Chapter 244
Chapter 244. Return, and Battle
Above the Kroll Royal Capital, the clouds churned endlessly as they were stirred by a powerful aura.
Eight enormous Domain-level dragons with oppressive auras were circling in the sky. Their dragon scales flashed with a metallic sheen beneath the sunlight, and every beat of their wings stirred howling gales.
In front of the dragons, a young man dressed in fitted green martial attire stood with his hands behind his back, hovering steadily in midair. He was none other than the contractor of these dragons.
Inside the palace, William stood on the terrace and looked up at the figure in the sky. The corners of his mouth rose into a smile of their own accord as he said softly, “He has finally grown into someone capable.”
The young man had clearly sensed William’s aura. His gaze immediately turned toward the terrace, and his figure moved at once, diving down like an arrow loosed from the string. In a few rises and falls, he arrived before William.
With a thud, he dropped to both knees before William and performed a proper grand salute, his voice filled with gratitude.
“Thank you, Your Highness, for your years of cultivation. If not for Your Highness’s trust, I, an ordinary Beast Tamer, would never have had the chance to contract Domain-level dragons, let alone achieve what I have today.”
William reached out and helped him up, his tone gentle yet filled with approval.
“Rise. This was mainly because you yourself were worthy of it.”
“I did not expect you to not only successfully contract dragons, but also break through to the Domain Realm along the way. It seems sending you to Dragon Island for training back then was indeed the correct choice.”
A trace of shyness appeared on the young man’s face, along with some emotion.
“Because of Your Highness, the Great Elder of Dragon Island valued me greatly and gave me a drop of treasured Dragon Whisker Grass Liquid.”
“After I consumed it, when I formed contracts with these eight Domain-level dragons, I borrowed the impact of the energy they transmitted to me and was fortunate enough to break through my shackles and advance to the Domain Realm.”
“It is just...”
He paused, and a trace of relief flashed through his eyes.
“This advancement was entirely achieved through external force. My foundation is stable, but I have also reached my limit. It will be difficult for me to improve any further in the future. Still, being able to reach this point is already more than enough for me.”
William nodded and patted his shoulder.
“To reach this step is already a height that many can only look up to. There is no need to force more.”
“After returning, rest properly first. The Dragon Nest was prepared for your dragons long ago. Let them settle down there first.”
The young man nodded in response, then seemed to remember something and asked, “By the way, Your Highness, where are the others who went out to train with me? Why have I not seen them?”
William smiled, and a trace of mystery flashed through his eyes.
“A’gu and Ling are currently training in the Steel Heart Legion. As for the other fellows...”
“You do not need to know too much for now. When it is time for you to meet them, you will naturally see them. In any case, their growth is not inferior to yours in the slightest.”
When Laird heard this, a trace of curiosity flashed through his eyes, but he did not ask further.
He knew that His Highness naturally had his own arrangements, so he bowed respectfully.
“Then this subordinate will go settle the dragons first and return later to report to Your Highness.”
William waved a hand and watched the young man turn away. Then he raised his head again and looked toward the eight dragons slowly flying toward the Dragon Nest, his gaze gradually deepening.
The wings of the Kroll Kingdom were becoming fuller little by little, and this was only the beginning.
That fellow training in the Elf Forest should be returning soon as well...
At that moment, a dark figure appeared like a ghost at the edge of the terrace and knelt on one knee. It was a Shadow Guard.
His voice was low and urgent as he reported, “Your Majesty, we have just received intelligence from the front. Dragon Mother Daenerys has led her forces deep into the Secret Realm of the Reinhardt Kingdom. At this moment, she is locked in fierce battle with the royal remnants hidden within the Secret Realm.”
“Judging from the news sent back, our forces hold the advantage, and the battle is currently progressing well.”
William’s fingers lightly tapped the stone railing of the terrace. After listening, he slowly nodded, and a trace of consideration flashed through his eyes.
“Those royal descendants of Reinhardt had many powerful figures among their ancestors, after all. Most of them have decent aptitude. If they can be made useful to me, they will also become a force.”
“Pass down the order. Capture those who can be captured alive. There is no need to exterminate them all.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the Shadow Guard replied in a deep voice.
William waved a hand, signaling him to withdraw.
The Shadow Guard’s figure flickered, then vanished silently on the spot as though melting into the shadows, leaving only a faint chill in the air.
Only William remained on the terrace. He looked at the drifting clouds on the distant horizon, and a meaningful smile curved his lips.
The battle in Reinhardt’s Secret Realm was both a reckoning and an opportunity. As for how much could be harvested in the end, that would depend on Daenerys’s methods.
William turned and walked back into the palace, his steps calm and steady.
The final piece needed to annex the Reinhardt Kingdom was about to fall into place.
What came next would be to organize the postwar territory, pacify the people, integrate resources, and make this newly incorporated kingdom truly become part of Kroll’s system.
He returned to the throne and lightly tapped his fingers on the armrest. In his mind, he had already begun planning the administrative and military deployments that would follow.
At last, he would be able to bring an entire kingdom fully under his control.
Meanwhile, inside the Reinhardt Secret Realm, the battle situation suddenly reversed.
Seeing that the royal remnants were retreating step by step, determination flashed in the eyes of several Legendary powerhouses of Reinhardt. At the same time, they consumed an emergency potion that gave off black vapor.
The instant the potion entered their bodies, auras far beyond what they had possessed before erupted from them. Their bones cracked and popped, and their bodies swelled by several degrees. It was clearly the sign of a forced advancement into pseudo-Domain powerhouses.
“Fight them to the death!”
A pseudo-Domain powerhouse roared and joined the three original Domain elders. More than a dozen powerful auras intertwined, forming a terrifying pressure, and they launched a fierce assault toward Dragon Mother Daenerys together.
Daenerys’s gaze sharpened. The giant dragon beneath her let out an enraged roar, spread its wings, and charged forward.
Dragon breath and magic collided. Domain Power and pseudo-Domain energy exploded. The space of the entire Secret Realm trembled violently.
At the same time, within the enormous ancient castle deep in the Secret Realm, the mages of the Golden Legions chanted battle songs, and magic shields advanced like golden tides.
The Sky Knight Orders rode griffins and broke through the castle’s dome, their long spears flashing with cold light as they stabbed toward the guards.
The two sides began a brutal slaughter in the castle’s corridors, halls, and courtyards.
The clang of metal collisions, the roar of magical explosions, the pained cries of the wounded, and the deathbed roars of the dying intertwined without end, pushing this battle in the Secret Realm to its fiercest point.
The Golden Knight Order that the Reinhardt royal family had painstakingly cultivated could be considered elite, but before the organized Golden Legions of the Kroll Kingdom, they were utterly unable to withstand a single blow.
The moment the two sides clashed, tears were ripped through the Golden Knight Order’s formation one after another. The mages’ combined spellcasting swept through them like a storm breaking rotten wood, and the knights’ armor shattered one after another beneath the dense magical attacks.
After holding out for barely more than ten minutes, the Golden Knight Order completely collapsed. The soldiers were either dead or wounded, and those who remained had lost their will to resist and fled in all directions.
Seeing that the overall situation was lost, several surviving core members of the royal family, under the cover of a group of Sky Mages, took advantage of the chaos on the battlefield and broke toward the depths of the Secret Realm.
The Sky Mages released mist magic to obscure vision and did everything they could to block the pursuers’ attacks, roaring as they fought.
“Protect Their Highnesses and get them out! We must preserve the royal family’s bloodline!”
They struggled out of the range of the giant castle and sprinted all the way toward the Secret Realm’s exit. There was only one thought in their minds: escape from this desperate land and head to the small Secret Realms the royal family had secretly opened in earlier years to take temporary refuge.
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