Chapter 341: Mad Dragon Transformation

The next day.

Outside Avalon.

Gunzi and her party galloped through the dense forest, leaving behind layers of lingering afterimages.

During this time, they had searched the entire realm of Britannia for traces of Fafnir, yet found nothing.

The immortal monarch of Britannias from a thousand years ago seemed to truly exist only within legends.

But that was, of course, no legend!

As the squad leader of the Divine Knights, Gunzi knew this clearly.

Yet for several consecutive days, they had searched nearly every possible location where Fafnir might be hiding; just as Gunzi was about to give up,

a piece of intelligence caught her attention.

"The ancient city of Avalon suffered a calamity a thousand years ago and was nearly destroyed from the face of the earth."

"The Avalon of today is merely a crude imitation of that ancient city."

"If Fafnir has a nest in which to slumber, the most likely place is the already-destroyed ancient city of Avalon!"

Beside Gunzi,

a member of the Divine Knights was solemnly reporting his deduction to her:

"According to intelligence sent back from Mary Geoia, the ancient city of Avalon is not far from the newly rebuilt city!"

"It lies to the north, sixty or seventy kilometers away!"

Gunzi's eyes lit up; she immediately halted, gazing into the distance, feeling an inexplicable unease in her heart.

She took a deep breath, slowly crouched down, pressed her hand against the ground, and her pupils contracted sharply:

"Did you feel that?!"

"In that direction, some existence is breathing..."

"No!"

"It's a heartbeat!"

"A heartbeat that makes the very earth tremble!"

Gunzi could not help but feel astonished:

"It's Fafnir!"

"That monster truly didn't die!"

Unable to restrain herself, she let out a startled cry, stomped heavily on the ground, and, leveraging the power of the Arrow-Arrow Fruit, shot violently toward the distance.

The members of the Divine Knights exchanged glances, subconsciously swallowed hard, and likewise accelerated to follow.

Ten-plus minutes later.

Gunzi halted at the ruins of the ancient city of Avalon.

The previously faint vibration had become incredibly obvious; one could even see gravel on the ground being shaken into the air with the naked eye.

Birds and beasts all around had long since vanished, as if fearing some unknown existence.

"What exactly is this thing..."

"Could it really be a heartbeat?!"

"What kind of creature's heartbeat could cause such a commotion?!"

The members of the Divine Knights felt a chill run down their spines, sensing fear arising from the depths of their hearts.

They were all elites from Mary Geoia who had witnessed countless existences beyond ordinary imagination.

Sea Kings easily thousands of meters long, descendants of the legendary Country-Carrying Giant, even the Elephant Master that had wandered the seas for hundreds of years.

Yet none of those existences had ever made them feel this way.

Fear arising from the depths of the heart.

Like herbivores' innate fear of lions and tigers.

No!

Far stronger than that by countless folds!

"Lady Gunzi, the situation here is already beyond our ability to handle; perhaps we should..."

"Silence!"

Gunzi rebuked sharply, stepped forward, and pressed her hand against the earth.

Just as she was about to act, a low, hoarse voice, as if squeezed out from deep within the lungs, reached her ears:

"Ara~"

"So I've been discovered?!"

"That fellow Wales actually lost?"

"That Knight Gao Wen could actually achieve this degree; it truly exceeds expectations."

"But unfortunately, it is too late."

"I have already obtained the ultimate power!"

Accompanying the voice, the earth began to gradually crack apart.

The fissures spread, reaching a range of several thousand meters.

The ground bulged high, like a Shanfeng, and within a few seconds, continued to rise rapidly.

A pair of pure white, gigantic wings tore through the earth, standing tall!

A massive claw extended from underground, pressing down heavily toward Gunzi and the others!

"Retreat!"

Gunzi let out a startled cry; arrows sprouted beneath her feet, and she retreated in an instant, while several members of the Divine Knights quickly followed suit.

Boom—!

The giant claw struck the ground, sweeping away everything in its path like withered weeds, leaving deep furrows in the earth; its ferociously violent force even caused the ground to sink several feet.

Crack, crack, crack, crack—!

The cracks spread all the way until they reached Junzi's feet.

Yet she no longer had any attention to spare for what lay beneath her feet; she stared blankly into the distance, gazing at that colossal figure that blocked out the sky and obscured the sun!

"This is..."

"What thing?!"

The members of the Divine Knight Legion who had narrowly escaped disaster similarly stared with dull, vacant eyes.

Except when facing Im, this was the first time they had felt a tremor arising from the very depths of their souls.

They wanted to scream, yet their throats felt as if something were strangling them.

They wanted to flee, yet their legs felt as heavy as if filled with lead.

"Is Britannia the legendary White Dragon?!"

"But with this size, and such a sense of oppression!"

"Are you kidding me!"

In the next instant.

This speaking member of the Divine Knight Legion suddenly found his vision going black, as the brilliance upon the earth was completely blocked out.

It was solely because that figure in the distance was simply too colossal!

Even merely standing there, it was nearly level with the nearby mountain peaks; when its pair of pure white wings spread out, they carried an indescribable sense of oppression!

"Four legs, two wings, its entire body covered in pure white feathers; estimating by eye, its shoulder height is at least three hundred meters, and its body length likely exceeds a thousand meters!"

"This kind of thing..."

"A dragon?!"

Before he could finish speaking, this member of the Divine Knight Legion froze for a moment, suddenly recalling something, and could not help but let out a startled cry:

"The legendary White Dragon of Britannias!"

"No!"

"It is an Evil Dragon!"

"Fafnir!"

In the next instant.

A pale breath erupted from the White Dragon's mouth, engulfing all the Divine Knight Legion members present!

Extreme heat and surging Lei Ting instantly vaporized their flesh completely, causing them to vanish as black smoke, while terrifying wounds upon the earth spread out to the very limit of vision!

The high temperature diffused, causing even the air to distort!

"Monster!"

Junzi, who had barely managed to dodge, watched this scene and felt her hands and feet turn cold; standing in place and gazing at that colossal figure, she felt her mouth dry and her throat parched.

The intelligence was wrong!

The monsters of Britannias had never lost their sanity; perhaps due to some reason, they had been sleeping until now!

Everyone had been deceived!

Without a shred of hesitation.

Junzi turned and fled; an arrow-shaped mark appeared beneath her feet, acting like a skateboard as she sped rapidly toward the distance!

In an instant, she had fled several thousand meters away!

Yet the darkness enveloping her had never dissipated!

"Is there another one?!"

"A living bug!"

Junzi whipped her head around sharply, only to see a beam of pure white light filling her entire field of vision, followed immediately by scorching heat and endless darkness!

At the same time.

Inside Avalon City.

Through the joint efforts of Xiang Keluo and the others, the remnants of the Tianjue Church were thoroughly purged.

The Crusade Army, built single-handedly by Wales, after its faith collapsed, was directly absorbed by Morgan to atone for their crimes and achieve merit, helping him stabilize the situation within Britannias.

With the martial power of Gao Wen's group, and given that Morgan was a descendant of the Britannias royal family, Avalon was quickly and completely stabilized.

Inside the city, heartrending cries pierced the ears, and burning flames scorched the eyes.

Countless people, upon regaining their senses and realizing everything they had done, could not help but fall into deep remorse.

"Everything I had has been destroyed; I even raised my blade against the common people..."

A guard collapsed, kneeling on the ground and wailing loudly.

All around were countless common folks whose emotions had similarly collapsed.

"I... I truly must have been mad, to actually dedicate my everything to Wales..."

"But if the so-called gods truly existed, how could there be disaster upon this land?"

"Wu ah..."

Upon the city tower.

Morgan watched all of this; within his eyes there was sympathy, and also anger, but more than anything else, there was a determination to fight for survival.

Fortunately.

They had already found themselves; the pain before them was nothing more than the birth pangs before dawn.

Wales was dead, and the remaining forces of the Church of Awakening could no longer stir up any waves; the future of this kingdom had arrived.

And the man who brought all this about was still on his way back.

Morgan could not help but reach out, lightly stroking the spine of the Shi Zhongjian, before lifting his head to gaze into the distance.

He was waiting for Gao Wen's return.

He was also pondering what kind of reward would be necessary for Gao Wen...

No!

This was not a monarch's bestowal upon a subject, but rather recompense from Britannias itself.

As he pondered,

Morgan reached up to touch his hair; the sensation transmitted through his fingertips was no longer the smooth, soft feel of before.

His hair had become coarse, and even his arms had turned shriveled.

"I do not have much time left..."

"Five years?!"

"Ten years?!"

Morgan murmured softly, lowering his eyes to look at the Shi Zhongjian in his hand, his gaze gradually turning resolute:

"Perhaps this kingdom also needs a new master..."

"At least, someone capable of propping up the collapsing mansion."

At this thought,

Morgan's gaze gradually became firm.

Yet at that very moment,

On the distant earth, a blinding beam of Bai Guang suddenly bloomed, illuminating everything within sight.

Boom!

A roar came from the earth; the intense tremor nearly made him unable to stand, and an indescribable sense of crisis surged violently into his heart.

Morgan lifted his eyes and saw on the distant horizon a colossal pure-white entity charging swiftly toward Avalon!

Countless feathers fell from the sky.

Upon the earth, dust and smoke roared, and ten thousand beasts stampeded!

Those giant beasts that Xiang Keluo and others had jointly repelled were attacking once again, yet far more frenzied and violent than before!

Even more astonishing was that their bodies had grown vastly larger, and pure-white feathers identical to those on the colossal figure high in the sky covered them from head to toe!

"Is this... Mad Dragon Transformation?!"

Morgan's pupils contracted sharply as he suddenly recalled the records concerning the Red and White Dragons within the royal Juan Sect of Britannias!

If the Red Dragon was an immortal calamity, symbolizing a drought that extinguished everything!

Then the White Dragon was a violent torrent, dyeing all living things between heaven and earth a pure white!

All terrestrial animals except humans, upon contacting the White Dragon's feathers, would be parasitized by them, becoming servants of the White Dragon.

And this process was also known as Mad Dragon Transformation!

After Mad Dragon Transformation, a creature's temperament would become even more ferocious, its physical abilities would increase dramatically, and more importantly, it would maintain an almost eternal hunger, possessing the desire to devour everything it saw!

"The White Dragon!"

Morgan's face suddenly turned deathly pale.

Unlike the Red Dragon, ever since Fafnir disappeared, the White Dragon had never reincarnated like other Devil Fruits.

This had led the Wang Zu of Britannias to always suspect that Fafnir might not yet be dead.

And now appearing here...

"Is it a reincarnation of the ability, or could it be..."

While Jeanne was lost in shock,

Xiang Keluo and the others had already prepared to meet the attack.

Yet merely looking at the figure attacking from the distant high sky, even Xiang Keluo felt a chill run down his spine!

Cavendish nearby gripped his sword tightly, his very pupils trembling:

"What in the world is that thing?!"

"This sense of oppression... it might even be stronger than the Captain!"

"And that thing gives me a strange feeling; there is no powerful Haki, or rather, one cannot even feel much Haki on it at all!"

"This sense of oppression comes from another dimension, just like..."

"Just like..."

Cavendish stammered for a long time, unable to even get his tongue straight.

Xiang Keluo's face was Solemn:

"A higher-dimensional being; the fear of it, as if it were natural law, is an instinct carved into bone and blood."

Cavendish nodded heavily, yet the dread in his eyes did not diminish, but instead grew even deeper:

"Does Britannias still harbor such an existence? Is Morgan concealing something, or is this a hidden trump card of Wales?!"

"No time to consider such things!"

Xiang Keluo gritted his teeth:

"Prepare to engage the enemy!"

In the next instant,

Xiang Keluo and his group suddenly shot out from the city, charging swiftly toward the stampeding beast herd in the distance!

Compared to the colossal beast charging from afar, their figures were truly too tiny, yet at this moment, they left the guards within Avalon City with an indescribable sense of awe!

"Are they the heroes who saved this nation?!"

"What kind of courage is this?!"

……

On the city walls.

Some, overcome by fear, discarded their helmets and armor; the continuous stimulation caused their minds to collapse, robbing them of reason.

But more of them gripped their weapons tightly, holding their posts with desperate determination.

Though their bodies trembled incessantly from fear, their eyes grew increasingly bloodshot; yet at least this time, they could truly make choices according to their own will!

"Stand at your posts!"

"The time for our redemption has arrived!"

"For Avalon!"

"Spill the last drop of our blood!"

……

Beville, who had originally intended to depart, leaped onto the tower and gazed into the distance.

"So this is..."

"... pirates?!"

For the title he had heard countless times, Beville felt an emotion called longing for the very first time.

He had never seen such people before.

Nor had he ever seen such pirates.

Hiss—!

Taking a deep breath, Beville gripped the long sword at his waist; he had intended to fight alongside Xiang Keluo and the others, yet he also understood where his duty lay.

Turning around, he sped toward the palace located in the central district of Avalon.

As a knight of Arthur, he decided to stand by Morgan's side, determined to protect the last bloodline of Britannias no matter what.

However.

When he arrived before Morgan, the order he received was not the protection he had expected.

"Oh, knight of Arthur."

"Now you should join Mr. Xiang Keluo and the others to resist the external enemy, rather than wasting your strength on me."

Beville paused in surprise, then lifted his head to look at Morgan, whose hair was entirely silver, and a faint smile curved the corners of his mouth:

"Her Highness the Princess has changed greatly."

"Has she?!"

"Of course; she has washed away the extravagance of the Wang Zu and become... become like a pirate."

(End of Chapter)