Chapter 510: Disguise and Cooperation

The halfling girl blinked in surprise. "Battle spirit? Isn't that something Land Naga use?"

Lily had never seen Luo De use his battle spirit, so she wasn't familiar with it.

Luo De decided to demonstrate it directly.

But the shadows offered limited space.

So he only summoned the smaller Astral Ambusher battle spirit.

As blue-white mist drifted, a shadowy Astral Ambusher flashed behind him—pitch-black, muscles coiled, arms thicker than his waist.

Then he activated the Concealment Domain's domain power to wrap around it.

The shadowy form grew solid, real.

"Oh!"

Lily's eyes lit up. "So cool!"

Krist frowned, expressing a different aesthetic: "Cool? What's cool about this bald guy's muscle lumps?"

She finished speaking.

Then she gripped Luo De's shoulder tightly, pleading: "Please stop playing, Master? Just follow Lily's suggestion—wait for him to leave first!"

The halfling girl's personality always leaned more toward boys', and she didn't care much about aesthetic comments.

She turned to Luo De, puzzled: "I thought battle spirits arose from the Land Naga's unique spiritual mechanics. Humans shouldn't be able to summon them at all!"

"I don't understand it either."

Luo De spread his hands.

It's not that he didn't want to teach.

This ability is a shared skill.

Like the 【Second Heart】, he simply couldn't teach it.

"Maybe it's a personal physique issue. The battle spirit's even cooler than I imagined—I want one too. Luo De, can I study it later?"

"Of course."

Seeing his immediate, unhesitating agreement, Lily's face bloomed into a radiant smile.

Then she immediately returned to the topic:

"The battle spirit combined with the Concealment Domain might look similar, but it only affects the user. A massive creature landing on the ground affects its surroundings—wind direction, ground vibrations from its weight, breath, and so on—the Concealment Domain can't compensate for any of that."

Though she didn't know what Luo De intended, she still voiced her opinion.

"Hmm… you're right."

"I know an ancient spell called 【Phantom Dragon】, which creates a colossal phantom dragon indistinguishable from a real one—its appearance, movements, even its breath and tail sweeps cause real damage. If we combine it with this, it'd be perfect. Unfortunately, I don't know the spell."

Lily apologized.

Hearing this, Luo De smiled: "No problem. I know an elf mage—any spell you don't know, she'll have it."

"Kalist?"

She said it.

Luo De cast a 【Chain of Far Speech】, pulling both Kalist and Lily into it.

He directly asked about the spell's details.

The learned elf maiden didn't disappoint—she recited the spell's core principles and intricate mechanics as if no thought were needed.

This stunned Lily.

Then she learned the spell in five minutes.

Luo De: "?"

This was nearly an eighth-rank spell. Luo De felt his head spin just listening.

You two

How are other mages supposed to survive?

Fortunately, the Black Dragon Mikhail wasn't satisfied with just one trap—he was busy setting up more, buying them time.

Luo De didn't immediately summon his battle spirit.

He simply used the Concealment Domain to blur his appearance into an ordinary man.

Stepping out of the shadows,

He strode confidently across the hard stone floor, making no effort to muffle his footsteps.

Tap-tap—tap-tap—

He was so brazen that even Mikhail, engrossed in crafting acid traps ahead, didn't notice at first.

Luo De felt slightly awkward.

He could only cough twice softly, through the eighteen Dragon Puppets.

Mikhail snapped his head up, his slit pupils flashing with wariness and shock.

He stared at the human emerging from Nasjin's vault, instinctively gathering his acid breath.

He planned to blast the man dead without hesitation.

As for Nasjin's later questions—

He'd simply claim the man had sneaked into the vault to ambush, that he'd spotted him by accident, and that out of concern for Nasjin's safety, he'd been forced to break into the forbidden chamber.

Though this excuse had many flaws, he had no other choice.

Luo De naturally noticed the dragon's movements and cursed inwardly.

Then he calmly and coldly said: "Before you act against me, consider your own position."

As he spoke,

The ground erupted in a massive burst of frost under the effect of 【Yudian's Ice Blade Domain】.

The air froze instantly; temperature plummeted.

The ancient White Dragon's battle spirit and the Concealment Domain were activated together.

Lily, hidden in the shadows, simultaneously cast 【Phantom Dragon】.

With a thunderous boom, the ground trembled; tiny ice crystals condensed from the air, floating like stars.

A colossal white dragon, mountainous in size, emerged into the open—each scale carved from ice, refracting blindingly cold light.

The airflow within the lair shifted violently.

Its cold, profound eyes radiated solemn authority; its overwhelming dragon aura pressed against Mikhail like a physical force.

"White Dragon?!"

Mikhail stared, dumbfounded, terrified by the sheer size of the white dragon before him.

Dragons live by size.

Bigger is better, better is bigger—that's their eternal truth.

Facing a white dragon larger than himself,

Mikhail, who disliked direct combat anyway, couldn't possibly muster the will to attack.

If he couldn't defeat it, Nasjin would know. If he could defeat it—

He definitely couldn't defeat it! Attacking meant making an enemy of another white dragon.

And Nasjin might not even believe his story!

Then he'd face two dragons at once!

Mikhail's tail nervously thrashed the ground.

Impossible!

Luo De sensed his hesitation.

He immediately pressed the advantage.

He deliberately infused his voice with draconic authority and activated the Concealment Domain's derivative skill, 【True Deception】:

"Do you also have a grudge against Nasjin?"

Mikhail's slit pupils narrowed slightly.

He'd noticed the word "also"—his cunning nature instantly seized the thread of a solution.

"What do you mean?"

Luo De ignored him, swiftly retracting his battle spirit.

He revealed his human form again.

"I prefer speaking in this body."

Among dragons, there are masters of transformation magic.

Some dragons who enjoy learning even take human form to live and study in cities.

It's not uncommon.

But most are too proud to do so.

Besides, shrinking into a human form means losing dragon powers and breath—something they find equally unacceptable.

Mikhail narrowed his eyes.

"What trick did you use to bypass these defenses without a trace?"

"Do you think Nasjin's Zhetaowanyi came from where? I could walk in blindfolded, unharmed."

Luo De sneered. "And you, Black Dragon—I noticed you setting traps. Don't tell me you're helping Nasjin reinforce his defenses."

His words dripped with threat.

As if a single wrong word would spark a fight.

"Of course not—the red dragon Nas hoarded my payment, and I'm looking to settle accounts with him!"

Mikhail lifted his head and exhaled two furious streams of breath.

"Hmph! Then leave this place! Don't interfere with me! I've uncovered a fatal weakness in Nas—and I'll settle that old grudge!"

Luo De said coldly.

He didn't invite outright; instead, he played hard to get.

A fatal weakness? Naturally, it was pure fabrication.

As expected.

The black dragon Mikhail was swayed.

He let out a low, rumbling growl.

He gave little thought to the possibility that the other was lying.

After all, the white dragon, as the disgrace of the chromatic dragons, was notoriously deficient in intelligence—hardly capable of complex schemes.

But his grudge-holding ability was no weaker than the black dragon's; waiting centuries for revenge was no problem at all.

Given Nas's arrogant, pompous nature, it was impossible he hadn't offended every dragon alive.

"Cooperate."

Mikhail spat out two words.

"You know Nas's weakness, and I'm still technically on his side."

"No, no need! I can tear him apart myself!"

Here, Luo De was forced to show the white dragon's recklessness.

Mikhail clearly knew this—he sneered inwardly, calling the fool an idiot.

He began his more patient persuasion.

He argued the odds of injury, the advantage of two-on-one, the aid of dark elf sorcerers, and how using Luo De as bait could lure Nas away.

Luo De feigned silence for a moment.

"If you try to trick me—"

"I swear by the Dragon God's name," Mikhail interrupted, fearing refusal, adding hastily: "I only want back my share from the treasury."

Of course.

He coveted every last item in the treasury.

But for now, Nas was the greatest threat—this idiot dragon had allied himself with Natali, a woman bearing Lilith's bloodline.

Besides,

the white dragon was ill-suited to this climate; they only dwelled in extreme cold.

Once this job was done, he'd surely leave.

Then all this Twilight Hills would be mine!

Mikhail, oh Mikhail, you truly are a dragon of foresight and cunning—hahaha—

"Excellent. Let's give that arrogant red dragon a lesson he won't forget—if he can even remember it in his next life."

Luo De cackled.

An agreement was reached.

As for splitting the treasury's gold with the black dragon?

Gold meant nothing—what mattered was openly provoking a conflict between two dragons. That sum was trivial.

Besides, Mikhail, fearing Luo De would refuse, had demanded only five hundred thousand Jin Along.

Not long after,

the two finalized their plan.

Mikhail would spread rumors that a white dragon had been spotted in the area, drawing attention to Luo De; then he'd arrange a meeting with Nas to jointly eliminate him; finally, he'd strike from behind, ambushing Nas and turning the tables.

Clearly, he hated him deeply.

When speaking of ambushing Nas, Mikhail muttered several lines like "You didn't expect this, did you? I'm the mole," or "Sorry, you started it"—clearly rehearsed for a long time.

Before leaving,

Mikhail seemed to remember something and turned back to Luo De with a haunting gaze: "Your transformation magic is so powerful you could pass as a human in town—if you're willing to kill one human for me, I'll give you all the reward."

"Just one human? Why don't you kill him yourself?"

"He's easy to kill—but the town of Shi Ying is protected by a guardian array; dragons can't enter."

". ho do you want dead?"

"A forest warden named Luo De."

(End of Chapter)