Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 382 Dragon's Nest
"Don't worry, it's right ahead, it can't escape."

Looking at the narrow passage, Rean calmed down.

This guy is really a bit outrageous in a way. Other dragon nests have huge entrances and exits to facilitate the movement of dragons.

Even a normal red dragon's lair, if it is a cave-like structure, has at least three exits, each of which is like a wide, long passageway for a fighter jet to take off.

Unlike the legendary tales, the real dragon's lair is difficult for ordinary people to traverse. Many of its vertical passages serve as both natural barriers and entrances for dragons to move their bodies and take off. Since it's their home, why should they consider whether mortals can enter or leave?

Rean, the dragon, looked out with his eagle eyes. It was a large, pillar-shaped mountain where many sub-dragons lived and inhabited.

The fact that there were Triceratops running around everywhere, carnivorous clawless dragons, and numerous carnivorous pterosaur and wyvern nests on top, yet none of them were fighting each other, was already a bit absurd.

"They must have used some kind of dragon's might or similar method."

This was clearly not a coincidence, but rather a barrier to "reconnaissance magic." The best way to hide something is to place it among its own kind. These sub-dragons, which have a trace of true dragon blood, would become the best "bait."

Even if you see this, you might mistake it for a misdirection by other dragons. Even spells targeting "dragon treasures" will be drawn away by these dragons' "stone treasures".

"This thing is too sneaky."

Rean had to lower his head to walk down this passage. The dragon's humanoid form was much smaller than Rean was now. But dragons can't even relax in their own nests. Isn't that crazy?
"So you're only now realizing he's a lunatic? This feeling of being cramped up to avoid detection must be making him feel strangely good in a war game."

Emma sighed. The trick to tracking hunters and rangers is to simulate and empathize with the prey's behavior logic and instincts, but this simulation is such an absurd thing that it really makes one wonder if mental illness is contagious.

It has always viewed the dragon's life as a war game, gaining joy from defeating its opponents and then starting the next one. All its experiences in life are for this purpose. This thing doesn't even care whether it can live a long time; as long as there is a slight chance of winning, it will devote itself to it wholeheartedly.

In fact, if Emma hadn't seen that Rean still needed training, she would have killed that crazy dragon directly.

"Greed is the nature of a dragon, Rean Sudar. You must control yourself and not be consumed by desire and goals."

It's only natural that dragons, no matter how talented they are, lost their world dominance early on.

Arrogant and greedy, dragons look down on other members of their own kind. They have a very strange and universal egocentrism. Their sociality is beyond poor. You would find it strange if you saw even the minimum "three-person dragon family". It is rare enough for two dragons to become partners and spend half their lives together.

They existed without natural enemies in ancient times, and they still can barely be considered to have no natural enemies now, but their numbers are decreasing. In the eyes of other species, they deserve it.
"I feel like you're talking badly about me."

"No." Emma denied it frankly. Is Lee Eun-suk a dragon? Maybe.

But with the exception of a very few mutated species, most of them are characterized by human nature overpowering dragon nature.

"Okay, that's about enough."

The dragon-hunting path widened to a certain point, allowing the dragon to move forward normally, but the team did not approach because Rean had already sensed it.

"Evil Senses," a rather subtle ability of a paladin, is generally awakened at the third or fourth rank, but in reality, not many people pay attention to it.

As the name suggests, it allows paladins to sense "evil." However, you need to determine this evil beforehand, such as by casting a "Detect Evil" spell. Moreover, its effect is limited; it basically disappears completely after a few days once the "Detect Evil" effect wears off.

Its main effect is chasing down escaped criminals, but it's actually a kind of aura effect; even the Great Knight's range doesn't exceed one kilometer. "At least, it can be used to sense distance."

Once he confirmed that the "evil" was right above him, Rean stopped.

All observation and perception are two-way. Even though the sapphire dragon did not demonstrate its talent in divination, Rean did not intend to risk alerting it.

“I thought the Sapphire Dragon would be neutral,” Hela said, somewhat surprised. She had heard stories about the three major dragon species, and weren’t most of the Sapphire Dragons neutral to benevolent?

"Human goodness and dragon goodness are two different concepts. Some metal dragons can also be detected as evil. As for gem dragons, they are basically immune to the Evil-Breaking Slash, although they are slightly weaker than chromatic dragons, the difference is not significant."

If there are intelligent beings within its territory, will the Sapphire Dragon spare them? If the Sapphire Dragon had the opportunity to play war games with a city, would it refrain from attacking that village or city?

Of course, it's not absolute. After all, gem dragons are known for producing lunatics, while crystal dragons are said to be benevolent. As for stealing evil white dragon babies and raising them into benevolent white dragons, whether that counts as an evil act is quite nuanced.

Rean felt it was clearly not a good deed, but the judgment of "pure good" was a benevolent act, which was a good thing to expand the good camp.

To be honest, Rean sometimes felt that this "pure goodness" was not so pure as it was. It was more like a "basic line of kindness in the eyes of most people" that was generally accepted by the world. It even had a subtle variation curve due to the different species of the Connector. For example, those Dark Elf Paladins summoned by pure goodness were considered quite dangerous by other races.

He shook his head. At least for now, this dragon was "evil," a villain who attacked and hunted the Druid Order, which was a good thing for him.

"Looking down on the world." This ability is much more covert than the common "evil perception." The eagle's high-dimensional observation is currently quite safe.

Rean opened his eyes and looked directly at the top of his head, then his vision blurred.

Gold, lots and lots of gold, paved the dragon's bed. Wait, something's not right about the luster. Is this newly grown dragon really that rich? Aren't young dragons supposed to be penniless?

“Copper coin.” The next moment, Rean realized something was wrong with the luster.

Rean understood why this guy had isolated the dragon's nest. Lying on copper coins might satisfy the dragons' instinctive craving for gold and glitter, but in the eyes of outsiders, it was really embarrassing.

But an even stranger scene is unfolding.

After much hesitation, the Sapphire Dragon finally made up its mind and swallowed the few remaining pieces of real gold in the dragon's nest.

Boxes of gold coins, jewelry, and gold bars disappeared into the dragon's mouth, and then, to the naked eye, its injuries began to heal.

"What is this?" Rean couldn't understand. Eating gold could heal injuries? What kind of nonsense was this?

"This is a sacrifice. It's a sacrifice to the Golden Dragon God. That guy accepts sacrifices from all dragon descendants and dragons. As long as you eat the gold, you can obtain the Restoration Ritual." Is there really such an outrageous thing? Isn't a normal ritual of offering sacrifices to a god very complicated and troublesome?
"In the end, the rituals of worshiping the gods are just to please them. The specific rituals and symbols are just a means of communicating with the gods. Given the nature of dragons, how can you expect them to have much respect for dragon gods or dragon deities? If you really want to ask them to kneel and pray, then the dragon god would have had very few believers long ago."

Dragons have similar species that often find it much easier to borrow the divine power and rules of their own race's gods than beastmen do. Those gods seem to value their not-so-devout believers.

The gods themselves provided the appropriate answer.

But now, it doesn't seem like the time to think that far ahead.
"If we don't act now, the spoils will be severely reduced! Cough, I mean, the dragon's wounds need to heal, let's go, and kill it!"

(End of this chapter)