Stella pointed her sword at the dragon. "How dare you cut me off?!" she shouted in fluent draconic. "I was having a nice conversation with Nymeria here, and you just had to butt in like your opinion matters. Unbelievable! You flap your gums more than your wings, you pitiful overgrown lizard."

The dragon she was hurling insults at didn't seem to be listening to her—his eyes were too focused on Kaida looming behind her. Stella had brought Kaida along to make them take her seriously, and as a possible translator in case they used particularly poetic draconic that she wasn't knowledgeable about yet. Kaida had also shown a desire to meet with his fellow dragons.

In fact, nobody was paying her any attention. The wide eyes of every wyvern encircling the room were locked onto Kaida as if he were a ghost.

Stella side-eyed him over her shoulder. I know Kaida is shiny and quite strong, but what's the deal? They all look terrified.

"Dragon, what's your name?" Kaida said, narrowing his golden eyes at the silver dragon that Stella was singling out.

It took a flash of Kaida's spiritual pressure for the silver dragon to come to his senses. He planted his head on the floor in reverence, as if not daring to have his head at the same level as Kaida.

"M-My name is Echo—son of Astralis, the Celestial Star Dragon. Who might your lordship be?"

Lordship? Stella raised a brow.

Every other wyvern in the room also bowed their heads as if greeting a king. Only Nymeria remained standing, but she seemed hesitant, as if debating whether she should get down on one knee.

This wasn't the way Stella had expected this to go at all.

"Why are they bowing?" she asked Kaida, masking her voice.

"Dragons are very hierarchical and traditional monsters, and my blood is that of a divine dragon," Kaida replied smugly. "It's only natural they would bow before me."

"Right... what about Nymeria?"

Kaida glanced over at Nymeria, and she trembled.

"She has the blood of a divine dragon and a human goddess running through her veins. Since she isn't a full-blooded dragon, she won't feel an instinctual desire to bow toward a trueblood like me." Kaida paused, "Her blood, while tainted for a dragon, might even be considered a higher grade than mine. Half-bloods are rare, let alone the child of a divine dragon and a human goddess. I'm deeply curious what happened for such a union to occur."

The dragons were still bowing, awaiting Kaida's answer.

Nymeria couldn't stand Kaida's intense gaze and began to lower her body.

"You don't need to do that," Stella said as she appeared beside her in a flash of white flames and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Since you will answer me, you can ignore him."

Immediately, all gazes shifted between her and Kaida. It seemed they were fearful that Kaida wouldn't stand for her actions. Of course, the ink dragon, while displeased, had nothing to say. He returned his focus to Echo.

"Thank you," Nymeria whispered as she stood and smiled at her.

Stella returned the smile.

"Echo, son of Astralis. My name is Kaida—a Celestial Ink Dragon. It seems your father and I may both have divine dragon blood..." he paused, "Unless that is just a title your father gave himself?"

Echo whimpered under the crushing gaze. "I've never met my father, so I cannot say. Nymeria?" he swiveled his head. "What do you think?"

"Me?" Nymeria seemed surprised that her name came up.

"Yes, you have interacted with our father a few times. Is he of divine blood?"

Nymeria frowned, "I'm not sure. How do you check?"

"Instinctually," Echo snarled in reply, "Did he feel like he was of the divines?"

Nymeria shrugged, "I've never felt anything instinctually toward another dragon—all I can say is that Father is as strong as he is ruthless."

Echo snorted, "Halfie."

"I'm not the one with my head on the ground," Nymeria snarled back.

That seemed to anger Echo. "If you weren't a disgusting halfie and were a trueblood, you would be doing the same. Look around you; even the other Wyverns have the brains to know what to do."

Nymeria glanced around, and the edge of her lip seemed to tremble with rage.

Stella clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"How can you talk about having brains when I just said she doesn't have to bow?" Stella clicked her fingers, and a sword appeared above the bowed dragon's head from the aether. The sword hung in the air like a silent reaper, the blade tip inches from Echo's skull. The dragon's eyes swiveled upward to look at the sword with a hint of amusement.

"Powerless human, I don't know what trick you used to make the great Kaida obey you, but why are you defending this halfie?" Echo asked slowly. "She is neither fully human nor dragon."

Stella ignored him. "Nymeria, would his death matter?"

"No," Nymeria said coldly.

Echo snorted. "Who are you to decide that—"

"Will Astralis not be enraged if we kill one of his children?" Stella asked, cutting Echo off.

Nymeria shook her head. "Astralis has as many children as there are stars in the sky—he is practically the progenitor of all dragons on this layer of creation. To him, we are nothing but bugs. As Echo said earlier, he has never even met Astralis."

"But you have?" Stella said.

Nymeria turned to face her. "Yeah sure, we have talked before... He just threw me through a building and threatened my life should I dare try to rely on him again."

"Kaida, your lordship," Echo hissed, "Control this human of yours and get her away from me!"

That's it. Stella thought as she lowered her hand. A sickening crunch silenced Echo as the sword impaled his skull, nailing his head to the stone ground.

As silence filled the room, Stella strode over to the body. Pulling out her sword and flicking the blood off, she grumbled to herself. "What a pain." Taking a moment to dispel her irritation, she casually kicked the large corpse across the room. The silver scales cratered under her foot. It skidded across the stone, leaving a trail of blood and smeared brain before exiting through the still-open desolation rift back to Red Vine Peak.

Taking her eyes off the rift and scanning the room, she nodded in satisfaction as no Wyvern dared to raise their heads in protest for what she had done.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Good, it seems there's another language these dumb lizards understand besides draconic—the actions of the strong. That will make things easier going forward.

At the end of the day, talking monsters were still monsters. She didn't have the patience to deal with Echo, who had already wasted enough of her and Ash's valuable time. With every moment that passed, the beast tide loomed closer to her precious home. If killing a prideful dragon would speed up finding a solution, she would choose to kill Echo every time.

"Now, Nymeria. How about we continue our little chat uninterrupted since I had to come all the way here?" Stella asked as she stowed away the sword. While she liked Nymeria's temperament so far, this girl was still just another monster—an obstacle in her path to overcoming the beast tide.

It seemed Nymeria could see her thoughts clearly, as if they were written all over her face. She nodded eagerly, "That would be great—you see, I'm also on a time limit and want to proceed swiftly."

Stella beamed—she had never heard such sweet words. Nothing made her day better than a meeting that ended quickly. "Great, we are on the same page then. Tell me about your dilemma, and let's see if we can meet in the middle."

Nymeria gathered herself and then began. "Our biggest issue is that we can't advance through the heavenly lightning or past the demonic spirit trees that release that cursed miasma without risking death while more powerful monsters gather behind us," she glanced out the window, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Soon we will be forced to march forward or die."

"Not a problem," Stella said, making Nymeria look at her with hope and relief.

"Really...?"

"Yeah, that's easy. We can get you past all that and to safety." Stella waved her off. "In return, I just have a small request first."

"What is it?" Nymeria asked hesitantly.

"Nothing big. As I previously mentioned, I just need you to get me in contact with Zephyrine."

The life in Nymeria's silver serpentine eyes died. "Forget easy. That simply won't be possible."

"Really?" Stella tilted her head, almost causing the sleeping Maple to fall. "And why is that?"

"Zephyrine is like a god to us. To get her attention, you would have to go through a Primal Overlord first," Nymeria frowned, "Which is also almost impossible without getting killed."

Stella sighed. The fact that the monsters were so disorganized was both good and bad. Good, because their rampant infighting culled their numbers. Bad, because it made the likelihood of convincing the monsters to go around Red Vine Peak a difficult challenge without the assistance of the strongest monster.

So long as they obey the law of the strong, Zephyrine should have the strength to order the Primal Overlords and the other monsters to avoid us. She apparently made this storm, so it's clear she is already leading the monsters in some capacity.

"Fine, not Zephyrine. What about Astralis—"

"No," Nymeria said firmly.

"No?"

"Sorry," Nymeria sighed. "That was an automatic reaction. It's just that I'd rather avoid having to rely on him again." She looked at the floor, her body shaking. "Last time was rough enough—I can still remember his words as he locked eyes with me: You should have just died. A dragon's greatest pride is their own strength. Calling on me disgraces you as a dragon and my name... those words still haunt me."

Stella patted Nymeria on the shoulder. "It sounds like Astralis and I are going to get on great. You don't have to worry about a thing; just take me to him. I won't get you involved at all."

"You're not going to try to kill him, are you?" Nymeria said, and seemed genuinely concerned. "Astralis is incredibly strong and was only a step away from reaching the Monarch Realm. When he fights for real, it's said the stars fall, and only destruction is left in his wake."

"No fighting. I was hoping to talk it out," Stella said. But internally, she was sizing this dragon up against the strength of the Ashfallen Sect. At the 9th stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, only Larry, Maple, and Nyxalia could theoretically be his match, and that was assuming no other Primal Overlords or Zephyrine got involved.

"Talk it out? With a prideful dragon like him?" Nymeria glanced at Kaida. "Actually, he might listen if Kaida goes with you."

"Right? What are you so worried about anyway?" Stella laughed, trying to cheer her up. "Just bring him here."

"That I can't do," Nymeria shook her head. "We don't have communication artifacts like you humans."

"Ah... how do you communicate then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let's say you want to call for a particular wyvern under you, how would you do that?" Stella said.

"Mhm, a few ways," Nymeria counted off on her claws. "I could send someone to go find them, or if they are close by, I can shout and empower my voice with Qi."

How truly primitive.

Stella glanced out the window. "Well, is Astralis close?"

Nymeria joined her in looking out the window. "While it's impossible to tell with this storm, it's unlikely. We are on the frontlines with the other Star Core Realm monsters. Behind us will be the Nascent Soul Realm monsters, who are either the Primal Overlords or monsters keen on taking those top spots."

"So we would have to head deeper into the storm to find him?"

Nymeria nodded. "Yes. You will need to go as far as you can through the endless horde of monsters, and even when you find him, there's no guarantee he will help. Now that I think about it, how do you plan to convince him to assist you? Having Kaida with you will at least make him listen..."

"You said it yourself," Stella grinned. "The Nascent Soul Realm monsters and Primal Overlords are all aiming to be the top dog. What I will target is their greed. You see, I'll let you in on a little secret."

Stella leaned in and used Qi to conceal her voice from the wyverns in the room.

"Zephyrine might not even know it, but she's leading every monster, possibly including herself, to their deaths."

Nymeria's eyes widened, and she whispered, "How?"

"The next spiritual spring... is the Celestial Empire where my mother, the World Tree, is. She's using the beast tide to wipe out the cultivators that have imprisoned her in the Empire. If a Primal Overlord were to become aware of this information, they would know that rushing to the next spiritual spring is only spelling their deaths. If they were to hang back instead, the Celestial Empire would wipe out their competition without them having to lift a claw." Stella smirked, "What do you think? Would even a prideful dragon like Astralis be interested in working with us to shepherd their competition to their deaths?"

Nymeria nodded, "There are very few things in this world that could earn his interest, and that might just be one of them. But to think we are being led to our deaths like that." Her expression faltered. "Such large-scale manipulation, as expected of the World Tree."

"It's a plan she set in motion long ago, likely before you were even born," Stella explained. "By concentrating Qi in certain areas, she artificially created gathering spots for monsters called spiritual springs."

Nymeria seemed confused. "Why would the World Tree need to do that?"

"Gathering you all in one place forces survival of the fittest. Monsters that could survive such an environment were bound to be strong, and she tested that theory by having you march down ley lines and fight against the human sects in the way. The goal was to make a horde of the strongest monsters possible, all the while letting the Celestial Empire get complacent and weak as she kept monsters away."

Stella leaned away, giving the stunned Nymeriaa moment to process the truth. All the monsters were nothing but chess pieces on the World Tree's realm-spanning chessboard, and after what had to be thousands of years of preparations, the World Tree was ready to checkmate the Celestial Empire.

All of this had been confirmed in a long chat Stella had enjoyed with her mother after returning from the Silverspire residence. She had wanted to proudly tell her mother how she had wiped out the Enforcers in her name, and the conversation had evolved from there.

The World Tree had explained her plans and apologized to Ashlock that he'd been unlucky enough to be caught in its path. But the stage had been set, and there was little she could do to alter the course of the beast tide now. After all, she had never spoken directly with Zephyrine. She could only direct the monsters by changing the flow of Qi through her roots.

Instead of blaming her mother or selfishly demanding that she redirect the monsters elsewhere to save Ash, Stella decided to solve this problem herself to avoid depriving her mother of salvation. There had to be a way to have the monsters go around or avoid Red Vine Peak and their other territories without having to stage a last stand.

That was Stella's current goal, and it seemed she was on the path to a solution. First, she needed to find a Primal Overlord willing to get them in contact with Zephyrine. After that, she would have to somehow convince Zephyrine to part the storm or lead the monsters around their lands.

If she won't, Ash will have to use the full strength of the sect to take her down and replace her with an Ent that he controls. If that also fails, we will have to fight back against the beast tide, which is a terrible outcome. There will be death, loss of Qi, and worst of all, we will have taken out the army that my mother had been building for so long.

Her wandering thoughts were interrupted by a new presence lumbering through the desolation portal. It was another dragon, made from silver wood. Ash had turned Echo, whom she had kicked through earlier, into an Ent. Next to the dragon was Anubis, the shadow lich.

"Have you reached a consensus?" Ash asked through Anubis.

Stella nodded. "I believe we have."

Nymeria turned to her with pleading eyes and even grabbed her hand. "Stella, I know I was useless, but can I come with you?! I don't want to die or be turned into a wooden horror, and I promise there's a slim chance that Astralis will look more favorably on you if I'm there!"

"Really?" Stella raised a brow.

"Yes," Nymeria begged. "Please don't leave me here to die."

"Fine." Stella paused. This dragon could be useful as both a warrior and an information source regarding the society of monsters going forward. "But first, I'm going to need to return home to assemble a team to delve deep into the beast tide in search of a Primal Overlord—and you're going to come with me."