is the first time the Red Dragon has done anything of this kind in his entire life. His hormones were in complete control of this sad beast¡¯s brain. The brain of the original Red Dragon should was red hot magma. Now if Claudius opened his own skull, it would likely be described as a thick white liquid- of course it¡¯d be biologically incorrect! As the Red Dragon¡¯s liquid was red like¡­


    Like a burning iron rod ¨C that¡¯s what Ilya Lhasa felt. The silver dragon is an ice subspecies, whereas the Red Dragon is a subspecies of the inflammation, their origin is unknown. Claudius¡¯s lineage has essentially existed longer Ilya Lhasa¡¯s. To her, he is an object of hostility because, in her view, the Red Dragon is the source of all evil. However, she is currently being swayed by the very roots of evil. Even if dragons don¡¯t hold the concept of chastity that humans do, the extreme humiliation wrought from her situation physically and mentally traumatizes Ilya Lhasa, as silver dragons have coexisted with the elven and humane society, allowing them to understand ideas and concepts that were exchanged across species.


    In terms of age, Ilya Lhasa can be called Yujie (sister), as she is older than Claudius¨C it wouldn¡¯t be long before she would entersher prime. She is not a virgin, and still has yet to choose her own companion. In her daily life, there have been many times when she indulged¡­ after all, Feilun is a world holding mainly Western values¨C so they are open to this kind of behavior. It was no less common for the goddess, her daughter, a silver dragon, or an ordinary woman to have multiple companions. ¡°Ah, sure enough, this is really cool!¡± Claudius is much bigger than Ilya Lhasa, so he is careful with his movements¨C he can¡¯t kill the silver dragon in the midst of mating, as he wasn¡¯t a necrophiliac, or abnormally interested in corpses. ¡°I said that if you don¡¯t want to have an extremely embarrassing death, I personally suggest that you transform into a human. Hahahaha! At least we¡¯ll have a lot more positions to try out!¡± he mocked the silver dragon beneath him, while still moving.


    The silver dragon roars, low, in response. Although she was uttering ¡°no¡±s from her mouth, her body was honest¨C the difference in temperature between his hot iron rod and her cold chamber resulted in extreme pleasure. But the pain from her tissues tearing, reminded her to not indulge too much, lest she fall into indecency. Ilya Lhasa grinded her teeth, swinging her head to urge Claudius to pull out. He, however, refused, and continued to accelerate his movements. While the Silver Dragon groaned, Claudius completed the first ever launch from his¡­ dragon. The Silver Dragon was boneless, unable to move. From her torn lower body, flowed her cold blood, mixing with the burning red liquid from Claudius¡¯s wounds and his broken horn. The Red Dragon pushed the Silver Dragon forward, into the light emitting from a spell called Next, and Ilya Lhasa emerged as a tall, half-elf beauty. ¡°This isn¡¯t very appealing.¡± Claudius sneered, but didn¡¯t transform into his human figure, and instead grabbed the Silver Dragon, imprisoning her between his paws. With a spread of his wings he jumped into open air, blowing away half of the cave into the sky. The Red Dragon let out a roar, before flying towards Hell Island, leaving a burning trail in the sky.


    Hell Island currently stood on the high side of the volcano, allowing it to see the distant continent. The drifting islands will soon be connected to Feren¡¯s mainland in a little more than ten years. The volcano was named the Vesuvius by Minerva. While Claudius slept, Minerva had completely organized the entire city. She had established the Senate, with the centurion of the Dragon Tooth and the Centurion of the Mushroom Man as the first veterans, and Claudius elected to lifelong dictatorship without his knowing it. As an official, Minerva appointed herself to the office of public security as Chief of the Guard, as well as a consul, and of course as the Chief Veteran of the Senate. She holds the title of Emperato, with the Dragon Tooth soldiers calling her a chief veteran. Whether in the name of duty or fact, this female Dragon Tooth hero is the ruler of Rome¨C albeit not the supreme ruler. Currently, Minerva wore robes with a purple border with a laurel wreath, as she stood in the middle of the huge temple of the Red Dragon¨C one of her many responsibilities as Chief High Priest. Behind her is a line starting with the mushroom man holding a piece of parchment, the goblin, as well as a whole team of Dragon Tooth soldiers.


    Until now, the goblins have yet to raise their own heroes, thus their position in the Legion fell below the mushroom man with a heroic grapefruit. Albeit the mushroom people have no ambitions of this sort as they are simple farmers and workers. The goblins too, didn¡¯t think much either of their order in this hierarchy¨C not because they were simple, but because they were really chaotic. They were all kinds of impulsive, full of explosions, and no time to experiment for something better. Who else is still up for consideration? Heroes, and some others.


    The red dragon was flying towards Hell Island with the silver dragon held captive, when something magical occurred. In the collapsed cave, the pool of dragon blood began to boil, a mixture of the so-called dragon essence, blood, and broken horn. The liquid became a sort of detonating agent, the ice cold fog emitting from it suddenly disappearing, seeming to be sucked into the implosive puddle which was sinking into itself. And from the collapsing liquid jumped out a create with a mighty roar.


    It was a majestic centaur, of northern descent from Feren and other orc barbarians. However, this centaur is much stronger than its kin from the northern settlements, with its horse legs and huge horseshoes supporting a tall body. It¡¯s lower horse-body stood more than two meters tall, counting the human torso as well, the centaur stood well over three meters tall. The young and resolute face of the centaur was very different from that of the half-humanoid visages of beasts from the northern lands which were more beast than human. As soon as the centaur appeared, he was immediately cloaked in body armor, his scorpion already equipped, heavy scales wrapping around his humane torso, down to encase his equestrian legs. On top of his head sat a sort of crowned stable helmet. His large hands held a hefty sword-spear that was double-bladed, a golden light illuminating the fearsome weapon, and a half sword hun on his other side. On his back appeared a shield, saddled with a large bow made of twisted wires and a container for arrows. The hole from the pool of blood had become a war fortress of sorts, spitting out similarly armed centaurs, who lined up neatly into a formation, 100-men strong, with 60 fully armed centaurs.


    If the dwarf knew of the goods that were here, it would¡¯ve definitely screamed ¡°Mysterious Silver Scales! Fine Gold Weapons!¡± in excitement.


    The centaur army looked at the depleted blood pool behind them, before sprinting and smashing through the broken boulder placed at the front of the cave, choosing to continue in a certain direction, following in the Red Dragon¡¯s chosen flight path.

 CH 112

    Editor¡¯s Note: Oh the things I do for you people. Aiya ¨C moop


    The centaurs aren¡¯t all male, at least half of them are females. They had smaller bodies, with less obvious muscle lines, still very feminine, but they were hard like a terminator. They were more suited to close combat than their male counterparts, who were at least 2.5 meters tall. The centaurs were covered in Mithril fish scales, but they carried more slender weapons: a speargun and cavalry bow. Regardless of the centaur¡¯s gender, they were all mighty and majestic, galloping in a neat file.


    Claudius flew at breakneck speed with Ilya Lhasa in his claws. The silver dragon once again ¡°enjoyed¡± the high speed airflow except in her human form, thankfully she¡¯s suited to the high speed winds and low temperatures, being a silver dragon and all. Soon, Ilya Lhasa saw the distant coastline, and just beyond it, the gradually growing volcano that endlessly spewed smoke and fire. When the Red Dragon began to descend, the scenery that Ilya Lhasa saw greatly surprised her¨C there was a magnificent city built with gray-white volcanic rocks¡­


    Claudius didn¡¯t notice Ilya Lhasa¡¯s eyes change. It was a greedy look oozing from the bottom of her heart. It¡¯s easy to say that metal dragons, especially silver dragons and gold dragons, were extremely strong. However, they were also greedy dragons, rivalling the greed of the Red Dragon. When Ilya Lhasa saw the magnificent city that she had laid eyes on before, the greedy nature of the Mother Dragon and her innate businessman began to estimate how much money the city would potentially generate. Claudius hovered as he descended, aiming for the huge marble-paved square behind the magnificent temple.


    At this time, a whole team of dragon tooth soldiers and mushroom people had already lined up in the square waiting for the ruling assembly to land. Of course, Minerva is at the front. The female dragon tooth hero is fully armed, looking every bit like a goddess. The official next to her held a golden spear in his hand as he looked up to watch Claudius land. Before reaching the ground, he released a humanoid Ilya Lhasa. The two dragon soldiers stood to attention as Claudius commanded, ¡°Look!¡± Naturally, Ilya Lhasa could not return to her dragon form now. She understood that in this situation, Claudius allowing her to maintain a human appearance while at this distance was his definition of preferential treatment which stunk of materialism. If she were to transform back into a dragon, she would be shredded by the Red Dragon.


    Claudius¡¯s body began to shrink, until he stood 2 meters tall, in his lanky human form. He ordered the mushroom man standing to one side for a toga. The servant returned with robes made of precious fabrics, with a dark dragon design running across the white cloth¨C befitting of a beast. Ilya Lhasa stood a little ways from the procession, with her flowing silver hair. She was much more adept at transforming herself into the human, she could at least transform with a set of clothes for herself¨C unlike a very nude Claudius. Alas, Minerva, the def facto hostess of the roman-styled city, wouldn¡¯t allow it, ¡°Have her strip and help her change into something better.¡± She calmly walked to the sovereign, Claudius with a large roll of parchment. ¡°This is a policy report? No, I suddenly remember catching an enemy that I must deal with immediately!¡± Claudious looked terrified by the long sheepskin in Minderva¡¯s hand. While he was distracted, she pressed his hand to the end of the parchment to form a handprint. ¡°Right, use this instead.¡± Claudius smacked his hand against his hand, then proceeded to bend down and search for something on the floor before finding a piece of metal embedded in the crack of the marble floor. His hands turned red from heat as he began to soften and shape the metal piece.


    When a delicate ring began to take shape, ¡°Minerva, come. Extend your fingers.¡± The goddess of wisdom and war extended her finger.  She¡¯s a heroine of the dragon tooth unit, and as a soldier borne from the Red Dragon¡¯s blood, she was naturally immune to the flame. Minerva asked Claudius if she could keep the ring on her hand, and Claudius breathed a sigh of relief, ¡°okay Minerva, this is my gift for you, take it.¡± On her hand, the ring slowly morphs into a face and then into a likeness of Claudius¡¯s head in his red dragon form. Minerva can use the ring impression as a small official seal. ¡°The mark of the King¡¯s right hand¡­¡± The commander of the Dragon Tooth whispered, then she kneeled to the Red Dragon, bowing her head in reverence. The Red Dragon took the opportunity to flee quickly.


    The red dragon squatted and walked towards the dorms. The room was decorated with silk, gauze, and gold foil all over the furniture. It had a huge bed, the entire room smelling of scented wood. A beautiful silver-haired half-elf dressed in a thin, transparent robe sat on the ground to the side. Ilya Lhasa was clever, she knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to run away in her current situation¨C the roman city built in the Red Dragon¡¯s honor was completely shrouded in his horrible aura, it was futile to open a portal out of the realm or to penetrate the city from the outside. Such spells were rendered useless. Should the Silver Dragon attempt to fly away, well let¡¯s just say her wings weren¡¯t in the right condition, and even if they were, Claudius¡¯s terrifying speed¨C she understood escaping was an impossibility. Forget the idea. While reasoning this out, the Silver Dragon observed the city. The temple of the Red Dragon was bestowed with the highest status in the entirety of the city, save for the sacred volcanic road behind it. Ilya Lhasa looked on at the city below the huge platform¨C she could feel the red dragon¡¯s presence everywhere. The humanoid creatures that traveled through the never seen before, beautiful, and magnificent architecture, all fascinatingly held Claudius¡¯s aura. ¡°Wow, his family is really strong,¡± so she thought. She gazed on at the elite soldier of a kind she had never seen before, the woman completely dressed in armor made Ilya Lhasa feel timid. Even if she turned into a dragon, she wouldn¡¯t be able to hold a candle to the soldier.


    When she was forced to change her clothes, and then sent on the road to this room, while walking she saw the decorations in the temple¨C so much silver and gold only serving to feed the silver dragon¡¯s greed. She estimated the temple was worth far more than the little gold templer in her lair, and this structure was only one part of the Red Dragon¡¯s ¡°property.¡± Ilya Lhasa didn¡¯t know that everything was funded publicly, and that Claudius regarded none of the city as his. The Silver Dragon¡¯s sharp vision caught sight of a huge palace further away, with matching hot and cold pools along with garden squares. The golden lighting illuminating the palace from within was no less than the gold in the palace she currently resided in.


    ¡°This evil red dragon actually has so much wealth! He probably oppresses countless people!¡± So thought the Silver Dragon. Of course, her assumption evoked the sense of justice within her, only growing her desire to defeat Claudius. Her fight became even stronger, but she was helpless now. When the tall red-haired man with a red beard walked in, Ilya Lhasa could only clutch her arms slightly in fear. Claudius looked at Ilya Lazar unscrupulously. He touched his chin, ¡°Didn¡¯t you think there would be such a day? Dear Madame Dawn Light, really, you were played like a fool.¡± This land was terrible¡­¡­.

 CH 113

    Editor¡¯s Note: Yeah leave it up to me to procrastinate till the last minute. Here¡¯s your chap peeps. And uh just pray for my eyes man. Completely eye fucked by the machine translation, and then went under another round over the awful fantasies ¨C Moop


    While Claudius was looking at the form of Ilya Lhasa, his memories of the Earth people were once again revived¨Cof course, they were all basically video files ending in .avi, a lot of SiS. Documents and draft documents. The drooping toga robes helped to conceal Claudius¡¯s ugly body part which was very much stimulated by the memories. It¡¯s true that Claudius was completely different than any class of mankind. At the very least, he wasn¡¯t even in the class of ¡°male¡±¨C after all there were unrealistic demands on the length of the organ¡ª he only needed to appear cool enough.


    Ilya Lhasa returned the Red Dragon¡¯s gaze. She wasn¡¯t a young child. As a typical Western woman, she had enough experience in this respect. The Red Dragon in front of her eyes seemed to be preparing to vent his desire on her. He was. Perhaps she could resist until the very end? That was something that even the goddesses couldn¡¯t do¨C about how many years later before anyone believed the Goddess of Change.


    [Note: I have no clue what the author intended to say]


    But for now, the first to prove this would be Ilya Lhasa, the Silver Dragon known as the light of dawn. Now that Claudius feels Ilya Lhasa fully understands his straightforward intentions, he swiftyle strips the toga, swaying over to the Silver Dragon, ¡°Speaking of which, I think the human form is quite good for this kind of situation. There are a lot more positions to try out than if we were still in our dragon forms. Although it¡¯s not necessarily much better. But psychologically, I think the satisfaction is relatively good. What do you say? Just a little bit of fun if you don¡¯t want to die, or do you still want to sacrifice your life for a just cause? I¡¯m not evil you know, but you are¨C Ilya Lhasa, always Looking for trouble, I think you are chaotic and evil.¡±


    Even if Ilya Lhasa was in half-elf form, she was still a very powerful fighter in both magic and martial arts. But against the purely overwhelming Claudius, it would be barely enough. Claudius doesn¡¯t even need to consider the material suppression aura over the entire city, with just the magic resistance in his body is enough to block the silver dragon¡¯s magic. Note that the silver dragon, at the moment, is a quasi-legend and this wasn¡¯t just the result of some legendary spell. Ilya Lhasa¡¯s strength and combat skills  enable her to essentially become a combination of high-level warriors and Rangers. With the addition of her magic, she was a proper template for any legendary warrior, but it was all useless in front of Claudius.


    His looming power and agility were enough to suppress Ilya Lhasa, even so it was very simple to subdue the silver dragon without any resistance. Claudius easily turned the  silver dragon into a half-elf beauty. Naturally, now was the time to figure out how his male organ would perform. ¡°At least it can play as a qualified juice man! Yamagata Kenji and the teacher Dongni Damujielun have blessed me! Kato Eagle teacher, you are on the side Go!¡±


    [Note: I have no idea what that quote was]


    Ilya Lhasa¡¯s resistance was rather weak which only served to drive Claudius¡¯s interest. There were a lot of positions and movement required. Claudius wasn¡¯t plagued with any particular desires¡ªsuch as biting or sixty-nine, although his physique was super strong. But he didn¡¯t want to challenge whether or not he would be able to withstand her teeth should she choose to bite him, or how strong his little brother¡¯s ability was to regenerate. However, these thoughts did little to prevent him from admiring the difference between Ilya Lhasa and her half-elf organ.


    Her body was completely exposed under the bright sunlight, as Claudius pressed her into the ground, forcefully pushing her legs to her chest, putting her female organ on full display as he played with it in pleasure. To Ilya Lhasa¡¯s great shame, Claudius gleefully sneered, ¡°Your mouth isn¡¯t very honest, but this place is quite honest.¡± While thrusting, Claudius ridiculed Ilya Lhasa, what he said was not wrong¨C the Silver Dragon¡¯s feelings were changing. If she had been in dragon form, she wouldn¡¯t be like this, but unfortunately the half-elf form naturally fell into heat cycles year-round.


    In short, Claudius had continued through the day, and long into the night. It wasn¡¯t like the half-elf to be exhausted from a dragon¡¯s physique, but she was also forced into an excruciating position, and although she had resisted before, she responded well to receiving from behind. But of course, Claudius was careful to be reasonable, he didn¡¯t want to risk injuring his little brother.


    ¡°Have you recorded it?¡± The red dragon was lying on the cushion with his robes halfway done, next to Ilya Lhasa, who had been unable to show a lazy state and was now lying on one side. He asked this to the neatly dressed Minerva. It was the Chief Veteran¡¯s idea to use magical images to record Ilya Lhasa to use for threatening certain people. Even if the other person¡¯s skin was thick, it didn¡¯t matter. Minerva had the idea that the footage could be put to use for many other methods, a direct threat wasn¡¯t the only way of manipulation, nor was it the best.


    ¡°This could be more powerful than the Roman Empire. You must be bored in Dingdu Baras.¡±¡­ Claudius muttered in front of the magical crystal ball, of course Ilya Lhasa made an ugly expression. Minerva casually stuffed the crystal ball into her own pocket, casually kissing the almost naked Silver Dragon before turning away.


    ¡°What does she want to do with that?¡± Ilya Lhasa forced herself to ask in a half-sweet tone to the tyrannical Claudius. ¡°Oh, can¡¯t say it.¡± ¡°Come on now, I wouldn¡¯t know anyway.The only thing I know is that after your little nephew was caught by her, his days are probably even more miserable¡­¡± Claudius shrugged indifferently. ¡°I don¡¯t know if dragons can become pregnant in the human form. If that¡¯s the case, would the pregnant mother carry an egg of a baby? As for the birth of the fetus, is it a direct birth or birthing the egg? Or birthing the human form in the egg, or just as a young dragon? It¡¯s quite an academically interesting topic.¡± Claudius turned his to look at Ilha Lhasa¡¯s belly in a careless manner.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be miffed but you¡¯ve no chance.¡± Claudius was still a red dragon, and Ilya Lhasa, who showed her frustration on her brows said lazily, ¡°I don¡¯t think a red dragon can even mix with a silver dragon¨C after all, fire and the ice are completely different, aren¡¯t they?¡±


    Within the next moment, Claudius turned his hand and upon his palm appeared a collar attached to a long delicate chain. He nonchalantly wrapped the collar around the Silver Dragon¡¯s neck, slipping his hand down the chain to hold it delicately. It was more a piece of jewelry than a torture tool. The strange silver material was engraved with a number of gems, with the collar designed to imitate a snake wrapping around her throat. Sure there were gems bedazzling the entire length of the apparatus, but it couldn¡¯t hide the fact that this was a tool designed for torture.


    To say that the dragon was greedy, was more than true. Although Ilya Lhasa was being held captive, she couldn¡¯t care less about her indignance at the moment. Instead, she was fascinated by the collar. ¡°Are you ready?¡± The Silver Dragon could feel the complicated spell embedded in the piece¨C it was magic that could keep a dragon in constraints, keeping her in the half-elven form. A little fearful, Ilya Lhasa asked Claudius, ¡°Ah, hahaha, how is this possible? This thing was given to me by Minerva, eh? Where did the money for this come from? Wouldn¡¯t this be quite expensive? Oh, yes. This could be from public funds. After all, you are a prisoner in this city of Rome, a female slave. Feed me, Go!¡± Claudius twitched the chain causing it to pull her forward, swaying as it stretched taut.

 CH 114

    Editor Note: y¡¯all better be thankful, I literally cannot type any faster. Also I feel like we are slowly discovering more and more of the author¡¯s kinks and fetishes. Aiya ¨C Moop


    While Claudius held the high-spirited Ilya Lhasa captive in his city, on the mainland, the play called ¡°Blood Road¡± was being staged. The silver dragon in the exposed robes was forced to follow a dressed up Claudius in formal uniform, as the chain around her neck was held tightly in the hands of the red dragon. This would have been a hugely shameful experience, but perhaps dragons have a different sense of shame than humans? In short, Ilya Lhasa wasn¡¯t in enough shame to die, rather she was enraptured with viewing the city that belonged to Claudius.


    Although Ilya Lhasa wasn¡¯t that old in terms of her lifespan as a Silver Dragon with a strong sense of justice, she had visited places of martyrdom on more than a couple occasions over the years, all in foreign places. She had seen hellish places, and even heavenly ones, but the exaggerated grandiosity of the architecture in the city was beyond anything she had ever seen. The building was atmospheric and beyond beautiful, and it was just the main part of the entire city. The large Greco-Roman style architecture was even bigger in Feren in comparison to its counterpart on Earth, not just because she was in a humanoid form. She hated the evil red dragon even more. ¡°This is what committing sin yields, blackmailing and robbing of wealth¡­¡± Almost all of the building¡¯s facades were inlaid with gold and jewels. The gigantic colorful fountains and embellished sculptures were decorated with precious stones, gold, and secret silver to list a few. The estimated value of this property was beyond Ilya Lhasa¨C at this point, everything in front of her, altogether is worth more than she owned. Her legal property and assets combined wouldn¡¯t be enough to compare to just the precious metals and stones. If she threw in her magical props, weapons, and reels, then she felt a little more confident about competing with Claudius¡¯s wealth. Almost all building facades are inlaid with gold and jewels as decoration.


    What drew Ilya Lhasa¡¯s attention was that all the buildings were open to all the roman residents, completely public and nonprofit. The mother dragon was more concerned with estimating the cost of this expense. Most of the residents who came in and out of the structures were dragon tooth soldiers, mushroom people, etc., with only a small part composed by humans and other races. So Ilya Lhasa is lead to think that they are all servants to Claudius. In fact, it is the most open period in Rome. One could stay in the lower city without any formalities¨C as long as they could afford to rent a room. And whether it was in the upper or lower city, all public buildings were open to all citizens. So far, Minerva had yet to introduce any sort of citizenship law, thus for now all residents of the Roman city were considered citizens by default. The population of the city had only continued to grow as time progressed. The Upper Tooth soldiers and their families in Shangcheng District had more than 3,000 people, while the central goblin region along with the caves hosted more than 20,000 mushroom people. Of course, there are mainly human beings. Just counting the people who came from Feren¡¯s mainland for various reasons, the population of other races sums up to more than 20,000. And the Kobolds outside the city and as well as the ensuing amount of Ghosts weren¡¯t counted in the population census yet, along with the plundering race of Gnolls. Compared to Earth, Feren¡¯s Rome is performing quite well¨C after suffering under the horrible Longwei, and  after accidentally ¡°misunderstanding¡± the dragon tooth soldiers, the remaining jackals immediately became extremely well-behaved farmers and hunters. Minerva¡¯s decree said that there are people in the city of Rome who are arrogant, such as the wolves and the kobolds who wished to enter into their haven. She told them the sky was free. Minerva had even received loyalty contracts submitted by the so-called elders of the Gnomes, pleading to obtain the right of residents.


    Now Minerva had a new authority¨C in the past, her decree was simply autographed, but now it had been officiated by a very simple dragon seal ¡­.


    Claudius was now very happy. He pulled the silver dragon along with him as he wandered around. He had captured a slave for himself, and he enjoyed exploiting her. It looked like Ilya Lhasa had already come to accept this new way of life, barely resisting his impulse.s ¡°I wonder if Stockholm Syndrome might exist in this world.¡± Claudius thought. As for the silver dragon, he didn¡¯t want to kill her now. From the very beginning, he wanted to marry another, so he was reluctant about retaliating against Ilya Lhasa, not wanting to kill her. It can be said Claudius is a prime example of a fool who wilts after seeing the soft legs of beautiful women.


    The Dragon Blood Centaur were a brand new race among many of the numerous creations, mutations, crosses, crossings, natives, and invasive races of Ferren. Although they were similar in appearance to the Centaurs in northern Feren, they were actually innately different¨C in terms of size, strength, and supernatural powers. Ferren¡¯s native centaur, at least those who were mixed with the orcs, had always wanted to penetrate the defense of the North, to invade the warm southern peoples.With the  Dragon Blood Centaurs, they¡¯re a group who were as tall as a normal person from horseshoe to the top of their head. Much like a scorpion, their lower half was very strong. The centaurs could be regarded as outstanding light cavalry, slight stronger than their human counterparts. As for their magic resistance and magic, they were more like the orcs, possessing mainly shaman casting and druid spell-casting abilities.


    The Dragon Blood Centaur race was completely different. They were the size of Asian elephants found on Earth. They had the powerful capacity to completely crush humans. Their average strength shadows that of most Giant races, closer to the Titan races. Their agility was comparable to that of the Dark Elves. Their physiques imitated that  of dragons, and like their relatives, the Dragon Tooth Soldiers, they were born with an innate talent in the martial arts. They had a strong hierarchy imitating the military corps. Their magic resistance was a benefit received from the red dragon¡¯s blood, it was so powerful it could be called ¡°magic immunity.¡± They embody the full range of ground troops: heavy cavalry, light cavalry, gunmen, archers, saber cavalry, the entire spectrum¡­ The only thing they had in common with Ferren¡¯s centaurs was that they were also omnivores.


    The birth of the Dragon Blood Centaur included their armor and weapons, but they weren¡¯t able to find any sustainable provisions such as food, water, or money. Their nutrition requirements were by no means small, and since they didn¡¯t have money to buy sustenance, nor was begging a viable option for filling their stomachs, it was decided for them to go on a warpath. They would rob or collect fees for protection along their journey, and so they left a ¡°path of blood¡± in this way. The first village to be attacked was somewhere between the River Iss and the River Ajis. At this point, the Centaurs were hungry and thirsty. Thirsty they could easily resolve, as there were two rivers nearby, but their hunger couldn¡¯t be resolved by river water as the place was a desert. There weren¡¯t big prey around to hunt, so they could only resort to ransacking the unfortunate village.


    Before attacking, the Centaur sent messengers and scouts to ask the village to give alms. With just one or two individuals from their majestic centaur force, they may refuse by underestimating the force, but if their emissary group is too big, the villagers may feel compelled to refuse in defense. The villagers are willing to give, however they barely had enough supplies. The local landlord refuses to give any of his storage, and so the battle began.