Ember Dragon Novel Chapter 577: Dawn of Light

Chapter 577: Chapter 577: Dawn of Light

Chapter 577: Dawn of Light

"What is that?"

"By Moradin, it’s a dragon! A gold dragon!"

"I’ve never seen such a massive and magnificent dragon! It looks like a statue forged from gold!"

"Is that our reinforcents?"

The golden dragon appeared on the horizon, and the dwarves on the wall all looked up in awe, temporarily forgetting the orc assault.

The orcs noticed the unexpected visitor too and were stunned to see the dragon diving toward them.

Its whiskered face exuded majesty, and fire boiled in the pupils like molten gold.

Orc officers and shamans felt a terrifying pressure and shouted in panic.

"It’s a gold dragon!"

"It must be an ally of the dwarves! Quick, shoot that damned gold-scaled lizard down!"

At the order, the orcs hastily raised their crude bows and fired at the dragon.

But their poor-quality arrows proved useless. Most wobbled and fell.

Even the arrows that hit left no mark on the dragon’s tough golden scales.

The gold dragon gazed down at the masses of orcs, its vertical pupils burning with rage.

Slowly, it opened its jaws. Firelight surged from its throat and chest, as if a blazing sun hid within.

"Father Gruumsh, th-that dragon is coming!"

"How do we stop it?!"

"Get down!"

"Careful, it’s dragonfire!"

As orcs stared in fear, the golden dragon spread its wings wide and dove.

Its massive shadow engulfed the wall, covering thousands of dwarves and orcs. With a flap of its wings, a fierce gale swept forth.

"Boom—"

Air burst with a thunderous roar. A wave of heat crashed down, and blazing flas poured from the dragon’s mouth.

In an instant, the orcs outside the wall were engulfed in fire. Ladders burned, and hundreds of orcs scread as they fell.

"No!"

"It burns! Dammit, I’m on fire!"

"By Father Gruumsh! Where did that gold dragon co from?!"

Orcs scread and writhed in dragonfire. Their fur clothing and leather armor scorched black.

"No—I haven’t set foot in Avenderdan yet! I haven’t enslaved the dwarves!"

"Father, I don’t want to die here!"

Under the fire, orcs fell into delirium, kneeling and begging the skies for rcy.

But the gold dragon did not stop.

"Roooaaar!"

The deafening roar echoed through Blackstone Mountains, drowning out the orcs’ screams.

To the orcs, the dragon was death incarnate. It glided along Avenderdan’s wall, continuously spewing fire.

A fiery belt hundreds of ters long ford outside the wall, ash flying, wildfires spreading. Heat waves distorted the air.

The dragon rose and dove again and again, raining fire until every orc outside the wall was incinerated.

In re minutes, tens of thousands of orcs perished. Charred corpses piled like hills.

"By Moradin..."

"The orc siege force—it’s gone."

"We’re saved... That gold dragon must be our Highland Kingdom’s ally."

The dwarves on the wall watched the fiery ruin, both relieved and amazed by the dragon’s might.

They looked up again. The blood mist and black clouds conjured by the shamans had been burned away. Sunlight returned.

Beams of light shone down, making the dragon’s golden scales gleam as if wrapped in holy radiance.

Even the crude dwarves were stunned, mouths agape, unable to speak.

The elderly and wise Bjorn looked up, his voice shaking, even his white beard quivering.

"My kin, this noble and righteous guest has saved Avenderdan and our kingdom!"

He raised his staff high: "He is the dawn of light!"

"The Dawn Dragon!"

"Praise this mighty gold dragon!"

The dwarves echoed Bjorn’s cry, shouting skyward in triumph.

The dragon flapped its rippling wings and nodded slightly, as if greeting its allies on the wall.

On the battlefield below, the orc shamans panicked under the spreading fire, unable to focus.

Bound, King Edd seized his chance, breaking free from magical chains, eyes blazing.

"Foul spawn of Gruumsh!"

The dwarf king raised his hamr high. His voice thundered, and stones gathered in the sky.

"Behold! The dragon’s flas burn bright! Your savage army has turned to ash!"

The shamans shook their heads in horror.

"No—impossible! The gods of Heaven Mountain are blind! Reinforcents aren’t coming!"

"Damn it! There was no gold dragon in the One-Eyed God’s prophecy! This one doesn’t belong to us!"

But Edd glared at them, his eyes burning.

He smashed his hamr down and shouted: "This is your fate! Against the power of justice and order, you filthy, brutal orcs are nothing!"

"Boom!"

The boulders fell like teors, shaking the earth with deafening crashes.

The fleeing shamans had no chance. Most were flattened like at patties.

One transford into black smoke and escaped, but Edd leapt to et him.

The shaman laughed madly, clutching his bone staff, chanting: "Useless! Even dragons can’t stop Gruumsh’s Blood Spear! Dwarf king! Rember—Avenderdan will beco our fortress, and dwarves our slaves!"

Enraged, Edd swung his hamr, voice trembling: "You’re dead!"

"Bang!"

Edd smashed the orc’s skull, spraying blood and brain matter.

He spun in the orc horde, whipping up a dust storm with his hamr. Orcs scread.

"Tiny worm! I’ll crush you!"

A five-ter-tall half-orc giant charged with a bone club.

But Edd crushed his knees with a single blow, dropping the giant to his knees.

Then the dwarf leapt and smashed the giant’s head without rcy.

"Bang!"

Edd stood slowly, drenched in orc blood. His hamr was caked in gore and chunks of flesh.

Around him, not one orc remained alive within a hundred ters.

In monts, he had annihilated all the shamans and elite warriors ant to restrain him.

Such was the might of Edd Kraine, Lord of the Highlands.

He stood in the blood, raising his hamr, shouting toward the city walls:

"My people! The orcs’ sches shall never succeed! Moradin’s light shall shine forever upon this land!

Follow

in counterattack!

Drive out Gruumsh’s filthy spawn!"

Edd exchanged glances with the dragon above, nodding in gratitude.

He could not imagine what would have happened had the dragon not arrived while he was ambushed.

"Praise Dumathoin! It’s King Edd!"

"By Moradin, I knew he wouldn’t fall!"

"Counterattack!"

"Drive the orcs back north!"

Seeing their king erge from the enemy horde, the dwarves surged with emotion.

Led by Edd, they poured from the city, chasing down the fleeing orcs.

Demoralized by dragonfire, the orcs fled toward their northern camp.

Their tens of thousands-strong vanguard was utterly destroyed.

The dwarves cheered on the scorched, corpse-littered land, celebrating the hard-won victory.

"Long live Moradin!"

"The Highland Kingdom shall never fall!"

"Praise the stranger—that special guest! This victory would not be ours without him!"

They shouted the nas of their gods, praised their king, and thanked the Dawn Dragon.

Road of Glory. Orc Tombstone.

Vultures circled above, screeching.

Once the front line against orc invasions, this place had beco the Redblood Tribe’s main camp. Hundreds of thousands of orcs gathered.

On a plains drake’s spine, atop a throne of bones, Batu Skullcrusher sat, eyes narrow and face twisted.

"Cowards."

In the distance, the defeated vanguard fled, faces terrified, clothes tattered and scorched.

"Who permitted your retreat?!"

Batu rose slowly from his throne, voice laced with fury.

"Lord Batu. A gold dragon! A strange gold dragon attacked us! We were about to take Avenderdan, but then the dragon ca and unleashed fire!"

The leading officer knelt, begging, blood flowing from his forehead.

"Gold dragon?"

Batu squinted, a strange light flickering in his empty socket.

According to Gruumsh’s plan, the gods of Heaven Mountain had been blinded. No aid should have arrived.

But Batu’s fury exploded. His voice thundered:

"That’s no excuse for retreat! Father Gruumsh said: The weak who can’t fight for the tribe should be skewered with spears."

Despair struck the officer. His legs buckled. He tried to flee again.

But he realized—north lay orcs, south the dwarves. There was no escape.

"No, no! Lord Batu, I fought for us! I slew goblins on Ugo Plains! I..."

Batu didn’t care. He raised his axe and slashed down.

"Slash—"

Blood sprayed. Hundreds of fresh orc heads flew into the air.

The retreating orcs from the south were slaughtered by their own chief, without rcy.

Thousands watched in silence. Even the air froze.

Batu jumped down, picked up a warm head, and held it high for all to see.

"See this? This is a deserter’s fate!

Cowards don’t belong in Nishak. Their souls rot and are abandoned forever!

Rember! Orcs are raiders! We must strike fear into our enemies’ souls!"

He threw the head down, stomped it, then shouted, his lone eye burning with fanatic light.

"The One-Eyed God watches you always! Your greatest sin is cowardice!"

"For Father Gruumsh! Conquer and kill our foes!"

"For Father Gruumsh!"

"These deserters deserve death!"

Stirred by Batu, the horde raised spears and swords, roaring with contempt for the retreaters.

They agreed completely with Batu.

In orc clans, Gruumsh’s priests not only spread faith but also purged the sick, weak, la, or unfit—

—regardless of age or status.

Survival of the fittest. The weak were discarded, fed to beasts. That was orc law.

Batu climbed to a cliff top, overlooking the horde, then turned his eye south, ambition burning within.