Iron Dragon's Advancement Journey

Page 72

　It finally realized that this one-eyed deity might have been involved from the very beginning, and that the old golden dragon Dracolnobalon and the dragon horde were merely pawns He used to eliminate some kind of threat.

　No…no, it’s not a coincidence that Valtan encountered the Kingdom again. Given the close relationship between the One-Eyed One and the Goddess of Magic, the appearance of the Kingdom means that Mystra was also involved, and she might even be the mastermind behind it all.

　And Tom and His chief god Tyr!

　What is that thing that even the benevolent gods feel threatened by?

　Casalos recalled the information the old golden dragon had revealed at the start of the conference: Elminster was not in Faerûn, Hillen was dead, Storm Silverhand was entangled with the nobles of Waterdeep, Kelburn was tied up with Lyra, Queen Hinb was monitoring the Salamander War that had broken out in Sel, and Lady Elasdra of the Silvermoon was overwhelmed by another invasion by the northern orcs that had befallen the Silvermoon Federation... Some catastrophic events that should have been the work of these chosen goddesses of magic and harp masters had unfortunately occurred at this time.

　Thus, the heavy responsibility of maintaining the peace of Faerûn fell to the dragon head, who had nothing better to do than cause trouble everywhere.

　What kind of mess is this? The key is that you gods want dragons to clean up your messes, but you won't even give them a little more information? I think you just want to reduce the dragons' appetite in Faerûn!

　Having figured out the mastermind behind this bizarre event in which he had inexplicably become involved, Casalos watched as the dragons' fighting spirit gradually boiled under the influence of divine magic. He realized that he could not change anything, so he could only move closer to Fiona and Lothley.

　“Fiona, has your god… the god of righteousness given you any warning?”

　"Hmm? You noticed something was wrong too?" Tungsten Dragon glanced at Casalos with a half-smile, then said, "Don't worry, with your current strength, nothing will happen at first. We just need to kill as many Demon Sunflowers as possible. As for what happens after that, that's beyond our control. I was originally planning to take you and slip away..."

　Well, as expected of the god of righteousness, he is indeed quite righteous.

　159. The Continuation of the “Ancient” War

　"Felin Magic Sunflower?"

　The upright Tom has already pointed out to Fiona the enemy the dragons are about to encounter: Feline the Demon Sunflower.

　The name of this creature is legendary among the people of Faerûn. After all, during a previous civilization on the continent, the destruction of Netheril, a great arcane mage, was inextricably linked to the Felin Demon Sunflower. In the eyes of the Faerûn people, they are the destined destroyers of the world, the terminators of all things—though this is an exaggeration, much like the monsters of legend, it still speaks volumes about the terror of the Felin Demon Sunflower.

　A group of highly intelligent, mad beings who gladly slaughter any living creature, a race of mages constantly plotting to destroy all life in Faerûn, and so twisted and disgusting in appearance—they are terrifying no matter how you look at them.

　Even this vast Enoch Desert is the work of the Felin Magic Sunflowers. They drew upon the life force of the most fertile lands of the Netheril Empire to create this desolate wasteland.

　However, Casalos has never seen a real Felin Demon Sunflower. They have appeared in the Dragon's Treasury dungeon, but as far as intelligent species are concerned, the mindless monsters in the dungeon are too different from those in reality, so they are not very useful for reference.

　The Felin Magic Sunflower had long been defeated and its group was sealed and imprisoned in the magical field beneath the Enoch Desert, a truly rare sight.

　The moment the Aizehart Mountains leaped into the dragon's eye atop Suren's light, the dragons received a sudden warning accompanied by a mental shock.

　"Get lost, or I'll slaughter you stinking lizards!"

　Dozens of dragons responded with their roars, the combined sound waves shattering the dark clouds hanging over the desert. Several silver dragons, taking advantage of their elemental strength, whipped up winds and charged forward, launching the first wave of attacks on the wind vanes that swarmed like insects above the mountains.

　Even a gentle silver dragon would find such close taunting unbearable under normal circumstances, let alone the fact that many of the dragons in the group are tyrannical colored dragons, and the group is also highly motivated to fight under the spell of the pointy-eared Futa goddess.

　Golden dragons and white dragons followed closely behind the silver dragons, then came the other metallic and chromatic dragons mixed together. As the new method of flight spread, the influence of attributes and aerodynamic structure on flight speed became increasingly significant, leading to more pronounced differences in flight capabilities among different subspecies of dragons. White dragons, considered a disgrace to dragons by most Faerûnians, began to demonstrate their advantages—in fact, in the common dragon conflicts in Faerûn, red and blue dragons were often overpowered by younger white dragons in aerial combat, but these battles usually occurred outside the sight of the Faerûnians, which is why white dragons bore the reputation of being a disgrace to dragons.

　Casalos, who was originally the fastest flying ship, deliberately lagged behind by a step, pulling Fiona and Lothrie along with the equally "hidden" Kingdom into the second wave of golden dragons.

　They were merely a swarm of Felin Demon Sunflowers, released by an unknown source, not enemies worthy of the hastily assembled dragon army's vigilance. Moreover, their natural enemies had already engaged them in a fierce battle. These were bizarre creatures with elongated, black, teardrop-shaped bodies, three heads with only everted nostrils and gaping maws, and a gigantic arm extending from each side and back, each arm splitting into three smaller arms at its tip, and each hand containing an eye.

　The Saren spirit, the embodiment of chaotic magic, is also a highly intelligent life form.

　Their first appearance in the sight of the people of Faerûn was also during the late Netheril era, where they immediately clashed with the Felyn Demons. It was only after nearly seven hundred years of fierce fighting that they finally defeated the Felyn Demons, imprisoning them beneath the Enorok Desert, preventing the Demons from turning the entire world of Faerûn and even Torûn into the ashes of death. Some Faerûn scholars believe that the Saronian Spirits are ancient creatures born from the essence of chaos, even appearing on this world before the dragons.

　This is, of course, a misconception.

　As far as Casalos knows, the Saren sprites originated from a failed magical ritual. They are the "remnants" of the Dark Scourge that followed the Third Crown of the Elves ten thousand years ago. To combat the genocide perpetrated by the Golden Elf Empire of Erevanda, the Dark Elves and the Wood Elf Empire of Myerita, through the Ritual of All Things, used three archmages—Te Kalon, Alaman, and Aronno—to transform approximately eighty citizens of the Myerita Empire into the first Saren sprites. They melted into black slime and slumbered beneath the earth.

　When they awoke again more than two thousand years later, their hatred for the abuse of magic had become instinctive. Many sources suggest that the Gem Dragon Overlord Sadiveo was the originator of this instinct in the Saronian spirits. Why an absolutely neutral dragon god who was keen on watching the show and never got involved in other people's business would get involved in matters that should have been under the jurisdiction of the elven gods and the goddess of magic remains unknown.

　This might involve an even more ancient secret.

　In short, the instincts of the Salon spirits made them the natural enemies of the Felin Magic Sunflower. The information from the failed ritual of all things was also mysteriously passed down, and new species and individuals continued to transform into Salon spirits for various reasons, causing their population to expand continuously.

Chapter 225

　Great. In the year of the book's closure, after the Salen sprites completely defeated the Felin Magic Sunflower and sealed it beneath the Enoch Desert, they continued to relentlessly traverse the magical energy field bubbles they created, reducing the number of Felin Magic Sunflowers. The aftershocks of the battle between the two high-level magical races even affected the stability of the magic network, causing a continuously expanding and eroding supreme glacier to appear in the northern Enoch Desert.

　Wherever a cluster of Felin Magic Sunflowers appears, it will inevitably attract the siege of the Salon monsters.

　Perhaps because they hadn't had time to gather, the Salen sprites of the Azeroth Mountains were at a disadvantage. When the fastest-rushing silver dragons joined the battle, the number of translucent hexagonal holographic windows emitting purple light was significantly less than that of the Felin Magic Sunflowers, and the frequency of their extinguishing was far higher than the falling speed of the Felin Magic Sunflowers—each Salen sprite could create a maximum of three holographic windows for combat.

　The silver dragons, led by Silverwing, joined the battle, immediately restraining the two legendary spellcasting-level Felin Demon Sunflowers and greatly relieving the pressure on the Salen Spirits. The subsequent arrival of the golden dragons, white dragons, and colorful dragon armies crushed the group of Wind Sails with their multi-layered disc-shaped fangs and four withered arms into dust.

　The rescued Saren sprites didn't even reveal their intentions to the dragons; instead, they created a portal, shimmering with purple light, intending to leave. With the deliberate indulgence of the many benevolent dragons, the crimson dragon, feeling humiliated, roared and interrupted the Saren sprites' teleportation. Before it could even question them, a massive shadow blocked the gentle light of Saren, looming over the dragons.

　160. Curiosity killed the cat.

　“Honagast is right about at least one thing: it’s those Nesser remnants again.” Casalos looked up at the huge shadow that was blocking the light of Suren, and tilted his head to speak to the two female dragons hovering beside him.

　A floating city, a floating city belonging to the Archmage Netheril, appeared prominently above the dragon horde.

　“That’s not surprising. Half of the man-made disasters on the Forgotten Realms are the work of the Pointy Ears, and the other half are the legacy of Netheril. The Enoch Desert was once the core of the Netheril ‘empire,’ so most major events there are inextricably linked to Netheril.” Fiona, the tungsten dragon, flicked the brightly colored soft horns on her neck and replied nonchalantly, “It’s just unexpected that, besides Surenara and Sultansar, a third floating city escaped Netheril’s destruction.”

　Fiona's voice wasn't quiet, and she didn't seem to be trying to hide anything. Casalos glanced with interest at Devalima, the mage captain on the nearby magic ship who understood dragon language; the old man's face was so dark it could wring water. Harua claimed to be the rightful heir of Netheril, so Fiona's insults towards Netheril were tantamount to insulting his ancestors, and he couldn't refute her, feeling utterly aggrieved.

　“It might have been built after Netheril was destroyed…” He shook his head chuckled, gazing at the floating city gate peeking out from the edge of the collapsed mountain. Casaloz suddenly stopped himself, his eyes widening, and then uttered the ancient Netherian word on it, one word at a time: “El-La-Na?!”

　The dragon roars never ceased. Bewitched by divine power, the dragons seemed to have lost their normal abilities. The floating city that inexplicably appeared overhead diverted their nameless rage born from the indifference of the Saren spirit. The ferocious, multicolored dragons were the first to unleash their breath weapons at the floating city's barrier. Then, the metal dragons, their reason overwhelmed, spiraled upwards, unleashing dazzling spells, joining the siege of the floating city.

　The non-dragon minions and followers brought by the dragons, as well as the people on the Kingdom, looked at each other in disbelief. They had never seen dragons like this before—Rabelas's alluring power over the dragons had reached its peak at this moment, and this floating city was the target of Him and the other gods behind Him who were involved in this matter.

　Casalos turned his head blankly: "Fiona, shouldn't we slip away as planned?"

　“Theoretically, yes, but… it’s too late.” Fiona was somewhat frustrated. She probably hadn’t expected that her encounter with Casaroz would lead to him being embroiled in a massive conspiracy involving the power struggles of the gods. If she hadn’t guaranteed his safety in the name of the God of Righteousness, Casaroz would have fled as soon as he realized Rabelas’s allure over the dragons.

　Perhaps even the God of Righteousness didn't anticipate that the appearance of the floating city would simultaneously pull the dragon horde into the demiplane, after all, Tom was currently just an insignificant demigod. Even the gods are not omniscient, let alone a demigod whose status was merely equivalent to a divine servant.

　The boundless Enoch Desert and the towering Azeroth Mountains had vanished from the Dragon Eye's field of vision, replaced by a dazzling, mottled starry sky. All connections to the Prime Material Plane, including those of the Saronian spirits whose teleportation had been interrupted by the crimson light, had been severed.

　"What are you afraid of, Sister Fiona? We can fight them to the death!" The usually cold and silent chrome dragon, Losley, suddenly became full of fighting spirit: "With so many of us dragons here, are we afraid of a great arcanist whose life or death we don't even know yet?"

　"But that's..."

　"The God of Moments!" Casaroz picked up where Fiona left off, uttering the seemingly magical name with a long sigh. The moment it saw the name of the floating city, it essentially understood this bizarre and momentous event.

　A headless dragon is found dead in the street. A kind golden dragon convenes a dragon assembly. Why is the world-ending disaster unknown to anyone? Why does the god of elves meet with the dragon in the dead of night? Behind all this lies the extinction of conscience, the decline of morality, or the distortion of divinity.

　Everything makes sense now; it's all because of that name, the God of Moments—or rather, the true undertaker of the Netheril era, the Archmage Karthus!

　Yes, it's the same archmage Karthus who attempted to steal the divine power and authority of the first goddess of magic, Mysriel, but succeeded in fulfilling his delusion due to Mysriel's curiosity, only to be eternally frozen in that moment of success by that very delusion.

　Elena is the floating city that Karthus built after he obtained his status as a Grand Arcanist; it is Karthus's kingdom.

　Everything about Karthus was frozen at the moment he successfully stole the divine power of the goddess of magic. The floating city of Elena seemed to have been forgotten by everyone. With the destruction of Netheril, everyone naturally assumed that this floating city, like the other Netheril floating cities that used the Mythril core, had fallen and been destroyed. Little did they expect that it would now reappear on the continent of Faerûn.

　The gods must have known of Elena's existence and whereabouts, but it is precisely because they knew that they needed some non-gods to completely eliminate this historical threat.

　Because this floating city belonged to Karthus, and although Karthus himself was eternally frozen in that instant, his school of thought, his spellbooks, and his apprentices all lived on within Elena. The gods could not know whether the eternally frozen Karthus was truly alive or dead, whether his power could still transcend frozen time and space, or whether among Elena's inhabitants there might be someone who inherited all of Karthus's arcane knowledge, ready to deliver a fatal blow at a crucial moment.

　Just as they will never know that if Misriel hadn't been so curious, Karthus's spell would have had absolutely no chance of succeeding.

　The gods of the realm are not omniscient. In their eyes, Mysriel was the most powerful deity in the realm, and the goddess of magic, Mysriel, was killed by a single spell from Karthus. How could they allow the floating city, which might have inherited Karthus's knowledge, to continue to exist? How could they personally come to deal with this fragment that might strip away their sacred history?

　Thus, when the inhabitants of Elena inexplicably set their sights on the dragons surrounding the Enoch Desert, and when the ancient golden dragon Dracol, who was highly respected among both metal and chromatic dragons, was drawn into the fray, the gods seized the most powerful weapon of slaughter.

　This is an event orchestrated by the gods to erase fragments of the past, destined not to be performed by humans.

Chapter 226

　What is known.

　The second-generation goddess of magic, Mystra, the shepherdess who enjoyed promiscuous sex with various mortals and fathering children, went to great lengths to exclude her chosen people, instead drawing in the Harua people, who were more like magic believers than mages, and then using the hand of the Elf God to connect everything.

　Her motivation might simply be that she inherited Misriel's curiosity, but failed to inherit Misriel's feelings at the time.

　161. Flash Sales

　Perhaps all of this is just Casalos's delusion. Different levels of understanding lead to different perspectives and insights. Mortals may never be able to comprehend the true logic and intentions of the gods—especially since the gods of the realm are essentially a bunch of overgrown children.

　Casalos needs to be concerned with what kind of being "Elena" has been missing for a thousand years, and whether her current mental state is suitable for participating in high-intensity combat. Although this event was not recorded in the history Casalos is familiar with for various unknown reasons, the God's-eye view can still provide some useful side references. The dragons, representing the "justice" defined by the gods, will inevitably achieve final victory in this battle, but the losses will likely be heavy.

　The Dracol family had ten adult golden dragons participating in the battle. Besides the ancient dragon, Old Dracol, there were four ancient dragons and one ancient dragon. This strength made them one of the top golden dragon families on the continent of Faerûn. However, no information about their names circulated in the final Dragon Frenzy a few years later. Could it be that this battle was the turning point in their family's decline?

　Among the other ancient dragons, the red dragon Piroseraxi and the green dragon Plasinopilis "Krolo" are also relatively unknown, and they will probably meet their end here as well.

　Sustherhiras, the overlord of the blue dragonflight of the Enoch Desert who came seeking revenge, along with the Crimson Dragon Nagast who came to join the fray, and the bronze goofball Felocelimos, all survived the ordeal. Leaving aside the goofy bronze dragon, Sustherhiras was soon backstabbed to death by the extremely old blue dragon following behind him, and the Crimson Dragon never reappeared on the battlefield of Damara. Both of them were likely seriously injured in the battle.

　As for the other dragons who had not reached the Primordial Era, and the people of the Kingdom... after some deliberation, Casalos made a decision.

　"Follow behind me to the side. The airflow from my wingtips will make flying much easier for you. Be careful not to get caught in the wake. We're heading towards the Metal Dragon."

　Fiona nodded in agreement, while Chromium muttered under his breath, "Why should I listen to you?"

　“You’re right. With so many ancient dragons present, we have nothing to fear from a floating city and a Grand Arcane Master whose existence is uncertain. But do you really want to go with the chromatic dragons?”

　Without time to explain further, Casaroz spread his wings and accelerated his ascent towards the area where the gold and silver dragons were located. Fiona followed closely behind, and after a slight hesitation, Rosely gritted her teeth and caught up. The azelfed dragons harbored an instinctive hatred for chromatic dragons, making the mutual dislike between chrome and metallic dragons due to their faction seem insignificant in comparison.

　In this situation, even chrome dragons have to admit that it's safer to mix with gold and silver dragons.

　The protective barrier of the floating city couldn't hold out for long under the relentless bombardment of numerous dragons. The magically created membrane vanished like a bubble, and several colorful dragons immediately charged into the city, carrying spells and arrows thrown from within, wreaking havoc. Flames, lightning, strong acids, poisons, and ice intertwined to form a chaotic magical storm that swept across the city, pulverizing the city, the mountain that served as the floating base, and its inhabitants.

　Huge rocks that collapsed from the mountain, carrying chaotic magical power, tumbled and drifted toward the unreachable depths of the demiplane.

　Even under the spell, the metal dragon instinctively tried to stop the chromatic dragon's rampage, but gave up after seeing the appearance of the floating city's inhabitants. They weren't normal living beings; they were simply withered corpses, relentlessly unleashing their malice towards the living under the blasphemous power of darkness.

　Elena is a floating city that has long since died, and all its inhabitants are now spirits.

　The destruction caused by the chromatic dragons was no longer an act of violence, but a purification of the desecrated land. The fact that the gold, silver, and bronze dragons did not personally participate in the purification was already a sign of mercy.

　But their lack of organization doesn't mean no one is stopping them.

　"You ruined Irene!"

　A shrill sound wave swept across the entire demiplane, and a lich dressed in a magnificent robe and wielding a withered wooden staff appeared atop the towering mage tower in the center of the floating city. As he unleashed a psychic scream, he also loudly rebuked the dragons that were destroying the city: "This is the floating city left behind by my teacher! You stupid, violent, and savage crawling beasts!"

　The colorful dragons ceased their destruction, while the metal dragons began to circle, all staring intently at the emerging lich—it was indeed a demigod lich, but the "demigod" prefix was merely a title, not a guarantee of divine power. With a large group of ancient dragons and archdragons present, who cared about such a "minor character"?

　"So it was you who assassinated our offspring?" Under the influence of Rabelas's divine power, the most violent of the ancient red dragons, Piroseraksi, molten his eyes with boiling rage. With the appearance of the lich, a massive magic circle centered on a mage tower was revealed, with lines of magical light converging at seven nodes within the city, and at each node, a huge dragon head was clearly suspended.

　At least Rabelas wasn't lying to the dragon; it really was this guy causing trouble for the dragon.

　"Hmph, the teacher is right, you beasts are indeed utterly foolish." The lich laughed loudly, his Netherian language slurring from between his yellowed, broken teeth: "To dedicate your lives to the nation's greatest arcane research, that is your honor!"

　The red dragon responded with a beam of breath, powerful enough to destroy a city. The dragon's magic was concentrated into a thin beam, capable of melting even divine artifacts.

　Then, a spherical magical shield, shimmering with purple light, was raised by the lich with one hand, cleaving through Piroseraxxi's dragon breath. The overflowing fire elementals blasted the magic tower and surrounding buildings into pieces, creating a sky-covering cloud of fire, but the lich stood firm in mid-air like a rock.

　"You're disturbing me."

　With one hand focused on maintaining the magic shield, it raised the twisted, withered wooden staff in the other hand and pointed it at the ancient red dragon that was breathing continuously. A dark magical light, which even dragons had never seen before, flashed by and disappeared, and the ancient red dragon's breath stopped abruptly.

　A look of terror appeared on the red dragon's ferocious, scale-covered face. The next moment, it suddenly collapsed, its flesh and boiling dragon magic shattering and sliding off its body, crashing heavily onto the cracked ground. Then came its pale yellow bones, and the internal organs protected by the bones, like a landslide or an erupting volcano.

　After the cataclysmic collapse, the site of the red dragon became a molten crater that burned through the mountain of the floating city, leaving not a trace of Piroseraxxi. The lich easily killed an ancient red dragon standing atop Faerûn with a single, instantaneous spell.

　"Heavy magic!" The scroll dragon, which had been hiding among the dragons, poked its head out and exclaimed in amazement at the spell used by the lich.

　162. Another defeat

　"idiot!"

　It wasn't Casalorus who mocked the gruesomely killed Ancient Red Dragon, but rather the Chromium Dragon Lothri. Casalorus wholeheartedly supported this assessment: Facing a demigod lich who appeared to be a disciple of a Grand Arcanist, this Ancient Dragon just stood there like a target, taking the blows to its face? Did it really think the title of "Grand Arcanist" was made of water?

　The magic wielded by the humans of Faerûn rarely possesses the earth-shattering, wide-area destructive power of the high magic of the elves, but it is far superior in killing single targets. Various bizarre instant-kill spells that ignore magic resistance and immunity are constantly emerging, and the heavy magic used by liches is one of them.

　The light emanating from the Karthus Avatar spell, created by the Archmage Karthus, was so dazzling that it made people...

Chapter 227

　They easily overlooked his other magical achievements, such as heavy magic, a kind of lost art that Karthus had discovered—a completely new type of magic. Casalos vaguely remembered that Karthus had once used heavy magic to kill a pit lord, but he didn't know the specifics of this unique spell.

　Aside from the old folks who lived through that era, who might have heard of it, probably only historians like the Scroll Dragon know anything about heavy magic. If I have the chance, I could try to get in touch with these bookworms and have a chat. They would probably be very interested in those ancient secrets that dragons don't know.

　Casalos thought as he watched the scroll dragon emerge from the distance, preparing various probing spells in an attempt to find out what was going on.

　"It's probably due to the influence of the charm. A red dragon that has lived to the ancient times can't be a fool." The kind-hearted Fiona explained to Losley, and reminded her, "The lich's magic power has dimmed a lot. It probably doesn't have the strength to cast the same spell again. But we don't know what magical items it has. It's best to stay far away from it. We can't help in this level of battle anyway. We can just stay behind the golden dragons and buff and heal them."

　Regardless of what happened here, the sudden death of the ancient red dragon startled the colorful dragons that had descended into Elena and were wreaking havoc. They flapped their wings and scattered, also moving away from the demigod lich—no matter how powerful the magic was, it still had to hit its target.

　The lich's newly unleashed heavy magic was dim and swift, striking the red dragon before it could react. However, the dragon could still detect its trajectory. Whether it could evade the attack by creating distance was unclear, but it would certainly give it ample time to react.

　Dragons' proud arcane power and robust physique lose their luster when facing archmages of legendary status or higher. Their only remaining advantage is their innate ability to fly, especially now that the dragons of Faerûn are flying better and faster.

　The scattered colored dragons continued to wreak havoc, while the metal dragons, under the guidance of Dracol, narrowed their circling radius. Relying on the mechanical power wielded by the golden dragons, they searched for any possible weaknesses in Elena Miser's core, hoping to take down the floating city in one fell swoop.

　Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Color Dragon, the ruins of floating cities of all sizes have filled the accessible area of ​​the demiplane, and the Miser Energy Core, which shines like the blazing sun, has also been exposed. The surging magical energy and the huge magic circle are intertwined, outlining a complex structure similar to a maze.

　"Damn it, I curse you all!"

　The lich hovering above the ruins of the mage tower pulled out several magical items and pointed them at the destroyers of the floating city, but failed to trigger any of them. It had no confidence in hitting the swarming "flies," let alone catching them, and could only hurl insults in frustration. Whether it was due to its lich-ified rigidity or simply social anxiety, it couldn't come up with anything new after a long string of curses, instead becoming increasingly annoyed by the red dragon's blunt insult about physical defects and the green dragon's sarcastic remarks.