Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 823 - 764 Earth Dragon

Serenity, mildness, like a harvest autumn dozing off, even the air was filled with a sweet scent mixed with fruitiness.

The trees were sparse but with lush branches and leaves, a forest path coated with gold lacquer under the blessing of sunlight. The soil was loose, each step feeling the undulating ground beneath.

The figure standing in the middle of the path exhaled a sigh, took off their mask, and let out a cold breath from their mouth.

"It seems indeed a suitable place for settlement, so where is the Earth Dragon?"

Stopping with each step, looking around, the faint vibrations caused a slight undulating of the land. The figure was intoxicated in this warm atmosphere, completely oblivious to the threat beneath their feet.

A gaping maw burst forth from the earth, along with the crumbling dirt and rocks, clamping firmly onto Lyle’s body. The reptilian sharp teeth, due to the horrific biting force, embedded into the flesh and etched into the bones. The foul breath and the splatter of fresh blood burst forth in unison, with the blood-rain causing the camphor trees to sway within. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Dark-red tentacles sprouted from the wound, with pale bone-like claws at their tips stabbing mercilessly towards the Earth Dragon’s eyes. In an instant, like sparks flying from a clash of metal, the Earth Dragon’s tightly closed eyelids blocked Nia’s attack. The hard-as-steel eyelids weren’t pierced by Nia’s nails, but the pain from the impact successfully enraged the Earth Dragon.

Without releasing its bite, the Earth Dragon lifted its jawbone along with the shattered Lyle, slamming him down fiercely like wielding a hammer.

A roaring sound, the sound of bones cracking, teeth piercing into the leg bones causing them to snap at this moment, the cacophony of distortions rushing straight to the brain along the spine. The body torn apart, and before fear could sound out, the last mental oppression pierced through the human instinct for survival.

The majestic dragon power, the primordial oppression caused the consciousness of creatures to collapse, and the tentacles that were just about to organize a counterattack dissipated under this overwhelming force.

The head scales closed up, ignoring the din of the tentacle attacks against its body, the Earth Dragon opened its claws, pressed down on the rampaging tentacles, and pulled hard with a shake of its head.

Human body and tentacles were completely torn apart, with bloodied bones extracted from the middle, making the flesh chunks in the Earth Dragon’s mouth softer than the tentacles.

Looking like a hybrid of a crocodile and a lizard, the Earth Dragon ignored the still-twitching black soft body under its claws, and with its prey, it took slow steps back. Instinct told it that all that could be eaten was already in its mouth.

Swishing its tail, the scales at the end rustled like a bell, releasing sweet neurotoxins into the air, overpowering the smell of blood, tidying up its hunting ground once again, the Earth Dragon crawled back into its den with satisfaction.

A perfect hunt.

It thought to itself.

Sometime without knowing, its own strength had surged tremendously, becoming bulkier, and its hunting methods had become more diverse. Especially the dragon might, this newly acquired power was invincible and quickly made it the sovereign of this territory.

Abandoning the vulnerability of the past, the current me is the Earth Dragon. Yes, the awakening knowledge in the bloodline reminded it of this name. Without a doubt, it is a mighty dragon.

The Earth Dragon swayed its tail, sweeping off the overgrown branches; it liked the sunlight to directly pour into its den, and it had also developed an unusual sense of cleanliness.

The prey was getting scarcer, its sudden strength had disrupted the local ecosystem, with appetite seizing its brain first, the exhilarating hunting eliminated all large creatures in sight. Now, it faced the dilemma of scarce food.

For more food, should it hunt moderately... Well, once those refugees arrive, I will control my diet.

Refugees... Refugees?! What is that?

Food chain? Ecosystem?! Sustainable fishing?!!! Why am I thinking about these?!! Why am I considering these?

These... knowledge? They are not mine!!!

Who is in my head!!!

"Ah, you finally noticed? Although from your personal perspective, this timing is truly unfortunate," a relaxed voice echoed in its mind, and before the Earth Dragon had a chance to expel the intruder from its head, it felt "itself" being seized and "pulled" out from the entire body of the Earth Dragon.

The heart squeezed in spasms, the intense pain of a shattered skull, such agony twisted around the Earth Dragon, yet it watched its own body with no response. It’s consciousness, removed and hung upon an invisible morbid web in a third-person perspective, observing its physical form.

The illusion made contact, and a shocked consciousness witnessed the truth of itself.

The formidable and fierce body stood its ground, different from the past Earth Dragons, with black mucus seeping into every scale. Prey was still in its mouth, but the lazily writhing tentacles entangled around the upper and lower jaws had already taken over its skull. The black-robed human who should have been shattered under its attack was gripping its proud horn with one hand. Dangling to one side of the left eye, less than an inch from the edge of the skull. Pale skin pressed tightly against the scales, as Lyle chuckled mockingly, the Magic Power that infiltrated the bone controlled his puppet like a deadly tumor, squeezing the life of the entire beast in its grasp. It unwillingly gazed at the prey in its mouth—a chilling, twisted skeleton, the eye sockets burning with the same soul flame as Lyle, with its horrific smile peeking through the adhering broken flesh, facing the stripped consciousness of the Earth Dragon.

All of this was an illusion, the prey had become the hunter.

Panic, unease, complex emotions began to take over the consciousness of the Earth Dragon.

"New discovery, merging low-intelligence souls into the spiritual network shares knowledge, forcibly enhancing intelligence."

Lyle moved the wrist touching the Earth Dragon’s body, his fingers entwined with black Magic Power threads. As his fingers moved, the Earth Dragon’s body rapidly collapsed, like a sandcastle succumbing to ruin. Joints broke, nerves tore, flesh shattered; the Earth Dragon deflated swiftly like a popped balloon. The expression of the Evil God’s offspring was leisurely, not giving the corpse another glance after letting go.

"Bringing the broken flesh back to Andrey might foster a flowing production line for dragon material substitutes. Or forget it, it’s a bit of a hassle."

Nia burrowed back onto Lyle’s back, slapping her little belly as if to remove the stench of decay from the corpse, stopping only when a bad omen climbed her spine.

"I never thought that hunting as an act is wrong, to take the power within life is the justice of survival."

Lyle slowly turned his head back, a human’s mundane expression overlapping with a mass of sinister shadows, the resonance of omen and Lyle at the spiritual level was undoubtedly the most terrifying sight. The master of the spiritual network, once again, paid attention to this prisoner known as the "Earth Dragon."

Under the fluctuating spiritual oppression like the tides, it could not even make a sound, only tremble as it listened to his "thoughts."

"But you need to bear the consequences, even if you didn’t understand the dangers beforehand, you need to bear the costs of hunting."

"This is not fair to you, so, I dragged your spirit into the web of illusions, letting you understand my thoughts with the aid of my mind. You experienced higher levels of wisdom, tasted the joy of victory and satisfaction, moistening your dry spiritual wasteland. I think, this is a form of mercy."

Lyle observed the extracted soul, a surgical scalpel formed from mental analysis perfectly sliced it away from its condemned body. Feeling from the depths of his heart, a hint of self-reproach and guilt surfaced in Lyle’s eyes.

"With intelligence opened, you learned joy, and thus learned fear... Your soul is in fear, the mercy I conceived has also let you feel a more terrifying cruelty. You didn’t need to ponder these things, a simple, happy Earth Dragon, now curled in the corner of my spiritual network, wagging its tail for mercy without dignity... I am sorry, I twisted your dignity. For knowledge, hence lowly, for understanding, hence fragile."

"No need to worry anymore, poor little guy, you will not be hurt again. There will be no fear, I will give you a dream of peace and satiety."

"You will never wake up."

Erasing a spirit was much easier than destroying its flesh, and for omen, it was as easy as breathing.

[I don’t need to breathe; you better find a different simile.]

Lyle ignored the reminder from omen, watching the Earth Dragon’s bodily fluids gradually seep into the soil, as ominous black aura crept up his body through the shadows.

"This, Earth Dragon, did it really not know how conspicuous it was while tunneling beneath the soil?" The moment Lyle stepped onto the cliff, he had spotted the trail of the Earth Dragon. The malice of the gods it carried was as conspicuous as a beacon in the darkness.

[Sensing the malice of gods is our ability, to ordinary lives, these are merely a bit of slightly dark dust.]

The malice from the Earth Dragon intertwined with the small bit of evil originally on Lyle. In Lyle’s perception, he became the darkest thing within a ten-mile radius. Even after scaling high walls, the malignance of gods continued to exist. The exiles would not escape the curse of this land; no one would save them.

[They chose you, to become Posuwa’s new demon, to become the lord of this war-torn land.]

Waving his sleeve, the adhering evil fell like ripe fruits, the malice of gods returned to the earth, and Lyle snorted with disdain in his tone.

"Posuwa, I only care for illusions."

"As for the rest, let them live or die by their own means."