My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 926: Chapter 927: World Became His Home

When it came to dragons, the most known was Ashergon. No dragon compared in sheer tyranny. It flew from its lair across the world and wreaked havoc wherever it wished.

Cities, institutions... no place was truly safe.

Dragons were powerful, and their power was recorded in many tales. Every knight’s greatest aspiration was to slay a dragon... until they actually saw one.

Any idea of dragons born from legend proved, in reality, to be many times worse.

Flames and ash. Death and blood. A horror that dwarfed mountains.

Seras explained her plan and strategy within the small war tent, with the exception of Damon who was still unconscious.

After waiting for a while longer, he still wasn’t awake, so she decided it was better to simply drag him along as he was.

There were pale expressions on the faces of those who had actually seen a dragon before. Knowing it was a deadly mission, this was how she could tell the naïve ones apart. Those who had never seen a dragon seemed almost excited.

She closed her eyes briefly.

How sad... this may be the final mistake they make.

There were many dragon-like creatures that shared similar bloodlines.

There were wyverns — powerful, but hardly a threat to a well trained army. There were drakes — dangerous, but still something a party of well trained and equipped adventurers could handle. Averagely, you would need a raid party, but still a group of adventurers.

There were also wyrms, amphitheres, and all those subcategories.

No... none of them compared to four legs and wings coming in different shapes.

A dragon.

Seras gave everyone time to prepare, leaving her alone with Renata.

”Well, why aren’t you leaving...” Seras asked slowly, her gaze shifting toward her.

Renata shook her head, her violet hair gleaming softly in the dim light of the tent.

”I wanted to talk. I hope you don’t mind...”

Seras took a seat slowly, leaning back into the chair with controlled ease.

”Not at all. I do not mind at all... what do you wish to talk about?” Her tone sounded slightly formal, different from how she spoke to Damon.

Renata bowed slightly, returning the courtesy. She did not want to be rude to a literal hero.

”How did you identify the area as a place a dragon dwelled...” It was the obvious question. The scouts had only described the place and given details. The one who drew that conclusion was Seras.

Seras smiled faintly, slowly shaking her head.

”It’s a hunch... although there are signs if you know them...” She pushed her hair to the side and leaned back, stretching her back as she spoke.

”The most telling was the stillness of the forest in that area while still maintaining a degree of life. The Evil Forest didn’t encroach too much there...” Her expression darkened slightly.

”Which makes me worried we might be encountering a terrible type of dragon...”

Renata’s heart sank. A bead of sweat almost rolled down her temple.

”Yo... you mean like Ashergon...” she asked carefully.

Seras paused, holding her chin in thought.

”Like Ashergon... there is no dragon like Ashergon. Although there are some that come close. Then again, that is just a personal opinion of mine... who knows, there might be others who are more terrible...”

Renata took a deep breath, shaking her head slightly as if rejecting the thought.

”You do know of other dragons... old ones.” She wanted to list some off the top of her head but feared the dragon nearby might hear its own name.

”You act as if Ashergon is young. It’s an old dragon, supposedly active since the early days of the Path of Kings...” Seras’ gaze lingered on Renata, as if quietly scrutinizing her.

”You know, there is an interesting legend about Ashergon and Ashcroft. Do you know it?”

Renata felt uncomfortable, as if one mistake would expose that she was a demon.

”All dragons are proud. They have every right to be...” she began, her voice soft, as though afraid to disturb the memory itself.

”One day, many years ago in the Second Epoch, Ashcroft the Dominator sought a mount. He searched the breadth of the world, across kingdoms and ruins, yet found none worthy to bear his shadow...”

She paused, her gaze drifting as if watching ghosts move across the tent walls.

”Then he heard whispers of a dragon that had claimed the Everlasting Peaks of the Demon Continent as its throne. A creature whose wings eclipsed cities, whose fangs were longer than spears. Its voice was thunder, and before it even mountains seemed to bow... yet it bowed to no one.”

This was the tale as she knew it, carried through rumor and song. Whether truth or exaggeration, she could not say.

”So Ashcroft journeyed to the Everlasting Peaks, climbing through storms and silence until he reached the snow crowned summit where mortal hands brushed the heavens. The sky above was endless black, scattered with cold stars... and in those lonely heights, Ashergon made its home.”

The Everlasting Peak stood as the tallest point in the Demon Continent and the world. Treacherous, unforgiving. She had never seen it, yet even imagining it felt like standing before an abyss.

”To reach it was already a legend,” she whispered. ”To challenge what slept upon it... was madness.”

”Upon his arrival, Ashcroft stood before the dragon and demanded it bow. He spoke not as a supplicant, but as a ruler. Become my mount, he said. Carry my will across the skies.”

Seras listened in silence, the crackling fire filling the spaces between Renata’s words.

”And Ashergon answered...”

Renata’s voice lowered, taking on a distant echo.

’I bow to no God, and neither to a mere demon. I shall not kiss the earth nor be wielded as a tool. You will die... or I will be ash.’

”The heavens trembled with that refusal.”

It was said their battle lasted a single night. One night that burned itself into history.

”Ash and flame devoured the darkness. The dragon’s breath melted the frozen crown of the mountain, and the Everlasting Peaks roared like a newborn volcano. Rivers of fire fell into the valleys below, turning silence into ruin.”

She swallowed softly before continuing.

”In the end, Ashcroft could not bend the dragon’s will. Ashergon spread its vast wings and left the Demon Continent in fury, carrying with it the memory of humiliation... and the scent of the one who dared command it.”

Renata’s fingers curled slightly as she spoke the final lines.

”But Ashcroft did not descend empty handed. He returned from the mountain victorious in his own way. In his grasp were scales torn from Ashergon’s flesh, and a vial filled with dragon blood.”

She paused, voice barely above a breath.

”And deeper still, he carried something unseen. Dragon poison, seeded within his heart.”

”Even after Ashcroft’s death, Ashergon never returned to the Everlasting Peaks. The mountain remained... but its king was gone.”

Her gaze lifted slowly.

”And so the world became its sky.”

Seras’ gaze remained on the fire, its reflection dancing in her eyes.

”According to Damon’s reports, Ashergon is now living past the Duhu Mountains. Let’s hope he didn’t decide to relocate to the Evil Forest...”

Renata nodded slowly.

”Right... and the reason I stayed... should Damon wake up, can you keep it from him that we may face a dragon. It’s just that he’s—”

”Being a little paranoid lately.” Seras cut her off.

”Yes.” Renata replied softly.

Seras smiled faintly.

”Good call... we should inform the others...”