harleyscars Page 290
Page 290
A freezing cold wave erupted over the Savage Forest, covering the evergreen canopies with a layer of unmelting frost.
Calest's dragon wings ripped through the sky, his dragon breath carrying a torrent of fury, until it turned all the white clouds above the Savage Forest into chilling ice crystals, only then did his turbulent emotions calm down.
"Those ignorant and foolish dwarves! I even went to such lengths to lower myself and beg for cooperation—"
Carlest's expression was rather unpleasant:
"They will regret it sooner or later. Only the true wise men on the continent can understand what a great alliance the Anti-Mino Alliance is!"
As the anger in his chest slowly subsided, a hint of doubt stirred deep within Calest's dark golden dragon eyes:
"That guy Tulu wasn't so arrogant in our previous encounters. Those dwarves were quite timid and fearful in front of us. But this time, he seems different?"
"Judging from Turuna's tough stance, he is not afraid at all of breaking ties with the dragons, or even starting a war. His eyes are somewhat arrogant, even contemptuous—"
"Strange, where does his confidence come from..."
Carlest was completely baffled.
From any perspective, although the dwarves are powerful, they shouldn't have the confidence to challenge the dragons.
But Tulu did it recklessly, as if he had some absolute trump card.
"Humph."
Shaking his head, unable to understand, Callest could only attribute it to Tulu's ignorance and arrogance: "They'll regret it sooner or later!"
Thinking of the dragon scale he had lost in his gamble, Callest felt a pang of heartache.
I finally managed to get some free time, but instead of strengthening the alliance, I lost a dragon scale that is extremely precious to the dragon race... If Ignis finds out when I get back, I'm afraid I'll get a severe beating again.
"Forget it, go back."
With a pitiful look on his face, Callest tucked his tail away and walked away from the Savage Forest in despair.
The skies above the Dwarf Forest were hit by a massive hailstorm, a sight unseen for decades.
Fist-sized ice blocks rained down densely around the Mithril Plain. The forging workshops based on the ancient trees were alright, but the open-air forging tables were in a terrible state. The large number of dwarves on the outskirts, feeling the pain, hurriedly packed up their forging tables and tools and fled underground for refuge.
"Chief, is it really a good idea to anger a dragon king like this...?"
Manuel, the silver-helmeted dwarf, stepped forward and hesitated before reminding us, "The dragon race is very vengeful. Now we've completely fallen out with them."
"It doesn't matter."
Tulu planted his feet firmly on the ground, letting the hailstones shatter into powder on his back. He gently stroked the massive dragon scales in front of him, a cold smile spreading across his face.
"What are dragons anyway? Soon, we won't need to respect any race on the continent anymore... We'll just have to wait for that weapon to be completed."
"I was originally having a headache about what materials to use for the final process, but I have to thank Callest for giving us such a great gift. Now, the secret weapon will be completely completed in no time."
"The days when dragons roamed the skies, humans roamed the continents, and only the dwarves huddled in the endless depths of the earth and in the darkness—it's time to call it an end!"
Golden light surged from his body, and for the first time, Tulu's eyes revealed a deep ambition, a desire for conquest, and... a hatred for humanity.
"The masters of this continent should rightfully be the dwarves, and humans! It's time for those despicable races that have grown stronger through their rapid reproduction and population growth to remember the fear of being ruled by the dwarves!"
"The glory of victory will forever belong to the dwarves!"
Manuel, standing nearby, was filled with enthusiasm and his eyes shone with longing.
"To rule the human race... Leader, is that really possible? That's far, far more difficult than destruction."
He did not intend to question his own leader, but he knew that even the most powerful demons could only push the demon king's army to the foot of the human capital.
But soon, fierce resistance broke out across the vast lands of humanity.
Like a spark igniting a prairie fire, it burned relentlessly inch by inch on the land where humans gathered, gradually severing and sharpening the shackles that the demons wanted to put on humanity, turning them into venomous fangs that turned against them.
Such situations, along with the conquests of humans by other races, have occurred countless times throughout history, but in the end, they have all been defeated by that tenacious vitality, until it evolved into the situation we see today.
"of course can."
Faced with a reality that even that era could not resist, Turu's tone grew increasingly resolute:
"Manuel, what's needed behind the rule is absolute violence!"
"A dagger sharp enough to threaten a life can rule over one person; a crossbow bolt that can be reloaded can rule over nearly ten people; a well-trained mercenary squad can rule over nearly a hundred people; and an army of no more than a thousand people can rule over tens of thousands!"
"Human beings are cowardly, blindly obedient, profit-seeking and harm-avoiding, and accustomed to submitting to the existence of power and violence."
"What if we possessed a weapon capable of directly destroying a capital city and killing tens of thousands of people...?"
A fierce, destructive urge swirled in Tulu's eyes.
"—Then we will be able to rule the entire continent!!!"
"Whether it's humans, demons, or even the mighty dragons, none are exempt. Faced with weapons that shake the era, even the gods must retreat!"
"And only the dwarven forging techniques could create that terrifying weapon!"
Looking into the deep underground cavern, Tulu sneered: "The ones we should thank the most are those foolish humans and the hero Mino: they probably still think that the 'unambitious' dwarves will develop that terrible weapon to fight the demons."
"But how could we possibly let go of such a useful weapon? The first to taste it at the moment of its completion will be the human capital!"
Then came the Demon King's castle! Following that, the pure white ice peaks and lava volcanoes were enough to be razed to the ground! The remaining survivors... had no choice but to submit.
Calloused hands caressed the hard dragon scales, and on the smooth surface of the scales, a savage face that had been suppressed for a long time was reflected:
"From the moment that 'ore' was unearthed ten years ago, it was already a sign that the era of the dwarves was about to begin!"
Soon, the face on the scales changed completely.
"but……"
They suppressed their burning ambition and malice, leaving only a faint trace of contempt.
Turu pulled out a thin sheet of paper stamped with the seal of the Kingdom of Kur, and looking at the elegant, literary language unique to the weak, he seemed to have found a last bit of amusement before the storm arrived:
"Before that, I need to deal with those human delegations who are still in the dark."
Chapter 419 Abyss Affinity Physique, Core Origin
The Kingdom of Kur.
The west, the desert.
The scorching sun cast large swathes of intense heat across the desert surface, making this dead zone appear even more harsh.
On the edge of the desert, a goblin on patrol lay in the shade of the bushes, letting out a long yawn.
"Damn this weather, damn humans, one day we goblins will rise up, gaa!" (Goblin language)
The goblin's mouth watered at the thought of the tender flesh of humans, but soon, his dark green skin turned upwards and his scarlet eyes filled with bitterness.
For the sake of the Great Sage's grand plan, patience is necessary for now, including the pretense of goodwill towards humanity and the current patrols... However, this godforsaken place is so unbearable that even goblins find it hard to tolerate, and no one ever visits it.
Not to mention, they discovered their grand and evil plan.
Thinking of this, the goblin rolled over again, settling into a comfortable position to take another nap.
Completely unaware... less than three meters away, a figure shrouded in black robes appeared like a ghost at the edge of the desert.
A dark magic flowed around the black-robed figure, carrying rules that distorted perception.
Ignoring the goblin's muttering complaints, the figure in black robes bent down and grabbed a handful of soil and sand from the edge.
Soon, the sand between his palms began to vibrate continuously.
Accompanying this was a sound like bones grinding together within his body: "This aura... there's no mistake... it really is the origin of 'Desolation'... but it's no longer here..."
"At least, we finally have a clue."
The figure in black robes spoke in a somewhat aged voice, and withered fingers emerged from the robes to remove the hood, revealing a travel-worn and sinister face.
Lak stood up, gazing into the depths of the desert, at the heart of the area where the dragon's bones were embedded, and muttered to himself:
"I should have realized it sooner. The reason why the environment of this territory, once occupied by the desert dragon, became even worse after the dragon was slain... Now that I think about it, the source of the desolation may have been buried beneath the sand for many years..."
"Hmph, it's all your fault for being too slow. You let a bunch of lowly goblins get the advantage first."
Inside his body, the "darkness" stirred with some dissatisfaction: "If you had come here earlier, you would have found everything you need."
"Easy for you to say!" Lark said irritably.
"Did you know that there are hundreds of places like the deserts throughout the kingdom, each with its own legends and tales?!"
"It's all that damned Mino's fault. He promoted the slogan 'Vigorously develop Kur tourism, drive the economic revitalization of the surrounding areas, and attract foreign ethnic groups to enter and exchange ideas' to Ota... In less than a few years, at least a thousand more legendary sites have appeared all over the country! And that's just the number of tourist attractions submitted for application!"
"A spring contaminated with toxins is called the 'Eye of the Underworld'! A mud lizard with wings is hailed as a 'prehistoric dragon'! A piece of metal shaped like dung is called 'a genuine relic left behind by Pope Brad'?! Are you kidding me?!'"
Thinking about how he had been running around these past few days trying to dispel those increasingly outrageous rumors, Lak was furious.
"If it weren't for the widespread famine that swept across the region a while ago, leaving behind some clues, who would have thought we'd find this place..."
"After all, who knew that Mino wouldn't discover the source of the desolation after slaying the desert dragon; who knew that the ignorant dragon held the source without realizing it, instead hiding it deep in the desert like a treasure; and who knew that those goblins, after unearthing the source, would wait so many years before finally revealing their true nature—"
His pupils were swallowed by the lightless darkness. Although the source of desolation was no longer here, Lak showed no impatience.
Now that things have come to this point, the situation is actually quite clear and easy to understand.
That desolate source could only be found within the Goblin Great Sage, the one who managed these goblins and nearly brought an inescapable famine to the kingdom, hidden beneath a facade of hypocrisy and enlightenment.
A cold smile curled at the corner of Lark's lips:
"Who would have thought that the Goblin Sage, who seemed to have been subdued and educated by Mino and was grateful to the kingdom, was actually the biggest cancer in the entire kingdom?"
"Who said that!" Inside the body, "Darkness" immediately retorted, unconvinced.
"The biggest cancers are clearly you and me!"
Lak: "..."
He then realized that his situation seemed similar to that of the Goblin Sage.
"What do we do next?" the Abyss Will asked. "It's a real pity. It's a goblin, a filthy creature that even the Abyss doesn't want to deal with. With just a trace of its remaining scent, I have no way to track down that lowly creature."
“That’s not a problem.” Lark shook his head.
“I roughly know what actions it is preparing and when it will appear... The real problem is its identity.”
"It will probably take some time. We won't need to look for it; it will just appear on its own."
"Oh." The Abyss Will was relieved upon hearing this. To it, Lak's time was merely a matter of one eye closing and one eye opening during its slumber: "That's great!"
"In that case, let's take advantage of this time to continue searching for other clues to the origin!" the "Darkness" inside the body said with great interest.