Chapter 663: Choice, There Are No Eternal Enemies

The vast meadow spread across the gentle slope at the northern foot of Valdo Palace.

On this midsummer afternoon, the sunlight had grown tame and lazy, slanting down from a sky washed crystal clear.

A breeze rolled over the distant ridgeline, skimmed across the flowing stream, swept over the meadow, and stirred up layer upon layer of grass waves, producing a soft rustling sound.

The red iron dragon coiled at the very center of the meadow.

He had completely relaxed his massive body, limbs drawn in close to his sides, his tail stretching out along the stream’s course, the tip just resting at the water’s edge.

His head rested on his foreclaws, both eyes already closed.

With steady breaths, Garoth gradually sank into sleep.

His consciousness descended slowly through the darkness until something familiar and warm caught hold of him.

The great dragon slowly opened his eyes.

The meadow, the stream, the distant mountains… nothing seemed to have changed. The rustling of wind through the grass tips sounded exactly as it had before he fell asleep, and the angle of the sunlight had hardly shifted.

But Garoth knew this was a dream.

And on planet Bernardo, there was only one being who could pull him into a dream.

The great dragon lowered his enormous head.

On the back of his left foreclaw lay a figure.

A humanoid form, slender and lithe, so small compared to the red iron dragon’s massive claw that she looked like a single petal fallen upon a rock.

A light green skirt spread out over the crimson dragon scales.

Her long hair fanned out across the red scales, like a clump of dark water plants growing beside a stream.

The Green Queen, Cerora.

She lay on her back atop the dragon’s claw, her posture lazy and relaxed, legs slightly bent, one arm casually draped across her stomach, the other hanging at her side, looking thoroughly content.

“Your skill at weaving dreams has improved again.”

Garoth said.

Cerora felt his gaze upon her.

She opened her eyes, looking upward.

At just that moment, sunlight spilled through the gaps in the great dragon’s head’s outline, casting fragmented shadows across her face.

The corner of Cerora’s mouth curled up into a lazy smile.

“Of course. I am the master of dreams. Once I become Immortal, I can build a real world that exists entirely within dreams.”

“When that time comes, whenever you want to come find me, you just close your eyes and you’ll be there.”

She spoke with confidence, her tone proud.

When she finished, Cerora blinked, her gaze shifting across the dragon’s faceplate.

“You seem a bit distracted. Is something on your mind?”

Garoth didn’t deny it. “Yes. It’s about Halden and the Abyss.”

The green dragon grew interested.

She adjusted her lying position, turning slightly to the side, propping herself up on her elbow against the dragon’s scales, assuming a listening posture.

“Tell me about it.”

The red iron dragon lay prone on the ground, his head lowered. With a slight turn of his head, he could see Cerora half-sitting, half-lying on the back of his claw.

Then, he began to explain in detail.

He briefly told Cerora about the successive visits of the Dark Star and Blazing Dawn, their respective arguments and conditions, and the cooperative proposals they had each put forward.

Cerora listened quietly until he finished.

“What do you think?”

“Which of these two Immortals has been corrupted by the Abyss? Whose words are more like a trap?”

Garoth asked.

At this, Cerora crossed her arms behind her head, gazing up at the sky. The wind over the meadow brushed through her hair, blowing a few stray strands across her forehead.

She thought for a moment, then said:

“Both the Blazing Dawn and the Dark Star of Halden may genuinely want to cooperate with you.”

“Especially that Dark Star. His sincerity seems quite solid, not like some temporary expedient that could be overturned at any moment.”

“And on the surface, the Dark Star’s leverage is heavier, while the Dawn’s promises are more empty. But that probably has to do with their positions. The Dark Star’s promises depend on him overthrowing the current regime first, so he needs you more.”

As she spoke, her pupils narrowed slightly, and her tone shifted.

“But to be honest, I don’t think either of them is trustworthy.”

The red iron dragon’s lower jaw sank slightly, causing the full weight of his head to nod along.

“That’s what I think too.”

“Just as they both told me themselves, the corruption of the Abyss is invisible and silent.”

“It can hide in the most inconspicuous places, making people believe, when they make their choices, that their decisions come entirely from within, rather than being influenced.”

“That’s the truly terrifying part.”

The corruption of the Abyss was far more insidious than the whispering temptations of the Chromatic Queen.

The Queen’s whispers could at least be detected, the foreign will identified.

But the Abyss’s corruption was completely different, far harder to perceive.

“When they made their decisions, they must have believed in their hearts that they were acting based on rational analysis, making the choice most in line with the Empire’s interests.”

“For example, each thinks they are saving Halden.”

“Noxian believes counterattacking the Abyss is the only way out; Ryan believes overthrowing Central Command and establishing a new Halden is the only way out. They are both absolutely convinced they are right.”

“But the way they see the problem may have already been twisted without their knowledge.”

“They just don’t know it themselves.”

Garoth considered these issues entirely from a third-party perspective.

His way of thinking was sometimes very close to that of a traditional red dragon; he didn’t much like wasting time pondering troublesome matters.

With that time, he’d rather run to a white dwarf star and temper himself fiercely.

Being troubled by these problems ultimately meant he wasn’t strong enough.

But the issue was that Halden was about to make a major move. The matter was right in front of him, leaving Garoth little time to grow stronger.

In such a situation, he needed to make the right choice.

Cerora lay quietly on the dragon’s claw back, listening.

She thought it over, then echoed: “Compared to Halden, Nausil’s situation seems much more perfect. At least they don’t have Immortals being affected by corruption.”

Not necessarily.

Garoth thought to himself, but didn’t say it aloud, simply listening quietly to Cerora’s thoughts.

“Especially that Blazing Dawn.”

“Why does he think Halden is qualified to counterattack the Abyss?”

As she spoke, Cerora propped herself up slightly, her long hair sliding from her shoulders.

She turned her head to look at Garoth. “The Abyss is a forbidden realm that even gods dare not enter lightly. It is a bottomless pit formed by the convergence of the most chaotic and evil wills of all planes and all worlds.”

“What makes him think he can go there?”

“A material plane empire wanting to attack the Abyss is no different from madness.”

“Probably the Abyss is influencing him, making him walk straight into his own doom.”

When she finished, she flopped back onto the dragon’s claw back, her head pillowed on the raised ridges of the dragon’s scales. ℴ

Unexpectedly, the red iron dragon slowly shook his head.

“No.”

“His thinking actually has some logic to it.”

Hearing this, Cerora raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at the red iron dragon in surprise.

She had thought Garoth would agree with her that Noxian was completely dreaming, but instead, Garoth seemed to approve of his idea.

“Halden’s problem is that they are firmly in the Abyss’s grip.”

“Their Sky Cities were magnificent and grand, at their peak like divine kingdoms in the clouds. But now, the price is plain to see.”

“The energy polluted by the Abyss has turned these floating cities into anchors for the Abyss in the material plane.”

“As long as these anchors remain, there will always be an invisible rope between the Abyss and Halden, tightly connected.”

“Halden is being infiltrated by the Abyss every moment. It’s only a matter of speed.”

“To completely eliminate the hidden danger, they must risk everything.”

“Charge into the Abyss, solve the problem at its root, and only then can Halden be free.”

Compared to abandoning all the Sky Cities and starting completely from scratch, they preferred to fight to the death, using victory to burn away all shame.

The pride of this empire was carved into their very bones.

Cerora wore a thoughtful expression.

“Risking everything… they do seem to have a chance of winning.”

She said, uncertain.

“Yes. They only need to win once, to break free from the Abyss’s claws. That’s enough.”

“The Abyss is indeed bottomless, but it is not a monolithic block.”

“Every lord of every Abyssal plane is in constant conflict with every other lord. The civil wars among demons have never stopped. Halden only needs to face one demon king and that king’s subordinates.”

“Moreover, this demon king is far from invincible within the Abyss.”

Garoth said.

Within the Abyss, there were many famous demon lords.

Beings like the Beast Prince, the Lord of Shadows, the Undead King, the King of Vermin, each with a fearsome reputation.

If it were them facing Halden, given the extent of its corruption, the empire would have fallen long ago.

But the demon lord Halden faced was probably just a minor figure in the vast Abyss, not even famous by name.

Cerora sat up from the dragon’s claw back.

This time she stood up fully, her legs tucked under her, arms wrapped around her knees, hair falling over her shoulders. She turned her head to look at Garoth, her expression becoming serious.

“Are you saying you want to agree with Blazing Dawn? To attack the Abyss?”

She asked seriously.

The red iron dragon bared his fangs in a grin, countering: “Why not?”

“The Dark Star proposes overthrowing Central Command, coordinating from within and without, taking the center in a short time, and then leading his people far away.”

“It sounds clean and decisive, without any dragging.”

“But the problem is that the trouble with the Abyss is still right here.”

The great dragon’s tail slowly swayed, flattening a circle of grass.

His voice was low as he said: “Even if the plan goes smoothly, Halden’s Sky Cities are still polluted by the Abyss. Those anchors still exist. They won’t disappear just because Central Command changes hands.”

“The Dark Star may truly want to lead his people to migrate to another material plane.”

“But before truly breaking free from the Abyss’s restraint, he can’t move those Sky Cities. And without the Sky Cities, he has no vessel to carry his people on an inter-world migration. It would be very difficult to reach a new world.”

“To remove the corruption, the best way is to sever the connection between the Abyss and the Sky Cities.”

“Simply put, he still has to go into the Abyss to solve it. He has no other choice.”

“So, even if I cooperate with him, I will eventually have to face the Abyss sooner or later. And by then, the Dark Star will most likely propose attacking the Abyss too. And by that point, I will have already paid sunk costs.”

“Since that’s the case, why not choose the more direct route?”

After listening to the red iron dragon’s words, Cerora fell into thought.

Her chin rested on her knees. A few seconds later, she lifted it again.

“I think I understand your thinking now.”

“For you and Sacred Aola, the Abyss is the greatest danger. Halden, ultimately, is secondary. You don’t care who among them is actually being influenced or who is telling the truth. Their sincerity doesn’t matter.”

“What you care more about is how to solve the biggest problem at the smallest cost.”

“Halden’s all-or-nothing attack on the Abyss is an opportunity. Regardless of whether Noxian has been affected, his desire to attack the Abyss and thoroughly resolve the Abyss crisis itself aligns with your needs.”

She said.

A glint of approval flashed in the red iron dragon’s eyes.

“Yes. You understand me well.”

“I won’t deny that I don’t want to see Halden hanging over my head. But compared to the Abyss, it really isn’t much of a threat. No matter how powerful Halden is, it’s still just a material plane empire. The Abyss is different. Its threat has no upper limit.”

But Cerora shook her head, her brow still slightly furrowed.

“You can temper your body on a white dwarf star and remain unmoved before the Primordial Wastes’ Fury Curse. I won’t doubt that your will isn’t strong enough.”

“But the Abyss’s invisible corruption is not something a single Primordial Waste can match.”

“Halden’s Blazing Dawn and Dark Star must have also been people of extremely strong will, or they couldn’t have reached Immortal. But they have both ended up like this, and they don’t even feel anything is wrong with themselves.”

“Have you really thought this through?”

The red iron dragon tilted his head slightly, looking at Cerora.

“I have thought it over carefully. I have decided to give Blazing Dawn some support.”

“Of course, it’s not that I want Halden to win.”

“I can say quite frankly that my intentions are not good.”

“When the time comes, I will adapt according to the battle situation, doing my best to make both them and the demon lord pay a heavy price, to make them both exhaust their strength on each other. The best outcome would be for them to destroy each other completely.”

Garoth preferred to solve problems head-on.

But when he couldn’t solve a problem head-on and lacked sufficient strength, he was not sparing in using his wits.

This was where he was most like a traditional red dragon.

Cerora blinked.

“Garoth, those words of yours make you sound a bit like an evil dragon. Full of malice, wanting both sides to bleed dry.”

She paused, the corner of her mouth curling up slightly.

“But I like it. And from what you’re saying, it seems you already have a specific plan.”

The red iron dragon nodded lightly.

“Mm. I’ll send a clone of mine.”

“Although it’s not as strong as my main body, it can at least match an ordinary human Immortal. That’s enough to influence the direction of the battlefield. And it’s an extension of my will, with my full attention on it, enough to make decisions at critical moments.”

Cerora did not hold back her warning. “Be careful. There’s still danger.”

“The Abyss’s corruption is pervasive. It doesn’t necessarily require direct contact. It can trace back along any connection. Your clone going there is not safe either.”

The red iron dragon’s expression didn’t change much.

He had already thought it through very clearly.

“Everything, every choice, carries corresponding risks.”

“The risk of sending a clone is within my tolerance.”

As he spoke, the dragon’s vertical pupils narrowed, and he said slowly: “Besides, I also want to see it for myself.”

“The Abyss, this most chaotic and evil of planes… what is it really like?”

The world was never short of daring creatures.

For example, across many planes and worlds, adventurers who had just reached the Legendary level and went to explore the Abyss were not a small number.

Some of them came back alive, bringing back precious knowledge and treasures.

The Abyss, though dangerous, was not a complete death trap. It wasn’t entirely untreadable.

So far, Garoth had only experienced the scenery of the Serene Spirit Wilderness. Naturally, he harbored a bit of curiosity about the more famous plane, the Abyss.

In any case.

He still had the courage to send a clone into the Abyss.

Cerora gazed sideways at the red iron dragon, her field of vision reflecting his thick, hard faceplate.

On that face was an expression she knew well.

An expression of having weighed the pros and cons, made a decision, and no longer wavering inside.

It reminded Cerora of the first time she had seen the red iron dragon.

Back then, he had a similar look in his eyes, firm, steady, clearly knowing what he wanted to do and what he wanted.

And now, after going through storms, perhaps his surface was somewhat different, the things in his eyes deeper. But the essence was still the same as before.

“I was overthinking.”

“With your wisdom and strength, since you’ve decided to go to the Abyss, you must have already thought through the consequences. My earlier words were unnecessary worry.”

She said.

With that, Cerora crossed her arms behind her head again, lying back down on the dragon’s claw back.

She seemed to suddenly remember something and asked casually: “By the way, what’s your life level now?”

The red iron dragon remained in his prone position.

His enormous head rested on his foreclaws, only one eye slightly open a crack.

“Thirty-seven.”

He paused, then added in a calm tone: “And I’m not far from thirty-eight.”

Cerora’s eyes widened.

“What?”

She practically sprang up from the dragon’s claw back, then knelt on the crimson scales, hands on her knees, leaning forward until she was almost touching the red iron dragon’s faceplate.

“Thirty-seven? After I stepped into the Mandate of Heaven and went through several hibernations, I’m only at thirty-eight now!”

Cerora exclaimed. “How do I remember that my life level was a whole major tier above yours? I reached Mandate of Heaven long before you did.”

The red iron dragon shook his head.

“You remember correctly. But the past is the past, and the present is the present.”

Cerora could undergo multiple hibernations within a single hibernation cycle of other dragons, growing very fast.

But after she stepped into the Mandate of Heaven, that speed had inevitably slowed down.

Garoth, however, was still advancing rapidly.

The extreme tempering on the white dwarf star, combined with his own talents, kept him maintaining a terrifying growth rate.

With one rising and the other falling, his life level had caught up to Cerora’s.

Cerora took a few deep breaths, her emotions gradually calming, then gave a helpless smile.

“I’ve always considered my growth speed to be my advantage, and you’ve quietly caught up just like that.”

“My advantage in life level is about to disappear completely.”

The muscle lines around the red iron dragon’s mouth relaxed slightly, forming something like a smile.

“You can’t generalize the constitutions of one dragon and another.”

“My surge came relatively late. Although you stepped into the Mandate of Heaven earlier, if nothing unexpected happens, I might achieve Immortality faster and completely surpass you.”

He still spoke slowly.

Surge came late?

The problem is, you were never weak early on!

Cerora raised one eyebrow, let out a soft snort from her nose, and was almost amused into anger: “That last part of yours sounds like you’re bragging about your growth speed.”

“That’s right. You can take it that way.”

Garoth replied matter-of-factly, without any intention of denying it.

Hearing this, Cerora stood up completely, standing right in front of the great dragon’s right eye, looking into the giant pupil that could reflect her own figure.

“In that case, don’t be too happy too soon.”

“I have a piece of bad news to tell you in advance.”

She said unhurriedly.

Garoth’s eyes widened slightly. “What bad news?”

“My talent.”

Cerora said. “The closer our connection, the stronger its effect.”

“You’ve always been able to feel its effect in promoting your sleep, and you’ve benefited greatly from it. But there’s a prerequisite here: your life level cannot exceed mine.”

“Its effect is linked to the gap in our life levels.”

“The larger the gap, the stronger the effect. The smaller the gap, the weaker the effect.”

“The closer your life level gets to mine, the lower the effect of my talent on you. If the gap between us shrinks to within one or two levels, the effect will be greatly diminished. And if one day, your level equals mine, or even completely surpasses me…”

“It will most likely become completely ineffective.”

Is that so?

The scales between the red iron dragon’s brows furrowed slightly. He hadn’t expected the green dragon’s talent to have such a limitation.

He had always thought Cerora’s talent was a stable bonus. He hadn’t realized it was tied to the life level gap.

But the next moment, those scales smoothed out again.

It was easy to influence from top to bottom, but difficult the other way. It was easy for the strong to drive the weak, but hard for the weak to push the strong.

Thinking about it carefully, this was normal. Nothing to be surprised about.

“After I become Immortal, I might need to think of other ways to aid my growth.”

“Damn Audothos.”

“He promised to build me a special super-time-space chamber, but in the end, he left behind some strange thing and disappeared without a trace.”

“If I ever meet him again, I have to catch him and make him fulfill his promise first.”

Garoth rotated his right claw, thinking.

Just then, Cerora grabbed a corner of her skirt, stared at the red iron dragon, and her expression suddenly changed.

“Garoth.”

“After you no longer need my talent at all, will you coldly and callously distance yourself from me immediately?”

She put on a pained and pitiful expression as she asked.

The red iron dragon turned his enormous head and countered: “What do you think?”

Cerora blinked, and her pained expression vanished instantly, replaced in the blink of an eye by her usual effortless, lazy demeanor.

“No.”

“I know you’re not that heartless.”

She reached out a hand, gently stroking the red iron dragon’s faceplate, her fingers tracing lightly along the patterns of his scales.

“But if you could be a little more heartless, a little colder, a little crueler towards me once in a while… I might like it even more.”

“What do you think?”

As she spoke, Cerora seemed to have already conjured up some fantasy, and smiled unconsciously.

Garoth glanced at her but didn’t respond.

In the warmth of the sun, he relaxed his body, his tail slowly stretching out across the meadow, and then closed his eyes, pretending to sleep and rest on the spot.

Cerora snapped back to reality.

She glanced at the great dragon a couple of times but didn’t disturb him.

She lay back down on the dragon’s claw, crossed her arms behind her head, crossed one leg over the other, and looked up at the clear, pristine sky, softly humming a lullaby from the Elves.

A while later.

The red iron dragon opened his eyes in the real world.

Since he had already made up his mind, he did not hesitate.

Garoth formally refused the Dark Star’s offer of cooperation, and then accepted the invitation of the Blazing Dawn.

After receiving the reply, the Dark Star did not say much.

The Blazing Dawn’s voice, however, was tinged with complex emotion.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect you to agree. I didn’t just invite you.”

“But everyone else rejected my invitation, either with polite excuses or no response at all. I really didn’t expect that you, who stands against Halden, would give me such a pleasant surprise.”

The red iron dragon’s faceplate showed little change.

“There are no eternal enemies in this world.”

“For the sake of Atlan, I don’t mind fighting side by side with you Halden. But I’ll be clear first: I’ll only be sending a clone.”

The difference between a clone and the main body was hard to hide from an Immortal’s eyes.

There was no need to conceal it, so Garoth informed him in advance.

Noxian’s voice rang out: “Even sending just one warrior over, Halden will remember it. Moreover, I believe a single clone of the Scarlet Emperor Cangxing will be enough to influence the outcome.”

“Your strength is evident to all in Atlan.”

He had only been casting a wide net, hoping for support, without much hope.

To have pulled in an Immortal-level ally, even if only a clone, already exceeded his expectations. It was a pity the Bronze Dragon King had been killed. If that Immortal dragon were also here, counterattacking the demon lord would have been a much simpler matter.

Garoth asked: “When will the attack on the Abyss begin?”

Noxian said: “According to the recovery speed of the Platinum Star, at the earliest one year, at the latest three years. This time is very short for us. And Imperial Central Command is already running at full capacity. All resources are being funneled in this direction.”

His voice paused, then sounded again.

“The strength of dragons is beyond doubt.”

“Your physiques, your breath, your talents are all masterpieces of creation.”

“But Halden’s great national treasure, the Platinum Star, possesses world-renowned power. If it hadn’t malfunctioned, this crisis would have been solved early on. It would never have developed to this point.”

“It’s still not too late.”

“With it taking the lead, we will surely advance with unstoppable force, kill the demon lord. And then, you can also witness and appreciate just how high a level the creations of us humans can reach.”

His words were confident.

The red iron dragon had little reaction, simply saying: “I’ll be watching with anticipation. I hope it performs well.”

After ending the communication.

He didn’t waste any time. He immediately went into the deep void and began vigorous training on the white dwarf star.

One to three years. Very short.

But Garoth still had no intention of slacking off. He continued to accumulate power, doing his best to be ready to strike with his strongest form.

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