Chapter 638

Chapter 23: Scorched Earth, Dragon Remains, and Fairies (Part 1)

“…Why are you shouting so loudly!”

I dug my ears, the dragon’s roar was so intense that it hurt my eardrums, and I couldn’t help but complain, but that feeling quickly dissipated.

I looked at the scythe under the white dragon, my face full of surprise, my eyes crinkling in delight. I hurried over, “deng deng deng,” ran over, tucked the short sword to my waist, and leaned down excitedly, gripping the red-glowing hilt with my right hand, ready to lift it from the ground.

“Gray… Huh?”

I strained, but failed to lift it off the ground.

Captain Gray didn’t move an inch.

…Huh?

Huh…

“Strange…”

What’s going on…

The smile on my face gradually faded, my head went blank for a moment. I didn’t want to give up, so this time, I used both hands, tilted my head back, stuck out my butt, stabilized my center of gravity, and exerted all my strength, grabbing the hilt and pulling!

“Ugh—”

I held my breath, my face turning red, finally lifting the heavy scythe off the ground, but only by less than ten centimeters before it fell back down with a loud thud. The force pulled me forward, and I hastily let go, nearly falling flat on my face.

“Hah, hah, hah…”

I was panting heavily, blinked my eyes, and suddenly frowned, sitting down hard on a protruding rock nearby. Looking at the familiar scythe beside my feet, my former battle companion, I lowered my head, feeling slightly dejected. After a while, I looked up at the white dragon again.

It had already calmed down, now tilting its head slightly, looking at me with one eye as big as a lantern, exhaling hot breath, appearing rather innocent.

Man and dragon stared at each other for a moment.

My mouth drooped, suddenly feeling wronged.

“Whitey, what should we do…”

I don’t have enough strength to lift it anymore…

The white dragon seemed to sense my dejection and moved its head closer, licking me with its tongue, leaving a trail of sticky saliva. I exclaimed in annoyance and pushed it away.

“Don’t lick me!”

I shouted at the white dragon, stomping my feet in frustration and wiping my face vigorously with my sleeve. My voice sounded muffled, “I’m annoyed…”

Zzzz—

The scythe beside my feet continued to vibrate, the amplitude growing more intense, as if excited by the reunion. The red patterns on the hilt seemed like flowing veins, flickering in and out of sight.

“Captain Gray…”

I murmured its name. The white dragon leaned in again, rubbing its furry face against mine gently. Feeling downcast, I opened my arms and hugged it again.

“It’s good, you’re both safe…”

I whispered softly, slowly closing my eyes.

No matter what, I should be glad about this…

I don’t know why Captain Gray and the dragon claws appeared here. I thought I had lost them.

At the end of my battle with the divine body, at the moment of the explosion, just before losing consciousness, I vaguely remembered Captain Gray flying away.

It disappeared from my sight, plunging into the raging flames, while the white branches floating beside me glowed intensely, seemingly trying to protect me, but that light was quickly suppressed by the flames. The bursting inferno seemed endless, and before I could feel any pain, everything went black.

Thinking back now, perhaps at that moment, Whitey’s consciousness did something, drawing Captain Gray and the dragon claws into this world… It might have wanted to draw me in too, but it was too late…

Forget it…

Don’t think about it anymore, it’s all in the past…

I’m just relieved…

“Whitey…”

I touched the fur on the dragon’s muzzle, the turbulent emotions gradually stabilizing. The unease that had accumulated since awakening, the panic of losing power, finally settled down at this moment.

Then, I felt secure.

“You’re both safe… That’s great…”

Really…

That’s really great…

I closed my eyes, feeling the gentle breeze caress my face, feeling the warm breath of the giant dragon blowing on me. I held onto it for a long, long time.

My mind started to ponder the current situation.

…So.

Now I’m back here, in this place called the Land of Dragons…

Not deep in Woodward Forest, entering through touching that enormous tree. That tree has vanished. I was drawn in by the white branches. Elina told me then that I could freely enter and exit here using the power of the white branches…

As it turns out, she was right.

The entrance to the Land of Dragons shifted to this small branch with the disappearance of the tall tree… Or maybe because I took the white branch out of the Land of Dragons, that huge tree disappeared…

Truly…

Amazing power…

Whitey was quiet, resting its head on my chest. I held it for a while, then opened my eyes and patted its snout, signaling it to leave. Then, I knelt down, gently stroking the scythe blade, reluctant to part, muttering, “Just wait for me, I’ll get you out of here soon…”说完，站起身，踩着脚下的岩石，走向那高耸的峭壁。

这座巍峨的黑色山峰，已经被神躯摧毁了一大半…

它不再像以前那样高了。

脚下黑色灰色的，早已冷却的熔岩岩，

The crumbling and fissured rock formations around me were recounting the great battle that had taken place before. The enemy I was facing—it was a terrifying existence.

Even now, with that awe-inspiring divine body long dead, it was no longer here, nor would it appear before me. Even so, as I looked at my surroundings and the dark gray sky in the distance, I could still recall the fear and helplessness I felt when facing it back then.

The Gideons family…

The gods…

I forced myself to suppress the tremor in my heart and quickened my pace, leaping over the cracked rocks below. I ran and jumped until I reached the edge of a cliff, where I gazed out into the distance.

What came into view were the undulating rock veins shrouded in thick fog, with scorched marks from the divine body’s light beams clearly visible. There were also massive dragon skeletons hidden in the gray mist, all with their heads facing this direction, roaring towards the sky.

This place…

Will it be mine in the future?

But what good would that do…

A white dragon silently approached and stood behind me.

I wanted to take a closer look at the dragon skeleton on the nearby rock, but when I tried to gather the chaotic power, I realized it wasn’t enough to form black flame wings. For now, I couldn’t recover my ability to fly. So I tilted my head and used the ability to shape with dead smoke, creating a completely black crow that fluttered its wings and landed on my shoulder.

Doing this felt much smoother than before…

After the goddess’s physical body revived, the restrictions of this place seemed to have been completely broken. Using chaotic power was now as fluid as flowing water, although due to my current physical condition, this power was still quite weak…

“Goat cheese…”

I stroked the crow’s feathers, remembering the foolish bird that had disappeared.

Goat cheese was very smart; it had flown away somewhere before the battle even began. I hoped it hadn’t been caught in the explosion back then…

But even if it had been caught, given its nature…

it might not necessarily have died.

Foolish bird…

Where are you now…

“Go.”

I gave the crow an order to fly far away.

Then, slowly closing my eyes…

…Illusionary Fade.

My tightly shut vision suddenly turned white, and the next moment, even though I hadn’t opened my eyes, images appeared before me.

The gray mist was stirred by the airflow, and the faint light above cast eerie ripples on the jagged black rock layers below, which was the scene observed by the flying crow.

…It worked!

Using the Illusionary Fade to share vision is indeed possible!

And I can do it right now!

I felt a surge of joy, rubbing my hands together excitedly, quietly experiencing this magical sensation. The crow had already flown very high and far, yet I could still issue commands to it just by thinking.

Come back…

I silently repeated in my mind, and the crow turned its head under my mental guidance, circling in the air. I was able to see the cliff where I was standing, and also the large white dragon behind me.

Interesting…

Very interesting!

I became excited, continuously issuing commands to the crow, making it fly here and there. Gradually, a huge dragon skeleton rock appeared below my field of vision, still with its head raised and mouth wide open directly beneath.

Go down…

I issued another command, and the crow obediently swooped down. The dragon skeleton’s gaping mouth rapidly approached my view, allowing me to see its appearance more clearly. The majestic body had completely turned into dark, weathered rock, full of cavities, standing amidst the scorched earth and gray mist.

You…

lost in the war back then, made some kind of agreement with the ancient god, and were deceived here, right?

Are you still alive?

Tell me…

Why is the Sin Goddess sealed here by your bodies? Wasn’t she on the side of humans, the Gideons…

There are still many unclear things.

But no matter what, I am no longer in the state of being completely in the dark like before.

The dragon skeleton rock kept approaching in my vision. While I was distracted, the crow had already landed on its enormous mouth, likely on a protruding scale on the upper jaw.

Of course, the scales had long since turned into pitch-black rock, covered with darker, gooey substances, similar to moss. The crow was pecking at them repeatedly.

I thought for a moment, preparing to give it another command, telling it to fly lower, circle around the dragon skeleton once, and see if there were any new discoveries.

At that moment, a purple arrow shot out from the corner of my vision.

“Ahh!”

I was startled, jumping back abruptly, and my eyes instinctively opened. The power of Illusionary Fade instantly faded, breaking the shared vision with the crow. I froze for two seconds, trying to reconnect with the crow, only to realize I could no longer sense its presence.

Dead smoke has dissipated…

Those fairies did it!

“Huff…”

I patted my chest, relieved. Since only the vision was shared and not sounds or surrounding movements, the sudden purple arrow had genuinely scared me, making my heart pound fiercely.

Those fairies, they’re actually still alive!

“Roar!!!”

Suddenly, beside me, the large white dragon, sensing something, roared towards the bottom of the cliff.