Ashen Dragon

Amidst countless gazes of either reverence or fear from the Blue Dragon Descendant, the Ancient Blue Dragon lifted the wreckage of the magic-guided giant ship high into the sky. Behind her, dark clouds roiled, and lightning surged like a tide.

"Do you see, Dragon's offspring? This is the fate of those who oppose the Dragon Worship Church and challenge the great Five-Colored Dragon Queen!"

She raised her head, the disproportionately large horns reflecting a metallic sheen under the lightning's illumination, with occasional lightning strikes splintering upon them, scattering blinding sparks.

"Remember, you are beings of noble blood, destined to rule this world alongside the giant dragons! Anyone daring to betray Her Majesty the Dragon Queen will meet only one end—"

"Boom!"

With a thunderous roar that shook the heavens, the storm clouds in the sky bellowed and roared. Ten thousand blinding bolts of lightning poured down like a raging tide, instantly engulfing the damaged, charred magic-guided battleship.

In the face of this most brutal, primal, and destructive power, the specially crafted insulating wood by the Imperial Magic Research Institute was like fragile paper, instantly charred and carbonized, scattering into countless black fragments.

"That is destruction!"

Only at this moment did the Ancient Blue Dragon speak the remaining words in a cold, heavy tone.

At this moment, thunder surged behind her, dark clouds rolled beside her, and every arc and spark of electricity in the air seemed to be summoned by her, becoming extremely frenetic, like a pack of mad beasts.

And at the center of the storm, the Ancient Blue Dragon slowly unfurled her wings, and the gale surged with her wings, a torrential Dragon's Might pouring forth, sweeping across the land and imbuing an incomparable sense of oppression.

It is said that the most fearsome among the Blue Dragons are bestowed the title of "Storm Dragon," yet for this Ancient Blue Dragon, such a brief moniker hardly conveys her terror.

The Evil Dragon Sacrificer rode on the back of a Storm Flying Dragon, raising an arm and shouting an intensely fervent and impassioned cry: "Praise the Lord of Thunder and Sandstorm, the ruler of the Great Creation Talilo, Tiamat's eldest daughter - Goraz Dera!"

"In front of the overwhelming power of the giant dragons, these rebels are insignificant, merely dust about to be crushed!"

"Awooooo—"

Countless Blue Dragon Descendants and mixed-blooded Dragon Beasts looked up, letting out a cacophony of howls, cheering for their shared master—the "Thunder Tyrant" Goraz Dera's arrival.

Their howls caused the desert to tremble, dunes to collapse, and countless sands were swept into the air by the gale, forming a sandstorm that enveloped the land.

Indeed, within the Dragon Worship Church, many worshipers already venerated Kazuul, Erebos, and Goraz Dera as divine, erecting temples, establishing altars, and sculpting idols in their worship, referring to them collectively as the "Three Gods of Color."

According to these Dragon Worshipers' legends, when the three gods gather, Tiamat will descend upon the world in her grand true form, ending the outdated Third Era, and herald a new age of dominion by the giant dragons and their descendants over the earth.

And at the center of the storm, high above, Goraz Dera gazed towards the North, countless tiny arcs swirling in her deep, dark pupils.

Across the vast sands, over a thousand kilometers away, she clearly saw the army from the Ashen Empire, saw those formidable weapons and armor.

"The Ashen Empire... what audacious fellows, daring to defy Her Majesty's decree."

"But soon, you shall become the last stepping stone for my ascent to the Divine Position. Feel honored for that, Cassius..." The Ancient Blue Dragon's tone was foreboding, her voice crackling as if charged with electricity.

And beneath her, more Blue Dragon Descendants emerged from the yellow sands, forming a dark blue torrent, like waves surging across the sands, their scales gleaming brilliantly under the lightning's reflection.

The players' actions, though destroying a breeding nest of the Blue Dragon Descendants and killing hundreds, if not thousands, of ferocious Blue Dragon Descendants,

yet in this vast expansive Talilo Desert, in these endless yellow sands, who knows how many dark nests are buried, nurturing monsters tainted with the vile blood of the Evil Dragon...

This desert, and indeed the entire Kingdom of Seleucis—had long since become territories of the five-colored dragons and their Monster Kin, thoroughly infiltrated everywhere.

Not only were the ruins of the ancient palace surrounded by oceans of Blue Dragon Descendants, but in the desert's northern Yir River Valley and the southern Sunset Gobi, countless monsters clad in blue scales emerged from underground and from caves.

They seemed to hear a certain call, gathering spontaneously and moving north of Talilo, devouring everything along the way—be it grass, cacti, or the fortunately surviving animals, leaving only monotonous, dry, and extremely barren yellow sands.

At this moment, the descendants of the entire great desert's Blue Dragons all headed towards the mutually agreed battlefield—Rock Rift Valley.

...

While to the north of Rock Rift Valley, on the Central Plateau of Seleucid, allied forces from various regions gathered, flags fluttering, morale high, the vast army nearly occupying the entire plateau.

The largest numbers naturally came from the Ashen Empire, numbering nearly two hundred thousand, all well-trained and fully-armed legions. These Imperial Soldiers, responding to the call of war, traveled south from the Thrace Region to this unfamiliar land, engaging in the wars they knew so well.