Chapter 317: This Great King
"Is he dead?" Stingham couldn"t resist asking at this moment as he stared at the fallen Dias.
"Idiot, why don"t we set your face aflame and burn it until its charred and see if you are dead or alive to figure it out?" Rinloran uttered.
"If he"s already dead, then why don"t you guys hurry over here and help me deal with these Bloodcrazed!" Stingham shouted exasperatedly.
"Brave warrior Stingham, my sincere apologies for having forgotten about you."
Ayrin embarra.s.sedly scratched the back of his head as he, alongside everyone else, turned back and looked at Stingham, who currently had so many Bloodcrazed latched onto him that he could barely move.
"You"re fine. From the looks of it, you can still hold on for a while. So why don"t you just keep enduring and let us catch our breath," Liszt said lazily as he plopped onto the ground.
"No way?"
Stingham looked to be on the verge of tears as he turned and pleadingly looked at Rinloran, "Rinloran, Teacher Liszt exhausted a lot of arcane particles just now, and so it"s reasonable that he needs to rest for a while. But you, you will come help me, right?"
"Idiot!" Rinloran snorted. But at the same time, Rinloran smoothly pulled the Moon Echo Sabre out of the sheath on his back and began wielding it, sending wave after wave of sword light in Stingham"s direction.
"These youths of Holy Dawn academy are truly too unimaginable. Even these two have managed to progress so far in this short period of time," Berryn said. As he observed Stingham and Rinloran, he couldn"t help but shake his head.
"Teacher Ciaran! Teacher Liszt! Just now, you called Little Yellow a Faerie Dragon. What does that mean? Just what kind of dragon is it? Furthermore, just what is the thing that it stole from Dias?" Ayrin excitedly shouted at this moment.
If not for the little dragon stealing the dull yellow crystal from Dias, it was likely that they would currently be in an extremely difficult and grim situation.
"Ayrin, where did you encounter this Faerie Dragon?" Liszt directly asked in response, ignoring Ayrin"s questions.
"The Nether Ice Sea. In order to help Lotton obtain Lunar Spring Essence from the Land of the Undead, we crossed the Nether Ice Sea. When we crossed, the Nether Ice Flying Fish attacked us, but they were ultimately defeated by me. As a result, they gave me a dragon egg. It hatched during an earlier battle and this little guy came out," Ayrin rapidly replied.
"The Nether Ice Sea? That frigid area? So it was like this…"
Envy emerged in Liszt"s eyes as he explained, "Faerie Dragons are an extremely rare kind of dragons. This was true even during the Era of the War with Dragons. They are also sometimes called Treasury Dragons and h.o.a.rding Dragons.
"Treasury Dragons? h.o.a.rding Dragons?"
"Yes. Faerie Dragons innately love to grab anything which sparkles and s.h.i.+nes. Although they aren"t as large or as powerful as other dragons - in fact, they will never grow larger - they have several extremely special abilities. They are extremely swift and have an incredible hiding ability, preventing even the strongest arcane masters from discerning their presence as they steal away gems, crystals, and artifacts. They are the mortal enemy of arcane masters reliant on artifacts. In the presence of a Faerie Dragon, absolutely no arcane master dares to reveal the presence of their treasures."
"It won"t grow larger? It"s always going to be this large?"
"A natural miser and thief… It won"t let a single treasure escape its grasp…"
Ayrin, Stingham, and Rinloran helplessly exchanged looks.
"It will only ever remain this size. If it was any larger, it would not be so good at stealing things." Liszt chuckled, then quickly regained his seriousness as he continued, "Faerie Dragons are called such because they are small, and because of their strange hatching condition. In order for a Faerie Dragon egg to hatch, it must be constantly exposed to the energy of nature. Furthermore, if the egg doesn"t hatch in a certain amount of time, it will rot and die. The reason the egg you received had not yet rotted is because it was kept within the coldness of the Nether Ice Sea."
After a short pause, Liszt added, "Ayrin, you should be proud and consider yourself extremely lucky. In all of history, only the great Draconic Scholar Mishu is known to have had a Faerie Dragon companion. It is said that because of this dragon, the powerful arcane masters of the Evil Dragon army at the time couldn"t bring gems and crystals with them to battle. They didn"t dare, lest they were all stolen."
"To think that you are so powerful!" Ayrin exclaimed as he looked down at the little yellow dragon in his pocket.
The little yellow dragon seemed to feel a little shy as it abashedly picked up the dull yellow crystal and bit it once more.
"Teacher Liszt, just what is that?" Ayrin asked uneasily as he felt the evil aura emanating from the dull yellow crystal.
"It should be a fragment of the Evil Dragon King"s dragon crystal," Liszt replied.
"A fragment of the Evil Dragon King"s dragon crystal?!"
Stingham"s mouth dropped wide open.
The Evil Dragon King"s dragon crystal. Wasn"t this a little too unbelievable?
"Dias must have been planning to use this fragment of the Evil Dragon King"s dragon crystal to control Evil Dragon blood particles to resist our arcane energies, but it was stolen by your dragon."
Liszt stared at the dull yellow crystal as he slowly said, "The Office of Special Affairs also has a fragment of the Evil Dragon King"s dragon crystal. Outside of being an object which can coordinate the skills of the Evil Dragon used by Evil Dragon Followers, this kind of dragon crystal fragment is a natural amplifier of necromantic skills. If you wish to continue learning necromantic skills, it will be very useful for you."
"What? Liszt, it sounds like you are planning to leave this dragon crystal fragment intact?" Berryn furrowed his brows upon hearing Liszt"s words, "Battles are still ongoing everywhere around us within this abyss. We cannot keep the crystal. What if it falls into the hands of another Evil Dragon Follower? The consequences could be devastating."
"It seems like our views are differing." Liszt lazily smiled as he continued, "But if you believe that this crystal fragment should be destroyed to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, then we will have to destroy the Treasure Book of Sealing in Ayrin"s hands as well. In the end, I think it is better to keep it and use it."
"I agree. There won"t be an issue," Ayrin said as he looked towards Berryn while patting the little yellow dragon. He was extremely enthusiastic as he continued, "Even if the Evil Dragon Followers manage to steal it, Little Yellow here will just steal it back."
"……" Berryn felt at a loss for words.
"Little Yellow? Is that the name you"ve given it?" Liszt"s gaze moved from Ayrin to the little yellow dragon as he shook his head and said, "Dragons have names bestowed before they are born. If you call it random things, you will slowly cause it to lose affection towards you."
"You mean it already has a name? Little Yellow is what Stingham came up with," Ayrin said as he annoyedly glanced at a Stingham. Afterwards, he quickly looked towards the little yellow dragon and asked, "We didn"t know this, so don"t be angry with us. What is your name?"
The little yellow dragon looked pleased as it played with the pouch and crystals within. Afterwards, it said, "Lukeluke."
"You are called Luke?" Ayrin exclaimed in surprise.
"Lukeluke!" the little yellow dragon repeated.
"Lukeluke?" Ayrin reiterated.
At this moment, weird expressions emerged on the faces of Liszt and Donna.
"What"s wrong Teacher Liszt and Teacher Donna?" Ayrin asked upon seeing the changes in their expressions.
Liszt helplessly replied, "In ancient Draconic, Lukeluke means this great king. This little fellow is reminding me of a certain Belo."
Stingham and Rinloran nearly toppled to the ground in shock.
This small little dragon actually called itself "This Great King"!
Belo"s voice immediately rang through Stingham and Rinloran"s ears, "Come and lick this grandfather"s feet."
"Why can I never have a normal teammate or companion?" Stingham wailed as he felt like crying.
"Idiot, you are the most abnormal person of us all, alright?!" Rinloran swore, his face full of black lines.
At this moment, Ayrin abruptly blurted out, "Ah, that"s right. Teacher Liszt, we also obtained Crystal Master Clayston"s Fractal Crystal and Zombie Master Blanc"s Zombie Lord Gem! The issue is we don"t know how to use the Fractal Crystal." He excitedly asked, "Teacher Liszt, Teacher Ciaran, do either of you know how to use the Fractal Crystal?"
"Fractal Crystal? Zombie Lord Gem? This isn"t the first time you guys have stolen things?"
Liszt, Ciaran, and the others all exchanged looks of shock. The solemn atmosphere which had been present since Ashur"s appearance began to slowly dissipate.
"The Fractal Crystal is a legendary artifact, one which most arcane masters have only ever read or heard about in stories. I"m afraid that only those who know the exact skills required will know how to use it," Liszt said finally as he looked at the Fractal Crystal and shook his head.
"It seems like only Jean Camus might know how to use it then," Ayrin replied with a disappointed sigh.
"Teacher Liszt, have you all rested enough yet? Or are we just going to sit here forever and continue fighting these Bloodcrazed?" Stingham abruptly shouted at this moment. He couldn"t hold it in any longer.
"Of course we must continue fighting these Bloodcrazed. There are still many battles going on around us. We must keep these Bloodcrazed busy so they do not go elsewhere." Liszt yawned as he continued, "So keep it up, you are doing a great job."
"What are you playing at?!" Stingham cried. "Ayrin, hurry up and come help me!"
"Alright! Coming!"
Ayrin looked like he couldn"t hold back any longer as he excitedly charged into the waves of Bloodcrazed.
As Ciaran watched Ayrin"s powerful figure fighting so spiritedly before her, she couldn"t help but silently thank him in her heart.
As she thought about how these youths had protected her just now, she felt heart warm once more.
Ciaran took a deep breath and then looked towards the colorful lights flas.h.i.+ng in the distance. She firmly believed that victory would be theirs.
"Something is still not right," Liszt quietly whispered to Carter beside him as he watched Ayrin, Stingham, and Rinloran fight against the Bloodcrazed.
Carter nodded but remained silent.
This altar was the deepest one within the entire Abyss of Evil and had contained the bones of the Evil Dragon which produced the ever so important particles of Evil Dragon"s blood. On paper, it should have been the Evil Dragon Followers" most important altar.
And they had managed to attack here, kill the two Evil Dragon Bishops defending it, and destroy the bones. It was a complete victory.
But based on intelligence, the Evil Dragon Followers" plan was to resurrect the Evil Dragon King. It was to resurrect the Evil Dragon King so that its shadow could descend across all Doraster once more.
It was a fear which lingered even after all these years.
But during their invasion and search, they had yet to discover any forbidden objects or buildings which seemed to be related with resurrecting the Evil Dragon King.
Had it all been false? Or were the Evil Dragon Followers diverting their attention and hiding something? Was there something which they were missing?
Carter had no answer.