Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 588 - 541: Giant Dragon’s Caprice (Igros’s Trickery 1/6)

Chapter 588: Chapter 541: Giant Dragon’s Caprice (Igros’s Trickery 1/6)

That was a month after Serio had caused the blood catastrophe in the City of Wandering, sinking the moving city.

The gloomy, dark chamber was lit with candles made from refined sperm whale oil, an enchanting fragrance lingering on the ancient stone steps of indeterminate age. Arcane symbols resembling claws and fangs emitted obscure light in the corners, while several Monster Fire aloes were sealed in ice, spewing flames at the green humanoids taunting them from outside the transparent barrier, though to no avail.

"Hahaha, what a little fool," Irason said with a proud smile on her face. Her moss garment shed some pale green luminescent powder as she trembled, which was the fine pollen—inhaling too much of it could cause hallucinations. But it was clear that those present were well beyond the reach of such hallucinogenic seeds.

Princess watched with a cold face as she took out some books with Mithril-embedded covers from the built-in bookshelf. This one looked especially intriguing, especially when pulled from a stack of scholarly papers. Lady of Frost glanced sidelong at her sister, then turned to the first page of the book, and a gust of cold wind burst forth, blowing the green dust to the other side.

The tiny luminescent powder landed on the thick, lush breathing and entered the large nose hidden behind the beard.

Freheimer sneezed, flames erupting from his mouth, and his fiery red beard ignited with the escaped magic of the Red Dragon Priest, turning the green viscous material into ashes. The sparks were fleeting, and the dwarf habitually patted his still intact beard, not fretting over the green pollen or the chilling breeze that had caused the sneeze. He minded his newly made little stove, passing the brewed tea to the person across from him. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Tea’s ready, brother."

The bent and skinny Black Dragon Priest, only two-thirds the height of a dwarf, took the scalding red teacup with his thin hands. "Thank you."

Fleisheimer patted his long robe, which once fitted snugly but now compared to his sturdy figure, looked like a shrunken coat. The Red Dragon Priest didn’t mind though, as he had long since been using the robe as a craftsman’s apron. He had more pressing concerns now.

"Brother Ohmhead."

The old man lifted his head, revealing a pair of profound eyes beneath his black hood.

"I don’t understand. If Morocoy’s nurtured Evil God spawn is already capable of reshaping our flesh, why do you still retain such a frail form?"

"Too fragile. This body of flesh is but a plaything for pleasure, albeit with astonishing potential."

"Oh."

"You all have been slacking off lately."

The hushed voice of the Black Dragon Priest plunged the room into silence.

The next second, the sound of the Monster Fire aloe spewing flames was particularly grating.

"Shh~" Irason, who’d been playing the mole, could only press her face against the block of ice, gesturing to her irritable little friend.

The Black Dragon Priest covered his face.

"It seems only Morocoy is left with ambition, his growing as wildly as his madness. And you..."

"Ashes will always be ashes, and no amount of desperate breathing will do anything but cool them down faster," said Princess, her voice clear and beautiful, freezing the atmosphere.

Irason, sensing the tension, and aware of her duties as the Green Dragon Priest, began to adjust the mood.

"It doesn’t really matter to us, does it? Isn’t there still the Holy Light?"

"..."

Irason successfully lightened the mood, and now the other three Dragon Priests turned their gazes toward her, those looks—how should one put it—were ones of pity.

Unable to bear their stares, the Female Elf Grey Infant hid behind the flame-spouting potted plant.

"What I mean is... Brother Morocoy will surely find a way to revitalize the Dragon Priests, so it’s okay for us to take a break now, right? ...Isn’t it?"

At the perfect moment, a portal of flashing light appeared on one side of the room, and the person stepping out was none other than the Blue Dragon Priest Morocoy himself, Mr. Scholar, coming to the rescue with words that fit the situation.

"Brother!"

The scholar, who had just passed through the portal, only saw a green figure pouncing toward him. He subconsciously used spatial transmission and dodged the female elf’s leap through the folded space.

Just as Irason was about to plunge headfirst into the portal, a rough-skinned hand in a jester’s outfit grabbed the bewildered elf, lifting her head and holding her aloft in the air. The tall figure stepped through the portal, entering the Dragon Priests Council, standing behind the scholar.

As the giant dragon and her own pair of innocent eyes made contact, Irason exploded into a cloud of pollen, her true form manifesting beside Princess, who was already gathering a storm.

"Giant Dragon!!! This time you’re courting death yourself!!!"

"Temporal exile." The scholar extended his silvery palm and slapped it onto the giant dragon. The giant creature’s body surface began to undulate like impacted tinfoil, turning into a blurry shadow on the spot, while the exploding ice crystals detonated in place.

The Black Dragon Priest’s hand grabbed Princess’s ankle, floating in the storm, and Lady of Frost stopped her spellcasting, although she still glared angrily at the spatial afterimage.

"Your explanation, Morocoy."

Mr. Scholar seemed well-prepared; he took a step forward, displaying the arrogance befitting a human king.

"Followers of the Evil God represented by Serio have appeared in Triton. I will not allow my city, my people to be tainted once again. The number of Dragon Priests is too few; we need to expand our ranks with new members to face the impending disasters."

"Don’t even think about it! I will not become comrades with this bastard!" Princess was unable to suppress her fury and immediately rejected the scholar’s proposal.

The Dragon Priests Council had already received one veto, signaling a bad start.

"New Dragon Priests, huh?" Ohmhead started to consider the possibilities, given the current situation. The Black Dragon Priest was also well aware, "A rather tempting proposal, Morocoy. But as a member of the Dragon Priests, you should be as aware of the difficulty as we are. We can no longer create new Dragon Priests; the Dragon Clan is gone, there are no surviving giant dragons, and thus no dragon spirits."

"Even if you found a way, he is not the right candidate; he will disrupt the unity of our Dragon Priests Council."

The scholar looked at the others; they all stood firmly with Princess. Years of mutual support after hope has died, it was this connection that upheld the current Dragon Priests Council, and the scholar was well aware that he too was part of this.

"Let me do it, Scholar." His rough jester’s outfit was already torn from brute strength, and menacing bone claws tore open a rift in space-time as the sinister Lich stepped into the room.

The giant dragon made a small bow first, "To begin with, I apologize for my presumptuous visit."

"I will not stop my fanaticism for dragons, so..."

"If you need me to bow and reconcile my differences with this mad woman in order to join you..."

"Don’t even think about it! Unless I’m dead, oh, I’m already dead, but even then – no way!"

"I will not become a sincere member of your Dragon Priests, so why not try another way."

Sinister soul fire ignited within the giant dragon’s skull.

"I am Andrey, the leading professor of conjuration studies, and we have a saying, ’Death is never the end.’"

"If dragons are dead... then why not let them rise again."

Fleisheimer let out a cold snort.

"I thought you had some real power, but it’s just the same old Necromancer wanting to resurrect bodies. Naive. You’ll find that mythological creatures are much more complex than you think. Even if you got the dragon bones, the souls of the giant dragons are long gone; what you resurrect will just be fakes with a similar shell. Furthermore, in the light of the holy, you’ll probably not be able to find any dragon bones at all."

Mr. Giant Dragon responded to the Dragon Priest’s mockery with a sinister laugh in the Andrey style. He cocked his head and spread his arms.

"We have Lyle."