Chapter 335: Chapter 58: 40,000 HP Divine Gift Dragon Cavalry and a Traitorous Ancient Giant Dragon

Every single one of them, from the veteran Dragon Riders who had become heroes through War Merit Enfeoffment to the new recruits fresh from the Gulad Empire Capital, received the blessing of those two Divine Gift skills at the exact same moment. There was no such thing as a ’non-Divine Gift’ Royal Dragon Cavalryman left without their aid.

"Ready!"

"Take off!"

"Advance!"

Crimson lava churned at the bottom of the canyon. Viscous waves of fire, carrying the stench of sulfur and scorched earth, billowed upward, superheating the blackened cliff faces on either side. The very air seemed to twist and distort from the heat.

Waves of scorching heat washed over the Royal Dragon Cavalry’s armor, kicking up showers of tiny sparks, but this did nothing to slow the unit’s advance. The Winged Dragon Beasts beneath the Dragon Cavalry spread their dark golden-scaled wings and flew steadily through the choking smoke. The downdraft from their powerful wingbeats was enough to make the lava below ripple.

Some Winged Dragon Beasts skimmed low through the canyon’s crevices, their sharp claws nearly grazing the boiling lava, only to pull up nimbly under the control of their Knights.

Others took brief rests on protruding ledges along the cliff walls, where beads of sweat on their armor evaporated the instant they touched the superheated rock.

Here, the ability granted by their 80% passive Dodge was on full display. The Dragon Cavalry effortlessly and automatically avoided the occasional jets of flame and rock fragments that erupted from fissures in the cliffs as they advanced at full speed. Their golden armor carved dazzling arcs through the dark red canyon, like Light Blades slicing through purgatory.

As the last Dragon Cavalryman swept past the pass at the canyon’s summit,

the scene before them changed in an instant.

The Holy Mountain, perpetually shrouded in sacred clouds and mist, suddenly entered their field of view. Its grayish-blue slopes pierced the heavens, and ancient ruins, wreathed in a rosy glow, were faintly visible at its peak.

The Dragon Cavalry folded their wings in unison, hovering in neat formation at the foot of the Holy Mountain. The sparks on their armor gradually died out, but their eyes shone with resolute light. They waited quietly for the moment to charge the Ancient Giant Dragons that had been bewitched by the Void Evil God.

"For the Holy Empire!"

"For Prince Tingfeng!"

"Charge!"

At Kuge’s command, hundreds upon hundreds of Royal Dragon Cavalry rose like a golden torrent, rocketing toward the peak of the Holy Mountain.

They swept through the swirling clouds, their weapons flashing coldly in the daylight. They encountered Void Little Demons roaming the skies above the Holy Mountain and annihilated them with almost no effort.

The unusual commotion quickly alerted Pride, Nesia, and the others. Nesia initially planned to use her Teleportation skill to investigate alone, as she had done before, but she was stopped by the player Pride, who was filled with a strong sense of unease.

Decisively, Zhou Kehua, whose game ID was Pride, decided to personally lead a team to investigate. He made a point of bringing along Liu Feng, whose game ID was Gale, and the two of them sped off, one after the other, toward the source of the disturbance.

And the scene before them confirmed his unease. The attacking enemies were far more terrifying than he had imagined.

"What the fuck?!"

"What are these monsters?!"

"Their total Blood Volume actually spikes to over forty thousand in Wing Connection mode?!"

"How the hell is anyone supposed to fight that?!"

As a string of shocked curses escaped their lips, Zhou Kehua and Liu Feng stared at the figures in the sky, their shimmering Scale Armor and exaggerated health bars causing the composure on their faces to be instantly replaced by shock.

Although Zhou Kehua and the others had long known that Qin Feng held the title of Heaven’s Chosen Ruler, the person who had leaked the information had deliberately concealed a key piece of it.

All creatures who swore fealty to Qin Feng and became his subjects would receive an additional 500% Life Value Bonus.

Because of this, Zhou Kehua, Liu Feng, and the others knew nothing about it. They could never have imagined that all of Qin Feng’s Extraordinary Soldiers had long since transformed into tank-like Blood Bulls. Their survivability now surpassed even that of top-tier legendary creatures like Ancient Giant Dragons and Krakens, so much so that it defied all reason.

"Forget it!"

"It’s fine!"

"We can still fight!"

"He only has a few hundred Royal Dragon Cavalry!"

"We have several thousand Ancient Giant Dragons that we’ve converted into Evil God Believers!"

"Relying on their powerful physical Defense Power and damage reduction talents, even if we just have the Ancient Giant Dragons trade blows with them, we can wipe out all of these Royal Dragon Cavalry!"

As top-tier creatures standing at the pinnacle of combat power in the Lord World, almost every Ancient Giant Dragon came with the double blessing of Super Healing and high damage reduction talents.

Therefore, even though their total Life Value was only a little over six thousand—seemingly just four thousand more health than a regular Extraordinary Soldier—their actual survivability was far greater thanks to the stacking effect of their dual talents. They were by no means squishy units that an enemy could easily obliterate with a few skills.

Moreover, the current situation was in their favor. The Ancient Giant Dragons had an absolute advantage in numbers, and a large contingent of Void Creatures, released from the Void Gate, was available for Cooperative Combat.

Thus, even if these few hundred Royal Dragon Cavalry were all heavily armored tanks with over forty thousand health each, in Zhou Kehua’s eyes, they were merely a slightly tougher bone to chew—not something they couldn’t bite through and swallow.

However, the dream was beautiful, but reality was harsh.

Even if Zhou Kehua, Liu Feng, and the other Evil God Players could see the Royal Dragon Cavalry’s Blood Volume, Basic Attributes, and even figure out their standard skill rotations, they were completely ignorant of the undiscoverable "Divine Gift skills" these riders possessed.

This fatal information gap directly foreshadowed their subsequent defeat.

And, most importantly,

the most crucial factor was that Tingfeng, the biggest cheater of them all, had chosen to lead this Imperial Expedition personally instead of hiding behind Arthas like some Necromancer’s buff-bot.

"Spiritual Control!"

[You have consumed a large amount of Magic Power and successfully activated the Gray Lord’s Ultimate Skill, "Spiritual Control"!]

[Assessing the overall strength of both armies... Assessing the individual strength of both sides... Assessing the probability of Spiritual Control...]

[Assessment complete! This Control attempt is successful! You have seized control of 36 Ancient Giant Dragons and 531 Void Little Demons!]

The moment the system notification faded, the battlefield situation turned bizarre.

Among the Ancient Giant Dragons and Void Little Demons battling the sky-filling host of Divine Gift Royal Dragon Cavalry, a portion of them suddenly halted their attacks. A strange, vacant look flickered in their eyes. The next second, they had completely switched sides, becoming ’Evil God Traitors’. They wheeled around and lunged at their unsuspecting kin, their claws and Evil Power instantly shredding the Scale Armor and bodies of their former comrades.

Zhou Kehua: "???"

Liu Feng: "???"

Nesia: "???"

The hell!?

What was that!?

What the fuck kind of weird-ass Magic Control ability is this!?

At that moment, everyone present was dumbfounded, frozen in place.

Because in their understanding, Evil God Believers, protected by the Blessing of the Evil God, should have absolute immunity to Spiritual Control. It should have been impossible for any external force to twist their minds and make them turn traitor.

But the scene before them brutally shattered this ironclad rule. That person named Tingfeng could not only control the Ancient Giant Dragons who were Evil God Believers, but he could even take firm control of the Void Creatures—beings that had long since lost their sanity and were driven only by an instinct for destruction—and force them to viciously attack their own kind!

A Divine Gift Control Magic!?

Huh!?

Does something like that even exist!?

But that wasn’t the case.

The Gray Lord’s "Spiritual Control" Big Move was, in essence, just a temporary, forced mental intervention.

It couldn’t completely rewrite the target’s consciousness. It merely erased their original thoughts temporarily and forcibly implanted a new consciousness with an order to obey, making the enemy a temporary ally. Once the skill’s duration ended, the controlled subject would return to its original state.

The key, however, was that Qin Feng also possessed the core "Riding and Cutting" Talent, ’Recruit Prisoners.’ This Talent could permanently convert any creature that actively submitted to him into one of his Divine Chosen Soldiers.

It was the seamless combination of these two that created a Heaven-defying effect that could only be described as a bug.

For example, Qin Feng would first use the "Spiritual Control" Big Move to force a target to temporarily obey him. Then, using his "Recruit Prisoners" Talent Ability, he would seize that fleeting moment of submission and make it permanent, turning all enemies controlled by "Spiritual Control" into his permanent Divine Chosen Soldiers, with no way to ever revert.

And so,

neither the horde of Ancient Giant Dragons who were Evil God Believers, nor the even more numerous Void Little Demons, could resist this top-tier combination of techniques, a true "Iron Chain Linked Rings."