Chapter Sixty-Four: Ancient Red Dragon
2015-10-02
Author: Floating Tower of All Life
(Busy to the point of confusion.)
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Ahead, the battlefield of the past gradually came into view.
Soren did not choose to move forward alongside the followers of the God of Weeping. Although he had nothing against those of the Lawful Good faction, he didn’t particularly enjoy interacting with them too much. This was purely a matter of worldview. However, these people still had areas where they could be utilized; the most obvious point being that those of the Lawful Good faction liked to meddle in others’ affairs. Many could not stand the evils of the world, so Soren subtly disclosed some information about the God of the Hunt—Mara—to them.
The God of Weeping had been in opposition to the God of the Hunt for over a thousand years, reaching a point where whatever the enemy did, they would oppose.
With their way of acting, if they were to learn that the followers of the God of the Hunt—Mara were holding a bloody sacrificial ceremony, then the Church of the God of Suffering would definitely take action. Their actions would not only involve helping the innocent but, more importantly, striking down the enemy was also part of their daily activities. The Church of the God of Suffering abhorred two deities the most: one was the God of the Hunt—Mara, and the other was the Whip Maiden. These two chaotic evil deities had a close relationship, and the God of Suffering’s loathing for them was akin to the Mother Earth’s extreme dislike for the Lady of Poison.
This enmity between deities even extended to the daughter of Mother Earth, who is now the Agricultural Goddess.
Soren currently had no real gods regarded as enemies.
If he were to oppose the Lord of Shadows in the future, the primary target for his followers would be the Church of Shadows. Once this kind of divine war started, it would be hard to cease. Hundreds of years of conflict would lead to deeper and deeper accumulations of hatred.
The Ogre War.
A legendary battle that Soren participated in, even though at the time he was just a small mercenary.
However, it was here that he first witnessed the real legendary combat power of this world. The powerful might of the Lord of Storms had greatly shocked him at the time and allowed him to gain his first point of legend. This place was still Ogre territory. However, this time the Ogres were somewhat different; their clan had changed to another Skullbreaker clan. More importantly, these Ogres were all servants of that Ancient Red Dragon.
After lying low for so long, the Ancient Red Dragon finally revealed its minions.
Growing increasingly impatient with human and other intelligent species’ probing, the Ancient Red Dragon began to enslave other races as servants, letting them help resolve some minor inconveniences.
Dragons have a certain lifestyle.
That is, before they reach adulthood. The vast majority of dragons prefer solitude.
However, as time goes by and their power grows, dragons become more confident and assured that they can dominate other races, so at this point, they start to enslave some servants. Normally, after reaching maturity, dragons begin to control their servants, and upon reaching old age, they rely on their servants to manage their lairs. These servants can include a variety of creatures. Sometimes, they even include species from other planes, depending on the strength of that dragon.
The Ancient Red Dragon naturally had enough confidence to dominate other species, so the number of servants it controlled grew increasingly.
After the outbreak of the Saint’s Cataclysm, this red dragon even forcibly enslaved other dragons as its mates, though currently, the creatures it controlled should still be limited to nearby wilderness creatures.
Through the dense forest.
Soren quickly spotted traces of the Ogres. This group of Ogres was not very powerful; they mostly acted to block adventurers who were insufficiently strong from disturbing the dragon’s tranquility.
Any dragon, upon reaching the ancient dragon stage, finds its energy and physical capabilities greatly diminished. They require a long time to hibernate.
This is also why there were instances where someone could sneak into a dragon’s treasure hoard.
Soren passed through the Ogre territory and noticed an increase in traces of werewolf activity. There were many other creatures around, such as lizardfolk, hill giants, and vampires.
The discovery of vampire traces was purely an accident!
Soren had always been sensitive to the smell of blood, and as he headed towards the ancient red dragon’s lair, he saw a corpse drained of blood.
A werewolf’s corpse.
In the entire Material Plane, only vampires would do such a thing. And the Ancient Red Dragon, being the most powerful and evil of the five-colored dragons, had most dark creatures within its sphere of control.
White Horse City had conducted many probes into this area.
However, almost none who managed to see the dragon alive escaped; those sent were too few and directly died at the guards, while sending too many would easily alarm the nearby ecosystems. The groups enslaved by the Ancient Red Dragon would directly crush the army of White Horse City. To date, no one has forced the Ancient Red Dragon to take action personally; even the legendary wizard of the Ogre Tribe had made them suffer enough.
The biological level of the Ancient Red Dragon exceeds level 30.
The challenge level is generally above 24, and for a creature that has nearly reached the peak strength of dragons, all legendary creatures existing within the wilderness of the entire White Horse City area must submit under its dragon pressure.
Minotaurs.
Soren’s figure landed from the treetop, glancing at the footprints in front of him, a look of intrigue appeared on his face.
Cavern creatures.
Minotaurs rarely live in the surface world; they mostly roam in the Underdark. These creatures often appear in labyrinths, but dragons occasionally use them as guardians outside their treasure hoards.
There is a passage connecting to the Underdark!
Almost instantly assessing the number of Minotaur footprints, Soren confirmed this; there were not this many Minotaurs in the surface world, and judging by the number of footprints, which numbered over ten, these must have come out from the Underdark. The Ancient Red Dragon naturally had servants to prepare everything, but the creatures it enslaved still needed to hunt, and the Minotaurs’ footprints suggested they came out to hunt, and there were also signs of some large creature carcasses being dragged.
There are many passages leading to the Underdark.
Many of which Soren didn’t even know about, so he quietly kept an eye on his surroundings, but didn’t find any clear entry points.
Passing through the forest before him, an imposing mountain range came into Soren’s view; this was the lair of the Ancient Red Dragon. However, the dragon’s lair was not outside the mountain range but in some place deep inside.
Finding it was easy.
Soren just needed to follow the footprints left by other creatures; this mountain range had evidently become the Ancient Red Dragon’s private territory.
Large numbers of lesser wyverns appeared in his line of sight.
It was certain they had migrated from elsewhere, with the most numerous being bipedal dragons, a lesser dragon species that originally lived near swamps, now having over ten nests moved here.
No wonder White Horse City has achieved nothing so far.
This mountain range had been sealed off on land, sea, and air; there were enslaved servants patrolling below, and numerous lesser dragon species monitoring above, even the side near the Mire Marsh was crawling with lizardfolk enslaved by the Ancient Red Dragon.
Without legendary strength, it was futile to even think about reaching the dragon’s lair!
……………(To be continued ~^~)
