Chapter 290 - 285: Smash the Glass as a Signal
Leon knew the location of the Emerald Corridor only through the map.
Northeast of Watchtower Port, adjacent to a vast forest of the Talia Alliance, spanning perhaps hundreds of thousands of square kilometers—an area as large as half a province on Earth.
With such an expanse, even if Leon flew thousands or tens of thousands of meters into the sky to survey the land, unless Slankus noticed him and actively came up to the sky, finding the nest wouldn’t be an easy task—especially if the nest was concealed with care. Even if it were a grand palace conspicuously erected in the open, locating it would still pose challenges.
But now, with Hinton as his guide—since the Green Dragon’s territory bordered the Emerald Corridor and Slankus undoubtedly knew the area well—Leon quickly found Slankus’s lair.
The nest was colossal, occupying a terrain space equivalent to several municipal zones, surrounded by towering ancient trees and impenetrable vines, as though it had naturally grown from the forest itself.
Leon, following Hinton, descended near the center of the lair, standing before an ancient tree that rose over one hundred and nearly two hundred meters tall.
At a glance, the tree’s trunk—several dozen meters in diameter—had been hollowed out and remodeled into a hall, unmistakably a place meant for Slankus in his human form.
The sprawling canopy spread over hundreds of meters, its tangled and twisted foliage forming a vaulted semi-oval structure—a grand edifice that could comfortably accommodate a dragon’s lounging. Numerous observation decks overlooked the forest, surveying the territory, monitoring potential threats. Such spots were undoubtedly where Slankus rested in his dragon form.
Upon closer inspection, the tree’s bark was coated with sticky, ink-green sap exuding a sweet yet corrupt stench. The ground where the roots pierced leaked murky green waters, mutating the nearby flora into thorned tentacles and carnivorous blossoms.
"This banyan tree once served as a sacred site for the Wood Elves. After Slankus seized it, he twisted it into its current state," Hinton explained.
"Not bad to look at," Leon remarked, glancing around. The aerial roots of the massive banyan tree hung to the ground like giant serpents, weaving into a network mid-air—forming natural sky corridors and traps. Due to his human soul, Leon couldn’t help but greedily imagine taking the tree back to the Volcanic Island.