Chapter 110: Hatred

The pairing undoubtedly gave off a strange sense of dissonance—these hands should have been holding a paintbrush, a wine glass, a book of poetry, or even resting on the waist of a beautiful woman, not grasping a weird and dangerous weapon.

The owner of the hands was a tall, slender nobleman, about thirty years old, with deep lines on his face and a carefully trimmed mustache on his upper lip. He had a long frame with broad shoulders, wearing an unfashionable but elegant and imposing black noble attire. In appearance, he completely fit the image people had of a noble from an established family. Only, his slightly outdated clothing, upon closer inspection, revealed that the jade embedded in his cufflinks and the large ring on his finger were rather old items. By a noble’s standards, his appearance was undoubtedly conservative and somewhat shabby, belonging to the category of a noble scion whose family had fallen into decline.

But at this moment, the biggest impression this person gave was one of power.

He stood there casually, lightly twirling that black longsword, not even adopting the usual vigilant stance of a swordsman. Yet his seemingly loose posture prevented the palm that could casually fling a robust warrior from advancing an inch. Even the invisible pressure in the air around him abruptly dissipated completely—if the wild, chaotic pressure emanating from the silver-clad woman who had transformed into a non-human form was like a towering tidal wave, then this man’s presence was a towering barrier along the shore. No matter how fierce the tidal surge, it could not penetrate him in the slightest.

“Let go!” the half-dragonized woman roared.

From the very first moment, she had been trying to break free from the entanglement of that longsword, but to no avail… Although the grayish sword blade only produced a slight hissing friction sound against her pure white skin, no matter how hard she tried, her hand could not escape the grip of the sword tip.

“Miss of another race, your current actions have violated the laws of Hayton City. If possible… I hope you will cease this destructive behavior immediately!” The sword-wielding noble hesitated slightly before speaking. Clearly, this person was accustomed to being in a high position; even though he tried to make his words as casual and polite as possible, the tone of giving orders was evident.

Not all Dragonkin were like the infamous man-eating Red Dragons. In legends, Silver Dragons were considered the most gentle and friendly among the Dragonkin. They liked to interact with humans and even become friends, enjoying human food. In many tales, Silver Dragons also enjoyed transforming into human form to travel around and integrate into human society. Generally, if a human stumbled into a Silver Dragon’s territory, as long as they weren’t foolish enough to attack the Silver Dragon lord, they didn’t need to worry about their life. Therefore, unless necessary, humans maintained a certain degree of respect for such powerful beings and would not make enemies of them.

But obviously, the other party had no intention of backing down now.

“Human laws hold no meaning for me…” After losing her cloak, the half-dragonized woman’s voice had completely changed. Though furious, it remained clear and melodious; if not for the bone-chilling coldness it carried, it could almost be described as heavenly: “Warrior, I admire your courage in upholding order. But no matter who you are, you cannot stop my resolve for revenge!”

“I don’t think there exists a hatred between a child like this and a being like you that requires life to resolve…” The noble, somewhere between middle-aged and young, smiled. His voice was low and rhythmic, carrying a hint of mockery, which, paired with his appearance, would be enough to make a group of noble ladies and maidens cast admiring glances. Only, his actions weren’t so gentlemanly; his longsword turned slightly, forming an angle more suitable for attack and also thwarting the other’s intent to break free: “Moreover, you are not an enforcer, nor a Deity, and have no right to judge or deprive any being of life… I’ll say it again: you have violated the laws of the Phoenix Empire. If possible, please cease this meaningless destruction immediately. Before the human Knights gather, leave this place, miss of another race. Your current actions are no different from violating the teachings of the Platinum Dragon Bahamut.”

“Damn it… Good thing I have pretty wide connections… But, bro, can’t you just hurry up and finish him? Chattering is supposedly the biggest taboo in a fight… Do you know how many guys who should have died have escaped with their lives because of that?” Constantine complained in a voice only he could hear.

The youth’s face was now as pale as a sheet; sweat on his forehead soaked his ash-gray hair, and the cold frost stuck strands of it to his brow. The youth supported himself with his hands on the ground, kneeling on one knee. He panted for a moment, regaining a bit of energy inside his body before slowly standing up. Nearly every tiny tissue in his body was transmitting a burning pain, an alarm signaling they were nearing energy exhaustion. But when thousands of these signals gathered, it became an agony unbearable for humans.

However, right now, he felt quite relaxed—he had witnessed this noble’s strength a few days ago. Although it was just the tip of the iceberg, it was at least far more formidable than his own or his bodyguards’. In this chaotic situation, it was enough to be someone he could rely on.

But not everyone was as relaxed as he was.

“A Silver Dragon bloodline? Dragonization… No, this is an innate Polymorph ability. This lizard is at least at the tail end of its youth… Constantine, if possible, you’d better leave this place as quickly as you can. Otherwise, neither you nor I may have any time left.” The Lich’s knowledge was sufficient to make an accurate judgment instantly, making his voice unprecedentedly serious: “Given your current abilities, this opponent is far too powerful… Resist Elements, Protection from Elements, and Freedom of Movement! These lizards are indeed the origin of the Sorcerer bloodline! And she seems quite experienced in combat… If I were you, I’d flee right now!”

Clearly, based on Hartdiel’s spellcasting experience, even instant spells were hard to hide from his eyes. Moreover, the Soul Amulet seemed to have a permanently active True Seeing effect attached. Thus, his voice already carried a slight tremble!

“That’s all bullsht!” Constantine rolled his eyes. Of course he wanted to run. From the first moment he saw this deadly beauty, he had wanted to flee! If possible, he even wanted to run all the way back to Earth! But… was any of that up to him?

The power granted by the Demon God was strong, but it came with unavoidable dangerous side effects. Now, with muscles aching all over, not only couldn’t the youth run, he couldn’t even stand up properly! Moreover, even with this new situation causing a terrible chaos in the aura, Constantine still felt that oppressive presence as heavy as a mountain… the only difference was that Taishan Mountain had been replaced by Zhangguangcai Mountain.

Besides, where could he run? Going too far from here would simply be suicide. The Silver Dragon just needed to unleash another large-scale ice spell like before, and even if he wasn’t turned into a porcupine by ice spikes, he’d be shredded by the swirling ice crystals around!

“Whatever you say, I will not give up on killing him! This concerns the hatred for my kin’s life! These lowly humans have gone too long without tasting a Silver Dragon’s dragonfire, to the point they dare commit such a great crime!” A deafening roar burst from those beautiful, small lips. Clearly, the entanglement of the longsword had pushed the Dragonkin girl’s anger to another level; her voice, resonating like a massive bell, carried endless resentment: “For this, I have searched for ten years! And on him, I sense the aura of my kin! He carries a part of my kin’s flesh and blood! For such a blasphemous crime, he must pay the due price!”

“Not only will I kill him, I will kill every existence involved in murdering my kin! I don’t care about your reasons, nor any conspiracies behind this. I will just kill all these lowly beings! A noble Silver Dragon cannot remain silent in the Darkness. Even in death, he must have sufficient burial offerings! I have sworn in the name of the Lord of Justice, Life-Scale Keeper Landius, that besides the murderer, all lowly creatures who defiled his body must also pay for their sins with death!”

The youth felt all the hairs on his body stand on end one by one! The other party had spoken so clearly that his thoughts didn’t even need to turn a corner before connecting to the mysterious Magic Array on his back—if what Hartdiel said wasn’t wrong, then the main components of that array were the massive amounts of dragon bone powder and Dragon Blood… This dragon might very well be a relative, sister… or lover of the one that was killed, coming here naturally to seek revenge for the death of its father, husband, brother, or sister… one of those!

According to the most authoritative Dragonkin records in the Draconomicon, Dragonkin had always been a race famous throughout the Multiverse for being petty-minded and sticking together. Among many creatures, Dragonkin absolutely deserved to be called beings at the top of the food chain. They were born with immense power, natural rulers of the world. Generally, without necessity, even Devils from The Nine Hells were unwilling to provoke an adult True Dragon. Besides the question of whether it was dragon-slaying or being slain by a dragon, even if successful, one often faced severe retaliation from these large lizards afterwards.

But for some unknown reason, his father had imprinted such an array on him… Constantine didn’t know what it was meant to protect him from, but now, it had undoubtedly become a deadly disaster!

“Get lost!”

The silver girl let out a rumbling, thunderous roar. Her right hand was still entangled, but this resistance clearly didn’t hinder her from attacking… In the brief two exchanges just now, it was enough for her to detect the weakness of the youth’s close combat defense. Although he possessed an unusually fast reaction speed that even surprised the Dragonkin a little, his strength and defense were no different from a Human’s. With her combat power, killing him wouldn’t be any harder than killing an insect.

All around, the space was filled with the cold, hard, blue-white color belonging solely to ice and snow!

The scene could be called fantastically beautiful, if not for the obstacles along the way being instantly ground to powder! Scattered fragments fell… The weapons formed from condensed moisture actually possessed a toughness rivaling steel and a destructive power akin to magical beasts!

There was an insurmountable gap in pure physical power between Humans and dragons. When possessing an advantage in level, the use of spells became secondary; lethality took greater precedence. It wasn’t that they couldn’t, but rather, it wasn’t necessary. When you think about wiping out a colony of ants, you don’t consider how to kill them, but how to do it conveniently and easily.

But this move was still ineffective.

The gray longsword transformed into countless shadows tearing through the air in the next instant. Sword energy carried a chilling cold, even ten times colder than the frost in the air! A rapid series of “clinks and clangs” rang out. The sword energy and the blue-white of the ice and snow suddenly all disappeared. Instead, dozens of ice crystal fragments fell from mid-air… Those were the ice crystals originally densely packed in the air, only now each perfect hexagon had been sliced in two.

The Silver Dragon’s golden eyes contracted slightly. In her eyes, this middle-aged man’s movements didn’t seem fast, nor was his posture flashy. He simply seemed to bring his sword up to meet the incoming ice shards… Only, though the action was simple, it was refined through countless repetitions, becoming the elite among iron, the steel among steel.

Her wings flapped slightly, and the silver shadow instantly shot upwards! Silver Dragons naturally had the ability to manipulate weight; high-speed movement was their greatest weapon.

The powerful being before her had ignited the Dragonkin’s caution… Even though Dragonkin stood at the apex of power, they still understood that among those weaker, shorter-lived races, there could emerge beings strong enough to threaten their lives. Faced with such existences, even an ancient dragon couldn’t afford to be careless!

A high-pitched voice then boomed forth—it was the Draconic language.

A layer of white, not easily pierced by sight, immediately rippled through the air. Rolling mist gathered from all directions! Almost in the blink of an eye, the originally clear early winter morning was covered by impenetrable clouds and fog!

Fog Cloud was not a powerful spell; generally, it could only obscure vision. But such speed was still astounding—Draconic spells had always been renowned for having power unmatched by Humans. Some even believed it was the origin of Human Magic.

Therefore, Dragonkin spells were absolutely unimaginable to Humans… A rumbling, grinding sound abruptly erupted. Countless sharp blades shot out from within the mist!

The hexagonal ice chunks remained sharp, but their numbers were far from the five or six casually waved earlier—the buzzing sound tearing through the air had merged into a muffled thunder. In the field of vision, thousands of spinning snowflakes converged towards the center!

But this scene didn’t last long. A faint red mist immediately began to swirl and spread throughout the space! If the blue-white were countless tiny ice crystals, then this red was billowing heat!

Though it looked hazy and indistinct, this red mist was clearly not something comparable to Constantine’s little tricks like Fireburst. In an instant, the condensed temperature made the surrounding air take on a disturbing dark red hue! Heat comparable to blazing fire surged outwards in all directions! The convection of air abruptly intensified. The cold air evaporated under the high temperature, and a huge whirlwind promptly rose in the plaza! Muffled, thunderous roars came from the sky, like a herd of ancient beasts charging from the depths of Darkness!

“A Human couldn’t possibly have such ability! You… what exactly are you?”

The opponent’s strength had clearly taken the Silver Dragon by surprise. Incredulously, she stared at the middle-aged man who emerged from the ruins, calm and composed, her voice also carrying a slight tremble.

“Arrogance will blind your eyes, turning the path forward into a profound Labyrinth; arrogance will make your wings heavy, causing you to ultimately fall from the sky; arrogance will also create illusory delusions, making you think that with your Breath Weapon, claws, and Draconic Magic, you can be invincible in the world.” The middle-aged swordsman stood firm in place. Despite the howling gale around him, not a single ripple appeared on his clothing!

“You are indeed strong!” the Dragonkin girl said, enunciating each word. Her somewhat youthful face remained expressionless; only her voice betrayed a hint of surprise. “But this cannot be a reason to interfere with my revenge… Why do you shield these lowly beings? Does being strong mean you can do whatever you want?”

She glared fiercely at Constantine, who was huddled in a corner of the ruined wall. Her star-like eyes, flashing with angry light, seemed to pierce through the youth’s Soul. Her silver-light shimmering skirt danced and fluttered, fueled by rage. But this swelling fury couldn’t mask her caution. The woman struggled to maintain composure; the arrogance and haughtiness from their first encounter had completely vanished, leaving only uncontrollable anger.

“Damn it!”

Now, the target of Constantine’s inner curses had expanded from that inexplicably appearing Silver Dragon to include every single being in all of Hayton City… The current situation was strange. This damned dragon had already turned a quarter of the city district upside down, yet Hayton City’s guards, big and small, still hadn’t shown their faces. Were they all just standing by and watching?

…Forget about the Law Enforcement Office and the Knights—their charge would be no different from suicide against a True Dragon… The question was, where were the Paladins? Those Clerics who preached about wiping out all evil? Those Mages from the Mage Tower who were used to calling wind and summoning rain?