Chapter 185 - 178: King Does Not Meet King

On the ridge, Grant watched the direction Anton had gone, his eyes full of interest.

"Is he heading to Dragon City?"

"Obviously." Alicia looked toward Dragon City. "Kresol Dragon City's strongest combatant is the Radiant Ash Dragon. Only by eliminating him can the threat be truly neutralized."

"Do you think he can kill Isaac?" Grant asked, stroking his chin.

Alicia pondered for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "Kresol Dragon City has been established for thousands of years. It's impossible for them not to have set up large-scale Arrays. Plus, they're certain to have a Blood-Tied Array. Even a Saint might not fare well if they entered. If Anton rushes into Dragon City recklessly, he'll likely meet the same fate Isaac did when he attacked the Silver Moon Forest."

The Blood-Tied Array is an Array unique to the Dragon Court, specifically set up in Dragon Cities everywhere for defense.

Any creature without Dragon Race bloodline that enters a Blood-Tied Array will have its power greatly suppressed.

The fact that the various Dragon Cities have remained safe over the years is largely thanks to the Blood-Tied Array.

"Do you think Anton knows Kresol Dragon City has a Blood-Tied Array?" Grant asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alicia shook her head.

Who could possibly know?

Grant hadn't expected to get an answer from Alicia anyway.

This only made him more curious about what would happen next. He simply took the bronze whistle from his waist, brought it to his lips, and blew softly.

The moment the whistle sounded, a wisp of pale cyan smoke materialized from thin air and slowly drifted upward.

The smoke coalesced in the air without dissipating, swirling, expanding, and stretching like a living creature. In an instant, it had formed the outline of a giant eagle.

The giant eagle's wingspan was over ten meters. Its body was covered in interwoven deep brown and pale gold feathers, each one gleaming with a cold, metallic light.

Grant vaulted onto the eagle's back and waved to Alicia.

"Come on, let's go have a look."

Without a word, Alicia leaped onto the eagle's back.

The great eagle beat its wings and soared silently into the sky.

The clouds rushed past on either side as the plains below shrank rapidly.

The wind whipped past their ears but didn't so much as ruffle their robes. An invisible barrier shielded them from the elements.

The eagle flew at incredible speed, but it was still no match for how fast Anton was traveling.

Grant and Alicia had thought it would take some time to catch up to Anton, but before long, they both looked startled, surprise showing on their faces.

In the distance, at the edge of the sky, Anton's figure had stopped at some point and was now hovering motionless in the air.

Just as the two were wondering what was happening, a flash of profound-gold sword light shot out from Anton's body. It streaked through the void like a meteor, hurtling toward the distance.

That was the direction of Kresol Dragon City.

...

「Kresol Dragon City, Inner Keep.」

On the dome above, thousands of blood-colored runes writhed like living things, emitting a dark red glow that bathed the entire hall in a suffocating crimson light.

In the center of the hall, a massive pool took up nearly two-thirds of the space.

The liquid in the pool was as thick as blood and so deep a red it was almost black. Bubbles constantly churned on its surface, releasing a strong smell of sulfur and rust as they burst.

Isaac's massive draconic body was submerged in the blood pool. His remaining left eye was closed, and his dark red scales shimmered with a dull luster under the liquid.

The shocking wounds from his battle with Anton had now mostly healed.

The spot on his chest where the Cyan Emperor's avatar had struck him, once withered and gray, was now plump with flesh again. The newly grown scales were still tender, but the signs of recovery were clear.

Deep within his right eye socket, the murky gray-white was also fading, and the outline of his pupil was reappearing.

Isaac slowly opened his left eye, a sinister glint flashing in his vertical pupil.

His injuries were healing much more slowly than he'd expected; it had taken a full three months to be almost completely recovered.

The main reason was that the Power of Law left inside him by that illusory figure was too tenacious. Day and night, it corroded his Life Force, preventing his wounds from closing.

He had originally wanted to use the Life Spring Water to heal, but he later discovered that not only could it not dispel that power, it was like watering weeds. The power grew even stronger, ravenously devouring his flesh and blood.

He had no choice but to abandon that idea. Instead, he expended a large amount of precious materials to hastily construct this blood pool, using the rich blood qi and corrupting power within it to forcibly neutralize the foreign Law entrenched in his body.

It wasn't until recently that the stubborn power was finally purged, allowing his injuries to heal quickly.

Isaac turned his head slightly and stretched his body.

'In another two or three days, I'll be back to my peak strength.'

'When that time comes, I can go to the Silver Moon Forest and take my revenge with my own hands.'

As he thought about what had happened, Isaac's gaze turned impossibly cold.

A powerful sense of humiliation and hatred surged through him like a tide, causing his face to twist slightly.

'I am a magnificent Radiant Ash Dragon, a noble of the Dragon Race, a being of the Legendary Tier! And yet, I was forced into such a pathetic state by a Golden Peak ant who hasn't even fully manifested its Power of Law.'

'Grievously wounded, on the brink of death, forced to flee in a panic.'

The shame of that battle was like a red-hot brand seared deep into his soul, burning him day and night, leaving him unable to rest.

"Anton Silver Moon."

Isaac savored the name, the killing intent in his vertical pupil almost solidifying.

'Once my injuries are fully healed, I will settle this blood debt.'

'I'll tear that damned Elf to shreds with my own claws, turn the Silver Moon Forest into scorched earth, and grind all those ants who dared to offend the might of the Dragon Race to dust.'

'The only reason I suffered such a huge loss last time was because I underestimated my enemy and walked right into their trap.'

'As long as I'm on guard, I definitely won't fall for it so easily again.'

'The power of that Array is not to be underestimated, it's true, but even the strongest Array needs energy to sustain it.'

'Over the past three months, Aurion and the others must have drained a great deal of that Array's energy.'

'Even if it's not completely depleted, the remaining energy is definitely not enough to launch another attack of that magnitude.'

Isaac had figured it out by now.

'An attack that powerful must have severe limitations on its use.'

'Either it requires a long preparation time before it can be fired again... '

'...or the energy consumption is so immense that a single use drains all its reserves.'

'Either way, there's no way they can easily use it a second time.'

'As for Anton himself...'

A cold sneer flashed in Isaac's eyes.

'An ant who hasn't even fully manifested his Power of Law. No matter how bizarre his methods are, in the end, he's still just at the Golden Peak.'

'The only reason he was able to injure me last time was because he relied on that strange Array.'

'Without the Array, that guy is no match for me at all.'

And this time, Isaac wouldn't give him the same opportunity.

'I will use absolute, overwhelming power to make that damned Elf understand the insurmountable chasm that separates the Golden Peak from the Legendary Tier.'

At this thought, Isaac's mood finally lightened a little.

He shifted his body, changing position to continue soaking, when he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

A cold sensation shot up from the base of his vertebrae, rushing straight to the top of his skull without any warning.

It was an instinctual warning from deep within his bloodline.

A sign of approaching danger.

Isaac's head snapped up.

In the next instant, the dome suddenly exploded.

The crimson runes flickered wildly in the blast before large swathes of them extinguished.

Rubble and dust rained down from the sky, crashing into the blood pool and sending up huge splashes of dark red water.

A profound-gold sword light tore through the dome, descending upon his head with world-destroying sharpness.

Isaac's pupils contracted.

He recognized that sword light at a glance.

'It's Anton!'

'That damned Elf is here!'

The thought had barely formed in his mind when the sword light crashed down on the foreclaw he had hastily raised to block.

CLANG!

The massive sound of metal on metal echoed through the inner keep, shaking the runes on the walls into a frantic flicker. It was as if the entire hall trembled under the blow.

Isaac felt an unimaginable force explode from the blade, sending a numbing shock through his foreclaw. A deep gash appeared on his scales, and scorching Dragon Blood spurted from the wound.

He didn't even have time to feel the pain before the profound-gold light flickered and instantly multiplied into dozens of copies, converging on him from all directions to tear him apart.

Isaac was horrified.

While frantically parrying the overwhelming storm of sword lights, he sent his Spiritual Power beneath the scales on his chest.

There, a palm-sized, blood-colored crystal disc was embedded in his flesh, fused with his very being.

It was the control core for the Dragon City's Array.

As Isaac's Spiritual Power poured in, the dense runes on the crystal disc's surface began to flash wildly.

It was a sign that the Array was operating at full power.

But to Isaac's horror, the Array hadn't detected any trace of an intruder.

The Blood-Tied Array had an extremely keen perception of any creature not of the Dragon Race bloodline. Even a Legendary Powerhouse who had mastered a stealth-type Law couldn't possibly evade its detection.

And yet, the information the Array fed back was completely blank.

Refusing to believe it, he activated the wide-area detection Array, but the information it returned showed no sign of any intelligent creature resembling Anton within a twenty-kilometer radius of Dragon City.

'But if that's the case, what's with these damned sword lights right in front of me?'

'Where on earth is Anton attacking me from?'

'Why didn't the outer defensive Arrays intercept this sword light?'

Isaac was completely unable to understand.

A Legendary Caster's Magic might have a range of several dozen kilometers, but at such a great distance, the precision and power of the spell would be drastically reduced.

Moreover, a Caster had to be able to "see" their target to lock onto it with Magic.

But Anton's attack hadn't weakened at all; in fact, it was even sharper than during their last direct confrontation.

Not only had the number of sword lights increased significantly, but their power had also risen by more than just a single level.

Each beam of sword light possessed the attack power of a near-Legendary Sword Saint.

For a moment, it gave him the illusion of being besieged by dozens of Swordsmanship masters whose strength approached the Legendary Tier.

'How in the world is he doing this?'