Chapter 122: The Corrupted Dragon

The earth-shattering roar from the depths of the cavern shook the mountain to its very roots.

The sheer force of the acoustic blast collided with the glacial interior, and with a series of deafening cracks, the massive white ice walls shattered. Thousands of razor-sharp ice shards tore free from the cavern ceiling and walls, exploding outward in a blinding, lethal storm. Like jagged glass blades hurled by an invisible titan, the shards cascaded toward Riennal and the Four-Eyed Demon with blinding speed.

Neither of them flinched. They stood anchored to the frozen ground, their boots locked in place.

Riennal raised his black hand into the howling air. His eyes gleamed with manic intensity as a low, guttural chant spilled from his throat.

BZZZZT!

In an instant, three concentric, magic circles erupted in front of his outstretched palm. Complex demonic runes rotated violently within the crimson rings, radiating waves of unstable, corrupted energy. The moment the incoming wave of ice shards struck the spinning circles, the dark magic detonated. Crimson shockwaves rippled outward, pulverizing the razor-sharp ice into fine white powder before it could touch their skin.

Yet, as the cloud of pulverized frost cleared, an overwhelming, suffocating pressure rolled out from the darkness ahead.

It was an aura of pure hostility, a malice rooted so deeply and heavily that it felt as if the air itself had turned into stone. Massive gusts of freezing gale-force wind battered them continuously, tearing at their heavy robes, while distorted ripples of cold energy flickered across the shadows, straining to push the intruders back into the snow beyond the cavern’s mouth.

The entity lurking in the dark made its message clear: turn back, or perish.

Riennal merely sneered, a cruel, twisted expression spreading across his face. Beside him, the Four-Eyed Demon’s extra eyes flared with dark anticipation.

Ignoring the crushing pressure and the howling wind, both figures took another heavy step forward. Their boots crushed through the icy debris, forcing their way deeper into the cavern’s suffocating depths.

The deeper they moved into the cavern, the suffocating killing intent bearing down on them intensified with every single step. The hair along their necks stood fully on end beneath the crushing weight of an ancient predator’s gaze, yet neither Riennal nor the Four-Eyed Demon slowed their pace.

Finally, they arrived at the heart of the cavern.

Coiled across the frozen floor lay an enormous beast. Its snow-white scales glinted like polished diamond, radiating a pristine, majestic beauty that belied its towering, impenetrable defenses. Yet deep within its narrow, slit pupils, eyes that should have radiated nothing but serenity—a vile, dark corruption writhed along the edges of its irises.

"ABYSSAL PACT!"

The Ice Dragon’s roar echoed again, causing the ground to tremble once more.

"Great One... it seems we have disturbed your slumber," Riennal said, a nasty, cruel smile spreading across his face.

"I... I will... kill you...!" the dragon gritted out, its thunderous voice stuttering as its massive body trembled violently, desperately attempting to purge the corruption paralyzing its muscles from within.

"Do you think you can?" Riennal said.

The dragon glared at them in silence. Had this been only a few days earlier, it would have killed them both with ease, and both sides knew it perfectly well, it was precisely because of that fact that Riennal and the Four-Eyed Demon had waited this long to come at all.

The dragon had woken only moments ago, sensing the foul demonic energy the instant it infiltrated its domain. Its senses had flared in immediate, instinctive alarm. That energy was among the deepest, oldest enemies etched into its kind’s bones, a hatred rooted so far back it required no thought to recognize. And that was when it finally noticed the corruption already threaded through its own body, understanding at once exactly what had happened to it while it slept.

Only then had it noticed the sinister purple mist still drifting through the cavern, and recognized it for what it truly was, one of the most notorious creations the demons had ever produced. Soul Rending Abyss Haze, grown from an exceedingly rare demonic plant that bloomed only once every five centuries and was steeped in the blood of a fallen demonic dragon. Its insidious nature allowed it to remain completely undetectable to beasts, even to dragons themselves unless they had reached the threshold of the Ancient Dragon realm. Until then, no matter how powerful the dragon was, the haze would remain impossible for them to perceive until the corruption had already rooted itself too deeply to be removed.

The haze gradually invaded the mind, fueling wild madness and eroding sanity by degrees. For dragons, its effects ran exponentially deeper, the stronger and more magnificent the dragon, the more violent the resulting madness once the corruption finally took full hold.

"Your body is already partially corrupted... there’s no use resisting," Riennal said, stepping forward as he drew out the grotesque, eye-shaped artifact alongside the half-dissolved orb. "Just accept your fate. Your glorious vessel will be put to good use, oh Great One."

The instant Riennal drew both items out, the Ice Dragon’s entire body trembled as realization struck it like a thunderbolt.

"YOU BASTARDS...! HOW DARE YOU COLLUDE WITH HIM!"

The dragon roared in helpless fury. With its Dragon Heart and circulation pathways choked by the mist, it could neither move its limbs nor cast a single spell. Yet staring at the eye-shaped artifact, the malice burning within its eyes exploded.

The artifact was one of the few tools capable of controlling beasts already claimed by the purple mist, and only a handful still existed at all, most destroyed by dragonkind itself a thousand years prior. Sensing the demonic energy radiating from it, the dragon understood instantly whose hands it had come from, and exactly what it would mean if that artifact and the orb were ever used together against it.

Bound by its own massive, unyielding pride and unwilling to become a mere tool in their hands, the dragon immediately began summoning a magic circle, fully aware that doing so would inflict lasting damage upon its heart, damage that could take centuries to heal, even if it survived at all.

In a fraction of a second, an intricate, radiant magic circle expanded across the entire cavern floor. Realizing exactly what the dragon intended, Riennal’s eyes narrowed. Without a moment’s hesitation, he slammed his obsidian hands shut, crushing the purple orb to dust.

CRACK.

A dense, suffocating tidal wave of purple mist exploded outward, instantly blanketing the entire cavern in thick fog. Simultaneously, Riennal thrust the eye-shaped artifact forward, attempting to forcibly halt the dragon’s spell.

Yet the sheer power of the dragon’s will defied the haze. Its body shuddered under the influx of fresh corruption, but the magic circle beneath it continued expanding violently, threatening to unleash a spell so destructive that not even ashes would remain of the two intruders.

"No...!" the Four-Eyed Demon shouted in panic, taking a step back as the blinding light threatened to consume them both.

"Stupid lizard...!" Riennal spat through gritted teeth. The repeated strain of using the artifact to control both the barrier and the tens of thousands of beasts beyond it had already drained more of his own demonic energy than he could afford, nowhere near enough left now to fully suppress the dragon’s desperate, dying effort.

Then his maddened eyes landed on the Four-Eyed Demon.

Before the Four-Eyed Demon could react or even take a step back, Riennal’s hand moved with blinding speed.

PUNCH!

Riennal’s jagged claw plunged straight through the demon’s chest, his fingers crushing the demonic heart in his grip.

A look of complete shock paralyzed its face as all four of its crimson eyes widened, locking onto Riennal in horror. A sickening, twisting expression of agony and sudden betrayal distorted its demonic features as its entire body went numb.

Never had it imagined Riennal would do something like this.

"Y-You bastard."

The demon’s trembling arm shot upward, claws desperately reaching for Riennal’s throat in one final, frantic act of vengeance. But before its grip could tighten, its fingers slipped uselessly against Riennal’s neck, lacking even the strength to leave a scratch.

"Forgive me..." Riennal whispered, a cold, unhinged smile spreading across his face, his eyes burning with dark resolve. "I won’t let your sacrifice go to waste. I’ll make sure this succeeds."

He pressed his second hand against the demon’s forehead. A violent suction erupted from the obsidian, eye-shaped artifact in his grip, and the Four-Eyed Demon’s body began rapidly withering and crumbling like dry ash. Its massive reserves of demonic energy were forcibly drained and devoured by the relic. Within seconds, the demon’s entire frame disintegrated into black dust, leaving behind only a glowing, saturated crimson sphere of pure demonic power swirling within the eye-shaped artifact.

Now brimming with freshly replenished, high-density demonic energy, the artifact’s pulse ignited with overwhelming force.

Riennal turned his focus back to the roaring Ice Dragon. The blinding, radiant magic circle beneath the dragon had reached its critical limit, threatening to detonate the entire cavern.

He thrust the fully empowered artifact forward, and a surge of raw, demonic authority erupted from the relic.

Using the artifact’s overwhelming new reserve of power, Riennal forcibly suppressed the dragon, driving the dense purple mist already inside its body to surge violently through it from within. As the concentrated haze surged through its mind and its Dragon Heart, guided now by the artifact’s full strength, the corruption finally overwhelmed the last of its resistance entirely. The brilliant, expanding magic circle flickered, shattered into scattering specks of light, and collapsed completely, dying out before the dragon could ever unleash its final attack.

Cold sweat rolled freely down Riennal’s forehead as he drew in ragged, uneven breaths. For several seconds, Riennal simply stood there, staring at the motionless dragon. His breathing remained heavy, his body still tense from the tremendous strain of suppressing the creature. The dragon’s massive body stood frozen in place as it watched helplessly, while the last of the mist slowly finished claiming what remained of it. The pristine light within its eyes began to fade, replaced by a faint, unnatural crimson glow.