The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases-Chapter 540 - 331: Reviving the Dead

David had no time to catch up with his two daughters as all three simultaneously felt an intense crisis looming.

Looking up together, they saw a pitch-black pillar descending from the already elf-rain-laden sky toward them.

It was... a spider leg.

Rose had sensed his presence and instinctively stomped down with one foot.

David, with only a demigod's consciousness returned, knew full well that he was no match for this powerful deity. Facing this godly finger, he looked up with a calm expression and called out, "Mother."

As if it were a long-agreed silent pact, the sky, darkened by the descent of the corrupted Afando, suddenly lit up with a blazing sun.

"ROAR!!!"

With a dragon shadow bearing a fission Dragon Breath comparable to a molten railgun, it plowed across the earth.

Rose's divine body, intruding into the material world, was cleaved in two, collapsing like a supporting pillar of the heavens amidst a splash of fragmented remains.

Pafila, having circled the sky, landed with a thunderous crash. At her side followed a headless dragon corpse—the decaying Dragon God Farazur.

This newly-appointed Dragon God, who had defended Tiamat's domain in the Realm of the War God for half a century, emerged from the Warrior's Rest and descended in divine form into the main material world.

Continuing to defend the Warrior's Rest had lost its meaning amidst the frenzied invasion. Like the other gods, the War God was preoccupied with his own survival.

In a way, the gods were like parasites clinging to the web of rules, able to exploit them. But when the rules began to collapse like a spider's web in a storm, they either fell with them or fled back to where they came from.

This was what most deities were attempting to do.

In the face of overwhelming catastrophes, who would care about the lives of their followers?

Even Bahamut, after almost breaking the chains of this despairing fate, had made a similar suggestion to David: After assimilating the nine facets of godly authority into one, move to a new world and, like Io, sow the seeds of life anew.

Even this hero of the Babylonian World, after attempting countless cycles of reincarnation, could only come to such a bleak conclusion.

This cataclysm, brewed by the elf gods, seemed... insoluble.

As expected. David revealed an unsurprised expression.

With Rose's physical invasion into the material plane, it signaled that the rule set by the Supreme Deity AO—'gods shall not set foot on the material plane'—had begun to collapse.

Perhaps that one world line, completely unbound by this rule, was one manifestation of the domino effect caused by the collapse of this rule in the multiverse.

He then heard his mother's voice, "What are you planning to do?"

David's soul transfer had naturally not escaped Pafila, who was temporarily wielding Tiamat's full authority as the Chromatic Dragon Queen.

In her view, since David had chosen to return at this juncture, either he had found a way to break the deadlock, or he could not bear to watch them consumed by oblivion and chose to return to fight side by side.

No matter what David decided, she, as a mother, chose to trust him unconditionally and support him with all her might.

After all, even in death, a brood of dragons dying together under such an irresistible disaster, isn't that somewhat romantic?

Just as this inherently lazy mother dragon, who had finally reached 'passive retirement', was absent-mindedly contemplating this amidst the spectacular calamity, a teleportation portal opened above Dewensen. Out came a Silver Dragon, covered in bloodstains and with scales askew, looking up with tear-filled eyes at the Dragon Queen, who was more than twice its size, "Pafila..."

It was Dragon Dad, Attilicia. Feeling his wife's arrival while battling outside the city, he immediately rushed over as if he were the Cowherd finally able to cross the magpie bridge to meet the Weaver Girl.

"Ahem." With the situation dire, David couldn't help but interrupt the 'lovesick couple's' reunion after half a century.

Pretending to look at the Spider Goddess Rose, whose divine body was re-emerging in the sky, he spoke, "It looks like Rose has already linked up with the God-fiend behind the door. We must delve into the homeland of the elves, Ferodiel, and eliminate that thing. Otherwise, we can't kill Rose—we'll just be slowly worn to death by Her."

Attilicia was shocked. "Go to Ferodiel? Now? Isn't that a death wish..."

He stopped mid-sentence, feeling that his granddaughter before him seemed somewhat unfamiliar... The tone was familiar in some way.

David, however, just smiled. "To some extent, it's indeed not much different from seeking death, especially if Tiamat's intuition is correct and that God-fiend has a Supreme Deity AO charm embedded in its forehead."

"AO?!!" Attilicia was utterly baffled and desperate, clutching his head.

If he were to face another god, even powerhouses like Rose and Corellon, he felt he might stand a chance. After all, his wife was Pafila, who could go toe-to-toe with the War God!

But now, he was expected to face AO? If the myths held a shred of truth, that was nearly equivalent to facing a creator god!

He instantly felt as if he had gone mad. This world was freaking mad too...

David also restrained his smile, spreading his claws. "But we have no other choice, do we? You wouldn't want to continue doing nothing and just waiting to die like before, right, Father?"

Brazen enough to make such a nasty remark in front of Pafila, Attilicia was so angry he stomped his feet. "Which of your eyes saw me waiting to die?"

Immediately after, he stopped, staring incredulously at Violet. "Son? Is it really you? You... have come back?"

"Ah... uh..." David immediately grinned, revealing his trademark ferocious smile, which quickly caused his daughter Violet's newly sewn lips to come undone. Filled with overwhelming pity, he used his own Authority of Lust to stitch them back up, lest Violet blame him for it.

Attilicia's head buzzed at the sight, crazier and more bizarre than the fallen Rose. However, the original despair and fear in his heart were somewhat diluted, and he summoned the courage to ask, albeit slightly uncertain, "...Just us?"

"Of course it won't just be us fighting alone," David stated with absolute certainty.

Upon his return, he had called upon the names of all Dragon Gods. And he had shared the information Tiamat risked her life to bring back from Ferodiel, along with his own battle plans.

He didn't know which Dragon Gods would answer his call. But he believed that at least those two would certainly help him.

For no matter how the landscape changed, their golden, dazzling nature would stand firm in the river of time.

While Attilicia still wondered who would respond to such a ludicrous suicidal plan at such a time, a couple of Gold and Silver Dragons flew in side by side. And in another world line, they were the parents of David's other identity, 'Ximor.'

The Scales of Justice Landis.

The Lady of Mercy Tamara.

And they had brought David something else. "This is what Bahamut entrusted to us before he left, and now we pass it on to you... child..."

At that moment, what shone with platinum radiance was the entirety of the Northwind Dragon King's divine authority.

"Thank you," David said, bowing his head in humble devotion, ready to accept the crown bestowed from the heavens.

And just as Pafila was about to return Tiamat's divine authority to David, the situation changed once more.

The Creatrix Goddess Asterna, the Goddess of Wealth Estella, the Observer of Fate Kronus, the God of Destruction Carrex, and the Goddess of Laughter Hel arrived in succession.

David was overjoyed. Amidst the astonished expressions of the other Dragon Gods, he conjured a dragon head out of thin air and placed it on the barren neck of the decaying Dragon God Farazur, swishing his joyous tail and chuckling, "Incredible, after 30,000 years, all of us Dragon Gods have finally gathered together."

Although he knew that this was in some way a banding together in adversity, he still felt deeply moved from within.

As the diverse Dragon Gods looked on, some with smiles, some with relief, and others expressionless, only Farazur, who now had a head attached, remained motionless. Pafila immediately whipped him with her tail. "Make a sound! Don't think I haven't known you were feigning death all these years."

"Ah..." 'Revived,' the decaying Dragon God Farazur scratched his itchy hindquarters with a foreclaw and sighed deeply.

It was the last thing he ever expected, that, being a God of Death and already dead, he would not be spared. And now, he was forcibly brought back to life... Life as a Dragon, truly, is so damn tiresome!

"Anyone else?" Seeing that David, the planner of the scheme, had yet to give instructions, the Goddess of Laughter Hel asked.

"Me," David said with a smile. Or rather, the other 'me's.

As the Dragon Gods looked on in confusion, David didn't bother playing riddles at such a time. He laid a dragon claw on his eldest daughter Satilaesa's shoulder, who was about to see stars in her eyes. "Do you trust Daddy?"

"Of course," Satilaesa replied, not knowing what her father was about to do, but trusting him completely.

"Come on, show a bit of Arrogance."

"Huh?" This straightforward request completely baffled Satilaesa.

"Then how about acting spoiled for Daddy?" David tried another approach.

"I don't want to!" Satilaesa immediately turned her head away with a haughty (Arrogance) roll of her eyes.

But when her eyes rolled back, they already bore the look of David.

The Dragon Gods were astounded.

Another David!