The Fiery Crown Cycle: A Dragon's Rebirth

Chapter 73

The wings of the three wyrmlings beat in unison. Their claws pulled taut.

SCRAPE…

The massive corpse began to move. With another powerful flap of their wings, the body was slowly, painstakingly hauled from the sand. The Geocrag Worm was over seventy yards long. They leveled out at an altitude of eighty yards.

Rustle…

The gaping pit they had pulled the body from was already beginning to fill with shifting sand.

Aiden lifted his head, his gaze leaving the ground below. “Alright. Let go.”

The blue claws released their grip. The white claws released theirs. Aiden's body instantly dipped sharply. He hastily let go himself, arresting his fall.

Aiden opened his maw. A black crystal the size of a basketball emerged. Seeing the magic crystal clutched in his red claws, an uncontrollable greed flashed in the eyes of both Bianca and Azure. Aiden tossed the black sphere directly to Azure. Her blue claws snapped shut, gripping it tightly.

“Take this back to the lair,” he commanded. “As for the coming hunt, you two can choose to participate or not.”

He couldn't trust that fool Bianca, but handing the crystal to Azure would ensure it was safe. He turned his head, his gaze fixed on the sands below. The ground was already stirring.

Rustle, rustle…

The sand in multiple locations began to churn. The blood of a high-star magical beast was an irresistible lure for lower-tiered creatures.

He's really going to keep hunting. Azure turned her head to the side. Bianca was staring at the ground, showing no signs of leaving.

“You're coming with me,” Azure said.

“No way, aow! I want to hunt too! If Aiden can do it, so can I!”

Tsk. What a troublemaker. Azure's blue tail whipped out.

SMACK!

Bianca's eyes stared blankly for several seconds. The dazed look was slowly replaced by one of pure ferocity. “AOW! YOU DARE HIT ME IN THE FACE?”

With a powerful beat of her blue wings, Azure began to ascend toward the lair. A white shadow followed close behind.

Aiden lifted his red head. A grin split his maw. Azure is pretty sensible, knowing to take that fool away. He lowered his head, his grin vanishing. Alright. Time to hunt.

Rustle!

Sand worms of every color burst from the ground. They ignored everything else, swarming single-mindedly toward the puckered orifice of the Geocrag Worm's corpse. Its thick black carapace was too tough for them to break, so the mouth was their only point of entry.

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Aiden beat his wings, diving. His claws landed, impaling the heads of two worms. He twisted, then pulled. Two intermediate-tier magic crystals, dripping with slime, were in his grasp. There was no time to worry about the flavor now. He opened his maw, tossed them in, and swallowed. This isn't about pleasure, it's about fuel; I just have to endure it.

Stab, twist, pull, toss, swallow. He repeated the brutal, five-step process, and the number of sand worm corpses piled around him began to grow. Yet the worms kept coming, ignoring the growing pile of their dead brethren as they charged mindlessly toward the Geocrag Worm's maw. Faced with the chance to evolve their bloodline by consuming a higher being, filling their own stomachs was meaningless. It was precisely because he understood this that Aiden had been so determined to kill the Geocrag Worm. It was the perfect bait, one that would make these worms charge forward without any fear of death.

As time passed, the number of worms grew, and more and more began to slip past him. The ground around him was now a roiling sea of sand worms. The rustling was incessant. His long, sinuous tail pulled free from a worm's head, an egg-sized magic crystal coiled in its tip. He flicked his tail, tossing the crystal into his mouth. He swallowed.

RUMBLE…

The ground began to tremble. It's here.

His red pupils, cold as ice, stared at the earth. He glanced at the fiery sigil in his right eye. Four-fifths full. The first Geocrag Worm's crystal should be enough to fill it.He beat his red wings. WHOOSH! His claws left the sand, his red body rocketing into the air.

BOOM!

A tremendous roar came from below. Aiden lowered his head and looked down. An abyssal maw, at least a hundred yards wide, had opened, swallowing everything on the sand below. The Geocrag Worm's corpse, the piles of dead sand worms, the living sand worms—all were annihilated in an instant.

He stared at the thick, black carapace. It was another Geocrag Worm. But this one was a five-star.

This sub-plane was truly on the verge of its Life Sacrifice. These five-star sand worms were practically common. Aiden's heart tightened. Time felt increasingly precious, yet he had no way of knowing exactly how much he had left. It was an infuriating feeling. He glanced at the fiery sigil in his right eye. It was almost depleted. His time in this state was running out.

He beat his wings faster, streaking back to the cave.

The white and blue wyrmlings had apparently just finished their fight. The blue one was sitting on top of the white one, her claws pinning the other dragon down with unapologetic force. Hearing him land, both dragons froze and looked over. The blue pupils, which should have been calm, were now shining with excitement. Azure was exhilarated.

Aiden ignored the aggrieved look Bianca shot him. That fool. Does she not see her own state, or Azure's? Azure had clearly vented her satisfaction. He had no time for them; his fiery sigil was about to expire.

Next to the two brawling dragons, the Geocrag Worm's magic crystal lay untouched. His red pupils locked onto it. He strode forward and snatched the black crystal from the ground. He squeezed.

CRACK!

With a crisp sound, the crystal split in half. He opened his maw and tossed one half in. He stared at the ring in his left eye. The motionless ring instantly surged to life, filling in a single moment.

The fiery crown on Aiden's head began to flicker. He shook his head from side to side. No, I have to hold on a little longer. He glanced to the side. The two dragons had stopped their antics. Their heads were raised, and their eyes, both white and blue, held a single, unified emotion.

Longing. They wanted the crystal, too.

His original plan had been not to share until the gauge was full. Now that it was, he might as well give the rest to them. He took the remaining half of the crystal and, with a squeeze, cracked it again. Joy flashed in Azure's eyes. He placed the two smaller pieces on the ground.

“You two split this.”

“If you need to enter a slumber,” he added, “remember to block the cave entrance.”

The Crown on his head became wildly unstable. The power in his body began to flicker, like a guttering flame. He had said what needed to be said. He turned, charged at the cave wall, and began to dig.

He didn't know how long he clawed at the rock, but it felt like a while. His consciousness began to blur. The Crown dissipated.

Aiden pitched forward, and his heavy eyelids slammed shut.