The magical warship descended not far in front of Orson, with the witch gazing at him intently. "Have my brother's remains been recovered?"
"Has the mission item [Albert's Remains] been submitted?"
"It has."
The witch opened the redwood box, glanced inside, and her voice trembled. She forced herself to nod in gratitude, holding back her grief. "The task reward will be given to you once we return."
"Prepare the Dragon Slayer Arrows! Use this opportunity to destroy the cursed The Flame Dragon Nest!" the witch ordered sharply. At her command, the soldiers aboard the warship immediately set up the massive Dragon Slayer arrows.
The magical warship lifted off, heading toward the battlefield.
Orson rubbed his nose. "Hold on a second."
Sky Wolf, standing atop his Crocodile Dragon, emanated an imposing aura without a word. "Speak plainly, adventurer. Don't waste any more time!"
"The Flame Dragon Nest is gone. I've killed and eaten the two Flame Dragons. All that's left is a dragon species legion that's about to retreat," Orson replied nonchalantly.
The moment he spoke, the Purple Thunder Fortress NPCs were stunned. Then, they all burst into laughter.
"Hmph, these adventurers really don't know their place," sneered an old man with white hair.
Colin, a senior magician at the Purple Thunder Fortress Mage Guild, known for his vast expertise in multiple S-tier Earth magic spells, snorted in disdain. The adventurers had no shame whatsoever, talking nonsense in front of such powerful figures.
The old man, Colin, glanced at Orson with a scornful look and said aloud, "Do you know how powerful a lower-tier dragon can be? One dragon can wipe out an entire city!"
"Of course I know," Orson replied with a faint smile.
"Then why are you spouting nonsense?!" Colin's face turned red with fury, and his fellow magicians behind him burst out laughing.
Orson shrugged and shook his head. "It was so powerful that my mount almost exploded after eating three of them. It nearly died from overeating."
At this, even the witch couldn't help but show a helpless expression.
The Crocodile Dragon Rider furrowed his brow. "Please step back."
He instructed Orson to return to the Purple Thunder Fortress, where someone would be there to handle the task handover.
Just as he spoke, the ground trembled. A thunderous sound of hooves echoed from the horizon, signaling the arrival of something monstrous. Every Purple Thunder Fortress NPC immediately tensed up, sensing an imminent threat.
"Prepare for battle!" the witch's face changed as she saw what was coming—several thousand dragon species troops!
"That's strange... It looks like these heretics are trying to escape from something far more terrifying!" the Crocodile Dragon Rider remarked, noticing the oddity.
"The Inferno Volcano has erupted! We need to run!" Colin's face turned pale with panic.
The next moment, torrents of volcanic lava surged toward them, turning the grasslands to scorched earth, reducing everything in its path—beasts, monsters, and dragon soldiers alike—into charcoal.
"This feels good, taking them all out in one go!" Orson murmured to himself with a smile.
The battle log began to roll:
Burning -100,000! Burning -100,000! ...
High damage numbers soared across the screen. A vast number of Cracked-Mouth Lizard Dragons collapsed, only to rise again in the fiery lava, only to be instantly killed and melted away.
"Heavenly Spirit's Right Eye proficiency increased!"
"Heavenly Spirit's Right Eye…"
The Soul Seal proficiency surged massively.
Although the explosion of the lava tsunami was caused by boss Barenkas, his attack had passed through the spatial grid, was accelerated by the Mirror of Folding, and as a result, the experience and rewards were credited to Orson.
The Flame Dragon Nest, aside from its incubator's protective barrier, had completely collapsed. In less than a minute, the lava devoured over ten thousand Cracked-Mouth Lizard Dragons!
Orson's range had reached 6 kilometers, his mana and Soul Seal were nearing 70,000. His critical hit damage was also boosted by 200%.
The low-lying terrain turned into a sea of lava and fire. Hundreds of Cracked-Mouth Lizard Dragon Kings split and caught fire, madly fleeing from the nest.
"You have slain a Cracked-Mouth Lizard Dragon King!"
The battle notification appeared. Half of the Cracked-Mouth Lizard Dragon King's split bodies had been burnt alive by the lava, and the kill condition had been met!
"Just hold out for a few more minutes," Orson muttered with a grin.
As long as the mother body wasn't killed, the smaller minions would continue to split. It was unfortunate that the mother had died too quickly, but it was still better than his usual method of using the Ice Prison Ring to trap and farm monsters.
The only regret was that these split bodies wouldn't drop any equipment or give experience points. Otherwise, this wave of elite monsters could have easily leveled him up by 2-3 levels.
Colin stood there, dumbfounded, his hands clasped in prayer. "Is this the apocalypse? Please, Elemental God, protect me!"
The witch, unable to believe her eyes, muttered, "The Flame Dragon Nest... It was destroyed so easily. Could it be that he really can collapse the entire world?"
"Stop standing there like fools. These dragon soldiers are all my prey. Block their retreat routes for me!" Orson's eyes flashed coldly as he ordered the NPCs around him like servants. But none of them responded.
Orson glanced around at the NPCs and coldly said, "Anyone who doesn't obey, I'll go burn down your base. It doesn't matter to me whether I kill NPCs or monsters."
The NPCs were stunned. What kind of nonsense was a level-30 adventurer spewing?
"Burn down our guilds?" Colin's face went pale, his mouth agape, but the apocalyptic scene before him made him swallow his words.
As a high-ranking NPC, he wasn't stupid. He could feel that Orson was not joking!
"Young man, calm down. We share a common enemy—the heretics of the Empire…" Colin stammered, trying to de-escalate the situation.
The scene was awkward, and the Crocodile Dragon Rider Sky Wolf spoke up, trying to smooth things over.
Orson shot him a cold glance and snorted. "I don't care about your heretics. I won't repeat myself. Anyone who dares to go behind my back, I'll go burn your city down!"
The witch lifted her hood, revealing a scarred face. She exchanged a look with the Crocodile Dragon Rider, and they both seemed to understand each other.
Ding—
"You have intimidated the masses with your overwhelming force. You have temporarily gained command over the Purple Thunder Fortress' top experts."
A system prompt rang, and Orson's lips curled into a smile. Over 100 of the Purple Thunder Fortress' top experts joined his team, granting him temporary command over all of them.
"The witch and the archers, head northwest."
Orson began organizing the blockade. The witch immediately commanded the warship to head towards the northwest, where a canyon gap awaited.
Then, Orson looked at Colin and the other mages with a mischievous glint in his eyes, smiling as he said, "Everyone knows how powerful the Mage Guild is. They should be the ones to hold off the dragon legion's retreat."
"We? We're mages! How can we hold them off?" Colin sputtered, his voice shaking in disbelief.
The twenty-odd NPC mages nearly spat blood at the idea of them being put in the front lines against the retreating dragons. It was like sending fragile dumplings to face a pack of wolves!
Colin tried to argue, "Adventurer, your decision is flawed. We are not suited for close combat…"
Orson shot him a glare and nodded, "Got an issue with my plan? Fine, I'll stop farming monsters and go burn your house down right now."
Colin fell silent, his face darkening. He wanted to argue but didn't dare. The Flame Dragon Nest had been destroyed by this adventurer, and he wasn't about to risk having his guild burned down.
After giving his orders, Orson watched as the witch and Colin's forces split into two groups, each guarding a retreat point.
"Heavenly Spirit's Vision!" Orson murmured.
Activating the guild's surveillance skill, he had a bird's-eye view of the entire battlefield.
Endless fierce winds! Ground-shaking thunder! Sacred Sword Judgment! ...
The entire plain was erupting with magic. These NPCs were far more powerful than Orson had anticipated. Several massive skills rained down, smashing the retreating Earth Dragon Legion into chaos.
The Earth Dragon Legion was forced to regroup and, under the leadership of their dragon leader, tried to break through from the eastern side.
At the same time, the Flying Dragon Legion arrived, attempting to create an opening for the retreating forces.
"Fire at will!" the witch shouted.
Standing atop the magical warship, though she was a priestess, she wasn't afraid of any threats. The high-level archers locked onto
the flying dragons.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!
Dozens of Dragon Slayer Arrows shot into the sky, and within moments, four flying dragons were brought down.
"Accept the judgment of the Holy Light!"
The witch's gaze hardened, and with a swift motion, her staff summoned an A-tier Judgment Spear that fell from the heavens, striking the lead flying dragon with a horrifying 150,000 damage!
With the witch and her team's strength, it was only a matter of time before the flying dragons were defeated.
Orson's view switched as he noticed a familiar figure among the chaos.
The Six-Winged Inferno Dragon was coldly observing the battle. It hadn't made a move yet, but it was clearly searching for a troublesome target.
"Heh, looking for me?" Orson grinned, narrowing his eyes as he turned toward the Crocodile Dragon Rider, who had a fierce, battle-ready expression.
"It's our turn now," Orson said coldly.
Having such a powerful ally, Orson wasn't going to waste this opportunity.
The Crocodile Dragon Rider was level 90, with a whopping 130 million health. His physical strength could rival a peak lower-tier dragon of the same level. Plus, his mount, a terrifying Crocodile Dragon, was capable of widespread poison attacks.
Orson mounted his Crimson Lizard King and charged toward the eastern battlefield, with the Crocodile Dragon Rider following closely behind.
Meanwhile, Orson commanded the witch and her team to push the monsters towards the east.
"Welcome to my hunting ground!" Orson's eyes gleamed with cold intent. If he was going to farm, he was going to farm it to the extreme!
He wanted the Dragon Species Legion to have nowhere to escape—to have no path to heaven, and no door to the earth!
As Orson had predicted, the Earth Dragon Legion was being beaten back by the witch and her forces. When they saw an opening to the east, they immediately attempted to break through.
However, what awaited them was not freedom... but a humanoid dragon—Sky Wolf, the Crocodile Dragon Rider.