That was the ice magical beasts’ world. Ice Howlers, which were rarely seen now, used to be the most common magical beast roaming Roddanmo then, with close to Legendary-level abilities and great numbers. Other stronger creatures like the Ice Enchantresses, Snow Giants, and Iceblast Wyrms were also not uncommon. Amongst them, there were ones whose abilities almost reached Sanctuary-level.
Not mentioning those most powerful magical beasts, even an ordinary Ice Howler could destroy an elite human army easily. Back in the Dragon Mountains, Lin Li had encountered a level-10-odd Ice Howler. This Ice Howler had once made the Roland City castellan’s elite army return crestfallen. In contrast, in Roddanmo during the Dark Age, such Ice Howlers were the lowest-level magical beasts.
These magical beasts wouldn’t conform to human boundaries. Sentry posts on the borders, like the one Rogge was stationed in, were one of the places these beasts loved to visit. Those were also places where sentinels changed most frequently, or rather places where sentinels were continuously sent to. If there were any dispatch records, people might have realized that a small sentry post had become a large army without anyone’s notice.
Rogge came to this sentry post, and became one of the many sentinels who lived on the edge of death daily. The young Rogge actually didn’t have any fearless courage. The howls of the magical beasts often scared him awake at night. In fact, if that incident had occurred a few days later, Rogge would have become one of those sentinels who had disappeared.
That day was the sixth day Rogge had come to the sentry post. The pot on the stove was brewing a somewhat thick brown rice porridge. As sentinels who could become the food of the magical beasts at any moment, the only thing that they could do was to eat all that they could. Hearing the brewing sound coming from the pot, Rogge carried the pot to the aged dining table where its countless masters had dined, and prepared to enjoy his breakfast.
However, a sudden violent shock came from under. Rogge couldn’t balance himself, and the whole pot of porridge fell onto the ground. However, this wasn’t the time for Rogge to care about his breakfast now. This abnormality couldn’t be caused by one or two magical beasts. This shock reminded him of the horrendous Black Current in the legends.
Rogge waited until the shock calmed down a little before he climbed up from the ground and walked out of the house cautiously. The sentry post was built on high ground. While having a vast field of vision, it offered no room for people to hide or escape. This was so that the sentinels wouldn’t run away.
After seeing the outside, Rogge heaved a sigh of relief. He didn’t see the legendary Black Current. However, a heaven-shaking dragon roar made Rogge almost collapse onto the ground. He was only an ordinary human then. It was already remarkable that he wasn’t scared to his death by that dragon’s roar.
When Rogge looked over toward the source of the roar, what he saw in the sky of Roddanmo opposite the sentry post was something he could never forget.
Thick clouds rowed across the sky, so thick that they seemed about to drop to the ground at any moment. Among these thick clouds was a gigantic black wyrm, flapping its membranous wings large enough to envelop a city. It was like a god towering over the world, making people want to worship it uncontrollably.
Rogge only knew that the black wyrm in the sky was definitely more powerful than any wyrm in the myths as its body was larger than the ones mentioned in the most exaggerated legend. As an ordinary human then, Rogge could only judge the ability of a wyrm from its body size.
Rogge hid in the room at his sentry post nervously. Although he knew that this room couldn’t offer him any protection, he still felt safer here. Just as Rogge was letting his thoughts run wild, trying to guess the reason for the appearance of this black dragon, he saw that the thick clouds in the sky parted as if they were sliced through by a sharp sword. A shadow instantaneously appeared in front of the black dragon. Judging from the shadow’s size and height, Rogge guessed that this could be a powerhouse of the High Elves.
The black dragon and the High Elf exchanged a few blows in the sky. Then, they seemed to be talking about something, but the contents of their conversation weren’t what Rogge could know. After that, the negotiation seemed to be unsuccessful. The black dragon let out a roar, and the surrounding thick clouds were dispersed. That High Elf didn’t seem to escape. Although he retreated a little, he immediately started to release horrifyingly powerful magic.
The Rogge then hadn’t even seen any real mage before. He had only heard about magic from folktales, that when magic hit a person with a “bam”, the person would disappear… He looked up to see the intense battle happening in the sky, only feeling his heartbeat accelerating. As for what magic each of them used, that wasn’t something Rogge could understand.
At that moment, the sky was filled with the wyrm’s roars and the sounds of magic explosions. Gusts of powerful energy were continuously unleashed. The whole area shook under such forces as if the sky was going to be split into halves. The little room Rogge was hiding in also released screeching sounds as if it would collapse at any moment.
With the Dragon of Destruction and the Immortal King’s power, that battle could be considered a divine-level battle. If any real mage were to witness it, he would definitely be able to gain experience that would benefit him for his whole life. Even Rogge, who didn’t know anything about magic then, could gain some insights from that battle every time he recalled the scenes of the battle after becoming a mage.
However, not to mention that Rogge was only an ordinary person then, even a Legendary-mage would find it difficult to survive the aftershocks of that divine-level battle. Rogge managed to survive because the death aura that the Immortal King had radiated had intruded Rogge’s body. However, Rogge couldn’t be considered alive by then. It was hard to say if Rogge was extremely lucky or otherwise.
“The Immortal King was bombed by the Dragon of Destruction’s magic, and shot towards where I was hiding. I suddenly felt a cold and eerie aura surrounding my body, and then the aura started swarming into my body as if it was alive. I knew that it was the Immortal King’s death aura many years later. After that day, I became a partly alive, partly dead half-dead creature under the corrosion of the death aura.” Rogge stopped for a moment. He felt rather sentimental about this. If he hadn’t been intruded by the death aura, he would most likely have been dead due to that battle. It was the Immortal King’s death aura that had allowed him to step on a path towards becoming a Dark Mage. At the same time, it was the memories of that battle that had allowed him to constantly improve his abilities and reach Sanctuary-level.
“The Dragon of Destruction released its most powerful magic: Doom. The entire area seemed to be split away from Anril at that moment. Other than the battlefield, the surroundings dissolved into nothingness. Just then, the Immortal King took out his weapon. That was a bow of primitive simplicity and seven sharp arrows possessing different powers.
“When the first arrow was shot, the whole area turned bright red. Cloud of fire burnt in the sky and lava swarmed on the ground.
“When the second arrow was shot, the temperature of the area dropped to absolute zero. Snow started falling. However, when the snowflakes fell into the lava, they formed snow mountains instead of melting under the heat.
“When the third arrow was shot, the Dragon of Destruction’s body suddenly lost its radiance. It seemed to have aged a lot at that moment.
“With the fourth arrow, holy light pierced through the nothingness. The dark fog surrounding the Dragon of Destruction disappeared rapidly like snow under the sun.
“With the fifth arrow, the area turned darker than the darkest shade of black. Even the Dragon of Destruction’s dark fog seemed very bright in comparison. This darkness engulfed massive amounts of the dark fog.
“The sixth arrow… shot through the Dragon of Destruction’s skull. I don’t know what kind of power that was. It was just a flash of lightning, and the Dragon of Destruction’s head fell.
“However, as a Dragon Aspect whose abilities matched those of gods, the Dragon of Destruction still released a terrifying amount of energy even after it had lost its head. The Immortal King didn’t have time to shoot the seventh arrow, and was injured by the Dragon of Destruction’s explosive retaliation. The Dragon of Destruction made use of this opportunity to escape and disappeared into thin air. This is all I know.” Rogge shook his head with a sigh. A god-like presence like the Dragon of Destruction couldn’t be viewed with human standards. It was able to release a surprise attack and escape even after losing its head.
What Rogge knew wasn’t anything more than Geresco. He had just recounted the incident from another angle. However, Nefa didn’t look disappointed. He said, “I know what happened after that. After the Dragon of Destruction had lost its head, it was still able to severely injure the Immortal King. It then escaped back to the Blackstone Mountains and fell into a deep slumber deep in the Blackstone Mountains, waiting for his power to return to take revenge on the Immortal King. However, just as he fell into slumber, an arrow shot through spacetime and killed him completely.”
“What? Was that the seventh arrow that the Immortal King hadn’t managed to shoot? What kind of arrow was it?!” Rogge had always thought that the Immortal King chased after the Dragon of Destruction and killed him. Little did he know that the Dragon of Destruction had died from an arrow. Roddanmo was in the northernmost part of the Breezy Plains, while the Blackstone Mountains were probably half a continent away. What kind of power did that arrow possess to be able to penetrate through the depths of the Blackstone Mountains and kill the Dragon of Destruction!?
“That arrow seemed as if it didn’t belong to this world. It seemed to be able to pierce through all restrictions of the world. Although the Dragon of Destruction had lost its head and used up a great amount of energy to retaliate and escape, it still possessed energy that was at the peak of this world. However, he wasn’t able to react at all when that arrow was shot. It was as if the arrow was already at his most vulnerable point.” While Nefa described that arrow, even he couldn’t imagine what kind of arrow it was.
Everyone was silent at that moment. Be it Nefa or Rogge, everyone seemed to have fallen into contemplation, imagining what the Immortal King’s last arrow looked like.
“Ahem.” Lin Li coughed slightly to break the silence. He asked Nefa, “Do you mean that the skeleton that Tutankhamun is guarding in the Blackstone Mountains is a complete one? Or rather, it’s the skeleton of the Dragon of Destruction that had lost its head?”
Lin Li remembered that back at the Throne of Darkness, when he was trying to control the Lord of Darkness with the Dragon of Destruction’s crystal, Connoris told him that the Dragon of Destruction’s skeleton no longer existed in this world. After the Immortal King had killed the Dragon of Destruction, he had used all of its skeleton on the construction of the Seven Sky Castles. The only thing that was left was the eye used as decoration hanging in Osric’s mausoleum.
However, according to Nefa, the Dragon of Destruction had escaped to the Blackstone Mountains, and then was killed by the Immortal King’s arrow which shot through spacetime. Of course, the Immortal King had come over to the Blackstone Mountains to retrieve the loot afterwards. But what was Tutankhamun guarding, then? Could it be that the Immortal King had left something specially for Tutankhamun to guard after obtaining the Dragon of Destruction’s skeleton?
Nefa shook his head, and replied, “You’ll have to ask my brother that. I didn’t have any chance to see the Dragon of Destruction’s skeleton under Tutankhamun’s guard, so I don’t know what exactly it looks like.”
“Oh…” Lin Li nodded and turned to Rogge. “You’ve seen the Immortal King shoot down the Dragon of Destruction’s head. What happened to the head after?”
“I only remember that the Dragon of Destruction’s head fell in the direction of the Breezy Plains,” Rogge replied after some recollection.
Lin Li rubbed his chin. Given that so many years had passed, it was impossible to find the Dragon of Destruction’s head even if he knew its exact location now. As for the Dragon of Destruction’s skeleton, he didn’t have much chance, since Tutankhamun was guarding it. However, all these didn’t matter anymore. After all, there was a complete dragon skeleton lying in his ring now.
After talking about that divine battle, Lin Li saw that Rogge was looking better than before. He didn’t want to lose this chance, and used this opportunity to ask Rogge about some thoughts and questions he had after ascending to level-24. If not for Rogge’s advice, Lin Li wouldn’t be able to get that aura similar to that of Sanctuary powerhouses even if he could reach level-24. With Rogge’s advice, although Lin Li hadn’t reached the peak of level-24, his abilities now were on par with those of any Legendary powerhouse at the peak of level-24.
Rogge didn’t hold anything back when Lin Li consulted him respectfully just because Lin Li wasn’t a member of the Darkness Shrine. Nefa didn’t want to be neglected, either, so he cut in now and then during the conversation. Although he possessed the Laws of Destruction and Evilness, he still had far more Sanctuary-level insights than Lin Li.
Meanwhile, at the Eternal Darkness Altar, High Priest Sendros solemnly stared at the already narrowing crack at the bottom of the Altar with a gloomy expression. Behind him, the five high priests of the Darkness Council couldn’t hide the worry on their faces.
