Chapter 45: 45. Worries of the Greater Dragons

Meanwhile, in the War Room of the Palace.

The five Greater Dragons stood around the circular table, its surface now displaying a magical projection of the entire continent. The map was incredibly detailed, showing not just kingdoms and cities but mana flows, ley lines, and areas of magical disturbance.

Three distinct territories were highlighted in different colors:

Averion in the north (blue), its borders sharp and militaristic.

Great Zerath in the south (red), sprawling and ambitious

And Sillawells in the east (green), smaller but strategically positioned.

Glacius pointed to a dark spot on the map, a region between all three kingdoms, unmarked and pulsing with an ominous black energy that seemed to spread like a stain on the map.

“The egg’s location. We’re certain now. Our scrying finally broke through the interference.”

“The Shadowgrave lands,” Veridra said, her voice tight with concern, her serpentine eyes fixed on the pulsing darkness. “A place where neither human kingdoms nor our eyes can easily reach. The mana there is corrupted By the Miasma of Fallen Outer-Divinities, twisted by the catastrophe that created it centuries ago. It interferes with scrying magic, disrupts teleportation, and warps the natural laws of reality.”

Zephron spun his dagger absently, the blade catching the light from the magical map. “So we send a strike team. Go in, retrieve the egg, get out. Quick and clean.”

“Zephron, you know It’s not that simple,” Fey’rath interjected, her usually playful tone gone, replaced by cold calculation. “The Shadowgrave lands are infested with creatures that evolved from the dead bodies of Outer-Divinities, specifically to hunt dragons. all of them drawn to draconic energy like moths to flame. Whoever stole the egg chose that location deliberately. It’s a trap designed specifically for us.”

“Then we don’t send just any dragon,” Chronara said quietly, her voice cutting through the discussion like a knife.

All eyes turned to her, the ancient dragon leaning on her staff, violet eyes glowing faintly in the dim light of the war room.

“Let us send the human. And the Young king.”

Glacius’s expression darkened, ice forming on the table around his clenched fists. “You want to send those two children into the Shadowgrave lands? Are you mad?”

“They are not children, Glacius,” Chronara corrected sternly.

“Owen has completed the Tower of Royals. He has evolved. He has proven himself worthy of the Blood of Kings. And the human, Yuki…” She paused, her eyes distant, seeing something the others couldn’t.

“She has faced trials that would break most adult humans. She has emerged with power that surpasses her peers. And she has been gifted a Primordial Slime, a creature of legendary potential that hasn’t been seen in this world for millennia.”

Veridra’s serpentine pupils narrowed to slits. “You’ve seen something, haven’t you? In the timestream. You’ve looked ahead? What does their fate read?”

Chronara didn’t deny it. “I have seen multiple futures. Hundreds of possibilities branching from this moment.” Her staff tapped against the floor, each tap punctuating her words.

“In most of them, we fail. The egg is lost. The Dragon King never returns. And Drak’thar falls to chaos. The three kingdoms go to war, and in their conflict, they unleash forces they cannot control. The world burns because of our failure.”

The room fell silent. The weight of her words pressed down on them all.

“But,” she continued, her voice gaining strength, “in one future, one narrow, fragile possibility, those two succeed where we cannot.”

Zephron leaned forward, his storm-gray eyes gleaming with interest. “So we send them on a retrieval mission. What about the three kingdoms? They’re on the brink of war. If they find out the egg is right there, sitting in unclaimed territory between all of them, even their fear of the Shadowgrave lands won’t stop their mad ambition of claiming the dragon king’s egg…”

“Then we ensure they don’t find out,” Glacius said coldly, his voice like breaking ice. “We keep this information contained. The fewer who know, the better. If word spreads that the Dragon King’s egg is sitting in the Shadowgrave, all three kingdoms will send armies. Chaos will be imminent”

Veridra crossed her arms, scales rippling across her skin. “And what of The Cult? What of those who orchestrated this theft in the first place?”

Silence fell over the table, heavy and oppressive.

Fey’rath’s expression grew grim, all traces of her usual playfulness gone. “You mean the ones responsible for stealing the egg in the first place. The ones who’ve been moving in the shadows for decades.”

“The Cult of the Descending One,” Chronara said, her voice heavy with ancient dread. “They believe that by corrupting the Dragon King’s egg, by performing their dark rituals upon it, it could become the perfect vessel to host their summoned Outer-Divinity

into this world. A being of pure entropy and destruction. They’ve been operating in the shadows for decades, gathering power, recruiting believers from all three kingdoms, building toward this moment.”

“We’ve eliminated several of their cells,” Glacius said, his fist still clenched on the table. “Burned their temples. Killed their priests. But they’re like weeds. Cut one down, three more sprout up in different locations.”

“Their leader remains hidden,” Veridra added, frustration clear in her voice.

“We don’t even know their name. Only that they possess knowledge of ancient magics that should have been lost with the fall of the Old Empire. Dark rituals. Forbidden summoning techniques. They’re dangerous in ways that go beyond simple power.”

Chronara’s eyes glowed brighter, violet light spilling across the war table. “The cult will be in the Shadowgrave. They will have their guards up. Layers upon layers of defenses. But again…”

She looked toward the door, as if she could see through it, through the walls, to where Owen and Yuki slept in their chambers, then her face reddened as she blushed at what she saw.

“Ahem—Those two are our best chance. Perhaps our only chance.”

Glacius slammed his fist on the table, cracking the stone, sending spiderwebs of fractures across its surface. The magical projection flickered but held. “I don’t like sending untested outsiders on a mission this critical. The fate of the world and dragonkind rests on this egg!”

“They’re not untested anymore,” Chronara said firmly, meeting his icy glare with her own timeless gaze.

Fey’rath sighed, running a hand through her hair. “She’s right, Glacius. You know she is. those two? They’re anomalies that might actually have a chance.”

Glacius was silent for a long moment, his ice-blue eyes fixed on the pulsing darkness on the map. Then, finally, he nodded slowly.

“Very well. We will approach them tomorrow and explain the situation. And then we will ask, not order, offer them a choice, if they’re willing to undertake this mission.”

“And if they refuse?” Zephron asked, though his tone suggested he already knew the answer.

Chronara smiled faintly, sadly. “They won’t. I’ve seen that much at least. The choice is theirs, but I know what they will choose.”

“Your visions are not infallible, Chronara,” Veridra warned, her voice cautious. “You’ve said so yourself. The timestream is fluid, constantly shifting. One wrong word, one unexpected variable, one butterfly flapping its wings a different way and the future you saw could become impossible.”

“Yes, they are not infallible,” Chronara agreed readily. “The future is never certain. But in this case, I am as certain as one can be. Those two are bound by fate, by a heavenly mandate that defines all dragons, whether they know it or not.”

Her violet eyes glowed with ancient power, with the weight of prophecy. “They will protect the World.”

The Greater Dragons exchanged glances, silent communication passing between beings who had known each other for centuries.

Finally, Glacius spoke, his voice carrying finality. “Alright then, let us hope, for all our sakes, that Chronara’s visions are correct.”

“Hope is a fragile thing,” Chronara said softly, “but sometimes, it’s all we have.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep