Chapter 117

"Lord Pono, I need your fleet. Name your price."

"Sakavi, we’ve known each other a long time. I won’t beat around the bush today—no power in the Crimson Moon Plane wants anything to do with you, and I won’t be the first to break that rule."

"I’ve always believed this is simply a matter of insufficient payment. State your price. The Sea Elves stand to gain nothing from this feast so far."

"Perhaps you’re right, but you can’t even pay your troops’ wages now—what do you have left to offer me?"

"What if I help you reclaim Tide’s Lament? That sword belongs to your Wave-Seeker clan—it should return to your hands, shouldn’t it?"

"What are you transporting?"

"Twenty thousand troops. Take them to a bay somewhere on the Shattered Stone Continent. I’ll send someone with the exact location. Don’t tell a soul."

"No problem—but you must hand me that sword first."

"I’m sorry, but I don’t have the sword on me. But I know where it is. I’ll reclaim it soon. I just can’t spare the manpower right now. You know my word is good."

…………

"Molax, something’s wrong here. I sense an unusual presence—someone may have arrived before us."

Vex’s words instantly made the air tense. The unknown meant danger. If someone had reached this bay ahead of them, and the merfolk here still maintained order, it could only mean a trap—and that would be disastrous.

"Irogr, calm down. Swallow your fire breath. We arrived unseen. No one could have set a trap for us."

"Enough talk. Let me go check. Wait outside—" Before he finished, the hot-tempered red dragon had already flown off.

"Roar~ Roar! You filthy worms inside, listen up! Irogr the Great has come! Come out now, or you’ll regret ever being born!"

In response came a shadowy spear laced with ominous energy. This act enraged the red dragon completely. White smoke streaked with sparks erupted from his nostrils, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

"Despicable little vermin—you’ve made me furious!" The red dragon let out a deafening roar, a shockwave of destruction that made the entire cliff tremble.

The cave entrance seemed to come alive. The dark whispers surged, coalescing into an invisible sonic wave that slammed head-on against the dragon’s aura of dominance.

The red dragon sneered. He would end this farce. He thrust his head upward, jaws gaping wide, a sunlike point glowing deep in his throat.

The air ignited, twisted, and ionized with a piercing shriek. The light intensified, shifting from blazing orange-white to pure, annihilating blue-white.

The breath surged forth like an angry fire serpent, striking the cave mouth. Where it passed, rock instantly melted into lava, vaporizing into greenish smoke. Even the air itself burned, screaming in agony.

Yet the priest inside showed no sign of harm. He wore a tattered robe stitched from sea monster hide and pickled human skin, painted with crimson ink in twisted tentacles and eyeless orbs.

In his withered hand he gripped a staff forged from whalebone and sunken ship timber, its tip set with a cloudy, slowly pulsing yellow gem. His face was covered in strange tattoos, yet his eyes burned with a fanatical, inhuman devotion.

"Arrogant dragon, you have angered a god you should never have provoked. You have disturbed the great Celerus. If you willingly become my lord’s slave, you still have a chance to live. This is your final opportunity."

"Ha? Are you senile? Then I’ll send you to meet your master—let him see how loyal you truly are! Hahaha!"

A black torrent of energy struck the red dragon squarely on the chest. No explosion. No fire. The energy, like the deadliest acid, corroded his prized ruby scales.

The moment the black energy touched his scales, they instantly dulled, turned gray and brittle, then crumbled like weathered sandstone, revealing raw, bloody wounds beneath. Clearly, the priest hadn’t been idle chitchat.

Overwhelming pain and unprecedented corruption drove the red dragon into a roar of agony. He lost his balance, his massive body tumbling from the cliff into the bay below.

On the sea’s surface, the red dragon thrashed his head, trying to shake off the whispers and hallucinations in his mind. Then, a figure rose from the cliff’s smoke.

"Did you feel it, worm?" Kragos’s voice was no longer hoarse—it layered into eerie, overlapping tones. "This is a sacrifice. You used your power to sacrifice my god. Now, it’s your turn to be the offering!"

A shadow flashed before the priest. A dark energy shield flared to life, clashing with the dragon’s claws with a grating, teeth-on-edge screech.

"You’re cautious, aren’t you, worm? That blow didn’t kill you. But next time, you won’t be so lucky."

"By my lord’s name—Spear of Salt Crystal!"

From the gem atop his staff, a dark beam shot forth. The moisture in the air instantly dried and crystallized, forming a three-meter-long spear glinting with icy light. He swung forward—the spear shot like an arrow, piercing the air with a shrill whistle, aimed straight at the dragon’s eye.

The dragon reacted instantly, rolling midair and shielding his head with his wings. The Salt Crystal Spear pierced deep into the base of his wing membrane.

This was no mere physical wound. The corrosive force spread rapidly along the wound. Where dragon blood flowed, scales fell away, flesh necrotized instantly.

"Embrace of the Sea Beast!"

The sea beneath the dragon boiled. Countless black, viscous tentacles erupted from the water, weaving into a vast net that coiled like living things around his limbs.

The dragon, like a giant trapped in a spider’s web, blasted small bursts of dragonfire and slashed with his claws, trying to break free from the endless tide of tentacles.

Kragos, like an evil puppeteer, hovered at a safe distance, chanting incantations, summoning more decaying power from the abyss.

Salt Crystal arrows rained down on the dragon’s wounds. Black energy orbs continuously eroded his scales. Even corrupted sea bird corpses fell from the sky, crashing onto his back and bursting into foul, pus-filled clouds.

As the priest focused entirely on the dragon, his chest was suddenly torn open by massive claws. Watching his shattered organs spill out, the madness in his eyes faded, replaced by terror of death.

"What? Didn’t you love your god so much? Why hesitate to join his realm now? I was only testing your worth. Did you really think these pathetic spells could defeat me?"

"Irogr, come quick! There’s so much treasure here! If you’re late, it’ll be gone!" At the word "treasure," the wounded dragon abandoned the priest and dashed straight for the cave entrance.

"Where’s the treasure? Since I defeated this stinking worm, I get more than half!"

"Irogr, you can’t take anything. This is the Duke’s treasure. No one moves it until he decides. Of course, you could choose to kill me here with Vex—but you’d better spend all the gold before Sakavi’s assassins find you."

"Ha? Are you threatening me?" The red dragon smashed the stone table before him, then shoved a purple jade wine cup into his mouth and strode out, silent protest in every step.

…………

"Report, Marshal! We’ve spotted three dragons in the Mu River—they’re electrocuting fish!" A jackal-man with a triangular flag on his back panted out the report, his mangled ears telling of his ordeal.

"Huh? How can there be dragons here? Did you see clearly? What did those three dragons look like?"

"Report, Marshal! Clear as day—one red, one silver, one blue. They’ve blocked our path to Stonekeep."

"Set up camp here. Loggeno, come with me. Let’s meet these dragons. I think I know them."

…………

"Shalut, bring your troops with us. The Buta Valley is tricky—we three dragons can’t take it. You and your men come too. And bring that demon monkey beside you."

"Sorry, my men answer only to the Duke. Without his order, you can’t command them."

"So you’re refusing us face? You probably don’t want to leave here alive!" Irogr, roasting graystone scalefish, threatened with a puff of white smoke.

Graystone scalefish are common river fish, seven meters long, slender and spindle-shaped like giant sturgeon but more muscular. But here, tainted by the abyss, their taste is truly abysmal.

"Just keep roasting your fish, Shalut. As one of the Duke’s top decision-makers, don’t I have the authority to command you and your troops?"

"Er… that requires approval, Lord Molax. The Duke dislikes others making decisions for him."

"Fine. From now on, you’re relieved of your post as Marshal. When you’re reinstated? That’s up to your Duke. I have the right to do this."

"But this army has marched nonstop for three months. We can’t fight further—we must rest, or the soldiers will be corrupted by the abyss."

"I’ve already set up an array in Stonekeep. There’s food stored there—some for countless years. Your men can rest there. Do you have any other objections?"

"I… I have none. I’ll follow your orders." Shalut slumped, defeated, like a general who’d lost his battle.