The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Liszt awoke from a coma and shockingly found himself in an underground lava cave, standing on a stone floating in the magma.

The scorching temperature made him sweat profusely.

The bubbling magma combined with the endless flames gave him a sense of falling into the abyss of hell. He tried to circulate his Dou Qi within his body to resist the hot air, but he couldn\'t muster any strength. Even the Sky-Cleaving Greatsword on his back couldn\'t be drawn.

"What… What\'s going on?"

Liszt\'s heart raced with panic, his head buzzing and blank.

Just then, the flames in front of him parted, and a huge head emerged from the fire.

It was as big as a room, with reddish-brown skin stained with clumps of flames, shaped like a triangle and sporting five curved horns. The scales were clearly visible, and there were a pair of eyes flickering with golden flames, along with a slightly open mouth gaping wide.

Sharp teeth lined up in rows, and although the tongue couldn\'t be seen, flames could be observed flickering within.

This head remained less than ten meters in front of Liszt, the golden flames in its eyes almost humanely sizing him up.

The neck and everything below it were engulfed in flames, obscuring them from sight.

But Liszt recognized it at a glance; it was a dragon\'s head — the head of a Fire Dragon.

At first glance it was ugly and fierce, but a closer look revealed rhythm in every line, filled with an unusual beauty of power that no other creature possessed.

It could only be found on a dragon.

Shivering was not enough to describe Liszt\'s emotion at that moment. Facing the Fire Dragon\'s head, all he wanted was to turn around and escape, far from his usual ambitions of Dragon Riding. But at the critical moment, his legs weakened, unable to move as if he\'d been hit with a paralyzing spell, or as though his legs weren\'t his own.

"I…"

He was extremely frightened.

Apart from the Dragon Knights and Archmages, perhaps nobody could overcome fear when facing a dragon. However, apart from fear, his mind was more blank, and his thoughts weren\'t working flexibly. He didn\'t feel the pressure of the Dragon Might, but his body reacted just like those animals paralyzed by fear.

The dragon\'s head just stared at him.

And he just stood there on the stone, too scared to move.

The surrounding flames continued to burn, and the magma still bubbled.

But soon.

Liszt\'s mind gradually cleared, and he began to remember he had woken up from a coma. But the place he had passed out was not here; it was in a... Collapsed Sinkhole.

"That\'s it!"

"I activated the Dragon Bone Magic Array, condensed a Magic Fire Seed made of magic power, and then... then the fire seed burrowed into my body, went to the position of my heart... It seemed to have burned away my heart. That\'s not right, am I dead or alive right now?"

His thoughts were still a bit chaotic.

But as he took a few deep breaths and carefully sorted through the fleeting thoughts, he finally pieced together the current situation, "Either I\'m dead, and this is a posthumous scene from hell; or the Magic Fire Seed triggered a volcanic eruption, filling up the Collapsed Sinkhole; or... all of this is just a hallucination while I\'m in a coma, affected by the Magic Fire Seed!"

After death.

Without surprises, one would probably be left with nothing, only in rare cases might one become a soul. This world doesn\'t have the concept of hell; a soul either exists as Virginia does or goes to the Exiled Lands.

Therefore, the current scene doesn\'t match any posthumous visuals.

As for a Magic Fire Seed triggering a volcanic eruption and even bringing forth a Fire Dragon, it\'s even more illogical. Black Horse Island is indeed a volcanic island, but the volcano has been dead for who knows how many years, and the Fire Dragon has long been reduced to a few remains. It makes no sense for such a massive Fire Dragon to be reborn.

"So the current scene is just a dream sequence while I\'m in a coma?" With this thought, Liszt suddenly felt the fear that had been binding him dissipate abruptly.

He regained control over his body.

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He stood up straight.

He drew out the Sky-Cleaving Greatsword, and with a piercing voice, said to the still glaring Fire Dragon\'s head, "So you are the projection of the Magic Fire Seed! It\'s a strange state; my body is still unconscious, yet my mind exists in such a vivid environment. Even this phantom body feels so real."

The Fire Dragon\'s head swayed slightly, its golden fiery eyes flickering with a dangerous light.

Its mouth gradually opened, revealing flames as hot as the sun brewing within, seemingly ready at any moment to unleash the Dragon Breath and reduce Liszt to ashes.

But Liszt felt no fear.

From another aspect, he confirmed his speculation—the Fire Dragon lacked any Dragon Might; it was merely a facade. He had personally experienced the Dragon Might of the Formless Dragon, that overwhelming force that made his scalp tingle and left him breathless, an unforgettable memory. The Fire Dragon before him, however, lacked this trait.

"Roar!"

The Fire Dragon did not release its Dragon Breath, instead, it let out a shrill, peculiar dragon roar that was indescribable.

Liszt did not cover his ears but raised the Sky-Cleaving Greatsword, ready for any impending danger.

Even having guessed that he was in a dream affected by the Magic Fire Seed, he remained cautious; to not leave meant danger could strike at any time.

Fortunately,

the danger did not materialize.

After the roar, the eyes of the Fire Dragon\'s head reflected a vibrant, indescribable meaning. Then, it slowly retracted back into the flames and vanished without a trace. Following that, the surrounding flames began to die down, the molten rock around him dulled, and everything suddenly plunged into darkness.

The high temperature disappeared.

Liszt felt waves of exhaustion wash over him, and he closed his eyes, dozing off.

...

Hunger.

An immense hunger.

There was an irresistible urge to eat anything, even himself, to relieve the hunger.

Liszt abruptly opened his eyes, awakened by the driving hunger, his mind foggy with nothing but thoughts of food. He resisted the growling protest from his stomach and looked around.

A Crystal Lamp cast a faint light, barely illuminating his surroundings.

He was still in the cavern of the Collapsed Sinkhole.

Only, the five Dragon Bones that had originally pierced through were now gone, leaving behind five passages leading up to the surface, with faint light seeping in.

"Sigh."

He let out a long breath of relief, "It was indeed just a dream, a dream influenced by the Magic Fire Seed... I\'m so hungry, I can\'t stand it, I need to eat something!"

Unable to wait, he took out Magical Beast Meat and Dragon Breed Milk from the Gemstone Space and started devouring them wildly, both eating and drinking voraciously.

It took him about five pounds of Magical Beast Meat and three large cups of Dragon Breed Milk before the hunger finally started to recede and his mind became completely clear.

"What\'s happened to me? The amount I\'ve just consumed is probably equivalent to my usual food intake for two meals." He rubbed his swollen stomach, surprised.

His appetite was naturally large; he usually ate in one meal what others did in two or three.

After all, the Dou Qi generated by a Knight required transformation from the food consumed. Even though his practice of the Dou Qi Secret Technique "Breath Decay" had some success in effectively controlling the loss of Dou Qi, his appetite remained large. However, he paid close attention to eating healthily and rarely overindulged.

He tried to increase the number of meals rather than eating too much at one time.

Rarely did he experience such pangs of hunger: "How many days have I been unconscious to be this hungry... Right, why haven\'t my Retainer Knights come to rescue me after being unconscious for so long? And what about that seed of Magic Fire that entered my body!"