Evolving by devouring from a young dragon

The outline of the ancient rock altar was faintly visible in the wind and snow. Alduin did not approach, but stopped behind an ice hill. His dragon wings were folded, and his vertical pupils pierced through the wind and snow, locking the entrance to the altar.

Bru crouched behind him, his stone body blending into the ice mound, his earthen-yellow armor standing out somewhat in the gray-white sunlight.

"Boss, is he really coming back?" Blue's voice was very low.

"Yes," Alduin said softly.

"He has three badges in hand, only one more is needed. He has waited so long, and although a few more days won't make a difference, he won't wait much longer. The longer he delays, the worse his injuries will become, and things could go wrong if he waits too long. If he wants to get the Wilderness Badge, he must find me first. Since he doesn't know where I am, he can only come back here."

Auduin's gaze fell upon the ancient rock altar.

That was the territory guarded by the Lion King for three hundred years, the foundation of the Rock Crack emblem, and the core of the resonance of the four emblems.

Having taken the rock fragment, Leon would never fail to return here.

The fragments need constant nourishment from the altar to maintain their power; otherwise, they will gradually dissipate. Leon knows this better than anyone.

Blue was silent for a moment, then asked, "Will that wolf come?"

"Yes." Alduin did not hesitate. "His Crystal Rock Emblem was stolen, and he was more anxious than anyone else. Not because of the emblem itself, but because of his reputation. The dignity of the Direwolf Clan had been trampled underfoot by a lion who had not yet reached Legendary status. If he didn't kill Leon, he would never be able to hold his head high in the North again."

Blue nodded as if he understood, and then said nothing more.

Alduin retrieved the Wilderness Emblem from the spatial rift. Black lines spread from the emblem's surface to his right claw, and the power of slumber slowly flowed in his palm.

He quietly sensed the aura of the emblem—steady, weighty, and profound. As long as the Wilderness Emblem remained in his hands, Leon could not obtain the four emblems; without the four emblems, he could not become a legend; and without becoming a legend, he could not be killed.

Auduin retrieved the Wilderness Emblem into the rift, closed his eyes, and began to wait.

The wind howled above the ice mounds, and snowflakes pattered against the scales.

The sound wave perception extends in all directions, covering every inch of land within a radius of several miles, constantly alerting to danger.

Alduin opened his eyes, his vertical pupils gazing towards the direction of the ice field.

The wolf king should have arrived by now; at his speed, it wouldn't take him more than an hour to travel from the glacier to the edge of the ice field.

But he knew that the old wolf wouldn't show itself beforehand; it would wait in the shadows, waiting for Leon to make the first move, waiting for him to fight desperately, and then reaping the benefits.

But it doesn't matter. He only needs the wolf king to make a move at the crucial moment, even if it's just a single claw strike.

Time passed little by little.

The sky turned from gray to dark gray, the wind and snow intensified, and visibility dropped to less than 100 meters.

The snow on Bru was half an inch thick, making him look like a real stone.

Alduin's sonic perception suddenly detected a slight disturbance.

He frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled, because that point of light was completely different from the previous Leon; on the contrary... it seemed like he had seen it somewhere before.

His vertical pupils suddenly contracted.

He remembered that point of light; it wasn't Leon, it was the Lion King, the old lion he thought had turned to ashes, still alive.

The darkness at the altar entrance was torn apart by a grayish-white light.

A gigantic figure emerged from the passage, its mane withered like dry grass, most of its body petrified, but its only remaining right eye burned with a dim yellow light.

The Lion King, he did not die.

His physical body did indeed turn to ash, but that was merely an appearance.

The power of the Rock Crack Emblem pulled him back from the brink of death at the last moment, at the cost of his body turning into real stone.

He was now a walking rock, fragments of the Cracked Rock emblem embedded in his chest, fused with his petrified flesh.

Alduin lay prone behind the ice mound, his dragon wings tucked in, his aura suppressed to the lowest possible level.

He glanced at the same Blue.

The Lion King was not in a good state; his eyes were cloudy, and his steps were stiff. He was like a moving stone, no different from the stone giant beside him.

The lion king stopped at the entrance to the altar, his right eye sweeping across the wind and snow.

His gaze did not linger on the ice mound where Alduin was hiding, but instead looked further away, towards the white ice field.

"Come out," the Lion King's voice was hoarse. "I know you're here."

In the wind and snow, a silver-white figure slowly emerged from behind the ice mound.

It was indeed the Wolf King, who had arrived ahead of them.

His silvery-white mane fluttered in the wind, and his icy-blue pupils were fixed on the direction of the altar, his eyes full of vigilance.

"You're still alive?" The wolf king stopped thirty meters away from the lion king and asked in a cold voice.

"I almost died." The Lion King's voice was devoid of any emotion. "But unfortunately, fate spared me."

"What are you doing out here?"

"Waiting for you." The Lion King turned around and walked deeper into the altar. "Waiting for you."

The wolf king's pupils contracted slightly.

Alduin stood up from behind the ice mound, his vertical pupils fixed on the Lion King's back.

Waiting for them? What exactly is this old lion plotting?

"Heh heh, come in." The Lion King's voice came from inside the passage. "Didn't you want to know the truth about the fusion of the four emblems? Come on in."

The wolf king remained silent for a moment, then stepped forward and followed.

Alduin leaped down from the ice mound, his dragon wings folding, and walked toward the entrance. Blue stood up, snow falling softly from his stone body, and followed behind him.

"Boss, how come that old lion is still alive?" Blue asked in a low voice.

"I don't know." Auduin's vertical pupils remained unmoved. "But being alive is more useful than being dead."

The lion totems on the rock walls on both sides of the passage glow with a faint gray-white light where the lion king passed, like a resurrected ghost.

The light followed the totem patterns, converging into beams of light that spread towards the core of the altar.

Alduin stepped onto the light veins, a faint suction force emanating from the soles of his feet, as if something was secretly dragging his steps.

At the heart of the altar is a circular plaza.

The cracks in the dome remained, and wind and snow poured in through the gaps, condensing into a thin layer of frost on the ground.

The broken stone base has not been repaired; rubble is piled in the corner, and grayish-white powder is scattered all over the ground.

The lion king stands in the center of the square, with its back to the entrance.

A magic array unfolded beneath his feet, with gray and white patterns extending outward from the array's core, connecting to the four stone pillars.

Each stone pillar has a groove at its top, the shape of which corresponds exactly to the shape of the four emblems.

Cracked rock, boulder, crystal rock, barren mound.

The four stone pillars are arranged in a square, and the light of the magic array flows between the pillars, converging to form a closed loop.

Four-emblem resonance array.

Auduin's vertical pupils constricted slightly.

It seems this was the Lion King's doing; he had planned this all along.

From the very beginning, he was preparing for this ceremony, knowing that no matter who the emblem ended up in, it would eventually return here.

"Where's Leon?"

The wolf king stopped at the edge of the square and did not step into the magic circle.

"On its way."

The Lion King turned around, his right eye sweeping over the Wolf King and Alduin.

"He took my shard of rock and thought he had victory in his grasp, but he didn't know that my will was hidden within the shard. Wherever he went, I knew; whatever he did, I saw."