Chapter 163: Earth Dragon King

Many powerhouses knew this name, not just because it was Nordhill's largest island, but because Kumlinge was the name of the Elf Dynasty's second-largest city thirteen thousand years ago.

The Pearl of the East, the renowned city of sculptures—Kumlinge.

It was to commemorate this great city of art that later generations named the island after it.

Poems passed down from ancient times recorded Kumlinge's former prosperity.

Exquisite sculptures were the soul of this ancient Elven city. The flowerbeds along the streets, the decorations on the eaves, and even the City Walls were carved with fine reliefs by the artistically gifted Elves.

In Kumlinge's central fountain square, the statue of the Elven goddess representing the Elf Dynasty's highest artistic achievement watched over everyone in this city of art.

Of course, this was Kumlinge before the Demon invasion.

In that earth-shattering decisive battle where deities descended to participate, the terrain of Nordhill's eastern region was completely altered.

The continent's bedrock was shattered, and the Elf Dynasty's prosperous eastern plains turned into a vast ocean. Snow-capped peaks towering into the clouds were snapped in half. Only a scant few high mountains luckily avoided the fallout of the battle.

Snowfall Peak, beneath the White Dragon Lord, was the tallest among those survivors.

Amid the howling, frigid wind, the White Dragon Lord gripped the steep rocks at the summit of Snowfall Peak, steadily anchoring himself atop the snow-covered peak as he looked down at the scenery below.

In front of Snowfall Peak stood what used to be Kumlinge's tallest mountain. This once-famous and treacherous peak had been utterly shattered during the great decisive battle; now, only a small fraction of its base remained.

Over ten thousand years had smoothed over the scars left by the battle, and the rocky stratum at the mountain's broken stump had now turned into a lush, primeval forest.

Below the mountain's base lay a winding river that flowed into the distance, disappearing from the White Dragon Lord's line of sight.

In Kumlinge's Central Mountain Range, the melted snow gathered to form this long but gentle river. It had a beautiful name: Luoxihasa.

This was a name given by the Elves, meaning "white ribbon."

But the White Dragon Lord preferred to call it Snowpaint River.

Snowpaint River had originally been one of the top major rivers in Nordhill, but due to the sinking of the land, its length had been reduced by more than half. Its former renown had also drowned in the river of time.

Along the riverbanks, a lush, emerald-green forest stretched out into the distance, blanketing the White Dragon Lord's field of vision.

A Dragon's transcendent vision allowed the high-perched White Dragon Lord to spot a scene ordinary people could never discover.

The ruined walls of white buildings flickered in and out of view amidst the wind-swept sea of trees, whispering of past glory.

Those were the remains of the ancient Elf Dynasty's renowned city of sculptures—Kumlinge.

Of course, the White Dragon Lord hadn't flown to the mountain's peak to search for this ancient city.

In truth, aside from its history buried by time, there was nothing left in this city worth thinking about.

In the two thousand years since the Elves abandoned Kumlinge, every valuable item in this city of sculptures had been picked clean by adventurers of various races who had caught wind of it.

The White Dragon Lord scanned the vast forest below, searching for the exact location of the Land Dragon Clan's caves.

The Land Dragon Clan resembled Tyrannosaurus rexes and generally measured eight meters long. However, excluding their long necks and tails, their actual bulk wasn't considered large.

Furthermore, this large Land Dragon clan, boasting over five hundred members, had their caves hidden within a primeval forest with an average tree height of fifty meters, vastly increasing the difficulty of the search.

However, the Harpies had long since scouted the specific location of the caves and informed the White Dragon Lord. Thus, he quickly narrowed down the target area.

Suddenly, the wind carried the mournful wail of a beast to the White Dragon Lord's ears.

Amos instantly had an idea. He kicked off the ground and unfurled his massive dragon wings, gliding silently down from the snow-covered summit.

Even without flapping his wings, his speed was incredibly fast.

Soon, the White Dragon Lord arrived in the airspace above the incident and caught the thick scent of blood in the air.

Through the gaps in the branches, he saw the scene in the woods.

An Adult Land Dragon had its jaws clamped tightly around a jungle tiger's spine, pinning the tiger's head to the ground with one claw.

The jungle tiger was already frothing blood from its mouth, its body twitching. Judging by the marks on the surrounding ground, it had struggled, but the outcome was obvious—it was no match for the Land Dragon.

Though his flight was silent, the shadow cast by the White Dragon's enormous body startled the predator below.

About to enjoy a delicious meal, the Land Dragon hastily released the food in its mouth and turned, trying to dive into the dense forest.

Even though it didn't know what it was about to face, the heart-palpitating feeling in its chest stripped away any reluctance to abandon its meal.

Watching the Land Dragon decisively abandon its prey, the White Dragon Lord praised inwardly, 'Quite smart.'

But the gap between a Land Dragon and the White Dragon Lord couldn't be offset by wisdom and decisiveness.

The White Dragon Lord released his majestic dragon might, crushing it down upon the fleeing Land Dragon.

Halfway into the bushes, the Land Dragon's legs immediately gave out. It collapsed limply to the ground, letting out a low, sorrowful whine.

Under the dragon might of a pure-blooded Legendary Dragon, this Level 13 Creature Level Land Dragon had absolutely no ability to resist.

The White Dragon Lord folded his massive wings and dropped through the gaps in the trees. After snapping a few branches, he successfully landed in the forest.

Ignoring the dying jungle tiger, the White Dragon Lord paced over to the Land Dragon, whose upper half was buried in the bushes. He grabbed the beast's exposed tail and hoisted it upside down.

In the massive White Dragon's grip, the Land Dragon didn't dare to fight back, shivering in midair.

Amos curiously inspected the Land Dragon in his hand. Aside from Wyverns, the White Dragon Lord had never seen any other sub-dragon clan before.

Besides lacking dragon horns and wings, the Land Dragon in his grasp looked quite similar to a True Dragon. Its body was covered in earthen-yellow scale armor. The surface of these scales was uneven and rough, boasting astonishing defensive power.

Umm... at least, so he'd heard.

To get a clearer understanding of the Land Dragon's scale defense, the White Dragon Lord treated the poor bugger in his hand like a guinea pig. He extended a finger and flicked his test subject.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Under the White Dragon Lord's test, the Land Dragon's body emitted a ringing sound like struck metal.

The pain caused the Land Dragon to let out hasty, mournful wails, twisting its body to struggle. But the White Dragon Lord's dragon claws were as steady as a mountain, completely unmoving.

After testing it out, the White Dragon Lord roughly understood the structure of the Land Dragon's scales.

The Land Dragon's scales were incredibly thick. At least a third of their total body weight came from their scales. This heavy armor granted them defensive power comparable to a True Dragon.

However, while the scales brought astonishing defense, they also brought a problem: they couldn't swim. Their scales were simply too heavy; the moment they stepped into water, they would never be able to surface again.

This was probably why the Land Dragon Clan had lived in the exact same region for over ten thousand years.

The White Dragon Lord thought to himself. Having figured out the scale structure on the Land Dragon's body, the White Dragon's hand still didn't stop moving.

The Land Dragon's miserable shrieks grew louder, yet they were full of vigor. One could tell just by listening that aside from pain, it hadn't suffered any substantial injuries.

Naturally, the White Dragon Lord wasn't some twisted sadist. He just wanted to use its wails to attract the other Land Dragons.

To achieve a better effect, the White Dragon Lord cast an Amplification Magic buff on the Land Dragon.

Instantly, the Land Dragon's shrieks became earth-shattering, startling massive flocks of birds from the forest.

Finally, the Amplification Magic worked. In the distance, an angry roar resounded through the forest, vibrating the leaves in front of the White Dragon Lord until they rustled loudly.

The Earth Dragon King—Kemosg—was currently furious. As the leader, he didn't need to hunt for himself. He only needed to lie in his cave and wait for his clansmen to bring the best food to him.

Today was no exception. But a minute ago, while lying comfortably and waiting for tributes from his clansmen, he suddenly heard a clansman's miserable screams. Startled and uncertain, Kemosg raised his head.

'Oh! It's that idiot! Failed a hunt and got hurt by the prey instead.'

After thinking it over, Kemosg lay back down. He had already cleared out all predators at the High Tier and above within their territory. For a clansman to still get hurt was simply a total loss of face for the Land Dragons.

'Such an idiot can just go die.'

Feeling extremely annoyed at being disturbed, Kemosg nudged the dry soil on the ground with his single-horned head and went back to resting.

Suddenly, the clansman's shrieks grew deafeningly loud. Kemosg realized something was wrong and instantly sprang up from the ground.

'Could a powerful outsider have trespassed into the Land Dragons' territory?!'

Kemosg found a logical explanation.

'Fine then! Trespassing in my territory, and you even dare to bully my dragon!'

The Land Dragon leader charged out of the cave in a flash, striding rapidly toward the source of the screams.

His heavy body caused Kemosg to leave deep footprints with every step, making the surrounding earth tremble.

The White Dragon Lord also felt the ground shaking, and his hand flicked even more cheerfully.

The clansman's increasingly frequent shrieks made Kemosg feel insulted. Anger surged in his heart.

Like a tank, the Land Dragon leader bulldozed through the shrubs along the way, charging toward the site of the incident.

Soon, Kemosg saw the White Dragon Lord sizing him up with great interest.

'A True Dragon?!'

Kemosg slammed on the brakes immediately, staring at the White Dragon Lord with a grave expression.

Amos released his claws. The poor Land Dragon slammed into the dirt and hastily scrambled away from the scene.

Compared to Kemosg acting like he was facing a mortal enemy, the White Dragon Lord seemed a bit surprised. He sized up the newly arrived Land Dragon leader from head to toe, feeling somewhat in disbelief.

The Land Dragon leader, Kemosg, was practically a completely different species compared to his kin. Kemosg was roughly 15 meters long, his body covered in earthen-yellow scales.

But what surprised the White Dragon Lord wasn't his size; it was the spiraling single horn thrusting toward the sky from atop his head. Land Dragons didn't have horns.

Amos found this exact situation in his dragon inheritance. The horn on his head proved that the True Dragon bloodline inside Kemosg was incredibly dense—so much so that he had broken through his species' limits and evolved into a creature caught between a Land Dragon and a True Dragon.

This phenomenon was exceptionally rare. From another perspective, the Land Dragon leader was no weaker than an ordinary True Dragon.

Amos was the first to break the silence.

"Kemosg?!"

Hearing the White Dragon Lord call out his name and feeling the imposing pressure radiating from the White Dragon, Kemosg thought for a moment and decided to ascertain the other party's intentions first. He spoke in rusty dragon language.

"Yes. True Dragon, what business do you have in the territory of the Land Dragons?"

The White Dragon Lord felt a surge of pleasant surprise. When typical wild beasts advanced to the Legendary Rank, their intelligence would massively increase, but they still wouldn't actively learn knowledge like languages. The fact that the Land Dragon leader could use dragon language proved that he possessed a complete dragon language inheritance.

If he had a dragon language inheritance, he might also have other parts of the inheritance. In that case, the value of the Land Dragon leader instantly doubled.

Because the dragon inheritances varied greatly among the major Dragon Races. True Dragons placed immense importance on their dragon inheritance. Asking about the dragon inheritance of other dragon species was a major taboo explicitly forbidden by the dragon gods. But the sub-dragon clans were a different story.

Since his value was different and they could communicate, the original plan of violent conquest had to be modified.

The White Dragon Lord didn't answer the Land Dragon's question directly.

"Do you wish to leave this island and venture into a much vaster world?"

Kemosg tilted his head. After glancing at the White Dragon Lord, he replied.

"No. I live a very good life right here."

Amos paused in surprise. He never expected this guy to be a complacent Land Dragon with zero ambition.

Of course, it was also possible that his worldview was shallow and he simply had no concept of the dazzling world outside.

Realizing this, the White Dragon Lord tried to persuade him.

"Kemosg, this land you live on is named Kumlinge. It is only a tiny fraction of this world. Everything you currently possess isn't even worth mentioning compared to the world outside. Walk out of here, and you will gain so much more."

Seeing Kemosg nod thoughtfully, Amos understood that the beast's dragon inheritance must contain information about the wider world. The White Dragon Lord continued tempting the Land Dragon leader.

"Furthermore, by living here your entire life, you are like a caged bird. Don't you want to see just how wonderful the world outside the cage is?!"

"Let alone anything else, just take food. The most delicious food you've ever eaten is nothing more than raw beast flesh. Have you ever tasted cooked meat? Have you ever seen delicacies from the deep sea? ..."

Kemosg couldn't understand most of what the White Dragon Lord was talking about. But not understanding was exactly the point!

Nailed it!

The logic of "sounding impressive because you don't understand it" applied to any race. After a brief internal struggle, Kemosg finally asked.

"Then how can I go to the outside world? I cannot cross the ocean."

The White Dragon Lord unleashed his powerful dragon might, proudly raising his head high.

"As long as you follow my lead, I'll take you to explore the outside world."

Kemosg frowned.

"Follow your lead? You mean you want me to be your underling?! You want to challenge my position as the leader!"

The Land Dragon leader instantly flew into a rage.

"No way! I am the leader here, don't even think about replacing me!"