Chapter 322: Returning back to the surface

A massive rush of foul wind stormed through the cave in raging currents, his gaze burning bright as Seth’s neck rose back, his back legs digging a proper grip into the earth, he inhaled.

Instantly a strong suction force formed, the pool forming into a small whirlwind as it rose in the form of a stream travelling straight towards Seth’s massive gaping maw.

Now he could drink as much as he wanted, but that would cause unnecessary bloating since his bronze cells were already completely saturated.

And besides he could tell anything devoured or gained in this state would be thrown straight into the void once the transformation ended.

He would lose said progress, so even if his physical state was enhanced not only would it be unnecessary it would also be a massive waste.

Right as the stream got close enough, Seth quickly reformed the pathway to the inventory space, like a small black hole sitting in between his widened maws, the golden lava fluid was sucked right in.

Supported by the massive pull of his inhale, the stream kept flowing, but eventually his lungs, though they were akin to massive reservoir tanks, reached their limits after taking several more feet of fluid.

Seth glanced at the pool, the dragon eggs now relatively still, and not drifting all over the place, evidence that the basin’s bottom was already in sight.

Letting out another storm of an exhale, he proceeded for another round of inhale, filtering out the eggs that tried to ride the currents, making sure that only the fluid was the one being taken. Once the pool was scraped dry, only then did Seth stop, satisfied.

He was ready to depart but before he proceeded to, he did another mental sweep just in case he was missing something... and indeed there was nothing more worth the effort.

"Tsk! what a poor race!" he snorted in disdain.

Did he just scoff at the flame dragons after plundering what was arguably their most valuable possession? Yes.

Did he care? No.

Satisfied he waddled his way back out of the cave, the moment he caught the fresh flow of toxic wind his wings unfurled and he took the skies.

Unfortunately due to continuous usage of the Dimensional Strider Willborne ability, his will was in an alarming state.

Alarming enough for him to be more conservative when it came to expanding it any further, pouring more focus into his physical senses he used that to navigate his way back towards the flaming forest.

Gliding speedily over the cracked and battered plains littered with cocoons pulsing gold, reaching the very abyss crafted by the foe that nearly took Seth’s life in exchange for his.

In a way seeing all this Seth felt sympathy for the dragons, these guys weren’t necessarily evil, they were intelligent beasts that lived according to the way nature designed them to.

They sent their soldiers to kill humans, but also to fight for a chance of a better future for their race, exactly the same thing Seth himself was doing, fighting for his race.

They weren’t flawless, but that was the point of life, the point of evolution...

And now their entire race was about to be snuffed out, it was hard for Seth not to get emotional, from the way the dragons strived to block him he could get the hint that whatever transformation they were undergoing meant a lot to their race.

It was probably a racial evolution of sorts, something that was possibly linked to the absence of higher ranked dragons, which told Seth all he needed to know, that this was probably something the dragons had prepared for years and possibly centuries.

"Sigh... Just don’t stand against the human race, I guess..." he muttered in a low growl, casting the last glance at the abyss, with a burst of wind, his massive frame streaked out of sight.

...

"Ah, Doyle? What the fuck? DOYLE?!!" Lara, the captain of team alpha and a leader of a unit in division one, exclaimed in shock.

"Hehe, Hi captain, it gladdens my heart to see you all healthy and fine." Doyle chuckled, leading his unit towards the lava entrance they had used to enter this underground plain.

"Jesus, Doyle, I thought your unit was with the boss!" Dava, a fellow member of team alpha, exclaimed, pointing at the tattered group.

"Who cares about that now, I’m more curious how the hell they are standing there without armour and haven’t become a batch of freshly grilled barbecue yet!" Lara questioned, examining the group in bewilderment.

"Hehe, it’s a long story, let’s just say we died. It seemed the boss must have done something to help us recover — we awoke catching no sight of him. We planned to advance further into enemy territory, only for us to encounter a huge abyss preventing further movement, so we decided to retreat and come to the exit."

The entire division listened to the vague narration, grimacing at the sight of the unit, tattered with barely any clothing on, their skin sun-kissed brown, while also somehow breathing.

It literally made no sense to the human soldiers, but in the end they had no choice but to rein in their curiosity, as the sky suddenly darkened.

The human evolvers hopped in alarm, getting into a stance, readying for a potential clash with the enemy as a cold chill washed over the area they were at.

Their hair curling, sweat pooling as the presence of a predator dawned, but this predator? It was unlike any they’ve felt before.

The humans literally felt frozen, even their will unable to break the shackling restraints of fear rumbling through their veins.

Even Doyle and his crew felt prey to this state, and that was saying something, especially since these were the same group of humans that faced Ash, a great dragon prodigy, swallowing heavily, their expression horrified as they stared upwards at the colossal beast heading their way.

The sky went completely dark, blotted out by massive wingspans that spanned several kilometers wide, the hulking frame of the monster coming into full view, as it glided right towards them, their heart hammering by the second as it drew closer.

Doyle and crew felt the death they had once escaped by a slim margin once more catching up to them, while the remaining units wallowed in true despair.

Well that was until...

"The fuck are you guys doing gawking around?" a mental transmission boomed in their heads.

The humans winced at the pitch but the voice they recognized unfailingly. Lara glanced at the massive dragon with wide eyes, realizing the dragon’s eyes were trained on them... she felt a familiar spirit behind the gaze and a bold thought dawned in her head.

"Boss?"

The edge of the dragon’s lips visibly tucked up into a smile, a response once more booming in their heads. "In the flesh."