Red Dragon, but chosen by all four gods

Three grey-robed mages were ordered to the lower levels of Galahren Castle.

At a corner, the leading gray-robed mage stopped, lightly tapping his staff on the ground. A faint, dark green magical light spread out, revealing a complex magic circle on the wall.

At this moment, several marks were made on the magic circle pattern by someone using a dagger.

"A bunch of petty thieves, their senses are pretty good, they were able to detect the warning array."

He glanced ahead down the corridor and felt relieved.

"Although these insects discovered the magic circle, they were clearly panicked and didn't know where to go. The end of this path is the dungeon, and they have nowhere to escape."

"Go and clean out the 'insects' inside, and I'll repair the magic array."

The two grey-robed mages accepted the order and headed towards the dungeon.

As you descend the stone stairs, the decorations on the walls gradually disappear, replaced by a rough and dim appearance.

The two arrived outside the dungeon of Galahren, but the two castle guards who were supposed to be on duty were nowhere to be seen. Only a faint smell of blood lingered in the air.

"What a waste," a grey-robed mage muttered. "These trained mortals are excellent material; where else can you find so many outside the Gem Islands..."

"Shut up," another gray-robed mage said. "The master's patience won't outweigh your words."

"Alright, let's get this over with quickly."

Upon entering the dungeon, all the torches were extinguished, but the three grey-robed mages did not use magic for illumination; the darkness did not seem to impede their vision.

The dungeons of Galahren Castle are large, but for a spellcaster, there is naturally no need to search them thoroughly.

A gray-robed mage raised his hand, and a dark green magical light burst forth from his palm, flying forward along the dungeon's passageway.

Soon, behind a fork in the road, three figures were projected onto the wall by magical light.

Realizing they had been exposed, the three figures seemed to panic and ran erratically into the depths of the dungeon.

The two grey-robed wizards naturally gave chase, as the bait to deal with the dragon was still locked deep inside the dungeon, and they couldn't afford to be harmed by the "insects".

After turning the corner, the three figures had only run a little further away, and there was still quite a distance to go before the next corner.

One of the gray-robed mages raised his hand and fired three shadow arrows imbued with necromantic magic, heading straight for the three fleeing individuals.

The Shadow Arrow struck the three men squarely in the back, and they fell to the ground with a thud, the sound of flesh corroding echoing through the air.

The gray-robed mage who made the move chuckled smugly, "Taking away fresh lives always brings me such pleasure."

Suddenly, a dark figure hung upside down from the ceiling, a short knife in its hand aimed straight at the back of a gray-robed mage's neck.

On the other side, a sword-wielding figure darted out from the side and rear, seemingly having been lying in ambush for some time, and attacked another gray-robed mage.

"Clang!" "Clang!"

A transparent magical barrier appeared around the two gray-robed mages, blocking the deadly attack.

"There were accomplices too..."

The two grey-robed mages reacted quickly, immediately summoning Frost Rings to push the two attackers away, then turning around and retreating in the opposite direction.

Having missed their first attack, the two figures didn't linger and retreated swiftly, disappearing into the side passage.

The two grey-robed mages exchanged a glance. They had initially thought it was just a desperate counterattack by the group of petty thieves, but when they pushed the attackers away, they were surprised to find that the magic barrier had been almost completely breached!

Such power was enough to kill both of them.

Therefore, they dared not be careless and immediately began to cooperate.

A gray-robed mage summoned a wall of bones in front of the two, while the other chanted to gather magical power.

The best way to deal with slippery rogues is to simply use area-of-effect magic to clear the area.

This approach is absolutely correct, but...

A heavy blade suddenly struck from behind, shattering the broken magic barrier and felling the gray-robed mage who was chanting a spell.

On the other side, the gray-robed mage who was maintaining the bone wall was also ambushed and knocked down by two people who attacked from behind.

The staffs in their hands were kicked away immediately.

However, after taking down the two gray-robed mages, all three of them showed strange expressions.

They've all killed people; this doesn't feel right.

With his large, fan-like hand, Ezekiel twisted the head off the gray-robed mage he had chopped down.

However, instead of the expected bloodshed, the gray robe was torn apart, revealing a stark white skull.

Within the dark eye sockets, two eerie green flames of the soul flickered violently.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Izek was so surprised he almost threw it away.

"And what... are you... a monster...?"

Intermittent voices emanated from the skeleton, seemingly unable to understand why the three "killed" people could still move normally.

The Shadow Bolt clearly hit its target; it wasn't blocked by any magical armor.

This has nothing to do with whether it hits a vital spot or not. How could a mortal possibly resist the erosion of necromancy?

Even if they didn't die, they should have fainted from exhaustion of life force.

But the three people in front of him had such a strong vitality that it made him feel jealous and pained.

"Izek, whatever they are, get rid of them quickly!" Tarek's voice came.

Without the support of magic, the bone wall quietly crumbled, and Tarek and Levin reunited with the three.

At the same time, Izek also discovered that even after the head and body were separated, the green flames in the skull's eye sockets burned brighter and brighter, and the surrounding light seemed to be distorted.

Having inherited Heros's true blood, although they cannot cast spells, they are already able to sense the flow of magic power. They were able to detect the warning array earlier thanks to this perception.

Seeing that only a skull was left that could still cast spells, Ezekiel quickly threw it on the ground.

"This is never going to end!"

Izek lifted his heavy leather boots and stomped hard on the skull.

"boom--"

White bone fragments mixed with eerie green sparks flew everywhere, and the soul fire couldn't even last half a breath before being completely extinguished by the immense force.

At the same time, Tarek's sword had already pierced the eye socket of another gray-robed mage, damaging the core of his soul fire, and he instantly vanished with a wail.

Tarek examined the backs of the three injured men.

Their leather armor was undamaged, but the flesh beneath it was a dull, grayish color, resembling that of corpses.

But that was all; the signs of decay did not spread, especially around the shoulder joints, where fine red dragon scales grew, remaining completely unaffected.

They had never fought a spellcaster before, so upon discovering the warning spell array, they hastily devised a self-inflicted injury scheme.

After confirming that they were all alright, they quickly returned to the depths of the dungeon.

The only dragonborn warrior who did not participate in the battle was crouching in the deepest cell.

At this moment, the cell door had been broken open, and he was using violence to pry open the lock on the wall.

Clang!

"nailed it."

The lock fell to the ground, and he dropped the badly deformed spear in his hand, then picked up Inanna and carried her on his back.

"...Thank you." Inanna's voice was barely audible.

"As the Dragon Lord's servant, you should be praising him at this moment," Izek corrected bluntly, completely disregarding Inanna's weakness.

"Praise be to the Dragon Lord." Inanna seemed to have regained some strength, and a smile appeared on her lips.

Seeing that the mission was completed, Izek was in a good mood and was about to say something more when he saw Tarek suddenly raise his hand and make a shushing gesture.

Everyone listened intently, and footsteps echoed once more from the quiet dungeon entrance.

A deep voice rang out, reminding them of the voices of the two skeleton mages they had just heard:

"The soul flames of those two good-for-nothings have actually gone out. It seems we've already caught fish before we even cast our lines."