Gan, Will, Cure—dead?
Ilena's elegant brows twitched slightly. Instead of anger, a hint of interest emerged.
To be able to kill three Gold Rank Frost Wyverns in an instant, the opponent must be at least a top-tier figure among those of the same rank, or perhaps even stronger.
She recalled the previous report from Rock Submerge Lake.
The Guardian of the Lake Heart had fallen, and the residual energy fluctuations were suspected to be the work of a True Dragon.
Could it be some mysterious wild Young Dragon? Or have those fellows from other Dragons Nests already become restless and started crossing the line?
Interesting.
It wasn't for nothing that she had made a casual move—
A curve of interest hooked the corner of Ilena's mouth.
"Teacher, what happened?" Fafnir asked.
"Gan, Will, and Cure are dead."
Ilena's tone was flat, as if she were saying the weather was nice today.
Fafnir was stunned. Although those three Sub-dragons were of inferior bloodlines, they were still Gold Rank powerhouses. With the three of them working together, they could hold their own even against an Amethyst Tier Magical Beast. How could they have died so suddenly?
"Although it's a bit troublesome, it's not like there's no way."
Ilena put down her wine glass, stood up, and walked toward the massive decorative alchemy array in the center of the room.
"Since I'm free anyway, I'll call them back to ask about the situation."
She held the Soul boxes of those three retainers, which contained a wisp of their Origin dragon Souls. As long as the Soul boxes were not destroyed, she could use them as coordinates to re-guide and gather their dissipated Souls.
Reshaping a dragon's body was a hassle, but for a Legendary Great Dragon, it was only a matter of killing some time.
Ilena planned to first use magic to shape three Spirit Dolls as temporary bodies and call those three useless retainers back.
Thus, she walked to the center of the array and casually took three items out of her storage dragon scale—
One was a Soul Box carved from Eternal Ice Crystal, containing three faint wisps of soul fire—the Soul fragments that Gan, Will, and Cure had proactively offered.
The second item was three large pieces of "Shaping Clay," a magical material containing life energy that could be molded into any form according to the caster's will.
The third item consisted of countless precious magic Materials: Star Sand, Moonstone, Dragon Blood Vine... every single one was enough to drive any human Great Master alchemist mad.
"Teacher, you are..." Fafnir watched, dumbfounded.
He knew his teacher was powerful, but the Red Dragon tribe had always been known for physical combat and dragon flame. He had never seen Ilena demonstrate such profound magical attainment.
It was like a Tyrannosaurus performing delicate needlework, filled with a sense of incongruity.
"Watch carefully, and learn."
Ilena spoke indifferently, and golden Draconic seals began to dance at her fingertips.
She cast the three pieces of Shaping Clay into the center of the array. Driven by Draconic Magic, the clay began to squirm and deform, gradually outlining the silhouettes of three Frost Wyverns. Then, she threw in the precious Materials one by one, merging them into the Spirit Doll dragon bodies to construct bones, Meridians, and mana circuits.
Fafnir's heart trembled as he watched.
So, is this the power of a Legendary Great Dragon? Not only is her Physical Body invincible, but even her magical attainment is unfathomable. Just this composed Heart-Nature alone is something he cannot compare to.
When the three lifelike Spirit Doll dragon bodies were finished, Ilena opened the Soul Box.
She softly chanted ancient Draconic incantations, and an invisible Soul chain crossed through space, reaching into the unknown Netherworld to begin pulling those three recently departed Souls—
"Return."
With her command, countless tiny Soul light spots appeared out of thin air, like dancing fireflies, gathering from all directions and pouring into the array.
The light spots gradually condensed, turning into three translucent Soul phantoms—
They were Gan, Will, and Cure.
Their consciousness seemed to remain at the final moment before death, their eyes filled with confusion and fear.
When the Sub-dragons saw the familiar figure outside the array, their Souls fluctuated violently.
"Master..."
"Lady... Ilena..."
They all knelt on the ground, their movements slow and stiff. Their speech functions had not yet fully recovered, so they could only stutter their relief and gratitude for surviving the disaster.
"Tell me, what happened?"
While Ilena was performing the Integration of the Spirit Doll dragon bodies with their Souls, she asked with interest, "Did you encounter some powerful opponent? A juvenile... or an adult True Dragon?"
In her view, only an existence at the True Dragon level could deal with her three retainers so cleanly.
"No... it wasn't..."
Mentioning the cause of death, the Soul phantoms of Gan and Will, who were the first to clear their heads, fluctuated violently. They stuttered, their faces full of shame and indignation, but they couldn't bring themselves to speak.
"It was... it was a Earth Dragon..."
"A Earth Dragon?" Ilena's movements paused, a bit confused.
A Earth Dragon? Wasn't that an inferior species that didn't even have Dragon Might?
The Red Dragon lady's brow furrowed slightly: "Was it a Great Elder Earth Dragon?"
In her view, only an Ancient Earth Dragon that had lived for hundreds of years and was as large as a mountain range could perhaps defy elemental suppression and threaten three Gold Rank Frost Wyverns.
"No... it wasn't..."
Gan and Will were just about to continue explaining and describe the strangeness of that blue Young Dragon. However, at that moment!
A tyrannical and overbearing terrifying suction from a distant place acted upon their Souls without warning!
"Aaaaaah—!"
The three newly condensed Soul phantoms instantly became distorted and blurred, as if they were being torn to shreds alive by an invisible force!
Their Souls were wailing and mourning!
Ilena's expression changed slightly.
Something... was fighting her for ownership of the Souls!
...Time rewound slightly to a minute ago, inside the abandoned mine.
Caesar looked up abruptly, staring fixedly at the rock layer above.
The master of those three Sub-dragons, a real True Dragon, had taken their Souls!
Along with the experience that should have belonged to him... no, the Soul energy!
Caesar instantly figured out why [sharp claw] hadn't absorbed any Soul energy at all.
"Damn it, stealing my experience packs?!"
He exploded on the spot.
The meat in my mouth wants to fly away? No way!
Caesar didn't hesitate and immediately took out that bone-white [sharp claw] from his inventory.
He would use magic to defeat magic!
Isn't it just playing with Souls? Who doesn't have an old man in a ring!
Caesar held the [sharp claw] in front of him and frantically poured his mana into it.
"Old geezer! Stop sleeping! Wake up!!"
"Our meal is being stolen!! How can you sleep at your age!!!"
"Buzz—!"
As if responding to his call, the black bone claw vibrated violently, and a ball of ghostly blue soul fire ignited at the tip of the bone claw!
An ancient, desolate, and hateful will awakened from its slumber.
The [sharp claw] slowly floated up, pointing at the three massive Sub-dragon corpses on the ground.
A suction force, completely different from Ilena's but equally overbearing and predatory, erupted! Countless tiny Soul fragments on the three Frost Wyverns' corpses were actually being torn out from the flesh, from the bones, and even from the congealed dragon blood by this force...!!
F*cking Magnetic Field Rotation, 999,900 Horsepower—!!!
"Viola, get them!!!"