Chapter 115: Sudden Appearance of the Tall Red Dragon

Blaze’s feet seemed rooted to the ground; he remained completely motionless. The Hen looked at him in confusion as he froze like a statue. Blaze was the one who had just suggested rallying the Foreigners for an attack, yet now he was the one standing perfectly still.

He had just remembered something.

The only ones truly capable of mobilizing Foreigners on a massive scale were a Knight Order or a Lord King. "Massive scale" here did not mean summoning a hundred-man elite guild like Fairy Kingdom; it meant thousands of people, or even more. In the language of the Foreigners, it was called a "massive public raid event."

The battle to defeat the Titan Giant had originally begun with a summons issued by the Giant Kingdom. It notified Foreigners across the entire kingdom and the surrounding ones, ultimately amassing ten thousand Foreigners for the battle. Even with that, they had barely managed to hold the frontlines. It was only when Pink Rabbit beheaded the Titan Giant that they claimed a Pyrrhic victory.

Most of those nearly ten thousand Foreigners were busy fighting the Monsters spawned by the Titan Giant’s every movement. They pinned down the Titan Giant’s Followers, preventing them from harassing the Foreigners who were directly battling the Titan Giant.

The Nemean Giant, having absorbed the Blood of the Evil God, undoubtedly possessed a similar ability. Therefore, relying solely on Fairy Kingdom was absolutely insufficient. It wasn’t that Blaze thought Fairy Kingdom would hoard this information for themselves; rather, he wanted to spread the word as quickly and broadly as possible to as many Foreigners as he could.

To do this, he needed to contact an authority with the clearance to issue such a summons. Coincidentally, this authority happened to be the main force of the Hundred-Womb Ganges Defense Line.

Even more coincidentally, he personally knew the Legion Commander of this main force: the Leader of the Royal Knight Order, Red Dragon Marika. His childhood friend, who had been relentlessly searching for him ever since his mysterious disappearance.

"Well, with my current Strength Value, I probably won’t die if I transform," Blaze muttered, looking at his Blessing with an earnest nod.

"I don’t know why you look like you’re heading to your death, but you could just go to Audrey," the Hen quipped, folding her wings. "Though I feel like asking Audrey for a favor is pretty dangerous in its own right—in certain respects, anyway.

"This is just my intuition as a fellow female."

"What are you talking about? A mere Hen Constellation actually daring to slander the purity and holiness of the Silver Race," Blaze retorted.

The Hen rolled her eyes. She finally understood the saying that you couldn’t talk a doomed man out of his grave—though from an outsider’s perspective, Blaze was the one getting the better end of the deal.

"Alright, jokes aside. Why don’t you want to ask Audrey and Herbie for help?"

"I don’t want to drag them down with me."

"Do you really think they wouldn’t be willing to jump in for you?"

"That’s exactly it. It’s precisely because they would do it that I can’t ask them," Blaze said, shaking his head and raising a hand to point into the distance. "Look over there."

The Hen looked over, but there was nothing there.

"That’s where the Titan Giant used to rest. It stood there for a month. It completely destroyed that territory just by zoning out for a bit, and even now, the land hasn’t fully recovered.

"But no one would ever attack the Titan Giant over that, because attacking a natural disaster like an earthquake or a tsunami is pointless."

The Hen understood what Blaze meant. In the minds of the people of this world, these terrifying Monsters were simply natural phenomena—an insurmountable rule of nature. To rebel against these rules would only invite their retaliation. Just like how defeating the Titan Giant had given rise to the Hundred-Womb Ganges that now plagued many lands, and even led to the betrayal of twelve Beast Kings.

The Giant Kingdom’s original summons had only been issued out of absolute necessity—because the Titan Giant, constantly agitated by the Foreigners’ endless harassment, was on the verge of crossing into their borders. The end result was that the Giant Kingdom’s strength was severely diminished, and they were hit with demands for compensation from Lord Kings whose territories had suffered from the Hundred-Womb Ganges.

Actively provoking a Titan Giant-level threat like the Nemean Giant would inevitably cause a shockwave across the world. Arcadia, newly reborn and seeking stability, simply could not withstand such a tremor.

Only the Royal Knight Order, constantly stationed at the Hundred-Womb Ganges, had the legitimate authority to rally Foreigners for a preemptive strike, using the justification of destroying the source of the Titan Hybrids.

Blaze’s greatest growth was realizing—through Belcimann’s memories—that this world was highly complex. Even the simplest actions required a multitude of prepared justifications.

"What about Herbie? She owes you a promise."

"That promise would destroy her dream, so I won’t use it." Blaze gave a carefree smile. "If all else fails, I can just go in alone. A Blessed One can resurrect after death, anyway. Besides, it’s every man’s dream to face a massive army all by himself."

"...Then surely you have the courage to face your childhood friend who’s still mad at you." The Hen didn’t follow up on his grand statement; instead, she turned her head toward Blaze’s destination.

"Sigh..."

Blaze hung his head heavily, which was why he missed the profound look in the Hen’s eyes.

East of the Hundred-Womb Ganges, at the Royal Knight Order Defense Line.

There stood a massive city wall. On the other side of the wall was a vast, peril-filled forest. The trees there had long been corrupted by the Blood of the Evil God, mutating into carnivorous plants. Yet, these flesh-eating flora were merely the lowest rung of the forest’s food chain.

The Royal Knight Order stood guard here day and night. On Mondays and Sundays, they permitted Foreigners to pass through the wall and enter the forest, providing them with single-use, auto-triggering escape items and specialized backpacks for gathering materials. However, Foreigners below Level 70 were strictly forbidden from entering, even if their levels had dropped due to advancing their Professions.

It was said that many unqualified Foreigners would try to sneak in, and the vast majority of them paid a horrific price.

As soon as Blaze stepped into the Royal Knight Order’s garrison zone, he was hit with a very bad premonition.

"Blaze!"

It was a valiant roar. It was immediately followed by a massive cloud of dust, as if an Earth Dragon were rolling over. Within it, a streak of red light tore through the dirt like a berserk dragon and slammed right into Blaze.

Even though Blaze had preemptively braced himself in a wide stance, he was uprooted in an instant, smashing through several trees in rapid succession. The scenery in his vision instantly blurred into straight lines. He was sent flying even faster than his own running speed, pulling the soul-form Hen into a trailing wisp of smoke.

The terrifying part was that he wasn’t injured in the slightest. The impact of the collision was entirely absorbed by the arms wrapped tightly around his waist and clinging to his back.

"Transform!"

Blaze immediately transformed into a Silver Werewolf, drastically boosting his Attributes, particularly his Power. However, this merely allowed his feet to touch the ground. In fact, dragging his feet against the earth only resulted in him taking friction damage. The burning sensation forced Blaze to recoil his legs, and he continued hurtling through the air in the assailant’s embrace like an oversized plush toy.

The Black Wolfman, seemingly unable to tolerate it any longer, rose from his shadow and pressed both of its hands against the armored hands clasped over Blaze’s back.

CRACK.

The Black Wolfman’s hands were snapped on the spot, turning into a pair of meat cushions.

BOOM.

A mound of dirt exploded outward.

Blaze canceled his transformation. With great difficulty, he looked down at the tall, red-haired Female Knight who had lifted him into the air.

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[Marika / Red Dragon]

Level 99+

Profession: Mixed-blood Dwarf Level 15 / Holy Knight Level 10 / Dragon Knight Level 10 / Master of Spear Level 10 / Ancient Dragon Speaker Level 10 / Super Heavyweight Boxer Level 10 / Heavy Shieldbearer Level 10 / Strongman (National Champion Level) Level 10 / Ascetic Level 10 / Blacksmith Level 4

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This was his childhood friend of the Jie Aines people. She possessed Dwarf bloodline, and when she went all-out with her Skills, her Power could reach a terrifying 10,000 points.

She stood a full two meters tall.