69novels Page 149
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"Hestia!"
Crossing the Line of Faith: Chapter 380 The Young Dragon
What have I forgotten...?
2. Zero Baroo 0 Jiu IIIVI "Lord Neltharion, this is the situation we chaotic dragons are in."
A respectful yet courteous voice rang in his ears, startling Lin Yi from his unconscious reverie. He looked at the chaotic dragon beside him, who appeared in anthropomorphic form—his believer. "Neltharion" nodded: "Well done, Fafnir."
Fafnir lowered his head and remained silent.
Nine days after escaping the underground labyrinth and Oriella, and having completed his "rebirth," Neltharion encountered Fafnir while following his memories of the largest dragon habitat. He easily gained the trust of this renowned dragon, famous even among the entire chaotic dragonflight, through their shared connection. With Fafnir's help, Neltharion learned about the state and situation of the dragonflight after his own near-death experience, and even that the castle he was currently in was Fafnir's residence...
"...I never imagined that so many things would happen after I left."
Recalling the facts Fafnir had just stated, a barely suppressed rage ignited in his calm whisper, causing the temperature within the castle to rise sharply as the lava field unconsciously expanded.
"The divine race of the despicable!"
After the dragon gods perished in a conspiracy, the gods did not massacre the remaining dragons. Instead, they coveted the dragons' powerful fighting ability and used enticement to lure them into fighting for them.
Some dragons with weaker wills were tempted by them and switched from the chaotic camp drawn up by the dragon gods to the orderly camp, slaughtering their former allies. Others firmly maintained their original stance and never considered changing their position no matter how much the gods urged them to.
Naturally, these die-hard followers of the dragon god were purged by the divine race.
The Dragon Nest, which once gathered countless dragons, crumbled under the immense divine power. Countless dragons either fled or died. Fafnir was one of the dragons who managed to escape the pursuit of the gods. His original plan was to find a place to use a teleportation spell to escape from this world and take it to another world.
Although the final outcome might still be being hunted down to the other world and killed by the pursuers, compared to that, having even a slight chance of survival in the other world is the best ending for a dragon that has already been defeated. However, unexpectedly, Fafnir encountered the returning "Neltharion" just as he was making his decision.
Although his name and power are completely different, and he has developed a "bad habit" of transforming himself into a human form, the connection between believers and gods cannot be faked. Fafnir immediately changed his plans, bringing Neltharion to his castle and even creating a human form for himself to adapt to the dragon god's new form—which is what we see now.
“Tell me, Fafnir, how many of our kind do we have?”
"I apologize, Lord Neltharion, but due to the gods' attacks, many of my kind have lost contact. I can only confirm the whereabouts of three of my kind at this time."
With its vertical pupils fixed on Fafnir, the enraged dragon god growled, "Bring them back, and if they refuse—kill them!"
He bowed his head deeply, all his last trace of doubt about the "Dragon God" before him vanishing: "Yes, Your Majesty the Great Dragon God."
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Fafnir provided three pieces of information about the dragons. One of them was not in this world, but had left this world since ancient times. It was this information about another world that made Fafnir choose to escape to that world when he had no other choice. If Neltharion had not appeared, there would be nothing to say. But Neltharion appeared, and now that the dragon race urgently needs various combat forces to counterattack the gods and even restart the war between order and chaos, it has no choice but to accept it.
“Bring it back to me, or bring its head to me.”
With Neltharion's unquestionable command, Fafnir activated the spell to another world, while Neltharion's mission was naturally to find the remaining two dragons.
One of these two dragons is a white dragon, which is relatively rare even among dragons.
According to the information provided by Fafnir, this white dragon is still in its juvenile stage and its combat power is not very strong. The reason why Fafnir was able to lock onto it is because he encountered a juvenile dragon that had been separated from its parents while escaping from the dragon's nest. He casually placed a location spell on the juvenile dragon, but he did not expect that the location spell would not fail for so long.
Based on the dragon's habits, there are only two possible reasons for this situation: First, it has not found its parents. With its own power, it may not even know that this location spell exists, so of course it will not be able to dispel it; second, its parents have been tracked down and killed by the divine species, so it naturally has no way to find its parents.
As for the third possibility, such as the young dragon being captured or persuaded to surrender, the dragon gods did not make any assumptions... After all, if such a situation occurred, "Neltharion" would be the first to kill the young dragon.
Following the location spell provided by Fafnir, Neltharion, now back in his dragon form, stirred up the immense magical power in the atmosphere, propelling a lava circle with a radius of several thousand meters through the air at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters. Throughout the journey, he made no attempt to conceal his presence. This action certainly aroused hostility and vigilance from many forces, but even more so, it caused panic.
As one of the most powerful races in the world, the existence of dragons has never been ignored even after the fall of the Dragon God. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so relentlessly hunting down the remaining chaotic dragons. The dragon that has appeared now, though its true identity is still unknown, is clearly no pushover. Considering the recent signs of a renewed large-scale war between two factions, it's hard for them not to be worried.
Of course, the concerns of these inferior beings were never something the returning Neltharion needed to consider; it was only concerned with one thing at the moment.
Stirring up the atmosphere and magic, the black dragon descended from the sky, scanning left and right at the tiny figure in front of it, which was less than the size of a fingernail.
There were no enemies, but there was also no trace of other dragons.
"brat."
Lowering its head, its vertical pupils stared intently at the "little one" staring blankly at it—although it didn't know why it appeared in human form, its tail and dragon horns had already proven its identity.
"tell me your name."
Crossing the Line of Faith: Chapter 381 Kanna
The baby dragon stared blankly at itself, mouth agape.
Neltharion once thought that words like "stupid," "dull," and "stupid," which were close to foolishness, should be completely unrelated to powerful and wise dragons, until he met this white young dragon.
A claw covered in jet-black scales reached out towards the young dragon's head and then withdrew. If it were during the dragon race's most powerful era, no matter how powerful this white dragon was, it would never have hesitated—this young dragon's existence was a disgrace to the dragon race. But now…
"You can't even understand dragon language, little guy?"
Lowering its head, Neltharion spewed forth molten lava that melted a large patch of land before it, leaving only the spot where the young dragon had stood largely intact. Noticing this, Neltharion suppressed the urge to slap it to death and spoke again: "Come with me now, or I'll kill you—"
"Snapped."
Compared to the dragon's deep roar, which carried both threat and intimidation, this sound was far too insignificant. Yet, this insignificant sound instantly interrupted Neltharion's words—and his thoughts.
Its gaze shifted downwards... and it saw a small hand patting its chin.
Seemingly surprised by the sound, the young dragon repeated the action.
"Snapped"
Twice.
"Clap"
Three times.
"Clap clap-"
"Roar------!!!"
Enraged, the newly born god, feeling its authority challenged, opened its mouth and bit down on the young girl who was still looking at it with blank eyes.
"—!"
Just before the flesh was about to be cut and crushed by the sharp teeth, the biting motion froze.
What am I doing?
Just like when he left the underground labyrinth, a huge sense of confusion and absurdity overwhelmed him. But this time, there was no external threat to stop him from continuing to ponder this question. Therefore, the newly born god was able to view his actions with a sufficiently calm and objective perspective.
To be angry at a baby dragon that doesn't even know what it's doing is like an adult yelling at a baby and wanting to kill it for that ridiculous act... Admittedly, there's nothing wrong with killing a baby dragon, but that's only if you're on opposing sides or if it might get in your way. The situation here is exactly the opposite.
The dragon opened its jaws and looked down at the dusty, grime-covered young dragon before it. Although it hadn't actually bitten down, the lava breath it spewed still had some effect on it. Thanks to the dragon race's strong natural resistance, it wasn't seriously injured. If it were a weaker one, it wouldn't have survived in the dragon's mouth, and it would probably have been vaporized and burned to death even if it stood within a few hundred meters of it.
"...Little guy, can you fight?"
This time it was no longer coercion or threat, but a calm inquiry. For the first time, the young dragon answered a question from its "kin": it nodded.
Its tail also began to wag happily.
As expected, it wasn't dissatisfied with "Neltharion," nor was it deliberately provoking the unknown authority of the dragon gods. It was simply uneasy about a "strange dragon" that had suddenly appeared before it, and was trying to determine in its own way whether it could be trusted.
Clearly, Neltharion's initial attitude was far from being "amiable".
“Very good. Follow me, and I will lead you to other members of your race.”
There was no intention to confirm the young dragon's combat ability. In terms of the dragon race's innate talent, even the weakest dragon is much stronger than the vast majority of inferior life forms in the world from the moment it is born. Even if its combat talent is really bad to a certain extent, it can still be used to deal with those inferior life forms.
While pondering these obvious things, Neltharion was once again confused. Why did he repeatedly ignore things that were so easy to think of, and even let ridiculous anger take away his reason, making him act solely on instinct and strength?
Was I really like that in the past?
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After gaining the young dragon's trust, Neltharion learned its name from its limited dragon language skills—Kanna, a white dragon skilled in manipulating lightning.
However, in Neltharion's memory, the white dragon race should generally possess an unusually strong sex drive, which doesn't seem to exist in this young dragon. Of course, considering it's only just entered its growth stage, it's understandable that it hasn't awakened this common characteristic of white dragons yet. Correspondingly, it seems to have transformed its sexual needs into its needs for food...
An unnamed forest.
The black dragon descended from the sky. Unlike before, this time it did not actively spread its lava domain, but the surrounding environment was not burned to ashes. After putting Kanna, whom it was holding in its claws, on the ground and letting her go into the forest to find food, "Neltharion" began to think about its situation.
very bad.
The dragon gods, once schemed against and killed by the divine race, are no longer as powerful as they once were. After all, the greatest system of faith—the dragon race—has seen its members either betray them, die, or flee. Even with Fafnir's help, they can at most recruit four more dragons. But how much help can four dragons provide in a world where gods are everywhere and heroes are as common as dogs? At best, they will only give the world a few more opportunities to become "dragon slayers."
The previous Neltharion had not considered this issue. For it, there was only one thing it needed to do and could do: to gather all the dragons to take revenge on the gods. It had not considered anything else, such as how to carry out the counterattack, how to deal with the consequences of failure, or how to handle the aftermath even if it succeeded by chance.
"...It's a miracle that you're still alive."
As soon as he uttered the words, Neltharion felt something was off. What did "you" mean? It was clearly himself, so why was he viewing "himself" from a third-person perspective?
Also, what is "also"? Does it mean that someone else did something similar before "myself"?
Immersed in the increasingly chaotic fog, the newly born god felt that what he really needed to do was not just to take revenge on the divine race.
Crossing the Boundaries of Faith: Chapter 382 Purgatory and Heaven
With the newly acquired young dragon in hand, Neltharion headed towards the location of the second dragon provided by Fafnir.
Unlike Kanna, the second dragon is currently in a very bad situation.
"It started about a month ago when it was ambushed and attacked by human gods and was seriously injured. Generally speaking, when we face this situation, we should run as far away as possible, since the dragon race no longer has the right to resist. But it is different."
"The flag of the Japanese is different from the three of the four nine Qi III?"
"Yes, the specific reason is unknown. All we know is that it is currently lingering near the gate of the 'Celestial Realm' to ambush and kill those Skywing races... Considering the worst-case scenario, it may have already been dealt with by the Skywing race's gods."
Once again, I marvel at the unscientific nature of the dragon race's survival from ancient times to the present. Some of them could easily solve problems with their brains, but they stubbornly use force to exacerbate them. Others simply abandon thinking and evaporate their rationality. If it weren't for the dragons' innate power, they would probably have been wiped out long ago.
Despite the sighs, the things that need to be done still need to be done.
"Near the gate to the celestial realm..."
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This world does not exist in isolation. Because of the presence of a large number of powerful life forms, it has been connected to other worlds since ancient times, and they have interfered with each other.
Among the many worlds connected to this world, the Celestial Realm is considered one of the most powerful, on par with Purgatory. However, the Celestial Realm represents the absolute order, while Purgatory represents the absolute chaos.
The conflict between the Celestial Realm and Purgatory seems to have begun long before they came into contact with this world. So when the Skywing race from the Celestial Realm discovered the demons from Purgatory in this world, the war between order and chaos inevitably began. As beings native to this world yet capable of influencing the course of the war, the Dragon race did not have many options.
They either join the forces of order to expel the forces of chaos, or they join the forces of chaos to eliminate the forces of order. Anything else, whether they want to remain neutral or not, will not be tolerated by the gods of either world. If they really did that, the Celestial Realm would probably not mind eliminating the unstable elements in this world before fighting against Purgatory, such as those arrogant fantasy species, the elves hiding in the forest, or the machine race that declared neutrality too early...
It can be said that at that time, the decision made by the dragon gods to join the chaotic camp was the most correct choice under the worst circumstances. Admittedly, this choice caused great damage to the powerful dragon race, but the fact that many escaped dragons have survived to this day is an achievement. Otherwise, even the fantasy species, which were once more powerful than the dragon race, would have vanished by now.
Unfortunately, the allies chosen by Neltharion for the dragons proved extremely unreliable. While the war between order and chaos raged, their rear was caught in a fire, and the Infernal Gate, their strongest support, was sealed off overnight. Faced with a fierce attack from the Celestial Order, the dragons, with only a handful of lower races as allies, were overwhelmed. After their sole dragon god was ambushed by the Winged Race and then personally killed by the Divine Race, the entire war turned into a one-sided massacre…
Even now, the gate to Purgatory shows no sign of opening, and right now, as one of the undisputed representatives of the chaotic forces in this entire world, a chaotic dragon has rushed to the gate of the Celestial Realm and is running wild... Apart from courting death, "Neltharion" has no other thoughts.
If it weren't for the fact that the dragon Fafnir mentioned might be one of the only four remaining Chaos Dragons in the world, "Neltharion" wouldn't even want to have anything to do with it.
Contemplating questions that his former self would never have considered, "Neltharion," with one of his dragon claws held by Kanna, did his utmost to suppress his aura—especially the aura of divine power—as he approached his destination, while simultaneously sensing the interconnectedness of the dragon race through his memories.
Before long, a vague sensation came from afar, followed by a large amount of active diffusion and fluctuation.
Spreading its wings, Neltharion approached in that direction, and soon, as expected, it discovered a green dragon fighting a group of winged creatures...
It was at this moment that Kanna, who had also noticed the presence of the green dragon, called out a name that Neltharion felt very familiar with.
"Thor!"
Thor?
Thor...
Thor—
……
Who is that?
Shaking his head violently to shake off the strange, inappropriate feeling, Neltharion had more important things to do now than thinking. These included how to rescue the green dragon that was about to be killed from the encirclement of a large group of Skywings, how to escape from their pursuit after the rescue, and even how to deal with the possible attacks from the Gods along the way. The former Neltharion might have naively thought that this green dragon had been undefeated for dozens of days outside the Celestial Realm gates on its own strength, but the current Neltharion was not so foolish.
Putting everything else aside, with the strength of a god, dealing with a severely injured green dragon would be a piece of cake. The reason they didn't do so was simply to play the long game and catch a bigger fish. Anyone who wanted to rescue this green dragon would have to pay a huge price—even if it was a dragon god.
However, the current "Neltharion" is no longer fighting alone.
"Kanna, drive away those Skywings—remember, they can't be eaten."
"Oh~"
With a weak roar, Kanna, now in her dragon form, quickly emerged from hiding and headed towards the green dragon. At the same time, Neltharion chose to shrink his size and, under the influence of some inexplicable intuition, transformed into a human. He then cast every dragon stealth spell he could think of on himself and crept towards the sky above the battlefield.
As expected, the battle between the green dragons and the Skywings below took a dramatic turn when a white dragon—even if it was just a young one—joined them. The green dragons, who were being chased and attacked, rallied and launched a counterattack. Many Skywings were caught off guard and turned into energy and dissipated. It was at this moment that "Neltharion" hidden above discovered the trail of the Lurker.
Crossing the Line of Faith: Chapter 383 Deathwing (Part 1)