Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 1289: Chapter 1080: Arausato’s Painful Decision

To the Ancient White Dragon that was boringly waving its claws in the courtyard, other Chromatic Dragons showed mocking smiles. Those Vampires with that kind of pedigree must all be at the top, accompanying their blood ancestor! If the Vampire’s ancestor dies, the offspring below wouldn’t survive either.

So they must fight desperately alongside the Duchess.

The castle walls are quite thick, with special materials sandwiched in between, which can slow down a lot of Bahamut’s sonic spells… Although the main target of the Platinum Dragon God is the battlefield above, they are not completely unaffected.

Arausato must have gone mad with frustration from gaining nothing, to go to the courtyard where the sound is even scarier!

Nobody doubts this white dragon known for its survival skills… To be honest, there have been countless wars related to deities in the northern regions of Ferun Great Land, and many Giant Dragons have made a fortune in them. In addition to making a name for themselves and occupying vast territories, they have also lived comfortably to this day with this wealth.

Only Arausato, who appeared already in ancient times… Before that, he was in such a poor place as World’s Ridge. Apart from causing some trouble for the half-orcs, he didn’t even consume any barbarians from Icewind Valley.

Even when he later began to fulfill his duties as a Giant Dragon… by raiding, apart from the territories around World’s Ridge, this Ancient White Dragon known for its laziness probably hasn’t even been to Neverwinter!

He would just collect tolls from the caravans on the Icewind Path!

If he didn’t have a strong-willed and well-known partner in the form of the White Dragon Queen, many other Giant Dragons probably wouldn’t recognize him.

If it weren’t for helping Elvia establish prestige and having fought with some well-known Ancient Dragons near Sword Bay… Even Klaus didn’t gain much from this couple, although the cost was Elvia being covered in scars.

Still, being able to defeat that famous Ancient Red Dragon also made other Giant Dragons start to acknowledge Arausato and Elvia’s rule over the leftmost mountain range of World’s Ridge and the glaciers beneath, stretching all the way to Luskan.

Arausato’s reputation was built from that time… Before this, the white dragon preferred bullying half-orcs. Many dragons suspected that he, who was abandoned in World’s Ridge as a wyrmling, must have been mistreated by half-orcs as a child.

It was only later, led by his wife to fall in love with magic, that he showed a bit more initiative. Otherwise, as long as you paid up, Arausato would absolutely not tire his own claws.

The Ancient White Dragon, pretending in the courtyard, had no interest in paying attention to what foolishness those Chromatic Dragons were thinking… Aren’t they just mocking his survival skills from childhood to adulthood again?

But as the first batch of white dragons abandoned by history… Clearly, the original white dragons were naturally such powerful beings!

However, these creatures, whether smart or greedy, chose to have the most offspring and didn’t care about power when the Chromatic Dragon Queen asked her followers about their hopes for the future in the light of the original creation.

Of course, maybe they didn’t consider what having offspring through power would mean for the weakness of the next generations.

The first few batches of white dragons, though their abilities continued to decline, still barely managed to hold on… Until the appearance of Arausato and his kind… It was discovered that these children, after the wyrmling stage, could not use even a tier 0 magic spell as young white dragon mothers uniformly chose to abandon these children, whom they saw as cursed, and abandoned them in the desolate World’s Ridge.

Back then, even the half-orcs hadn’t appeared in World’s Ridge, and it had no animals, only some ice plain moss and ice worms.

Arausato forever remembers how one by one, the white dragon hatchlings born from the same nest as him died miserably in the terrifying storms of World’s Ridge.

Back then, Toril, originally a world for the Giant Dragons… The wyrmlings, once well protected and fed with food right to their mouths, didn’t even know that moss and worms were a type of food.

Arausato himself, starving to death while gnawing on stones in a crevice, found that the moss could actually fill his stomach… When he was full and rushed out to share with his siblings, he only found their corpses.

Corpses torn apart by other wyrmlings.

From a young age, actually a bit smarter than other wyrmlings, but the power gap wasn’t big. Arausato felt for the first time that kind of bone-chilling cold… Even the inherently cold-resistant white dragon had to shiver under the icy chill.

Since then, Arausato no longer believed in any races, nor was he willing to form partners with anyone… The ruthlessness of dragonesses, he would never forget how terrifying that could be.

Arausato, except during certain agitated times, would find some female white dragons to suppress the issue… The kind that doesn’t lay eggs, he could restrain the urge to leave offspring.

If truly uninterested, he’d use some magic to sleep for a few hundred years, by which time he’d forget.

Only that Elvia, raised by a Human Mage, not only had a different view on the future of white dragons that made him see things anew… Back then, still not a White Dragon Queen, Elvia believed that although the ancestors of white dragons chose a lazy path, if one day Toril’s Giant Dragons reached doom, perhaps only white dragons would still have a breath of life remaining.

Because they knew from a young age that nothing is more important than surviving.

Moreover, Elvia possessed a striving spirit Arausato had never seen in white dragons… Arausato didn’t know how long it had been since he saw such ambition in a newly matured white dragon, reminding him of his childhood memories.

Back then, white dragons were very ambitious, always wanting to become Tiamat’s right-hand dragons.

So even though Arausato knew Elvia initially just wanted to find shelter for herself and her mage master, who was already a candle in the wind, he happily chose the first official companion of his dragon life.

He even willingly bred offspring with her.

He thought simply, with such a mother, perhaps their offspring would be a little smarter, at least they wouldn’t starve to death.

Then Elvia gave him a surprise… this white dragon indeed wasn’t meticulous in caring for the offspring, but she never let her children starve or be killed by beasts. Despite the bumps in life, his offspring all survived under Elvia’s rebuke.

Although Arausato himself also had to be forced to go out hunting more often… eating half a cow and wasting half is too extravagant for a white dragon.

Since then, he was willing to follow Elvia’s odd notion of wanting a loyal partner… It’s indeed unbelievable that a chromatic dragon would have such thoughts.

Arausato looked up and glanced around… Tiamat summoned only the strongest male dragons this time!

He was a bit worried; the Chromatic Dragon Queen was planning to expand her harem again… Arausato had heard about the affair at Felunryel from the Undead Tribe.

He suspected that Tiamat had tidied up her palace in Hell a bit… perhaps a few rooms were emptied?

Although for chromatic dragons, being chosen by the Chromatic Dragon Queen as a companion is a glory… it proves that the chosen giant dragon is the strongest of the race.

But Arausato was unwilling!

He swatted a broken streetlamp with his tail, just let the Dark Queen look down on him! He didn’t want to become a breeding dragon!

Arausato, thinking clearly, didn’t feel this headache was a big deal… He thought his expression might change a bit, and didn’t dare to stay under Tiamat’s Peeping Eye.

Instead, crouching in the sound waves, even if he occasionally gnashed his teeth at some thought, the Chromatic Dragon Queen wouldn’t find it strange.

And those Peeping Eyes would only watch him within the castle; at a distance, they wouldn’t see expressions so clearly… Even though he already knew the Dragon Queen’s selfish, evil, and despicable nature, the fact that even such a person wouldn’t give up on monitoring still amazed Arausato.

He silently lowered his head and pondered… maybe he should accompany Elvia?

If he had to do this kind of thing a few more times today, Arausato’s long lifespan would probably be shortened by several folds!

For Arausato, who once watched helplessly over his siblings’ corpses, staying alive, living well, was his greatest obsession in his dragon life.

As a result, he was the one taking the risks, but Elvia was the one happily watching them fight to the death.

Dragons under contract with humans are not subject to Tiamat’s control, of course, the human must be strong enough. The Chromatic Dragon Queen would be displeased, but she wouldn’t offend people over an insignificant dragon.

Edna herself might not be the strongest, but she had enough backing… Whether it’s the Lord of Agleya or Azuth, they’re both ‘people the Chromatic Dragon Queen doesn’t want to offend.’

Didn’t Elvia say that girl’s future, at worst, is as a demigod? And it’s likely she’ll take her to Josse Garden… not sure if it’s because Azuth heard Edna looks like Black Eye, so he made this promise.

He was already a bit hesitant; although they met infrequently before, he could still see Elvia whenever he wanted, but… Josse Garden really isn’t a place of interest for a notoriously fierce chromatic dragon!

But after today’s events~

Arausato suddenly felt moved in the heavily fraught Vampire Castle, even if Tiamat wanted to pick a tall one among the short, she couldn’t possibly fancy a white dragon willing to degenerate into a human slave, right?

To that arrogant Chromatic Dragon Queen, any level of contract was seen as slavery.

If it’s voluntary, it’s at most looked down upon.

Forcibly compelled ones would get themselves and their master killed… because they’re too weak and disgrace the chromatic dragons.

Arausato now had just one hope… that the Chromatic Dragon Queen would dismiss him as nothing, and leave him alone.

Once he returned, he was going to find Edna.

If it happened again, his dragon life would truly be bleak… Josse Garden at least has some valuable minerals to mine, right?