Chapter 629 - 456: The Blazing Flame Giant Dragon Has Come
Chapter 629: Chapter 456: The Blazing Flame Giant Dragon Has Come
A massive golden figure could be seen breaking through the clouds at incredible speed.
"It’s Lord Sun!"
"Lord Sun has returned!"
Cheers erupted throughout the camp.
Sun circled once above the camp, as if announcing its return, before slowly landing in the large, open space in front of the main tent.
THUD!
The impact of its colossal body sent a shockwave of air across the ground, making the surrounding banners snap and flutter.
However, everyone’s gaze was drawn to its two enormous claws.
In its left claw, it clutched a lavishly dressed middle-aged man. His face was now ashen, and he trembled like a leaf in the wind.
And in its right claw, it held a shriveled, hideous corpse.
The corpse was dressed in tattered noble finery. Its skin was an unnatural, pasty white, and two sharp fangs protruded from its mouth. Its hollow eyes stared at the sky, filled with a deathly and evil emptiness.
It was a Vampire.
Furthermore, judging from the faint but palpable Domain Level pressure lingering on the corpse, this Vampire had been, at the very least, a Domain Level Powerhouse in life.
Sun opened its claws, tossing the man and the corpse onto the ground.
"My lord, I have successfully completed my mission."
Sun lowered its massive head, its eyes looking toward Raylo as it spoke in a human tongue.
"I razed Red Hill Castle and brought back this man, Noel, for you."
The morning sunlight, carrying a hint of a chill, fell upon the face of Noel, the Red Hill Manor Viscount.
He felt no warmth, only a cold that pierced him to the bone.
He lay limply on the ground, the hard, cold earth beneath him. Before him were the enormous, molten-gold eyes of the Golden Dragon, Sun, and Raylo’s face—a face that, despite its youth, filled him with utter terror.
Two days ago, he had been the undisputed ruler of the Red Hill Territory, dreaming in his castle of following the Blood Rose Prince and establishing a dynasty of immortal nobles.
The Blood Rose Prince had even dispatched a Domain Level member of the Blood Race to guard his castle.
He believed that even if the Duchy sent a great army, he could hold out for some time until the Prince’s reinforcements arrived.
However, what arrived was a dragon.
A Giant Dragon, wreathed in golden flames, descending from the sky.
All his defenses, all his preparations, were as fragile as paper before the overwhelming golden Dragon Flame.
The castle gates melted, and the solid walls turned to molten lava under the Dragon Flame.
His proud Knights didn’t even manage to reach the Giant Dragon before they were reduced to cinders in the Blazing Flame.
The Domain Level Vampire in whom he had placed such high hopes performed miserably against the Golden Dragon, not even lasting three minutes.
That supremely pure and potent Dragon Flame was their natural bane.
The last image in his memory...
...was of a giant claw descending from the sky, plucking him from the burning ruins of his castle like a chick.
"Viscount Noel."
Raylo’s voice snapped him out of his terrified memories.
Noel shuddered. He looked up at the Count before him—a man so much younger than himself, the Crown Prince of the Duchy.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something—to beg for mercy, or to make an excuse.
However, Raylo’s gaze made him swallow his words.
"You betrayed the Duchy, you betrayed your bloodline, and you betrayed your identity as a human,"
Raylo said.
"I..."
Noel had just started to speak.
"I don’t want to hear any of your excuses."
Raylo cut him off.
"You made your choice, so you must bear the consequences."
He turned his head to look at Gaius, who was standing to the side.
"Uncle Gaius."
"Present."
"Relay my order,"
Raylo said.
"The traitor, Noel, is stripped of his title as Viscount. All his fiefs are to be reclaimed."
"He is to be beheaded immediately!"
"His head is to be hung from the east gate of Black Stone City as a warning to others!"
"As you command!"
Gaius struck his fist against his breastplate and answered in a deep, resonant voice.
Viscount Noel’s face turned deathly pale in an instant, all color draining from it.
"No! No! Your Highness! Spare me!"
He began to struggle wildly, scrambling toward Raylo on all fours, tears and snot streaming down his face.
"I was wrong! It was a moment of foolishness! I’m willing... I’m willing to atone for my crimes! I know many of the Blood Rose Prince’s secrets! I..."
Two tall Personal Guards stepped forward, grabbing his arms from either side and mercilessly dragging him away.
Noel’s wails echoed through the camp, shrill and desperate, but their tone soon changed.
They turned into curses.
His voice came to an abrupt end, cut short by the wet thud of a blade slicing through flesh just outside the tent.
The entire camp fell silent.
Raylo’s gaze shifted from the direction Noel had been dragged and fell upon the Vampire’s corpse.
"Sun, what’s the story here?"
he asked.
Sun’s massive head drew closer, a flicker of disdain in its golden eyes.
"My lord, this one was Viscount Noel’s ’sponsor’—a Domain Level Vampire. When I broke through the castle, he attempted to resist..."
"He was surprisingly tough. He’d rather die than surrender and still tried to fight back. A single blast of my Dragon Breath burned him into this."
Raylo nodded.
A Domain Level Vampire was already considered a core part of the Blood Race’s power.
’It seems the Blood Rose Prince really paid a hefty price to turn Noel.’
"Vampires have tenacious Life Force. Even in death, they might have a contingency plan."
Raylo’s brow furrowed slightly as he looked at the shriveled corpse.
"Sun."
"Yes, my lord."
"Use your Dragon Breath. Burn it to ash,"
Raylo commanded.
"Leave no trace."
Sun let out a low growl.
It opened its cavernous maw, and a ball of incandescent golden light gathered in its throat.
The next second, a thick torrent of gold spewed forth, precisely engulfing the Vampire’s corpse.
There was no violent explosion, only a piercing SIZZLE!
Under the searing heat of the supremely pure and potent Dragon Flame, the body left behind by the Domain Level Powerhouse melted and vaporized like snow under a blazing sun.
An acrid, burning stench filled the air.
The golden flames burned for nearly a full minute before slowly dying down.
In its place, only a scorched black mark remained. Not even a speck of ash was left.
...
「Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.」
After the initial grim purges, the camp in the Black Stone Territory gradually returned to its usual order.
One day, just as Raylo had sent off the last batch of Thunder Dragon Knights returning to Thunder Dragon City, a visitor arrived in the Black Stone Territory.
First, a massive shadow appeared in the sky.
The shadow blotted out the sun, casting a vast darkness across the land.
Immediately after, a wave of scorching heat descended from above, and the temperature of the entire camp seemed to rise by several degrees in an instant.
Everyone looked up in horror.
It was a Giant Dragon—a terrifying Giant Dragon over a kilometer long!
Its entire body was covered in dark red scales, each one like the purest Obsidian, yet their edges burned with an undying Dark Gold flame.
Its physique was majestic to the extreme, its musculature radiating a sense of explosive power.
A pair of sky-blotting wings beat slowly, each stroke leaving two long trails of flame in the air.
Catastrophe Level!
Without a doubt, this was a true Catastrophe Level Giant Dragon!
"It’s a Blazing Flame Giant Dragon!"
A look of shock and gravity flashed in Gaius’s eyes.
"His Majesty Otto III of the Blazing Flame Kingdom has arrived."