Chapter 343: Chapter 342 - “I’m an orphan.”
The cave beneath the Ashen Expanse seethed like a wound in the world.
Molten veins pulsed through black rock, staining the air with heat and iron, while the smell of corrupted blood wafted inside.
Three beasts were lying dead right next to the opening, so it was pretty obvious that the ones still inside could smell it, especially when the ones dead were their own brethren.
So now, the remaining nine part-dragons crouched in the flickering glow, their eyes like molten coins, their claws carving grooves into the basalt floor.
They, who had heard their kin die in pain, were now angry, but still, they waited.
The biggest of them—a hulking brute of blackened scales and dragon-bone spikes—growled deep enough to rattle the stone.
"Charging alone is suicide," it rumbled, wings flexing with restrained rage. "They wait for us to come one at a time. Like cattle to slaughter."
The basilisk—a long, serpent-bodied monster with a dragon’s tail and poison glands that steamed in the heat—uncoiled and hissed, tail slamming against the cavern floor hard enough to split the rock.
"Then what? Do we sit and rot while those little insects mock us?"
The leader’s molten gaze burned into the serpent. "No. You will do your thing. Smoke them out."
The basilisk’s pupils narrowed to slits. A grin slithered across its fanged maw.
"As you wish."
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Above ground, the Ashen Expanse was silent except for the low groan of cooling stone.
Raven and his group stood in a loose formation, eyes fixed on the cracked earth where the next wave should have appeared.
Unfortunately, nothing moved.
Not a tremor. Not a single echo.
Siris tapped a dagger against her thigh with growing impatience. "Where are they? Come on, I just got warmed up!"
Graye, already rolling her shoulders in restless excitement, groaned loud enough to echo. "Ughhh, are they scared? Don’t tell me the big scary dragon mutts are hiding."
The panther, standing right next to her, licked her hand, as if offering her something to calm down, and although not much, it did help Graye look away.
"What? You wanna play?" She grinned at the panther, whose eyes widened as it heard the wordplay.
But before they could start rolling on the ground, the ground trembled again.
"Wait," Rufus said softly, his visor clicking back into place. "Something’s—"
Before he could complete his words, a thin curl of smoke snaked out of the crack.
Then another.
Then a flood of it—thick, black, and oily—poured upward like a living thing.
"Poison?" Jessy asked, already stepping back.
"Maybe," Clara said, her voice sharp despite its calmness. "Even Vaise can’t gamble with corrupt toxins."
"Fall back," Raven commanded, and the next instant, everyone jumped away.
Selena grabbed Graye by the collar and yanked her back just as the smoke thickened, roiling outward like a living tide.
Alex and Nibbles leapt back in sync—though Nibbles, of course, managed to land on Alex’s head like a smug hat, while also lifting the panthers with his telekinesis.
No one questioned Raven’s command because, as Clara said, even the Vaise, who were known to be immune to all poison, shouldn’t underestimate corrupt beast poison.
After all, even corrupt mana could put anyone in a severe state.
For a while, everything remained hidden under the smoke, and the only thing one could perceive was the quake of the ground.
Then the smoke thinned, revealing nine massive silhouettes standing atop the cracked earth. Their eyes gleamed through the haze—gold, crimson, and emerald—each pair locked on its chosen prey.
They stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of the rift, silent but watching.
The basilisk’s golden gaze slithered over the group, and its fangs bared in a slow, mocking grin.
"Scared of a little smoke? How very... human."
Graye’s eyes narrowed. Siris twirled a dagger, expression flat.
Raven, on the other hand, stepped forward, still in his humanoid dragon form.
His scaled jaw cracked slightly, and a thin wisp of smoke leaked from the corner of his mouth.
The basilisk tensed immediately, coils tightening like steel cables.
The others followed, wings and claws snapping into a ready stance.
As soon as it happened, behind Raven, Graye smirked. "Look at that. A whole pack of overgrown lizards spooked by a yawn."
Jessy snorted. "What a bunch of drama queens."
Selena’s shadow twitched like a living smile. "Pathetic."
It was now the beasts’ turn to grind their teeth as they growled in anger.
Then, the largest beast snapped its wings wide, molten saliva hissing as it hit the rock. "Enough. Attack!"
The rift erupted with motion. Nine titans launched forward, choosing their targets with murderous intent.
But before they could move more than a few paces—
Clara’s fingers flicked, a blade of wind slicing toward the basilisk.
Swish!
It was swift but light, as if it wasn’t an attack but a taunting invitation.
But it didn’t end there, as Jessy followed with a gleaming metal arrow, its magnetic hum splitting the air.
Jake hurled a dense shadow sphere that warped the light around it.
Selena’s bone arrow hissed with violet flame.
Rufus raised his palm, a bullet of pure light lancing forward in a golden streak.
Siris sent a Cryovoid shard screaming across the battlefield, frost trailing in its wake.
Alex lobbed a fist-sized stone of molten lava that burst midair into glowing fragments.
Graye only grinned widely, purple fire flaring as she cupped a hand to her mouth. "Come on, pick me already!"
Each attack struck like a thrown gauntlet, not to kill but to claim.
The message was clear: We choose you, not the other way around.
The nine beasts roared in fury and surged toward their provocateurs, claws and wings splitting the cracked earth as they met their chosen foes head-on.
Only Raven and the black-boned leader remained unmoving.
They stared across the battlefield, heat shimmering between them.
A boy cloaked in black-red flame and a beast wearing the skeleton of a dragon.
Omni’s voice rumbled softly from the tattoo on Raven’s arm.
"Man," it said with a grin in its tone, "this is gonna be fun."
Raven’s crimson eyes burned hotter.
"Yeah," he murmured, smoke curling from his teeth. "Let’s finish this."
However, it wasn’t just the Ashen Expanse where things were getting heated.
The same could be said about the capital city, as the craziest old man was going to clash with the strongest demon humans of the capital city would ever see.
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High above Velmoria’s sun-kissed capital, the world narrowed to two figures suspended in the air.
Crisaius floated with his hands tucked casually behind his back, white hair flaring in the wind, and robes rippling like lazy storm clouds.
Across from him hovered the intruder—a man-shaped shadow wrapped in a faint, pulsing crimson light.
His face was deceptively human: sharp jawline, elegant cheekbones, and eyes like molten garnet. Only the faint shimmer of black scales crawling up his neck betrayed what he really was.
The demon smiled faintly as his gaze swept over the glowing city below.
"Beautiful," he murmured. "The lights, the symmetry, the way humans build their little dreams into marble and gold... The demon realm has nothing like this. All we have are fortresses and wastelands. So ugly. So... empty. Sometimes, when I see something this beautiful, I feel the urge to destroy it. To—"
"—Isn’t that supposed to be an internal monologue?" Crisaius interrupted, tilting his head with an almost pitying look. "Why are you narrating your diary to me? Do you have some fetish for role-playing a third-rate villain who explains his plan before the fight starts?"
The demon blinked, thrown completely off balance. "I—what?"
"Also," Crisaius continued smoothly, raising one finger like a lecturer, "you’re violating airspace law. This is a private flight zone. Only the king’s pigeons and his personal guests get to float over the palace without clearance."
The demon stared at him. "...What are you even trying to do right now?"
"Obviously," Crisaius said, gesturing vaguely toward the horizon, "I’m telling you we should relocate. You don’t have the paperwork to hover here."
The demon’s eyes narrowed. "And why exactly should I listen to you?"
"You don’t have to," Crisaius said with a shrug. "You can stay here if you like. I am leaving. Far, far away. I enjoy breathing, and you—"
He flicked a glance at the demon’s glowing aura. "—are on a timer. When your time runs out, you’ll be forced to go back, but I’ll be here, and I’ll start hunting. One demon at a time. Guess who’s first on the list?"
A dark chuckle rumbled from the demon’s chest. "You think you can run from me?"
Crisaius’s grin sharpened into something that made the night itself flinch. "Believe me, man. If I decide to run, even if your mother shows up, she won’t be able to catch me."
The demon’s expression twitched, fury flashing across his face. "I’m an orphan."
"...Ah." Crisaius blinked, the breeze carrying an awkward silence between them. "Right. My bad."
Then he cleared his throat and clapped his hands together briskly. "Anyway! Let’s focus on the important part—the part where we fight somewhere that won’t annoy the king’s air patrol. Shall we?"
The demon’s lips curled back, molten light flaring behind his teeth. "Lead the way, old man."
Crisaius’s eyes gleamed, amusement layered over ancient lethality. "Excellent. Try to keep up."
Then, with a lazy flick of his wrist, the old master shot skyward in a streak of silver light, the morning air cracking like a whip as the demon launched after him, their chase ripping across the heavens and away from the sleeping city below.
Lia and Velric, on the other hand, standing on the balcony, sighed in relief at the sight of the demon and the Crisaius whooshing away.
Now, they didn’t need to worry about the capital’s destruction.
What they didn’t know, however, was that someone was moving toward the royal prison to free the demons.