Chapter 15: Ancient Dragon Awakens 5000
"Let me see your true form."
The unknown world was in the dead of night, darkness shrouding the sky. And in the center of this lightless sky, a patch of silver mist swirled in midair, forming a nebula-like cloud cluster.
Through the resonance of Steel Force, within just a few seconds, Joshua had already collected various coordinate information about the world where the ancient dragon resided. Normally, he should now, as Baniel and William had said, break the life resonance brought by the activated ancient dragon blood in his hand, directly terminate this active contact, and avoid any adverse consequences from the angry ancient dragon's counterattack. But he did not intend to end this operation so simply.
Even in his previous life, Joshua had never seen an ancient dragon capable of controlling lightning. Having encountered one this time and already locked eyes with it, wouldn't it be a pity not to see what this ancient dragon actually looked like?
So the next moment, the ancient dragon buried beneath the mountain of sand suddenly sensed that the observer from beyond the void, who had traced it through its forged bloodline from some unknown place, had abruptly vanished. It was not a speed surpassing its perception, nor was it a concealment of its aura—all such methods could not hide from this ancient dragon that controlled magnetic fields and lightning. This was a power equal to its own, yet unknown to it.
The ancient dragon warily scanned its surroundings with electromagnetic waves, but soon realized its reconnaissance was meaningless. For the enemy that had suddenly disappeared had reappeared once again, and the point of descent was nowhere else but directly above its head, in the high altitude where sand and fierce winds scattered.
It jerked its head up, but a silver iron fist had already descended like a falling meteor, crashing down!
Contracting all his power back to the other end of spacetime, then releasing it abruptly through the resonance of Steel Force, Joshua easily created the anomaly of disappearance and reappearance. He condensed his power into a solid form, creating a steel giant fist dozens of meters wide to smash directly down at the ancient dragon. It was not true steel, but a mixed substance formed by condensing surrounding dust and sand with Steel Force, then constraining them with magnetic fields and gravity. It was not indestructible, but it was enough to break through the mountain of sand covering the ancient dragon.
But this iron fist was met with an angry dragon roar.
"ROOOOAR——————"
Unlike the fire dragons of the Prime Material Realm or the dragons of the Astral Realm, a massive and abnormal sound, like thunder exploding, rose from the deepest part of the earth. It was a roar unique in this world, unique even in the entire multiverse. And accompanying this roar, unheard for thousands of years, the atmosphere began to crackle. Visible blue-red electric currents intertwined and exploded, massive arcs of electricity flickering in the air. In an instant, the dark night sky churned with thunder, rumbling without cease, as countless thick serpentine lightning pillars descended from the sky, striking the top of the sand mountain where the ancient dragon lay!
But subjected to the bombardment of ten thousand thunders, the seemingly fragile sand mountain did not turn to ash. Instead, it revealed its true nature—a mountain of steel formed from countless iron sands. It was merely covered with a shell of ordinary sand. Now, under the control of electric currents, countless black iron sands began to move like separate rivers, flowing rapidly in response to the shifting magnetic field. They formed a spherical sandstorm of iron sand, rising straight up to meet Joshua's descending iron fist!
Boom! A thunderous crash. The giant fist temporarily condensed from Steel Force was instantly obliterated in the collision, creating a massive cloud of silver mist in midair. And beyond the void, the ancient dragon blood in Joshua's hand evaporated and vanished amid a flash of lightning, leaving no trace.
The warrior was not surprised that his attack was shattered by the ancient dragon. As a primordial lifeform of a world, their power was not something humans could easily fathom now. But Joshua laughed without concern, because regardless, he had achieved his goal.
Through a trace of Steel Force he had left behind in that unknown world, Joshua saw the ancient dragon's true form—black iron sand formed a giant spherical sandstorm over ten kilometers in diameter, spinning rapidly under the rotation of the magnetic field. And behind this rapidly spinning iron sand, a colossal silver ancient beast, comparable to a mountain, floated in the center of the sandstorm. Its sky-covering wings did not flap even once, but the magnetic field capable of distorting everything was enough to support its weight. Compared to its size, even a Titan giant was but a child.
The remaining Steel Force was rapidly annihilated under the rampaging ancient dragon's lightning. Before being completely driven back, Joshua only had time to see the massive sharp horns and the icy, blue-green lightning-flashing dragon eyes.
Stimulated by the warrior, the ancient dragon fully awakened. It let out another tremendous dragon roar, its vast power spreading to every corner of the sky. Instantly, the sky transformed into a sea of lightning, countless sparks and bolts surging like tidal waves toward the ends of the world and beyond. The massive fluctuation even shook spacetime, creating a barely perceptible ripple in the multiverse.
"Ah, O Divine One! You have finally appeared again!"
"King of Ten Thousand Thunders, Dragon God of Salvation! You have finally descended once more!"
But just as Joshua was being driven back, satisfied, he suddenly heard devout prayers. The warrior could not understand the language of these prayers, but he understood the meaning behind these words—the joy of seeing a revered deity, and the most sincere blessings and reverence. An evil god could never receive such prayers; only a true god could enjoy such glory.
"Oh? There are people in that world?!"
Having only time to utter this exclamation, Joshua's consciousness completely withdrew from that unknown world and returned to the Mycroft Continent. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw were the angry faces of two legendary mages.
"I told you not to conflict with that ancient dragon—Joshua, why didn't you follow the plan?!"
"Although there's no evidence that ancient dragons possess intelligence, even if they're just beasts, they can definitely remember your aura—we just wanted to see the ancient dragon's form, admire its power, touch its scales and horns... Of course, dissection would be best, but we never planned to fight an ancient dragon head-on!"
William and Baniel were indeed very angry. Joshua's reckless actions had directly pushed him into opposition with the ancient dragon. Although the possibility was low, who knew if the creature might also remember their auras? They weren't afraid of the ancient dragon's power, but they didn't intend to fight it either.
To this, Joshua calmed the two legendary mages' anger with just one sentence:
"I saw the ancient dragon's true form. Do you want to see it too?"
...
Using a few seconds to share the image of the ancient dragon in his mind with Baniel and William through a mental link, Joshua stopped paying attention to the two legendary mages who were cheering like children. He recalled the unknown language he had heard in his memory and the surrounding environmental conditions, falling into deep thought.
"That desert's sand wasn't naturally formed; it should be the remains of matter completely decomposed by electromagnetic force... Rather than a dwelling, it looks more like ruins left after the ancient dragon fought some other entity."
In the laboratory, Joshua frowned and muttered to himself: "This suggests the ancient dragon was healing there? But it seems it had almost fully recovered and was about to awaken, which is why it reacted to Baniel and William's earlier experiments and my stimulation."
Although it was just speculation, Joshua believed his observations were correct. That vast desert was clearly unnatural—every grain of sand was as regular as if decomposed by the same force. Moreover, the natural habitat of that silver-white ancient dragon that controlled lightning could never be a dry desert. It should live in the upper atmosphere, dancing with the world's magnetic field, using its immense power to never need to descend to the ground.
And that was a civilized world with life. The fact that the ancient dragon could coexist with those lives proved it was probably not evil, and might even possess communicable intelligence... From this perspective, his actions driven by curiosity had indeed been too reckless.
Now, Joshua had only one remaining question—where did that strange sense of familiarity come from?
But soon, he found the answer.
It was the smell of the Abyss.
Abyss Layer 162, former Sea of Primordial Poison, now Dragon-Sleeping Abyss.
This was a world of poison where the continent had shattered and the entire world had sunk into the sea. After the apocalypse, radiation and heavy metal pollution had filled all the world's waters with poison capable of easily killing life. Terrifying negative energy spread across the black-purple ocean, where only the most tenacious aberrant venomous insects and deformed giant serpents could survive in such harsh conditions. Even demons were unwilling to settle here.
But now, this silent place, once devoid of any sound except the hissing of venomous insects, had become a dragon world filled with roars and rumbles.
Massive floating islands, under visibly magical fluctuations, hovered above the poisonous ocean. Their shapes resembled concave stone giant bowls. These islands drew poisonous water from beneath the surface, purified it through magic into drinkable clean water, and gathered it in the lakes at the center of each island's depression. Tens of thousands of dragons lived inside the rock walls of these islands, relying on clean water and artificially cultivated organic food for survival.
The Five-Colored Dragon Clan struggled to survive in their new home. Even if the venomous insects and giant serpents didn't attack them, the extremely harsh living environment still made these dragons gasp for breath—literally gasp for breath. In the atmosphere filled with countless poisonous dust particles, even dragons needed purification magic to breathe. They couldn't even fly freely, only huddling in their respective caves, listlessly flapping their wings.
And in the center of these floating islands, inside the largest floating mountain, within its massive hollow interior, three vast wills were silently confronting each other. After a long time, one will spoke first.
"I sensed a tremendous power shaking spacetime."
The speaker was a massive white dragon, the White Dragon King, [Frost Lord] Bonal, coiled on his seat of crystalline ice. In a slightly weary tone, he said: "To be precise, it created a ripple in the multiverse... It's at the level of a Dragon King, or even stronger. In human terms, that's above Legendary. This power is very close to us, yet lacks the corrupt aura of demons."
"Countless ancient and powerful beings lurk in the Abyss."
On the other side, a black dragon also spoke slowly. The leader of the black dragons, [Abyssal Sea Dragon] Keano, said in a slightly sharp voice: "Demon Lords, Abyss Lords, ancient creations, remnants of destruction, world-ending monsters, or the corpses of fallen gods... The Abyss is the graveyard of the multiverse, a gathering place for demons. Nothing is surprising there, let alone a few monsters similar to us."
Here, his tone lowered slightly: "After all, aren't we failures who were forced to retreat into the Abyss?"
It seemed Keano was not interested in the unknown power Bonal mentioned.
But Bonal did not intend to end the topic there. He continued in a slow, weary voice: "I know, Keano, you've been searching deep in the poisonous sea recently for magical substances useful to our race, finding nothing. You're tired and disappointed, but that's no reason to be despondent... The reason I'm paying attention to that power is because I sensed that the world it's in doesn't have a decaying aura. Although it's indeed within the Abyss's domain, it still has vitality."
He emphasized: "Vitality suitable for us dragons."
This immediately piqued Keano's interest. The Black Dragon Lord urgently pressed: "That's impossible—the Abyss consists of worlds that have already been destroyed. Having fallen to this place, how could there still be vitality?!"
"There is, it's possible."
The White Dragon King said calmly: "If there are ancient dragons—the incarnations of steel crystallization from the beginning of the world's creation, these primordial lifeforms—then even the Abyss might not be impossible to revitalize."
"Didn't we take the risk to come to the Sea of Poison because we heard that ancient dragons once lived here? Isn't that right, Rethia?"
The topic was steered by Bonal in another direction. The one questioned, the Blue Dragon Lord, [Endless Wind] Rethia, was silent for a moment, then nodded: "I received the news. I heard that deep in the Sea of Poison, there was a giant serpent with strength comparable to a deity. If that was an ancient dragon, then it would explain why venomous insects and sea serpents still survive in this dead world... Unfortunately, even if there was one, it left this world long ago."
"However, our race cannot withstand another failure. Even if we find a world with vitality, what then? Fighting an ancient dragon would exhaust the remaining power of the three of us. If we fail, who will maintain the material cycle needed for the tens of thousands of dragons in Dragon-Sleeping Abyss? In that case, we will never have another chance to rise."
In response to Rethia's answer, Bonal only gently shook his massive dragon head: "No, not the three of us, but only me."
Saying this, the massive white dragon spread his wings. He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the mountain walls to look at the black-purple poisonous sky of Dragon-Sleeping Abyss. Bonal said in a weary but determined tone: "I will go find the source of that power fluctuation, find that Abyss world that might have vitality... And you, stay in Dragon-Sleeping Abyss to protect our race."
"That way, even if I fail, the Five-Colored Dragon Clan won't be crippled or driven to extinction."
Faced with Bonal's resolute words, both Rethia and Keano fell silent. The Red Dragon Lord had said this before, and the Green Dragon King had said it too. Two former Dragon Kings had given everything to find new habitats for their race, places without powerful races like humans. They had gotten lost exploring the multiverse, disappearing without a trace, dealing a heavy blow to the already weakening Astral Dragon Clan.
But they had all strived for a future full of hope. No dragon would deny that.
Bonal did not wait for his companions' reply. He directly used teleportation magic to leave the floating mountain. The Black Dragon Keano, after hesitating for a moment, also opened a spacetime gate. Before leaving, he turned his head and said to the only one who remained silent, Rethia: "Bonal going alone is very dangerous. I must assist him. Rethia, take care of this place... This is our race's last gathering ground."
With that, he too passed through the spacetime gate, chasing Bonal's trail into the void, leaving only the Blue Dragon Rethia alone in the silent floating mountain, silently gazing at the empty mountain hollow.
"Of course," he said softly, as if answering his departed companions.
This is the only thing I can do.
Sixth Abyss, Molten Sea Fire Prison.
Several Demon Lords, returning from conquests in other worlds, were summoned for the first time by the Abyss Lord, Demon King Goliath, to the Tear Valley Fortress at the center of the plane. No demon knew what they discussed, only the most perceptive Greater Demons within the fortress could sense that, afterward, three indistinct spacetime fluctuations rippled in sequence from the fortress's lower levels.
Multiverse, Unknown World.
A fleet shrouded in darkness departed from a void fortress. They rode the waves of the Great Magic Tide, sailing through spacetime ripples, but their target was already locked—it was the bottom of the myriad realms, the endless graveyard of worlds, a corner deep within the Abyss. They had sensed a familiar fluctuation, the fluctuation of prey they had desperately sought centuries ago.
"Both of you, I suddenly realized something we all overlooked."
In the Mycroft World, aboard the experimental airship above the Great Aias Mountains, Joshua found the two legendary mages who were calculating the location of the ancient dragon's world. His face was solemn, his tone low as he said: "Since the ancient dragon has awakened, its power will naturally spread... That is the most obvious beacon. Perhaps we need to hurry and find it."
"Because it's very possible that we are not the only ones who want to track its trail."