Chapter 647 - 260: Commanding the Dragon Horde, Savage Expansion
Chapter 647: Chapter 260: Commanding the Dragon Horde, Savage Expansion
In the conference room, Yi Jiugao’s eye twitched.
"A Personal Guard Team... a disciplinary department for internal purges... To think he established it all so quickly."
Yan Che nodded. "Crude, but effective. That’s how most organizations start out. What I’m curious about is, he’s a high school student who should be new to the ways of the world. How can he be so mature?"
...
「Time passed quietly.」
The notifications for new minions chimed almost incessantly in Lin Ye’s mind.
But he wasn’t idle.
From the memories of Lektorn and the other dragons, he had acquired all the intel on the dragon swarm’s current leader, Belashen.
He was going to assassinate him.
For one, as long as Belashen lived, there would always be dragons loyal to him.
For another, Lin Ye needed a puppet for the next stage of his plan: infiltrating the true dragon’s nest.
On the far side of the World Tree Withered Branch Continent stood a magnificent palace, built from countless colossal beast skulls and black Crystal Stones.
This was Belashen’s residence, and also the only private palace allowed within the entire Ink-Shadow Clan’s territory.
The palace interior was both opulent and grim.
Millstone-sized Luminous Gemstones were embedded in the walls, and the floor was carpeted with the complete hides of unknown behemoths. In the corners, shimmering metals and treasures were piled as high as mountains.
In the palace’s deepest chamber, Belashen—his body far larger than that of his average kin—was sprawled atop a hoard of treasure, preparing to doze off.
Suddenly, he snapped his eyes open, looking warily toward the center of the great hall.
"Who?!"
A figure slowly and calmly emerged from a patch of empty shadow.
It was Lin Ye.
"Guards! An intruder!"
Belashen roared.
But the vast, empty hall remained silent.
"I’ve killed all your guards."
Lin Ye said flatly, "Now, it’s your turn."
A flash of fury and disdain crossed Belashen’s eyes. "You’re courting death!"
Before he finished speaking, his massive body instantly became a phantom, diving into the shadow at Lin Ye’s feet with a speed several times faster than Lektorn’s!
As the king who had ruled the Shadow-Stealing Wings for nearly a millennium, his mastery over the [Shadow Concealment Skill] was absolute!
However, a second later.
SHRIEEEK—!!!
A bloodcurdling scream erupted from within the shadows!
Belashen’s form tumbled out wretchedly, crashing heavily onto the ground. Dozens of wounds, deep enough to expose bone, had appeared all over his body, and black blood gushed from them!
He looked at Lin Ye, horrified beyond belief.
’Impossible!’
’In the shadows, I am the absolute master!’
’Why... Why can he attack me in the shadows, too?!’
’And... he’s even stronger than me?!’
He didn’t know that Lin Ye now commanded over two thousand Shadow-Stealing Wings.
This meant Lin Ye possessed the combined racial talents of over two thousand of their kind.
In the domain of the [Shadow Concealment Skill], Lin Ye was the one true god!
Before Belashen could recover from his shock, Lin Ye moved.
[Frenzy]!
[Dragon Descendant Incarnation]!
A terrifying draconic pressure instantly descended as blue-black scales covered his body. In a flash, Lin Ye transformed into an uncatchable black shadow!
SHLICK!
Belashen didn’t even see what happened.
All he felt was a sudden chill on his neck.
Then, the world began to spin before his eyes.
He saw his own body—that headless, massive form, still standing where it was.
Lin Ye wanted no complications, so he chose to end the fight as quickly as possible!
Lin Ye held the massive dragon’s head in one hand.
Lin Ye gently placed his index finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture at the head.
"GURK..."
His windpipe crushed by Lin Ye, Belashen’s final, indignant shriek was forcefully choked back down his throat.
The pale flame in his eyes was completely extinguished.
But the next moment, Lin Ye pressed the giant dragon head back onto the stump of Belashen’s neck.
A mass of ink-black mycelia surged from his palm, flooding into Belashen’s corpse through the wound.
In just a few seconds.
The massive, lifeless corpse trembled violently.
Belashen staggered back to its feet.
It slowly turned and lowered its proud head—the same one that had just been torn off—before Lin Ye.
Deep in its eye sockets, countless fine black mycelial threads writhed and intertwined.
"Ma...ster..."
[Ding! You have successfully converted ’Belashen Sedobrian’ into a Fungal Minion!]
Lin Ye calmly looked at this former king of the Ink-Shadow Clan.
He knew full well that a formidable tyrant like Belashen, who had lived for a millennium, possessed a will far too strong to ever accept a master-servant contract while alive.
That’s why he was better off dead.
Lin Ye’s figure once again turned into a black shadow, silently slipping into Belashen’s shadow.
"Enter the Celestial Dragon’s Nest."
"Yes, Master..."
The mycelia completely overran Belashen’s brain. The last trace of confusion in its eyes slowly faded, and they once again became filled with the same majesty and indifference as when it was alive.
It beat its wings and flew towards the higher reaches of the World Tree, toward that true forbidden land of the Dragon Race.
...
「Longyin Academy, conference room.」
Hou Guanghe’s fingers tapped a steady rhythm on his armrest.
He watched the screen, his gaze fixed on the draconic shadow—now a puppet—flying toward the core of the dragon’s nest. A cryptic glint, impossible for anyone to decipher, flashed in his cloudy old eyes.
"He no longer needs those eight fragments."
"Judging by the abilities he’s displaying..."
"Given time, perhaps the entire Celestial Dragon’s Nest..."
"...will come to serve him as their master."
Yi Jiugao, however, shook his head gently. "Vice-Principal, that should be impossible..."
"As long as the royal line’s Dragon-Riding Bell still exists, none of the dragons in the nest will ever obey him."
Hou Guanghe was noncommittal.
"Let... Yui Hanyi... join the selection."
This sentence shocked the others even more than any of Lin Ye’s previous actions!
Yi Jiugao’s expression changed, and he exclaimed, "Vice-Principal! Yui Hanyi was specially recruited by the Principal himself! He doesn’t need to participate at all..."
"Is that so?" Hou Guanghe retorted coolly. "If Yui Hanyi can be specially recruited, then why can’t Lin Ye?"
Yi Jiugao was instantly at a loss for words.
’He’s right...’
The Celestial Dragon’s Nest was the most difficult trial they had set for all the selection participants.
The nest was home to hundreds of thousands of high-ranking dragons.
Their plan had been for the participants to infiltrate the nest and find a path to the ancestral land.
But this young man before them seemed about to conquer the entire dragon’s nest single-handedly!
’Lin Ye... or Yui Hanyi?’
Everyone present searched their hearts.
They truly couldn’t judge which of the two was the greater monster.
Hou Guanghe’s voice suddenly turned cold.
"I will explain things to the Principal."
"After Yui Hanyi enters, send the true coordinates of the Celestial Dragon’s Nest directly to him."
He turned his gaze back to the screen, a rare trace of anticipation and excitement in his eyes.
"I, for one, would like to see..."
"When the two most unstoppable prodigies of Great Xia’s younger generation meet in this dragon graveyard..."
"...what kind of spectacle that will be."