As Yvette released her grip on the Spider Witch, leaving her on the rooftop of a dilapidated building, Dugrabi regained his composure and flapped his wings, flying toward her.

It’s worth mentioning that a dragon’s flying ability relies not only on the airflow produced by flapping wings but primarily on a unique innate ability, or rather, a form of wind magic inscribed deep within their genes, considered an early expression of “Dragon Language Magic.”

In other words, without magical energy, dragons cannot truly fly; they can only glide.

Of course, Dugrabi hadn’t reached such a level yet.

Landing beside Yvette and noticing the humbled Abella kneeling on the ground, Dugrabi smirked, quickly understanding what had transpired. At first, he stared in surprise, then burst into loud laughter: “Hahaha! Weren’t you just so arrogant? Didn’t you say even my teacher couldn’t defeat you? Hey, why are you on your knees now?”

As soon as he mocked her, Abella—who had been sobbing softly—immediately turned her attention to him.

Her eyes widened, and her brows furrowed as she glared at him; her meaning was unmistakably clear—“So what if you’re my teacher’s apprentice? How dare you, an elite Godkin, disrespect me, a mighty lord? Didn’t you just suffer at my hands?”

Yet, the moment she considered her current state as a captive and that her evolution factors had been fully drained, she reluctantly averted her gaze, unwilling to engage further with this disdainful dragon.

But Dugrabi didn’t relent; he was quite vindictive. Though he didn’t yet have permission to act from Yvette, it didn’t stop him from moving closer to Abella and teasingly saying, “Haha, this is exactly the expression I wanted to see! Yes, yes, keep it like that!”

Abella turned, daggers in her eyes, nearly grinding her teeth. She had wanted to take him out when he spit on her before; now that their positions had reversed, she was uncertain just how insufferable this little dragon would be.

Killing someone could be a matter of honor… but it seemed dignity was the least important thing for Godkin.

Still, the remnants of Abella’s human memories were relatively extensive among Godkin. Although they stemmed from various individuals, years of hardship and struggles had helped her integrate those memories into a somewhat complete personality. She valued dignity more than other Godkin with lower humanoid traits.

Just a bit more, though.

“Let’s talk later; we should leave here first.” Yvette glanced toward the city center, where nothing was approaching, but from another direction, a massive silhouette was becoming increasingly visible.

She knew that was the Mountain Whale Lord, one of the three Mother Nest Guardians, whose territory was closest and would be the first to respond to any disturbances.

Yvette’s capture of the Spider Witch had consumed around 4500 points of aberrant mana; extrapolating from that, hunting other lords might incur similar costs.

Normally, if circumstances allowed, she would engage in a war of attrition using her mage capabilities and then finish off the opponent when they were low on health, employing her black-eyed mastery for the final strike.

However, there was a mysterious sixth-stage lord in the center of Kux—what level of power did that entail? Could she defeat it?

Even if she ‘could’ win, would she be able to kill it?

And if she managed to do so, could she recoup her costs?

Moreover, who knew what secrets lay hidden in the center of Kux? If there was truly a lord of the highest caliber, the “King of the Sky and Sea,” why would they send a sixth-stage commander to guard such a remote area?

Thus, for both safety and cost-benefit considerations, the best course now was to leave.

…

Having departed the frost-covered, ice-like Kux, Yvette moved closer to the mountain region, where drizzling spring rain fell softly against her face, which she shielded using wind magic.

Instead of returning directly to the Doll Kingdom, at Yvette’s instruction, Dugrabi flew them to an ancient ruin.

Upon entering one of the black buildings made of metal materials, the rain was blocked by the corroded metallic panels, with only a small amount seeping indoors. Yvette turned to face the Spider Witch.

At that moment, Abella was damp, her dark hair clinging to her face, looking quite disheveled. She bent down to wring out her skirt, and through the sheer fabric of her black dress, Yvette noticed some details beneath it: patches of black chitin covering her skin, protecting her intimate areas.

Yvette felt a bit disappointed but knew it was to be expected—the Spider Witch was an aberration, after all. She had to keep some features intact to signify her non-human identity.

However, she pondered why the chitinous plates didn’t cover her entirely if that was their purpose.

Noticing Yvette’s gaze, Abella looked up, blinking in confusion. Yvette casually shifted her attention away, calmly asking, “If you were to disappear, how would your superior, the ‘Commander,’ react?”

“Lord Purple? I… I am not sure,” Abella replied, a hint of fear evident in her voice.

“Not sure?” Yvette questioned, slightly puzzled. She thought, How could you not know whether your superior would care about you or not?

Dugrabi chimed in, seizing the opportunity. “Teacher, she’s being untruthful! I’ll interrogate her for you! I’ll make sure she tells everything!”

“Get lost… I’m not lying! I really don’t know!” Abella said, flustered. This annoying dragon was unbearable, and she quickly added, “You… You…”

“My name is Yvette Loxivia,” Yvette interjected.

“Lady Loxivia, since you’ve so easily subdued me, you should be a lord nearby too, correct? Given that we’re both lords, Lord Purple won’t necessarily engage in battle with you, and the situation in Kux… is rather special.”

“Special?” Yvette raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. It involves a small secret… but since you’re also a lord, you might be able to guess,” Abella hesitated.

“Go on,” Yvette urged, thinking that she was overstating her importance.

“Surely you know, right? The Lords of the Black Tide Continent have yet to be born… The positions for lords here are currently vacant.”

“Vacant?” Yvette nodded, her mind racing as she took in this revelation.

What did it mean for the lord positions to be vacant? Wasn’t a lord a rank attained by gathering enough aberrant factors for evolution? Was there a fixed limit? Were there special evolution conditions? Or was it merely a title?

“What do you mean by the position being vacant? Isn’t that a position you earn through effort?” Dugrabi chimed in, echoing Yvette’s thoughts. He was uncertain whether Yvette needed to know this potentially basic information, but nonetheless, his curiosity was piqued.

Abella shot a condescending glance at the black dragon. In her mind, it was merely an elite not worth taking seriously, as she had learned much significant information long ago during her promotion. This reflected the hierarchical differences among Godkin.

Suppressing her irritation, she explained to Dugrabi, “The Goddess granted nine lord positions to the Godkin.”

“The Goddess? Are you referring to the End World Witch? What are these nine lords?” Dugrabi queried.

“End World Witch? How dare you refer to her as ‘the Goddess’?” Abella looked at him in shock, sensing the disrespect in his tone toward that being.

“So what? I’m not one of you corrupted creatures birthed by an evil god. I’m a noble dragon, do you understand?” Dugrabi retorted, believing his dragon lineage still shone brightly, distinctly separating itself from the disgusting and repulsive forms of aberrations.

Given the unpredictability of the situation earlier, he had managed to disguise himself as an aberration, but with the Spider Witch captured, he finally felt he could drop the pretense—after all, as long as his teacher’s disguise remained intact, it was fine.

“Dragon? Are you from the New World?!” Abella gasped.

New World? Could that be referring to the human realm? Dugrabi pondered, then proudly replied, “Yes, so what?” Read full story at Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

“Ah… haha…” Abella didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she laughed a few times before coldly stating, “So you’re from the New World; no wonder you look different from the other elites… but don’t get too ahead of yourself.”

Pausing, she wore a somewhat terrifying expression as she fixed her eyes on Dugrabi. “The Goddess has awakened, and the gates to the New World are about to open… prepare to welcome the Day of Endings, pitiful ants!”