Ember Dragon

Within seconds of the Blue Dragonborn Ambush appearing on the Imperial lines, a golden dragon flapped its wings and descended from the sky with a howling wind, pinning the monster, which resembled a hybrid of a wolverine and a blue dragon, firmly to the ground with its massive claws.

"Ow—"

The blue dragon descendant ambusher twisted its body and struggled frantically, but it could not budge the golden dragon's claws at all. Instead, it was pressed down even harder, spitting out streams of blood and foam, and the cracking sound of its bones breaking came from its body.

The golden dragon looked down at the monster with disgust and contempt, and said in a cold voice, "Descendant of the Evil Dragon. I didn't expect there to be more and more of these disgusting things."

A brass dragon landed beside him, looked at the blue dragon progenitor pinned under its claws, and sighed, "Yes, these filthy monsters lurk everywhere in the Taliro Desert, more than rats in the ground, and they've caused us quite a bit of trouble."

"Ferdinand, let's get rid of him cleanly and efficiently. Every one of these destructive and murderous bastards is a huge contribution to Fianso."

Upon hearing this, the golden dragon known as "Ferdinand" did not hesitate to increase its strength, directly crushing the blue dragon descendant ambush into a pulp, with blood and bits of flesh splattering all over the ground.

Meanwhile, Singo, who had been listening to the conversation, leaned forward with a fawning smile and asked respectfully, "Lord Ferdinand, we have indeed just returned from Tarilor and encountered quite a few similar monsters. What are their origins?"

The adult golden dragon raised its chin slightly, displaying a proud and noble posture like the golden dragons in all poems. It lowered its eyes, its gaze gleaming, and scrutinized the red dragon warrior with a critical look: "As a red dragon descendant, don't you know the origins of these evil dragon descendants?"

Singo shook his head sincerely: "My lord, we are not born of dragons, but are the lucky ones blessed by His Majesty Caesus."

The golden dragon then withdrew its gaze and said calmly, "A filthy descendant of the evil dragon, a harbinger of destruction, a child of the curse, born from a dragon blessed by Tiamat, the most lowly of all dragon beasts."

Their birth was originally an extremely rare occurrence, but several years ago, a group of cultists used various blasphemous rituals to allow the Dragon Queen's divine power to permeate the material world. Subsequently, countless descendants of evil dragons were born, bringing chaos to the world.

Singo asked, "Is it possible for us to destroy these descendants of evil dragons at their source?"

“It’s very difficult.” The golden dragon shook its enormous head and said in a deep voice, “Their lairs are hidden deep underground, often gathering dozens or even hundreds of evil dragon descendants. Even true dragons like us would be in danger of losing our lives if we rashly entered.”

"Underground?"

Singo lowered his head in thought, a glint of light flashing in his eyes. After a long while, he raised his head and said, "Thank you for clearing up my doubts, sir."

Jinlong glanced at him and said calmly, "No matter what camp you belong to or what power you belong to, we now have a common enemy—those followers of Tiamat."

The golden dragon and the brass dragon flapped their broad wings and flew away together, leaving behind only the remains of the Blue Dragon Ambush Slayer, crushed into mincemeat, and a thoughtful Singo.

The born warrior stepped forward, collecting the blue dragon descendant scales from the ground. He scratched his head and asked with a smile, "What's your plan now? Tell me about it."

Singo pondered for a moment, then raised his head, revealing a confident smile: "Gentlemen—are you interested in turning this monster's lair upside down?"

The steamed bun next to it, its head spiked into an afro by the electric shock, poked its head out with a resentful look and said in a low voice, "Of course, I wish they were all dead."

Summer Night Autumn Rain complained, "We just escaped the tiger's mouth, and now we're willingly walking into the wolf's den."

Singo wagged his finger: "No, to be more precise, we should go get firecrackers to blow up the rabbit hole."

He rummaged through his dimensional backpack and laboriously pulled out a heavy cannon with an exaggerated caliber, the pointed shells inside of which were several meters long.

Singo placed it on the ground, patted its side, and proudly introduced it: "This is a treasure I found with the Imperial Engineering Corps. It's a Crust Crusher bunker-buster bomb that can penetrate ten meters of concrete. It has a multi-stage explosive structure and is specifically designed to destroy mountains and targets located underground."

The man with the steamed bun next to him stared in disbelief, as if he saw a blue mechanical cat superimposed on the Singo in front of him: "Dude, are you really Doraemon?"

Singo looked toward the Taliro Desert and said in a deep voice, "The next step is to find their lair."

"let's go!"

"Ow—"

The wyvern that had stopped beside it raised its head, opened its mouth, and let out a series of exceptionally loud roars.

The Taliro Desert.

As far as the eye can see, there is endless yellow sand and undulating sand dunes, but if you look closely, you will find monsters covered with blue scales moving through the sand.

Those are the descendants of the Blue Dragon, creatures now found everywhere in the Taliro Desert. These insatiably greedy monsters are born from the earth and spread wildly, tearing almost all the native creatures of the desert to pieces and swallowing them whole.

The desert ecosystem has been severely damaged, and native species such as giant camels, desert monitor lizards, continental tortoises, and sand monsters are on the verge of extinction, having been devoured by the descendants of the evil dragon, leaving only skeletons.

Deep in the desert, a wicked dragon priest, clad in tattered robes and wielding a dragon-beast scepter, knelt before an abandoned temple, chanting incantations.

"A chaotic storm raged in his pupils, and lightning that could destroy the world spewed from his mouth!"

Praise be to Tiamat, Lord of the Blue Dragons, Weaver of the Stormy Domes! Tiamat—your cobalt-blue dragon head soars high above the stormy domes of the Nine Hells! You are about to descend upon the world!

His voice grew louder and louder, and thick dark clouds gathered in the sky, with lightning flashing and thunder surging. A violent sandstorm also rose up around him, and countless descendants of evil dragons emerged from the ground, raising their heads and roaring.

The evil dragon priest stretched out his scepter, pointed it northeast, and roared, "The enemy is there! They want to stop the Mother Goddess's descent! Children of Tiamat, destroy their cities, tear their armies apart—"

Before the words were even finished, the descendants of the blue dragons, their eyes burning with fervor and their roars filled with fury, charged northward in droves, some running, some flying, unleashing a terrifying sandstorm that formed a terrifying torrent.

Behind the sand dunes thousands of meters away, four players were using advanced stealth to conceal themselves, cautiously observing the situation around the temple.

Mantou sighed in a low voice, "So many descendants of the Blue Dragon. There must be over a thousand in this area alone. If they find us, we probably won't even have any bones left."

The born war maniac chuckled: "I recently unlocked the self-destruct ability of the Deep Prison Demon Refining. If I'm discovered, I can just perish together with them, so it's not too bad."

Judging from his expression, he seemed quite looking forward to it.

Singo carefully examined the magic map in his hand and said softly, "Hmm, we can deduce the location of their lair by observing the movement of these evil dragon descendants."

He pointed to the temple ruins in the distance and said, "It should be underground in that area, about fifty meters below the surface. We can enter the lair directly from the cave dug out by the Blue Dragon Descendants."

"it is good."

They proceeded cautiously, and happened to encounter several blue dragon descendants emerging from the ground.

These monsters are four or five meters long and have heads and weapons very similar to those of blue dragons—a pair of strong, large claws that allow them to dig through the sand as if they were swimming in water.

The spikes at the end of their tails are like giant spiked clubs, and there are obvious undulating currents flowing across the entire tail.

—Those are Blue Dragonborn Diggers. The Blue Dragons who live in Talilro often ask Blue Dragonborn Diggers to dig out fortifications or expand their lairs.

The Blue Dragonborn excavators charged towards them, seemingly unaware of the players' presence, instinctively obeying orders and running north. The four players held their breath, standing in the gaps between the monsters, barely brushing past them.

"We're lucky to find a ready-made passage. Let's go straight in. Brother Zhan Kuang will lead the way. If we encounter any monsters that we can't avoid, we'll just kill them."

"Absolutely."

Born to be a warrior, he touched his bald head, which was covered in patina, smiled憨厚ly, and then went straight into the tunnel. Mantou and Xia Ye Qiuyu followed closely behind, while Singo stayed behind to observe the situation.

As the most elite engineers in the desert, the Blue Dragon Descendant excavators have dug extensive and spacious caves, allowing players to move through them quite smoothly.

But soon, a blue dragon descendant ambusher sped through the tunnel, completely unaware of the invisible player, about to crash into him.

Without hesitation, the born warrior attacked fiercely, cleaving the monster's head in two with an axe, splattering blood and brain matter all over him.

Singo said with a grave expression, "These descendants of the evil dragon have a very keen sense of smell. They came here as soon as they smelled us. We can't stay here any longer. Let's speed up!"

The players sped through the tunnels and, fortunately, did not encounter any other descendants of the evil dragon, successfully entering the underground lair.

Suddenly, a breathtaking view opened up before them. Beneath the endless yellow sand lay a hidden paradise, a spacious cave that could be described as an underground palace.

Inside the cave, stone pillars stand tall, and various descendants of the blue dragons slumber here, some clinging to the rock walls, some coiled at the bottom of the cave, and some hanging upside down from the ceiling, each in a different posture.

Their bodies crackled with tiny sparks of electricity, causing the cave to flicker and dim—clearly, this was the lair of the Blue Dragon's descendants, the place where cultists sacrificed their wealth and flesh to Tiamat.

In the center of the lair, there is an extremely thick stone pillar supporting this spacious area. Its surface is covered with the descendants of the blue dragon, emitting bursts of electric light.

Singo stared at the stone pillar, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Looks like I've found their load-bearing wall; that's our target."

He took the heavy cannon out of his dimensional backpack, fixed it in place, skillfully calibrated it, and aimed it at the stone pillar not far away.

"Qiuyu, prepare a group teleportation spell. This place will collapse soon, and we need to be ready to retreat at any time."

"Ah."

Xia Ye Qiuyu nodded, her pale golden eyes flashing with fragmented magical light, creating ripples in the space.

"War Maniac, you're in charge of protecting us and killing any evil dragon descendants that try to get close."

"it is good."

The born warrior readily agreed, drew his long-handled battle axe, and surveyed his surroundings with wary eyes, ready for battle.

"what about me?"

The steamed bun came closer.

Singo said impatiently, "Get out of here, do whatever you want, just don't drag your teammates down. Go and assist War Maniac."

After being dismissed, Mantou was dejected and quite frustrated, but the three professional players were busy preparing and no one paid any attention to him.

"Prepare--"

Singo took a deep breath, slowly moved the cannon muzzle, and aimed at the lower middle part of the stone pillar in the distance.

"three two"

He held his breath and concentrated intently.

"one."

"boom--"

As the countdown ended, Singo abruptly pressed the launch button. Accompanied by a deafening roar and a piercing whistling sound, the pointed cannonball shot out of the barrel and flew toward the distant stone pillar at a terrifying speed.

At this moment, the blue dragon descendants around them were awakened. They noticed the players' presence and rushed forward, baring their teeth and claws, wanting to tear these audacious invaders of their nest to shreds.

"boom!"

The next moment, accompanied by a deafening explosion, the shell slammed into the stone pillar, causing the cave to tremble.

The warhead, covered with a high-strength tungsten alloy shell, cleaved through the rock like a sharp battle axe, blasting a hole in it. The powerful impact sent more than a dozen blue dragon descendants flying.

However, this was not the end. After crashing through the surface rocks, the high-energy explosive at the tail of the shell detonated in succession, creating a terrifying shock wave and triggering a chain reaction.

The shell accelerated forward, almost frantically destroying the internal structure of the stone pillar. Like a giant awl, it forcefully chiseled through the pillar and emerged from its rear.

However, this was not the end. The shell continued to bombard the adjacent rock wall, tearing through the rock layers and destroying everything in its path.

"boom--"

The stone pillar finally succumbed to the pressure and collapsed with a crash, triggering an even more terrifying chain reaction. The entire cave trembled violently, and rubble tumbled down as descendants of evil dragons fell from the rock walls and the cave ceiling.

Cracks appeared on the cave ceiling, accompanied by cracking sounds. The cracks continued to expand and spread, becoming increasingly dense, and countless shards of yellow sand poured out from them and cascaded down.

This cave is about to collapse!
"Ow!"

The awakened Blue Dragon descendants, their faces contorted with madness, rushed toward the players, but the innate war madmen swung their battle axes, unleashing a bloody storm that sent severed limbs flying everywhere.

The cracks at the top of the cave were becoming more and more numerous, and more and more rocks and sand were falling, almost swallowing up the player team.

Finally, a massive teleportation array appeared above the four of them, slowly rotating and shimmering with fragments of magical light, causing space to distort.

"let's go!"

"Get out of here! This cave is about to collapse!"

Just moments before being engulfed by the raging blue dragon descendants, rubble, and yellow sand, the four activated a teleportation spell, instantly escaping this doomed place. (End of Chapter)