Westminster Bank

Baron stared blankly as the Electric Dragon’s massive Dragon Body collapsed before him. He watched its Dragon Eyes, once golden and brimming with thunderbolts, dim completely, like two lamps gathering dust.

The Trial Takers watched from a distance, not daring to approach. They could only stare blankly as Isabella leaped onto the Electric Dragon’s corpse, carved off its Reverse Scale, and began collecting its Dragon Blood in a special vial.

Silence.

But the silence was broken after a few seconds.

"It’s her! She killed the Electric Dragon!" a Dragon Guide who had just caught up shrieked, looking at the scene.

"Isabella Beowulf... hunting a Third Generation Species head-on. As expected of the legendary Dragon Slaying Maiden. Adam and I losing to her was no disgrace," Gold added, his tone complex.

The faces of the two brothers, Jose and Tune, quickly darkened.

No one was blind, and it went without saying that the eyesight of Law Enforcers who had experienced all manner of Trials was exceptional.

Tune watched as Isabella, spear in hand, walked toward the "stunned" Master Jack. He said in a low voice,

"Our eldest sister is only Bronze Tier... Even with Dragon Mighty..."

Even with Dragon Mighty, it should be impossible for her to single-handedly defeat a Third Generation Species—the equivalent of a Silver Tier—while being tiers below it.

"Didn’t you see?" Jose’s tone was complex. "She drank Dragon Blood."

"Dragon Blood... I remember the Blood Curse... You mean she’s like Grandfather..." Tune trailed off, as if he’d just realized something dreadful.

"The price of the Blood Curse is irreversible Dragon Transformation. This is the curse our ancestor Beowulf received when he hunted the Poison Dragon Glanville. Every time a Dragon Slayer uses Dragon Mighty, a Dragon Scale grows on their body. Each Dragon Transformation makes the Dragon Slayer’s Dragon Mighty even more formidable, until, like Grandfather..."

"They become a Dragon Attendant," Tune finished, supplying the words Jose had left unsaid.

"The Beowulf Family chose the path of the Silver Faction precisely because our family possesses a Secret Technique to suppress Dragon Transformation. But our eldest sister chose the Beast Faction, defying the family. And now, she’s even used Dragon Blood to provoke her own Blood Curse, making her Dragon Mighty even stronger..."

Jose let out a gloomy sigh. "It looks like we can only aim for second place in this Dragon Spear Baptism."

’All those Dragon Scales she snatched, plus the prestige from single-handedly killing a Third Generation Species... It proves that even without the support of the family Elders, my eldest sister has, by her own strength, become a major obstacle on my path to becoming Patriarch.’

* * *

Isabella came to stand before him, deactivating her Beastification. Faint purple Dragon Scales still covered her face.

Baron still hadn’t snapped out of it. The Electric Dragon’s words, spoken just before the Red Spear pierced its forehead, were still echoing in his mind.

No one else had heard the Electric Dragon’s words. Only he had.

To everyone else, whether they were Trial Takers or Dragon Guides, the Electric Dragon’s words were merely the meaningless roars of a dying beast.

But to Baron’s ears, that roar had instantly taken on a different meaning.

’"You’re still alive... Emperor."... What does that mean?’

’Who is this Emperor? Dragon God Pulansantos? Or someone else? Or did the Electric Dragon read something from the Red Dragon Aura on me? Something like the pheromones ants use to communicate?’

’Damn, the Dragon Scales on Isabella’s face look so cool... Wait, she seems to have reversed her Dragon Transformation. Is it Dragon Fever? Doesn’t look like it. Maybe I should have her drink some of my blood to test... No, that would expose me.’

’But I could put my blood in a vial and trick her into drinking it, calling it a special brew... After all, based on the diary and how she’s acted these past few days, besides having those typical ’warlike,’ ’domineering,’ and ’unscrupulous’ traits that powerful women like her have, she seems trustworthy enough.’

Isabella tossed the Electric Dragon’s scale to Baron, who was still lost in a whirlwind of thoughts, and ordered, "Your work is finished. Go collect the Dragon Scales from those we made the wager with. I’ll remove your shackles afterward."

"Are you talking about the scales on my face? Master Jack, I didn’t realize you were such a mother hen."

Isabella touched the Dragon Scales on her face and said casually, "This is all part of the necessary preparations."

「Thirty minutes later.」

On the peak of a high mountain in the inner circle, Baron looked at the Alchemy Array that had trapped him and at Isabella, who had the tip of her Red Spear pressed to the brow of his mask. He gave a bitter smile.

"Miss Isabella, was turning on me part of your ’necessary preparations’?"

"This isn’t a misunderstanding, Master Jack. It’s not a betrayal, just a necessary verification."

The speaker was Taoist Nun Lucy, the one who had laid out the Alchemy Array.

She held an apple in one hand and a Compass in the other. On the Compass, a Tai Chi Bagua Diagram spun slowly. A small paper effigy had been placed upon it—a representation of Baron inside the Array.

"Verify what? Whether I’m a Dragon Guide? I’ve already been honest with you about my identity, Miss Isabella. There’s no need for this. Even if I haven’t accomplished any great feats on this journey, I’ve at least pulled my weight..."

Baron felt the spear tip press deeper into his mask. He stared into the woman’s eyes—a deep blue flecked with gold. "Why?"

Isabella said in a low voice, "Why did the Thunder Wolf Dragon Group suddenly flee the moment we appeared?"

"Perhaps it was your Dragon Mighty, Miss Isabella, or the cry of a High Tier Dragon Descendant."

’That’s not what she asked last time. She’s changing her angle, trying to dig for the root of the problem. A woman’s intuition?’ Baron grew wary.

He didn’t want to expose his identity to Isabella if he could help it.

First, he wasn’t sure if she could be trusted.

This wasn’t some fantasy novel. They hadn’t spent that much time together, and their relationship was nothing more than a partnership of convenience.