Chapter 438: The Dragon God’s Bestowal
“Ha ha ha, that’s right! Between kings, we naturally must go all out!” Olivia roared with laughter, her entire body surging with magic power as she clashed with the boiling water.
The blade in her hand gleamed brightly, golden light gathered at the edge, and the surge of magic power nearly distorted the air itself.
Aen narrowed his eyes and took the initiative to leap off the dragon’s back.
Olivia’s combat style—melding magic, physical strength, and willpower—was clearly rooted in a well-established system of inheritance.
And the Northland? It had only the body.
Not to mention willpower—even its magic was far from fully utilized.
Was this something taught to her?
Or did she simply know it on her own?
Aen suddenly recalled what she had mentioned earlier: Dragon Knights.
Were those knights powerful enough to match dragons?
Did she refer to the dragon from that phantasm species?
Or was it aimed at his own dragon?
Greenwood—truly bountiful, truly a land favored by the Lord.
A sudden wave of fury surged in his heart.
It was the fury of a Northlander forsaken by the Lord, anger at the desolation of his homeland.
The rage surged, coating his horns, claws, and fangs in a faint crimson sheen.
“Roar!” A sudden roar erupted, and a crimson dragon breath burst forth—just looking at it was enough to feel the fury contained within.
It was the will of wrath.
“Haaah!” Olivia shouted, swinging her sword as golden streamers shot skyward and clashed with the crimson breath.
With a thunderous boom, the two forces collided mid-air, erupting into a golden-red sphere, and a shockwave spread outward like a ring.
Olivia narrowed her eyes, gathering strength underfoot as she lunged forward.
With another explosion, the golden-red sphere midair was torn apart from within, and Aen, nearly transformed into a dragon, burst out.
As he saw Olivia rushing toward him, the fury in Aen’s heart deepened.
To dare charge head-on with mere flesh against his dragonized form—such arrogance.
The wrath continued to surge, dyeing the surface of his body in crimson.
Below, the pale-blue magic surrounding Olivia had also been tinged with gold-red—an expression of her will.
The force of Aen’s diving attack forced Olivia to go all out as well.
In that instant, they crossed paths.
Olivia’s sword sliced across Aen’s body, tearing through his scale armor and leaving a deep wound that exposed the bone beneath.
But in return, she took a punch to the side of the face, smashing toward the earth with even greater speed.
Boom! The impact cratered the ground.
“Ha ha ha ha! That’s what I’m talking about!” Olivia lay in the pit, a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth, laughing. She had seen Aen’s awkwardness.
He had ascended to Tier Six in the Northland, but he had never truly encountered the kind of power required at that tier—only his dragonized body was strong enough.
Was it talent?
Or was it the uniqueness of being the King of the Northland?
Olivia could clearly sense that Aen had brushed against the power of will during this battle, but being new to it, he chose to embrace the Wrath of the Northland in order to catch up to her pace.
He had made his will part of the Wrath of the Northland—in other words, used his own body to contain it.
It was a shortcut, of course. A shortcut that only the King of the Northland could use.
But since it was a shortcut, naturally it came at a cost.
If a person’s will was reduced to nothing but pure wrath, then could that person still be called a person?
Olivia suddenly felt a hint of pity.
But she quickly cast that emotion aside. This was a battle—what mattered now was to enjoy the fight. Her ruby-like eyes shone brightly, and the gold-red hue corrupted her magic, erupting with a force known as Olivia’s Will.
The powerful will nearly distorted the space around her. Olivia’s body floated under its influence, slowly rising until she met Aen’s gaze mid-air.
At this moment, Aen’s upper body was bare, only dark-grey dragon scales covering his skin. A deep, bone-exposing wound bled at his chest, and behind him burned wings like crimson flame. Where the wings connected to his back, fleshy tumors throbbed, as though something was being born within.
“Still alive?” Olivia flicked her longsword.
“Rooaar——” A low dragon roar was his only reply. It seemed that the humanoid dragon Aen had lost the power of speech, but his will made his intent clear.
“Ha ha ha ha, very well. I acknowledge you now.” Olivia laughed heartily.
“Rooaar——” Another deep dragon roar, and Aen lunged upward.
“Hah.” Olivia grinned and raised her sword.
Ding! A clear sound rang out as sword met claw. The power within both erupted in an instant, detonating in mid-air.
Boom! The blast sent both of them reeling back. After regaining balance mid-air, they once again clashed.
Their battle mid-air was brutal and straightforward—yet incomparably intense.
And the two dragons did not interfere.
After Aen had leapt off, the Ice Dragon and Fire Dragon soared into the clouds, spiraling around one another. The clouds above twisted like a vortex.
Dragon wills emanated in waves. The falling boiling water corroded the earth, melting the frozen soil—but that will also killed the land.
The dense clouds spread with the mingling of the dragons, eventually blanketing the entirety of the Giant Dragon Mountain Peak. When the boiling water landed on the peak, it turned into freezing cold water, instantly forming thick ice upon contact.
Outside the mountain, the green-skinned Orcs had knelt on the ground, gazing at the distant battle and the stormy sky.
They could clearly see the power of this boiling water—that which rendered the earth dead and silent upon contact.
And yet, even as the heavy clouds loomed overhead, they did not flee the rain. They simply knelt, arms outstretched, welcoming the blessing of the Dragon God Ismir.
To them, this was a bestowal from Ismir to his devout believers.
And as if the boiling water had truly sensed their piety, it did not scald or freeze when falling upon them. It felt just like ordinary rainwater.
But as the water flowed across their bodies, patterns resembling dragon scales began to appear on their skin.
They roared—with pain from the dragon markings etched into them, and with the ecstasy of receiving the Dragon God Ismir’s blessing.
Once the clouds had passed over the Orcs, their expansion slowly halted.
But the vast dark clouds were already visible even from Greenwood.
In the Wallace Territory, the nobles who had finished preparing their armies to invade the Northland stared blankly at the sky. The massive cloud mass could be seen even from their location.
“——What is that?” someone asked in a daze.
But no one answered.