Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Knowing full well that this man was up to something, Drake couldn't control his tongue and ignored even his pirate instincts to call the police. Drake rubbed his fingers together and gave the man a fawning smile.

Soon, the pretty but intimidating female bartender brought over two glasses of bubbly, pale blue liquid.

"A toast to you, Mr. Drake, for your health and a successful voyage."

"Homage to freedom! Homage to the end of the world!" The pirate still feels lingering fear when he recalls what happened at sea. He can't imagine what the future holds, and now it might be time to take a long vacation from his pirate career.

"Well, Mr. Drake, I have something here that might interest you..."

As expected, Drake felt slightly tipsy. He was now capable of exposing the pattern of his first mate's underwear just for another drink. "Perhaps, sir, but I'm currently preoccupied with my White Dragon brother, and I'm afraid I don't have the extra energy..."

"Bai Long will be fine. We have the best team to clean up the mess. Now that he has escaped the embrace of the gods, it would be difficult for him to die even if he wanted to."

Drake nodded and raised his hand.

"Another one! I need to soothe my dry throat."

Seemingly having already grasped the nature of some people, the subsequent drinks came quickly. Drake smelled the aroma in his glass, tilting his head towards the man beside him.

“Now I am very interested, please speak, generous sir.”

He straightened up, his eyes shining, and quickly traced something on the sheepskin he had taken out with his fingers. The paper kept flashing with strange symbols that Drake had never seen before, and the last pattern he saw was the pattern on the cursed gold coin, which Drake had never mentioned before.

Drake swore he would never leave a single fingerprint on the paper.

"Well, Mr. Drake, the subject I've been researching recently is the utilization of curse power. Don't you think the curse of the ghost ship, with its teleportation mechanism that ignores the logic of spacetime and energy loss, has great potential?"

"Oh dear, I forgot to introduce myself..."

The man picked up the glass Drake had put down and rolled it against the parchment. Drake watched as his fingerprint appeared on the contract, as if he saw a demon baring its fangs.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Derek."

"I am a miracle."

“I am inspiration,” the man behind her added, placing a small bag of gold coins in the bartender’s palm.

"Welcome to the City of Wanderings' Light and Shadow Zone."

Chapter 794 We are originally one

The black dragon's wings sliced ​​through the clouds, and he ascended the wave of clouds, roaring joyfully under the sole sun. He relaxed his control over his magic, and the dragon-shaped gem, gleaming in the sunlight, plunged into the sea of ​​clouds. A loud airburst erupted from the clouds as Alcaron, fueled by black and red madness, charged forward at full speed. The shockwave from his zero-speed acceleration through the air left a long-lasting "wound" in the clouds.

Alcalon enjoyed the hike. While the life force of Sahazaen was indeed strong, its excessive intensity could also create a heavy sense of oppression. Having finally left the Earth's node, the eldest son of war quickly relaxed his body, and then he realized that his ease stemmed from the fragility of everything around him.

Spreading his wings, clusters of obsidian growing on his wing membranes sparked in the air, and occasional movements produced a metallic clanging sound. As a gem dragon, the ever-growing accompanying minerals are like human fingernails and hair; regular cleaning is necessary to maintain his mobility. So far, the black dragon Alcaron is quite satisfied with his perfect physique. Inheriting his father's bravery and strength, and his mother's composure and cunning, this eldest son of war considers his physical prowess a natural honor, and he can't wait to show off his current full form to his long-unseen brothers and sisters.

Although he had seized control of the ancient humans' discourse, Alcaron did not continue to provoke the black dragon priest Ormhead. Despite the berserkers' desire for dragon dominance, the black dragon, with a hint of mockery, shared power with the priest. He recalled the seriousness in Ormhead's tone before leaving; something important seemed to have occurred. The fact that the black dragon priest valued this further increased the black dragon's anticipation for this dragon gathering.

"It's been a long time. I wonder how my lovely younger brothers and sisters are doing these days." They'll probably each prepare their own unique entrance. Although it wasn't explicitly stated, the five young dragons have harbored a fierce competitive spirit since childhood—the inherent arrogance of dragons driving them to compete with their brethren. Their dragon father and dragon priest are happy to see this, and Alcaron is naturally a strong supporter of this rivalry, considering he's been talking about patricide and usurpation since his childhood.

Looking at the barrier before him, so dense with magic that it seemed to isolate him from the world, the black dragon descended, landed lightly, and slowly and gracefully stepped into the barrier, if one ignored the trees and rocks it had plowed through along the way.

He saw his brothers, and they had all grown a lot.

Claudia was dozing in the corner, her active mental energy indicating that the green dragons were waging war in another world. She had become more beautiful and more of a homebody.

Immelt didn't have much of an idol image to maintain. She was as gentle and considerate as ever, only now she was several sizes bigger. She cheerfully greeted the black dragon, breathing out her hot molten lava breath—it was so warm.

Christo remains the same as always, constantly dealing with endless tasks while working on magical devices.

Poldris, the youngest brother, immediately caught the black dragon's attention. He was sealed inside a large block of ice, like a frozen fish used for winter.

"I like Pol's look the most; you guys aren't tough enough in comparison."

Alcalon's jokes didn't elicit laughter from the others, and the Black Dragon didn't seem to care much; he was better at sarcastic remarks than amusing jokes.

“No, Alcalon. The Sleeper has awakened, the evil god has risen from the deep sea, and Bol... has been corrupted by the evil god and is now in great danger.”

The name of the god made the black dragon squint its eyes, and its scales opened and closed gently, like a refreshing breath after exercise.

The green dragon opened her eyes, nodded to the black dragon, and turned to report the situation to Christo, who was observing the data.

“Bohr’s dreams were not very distorted or fluctuating. He was mentally weak, but I think he probably pulled through. The corruption of the evil god did not defeat him.”

“Or perhaps he's already been lying in wait.” The blue dragon set down the crystal screen in front of him, revealing a barely perceptible smile to his brother with his dragon face. “Even magic detection can't tell the difference, as if he's truly just entered hibernation. There's no corruption, no contamination, just like…”

"Like a preserved frozen dried fish." Alcalon was certain that the two brothers had achieved a synchronization of thought.

Christo's lips twitched, revealing sharp teeth.

“But you know that’s unrealistic. The sea has now become a complete abyss. Poldris, who escaped from the deep sea, chose to freeze himself. We want to break the seal, but we can’t be sure if the one inside is still our brother. Poldris is in great danger now. The white dragon’s frost magic is like locking time in place. If we want time to continue, we have to face a terrible future. He’s an unstable arcane bomb right now.”

“Polderis still exists, that’s my gut feeling.” The black dragon stroked the ice sculpture, which was twice its own size, its reflection overlapping with the white dragon’s tightly closed eyelids behind the ice. “We must and must unseal it. Polderis and I haven’t had a proper chance to catch up. The days we spent living together in the dragon’s nest are gone forever. I never imagined he would grow so big, a proper punching bag.”

The dragons had long understood the black dragon's awkward emotional expressions; the eldest son of war was not a heartless evil dragon.

"Imelt's flames can melt ice, and Claudia's dreams can protect his spirit..."

“So we need enough force to suppress him, even if it’s the corrupted Poldris.” The black dragon looked at his brother, his golden eyes searching for hidden meaning in the blue dragon’s gaze. “I’m surprised, my brother, your magic should be enough to deal with him, instead of calling your elder brother to be a bomb disposal expert.”

Christo looked down as he was questioned. He didn't like transferring the danger to his family, but, "I have become part of the Magic Network's consciousness. I cannot allow the Magic Network nodes to come into contact with corruption, nor can I allow the Sleepers to touch the key to overturn the world. I'm sorry, Al, my responsibilities do not allow me to be in danger."

Alcalon didn't see anything wrong with that; as a warrior, he should be at the forefront. He was more curious about something else. "Why do you think I can resist the corruption of the evil god? It's not that I'm thick-skinned; you know that the corruption of the god isn't something so simple. Why do you have this assumption, Christo? Who told you that, Morokui?"

"Yes, Master has some hidden wisdom." Blue Dragon kept the truth to himself. He understood the true purpose of the large barrier he had set up, and shifted his gaze away from Black Dragon's ambiguous smile.

Alcalon accepted the blue dragon's offer, adjusted his stance, and stood before the iceberg of Poldris.

"Thaw it out, Mel, I'm ready."

The second sister, who was thinking of her younger brother, had been waiting for a long time. She transformed into a giant bellows and spewed flames of life towards the iceberg. The temperature rose, the volume of the ice gradually shrank, and thick water vapor rose into a fog in the barrier. Christo simply manipulated the fog to move it out of the barrier.

Polderis was freed from his cage of ice, crashing to the ground with a deafening thud unimaginable to any other land dragon. With his restraints lifted, Alcaron cautiously approached his brother, head held high, looking down at the massive white dragon from a human-standing height, his aura pulsating with a bloodthirsty frenzy. His approach resembled that of an executioner with a knife.

The oppressive feeling of having one's life threatened is enough to ignite the bloody temptation of killing. Black Dragon is quite professional at using himself as bait. He cleverly grasped the characteristics of the evil god's blind foolishness and used the most primal instincts to stimulate the most primal instincts.

The dragon's claws gripped the white dragon's mouth, and Alcaron, in a foolish act, opened the white dragon's upper and lower jaws, discovering that the sea dragon's teeth were neatly arranged, smaller in size, and more numerous.

The other three dragons breathed a sigh of relief; their lack of retaliation meant that Boll still...

In the instant that all the dragons relaxed their guard, a spine the size of a battering ram suddenly shot out from the gaping maw of Poldris, like a harpoon gun being fired, piercing straight into the black dragon's throat, where the breath's fire reservoir, heart, and reverse scales were located.

Immelt, caught off guard, felt a chill run through her as her mind conjured the horrific image of the black dragon's blood splattering everywhere. Claudia lunged forward, and Christo, as if losing control, unleashed his magic.

But it was too late; no one could save Alcalon except himself.

Suddenly, the black dragon's scales burst open, and tentacles and deformed lumps grew out of the cracks in its body. Alcaron swelled up, and the white dragon's bone spike pierced a hole in his throat, or rather, the white dragon's bone spike happened to pass through the hole that the black dragon had opened.

The three dragons escaped the black dragon at a speed faster than a sprint. They stared at the black dragon's eldest son, whose entire body had transformed into something even more corrupt than the white dragon's, and were so astonished that they forgot to speak.

That was undoubtedly the corruption of the evil god, and even more thorough than that of the white dragon. When did this happen?

Blue Dragon Christo recalled the scholar's arrangements.

"Since my grandson was replaced and my son became a human bomb for the evil god, I have reflected on my mental state. I discovered that prolonged contact with the Deep Sea Demon Network may have caused my subconscious to completely accept the evil god's forces as its favored brethren. I thought I admired Lyle because of his kindness, identified with Ino because of blood ties, and promoted the creation of the evil god based on my mad thirst for dragons. But in the end, my judgment has probably been revised by my goodwill."

“Christopher, arrange a meeting and gather your brothers. Let Alcaron confront the unknown Poldris. Perhaps this is yet another mistake on my part, but it’s best if it is. To be honest, my student, since you all left the Dragon's Nest, I’ve found that I inexplicably prefer the black dragon to you, my student.”

"I hope this is just my paranoia."

“No, teacher, this is not… Alcalon, he has long since become a demon god.”

Chapter 795 Atavism

The black dragon's body split open along its spine, causing its massive frame to grow even larger, like an inflatable doll, gradually approaching the size of a sea dragon. This meant that it was now larger than the three dragons combined. Although a dragon's power doesn't solely depend on its size, its imposing presence was undeniable. Alcaron's claws pressed against Poldris's neck, like a hunter asserting dominance over its prey.

Tentacles sprouted from the numerous wounds covering his body, oozing pus. His once intact wing membranes were torn into strips, and his outstretched wings resembled dangerous claws. Alcaron's completely deformed face stared at his gathered brothers; the bloody smile revealing torn skin and exposed muscle had likely become a nightmare for them.

"Hmph... Hahahahahaha..." Alcaron suddenly burst into laughter as if he had a seizure. He collapsed onto the sea dragon's body, laughing heartily without any regard for his image. His tentacles stuck to the white dragon's scales, and he himself destroyed the dangerous atmosphere he had created for Christo.

The series of reversals left the Blue Dragon completely bewildered. As the remaining pillar of strength, Christo secretly set up a barrier around the Black and White Dragons, while simultaneously trying to distract them with conversation.

"What's wrong with your body, Al?"

Noticing the red and green dragons tacitly moving to his sides, Alcaron responded by raising his head and stretching his neck like a spring, giving the black dragon a giraffe-like neck. He then performed a graceful maneuver, drawing a circle in the air with his exceptionally flexible neck.

"Of course it has become an evil god, my foolish brother, why ask when you already know the answer?"

"How did you become like this, my brother?" Christo's emotions were tinged with sadness, all an act. He secretly activated the explosive runes in the barrier, looking for the opportunity to blow up the black dragon.

Alcalon seemed oblivious, pressing down on the white dragon's body, his tentacles gripping the bone spikes that had grown from the dragon's body, like an octopus hooking up with a sea cucumber; at this moment, the two dragons resembled large seafood.

“Shouldn’t you ask yourselves? Why, as devourers, offspring of the Dragon God, don’t you become gods? You must know that our origin is a rebellious god, and the resurrection of our Dragon Father relied entirely on another god. Why would I become a god? Why wouldn’t you?” Alcaron meant that becoming a god was the normal phenomenon for dragons; it was merely a different kind of atavism. He seemed very proud, regarding these twisted fleshy tentacles as a symbol of pure blood, distinguishing himself from his brothers and sisters, and making him the Dragon Father’s most outstanding successor.

Christo's face was almost scrunched up; he seemed genuinely pondering the differences between the black dragon and the other dragons.

"Following this line of thought, the reason why Al became a demon god is because..." The blue dragon thought of the black dragon provoking his father when he was a child and being beaten black and blue, but he still went his own way and faced difficulties head-on.

"Your father gave you this ability and put you through advanced classes." Christopher had learned about the dragon's personality from conversations with scholars. He knew his father had been somewhat biased in his education during the lich era, favoring some of the better students. As a professor of bone consecration, the blue dragon also knew his dragon father preferred physical strength to magic, so he chose to break free from the shackles of the physical body... and not be a dragon anymore. This approach was very much in keeping with the Andrei lich.

Kristotle's hostility gradually dissipated, stemming from his prejudice against his parents. He coughed twice and said to the black dragon, "Well, it's entirely possible that Father did that. I believe what you're saying now, Al. You've probably followed in Father's footsteps and become a primordial dragon."

The two dragons, who had been on the verge of conflict, suddenly reached a consensus, leaving the two dragon sisters confused. The red dragon looked at the blue dragon, then at the Dynamaxed black dragon, unsure what to do. The green dragon's gaze was quite direct; she glared at the blue dragon as if she were looking at another traitor, her eyes seeming to say: This isn't what you agreed on.

Alcalon was very satisfied with his control of the situation, and in a good mood, he said a few more words.

"Hmph, that's why the dragon priests allowed us to meet. If I were truly your enemy, believe me, their keen senses wouldn't have allowed their beloved dragon and me to be in the same cage. The dragon priests have clearly accepted the dragon's corruption. They've handed Bolderis over to us, trusting us and our dragon father behind us to solve Bolderis's corruption problem, while they can attend to more important matters, like preparing for war. That clever blue dragon priest discovered me, which is why he sent me to deal with Bolderis. And indeed, the corrupted Bolderis can't resist the corrupted me. I'll take him back and let that idle father bestow a blessing upon Bolderis. He'll revert to his ancestral corrupted state, just like me, but don't worry, our kinship remains as strong as blood, it won't decay."

The black dragon's explanation resolved the blue dragon's doubts; the blue dragon priest he knew wouldn't choose such a reckless provocation. The scholar knew from the beginning that they would coexist peacefully, which is why he left Christo alone to face Alcalon's demonic transformation.

"Is this meant to cultivate my sense of crisis? I've been completely outmaneuvered."

“Alright, I’ve explained everything, and the misunderstanding is cleared up. Christo, open a portal so I can take Paul back to the dragon's lair to see Father. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.” The demonized Alcalon was about the same size as Paulderis, his tentacles gripping the white dragon like a sack, humming a cheerful tune as he entered the portal. He could have explained his demonization immediately, but he chose to scare his brother, to satisfy his own perverse pleasure. Recalling his younger siblings’ terrified, tails pointing skyward, Alcalon smiled.

The portal closed, and Christo's face fell as he muttered, "Three, two, one."

The spatial tremors affected reality, violently tearing open a spatial rift and throwing out the white dragon's body, which bore a few scratches. Loud sounds of interdimensional collisions and magical explosions could be heard from within the rift. Alcaron's face was dark, his body riddled with crystalline fragments from the magical explosions, and a dimensional slash severed his spine. He barely managed to keep his body intact with his tentacles. The wounded black dragon truly revealed his killing intent.

That portal was full of traps set by the blue dragon; they didn't do much damage, but they were extremely humiliating.

“I believe you are Al now.” Chris raised his claws in surrender, decisively admitting defeat in front of the black dragon.

Alcalon smiled happily.

"You just wait."

Once again dragging Poldris through the portal, the black dragon's good mood completely vanished.

This time, he did not tear open the crack again.