Chapter 1458: Fatal Promise
The divine astral energy surrounding my body dispersed the wind before it could reach me. As I approached Dragon Domain, the surroundings gradually turned into ice and snow. I had to focus my divine energy on my pupils in order to just barely see the distant scenery clearly.
Thud!
I landed atop a mountain range and looked down. The wasteland that was once Dragon Domain was gradually being replaced by some pine trees. These pine trees never died completely despite the harsh environment it grew in, and the many wars that ravaged its lands for countless years. In a sense, it was a reflection of Dragon Domain itself. For 10,000 years, it was frozen in ice and put through multiple calamitous events. However, it was always able to preserve a spark of hope, survive, and even grow strong enough to fight against the powerful legions of the dead.
……
Rustle rustle rustle…
A party of one hundred armored riders were treading across a valley and weathering its harsh snowstorm. When they reached the center of the valley, they dropped to one knee and said in unison, "Lady Dragon Speaker, we are ready to serve Dragon Domain loyally for eternity and renew the oath between humanity and the dragon race. We are willing to protect everything we love with our life and sacrifice everything to that end!"
A beautiful woman appeared from the snow. She was carrying the Dragonslaying Sword and followed by a silver dragon. She was of course the Dragon Speaker Binglan. She smiled at the group of riders and said, "You are some of the strongest elites the empire has personally selected to meet me. You are also humanity’s final hope. Starting now, you are the warriors and dragon knights of Dragon Domain! I will teach you the strongest war techniques and help you form a contract with the dragons! First, allow me to introduce your new companions!"
Binglan raised her left hand and gathered her divine energy. She chanted with a confident smile on her face, "You have slumbered for too long, oh dignified dragons! It is time to awaken from this harsh winter. I, Dragon Speaker Binglan beseech—Resurrection!"
Buzz!
A golden light rippled across the valley in an instant and affected even me. It felt like I was basking in a warm pool. Binglan’s power was as impressive as ever!
……
"Sssss…"
A small, scratching noise came from the frozen walls, and some of the ice abruptly shattered and fell toward the ground. Then, I saw a black dragonling poking its head out of a cave. Judging from the sticky egg fluid clinging to its head, the black dragon had clearly been hatched just a moment ago. It flapped its tiny wings and attempted to fly, but of course it couldn’t withstand the powerful snowstorm that was blowing in the valley. In the end, it could only run all the way down the hill and toward Binglan.
The second, third, fourth, fifth and more giant dragons hatched in succession. More and more hidden dragon eggs hatched in response to Binglan’s spell and ran up to her. Soon, hundreds of dragonlings were surrounding her and making screeching noises not unlike a chick that was asking to be fed.
Binglan smiled beautifully at the dragonlings before whispering to herself, "Thank goodness Karinshan provided me with enough funds, or I don’t know how I’d even manage to feed you all."
Binglan opened a portable space and caused a ton of fresh goat and bull meat to fall from the sky. Dragons were carnivores at birth, so they didn’t hesitate to jump atop the meat chunks that were even bigger than they were and fed ravenously.
Binglan then glanced at the riders and urged, "Now is the time to form a contract with your dragons! Just drip your blood atop the head of a dragonling, and the contract will be formed. Remember, you are only allowed to form a companion contract, not a pet contract. As dragon knights, we view the dragons as our equals, not slaves!"
"Yes, Lady!" the dragon knights responded as they happily sought out the right dragonling for themselves. It wasn’t long before one third of the dragonlings had formed a contract with them.
……
Binglan planted the Dragonslaying Sword in front of her feet before continuing, "The Dragon Domain Secret Realm has been destroyed, and the dragonlings won’t be able to endure this harsh winter for long. Therefore, we will need to gather a sufficient amount of wood and stone to rebuild the Dragon Domain. In the meantime, I will request the Silver Moon Alliance to send us a sufficient amount of fire magic stones so we may lay down a barrier and maintain a warm temperature for the dragonling and ourselves. I will also impart some of my divine energy to these dragonlings so that they may grow to adulthood in 3 to 5 years at most. After that, you will share your life force with your dragons so that they may wield their power as soon as possible."
"Yes, Lady. We obey your command!"
"Very well. We shall continue rebuilding our home at this pace…"
……
It looked like Binglan was done with her business, so I jumped down from the mountaintop and flew straight toward Binglan!
Swhoosh!
The wind and snow parted visibly as I dove downward. A couple of powerful dragon knights immediately drew their swords and rebuked me, "Who are you? How dare you invade the Dragon Domain!"
I raised my hand and unleashed a dark blast. It immediately swept the aggressive dragon knights off their feet and sent them stumbling across the snow. The show of power immediately improved the NPCs’ impression of me.
"What an incredible blast! This boy is no weakling!"
After I landed, I explained in a calm tone, "Please don’t misunderstand. I am not a member of the Purgatory Legion!"
One of them actually supported me by saying, "Yeah, he wears the symbol of Sky City of the Silver Moon Alliance on his shoulder. He is Karinshan’s friend and our ally!"
Binglan walked up to me smilingly. "It’s you. You are Wind Singer Xinran’s… older brother, right?"
I nodded. "That I am. I have something I need your help with, Binglan."
"Oh? What is it?"
Binglan replied without hesitation, "Xinran fell into the Purgatory for all of our sakes. For that favor alone, I will do my best to fulfill your request no matter what it may be!"
"Mn." I relaxed a little before saying, "I wish to enter the Purgatory, but I don’t have the power to create an entrance on my own. That is why I’ve come to ask for your aid."
"Oh?"
Binglan responded before scrunching her brow into a light frown. An entire half a minute later, she finally looked at me and said, "I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill your request!"
"But why?" I asked urgently.
"Purgatory is a far more dangerous place than you think. It is said that the Purgatory is made of seven floors, and each floor is guarded by incredibly powerful guardians called Sovereigns. A normal person wouldn’t even be able to survive the first floor, much less the undead guardians. And even if you managed to beat all of the Sovereigns, how are you going to defeat Lin Na?"
I clenched my teeth. "It doesn’t matter. I must go one way or another!"
"Absolutely not. I will not allow you to commit suicide!" Binglan answered just as unhesitatingly.
I sucked in a deep breath before asking, "Alright, what do I have to do to convince you?"
She said in an indifferent tone, "You must prove to me that you have the ability to survive in the Purgatory!"
"And how should I do that?"
"Endure three hits from me, and survive!"
……
Chiang!
Without hesitation, I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and summoned the Cyan Dragon Shield. I said solemnly, "It’s a promise. If I survive three hits from you, then you must open an entrance to the Purgatory for me!"
"Very well!"
Binglan also turned her wrist and unsheathed her Dragonslaying Sword. We both assumed a stance and gathered our strength.
The newly minted dragon knights had moved to a safe distance so they wouldn’t be caught up in our battle.
……
"Here I come!"
Binglan’s Dragonslaying Sword shivered as she infused it with her divine energy. Then, she leaped into the air and brought her sword down in a downward strike! The attack was infused with holy energy, so it probably did extra damage to me, an Asura God!
Whoosh!
Blood red energy spun, and a pair of bloody wings spread behind my back as I activated Heavenly River Transformation. At the same time, I buffed my HP by 100% with an Undying Berserker Card and increased my Defense by 150% with an Iron Wall VII. (the stratagem cap of a non-tactician class is 150% for Iron Wall. Famous General Skills are becoming outdated as player levels and Tactics increase). Finally, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and prepared myself to parry the attack with all I had!
Chiang!
There was a loud ring as my Xuanyuan Sword clashed against Binglan’s Dragonslaying Sword. The impact had rocked my body, scattered the snow, and even cracked the hard rock beneath my feet. However, it was a perfect parry. I didn’t take a single point of damage from Binglan’s strike at all! Is this the power of a divine player?!
"Oh?"
A flash of surprise crossed Binglan’s features before she smiled. "I see. You have ascended to become a Divine Throne Guardian! In that case, I will increase my power to 80% for my next strike. Be careful! I’ve only used 20% of my power for this first strike!"
I shuddered again. Binglan would never lie to me, so I had to accept that this first strike really contained 20% of her power!
"Here I come again!"
The second strike caused a much bigger cyclone of energy, and the air surrounding Binglan felt almost solid. It was the Domain of a god, and it firmly pinned me to the ground. Unable to dodge, I could only cross my sword in front of myself and endure her second strike!
Chiang!
The second strike destroyed my Guard and struck my Guardian Dragon Armor hard. A tearing pain ripped across my torso as my HP dropped drastically!
2,962,177!
Forget parrying the attack, I couldn’t even Guard against it completely! Incredible!
My entire body had sunk into the ground, and it took a bit of effort to pull myself free even as bits of rocks smacked against my face. It was horrible.
Floating in the air and breathing just a tad heavier than before, she said, "Do you understand now? I don’t wish to kill you, so give up now while you still can…"
Instead, I healed myself with Tenacity of the Dead, Dragon Bloodboil and a Rank 14 Snow Frog Agent. Then, I raised my sword once more and declared, "Again, Binglan!"
Binglan smiled. "As you wish!"
Honestly, this wasn’t looking very good for me. The Cloak of Divine Fervor reduced my damage received by 50%, and Binglan still managed to deal almost 3 million damage to me. This meant that she would’ve dealt 6 million damage and one-shot me outright otherwise. Considering that I was using the Rank 7 Iron Wall, it was an unbelievable amount of damage…
……
Buzz buzz!
This time, Binglan’s Dragonslaying Sword rang even louder as a tremendous amount of draconic energy flooded into its metal. She watched me coolly while she said, "This time, I’ll be using 100% of my draconic energy and 40% of my killing power. If you still manage to survive the attack, then I will tear open an entrance to the Purgatory for you!"
I nodded and activated my Ghost Spirit Step Art, Cyan Dragon Scale and Battle Astral Wind all at once. Now was the time to go all out. Success was the only option!
"Roar!"
Draconic roars resounded across the air as Binglan swung her sword at me. Ignoring her 40% killing power, she was putting literally all of her power into this strike!
BANG!
My entire body sank dozens of meters into the ground. My entire body felt like it was being ripped apart, and the amount of HP I had left reflected it—
4,422,673!
It was such a close call I couldn’t help but break out in cold sweat. I only had 40k HP left after the attack, meaning that I had survived with 1% HP!
Not only did Binglan’s attack tear through my Battle Astral Wind and Cyan Dragon Scale like paper, my Ghost Spirit Step Art failed to trigger as well. She was much stronger than even Xinran at her peak!
The attack was so powerful that I couldn’t stop coughing blood for a time. I was on my knees and clinging to the Xuanyuan Sword for support. I looked up at Binglan and awaited her final judgment.
For a time, Binglan simply floated in the wind and snow and watched me. Finally, she let out a quiet sigh and said, "It’s your win. I will open an entrance to the Purgatory for you. Xinran really is more important to you than your own life…"
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