Is that even possible?
David, the Dragon, was shocked once more after hearing this. He thought to himself that indeed, the world was filled with endless wonders.
But the problem was...
Originally, he had actually kept a skull. He had strung it together with other Ogre heads and hung them up in his temporary lair as trophies.
As it turned out, it had been directly reduced to bone al and ash by the Wrath of Tiamat!
Wait a minute! Who said it has to be the original? After all, I used the Authority of Gluttony in that battle to consu and digest a good portion of that Ogre’s mories. It’s just a matter of commorating a loved one! I can just mold one for him on the spot. It might even work better than their Ogre ritual!
Arrogance.
Seeing that Arrogance itself had chid in, David no longer held back.
"Just wait a mont, let have a look."
Then, while the Green Dragon Nifadora and the Barbarian Rosinde watched with a mixture of confusion and astonishnt, David stretched his tail directly into his own mouth. Down his throat it went, and he began rummaging around in his furnace-like stomach.
His form resembled an eternal Ouroboros.
I just ate an Ogre’s head nad Monado this morning, and it’s not even fully digested yet.
Empowered by Arrogance, David brazenly deceived the world, causality, and ti itself.
Authority—Arrogance.
The tip of his tail imdiately found sothing round. Hooking onto its eye socket, then, under the astonished gaze of all present—humans and Dragons alike:
"YUE!!!"
A red-hot Ogre skull, as if it had been calcined, was yanked out of David’s stomach.
However, the Ogre’s skull was nearly as large as young Red Dragon David’s own head. After being regurgitated from his throat, it got stuck squarely in his mouth, making him look like one of those daredevil internet influencers who swallow light bulbs.
It took David considerable effort, using a thod similar to a snake dislocating its jawbone, to finally remove the Ogre’s head with a POP!
He then casually placed it in front of the utterly stunned Barbarian.
"Take a look. Is this the one?"
"Uh...?" Nearby, Red Dragon Lizrite’s mind had simply given up thinking.
"This!?" In the distance, White Dragon Mofei, who had been peeking from a corner, was so startled by the scene that he recoiled two steps, his rear nearly knocking the camp’s wooden periter wall askew.
"How on earth did you do that?" Green Dragon Nifadora was completely dumbfounded.
She, for one, couldn’t believe David could have kept an Ogre’s head in his stomach for five years.
"Monado! My love!!!" The Barbarian on the other side had already pounced on it like a rabid dog lunging for food.
SIZZLE!
Smoke imdiately puffed from the Barbarian’s mouth as it was seared, but he paid it no mind. He crunched and gulped down the still-glowing red Ogre skull as if swallowing live coals.
If he hadn’t gained considerable fire resistance from the Elf-altered familiar ritual, he would likely be dead by now.
This utterly mind-boggling act left the assembled Dragons and Drow staring in baffled disbelief.
The most absurd part was yet to co. The Barbarian, who had swallowed the Ogre’s skull whole, seed to be hallucinating. Completely detached from pain, he wore an expression of dreamlike obsession:
"Monado, it really is you... How wonderful! We can be together again, for all eternity, never to be parted."
And indeed, reality unfolded just as they witnessed. After Rosinde devoured the skull imbued by David with all the consud mories of Monado, he experienced a vision, a montage of mories much like David had seen. It was the life story of an Ogre nad Monado. In particular, when he relived the mory of his wedding night with Monado, the Barbarian couldn’t help but weep bitterly, wailing uncontrollably.
Just as the "rciful" David, standing nearby, was growing impatient and wondering whether to send this warrior off at the peak of his euphoric experience, Rosinde finally saw, through Monado’s eyes, the fatal encounter with the Red Dragon David in the forest years ago. As David’s Abyss-like maw opened, seemingly wide enough to swallow heaven and earth, all mories ceased.
Coming to his senses, Rosinde struggled to raise his upper body. Still bound, he knelt before David, a smile gracing his lips—a smile that seed to transcend the cycle of life and death, free of all worldly hatred and troubles, like that of an enlightened sage.
"Thank you for your benevolence and your gift," Rosinde said. "My life no longer holds any regrets. You may now punish this sinner who has harassed you ti and again."
David, who had been preparing to execute the Barbarian with a sweep of his tail, found this transformation incredible. Puzzled and curious, he asked, "If I rember correctly, I not only killed your wife but also your tribespeople and warriors, didn’t I? And now, because of this, you’re letting go of all hatred and are willing to die?"
He just didn’t understand!
"Hatred?" Rosinde mused. "Perhaps before this, I was indeed blinded by hatred.
"But Monado has shown the truth of that day. Between hunter and prey, for situations to reverse and roles to interchange is perfectly normal; it is simply the law of nature.
"Since she was prepared to hunt you, she was naturally also prepared to be defeated and devoured by you. If hatred must be assigned for such things, I fear we Highland Barbarians would have beco enemies of the entire world long ago.
"Moreover, thanks to your gift, I can feel that Monado hasn’t truly died. My love, she has rged with forever, living deep within my mind. She will experience destruction and rebirth alongside .
"As for my fallen tribespeople, they were misled by the High Elves, who intentionally concealed critical information. If I am to hate, it should be directed more towards those Elves, the true source of the calamity.
"We Highland Barbarians may not be cultured, but we are very clear when it cos to understanding hatred."
After hearing the Barbarian’s words, David, being a transmigrator, found himself even more baffled.
After all, even those experts from his past life—the ones full of philosophical righteousness, always urging others not to act rashly, looking as if they’d seen through the vanity of the mortal world—if you legitimately defended yourself and killed one of their wives during a sudden psychotic episode, and then a freak avalanche, triggered by your shout, buried their entire family, you could bet even they would be consud by worldly rage and co after you with a kitchen knife.
But his lack of understanding didn’t matter; perhaps another Dragon could comprehend or discern the truth. He imdiately looked towards the Green Dragon Nifadora, whose eyes constantly flickered with a magical aura.
"It’s the truth," Nifadora stated, having secretly cast the second-circle spell "Detect Thoughts."
David still couldn’t understand, but he was profoundly shaken.
However, his own lack of understanding wasn’t important. As long as this Barbarian claid, I have gradually co to understand everything, that was sufficient. David imdiately began to fan the embers of hatred he sensed in the other’s heart:
"Warrior from the Rosinde clan of the Highland Barbarians!
"Do you want to personally avenge your kinsfolk?
"Do you want to raise your blade against those arrogant High Elves?
"Do you want to seek the aning of life in your remaining years?
"Do you want to truly... live?"
Even as David spoke, the Barbarian warrior, who had already let go of everything and was resigned to death, maintained an appearance of utter calm, his mind like still water, ready for execution.
This lasted until he heard David’s final, appended words:
"With your loved one."
Rosinde’s head snapped up. His once clear and tranquil eyes now blazed with an intense fla called desire, and he declared with absolute conviction, "YES!!!"
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