Chapter 163: Chapter 163: The Flame of Life
Chapter 163: The Flame of Life
The hyper-pressurized magma beam was a river of absolute destruction.
I pushed forward, fighting against the crushing weight of the molten rock. My heavy brass boots carved deep, glowing trenches into the obsidian island as I engaged my thrusters to their maximum capacity.
The S-Grade Hive Chitin armor perfectly reflected the magical heat, but the physical density of the attack felt like trying to walk through a falling mountain.
I did not stop. I drove my massive, armored frame directly up the center of the molten beam.
’KILL ME!’ the Dragon’s true voice shrieked inside my mind.
’PLEASE! I CANNOT BEAR IT!’
"Hold on," I grunted through my teeth.
I breached the source of the beam, forcing myself directly into the colossal jaws of the Volcanic Ash Dragon.
The sheer kinetic pressure vanished the moment I slipped past her massive fangs and plummeted down her dark, molten throat.
The interior of the Level 70 Calamity was a terrifying, subterranean furnace.
The walls of her chest cavity were lined with glowing starmetal ribs and rivers of liquid magma.
I landed heavily on a massive shelf of volcanic rock near the center of her chest.
Suspended directly in front of me was the Dragon’s core.
It was a colossal, biological heart the size of a steam-tank, glowing with a pure, brilliant orange light.
But it was under siege.
Wrapped tightly around the glowing orange heart was a terrifying, parasitic crystal.
It was pitch-black, pulsing with the same putrid, decaying abyssal magic I had felt from the Progenitor Queen.
Thick, dark veins extended from the crystal, digging deeply into the biological tissue of the heart and forcefully pumping corruption into her bloodstream.
I raised my right hand, igniting the black and gold Flame of Death.
I stepped toward the heart, fully intending to burn the parasite away.
But as the conceptual heat of my Law flared, the entire chest cavity violently shuddered.
The orange heart began to palpitate erratically.
My Sovereign intellect immediately ran the calculations. The Flame of Death was born from absolute rage and destruction.
It fed on souls. If I pressed this fire against the parasite, the absolute erasure would spread.
It would consume the abyssal crystal, but it would also instantly devour the Dragon’s core, completely killing the woman trapped inside.
’To save her, I needed a tool I did not possess. I needed to heal.’
I closed my eyes behind my glowing red visor. The base of my power was the Law of Emotional Radiance.
I had evolved it through pure, unadulterated anger. But the Velkrath Imperium was no longer just a war camp.
I had built the Dynasty System.
I had cultivated deep, profound bonds with Kaelith, Lysandra, Nyssa, and Anise. I was not just a conqueror anymore.
I was a protector. I was a King building a legacy.
I isolated the Flame of Death burning in my palm. I forced my mind to completely let go of the rage.
I focused on the absolute devotion of my Pack. I focused on the emotion of pure, protective Love.
The heavy, suffocating aura in my core violently rebelled at first, but my 6,500 points in Domination Aura crushed the resistance. I forcefully bent the concept of the fire to my absolute will.
DING!
The System interface illuminated the dark chest cavity with a blinding, pristine white light.
[System Alert: Absolute Conceptual Reversal Detected.]
[The Law of Emotional Radiance has synchronized with the Dynasty System.]
[Mutation Triggered: The Sovereign understands that true absolute power is the ability to dictate both Death and Life.]
[New Law Awakened: The Flame of Life (Tier 1)]
[Property: Absolute Restoration. This conceptual fire heals all biological tissue, purges curses, and restores the soul. It feeds on the emotion of Devotion and Love.]
I opened my eyes.
The pitch-black and molten gold fire in my hand had completely vanished.
In its place burned a brilliant, soft flame of pure white and warm pink light.
It did not radiate destructive heat. It radiated an overwhelming, comforting warmth.
I stepped up to the colossal, corrupted heart.
I plunged my right hand directly into the parasitic pitch-black crystal.
The reaction was instantaneous. The Flame of Life violently rejected the abyssal corruption.
The pure white fire spread rapidly across the dark veins, aggressively burning away the curse without leaving a single mark on the glowing orange biological tissue beneath it.
The abyssal crystal began to shriek, a horrifying, multi-layered sound of dying magic. It violently shattered into millions of harmless gray particles.
The dark veins dissolved entirely. The massive Dragon heart let out a deep, powerful, and perfectly rhythmic beat. The pure orange light flooded the chest cavity, entirely free of the abyssal rot.
’...Thank you...’ the feminine voice whispered in my mind. It was no longer a scream of agony. It was a soft, exhausted sigh of absolute salvation.
The magma rivers inside the chest cavity suddenly began to cool. The massive starmetal ribs cracked.
Without the abyssal corruption driving it into a frenzy, the colossal beast’s physical shell could no longer sustain itself.
The Volcanic Ash Dragon was collapsing.
I ignited my boot thrusters, completely shattering the cooling ribs. I burst out of the beast’s chest just as the colossal, hundred-foot monster plummeted from the sky.
BOOOOOM!
The dead Dragon crashed heavily onto the central obsidian island.
The impact sent a massive shockwave of displaced magma hundreds of feet into the air.
I landed smoothly a few yards away, my heavy brass boots crunching over the broken black glass.
The cavern was completely silent. The terrifying, miles-wide whirlpool in the magma ocean slowly settled back into a calm, glowing surface.
"Sovereign!" Rolf shouted, limping across the island with Kaelith, Lysandra, and Anise right behind him.
The Vanguard General’s silver armor was heavily dented, but he was alive.
The Pack raised their weapons, their eyes locked on the massive, cooling corpse of the Level 70 Calamity.
"Keep your guard up!" Lysandra warned, her pink mana flaring.
"The core might still be active!"
"Lower your weapons," I commanded softly.
The massive, towering shell of the Volcanic Ash Dragon began to violently crumble. The thick, jagged volcanic armor turned entirely to soft, gray ash.
The starmetal scales dissolved into the wind. The colossal body rapidly shrank, the biological mass condensing and shifting into a new, concentrated form.
The ash cleared.
The Pack completely froze in absolute, wide-eyed shock. Nyssa dropped her mining hammer. Anise covered her mouth with her hands.
Resting in the center of the gray dust was not a monster. It was a stunning, breathtakingly beautiful woman.
She was completely naked. Her skin was a flawless, sun-kissed olive tone.
Long, flowing hair the color of molten gold spilled over her perfectly proportioned, incredibly curvaceous body.
Protruding from her temples were two elegant, swept-back obsidian horns.
Smooth, dark crimson dragon scales lightly patterned the sides of her waist and her forearms, and a sleek, powerful reptilian tail curled gently around her legs.
DING!
[Hidden System Quest Complete: The Guardian’s Salvation.]
[The Abyssal Corruption has been purged. The Calamity has been reborn.]
[New Pack Member Acquired: Level 90 Half-Dragon.]
[Title Acquired: The Dragon’s Hoard. (Strata 6 wealth unlocked).]
She was alive.
The Flame of Life had perfectly preserved her soul. But the sheer trauma of the purification and the massive biological transformation had left her completely exhausted.
Her chest rose and fell in a deep, peaceful sleep.
"By the ancestors," Rolf breathed, his jaw slightly open. "That is... that is the Calamity?"
"A Half-Dragon," Nyssa whispered, her brilliant mind struggling to process the biological impossibility.
"Master, how did you do this? You didn’t kill it."
"I saved her," I replied simply.
I accessed my spatial ring and pulled out a heavy, dark velvet cloak. I walked over to the center of the crater and knelt beside the sleeping Dragon.
I gently wrapped the thick cloak around her bare shoulders, completely covering her stunning figure.
I slid my massive, armored arms beneath her back and her knees, lifting her effortlessly against my chest.
She was incredibly warm, her body still radiating the soft, comforting heat of the magma ocean.
She instinctively curled into my heavy S-Grade armor, seeking my warmth.
I looked at my completely dumbfounded Pack.
We had secured millions of tons of Pyre Cobalt. I had reached Level 56.
I had awakened the Flame of Life. And I had just claimed a Level 90 Queen.
"Gather the remaining crystals," I commanded, my red eyes glowing with absolute triumph.
"We are going home. She has a lot to wake up to."
