Chapter 482: Hermodian Dragon Messenger, Yet Another Dragon Kingdom
Chapter 482: Hermodian Dragon Messenger, Yet Another Dragon Kingdom
"Try using your magic to attack me."
Amidst the mountains, Garoth said to the White Dragon Beskarl.
Like the vast majority of White Dragons, this Ancient Hundred Dragon had embarked on the path of ice magic. However, besides ice magic, White Dragon Beskarl was also a warrior dragon, though his levels weren't particularly high due to his previous lack of diligence.
"Alright!"
Beskarl agreed directly, then raised his head in a dragon's roar and began constructing his magic.
The draconic tongue was deep and penetrating. His broad dragon wings spread slightly, wisps of cold air seeping from the gaps between his scales.
In an instant, dense elemental energy gathered around him, rapidly solidifying into fist-sized, sharply angular magical ice crystals, each containing compressed freezing air at its core.
Beskarl powerfully swept his wings forward.
These formidable magical ice crystals emitted piercing shrieks as they tore through the air, hurtling towards the red iron dragon, carving dangerous trajectories through the atmosphere.
Seeing this, Garoth did not use his Domain to block.He focused intently, watching those rapidly approaching magical ice crystals.
Then, he expanded his Flame Domain to its limit.
Wherever his will reached, all fire element energy within the Domain was stimulated to maximum activity.
The flames seemed to gain life, no longer a quietly burning barrier but transforming into countless wildly dancing fire serpents and swirling fire vortices, recklessly surging, colliding, and burning.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The air warped violently under the high temperature, emitting low, roaring sounds.
The fire element energy grew so thick it almost overflowed beyond the Domain.
After Beskarl's magical ice crystals entered the Domain, before they could even fly within twenty meters of Garoth, they emitted fine cracking sounds, completely disintegrating into a cold mist that was instantly vaporized by the intense heat without a trace.
Subsequently, Beskarl did not pause, continuing to raise his head and chant, constructing more complex spells.
Ice Spear, Frost Nova, Polar Wind... spells of various forms were unleashed by him, either piercing straight, covering an area, or continuously eroding, attacking the red iron dragon from all angles.
Garoth, as always, did not directly use his Domain for defense.
He was, through combustion, increasing the concentration and activity of fire elements within his Domain, using this to squeeze out, expel, and weaken other types of elemental energy.
In an environment of nearly pure fire elements, the foundation of other spell effects was severely undermined, their power naturally greatly diminished.
As for the effectiveness, it was obvious.
The essence of spells is a process where the caster uses their own magical energy and will as a guide to direct and reorganize various external energies, thereby creating specific effects.
When fire elements dominated Garoth's Domain, and other elements were expelled.
Spells reliant on other elements had their stability and power suppressed to the extreme.
As for fire spells... among Garoth's own extremely high resistances, fire resistance was already paramount.
And that was precisely a direction for deep development of the Flame Domain that Garoth was currently contemplating.
Suppression, the focus lies in suppressing spell effects, not the caster themselves.
Garoth's thoughts returned more than once to that fierce battle in the Emerald Ridge Mountains.
Although Bosival's all-out concentrated strike had directly taken one of his lives, in that battle, the ones who truly caused him the most trouble and greatest restraint were always those two legendary casters, the shapeshifter and the curse mage.
Their spells did not seek a single fatal blow but were endless, strange, and varied.
The casters greatly restricted him, consumed his strength, and created the conditions for Bosival's lethal strike.
This made him deeply realize that in legendary realm battles and even higher-level conflicts, casters remained exceptionally troublesome opponents.
Their bodies were indeed fragile.
But as long as they had reliable frontliners responsible for engaging and protecting them, allowing them to construct complete high-level spells.
Then, even legendary casters of slightly lower levels could play a role surpassing that of high-level legendary warriors.
Therefore, Garoth decided to target casters.
He was making adaptive changes and enhancements to his own Flame Domain.
The direction he currently envisioned was to abandon the Domain's conventional effects of boosting allies or weakening enemies, instead opting for extreme specialization.
When the Flame Domain was deployed, it would stimulate all concepts of combustion within to their utmost.
This could maximally expel or destroy all types of energy other than fire elements within the Domain's range, creating a spell wasteland, thereby suppressing spell effects.
However, this was currently only a preliminary concept and direction for practice.
Although Garoth was already attempting it and had achieved some results, the specific implementation was far from simple.
The energy composition of the Material Plane was complex and diverse. Besides the four basic elemental energies, there also existed more peculiar energy forms like light, dark, positive, negative, and even space-time.
The channels and mediums for spellcasting were also vastly different.
If he truly wanted to realize his vision and transform the Flame Domain into an anti-magic zone, then the flames within his Domain would have to undergo some deeper evolution or qualitative change.
At this stage, his Domain's fire was still far from reaching that level.
It could only weaken spell effects to a certain degree, not completely suppress them.
But for Garoth, this wasn't a major problem.
He had time, patience, and talent.
As long as he persisted and was willing to invest effort and time in this aspect, he believed he would eventually achieve substantial breakthroughs on this path.
As for the other Steel Domain.
He hadn't yet decided on a specific development direction.
Next, the red iron dragon continued sparring with Beskarl, focusing on training and fine-tuning the suppression characteristics of the Flame Domain.
The White Dragon worked hard, constantly trying different spell combinations for attacks.
Time passed quietly during their focused training. The light in the sky gradually softened, orange-red evening clouds began to tinge the western horizon, and dusk deepened.
The mountains cast long shadows, and the wind in the valleys carried a chill.
Suddenly, Garoth stopped all movement, the scales between his brows slightly lifting.
Almost simultaneously, the Amethyst Dragon Iseramas's telepathic message abruptly sounded in his mind.
"Garoth, attention. A legendary kin is approaching at high speed. The target seems to be the capital. Strong energy reaction, carrying the aura of ocean and storm."
Garoth did not respond.
He merely raised his dragon head, gazing at the sky.
Initially, there was only an unnatural deep grey smudge on the horizon.
But soon, that grey rapidly spread and thickened, turning into a layer of rolling, surging dense dark clouds, their edges unnaturally sharp, with countless silver serpentine arcs of electricity faintly flickering within.
The dark clouds were traversing the sky at a speed far exceeding nature, heading straight towards the direction of the Citadel of Crimson Flame.
The red iron dragon's expression remained unchanged.
A Majestic Dragon Might surged from his body, shooting skyward.
The thunderclouds paused slightly, then changed direction. No longer heading towards the capital, they arced, moving in a straight line towards this mountainous region where Garoth was.
Extremely fast.
Within just a few breaths, that lightning-flickering dark cloud had already appeared directly above Garoth.
The cloud layer pressed low, blocking the sunset's radiance, casting a massive shadow that enveloped the mountains below in dimness. The lightning within the clouds was no longer faintly flickering but became clearly visible, arcs connecting into a web.
Immediately after, within the low-hanging cloud layer.
A massive deep blue figure slowly pushed aside the rolling dark clouds, revealing itself.
It was a Blue Dragon.
His size was smaller than Garoth by a circle, but larger and more robust than the Ancient White Dragon Beskarl.
His entire body was covered in deep blue scales, their edges sharp as blades, gleaming with a cold luster. Upon these scales were far more numerous, intricate, and deep Battle-Hardened Patterns than those on White Dragon Beskarl or Amethyst Dragon Iseramas, recording traces of countless battles.
He had powerful limbs and a streamlined body.
The edges of his enormous dragon wings crackled with arcs of electricity, the patterns on the wing membranes resembling condensed thunderstorms. Formidable dragon horns extended from his snout, their tips wreathed in electrical sparks.
The Blue Dragon fully revealed himself.
His gaze instantly focused on the imposing, majestic red iron dragon.
Whoosh! The Blue Dragon folded his wings, descending towards the ground. The cloud layer behind him slowly dissipated, revealing the brilliant sunset.
He landed on the ground, about a hundred meters from the red iron dragon, carefully observing the red iron dragon.
The red iron dragon also said nothing more, simply quietly examining this kin.
A silence of several breaths passed as they stared at each other, only the low sound of breathing audible.
Finally, the Blue Dragon spoke first.
"The heaviness of earth, the intensity of fire, and... the cold, hard, pure majesty of steel. An incredible form, a sense of pressure far exceeding the rumors."
He paused slightly, accurately reciting that series of titles.
"You, are you the emperor of this newly risen nation, the Aola Kingdom, the Red Flame Scourge, the Undying Dragon, the Conqueror and Master of the Wilderness, His Majesty Garoth Ignas?"
His gaze still did not glance at the White Dragon Beskarl beside them, all his attention focused on the red iron dragon.
Garoth narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression unreadable.
"An uninvited guest, before inquiring of the host, should first state your own name and your purpose."
The Ancient Blue Dragon grinned, revealing teeth with faint arcs of electricity constantly jumping between them.
"My name is Kaelzrog Helmod, Ancient Dragon, from the Boiling Sea deep within the Endless Ocean."
He stated his name and origin, his tone becoming more solemn.
"This journey is by the joint command of the current leaders of the Helmod Dragonflight, the three Ancient Dragons, crossing thousands of miles of turbulent waves, specifically to visit the rapidly rising red iron dragon sovereign of recent years."
This Blue Dragon named Kaelzrog spread his broad wings flat, then slightly lowered his formidable dragon head towards Garoth's direction.
This was a gesture of respect among dragonkind.
"Garoth Ignas, Imperial Majesty of the Aola Kingdom."
"The Helmod Dragonflight of the Boiling Sea, in the name of the Deep Sea's Wrathful Tides and Thunder, extends to you, and the kingdom you have established, our most sincere greetings and warmest congratulations!"
"Congratulations?"
Garoth said.
"Of course!"
Kaelzrog raised his head, his voice carrying unmistakable excitement and admiration.
"Rising from the wilderness, gathering tribes, founding a nation and establishing its systems, setting order and laws, then with thunderous force, directly crushing a well-equipped human kingdom... such a great achievement, such boldness."
The tips of his wings lightly slapped the air, stirring up faint electric sparks.
"Even in the eyes of us Helmod Dragonflight, accustomed to storms and conquests, this is no small feat, worthy of the most heartfelt congratulations."
"Therefore," the Ancient Blue Dragon paused slightly in his speech, looking directly at the red iron dragon.
"I have come from afar representing the Helmod Dragonflight, not only to express our congratulations and respect but also to bring... the friendship of the Helmod Dragonflight, and an invitation that could allow us to achieve great things together."
Garoth listened quietly to the Blue Dragon's words, his eyes calm and unrippled.
The Helmod Dragonflight... he was not unfamiliar with this name.
Back when he was still a hatchling, browsing through knowledge about the distribution of dragon forces worldwide within the Dragon Legacy, there were records about this powerful evil dragon clan.
They were powerful, notoriously vicious, predatory by nature, and vengeful.
The Helmod Dragonflight was also a major concern for the Raging Tides Dragon Domain. The father of the Bronze Dragon Siano had died fighting against the Helmod Dragonflight.
And this was also the trigger that gradually pushed his personality to extremes, leaning towards the Purification Faction.
After the Blue Dragon Kaelzrog's speech reached a pause, Garoth also reined in his swirling thoughts and slowly spoke.
"The congratulations of the Helmod Dragonflight have been received by the Aola Kingdom. I also represent the kingdom in expressing gratitude."
He paused slightly, looking directly into the Blue Dragon's eyes.
"Then, Emissary Kaelzrog, what exactly does the 'achieving great things together' you mentioned earlier refer to?"
"The Helmod Dragonflight has resided deep in the Boiling Sea for nearly a millennium. Surely they wouldn't dispatch a powerful Ancient Dragon like you across vast oceans merely to offer congratulations."
Garoth said.
Kaelzrog's massive wings flapped once more, stirring up a scent of the sea.
"Your Majesty is perceptive." He nodded, beginning to elaborate in detail. "We, the Helmod Dragonflight, have galloped across the Boiling Sea, accumulating a fearsome reputation that makes many coastal kingdoms tremble. However..."
"Though the deep sea is vast and its resources abundant, it ultimately lacks the diversity of sunlit land."
"The trenches are dark, with countless undercurrents. As far as the eye can see, there is nothing but water."
"We are tired of forever accompanying coral and shipwrecks, tired of only briefly touching the edges of land during storm seasons."
As he spoke, Kaelzrog's voice gradually rose.
"Land, that is the land blessed by the gods, the true center of the world where nations compete, races converge, and wealth and culture flow. That is the stage that can fully bear the ambition and glory of us dragons. The gaze of the Helmod Dragonflight has long ceased to be limited beneath the waves of the Boiling Sea. We have looked inland."
He paused, his gaze burning as he looked at Garoth.
"Coincidentally, just as we were seriously planning our landing endeavors."
"News about you and the Aola Kingdom reached our ears."
"A powerful kingdom established and ruled by a dragon, achieving such glorious success in a short time... this is undoubtedly an excellent example and has greatly encouraged those kin yearning for change."
So, influenced by my successful nation-building, it stirred their ambition to land and establish a kingdom?
Garoth suddenly understood.
But ultimately, it was still for longer-term benefits.
The Helmod Dragonflight entrenched in the Boiling Sea, though they could acquire wealth by plundering coastal shipping lanes and extorting coastal city-states, this method was ultimately unstable, inefficient, and made it difficult to establish stable rule and continuous production.
Building a kingdom of their own, possessing vast territory, numerous subjects, systematic taxation, and resource development.
That was the true path to accumulating wealth and power.
Only, I could establish a nation because I had the support of a dragon domain and allies like the Lothrian Kingdom.
Merely having power, but being an evil dragon, made nation-building difficult.
What about the Helmod Dragonflight?
What could they rely on?
This dragonflight had a notorious reputation, predatory by nature, having incurred deep hatred with coastal kingdoms and even the Raging Tides Dragon Domain.
Once they landed with great fanfare, attempting to establish a dragon kingdom, it was almost certain they would immediately provoke panic and fierce resistance from surrounding kingdoms, likely forming a coalition army for suppression.
The Raging Tides Dragon Domain would absolutely not sit idly by and let them gain a foothold on land.
The obstacles they would face would be far greater than what I initially encountered.
Thoughts raced through Garoth's mind, but his expression remained unchanged. He simply followed the other's words and asked, "So, the Helmod Dragonflight has decided to leave the Boiling Sea and formally land?"
"Exactly so."
Kaelzrog nodded heavily. "However, we are well aware this is by no means a simple, easy task that can be accomplished in one go."
He clearly also understood what the dragonflight would face in nation-building, his tone becoming somewhat more serious.
"The human kingdoms, especially those coastal kingdoms with whom we've had friction, will absolutely not sit by and watch a powerful and aggressive Blue Dragon clan land and settle near their coastlines."
"War, from the moment we set foot on land, will be inevitable."
"Our dragonflight, though powerful, fears no single human kingdom in war. But the worst-case scenario is possibly provoking a coalition of many, united by fear, for suppression. That would be a long, draining, bitter war."
He shifted his tone, his gaze tightly fixed on Garoth.
"But, if on this continent, we could have a steadfast and powerful ally, a land-based dragon nation also led by dragons, one that has already proven its strength with glorious victories, to coordinate with and support us."
"Then, the situation would be completely different."
Kaelzrog's dragon body took a small step forward. Though still maintaining a safe distance, this action made his proposal seem more impactful.
"The existence of the Aola Kingdom has already proven that evil dragons establishing a nation is not a delusion."
"Moreover, we Blue Dragons are not chaotic beings; we understand how to interact with other races."
"Therefore, after careful deliberation, the three leaders of the Helmod Dragonflight decided to dispatch me as the official emissary."
"We hope to establish a mutually beneficial offensive and defensive alliance pact with the Aola Kingdom, with you, the powerful Red Emperor, the Undying Dragon."
"We can jointly carve out a new era belonging to dragonkind on this continent."
"Your Majesty Ignas, what is your opinion on this?"
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