【 BLACK DRAGON KING AND ANOTHER WORLD TREE 】
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The Abyss, Wasteland of Desolation.
Beyond the stronghold’s towering walls, an endless army of demons and monsters stretched as far as the eye could see.
Even along the sides of the walls, dense masses of demons clung in layers, covering every surface.
So gripped the walls with sharp claws suited for climbing, while others ascended long siege ladders, steadily making their way upward.
The sky was filled with flying creatures, circling ceaselessly around the walls protected by a defensive holy barrier.
Upon the walls, the players wielded bows and magical firearms, continuously firing toward both the skies and the ground.
Spellcasters among them relentlessly cast enhancent buffs upon their allies, or directly unleashed offensive spells into the air and onto the battlefield below, where they burst into dazzling displays of magical brilliance.
lee warriors, together with the Netherworld’s Heroic Spirit Legion, stood at the very front lines of the walls, engaging in constant combat against demons that managed to climb up.
The whistling of arrows, the explosions of spells, the clash of weapons, the roars of demons and monsters, and the battle cries of players intertwined into a single, chaotic symphony.
Amidst all this, demigod Aurora stood atop a tower on the wall.
Gazing at the boundless demonic army beyond, which seed to engulf the entire world, her expression gradually grew solemn.
Another month had passed since the war in the Wastelands of Desolation began.
During this ti, the number of demons attacking their stronghold had continued to increase, and so too had the Abyssal myths behind them.
As reinforcents from the Abyssal legions continued to pour in without end, the war had reached an unprecedented intensity.
This confird Aurora’s suspicion that this desolate world was likely the primary bridgehead for the Demon’s invasion of the world of Seigües.
Fortunately enough, although the number of demons besieging the stronghold had grown to vastly outnumber the Chosen Ones defending it, they had yet to breach the elven defenses.
For this, much credit was owed to the arrival of the Heroic Spirit Legion from the Netherworld, as well as to the Chosen Ones’ fervor for battle, which even Aurora deeply admired.
The Heroic Spirit Legion grew stronger with every battle they fought.
Since ancient tis, they had been among the most troubleso divine armies for the Abyssal mythic forces in the previous crusades.
As for the elves, although they were not tireless like the Heroic Spirits, nor capable of transforming fallen enemies into undead allies, their continued fighting still inspired deep wariness among the demons.
Their levels rose ever higher, their combat techniques beca increasingly refined, and their coordination grew ever more seamless.
For the players participating in the war, this prolonged conflict was itself a process of accumulating experience, growing more skilled with every engagent.
Though casualties were severe, their efficiency in reinforcing the front lines was pretty remarkable, even in Aurora’s eyes.
Their ability to revive without limit granted them fearless resolve.
The lure of experience and contribution rewards fueled every participant with unwavering morale and determination to fight to the end.
Their sheer numbers ensured that, at any given ti, a portion of players remained online to defend the walls.
This beca especially evident as the scale of the battle continued to expand.
Evé, through remote control of the ga system, adjusted the structure of the war campaign once more. Instead of limiting participation by the number of players allowed to accept the quest, the restriction was shifted to the number of players permitted within the battlefield map itself.
This change granted players far greater flexibility and freedom in how they operates.
So as long as they could enter the map, any player could join the battle, and the besieging demon army provided abundant EXP.
With millions of players rotating shifts to defend a wall that required only tens of thousands at a ti, the defense remained sustainable.
Coupled with the Goddess’s formidable holy barrier, the stronghold stood as immovable as a fortress of iron beneath the holy light, despite the ever-growing number of demons.
Gradually, the player stronghold within the Wasteland of Desolation were becoming another battlefield for Silver-ranked players to grind and level up.
Even Azazel had noticed a decline in the number of elves entering the labyrinth dungeon to hunt monsters.
The war remained locked in stalemate, with no signs of retreat from the elven side.
However, as the leader of the elves in this conflict, Aurora harbored a trace of concern.
She looked out over the endless demonic host beyond the walls, sensing the increasingly nurous and terrifying presences hidden within, and her mood grew ever heavier.
She could feel that the number of Abyssal myths was steadily increasing.
Although the elves possessed great strength, three mythical-rank ancient dragons, and four divine envoys of the Goddess of Death, the disparity in mythic-rank power between the two sides continued to widen as the war progressed.
Even if battles below the mythical-rank remained deadlocked, Aurora understood that in a war between gods and demons, the ultimate outco would be determined by clashes between mythic beings.
In this regard, the elves held no advantage.
Especially after the disappearance of the Goddess a month ago.
At this thought, Aurora could not help but glance toward the direction where the Goddess’s incarnation had vanished.
Though she had received a divine oracle and knew that the Goddess was currently searching for traces of the Shadowshade Clan and was unable to return for the ti being, understanding did little to ease her concern.
Without the Goddess’s incarnation, if the Demons were to deploy a mythic being beyond their capacity to resist, then their stronghold would inevitably fall.
At that point, their only option would be to retreat back to the world of Seigües, relying on its innate suppressive sealing barrier to resist the invasion of Demons.
As if in response to Aurora’s unease, just as she gazed anxiously at the distant demonic army, a vast and overwhelming presence suddenly erged from the boundless darkness.
The clouds above churned violently, thunder and lightning erupting across the sky.
Under Aurora’s gaze, an enormous shadow slowly manifested upon the battlefield.
A terrifying pressure swept across the field.
All demigods present, including the ancient dragons, felt an overwhelming force pressing down upon them, one they could not resist.
It was an Abyssal myth, at least at the rank of weaker divine power.
This marked the first appearance, in over a month, of an Abyssal entity surpassing the level of negligible divine power.
Sensing that astonishing, corrupted divine might, Aurora’s expression grew even more solemn.
Even though Abyssal myths are generally weaker than true gods of the sa rank, within the Abyss, when facing demigods like them, an evil god of weaker divine power could still achieve absolute suppression.
The evil god let out a savage grin, then stepped forward, instantly appearing above the city walls.
Raising a massive axe, it swung downward toward the stronghold’s defensive barrier below.
This is bad!
Aurora’s gaze darkened.
Gritting her teeth, she prepared to exert her full strength to sustain the operation of the barrier.
At that very mont, however, a resounding dragon’s roar suddenly echoed throughout the stronghold.
A fierce and majestic divine aura, carrying a faint sense of supre dominance, began to rise slowly from the direction of the temple.
Startled, Aurora turned her head.
In the sky above, a massive shadow had suddenly appeared.
It was a colossal black dragon, nearly five hundred ters in length. Its sleek yet powerful body was covered in glossy black scales that shimred with a deep, eerie radiance.
Circling high in the sky like a floating fortress, it fixed its gaze upon the Abyssal myth, a hint of battle intent flickering in its eyes.
Sensing the overwhelming dragon’s might emanating from it, and observing its imnse size and the faint glow surrounding its body, the golden dragon Mars revealed a trace of complicated emotion in his expression.
“…The Black Dragon King.”
The Black Dragon King…?
Aurora froze slightly.
Amongst the dragon race, any being crowned as a Dragon King would inevitably be a mythical-rank dragon who held dominion over a racial divinity.
Such a being was a true Dragon God.
At that mont, waves of cheers and commotion erupted from the players below:
“ryer! It’s ryer!”
“Damn, when did that glutton get so huge?”
“Huh? He… turned into a golden-class NPC!?”
“Hurry, notify the guild, prepare so roasted at, make sure to bring honey!”
Aurora fell silent.
ryer…?
Hearing this na, sothing stirred in her mind as she recalled a piece of information she had once heard in the Elven Forest.
It was said that when the Goddess had first awakened, she had gained the loyalty of a black dragon.
Not only that, this once cruel and malevolent dragon had been moved by the Goddess, turning over a new leaf and choosing to uphold goodness and justice.
And that dragon’s na, as Aurora had learned from other elves, was apparently ryer.
However, according to the information she had heard, that black dragon, though possessing imnse potential, had only been a legendary-rank dragon.
Yet what stood before her now was unmistakably a true mythical-rank dragon.
Moreover, it was one of the rare ancient mythical-rank dragons even amongst their kind.
Not only that, although it was a black dragon, Aurora could sense that the divine power emanating from it was vast and righteous.
This dragon clearly is a righteous god, not an evil one.
At this mont, Aurora suddenly recalled that the title of Black Dragon King should have belonged to the Dragon of Despair, Nidhogg.
But the one before her was clearly not the sa being.
Aurora had seen Nidhogg before.
She still vividly rembered the scene from a thousand years ago, when it tore into the roots of the World Tree during that great thousand-year holy war.
Nidhogg had been one of the primary culprits behind the Goddess’s defeat and subsequent slumber a millennium ago.
At that mont, the golden dragon Mars spoke again from beside her, his voice tinged with emotion and a hint of envy.
“That lad ryer… it seems he has successfully fused with the Black Dragon Divinity granted to him by the Goddess.”
The Black Dragon Divinity…
Aurora was montarily stunned.
—Wait.
Could it be that the Goddess had already slain Nidhogg?
Aurora quickly pieced together the sequence of events in her mind.
If a new Black Dragon King had appeared, then the answer was pretty much obvious
With that thought, she once again looked toward the sky.
Gazing at the enormous shadow, a trace of fervor appeared in her eyes.
“As expected of the great Goddess…”
“To think that she could eliminate Nidhogg and elevate a righteous Black Dragon as her subordinate god…”
The dragon’s wings blotted out the sky.
Amid the excited gazes and frantic screenshots of the players, ryer let out a long cry and charged toward the stunned evil god.
Thus, the two newly arrived mythical beings instantly clashed in battle.
In the next mont, darkness spread across the sky, forming the domain of the Black Dragon King.
Clouds churned violently as divine power erupted. From within the storm, Aurora could hear the furious roars of the evil god echoing from ti to ti.
Before long, a battered shadow burst out of the clouds, fleeing into the distance…
It was the Abyssal evil god.
It had been defeated.
A dragon was, after all, still a dragon.
Upon advancing to the mythical-rank, even one possessing only negligible divine power was enough to utterly overwhelm an Abyssal myth of weak divine power.
At the sight of this, Aurora felt her spirits lift.
She knew that their stronghold could be held for so ti longer.
Letting out a quiet breath of relief, she turned her gaze once more toward the distance.
“Your Grace… when will you return…”
she murmured softly.
༺⟐༻
The Realm of Mindel.
Amidst the roaring clouds, several wyverns soared through the sky.
From their backs ca bursts of exhilarated shouts:
“Wooo—!”
They were players clad in ornate armor and flowing robes.
Clutching onto the wyverns’ scales, they looked down at the distant land below, their expressions filled with excitent.
They were none other than the ten players who had followed Evé into this sealed world.
After leaving the slaughtered village, their group had proceeded north under Eve’s guidance.
To hasten their journey, Evé had invoked the laws of nature to summon several wyverns as mounts, thereby allowing them to travel through the skies.
Of course, there was another reason.
Evé had already sensed the fear and hostility directed at her by the mysterious existence behind the Church of the All-Divine Mother.
So if they continued traveling on the ground, she was certain the journey would not be peaceful, and they would likely encounter so interference.
As for who would obstruct them, there was little need to guess…
It would certainly be followers of this Church, quite possibly even the local elves themselves.
It could even include fanatical believers.
Therefore, until she fully understood the true identity of the being behind the Church of the All-Divine Mother, Evé had no intention of approaching any mbers of this organization rashly.
Moreover, her ti was limited so she could not afford to waste it along the way.
She did not wish to harm beings who might one day beco her believers.
At present, the best and most efficient course of action was to reach the location she had already identified as quickly as possible, and then conduct a thorough investigation.
The wyverns continued their flight as the players admired the magnificent landscapes below.
Aside from Li Mu, who suffered from a fear of heights and kept trembling with pale complexion and tightly shut eyes, most of the players were exhilarated.
Although nearly every one of the ten players possessed flying mounts back in Seigües, such an extended flight was a first for them.
The sea of clouds churned, mist-like layers drifting in and out of view around them.
Below, they could see rolling mountain ranges, winding rivers, dense forests, and vast stretches of farmland.
There were also villages scattered like stars across the land, along with nurous small cities.
The Realm of Mindel was vast, extraordinarily vast.
From what the players had seen during their journey alone, the regions they had passed likely already exceeded the size of the Elven Forest.
Riding upon the backs of the wyverns, they could not help but wonder what the land below was truly like, and what kinds of races inhabited it.
The farther they flew, the more they felt their own insignificance, and the more they were awed by the grand scale and worldbuilding of “Elven Kingdom.”
At last, they crossed plains and rivers, arriving before a range of towering mountains.
At the forefront, Evé sensed that the location she had locked onto was drawing ever nearer.
She gently patted the wyvern beneath her, which responded with a low, affectionate cry as it veered around the mountain range.
Snow-capped peaks gradually shifted out of view, and the horizon suddenly opened wide.
However, when the players saw what lay beyond the mountains, their cheers ca to an abrupt halt.
A trace of astonishnt appeared in their eyes.
Even Evé herself paused in slight surprise.
Beyond the mountains lay a vast basin.
Within it stood an imnse and magnificent city.
Yet what caused both the players and Evé to hesitate was not the city itself, but the grand presence rising from the hills behind it.
It was a towering, lush, and majestic tree.
Or rather…
—A World Tree, strikingly similar to Eve’s own true body.
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