Chapter 979 - The Mutilated Dragon
Fire blazed everywhere. Although the ground itself hadn’t melted, it was still scalding hot. Even in his shadow form, Han Wu felt as though he were crawling across a scorching iron plate.
Numerous fire-type life forms were chained up in the space. Based on their wounds and their vacant expressions, Han Wu guessed they had been imprisoned here for a very long time.
He didn’t know what they had gone through, but the fact that they were still alive was a testament to their stubborn will to survive.
Still, Han Wu didn’t dare rescue them, not wanting to risk alerting anyone. Enduring the heat, pressed on in search of Esquiem’s mother.
The Desolation Manifestation had scanned the room the moment Han Wu entered and soon detected a Great Dragon’s presence. Following its directions, Han Wu arrived at a door and slipped through the crack in his shadow form.
He immediately heard a voice.
“Corpse Fiend, this success was entirely thanks to your help. We never could’ve captured that Great Fire Dragon without you.” A man in a gold-red robe bowed to an elegant middle-aged man beside him.
From their exchange, Han Wu identified the man in the gold-red robe as a high-ranking member of the Fire Worship Cult, possibly the leader himself. The elegant middle-aged man was the Corpse Fiend, Hennibal.
Hennibal produced a handkerchief from his breast pocket and dabbed the corner of his mouth. “I should be thanking you, my dear friend. Your Fire Worship Cult helped me fulfill my dream of cooking a Great Dragon. I’m very satisfied with our partnership.”
“Tonight, I’ll sacrifice the Great Fire Dragon to the ancient god,” the leader said with a smile. “Would you like to stay and witness our ceremony, Corpse Fiend?”
“Of course,” Hennibal graciously accepted.
With that, the two exchanged pleasantries and left.
A full picture finally formed in Han Wu’s mind. The Corpse Fiend had played a key role in the capture, and the Fire Worship Cult intended to sacrifice the Great Fire Dragon to their ancient god. As he didn’t know the true strength of either the cult leader or Hennibal, the safest move was to find Esquiem’s mother and get her out first.
Following the Desolation Manifestation’s guidance, Han Wu approached the area where the Great Dragon’s presence was strongest. A massive pit lay before him with its interior ablaze. Even the stones had been baked red.
Han Wu peered inside and saw Esquiem’s mother. The sight was enough to make even a man who had witnessed countless horrors recoil.
She was there, but she was no longer a complete Great Dragon. Her wings, claws, and legs had been hacked off. Every scale had been stripped from her body. Festering wounds covered her from head to tail.
One word surfaced in Han Wu’s mind. Mutilated. They had mutilated her in the same way a particularly cruel ruler might punish a subject.
As if sensing the Defier’s presence, Esquiem’s mother struggled to force her eyes open. Only one eye remained in its socket. The other was a raw, bleeding hole.
Han Wu dropped into the pit as a shadow and materialized at her side. The severity of her injuries was even worse up close. Wound upon wound was layered over raw flesh. If not for a Great Dragon’s extraordinary life force, she would’ve been dead long ago.
“Defier...” Esquiem’s mother said in the dragon tongue. Han Wu’s Defier title allowed him to understand.
“I’m here.”
“Kill me...” Tears spilled from her remaining eye, evaporating to steam as they met the heated air. Meanwhile, blood wept from the empty socket, leaving a crimson streak as it boiled away.
She had lost the will to live but lacked the means to end it herself. Her limbs had been severed, and her powers sealed, preventing her from even triggering a self-detonation. All she wanted was for the Defier to grant her a swift end.
“I can’t do that,” Han Wu replied, his voice heavy. Killing her would have been easy, but he wouldn’t be able to face Esquiem if he did. That child was still waiting to see its mother.
Esquiem’s mother sank into despair, and the world itself seemed to fade into monochrome.
“I can’t kill you, but I can promise you this: I’ll get you out of here, and I’ll help you recover,” Han Wu continued.
She shook her head weakly, well aware of her condition. Her limbs were gone, and her dragon essence had been drained. Restoring herself to her previous state wasn’t impossible, but it was as close to that as it got. She didn’t want the Defier to waste precious resources on her.
“I have... a child...” she rasped out.
“I know. Esquiem is here with me. I promised that I’d bring you back,” Han Wu said.
She fell silent, not knowing what to say. She didn’t want Esquiem to see her like this.
“Don’t worry about anything else. I’ll do whatever it takes to get you out. Leave the rest to me,” Han Wu said with absolute conviction.
Esquiem’s mother had no choice but to trust him. After persuading her, Han Wu asked for intelligence on the Fire Worship Cult and the Corpse Fiend.
Han Wu was certain that the two of them would show up to foil any escape attempt, and knowing his opponents would allow him to plan for that inevitable fight.
According to Esquiem’s mother, both the Fire Worship Cult leader and the Corpse Fiend were Ninth Form fighters.
The leader’s mastery over fire was at the peak of perfection. His opponent would need extremely high fire resistance to stand a chance. The Corpse Fiend was even more dangerous. Beneath his elegant exterior, he actually relished in devouring corpses.
His core Form was called the Greedy Ghoul, which allowed him to convert any corpse he consumed into personal power. If Esquiem’s mother weren’t needed alive for the sacrifice, Hennibal would’ve sliced her into pieces and eaten her as roast meat long ago.
This knowledge gave Han Wu a basic understanding of both opponents. Either could be handled using his Demon King Transformation or his new Merged Form. The problem was if he had to fight both at the same time.
Han Wu thought hard, then recalled the sacrifice ceremony the pair had mentioned earlier.
“What level is the ancient god?” he asked both Esquiem’s mother and the Desolation Manifestation at the same time.