Chapter 940: Inferno Dragon

Orion and Leonidas understood immediately. In his previous beast form, skills like swordsmanship or complex martial arts were impossible for Kraken to use effectively. Now, with the captain avatar, his capabilities had expanded, and his combat power had taken a significant leap.

“That last battle was strange,” Arthas’s will projection spoke, his voice cutting through their chatter.

“The dragon demigods were watching you fight, but they made no move to intervene. That suggests the Great Dragon King of Light, Mondusath, does not hold the esteemed position within their hierarchy that we once believed. The entire situation stinks of intrigue. Be careful.”

Arthas’s gaze swept over Leonidas and Orion. “Kraken has just reached arch lord. He lacks combat experience at this level. Watch over him.”

“If the dragons send more arch lords, the Deputy Commander will dispatch a storm avatar, and I will send my own bone dragon to support you.”

“The situation is volatile. Multiple other demigod-level powers are observing us from the shadows. It’s impossible to tell friend from foe. Be vigilant.”

With those final words, Arthas’s will projection slowly faded, his departure as swift and clean as his arrival.

Orion, Leonidas, and Kraken looked at each other, momentarily at a loss for words.

Titanion Realm, Dwarven Lands.

Torin stared at the scroll in his hand, hesitating.

It was a binding-type skill scroll. If he tore it, he could capture either the fleeing Grand Duke William or Prince Theodore. His gut screamed at him to trap the prince. He had sworn he would kill Theodore. And besides, holding the prince hostage would give him immense leverage over King Harold.

But what if the kingdom simply abandoned the prince? Then the scroll would have been wasted.

Capturing the peak Legendary-level Grand Duke William, on the other hand, would instantly cripple one of the kingdom’s top combatants. The death of the Grand Duke, on top of the two earls, would almost certainly throw the kingdom’s internal factions into chaos. A fractured kingdom would be much easier to conquer.

Think with your head, not your gut, he told himself, the phrase a frantic mantra. Logic over emotion. Logic over emotion.

After a long, agonizing moment, his decision was made.

He ripped the scroll in half, his eyes locking onto Grand Duke William with a venomous glare. “You’ll do.”

To make the path ahead easier, he chose to eliminate the Grand Duke.

As the scroll disintegrated, an artifact appeared: a simple, garish bowl, the kind a street jester might use for a shell game. It locked onto Grand Duke William and shot toward him like a lid slamming onto a pot.

“No!” William roared in terror, unleashing a torrent of supernatural power, desperately blasting at the giant bowl descending upon him.

Nearby, Prince Theodore watched, his blood running cold. He made a split-second decision. Sacrificing his own sacred armor in a blinding flash of energy, he triggered a recall protocol linked to a Godly Artifact deep within the kingdom. He vanished, teleported back to safety.

A moment later, Torin stood with the artifact bowl in his right hand, Grand Duke William trapped within. He threw his head back and let out a triumphant, world-shaking roar.

He had done it. He had won.

After this victory, the ambitious lords of the north would flock to his banner. They would sweep through the human kingdom, through the entire south. Torin could see it now: a future where he, like the white dragon Frostsire and the giant-king Orion before him, would establish his rule over the southern continent, becoming one of the most powerful men in the world.

“Crush all our enemies!”

“The humans are broken!”

“Did we… did we actually win?”

“We won!”

Aside from the near-mindless Brokk of the Dark Dwarves, the other three lords—Gotte-Steel, Orwar, and Jin—stared in disbelief. The five of them had actually defeated the armies of the human kingdom. Two lords killed, one captured, one forced to flee. It felt like a dream.

“Warriors!” Torin bellowed, holding the artifact bowl high, his voice deep and commanding, carrying for miles. “This day, victory is ours! We have earned the right to stand on this soil, to carve out a rich new homeland for ourselves and for our tribes!”

He would show the world that the human kingdom was not invincible. He wanted everyone to remember his voice, to believe that under his leadership, they could defeat any enemy and find a new home in the south.

“No power can stand in our way! So long as we are united, no matter who the enemy is, no matter the hardship, we will be victorious!”

Stoneheart Citadel.

When Orion and Elara returned, two tender dragon cries echoed through the fortress. A tiny, crimson dragon was perched on Elara’s shoulder, curiously taking in its new surroundings.

“Daddy! Sister! You’re finally back!”

For Pallas, the days without Elara were a strange relief, a life without pressure. But every night, after he had tired himself out playing, he would invariably find himself looking for his sister. The first day had been fine; he played hard and slept soundly. But from the second day on, he kept wandering over to her bedroom to see if she had returned.

Hearing Pallas’s voice, Elara giggled and teleported away. A moment later, from deep within the castle, Pallas’s cries of “No, no, stop!” could be heard, along with the sounds of two young dragons wrestling and roaring playfully.

Lilith came to Orion’s side and began to unfasten his cloak.

“That little dragon with Elara,” she said softly. “Her aura is… unusual.”

Lilith was acutely sensitive to such things.

“She was originally a fire dragon,” Orion explained. “But she absorbed a phoenix egg. Her bloodline evolved. She’s a Inferno Dragon now.”

“In the dragon race, that’s considered a top-tier bloodline. When she reaches maturity, ascending to arch lord won’t be a problem.”

Lilith’s hands trembled slightly. The shock of his words was immense. She was suddenly beginning to understand why Orion doted on Elara so much. From this day forward, she would too.

“She is the other half of our Horde’s future,” Orion said, pulling Lilith into an embrace. He leaned down and whispered his plans for the future into her ear. “The one who will secure the throne with him.”

Lilith’s eyes went wide with disbelief, which was quickly replaced by a wave of ecstatic joy.

Orion read the look in her eyes and simply shook his head, a faint smile on his lips. With his blood running through Pallas’s veins, the boy’s future was already guaranteed. At a minimum, he, too, would one day become an arch lord.