Chapter 888: Vol V Chapter 248
The G.o.d in charge of negotiating with the Dragon race was no ordinary G.o.d. He was the former Master G.o.d of the Orc G.o.d System, the “Iron Mask Ferocious Spirit,” Snakenell.
This former Master G.o.d was born to the Snake people, or rather, he was the creator of the race of Snake people. During the battle with the G.o.d of Knights, he suffered a kick to his head. His neck became twisted, and therefore, he had to keep his head on the side all day long. And since then, he was never able to find a way to rectify the position of his head.
After that battle, his strength was so greatly weakened that he even lost to Lefon, who had come forth to challenge him.
But Lefon did not act according to the Orc tradition. Rather than killing and devouring him, Lefon helped him heal his wounds. Other than the tilted head that he had already grown accustomed to, he was now in perfect condition, ready to fight any great Divine Power at any time.
Sending him as the emissary to negotiate with the Dragon race showed how much importance the Orcs attached to this negotiation. He also successfully met the head of the Dragon race, the present Dragon Emperor, His Majesty.
“Dragon Emperor” was both a t.i.tle, as well as a name. Regardless of what any dragon was called before, the moment he became the leader of the Dragon race, he had to be called the Dragon Emperor.
Over the years, there had been the Dragon Emperor of the Golden Dragon race, the Dragon Emperor of the Sea Dragons, the Dragon Emperor of the Land Walking Dinosaurs… there was even the Dragon Emperor of the Ghost Dragons.
These Dragon Emperors usually took up the reins for a few tens of thousands of years, then they would be sealed as G.o.ds and become Dragon G.o.ds. However, the Dragon G.o.ds were not very reliable. Whether in terms of priesthood or in terms of the way they did things—unlike the other G.o.ds in general, the Dragon G.o.ds were eager to become G.o.ds that were very, very insignificant. For example, they wanted to be G.o.ds like the “G.o.d of Marriage of the Silver Dragons” or the “G.o.d of Lunch of the Sea Dragons.” These priesthoods were undoubtedly owned by weak Divine Powers. The majority of them barely made it to the point of touching the edge of the level of a weak Divine Power. They were no superior to the G.o.ds-to-be, who didn’t have priesthoods.
This was because the culture of the Dragon race revered freedom and excluded responsibility. Even if they were sealed as G.o.ds, they would not confine themselves to within their priesthoods. Therefore, other than a few dragons who seemed to have their own peculiar way of thinking, there was practically no dragon that would choose the more popularized and influential priesthoods when the time had come to be sealed as G.o.ds.
There were researchers who felt that perhaps the group of “evil G.o.ds” originated from the Dragon race. There was certainly evidence to back this hypothesis, for the earliest and most powerful evil G.o.d that was known to all was a Dragon G.o.d: the Dragon of Chaos.
The unreliability of the Dragon G.o.ds was not only displayed in this aspect. Usually, they would not establish their own G.o.d Kingdom. They would live in the Half Plane that was located near the “Dragon Cliff” or even… There had been more than once, where the Dragon G.o.ds had acceded to the orders of the inc.u.mbent Dragon Emperor and served the Dragon Emperor.
It was a unique practice of the Dragon race to unify the G.o.ds with humans, a.s.suming that they could still be called “humans.”
The negotiation between the Ancestor G.o.d of the Snake People, Snakenell, and the present Dragon Emperor, generally did not go well.
The present Dragon Emperor was not haughty. Although that Dragon Emperor of Black Dragon origin was a little arrogant, when he crossed paths with any master, he was still quite respectful. He and Snakenell had a long discussion where they exchanged views on many issues.
However, both sides were still unable to reach a consensus.
The Dragon race did not care about human hegemony. They did not even care about whether they could live in the human world or not. For the present Dragon Emperor, if human hegemony existed mainly for the purpose of expelling the Dragon Race, he would have no intention of fighting the other side. He would simply take his Dragon race with him and leave the Main Plane. They would head to another world for development.
Just like what the Dwarf G.o.ds did previously.
“We dragons are different from you Orcs,” the Dragon Emperor said. “We are a very small population. We can hardly withstand the attrition of war. It is a fact that an adult dragon is a legendary creature, but so what? In the world of today, the Dragon race only has a total of about 200 dragons. Such a number is not even worth mentioning in a great war.”
The way he put it across was of course, just his excuse to decline and evade. Slightly over 200 men was indeed something not worth mentioning, but about 200 Legendary Masters was a completely different story.
How many Legendary Masters would there be on the Main Plane if a total was to be calculated? If only the humans, Orcs, elves, dwarves, pygmies, Lizardmen and a few other major races were counted, the estimated number would only be slightly more than a hundred after counting in everyone. It was about 110 at most. And yet, the Dragon race could mobilize 200 Legendary Masters in one go. This was almost equal to twice the number of all the other races combined!
If they were willing to put in their best and fight as hard as they could, perhaps it would have been impossible for the human allied forces to win this battle at all.
But the concern of the Dragon race was also very reasonable. As compared to the races that were able to reproduce very quickly, the rate of reproduction of the dragons was simply much too slow. Its population base was far too small. More than 200 people might sound like a big number to speak of, but in truth, “endangered” could be used as an apt description for them.
Such an endangered species should just duteously stay home to breed and raise their children in order to grow their population. For what reason should they go out, stirring up trouble and playing a part in wars?
That would be equal to them getting tired of living—they would simply be courting death!
And with more than 200 Legendary Masters, was that not already a great thing?
For this kind of war that involved the entire race, it was inevitable that even the DemiG.o.d Masters also had to go out to battle. In the face of the DemiG.o.d Masters, what good would these legendary dragons be?
Of course, there were also DemiG.o.d Masters among the dragons. But even if they were DemiG.o.d Masters, could they possibly avoid the deaths and injuries of their posterity?
So the Dragon Emperor expressed his thoughts and said, “I can understand your difficulties. I also sympathize with your situation, but please pardon me. I really can’t do anything to help you! The Dragon race is truly unable to partic.i.p.ate in such a war. We can’t afford to fight such a war!”
After listening to the introduction briefed by the former Master G.o.d of the Orcs, Lefon frowned deeply. After a long moment of silence, he asked, “From how you see it, do you think he’s merely evading? Or does he really not want to partic.i.p.ate in this war?”
“The dragons are a proud race. They may lose interest in a certain place and leave, but wanting to drive them away is not going to be an easy task,” Snakenell replied in his snake voice that carried the characteristic “hissing” sounds. “I’m not good at reading people’s minds. But that Dragon Emperor himself is a dragon to start with, isn’t he?”
Lefon laughed and said, “You’re right! Even if he’s a Dragon Emperor, he is first and foremost also a dragon! Alright. I understand his intention. I’ll personally make a trip to Dragon Cliff in a few days’ time and have a good talk with him about the price of this matter.”
Having said this, silence befell the temple.
The G.o.ds looked at one another. There were many whose eyes seemed to express their want to say something, but none were willing to speak up. Therefore, the atmosphere seemed somewhat awkward.
In the midst of this awkwardness, a Pighead G.o.d with a large head and big ears finally broke the silence and spoke.
“Your Majesty, do we need to speak with His Majesty, the Void Mask?” he asked. He seemed a little nervous. But since he had already begun, there was no stopping now. He might as well just finish what he wanted to say in one go. “Although… I feel that perhaps we may be able to get some help from him.”