CHAPTER 51: ANCIENT DRAGON

Luke immediately understood what the sounds were. They were heavy sounds, intense and deafening.

The sound of the dragons’ wings flapping came from the top of the mountain to the quarter of the area.

Looking up at the thousands of metres high One Mountain, it was clear that these dragons were mature, perhaps forty or even fifty metres long.

It was incredible.

Luke was very close, just as they were close to him, Luke was very, very close to them.

He jumped to his feet instantly. All his fatigue seemed to have vanished from his body. It was as if the goddess herself was holding Luke’s hand and dragging him along forcefully.

He was fast. Luke began climbing the stairs at an incredible pace. Within seconds, he had already climbed fifty, a hundred, a hundred and fifty steps.

He was using his magic to the fullest and continuing to move forward.

Two hundred steps.

Three hundred steps.

Four hundred steps.

Seven hundred steps.

A thousand steps.

He had climbed all these steps quickly and had climbed the steps that had taken him hours to climb in just ten minutes.

Luke had passed exactly five thousand two hundred and ninety-six steps. Even if he didn’t know the number, the sweat pouring off him made it clear.

There were no more steps in front of him. He had managed to pass through the clouds again. The habitat had changed in a matter of seconds, and despite being in a cold environment above the clouds, it was filled with white flowers and plants.

There was no need to describe the energy of life here; it could be understood simply by the flowers and plants.

Luke changed his clothes in a matter of seconds.

He washed his hair with water magic and dried it with air magic. Then, without stopping, he put his fedora back on his head and took his first step into this renewed, beautiful habitat.

The flapping sounds around him had long since ceased. The crackling sounds could still be heard from afar.

Luke had advanced exactly seven hundred metres to the summit of this mountain, and only then could he see the sacred beings before him.

There were eleven Phoenixes, each of a different colour, glowing with different shades of fire.

Not only that, but dragons with pure white scales, nearly ten metres in size, were also visible to the naked eye. They were Ice Dragons.

Luke couldn’t help but smile. Every creature was keeping its distance from him. This wasn’t fear of an unknown power.

Each of them kept their distance from him and seemed to bow their heads. It was as if... they were showing respect.

Still, they continued to bare their teeth. After showing their respect, the Phoenixes puffed out their chests and tried to make themselves look bigger.

As for the dragons, it would be accurate to say they were performing a strange dance. Or rather, Luke wasn’t sure how accurate it was to call it a dance.

The dragons were flapping their wings.

Still, Luke was aware... Both these dragons and phoenixes were young, not large, and the wing sounds Luke heard could not have come from them; that was impossible. None of them were Ancient Dragons or Ancient Phoenixes.

Luke was willing to settle for one of the Ancient Phoenixes, even though they were much weaker than the Ancient Dragons. The Great City needed something to protect Selene in case of another magical beast attack, or worse, a war.

Callum might not be enough on his own, and that was what Luke feared.

Luke had to unleash the power of his blood and find one of the Ancient beings.

He continued walking through the habitat. At the summit of One Mountain, he moved slowly, ignoring the dragons and phoenixes around him as he tried to reach his goal.

Within a short time, Luke had managed to reach the end of the habitat. What he encountered was a cave with an entrance that was seriously enormous.

"Forty metres? No... Fifty metres wide," Luke muttered, and without pausing for a second, he used the white fire to create a small fireball and threw it into the cave, drawing the attention of the dragons and phoenixes.

Nothing happened.

The white fire itself showed that there was nothing inside.

Luke was worried that he had come here for nothing. The dozens of dragons and eleven phoenixes surrounding him certainly did not constitute an Ancient Dragon or an Ancient Phoenix.

This was impossible.

Just as he was about to be overcome with the sorrow of failure, the sound came to his ears again... but this time it was much louder, much more audible.

"WHOOOOOMPPHHHHH!!!!"

"WHOOOOOMPPHHHHH!!!!"

"WHOOOOOMPPHHHHH!!!!"

One after another, at varying decibels, but always loud.

Luke immediately turned around, and what he saw did not surprise him, frighten him, or make him jump.

Luke was smiling. He was smiling excitedly. He was smiling joyfully.

In the air, a figure was slowly descending toward the habitat.

"THUUUDD!!!"

Within just ten seconds, this creature had begun to descend and was looking straight at Luke.

It was a dragon with pure white scales, pure white star marks inside its pure red pupils, and when viewed with the naked eye, it could be estimated to be nearly a hundred metres long and nearly ten to fifteen metres wide, with 40 metres long wings.

Luke realised within seconds that this dragon was an Ancient Dragon. Like other dragons or phoenixes, it showed respect but also looked down on him, as even a fool could understand.

Nevertheless, Luke would not back down. The task his ancestor, Andromeda Ariadne Hiera, had given him, no, the beautiful creature she had left behind, was something he must retame himself.

"Kneel," Luke said suddenly, looking at Ancient Dragon’s glowing eyes.

Though he did not notice, his voice was very different, authoritative.

When the Ancient Dragon heard this word, it exhaled slightly, but even this breath created enough air to send some of the plants in the habitat tumbling down the mountain.

Still, it obeyed Luke’s command.