Beneath the Red Dragon

”Stay alert, there’s movement on the other side. It could be a new wave of elemental creatures getting ready to charge,”

The City Defense Assistance Army Decurion Captain raised his right hand and ordered loudly, ”Casters ready, Spirit Capturing Net in place, crossbowmen ready for coordinated volley!”

Step,

The legion warriors in full armor stepped forward in unison, aiming their long spears at the low-level dimension plane passage that had been opened and fixed, shielding several preparing casters behind them.

The crossbowmen drew their bows, with crossbow arrows in trigger mode. Runes detailing magical effects to break through elemental defenses were etched on the tips of the arrows, serving as a powerful weapon against low-level elemental creatures.

White Dragon Camid’s slender body climbed atop the enormous steel pipeline, his white wings draping down.

His two heads, driven by long necks, curiously leaned over the warriors’ heads to look at the low-level elemental plane passage before them, as the cold frost breath began to form in his mouth.

This was a passage resembling a circular arch, constructed and fixed as a permanent teleportation gate by the empire’s advanced mages, connecting to a naturally formed, small fire elemental plane attached to the Icaria World’s main plane.

From here, the fire elemental plane on the other side could be seen. The flames did not always cover every piece of land; scorched brown land and rocky minerals were the main themes of this small sub-plane.

In the short mountains and ravines, traces of past fiery ravages were everywhere, but now even the flames at the perimeter of this plane had begun to gradually die out. Only deep within the plane, where even White Dragon Camid could not see, was there still abundant and continually overflowing fire elemental energy.

In the empire’s exploration, the energy of this small dimension plane was nearing exhaustion over the long years, providing little development value as investment and returns did not balance.

Thus, it was chosen by the empire to be used as a landfill and waste disposal site.

Chaotic noises came from behind the short mountain, and although White Dragon Camid’s two heads and four vertical pupils were fixed on the plane passage, his mind wandered off.

”What a pity for the Plane Heart birthed in this plane. Without the means to extract it, I could have acquired more wealth this year with this treasure,”

White Dragon Camid’s eyes stayed motionless. This white dragon held a special status within the Dragon Group.

The other dragons had long abandoned their nature under the coercion and luring of the Ancestral Red Dragon, binding themselves to the Golden Empire’s war chariot, propelling its wheels forward relentlessly.

Only White Dragon Camid, allowed by the Ancestral Red Dragon, was left to grow naturally according to his instincts.

Even the task of supervising and maintaining the empire’s exploitation of low-level dimension planes was only taken on voluntarily by White Dragon Camid.

The Golden Empire’s reach was continuously extending under the unified will of its rulers and supporters.

The vast amounts of Magic Element Potion consumed daily by Ancestral Red Dragon Karon Gogomola and the Dragon Lords was a result of the empire’s nearly predatory extraction of exploitable small planes.

The ordinary golem legion needed by the Imperial Golem Corps also required substantial elemental essence, further garnering support for the project from the empire’s military department.

The chaotic footsteps behind the short mountain grew more hurried, disrupting White Dragon Camid’s pleasant reverie. He slightly opened his large mouth, revealing fangs as white as ice bones, with his cold breath ready to spew.

But what ran out from behind the short mountain was a group of ragged, unkempt-haired, dry-lipped humanoid creatures resembling slaves. Most were of different hair colors, and some humans weren’t even born in the Icaria World.

However, at this time, the surrounding warriors slightly relaxed themselves. The Decurion sneered, ”It’s those fools again. I thought it was elemental creatures coming out, ready to earn some merits.”

The Decurion, disappointed, ordered his guards to step forward and arrest these humanoid beings one by one.

White Dragon Camid also smacked his lips, swallowing back his cold breath.

These unlucky fools, driven by greed, were deceived by demons, signed contracts, and tricked into panning for gold in these low-level fire elemental planes.

The elemental life that could spawn in these low-level fire elemental planes mostly possessed ordinary power; as long as they were careful, these gold panners wouldn’t face life-threatening danger.

The ragged clothes on these gold panners were made from a fire-scouring cloth, which could protect against fire damage. Wearing garments made from fire-scouring cloth allowed them to move about in the fire elemental plane.

However, the demons weren’t kind-hearted; while the fire elemental plane was rich in various minerals and gold, even a weak adventurer could unexpectedly earn gold within a short time.

Nonetheless, in the fire elemental plane, gold wasn’t the most valuable, nor were the minerals; the drinkable water provided by demons was the most precious commodity in this world.

Consequently, the final result for these gold panners was becoming lifetime slaves to the demons due to their debts.

These foolish and greedy slaves were always attempting to escape the demons’ control. This situation was something the warriors and White Dragon Camid were long accustomed to seeing.

But even if these slaves managed to escape the direct control of demons, their fate wouldn’t be much better.