CHAPTER 913: THE PURER BLOODLINE

This was the umpteenth time Torin had asked the question, but Ogu remained patient, answering without a trace of annoyance.

"Once they inhale the blight, it will take no more than half a month for the dwarves of the city to transform into Dark Dwarves—our own powerful enforcers."

"Yi, just imagine it," the clown’s voice dripped with a sinister pride. "When the dwarves’ bodies mutate, when they become giants, their strength will double yet again. Shouldn’t you be pleased to have such mighty warriors at your command? With their help, you will soon establish a firm foothold on this continent."

Ogu’s voice was a mesmerizing cocktail of pride, malice, and seduction.

"All we have to do now is wait. Wait for the moment the dwarves are collectively infected and transformed."

"Heheheh..."

Emerald Dream Realm, Over the Sea.

The clouds churned, roiled by gale-force winds and violent collisions. Two dragons burst through the mists, one chasing the other, both unleashing furious, defiant roars.

It was a dragon war, with the crucial difference that one of the combatants, a colossal dragon, had a rider wielding a dragonlance standing proudly between its horns.

"ROAR... DAMNABLE TRAITOR!" the red dragon, Drakokrates, bellowed. "To allow a human insect to stand upon the noble horns of a dragon! You are a disgrace to our kind!"

Even in the Uynting Realm, the colossal dragon’s bloodline was not a lowly one, and Drakokrates simply could not accept seeing one of its kind fighting for the enemy, slaughtering its own people.

"Betraying dragonkind?" the colossal dragon retorted, its voice dripping with contempt. "A mongrel like you, with your impure blood, dares to call yourself a true dragon? As the Dragon God is my witness, I will devour you today!"

It was said you become like those you keep company with. The colossal dragon had learned nothing else from Isabella, but it had perfectly mastered her boundless pride.

"ROAR... I WILL SWALLOW YOU WHOLE!"

Wars between dragons were rare, but when they happened, they were almost always battles to the death. More often than not, the loser was devoured by the victor as food. It was clear both the red dragon and the colossal dragon were enraged, each fully intending to extinguish the other.

With thunderous roars, the two titans chased and tore at each other across the sky, a whirlwind of claws and fury. All other flying beasts gave their battlefield a wide berth.

"Hmm... not bad," Leonidas commented from the palace square floating on the water below. "An Isabella like this is finally starting to look like a member of the Champions Alliance."

He, Orion, and Makareth stood together, watching the duel of the two dragons. Having once possessed a dragon avatar himself, Leonidas was intimately familiar with their strengths and the finer points of their combat styles. He was more than qualified to comment.

"That red dragon is at the peak of the legendary tier, too," Makareth added. "I’ve clashed with it before. It’s tough. I couldn’t take it down in a short time."

Its defenses were so strong that it had managed to escape Makareth’s assault completely unscathed.

"Isabella’s situation is different," Leonidas explained. "Her colossal dragon’s bloodline suppresses the red dragon’s. She has the advantage in this fight."

"And you think that red dragon is angry because a human is riding its opponent? Impossible. The real reason for its fury is that the colossal dragon’s bloodline is purer than its own, and it can feel the suppression."

Among dragons, when a bloodline suppression was in effect, the one with the nobler blood could more easily break through the defenses of the inferior one. Leonidas shot a smug, I-know-all-the-secrets look at Orion and Makareth.

"Bro, if the red dragon is being suppressed, why would it still pick a fight with a colossal dragon?" Orion asked, immediately spotting the inconsistency.

"Heh heh, big fish eat small fish. Survival of the fittest applies to dragons, too," Leonidas said. "But there’s another factor: the weak challenging the strong. Devouring a more powerful being to evolve your own bloodline. That red dragon must have an ace up its sleeve to be attempting such a risky gamble."

He clapped Orion on the shoulder. "Bro, keep an eye on that little firecracker Isabella. She might be in for a nasty surprise."

Orion nodded, shifting most of an eye to Isabella, but his attention as a commander also split, taking in the wider battlefield. This skirmish was far more than just a duel between two dragons.

In the lower sky and just above the waves, the Sea Race and flying units of both sides had smashed into each other. The battle was a chaotic, brutal meat grinder.

In the air, Rayden and his flock were clashing with a swarm of four-winged apes. These monsters could not only fly but were also formidable melee fighters. The combination was devastating, and Rayden’s forces were taking heavy losses. If not for the support of Makareth’s Gargoyles, the Champions Alliance would have no advantage in the air at all.

Just then, Orion’s eyes followed Thunderhawk Rayden as he shot past a four-winged ape. Talons met fists with a deafening, metallic clang. A clap of thunder and an enraged roar followed as Rayden banked sharply, spun, and dove back in for another attack.

The ape flapped its four wings, clawing for the thunderhawk’s wings, trying to throw it off balance. As they closed, Rayden twisted sideways, his talons once again deflecting the ape’s iron-hard fists in a shower of sparks.

A crackling sound filled the air as a bolt of Chain Lightning erupted from Rayden, slamming into the back of the ape’s head. Its shriek of agony was cut short.

Similar duels were playing out across the lower sky. Flying units fell from the air like stones, plunging into the sea below.

And in the sea, it was a complete bloodbath.

Swarms of Ocean Hunters crashed into the dragons’ vassal race, the blue-backed sea serpents. The two cannon-fodder forces collided, instantly staining the surface of the ocean red. Below the bloody waves, a frenzy of death raged between countless fish and serpents.

Slightly back from the main battle, Vexis and Clymene stood together, chanting in unison. "Darkness envelops, death guides the way, servants of undeath, hear my call, rise from bleached bone and be reborn..."

In the water, the mangled bodies of the fallen—both Ocean Hunters and sea serpents—began to stir. They rose from the depths, their eyes glowing with cold light, and threw themselves back into the fight. Even many of the flying units that had been shot down burst from the waves, joining the battle once more in their broken forms.

The battlefield was a vision of bloody, glorious carnage. Dragons roared in the heavens, thunderhawks streaked through the air, and giant apes tore at the clouds and the sea with their bare hands, all while devil fish and sea serpents waged a war of mutual annihilation in the crimson world below.