Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance
It could only be seen when approaching within several hundred meters. This green smoke simply couldn’t be seen before that.
There was a large pit over a kilometer in width and over a hundred meters in depth. The surroundings of the hole were filled with cracks that seemed to have experienced the passage of time.
The green smoke was rushing out of the large hole, and when they approached it and saw what was within, everyone was stupefied. Reina even paled, her legs shivering.
Lin Yun’s pupils suddenly shrank as he let out in alarm, “How could there be an Ancient Poison Dragon!?”
In the hole, a huge Dragon covered in dark green scales and spreading over two hundred to three hundred meters was calmly lying there. This Dragon’s eyes were tightly shut, and unlike the current era’s Dragons, who only had thick hind legs, this Ancient Dragon’s limbs were all bulky, and every paw had five claws, two more than most of the current Dragons.
Those dark green scales were covered with all kinds of strange and abstruse designs, which seemed to be forming a natural and terrifying array.
Moreover, there were also two huge fangs exposed over its lips. Its head formed a small triangle that was half the size of modern Dragons’.
Cold sweat dripped down Lin Yun’s forehead. Others might be mistaken, but how could an Ancient Poison Dragon be mistaken!
Ancient Poison Dragons were powerful lifeforms active during the Era of Gods. In that era, even Gods were unwilling to provoke an Ancient Poison Dragon. They had existed for too long, and it was even rumored that Ancient Poison Dragons might be existences older than Gods.
Although they were called Dragons, they actually surpassed all kinds of Draconic lifeforms. Even Chromatic Dragons were considered an emerging younger generation.
Every Ancient Poison Dragon was innately at the Heaven Rank, and the weakest one could tear apart a Dragon on the same level.
It was rumored that in the distant God Era, a formidable Ancient Poison Dragon once fought a God and ultimately forced the God to withdraw and yield quite a bit of territory.
All Ancient Poison Dragons were disasters for all living lifeforms. Every place they appeared at would become barren, and all creatures would die one by one. Even if these Ancient Poison Dragons only moved to a new place to slumber, it would make all lifeforms within a hundred kilometers die out.
Thus, Ancient Poison Dragons had another name: Plague Dragons. They innately emitted powerful toxins that could kill all lifeforms under the Heaven Rank.
Back then, when that powerful Ancient Poison Dragon fought with a God, the effect of the pollution was displayed to the extreme. In one battle, over a thousand kilometers turned into a dead region, forcing the God back.
Even among Dragons, all the other kinds of Dragons, including Chromatic Dragons, were hostile to Ancient Poison Dragons. The extinction of Ancient Poison Dragons was passed down, and it might have been due to the Chromatic Dragons working together to exterminate the Ancient Poison Dragons.
Lin Yun had lamented when he saw the information about Ancient Poison Dragon in the decaying library. This kind of lifeform shouldn’t be allowed to appear, because wherever it did appear, retaking the territory would be pointless. All the lifeforms within would die out and the earth would be polluted, not to change for countless years. Even a God could only admit defeat.
That was why Lin Yun was too familiar with Ancient Poison Dragons. He had even seen a drawing, which was completely identical to the one before their eyes.
But there were some small differences. This Ancient Poison Dragon appearing before them was a corpse, and it shouldn’t have been a very powerful Ancient Poison Dragon.
If a more powerful one had died here, half of the Raging Flame Plane would have become completely inhabitable… It wouldn’t have just formed a poisonmist in a valley.
Lin Yun observed for a bit and understood why the toxins only spread through the Poison Mist Valley. Before this Ancient Poison Dragon died, its aura had declined to the barest sliver, and the poison it emitted after death could only pollute the Poison Mist Valley.
But Lin Yun was getting more and more confused. How could the corpse of an Ancient Poison Dragon appear here? This Poison Mist Valley seemed to have existed for countless years, but it shouldn’t be as old as the era of Gods, and the Ancient Poison Dragons were already on the verge of extinction during the God Era.
Seeing this corpse here, he understood the origin of the poisonmist of the Poison Mist Valley, but he was even more doubtful.
Thoughts piled up in Lin Yun’s mind, but seeing Reina’s unpleasant expression, he said, “Reina, get back.”
Hearing Lin Yun’s instruction, Reina retreated. Although this Ancient Poison Dragon had been dead for a very long time, his corpse hadn’t become rotten and was still emitting poison. Others wouldn’t feel too much pressure, but as a Dragon, Reina felt extreme pressure.
The corpse of a Heaven Rank Ancient Poison Dragon, even older than Chromatic Dragons, wasn’t something that a Frost Dragon like Reina, who hadn’t reached the Heaven Rank, could stand.
That was pressure from her bloodline and soul. It didn’t matter even if it was dead.
Reina slightly relaxed and nodded before returning to the path. As for Lin Yun, he immediately started examining the surroundings of the pit.
The others were confused, and Xiuban even scratched his head with a strange expression.
“Is Sir Merlin crazy? There is the corpse of a very old Dragon, yet Sir Merlin is checking the surroundings…”
Enderfa mischievously chuckled. “Xiuban, I can see that you have taken a fancy to this Dragon’s things. How about you go over and get some stuff? Merlin definitely won’t make you hand those things over. Have you seen those claws? They are extremely sharp, big, and heavy enough, they are definitely suited for you…”
Xiuban looked at Enderfa as if he was an idiot.
“You think I’m dumb? If Sir Merlin doesn’t dare to touch those things, who would dare to touch them?”
Enderfa’s face suddenly turned dull. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.
Meanwhile, Lin Yun was still acting like a squirrel gathering food, crazily jumping up and about in the surroundings.
The surroundings of the hole were covered with thick cracks. It looked like the Ancient Poison Dragon had fallen from the sky and created that hole on impact.
The small cracks were over a meter in width, while the bigger ones were seven to eight meters wide. Lin Yun rapidly observed these cracks.
Not long after, he found a pitch-black long sawtooth-like plant. That plant only had three leaves, the longest of which was as long as a pinkie.
Lin Yun looked ecstatic when he saw this plant that didn’t look like a medicinal ingredient.
As if it was a rare treasure, he cautiously controlled two Mana Hands and slowly pushed aside the soil around the plant. He then dug out the plant along with the soil at its root and put it into a pot.
After finding this, Lin Yun’s movements became even faster. Through the Magic Array, he locked onto the small plant’s aura and quickly found seven similar small plants.
After checking the surroundings once again, he returned to the edge of the hole and looked at the corpse of the Ancient Poison Dragon within the hole.
And at this time, Reina, who had stepped away, came over with a cold expression. Behind her were Deloy and the others.
Lin Yun wasn’t surprised when he saw Deloy. That old guy could be said to be the smartest among those barbaric Battlemages. Even in Okland, he could be regarded as a very intelligent mage.
For him to take so long to react was already a bit uncharacteristic of his reputed wisdom.
Deloy had a strange expression as he walked over, especially when he saw the Ancient Poison Dragon’s corpse at the bottom of the pit.
‘Sure enough! I felt that something was weird. From the information I got, Mafa Merlin never did anything useless. It looks like it was true!
‘Ever since coming here, he had been absent-minded and didn’t even seem to pay attention when we got some rewards. He also never made a move when fighting, and he eventually separated from us.
‘He really found something we didn’t discover. I never would have expected the corpse of an Ancient Poison Dragon to be here. That’s the main culprit behind the poison of the Poison Mist Valley…
‘We explored the Poison Mist Valley for so long, but never explored that part. How could there have been anything valuable in that direction? Moreover, the density of the Poison Mist is very low… Our time is precious every time we set out on an exploration. How could we waste it on this kind of region, who would have expected such a lifeform to be here?’
Seeing this corpse, Deloy immediately understood why they never discovered the cause for such a long time. If not for Mafa Merlin’s poison resistance potions, they would have never explored this area.
No one would want to give up on the body of an Ancient Poison Dragon from the God Era.
Deloy walked to Lin Yun and thickened his face to ask, “Sir Mafa Merlin, will you harvest it?”
Lin Yun didn’t say anything. In fact, he hadn’t looked at the Ancient Poison Dragon’s corpse from the start, as if he didn’t care.
And at this time, one of the Gaugass Battlemages wearing a helmet and heavy armor quietly left and took a detour to slip into the hole, heading towards the Ancient Poison Dragon.
This was the blind spot of the group because the large plume of green smoke was obstructing their line of sight, and unless he used mana, there would be no fluctuations, so the people on the other side wouldn’t notice him slipping away.
The shadow walked to the bottom of the hole and saw the huge Ancient Poison Dragon lying in front of him. That person raised his visor, revealing a surprising face. It was Kempes, who should have been carried back to be punished.
Kempes was sneering, his eyes filled with greed.
