CHAPTER 417: CHAPTER 254: DON’T LOOK BACK! (2)

The newly risen God of Decay, Cranwo? Or Meerkol, who governs the Undead? Or perhaps Orcas, the Demon lord closely associated with the Undead and death?

David shook his head, casting aside the thought that, for the moment, had little significance for them.

Because no matter who the entity was, it was not good news for them.

The only piece of good news might have been that the laws related to the God of Decay were still in a vacuum state.

At least that meant its divine position had not yet been seized and assimilated by the usurper. Likewise, it meant that whoever was now involved had not yet achieved absolute control over this domain.

"Let’s travel on the ground," David suggested, and no dragon objected.

Flying in the sky at such a time would have been far too ostentatious.

However, they also did not transform into other, more covert creatures. Even Dragon Dad reverted from his Drow form back to the Silver Dragon. This was because their dragon forms were when they were at their strongest, able to comfortably cope with minions of the Evil Gods or demons.

David and the other three dragons immediately set off, scurrying like lynxes in the snowy mountains with their tails tucked between their legs.

What they didn’t notice, however, was that soon after they left, the Night Dragon that Christoph had left behind, not yet covered by the blizzard, suddenly straightened its neck and ’came alive.’

"By Farazur! This is impossible... this cannot be!"

Yet this ’dead and alive’ Night Dragon seemed even more terrified and bewildered by its own situation of not being thoroughly dead.

Flapping its wings as if missing its brain stem, it flew for a while and then fell from the sky, like a zombie.

It had gone mad...

「The Decayed Domain.」

Originally bracing for a journey of stealth and avoiding combat, David and his companions quickly realized that the situation was nothing like they had imagined.

Along the way, they encountered no obstacles. Aside from the desolate mountains, which indeed looked as if they had been ravaged by some great power, they met none of the enemies they had feared.

Souls, skeletons, zombies, Night Dragons—none of the creatures that should have roamed under Farazur’s rule were to be seen.

There was no onslaught of the Undead, nor any stationed armies of demons.

There was nothing, only an ever-increasing snowfall that seemed poised to bury the very earth.

The snow was really heavy; in the material plane, it could have plunged an entire continent straight into an ice age.

With their size, one step would sink them up to their chests in snow.

Fortunately, this trek, arduous even for mighty dragons, was coming to an end as they remained on high alert.

They could already see the Ultra-Long-Distance Teleportation Array from afar.

Their luck wasn’t too bad. Almost the entire Decayed Domain had collapsed, yet this array was still intact.

With Dragon Dad accompanying them, adjusting the spatial coordinates to return to Elariya was not a problem.

The path home was within reach. Having encountered no hardships along the way, the tightly wound nerves of David and his dragon companions relaxed.

Christoph decided to say goodbye to David directly and claim his promise.

"Kid, I’ve helped as much as I can. Now I’ve got to return to the Evil Scales Castle to report in. Remember to find time to go to Barto Hell and marry Yolanda."

"Ah?" David was immediately stupefied. I clearly said, ’If you dare run, I’ll kidnap your daughter to be my concubine.’ You didn’t run back then!

"Ah?" Attilicia, as Dragon Dad, was also stunned. He even forgot about his parasitized, unresponsive throat as he hurriedly asked in a hoarse voice, "When did this happen? You’re marrying this old guy’s daughter? Why don’t I know about this?"

Only Brittany tsked, looking back and forth between David and Christoph with curiosity. "I’m very curious, after you marry his daughter, how will you two address each other? Or will you maintain your current ways of addressing each other?"

This bizarre question suddenly made both Christoph and David feel awkward.

While David’s mind raced, trying to figure out how to smooth things over without enraging the old Red Dragon, they were passing through a desolate square in this ruined domain. Suddenly, their cheerful voices were swallowed by the howling northern wind.

Instinctively, David glanced toward the source of the sound.

With just that one look, his pupils dilated and his footsteps froze.

There, at the heart of the open-air storm, stood the indistinct outline of a towering figure.

Still, it was clear that it was a dragon.

The enormous body stood motionless amidst the wind and snow, like an eternal mountain.

It was as if this dragon was the very source of the howling north wind and the world-ending blizzard.

At the feet of that pale shadow, the body of a Night Dragon lay splayed out. Its head was clutched tightly in the larger dragon’s jaws, its frozen, twisted expression still bearing disbelief and Despair, its dark scales lackluster in the storm.

Was that... Farazur, the Dragon God of Decay? He’s actually dead? Dead within his own divine domain? What kind of ridiculous story is this!?

"What’s wrong? Don’t tell me there’s some treasure left by Farazur or something?"

David’s sudden rigidity also drew the attention of Attilicia and the other two dragons. They instinctively prepared to turn their heads when David’s unprecedentedly tense warning filled their minds, "Don’t look back!!! Keep walking! Do not turn your head!"

They even heard David swallowing hard.

This instantly put all the dragons on high alert.

After being together for so long, they understood David’s temperament all too well. Even when the Spider Goddess Rose had taken form and descended upon them, he hadn’t made such a fuss.

What on earth was going on now?

But they weren’t courting death. Since David told them not to look back, they pretended as if they had noticed nothing.

Forcing himself to move again, David immediately continued with the three dragons toward the Ultra-Long-Distance Teleportation Array as though nothing had happened.

Hopefully, the other party would completely ignore them, these ’kids’ who weren’t even Demigods.

And it seemed the other being indeed paid no heed to their presence, not even intending to open its eyes.

But, unfortunately, perhaps because David’s prior extreme tension was interpreted as a ’near-death signal,’ the divine grace, ’Tiamat’s Honored Elect,’ on David’s right claw automatically activated!

Under the dim light, it was like a flashbang in the middle of the night; its dazzling Mana Energy even melted the surrounding wind and snow.

Damn it! Tiamat! Your cursed divine grace is going to get me killed!!!

In an instant, David sensed those piercingly cold eyes slowly opening amidst the wind and snow, glowing with a deep blue radiance tinged with gold.

Without turning his head, David knew his judgment was correct.

For, in the depths of Toriel’s distant, uninhabited void, he had been watched by those same eyes before...

The next moment, the owner of those eyes spoke, their slow, deep voice resonating with solemnity and reverence throughout the devastated ruins, "The Chosen of Tiamat? Did She send you?"

Hearing this voice, Attilicia and the others could no longer pretend their presence was undiscovered. They turned around in unison, fully alert and ready for battle.

But just as with David’s first sight of it, upon seeing the towering, pale figure emerging from the snowstorm like a mountain, the three dragons froze on the spot.

"My... M-M-My God..." Attilicia stuttered outright.

"...Huh?" Christoph, that useless coward, simply collapsed, his limbs giving out as he prostrated himself on the ground.

Only Brittany managed to pull a strained smile onto her face, "Are you kidding me..."

"Bahamut?"

The wind and snow intensified at that moment. Bahamut’s gaze pierced through the flurrying veil of snow, staring directly at this group of Tiamat’s Elect.

Only then did all the dragons truly share the tension and horror David had felt earlier.

It was a kind of awe and trembling that stemmed from their very instincts.