Volume Dragon: Start by obtaining the Infinity Gems

Chapter 316 US-Soviet Conference (Two in One)

Admiral Crawford's pure copper pocket watch made a dull sound as it struck the tactical map. The words "Iwo Jima Memorial" on the watch cover flickered in the blue light.

"Twelve hours ago," the Vietnam War ace pilot unbuttoned the second button of his collar, "this dragon used some kind of spell to destroy the command vehicle of the 101st Air Assault Division. The gamma ray dose detected at the scene was equivalent to 27 Hiroshima atomic bombs."

The atmosphere in the smoke-filled conference room was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe. On the huge screen on the wall, the tragic scenes of the army fighting the scroll dragon were constantly replayed. Fighter planes were destroyed in an instant, tanks were overturned like toys, and the bright light of the nuclear bomb explosion failed to hurt the dragon at all.

Five-star General Crawford had a solemn expression on his face. He knocked on the table hard and broke the silence: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are now facing an unprecedented crisis. A well-equipped army is powerless in front of that monster. We must reassess the situation and formulate a new strategy."

CIA Director Robert Kane suddenly threw a box of TRS's Monster Manual onto the bulletproof glass table, startling the stenographer in the corner and causing him to knock over his coffee cup: "Gentlemen, we may be living in a damn board game."

He pushed his glasses and said in a serious tone, "After an urgent investigation, our intelligence department found that the characteristics and abilities of this dragon are highly consistent with the Ancient Scroll Dragon in the popular D&D tabletop game. During the battle, it used the eighth-level spells [Sunburst] and [Bigby Diamond Fist] and the seventh-level spell [Madness Badge], which are consistent with the records in the game data."

He turned to page 243, and on the yellowed paper was printed [Ancient Scroll of Dragons: Challenge Level 30] in Gothic font.

Although House Speaker Margaret Tilden had bandages around her eyes, her voice was firm: "Although this sounds ridiculous, we cannot ignore the evidence. The origin of this dragon is likely related to the world in the D&D board game. We must find out why it came to Earth and what the mysterious place it mentioned is."

The door of the Oval Conference Room was suddenly thrown open, and four Marines came in with a young man in handcuffs. The man's T-shirt was printed with the words "DND Ultimate Players Club", and he had a twenty-sided dice earring on his left ear. "This is Mark Whitman, the president of the University of Wisconsin Board Game Club," the National Security Advisor ripped the cloth out of the young man's mouth, "He was arrested for allegedly leaking internal information of TRS to the Soviet Union."

Crawford walked over quickly, his eagle-like eyes piercing into Mark's vision: "A German?"

The Admiral narrowed his eyes: "Do you want to betray the United States, young man?"

Mark's face turned pale. God knows he was just chatting with a friend on the Internet. Who would have known that the other party was actually a KGB agent.

"No, no, sir. I just saw the news and wanted to discuss it with netizens. It was a curled dragon, I swear, God, it must be a curled dragon!" Mark denied it incoherently at first, but as he spoke later, his eyes became brighter and brighter, and his tone became more and more excited.

Crawford waved his hand coldly: "You look happy? Do you know that dragon destroyed a combat army in a minute? I lost more than two thousand good boys!"

Mark frowned. He was like a typical nerd who forgot about the danger when talking about his professional expertise. "How is that possible! Although the Ancient Scroll Dragon is powerful, I don't believe it can destroy a modern army in an instant!"

Robert snorted coldly: "CIA agents have already laid out all the information in front of you. Who found this? I told you I need professionals!"

"You don't understand the rules at all!" Mark's roar echoed between the lead alloy walls. "The spell slot limit of the scroll dragon! The number of spells that can be cast per level per day is fixed!" His blood-stained finger poked at a photo, which was a scene before the Sunburst. "Look here! At 18:23 yesterday, it used the eighth-level Sunburst. According to the Player's Handbook, it takes at least 1 minute to cast the spell-"

Crawford suddenly grabbed Mark's neck with his arm and said impatiently, "Then why did the satellite capture that dragon being able to release two... um, what is that eight-ring spell?"

"Super...super magic feat..." Mark's face turned purple, "If it masters the [Quick Spell] feat... it can consume higher-level spell slots to..."

"The Scroll Dragon possesses the most powerful super-magic talent."

"Let him go!" Robert grabbed the Spell Guide on the table and threw it at the admiral. "Page 79! It's written here! Legendary spellcasters can use [Legendary Casting Speed] to speed up the release of spells. If you have eyes, you can study this information carefully yourself! What's more, even if you know, our armor-piercing shells can't break through its resistance threshold!"

"Not only are we unable to resist his attacks, we can't even hurt him!"

Crawford loosened his grip, and Mark gasped for air like a drowning survivor.

Robert picked up the rule book again and asked, "Also, according to what's written here, the dragon should only be able to release that... Sunburst six times a day?"

Mark, who was holding his neck and breathing heavily, was stunned for a moment, then nodded to confirm: "Yes, if the other party is an ancient scroll dragon, then it is indeed true."

"But our thermal imaging satellites detected a peak in the energy stored in that dragon - equivalent to 200 fucking W88 nuclear warheads!"

"That means that guy can unleash the nuclear-powered Kagero Explosion 200 times! Your shitty rulebook is full of errors!"

The entire conference room suddenly fell into silence, and Mark's neck was instantly covered with cold sweat. Because he suddenly realized that he had missed a problem. There was nothing wrong with Yang Yanbao's casting action, and the details of the spell were exactly as described in the book.

However, no spell book has ever mentioned that [Sunburst] can cause an attack as powerful as a nuclear bomb.

Not to mention that the opponent could release it 200 times, such an exaggerated number!!

Mark's teeth suddenly chattered, and he pointed at a picture of the ruins after the Sunburst: "No, that's not right, that's not an eight-ring spell, the Sunburst definitely doesn't have this kind of power."

"Damn it, it's already good that this spell can cover a range of 500 meters. How can it cause such a horrific blow? This doesn't conform to the rule book! This must be a legendary spell. Oh my god, a scroll dragon that can cast legendary spells at will?"

Robert looked at the collapsed Mark and shook his head in disappointment. This kind of nerd was of no use to him. Once the reality deviated from the contents of the rule book, he had no idea what to do.

The same situation? How the hell could it be the same? How could a real monster be like those puny toys in the rule book?

After seeing the U.S. military being destroyed like toys, Robert had a vague intuition in his heart:
They might not be able to defeat the monster even if they tried their best.

Margaret Tilden suddenly let out an inhuman scream. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, with blood-soaked gauze wrapped around her eyes, was carving intricate claw marks on the conference table with her nails: "Something is moving in my eyes, that guy! That guy is peeking at you through me!" Black mucus flowed out of her empty eye sockets, "Quickly ask this hippie... whether dragons have the ability to conduct long-range reconnaissance!"

Mark answered immediately without thinking: "The Ancient Scroll Dragon is a master of prophecy magic! He will know everything we plan!"

Robert clenched his fists and clenched his hands. When he scanned Margaret's brain, he found calcification points in the pattern of a twenty-sided dice in her prefrontal cortex. They all thought that this was the price of looking directly at the holy symbol of madness, but they didn't expect it to become a window for the dragon to monitor them.

Crawford grabbed the tactical terminal and yelled, "Pull out all the information about Dungeons & Dragons from all the libraries in Washington! Wait." He stared at the satellite cloud map that suddenly refreshed, "The dragon didn't stay in Nevada, he was heading to Indiana! Damn, what's there?"

Robert's expression tensed up, and he suddenly had a bad feeling: "Could it be that the dragon is related to the reverse world?"

Crawford sat down somewhat dejectedly. Even a hawk as tough as him was now afraid of the power of the dragon.

Terrifying destructive power, strange power to manipulate people's minds, and ubiquitous surveillance.

"We need to sit down and negotiate with the dragon, Crawford. The president has already issued an order." Robert looked down at the message sent by the president and said helplessly to Crawford.

Crawford was silent for a long time, and finally nodded silently.

"You can make the arrangements, but I will not give up the plan of using force to protect national security."

A young staff officer stood up and said hesitantly, "General, Director, I think it has communicated with the reporter Dan Rather and the linguistics professor Irene Watson before. Perhaps they can serve as a bridge for us to communicate with the dragon."

Crawford frowned. "It's too risky to send them. What if they anger the dragon?"

Kane pondered for a moment and said, "But they are the only ones who have come into contact with the dragon and survived. We have no better choice. And since the dragon has put forward conditions, it means it is still possible to communicate with it. We can give them some instructions and let them try to find out the dragon's bottom line and needs."

"Send someone to contact civilians Dan Rather and Irene Watson immediately."
-
Soviet Union, Moscow, Kremlin.

Crimson velvet curtains blocked the outside world's view, and the Politburo members sat around a long oak table inlaid with a hammer and sickle emblem. KGB Chairman Viktor Chebrikov put a roll of film into the projector. The desert battlefield in Nevada, USA, was burned into glass-like craters by the sun explosion, and the wreckage of the tank looked like tinfoil kneaded by a giant hand.

"Comrades, this is not a Hollywood movie." Victor's voice was like rusty gears grinding. "Five hours ago, our 'Crimson Traveler' network sent back this video - the Americans lost the 300st Air Assault Division 101 kilometers north of Las Vegas."

Defense Minister Ustinov tapped the table and stressed: "The creatures that the Americans cannot deal with even with nuclear bombs may become the key to breaking NATO's strategic balance."

Academician Sakharov called up the projection: "From the analysis of the intercepted US military combat reports, the energy spectrum of the spells used by the dragon is 87% similar to the 'extra-dimensional shock waves' detected in our Sevastopol laboratory. This may be related to the new particle accelerator project."

Kryuchkov, the director of the First Directorate of the KGB, showed the files: "According to the report of the 'mole' lurking in New York, there have been 17 reports of supernatural events in Hawkins in recent years that have been listed as X-files by the FBI. Last year, an entire scientific research team disappeared - this is most likely the 'special place' that the dragon is looking for."

Victor was stunned: "Hawkins Town? That's..."

A representative of the Special Service Department of the General Staff added: "The United States has built the Hawkins National Laboratory under the Department of Energy in Hawkins. The depth of its underground facilities exceeds the public data by 30%, which is consistent with the blueprint of the Rainbow Project obtained by the KGB in 1981."

"The KGB has absolute proof that the door to the parallel universe is hidden in the Hawkins National Laboratory."

Victor took a long puff of his cigar, his eyes gloomy: "Obtain it, it will be our sword of victory against the United States. Capture it alive, no, even if it dies, we must get its corpse! With its corpse, the Soviet Union will conquer the entire world!"

"Send Alpha Team to transport the Tesla Coil Matrix to that town, and also, initiate the Crimson Traveler project."

Kryuchkov's eyes were subtle. Crimson Traveler? This was the ace agent team that successfully stole nuclear weapons knowledge for the Soviet Union. It seems that the Chairman has made up his mind.
"Yes, Chairman." Kryuchkov bowed his head respectfully.
-
It was a bitterly cold winter on the outskirts of Moscow on November 1983, 11.

The cold fog condensed into ice crystals under the searchlights of the freight station. Twelve men in gray-blue work clothes were carrying wooden boxes with "Agricultural Machinery Parts" printed on them onto the train. The leader, Major General Oleg Kalugin, lifted a corner of the box cover. A dark blue arc swam on the surface of the Tesla coil matrix, reflecting his pupils like the polar ice abyss.

"Can this thing really trap mythical creatures?" Anna Ivanova, the accompanying scientific advisor, wrapped her cashmere scarf tightly, and the radioactive burns from the Sevastopol laboratory were faintly visible on her neck.

"The Americans used nuclear bombs to prove that conventional weapons are ineffective." Oleg knocked on the box with his knuckles, and the lead lining made a dull echo. "But according to the report of the 42nd Design Bureau, when the dragon casts a spell, it will produce muon radiation - just like the energy left over from the Tunguska explosion."

The train whistle tore through the night, and Margarita Ilinichna stepped out from the shadows of the platform.

The KGB's chief weapons engineer carried a leather code box, in which the cover of Capital was inlaid with a miniature mind disruptor, and the pages were soaked in amphetamine derivatives that could induce migraines. Anyone who came into physical contact with it without knowing it would bleed to death from all seven orifices within three hours.

When she handed the box to Oleg, her nails made a harsh sound when scraping against the box surface. "This is the latest weapon given to you by the organization - the Психо-15 mental disruptor. Activating it will confuse the brain waves of people within a radius of 1000 feet and cause them to lose their memories."

Then, she took out a black dot the size of a grain of rice: "Stick it to your temple, it will make you immune to the effects of the mind disruptor."

She looked at Oleg seriously and said, "Comrade Oleg, this mission must succeed, not fail. We must get the dragon."

(End of this chapter)