# Chapter 52: Breakthrough into the Holy Mountain (Part 1)
Legend has it that a thousand years ago, in the south further south than the Far South, there was a continent covered in dense jungle. It was the origin of the Elves, the homeland of the Alien Insects. Moist sea breezes encircled this land blessed by the God of Nature day and night, keeping it forever prosperous, forever abundant, forever safe from any calamity.
But forever is not truly forever. The deity who once protected this place also left this world. In a great catastrophe a thousand years ago that no one knew the cause of, this once-fertile land, accompanied by the wails of countless inhabitants, sank into the boundless Far Sea.
And at the end of the Far Sea, at one corner of the once-sunken continent.
The peak of a mountain broke through the sea's obstruction and emerged beneath the sunlight. This was once a tall mountain, its very name a symbol of the sacred. Its summit had once accompanied the mountain winds above the clouds, never visited by birds or dragons. But now it stood alone, jutting out of the sea, becoming a resting place for passing seabirds.
But a presence came from afar, instantly startling these chattering seabirds into flight. They cried out in alarm and abandoned this resting place.
In the distance, a massive black figure flapped its wings, crossing the endless sea at speeds surpassing sound. Amidst the waves stirred up by the violent gale, it finally arrived at this protruding peak.
This was a pitch-black dragon. Its draconic pupils were a deep gray like iron and stone. Its scales were smooth and hard, designed to minimize air and water resistance.
"Manda Gar, the elders' message!"
Upon reaching its destination, without any hesitation, it opened its massive maw and let out a deafening roar. This draconic speech, carrying a strange accent, stirred the surrounding arcane power, instantly whipping up a fierce wind: "Open your portal! Don't pretend you didn't hear!"
The violent sound waves agitated the atmosphere, even penetrating into the seawater, causing the sea surface within dozens of meters to concave. The being called Manda Gar by this black dragon indeed heard the black dragon's voice, so a cold draconic voice appeared out of thin air above the mountain peak: "Amori, shut up. I've told you many times—if you want courtesy from other dragons, learn to be quiet."
Though he spoke harshly, Manda Gar also knew that the elders' council behind Amori was something he couldn't refuse. So, with a fluctuation of arcane power, a massive opening appeared at the mountain's peak. A deep tunnel materialized before the black dragon's eyes, and the cold voice followed: "Come in. I'll repeat myself—if you shout again, I guarantee you'll be my next experimental subject. No one can stop me."
"Hmph."
Clearly, the black dragon named Amori was also very wary of Manda Gar. Faced with such a threat, he decisively shut his mouth and quietly entered the opening.
After the black dragon entered, the massive opening, large enough for a dragon to pass through, slowly closed. The previously scattered seagulls all flew back to this resting place.
But what was surprising was that these seagulls' eyes were different from ordinary seagulls. Deep within the white of their eyes flickered a sinister red light.
The black dragon flew deeper into the mountain along the deep cave. This was clearly a tunnel carved using magic. Following this tunnel to the very bottom was a vast cavern. After passing through a magical barrier, Amori knew he had arrived at Manda Gar's lair.
Around the cavern were placed many bottles and jars, containing the internal organs of various creatures, as well as some strange organs. If Joshua were here, he would certainly notice that among these organs was one he was very familiar with—there were dozens of bottles of abyssal derivatives from the Abyssal Demon Dragon, all covered with traces of modification.
And the walls of the cavern were covered in a continuous expanse of gray crystalline substance. At first glance, the black dragon thought it was just ordinary gray crystal. He was about to mock the simplicity of the other's lair when he suddenly stopped and showed a shocked expression.
"What do you think? My living crystals. These little fellows live on rock, but occasionally eating some flesh and blood doesn't hurt. Want to try feeding them?"
A neither hot nor cold greeting sounded. Amori turned his head and saw the target of his journey.
This was an incredibly ancient and bizarre dragon. Ancient, because the tips of its scales were gray, its muscles were slack, and even the tips of its dragon horns had cracks. Bizarre, because half of its body was a normal gray-black dragon body, while the other half was replaced by the gray crystals on the walls.
These crystal fragments slowly writhed, as dense as a swarm of ants, making it impossible to see a clear shape or form. Deep within the crystals, a diamond-shaped core flowed with a dim magical radiance. This dimness was not decay but rather a representation of some concept—decay, aging, death—as if the underworld were recreated within this crystalline body.
"No need. I remember your former title, my 'teacher,' very well. I won't touch anything of yours."
Replying with a cold laugh, the powerful black dragon showed no fear at this bizarre sight. Having lived for years in the deep sea abyss and being able to use negative energy, he often encountered strange creatures at the bottom of the sea. While this scene surprised him, it couldn't frighten Amori, especially since he had often seen similar things before. Thinking this, Amori shook his head and said coldly: "Let's skip the nonsense. The problem in the Abyss of Anos has been discovered by humans. You must deal with it."
After speaking, the black dragon looked at the other's crystalline body and snorted again: "Many dragons say you've gone mad. I didn't quite believe it before, but now it seems that someone who uses abyssal crystals to transform into living crystals to reconstruct their own body can no longer be described as merely mad."
"Amori, you've never experienced death, so don't speak so arrogantly."
Hearing this, Manda Gar, who was usually irritable and eccentric, surprisingly didn't get angry. He used the only remaining gray eye on his aged body to gaze at the powerful black dragon and said solemnly: "The Abyss of Anos? The abyssal rift is indeed there, but haven't those humans discovered it long ago? Why is the elders' council so surprised?"
"But humans have never tried to enter the Central Great Maelstrom, have they?"
Retorting with a question, the black dragon grew impatient: "Listen, Manda Gar, you are the wise one among the dragon race. You know that the Abyss of Anos is a retreat route for our kind. If the Mad Dragons fail to conquer the Holy Mountain and the offensive on the continent also fails, then the Metal Dragons and humans will launch their most thorough counterattack against us. At that time, we can only retreat into the abyss, and the Abyss of Anos is the closest and safest route."
Saying this, Amori coldly stared at the half-crystal, half-dragon before him. He slightly bared his fangs: "The reason you could avoid joining our army besieging the Holy Mountain is because you once promised to guard the Abyss of Anos. But now, the human ark is about to approach the Central Great Maelstrom, yet you're still in your lair keeping company with your living crystals and laboratory—if you continue to slack off like this, the elders' council will not sit idly by!"
After this ultimatum-like speech, silence fell in the lair, broken only by the rustling sound of living crystals moving along the walls. But the ancient half-crystal dragon unexpectedly chuckled, breaking the awkward silence.
"I'm almost successful, Amori."
His voice was calm, devoid of any emotion. But precisely because of this, Amori sensed something wrong. Manda Gar used his aged, wrinkled dragon face to show a 'smile' between dragons: "You only saw that I used abyssal living crystals to replace my body, intending to extend my life, but you didn't notice the essential change in me."
"Successful? What disgusting experiment have you done again?"
Hearing this, the familiar black dragon immediately changed expression. He heightened his guard, ready to break through the mountain and flee at any moment. At the same time, he noticed that from the body of this ancient dragon, who seemed about to die of old age, came a trace of an aura that disgusted him yet was all too familiar.
"The Famine Evil God?! You really have gone mad!"
Widening his draconic pupils, his scales standing on end, looking at the strange living crystals around him, Amori suddenly thought of something. He roared in shock: "You actually hid from the elders' council and made a deal with an Evil God, privately converting into its minion! Traitor!"
"Isn't the elders' council also making deals with the Plague Evil God and the abyss? Otherwise, where did those Mad Dragons and Blood Demon Dragons come from out of thin air? Everyone takes what they need. No one can call anyone a traitor."
Laughing heartily, the ancient dragon straightened up. The writhing crystal fragments all over his body suddenly coalesced into one, becoming a black dragon body shimmering with dim light. Flexing this new body, Manda Gar's eyes revealed not pride but calmness: "My former apprentice, when you fled my laboratory fifty years ago, I told you—you've never experienced death, so you understand nothing. The pain of a body atrophied from hidden injuries, the despair of flesh rotting from old age—young you knew nothing."
"I have not betrayed the Five-Colored Dragons. The elders' council has always given me resources, allowing me, on the verge of death, to survive until now... I, Manda Gar, am called the Undead Dragon, but I will never forget this debt of gratitude—but Amori, your desertion and destruction of my twenty-seven precious experimental subjects—I will never forgive."
Without waiting to hear the end, the black dragon said not a single word of nonsense. Instead, his entire body erupted with terrifying magical and life radiance. He flapped his wings diagonally upward, in an instant penetrating dozens of meters of rock layers, about to break through the mountain and reach the sea.
Black dragons were dragons that lived in swamps and sea abysses. They were naturally adept at surviving in water and negative energy environments. If Amori could reach the deep sea, even Manda Gar wouldn't be able to find him.
But a calm voice, tinged with a hint of disappointment, came from behind him.
"How disappointing, Amori. Your new teacher definitely didn't teach you draconic magic well. Facing a Ultimate-rank dragon spellcaster whose power far exceeds yours, do you really think you can escape by simply running?"
With these words, a string of gray, writhing crystal fragments flew up from below, forming a tentacle that tightly wrapped around the black dragon's hind claw. The immense power completely overwhelmed the dragon race's tough physique, instantly pulling Amori back into the lair covered in living crystals.
Lying on the ground, his entire body—wings, limbs, even his mouth—covered in living crystals, the black dragon's eyes showed a trace of panic. But his gaze quickly cleared, and he viciously spat out a few fragmented words from between his teeth: "If I hadn't run—I would have died long ago in your experiments. You, who tried to use me as an experimental subject, are not worthy of being called a teacher!"
Facing his impending death, this arrogant black dragon showed no fear. He rebuked: "And ignoring the elders' council's orders like this is a betrayal of the dragon race!"
Meeting the black dragon's deep gray eyes, Manda Gar was silent for a moment, then said in a tone so calm it was chilling: "Perhaps. The elders' council couldn't restore my youth, so I did it myself. Some experiments are necessary—but rest assured, the Abyss of Anos contains many of my experimental subjects. Before they reach the Maelstrom, those humans will receive a surprise."
Saying this, he revealed an aged and cruel cold smile: "And now, I will use your flesh and blood to restore my youth—I was just thinking about whether I should go catch a giant island whale, but I didn't expect you, a traitor, to deliver yourself to my doorstep."
With a casual claw gesture, a flash of deep gray magical energy passed. The young black dragon immediately let out a tremendous scream. The countless gray living crystals that had been binding him began to erode his body, self-proliferating. And while Amori was being eroded, the other half of Manda Gar's aged body also began to slowly transform into a dim black crystalline texture.
Listening to his former apprentice's screams, the old dragon calmly muttered to himself: "After completing the 'Rebirth of Death,' I will go to the Abyss of Anos and kill all those ignorant humans. Grievances are grievances, but I will not forget that I am a dragon."
Hearing this, the black dragon, whose eyes had been full of venom and unwillingness, paused for a moment, then his gaze transformed into pure hatred: "Manda Gar, you collude with Evil Gods, convert life, kill your own kind—you are destined to sink to the lowest depths of the void—"
Before he could finish, the living crystals' erosion had reached this black dragon's heart and brain. With a violent convulsion, Amori could no longer speak another word. But the old dragon knew what the unfinished sentence was.
'But even if I must die, let me die after protecting the Abyss of Anos.'
Silence fell again in the lair. After a long time, the living crystals completed their erosion. The former black dragon left not even a complete corpse behind, completely transformed into nothing. And the old dragon's body transformation had reached four-fifths completion.
Looking at the stone floor where Amori had once lain, he said in a voice full of disdain: "Of course."
"I am Manda Gar, the Undead Dragon. Two hundred years ago, the nightmare of the Far South humans, the enemy of all living beings."
"Now that I have restored my youth, I will certainly fulfill my promises—whether it's protecting the Five-Colored Dragons or killing you, a traitor!"
With that, the old dragon turned his head. His gaze seemed to penetrate stone walls and space, seeing the towering Holy Mountain and the deep Abyss of Anos in the distance. Manda Gar's eyes flickered with thoughtful light. He muttered quietly to himself: "One-fifth left. It will be completed soon."
In his mind, a sword light suddenly flashed—the one that had knocked him from glory down to this abyssal depth. He instinctively startled, then gritted his teeth and said: "Just wait, humans!"
In the direction of the Holy Mountain, which he was gazing at across the distance.
High above the sea, a massive floating warship was flying at high speed toward the Far Sea Holy Mountain.
And a man—a warrior wielding a giant sword and a giant axe—stood with his warhorse at the very front of this floating warship. He coldly smiled at the countless obstacles filling the sky before him.
They were a group of massive creatures, their bodies measuring tens of meters. They were covered in hard, iron-like scales of various colors, their eyes revealing a madness devoid of all reason.
Between the warship and the Holy Mountain, there was a swarm of flying dragons large enough to block out the sky. They flapped their enormous wings, circling the Far Sea Holy Mountain day and night, blocking the passage of most ships. Noticing this huge floating warship, countless flying dragons roared and charged toward it, attempting to shoot down this strange and dangerous presence.
And at that moment, a semi-transparent magical screen appeared before the warrior's eyes, with bold letters warning of something. But the man dismissed it with contempt.
"Too many enemies, so we need to retreat for now?"
Shaking his head disdainfully, Joshua gripped his Divine Mechanism tightly. Looking at the sky full of Mad Dragons, he revealed a cold and heroic smile: "You've got it backwards."
"Now is the time to stretch my limbs."