Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Meeting and Secrets

Adonis descended into the underground mine alone.

The space was not large enough to accommodate dragons freely. Only those in dragonoid form could enter and mine the precious Spirit Iron ores comfortably.

Along the walls, he noticed several traces of crystalline ores alongside many other earth elements, but none of them were his priority right now.

He went deeper.

Luminescent crystals embedded along the walls guided his path forward, their pale glow steady and ancient, as though they had been lighting this tunnel long before anyone thought to mine it.

100 meters…200m…500m…800m… 1,200m…2,000m…2,500m.

He was now nearly 3 kilometers underground.

The environment was dark and scorching, the heat pressing against him from every direction with the accumulated intensity of the earth’s own furnace. But to his constitution, it was nothing more than a warm embrace.

He pressed on.

He finally arrived at the end of the passage, where an underground chamber opened before him like a hidden world that had been waiting patiently for someone to find it.

The chamber was vast and cathedral-like, its ceiling stretching high above in natural arches of dark stone.

Some light was filtering through from the ceiling above, though he could not understand how.

Just then, something caught his eye.

Something white and massive.

He moved closer, then produced a chaotic purple light from his fingertips to illuminate the surroundings. Though if anyone accidentally came close to that purple light, they would be reduced to ashes instantly.

“Just what is this thing?” he muttered with curiosity as his hands ran across the white and massive object.

It stood like a wall. Incomprehensibly massive.

His palm felt like a tiny dot compared to its size.

He gradually stepped back to get a broader view, all while increasing the purple light on his palm to see further.

Then his pupils shrank. His heart even skipped for a second.

“A skeleton?”

Indeed. It was a skeleton. But not just any skeleton.

It belonged to a dragon whose size rivaled a five thousand meter tall mountain.

Ancient and old, yet still joined together as if an invisible force held every bone in place like glue.

Anyone else who had seen this would have been shocked beyond belief.

But Adonis was merely surprised.

〔 So, you have finally returned to me, Chaos 〕

The sudden voice put him on immediate alert. It sounded less like something speaking from outside and more like something speaking directly within his mind.

Which was, to be honest, considerably unsettling.

“Who is this?” he asked, barely maintaining his calm.

Following his question, a translucent silhouette of a colossal dragon manifested from the dust of the ancient bones, rising slowly and vast until it filled the chamber entirely.

The ethereal white dragon looked down at Adonis with unmistakable reverence.

〔 God Chaos. It is me. Your child, Tiamat 〕

Hearing the name, he furrowed his brows. “Tiamat? Are you not the Progenitor of Dragons?”

〔Yes. It is me, Allfather. 〕she replied.

“Then why are you addressing me as though I birthed you? And is it not I who inherited your Core? Should I not be your Heir instead?”

That was a logical argument.

But Tiamat’s silhouette looked genuinely disappointed.

〔 Sigh. It seems you still have not recovered all of your soul shards 〕

“What do you mean by that? What soul shards?” he pressed, his heart beating harder than he would admit.

The colossal dragon continued:

〔 I was born from your essence. That is why our affinities match so perfectly. I did not choose you. You chose me. I do not know what you truly are, or why you created me, but I know you were extraordinarily powerful. Far, far more powerful than this fragile universe could contain.

You simply said that you would be reborn, and that I must help in any way I can. As a reward, you promised I would get to see the Greater World. But unfortunately, I fell because of Karmic Backlash. That fiend, Sword God Ascalon, came to claim my life. 〕

“Wait a minute,” Adonis interrupted. “What you are saying makes no sense. Sword God Ascalon was born just a few centuries ago, while you fell thousands of years ago. Did he…”

His high intelligence connected the dots immediately. If she was not lying, then Ascalon had traveled back into the past.

Noticing the realization crossing his face, Tiamat replied quickly:

〔 Yes. He possessed an artifact capable of traveling to any timeline, whether past or future, while ignoring all Karmic Backlash entirely. 〕

“I see,” Adonis muttered, falling deeply into thought.

So many things remained unanswered. His own origin had become more mysterious than he ever imagined.

First reincarnating into his own novel. Then gaining an incredible World Defying Sword and other mind-blowing encounters one after another.

Now that he thought about it, everything felt too coincidental. Too perfectly arranged.

Perhaps someone, his prime self, had already planned everything from beginning to end.

But why? What was the reason behind such careful planning?

And was he merely a shadow of his former self, waiting to be erased once he became whole again?

Then there was the ever cunning, ever insidious, ultimate manipulator, Sword God Ascalon, whom he had created with his own pen.

Why had Ascalon been targeting him before his reincarnation?

Where was he now? Was he hiding in the dark, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike?

The thought alone unsettled him in ways very few things ever had. He had always believed his life was within his own control. But now, everything he assumed felt like it was quietly crumbling beneath his feet.

In a careful and sweet tone, Tiamat spoke again:

〔 Although I do not know why Ascalon came for us, I did everything I could. I stored my Core for you to inherit, so that it can help you in any way possible.

I believed there is no force in this world capable of stopping your rise. And I still do. So I waited, Waited for the day you would come and free me 〕

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