Chapter 509: The Black Dragon

Luo De and the others entered Tally's shadow and exited the vault.

After stealthily moving for two or three minutes.

They reached the extreme edge of the safe zone behind the defense system, gazing at the dragon's furtive silhouette from afar.

Its deep black scales gleamed with an oily sheen, many patches rough and shattered.

Its face bore strange white markings, forming a natural skull pattern across its dragon head.

Fierce and menacing.

—— Not the red dragon Nas, owner of this vault, but Mikhail, the black dragon who had fought Luo De a few days ago.

"Mikhail."

Luo De couldn't help but find it amusing.

Just a few days ago, when he read its thoughts through 【Insight Demon Eye】, this creature had clearly admitted it couldn't beat the red dragon and dared not steal here.

Yet here it was, sneaking back so soon.

The halfling Lily also laughed.

But not at what Luo De found funny.

She laughed because she saw Mikhail stuck on the first magical trap—out of triumph.

"That 'Phase Shift Trap' rotates its 3D magical array every three minutes. If he keeps dawdling like this, he won't even get past the first trap by tomorrow."

Luo De looked ahead.

It was a magical trap made of floating rune crystals, with flowing Draconic runes on the ground, slowly oozing like lava.

Lily had explained each one to them when they arrived.

He remembered it was a spatial trap divided into countless independent phases—intruders were randomly teleported to different areas.

She didn't go into much detail.

After all, Lily had passed through it in one and a half minutes.

"After all, he's not Lily."

"Of course! Hehehehe—uh, Tally, isn't your shadow a bit too cramped?"

Hmm.

It really was.

This time, Tally had compressed the shadow space to its absolute limit.

The four of them were pressed tightly together with no room to spare.

Luo De stood at the center, directly facing the halfling Lily.

Even though she was tall for a halfling, she only reached up to Luo De's abdomen.

They had been standing face-to-face, but as the shadow space shrank, her cute little face was now pressed against his abs, her dark red breastplate squarely resting against his hips.

"Tally, what are you doing?"

"What? You said you wanted to be as stealthy as possible! Stealth means minimizing space and reducing spiritual fluctuations! Ask the halfling if you don't believe me!"

"I don't understand shadow magic, but from a mana principle standpoint, that's true—wow, Luo De, your abs are showing through your clothes!"

Lily was always blunt and clearly didn't mind the current situation.

Besides, the man in front of her was her favorite ally, Luo De—she felt no disgust or aversion at all.

In fact, being pressed against him somehow made her happy.

Tally immediately grinned mischievously.

She pressed against Luo De's side, her head and shoulders against his ribs.

Since today she was using her flat dark elf form, her chest pressing against his side offered no sensation at all.

Hmm? No—

She was slowly adjusting with a transformation spell.

Gradually, it began to feel just right—not too thin, not too thick.

Tally then claimed she was uncomfortable and placed Luo De's arm around her back, as if hugging him.

"Ahehehe—Master is hugging me~~"

"."

"Even if you are, you don't need to squeeze so tight—"

The banshee Krist was jammed behind Luo De, wailing.

She had turned solid to happily stomp on Jin Along, only to be dragged into the shadow.

Tally had warned her not to revert to ethereal form, saying her shifting caused too much fluctuation and might destabilize the shadow.

Seeing the black dragon had already terrified her witless—how could she disobey?

So she remained solid.

Unlike the two girls beside her, who had become flat thanks to magical gear and transformation spells.

Krist was a woman with real, substantial curves.

Add to that her mature body type—though not as extreme as the ghoul Pan Ni's impossible proportions, she was definitely fuller than Vivian or Xiao Ke's girlhood figures.

With her pressing and wriggling from behind,

Luo De felt even the slightest urge and immediately held it back, letting his mind drift far away, trying to forcibly ignore it.

Come on.

But Tally seemed to be glancing around, sensing something, and gave Luo De a smug grin: "I'll help you."

Then she turned to the banshee Krist and said:

"Hey, stupid undead, you said Master always takes the wrong path, right? Now he's stuck, can't move for fear of exposure, and has left his back completely defenseless to you—don't you think the roles have reversed?"

Krist froze.

Then she instantly understood, revealing a wicked chuckle.

"Ohoho, Master, Master, never thought you'd have a day like this!"

". Have you thought about what happens after this, Krist?" Luo De warned wearily.

"So what? I'm already dead, my life's trash—I hold grudges and I settle them~~ Let you taste my flavor too, Master~~"

Saying this,

she chuckled, reaching into Luo De's pants.

"Hey! Can't you do this somewhere else?! I'm right here!"

Lily couldn't take it anymore.

Even her bluntness couldn't ignore what these two evil creatures were about to do.

Krist, having given up all restraint, panted heavily, her eyes glazed with the thrill of revenge.

Dazed, she grinned like a fool:

"Little Lily, don't be fooled by this guy's decent appearance—he loves messing around in weird places. Once, when we wiped out ratmen, he and this succubus suddenly locked themselves in and did it right on top of the enemy corpses, gutted and disemboweled."

"."

You're lying, aren't you, you bitch.

But Lily didn't react—she quietly glanced up at Luo De, his face dark with exasperation.

She laughed:

"I know. Back in the open labyrinth, when I went with him to rescue that dragon soul targeted by Bahadur Magic Academy students—he went off alone for a while. He thought I didn't notice, but when the time dragged on too long, I got worried and peeked. I saw him forcing that dragon soul to watch him and Miss Tally doing it, saying it was 'teaching.'"

"."

Then,

Lily stopped laughing.

Luo De stopped drifting.

The halfling girl froze, her smile stiffening.

She looked down at her chest, then at Luo De.

Then, a blush crept visibly up her cute face.

"Hey! Luo De! We're friends!!"

"Why don't you look at what the banshee's doing?"

"Krist!"

Seeing the scene spiral into chaos,

Luo De ended the farce himself.

He punched each of the two women on the head—they instantly calmed and snapped back to sense.

The shadow space expanded.

Krist dropped to her knees, bowing her forehead against Luo De's shoe, begging forgiveness.

Lily adjusted her crooked leather breastplate, then punched Luo De's abdomen—only to freeze, stunned, as her tiny fist met his abs.

Tally leaned over and winked at him, as if asking, "Did I do well?"

Luo De didn't bother replying.

He turned his gaze back to Mikhail.

Mikhail had made good progress—he had bypassed the "Phase Shift Trap" and the "Dragon Aura Intimidation Trap," and now stood before the "Elemental Hell Trap."

Luo De shook his head.

"This guy's moving too slowly—he doesn't seem serious about stealing treasure."

Lily also regained her composure: "He was summoned by the Lord of Hellfire; he should be unable to escape easily, and he's no match for the Red Dragon—would he really risk openly breaking ties? Probably not."

As they spoke,

the two saw the Black Dragon stop dealing with the traps and instead pull a magical scroll from between the scales beneath its ribs.

Then it slowly exhaled a stream of strong acid, pouring it into the glowing magical array within the scroll.

Luo De frowned: "What's he doing?"

Lily couldn't help laughing: "He's setting up an acid trap—apparently trying to hide it within the Red Dragon's own magical traps. Looks like I was wrong—or maybe something's happened. The two Great Dragons in Coral Bay have been at odds so long, their feud has now come out into the open. Two male dragons in the same territory? Conflict was inevitable."

The Red Dragon's fighting style has always favored direct, frontal assaults.

This makes its combat power among the strongest of the five-colored dragons of comparable size.

This is evident from its wildly violent fire breath.

The Black Dragon is different.

It excels at ambushes and uses the corrosive nature of its acid to weaken opponents.

Due to its cunning and treacherous nature, it prefers psychological warfare—using fear and despair to shatter enemy willpower.

This too is evident in its acid breath, whose power lies primarily in corrosion.

"That does fit his dragon archetype."

Luo De chuckled along.

But since it had already laid traps, the Black Dragon would inevitably target the treasury—only a matter of timing.

Every one of the five-colored dragons is nothing but greedy and evil.

"Given this terrain, dragon breath would be too destructive. I suggest we wait until he succeeds, then follow right behind him and sweep up the treasure."

Lily offered the safer suggestion.

Even Krist, who was kneeling below, sighed in relief.

No fighting!

She floated up with a flattering smile and lightly punched Luo De's shoulder with a clenched fist.

But when she saw her master's expression, her heart sank.

—Luo De was lost in thought.

In this situation, hearing such advice and falling into deep thought?

Krist understood perfectly.

This was pure, textbook reverse psychology!

"U-um, Master… what are you thinking?"

She swallowed hard, asking with difficulty and disbelief.

Luo De ignored her.

He turned to Lily:

"If I used a disguise field to make my White Dragon Soul appear as a real White Dragon, could this Black Dragon, Mikhail, see through it?"

(End of Chapter)