Chapter 111: Returning Home [3]

At the secluded, heavily fortified entrance of the Dragon’s Pit, two imposing figures stood side by side like immovable sentinels.

Ser Hughway, the Indestructible Sword, and Ser Damian, the First Dragon Knight, stood draped in their glorious, mirror-polished knightly armor.

Golden sunlight gleamed off their steel breastplates and silver pauldrons, catching the crisp wind that swept through the rocky canyon.

From the far horizon, three massive silhouettes broke through the clouds, their low-pitched, thunderous roars echoing across the valley walls and vibrating straight through the bedrock beneath the knights’ boots.

Ever since their Lord Viscount had mounted Dark Sister’s back and departed for the City of Dragons days ago, Ser Hughway and Ser Damian had worked tirelessly to ensure his vision for the Dragon’s Pit was brought to flawless fruition.

Not a single second had been wasted.

Every sprawling chamber and iron-gated corridor of the newly constructed Dragon’s Pit had been thoroughly scrubbed and prepared.

Deep within the subterranean holding pens, dozens of enslaved 1st-Tier Abominations—captured alive during the chaotic chaos of the Festival’s Hunt—had been dragged in heavy iron chains into reinforced steel cages.

There, they were being strictly penned and reared like cattle, designated purely as living fodder for the top-tier apex beasts.

Meanwhile, tons of preserved Abomination carcasses brought from previous campaigns had been hauled into the massive, pitch-black feeding trench dug into the valley floor.

To maintain absolute security over this vital domain, over a hundred veteran guards had been recruited, vetted, and stationed along the valley’s ridge line.

Furthermore, fifty newly screened workers from the Myrain Viscounty had been officially hired as designated dragon keepers.

Bound by strict bloodline oaths and ironclad contracts, these keepers answered to no noble house, no local magistrate, and no regional council.

They took direct orders from only three men: Ser Hughway, Ser Damian, and their supreme sovereign—Lord Viscount Craig von Darkstar.

As the three approaching dragons grew larger in the sky, their vast wings cutting through the clouds, Ser Damian let out a soft sigh, a faint, marveling smile curling his lips.

"Look at them, Hughway..." Damian murmured, his eyes locked onto the soaring beasts. "No matter how many times I lay my eyes upon those creatures... I cannot help but think they are the most breathtaking, magnificent beings in existence. Truly beautiful."

Ser Hughway let out a sudden, boisterous laugh that clanked against his heavy steel visor.

He shook his head, a fond yet amused smirk touching his weathered face.

"Beautiful?" Hughway snorted, resting his heavy, gauntleted hand against the pommel of his broadsword. "You call those savage, flying monstrosities beautiful? I have fought alongside the Darkstar vanguard in my younger years, Damian.

I have seen firsthand what a dragon does to a battlefield. They are living calamities made of muscle, ash, and pure destruction."

"All Abominations are..."

Hughway turned his head slightly, his sharp, experienced eyes studying the younger knight beside him. "Tell me, Damian... have you ever actually experienced a dragon’s true wrath outside of the Controlled Hunt during the Festival?"

Ser Damian shook his head slowly, a bitter, self-deprecating smile replacing his earlier marvel.

"Not once," he admitted quietly.

"Before entering Lord Craig’s service, I had never even seen a living dragon with my own eyes, let alone stood in the wake of their rage.

During the Festival, I saw firsthand just how terrifying Dark Sister was when she unleashed her dark flame—and she is merely a 4th-Tier Child of the Abyss."

Damian’s gaze shifted toward the massive, fiery red shape leading the formation. "It makes me genuinely curious... and deeply terrified... to think what kind of absolute monster Chaosbringer must be, considering he stands at the supreme rank of a 5th-Tier dragon."

The air around the valley entrance suddenly grew thick and suffocating.

The passive, crushing pressure radiating from the three descending beasts surged forward like an invisible tidal wave, making the surrounding air taste faintly of ozone, sulfur, and raw, ancient mana.

FLAAAP! FLAAAP! FLAAAP!

The three dragons broke their high-altitude glide and angled their massive bodies straight down toward the landing floor of the Dragon’s Pit.

The sheer displacement of air was instantaneous and violent.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Dark Sister was the first to strike the earth.

Her heavy, emerald-and-black talons slammed into the rock with catastrophic force, tearing up massive slabs of stone and sending a colossal cloud of thick dust and ash surging into the air.

She unfurled her vast, spiky wings, throwing her head back to unleash a deafening, metallic roar that shattered the quiet of the canyon and rattled the iron gates of the pit.

A split second later, a second heavy impact shuddered through the earth as Soul Dreamer touched down gracefully beside her.

Her shimmering, iridescent violet scales caught the sunlight through the rising dust haze.

Soul Dreamer lowered her long, elegant neck, her glowing lilac eyes scanning every corner of the Old Valley with sharp, territorial scrutiny.

Seeing several human dragon keepers peeking nervously from behind the reinforced stone barricades, Soul Dreamer let out a sharp, warm snort.

She bared her razor-sharp, translucent fangs in a brief, low growl that sent the terrified keepers scrambling back into the depths of the stone bunkers.

Her gaze then drifted to the front, settling on the two steel-clad knights standing unbothered before her.

Through the blinding storm of howling wind, swirling ash, and flying gravel, neither Ser Hughway nor Ser Damian took a single step backward.

Their cloaks snapped violently in the gales and their hair fluttered madly against their faces, but their boots remained completely rooted to the stone, their expressions calm and unyielding.

Then, the true apex descended.

THUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMM!

The entire valley floor buckled as Chaosbringer made his landing directly at the center of the plateau.

The sheer weight and raw physical density of the colossal 5th-Tier dragon caused a localized earthquake, sending deep spiderweb cracks radiating across the solid rock.

The shockwave blew the surrounding dust cloud away in a single, massive gust, revealing the magnificent, ruby-scaled terror in all his glory.

Chaosbringer folded his vast, crimson-plated wings against his flank, letting out a deep, bass-heavy rumble that vibrated through the steel breastplates of the two knights.

And there, seated majestically upon the crimson dragon’s broad, armored crest, holding a secure leather bag close to his chest, sat their Lord.

Lord Viscount Craig von Darkstar looked down at his two loyal knights, his dark coat settling around his shoulders as a calm, sovereign smile touched his lips.

The Lord of the Myrain Viscounty had officially returned to his domain.