Chapter 315: Intelligence on the Dragon Lich

With a sigh, the White Dragon Lord picked up Sadolina's Bracelet (Pseudo).

"You two, this bracelet is very useful to me. I'll be taking it."

Sadolina's Bracelet (Pseudo) shared the White Dragon Lord's elemental affinity and could only unleash its maximum value in his hands. The Cat-Woman and the Ancient Gold Dragon naturally had no objections.

The White Dragon Lord wiped away the residual mark left by the Titan within the bracelet and imprinted his own. He then slid the bracelet onto one of the thick, massive horns on his head, where it settled perfectly at the base.

Afterward, the Ancient Gold Dragon and the Cat-Woman took the remaining two top-tier Legendary Rank rings. The rest of the items were of no great use to the three of them, so they divided them evenly based on value.

It was worth mentioning that the White Dragon Lord's hoarding tendencies flared up, and he claimed the Titan's token ring, wedding ring, and spatial ring for himself.

Not far away, in the mine pit that had been devastated by the fierce battle between the High-Tier Legends, Gurgalu flew out and landed before the trio.

"Master, all surviving enemies in the mine pit have been captured. There are five at the Legendary Rank Level, one hundred and twenty-three at the Master Tier, and some enemies buried under the rubble."

The White Dragon Lord gave a slight nod.

"Escort the captives back and continue clearing the battlefield."

According to the rules, the spoils from those killed in the crossfire would be split: thirty percent to the discoverer, and the remaining seventy percent to the White Dragon Lord and his two companions.

As for stealing or hiding the spoils, unless one was insane, no one would dare do such a thing, not even a High-Tier Legend.

In a massive organization with strict laws like the Council, credit and integrity checks were frequently required. Embezzling spoils was undoubtedly a way to ruin one's own future.

"But..."

Gurgalu hesitated slightly.

"Many of these captives are massive creatures like Titans and giants. I'm afraid the prison won't be able to hold them."

Hearing the words Titans and giants, the Ancient Gold Dragon snorted, puffing out two streams of white air.

"If they can't fit, just slaughter them all!"

"Hmm... let's take them back anyway." The White Dragon Lord looked down, pondering how to squeeze every last drop of surplus value out of the Titans and their kin.

"Put them in shackles and use them as training partners for the young dragons in the academy. It's time they learned how to fight enemies like Titans."

"That works too."

The Ancient Gold Dragon naturally wouldn't object to such a wonderful thing as exploiting their enemies to strengthen their own side.

The Cat-Woman chimed in from the side.

"The prison is almost full anyway. Why don't we just open a Portal right here and send all the captives back?"

The White Dragon Lord nodded in agreement. He returned to the Floating Tower, gripped the Control Core, and rapidly chanted an incantation. The Alchemical Crystal atop the Floating Tower unleashed a beam of purple light, forming a swirling, circular purple Portal on the ground.

The gates of the Floating Tower swung wide open. Two Legendary Rank Warriors stood at the entrance to maintain order, watching the Master Tier captives walk out. The races of these captives were a mixed bag, including humans, Orcs, Dwarves, several Elves, and a few bizarre and unusual species.

Even within the same race, there were vast differences in appearance. For instance, the Orcs, who made up the largest number, had green skin, brown skin, grayish-white skin... It was practically enough to host a multiverse racial expo.

And indeed, that was the reality. These captives came from various planes across the multiverse, arriving with the goal of conquering the Luoduoluo Plane, only to forfeit their freedom here instead.

But compared to their comrades who had been directly obliterated by the shockwaves of the battle, they were quite lucky; at least they still had the chance to surrender.

As for those who refused to surrender, the Nordhill forces wouldn't force them. They simply killed them and collected the spoils.

To prevent the captives from rioting, they were all bound with wrist-thick manacles and leg irons. Arcane runes flashed periodically across the pitch-black chains. These runes not only made the restraints sturdier but also suppressed the energy within the captives' bodies.

Stripped of their ability to resist, the captives resigned themselves to their fate, shuffling their feet toward the ten-meter-tall purple Portal. The dark, purplish void at the center of the Portal looked like a black hole ready to devour everything.

The gnoll, Hogger, cast a glance at the White Dragon Lord and stepped into the Portal ahead of the captives. He needed to head to Sky City in advance to contact the Council staff responsible for captive transfers and obtain a receipt. This would serve as crucial evidence when calculating merits after the battle.

Hogger's only purpose for participating in this battle was to broaden his horizons. Having only recently stepped into the Legendary Rank, his strength placed him among the weakest batch of legendary powerhouses, which was why the White Dragon Lord had kept the gnoll by his side all along.

"Hurry up! Stop dawdling!"

A short-tempered Legendary Mage conjured a flaming long whip and lashed it at the Orc captive in the front, leaving behind a charred whip mark.

The Orc let out a muffled groan, furious but not daring to speak out. He could only lower his head, grit his teeth, and quicken his pace. As the gap in front widened, the Legendary Mage glared fiercely from the side with the flaming whip in hand, prompting the captives behind to speed up as well.

One end of the line of captives plunged into the Portal, while the other end connected to the Floating Tower. The Master Tier captives were the most numerous; after all, not every plane had an abundant supply of legendary powerhouses to deploy.

Before long, the legendary powerhouses escorted a new batch of captives out of the Frost Fel Iron mine pit. Half of these captives were human, along with three Titans, and the rest belonged to the Giant Race.

Upon seeing the White Dragon Lord and the Ancient Gold Dragon, the Titans and giants visibly shuddered, their faces turning ashen. However, under the watchful eyes of their guards, they dared not flee, trudging toward the Portal like walking corpses.

Having fallen into the hands of their mortal enemies, the fate of these Titans and giants was easy to imagine.

There was nothing the White Dragon Lord could do about this. Even if he could ignore the inherited memories of Titans slaughtering dragons and was willing to reach a reconciliation with them, the Titans would never show him any mercy. Instead, he would be labeled a traitor by the Dragon Race and despised by his own kind, so he had no choice but to follow this path to its bitter end.

After a while, the Master Tier captives finished passing through, and it was the turn of the Legendary Rank Level captives. There weren't many legendary captives; including the three Titans, there were only fourteen in total.

Under the deterrence of three High-Tier Legends, the captives couldn't make any waves and obediently entered the Portal. Once they arrived in Sky City, a place teeming with powerhouses like clouds, a dozen or so legends would be like tiny pebbles tossed into the ocean—unable to create even a splash.

After handling the captives, the White Dragon Lord, the Ancient Gold Dragon, and the Cat-Woman approached the collapsed Frost Fel Iron mine pit. Among the legendary powerhouses, some were clearing the battlefield with their own hands, while others directed golems to do the work.

During the battle between the four High-Tier Legends, the mine pit directly below had borne the brunt of the impact. Collapsed rocks, massive blocks of ice, scorched stone, and the plant debris spawned by the Cat-Woman piled up in the pit, likely burying the enemy faction's foot soldiers underneath.

A massive Iron Golem lifted a boulder, revealing a mushy pulp of flesh and blood beneath it. The golem's master used a Mage Hand to hoist the corpse, tossing it onto a pile of dead bodies nearby.

Some people pinned beneath the rubble had not yet breathed their last, gasping in agony. But without medical aid, they definitely wouldn't live long. These Master Tier or High Tier professionals were simply not worth a Legendary Priest actively casting high-level divine spells like limb regeneration to save them.

After having their suffering ended by a finishing blow from the golems or the legendary powerhouses themselves, the corpses were also heaped together to be cremated centrally later. In an unpurified Necromantic Plane like the Luoduoluo Plane, leaving these corpses unattended would easily turn them into undead.

Looking at the scene inside the pit, the White Dragon Lord described the situation over at Mine Pit No. 2 to the Cat-Woman and the Ancient Gold Dragon.

Thanks to the warning magic personally set up by the White Dragon Lord, the garrison personnel stationed at Mine Pit No. 2 had successfully retreated. Little Finger's people had captured Mine Pit No. 2 without breaking a sweat.

The Ancient Gold Dragon thought back for a moment.

"I recall that Mine Pit No. 2 is a large-scale Mithril vein, and about sixty percent of it had already been mined, right?"

"Yes, exactly."

The White Dragon Lord nodded, while the Ancient Gold Dragon toyed with the dark gold ring in its hand.

"Then this wave wasn't a loss."

Indeed, it wasn't a loss. The value of the spoils from the Frost Titans alone exceeded the remaining forty percent of the Mithril vein. Not to mention the other loot and captives, along with a completely intact Frost Fel Iron Vein.

Frost Fel Iron wasn't a particularly high-value mineral vein, but for beings like the White Dragon Lord who specialized in ice magic, it held more worth than some highly valued veins. Creating avatar-type golems required materials of the exact same elemental affinity under strict conditions, and Frost Fel Iron was one of the materials that met those requirements.

The Frost Titans appeared to be the original discoverers of the Frost Fel Iron Vein. They had already mined seventy percent of it, but all the excavated ore had now become the spoils of the White Dragon Lord and his group.

"Even though we didn't lose out, we can't just let this matter go."

Having been schemed against, the White Dragon Lord was exceedingly displeased.

"We need to find a way to get even."

The three of them tossed ideas back and forth, discussing how to retaliate against Little Finger. Ultimately, they couldn't come up with a conclusive plan.

Under the current tripartite balance of power, if the White Dragon Lord went to war with Little Finger, it would only benefit the Cult of the Dragon, who would be watching tigers fight from the mountain. If things took a turn for the worse, Little Finger and the Cult of the Dragon might join forces to besiege the Nordhill faction, which could trigger a massive disaster.

Therefore, no matter how frustrated the White Dragon Lord felt, for the sake of the big picture, he could only choose to endure it for now and wait for the right opportunity.

The White Dragon Lord set up warning magic and concealment arrays around the Frost Fel Iron Vein. After leaving a Legendary Mage behind to direct the golems in mining the remaining thirty percent of the Frost Fel Iron, he activated a teleportation spell, bringing everyone back to Mine Pit No. 3, which was garrisoned by the Earth Dragon King, Kemosg.

Just like that, the three hostile factions—the White Dragon Lord, Little Finger, and the Cult of the Dragon—maintained the peace through an eerie tacit understanding, continuing to hunt down the small and medium-sized factions.

Having learned from his past mistake, the White Dragon Lord gave Little Finger no further opportunities, while Little Finger remained constantly on guard against the White Dragon Lord's retaliation.

As the small and medium-sized factions in their respective regions gradually diminished, the conflicts between the three major factions naturally escalated, often leading to clashes over prey.

However, the three sides, relatively equal in strength, all maintained their restraint. No one was confident they could defeat their opponents while keeping their own losses within acceptable limits. Everyone was here for profit, and no one wanted to see a mutually destructive outcome.

One day, the White Dragon Lord found a moment of leisure amidst his busy schedule and sat down in the Floating Tower to play chess with the Ancient Gold Dragon. The Cat-Woman had fashioned a vine recliner for herself and lay to the side, snacking on a bag of dried minnows as she watched the game.

The chess the two dragons played was the King's Game, the most popular board game among Nordhill's upper crust. The pieces were similar to Western chess, but the rules of the game were steeped in a rich magical flavor.

On the board, the black pieces commanded by the Ancient Gold Dragon held the upper hand.

The White Dragon Lord picked up a white guard piece leaning on a sword and shifted it one square horizontally across the checkered magical board, capturing a black general. In doing so, his center opened wide, leaving the queen exposed to the lance of an enemy knight.

The knight charged forward in a sudden assault. The Mage-class queen exploded on the spot, perishing together with the knight.

With the queen's death, the white king piece radiated a red glow signifying fury. The restriction keeping him inside his square palace was lifted, allowing him to take to the battlefield personally.

A crossbowman fired a bolt toward the king, but a guard raised its shield to block it.

...

In the end, just as the valiant white king charged into enemy territory, he fell beneath a fireball from the opposing queen.

The Ancient Gold Dragon won and raised its brow. The two reset the board, ready for another grand battle.

The two dragons discussed the current situation while they played.

"Is there any news from the other two regions?"

While carrying out their respective duties, the three Floating Towers would transmit messages to one another at regular intervals, communicating and sharing gathered intelligence. This allowed the decision-makers in each Floating Tower to better grasp the situation.

The White Dragon Lord pinched a piece in his hand, multitasking as he pondered the board and answered, "No major changes. They're fighting tooth and nail, but no one is willing to risk their lives. There is one thing to note, however. Over by the Holy Sanctuary's side, a dragon lich at the Peak High-Tier Legend stage has appeared within the Cult of the Dragon. The Cult is currently holding the advantage in the resource scramble."

Hearing the term "dragon lich," the Ancient Gold Dragon frowned. It did not like those piles of bone scraps who had forsaken life.

The relationship between dragon liches and the Dragon Race was incredibly complex. Dragons were born proud, with aspirations higher than the sky. The vast majority of dragons looked down on those who converted into liches, viewing it as the symbol of an incompetent failure who couldn't break through to the Ancient Dragon stage.

However, neither the two great dragon gods nor the Gem Dragon King had explicitly refused to acknowledge the draconic identity of dragon liches. There were even some dragon liches who retained their sanity and participated in the war between the Dragon Race and the Titans. This neither-friend-nor-foe dynamic gave dragons a massive headache.

But without a doubt, the current dragon lich was an enemy of the White Dragon Lord and his allies. The White Dragon Lord continued, "This dragon lich goes by the name Samiat Bone-Erosion Flame. The Council hasn't found any intelligence on him yet."

Generally speaking, a dragon lich at the Peak High-Tier Legend stage was no nobody in the multiverse. As long as he had been active, he would have left records to be collected and organized by intelligence groups. Yet, Samiat Bone-Erosion Flame seemed to have popped out of nowhere.

The Ancient Gold Dragon thought for a moment.

"It might be an alias, or perhaps he hasn't come out since converting into a lich. Many dragons abandon their original names and shut themselves away after becoming liches."

The White Dragon Lord gave a noncommittal nod to the Ancient Gold Dragon's words.

"Judging by the intelligence gathered from the battlefield, this Samiat Bone-Erosion Flame specializes in sinister magic like necromantic flames. So far, he has used seven types of legendary magic and one Forbidden Spell. The Forbidden Spell is the Fire of Prometheus, and the seven legendary magic spells are..."

The White Dragon Lord laid out the intelligence on the dragon lich as he placed his chess piece. Beside them, the Cat-Woman stopped eating and pricked up her ears to listen closely. In the near future, there was a very high chance they would face off against this dragon lich.