Chapter 625: Elderly Garoth
The midday sun was brilliant, coating the earth in a layer of gold leaf.
But in Claudia's field of vision, as he looked up at the red iron dragon, the sunlight at this moment was far less radiant than the one before him. The red iron dragon's body seemed to become infinitely majestic in his eyes, obscuring heaven and earth in all directions.
At this moment, Claudia truly faced his own spirit.
From the moment he resolved to offer his loyalty in exchange for warmth and satisfaction, only one sun remained in his heart.
"The heavens have no two suns."
Claudia snapped back from his daze, his expression becoming solemn and focused.
He raised his head, his gaze meeting the red iron dragon's blazing eyes, and spoke:
"Great Emperor Garoth, the shining and glorious Red Emperor, you will be my only sun. I will bathe in your glory, take pride in becoming your hound, and clear all obstacles for you."
"As for those rebels who disrespect you, those enemies who dare defy you..."
The jackal's voice paused. He slowly bared his mouthful of sharp fangs, a cruel smile spreading across his face.
"I will tear apart their skin, rip open their flesh, and pull out their bones and organs."
"Then, while they are still wailing, I will use their mutilated bodies to spell out your title, using blood and death to sing your praises, so everyone knows what fate awaits those who defy the Red Emperor's will."
The moment these words were spoken, the air around them seemed to freeze solid.
Garoth narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing at the jackal before him.
The earlier declarations of loyalty were fairly normal.
But the scene described in that last sentence...
If his followers did that, what would those who didn't understand the truth think?
An emperor who delights in cruelty?
A tyrant who encourages his men to use enemy corpses to spell out words?
However, Garoth did not correct Claudia's thinking.
Rain and dew are grace, and thunder is also grace.
Everything is divine favor.
A dragon monarch with such broad-mindedness, combined with both strength and wisdom, was enough to win the sincere submission of the vast majority of intelligent beings.
But this world has never lacked stubborn and obstinate people.
Those rigid, ignorant, prejudice-blinded fools will always find reasons to resist his will.
At times like this, a loyal and ruthless hound is necessary—one that can solve problems for its master in the most direct and uncompromising way.
But for now, Garoth did not intend to publicize the fact that a Mandate Chrome Dragon had submitted to him.
Sorog was right earlier.
His radiance was too brilliant. It would expose more malicious existences, and those lurking in the shadows would, out of fear of his power, frantically seek out his weaknesses.
In that situation, it was best to keep Claudia hidden first.
Hide him beneath the surface, in the shadows. At a critical moment, he might be able to create the greatest surprise.
Bending a human Mandate to one's will was one thing.
People might still maliciously speculate that Reinhardt chose to submit because the inherently evil red iron dragon had taken the entire Divine Kingdom of Theo as hostage, using the lives of countless Theo people to force that human Mandate to yield.
But Claudia was completely different.
Who could have imagined that the notorious, mentally deranged Deep Freeze Tyrant could also be tamed? That a Mandate Chrome Dragon, who delighted in killing and devouring, would lower his proud head and swear allegiance to another great dragon?
Gurgle, gurgle.
Suddenly, a sound came from Claudia's stomach, breaking the brief silence.
He awkwardly scratched the fur on his neck, then raised his head, a look of longing in his eyes as he gazed hopefully at the red iron dragon.
Garoth knew what he wanted.
During the past treatment sessions, Claudia had grown accustomed to achieving satiety through his Dragon Breath.
But now, in his Super Flash Overlord State, he could only make Claudia physically pass out by swatting him. He couldn't make him feel full with Dragon Breath.
However, that wasn't a problem.
After this period of treatment, Claudia's binge-eating disorder was actually mostly cured.
Or rather, it had been replaced by a new kind of need or desire.
With normal eating, he could get full, just like an ordinary great dragon.
"Follow me."
Garoth said, extending a dragon claw to lift the jackal, then spreading his wings and shooting straight into the sky.
The wind howled in their ears. The ground rapidly fell away, turning into blurry patches of color in the blink of an eye.
Claudia, held in the dragon's claw, did not struggle, allowing the red iron dragon to carry him across the vast wilderness.
Before long, they flew over a plain and landed near a black, giant lake heavily guarded by troops.
Looking down from the sky.
This lake was like an ink-black jewel set in the earth, so dark its bottom was invisible.
The dragon guards circling the airspace around it soon spotted their emperor.
They all lowered their heads in salute.
In truth, the dragons wanted to prostrate themselves on the ground to express their reverence, pressing their bodies flat against the earth, greeting the emperor's arrival in the most loyal posture.
But Garoth came here often.
After the first few times, he had given clear orders that the dragons guarding this place only needed to do their jobs and that lowering their heads in salute was sufficient.
The dragons had grown accustomed to the emperor's rule, but they still tried to show as much respect as possible.
The red iron dragon landed and loosened his claw.
Claudia landed on all fours, shook his fur, then wrinkled his nose to sniff the air before lowering his head to look ahead.
The lake water was black as ink, thick as a solid.
The air was filled with a pungent, strong smell, and the surrounding area was barren of all life.
"What is this place?" the jackal asked, his gaze sweeping across the dark lake surface.
"This water... is it black oil? A whole lake formed by black oil? Truly rare."
He had seen black oil before, but never so much gathered in one place.
Black oil is usually found deep underground, requiring extraction, refining, and other processes before it can be used in the form common across the various kingdoms.
Moreover, the black oil in this lake was highly concentrated, clearly not formed naturally.
"But what are we here for?"
Claudia turned his head and asked in confusion.
Garoth's answer was simple: "Go and drink."
The jackal froze.
He turned his head, his ears flattening back, as if doubting whether he had heard correctly.
"What?"
"Drink your fill of this black oil, until you're satisfied."
Claudia's facial muscles twisted slightly. The expression on the jackal's face became very interesting. "This stuff... can be eaten?"
The red iron dragon did not answer his question.
He lowered his long neck, opened his huge maw, and aimed it at the pitch-black lake surface before inhaling sharply.
A powerful suction force formed instantly. The black oil on the lake's surface was churned up, and a black column of water rose, spinning.
The sight was quite spectacular.
A massive amount of black oil was continuously sucked up, twisting in the air like a black giant serpent, making a splashing sound, before disappearing into the red iron dragon's mouth.
The great dragon guzzled the black oil, producing gurgling sounds.
Then he raised his head, licked the black oil stains at the corner of his mouth, his expression calm, as if he had just drunk the sweetest mountain spring.
Claudia's jackal eyes bulged, his jaw nearly dropping to the ground.
He had eaten almost everything.
During those years of wandering the wilderness, he had eaten rotten meat, gnawed on tree bark, swallowed dirt, and when starving, had even chewed up and swallowed stones.
He had naturally tasted black oil before.
The taste was absolutely terrible. Bitter, pungent, and with an indescribable strange flavor. After swallowing it, his stomach would churn violently.
Unless he was at the extreme limit of starvation and there was truly nothing else edible to be found around him.
Otherwise, Claudia would never touch black oil.
But not only did Garoth eat it, he did so with such ease, as if it were truly a delicacy.
For a moment, Claudia's mind was in chaos.
Who was the truly gluttonous dragon here?
Garoth lowered his gaze and said, "In all of Aola, only I eat black oil and find it sweet and palatable."
He paused, then continued:
"Claudia, since you want to be my hound, you should taste your master's food."
"Go on, taste it."
Claudia stared at the dark lake for a long time, then looked up at Garoth again. His gaze lingered for a moment on the black oil stains at the corner of the red iron dragon's mouth, then turned back to the black lake.
Can this stuff really be food?
His heart was full of doubt.
But then he thought of another thing.
The emperor ate black oil and found it sweet.
If he could also eat it, and swallow it down, wouldn't that mean there was a layer of connection between him and the emperor that no other dragon had? A bond unique to the two of them?
This thought ignited a flame in his heart, overpowering his disgust for the taste of black oil.
The jackal gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and plunged half his face into the black oil.
The moment the viscous liquid touched his tongue, the taste was indescribable.
Bitter, pungent, with an indescribable strange flavor.
His entire face twitched. His ears pressed flat against the back of his head, and a low whimper escaped his throat.
Garoth looked at the jackal's contorted expression and praised, "Excellent, Claudia. I wasn't wrong about you. Perhaps only you can eat black oil like me."
Claudia's spirit trembled slightly.
He took a deep breath, then drank a second mouthful, then a third.
As he ate, his brow slowly relaxed. The twisted expression on his face gradually calmed, and his ears no longer pressed flat against his head but slowly perked up.
"Hm?"
The taste of the black oil seemed to change.
Or rather, the way he perceived the black oil had changed.
Under the red iron dragon's gaze, the jackal drank with increasing pleasure.
At first, it was sip by sip, but soon he simply buried his head in the black oil, gulping it down loudly. Black, oily foam splashed onto his fur and trickled down his neck, but he didn't care at all.
Finally, he raised his head and let out a long breath.
A feeling of fullness spread from his abdomen through his entire body. A long-missed sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. The ever-present feeling of emptiness vanished, replaced by a warm, grounded sensation.
"Truly delicious."
"Why didn't I think so before? It's clearly the same thing. Before, I found it hard to swallow. Now, I find it leaving an endless aftertaste."
After saying this, Claudia licked the black oil stains at the corner of his mouth, narrowed his eyes, and let out a satisfied hum from his throat.
Garoth's gaze flickered slightly, observing all of this clearly.
Perception and spirit are closely linked.
Claudia had now been conditioned with a new set of logic.
The feeling of being recognized, needed, and given value brought more satisfaction than the food itself.
The black oil itself was not delicious. No matter how many times he drank it, its objective taste would not change.
But when he drank the black oil and was thereby acknowledged, the black oil became delicious. The feeling of being recognized masked the unpleasantness of the taste, even transforming it into a form of enjoyment.
The same went for Garoth himself.
The taste of the black oil had never changed, but now he could genuinely drink it with relish.
The red iron dragon stepped forward, gently placing a dragon claw on the jackal's head, rousing him from his reverie.
"Aola controls the entire land of Atlantis."
"From the frozen earth of the Northern Borders to the coasts of the west, from the mountains in the east to the forests in the south, every living being, every kind of food, every resource on every inch of royal land belongs to me, under the dragon banner of Aola."
The jackal raised his head and listened intently.
"In the future, whatever you want to eat, you can have it."
"Whether it's delicious meat, precious ores, or the black oil you just tasted, as long as you want to eat it, there will be a share for you."
"But I have one requirement."
Garoth lowered his head, staring into the jackal's eyes.
"You cannot act recklessly. You cannot kill indiscriminately. You cannot devour living beings without reason. You must not trample the kingdom's order with your desires."
"Every inch of Aola's land is under my watch. Every single citizen is under my protection."
"Harming them is destroying my wealth. Do you understand?"
Claudia was silent for a moment.
His ears flattened back, then perked up again, and finally he slowly lowered his head.
"I understand."
He said solemnly, "I promise I will strictly follow your will."
"Without your order, I won't even step on a single kobold. Your wealth is your wealth. I will not touch anything you do not allow me to touch."
Garoth nodded, satisfied with this answer.
Across from him, a faint light began to emanate from Claudia's body.
He also raised his head, looking at the red iron dragon, and said: "Your Majesty, please allow me to revert to my original form. In the posture of a Mandate great dragon, I can serve you better, patrol your borders for you, intimidate hostile enemies for you, and for you..."
"No."
The red iron dragon shook his head slightly, interrupting him.
"Now is not the time."
"Do not change back to your original form. Do not reveal your true existence to anyone."
"First, stay in the capital for a while in your gnoll form. Familiarize yourself with everything in Aola. Then we can consider other matters."
The jackal's ears drooped. He was a little disappointed.
He said, "But Your Majesty, I want to serve you. Anything is fine. A peaceful life? I don't want that. That's not the purpose of my coming here."
Garoth looked at him seriously.
"Disguising and hiding yourself is your most important task right now. It is more important than any battle."
"In the near future, my enemies will think I am isolated and helpless, that they can take advantage of the gap. At that time... I will need you."
He paused, his gaze becoming profound.
"I will need you to pounce from the place they least expect, and tear out their throats."
"Then, your peaceful life will end."
"It will be replaced by blood, death, and the glory of clearing all obstacles for me."
Hearing this, the jackal's ears perked up again, a light burning in his eyes.
Garoth looked into his eyes and asked, "Answer me. Can you do it?"
"I can!"
Claudia's spirits lifted. "I can!"
Having grown to Mandate while hunted by the Elves, he was exceptionally skilled at Transformation.
Over the many years, he had changed his form countless times to evade pursuit. Disguise was second nature to him. He didn't like doing it, but he had certainly done it a lot.
Claudia lowered his head, a faint light emanating from his body.
The grayish-brown fur began to recede. His bones emitted a faint cracking sound. His limbs elongated, and his torso straightened.
In the blink of an eye, the jackal beast disappeared, transforming into a tall gnoll covered in short, grayish-brown fur.
He looked completely ordinary, no different from a common gnoll.
He bared his teeth, drooling, his eyes murky, his skin rough. If he were thrown into a group of gnolls, no one would give him a second glance.
It was hard to imagine that this seemingly ordinary body housed a Mandate-level Chrome Dragon.
The gnoll raised his head and looked at the red iron dragon.
"I promise I will complete this task until the day you need me arrives."
Not long after, time reached the dead of night.
The lights of the Red Emperor Capital gradually lit up.
Claudia, disguised in his gnoll form, was arranged to live in an ordinary district of the Red Emperor Capital.
Garoth stood atop the dragon court, with the iron dragon Sorog by his side.
"A Mandate Chrome Dragon, the Deep Freeze Tyrant, Claudia."
"I never thought you would tame him."
"With him, our Aola has gained another great general, taking on more of an imperial air."
The iron dragon Sorog paused, turning his head to look at Garoth.
"But, can you guarantee he is controllable? A Mandate great dragon within the capital, if he loses control and goes mad, it could cause tremendous destruction."
His concern was not unfounded.
In the entire main kingdom of Aola, only Garoth could suppress Claudia. And Garoth was always busy. If something happened, he might not be able to arrive in time.
The red iron dragon's expression was calm, his gaze fixed on the distant night sky.
"Just like the Helmod Dragonflight that submitted to Aola, just like the vassal states of Aola, as long as I am here, Claudia's loyalty can be guaranteed."
He lowered his gaze, looking towards the district where the gnoll was.
Claudia stood in the shadows of a secluded alley.
His appearance now was no different from during the day.
Short, grayish-brown fur covered his body, his back slightly hunched, his thick arms hanging at his sides, his whole being exuding a wild, bestial aura as if he had just walked out of the wilderness.
He was completely out of place in this orderly city.
He had intended to stand in the shadows and quietly observe the capital first.
But the shadows were not as deep as he had imagined.
A few Aola citizens passing by noticed him.
They were a few gnolls.
Every one of them was tall and powerfully built, moving with vigorous strides.
In Claudia's impression, gnolls were supposed to be weak, filthy creatures living at the bottom of society.
But these gnolls before him completely overturned his understanding. They looked strong, confident, and full of vitality, like a group of well-trained warriors.
In comparison to these tall gnolls, Claudia's disguised form looked very small and weak.
He had thought his gnoll form was fairly convincing.
Now, in comparison, he looked like a malnourished poor relative.
"Hey, new face."
One of the male gnolls stopped, tilting his head to size him up. "Never seen you before. Where are you from?"
Claudia answered in a hoarse voice, "I... came from another district."
The several gnolls exchanged glances.
The male gnoll looked him up and down, shaking his head with disdain.
"Too skinny."
"Look at those arms, like two dry twigs. With such a frail physique, you won't make it in our Aola."
He patted his own chest, producing a dull thud.
"Perfect timing. We were just about to go for a workout, to train our bodies. Come with us. Don't just stand here dumbly by yourself."
Claudia's eyebrow twitched.
He was frail?
These idiots had no idea what kind of existence they were talking to.
With just a puff of his breath, he could blow all these arrogant gnolls to death. With just a tiny release of his power, he could grind these guys into meat paste, not even leaving bones behind.
Claudia refused coldly, "I don't have time. You go on your own."
"What's with the fuss? See, just a newcomer, too thin-skinned. Come on, come with us. Don't dawdle."
A female gnoll stepped forward.
She was equally burly, even more robust than the male gnolls. Her thick arms wrapped around Claudia's waist, and she hoisted him up in a fireman's carry.
Claudia's eyes flew wide open.
His brain short-circuited for a moment.
This damned vermin, how dare she treat him like this?
His body instinctively tensed, power surging through his veins, but he thought of the emperor's command and forcibly held himself back.
"Put me down."
Claudia gritted his teeth and growled.
The female gnoll ignored him, even patting him on the butt.
"Stop fussing. You'll see when we get there."
Claudia's facial muscles twitched violently. He suppressed the urge to tear every living creature around him to shreds and allowed the burly female gnoll to carry him through the streets.
Soon, the sounds around them changed from sparse to noisy.
Footsteps, panting, the dull thuds of impacts came from all directions. The air temperature seemed to have risen a few degrees, and the air was thick with the smell of sweat.
Claudia opened his eyes.
The sight before him startled him.
Ogres, ogre elites, centaurs, humans, and even tiny goblins... They were all dripping with sweat, their muscles bulging.
They were all engaged in various forms of training.
Weightlifting, pushing, pulling, running, combat.
The ground was inscribed with complex weight-enhancing arcane formations, greatly boosting the effectiveness of the training.
His eyes widened again.
No wonder the gnolls here could all be so strong.
The female gnoll set Claudia down and clapped her hands.
"Here we are," she said. "Come, let's have a vigorous and satisfying workout together."
The surrounding Aola citizens turned their heads to look at the new, skinny gnoll.
Claudia prepared to refuse again.
But just as he raised his right claw, a solid iron lock was shoved into his hand.
"What are you standing around for? Come on, try this first."
Claudia was stunned for a moment, looking at the gazes around him.
After a few seconds of hesitation, he took a deep breath, bent down, and mimicking the movements of the other Aola citizens, lifted the iron lock over his head.
"Not bad, not bad!"
"Pretty strong. Got some good potential."
The surrounding Aola people cheered for him.
The corner of Claudia's mouth twitched upwards, but he stiffened his expression the next second.
"The cheers of these vermin are not worth being happy about."
"But I must strictly follow the emperor's will. I'll pretend to be weak first and blend in with them."
He thought to himself.
The gnoll bared his teeth. The coldness on his face gradually faded, and he quickly melted into the hot and fiery atmosphere around him.
Spring passed and winter came. Cold came and heat went.
No one knew that within this bustling Red Emperor Capital, a Mandate Chrome Dragon from Arotala was quietly lurking and resting.
He sweated profusely in training, strolled through the streets and alleys observing, and alone on the rooftops in the dead of night, gazed up at the stars.
The Aola citizens went about their business as usual. No one noticed this inconspicuous gnoll beside them, and no one ever imagined his true identity.
Time flowed on as always, unhurried and unceasing, carrying away the seasons and bringing change.
New Calendar Year 598.
The Bronze Dragon King briefly returned from the Abyss, once again setting foot on the soil of the Material Plane.
The Scarlet Emperor Cangxing's campaign in the west, the collapse of the Chromatic Queen's Temple, the fall of the Apostle...
This series of events caused massive tremors on the Atlantis Continent and was immediately learned of by the Bronze Dragon King.
However, after learning this news, the Bronze Dragon King did not launch an attack on Aola.
In the Bronze Dragon King's eyes, although the Red Emperor was skilled at disguise, his vassal kingdom was ostensibly in good order.
The people there showed no signs of being enslaved, and their lives were fairly good.
On the surface, the Aola Kingdom could even be described as a rare piece of pure land, far better than many other places on the continent.
Therefore.
Although he was certain that this red iron dragon was destined to become a great calamity in the future, he was in no hurry to eliminate it now.
On the path to eradicating evil, the Bronze Dragon King knew what to prioritize.
The demons in the Abyss threatened the safety of the entire world every moment. The war there was far more urgent than dealing with a dragon whose evil intentions had not yet been fully revealed.
Furthermore, there was another matter.
After fulfilling his oath and returning from the Deep Waters, the Bronze Dragon King had been fighting the demons in blood-soaked battle on the front lines of the Abyss, in order to guard the justice and order of Atlantis.
He unwaveringly carried out his convictions, from morning till night, without pause, without the slightest wavering.
And then, a wonderful thing happened.
His aura, which had already reached the limit of the Mandate realm, was gradually increasing. Slowly but surely, like a river that was already full, still receiving a constant influx of new water.
The more obsessed he became, the firmer his will.
The firmer his will, the more powerful his strength became.
The realm beyond Mandate had already opened its arms to him. That door was slowly opening.
This was also one reason the Bronze Dragon King was not in a hurry to crusade against the Red Emperor.
After he stepped into Immortal before eliminating that red calamity, the outcome would be beyond any doubt, and it would allow more innocents to be spared from sacrifice.
On the path of justice, sacrifice is inevitable.
The Bronze Dragon King knew this better than anyone, and he had witnessed countless sacrifices. But he sincerely wished to minimize sacrifice as much as possible, to let fewer people lose their lives in battle.
After resting for a period of time in the Material Plane, the Bronze Dragon King returned to the front lines of the Abyss.
He did not have any conflict or friction with the Red Emperor.
New Calendar Year 603.
The brass-silver dragon Deborah gave birth to new Emperor's sons.
Among them was an Emperor's son with a Silver Dragon bloodline.
He could not use Dragon Breath. His body structure was different from ordinary dragons, and in his subsequent growth, he did not master any spell-like abilities.
But he was naturally physically powerful, with all attributes far exceeding those of Red Dragons, Gold Dragons, Iron Dragons, and so on.
This discovery made Garoth realize that his mutated form could be inherited, just like the traits he had evolved.
New Calendar Year 621.
On Arotala, the Green Queen awakened from a short period of dormancy.
She rose at a rate surpassing normal dragons, becoming one of the few Mandate great dragons, standing at the pinnacle of the Bernardo dragon pyramid.
At the same time, the war between Nausil and Kantum continued. The flames of war had been burning for many years, and both sides had paid a huge price.
The orcs were at a great disadvantage overall.
Their territory was shrinking, their resources were drying up, and their armies were exhausted.
But the deeper they fell into desperation, the more stable their faith became.
The roots of their faith, once shaken, became unbreakable again through blood and suffering, still possessing extremely tenacious vitality.
Unless Nausil was willing to make a mutually destructive decision, regardless of the cost.
Otherwise, even though they held the advantage, it was still difficult for them to completely drive the orcs out of Arotala.
Over on the Atlantis Continent, the situation was completely different.
Under the Red Emperor's influence, the Aola Kingdom was flourishing and thriving.
The surface kingdoms had long been unified under the emperor's will. Those once warring kingdoms, those races that had once hated each other, had found a way to coexist under the Red Emperor's banner.
At this point, people on the continent had a common understanding of the situation in Atlantis.
The earth belonged to the Red Emperor.
The sky belonged to Halden.
Aola's red dragon banner fluttered proudly across the vast land. Halden's Sky City stood majestically above the clouds.
On the surface, there was no contradiction between the two sides.
The Red Emperor's banner covered the ground. Halden's city floated in the sky. Both held their own territories, performed their own duties, and did not interfere with each other.
But any being with a bit of wisdom and foresight could predict that this peace was only temporary.
The Red Emperor of Aola was still growing stronger, and his ambition would inevitably expand along with it.
He would never tolerate another power above his head.
And Halden, who had dominated the skies of Atlantis for many years, could also hardly sit idly by while a massive dragon empire rose beneath its feet.
It was only because of the common danger of the Abyss that the two had remained at peace so far, maintaining a superficial peace.
And so, the gears of time kept turning. One year after another was turned over.
Finally, time came to New Calendar Year 643.
Garoth's age exceeded four hundred years.
He had gone from the Young Dragon of yesteryear to an old timer in the eyes of many young beings. After experiencing enough battles and accumulation, he had grown into a truly ancient dragon.