Chapter 120: Can't Win? Call for Help!

Before Olem arrived, Nagrillis and Nai Aili were whispering.

Of course, this was Nai Aili’s idea of whispering—her voice was loud enough to rupture eardrums; even her Dragon Speaker, Shafia, had retreated far away, leaving only Nagrillis, Ang, and other non-human beings in the field.

“When we were matched for a mate, you were only three thousand years old, still a little female dragon, while I was already six thousand, nearly an old dragon. I always treated you as a junior, so suddenly being matched with you felt strange—I felt guilty.” Nagrillis said, embarrassed.

“Why would it feel strange? Rank is just a term from Human Common Tongue—we Dragon Tongue has no such thing. Can’t we just speak Dragon Tongue?” Nai Aili asked, confused.

“True, but I didn’t realize it back then. By the time I did, it was too late. Dragon Tongue has too few words, expresses too little meaning. Look at us now—we unconsciously slip into Human Common Tongue. I just couldn’t switch back.”

Nai Aili asked shyly: “So that’s why you were so cold to me? You were the male I admired most back then. Everyone said you were the most learned sage in dragon history, the one most likely to ignite Divine Fire and become the second deity of the dragon race, after the Dragon God. I was so excited about being matched with you I couldn’t sleep for days.”

“That wasn’t it. Uh, mainly—you were just too beautiful. Your scales gleamed, your claws were clean, your body spotless and odorless, your teeth bright and free of meat scraps. I’d never been near a female dragon so beautiful—I was too nervous. Hey, careful!”

Before he finished, Nagrillis screamed and dodged sideways as a giant claw swept past its head.

Nai Aili, flustered by his praise, instinctively swiped with a claw: “Oh! You flatter dragons too much! Oh oh oh, sorry sorry, I got too excited—I didn’t mean to!”

Her ‘small’ claw was a crushing weight to anything in the field—if Nagrillis got hit, it would become a dragon pancake.

Nagrillis chuckled awkwardly and carefully sat back in its original spot, but Ang, the angelic skeleton, and the little zombie dared not return—they’d retreated far away, crouching in a row beyond the reach of a dragon’s swipe, idly poking holes in the ground.

Ang wanted to go back to farming, but Nagrillis wouldn’t let him, saying his conversation with Nai Aili was important and he might need Ang’s help later.

But she was Nagrillis’s own—why would she need Ang’s help? It just didn’t want Ang wandering off.

“What happened after that? How did you fare? Are you well?” Nagrillis continued.

“Not well. After you sneaked away, no male dragon dared approach me. Well, not exactly—most were too old, and they all messed around. I didn’t want anything to do with them. Among all the male dragons in our race, you were the only one who never sired offspring—you were the purest male.”

Nagrillis scratched its head, ashamed: “Sorry for dragging down the male dragons. What happened after?”

“After that, I left Zero Degree Island to find my own territory. Later, I heard you ignited Divine Fire. Soon after, I heard you were captured. Oh, by Bonehard Luoke —did they kill you? Why did you become a death dragon? What’s this body of yours?” Nai Aili asked.

“I’m already dead. They didn’t kill me. I lived to ten thousand and two years in the Palace of Rest, died of old age, then they sealed my consciousness into the Brass Book. My true body is the Brass Book—I project into this form through soul projection.” Nagrillis explained.

“So—you killed a young dragon to get this body for your projection?” Nai Aili’s tone turned cold.

“Pfft, what? No! Don’t say that! This body was grown—from my scales.” Nagrillis explained:

“Do it like this, then like that—you can regrow a body from scales or flesh. You should give me some of your scales. I’ll try to breed a few young dragons. Otherwise, our Brass Dragons will truly go extinct.”

“You can do that?” Nai Aili gasped. “If so, are we Brass Dragons no longer doomed to extinction?”

“Theoretically, yes. We’ve already grown one living young dragon—one that can awaken its bloodline—not like me, a death dragon.” Nagrillis said.

“That’s wonderful! Truly wonderful! Our Brass Dragons won’t go extinct! Won’t go extinct!” Nai Aili became excited.

Humanity’s obsession with bloodline continuation is etched into the genome—those without it were already eliminated.

But dragons are different. Their obsession with bloodline is constantly preserved within the blood itself. When you call out forcefully, you receive resonance from kin—like howling in a snowstorm and always hearing some huskies answer back. It’s strange, wonderful.

So dragons’ obsession with bloodline is even fiercer than humanity’s.

Nagrillis was relieved—Nai Aili cared deeply about bloodline continuation. Just as it was about to praise her, it heard her growl:

“Breed more young dragons. Ever since our last male died, that vile female dragon Miletir of the Red Copper Clan has been coming to our territory every day with her pup, bragging: ‘Oh oh, look how this little pup does this and that—you’ve never seen it before? So cute!’ It drives me mad. Breed more young dragons—I’ll take them over to visit.”

“...” Nagrillis was speechless. Such a serious topic about bloodline continuation, yet Nai Aili only wanted to go visiting and show off. That damn competitiveness.

“Is that why you came here?” Nagrillis asked.

Normal dragons never choose deserts as territories—this land can’t sustain a dragon. To hunt, you’d have to fly farther, draining strength and magic.

So dragons’ territories are usually rich forests, islands, grasslands—especially oceans. When nothing’s left to eat, dragons even fish in the sea.

Of course, dragons fish differently from humans. They scatter bait into the sea, wait for fish to gather on the surface, then blast them with dragon breath—roasting them, freezing them into ice, or sweeping them into the air.

Without a special reason, Nai Aili wouldn’t have chosen to establish a territory in a desert.

“Hehe.” Nai Aili’s embarrassed grin told Nagrillis it had guessed right. Nagrillis shook its head, unimpressed.

Nai Aili hurried to explain: “Actually, there are advantages. First, humans offer tribute—I don’t have to work hard to find food. Second, because of their devotion, though I can’t ignite Divine Fire, don’t you think my condition is much better than my age suggests?”

“After you were captured and left, you left me some key information about igniting Divine Fire through bloodline resonance. So I came here to try. Outside, all intelligent beings were already claimed—humans worship the Light, elves worship the Tree of Life, dwarves worship the War God. I dared not provoke them.”

“When I first came here, this oasis had only a thousand people. I taught them to grow green jujubes, dig shelters. Later, the population grew, spread to other oases. Now, about two hundred thousand believers worship me, Dragon Mother Nai Aili, scattered across thirty-odd oases.”

Nagrillis nodded repeatedly. Amassing two hundred thousand believers in the Prime Material Plane was no small feat.

From Mara Town all the way here, Nagrillis had already clearly seen the situation: the human world was tightly controlled by the Church of Light.

The most luxurious buildings in every town were always the churches. Even believers in rags and hunger saved coins to offer to the priests and clerics.

True, priests and clerics could heal minor pains and offer spiritual comfort—but they drained a region’s development potential and economy.

So to the Church of Light, believers were wealth, sheep, assets. They would never allow heretics within the reach of holy light.

This oasis was far from the human world, and with the disappearance of the Light Gods, the Church of Light had lost its ambition—it no longer cared to spread divine glory.

Thinking of this, Nagrillis suddenly burst out laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” Nai Aili snapped. “My believers may not be as many as yours, but I worked hard for them. They’ve given me much devotion. Don’t mock us.”

Nagrillis quickly waved its small claw, ashamed: “No no no, I’m not laughing at you—I’m laughing at something else.”

How could it dare laugh? It might not even have one believer left—it had already lost its divine status.

“Do you know who the Tree of Life now worships? Do you know who one of the two remaining Red Cardinals of the Church of Light worships?” Nagrillis laughed.

“Who?” Red Cardinals worship the Light Gods, of course. Who does the Tree of Life worship? The God of Life is itself a god—what else could it worship?

“Hahaha…” Nagrillis burst into laughter. Just then, Olem ran over: “My lord! Lord Ang! Bad news! Sand bandits! Sand bandits are digging under your land!”

Ang, crouching and poking holes, shot up instantly. His soul flame blazed fiercely. He summoned the Death Scythe and sprinted toward Olem.

Without being called, the angelic skeleton, the little zombie, Lu Se, and Thunder all rushed after him.

Nagrillis didn’t follow—it had almost no combat power. A few sand bandits? Lu Se could wipe them all out. He’d already wiped out the bandits outside Kelun Town himself.

Nai Aili tilted her head, puzzled: “Your companion—that man. Who is he? Why did he suddenly radiate such strong death energy? Is he a necromancer? Uh, I think I saw him summon a scythe. What’s his class? Why use such a strange weapon?”

Nai Aili’s words made Nagrillis pause. It turned and asked: “You think he’s human?”

“Huh? Isn’t he human?” Nai Aili blinked. “Then… a humanoid? A dragonkin? A eunuch?”

Nagrillis couldn’t help asking: “What’s your mental strength?”

“About the same as yours back then. I can cast seventh-level Dragon Tongue spells.” Nai Aili said.

Dragons draw magic from their bodies and bloodlines, so their spellcasting is limited by mental strength. Theoretically, with enough mental strength, adult dragons and dragonkin can cast tenth-level Dragon Tongue spells—Dragon God Transformation.

The Dragon God created the ancient dragons and upper dragons. Dragon God Transformation is a bloodline regression spell.

After performing Dragon God Transformation, one becomes the Dragon God, gaining all its power—even creating new ancient and upper dragons.

Unfortunately, no dragon in dragon history has ever reached that level. The strongest dragons could only cast seventh-level Dragon Tongue spells. Nagrillis could too—and still ignited Divine Fire.

Eighth, ninth, and tenth-level Dragon Tongue spells exist only in bloodline memory—no one has ever cast them successfully.

Yet Nai Aili, possessing the highest dragon mental strength, couldn’t see through Ang’s disguise. How insane is this vegetable-growing skeleton’s mental strength?

The Straw Man’s Hat is a low-tier magical item. It can only manifest a few fixed forms, and once transformed, it cannot be adjusted.

But because it’s low-tier, it’s extreme: anyone with lower mental strength than Ang cannot pierce its illusion.

But even a dragon can’t see through it. How strong is this vegetable-growing skeleton’s mental strength?

Nagrillis didn’t dare call it a vegetable-growing skeleton anymore—afraid Nai Aili wouldn’t believe it—so it said:

“He is the God of Undeath. A skeleton possessing the God of Undeath’s divine essence. He inherited the divine essence of Bonehard Luoke ’s boss. He is also the one who invented the method of breeding young dragons from scales—and freed me from my seal.”

With this explanation, everything made sense. Nai Aili no longer cared that she hadn’t seen through his disguise. The God of Undeath? The divine essence of Bonehard Luoke ’s boss? Of course she couldn’t see through it.

“Oh, so he’s the God of Undeath. Why didn’t you tell me earlier? That was rude.” Nai Aili complained.

A god had come to her territory, and she’d treated him poorly. If gods had social circles, she’d be roasted alive.

“It’s fine…” She was about to say that the guy had a place to grow vegetables, so he wouldn’t mind being treated poorly—when a holy light column suddenly flared in the distance.

“Huh? Lu Se can’t handle it? Does it need the little angel to step in?” Nagrillis couldn’t sit still. It tossed out: “I’m going to check,” and flew toward the shining holy light.

“Wait for me! I’m coming too!” Nai Aili scrambled up.

Just then, Ang rode Thunder back at lightning speed, pointing at the Dragon Temple: “Teleportation array. Borrow it.”

“You need the teleportation array to call for help? You can’t handle them?” Nagrillis asked urgently.

“Can’t handle them. Too many.” Ang said.