Chapter 296: Reunion, Enemy Following Closely

"Hoo..."

A pressure bordering on the physical rippled outward. Centered on the bone dragon’s skull, where a fierce, ghostly green soul-fire blazed, the dust on the basin floor was whipped into the air, only to settle and rise again.

It was precisely because of this formidable, lord-level undead bone dragon that no other creatures dared to linger in this basin.

The grim, skeletal dragon head stared at Zieg, who had manifested his own draconic form at the basin’s edge. The ghostly green flames in its eye sockets flickered erratically, and its razor-sharp teeth clicked open and shut, as if it were lost in thought.

The creature did not seem malicious, and its name sounded almost like a joke, yet its inherent power was enough to exert a crushing pressure on Wang Yu and his companions.

"Greetings. I am Zieg Welsbach, younger brother of the silver dragon Aeryllian. I have come here to ask you to summon my sister."

Zieg transmitted his words through telepathy, directing them toward the bone dragon, which was flapping its wings in the center of the basin, its entire frame wreathed in ghostly green flames.

"Oh, oh, oh! So you are the younger brother of that silver dragon lady. My apologies, my apologies. I have lived a bit too long, and my soul-fire has become somewhat fragmented, so I drift off into a daze from time to time. Besides, you are the first visitor I have had in over a hundred years, so I was caught off guard."

"Hmm, I had assumed there were hardly any dragons left in the world. To see one today is truly fortunate. Just call me Old Bones; these bones of mine are certainly old enough."

The resonant voice, spoken in the common tongue, echoed back to the four of them. The bone dragon sounded like an old man joking with his juniors—surprisingly full of vigor and quite amiable, a stark contrast to its ghastly appearance.

"Er... Mr. Old Bones, please, could you summon my sister? We agreed to meet here."

Zieg was taken aback by the creature’s personality, which was so at odds with its exterior. It turned out the creature had been staring at them in silence simply because it was daydreaming.

He decided to stick with the name "Old Bones" and repeated the purpose of their visit.

"Oh... oh... right. I must fulfill my promise. Back then, when I was being hunted by those three wretched abominations, it was thanks to your sister that I survived, or else my bones would have been dismantled and hung upon butcher knives and iron hooks."

After hearing Zieg, the bone dragon seemed to realize something, and it began to mutter to itself at a rapid pace. Wang Yu and his companions were left bewildered by the content of its ramblings.

It—a legendary bone dragon—had been hunted by three abominations?

What a joke. Even if a thousand abominations came, they wouldn't be able to do anything to a legendary undead dragon. Could those abominations have been some sort of super-mutants?

"Apologies, let me think. I recall your sister gave me something to serve as a beacon. As long as I use that object of sufficient power, I can pierce the planar barrier and send a message to her. She will rush here."

The bone dragon scratched its head with a bony claw. Its grim skull showed no expression, but the soul-fire in its eye sockets expanded and contracted, blinking like eyes, which clearly betrayed its distress.

"What is going on here?"

Wang Yu pointed at the bone dragon, which had descended from the sky and was scratching its head like a human, struggling to remember, and asked Avia beside him.

The creature’s earlier claim about being hunted by abominations and its current forgetfulness made Wang Yu feel that something was off.

"Its logic remains quite clear. Based on the fact that it calls itself 'Old Bones,' I estimate it has existed for at least several thousand years. For an undead creature to live this long without going insane, it would usually have to be a very special lich with a phylactery."

"As for this one, it is likely as it said: the long passage of time has worn down its soul-fire. A dragon’s soul is powerful enough that it can continue to burn even if it hasn't hunted other undead for a millennium. But, over time, this has caused its mind to deteriorate."

Avia pondered briefly and provided Wang Yu with an answer based on her knowledge.

"Becoming timid and forgetful? That’s not so bad. It’s better than constantly devouring other souls and becoming a corrupted madman."

Wang Yu understood then. This bone dragon hadn't hunted other undead to replenish its soul-fire for years; the fire was constantly weakening, but the dragon’s soul was resilient enough that it hadn't extinguished yet.

This was a major drawback of being an undead. Although they seemed to possess eternal life, a soul-fire without a living body to nourish it would eventually be worn away by the long years until it flickered out.

Devouring other undead was a way to extend one's "life," but the thoughts and memories within those souls would eventually influence the consumer. In time, the self would no longer be the self.

It was only natural. If becoming undead meant truly infinite life, who would bother being a living creature? One would just find a necromancer, get converted, and never have to eat or sleep again, roaming the world in freedom.

He glanced at the dim ring of fire in the sky. Undead creatures were much like the sun of their plane, constantly grabbing firewood to feed their soul-fire, but one day the fire would die, and the consciousness would no longer be the original one.

"I am sorry, I truly cannot remember what the beacon she gave me was. But I remember her saying that if I ever forgot, I could ask her brother, for he is a very clever dragon."

The bone dragon shook its grim head, looking distressed. It was clear the creature was trying its best, but it simply couldn't recall and had to turn to Zieg for help.

Aeryllian, it seemed, had anticipated that Old Bones might forget.

"Mr. Old Bones, I recall you saying that the beacon my sister gave you was an object of great power, correct?"

Zieg asked.

"That is correct. Only with sufficient power can it pierce the planar barrier for her to sense it."

Old Bones nodded; these simple facts he still remembered.

"Then I wonder, is it possible that the beacon is you, a legendary bone dragon?"

Zieg’s response, delivered with a faint smile, left the bone dragon stunned.

"The beacon is me? Ah, yes, I remember now. That is it. I am the beacon myself. But I am so weak, can I really serve as a beacon? No matter, since that powerful silver dragon lady said I could be the beacon, then I can."

The bone dragon muttered to itself. Though it found it hard to believe, it had recalled its role. The ghostly green soul-fire spread to its skeletal wings, filling the gaps with flame. Flapping its burning wings, the undead dragon soared into the sky.

As it climbed higher, the bone dragon began to chant in obscure, difficult syllables. These were memories etched into the deepest part of its soul-fire, memories that would only vanish at the very end, even after being worn down by time: the Dragon Tongue.

Only when it was but a tiny speck in the eyes of Wang Yu and the others did the bone dragon stop.

As it chanted the Dragon Tongue, the magic was activated. A massive suction force gathered necromantic energy from all around, and several pillars of black, heavy smoke surged toward the heavens.

Above, a colossal black dragon head formed from pure necromantic energy manifested. Its immense pressure forced the other undead in the surrounding basin to flee, including the very abominations Old Bones had once claimed were hunting it.

"Truly powerful."

Avia sighed at the bone dragon’s terrifying strength. Dragon Tongue magic, a technique that transcended normal spellcasting, combined with the creature’s legendary status, made Old Bones’s power as a caster far exceed its physical strength. Most dragons were the same.

Wang Yu simply watched, raising an eyebrow without a word. Such a powerful existence, yet its consciousness was already crumbling—when one thought about it, it was quite tragic.

"ROAR!"

The massive black smoke dragon head roared at the sky. A physical shockwave rippled in all directions, and as it swept over Wang Yu and his companions, they felt a wave of discomfort.

The low-level skeletons around the basin that failed to escape had their soul-fires extinguished instantly upon being touched—a second death.

Even from such a distance, and without being the direct target, the residual force was staggering. It was no wonder Aeryllian had entrusted this bone dragon to act as the beacon.

The necromantic dragon head gradually dissipated, and the bone dragon descended, returning to the center of the basin and looking up at the sky.

"That should do it. I remember that is how the silver dragon lady told me to summon her. I hope I remembered correctly."

There was a hint of worry in its voice that the method might not work, and it spoke to Zieg, seemingly afraid that failing to summon Aeryllian would make him unhappy.

"It should be fine. A seventh-tier specialized Dragon Tongue spell—while it doesn't quite have the power to tear through the planar barrier, it is more than enough to pierce through and deliver the message."

Zieg was also nervous, but seeing the powerful bone dragon acting so cautiously, he couldn't help but smile to reassure it.

"Professor, there is spatial fluctuation."

Avia’s voice reached Zieg, and its dragon head immediately snapped upward toward the sky.

There, a bright silver crack abruptly opened in the space of the undead plane. The memory of Aeryllian using her power suddenly became clear.

Silver dragons were naturally gifted with spatial magic, and the immensely talented Aeryllian even more so. Crossing planar barriers, a task of extreme difficulty, was much simpler for her. Zieg was absolutely certain this was the spatial rift created by his sister.

Staring intently at the rift, Zieg waited for Aeryllian to appear.

"Whoosh!"

In the next heartbeat, clad in shimmering silver scales that lent her a grace and slender elegance far surpassing other dragonkind, the silver dragon tore through the spatial rift and descended into the Plane of the Undead.

The moment she crossed the threshold, a multitude of phantom, translucent skeletal hands erupted across her draconic form, clinging to every inch of her body like the desperate grip of a drowning soul clutching at a final straw.

This was the crushing weight of the Undead Plane; while Zig and Avia had remained unaffected, the silver dragon Arelian’s power exceeded the threshold, causing the planar suppression to manifest as a visible, physical force once a certain limit was breached.

"Wait, there is something behind Arelian—are those Dragon-Tooth Soldiers? How can that be!?"

Zig, who had been on the verge of calling out to the sister he had long been parted from, suddenly realized that a swarm of black-robed figures had surged out from the spatial rift in the wake of the silver dragon.

They rode upon skeletal constructs that bore the distinct features of dragons, though diminished in size, pursuing the silver dragon with relentless intent.

"Oh dear, oh dear, those are the nasty things fighting the silver lady, I must hide at once!"

Old Bones let out a shriek and began frantically digging into the basin, sending sand and dust swirling into the air; with his strength, he soon succeeded in burying himself once more, exactly as he had been when Wang Yu and the others first arrived.

"Are they enemies?"

Wang Yu glanced at the legendary bone dragon burying itself and understood from its words that the black-robed figures trailing Zig’s sister were foes, not friends.

"Those mounts are Dragon-Tooth Soldiers, crafted from the bones or teeth of dragons; they are undead creatures and suffer little suppression in this plane. Look at their numbers—we must lend a hand."

Avia watched the black-robed figures above, who were already maneuvering their mounts to hunt the silver dragon while unleashing volleys of pitch-black beams and energy spheres, and began to gather magic between her outstretched hands.

Ordinarily, given the strength of the silver dragon he had witnessed before, dealing with these robed figures would have been effortless, but under the severe planar suppression, these enemies—who seemed largely unaffected—were causing her significant trouble.

"Hiss, hum!"

With a nimble aerial maneuver, she dodged a massive barrage of incoming attacks, then whipped around to unleash a blinding beam of light that erupted into a brilliant conflagration amidst the enemy ranks.

As the blast subsided, several Dragon-Tooth Soldiers and their riders were reduced to mangled ruin.

Yet, the power of that dragon breath had been stifled by the plane, failing to scatter the swarm; instead, the black-robed figures seized the opening, accelerating their mounts to bypass the lingering energy and encircling the silver dragon.

The silver dragon showed no fear, chanting in the draconic tongue as several crosses of silver radiance manifested around her, serving simultaneously as shields and blades of absolute destruction.

As necrotic magic coalesced and the robed figures prepared to engage Arelian in a decisive battle in the skies, a sonic boom suddenly thundered from below.

Before the black-robed figures could process what had occurred, a figure clad in savage, crimson armor had already launched itself into the sky.

Wrapped in armor and wreathed in battle aura, an iron fist pulverized a Dragon-Tooth Soldier in its path, sending the rider plummeting to the earth below, where he shattered into fragments upon impact.

As the remaining robed figures turned their gaze toward the sudden appearance of the blood-armored knight, the next victim was already marked.

A chain forged of hardened blood whipped out, coiling around the neck of a Dragon-Tooth Soldier and hauling the blood-armored knight toward it with terrifying velocity.

"Bang!"

The black-robed figure atop the mount was obliterated into a spray of gore by the impact of the blood-red silhouette, which then used the momentum to lunge toward its next target.

Support from Avia and Zig.

Launching Wang Yu, a knight unaffected by the planar suppression, directly into the heart of the spellcasters...