57 You’re the Riddler? What a coincidence, so am I!
Twenty kilometers outside the Silver Dragon border, atop a towering generals’ platform, a man approached the Star Wanderer Dragon King, Rave.
“I’ve told you before, intimidation has no effect on Leon Casmod. Your ‘ghost’ didn’t scare him at all; it actually let him prepare in advance thanks to those little clues you left behind.”
A few days ago, Rave had used spatial magic to silently eliminate a watchtower hidden in the Silver Dragon border’s forests.
He had planned to use this move to test the waters and see what caliber his opponent was.
The outcome was predictable; Rave had underestimated his adversary’s meticulousness and quick reactions.
Almost on the same night that he took out the watchtower, the Silver Dragon clan canceled all independent lookout points and switched to mobile units of five, spaced twenty meters apart, creating a line that stretched a hundred meters long, making it impossible for any ‘ghost’ to escape.
Rave wasn’t about to risk using his spatial magic indiscriminately any longer.
But as for the guy next to him throwing out his two cents, Rave merely huffed disdainfully, “How can you be so sure that this counter-strategy was devised by Leon Casmod?”
The man shrugged nonchalantly. “He’s used this strategy before when serving the Empire; it’s one of his classic counter-ambush tactics.”
“Your spatial magic has limitations, and his units are set up in a hundred-meter line, each watching the others. You’d be hard-pressed to find an angle to strike.”
“Ha… If you ask me, you shouldn’t have bothered with psychological warfare and just summoned Star right from the get-go.”
Star, the Shining Dragon King, had a rank within the dragon clan that even surpassed Constantine.
Rave’s gaze slowly wandered away from the Silver Dragon territory to the face of the man beside him.
His tone turned grim, with an edge of threat, “Nacho Salaman, the Empire and our Dragon clan are merely partners, not hierarchies. Understand your place—The Shining Dragon King is not someone you can just summon at will.”
It was clear that Rave had a deep respect for Star.
But Nacho was unfazed.
He simply sneered, “It’s not like I called for Star. It was ‘that esteemed one’s’ command.”
When he mentioned ‘that esteemed one,’ Nacho had a look of reverence, as if ‘that esteemed one’ was standing right next to him.
Rave’s brow furrowed.
He knew that Nacho’s arrogance, speaking grandly before a Dragon King, was bolstered entirely by the leverage of ‘that esteemed one.’
Rave’s presence here to oversee the situation was also ‘that esteemed one’s’ directive.
‘Esteemed one’ said that while the Shining Dragon King was indeed powerful, it was wise to be over-prepared.
Over-prepared meant Rave.
But Rave couldn’t grasp how there could possibly be a human capable of defeating Star.
Just because he had beaten Constantine, now he was strutting around with “invincible” written all over his face?
Humans… truly a narrow-minded race, Rave mused.
“Speaking of which, Rave, you must have perfected the secret weapon you and Blay and Jagers were working on, right?” Nacho asked.
“Do you think if it weren’t perfected, ‘that esteemed one’ would let me play backup to Star?” Rave replied, still sounding grim.
Nacho understood that these Dragon Kings had notoriously bad tempers, viewing most humans as little more than ants.
But he just loved the feeling of ‘you can’t stand me, but you can’t dispose of me either.’
So he continued awkwardly chatting up Rave, “By the way, when we called you back, you were probably up in the Extreme North Land, huh? How did things go there?”
Rave’s patience was steadily wearing thin, but he still answered the obnoxious messenger, “Quite smoothly. After all, I’m the only one using spatial magic in the team up there. Even if I were to slow things down, they wouldn’t suspect me.”
“That’s good.”
Nacho feigned a look of relief, letting out a breath.
Rave shot him a glare, as if he had some stake in this matter and was really far too concerned for his own good.
“I heard that the team in the Extreme North Land has some hidden talents, including Angelina Olet.”
“Yeah, after all, we’re dealing with the seal of ‘that thing.’” Rave slowed his speech down.
You just kept going on about ‘that esteemed one’ earlier, and now you’re all about riddles here; how about I throw you a vague ‘that thing’ to keep you guessing?
Nacho shot Rave a sidelong glance, aware that he didn’t want to elaborate, so he deftly changed the topic.
“Honestly, in terms of power, Leon Casmod is a pretty good ‘vessel’ for ‘that thing.’”
Rave raised an eyebrow, finally unable to suppress his curiosity, “Do you really think Casmod is that strong?”
“Trust me, Rave; his strength surpasses everyone’s understanding.”
Nacho squinted into the distance, his expression turning serious.
“So we must employ methods that exceed understanding to defeat him. This is also why ‘that esteemed one’ sent you. You’re not backup for Star; you’re the unexpected trump card for victory.”
Rave’s vertically slit dragon pupils trembled slightly.
Since when… did humans produce monsters so formidable that even a few Dragon Kings had to rely on the element of surprise to defeat them?
He shook his head, pulling himself away from those chaotic thoughts.
His gaze followed the direction Nacho was looking.
There, he spotted a man clad in golden armor strolling towards the Silver Dragon territory boundary.
And at the exit adorned with Constantine’s head, two figures approached.
“Roswiser Melkway… she’s actually coming down to the field herself.” Rave murmured.
“This is going to be quite the show,” Nacho agreed.
At the far boundary, Silver Dragon soldiers and maid teams lined up, with Anna and Sherry standing at the very front.
Unlike last time when Constantine invaded, this time, the soldiers were no longer sacrificial pawns in the front lines.
Right from the start, it was a showdown between Dragon Kings.
“The Shining Dragon King Star… needs both Your Majesty and His Royal Highness to join forces to deal with him?” Sherry’s tone was filled with concern.
Anna slowly shook her head. “Constantine has grown stronger than I ever anticipated. I can’t even fathom how powerful this Star has become… Sherry, don’t you think we’ve been in too many battles recently?”
Sherry paused slightly and then forced a smile. “The Silver Dragon clan has been active for a thousand years; perhaps folks finally noticed we’ve got this nice plot of land and want a piece of the pie.”
Anna chuckled, “If that’s the case, I guess I’ll need to expand the entrance to the border after this.”
Sherry blinked. “Why?”
Anna turned her gaze towards Constantine’s head hanging at the border entrance.
“There’s not enough space; we might run out of room to hang it.”
