"Qiao Qiao, just one more time, just one more time with that sit! down!"
After returning to the surface,
Tashiniya had been clinging to a blushing Li Qiaoqiao, rolling around and throwing a tantrum, wanting to see her Fire Dragon fly onto her shoulder.
It was her first time realizing that a fierce Fire Dragon could be so adorable when it was young.
It was practically a well-behaved puppy.
"Captain, stop bothering Qiao Qiao!"
Lulu stood with her hands on her hips, acting like a little adult.
"A Dragon is Qiao Qiao's partner, you're not allowed to tease it like a puppy!"
Hearing this, Li Qiaoqiao gave Lulu a grateful look.
Although they had been partners for a long time, her personality simply couldn't handle the overly enthusiastic Tashiniya.
Hilulele giggled, linking arms with Veronika, and pointed at the Fire Dragon on her shoulder.
"Veronika, cherish the adorable period of your Fire Dragon. Once you feed it a batch of Dragon Feed, it won't have a childhood anymore."
Veronika smiled, pressing her lips together.
She knew the effect of Dragon Feed—it was like fertilizer for Dragons.
Although Veronika really wanted to respect her Fire Dragon's growth period, she thought of the Lucania Kingdom that was still waiting for her to put in order.
Veronika could only temporarily suppress her subtle sympathy.
Besides, even if she didn't do it, Meluti might secretly sneak over and force her Dragon to mature.
"I will work hard to slay Dragons and quickly gather enough Dragon Feed to accelerate my Fire Dragon's growth!"
This statement was both to reassure Meluti and to subtly decline Hilulele's kind offer of Dragon Feed.
The Elven Kingdom's Dragon Feed was also obtained by the Elven soldiers' hard work in slaying Dragons, and she couldn't comfortably accept the fruits of others' labor.
Hilulele naturally understood Veronika's meaning, smiled, nodded, and said no more.
Aelita, however, was staring thoughtfully at An Duo, who was still quite angry—she wondered if Dragon Feed could really make An Duo grow quickly. But this thought could only remain a thought.
An Duo herself was extremely resistant to Dragon Feed. She always believed that eating Dragon Feed meant she, representing Dragon Island, was acknowledging allegiance to those undignified Dragons in the MC Dungeon.
Moreover, An Duo was also Su Lin's partner, and Aelita quite liked An Duo, this pitiful little loli Dragon girl.
"Sure enough, I'll just have to wait until later to catch a strange Dragon and experiment."
Aelita mumbled softly.
Su Lin turned his head to look at her.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, really."
Aelita quickly shook her head. If An Duo knew about this, she probably wouldn't let her within ten meters.
She hastily changed the subject.
"Su Lin, are we really going to fight the Ender Golem?"
"Yes, we are."
Su Lin nodded slightly.
"First, let Veronika and the others deal with the Ender Dragon, get the Broken Yamato, and then we'll fight the Ender Golem."
"Don't worry, although the Ender Golem is strong, it's not as abnormal as other Cataclysm Great Bosses. We also won't go to the deepest layer of the Abandoned Fortress, so the Ender Guardians won't appear."
Aelita nodded thoughtfully.
Su Lin had briefly explained some of the Ender Golem's combat style earlier.
Honestly, it was much stronger than Dragons, but without damage limitations, there wasn't really a problem.
The key was to dodge damage.
"There's no problem,"
Su Lin said softly:
"The human-wave tactic still works against the Ender Golem. Everyone will go up together. As long as we have the same coordination as before, we can take it down. At worst, we still have the Totem of Undying."
Aelita pouted.
Without asking, she knew that Su Lin's "everyone" definitely didn't include him.
After all, by now, this guy had participated in Dragon-slaying wars no more than five times, and as for fighting Bosses—
Don't even think about it.
On the way back, everyone passed through the village.
Su Lin took a look; the Dragon Rider Army was very efficient and had already set up the monster spawner and villager breeding system.
This place was not far from the portal, so it could be directly included when building the city, but they had to be careful about the jungle in between.
There was an antlion nest below, which had to be directly wiped out.
The city construction at the portal also had its prototype. As usual, besides a large number of tree houses, the most conspicuous was Su Lin's villa, which was under construction. This time, he requested a seaside villa, including an underwater viewing floor.
In the future, Su Lin also planned to have people build some cave villas, pastoral estates, and sky castles. Gold was An Duo's obsession, and houses were Su Lin's inner demon.
After exchanging his resources and taking purely combat supplies, Su Lin led everyone to find Lop.
Today, he had to get the Yamato and the Void Core!
"Tap, tap—"
In the deep, profound corridor.
A tall figure, shrouded in a black robe with gold trim, held a flickering candle.
He walked with rhythmic steps into the endless darkness.
With each step, gilded torches on the walls of the corridor ignited.
This tunnel, embedded in the mountain, was not as dark as imagined, and there were no dripping stalactites on the ceiling.
Underfoot were white jade-like patterned floor tiles, meticulously laid, and the air carried a faint, sweet fragrance.
If it weren't for the indeed dim lighting, people might have thought this was a palace corridor.
The footsteps reached the end, a huge golden-red pointed archway.
"Squeak—the archway opened automatically, revealing a massive circular space behind it. The torches on either side of the archway ignited with a series of 'poof' sounds, eventually circling the rotunda and forming a complete circle. Above, countless stars seemed to twinkle—they were luminous pearls."
The black-robed man paid no attention to these, staring intently at the dark red oval jade table in the center of the rotunda.
Eight figures, also dressed in black robes with gold trim, sat around the round table, as if they had been there since time immemorial.
One of them noticed the newcomer and slowly raised his head.
His eyes, set above a hooked nose, were as cold as a venomous snake.
After a long pause, his tone was gentle.
"Welcome back, esteemed Marquis Mati. May our glory be as eternal as the King's poem."
The man standing at the entrance blew out the candle and pushed back his hood.
Delico's extremely upright and resolute face appeared, and he slowly took the last empty seat.
"Always doing these useless things." The elder who had just spoken smiled silently.
"I personally believe that seven hundred and eighty-three years of hardship are not enough to erase the glory of the nobility—this is the honor we deserve."
Delico impatiently interrupted the elder,
"Why did you call me here? I told you not to contact me recently. Veronika has already become aware of the Kingdom Restoration Society's existence."
"But she is not in the Lucania Kingdom right now, my dear Marquis Mati."
Delico said, somewhat annoyed:
"The Lion Fang Knights are military and political! Even if those old fogies in the Knight Order Council have their own agendas, they are still her interest group!"
"You don't think the Kingdom Restoration Society only has Veronika as an enemy, do you?"
The elder was as calm and refined as ever, his hands neatly folded on the table.
His gaze calmly fixed on Delico.
"Marquis Mati, your distinguished noble blood should not allow you to utter that word."
"Nobles never have enemies, only rebellious traitors." As he spoke, the elder slowly rose, passed the golden-haired man with closed eyes on his left, and walked behind Delico, pausing slightly.
His withered hand, like a vulture's claw, gently patted Delico's shoulder.
"Thousands of years ago, those poor, lamentable, pathetic commoners bowed and prayed to our ancestors—the highly honored nobles—
and so they were able to leave the desolate lands."
"We fought with Dragons; we competed with Elves; we contended with Orcs. We carved Lucania's epic into the annals of time."
"Yes—we."
The elder continued to move forward, his steps slow and faltering.
"Lucania's glory is a poem rooted in noble blood; Lucania's masters are the nobles whose names are spread throughout the book of ages."
"Our hymns have soared through Lucania's skies for thousands of years, like our immortal King—Shudrak."
Unbeknownst to Delico, the elder had stopped before a golden throne, separate from the round table.
A fervent gleam flickered in his eyes as he gently reached out to caress the young man with closed eyes seated on the throne.
"We gave them everything."
"Life, death, joy, anger—all of it was bestowed by our ancestors, so they should revere us as gods. But, dear Marquis Mati,"
"You know."
The elder withdrew his hand, his gaze lingering on the people seated around the round table.
As if weakly coughing a few times into his sleeve, the elder's voice drifted out.
"Those pitiful commoners are short-sighted and lack gratitude."
"We gave them too much, so much that in a daze, we even gave them the right to resist."
"They forgot that we led them out of ignorance."
"They forgot that the wealth of a noble is a special honor."
"So, those pitiful commoners raised the banner of so-called 'freedom and resistance,' pointing their blades at us—their gods."
The elder staggered back to his original position.
But he did not sit down, instead standing with his back to the darkness, his eyes like a deep pool.
"Now, we shall rewrite Lucania's epic. The ignorant and pitiful commoners must acknowledge that they need proper guidance—which we, the glorious nobles, their gods, shall provide."
The elder pulled out a golden pocket watch, and the crisp ticking of its hands was exceptionally clear in the hall.
Endless silence enveloped everyone.
Until the hands seemed to complete a full circle.
"Clack!"
The elder closed the pocket watch, looking at everyone with a slight smile.
"Colleagues flowing with glorious blood, the time has come. "
"Shudrak will return to the throne, and the ignorant commoners will finally understand that their gods are always by their side."
A deathly silence persisted in the hall, broken only by faint, trickling breaths.
After a long pause, Delico spoke softly.
"The North Wind of the Lion Fang Knights is still held back. She has a close relationship with the Elven Queen and is currently discussing cooperation in the Elven Kingdom."
"Yes, I know."
The elder chuckled hoarsely.
"But the Elven Kingdom will understand that as partners, no one is better than the sacred nobles."
Delico frowned slightly.
He could see that this old madman was determined to begin his actions.
But just as he said, Veronika's North Wind Cavalry Regiment had not yet surfaced.
With the strength of the Kingdom Restoration Society, how could they contend with the North Wind Cavalry Regiment, whose members were all above Lv65?
Especially since the identities of all members of the North Wind Cavalry Regiment were completely unrecorded—small merchants, hunters, adventurers, ordinary Knights—no one knew any information about any member of the North Wind Cavalry Regiment except for the Lion Fang Knights themselves.
That was the deepest hidden sharp blade of the Lion Fang Knights.
After much thought, Delico still said in a deep voice:
"Wait a little longer. I will take advantage of the Magic Beast Mountain Range's unrest to investigate the whereabouts of the North Wind Cavalry Regiment."
"No, I told you, my dear Marquis Mati—the time has come."
The elder gave Delico a meaningful look, then stepped aside.
He revealed the deep and mysterious passage behind him.
Pressure like a tide roared in waves— "Thud!"
It sounded like something heavy had struck the floor, the sound continuous and growing closer.
A bead of sweat trickled down Delico's temple.
He, a Level 80 Magician, could guarantee that this monster about to surface was absolutely a powerful being that the Aetheram Continent could not permit to exist.
That thing transcended the limitations of the Aetheram Continent!
His eyes, sore from prolonged inability to close, welled up with tears. In a daze, Delico seemed to see endless wailing souls.
Struggling to rush out of that dark passage.
"Whoosh!"
A gust of wind rushed out of the passage, instantly extinguishing all the torches.
Only the faint starlight from the luminous pearls above remained in the hall.
The sound of the heavy object hitting the ground stopped.
In the dim light of the darkness, Delico saw the object that had struck the ground—a bone staff.
The staff's body was linked by countless jade-like vertebrae, and its top was a skull with a gaping, ferocious maw.
In its hollow eyes and mouth, ice-blue flames danced.
A foul and heavy exhalation seemed to emanate from the gray-robed figure clutching the bone staff.
Delico felt the surroundings instantly turn cold, as if he had fallen into a glacier.
"Crack—"
A grating sound of bones rubbing together echoed, and Delico frowned, looking at the gray-robed figure.
Under the wide sleeve, the hand gripping the bone staff was particularly striking.
It was a bony claw, with clearly defined knuckles and not a trace of flesh.
Beneath the gray hood, two blue fiery pupils, more brilliant than luminous pearls, expressionlessly scanned the assembled people.
An even more grating sound emerged from beneath the hood.
"Greetings—"