Chapter 187 - 180: The Protagonist of the Era

Anton, of course, knew that Dragon City was protected by a blood-ward Array.

He even knew the Dragon City's entire defensive system like the back of his hand.

After all, the defensive Arrays of most Dragon Cities shared a similar underlying logic in their design; they were all variations on a theme.

So, naturally, he wasn't foolish enough to charge headfirst into Kresol Dragon City.

That would be no different from willingly walking to the gallows.

In fact, he didn't need to do that at all.

After his advancement to the Golden Core Stage, the radius of his Divine Sense had expanded explosively. This allowed him to lock onto Isaac from over two hundred kilometers away and directly command his sword light to attack.

He didn't need to personally enter Kresol Dragon City at all.

And the sword light was not a living, intelligent life-form.

The blood-ward Array's detection and suppression mechanisms, which targeted "non-Dragon Race life," were completely ineffective against it.

As for the automatically triggered defensive Arrays, their strength was nowhere near enough to withstand the edge of the Profound Artifact Sword Pill.

By the time the Dragon Race Casters inside the city finally reacted to the invasion and began frantically pushing the Arrays to operate at full power, it was too late. The sword light had already pierced through countless obstacles, stormed the inner fortress, and was striking at the defenseless Isaac.

When Anton arrived at Kresol Dragon City, the battle within was already drawing to a close.

To call it a battle was a stretch; it was more like a one-sided purge.

Faced with the incomparably fierce sword light, everyone in Dragon City—from the ordinary, lesser Dragon Race soldiers to the Golden Tier, Pure-blooded Dragon Race—was utterly powerless to resist.

Under the perception of his all-pervasive Divine Sense, even hiding became a luxury they couldn't afford. They were quickly found and annihilated by the sword light, one by one.

As Anton slowly descended from the sky, the final streak of sword light completed its task. It plucked a Dragon Race officer who was trying to escape through a secret passage, and with a single twist, turned him into a mist of blood.

Anton stood before the main gate of Dragon City, his gaze sweeping over the behemoth that had dominated the Eldron Plain for thousands of years.

The walls of Kresol Dragon City were a hundred meters high, built from massive blocks of dark red granite and covered with dense, overlapping defensive runes.

Most of those runes were now dim and lusterless. Only a few scattered spots still held a faint fluctuation of Magic Power, like candles in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

Every few dozen meters along the wall stood a watchtower, its body embedded with enormous ballistae and magic projectors.

Those defensive fortifications, which had once struck fear into the hearts of countless besiegers, were now completely empty. The only sound was the wind whining through the arrow slits, like the sighs of departed souls.

With a thought, Anton sent the sword light around him shooting out like a bolt of lightning.

The Beiming True Water emerged silently, crashing against the city gate with immense and boundless force.

At the same time, sixty-three streaks of sword light from within the city shot into the sky, rocketing toward the same point from the inside.

Under the pincer attack from both inside and out, the defensive Array, now almost useless without Casters to maintain it, shattered with a deafening crash.

The sixty-four streaks of sword light converged in the air, silently merging into one before returning to Anton's side.

The sword light coiled around his body and swept him silently into the city.

Passing through the gatehouse, the view opened up before him.

Unlike the bustling, lively atmosphere of Bishui Port, the internal layout of Kresol Dragon City, much like its walls, exuded a cold, rigid order.

The architectural style along the way was so uniform it was almost rigid.

Square outlines, thick stone walls, and narrow windows—they looked like barracks cast from the same mold.

There were no shop signs, no laundry hanging out to dry, no laughing children. There was only cold stone, silent eaves, and the ubiquitous draconic emblems carved into every foundation stone.

Everything here was vaster and more magnificent than in Bishui Port, yet it lacked even a hint of the vibrant energy that makes a city feel alive.

It felt less like a place for people to live and more like a giant monument built to display military might.

Fleeing members of the Vassal Races could be seen everywhere along the road.

Anton paid them no mind.

His Divine Sense had already enveloped the entire Dragon City, and he easily located the treasury where resources were stored.

The sword light sped through the city, passing through numerous corridors and passages, and soon arrived at its destination.

The treasury was located near the inner fortress, beneath the very one where Isaac had lived.

The so-called treasury was, in fact, an extremely vast underground space.

A high dome arched overhead, estimated to be over twenty meters high, supported by dozens of thick stone pillars.

The surfaces of the pillars were densely carved with layer upon layer of reinforcement and anti-detection runes, completely isolating the underground space from the outside world.

Thousands of Light Source Stones were embedded in the four walls, illuminating every inch of the space as bright as day.

Rows of metal shelves were arranged in neat lines, stretching from the floor to the ceiling like bookshelves in a library, cutting the underground space into a network of crisscrossing aisles.

The shelves were piled high with all sorts of items.

Magic metals, rare ores, magical plants, Magic Beast pelts, Gemstones of every color, Magic Scrolls, and magical artifacts... The dazzling array of items was overwhelming.

In the deepest part, there was even a small mountain of Gold Coins, refracting a brilliant golden light under the illumination of the Light Source Stones, like a miniature mountain range of Gold.

This was the accumulation of Kresol Dragon City's several thousand years.

Anton stood between the shelves, his gaze slowly sweeping over his surroundings as he let out a long sigh.

He was both overjoyed and a little frustrated.

The sheer volume of resources that Kresol Dragon City had plundered from the Eldron Plain over thousands of years was far greater than he had anticipated.

Even with the three Qiankun Bags he carried, he couldn't possibly fit everything here inside.

The internal space of a Qiankun Bag was already far greater than that of an ordinary Dimension Ring, but it still felt woefully inadequate in the face of this underground warehouse.

Anton mused to himself, 'Looks like I'll have to cultivate a spatial Divine Technique.'

He shook his head, not dwelling on the issue. He took out a Sound Transmission Talisman from his Qiankun Bag and activated it, telling his Clan to send people over. Then, he turned and left the underground warehouse, returning to the city streets above.

As he walked out of the city gate, he happened to see two figures approaching from the distance, riding on a giant eagle.

It was the two Legendary Powerhouses he had noticed on the battlefield.

The giant eagle slowly descended to the ground, and a man and an Elf leaped from its back.

Grant's gaze lingered on Anton for a moment before moving past his shoulder to look at the Dragon City behind him.

Inside the gatehouse, dark red bloodstains had not yet dried.

A thick stench of blood, mixed with the smell of sulfur and rust, wafted out from the gatehouse.

The inside was deathly silent; not the slightest aura of a Giant Dragon could be felt.

Seeing the scene before him, Grant knew instantly that his guess had come true.

Anton had actually killed the Radiant Ash Dragon in Dragon City from over two hundred kilometers away!

Such a powerful and inconceivable method was simply unheard of.

A look of shock also appeared in Alicia's eyes. Her gaze toward Anton was filled with amazement.

'How could a weak Clan, secluded in a corner of the Eldron Plain, possibly cultivate such a genius?'

"Ever since the Dragon Court suppressed the Ten Thousand Races and built Dragon Cities everywhere, I've never heard of a single one falling, let alone its Guardian Giant Dragon being killed."

Grant's voice carried a hint of awe, but even more so, a kind of indescribable excitement.

He looked at Anton with shining eyes, filled with undisguised admiration and curiosity. "You're the first person I've heard of to kill a Giant Dragon in nearly ten thousand years."

He paused, his expression turning serious.

"My name is Grant Hayes, one of the Five-Star Pillars of the Fallen Dragon Association."

Alicia also gave Anton a slight nod, her voice cool but polite. "Alicia, also one of the Five-Star Pillars of the Fallen Dragon Association."

Anton's eyes flickered. 'Just as I thought,' he said to himself.

In fact, from the moment he had noticed the two of them on the battlefield, he had already had a faint guess as to their identities.

At this point in time, the list of Legendary Powerhouses who would appear on the Eldron Plain and bear no ill will toward the Silver Moon Race was very short.

Add to that Grant's signature two-handed greatsword and Alicia's identity as an Elf, and the answer was obvious.

Looking at the man and the Elf before him, Anton couldn't help but feel a sense of marvel.

In this era, the Five-Star Pillars of the Fallen Dragon Association could be said to be extremely pivotal figures.

In a sense, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them the protagonists.

They single-handedly built the Fallen Dragon Association and contended with the Dragon Court for several hundred years.

Although they failed to deal a substantial blow to the Dragon Court, they sowed the seeds of rebellion among the various races, setting the stage for the wildfire that would later spread.

The five of them each came from one of the five major races besides the Dragon Race, and they were also core figures within their respective races' top factions.

Take Grant, for example.

He came from the Freedom Alliance and was the disciple of the Alliance's renowned Guardian, Albert.

Although he had no noble title, no family background, and held no public office in the Alliance.

But his status within the Freedom Alliance was exceptionally special.

His teacher, Albert, had been a Guardian of the Alliance for four or five centuries, leaving behind a vast network of connections that spanned politics, the military, business, and the Adventurer's association.

After Albert's death, this network and its resources were naturally transferred to Grant.

He was the continuation of the previous generation's Legend, and a living Legend in the hearts of the Alliance's countless young Adventurers and Warriors.

And that was to say nothing of Alicia.

She held the Jade Royal Court's most esteemed title of "Sacred Star" and was the youngest Elf in the court's history to receive it.

Though not a member of the royal family, her outstanding talent and pure-hearted pursuit of the Dao led her to be regarded as one of the future leaders within the Royal Court.

Both of them wielded immense influence within their respective factions.

The other three Star Pillars were in similar situations.

In the original timeline, after Grant killed a Giant Dragon and exposed the Dragon Race's weakness, it was the tireless mediation of the Five-Star Pillars that brought the five major races together. They united with many other races to form an army of the Ten Thousand Races, launching an unprecedented counterattack against the Dragon Court and starting the countdown to its demise.

They were the rebels, the pioneers, the ones who lit the spark.

And they were the true protagonists of this era.

Seeing the two 'protagonists' appear before him, Anton's feelings were suddenly quite complex.

Especially since he had just stolen Grant's 'first kill,' altering the original trajectory of his destiny.

'Does this count as stealing his protagonist's luck?'