Evolving by devouring from a young dragon

No one answered.

At the back of the line, a young lion warrior glanced instinctively toward the palace in the city center.

Alduin accurately captured that look in his eyes.

He started walking in that direction.

The lion warriors blocking his way instinctively stepped aside, not daring to obstruct him.

The young warrior turned to run, but Alduin was already in front of him.

He grabbed the soldier's head with one claw and pulled him up from the ground.

"What do you know?"

Alduin stared into his eyes and asked coldly.

The young warrior struggled, gripping Alduin's claws tightly with both hands, trying his best to pry them open, but the dragon's strength was simply beyond his control.

His face turned bluish-purple, and he forced out painful groans from his throat, speaking as his whole body trembled:

"I...I don't know...where Your Highness is..."

"Then take me to someone who knows."

Alduin showed no sign of letting go. He picked up the prisoner, spread his dragon wings again, and soared into the sky, flying towards the palace in the center of the city.

The lion warriors behind him stood frozen in place, only able to watch helplessly as his figure gradually disappeared in the direction of the palace.

……

The palace interior appeared more spacious than the exterior.

The throne on the high platform had long been destroyed, and rubble was scattered all over the ground, covered with a layer of grayish-white powder.

The decorations and emblems on the walls had been removed, leaving only bare stone walls. There were drag marks on the ground, and the bloodstains had dried and turned black, pointing to a stone door at the back of the palace.

Auduin threw the prisoners to the ground.

The young lion warrior groaned as he fell, curled up and coughed for a long time before finally managing to get up.

"This... is the Royal Guard's residence," his voice trembled slightly, "but most of them went with His Highness to carry out missions, only... only a few wounded ones stayed here to guard the supplies."

"What supplies are you guarding?"

"N-I don't know... They're some boxes that His Highness brought back from outside..."

Auduin did not ask any further questions.

He closed his eyes and activated his sound wave perception.

There were faint ley line fluctuations beneath the palace, but the legendary aura was no longer there, meaning the Lion King was not here.

Leon wasn't there either.

But there are survivors hidden here, and more than one.

He opened his eyes and walked toward the stone door.

The stone door was half-closed, and dim light shone through the crack.

He kicked the door open, and it crashed to the ground, revealing a small stone chamber inside.

There were three lion soldiers in the stone chamber, all of them wounded, with bandages wrapped around their arms and thick gauze covering their shoulders and chests.

There were more than a dozen wooden crates piled up in front of them. The crates had been pried open and were filled with grain and medicine.

The three soldiers looked up at the same time, and the moment they saw Alduin, their faces turned ashen.

Auduin didn't waste any words.

A golden light flashed in his eyes, and a magical rope shot out from the void, binding the soldier closest to him tightly.

The other two instinctively lunged for the weapon, but Alduin merely glanced at them indifferently. With a surge of power, he pressed down, and both men's knees buckled, causing them to fall to their knees.

He carried the prisoners out of the stone chamber and back to the empty main hall.

The prisoner was a middle-aged lion cub with a gray-yellow mane and several wrinkles on his face, making him look older than the average soldier.

His right arm was wrapped in bandages, the blood had dried, and it smelled of decay. It seemed the wound had not been properly treated and was infected.

Auduin threw him to the ground and looked down at him with disdain.

Where did Leon go?

The middle-aged lion clenched his teeth tightly, remaining silent.

His eyes held fear, but even more so, stubbornness. He knew he was doomed, so he would not yield and would not say a word.

Auduin always abhorred wasting time.

He sneered, lowered his head, and pressed one claw heavily onto the prisoner's head, the sharp claw digging deep into the tangled mane, the pointed tip pressing firmly against the scalp.

"You think silence is useful?"

This is not a question, but a chilling statement.

As his words fell, an obscure and ancient dragon language emanated from his throat, deep and majestic, carrying a soul-shaking pressure: "vul—!"

The middle-aged lion's expression changed, and his whole body trembled violently.

His wound was covered with countless tiny black worms, which rushed to burrow under his skin and crawl along his flesh.

The intense itching and excruciating pain struck him simultaneously, leaving him unable to live or die.

Then Alduin looked into his eyes, which made him freeze instantly.

Soul magic, an unorthodox technique learned from the Lich's Notebook.

Using the enemy's extreme pain as a trigger, memories are forcibly extracted without devouring the soul.

Although he could also acquire complete memories by devouring the soul of the other party, just like before, he was never one to kill innocent people indiscriminately, so he simply left the other party with a complete corpse.

In fact, while devouring is highly efficient, it will completely annihilate the other party's soul, leaving no further information to be extracted.

Right now, he wants more than just memories; he wants to use intimidation to pry open the mouths of more lion-clan members and obtain all the secrets about Leon's purpose in stealing the crystal.

Using secret techniques, one can both obtain the memories and leave a survivor to intimidate others, achieving two goals at once.

Images began to surface in my consciousness.

A massive underground altar, its rock walls carved with ancient patterns, with a stone tablet in the center bearing a dark red emblem that exudes a powerful and domineering aura, capable of shattering mountains and splitting peaks.

He had seen the pattern not long ago; it was the mark on the armor of those lion warriors who blocked his way.

A valley fissure cleaved open by a giant axe, with dark red lava patterns flowing through the fissure, resembling congealed bloodstains.

This is the Rock Crest, the sacred relic of the Lion Clan.

Screen switch.

A massive lion, Leon, stands before the altar, holding a triangular emblem in his hand.

The triangular emblem has a dark gray background with a faint golden glow in the center. Three layers of overlapping broken rocks press down on a thick earth base, as stable as a mountain.

Rock Emblem.

He was arguing with the Lion King about something. The Lion King was half-lying on the altar, most of his body had turned into grayish-white stone, only his chest still retained the color of flesh and blood.

"Your Majesty, you must come with me—"

"I can't leave. The Rock Rift Emblem will lose its power within three days if it leaves me. Without it to suppress the curse, the entire altar will collapse."

"But we already have the Rock Emblem, all we're missing are the Crystal Rock Emblem and the Wasteland Emblem..."

"Then I'll go and collect them. Once I've gathered them all, I'll bring them back. I'll hold out until that day."

The scene changes again.

Leon clenched the triangular rock-crack emblem in his hand, glanced at the rock emblem embedded in the stone tablet, and finally gritted his teeth and turned away.

Spatial magic tore through the void, and he, carrying the Rock Emblem, vanished instantly into the depths of the altar.

then……

Auduin's consciousness crashed into a wall.

The wall was not formed naturally, but was deliberately imposed on the depths of the captive's memory by some force.

The moment it was touched, a golden rune lit up from the wall and burned back along Alduin's consciousness line.

Soul backlash.

Alduin's dragon eyes narrowed slightly, and dragon flames burst forth around his body for a moment before extinguishing.

The prisoner collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth and convulsing.

His eyes were completely unfocused, and his pupils were dilated to an abnormal degree.

Clearly, the impact released when that memory seal was touched had destroyed most of his consciousness.