Chapter 430 The Clam and the Sandpiper

The problem was, here lay a set of armor forged entirely from dragon scales...

And it happened to be scales from an ice dragon.

Moreover, although this piece of equipment was high-grade, its construction looked conspicuously crude, not like something painstakingly forged but rather like something hastily pieced together.

This made Lin Mo recall his earlier speculation.

A mysterious secret realm suddenly appearing in the Endless Snowfield, full of glittering treasure, and even containing a suit of armor made entirely from ice dragon scales, combined with the realm’s extremely low temperature and intense cold—

All these factors piling up together made coincidence unlikely.

Lin Mo turned his gaze back to that huge pile of coins. In stories, dragons always seemed to favor golden, shining things.

Such an enormous hoard of coins was extremely rare, even odd, for a typical secret realm.

But... what if this treasure really belonged to a dragon?

Then everything suddenly made sense.

Those earlier Frost Crystal Leopards and their strange behavior would be explained if they were being coerced by a dragon.

Could the room piled with magical-creature corpses be the dragon’s food stash for after it awoke?

That would explain why this “secret realm” looked rougher than the ones Lin Mo had seen before. Strictly speaking, it might not be a secret realm at all, but the lair of a dragon.

And if this lair’s owner was about to awaken, that would explain why the realm had appeared suddenly.

Those Frost Crystal Leopards rushing about collecting monster corpses would be preparing a feast for the soon-to-be-resurrected dragon.

The reason so many monsters fled into the outer Endless Snowfield was because the leopards were conducting large-scale hunts.

If all this were true, then this dragon really did know how to indulge itself.

It recruited Frost Crystal Leopards as enforcers and, upon waking, immediately dived into a banquet.

So far these were only Lin Mo’s guesses, not confirmed facts, but given the possibility, he needed to change his approach.

He shifted his focus back to the Legendary equipment before him.

The armor’s power was unquestionable—very strong, comparable to the Nature Bow he had earlier.

Its hidden attributes were straightforward. First, it boosted qi and blood strength by 50%, a conventional but very useful increase. It also provided an extra 30% defense boost.

That matched the nature of dragon-scale construction; among high-level materials, dragon scales are among the best for defense.

And if Lin Mo’s guess was correct, these scales weren’t from an ordinary legendary ice dragon, but from the daughter of the Ice Dragon King.

The strength of the Ice Dragon King bloodline was unquestionable, and Lin Mo knew this better than anyone—after all, he himself now had a trace of the Ice Dragon King’s blood power.

That bloodline had noticeably enhanced his strength and had been a major reason Qi Mei had achieved strength far beyond her rank.

Next, the equipment’s enhancement, “Coldlight Penetration,” reached maximum values: a base increase of 500 points each to Strength, Clumsiness, and Constitution—1,500 points total. If one had an ice-element-related bloodline or was in a state aligned with ice, it could grant an additional 500 points of Mana. For Lin Mo, those 500 Mana points would be consistently usable.

So for Lin Mo, Coldlight Penetration effectively amounted to a total 2,000-point attribute boost, only slightly lower than the Nature Bow’s later boost.

Then came the two equipment skills. The first, a passive called Frost Dragon’s Might, shared similarities with Lin Mo’s Frost Dragon Scale Sword effect—both could suppress enemy attributes—but this armor’s effect was less potent than the sword’s. The Frost Dragon Scale Sword could only subdue targets above Legendary level; it could suppress Legendary targets.

But this Dragon-Scale Coldlight Armor could even suppress Legendary-level target attributes, albeit to a lesser degree. In Legendary-tier battles, that level of attribute reduction was still very significant.

The final skill, Dragon-Scale Shield, essentially functioned as a temporary absolute defense.

It could block all attacks below Mythic level!

That meant even peak Legendary attacks couldn’t break through Dragon-Scale Shield once Lin Mo activated it.

Beings of Mythic level were, at least for now, completely out of Lin Mo’s reach.

So for the foreseeable future, Dragon-Scale Shield was effectively invincibility.

Lin Mo quickly equipped the armor. Outside, the orcs pounding on the gate seemed close to breaking through.

From inside, the part of the ice gate under concentrated attack had begun to splinter; it would not be long before it was fully breached.

At that moment, however, a series of harsh roars sounded from afar.

Lin Mo paused, entering stealth to observe.

Shortly after he went invisible, a corner of the ice gate finally shattered under the orcs’ assault.

The orcs who’d spent so long trying to breach the gate rushed in impatiently. They immediately saw the enormous mountain of coins and widened their eyes, stunned.

“Money—so much money!”

“This must be hundreds of billions, right?”

“More than that. Look, I even see Crystal Coins in there. It’s probably worth over a trillion!”

“A trillion! Oh man, we’re rich!”

These orcs weren’t exactly uncultured. Each one was a high-ranking member of the Orc Empire, holding positions of prestige. But this hoard was overwhelming in size.

Orcs were not skilled at trade or creating value. Their economy was backward compared to any human empire.

So this money was even more valuable to the Orc Empire.

“With this, the empire can resupply gear and provisions. Then we’ll smash through Serea’s defensive lines and seize even more human wealth!”

“Ha! Imagine it—when we take the human cities, we’ll grab food and treasure and slaughter to our hearts’ content!”

“Heh, and the female humans... I’ve wanted one for ages...”

Lin Mo, still hidden, frowned. Just as the empire had concluded earlier, orcs were creatures whose minds were fixed on plunder and slaughter—completely impossible to persuade or bargain with.

Even in the face of the Dark Tide crisis, their thoughts likely centered on how the chaos would let them break human defenses more easily.

Their tiny brains couldn’t hold a grand strategy; they only saw immediate gain.

Annoying as that was, Lin Mo didn’t reveal himself to teach them a lesson. He hadn’t forgotten the noises he’d heard.

If his guess was correct...

He peered through the breached gate and saw a group of large Frost Crystal Leopards approaching.

Sure enough, the roars had come from them.

The leopards were panicked.

They would never forget the terror of being dominated by the dragon. Even though the dragon had slept a long time, they dared not forget its pre-sleep orders.

So recently they had hunted like mad, stockpiling prey.

Now, after finally doing so, they discovered humans had entered the lair—and even broken the dragon’s treasury gate!

Their world was collapsing.

If the dragon’s treasure suffered any loss, they couldn’t imagine how furious the dragon would be upon waking.

They had to stop the humans and kill them all.

Perhaps then, when the dragon saw their efforts, it would not punish them for prior negligence.

So the Frost Crystal Leopards had gathered as fast as they could.

“Frost Crystal Leopards... why so many?”

At first the orcs didn’t take them seriously, thinking them usual denizens of a secret realm. But as the leopards kept arriving, panic spread.

These orcs were strong; a single leopard or a couple wouldn’t concern them, and seven or eight could be handled. But nearly twenty Frost Crystal Leopards?

That became problematic.

On pure combat strength, they no longer had the clear advantage. Orcs were individually stronger than humans, but against true magical creatures they offered little advantage.

“What do we do?”

An orc asked anxiously.

The lead orc from the Golden Lion Clan looked around the vast chamber, seeing no places to hide or escape. The only entrance and exit was the huge ice gate where they’d opened a breach.

But now that gap had been seized by the Frost Crystal Leopards.

“Looks like we have no choice but to fight.”

He drew a deep breath and roared, “Get your spirits up! You are the pride of our race—there’s no reason to lose to these monsters! Hear me?!”

His impassioned speech raised the orcs’ morale.

The others began shouting, brandishing weapons and forming ranks.

“Kill!”

With that, the Golden Lion Clan orc charged first, heading straight for the nearest Frost Crystal Leopard.

His speed was astonishing; he closed the distance and swung his cleaver down hard at the leopard’s skull.

That leopard was only recently matured—epic level in rank but newly epic—and its power paled compared to the Golden Lion clan orc, who had reached the peak of the Heroic Realm.

The leopard barely managed to raise a paw to block, but the cleaver severed the arm clean off and split the skull as well.

The Golden Lion orc’s instant kill inspired those behind him.

The remaining leopards felt little for their fallen comrade, but the humans—or rather, the orcs—had invaded the dragon’s treasury; the leopards had to kill every intruder to possibly gain forgiveness.

They leapt in and a fierce clash erupted.

Hidden nearby, Lin Mo watched the melee with interest—finally, they were fighting each other.

That actually suited him fine.

Given his current power, fighting all these orcs head-on would be difficult.

Facing overwhelming numbers is never easy, and with Lin Mo’s current abilities and base stats he might manage, but it would be far from effortless.

Likewise, dealing with the leopards alone would be hard to resolve quickly.

But with both sides tangled up in chaotic battle, the situation changed.

Lin Mo smiled faintly, then pulled out the Nature Bow from his portable space.

He leisurely drew the bowstring, aimed at a wounded Frost Crystal Leopard, and released an arrow.

—!

With a sharp rush through the air, the arrow struck precisely through the leopard’s skull, piercing it cleanly!

[Rending Wind Arrow] Proficiency +500

This leopard was only level 31, while Lin Mo was level 30, so he gained no extra proficiency bonus from level advantage.

But creatures of that level carried decent proficiency themselves.

Lin Mo’s skill’s proficiency progress leapt forward considerably.

Good...

He didn’t stop. He nocked another arrow, aimed at a different target.

This time he aimed at an orc.

Normally, firing would break stealth.

But Lin Mo wasn’t an ordinary ranger; he was a Night Ranger, a fusion of assassin and ranger, allowing him to fire while remaining concealed.

The battlefield’s chaos helped—every orc and leopard was consumed by combat and didn’t notice anything amiss.

This time Lin Mo used the more powerful Destruction Arrow, an epic ranger skill, because his target was stronger.

He let the arrow fly. The orc, already on full guard against leopards, had his attention focused on those threats and had no alertness for an attack from an invisible direction.

By the time he sensed something was wrong, Lin Mo’s arrow had already pierced his chest.

“What?!”