CHAPTER 743: 585 "FAMILY MEMBERS

"Thump-thump——thump-thump——"

That was the sound of a heartbeat.

An extremely intense heartbeat.

It could be Liz’s, or it might be Reiger’s.

Anyway, when that enormous fire dragon with its wings spread bathed in lava and its body suppressed by the runic golden columns on the Rock Platform came into view, whether it was Reiger or Liz, both felt as if they were shaken on the spot, unable to move.

They even felt somewhat suffocated.

They even felt some fear.

Just the thought of this dragon having survived from the Ancient Magic Civilization Period until now evoked an instinctive panic in Reiger.

Dragons are the King of Demons.

Among all demons, dragons are at the very top of the food chain, second to none.

Dragons are the King of Calamity.

Of all creatures, dragons are notoriously violent and brutal, leaving scorched earth in their wake.

They have no natural predators.

They are born powerful.

Once they pass the lengthy periods of youth and growth and reach adulthood, they naturally become one of the most powerful beings in this world.

Sword Saints are strong, right?

But an adult dragon is much stronger than a Sword Saint, easily capable of trampling a Sword Saint!

Strategic Magicians are strong, right?

But the magic of a Strategic Magician, when it falls on a dragon with high magical resistance and defensive power, is likely to lose more than 90% of its effectiveness!

Throughout history, even though the number of Sword Saints and Strategic Magicians is rare, each era still sees a certain number born, and there has never been a period without someone becoming a Sword Saint or a Strategic Magician.

Especially Sword Saints, even in some smaller countries there are those who overcome great difficulties and eventually step into the realm of Sword Saints, not to mention the larger countries.

However, with so many Sword Saints and Strategic Magicians, throughout the thousands of years of modern magic civilization, fewer than five individuals have successfully slain a dragon.

That’s right, fewer than five.

In other words, in these thousands of years, fewer than five dragon-slaying champions have been born in history.

There are several reasons for this result.

For example, dragons are scarce; even if one intends to slay a dragon, one must first find a dragon.

Furthermore, even if one could defeat a dragon, ensuring it couldn’t simply flee and thus fall by one’s sword is yet another matter.

But ultimately, the most fundamental reason is still being outmatched in strength.

Dragons are very strong, much stronger than both Sword Saints and Strategic Magicians.

Even a newly adult dragon’s power would likely overwhelm a veteran Sword Saint, and those dragons that have lived over a thousand years could easily kill a veteran Sword Saint with ease.

Throughout history, countless nations have fallen under dragon flames, even large empires have been destroyed by dragons.

That’s a large empire!

What is a large empire?

A large empire is a country that must have several Sword Saints and Strategic Magicians guarding it!

Multiple Sword Saints, Strategic Magicians, and thousands of vast armies have all been destroyed by dragons, which just goes to show how immensely powerful dragons are!

Reiger had seen dragons before, in the world of the Overlord and in the underground city of the Earth Mistake World, but those dragons were nothing compared to the dragons of Akasha Continent—heaven and earth apart.

And if this fire dragon before him had survived from the Ancient Magic Civilization Period until now, how many years had it lived?

At least... eleven thousand years!

A dragon of over a thousand years could easily kill a veteran Sword Saint, so how strong would an ancient fire dragon of over ten thousand years be?

Being an affiliate of the King of Calamity that brought about the downfall of the Ancient Magic Civilization, how strong would this fire dragon be before it was suppressed here?

It was because these thoughts crossed their minds that both Reiger and Liz’s heartbeats became so intense, and their bodies instinctively, against their will, generated panic and fear.

At least, looking at this fire dragon, Reiger felt the same way he did when he first saw the source of "Calamity" at the bottom of the great cave in Fairy Country Britannia.

If summed up in one sentence it would be —— an insurmountable adversary!

At this stage, he was definitely no match for such a being!

That was all there was to it.

"Master... Master..."

Liz seemed almost crushed by the omnipresent dragon’s might, suddenly clinging tightly to Reiger, her body trembling.

"It’s okay, it’s all right."

Reiger, likewise unconsciously holding Liz tight, patted her back while whispering softly.

"That dragon isn’t free, it can’t leave that Rock Platform, don’t be scared."

By saying this, Reiger took the lead in calming down.

He didn’t continue flying forward, nor did he descend, but turned his gaze towards the rock platform.

Due to the overwhelming presence of the ancient fire dragon, Reiger almost overlooked the fact that there were, indeed, people on that rock platform.

Seeing those people, Reiger finally managed to reclaim his composure.

"There you are..." Reiger murmured to himself.

"Quite bold of you..." he noted.

Just then, the people who had arrived at this location before Reiger and Liz finally came into view on the rock platform.

Several magic puppets were silently flitting around the rune pillars, meticulously scraping off layers of gold dust from the pillars with their claw-shaped weapons powered by a mysterious and sinister energy.

That cold-faced girl and Sgranot were also present, watching the scene from afar, one with her usual expression of cool detachment, the other unprecedentedly drenched in sweat and looking nervous.

A thought struck Reiger, and after glancing at the still-dozing ancient fire dragon, he activated a chant-free teleportation spell.

"Swish!"

In the next second, Reiger, holding Liz, vanished from the spot.

"Hm?"

At the same time, the cold-faced girl who had been watching the work of the magic puppets seemed to be drawn by something and turned her head towards the direction Reiger had been.

"What, what’s going on?" Sgranot overreacted and hastily asked.

The cold-faced girl didn’t immediately respond to Sgranot but instead rotated her ice-blue eyes, scanning the area.

"What’s the matter? Say something!" Sgranot persisted, his tone now tinged with anger and irritation.

The cold-faced girl gave such a Sgranot a glance before finally asking, "Did you hear any strange noises?"

"Strange noises?" Sgranot furrowed his brow, snorted coldly, and said, "In a place like this, what kind of strange noises could there be?"

"...Really?" the girl muttered to herself, wondering, "Could it have been an illusion?"

Apparently, no one could answer her question.

Sgranot’s thoughts weren’t even on that, to the point where he expressed strong dissatisfaction when he saw the girl looking distracted.

"Look, can you focus?" Sgranot said. "Do you even realize the situation we’re in?"

Hearing this, a look of annoyance crossed the girl’s face.

There was no helping it.

Sgranot had already said the same thing countless times.

"We are trying to remove a part of the construct from the Nibelungen Pillar that seals the most terrifying dragon history has ever known. One wrong move and we could release its seal," Sgranot said in a low voice, fists clenched. "Do you realize how terrible things could get?"

"What else could happen?" The girl, face etched with impatience, replied. "Isn’t it just that the King of Fire Dragons would escape from here?"

"Just that?" Sgranot laughed bitterly with rage. "This is a dragon left over from the Ancient Magic Civilization Period! A dragon that has lived for over ten thousand years!"

"Have you ever seen such an ancient dragon?"

"You’ve probably never seen a mature dragon, let alone a large one. How could you have seen a dragon king this ancient?"

"If this King of Fire Dragons were to make it outside, do you think the only ones in trouble would be my Xinyelu and the neighboring kingdoms of Jinas and Leiblu?"

"I fear the entire land of Akasha would be turned upside down by it!"

Why did Sgranot decide to declare the ancient ruins taboo?

Why do the kingdoms of Jinas and Leiblu have reservations about this place?

It was all because of this fire dragon’s existence!

"Even a large dragon that has lived for over a thousand years can easily trample a Sword Saint and possibly destroy a large nation, let alone such an unprecedented ancient dragon king."

"Can you imagine how I felt when I, along with representatives from those two nations, first saw this fire dragon?"

"All we had in our hearts was fear! Utter panic!"

Who asked Xinyelu to be right next to these ancient ruins?

Who asked the kingdoms of Jinas and Leiblu to be nearby?

If this ancient fire dragon were to break free and return to the surface, the first to face disaster would be none other than Xinyelu and the two major nations nearby.

Therefore, Sgranot decided to declare the ancient ruins off-limits, prohibiting anyone from getting involved, with violators facing imprisonment or even execution. The kingdoms of Jinas and Leiblu agreed with his decision and decided to cooperate with him, all because they were afraid—afraid that some fool would carelessly release the ancient fire dragon sleeping here and bring disaster upon the Neutral Zone and the two great nations.

This time, if the girl hadn’t offered conditions that had attracted Sgranot, full of hatred and desiring to take revenge on Reiger, he would never have agreed to cooperate and bring her here.

And even after agreeing to the collaboration, Sgranot had made it clear in advance that the girl could only proceed with her own agenda if it didn’t affect the dragon’s seal and didn’t disturb the fire dragon. Otherwise, he would turn against her.

At that time, the girl had agreed.

But judging by the girl’s current demeanor, she seemed not to care too much about that.

This filled Sgranot’s eyes with a shadow, and dark thoughts gradually began to surface in his mind.