Advent of the Archmage

Dragon Temple

Returning to the roundtable, the Red Dragon Queen’s eyes were a bit red. She sat down and said with a trembling voice, "Everyone, something happened within the Dragon Valley, and I must return to take care of it. My apologies, I may not continue to participate in this conference."

Mountain Sage Heroto was a bit curious. "What happened?" he asked.

Gretel didn’t want to tell them because it was her race’s own matters. Even if she told them, the Emerald Circle couldn’t help. They would only lament about the dragons’ bad luck.

Unless it involved the overall safety of the Firuman Realm, the Astral Magicians of the Emerald Circle wouldn’t care. They were high up and never acted like busybodies.

But seeing the Mountain Sage like this, a shred of hope rose in her. "A powerful demon appeared inside the Dragon Valley and killed an entire village."

"Oh, such a tragedy," Heroto sighed. And then...and then that was it. His curiosity was satisfied, and everything else was none of his business.

Furthermore, a village getting destroyed was nothing to a Legendary figure. Any spell over Level-8 could achieve it. Compared to the crack in the realm, it was too insignificant.

Beside her, Bryant asked out of concern, "Do you need help?" Gretel’s eyes brightened a bit, but then Bryant continued, "I’m quite interested in dragonification. If you can show me a bit, I am willing to help."

"Thank you for your concern, but I think I can resolve it." Gretel sighed inwardly. She shouldn’t have been delusional. Now, she was treated as a joke. Standing up, she said, "Everyone, I will go now. As for the rune for the crack...it will be up to you all."

"Go now. The stabilization is already completed. We’ll take care of the crack," Heroto waved his hand and said before the other Magicians could speak.

Seeing this, the other three didn’t say anything else.

Bryant shrugged. He’d wanted to get benefit from this, but since Heroto was like this, he wouldn’t add insult to the injury.

Gretel smiled gratefully at the dwarf. She told the servants to serve them well and hurried out of the room.

Pettalong and the other elders were already waiting outside.

"To Vida Village!" Gretel walked out of the temple first.

...

One hour later, Gretel led the five elders and close to 100 Warriors to the sky above Vida Village.

This was a quite prosperous village in the Dragon Valley, but now, it was deathly silent.

The faint smell of blood floated in the air. From the sky, they could see many dried corpses on the streets. The entire street—the entire village—was covered in corpses like this. Even the livestock had not been spared!

It was practically like hell.

Using her extraordinary vision as a dragon, Gretel quickly found similarities between the corpses. They all had a hole close to 15 centimeters wide. Judging from their appearances, it seemed that all their liquids had been sucked out through that hole.

The moment she saw the holes, Gretel’s pupils constricted. Judging from the size and the tactic of sucking one’s life essence, could it be that the Void Tyrant was back?

How could it get inside the Dragon Valley? The spatial barrier of the Dragon Valley was very thick. How could it get through? Or did someone summon it?

With that thought, Gretel was so shocked she almost fell from the sky.

"Your Majesty, what’s wrong?" Pettalong asked immediately. He could sense that the queen had discovered something.

Gretel took a deep breath. Turning around, she ordered the Warriors, "Go back to the temple!"

The enemy was not something a regular dragon Warrior could face. Basically, any that went would die. They didn’t need to be sacrificed so meaninglessly.

The Warriors were confused, but they followed the queen’s orders and flew back towards the Dragon Temple. Only the Red Dragon Queen and the five elders remained in the sky.

Gretel was silent for a while. She seemed to be making a huge decision. Finally, she said, "We’re going to the Gray Furnace Valley."

"Your Majesty!" Pettalong was shocked. "He’s the black dragon," he reminded.

"He will completely destroy our tradition!"

"Your Majesty, you can’t be brash!"

The elders all spoke over each other in a hurry.

Gretel smiled bitterly and shook her head. Looking at the destroyed Vida Village, she murmured, "A Legendary Void creature destroyed this village. I am most likely not its match."

With that, the elders stared at each other, falling silent.

What could they do if even the queen wasn’t its match? They couldn’t force the queen to fight it. What if something happened to her? They didn’t even dare to think about that.

After hovering in the air for a while, Pettalong said, "Your Majesty, it’s getting late. Shall we go?"

The other elders didn’t speak; they acquiesced. They couldn’t help it. The situation forced them to do this.

Thus, the group of six turned and flew towards the Gray Furnace Valley.

To the Red Dragon Queen and the elders, Dragon Valley was very small. It would take them less than half an hour to fly across it. It was less than 100 miles from the Vida Village to the Gray Furnace Valley. With their speed, they arrived within eight minutes.

In the sky, Gretel could see from the distance that there was a newly-built house in the valley. Using her sharp vision, she saw Link on the second-floor balcony.

His arms were folded behind his head, and he lay on a stone chair. He seemed to be resting.

Pettalong was instantly annoyed. "This guy. I thought he was studying magic, but he’s sleeping!"

Gretel shook her head. "No, he’s not sleeping. I’m sure he’s thinking about something. Don’t come over. I’ll talk to him alone."

She started descending from a distance. When she was around 300 feet away from the ground, Gretel started transforming into human shape. Then she cast a Levitation spell and floated towards Link’s house.

The moment she arrived at the balcony, Link’s voice rang out. "Your Majesty, did you run into a problem?"

As he spoke, he opened his eyes but didn’t get up. He remained lazing on the chair. Since he didn’t plan on having a close relationship with the dragons and they’ve started fearing him, he didn’t care about taboos or customs.

Seeing his lazy attitude, Gretel suddenly wanted to leave. She’d been the one to distance herself earlier, and now she was here to ask for help. This change made the high-and-mighty Gretel uncomfortable.

She’d always been the pride of the race. When did she ever beg anyone? However, she couldn’t be stubborn at this time.

Calming herself, she said quietly, "I saw the Void Tyrant inside the Dragon Valley. It just devoured a village of 60,000 people."

With that, Link grew serious and sat up immediately. "Where is it now?"

He didn’t ask why the Void Tyrant would appear in the Dragon Valley. Since the queen had told him like this, it was definite news. The Void Tyrant had to be rid. Otherwise, it would keep absorbing energy and become stronger and stronger.

His attitude warmed Gretel’s heart. He didn’t talk about trades or benefits. Instead, his first thought was how to solve the problem. Fellow brethren were always more reliable.

Gretel’s expression had been cold, but now it softened. "I don’t know. I don’t have any information on it after it destroyed the village. It’s in hiding."

Next, Link asked the second critical question. "How is Lucia Silverstar? Where is she now?"

"Lucia Silverstar?"

Link’s expression was grave; his train of thought was very clear. "Yes, she’s the one who’s most familiar with the Void Tyrant and the one who interacted with it first. We don’t know where it is now, but Silverstar will definitely give us some critical clues!"

These days, he had been studying dragonification but he still clearly remembered the details that happened that day. Actually, if not for the distant attitude of the dragons, he had planned on asking Silverstar about the Void Tyrant.

However, the Red Dragon Queen frowned. "She should be resting in the temple. Her injuries still aren’t healed completely. But for some reason, I think she’s a bit odd."

Hearing this, Link was already up. "How so?" he asked.

"I can’t explain it. I’ve seen her many times before and she’d always been an eccentric girl, but this time, she gave me another feeling. Maybe it’s because of her injuries..."

This was enough. "Take me to see her!" Link cut the queen off with a wave.

His tone was full of authority. Though his expression was serious, there was no panic. He seemed to always have a clear target and Gretel nodded without thinking. "Okay, we’ll go now."

"As fast as possible. The situation might be really bad!" Link had a vague guess, but it was a horrible idea. He hoped that it wouldn’t be proved right.

"Can you fly now?" Gretel was worried Link hadn’t learned yet.

"Of course. I’m not the best, but I can do basic flying," Link said. Actually, he was being modest. His flying was quite skilled after all these days of practice.

Gretel was assured. She soared into the sky and transformed into dragon shape. Then she hovered to wait.

Without caring about the house below him, Link transformed right there. The house rumbled and cracked like shattered stones. Then he pushed lightly and easily started flying with the help of his wings.

Approaching the queen, he circled and said, "Let’s go."

Gretel began flying towards the Dragon Temple. After a while, she couldn’t help but ask, "Where are your thorns? And...that thing?"

"I modified it," Link answered casually.

"Mo...modified? How?" Gretel was completely shocked. She’d never heard of this. Any dragon who messed with their Heart of the Dragon would die!

She had never heard of anyone who dared to modify the heart. Even more incredible, Link had actually succeeded? How did he do it?

"Let’s go!" Link didn’t feel like explaining. His wings pumped, and there was a boom in the air. He’d surpassed the sound barrier. His body shot towards the Dragon Temple like a flash of black light.

Gretel was forced to flap her wings and follow. After a while, the elders rose up too, but they were much slower. The old dragons tried their hardest, but Link and Gretel were gone within a few seconds.

The elders stared at each other in shock.

Finally, Pettalong sighed helplessly. "It seems that the Black Dragon King’s appearance is a sign from the ancestors. They must have a plan, and we can’t escape from it so easily!"

The other elders sighed as well.

Earlier, they’d watched the Red Dragon Queen’s conversation with Link from afar and could feel Link’s mightiness. Before him, even the majestic queen seemed to lose. The black dragon’s power was already clear.

On the other hand, Link only spent three minutes before he arrived at the Dragon Temple.

The guards had been standing at the entrance lazily. When they saw the black shadow that covered the sun, they were all frightened. At closer inspection, they realized it was the black dragon and were even more dumbfounded.

Boom! Link landed. The ground shook, and the Warriors tottered. An Apocalypse Dragon Guard was nearby. He ran over, waving his spear and yelling, "Invader!"

Link didn’t move. When the Apocalypse Dragon Guard arrived, he raised his front claw and flicked in the guard’s direction. A shockwave hit the guard, and he shot back like getting hit by a cannon, three times faster than when he’d charged.

Seeing the other Warriors about to fight, the queen called from the air, "Stop!" She soon landed as well.

When Link saw her, he turned back into a human while asking, "Where is Silverstar’s room?"

"I’ll take you there." Gretel also felt that the situation was off. With no time to explain to her Warriors, she also turned into human shape and rushed forward to lead Link.

Near Silverstar’s room, Gretel felt something wrong. She couldn’t sense any aura. At the door, she looked inside and yelled, "She’s not here!"

Lucia Silverstar had said she had a horrible migraine before today’s meeting and went to rest. Why wasn’t she in her room now? Where was she?