Chapter 136: Master, you’re finally here

"You humans have taken away so much from us," Aria sneered in a boiling rage. "I swear I’m going to kill every last one of you. If only Naomi was here..."

Kaelen shot the woman a side glance, wondering if she might’ve forgotten he was standing right next to her.

He was extremely calm at that moment, because Kaelen knew no matter how bad the situation became, he could always take a short break to devour his stockpile of primordial items from the ruins and Antarctica, and use the evolution points to evolve just enough to snap the overgrown Titan out of existence.

He didn’t mind burning all his loot for that, because killing that Titan alone would surely reward him with enough evolution points to cover the entire loss.

"If I may ask, is the Naomi you speak of possibly an alpha wolf?" he asked curiously.

Aria stared at him in surprise. "How’d you know? Do you know what happened to her?"

"Do you think she can buy me enough time to get ready?" Kaelen asked without answering her questions.

He didn’t need the alpha wolf girl captive anymore. He already found his mother, and she was going to tell him everything herself. Kaelen was going to make sure of that.

"I’m not entirely certain, but she’s the strongest out of us all assigned to this world."

"I see... I’ll be right back then."

Kaelen disappeared from the spot before Aria could question him any further, and reappeared in his castle.

SKD was the first to greet him. Apparently, all his shadow summons were immortal and could always be resummoned after being killed.

If Felix had killed him as a human, Kaelen wasn’t certain the Supreme Elder Dragon would have a chance now that he was a Colossal Titan. But what difference would Mythic-Tier dragons make if even a Supreme Elder Dragon couldn’t do it?

Kaelen was placing all his hopes in overwhelming Felix with ten thousand of them.

But most importantly, Kaelen had intentionally put the Mythic-Tier dragon eggs together in one place without any food source for whenever they hatched, and intentionally forgot about them.

It was a gamble that could either leave him with zero dragons after they all starved to death, or just one that evolved beyond limits by feeding on the other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine."

"Find Kenora and bring her to me." He immediately ordered as he headed down straight for the dungeon.

As soon as he arrived at the basement being used for a dungeon, he moved across the cells till he arrived before the only one that held a person inside, when he paused before the gates.

The woman was sitting on the bunk bed in a dark corner of the cell, and didn’t react at all to Kaelen’s presence.

"Your name’s Naomi, right?" Kaelen asked.

His mention of her name made her flinch and shudder, but she didn’t say a word.

"I have one good news and two bad news for you," Kaelen continued without waiting for her reply. "The bad news is, at least half of your people have already died as collateral damage in the ruins, and as we speak now, there’s a Colossal Titan charging straight back for the ruins to finish what it started and to kidnap your High Priestess and the Founder."

Kaelen specifically mentioned the Founder to know if it’d draw any specific reaction from her, but except for her shoulders trembling in probably rage, Naomi didn’t react much to his words.

"...What’s the good news?" She suddenly asked, her voice hesitant like she’d deliberated against engaging with him but didn’t realize when she asked anyways.

"The good news is, I’m setting you free now."

"...Are you trying to trick me?"

"No. I no longer have a use for keeping you here, but would rather need you in the battlefield to buy me enough time to get ready and take over from wherever you stop to kill the Titan myself."

Naomi was silent for a moment. "Why me?"

"Don’t get me wrong, but I spoke with Aria and she believes you might be of help."

"Y-You spoke with... Aria spoke with you?"

"Yeah, long story. Now the moment I open this gate, I’d also be retracting the negative energy around you that keeps you grounded here." As Kaelen said that, the gate slowly swung open.

Naomi didn’t move immediately, but finally stepped out of the shadows and climbed down from the bed barefoot, before she slowly approached the open gate and crossed it to stand before Kaelen, who hadn’t moved from the spot.

"After that?" she asked as she glared at him, but didn’t make any move.

"After that we call it a day. Don’t expect me to split loot with you either, ’cause I’m only doing you a favor by participating in this battle in the first place. I have nothing to lose if your people were to all die today."

The woman’s lips twitched, and anger flashed before her eyes. For a moment she just stood there like she was deliberating going for Kaelen’s neck, which was at arm’s reach, when a series of footsteps suddenly came from the stairs.

Kaelen tilted his head to see Kenora appear from the corner and start moving towards him, when she suddenly froze on the spot, staring at the open gate. "D-Did she escape?"

"No, I set her free." Kaelen replied after he saw Naomi had disappeared as soon as Kenora came in.

"W-What?"

"I also need you for something. How fast can you craft health potions?"

"Like every five minutes, but I don’t have enough ingredients on me to craft any more than two vials. Maybe if you set me free as well I can go fetch the ingredients and return." She said this with an innocent smile.

"Nice try. Give me the one you have already."

"Tch. Fine."

[You have received a transfer request of (5) Health Potions from Kenora Darkblood] [Y / N]

"Huh?" Kaelen was genuinely surprised at the prompt. He expected the Drakonis to take them out and hand them over, but it turns out her system was more advanced and accepted online trades and transfers.

Interesting.

Only if she knew the more she showed him, the longer her sentence in the castle would be.

Kaelen would still have to compensate her for that.

He immediately accepted the transfer, and the five health potions appeared in his inventory. He didn’t waste any more time after that to switch between World Authority Fragments.

"Be safe... I guess," Kenora trailed off after Kaelen suddenly disappeared.

Kaelen’s view immediately changed to mountainous terrain of pouring lava. But even at the high temperature, he didn’t feel hot or uncomfortable in the weather.

He ran his eyes across the terrain, taking note that there wasn’t a single dragon in sight, nor were there any large eggs lying around.

’Maybe they’re probably all asleep,’ Kaelen mused to himself hopefully as he activated his [Sharp Senses] and spread his perception across the world.

The first thing he noticed was bones. Large bones and skeletons, spread across the terrain.

His heart skipped a beat, but he didn’t stop as he began searching the entire domain for any signs of life, but was only met with more bones upon bones and clean dragon skeletons.

Did they really all die of hunger?!

Kaelen’s eyes widened in surprise when he suddenly picked up something. On a mountain peak was a small figure.

It wasn’t a dragon, but on closer inspection, it looked more like a human sitting in a lotus position with an absurdly long sword sitting on her lap.

Kaelen was confused. From her long hair, which reached her waist, and her slim but prominent stature, it looked like a woman. Her skin was flawless without a single sign of scale on her skin like Kenora, which only made Kaelen even more confused.

But before he could zoom in further on the meditating woman, her eyes suddenly snapped open, and she tilted her head just enough to stare straight into the void where Kaelen was staring at her from using his [Sharp Senses].

For a moment, both figures froze as they stared at each other in a deadlock. Before the woman’s lips finally parted to say something that completely shattered Kaelen’s reasoning.

"Master, you’re finally here. There aren’t many evolution spores here to cultivate, but I managed to increase my rank from Mythic to Transcendant after devouring every last one of them."

’...Huh?’