Chapter 474 - 384: The Holy See’s Dragon Extermination War Begins
Chapter 474: Chapter 384: The Holy See’s Dragon Extermination War Begins
"Looks like the match isn’t over yet."
He teased.
Ed rubbed his stinging cheek, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"My lord, where did you learn a move like that?"
"A simplified version of a Giant Dragon’s breath."
Just as the two were about to start again, a Personal Guard ran into the square.
"My lord, urgent military intelligence!"
The relaxed atmosphere in the square instantly froze.
Raylo’s smile vanished. He strode over.
"Speak."
The Personal Guard knelt on one knee, presenting a letter sealed with wax.
Raylo took the letter, casually wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, and broke the seal.
He unfolded the thin sheet of parchment.
"The newly appointed commander of the Light Holy See’s Holy Radiance Knight Order, Tier Six Holy Knight Gust, has led his Knight Order north. Three days ago, in the Duchy Capital City of the Storm Duchy, he beheaded the Guardian Giant Dragon—the Wind Dragon Aglaia. The Storm Duke Delisen was judged a heretic and executed on the spot. The Storm Duchy... has fallen."
Those few short lines nearly made the blood in Raylo’s veins run cold.
Storm Duchy...
Raylo was familiar with the name of this country.
It was several thousand kilometers from Black Stone Territory, one of the dozens of Dragon Realms on the Continent closest to the Light Holy See’s sphere of influence in the South.
It was a prosperous land, and by no means a weak Duchy.
Their Guardian Giant Dragon, Aglaia, was an adult Domain Level Wind Dragon. It was said she had reached the Domain Level Peak many years ago.
’But a nation like that, along with its Guardian Giant Dragon, just... fell?’
’Annihilated so casually by a Tier Six Holy Knight named Gust?’
A chill shot up from the soles of Raylo’s feet to the crown of his head.
He was horrified, not by the fall of the Storm Duchy, but by the suffocating signal it sent.
In the past, although the Light Holy See considered all nations allied with Giant Dragons to be heretical, their actions were mostly limited to verbal condemnation, economic blockades, or proxy wars.
There had never been such an open and bloody direct military campaign.
’To directly dispatch a Catastrophe Level Knight and a Knight Order under the Holy See’s direct command to march north and annihilate a nation?’
This was no longer a warning, nor was it a test.
This was a declaration of war.
The Light Holy See had raised its butcher’s knife against every Dragon Realm on the Continent.
Raylo stared intently at the words "Tier Six Holy Knight" on the intelligence report.
Tier Six, Catastrophe Level. These were beings who stood at the apex of the Continent, hailed as "saints walking the earth."
Every Tier Six powerhouse possessed the ability to destroy an ordinary Kingdom single-handedly.
And now, such a figure, leading the Holy See’s most elite Knight Order, had begun their journey of "purification."
The Storm Duchy was only the first.
’Who would be next?’
The last ray of the setting sun vanished below the horizon, and night quickly enveloped the land.
A cool evening breeze blew past.
He slowly folded the parchment.
Not long ago, he had been standing here full of pride, secretly pleased with himself for having subjugated over a hundred Hill Giants and for the soaring future of Black Stone Territory.
He had still been scheming how to sell the Giants’ Weapons to the Giant City-States and open up new sources of revenue.
But now, in the face of the coming world-ending storm, all of it seemed so insignificant, so laughable.
The clouds of war were no longer distant.
They were rolling in from the South, blotting out the sky.
...
Outside the window, the sky was beginning to show the pale light of dawn.
As a new day arrived,
Raylo appeared in the Giant City-State, inside the massive stone house that belonged to him and Kado.
Outside, the sky was just beginning to brighten.
The two Suns had not yet appeared, with only a faint halo of light visible beyond the horizon.
At this time, it was also morning in the Giant Dragon Realm.
The enormous stone house was spacious and quiet, with only the faint, rhythmic sound of snoring echoing within.
Kado and Gordo, the two Hill Giants, were sprawled out on a pallet made of thick Beast Hides, sleeping soundly.
Raylo’s figure passed through the stone door from the outside and walked in.
Raylo nodded to Moonlight.
Soon, the familiar sensation returned. His bones stretched, his muscles swelled, and his skin became as tough as rock. Raylo’s field of vision rapidly rose higher, and everything around him seemed to "shrink" at a visible rate.
A moment later, the Hill Giant Carlo stood in his place.
Raylo flexed his thick fingers and clenched his fist, feeling the Power surging through his body. He turned to look at the still-slumbering Kado and Gordo.
"Kado, wake up."
The snoring continued.
"Kado, Gordo, the Suns are up!"
Kado rolled over, making the ground tremble slightly, and mumbled something in his sleep.
"Meat... a little more charred..."
Raylo felt a bit helpless.
He walked over to Kado and poked his arm with a huge finger.
It felt like prodding a tough piece of leather, and the other Giant didn’t react at all.
’It seems conventional methods won’t wake them.’
Raylo thought of a mischievous idea.
He went over to Moonlight and whispered a few words to it.
Moonlight tilted its cat-like head, seeming to find the idea very interesting.
The next second, two balls of water the size of a Giant’s head materialized above Kado’s and Gordo’s heads and then fell simultaneously.
"ACHOO!"
"HA-CHOO!"
Two earth-shattering sneezes exploded at the same time, like thunderclaps on a clear day.
Kado and Gordo shot up, their faces blank with confusion.
"What happened? Is it raining?"
Gordo asked in his booming voice.
"No, it’s a flood."
Kado shook his massive head, feeling that it was completely wet.
Only when they saw Carlo standing before them did they belatedly realize what had happened.
"My lord, you’re here."
Kado greeted Raylo while rubbing his eyes.
"Get ready. We have important business to attend to today."
At the mention of important business, the two Giants immediately perked up.
Raylo pointed to the enormous Space Stone Wall in the corner of the stone house.
"Move this Space Stone Wall to Ug’s tribe."
Kado patted his chest.
"Leave it to me!"
Although the Space Stone Wall was very heavy, it wasn’t a huge burden for a Domain Level Hill Giant like Kado.
The reason for bringing the Space Stone Wall over was to avoid causing too much of a commotion.
After all, if an entire tribe of over a hundred Hill Giants were to disappear into Raylo and Kado’s stone house, it would be hard for others not to notice.
A few hours later, as dawn broke, the first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds, trimming the continuous mountain range with a golden edge.
The three of them—Raylo and the others—were trekking through the mountains.
Kado walked at the very front.
With his arms held high, he carried the massive Space Stone Wall on his shoulder as if he were holding up a small mountain.
It had likely rained heavily in the past few days, as the ground was very wet and soft.
With every step Kado took, he left a footprint over a meter deep in the ground.
Raylo, in his "Carlo" form, and Gordo followed on either side of Kado.
"Kado, are you tired?"
Raylo asked.
"Not tired!"
Kado answered in his rough voice, a hint of pride in his tone.
"My lord, this thing isn’t even as heavy as the Unicorn Giant Rhinoceros I hunted last time! It just digs into my shoulder a bit."
Gordo laughed from the side.
"Kado, if you can’t handle it, let me take over."
"Get lost!"
Kado shot Gordo a glare.
"I could carry this thing to the end of the world!"
As they passed through the last stretch of the Giant Wood Forest, Ug’s tribe finally came into view.
It was a Giant settlement situated on a plateau, composed of dozens of enormous stone houses and wooden sheds.
Wisps of cooking smoke curled up, mingling with the morning mist in the mountains.
Their arrival was like a giant stone dropped into a calm lake.
The Hill Giants of the tribe came out of their stone houses, gathering in the open space at the center of the settlement.
Wuba Tribe Leader and Ug were already waiting at the very front of the tribe.
Wuba’s face showed little expression, but a complex light flickered in his eyes.
Ug, beside him, was visibly excited.
"Go, gather everyone."
Wuba ordered Ug.
"Yes, Father!"
Ug acknowledged the order and turned to run deeper into the tribe’s settlement. His roar soon echoed through the valley.