Chapter 344: Abyssal Blood Moon

The White Dragon Lord couldn't help but take a second glance at the little wild boar. Judging by its energy level, this palm-sized creature was nearly on par with his two great kin, the Nether Panther and the Earth Dragon King.

Beasts usually possessed sharp instincts. Because the White Dragon Lord stared a moment longer, the small wild boar suddenly jolted awake. It bounced up from the counter, splaying its stubby legs to prop up its round, chubby body. It glared warily at the White Dragon Lord, its throat vibrating with a series of threatening snorts.

However, no matter how one listened, those soft, cute snorts lacked any real lethality.

"Georgie, stop fooling around."

Behind the counter, a pair of slender hands scooped up the small wild boar. The hands belonged to a beautiful elven woman. The little boar nuzzled into its master's soft embrace, shifted into a more comfortable position, and continued to glare indignantly at the White Dragon Lord.

The elf smiled apologetically.

"My apologies. I've spoiled the little guy."

"It's nothing, beautiful lady. The little fellow is quite cute."

The Gold Dragon took over the conversation.

"I heard we can accept missions here. Could you walk us through them?"

"Of course. According to their danger levels, missions are divided into seven ranks: S, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Among them, S-rank missions represent the scope for Abomination Rank powerhouses, and Rank A missions fall under the scope for High-Tier Legends. Below that, they scale down consecutively through the Legendary Rank Tier, Master rank, High Tier, Intermediate Tier, and Low Tier."

"Aside from the standard graded missions, there are also unrestricted bounty missions. Regardless of who accepts them, as long as they can hand over the required item, the mission is considered complete."

The elf brought out a Crystal Ball from beneath the counter as she spoke.

"You two mighty Dragons, all the missions are stored within this receiver. You need only extend your spiritual power into it to view them."

The White Dragon Lord extended his spiritual power into the Crystal Ball. An ocean of information was stored within.

"Rank B Mission: A perfectly preserved Six-Armed Snake Demon heart. Bounty: 2,000 Divine Power Gold Coins. Live specimen preferred; live bounty: 3,000 Divine Power Gold Coins."

"Rank C Mission: Hunt a fire-attribute Master-Tier Demon and collect ten liters of boiling demon blood. Bounty: 300 Divine Power Gold Coins."

"Bounty Mission: Collect twenty intact Foulblood Demon Vines. Bounty: 1,000 Divine Power Gold Coins."

"..."

"Bounty Mission: Seeking the Demon Origin of an Abyssal Lord. Those who provide reliable intelligence will be rewarded with 3 million Divine Power Gold Coins. Those who directly provide the item may choose one of two rewards: 1. Make one feasible request to the Nordhill Guardian Council, or 2. A reward of 100 million Divine Power Gold Coins."

Seeing this bounty, the White Dragon Lord thought of the heavily injured Grand Duke Silver Dragon and withdrew his spiritual power from the Crystal Ball.

"Beautiful elven lady, I am Amos Aldrich from Nordhill. I will soon be taking command of Blackrock Fortress. Additionally, I am a council member of the Nordhill Guardian Council. If there is any news regarding the Demon Origin bounty mission issued by the Nordhill Council, please come to the Central Castle and inform me immediately. I will pay you a satisfactory reward."

The beautiful elf offered a sweet smile.

"Of course I recognize you, Your Excellency Lord of the Thousand Islands. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ailonia Moonseeker from the Elven Forest of Nordhill, affiliated with the Nine Eyes Alliance."

Ailonia Moonseeker bowed slightly.

"My respects to you, Lord Amos. Lord Adrian is not only of the Dragon Race but also a great benefactor to us Elves."

The White Dragon Lord was briefly taken aback before realization dawned on him.

"I see."

At this time, the Gold Dragon also finished its inspection.

"White Castle and the Nine Eyes Alliance are close partners. If you ever need anything, feel free to find me at any time."

The two dragons and one human continued to familiarize themselves with the defense works of Blackrock Fortress.

Time flew by amidst their busy work. The three suns—one large and two small—sank beneath the distant, blood-colored horizon. An ominous blood moon slowly rose, casting its pale red light over the land. The bloody moonlight rippled like water, dyeing all of creation crimson.

Gazing at the blood moon on the horizon, a chill crept into the White Dragon Lord's heart, and he couldn't help but shiver.

"Damn it!"

A White Dragon actually feeling cold—even the undead wouldn't believe it if they heard it!

Bathed in the crimson moonlight, the White Dragon Lord could feel the negative energy in the surroundings rapidly surging.

"As expected of the chaotic Abyss. The conversion of elemental energy is so fast."

Feeling a chill from the bottom of his heart, the White Dragon Lord returned indoors.

...

One week later.

A faint light appeared in the eastern sky; the darkness before dawn was about to pass.

At this moment, Blackrock Fortress was brightly lit. The clanking of iron armor and the sharp grinding of weapons being sharpened could be heard everywhere. The entire city was filled with a grim, murderous aura.

The usually unruly adventurers were uncharacteristically absent from taverns and inns. Instead, they stood fully armed along the streets, observing the movements of the regular army.

The well-informed knew that the once-in-two-centuries rotation had arrived. This meant their side would gain an extra High-Tier Legend powerhouse, allowing them to thoroughly suppress and batter the demonic cities.

According to past experience, this was also the harvest season for adventurers. While the regular army suppressed the demon cities, the adventurers could take the opportunity to search for magical materials or hunt wild Demons in the surrounding areas.

During normal times, the dozens of kilometers surrounding a demon city were a forbidden zone for adventurers. Since Demons did not engage in production and had no need for magical materials, those resources had grown magnificently over the past two centuries.

With magical materials that had grown for so long, combined with the wild Demons, an adventurer's harvest during this year would often double or triple their usual haul.

It wasn't just the adventurers. The current lord of Blackrock Fortress, Owen Demonbinder, was also rubbing his hands together in anticipation, preparing for a massive operation before his departure.

The moment the sun rose, the desolate blare of the marching horn sounded. The gates of Blackrock Fortress swung wide open. From within the pitch-black entryway, the reinforced iron portcullises that had been lowered for the night were raised, vanishing into the dark crevices above. The soldiers atop the City Wall released the taut winches, and the heavy ironwood drawbridge plummeted down.

Crash!

The drawbridge, suspended by two thick iron chains at its corners, landed heavily on the opposite side of the moat, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Clad in iron armor and wielding weapons, the human soldiers formed neat ranks. Like pre-programmed machines, they marched in unison out of the gate, stepping onto the drawbridge and advancing into the wilderness.

At the very front of the formation was a squad of soldiers wielding specially forged blades. They used their long-handled light blades to clear the path of demonized plants; these spiked, corrupted flora were obstacles on the march.

Behind this vanguard followed the regular army, while adventurers trailed the regulars in small groups of three or five.

Up in the sky, the White Dragon Lord watched the army below carve its way through the thorns.

"Sir Owen, are we really just going to swagger over there so openly?"

"Of course. When fighting Demons, you have to be direct. You'll understand in a moment."

Owen Demonbinder smiled, deliberately keeping him in suspense.

In the distance, an Intermediate Tier Berserker Demon spotted the marching army. Instead of fleeing in panic, it actually raised its bone club and charged right at them.

Its courage was commendable, but utterly pointless.

Before the Berserker Demon could even get close, it was smashed into a pile of mangled flesh.

Seeing the Berserker Demon fall, the White Dragon Lord suddenly understood.

Chaotic bloodlust was the innate nature bestowed upon Demons by the Abyss. This instinct was so powerful that it warped their minds, often driving them to perform completely irrational acts. Therefore, ordinary Demons could not be judged by common sense.

"After years of observation, I've found that nearly thirty percent of Low-Tier Demons won't flee when they encounter an enemy. Among Mid-Tier Demons, that ratio is twenty percent. Furthermore, these low- and mid-tier Demons are easily provoked into losing what little reason they have."

"Only when they reach the High Tier do these Demons gradually learn to suppress their nature. Demons at this stage start becoming difficult to deal with. They are powerful and bloodthirsty, and many possess spell abilities like Teleportation. If they can't win, they'll flee."

"As for Master-Tier Demons, they are almost no different from normal people. Not to mention Legendary Rank ones—the stupid ones never survive long enough to reach the Legendary Rank level."

Master Owen explained his years of experience as they flew.

"The Eight-Armed Snake Demon, Durio, is very cunning. She commands many demon sorcerers who have laid dense magical traps all around Ten Thousand Blades Fortress. A marching army is too large a target and absolutely cannot evade their eyes, so our only choice is to clash with Ten Thousand Blades Fortress head-on."

"In truth, I've never even considered capturing Ten Thousand Blades Fortress. The number of Demons there outnumbers us by more than ten to one. Even though ninety percent of them are Low-Tier Demons, their sheer numerical advantage is enough to offset our edge in quality."

"However, as long as we maintain the upper hand in top-tier combat power, Durio won't dare step out of the city. Our goal for this expedition is simply to cull the number of Demons under her command as much as possible, preventing them from accumulating too many forces and triggering a demonic disaster."

"..."

He had to admit, joining a unified organization with a harmonious internal atmosphere was incredibly fortunate. In a typical faction, the White Dragon Lord would have had to expend a great deal of effort and wealth just to obtain this kind of intelligence.

After marching for nearly two hours, the army arrived at the small river that marked the territorial boundary.

This river was not large. Its widest section spanned only ten meters, and its narrowest a mere three meters. Even magic-oriented professionals with weaker physical constitutions could cross it in a single leap.

Master Owen ordered a halt for food and rest. The opposite bank was enemy territory. In the past, adventurers could only sneak across rather than hunt on a large scale, so the density of Demons on the other side was nothing to scoff at.

While the soldiers ate, several High-Tier Mages stepped up to the riverbank and bombarded the faintly fishy-smelling water with lightning magic. Amidst the wildly dancing silver serpents of electricity, dozens of demonized creatures and aquatic Demon corpses floated to the surface.

After clearing the hidden threats in the water, the Mages used earth magic to construct several bridges. By the time everything was ready, the soldiers had also finished resting. Drawing their blades, they marched onto the bridges.

While the Mages were shocking Demons and building bridges, some of the bolder and highly skilled adventurers had already leaped across the river ahead of the regular army. Skirmishes had already broken out on the other side.

From the sky, the White Dragon Lord watched a group of adventurers besiege a High-Tier Demon. Facing several enemies of the same Tier simultaneously, the High-Tier Demon ultimately fell to the ground in unresigned defeat. The adventurers joyfully stored away the Demon's corpse.

According to Blackrock Fortress's purchasing rates, a typical Low-Tier Demon corpse was worth one hundred standard gold coins, while a High-Tier Demon could fetch roughly one Divine Power Gold Coin (ten thousand standard gold coins). Accounting for factors like the demon's species, the integrity of the corpse, and the demon's individual strength, the price would fluctuate slightly, but never by much.

Even split among several people, a single High-Tier Demon's bounty would yield thousands of gold coins per person. Over on the material plane, a task paying thousands of gold coins would be considered a high-level mission at the very least. And although High-Tier Demons weren't exactly everywhere in the Abyss, they were quite easy to find if one actively looked.

It was precisely because of such lucrative profits that countless people willingly stepped through the Abyss Teleportation Portal every year, fearlessly plunging forward despite knowing how extremely perilous the Blood War Battlefield was.

Just as previously stated, the Blood War Battlefield was extremely dangerous. From the sky, the White Dragon Lord witnessed the deaths of several adventurers in all sorts of ways: blasted apart by a Demon's magic, dragged down in a mutual-destruction gambit by a desperate Demon... someone even got their heart pierced by a demonized plant.

As for the corpses of their fallen comrades, teams with a conscience would store them into their Spatial Equipment along with the Demon carcasses. The majority simply cremated them on the spot, while some even left them to rot in the wilderness, knowing that the army following behind would deal with the bodies.

Under the illumination of the blood moon, the negative energy within the Abyss soared. Corpses left exposed in the wilderness were highly prone to mutation.

No one wanted to leave behind such a hazard, so the army trailing behind the adventurers would dispose of these bodies, treating the labor as the price for having the path scouted.

The scent of charred meat drifted into the air. The White Dragon Lord felt no emotional ripples regarding this; it was the adventurers' own choice, and they could blame no one else.

Time trickled by. With the army serving as their rearguard, the adventurers forging ahead maintained a steady advance, despite suffering some casualties.

Boom!

Suddenly, an explosion echoed from the ground ahead, mixed with screams that were almost completely drowned out by the blast.

The White Dragon Lord's heart stirred. He knew they had entered the trap zone around Ten Thousand Blades Fortress.

Witnessing their comrades being blown to pieces, the adventurers dared not press forward any further. They retreated to the flanks of the regular army, waiting to see how the military would handle it.

Master Owen had anticipated this. A special squad clad in Mage robes stepped to the front and began clearing the traps.

"Amos, Leopold, prepare for battle. The traps have been triggered, so Ten Thousand Blades Fortress should have caught on by now."

Hearing this, the White Dragon Lord cast various buffing spells upon himself. Suddenly, a thought struck him.

"Sir Owen, standard reinforcements usually consist of one High-Tier Legend, but we have two."

The three of them exchanged glances, instantly understanding the White Dragon Lord's meaning—they would hide one of them to catch the enemy completely off guard.

"We can give it a try, but be careful. There is a large-scale Array inside Ten Thousand Blades Fortress as well."

Owen couldn't be the one to hide, and the Gold Dragon relied entirely on spell-like abilities for its magic. Thus, the most suitable candidate to conceal himself was the White Dragon Lord.

The White Dragon Lord concealed his figure and detached from the trio.