Mystical Journey

“White Dragon Mountain? What does that have to do with me?” Garen grinned. “Sadly, I don’t have any relation with White Dragon Mountain… so I won’t be troubled in any way. You, on the other hand, may be in big trouble very soon…” His gaze turned cold, staring straight at the Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon that was flying toward him.

His gaze made the latter shudder and stop in his tracks, afraid to continue further.

“Dare you kill me? My father is the leader of the Hell Dragons! If he finds out about this, he definitely won’t let you go!!” The other guy was feeling slightly nervous now.

“Let’s gang up on him! He’s just a Level Nine, if we all jump on him, we could even crush him to death!!” Not far away, Black Giantfang yelled out encouragements.

Right now, the Undead Butcher was being suppressed, and the large Undead Army was retreating slowly as well. It showed that the control of this army had a very direct correlation to the Undead Butcher.

Without the pressure from the Undead, everyone’s confidence and spirits had returned now.

Garen continued to apply pressure on the Undead Butcher, smiling coldly as he stared at the Young Dragons and Wizards who were slowly surrounding him. In the distance, a Purple Dragon was already preparing to unleash a powerful spell, at least Level Seven according to the forces. Evidently, it was using every ounce of power it had.

These little runts actually dare to defy him?

This was making Garen slightly impatient. Right.now, he was already completely immune to Level Nine direct damage spells, and the effects of any status ailments were also drastically weakened, such that they were practically useless. His own actual combat power was already equal to the strongest physical Warrior in the history of the White Dragon Clan.

Only Space-Time Spells that were Level Eight or above could prove some disruption to him. Other than that, the only way left was to fight him with brute physical strength.

IAs for fighting with brute strength… With his eighty-point peak-level stats, forget these Young Dragons who were merely at Levels Five or Six, even their Adult Dragon elders could only act as cannon fodder in front of Garen.

“Looks like I’ll have to kill everyone who knows about this, huh…” Garen’s malicious gaze made most of the dragons shudder in fear. Their instincts told them that if they continued to offend him, they and the other dragons would probably die before they even reached their summon time limit.

In the distance, Blue Void stood on the Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon’s back. The dark golden shortsword in his hand was still emitting a faint golden light, but he had clearly lost his confidence. This sword was a pinnacle Level Nine Enchanted Weapon, but unless it was wielded by a Level Nine fighter, to try and fight a Level Nine Colossal Dragon with it… would be equivalent to the difficulty faced by those mortals challenging the gods in the legends of old.

“Milord, perhaps we can borrow this Colossal Dragon’s power to investigate the entire Underground City thoroughly,” said an old Wizard softly, his voice transmitted into Blue Void’s ears. “We probably can’t get the Pearl of the Temple back, but if we want to cut our losses as much as possible and reduce the risks, we can just ask him to help us explore the Underground City. It’s the Underground City where we found the Pearl of the Temple, after all, so I believe that he would be more than willing to help us. After all, he’s also one of the dragon companions summoned by our Contractors.”

“We can threaten him with his Contractor companion,” said Blue Void softly, his voice cold. He was still sore about it, that was a Pearl of the Temple! If he could get his hands on it, he could definitely rise to Level Eight immediately, and his soul might also benefit greatly from it. It would be extremely helpful in his quest for Level Nine in the future. To just watch it fall into the hands of this White Dragon that randomly showed up from nowhere…

“Please, don’t!” the old Wizard advised him hurriedly. “If the Contractor does, this Colossal Dragon can just use the power of the Contract to return to where he came from, leaving this place. He can’t harm his Contractor himself, but if we were to get provoked and kill his Contractor, he’ll be free of all inhibitions, and will become even harder to deal with! To us, his Contactor is a positive asset!”

Blue Void lowered his head reluctantly. The truth was he understood all that in theory, but no matter what, he could not calm his heart down. His biggest target for this trip into the Underground City was that Pearl of the Temple, but to think this would be the final result!

On his side, after Garen used his Intimidation Aura to pressure all the dragons into staying quiet, he accepted the Soul Core that the Undead Butcher finally handed up. He left his Soul Energy Aura on it and instantly felt much better. He had made the right decision in coming here, because not only did he get a Pearl of the Temple, he even obtained a decent Undead lackey.

Glancing at the dragons and humans who had gathered together at the plaza nearby, Garen mused for a moment and then turned his gaze to Kevin and his daughter. After all, he was the dragon companion that Kevin summoned here, so as long as Kevin was here, at times like these he had no choice but to fulfill his Contractor’s requests and conditions.

“Can you make yourself smaller?” he asked, releasing the Undead Butcher.

“No… I’m naturally this size,” replied the Undead Butcher honestly. He was, by nature, bloodthirsty, fond of rotting meat, and honest.

Crawling up from the ground, he felt that the bones broken by the attack from Garen’s claw earlier had not heard yet, so his whole body felt lopsided, and it was not a very good feeling at all. Grumbling, he began to capture the Undead that had been killed, lying on the floor, and tossed them into his mouth, chewing them roughly. As he devoured more Undead materials, his injuries began to heal quickly as well.

“Then you just stay away and get me more valuable things, treasures or gems and the like. I want them, the more the better,” Garen instructed him. Now that he had a local leader under his command, it was only natural that he would try to make as much of it as he could.

“Oh… What counts as valuable? Edible things?” asked the Undead Butcher in a quiet voice.

“Didn’t you mention a huge treasure just now?” Garen was speechless.

“Yeah, there are all sorts of precious and delicious ingredients and food in there. They’re all very high in level, and I want to eat them all the time, but I’m too scared to get too close…” replied the Butcher honestly.

“Even you’re too scared to get too close?” Garen was slightly shocked. “What’s guarding it? Tell me with your soul.”

The Butcher hurriedly shut his mouth and used his soul to communicate instead. The Wizards and other dragons nearby sighed at the waste, since this was clearly the key information. To think that there was still information about a possible lode of wealth, it definitely was worth coming to this Underground City.

Garen and the Undead Butcher quickly exchanged some information.

Luckily, the two of them were communicating with their souls, so it was very fast. Instantly, a large amount of information regarding that treasure appeared in Garen’s brain.

“An Underground Thane? A Level Eight creature?” Garen found that slightly difficult to handle.

An Underground Thane is the title of a giant beetle-type creature. Legend had it that it migrated here from the Earth Element Plane, and it naturally had the ability to drill through the earth quickly, as well as to control the element of earth. Although its destructive power was only Level Eight, its ability to escape was much stronger than many Level Nine powerhouses, so it was known as the strongest survivalist.

If it could not win a battle, it would just drill into the ground. Be it granite or marble, nothing posed an obstacle to it. As long as it was something like stone or metal, the Underground Thane could instantly escape through it.

But at the same time, this creature was also the best and most precious scout when it came to searching for all sorts of mineral ores.

A treasure that would keep an Underground Thane there without leaving would surely be worth quite a bit.

Garen’s thoughts whirred in his head, and he instructed the Undead Butcher to leave this place, so the latter retreated into the darkness and vanished. As for Garen himself, he flew back to the rest of the crowd and blew away the Warriors standing in his path with one flap of his wings. Finally, he walked up to Kevin.

Gradually, his enormous body began to shrink rapidly. From its initial size, twice that of an elephant, his body quickly shrank until it was the size and length of a regular Young White Dragon. He did not return to his Dragon Whelp from, as this regular body size was his most stable and energy-efficient state.

As he walked up to Kevin, he saw that Kevin was keeping his expression calm, but there was an irrepressible glee in his eyes.

“Contractor, the compensation you gave isn’t even enough for me to clean my teeth with,” said Garen, annoyed. “The last time, you canceled the summon halfway and nearly caused me serious injury. If this ever happens again, I’ll eat you!”

Only then did Kevin understand why the White Dragon refused to fight in the beginning. If it were not for the appearance of the treasure, the Pearl of the Temple, this guy would probably still be acting dumb. All Kevin could do was smile wryly.

“That’s my fault… Please accept my sincerest apologies, O Powerful Garen. But haven’t you already obtained the biggest prize this time?”

“That’s why I have generously decided to forgive you this time,” said Garen with a cold harrumph. “But next time you’ll need at least a Level Six Demon Core to summon me!”

He had seen that Level Six Demon Core in Kevin’s hands.

He had reaped some great rewards this time, and that put him in a very good mood. With one Pearl of the Temple in hand, he would have earned a killing even if he did not continue on. By initial estimates, the Pearl of the Temple could give him at least a hundred potential points. If he absorbed it slowly, he could even obtain a new Soul Ring just for once! This was the product of a Demigod powerhouse condensing all their divinity at their deathbed, so naturally, it was not that simple an item. It would be even better if Garen could understand that wisp of divinity hidden within, it might rapidly speed up his path to the Demigod level.

“Alright, I need to rest. If I’m free, you can summon me.” Garen tossed Kevin those parting words and flew straight into the darkness.

In his wake, Blue Void and the others just exchanged glances wordlessly.

The Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon roared once in deep dissatisfaction.

“I wanna go back and tell Father!! That damned White Dragon!” he yelled out angrily through their contract’s spiritual connection.

Blue Void was extremely unwilling to give up too.

“Since that guy has the guts to do something like this, that must prove that he’s not afraid of the consequences! I bet your actions won’t have much of an effect.”

“Right now, I get frustrated just looking at a White Dragon!” The Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon’s gaze swept past the other dragons, and the few White Dragons among them trembled under his glare.

“Perhaps we can find out some information about that White Dragon from before through these White Dragons. I heard that Contractor mention his name just now, it’s Garen.” Blue Void’s eyes twinkled.

“Garen? I’ll go ask.”

This idea had occurred to the Hell Black Dragon and the other Dragons, so Black Giantfang and the Red Dragon Betty both dragged their bodies along the ground until they had surrounded the few White Dragons among their midst.

All of them stared at the White Dragons maliciously.

“Garen… I know him, we all do.” One of the White Dragons smiled bitterly. “He’s the strongest prodigy in our clan, and he’s already this strong even though he’s not even five years old yet. It’s practically unbelievable.”

“The strongest prodigy? Are you saying that he’s a Dragon Whelp who’s not even five years old?!!” Black Giantfang exclaimed in disbelief.

“That’s right…” said the stockiest of those White Dragons helplessly.

When they saw that scene, all of the dragons and humans took a sharp intake of breath.

What did that mean!? If he was already this strong and had already reached Level Nine at five years old, then wouldn’t he be a definite shoo-in for a Demigod powerhouse in the future??

“Could he be Tiamat’s God-Favored?!” said the old Great Wizard in disbelief.

“No… As far as I know, Garen is not God-Favored, he has never been baptized by the Dragon God,” explained a White Dragon.

“He will be soon,” sighed the old Wizard.

Instantly, everyone understood what he meant.

Just how impressive was the talent Garen just revealed? The moment someone from the race of their followers displayed such peak-level genius, no god would be stupid enough to let this go. They would all make sure to tighten their grip on such a powerhouse.

This was the best candidate for them to groom as a Subordinate God!! For all they knew, this would signal the rise of another Lower God in the future!

Some of the more open-minded Wizards could not help but think of that.

“We can’t offend him…” Blue Void’s voice was extremely dry… A future Demigod, and a definite God-Favored… If anything happened to such a being, Tiamat’s God-Favoreds would instantly and desperately rain hell on Dragon Mountain!