Volume Dragon: Start by obtaining the Infinity Gems

Chapter 300: Dark Inbutu

Inbutu Kingdom, Degen City.

The giant silver dragon that covered the sky and the sun made no effort to hide itself and descended over the city like a calamity from heaven.

The moment Nemesis retracted his dragon wings, the twelve magic crossbows went out at the same time. On the tower of the border fortress of the Tulip Grand Duke——Colette’s territory, the dull sound of gears biting together was like the gasp of a dying beast.

Wuermu clutched the dragon scale bracelet and looked up. The faces of every soldier behind the battlements of the city wall were sickly pale - they held torches, but their pupils shrank into needle points under the midday sun.

"Welcome home, Master."

Colette Rosa's voice came from the other side of the suspension bridge. The girl who used to run with her skirt lifted up was now wrapped in gold-embroidered mail like a sheathed sword. The tulip emblem on her left chest was wrapped in black gauze, but the hilt of the sword was shiny new.

When the dragon's claws broke the thin ice of the moat, Wuermu smelled a sweet and greasy stench. He looked down and saw clumps of algae floating on the river, and the dark red veins of the leaves pulsated like blood vessels. Something hit his ankle underwater, and a pale finger flashed away.

"Your territory smells like a necromancer's laboratory." Nemesis flicked out a cluster of flames, and the algae screamed and retreated back to the bottom of the river. "Did the royal family change the tax law recently? You can't even afford to hire a cleaning specialist?"

Colette's knuckles turned white as she pressed on the hilt of the sword. "Last month, the queen promulgated the Eternal Night Asylum Law, requiring all lords to hand over 80% of their refined gold production to the Royal Guard." She suddenly lifted the canvas at her feet, and three body bags oozed black water. "And this is what she called the 'Guard'."

The moment the body bag slipped off, Wuermu's curse fire exploded uncontrollably. Those were not corpses at all - they were three mummies wearing royal emblems and armor, their chests hollowed out into perfect spheres, their inner walls covered with crystallized blood beads. The most horrifying thing was their faces: the corners of their mouths were torn to the roots of their ears, as if they had been smiling before they died.

"They were my border patrol yesterday." Colette's sword suddenly came out of its sheath, splitting the mummified head with a silver light. Bats swarmed out of the rotten brain and burned to ashes in the silver fire. "This morning they came back with the Queen's coat of arms, saying they wanted to 'check the purity of the gold'."

Nemesis' tail swept across the mummy's armor, lifting the inner lining. Wuermu saw dense bite marks, like countless open mouths.

"Vampire spawn." The dragon's voice caused frost to form on the suspension bridge chains. "But those who can make corpses move in the sun are not ordinary vampires."

Another relative came quietly.

When Lothrien's white hair emerged from the shadows of the corridor, Wurm nearly threw curse fire at him. Yellow-green pus oozed from under the half-elf's blindfold, and a black-red storm rolled in the crystal ball in his hand.

"Seven years, four months, and three days." Losrien's crystal ball reflected Nemesis's vertical pupils. "You are late for a whole plague."

"Your eyes?" The dragon's claws pinched the crystal ball, and suddenly an illusion of a capital city surrounded by seven black stars appeared in the ball, three of which had the outline of black spires. "Explain."

"The star divination is repeated every night for 730 times." The half-elf pulled off the blindfold, and something was wriggling in the festering left eye socket.

"Until three days ago, I saw them." He pointed at the black stars. "It was not a prophecy, but a warning - from a being much older than vampires."

Nemesis frowned. Losrien's strength had indeed improved a lot in the past ten years. He had quickly climbed from a small level 9 wizard to level 15.

It is worthy of being the seedling he picked out personally.

However, as a master of prophecy, the Scroll Dragon is very clear about the power of prophecy spells. How could it become like this? Nemesis looked down at the crystal ball. The image inside had disappeared, and dozens of eyes of different sizes and shapes appeared, all opened and stared at Nemesis.

"Is this the holy weapon of Savras, the god of prophecy?" Nemesis said in shock.

The God of Prophecy is a subordinate god of Mystra. He was once the chosen one of the Goddess of Magic, but later he accepted the power of Mystra and became a demigod - that is, a weak divine power.

Savras often seeks out gifted prophecy wizards on the main material plane and bestows upon them his own holy artifact, the Thousand Eyes Orb.

This is the prophet's artifact, which allows the prophet to cast extremely powerful prophetic spells to explore secrets and perceive the future.

But there is also a heavy price to pay, which is that the user's eyes will eventually go blind due to various reasons.

Nemesis looked at Losrien's blind eyes and shook his head regretfully. This was a punishment from the gods, and the power of divine magic could not restore Losrien.

Unless it is a legendary spell, I am afraid no one can restore Losrien's sight.

"Has the environment in the kingdom become so bad? Do you really need to work so hard?" Nemesis asked in a deep voice.

Rothrien did not answer, but looked at Ulm. The boy suddenly stumbled and held onto the wall. When Rothrien's remaining eyes turned to him, the dragon scale bracelet on his wrist was as hot as an iron. The curse fire roamed uncontrollably on the ground, outlining the vague shape of the obelisk.

"Is this child the variable?" A crack appeared in Losrien's crystal ball. "His flames are devouring the future, Nemesis. There are two futures fighting in every flame."

Nemesis's eyes turned dark at Losrien's mysterious look. This was because he was too deeply immersed in the power of the Thousand Eyes Ball.

The words of his followers made Juan Ce Long's heart sink. He always felt that his sudden meeting with this boy was not a coincidence. Now, Loslien's words confirmed it.

"Go in first," Nemesis took a deep breath and transformed into a human form, "Tell me everything that has happened in the past ten years."
-
As Losrien explained to Nemesis what had happened, the deepest secret room in the dungeon was filled with the smell of blood. Duke Gavin's secret letter was sewn inside the skin of a singer, and when Colette used her sword to pry open the sutures, the yellowed letter fell off.

"Prince Ryan is under house arrest in the White Dew Tower, and half of the Dawn Blades have become night servants. Seven days from now, on the night of the lunar eclipse, the Queen of Eternal Night will be crowned, and then-"

The flame suddenly burned on the letter, but Nemesis was faster than it. He inserted his left hand into the flame and grabbed a string of shadowy words:
"The leyline is dying. Destroy the obelisk quickly."

"This is the sacred text of Xirik." Loslien's residual eye was bleeding. "Someone has superimposed a curse of lies on the letter. The truth can only be revealed by the flame of the evil god."

Colette kicked the singer's festering body away and dug a silver coin out of her throat. When Wuermu took it, the cursed fire suddenly condensed into the shape of a key, burning marks on the surface of the silver coin - the pattern of Xirik's holy emblem appeared on the back.

"The last news before Elminster disappeared." Colette wiped the blade with a blood-stained handkerchief. "When he was investigating the royal bloodbath, he gave this silver coin to Duke Gavin."

Nemesis remained silent until he heard all the information Colette had said. Only then did he realize that his base had become so rotten in the past ten years.

(End of this chapter)