Chapter 6 : Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Dragon's Majesty
The voice was not loud, yet like a red-hot iron awl, it stabbed viciously into this canvas woven from despair and deathly silence.
All surviving soldiers, including the Howling Wind Wolf King that was about to enjoy its spoils of war, looked toward the source.
They saw that slender young lord who had been deliberately or unconsciously ignored by them from beginning to end—Caesar Valerius—slowly walking out from the wagon's shadow.
The ground beneath his feet was soaked with blood and mud, yet his boots made not a single unnecessary sound as they stepped upon it.
As if he were not walking among corpses and blood, but strolling through his own back garden.
“My lord! Quick… run!”
The one-eyed veteran closest to him roared with the last of his strength.
He wanted to crawl over and drag this young master who didn't know the height of heaven or the depth of earth back to safety, but the severe pain in his chest and blood loss left him without even the strength to lift a finger.
The other survivors also wore expressions of shock and confusion.
Had this young master gone mad? Even Sir Roland had been defeated in a single strike—what was he, a frail youth who wasn't even a Squire Knight, going to do? Seek death?
The Howling Wind Wolf King also stopped in its tracks. It tilted its head slightly, its blood-red wolf eyes revealing a trace of humanlike doubt.
It could sense that this tiny insect before it had almost no energy fluctuations, as weak as a rabbit it could swallow in one bite.
Where did this courage come from, to dare provoke a monarch of the wastes?
Caesar paid no attention to anyone's cries or the Wolf King's scrutiny.
He simply gazed calmly at that silver magical beast larger than a warhorse, then, under everyone's horrified stares, raised his right arm.
“Crack… crack…”
A sound that made one's scalp tingle, like bones growing yet also like metal grinding, came from his right arm!
Pitch-black diamond-shaped scales edged with cold metallic luster, like eternal night itself, suddenly burst through the skin of his right arm!
They did not appear chaotically, but surged forth, extended, and interlocked layer upon layer in perfect geometric order!
The moment blood seeped out, it was instantly vaporized by dark red magical patterns emerging on the scales, transforming into wisps of white vapor.
In the blink of an eye, from the back of his right hand, to his forearm, to his entire shoulder, and even covering half his chest, everything was completely wrapped in these savage yet magnificent black dragon scales!
These were not cold armor, but body tissue belonging to the legendary apex predator, growing from his own flesh and blood, bearing sharp barbs!
BOOM—!
An indescribable aura—mixed with antiquity, primordial wildness, and absolute sovereign dominance—erupted like an invisible shockwave with Caesar's body at its center!
This pressure was not aimed at humans.
The surviving veterans merely felt an inexplicable palpitation, their legs going weak, hearts racing wildly, as if glimpsed by some terrifying existence. Their very souls trembled, unable to suppress the urge to kneel in submission.
But for the wolf pack, this was no different from the sky collapsing and earth splitting!
“Aooo…”
Several Dread Wolves closest to him couldn't even produce a cry of grief. Their ghostly green pupils instantly lost focus, and they were actually frightened into convulsions by this pressure originating from the deepest, highest point of their bloodline, foaming at the mouth, fainting dead away on the spot!
The wolf pack further away fell into tremendous chaos and panic.
They clamped their tails between their legs, prostrating on the ground, emitting continuous whimpers from their throats, bodies shaking like chaff. Gone was all trace of their previous savagery, as if sinners witnessing divine punishment descend.
And the Howling Wind Wolf King suffered the most violent impact!
Every hair of its silvery coat stood on end as it released from deep in its throat a growl filled with both rage and fear.
It could clearly sense that the wind elemental power that normally flowed freely within its body had become sluggish and heavy under this pressure, as if mired in a swamp, extremely difficult to mobilize!
Even the speed it took such pride in seemed invisibly shackled and bound!
This was absolute crushing from a higher life tier! The instinctive fear of the food chain's bottom for its apex predator!
For the first time, the intelligence and contempt faded from its blood-red wolf eyes, replaced by pure terror and wariness.
From this tiny human before it, it scented the aura of death capable of tearing apart both its body and soul!
“Dragon… dragon scales…”
Roland, collapsed beneath the wagon wheel, struggled to open one eye, just in time to witness this scene. His clouded pupils erupted with unprecedented shock and fervor.
“It's the Valerius family's… divine bloodline! Awakened… he's awakened!”
Caesar paid no mind to the reactions of those around him.
He simply slowly clenched his right fist, now completely covered in dragon scales.
“BANG!”
A muffled air explosion erupted from his palm.
He could feel an unprecedented, explosive power capable of splitting mountains and cracking stone surging and roaring through this arm.
This was the power of dragon descent.
Even with only one arm awakened.
He raised his head, his deep purple eyes reflecting the Howling Wind Wolf King's uncertain figure.
“A First-Order Magical Beast—perfect for testing the weight of this new arm of mine.”
He murmured softly, the corner of his mouth curving into an icy arc.
He knew the deterrent effect of bloodline pressure was strongest only upon first encounter.
He had to finish this quickly!
Before his words even faded, the frozen earth beneath his feet suddenly collapsed and cracked inward!
His entire body, without a single unnecessary movement, transformed into a straight black line, charging directly toward that massive creature at a speed far exceeding the Wolf King's earlier display!
The Howling Wind Wolf King's ferocity was provoked by Caesar's action, its fear suppressed by its pride as a magical beast monarch.
It opened its gaping maw, and a cyan crescent-shaped wind blade compressed from high-speed energy streams instantly took form!
But due to the suppression of the dragon's might, this wind blade was nearly half its normal size, and its speed had dropped a notch as well.
Even so, this wind blade still carried a sharp whistling sound as it slashed toward Caesar's head!
Facing this wind blade capable of easily cutting through steel plates, Caesar neither dodged nor evaded.
He didn't even use his dragon-scale-covered right arm to block, but instead raised his completely undefended left hand.
Just as the wind blade was about to strike his body, a… small round shield gleaming with golden light, formed from hundreds of gold coins instantly compressed and stacked through telekinesis, appeared out of nowhere before his left palm!
DING—!!!
The wind blade struck the gold coin shield, producing a crisp clash, and was actually deflected!
The gold coin shield also instantly shattered, falling as a rain of gold, but this had already bought Caesar precious time.
The Dimensional Warehouse—at will with a thought!
He had to utilize everything currently available to create suitable opportunities for himself.
Taking advantage of the instant the wind blade was blocked, Caesar's figure had already ghosted close to the Wolf King!
The Howling Wind Wolf King reacted extremely quickly, raising its right claw wreathed in cyan light like lightning. Its five claws, like five poisoned daggers, tore through the air with a sharp whistle, striking toward Caesar's heart!
Caesar advanced instead of retreating. His right shoulder dipped slightly, and that dragon arm covered in savage black scales, like a siege battering ram, swung upward from below to meet the wolf claw, striking out ferociously!
On one side, the magical beast's claw infused with elemental power.
On the other side, the legendary creature's dragon fist containing primordial might.
The most primitive, most savage collision!
BOOM—!!!
A tremendous crash, as if two pieces of steel colliding at high speed!
Yet the result exceeded everyone's expectations.
The Howling Wind Wolf King's claws, capable of crushing rock, produced a teeth-grinding “CRACK” the instant they contacted the black dragon scales!
Its five indestructible claws, like glass striking diamond, shattered clean off at the roots!
Dark green beast blood sprayed forth!
“AOOOO—!”
A piercing shriek issued from this magical beast monarch's mouth for the first time.
But Caesar's offensive was not yet finished.
Having shattered the wolf claw with one punch, his black dragon arm showed no hesitation whatsoever. Following through, his five fingers spread open like an iron clamp, gripping with perfect precision around the Howling Wind Wolf King's lower jaw, forced open by pain!
“Nngh… nngh…”
The Howling Wind Wolf King struggled frantically, its massive body erupting with astonishing strength, trying to break free from the hold.
But that seemingly small human hand was like a mountain welded to its lower jaw, utterly immovable!
The all-around suppression from the dragon bloodline rendered it completely unable to exert its full strength!
“It's over.”
Caesar spoke icy words.
The muscles of his right arm gripping the Wolf King's jaw suddenly bulged, his waist generating power. With an incredibly savage over-the-shoulder throw, he violently swung this behemoth weighing a thousand pounds completely into the air!
BOOM—!!!
The Howling Wind Wolf King's massive body traced a desperate arc through the air as Caesar, with unimaginable violent force, slammed it heavily onto the bonfire blazing in the center of the camp!
Flames, charcoal, and scalding ash scattered in all directions.
The Howling Wind Wolf King was stunned senseless by this impact, its bones seemingly all scattered. Its silver-white fur instantly ignited, producing a nauseating burnt stench.
It struggled to rise, but a black figure had already followed like a shadow, descending from above.
Caesar's knee, wrapped in indestructible dragon scales, fell with tremendous force, striking precisely and viciously upon the Howling Wind Wolf King's neck!
“CRACK!”
An exceptionally crisp sound of breaking bone echoed throughout the deathly silent camp.
The Howling Wind Wolf King's massive body jerked violently. In its blood-red eyes, that last trace of spirit rapidly dimmed and dissipated.
The First-Order Magical Beast, Howling Wind Wolf King, was dead.
Caesar slowly rose from the Wolf King's corpse. The black dragon scales on his right arm glinted with a cold light in the firelight, like a demon god descending to the mortal world.
He surveyed his surroundings. Those originally savage Dread Wolves, at the instant their king died, had their last shred of fighting spirit collapse. They fled into the darkness one after another, not daring even to look back, leaving only a field of their companions' corpses.
In the camp, a deathly silence.
The twenty-some surviving veterans, every single one, threw down the weapons in their hands.
They did not kneel, but stood in a daze, gazing at that blood-soaked youth standing atop the Wolf King's corpse with eyes that viewed a deity—fanatical, awed, yet disbelieving.
That “waste” young master they had scorned for eighteen years, mocked for eighteen years.
The one-eyed veteran's lips trembled. He wanted to say something, yet couldn't utter a single word.
Finally, using all his remaining strength, he knelt on one knee and lowered his head.
“My lord…”
He started, and the rest of the survivors awakened as from a dream, following suit one after another, kneeling in waves.
“My lord!”
This time, the form of address was utterly different from any before.