Chapter 299: Nine Dragon Prodigies

The Elder Flame Dragons, great beasts of their race, divine of might and most noble of their race, had all sacrificed themselves, to give their people a chance.

A chance that was claimed would elevate their dragon race to an unfathomable level.

A level where pesky events like the world quest would be nothing more than a joke to them.

Naturally, since they were all going to die, the dragons weren’t stupid, they didn’t leave the weaker dragons without protection.

Now they left nine great descendants, Inferno, Ember, Pyre, Ignis, Ash, Blaze, Flare, Scorch and lastly Atherion.

The nine prodigies of the new generation, so talented, one among them, Inferno, had long ascended the ranks of the awakened, building his foundation not only solid but also extremely fast.

These geniuses were beasts of untamed power, capable of even dealing damage beyond their ranks.

True beasts of the flame, true heirs of the Golden Dragon King!

And now stirred by the current leader of the dragons Atherion, one of these monsters had awakened.

And its presence was felt instantly....

All humans, currently within the plain located at the depths of the super volcano, felt its presence instantly.

Hair standing on end, their instincts alarmed them all of the awakening of a predator.

Around the core region, back within the region of high lands, the entire range quaked, and shuddered.

Cracks tore through the regions as the smoldering black earth welled, letting out a resounding rumble.

The tremors of the colossal shift traveled wide, as the entire region was displaced and reshaped as a Behemoth slowly rose.

Its eyes glowing like gold torches through the sea of crimson as the shadow of its wings stretched, its maws parting ever so slightly as it let out a low rumbling growl.

"Atherion, you better have woken me up for a very good reason!" A low threatening snarl rumbled through the horizon.

From the far distance of the main core, the gold crimson dragon scoffed, its eyes glowing as it replied directly, its voice penetrating right through the void to its kin.

"There is trouble..."

The Behemoth groaned, its eyes squinting almost lazily, "what about the others?"

Atherion shook its head, as it raised its wings realigning them to adjust its balance. Then it spoke its draconic tongue resounding through the void.

"The others are above some are occupied, Blaze and Ignis have been summoned but if we are to wait for their arrival it would be too late."

Silence reigned as the colossal frame of Ash shook, debris spilling from its obsidian scaled body.

Its head shaking, as its form was finally fully revealed, bone crowns of three horns protruding from its skull.

Its eyes were gold like all its other nine kin, but its scales colour was anything but the same, while the rest did have a semblance of crimson on their scales; he was an absolute mutant born with obsidian scales.

The dragon’s wings stretched, and flapped, kicking up a heavy current of wind, its fine control of flame essence so powerful the action didn’t ignite explosions.

"Who?" It snarled in question, as its slits tightened, as though finally ready to act.

Atherion’s eyes glowed, with this guy in the picture, the humans shouldn’t be able to advance so easily, right?

Finally relieved, Atherion responded with the words Ash wanted to hear naming their foe, "The Humans..."

Silence reigned, as Ash squinted its eyes surprised at the name.

Of all enemies it had anticipated, the humans?

How? Those weak nobodies actually pushed Atherion to awaken him?

Its heart was filled with questions, but asking any further wasn’t its style, it preferred to see things for itself.

It was never the type of predator to underestimate its prey, killing with its all even when attacking a bunny.

Sensing this, Atherion’s voice boomed in its ears once more.

"Be careful brother, these humans, they... they are different." Atherion’s voice transmitted the thick dose of wariness behind his tone.

Ash’s wings flapped, as its eyes glowed, "I see, let’s just hope they are worth the hype."

Atherion said nothing more, just directly transmitting a mental map of the calculated path the humans were most likely to take.

Though there were seven human groups all equally dangerous, Atherion didn’t really care much about the groups.

Instead all its attention was focused on that single god-like being that always appeared before each clash and always dealt the starting and most critical blow to the dragon forces.

And that was precisely who Atherion was tracking, the group the being was with.

Staring at the massive temple sitting before it, pulsing with a divine cadence, Atherion shook its head.

Hopefully "it" would be complete before anything wrong occurs, and till then?

It would remain here to guard, that was its duty, a duty that his entire race banked on...

Back on the colossal obsidian dragon’s side, its eyes lit up on realizing.

The path transmitted, it definitely led towards its location, all it had to do was sit and wait and its foes would definitely come its way.

But... "Where’s the fun in that?" The draconic tongue boomed across the skies.

As the dragon’s wings moved, and bursting with a sonic boom and moving at a speed physics definitely wasn’t supposed to allow, the dragon flew into the distance.

Its lips tightened showing its glistening rows of teeth glinting with ivory lights like daggers ready to shred anything to mush.

Ash’s smoke billowed from the seams as it tore through the wind, its golden eyes glaring down on the land below, constantly in search of its prey.

Unlike the average flame dragon, Ash didn’t need motion to track its foe.

Like Atherion it was also born with special eyes, though it couldn’t see through space, scanning tiny creatures from up high was definitely plausible.

And with an absurdly high clarity at that, and it didn’t have to fly for long...

"There you are..." it growled, its slits tightening, as it scanned through the tiny silhouettes of the humans numbering 21.

And just then, the 21st human leading the humans suddenly halted and stared up its way...

And its heart shook...