Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  “Yes.” Montelo couldn’t help but feel overjoyed.

  “It seems there is hope.” Montelo was incomparably excited. Although he didn’t know what arrangements the Patriarch would make, since he already had inquired about Reisgem’s squad’s strength, Montelo believed that the Patriarch would send out a squad that would definitely be successful.

  Not attacking was one thing, but if they were to attack, they must be successful.

  The Planar Battlefield was as desolate as ever.

  “Whoooosh.” The wind howled, and sand flew everywhere. The cold wind blew, and two figures were walking shoulder-to-shoulder within it. At a closer distance, it could be seen that one was a short silver-haired, golden robed, hard-faced man. This was the single survivor of the earlier battle, Oman.

  Next to Oman was a tall, skinny man in a green robe. There was a closed third eye in his forehead. This person was Chegwin.

  “The Patriarch really dotes on Montelo. He actually intends to get revenge for this matter.” Oman snickered. “And he even invited the two of us to work together.”

  Chegwin let out a calm laugh which seemed quite eerie. “Oman, the Patriarch is the most beloved son of the Chief Sovereign. The Patriarch personally asked me to come; how could I not give him face? But Oman…for Reisgem’s group of four to slaughter you to such a degree means they definitely are quite strong.”

  “I told you, the only one hard to deal with is that Godeater Rat.” Oman said self-deprecatingly.

  If the results of that battle were to be spread out, it would affect Oman’s reputation as well.

  “But this time, we are completely certain of victory.” Oman smiled.

  “Not necessarily, unless that person agrees.” Chegwin shook his head. “He won’t necessarily agree.”

  “If he doesn’t agree, then just the two of us alone will find it rather hard.” Oman looked towards the front.

  While chatting, the two of them had already arrived at a military camp. The guards of the camp immediately stared at them vigilantly. Generally speaking, only supreme experts would dare to roam the Planar Battlefield like this. Oman immediately said, “Go report to your commander. Say that I, Oman, have come to pay my respects to him.”

  “Milords, please wait a moment.” One of the soldiers bowed slightly, then retreated inside to report.

  Moments later…

  “The two of you, the Lord Commander has invited you in.” The soldier returned.

  Oman and Chegwin smiled as they walked in, shoulder-to-shoulder. They quickly arrived at an ancient, unadorned courtyard. Currently, at the gates of the courtyard, there was a handsome, golden-haired youth. The golden-haired youth looked at Oman and Chegwin, then immediately began to laugh. “Oman, ah, I didn’t expect that Mr. Chegwin would come as well. It’s quite rare for the two of you to come visit me. Please, come in, come in!”

  Oman stepped forward, saying in a soft voice, “Ramson [La’mu’seng], is Mr. Magnus here?”

  “Him.” The golden-haired youth was stunned. “You came to see him?”

  “Right.” Oman nodded slightly.

  Right at this moment, a calm voice rang out from within. “Oman, Chegwin, since the two of you have come to see me, just come in. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen you two as well.”

  Oman and Chegwin didn’t hesitate any further, immediately following the golden-haired youth inside.

  Within the courtyard, there was a stone table and a pitch-black chair, atop which was a man who was casually flipping through a finger-thick book. This man had silver-colored, straight, flowing hair that fell to his waist. It was hanging loose, seeming quite relaxed. The man’s skin was crystalline, and his face was completely clean, without any stubble.

  The only facial hair was two silver eyebrows which drooped downwards to his ears.

  “Mr. Magnus.” Oman and Chegwin bowed slightly.

  Magnus placed the book on the table, then laughed calmly as he gave them a sidelong glance. “Sit.”

  Oman and Chegwin both sat down. They unconsciously glanced at each other, both feeling a hint of pressure. This ‘Magnus’ who was in front of them was a true ultimate expert of the Celestial Realm. The outside world was rife with rumors that Magnus was supposedly a Highgod Paragon, but Oman and Chegwin actually knew for certain…

  That Magnus was indeed a Paragon.

  As a Highgod Paragon who trained in the Edicts of Fate, it could be said that Magnus’ expertise in the soul could be described as the highest amongst Highgods.

  “It seems as though the two of you have something you want to discuss, but find hard to.” Magnus laughed calmly.

  Chegwin took a deep breath. “Mr. Magnus, let me first describe this matter for you. Not long ago, Reisgem led a small squad, which in the Planar Battlefield exterminated the squad Montelo was leading. Four members died, leaving only Oman as the sole survivor.”

  “That formidable?” Magnus was rather surprised. He couldn’t help but look at Oman.

  Oman said, awkwardly, “Their squad has a Godeater Rat.”

  Magnus now understood, and the nearby golden-haired youth laughed. “I heard of this Godeater Rat long ago. So he belongs to Reisgem’s squad. Montelo’s squad lost four people; only Oman escaped? So Montelo himself died as well?”

  “Right.” Oman nodded.

  “It was Patriarch Goldman who invited you to come, yes?” Magnus laughed calmly.

  Oman laughed helplessly, “Mr. Magnus, you’ve guessed everything. We’ll be straightforward. Indeed, the Patriarch asked us to invite you to assist us. After all…there aren’t many people in the Planar Battlefield who would listen to the Augusta clan, and even fewer who can deal with Reisgem.”

  “Does Goldman have mental issues? He wants to act against Reisgem?” Magnus couldn’t help but frown.

  There weren’t many who would dare say that Goldman had mental issues. Magnus was one of them. In addition, Magnus and Goldman had a rather deep relationship between the two of them; in the past, when the two of them were weak, they had roamed the Divine Light Plane together. To invite a Paragon to help, relying on the backing of a Sovereign was useless. The only thing you could rely on was friendship and debts.

  “No, no.” Oman chortled. “Don’t worry about that. The Patriarch doesn’t intend to act against Reisgem. The Patriarch wants to deal with the other three.”

  “I can’t kill the Godeater Rat.” Magnus shook his head.

  “Right. Mr. Magnus, you are worried about Beirut?” Oman said.

  The nearby golden-haired youth, ‘Ramson’, laughed. “Mr. Magnus doesn’t worry about that, of course. Only, can it be that you don’t know that some time ago, Mr. Bayer personally went to go kill that Godeater Rat? He wasn’t able to. Mr. Bayer even stayed here for a few months to discuss this.”

  “Bayer?” Oman and Chegwin looked at each other.

  “The Godeater Rat’s defense is incredibly strong, and he has a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact. The only method is to push him into a spatial rift; otherwise, there is no way to kill him.” Magnus shook his head. “Even in chaotic space, given his material defense, he will probably be able to survive. At most, he’ll be lost. If Beirut asks for his Sovereign to help find him in chaotic space, it’s very possible the Sovereign will.”

  Oman and Chegwin only now understood how hard Godeater Rats were to deal with.

  “If you want to attack, you can only kill the youth of the Azure Dragon clan and that other person.” Magnus said with a calm laugh.

  “Mr. Magnus, if you personally get involved, there definitely won’t be any problems.” Oman said hurriedly. Chegwin looked expectantly towards Magnus as well.

  Magnus let out a chuckled. “What did that kid Goldman say to you?” Magnus looked at Oman.

  “He said that if you help him out this time, Mr. Magnus, he will give you, sir, a mutated cloudstone.” Oman said rather uncomprehendingly. He didn’t have any idea what the Patriarch’s words meant; although mutated cloudston
es were fairly rare in the Divine Light Plane, they weren’t that valuable either, less than a Highgod artifact.

  Was a mutated cloudstone enough to ask Magnus to intervene? How could that be made to happen so cheaply?

  “That kid, Goldman….he’s always so sly.” Magnus laughed and rose to his feet. “Then I’ll accompany you on this trip.”

  Oman and Chegwin couldn’t help but feel surprised. They hadn’t expected that this offer would successfully result in Magnus helping out.

  “However, I’ll only be responsible for holding off Reisgem. You can kill the other two. As for the Godeater Rat…you can just ignore him.” Magnus laughed calmly. This ‘Chegwin’ who the Augusta Patriarch had asked to come was also a supreme expert who didn’t fear the ‘Godeater’ ability.

  The three of them, together, would be able to easily deal with Reisgem’s group. In truth, Magnus by himself was more than enough.

  “Ramson, I’ll make a trip for now.” Magnus said with a laugh.

  “I’ll wait for your victorious return, sir.” The golden-haired youth laughed.

  Magnus immediately led Oman and Chegwin to leave the military camp. Watching the three depart, the golden-haired youth let out a sigh. “I hadn’t imagined that the Augusta Patriarch would actually be able to invite Mr. Magnus. It seems as though there are no doubts at all about how this battle will end up.”

  Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 46, The Unfinished Battle

  The desolate landscape. Three figures were striding across it, shoulder-to-shoulder.

  “Mr. Magnus, right here.” Oman said.

  Magnus looked about, then nodded slightly. “When Reisgem’s group of four chased after you three, they separated and attacked separately. Then with this place at the center, let’s start searching out in a circular area.” Magnus believed that Reisgem’s group shouldn’t have gone too far; they should have found a nearby place to rest.

  “Sorry to trouble you, Mr. Magnus.” Chegwin laughed.

  “I’ll just consider it as going out for a walk.” Magnus said with a calm laugh. “But if we are going to do this, you’ll have to make your preparations. It might take a very, very long time.”

  If things were fast, it might just take a day or two, but if Reisgem was resting more than a few hundred thousand kilometers away, they’d probably have to spend more than a century.

  “Mr. Magnus, if you have the patience to wait, how can the two of us be impatient when accompanying you?” Chegwin and Oman immediately followed Magnus, carefully inspecting their surroundings. Generally speaking, the radius of a commander’s divine sense was fairly small, but for the likes of Soul Mutates and Paragons or those who used Sovereign’s Might, the radius would be much larger.

  After all, Highgod Paragons had evolved souls as well.

  The three began from this point and spread out in an ever-increasing circle. This was really quite boring, but Magnus wasn’t impatient in the slightest, leisurely carrying out his stated plans, as though he was on a walking tour of the Planar Battlefield.

  Time moved on silently, and in the blink of an eye, three months passed.

  During their journey, each time Magnus encountered a mountain or a hill, he would go deep in for a search. Today, they arrived at Ramhorn Mountain!

  “Ramhorn Mountain is fairly large. I’ll need to spend a bit of time to do a detailed inspection.” Magnus instructed them, and then he flew closer to Ramhorn Mountain. He first stood at the base of Ramhorn Mountain, giving it a careful inspection, but moments later, his voice entered Oman and Chegwin’s minds. “Haha, the two of you, come over. I found them.”

  After having searched for three months, even Magnus felt happy at having found the target.

  “Found them?”

  Oman and Chegwin revealed looks of delight and laughter on their faces as they immediately flew over.

  “The two of you, don’t make any moves.” Magnus instructed mentally.

  As a Highgod Paragon, his soul had evolved once more. Unless a Highgod Paragon intentionally wanted to reveal his soul aura, as long as he was careful, commanders wouldn’t be able to sense him at all. Originally, when Bayer had located Linley and them, he had used the same method.

  Only after Bayer had voluntarily revealed his aura did Linley and the others realize he was present. By then, Bayer had already entered the corridor.

  “The four of them are gathered together in one place and chatting. Reisgem and the other four really know how to enjoy themselves. They actually built a quite impressive estate for themselves inside.” Magnus laughed mentally towards them. Moments later, Magnus said in an understanding tone, “Oh, so the Godeater Rat is ‘Bebe’. The two others are called Linley and Reihom.”

  Clearly, he had learned their names from their conversation.

  “Linley, Bebe, Reihom?” Chegwin and Oman memorized the names. Prior to this, they didn’t know the names of the enemies.

  “Prepare to act.” Magnus said with a calm laugh. “Do as I instruct…” Magnus gave missions to Oman and Chegwin for them to carry out.

  In the estate within Ramhorn Mountain.

  After the complete victory they had won, Linley’s group had once more returned to the cave estate within Ramhorn Mountain. Linley’s group of four was extremely happy here. Linley’s other divine clones were focused on training, while his main body accompanied Bebe and Reisgem in idle chatter.

  “Come, cheers.” Reisgem chortled as he raised a cup.

  Linley, Bebe, and Reihom all laughed and raised their cups as well, downing it together.

  “Bebe, as your elder bro, I don’t want to put you down.” Reisgem slapped Bebe on the shoulders, then laughed, “But look at me. Over the past three months, I’ve still spent most of my time training, while occasionally having some fun with everyone. But you? As soon as you train for a day or two, you lose the patience to train any further. How long will it take for you to make a breakthrough in fusing like this?”

  “Fusing?” Bebe rubbed his nose, then chortled, “Forget it. I had better just eat more divine sparks and strengthen my body to the limit first. Based on what Grandpa said, I’m still quite far off from the limit. It’s still hard for me to even start to forge godspark weapons.” As he spoke, Bebe grabbed a Highgod spark, then tossed it into his mouth.

  Bebe had acquired many Highgod sparks from Beirut. Highgod sparks, to Beirut, were nothing at all. After all, normally speaking, divine sparks were indestructible. Aside from Godeater Rats, who were able to destroy them, others weren’t able to do it at all. Thus, the number of divine sparks in the Netherworld, Infernal Realm, and other places was constantly growing.

  But of course, Sovereigns collected divine sparks as well, so as to reduce the number of divine sparks in the various places. Otherwise, if there were too many divine sparks, they would become worthless. What the Sovereigns did was to collect large amounts of divine sparks, and at a certain number, the Overgods would come collect them.

  If Beirut wanted divine sparks, he naturally was able to easily acquire a large number of divine sparks from the Sovereign for Bebe to eat.

  “Eating divine sparks. How badass is that.” Reisgem sighed in praise. “I want to do it as well, but I can’t.”

  Bebe was startled, then lowered his head to look at the divine spark he was holding. He immediately began to laugh. “Reisgem, I didn’t notice it before you said anything, but now that you say it, I really do feel…as though eating divine sparks is a unique trait that no one else but me possesses. Uh, and my grandfather as well.” As he spoke, Bebe intentionally tossed a divine spark into the air, and as it descended, it just so happened to fall into his mouth.

  After eating, Bebe smugly raised an eyebrow towards Linley and Reisgem.

  Linley, seeing this, couldn’t help but laugh.

  Prior to this, Linley had always carried many great burdens, but now, Linley’s life was quite simple. After all, he had already acquired four commander badges. “Now, what we need to do is to slowly wai
t, until the conclusion of the final battle.” Linley wasn’t preparing to participate in the final battle at all.

  Having already acquired enough commander badges, Linley would at most watch the final battle to its conclusion. Linley didn’t believe that he would be able to acquire ten more commander badges and trade for a Sovereign artifact.

  Right at this moment…

  “Eh? Divine sense?” Linley’s group of four rose to their feet, stunned. They sensed a powerful divine sense sweep towards them. What Linley’s group had no idea was that…this was the divine sense which Magnus had only intentionally revealed after watching for a long period of time and after having finished his combat preparations.

  “Either a Paragon or a Soul Mutate Highgod.” Linley instantly came to this conclusion.

  “BANG!” An explosive sound blasted forth.

  “Reisgem!” A gentle voice rang out. Linley’s group of four looked through the courtyard gate. They were able to clearly see three figures flying in, instantly arriving within the front courtyard. Linley’s group looked closely at the group. The leader was a pale-faced, beardless man with drooping silver eyebrows. Upon seeing this person, Linley’s group of four was terrified.

  “We meet again.” Oman laughed coldly.

  “It’s actually the three of them.” Linley knew something about the supreme experts. “The leader is Magnus, a suspected Highgod Paragon. Judging from the divine sense he sent out just now, he probably really is a Paragon. Next to him is Oman and Chegwin. Chegwin’s true body is that of a divine beast, the ‘Suanni Lion’. Terrible!”

  Chegwin was even harder to deal with than Oman! As for Magnus, he was undefeatable.

  The arrival of these three figures utterly terrified Linley’s group of four.

  “Hey, what are you doing?!” Reisgem strode forward and shouted loudly, while hurriedly sending via divine sense to Linley and the others, “The situation is bad. That Magnus is a Highgod Paragon. Chegwin has a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, and Bebe won’t be of any use. If we fight against them, we have no chance at all. The only method is to flee! Immediately, we’ll scatter in all directions. The more of us who escape, the better.”