Ember Dragon

Adrian raised his sword high, and the blade resonated with the rising red sun in the sky, releasing bursts of dazzling light. He shouted loudly: "Everyone - do you see it? The Lord of Eternal Light, the great Sun God, has not abandoned us!"

"We Seleucids, no, Fadrans will never surrender to the cruel dragon, for the sake of the sun!"

"For the sun!"

The soldiers following Adrian were the first to raise their weapons and shout.

Then, the cheers spread like wildfire. Duke Franz's personal guards, the Green Valley garrison, and even the townspeople who still believed in the sun god all cheered, and their armor rubbed against each other, making a noisy sound.

In the end, even the players who came from afar were infected by this emotion and cheered along with the natives, but mixed with some messy slogans like "For the Dragon Girl".

But after the cheers, the tens of thousands of players who were teleported over fell into chaos.

"I killed this green dragon! Its heart belongs to me!"

"Whoever grabs it belongs to whoever grabs it!"

"Be careful, someone is using invisibility to steal our equipment while we're not paying attention. I can smell him!"

"Whoever sees it gets a share. Whoever sees it gets a share. How can this be called stealing?"

"Brothers, go ahead! Beat this guy till he's crippled! See if he dares to steal again next time!"

They plundered and scrambled for the broken corpses on the battlefield like vultures, sparing no matter whether they were friendly or enemy, and even fought each other for it. The aftermath of the battle almost affected the townspeople.

Around the dragon corpses and precious equipment, the players from the wealthy guilds present also began to fight. They attacked each other in an organized manner, with bullets pouring down and shells exploding, creating quite a noise.

This is the Seleucid Kingdom. Without the constraints of imperial laws, players can let go and engage in passionate PK.

And even after the war is over, the number of players teleported here through the magic circle is still increasing. After all, the Seleucid Kingdom is a rare "new map", and there are many players who are curious and want to explore more.

Adrian looked at the increasingly chaotic battlefield and felt it was ridiculous - they were comrades fighting side by side just now, but now they were trying to kill each other and fight just for a little bit of spoils.

"This is so weird." He couldn't help shaking his head.

Just then, two players clashed with each other, one of them wearing a slender robe and the other wearing heavy kinetic armor.

"You guys from Magic Coin have robbed the ancient dragons, and you're here to snatch them from us. You're so greedy!"

"We took it down ourselves!"

The mage player swung his staff and a huge fireball blasted into the air, while the Mechanicus player extended a bazooka from behind, and four rockets flew out of it, trailing thick smoke and shooting towards the mage.

"Boom! Boom!"

"boom!"

For a moment, flames splashed everywhere, and broken rocks exploded dozens of meters away, hitting the townspeople in the distance, causing them to scream in panic.

"Nonsense, this is just child's play!"

Duke Franz roared and raised the giant sword that was as big as a door panel to block the flying debris. He swung the sword in the air again, and a strong storm rushed straight into the sky, directly tearing apart the explosion in the distance.

He turned around and looked at Adrian: "We can't go on like this. If we let these guys from the north continue to cause trouble, the situation in Green Valley will only get worse. Not only will the Dragon Worship Cult take advantage of the chaos to attack us, but innocent people will also be affected!"

"Who is their leader? Who can control these guys?"

Adrian hesitated for a moment, then replied awkwardly, "Maybe it was the Burning Emperor?"

Fortunately, at this moment, a very intimidating roar came from the distant sky, which instantly overwhelmed all the sounds present, interrupted their conversation, and rescued Adrian.

Both the players and the natives looked towards the source of the sound, and saw a tall girl with long fiery red hair walking out of the portal above the stone tablet.

Behind her was the shadow of a red dragon as tall as a mountain, with its head held high and its bloody mouth wide open - the dragon's roar came from there.

The identity of this girl is naturally self-evident—Misha, the Duke of the Empire, the owner of the Tower of Hellfire, and the Empire's first Dragon Bond Warlock.

"Such a strong pressure. The oppressive feeling she brings to me is no less than that of the ancient green dragon, or even more terrifying." Duke Franz looked at the girl in the sky with a serious expression and subconsciously clenched the giant sword.

After seeing this young warlock, Duke Franz felt the pressure of facing an ancient dragon, or even an ancient dragon.

Adrian finally breathed a sigh of relief, and introduced her to Duke Franz, "She is Duke Misha, who should be the emperor's confidant. It was she who rescued me a few days ago and gave me the qualification to meet the emperor.

Although this duke looks young, his status in the empire cannot be underestimated, and he should be able to control these crazy guys."

Duke Franz narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice: "I know that she has such blood. She is just like a red dragon in human skin. In a country where dragons rule the earth, how can her status be low?"

Under the gazes of countless people, some fearful and some questioning, Misha looked down at the crowd below, took out a token with intricate patterns carved on it from her sleeve, and said in a cold voice: "Here is the Burning Edict, just as if His Majesty Cassius had come in person—"

"Anyone who attacks or kills each other will have 15,000 points of contribution deducted from their camp! A fine of 500 gold nars!"

"If any guild violates this rule, 8,000 guild level points will be deducted! A fine of 10,000 gold nars will be imposed!"

In an instant, the battlefield, which was originally full of roar and noise, became silent. The players who were fighting each other a few seconds ago were now standing together like brothers.

The guilds that had just been attacking and organizing each other now seemed like a family, and even took the initiative to help each other clean up the battlefield. The scene was peaceful and harmonious.

Players don't want to be burdened with heavy debts because of a mission, and guilds are even more cautious, fearing that their guild level will be lowered and they will lose many of their original privileges and benefits.

Adrian and Duke Franz were both stunned and didn't know what to say for a moment.

This fierce dispute was ended with just a few words?
The players who were fighting for their lives just now changed their dispositions and became a group of good citizens after hearing the words of the duke.

Is this reasonable?

Could it be that Duke Misha's status in the empire is far higher than they imagined?
However, the next scene shocked them even more. Hundreds of players knelt on the ground, bowed down in worship, and shouted in unison: "Master Misha, please whip me hard! Dragon Lady is so awesome!"

One player knelt on one knee, pulled out a ring from somewhere, and shouted, "Wife, marry me!"

Some even threw themselves to the ground in a frenzy, mumbling incoherently, but two words stood out clearly: "Mom!"

Even the fellow players were speechless and could not bear to watch. After holding it in for a long time, they finally uttered a sentence: "This is what Junior Wa is like."

Adrian stroked his chin, thinking: "Is this the way the Imperials show respect?"

Misha resisted the urge to burn these players to ashes, and slowly descended from the sky to come in front of Adrian and Franz.

"Nice to meet you again, Earl Adrian. It seems that our cooperation is quite pleasant."

Adrian nodded in greeting and responded, "Thank you for your help, Duke Misha. It was you who saved me from danger last time."

Misha said coldly: "You should thank the Empire and His Majesty Cassius. If there were no reinforcements from the Empire, Green Valley Town would have become a ruin!"

Duke Franz took a step forward and said in a bad tone: "Even without these lunatics, we Seleucids can still rely on our tenacious fighting will to drive the evil dragons and their followers out of Green Valley Town! Drive them out of Fadlan's territory!"

When talking about "the territory of Fadland", the Duke seemed to deliberately emphasize his tone, and every word was particularly firm and powerful.

Misha was not angry, but sneered, looked at Adrian, and asked provocatively: "Who is this——"

Adrian noticed that the smell of Mars in the air was getting stronger and stronger, so he quickly stood between the two of them and said hastily, "This is Duke Franz, a general of the Seleucid Kingdom and a hero who fought against the Byron Church."

Misha snorted coldly, "A general who was defeated by the Dragon Worship Church all the way to the border is worthy of being called a hero? How ridiculous."

"You--" A flash of anger flashed in Duke Franz's eyes.

Misha said calmly, "You want to fight against the Green Dragon Army with only a few thousand men? It's wishful thinking. If it weren't for the reinforcements from the Empire, Green Valley Town would have been reduced to ruins long ago.

But instead of being grateful to the Empire, you are hostile to it - who gave you the confidence? Was it your ragtag army?"

In fact, this is indeed the case in the original history.

Duke Franz led his personal soldiers to defend Green Valley Town to the death, and eventually died together with the ancient green dragon. The Battle of Green Valley Town is also known as "The Last Elegy of the Seleucids."

Misha sneered again and continued, "Franz, in the face of absolute strength, no matter how strong your will is, it is useless. Within a thousand miles, only the Empire has the strength and confidence to help you. You should recognize this."

In fact, even Duke Franz himself knew that the Seleucid Kingdom had been corrupted to the core by the Church of the Dragon, and they were in dire need of assistance from other forces - even if that force was the Burning Empire.

But after experiencing that horrific dragon disaster, Duke Franz developed an extremely deep and difficult to eliminate hostility towards dragons and dragon descendants.

He didn't believe that these greedy guys with dragon blood would selflessly help them fight against the Dragon Worship Church.

Adrian stood up and advised: "My Lord Duke, the situation in Seleucia is precarious now, and the Dragon Worship Church is still wreaking havoc in the country. Please put the overall situation first."

'Big picture'

Franz sighed and finally stopped showing any hostility, temporarily accepting this temporary ally.

Misha still looked cold and arrogant, seemingly not caring about their reactions, with disgust in her pale golden pupils: "I know you all have prejudices against Dragonborn, but so what?

Thank the great and merciful Majesty Cassius. If it weren't for the master's personal order, I would never help you hypocritical and disgusting human nobles."

In Misha's eyes, most of the human nobles were like the northern nobles - greedy, stupid, arrogant, and should have been physically destroyed by the Burning Emperor long ago.

Adrian was a little embarrassed, but still laughed dryly and said, "Everyone, let's not talk about those irrelevant things, let's discuss the next cooperation first."

Misha nodded proudly, and Duke Franz responded in a muffled voice.

Adrian took out a map and pointed at the red circles all over the map and said, "The Church of the Dragon has occupied most of the territory of Seleucid. Although they have lost this time, they will not give up and will definitely launch a more intense siege against us rebels."

Duke Franz stroked his beard and said in a deep voice: "We can station troops in the southern canyon to resist the invasion of the Dragon Worship Church and defend the Green Valley Town area."

Adrian shook his head: "Defending blindly will only hand over the opportunity to the other side. If we just stay where we are, the power of the Dragon Worship Church will only continue to expand, becoming more powerful and more rampant."

Misha said in a stern voice: "My master, the supreme Majesty Cassius once said that offense is the best defense. The Empire's Starfalls can fully undertake the offensive mission and launch indiscriminate attacks on the towns occupied by the Dragon Worship Church."

Adrian shook his head again and retorted, "No, that would spread our forces too thin. The Dragon Worship Church has far more cultists and dragon beasts than we do."

"In that case." Duke Franz squinted his eyes and looked at the map for a while, then pointed firmly at a city circled in red in the south of Green Valley Town: "We will concentrate all our forces to attack Linying City and take it back at all costs."

"why?"

Misha asked, her eyes full of doubt.

Duke Franz was particularly confident and calmly replied, "It is a major military town in the northwest of Seleucia, the confluence of rivers, the source of the Ash Swamp - and the location of the largest dragon breeding ground within a hundred miles.

If we occupy that place, the tension in the entire north, no, the entire Seleucid will be eased, the dragon beast breeding rate of the Dragon Worship Church will be greatly reduced, and even the rituals of the Mother of Dragons will be affected. "

Adrian's eyes hesitated. "But... once we attack Linying City, the Lord of the Rotten Swamp will do everything in his power to stop us. I'm afraid all the green dragons in the north will appear there."

Duke Franz glanced at him and said, "This will just solve the urgent needs of other regions and give the alliance enough breathing space."

Misha's golden eyes were full of confidence. She said in a high-spirited tone, "Then attack Linying City. Under the power of the empire, any city is vulnerable. Moreover... His Majesty said that if he encounters an enemy that he cannot fight, he will personally kill it."

Hearing this, Adrian and Franz were both shocked. They absolutely did not want the most powerful dragon in the material plane to appear in Seleucia. Even as an ally, it would probably bring endless disasters.

After all... that was the Burning Emperor, the Lord of Thunder and Fire, the Dragon of Natural Disasters. According to legend, he was as big as a mountain and could cause landslides, cracks in the ground, and magma tsunamis with just a wave of his hand. (End of this chapter)