Chapter 649: It was a gamble.
Silence.
That was all that remained in the Heights after the Sky Army left.
The Alliance Soldiers were relieved, what felt like their end had finally passed, the soldiers who were ready to unleash their full might on them just a few seconds ago were no longer there and yet...
No one cheered.
No one celebrated their survival.
The Alliance Soldiers only stood where they were, their bodies covered in wounds and blood, and stared at that terrifying entity that was still here.
The Steel Dragon.
Even now, most of them couldn’t believe it.
How could something so terrifying exist?
It was even more overwhelming for the Velmourns, after all, they had an old connection with the Steel Dragons, some of them even looked at the Steel Dragon with bright eyes.
After all, unlike other tribesmen, the Velmourns heard and understood the conversation between the Steel Dragon and the Sky Kingdom Demi God very clearly.
They also didn’t miss how the Dragon looked at their Matriarch and involved her in the conversation.
Of course, even then, even when they felt excited as they stared at the entity that was once their guardian beast, they remained silent, not daring to let out another voice.
As for the Dragon himself, he completely ignored the beings beneath him and turned to Kael instead, as if the rest did not matter.
Kael looked back at him.
The two stared at each other for a long moment.
None of them spoke.
The Steel Dragon looked at Kael, then his golden eyes shifted slightly and landed on Igni who was flying right behind Kael, ready to move if anything out of the ordinary happened.
Igni’s amber eyes looked back at the Steel Dragon as well.
And the Steel Dragon...
If their previous encounter had left any doubts in his mind, this one was more than enough for him to understand that the little Dragon’s blood was stronger than his own, much much stronger.
That made him narrow his eyes.
After all, he could sense that this wasn’t just about the strength of Igni’s blood, it was... about purity, or something even grander than that.
Something even he, an entity who had lived longer than most beings in the world, couldn’t fully understand.
What he did understand very clearly, however, was the fact that the little Dragon’s potential was far higher than his own.
Sure, he was weak right now.
Of course he was, he was young, far too young.
But if he was given time...
If he was allowed to grow to his fullest potential...
Then someone like him would never be his match.
And as a Steel Dragon, realizing something like that was...
Quite strange.
After all, he had always seen the world with arrogance.
He had the right to.
He was a Steel Dragon.
There were not many beings in Nerathis who could stand before him without lowering their heads.
There were even fewer who could make him take them seriously.
But now...
There was a little Dragon behind a Human, and that little Dragon had blood that could one day look down on him.
It was... indeed strange to think.
The Steel Dragon’s gaze moved again, this time, he looked at the Sky, or more accurately, the Entity spread all over the Sky.
It was the same level of presence as that Dragon.
Her blood was stronger than his as well.
So was that little entity’s on the ground who had been healing others before, she may look harmless, gentle and absolutely adorable, but that did not fool his senses, even her blood was stronger than his.
Once she grew, even she would be able to suppress someone like him with just her presence alone.
It was...
Quite strange indeed.
And... the most absurd part of this all?
All of this, all three of the entities he sensed, entities even he couldn’t comprehend...
They weren’t even the strongest here.
The strongest here was the man in front of him.
The Human these fearsome entities were standing with, the Human they were following, the Human they had chosen.
The more he looked at Kael, the stranger it became.
His potential was...
Something else entirely.
It was not simply higher than his.
It was... something that could not even be compared using normal words.
It wasn’t as simple as looking at those young beasts and realising they would one day be stronger than him.
This man’s future felt... unclear.
It was as if he couldn’t be a judge of it because it was something too large for him to comprehend.
Something that he could not see the end of.
As the Steel Dragon looked at him, Kael looked back at the Dragon in silence, then, after observing him for a good while—
"Thank you for protecting us."
He bowed his head respectfully.
The Steel Dragon stared at him.
Then—
He chuckled.
The Steel Dragon liked what he saw.
The man in front of him wasn’t just strong, he was... humble as well.
And the most surprising part? His humbleness wasn’t pretentious like others. He truly was humble.
It was... rare.
Very rare.
"You were already expecting me to come, were you not?"
The Steel Dragon spoke.
He had noticed that when he saw the change in Kael’s body language when he appeared, Kael may have thought he hid it, but he did not.
Not from him.
And Kael...
Now that he was caught—
"I was hoping you would."
He smiled faintly.
The Steel Dragon’s golden eyes shone with amusement.
"How did you know I was still watching?"
The Dragon asked.
"I did not."
Kael answered honestly.
"It was a gamble."
The Steel Dragon stared at him.
"That was a desperate gamble."
"I was in a desperate situation."
Kael did not deny it either, he just shook his head with a heavy smile.
The two stared at each other for a long time.
Then, the Steel Dragon spoke again.
"What made you think I would come even if I was watching?"
That question made Kael pause for a moment, he looked at Morvain, then at the Velmourn soldiers who were staring at them from the ground in fear, disbelief and... some excitement.
"I thought you would not want to see your people fall."
He answered honestly.
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