Beneath the Red Dragon

”Damn it, this is—”

The humanoid girl form of Steel Dragon Midir looked as if it were about to be torn apart by an external force. She cried out in terror, ”Everyone, leave this card hall at once!”

She was not worried about herself. Having undergone the Secret Technique of the Gogomola Dragon Group—Dragon Proof Training as a core member, this Steel Dragon had gained a powerful resistance to such forces.

It must be known that the Gogomola Dragon Group’s Dragon Proof itself was founded upon resisting the primal instincts of the Giant Dragon and the blood-origin nature of Dragon Blood.

This was no different from constantly opposing one’s own nature, a pain close to remolding one’s self-consciousness, and it granted the Giant Dragons of the Gogomola Dragon Group an unprecedented degree of self-restraint.

What Steel Dragon Midir worried about were the other Giant Dragons inside this Giant Dragon Card Hall, for within this largest of halls there were nearly six or seven Giant Dragons present.

Perhaps other Giant Dragons did not understand, but as a Steel Dragon Species whose goal was to seek and pass on knowledge, Midir was very clear about what that power was that had nearly made her lose control in an instant.

It was the ancient Dragon Curse Skill Dragon Madness Lock, whose traces were already almost impossible to find in the Material World.

This Curse, rarer and more ancient even than Legendary Magic, was rumored to be connected to the High Elf of the Second Era.

But Steel Dragon Midir knew that in this Curse aimed at the very root of the Giant Dragon’s blood origin, there vaguely lurked the final mastermind—the Immortal Dragon Queen Tiamat and the Platinum Dragon King Bahamut.

Mortals could not discern the truth behind it, the oldest of the Dragon Race could not uncover its secrets, or rather, no Dragon Race dared to delve into those secrets.

Yet Steel Dragon Midir knew that under the influence of such a powerful Curse, Giant Dragons would not only become violent and mad like witless Beasts, slaughtering and destroying all living beings and objects before them.

If they could not escape the Curse’s influence, if they were long subjected to this blood-origin Curse, the Giant Dragon might even truly degenerate into a mere Beast without intellect.

Midir forced down the chaotic, terrifying thoughts in her mind. An uncontrollable fury ignited in her soul. ”Could it be that a truly independent civilization of Giant Dragons was never meant to exist in this world? This is not a sight His Majesty the Nine-Faced Dragon God ever wished to behold!”

Veins bulged across the girl’s forehead. She stood up and looked upon the chaos unfolding before her.

No one questioned the words of Steel Dragon Midir. The vast majority were scrambling to flee out of the hall. Some panicked Pick Elves beat their wings and flew out through the windows, cries and wails spreading everywhere.

”Roar!” Savage Dragon Roars resounded one after another.

One Giant Dragon after another, their Scales of differing hues, exuded a chilling, Bloodthirsty aura as they swelled out from their humanoid forms, gazing coldly at the tiny, fragile beings before them.

A few unlucky ordinary humans and goblins were directly crushed or trampled to death by the suddenly expanding massive bodies of these Giant Dragons, turned into pulp of blood and flesh.

Even Purple Crystal Dragon Loya, a member of the Gem Dragon Species, was struck and shaken by the power of the Curse, assuming her Giant Dragon true form, baring her fangs and fiercely thrashing her massive head, suppressing that mounting desire for destruction and the Source Desire for blood.

The pupils of Steel Dragon Midir slowly rotated, and the power of her innate Life Chain manifested; a girl’s form appeared behind her.

The Chain of Life, this special innate ability of the Steel Dragon Species, came from the common traits of Steel Dragons.

Throughout their long lives, the Steel Dragon Species walk the earth as men, women, Nobility, beggars, humans, Elves, Beastmen, and all manner of Humanoid Intelligent Races.

Yet these Steel Dragon Species do not treat the identities they assume as mere disguises and masks, but regard these roles as truly existing lives, as friends of the Steel Dragon.

And the Chain of Life is the collection of the lives of the characters the Dragon has played, which in the hands of these Dragons can manifest certain wondrous abilities.

But Steel Dragon Midir’s life was still too young; she had only a single girl form, serving as her simulacrum for Spellcasting and humanoid shape.

Steel Dragon Midir’s true body and girl simulacrum simultaneously turned their gaze upon those Giant Dragons in the midst of transformation. A short, Ancient phrase in Dragon Language rang out; it was a Magic created by Steel Dragons borrowing from the Magic of the Ancestral Red Dragon, and in the common tongue of the continent, it was called—Eou Pearl Hibiscus Splendor!

Eou Pearl Hibiscus Splendor, floating bubbles and the lovely hues of hibiscus blossoms, was a metaphor for a fleeting yet alluring phantasmal vision.

This was the Steel Dragon’s improved version of the Magic A Dream of Transient Life, crafted from the spell of Ancestral Red Dragon Kalon Gogomola.

In the girl’s simulacrum form, an intangible wave swept with the gleam of Steel Dragon Midir’s eyes, casting several Giant Dragons into a brief daze.

Steel Dragon Midir, at her ease, glanced toward the tavern, where a few brave Warriors still gripped their weapons, standing off against these Giant Dragons that were gradually degenerating into mad Beasts, instead of fleeing this Giant Dragon Card Hall like the others.

”You are truly brave fellows. Why aren’t you running? Your strength cannot halt these ones who are turning insane.”

Steel Dragon Midir assumed her Giant Dragon true body; the slender Steel Dragon looked particularly small before the few adolescent Giant Dragons, yet her aura was incomparably lofty.

”I am proud of this,” the young man Langdon said with a proud smile. ”Nowhere else in this world could a child like me be found—a lowborn vagabond who once stuttered so badly he could not utter a full sentence.”

”Yet in the end, relying on my own efforts, I became the Sheriff of this city, ranked among the Centurions.” Young Langdon held his sword and straightened his chest.

”Though I am on leave, I am still the Sheriff of this great city. This is my duty!”

The anger of Steel Dragon Midir faded. She looked to the other two young Warriors and asked, ”And you?”

One of the Warriors smiled. ”I have no particular reason. I just want to know that perhaps, before the moment my life ends, I can tell myself: Golden Empire, I have done my very best for it.”

The last Warrior laughed and said, ”Honorable Lady Midir, this is my hometown!”

Steel Dragon Midir smiled. She spoke softly, ”Be careful. My Illusion won’t hold these Giant Dragons for long. What comes next is the true battle!”