Evil Red Dragon

Beneath the surface of Chifeng, a pair of vertical pupils lit up deep within the magma, and Alekto slowly awoke from his slumber.

The moment his consciousness returned, he felt a tremendous change in his body.

The second auxiliary line has been stabilized, forming a preliminary circulation system with the first main corridor.

The main corridor extending from the heart to the limbs, and the secondary corridors running from the base of the dragon's wings along the spine to the tailbone, are like two rushing rivers flowing freely within his body.

The magic circulates within it, each cycle making it purer and more concentrated.

With a slight thought, he tried to mobilize his magic.

Without chanting or any complicated spellcasting aids, with just a thought, a three-meter-sized concentrated lava fireball condensed and took shape in his mind.

The fireball contained astonishing energy, which was already the power of a level four spell.

Before constructing the corridor, he would need at least two seconds of preparation time to achieve the same effect.

"The spellcasting speed has increased at least threefold, the total mana has increased by about 50%, and the recovery speed has increased by 60%... Such a qualitative change can be brought about by just the initial construction. Is this the effect of the Mana Corridor?"

Alecto pondered to himself.

Although the construction process was extremely painful, the rewards were enormous.

This is only the initial effect of the two corridors.

According to Sobek's legacy, when all 9 main quests, 18 side quests, and 54 auxiliary quests are completed, he will possess more than ten times the magic power of a red dragon of the same rank, and his spellcasting speed will be close to instantaneous.

What a terrifying sight that would be!

A red dragon with immense magical power, capable of instantly casting advanced spells?

Even Alector felt despair for his enemy.

"However, the construction of the corridor cannot be rushed."

He recalled the excruciating pain of constructing the second auxiliary line.

The excruciating pain, as if his soul were being torn apart, still made his heart pound.

If the Red Dragon hadn't possessed an innately strong will and physique, he would have collapsed long ago.

"The next construction will require at least six months of rest to allow the structure to fully adapt to the existing corridor system."

Alecto turned his attention to other changes in his body.

He checked his body and found that the old wound in his abdomen had completely disappeared.

The dragon's body was even larger than before it fell into slumber, reaching a length of sixteen meters.

This means that, in terms of physique alone, he has officially entered the stage of a young dragon.

This is the period in the dragon's life cycle when its strength and wisdom begin to grow rapidly.

He tried to stretch his body.

The dragon's wings slowly unfurled, spanning nearly thirty meters, stirring up turbulent undercurrents in the magma.

Each wing membrane is more robust, and the frame is thicker, enabling it to withstand greater flight loads.

The spine undulates like a mountain range, and a savage power surges forth as the dragon's claws gently clench.

His strength has at least doubled; now, he can tear apart the defenses of most level-six magical beasts with his physical strength alone.

In terms of defense, the newly grown dragon scales cover the entire body and are arranged more closely, which can effectively disperse the impact force.

Alecto tried to scratch his own scales with his dragon claws.

Amidst the grating sound of metal scraping, only a faint white mark remained on the scale.

"Not bad. In terms of defensive power alone, it's already close to the level of a sixth-level defensive magic."

To his even greater surprise, the Dragon Domain expanded, extending its coverage by another two kilometers.

He was able to defeat the Digivice, and the Dragon Realm played a crucial role in that.

With the powerful enhancement of the Dragon Realm, when Alekto burns all his magic power, he can even change the local terrain.

Dragon Realm is not only an extension of the domain, but also an external manifestation of Alector's will and magic.

In the battle against the Dig Dragon, it was with the blessing of the Dragon Domain that he was able to draw out the magma deep underground, turning the entire mountain into his battlefield.

Lava erupted and the mountain collapsed, severely damaging and ultimately allowing for a swift and powerful kill of the Burrowing Dragon.

Without the Dragon Realm, even if Alekto exhausted all his magic power, it would be difficult to cause such a large-scale change in the terrain.

The Dragon Domain greatly enhanced his control over the surrounding environment, allowing his magical power to unleash effects similar to natural disasters.

This reminded Alecto of the excruciating pain in his abdomen, and his dragon eyes narrowed.

A figure that annoyed him appeared... Oliveira!

The memory is frozen on the moment the nest's rock wall exploded.

When the Digivice pounced on him, Oliveira was clearly inside the nest, but she stood by and watched. In fact, when the battle broke out later, she even secretly ran away!

Not only did she fail to offer any help during his most dangerous moment, she hid herself away and only came out after he had dealt with the enemy!

"Oh……"

Alekto swung his body, his sixteen-meter-long dragon form moving freely in the lava.

The magic corridor operates quietly within the body, bringing a sense of fullness with each cycle.

But he didn't care about any of that at the moment.

The wound on his abdomen had long since healed, leaving not a single scar.

But what about the wounds in one's heart?

He knew that Oliveira's choice at the time was correct in some ways.

Given her strength at the time, participating in the battle would only be a burden, and she might even be easily killed by the Digivice.

But that doesn't mean he can forgive easily.

As her older brother, Alecto taught her, protected her, and even went against his nature to share some of the treasure with her...

But when she was needed, she exploited loopholes in the contract and chose to back down.

This isn't a matter of ability; it's a matter of attitude.

This could even be described as betrayal!

As Alector's will resonated, the Dragon Realm trembled, the temperature inside Crimson Peak rose sharply, and the mountain emitted a deep hum.

"I want her to understand what it means that there is no sacrifice too great to bear, and no betrayal too small to forgive!"

Alecto flung himself violently into the lava, causing the entire lava pool to tremble violently.

He spread his wings, magic burning on the wing membranes, propelling his massive body upwards.

boom--

A pillar of fire shot into the sky from the surface of the magma pool, and Alector burst out of the pool, bringing with him a cloud of lava.

He spread his wings in the air, and his sixteen-meter-long dragon body cast a huge shadow in the sunlight.

Alecto circled in the air several times, his senses sweeping across the entire territory.

Fireheart Flower Fields, Dragon Flame Meadow, Newly Built Breeding Farm, Significantly Expanded Campsite, Children Training...

Everything was moving in a positive direction, which brought him some comfort.

But his attention quickly settled on one of the targets below.

At this moment, Oliveira was taking a nap in the dragon's nest.

Yesterday, she toured the newly planned magical plant cultivation area, which was basically just flying over to take a quick look before announcing that everything was normal.

Feeling bored after returning, I went back to my little nest and planned to take a nap.

Suddenly, the entire Chifeng Mountain began to shake.

"Huh? An earthquake?"

Oliveira looked up groggily, the feeling seeming strangely familiar…

No! Is my brother about to wake up?!

She jumped up with a start, and just as she was about to get closer to the lava pool to take a look, she saw the lava explode with a roar, and a huge dragon shadow soared into the air, its outstretched wings covering the entire space above the nest.

She peeked out cautiously, wanting to see what Alecto was doing up there, but found a shadow rapidly approaching her.

"not good!"

Just as she was about to turn around and hide back in her nest, Alecto flew in.

The dragon's might pressed down like a mountain, and her legs went weak, almost causing her to fall back to the ground.

"Brother, brother, you're finally awake! I missed you so much!"

Oliveira forced a fawning smile, her tail wagging slightly.

"You look great! Is your injury all healed? I... I was so worried about you!"

"Worried about me? Oliveira, where were you then?"

Alecto slowly walked towards her.

Each step shook the ground, sending pebbles tumbling down.

An overwhelming sense of oppression washed over Oliveira.

Oliveira's heart skipped a beat, realizing something was wrong.

Of course she remembered what she had done, otherwise she wouldn't have helped Kula and the others.

No, how can that be called running away?

That's called a strategic retreat! Yes, it's a strategic retreat!

Olivera tried to cheer herself up, but her body betrayed her and she began to shrink back.

Her eyes darted around, trying to get away with being cute:

"That big bug suddenly barged in and startled me! Then you unleashed your power, and I was afraid it would hinder your performance, so I... I moved aside a bit..."

"Move aside a bit?"

"I...I'm going to conserve my strength! In case you're not alright, I can still avenge you!"

Oliveira tried to argue her point, but her voice grew softer and softer.

Alecto grinned:

"Conserve your strength? Wait until I'm dead to take revenge?"

His rage erupted completely, and Oliveira was almost suffocated by the dragon's might.

"I was wrong! Brother, I was really wrong! I won't do it again!"

Oliveira finally couldn't take it anymore and decided to strike first by acting cute and apologizing.

She tried to rub against Alecto's neck, but Alecto pinned her down with a paw, rendering her immobile.

"And you have no idea how hard I've worked these past few days, patrolling your territory, protecting those orcs and trolls, and also—"

"Shut up."

Two words, cold as iron.

Oliveira's words caught in her throat; she finally realized that this time, it probably wouldn't be so easy to get away with it.

"I...I really didn't mean to!"

She hurriedly defended herself:

"The Digivice is so strong, it's not that I didn't want to save you, but I'm only level four, going up there would have been suicide! Didn't I help you drag its corpse out later?"

"So you think you did a great job?"

The sound echoed in the cave like muffled thunder.

Alecto looked down into Oliveira's eyes.

"I……"

Oliveira wanted to say something, but when she met Alecto's eyes, she couldn't utter a single word of explanation.

There was no anger or disappointment in those eyes, only a coldness that felt unfamiliar to her.

Alecto lifted the foot that was pressing down on her and said coldly:

"Turn around."

"What?"

Oliveira was stunned.

"I told you to turn around."

Oliveira hesitated for a moment, then slowly turned around, her back to Alecto.

The next second, she felt her tail being grabbed.

"Wait! Brother, what are you doing—"

Before she could finish speaking, a tremendous force struck her, and Oliveira was swung around in the air.

"ah--!"

The world spun around.

Alecto grabbed her tail, swung her around in the air like a hammer, and then slammed her to the ground.

boom!

The dragon's nest trembled, and rubble flew everywhere.

Oliveira saw stars as she was hit, and a burning pain shot through her back.

Before she could react, she was swung up again.

This time it crashed into the rock face.

boom!

The rock face was cracked, and Oliveira felt as if every bone in her body was groaning.

She tried to struggle and resist, but Alecto's strength was too great, so great that it filled her with despair.

"I'll teach you to hide!"

Bang! It crashed to the ground.

"You think you can run away?"

Bang! It crashed into the other rock face.

"So you can hide in lava while I fight!"

Bang! It crashed into the ceiling, and rubble rained down.

Oliveira was swung around and slammed around like a dragon-shaped sandbag by Alector.

Each impact brought excruciating pain, shattering scales, bruising muscles, and causing bones to groan in unbearable agony.

She tried to beg for mercy, but each time she opened her mouth, she was interrupted by the next impact.

Alecto showed no sign of stopping.

He grabbed Oliveira's tail and slammed her around repeatedly.

The dragon's nest trembled, the rock walls cracked, and the entire Chifeng area shook from this one-sided lesson.

This is not a battle, it is a lesson.

Alecto did not use dragon breath or magic.

He used this most primitive method to repeatedly tell Oliveira a principle:

There are some fundamental mistakes that absolutely, absolutely must not be made!

When Oliveira was slammed to the ground for the thirty-third time, she couldn't help but cry.

It wasn't because of the pain, although it was indeed very painful, but because of the humiliation.

She is the Red Dragon!

She is the great red dragon!

How can you let someone be beaten like a dead dog?

"Enough...enough...I was wrong...I was really wrong...brother...waaaaah..."

Oliveira burst into tears in mid-air.

Alecto stopped what he was doing and lifted Oliveira upside down in front of him.

Most of her scales were broken, her body was covered in wounds, and her tail was being held by Alecto, leaving her unable to move.

Alecto loosened his grip, slamming her heavily to the ground.

Oliveira was in pain all over her body, but what terrified her even more was that she had never seen her brother so cruel to her.

Tears mixed with blood slid down her cheeks as she curled up on the ground, whimpering intermittently, trying to evoke a shred of pity from Alecto with her cries.

Alecto gazed at her, his eyes unwavering.

He spoke slowly:

"Have you cried enough? These tears won't buy back your trust."

"Olivera, you've made me realize one thing completely: no matter what the vow, it's all laughably fragile in the face of life and death."

Oliveira raised her tearful eyes and choked out:

"I...I really know I was wrong...I'll never do it again...I promise..."

There will be no future.

Alecto interrupted her.

"I no longer need promises."

He raised one of his front paws, and a complex contract appeared in the air.

"This is the most severe slave contract. Once signed, your life, will, magic, and even the fluctuations of your soul will be completely under my control."

"If I die, you will die. With a single thought, I can cause you unbearable pain. If you harbor any intention to harm me, the contract will immediately backfire and burn your soul."

Oliveira's eyes widened in horror, and she frantically shrank back:

"No... Brother, you can't... We're siblings from the same nest! How can you make me your slave?!"

"Brother and sister?"

Alector scoffed, his eyes flashing with a chilling light:

"Your sister who hid while I was critically injured and on the verge of death? Oliveira, you were the one who betrayed the loyalty you were promised in your oath! Now, you only have two choices!"

He leaned down, his breath hitting Oliveira's face, and said, word by word:

"Sign this slave contract, and from now on, obey me absolutely. Use the rest of your life to atone for your sins. Perhaps I will set you free hundreds of years later. Or..."

Alecto's right claw gripped Oliveira's neck tightly. Although it didn't pierce her, the overwhelming killing intent suffocated her instantly.

"I'll kill you now to prevent future trouble."

The atmosphere froze instantly.

Alecto slowly retracted his claws:

"Don't think that just because of this oath I can't kill you. Let me tell you, Oliveira, even if I kill you right now, the backlash will only severely injure me. At worst, I'll just take a nap and recover!"

Oliveira could sense the terrifying power gathering between Alecto's claws.

Alector is serious!

Death was so real that it crushed her last shred of hope.

Oliveira trembled violently, tears streaming down her face, but she dared not cry out loud.

"I...I'll sign..."

After squeezing out a sound through clenched teeth, Oliveira closed her eyes in despair:

"Don't kill me... Brother... I'll sign..."