69novels Page 35
Page 35
The mental barrier that had always protected the inner voice of the Roaring Words shattered at that moment, exposing the soul and heart of this master of the mind. Thus, the still-unknown prophetic dragon vein sorcerer of the Carrick tribe easily used Mind Probing to access the Roaring Words' memories.
Even with sixth-circle spells, Mind Flayer can only extract memories from a target little by little through a question-and-answer process. The spell's duration is limited, and each cast inflicts immense mental pressure on the target's mind. A mind flayer that has already broken through its defenses cannot withstand more than a few rounds of questioning before it becomes completely incapacitated.
First, having obtained the most urgently needed operating manual for the snail-shell ship, Casalos, seeing that the mind flayer could hold out for a while longer, began to satisfy his own curiosity.
"Oh, so you've been wandering around here looking for it. Too bad, you'll never find it. It has completely left this world and gone to the next. What you've been chasing is just a bunch of flies crawling in and out of the crevices."
What do you mean you've been eyeing me for a long time, but you've been holding back because you're controlled by the mainframe... So you've been rebelling against your own mainframe for a long time?
"Wait a minute, how could you possibly escape the mainframe's detection? Your little tricks of forging memories wouldn't work on the mainframe at all. Wait, the fact that the mainframe allowed you to come out and cause me trouble means it's just a test!"
Haw!
The clamorous head exploded like a watermelon swept by a dragon's tail, purple juice and tough tadpole tissue smeared everywhere.
A message also entered Casalos's mind.
98. Departure
Casalos guessed correctly; Mehro's Roar was a message sent back by the mastermind hiding in a deeper area to test it.
If the Roaring Words successfully captures Casaloz, the Mastermind will be happy to have another dragon slave in its city.
Once the clamor is silenced, the information that the mastermind had long ago buried deep within its mind will be triggered and transmitted to the one who killed it.
This is a "peace agreement," which roughly means that the mastermind will not pursue the death of the Roaring Words and will completely abandon the exploration of the Rift region, thus ending the conflict here.
The Mastermind expressed its deepest condolences and heartfelt apologies for any trouble that Roaring Words might have caused, and admitted that its mismanagement had resulted in the emergence of such a traitor as Roaring Words. As compensation, everything that Roaring Words owned belonged to Casalos, and it would not take any action to reclaim it.
At the same time, the Mastermind warned Casaloz, the ruler of the Rift, not to attempt to explore the depths of the Underdark, the realm ruled by the Mastermind, lest it trigger new conflicts.
"Pah...Does it think I'm a three-year-old dragon? What else does this wretched tentacle monster have to compensate me with besides an empty shell ship? It actually thinks it can get rid of me with just a shell ship?" With a snap of its iron beak, Casalos pondered the telepathic message and muttered to itself, "Choosing to make peace means there's something going on. What exactly is this guy up to deep underground? I'm getting more and more curious."
The mainframe's judgment seemed to have faltered. Without this information, Casalos might have truly forgotten about the events surrounding the arrival of the mind flayers. After all, it had many other things to attend to, and knowing from its omniscient perspective that the mainframe's backing was incredibly complex, it didn't want to cause too much trouble before it had fully developed its power.
But the very message of reconciliation, with its underlying warnings, provoked...
Chapter 89
Instead of recognizing Casaloz's pride and arrogance deeply ingrained in the dragon's soul, it wanted to see what the mastermind was up to and why it was so "arrogant"... Perhaps this was the mastermind's true intention: to lure the dragon into the depths of the underworld through provocation and then capture it. It seemed like a reasonable method, but who could say for sure?
"That's why I hate these scheming guys the most! Just wait, after I've dealt with my claws and strengthened them a few more times, I'll definitely pay them a personal visit to thank them, hehe..."
Shaking his head, Casalos used a breath of dragonfire to burn down the cell covered in purple slime, then burrowed into the lava pool that was being channeled to smelt steel. He had his kobold servant, who had obtained the dragon vein template, clean the slime and brain matter off his scales. After trying to maneuver the snail-shell ship around a couple of times, he officially began preparations for war with the green dragon couple.
The core system of the snail-shell ship is at least a physical artifact with a tenth-ring level spell effect, but apart from being a means of transportation, this thing has nothing to do with the name "ship": its defense is so fragile that it cannot withstand the attacks of the kobold elite's weapons; it lacks effective means of attack and self-defense, and the only system that can be called a weapon is those few stupid tentacles.
Let alone traversing the astral plane or the phlogiston sea, even when flying through the air or navigating the sea on the prime material plane of Faerûn, what practical use would those tentacles have? Are you expecting pirates to be so foolish as to board a shell-hulled ship in a wooden sailboat and expect the tentacles to be of any use?
A transport ship with a thin crust and a generous filling—that's what they're talking about.
In the war Casalos is about to initiate, the hulled ships capable of traversing the Dragon Territory and the forest are the core of the entire operational plan. However, the hull of these things cannot even withstand a mouthful of highly corrosive phlegm from a mature green dragon, so transforming them into "warships" that meet the requirements is the top priority in war preparations.
After capturing a snail-shell ship, the Gisyanke knew to patch up its armor with tattered plates to improve its defense, and then install ballistae to increase its ranged attack capabilities. Dragon Territory could do even more, more comprehensively, and more rationally.
This thing has very limited buoyancy, so the first step in the modification is to dismantle all sorts of miscellaneous and useless components. These include, but are not limited to, the shell-shaped hardened limestone hull from which the name "Snail Shell Ship" comes from, the breeding pool used to temporarily house tadpoles, the hibernation chambers used to imprison prey, and the enormous fleshy tentacles imbued with pseudo-life by psionic energy and their corresponding biological cultivation chambers... Once the entire system is dismantled, leaving only the keel and core system, the total tonnage of the "Snail Shell Ship" drops drastically to just over 12 tons, a reduction of more than half from the original 35 tons.
The weight saved in this way is enough for Casalos to unleash its wing claws.
Using recently acquired high-strength "aviation" aluminum alloy panels, combined with a hollowed-out reinforced steel beam frame, the internal space layout has been redistributed, allowing for an additional troop transport compartment capable of carrying 20 fully armed kobolds and 10 high-goblin combat teams, in addition to the normal crew activity space.
The ship's upper and lower decks were reshaped to be flat, with the towering control area becoming the bridge, which was equipped with four lightweight, small-caliber breech-loading rifled guns as the main weapons. The aft deck became a platform area to facilitate the take-off and landing of Dragonvein Warlocks and Casalos.
Using magic, a layer of corrosion-resistant alpha-alumina—that is, a dense sapphire oxide film—was gradually coated onto the thin hull, greatly enhancing its resistance to the green dragon's breath. Then, using a strong adhesive extracted from a certain vine in the dome, a thin layer of aluminum alloy-encased ceramic and vine fiber composite armor plate was attached to enhance some negligible defensive capabilities. Finally, a second layer of film was applied.
Finally, huge wings that provide a lot of lift when flying in the air were installed on both sides of the hull, along with horizontal and vertical stabilizers to increase navigation stability, and the entire modification project was basically completed.
The modified "Shell Ship" no longer had the twisted appearance of its original bizarre creation. Instead, it presented a beautiful streamlined structure, with its flat wings resembling a falcon soaring in the sky. In Casalos's eyes, it looked more like a large airplane with a bridge attached.
Of course, no matter how it changed, this thing was still essentially a magic ship. Full of hope, it named its own magic ship the Iron Dawn, and had the kobolds build a magnificent ceremonial venue to conduct a "launching" ceremony for the Iron Dawn based on its memories.
As the glass wine bottle suspended by the rope shattered on the bow of the ship, cannons roared, dragon breath fireworks surged, and colorful ribbons fluttered. The magic ship slowly slid off the cliff along the rails, its magic sails humming and trembling as it hovered in mid-air outside the mushroom-covered stone pillars.
The crew lowered the anchor and secured the mooring lines, while port personnel operated the boarding ladder and docked it with the hatches. The chosen elite dragonkin kobolds and goblins boarded the ship, singing dragon songs, ready to set sail.
99. The world is different now.
"No, where are the green dragons? Where is that whole family of green dragons that I have a grudge against? Where did they all go!"
Looking at the familiar jungle before him, filled with the ominous scent of decaying wood and withered grass, and the scattered remains of snake-men, Casalos fell into deep confusion.
An expedition against the Green Dragonflight territory certainly can't be rushed in with just a few dozen soldiers. Even the reckless Red Dragonflight would lie in wait to carefully observe its target before launching an attack, and then plan for several years before actually doing so. Casalos was even more cautious.
Of course, it's one thing to observe and plan for years, but information has a time limit; the more recent the intelligence, the more valuable it is. Many red dragons actually stumble because of this timeliness of information: due to habitual thinking, they always assume that short-lived humanoid species will waste time like them, remaining unchanged for years, until they finally stumble upon them and realize that things are completely different from what they planned…
According to Casaloz's battle plan, the first teleportation point for the hull ship was set at the blurred boundary between the Hazur Mountains and the Black Jungle, a buffer zone some distance away from the Green Dragon couple's territory.
Strictly speaking, while kobolds and goblins are surface species, the inhabitants of Casalos are a group that has lived in the Underdark for generations, and they cannot adapt to the surface environment in a short time.
In particular, the Hazur Mountains and the Black Jungle region are located in the equatorial region of the planet Toril, where the climate is hot and humid with abundant sunlight, which is a real ordeal for the fragile humanoid race who are used to the dark and cool underground environment.
Leaving a buffer zone is, of course, to give the kobolds and goblins time and space to adapt.
The 20 dragon-vein kobolds and 10 goblins it brought this time were all scouts with at least level 1 assassin class. Their mission was not to attack, but to quickly scout the surrounding environment, choose a suitable location for the troops to gather and set up camp, and then find out the current situation of the green dragon couple's territory.
Casalos also followed Drow Dragon's advice and transformed himself into a red dragon. In addition, the Dragonvein Warlock disguised the kobolds and goblins with illusions of Gith Yankees, and the Iron Dawn was similarly disguised as a patched-up shell ship – even if the green dragons discovered them in advance, they would only think it was a Gith Yankee group that had come to raid Faerûn.
Under normal circumstances, the Green Dragon is not willing to provoke the Gith Yankees, a group of vengeful "space pirates." As long as there is no substantial conflict, the two sides can probably coexist peacefully for a while, and by the time the Green Dragon realizes that something is wrong, it will be too late.
The operation went very smoothly. Casaloz led the scouts to the surface and waited for more than two days. After the scouts had fully adapted to the environment of the Black Jungle, they still did not encounter any snake people or other green dragon couples' servants nearby.
It seems the green dragon hasn't spotted us. Casalos thought to himself, and as planned, sent out scouts to find a suitable area for the main force to assemble, while he himself...
Chapter 90
Unable to contain his excitement, he decided to take advantage of the special features of the Iron Dawn magic ship to conduct high-altitude reconnaissance of the Green Dragon territory from heights that even the Green Dragon could not detect.
Then it saw that the Green Dragon territory had been turned into a vast expanse of withered jungle.
The withered jungle could not conceal the ground. Looking down through a purely optical telescope, Casalos could not see the green dragon couple soaring and patrolling their territory, nor could he find any trace of the young green dragon flying around hunting or teasing its servants. Even the "huge" dragon servants of the green dragon couple were not out and about.
The vibrant and diverse biodiversity of the tropical rainforest has also vanished.
Only the skeletons of snake people, who had been dead for an unknown period of time, were scattered everywhere, desolate, barren, and lifeless—even the area ravaged by the forest fires ignited by the flowing lava after the eruption of the sacred volcano of the Atheron tribe was not so desolate and bleak.
The territory of the Green Dragon couple seemed to have been ravaged by hell... no, it was more like the underworld manifesting in the material world.
"What's going on? Did these two smelly guys offend some big shot and get wiped out? Or..." Casalos suddenly thought of a possibility. It clicked its iron beak, set Iron Dawn to hovering mode, and, maintaining its red dragon form, swooped down from the ship. After descending to a height of two or three hundred meters above the ground, it switched to level flight and began to explore the territory of the green dragon couple, whose appearance had changed drastically.
It flew over the ravine where it had first encountered the green dragon brothers, and over the place where it had been blocked by Lylotar and then disappeared into the lava flow. The huge pit that the green dragon had created with its furious, all-out breath was still there, but the familiar vines and trees around it had all turned into rotten black branches. Even a slightly stronger wind would cause them to break at their weakest points, fall to the ground, and shatter into pieces.
Unlike naturally decaying humus, these residues are filled with a strong aura of death, unable to nourish the land and inspire new life. They simply accumulate layer by layer, spreading their effects further afield.
Negative energy, representing absolute death, accumulated and spread throughout the surrounding jungle, eroding everything it touched. Although slow, the area of death was still expanding.
Casalos had no intention of landing on the ground for further reconnaissance. It simply recalled the location where the green dragon couple had first taken flight and confirmed that the suspected lair of Lelothar was indeed the center of the Dead Zone.
The closer you get to the center, the denser the death aura becomes.
In addition, an unusually cold aura was attempting to erode Casalos's body, but it was all blocked by its high spell resistance and cold resistance.
"Judging from this, it might really have turned into a dragon lich..."
With a thought, Casalos rolled and changed direction, accelerating away from the center of the dead zone, and then equipped himself with the Swift Flight Wings, Protection from Evil, and First Strike Force that he had prepared in advance.
"Hehehe... Interesting young red dragon, you actually managed to detect my presence. Did you come here because you heard the message we released and came to pursue our 'Path of Scales'?"
A gaunt figure shrouded in black robes appeared not far from Casalos, floating in mid-air and swaying in the wind: "Don't run! We possess the power you crave, the secret to immortality. Conquer us, and you will obtain that power you've always dreamed of, you will become an eternal being..."
"No need, you can go find other dragons to play with. I'm still very young and have no interest in becoming a skeleton," Casalos said without turning his head.
Those damned dragon worshippers, as a dragon, I should stay as far away from them as possible.
Volume Two: Turmoil is Coming
1. Lich
The Cult of Dragons, also known as the Dragon Cult, is a secret society active on the continent of Faerûn. Its members call themselves followers of the Path of Scales and worship dragons, attempting to turn them into dragon liches.
It is definitely one of the most evil forces in Faerûn!
The history of the Dragon Cult can be traced back to Samaster, a former chosen one of the Goddess of Magic, and involves the Black King Bane... This brings it into contact with two powerful gods. Moreover, there is a real mastermind behind it all, and Casalos is unwilling to have any connection with them.
Fortunately, it was currently disguised as a red dragon, which greatly lowered the guard of this dragon worshipper. Due to the special nature of the dragon lich conversion ritual, the dragon worshippers preferred to use enticement to gain the support of evil dragons, reach an agreement with them, and then slowly control and convert them once they had completely gained their trust.
That is why the man in black robes did not attack Casalos, but instead tried to talk to it.
This delay allowed Casalos to fly out of its attack range, leaving it far behind, and then flying further and further away until it was out of its sight.
But this doesn't mean Casalos has shaken off the guy. Whether the black-robed figure is a lich or an ordinary mage, it has plenty of ways to continue tracking Casalos. These guys are like leeches to a dragon; once they're on, they're hard to get rid of.
After flying out of the dead zone, it turned south towards Casalos and only after it could see the mountain range stretching across the southern coast of the Chultan Peninsula in the distance did it land on the top of the highest mountain in the area. Then it waved its claws and began to dig, as if it were building a temporary nest there.
Iron dragons don't like building nests on mountaintops; it's the red dragons, who want to look down on all living beings and highlight their own status, that do.
Sure enough, it didn't take long before the figure in black robes slowly reappeared from the air.
“This mountain is not befitting your status as a red dragon. I thought you would at least choose a peak in the Hazur Mountains.”
"I'm just a young dragon, I don't want to fight those cloud giants." Continuing his digging, Casalos's attention remained focused on the spellbook embedded in his body, memorizing and preparing new spells.
The protection against evil remains unchanged, but Swiftwing is replaced with Detect Undead, and the ability to gain the upper hand is replaced with Shining Breath.
“Oh, what a clever red dragon… You’re right, you’re still young, there’s no need to rush into becoming a dragon lich. You should trust in the worship of dragons by us followers of the Scales, we firmly believe that ‘the dragon of death will ultimately rule this world.’”
"You are too young to withstand the great transformation of a dragon lich, but we are still willing to help you. We have a large number of servants at your disposal, and our intelligence network spans the entire continent of Faerûn, providing you with the most timely information to help you better plunder and expand your treasury..."
Upon hearing the words "treasure vault," Casalos's orange vertical pupils widened suddenly, interrupting the man in black robes: "Oh, so joining the Dragon Worship Cult has so many benefits. No wonder several dragons I know wanted to find you. I didn't expect you to come to this remote Chultan Peninsula."
Seeing that Casalos seemed interested, the man in black robes became even more enthusiastic: "Of course, we'll all become your most loyal followers, the future rulers of the world. Once you join us, you'll be our master. Besides helping you expand your treasury, we can also help you grow faster and accumulate experience in all aspects... Just join us!"
"Hey, you two-legged ant, you've successfully caught my attention, the lord of the ruins of Mysdrano, daughter of the ancient red dragon Nargathala, and the female red dragon Sercitta. Come before me and tell me your plan in detail!"
Donning its protective armor, which had faded with time, it ceased digging, folded its wings, straightened its hind legs, and sat down facing the black-robed figure. Like a goose, it bent its neck into an S-shape, resting its head on its neck, its neck pressing against its back. Its long tail wrapped around its front, blocking its forepaws—for a dragon, this was undoubtedly an extremely relaxed posture. The bent neck hindered deep breathing and prevented preparation for exhalation; the folded wings made it difficult to propel itself forward; the long tail was completely relaxed, preventing tail strikes or sweeps; and its claws were similarly disadvantaged.
Chapter 91
The tail blocks its movement when it's in a power-generating posture, and its hind legs, which are flat and upright, prevent it from jumping. Dragons will only adopt this posture when they are absolutely certain it is safe.
Thus, the man in black robes walked confidently to Casalos and began to vividly recount the story of the Dragon Worship Cult, starting with the prophecy obtained by Samass.
Just as it was getting into the middle of its speech, Casalos suddenly interrupted it: "Wait, didn't your leader Samaster obtain the language from the Mother of Dragons?"
"Huh?" The man in black robes was startled and subconsciously looked up. Then he saw the dazzling flash of light spewed from the dragon's mouth and the overwhelming flames. The defensive spells triggered by the spell sequence shattered in the flash, and the world went dark.
After confirming the black-robed man was a lich by detecting the undead creatures, Casalos prepared for this fatal blow.
With this attack, Casaroz used his super breath feat: Dragon Breath Instant Cast, Breath Enhancement, and Breath Attachment. He also concealed the sparks in his breath with the Shining Breath spell. How could a level 10 lich possibly defend against such a powerful attack when it was at point-blank range, completely unprepared, and with its mind under attack?
Of course, the lich wouldn't die like that. Its soul has now been transferred to a casket hidden somewhere, and through the casket, it has entered a spare body that was prepared long ago.
But it didn't matter. It never discovered Casalos's true identity. Its original body was completely destroyed by the dragon's breath. By the time it transformed from its original lich form into a normal lich and regained all its abilities, Casalos was no longer there.
If the man in black robes and the Dragon Cult want to get their revenge, they should go to the ruins of Mysdrano and find the ancient red dragon Nargathala and her unfortunate daughter—these two names, Casaloz, are not just made up.
As for whether calling her the Mother of Evil Dragons directly would attract Tiamat's attention... several dragon gods in the Dragon Treasury had told her that there was no need to worry about this: Ever since Tiamat's face was taken by the Platinum Dragon God and she was killed by the powerful Marduk, she fell into Hell and became the new Demon Grand Duke. Although she has god-like power in Aphrodite, she has not yet recovered to her true divine power.
In short, Casalos felt he had finally gotten rid of the Dragon Cult, so he found a cave, transformed into an adult brass dragon, and swaggered back towards the Dead Zone, climbing to a high place to reunite with the Iron Dawn.
Suddenly, a colossal dragon, majestic as an iron statue, burst out of the clouds, glanced at Casalos, and smiled slightly on its scale-covered face as if to greet it, before folding its wings and swooping down toward the deadly place.
2. Stealing monsters
Flying below Casalos was a female ancient silver dragon. Several vivid scars from battle snaked across her sun-reflecting body, giving her statue-like, solemn appearance a sharp and majestic air that had weathered the vicissitudes of time, yet it did not lose the inherent nobility and elegance of a silver dragon.
Starting from the beak at the front of the mouth, a large triangular scale, resembling a raised shield, completely fused together on the top of the forehead, covering the silver dragon's face. A small V-shaped notch on the forehead, with its tall crest extending to the tip of the tail, forms a huge rudder that cuts through the air, stabilizing the silver dragon's flight posture.
More importantly, Casalos sensed an invincible majesty from her figure—an aura Casalos had never felt even from the Supreme Dragon. Of all the dragons it had ever seen, aside from the Dragon God in the Dragon Treasury, perhaps only the Great Dragon, the demigod Chassar, could rival this silver dragon in majesty.
Even the legendary level 3 dragon bosses she had encountered in the treasure vault dungeon seemed much weaker than her, even though she had already restrained her dragon might.
This is undoubtedly a top-tier dragon on the continent of Faerûn.
Two more silver dragons followed closely behind, breaking through the clouds and swooping down in a triangular formation, riding the swirling air currents. Although these two silver dragons were much smaller and less imposing, they possessed the same holiness and solemnity—the aura of paladins.
In this way, the identity of the ancient silver dragon is obvious to Casalos: Hevilan, a high-ranking knight and leader of the Knights of the Claws of Justice, the most powerful silver dragon in Faerûn, without exception.
"Wow, first we ran into the Dragon Worship Cult, and then we ran into the Claws of Justice. So these two are already at odds... Well, one is the most evil organization in Faerûn, and they spend all their time circling around dragons and causing trouble, while the Claws of Justice is definitely the most orderly and righteous organization in Faerûn, and it's an organization made up entirely of silver dragon paladins. It would be strange if these two weren't mortal enemies."
The world only knows that it was the Harpists who stopped the Dragon Cult's plot, simply because the Harpists have so many bards who sing of their exploits, while the Knights of the Claws of Justice remain unknown to all.
Casalos shook its head. It actually had some reservations about the Knights of the Claw of Justice's strict adherence to the order's existence. If they had achievements but didn't publicize them, how could they increase their reputation and restore the glory of the dragons?