Chapter 425 - 291: Twists and Turns

"...I believe Levi is a peerless genius, the kind rarely seen. Miracles follow him, and he’s always doing things that shock the world."

"He is also incredibly charismatic. Though he may seem like a devil-may-care rogue on the outside, he is a man of high moral character on the inside. I can’t even begin to describe all his virtues, but I’ve seen a quality in him that no one else possesses: equality."

"He scorns sucking up to the high-and-mighty nobles, yet he can completely lose himself in a conversation about street-level gossip with the common folk."

Fatir recounted everything she had witnessed while living with Levi. Previously, she had only rushed to recruit him after hearing about his Talent from Liya.

But now, after everything she had seen and heard on their journey, she was completely won over by his personal charm.

"I don’t care why you’re asking about him, but Levi is now a member of the Holy Light Church!" Fatir’s expression suddenly turned cold, her emotionless voice filled with warning. "If you dare to plot anything against him, there will be no place for you in all of Debei!"

She wasn’t bluffing.

Although Debei believed in three gods, the mainstream faith was still the Holy Light Goddess. Even the King would have to think twice before offending the Holy Light Church.

After all, the story of the Holy Knights’ southern crusade was still fresh in the minds of many.

’What an interesting little girl. It would be a different story if your master were the one saying this to me.’

Xi Ang thought to himself, but on his face was just a noncommittal smile.

...

The wind howled past his ears; if Levi opened his mouth, he’d get a bellyful of it. Fortunately, this didn’t last long. Once Sophia ascended to a higher altitude and entered a stable flight pattern, the gale subsided.

"Levi, what do we do now?" Sophia’s voice rang out in his mind. She was using Mind Communication magic.

As a dragon from Dragon Island who had only ever killed the Sea Beasts her elders had captured for her, Sophia’s combat ability was practically zero.

Despite her exceptional Talent and mastery of many spells, if she were ever caught alone against a Five-Colored Wild Dragon of the same age from the Wilderness, she would either end up as its servant or another soul lost to its Dragon Breath.

Levi was honestly amazed that such a goofy dragon had managed to cross the Storm Sea to the Wilderness unscathed, and had even gathered a considerable number of Vassals.

In the end, Levi could only attribute it to the fact that the Dragon Vein Dog-men and the other Wilderness People were just a bunch of uncultured, illiterate bumpkins.

They simply saw a Giant Dragon and, without a second thought about whether it was a whelp or even of normal intelligence, immediately swore fealty and submitted to its rule.

The result proved that their choice had been a terrible mistake, as they ultimately became restless souls put to the sword by a certain someone.

"Fly low, and give the area with the most Six-armed Snake Demons a baptism of Dragon Breath!"

Although this was the Lord’s first time being a Dragon Knight—like a bride getting into the sedan chair for the first time—he hadn’t watched Game of Thrones and The Hobbit in his past life for nothing.

He could at least copy what he’d seen and have Sophia unleash her Dragon Breath. That should be easy enough.

"Okay," Sophia’s voice echoed in his mind.

Unfortunately, the thought was beautiful, but reality was harsh.

A Giant Dragon’s flying ability was unquestionable. With a beautiful high-altitude turn, she reversed course and headed back toward the White Bone Fortress.

But the Lord had overestimated her aim.

A crisp dragon roar seemed to declare the majesty of the sky’s overlord, and along with it came a blast of ghastly white Frost Breath.

The massive dragon head spat out a fan-shaped cone of Dragon Breath that swept from the sky to the ground. Though it was a warm summer, the air instantly turned as cold as the dead of winter.

Countless buildings were instantly frozen into lifelike ice sculptures, along with dozens of Six-armed Snake Demon Warriors on the periphery. Even worse, the dumb creature nearly hit their own allies.

Thankfully, she retracted her breath just as it was about to reach the High Cliff Castle contingent, but it was enough to scare the unsuspecting Fujero so badly his face turned pale, thinking he was about to be buried under Dragon Breath.

"Worri, is this the genius Silver Dragon you were talking about?" the Lord asked, completely speechless.

He even suspected Sophia had been boasting. After all, when you’re out in the world, you can make up your own reputation.

Hadn’t the Lord himself used that very trick to get by in the Western Territory?

"I was a little nervous," Sophia said, her voice lacking confidence.

To prove herself, she didn’t even wait for the Lord’s command. With a graceful turn, she once again unleashed her Frost Breath at the army of Six-armed Snake Demons on the ground.

The next moment, everyone from High Cliff Castle stared with wide eyes.

A Giant Beast with a wingspan of nearly thirty ren, large enough to blot out the sun, dove from the sky. A violent gust of wind hit first, making the banners of the Burning Corps snap and flutter, followed by a bone-chilling Frost Breath.

No matter how brave or powerful the Six-armed Snake Demon Warriors were, the moment the breath touched them, they were instantly frozen into ice sculptures.

They shrieked and tried to flee, but they were packed shoulder-to-shoulder with their comrades; there was nowhere to run.

They could only watch helplessly as the breath descended upon them.

In that single sweeping breath, a quick glance revealed that at least a thousand Six-armed Snake Demons in a long line had been turned into ice sculptures.

"Hahaha! Levi, did you see that? That is the true power of Sophia, the genius Silver Dragon!"

A triumphant voice echoed in his mind.

Levi could almost picture the Silver Dragon Maiden with her hands on her hips, laughing with an air of incredible arrogance.

Unfortunately, this triumph was short-lived. Just as Sophia prepared to repeat her attack, she found that the Six-armed Snake Demon Warriors were ready for her.

They gripped their Long Spears, eyes fixed on the silver shadow circling in the sky, while Demon Wizards hidden among the Demons began to quietly chant their spells.

The moment the giant shadow swooped down to its lowest point, countless javelins shot toward the sky like a rain of steel, and multicolored spells smashed into the arrogant Giant Dragon.

These Six-armed Snake Demon Warriors were truly top-tier Warriors. Even from a distance of nearly a hundred ren, their spears still possessed immense killing power.

Dragon Scales are renowned for their toughness, able to withstand even a shot from a Bed Crossbow, but that definitely didn’t apply to a Silver Dragon still in her adolescence.

The spears left white marks on her Dragon Scales, and the spells left Sophia reeling. If the Lord hadn’t been desperately clinging to her scales, he would have been thrown off.

With a panicked roar, the pained Silver Dragon fled in terror without even letting loose a single puff of Dragon Breath, her figure vanishing from the skies above the White Bone Fortress.

Levi’s judgment hadn’t been wrong, exactly. With Sophia’s help, dealing with the Six-armed Snake Demon Warriors shouldn’t have been difficult. But he had overlooked her true nature: she was just a greenhorn girl.

All her knowledge came from her heritage or from books; she had absolutely no real combat experience. Combined with her cowardly personality—bullying the weak and fearing the strong—she was even worse than Zhao Kuo, the armchair general.

"Damn it, what the hell are you doing?" the Lord roared, pointing at the rapidly receding White Bone Fortress. "Fly back and let’s go finish them!"

"I can’t!" Sophia’s voice was trembling. It was obvious that the small bit of courage she had mustered had been shattered by the Demons’ counterattack.

"Why not?"

The simple-minded Sophia blurted out her true thoughts like pouring out beans: "I’ll die! Those spears will pierce my Dragon Scales and stab my heart, and the magic will roast me into a dragon jerky!"

"You coward!" The Lord was utterly disappointed, like a parent whose child won’t live up to their potential.

"For fuck’s sake! Those spears couldn’t even scrape off a scale, let alone pierce them! All they did was leave a white mark, and you call that a near-death experience?"

It was the first time he had ever cursed in front of the Silver Dragon.

As expected of Legendary Creatures at the top of the food chain, even a young Giant Dragon was not something a group of Six-armed Snake Demon Warriors without heavy siege weaponry could handle.

The forcefully thrown spears could at most leave a white mark. With her exceptional Magic Resistance, the multicolored spells were barely enough to warm Sophia up a bit.

But her personality was simply too cowardly. The moment she felt the slightest pain, she assumed she was losing and was no match for them, perfectly inheriting the Lord’s own policy that ’retreat is the best strategy’.