Evil dragon has a warm heart-Chapter 586 - 584: The Fall of the Dragon
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
Standing at the summit of the crater of Blazing Hot Volcano, Russell had two huge wounds on his body, one slashed diagonally across his back, and another pierced through his waist.
After the blood dripped down, it transformed directly into energy, burning up completely.
Even more pallid than Russell was Sacred Unicorn Polly, who had already transformed back into the Mark of the Thunder God, branded on Russell’s forehead.
"Your Grace the Grand Duke!" A Flying Dragon Knight flew over and pounded his chest in salute, "Thank you for your assistance, otherwise not only would the Frost Star Bead have been stolen, but who knows how many bodies would be lying beneath Blazing Hot Volcano..."
"It’s no trouble, humans are naturally a community bound by fate. King Ares was fighting with Shuang Da on the Snowfield, which allowed me to come here and deal with the Snow Troll that was trying to steal the Frost Star Bead." Russell waved his hand, standing motionless.
His wounds were healing rapidly, for as a Phantom Dragon Knight, he possessed a recovery ability not much weaker than that of a dragon.
This was a characteristic of Dragonflame.
Dragonflame, capable of creating all things, naturally contained the most miraculous life force.
To exterminate the last five Snow Giants, Russell, drained of Thunder Elemental Power, had to physically fight, thus, the Snow Troll mortally retaliated, leaving him with these two wounds—Polly’s wounds were even more.
"How is the casualty situation on your side?" Russell overlooked the foot of Blazing Hot Volcano and asked faintly.
"We lost six Flying Dragon Knights, three Bipedal Flying Dragons have been thrown into the volcano, returning to the embrace of the dragons." The Flying Dragon Knight said sorrowfully, "More than fifty Phantom Beast Knights and countless Great Knights perished, if you, Your Grace, had not arrived timely..."
This loss wasn’t much different from the second downfall of Shadowflame Duchy, and could even be considered worse.
After all, in the second downfall, only the weakest Grand Duke perished.
Russell wanted to say something comforting but didn’t know what to say; he wasn’t familiar with the people of the Scorching Torrent Kingdom, only somewhat familiar with King Ares.
In the end, he said coldly, "Store the Snow Troll corpses, fifteen bodies, let’s split fifty-fifty."
The bodies were too large for Russell to take; he could only wait for King Ares to return and have the Fiery Dragon help refine the Frost Star Bead. Although the Snow Trolls were all killed by him, King Ares fought Shuang Da alone while the Flying Dragon Knights were involved and played their part.
A fifty-fifty split was the simplest way to share.
"Your Grace, how are your wounds?" asked the Flying Dragon Knight.
"No trouble, I just need a moment to rest." Russell waved his hand, his wounds were healing, but it would take some time to restore his combat strength.
"Please, Your Grace, return to the Golden Palace to rest," said the Flying Dragon Knight, who then called a well-tamed Phantom Beast and carried Russell off to the Golden Palace, where he lay silently recuperating on a comfortable bed in a side hall.
Court Attendants delivered a large batch of Magic Power potions for Russell’s bodily recuperation.
Cabinet Ministers and several princes and princesses also visited Russell, thanking him for his help from afar.
"Someone come." After Russell had recuperated well enough for his blood to no longer flow, he summoned a Court Attendant, "Where is Thunder Sound Station?"
"There’s one nearby, Your Grace."
"Can it send thunder sounds to Shadowflame Duchy?"
"That would require going to His Majesty’s exclusive Thunder Sound Station to send thunder sounds to Shadowflame Duchy," the attendant replied.
"Take me there." Russell needed to contact his homeland.
After he sent out the thunder sound, he quickly received a response, the Shadowflame Dragon had already returned from the battlefield, having just flown over Fire Ant Swamp. The situation of King Ares and the Torrential Flood Dragon remained unclear, but it was presumed they were safe and sound.
Moments later, another thunder sound came. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
The Knight team stationed at Black Horse Snow Forest relayed information from a distant observation; Shuang Da had fled, and King Ares did not pursue but instead returned to Scorching Torrent Kingdom. As for the Torrential Flood Dragon, it had not shown itself.
It seemed the battle had already ended before it even reached the battlefield.
"That’s good," Russell sighed in relief. By then, the sky had darkened, and after Russell finished a sumptuous dinner, he slept in the Golden Palace.
He was awakened in the middle of the night—King Ares had returned.
"Your Majesty." Russell got up to meet him.
King Ares had just finished washing up, and visible on his body were crisscrossing wounds—though elemental embodied beings were powerful, severe injuries still left marks on their real bodies, as was evident from Russell’s own wounds.
"Shuang Da ran off midway. Shadowflame and I couldn’t catch up, and I was also concerned about the situation at the Blazing Hot Volcano, so I hurried back," King Ares remarked with a sigh. "Thanks to you, or my Scorching Torrent Kingdom would have suffered heavy losses."
As he spoke, he had someone bring over eight Frost Star Beads the size of fists: "These are Frost Star Beads refined by Torrent, according to your terms, a fifty-fifty split."
"Thank you."
"This is your spoils of war," King Ares said. "On my side, I killed four Frost Giants, and Shadowflame and I already split two each."
"That puts me at an advantage, getting one extra," Russell said. On this side, fifteen Frost Giant corpses could only produce fifteen Frost Star Beads.
"Not at all, the Frost Star Beads I gave you are a bit smaller."
"Uh..."
"This time, thwarting Shuang Da’s plot resulted in heavy losses for his side. Shuang Da might behave for a while. However, the Frost Star Eclipse isn’t far off, and another batch of Snow Giants could descend."
Pausing, King Ares pounded the table fiercely: "Bring on a batch, slay a batch!"
"Once the Demon Hunting Tower is built and Thunder Sound Station is well manned, the Snow Giants should not be able to invade the Volcanic Oasis so easily," Russell projected.
"Yes," King Ares rubbed his forehead. "Time is of the essence!"
The two chatted intermittently, both somewhat perplexed by the current political climate.
Although King Ares always considered himself a leader of humans, when signs of doom appeared, he realized he was unsure where to start.
Apart from the Tri-Dragon Sacrifice Method, he had never considered that humanity’s threat might not be the legendary Frost Titans but the previously undiscovered Frost Star, bringing forth Frost Giants and Snow Giants.
"Have a drink." King Ares picked up his glass and downed a large cup of dark beer. "Alonso was from a branch of the Lieyang Royal Family. Only 32 this year, a contract Flying Dragon Knight for six years. I had planned to wait for him to accrue more military exploits before granting him the Lieyang Surname and appointing him as a Baron..."
Alonso was one of the six Flying Dragon Knights who perished in this battle.
"Time and fate, Your Majesty, do not grieve. Shuang Da is still a threat, and the danger of the Frost Star still looms; we need you to stay strong," Russell comforted.
"I know," King Ares nodded. "I have dedicated my life to the Snowfield and to die in battle there is my destiny! A setback like this will not break my spirit... Cheers, drink up!"
The two drank until dawn.
Just as they were about to disperse,
a court attendant rushed in, panic-stricken: "Your Majesty, Your Grace, the message from Thunder Sound Station in the Molten Fire Duchy... they say, say..."
"What is it?" King Ares demanded. "What news is worth such panic!"
The attendant took a deep breath, trying to stabilize his emotions: "Thunder Sound reports... the Meltdown Dragon fell on the Snowfield, Archduke Fritz died of fright, and the Meltdown Volcano is extinguishing!"
