Chapter 59: The Dragon King is Here, the Dragon Dies Here

After a night of rest and recuperation, the red dragon stepped out of his bedchamber the following day.

This was his first time leaving the bedchamber since he was injured.

When a tree falls, the monkeys scatter.

The guards who used to line the corridors were nowhere to be seen, and no servants came forth to welcome him.

Gohilbert felt no great emotional ripple at this.

They were merely reptilian beasts seized at random. Even among those who had truly submitted, doubts would inevitably creep in upon seeing him vanish without a trace for several days.

If the old king dies and a new king ascends, the former ministers rarely meet a good end.

Gohilbert understood these weaklings and their calculations for survival.

Once he dealt with Lynd and his companions this time, he had no intention of continuing to lord over this mountainous territory.

The valuable resources beneficial to him had been nearly squeezed dry, and the dragon orb he had vaguely sensed had inexplicably lost its responsiveness.

It was as if it had been hidden away in some special place, vanishing completely without a trace.

Remaining here any longer was meaningless; moving to another place to continue exploiting resources was a much better choice.

With that mysterious giant sword highly compatible with the dragon race, even while remaining at the sixth tier, he would be able to cross blows with higher-tier dragons.

Along the way, he could also explore the ruins and figure out what had happened in this new continent in the past.

Thanks to human influence, the red dragon had even begun to take an interest in history.

By learning the strengths of humans to compensate for his own shortcomings, he might well become the ultimate biological lifeform surpassing dragons.

However, the prerequisite for all this was to fight Lynd once more and resolve the knot in his heart.

To have his seemingly certain tier breakthrough interrupted by this sudden variable—it was impossible not to be furious.

Before he knew it, Gohilbert subconsciously walked to the location of the former treasury.

The spots where various rare treasures and curiosities used to be displayed were now starkly empty.

The shelves had been knocked to the ground, leaving a chaotic mess in their wake.

Yet amidst this disorder, two lizard-dragons—one green, one purple—were still rummaging through the debris.

"Little Green? Little Purple?" Gohilbert asked suspiciously.

These two fellows were his guards, though he never bothered to remember their names, simply addressing them by their colors.

The bodies of the two foraging lizard-dragons stiffened instantly. Slowly, they turned around to face the red dragon.

"Great King, you're not dead?"

The younger green lizard-dragon blurted out.

Without a word, his older purple lizard-dragon shoved his younger brother's head down until it pressed against the ground, and cried out loudly:

"The Great King is blessed with immense fortune and has survived this ordeal; your strength will surely reach even greater heights!"

The red dragon glanced down at the pair, overlooking their petty pilfering, and asked only the question he cared about most:

"That day, in which direction did Lynd flee?"

"Reporting to the Great King, it was to the east."

The red dragon grunted, vibrated his dragon wings, and flew directly out through the large hole left in the dome last time, rushing toward the east.

Meanwhile, the two lizard-dragons left behind stood stunned for a moment before the older brother angrily cuffed the younger one's head.

"Pig brains, speak less from now on. Quickly gather up whatever powder and fragments are left on the ground here, along with the things we moved earlier, and save them to pledge our loyalty to the king later."

"Which king? The red dragon king or the human king?" the younger one asked, rubbing his head.

"Whoever wins is the king, you fool."

***

Heavy clouds in the sky blocked the sun, preventing its rays from shining upon the earth.

Today was not good weather.

The moment the red dragon burst out of the palace, a butterfly gently fluttered its wings.

A butterfly-dragon of the same kin as Shirona used the techniques she had learned over the past few days to press the keys made of yellow prisms on a simple telegraph in rapid succession.

The vibrations caused by the same frequency triggered the nearest redstone mechanism, and through mixed-line connections, redstone repeaters transmitted the message to the next base station.

In just a few moments, the base of the Anti-Red Dragon Alliance where Lynd resided received the news.

Shirona watched the redstone dust dance across the paper, rapidly forming decipherable text.

"The red dragon has left the palace."

Lynd crossed his hands, resting them against his nose, and issued his command:

"Begin operations immediately.

The anti-air guidance assault team, under the command of the wyvern chieftain, shall hold their positions for now. Make sure to wait until the red dragon enters range before activating the powered instant-explode TNT minecart group to launch the first wave of attack."

"Understood!"

"Burrowing Dragon Chieftain, you are to take a butterfly-dragon skilled in telegraph technology and head to the bomb shelter, awaiting further instructions. Ensure that all earth dragons wear white robes, ready to burst out from underground at any moment."

"Understood!"

"Victoria, after the first wave of anti-air assault concludes, you will act as the vanguard to meet the red dragon in battle. You need only delay and entangle him; do not engage in a head-on collision under any circumstances."

"Got it, got it. My ears are growing calluses from hearing that."

The young dragon tied the red cloak Lynd had made for her around her neck, making her look quite like a little general brimming with heroic spirit.

"Do not forget the spell I taught you. If it doesn't work the first time, use it a few more times."

"Hehe, I trust you one hundred percent."

Victoria winked playfully at Lynd; this was a little secret between the two of them.

It would surely catch the red dragon completely off-guard at a critical moment.

"The battlefield situation changes in the blink of an eye. Shirona, you are the vice-commander. In my absence, you may make your own decisions."

"Understood."

The butterfly-dragon nodded firmly at him.

Lynd clenched his fists, glanced around at the dragons gathered nearby, and spoke:

"Now, it is time to invite the dragon into the urn."

***

Very strange.

Such was Gohilbert's sensation.

The forest was eerily quiet.

Looking down from mid-air, not a single dragon could be seen.

As he flew further east, the silence was broken.

Replaced instead by the hoarse and desolate cries of crows, one after another chaining together into a harsh, grating din.

He did not fear this group of weaklings swarming him all at once.

No matter how many ants there were, they could never shake a great tree.

Yet this unsettling atmosphere made the red dragon feel somewhat uncomfortable.

That fellow Lynd...

What on earth had he been doing while he was recovering?

Did he think that uniting a group of worthless, weak dragons would grant him a few more points of winning odds?

This was nothing more than a manifestation of showing cowardice, Gohilbert thought to himself.

The cawing of the crows irritated him; it felt as though they were all chanting predictions of his downfall.

"ROAR!!!"

The red dragon let out a deafening dragon roar.

The annoying bird cries abruptly ceased.

Gohilbert halted high in the sky and bellowed:

"Where is the human king?! Are you going to cower like a turtle? Do you dare come out and fight me!"

He had not expected to receive a response from his adversary.

However, the moment the red dragon finished shouting, the sky suddenly changed.

The firmament, previously obscured by dark clouds, suddenly parted to reveal a circular patch where sunlight streamed down, illuminating a solitary mountain peak.

And between the sky and the peak, a rosy glow materialized out of nothingness, forming three striking characters in the crimson mist:

"Dragon-Death Mountain"

Upon seeing this, the red dragon Gohilbert laughed out of sheer fury.

"Good, good, good! What unbridled arrogance!"

"I want to see just how much real skill you lot actually have!"

He flew straight toward the mountain where his challengers awaited.

He would make them understand that these deceptive ghostly tricks could no longer frighten him.