CHAPTER 136: CHAPTER 136: WHY DON’T YOU TAKE A LOOK BEHIND YOU

Ashu observed the current Lilith through Reaper’s Eye.

After activating her dual-lineage Bloodline, her vital signs had already far surpassed those of the great Demon Shava—naturally surpassing Vivita as well, who was on the same level as Shava.

Right now,

Saying she was the strongest being he had ever encountered wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Of course, Ashu himself was no longer that helpless rookie either. As long as he activated Reaper’s Resolve mode, he could maintain the King Tier for an extended time.

As a pseudo Devotee of Death, he could wield a scythe to unleash long-range blade waves, or ambush his enemies with devious strikes. He wasn’t even sure anymore if he was a Mage-King or King of Assassins.

"Forget about worshiping any Principal Deity for now, Lilith," Ashu grabbed her wrist and led her to the entrance of the stone keep. "Let me test my current strength."

"Here...? With the power you now wield, if you test it here, I won’t be able to stabilize the structure with Magical Essence. The whole place will blow up," Lilith replied.

Just then—

A thunderous roar echoed from the direction of the Imperial Capital, so loud that even in the town of Rose Valley, it could be heard with absolute clarity.

This was no ordinary sound—it carried a sense of arrogance and sovereign pride.

Ashu hadn’t quite identified it yet, but Lilith instantly recognized it.

"Dragon’s Roar?" she said with narrowed brows—though even her confusion was laced with an alluring charm.

"A dragon?"

To be honest, ever since transmigrating into this world and figuring out the fantasy setting, Ashu—as a transmigrator—had been looking forward to encountering the kinds of magical creatures he’d read about in his past life.

And when it came to fantasy creatures, dragons were always the centerpiece—inescapable and iconic.

Unfortunately, in all his eighteen years of life, he had never seen one.

Even after stepping onto the path of cultivation and becoming a regional Bishop, he had yet to encounter a real dragon.

Until now.

At the very moment he had broken through to a high-tier realm,

The dragon had arrived.

Ashu clenched his fists. It felt like destiny itself had arranged this trial for him.

"It’s a Lesser Dragon," Lilith clarified, angling her pointed ears to better discern the roar.

"I don’t care if it’s a Lesser Dragon or a real one—I’m going to check it out!"

Saying that, Ashu released Lilith, then cloaked himself in the black aura of a Devotee of Death, masking his identity. With a single leap, he soared out of the stone fortress and into the sky.

Though Reaper’s Resolve prevented him from using high-speed flight magic, the raw power of his new realm allowed him to break the sound barrier purely through physical propulsion—

A sonic boom erupted behind him as he ascended.

——

A few minutes earlier.

At the main gate of the Imperial Capital.

Crown Prince Wilson stood at the gate. His usually resplendent royal robe was now wrinkled and disheveled—clearly the result of days spent in anxious, sleepless tension. There were even a few ink stains on his collar, completely undermining any trace of noble elegance.

Standing beside him at the gate were two elders, both with hair and beards white as snow.

"Elders, this is our only shot!"

Wilson’s voice trembled slightly, almost choked with emotion. He knew full well—had it not been for the mountain of royal affairs occupying the King—he would have already been made an example of today.

Over the past three days, Wilson had racked his brains before finally locating two top-tier masters.

In terms of manpower, the Royal Family had plenty to spare—including numerous Grand Archmage-level forces.

But no matter how many Grand Archmages there were, they were still a tier too low. On the battlefield, they’d be nothing more than cannon fodder.

He had no choice but to turn his eyes toward the civilian world. Among the people, anyone capable of stepping into the King Tier usually had a strong background—or at least a hefty dose of pride.

Very few were willing to accept the royal terms and take on such a troublesome task. After all, the spectacular death of the Sword King had made one thing abundantly clear to the outside world: the Demon in Rose Valley was no ordinary foe. If things went poorly, even a King-level cultivator could fall!

In the end, the only two who agreed to Wilson’s offer were a pair of twin old men.

Wilson had no choice but to bet everything on these two brothers.

"Please rest assured, noble prince—oh no, I mean, Crown Prince Wilson. With the two of us making a move, the Demon will surely be repelled. After all, aside from the Cultivator Guild, it is our Dragons who are the most effective at suppressing Demons in this world," said the elder on the left.

The two old men looked nearly identical, and they even wore matching outfits.

Wilson nodded. He was well aware of a dragon’s worth—that’s exactly why he paid triple the usual price to hire this pair.

"I’m counting on you both! Before sunrise, I want the Demon annihilated! If you succeed, His Majesty the King will personally double your reward!"

Upon hearing "double the reward," the two old men couldn’t help but exchange a glance, their faces lighting up with sly smiles.

"Your Highness, just wait for our good news," they replied.

With that—

The twin brothers began casting a summoning ritual right at the Imperial Capital’s front gate.

At first, the spell circle was only the size of a pot lid. But as the two continued their chanting, the circle began to spin rapidly, expanding at an astonishing rate—

In mere moments, it had grown to a diameter of three hundred meters!

From within that massive circle, the head of a giant dragon—covered in brown-scaled armor—slowly emerged.

As it rose, gasps of awe erupted from the gathered citizens of the Imperial Capital. By the time it had fully emerged from the summoning formation, the area beneath the city gate’s tower was packed with people.

This earth-element behemoth had a wingspan over a hundred meters wide. Its body was covered in brown dragon scales, each one like a slab of armor, etched with mysterious runes.

Those mystical runes were clearly not part of its natural biology—they had been engraved after the fact.

Along with the magic-forged collar around its neck, it was clear that all of these were tools the old men used to control the dragon.

Then—

The old man on the left pulled out a spiral whistle, while the one on the right took out a long, bone-crafted whip.

As the whistle shrilled, the whip snapped in a single direction, and the earth dragon let out a deep, guttural roar before launching itself toward Rose Valley.

The two white-haired elders leapt into the air, landing gracefully on the dragon’s back.

The wind howled around them, tugging at their robes, but their faces—etched with deep lines—remained focused, their eyes gleaming with greed and ferocity.

They both knew: this Lesser Dragon was Wilson’s final lifeline—and their golden ticket to a fortune.

It was even possible that they might transform completely and rise to the ranks of nobility.

...

As Ashu soared into the sky,

he happened to see a brown Lesser Dragon flying straight toward him.

The massive beast radiated a strong earth-element aura, so much so that even the wind around it carried a faint scent of soil.

"There are people on the dragon’s back... so that’s how it is," Ashu immediately saw through the relationship between the two old men and the Lesser Dragon.

Whether it was a relationship of coercion or of master and pet, one glance was enough to tell—no words necessary.

"This dragon isn’t bad, but unfortunately, the riders are too old. Leave the feeding to me," Ashu said.

"Hmph, who is this brat? Don’t think you can take my dragon," the old man on the right suddenly whipped his long bone-crafted braid, striking a specific rune on the dragon’s forehead. The rune flickered with a blinding light. "Rock Howl, tear him apart!"

At once, the Lesser Dragon appeared to be in extreme agony. Its eyes instantly turned blood red.

The Lesser Dragon roared to the sky, its soundwaves shaking loose rocks from distant mountains. Dust in the air vibrated, forming a gray haze of dust and mist.

Its wings whipped up a hurricane that lifted rubble thousands of meters high, swirling sharp stones into a deadly vortex. Trees were uprooted wherever it passed.

Ashu looked up at the Lesser Dragon, a spark of excitement flashing in his eyes.

He swung his giant scythe fiercely, the dark blade slicing through the air and gouging a bottomless trench into the ground. The earth on both sides cracked open instantly, releasing black mist mixed with faintly glowing skull phantoms.

This was the change in his technique brought by his newfound realm.

A single strike, like the arrival of Death itself.

"Want to tear me apart? Two old geezers," his voice spread with an aura of Death. Wherever it passed, life faltered and retreated.

When the Lesser Dragon dove down, the wind pressure from its claws pressed huge claw marks into the ground, the earth around them rapidly sinking to form massive pits—but Ashu didn’t dodge or move an inch.

Even Vivita wouldn’t dare to take that blow head-on.

But Ashu stood his ground, completely suppressed under the fierce gazes of the two old men.

"Boom—!!"

A violent explosion erupted beneath the Lesser Dragon’s feet. The strong earthquake shook the six-thousand-strong army, causing them to stagger and eventually fall to the ground.

However!

Vivita was not worried.

She knew Ashu would never give up or seek death so easily.

Sure enough.

When the Lesser Dragon raised its claw, a mass of blood should have appeared—but it mysteriously vanished in place—

"Hey! You said you’d tear me apart—what are you looking at?" Ashu’s cold, murderous voice rang out behind the two old men.

This was the instantaneous teleportation ability granted by Kiss of the Reaper!

He deliberately baited a Death attack, then used Kiss of the Reaper to gain immunity from Death once and teleport behind the target, launching a shadow counterattack!

"Watch out!" The old man on the left was the first to react, suddenly screaming. His voice cracked, sounding sharp and piercing.

The old man on the right’s pupils suddenly contracted. Ashu’s figure appeared just a hundred meters away—it was a reckless move—but a huge black scythe phantom pierced straight through his chest from the side, then continued toward the left.

"Shhh—!"

Two streaks of blood light flashed across the sky.

The two brothers were skewered like candied hawthorn sticks!

The Lesser Dragon’s tail swipe counterattack arrived a moment too late. That powerful, heavy strike was enough to shatter steel—and it did indeed break Ashu’s black phantom.

But it was all too late!

The phantom counterattack unleashed by Kiss of the Reaper was also condensed from the power of Death and carried that black aura.

"Impossible..." The right old man’s bone whip dropped to the ground, his eyes filled with unwillingness. "How could you... this is Death—"

Before he could finish speaking, his body collapsed straight onto the dragon’s back. The shocking wounds were being corroded by black mist. The right old man’s eyes widened in horror as he tried to command the Lesser Dragon to retreat, only to find his own lungs rapidly disintegrating.