Chapter 121 Chapter 118 Blood Dragon Ancestor
On the surface.
The sky was cold and the ground frozen. The steep snow peaks jutted into the grayish-white sky like sharp blades. The cold wind, seemingly honed by these sharp snowy peaks, stabbed into people’s bodies, while the iron-gray trees creaked and clanged as they swayed in the wind.
The esteemed Eternal Chosen Marus raised his head, his three eyes surveying the imposing cliff before him. The cliff stood at nearly a ninety-degree angle, climbing up the mountain and covered with a layer of transparent, smooth ice.
The peak of the mountain that bore this cliff was so high that one had to tilt their head back at a ninety-degree angle to vaguely see the summit. It appeared to have stood for thousands of years, but the Eternal Chosen Marus was certain that just yesterday, this place was a relatively flat road, and upon waking, he found a mountain had appeared.
Even in the Demon Realm, such extravagant geographical changes were exceedingly rare. It was surely the handiwork of some dark god.
With a mighty grip, he crumpled the map in his hand, watching it burn in his palm, blue smoke rising between his fingers.
He longed for his faithful steed, the black dragon Mavor; if she were here, her powerful wings could take him soaring over the towering mountains.
A raucous voice reached his ears.
“Quack, quack, quack, great Eternal Chosen, chosen by the four gods, master of the demon race, and lord of the apocalypse.” A three-eyed penguin flapped its small wings and rushed toward him, excitedly shouting, “Quick, praise our lord! He has heard your request.”
The Eternal Chosen Marus spun around abruptly, his red-lined black cloak swirling like his furious mood. His voice shook the mountains: “Who requested you hairy master?”
The three-eyed penguin shrank back its head and said, “Aren’t you troubled by your inability to fly? So I asked our lord—”
Before it could finish, the Eternal Chosen Marus lunged forward and kicked the three-eyed penguin, sending it flying. It bounced into the air, shouting:
“…He has directed a dragon to fly towards you; please wait in place…”
Without hesitation, the Eternal Chosen Marus drew his flaming sword, turned, and leaped into the air, intending to depart.
The mountains trembled, and an avalanche occurred.
The Eternal Chosen Marus looked up to see the avalanche rushing toward him like a white city wall.
“Cursed be you! Master of Transformation!”
He cursed, and even as he saw his grim future in the Eye of Mor, he swung his sword. The sword unleashed a fire dragon, as large as a warship, charging towards the avalanche. Compared to the avalanche, the fire dragon was as insignificant as a worm thrown against a wall.
The avalanche swallowed everything in its path, including the Eternal Chosen, master of the demon race, and lord of the apocalypse, burying him under meters of snow.
After a moment.
In the white expanse of snow, a bronze-colored iron head suddenly emerged, adorned with two white horns and three eyes, glowing red with heat—it was the Eternal Chosen Marus. He shook his head, shaking off the accumulated snow on his head and horns.
“Great master!” The noisy voice rang out again as the three-eyed penguin flapped its wings and rushed over, shouting, “Quack, quack, it’s so good that you’re okay! Truly, as expected of the Eternal Chosen and lord of the apocalypse; the avalanche cannot harm you in the slightest—”
The Eternal Chosen Marus lunged out of the snow, running towards the three-eyed penguin and kicking it again. The three-eyed penguin flew like a cannonball into a nearby snowdrift.
Flapping its wings, the three-eyed penguin shouted in duty: “I have good news to tell you! Our lord’s support has arrived!”
With a “thud,” the three-eyed penguin sank into the snow pile, leaving only its yellow duck-like feet sticking out, kicking at the air.
A shadow covered Marus’s figure.
He looked up and saw a dragon clad in blood-red armor descending toward him, its torn wings spread wide, four limbs sinking into the snow, its belly grinding through the snow, with the lower half of its body becoming buried.
The dragon had died long ago; its neck bones were exposed beneath the decaying flesh, and its eyes emitted a cold blue light.
But it could still fly.
The weary Eternal Chosen Marus felt a flicker of hope.
The rider on the dragon’s back jumped down into the snow, not even reaching waist-deep. He laughed heartily:
“Haha! This snow is so soft! If we were to fight here, it would surely be infuriating!”
The Eternal Chosen Marus observed him closely.
The rider of the zombie dragon was clad in heavy blood-red armor. With a slap to the snow, he stood up, his feet firmly on the surface, not sinking even a bit, as if he were walking on solid stone.
He lifted his face, pale with four fangs protruding prominently from his mouth, slightly curved, giving the impression that once he bit, he wouldn’t let go. He wasn’t wearing a helmet; his silver-gray hair danced in the wind.
The Eternal Chosen Marus’s expression soured; he recognized this as a vampire from the blood dragon lineage. They regarded the vampiric thirst for blood as a curse and sought to lift it by defeating great dragons and drinking their blood.
Thus, they loved battle, always seeking to fight strong beings, only to end up dead in dragon jaws, for the healing abilities of vampires were countered by dragon fire.
The Eternal Chosen Marus had no desire to fight him and waste time.
“Ah, you are the Eternal Chosen Marus, right? I can sense the immense power within you! Hahaha, you truly live up to your reputation as an unparalleled strongman. It wasn’t in vain that I hurried through the Eternal Battlefield to find you upon hearing rumors of your greatness. Thanks to a phantom that appeared from who knows where to guide me, I’m finally able to find you; it seems we are destined to meet.”
The Eternal Chosen Marus replied, “If you don’t wish to be reduced to a pile of lifeless ashes, do not block my path. I am short on time.”
“Looking for the missing crown fragments, right? Hahaha, just by looking at the crown floating above your head, missing a piece, I knew! Don’t be surprised; I am that perceptive…”
The Eternal Chosen Marus confirmed that with his full-coverage helmet on, the other party couldn’t see his face clearly, so how could they think he was surprised? He looked like a large three-eyed penguin.
As his patience waned, he prepared to leave.
The vampire from the blood dragon family said:
“Do you need help looking for the crown fragments?”
The Eternal Chosen Marus turned his gaze toward his zombie dragon.
“Haha, my dragon’s back is quite spacious, able to carry many people. Truly, it’s an impressive dragon; I was right to challenge it; its blood removed my curse, and now I no longer need to suck human blood.”
To defeat a great dragon, one had to be an extremely powerful vampire, earning even basic respect from the Eternal Chosen Marus.
The Eternal Chosen Marus asked, “What do you want?”
“To break another curse,” said the vampire from the blood dragon family. “Long, long ago, or not so long ago, when I was still young, I had to find a few people each year to drain their blood, wasting time for my challenges.
“At that time, the Empire had just been established, and there was a human called Sigma with a golden hammer. He was particularly formidable, and I heard he obtained the crown of Nagas. Do you know Nagas?”
The Eternal Chosen Marus had heard of him; he was a genius human from ancient times who pioneered necromancy. His elixir of immortality indirectly created the vampire race.
The Eternal Chosen Marus said, “I’ve heard of him—the wizard who manipulates bones.”
“Hahaha, just as I thought! I despise spellcasters. Like goblins, they stay back and swing their dry arms with their wands, just looking at them is irritating.” The blood dragon vampire continued:
“It was this Nagas who led his skeletal armies and enlisted a group of blood kin to attack the Empire. Oh, he invited me as well, but I dismissed him as just a useless bone magician, so I didn’t go.
“Consequently, one day I felt my bloodline engraved with an eternal curse. Upon inquiring, I learned that during the battle with the Empire, Sigma had directly smashed Nagas’s skull with a hammer.
“Because the blood kin protecting him were a bunch of cowardly weaklings, when Sigma charged forward, he killed one with a single blow, and they panicked and fled. Thus, before Nagas died, he cursed our blood kin, declaring that anyone would surely be defeated by Sigma’s descendants.
“I was young at the time, very angry, thinking of breaking this curse. Many years later, a mentally ill blood kin comrade without a nose called us to join his undead army to attack the empire’s capital, hoping that he could become the emperor of the empire. Oh, he always wanted to be an emperor candidate, clearly suffering from a severe mental illness.
“To break the curse, I immediately enlisted. That battle was truly exhilarating; we nearly toppled the empire’s capital. The noseless one was powerful, but the curse manifested, and Sigma’s descendants, wielding Sigma’s hammer, smashed him to ashes, impossible to resurrect; the skeletal army vanished in an instant.
“To speak shamefully, I didn’t escape and only revived after five hundred years…”
The Eternal Chosen Marus was about to lose his patience; how could this person talk so much? He interrupted and asked, “What do you want?”
“I have already broken the first curse; now I want to break the second curse,” the blood dragon rider said. “I want to join your world-ending army to annihilate the empire, to personally challenge the emperor of the empire and kill him; this would be enough to prove to the world that I, Duncan, have broken the curse.”
The Eternal Chosen Marus felt joy—finally, good news. He said, “Very well. Don’t you want to introduce yourself?”
“They call me the Blood Dragon Ancestor, Duncan,” the Blood Dragon Ancestor said. “Haha, I remember I was still quite young; time just passes too quickly. I’ve killed a few in the eternal battlefield, and it’s been one or two thousand years.”
The Eternal Chosen Marus felt a sense of respect; he had heard of the Blood Dragon Ancestor Duncan’s reputation as a powerful vampire who believed in the Blood God.
“You can help me with a great task now,” the Eternal Chosen Marus said. “I need to quickly reclaim the crown fragments that rightfully belong to me from a special two-headed dragon.”
However, the Blood Dragon Ancestor Duncan did not heed his words; he busied himself, removing a lance and a giant sword from the dragon’s back.
The Eternal Chosen Marus asked, “Are you looking to challenge me?”
“Hahahaha, as expected of the Eternal Chosen, you saw through me at once.” The Blood Dragon Ancestor Duncan laughed heartily, “Let’s find a place and have a proper fight; no holding back, just fiercely chop each other to death.”
“My time is precious.”
“Come! Let’s fight! Me and my dragon, quickly raise your sword in defense!”
The Eternal Chosen Marus longed for his steed Mavor, his loyal and robust dragon maid.
