My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 926 - 927: World Became His Home

Among all dragons, Ashergon held the greatest notoriety. None rivaled its raw dominance. From its hidden den, it soared through the skies over the entire realm, unleashing chaos at its every desire.

Towns, academies... nowhere could claim true security.

The strength of dragons appeared in numerous legends, their might captured in ancient stories. The highest dream for any knight was to defeat a dragon... that is, until they laid eyes on one themselves.

Images of dragons drawn from myths turned out, in truth, to be far more terrifying than imagined.

Blazing fire and swirling soot. Destruction and slaughter. A nightmare that overshadowed even the tallest peaks.

In the cramped command tent, Seras outlined her strategy and intentions to the group, excluding Damon who remained passed out.

After lingering a bit more, with no sign of him stirring, she chose to proceed by hauling him in his current state.

Faces drained of color marked those who had witnessed a dragon firsthand. Spotting the fatal task ahead, this revealed the innocents from the rest. The ones without such encounters almost buzzed with eagerness.

She shut her eyes for a moment.

How tragic... this could mark their last error.

Numerous beasts resembled dragons, sharing traces of their lineage.

Wyverns existed—formidable, yet no real danger to a disciplined force. Drakes posed risks, but a skilled band of geared explorers could manage them. Typically, it required a full assault team, but adventurers nonetheless.

Other variants included wyrms, amphitheres, and similar branches.

No... nothing matched the form of four limbs paired with wings in varied forms.

A true dragon.

Seras allowed the others moments to ready themselves, which left her isolated with Renata.

"Well, why haven't you gone..." Seras inquired deliberately, her eyes turning toward the other woman.

Renata denied with a shake of her head, her purple locks shining gently under the tent's faint glow.

"I wanted to speak. I hope that's okay..."

Seras lowered herself into a chair gradually, reclining with measured poise.

"Not at all. I don't mind... what would you like to discuss?" Her voice carried a touch of formality, unlike her exchanges with Damon.

Renata dipped her head in respect, honoring the exchange. She refused to disrespect an actual legend.

"How did you pinpoint that spot as a dragon's habitat..." It stood as the clear query. Scouts had merely sketched the location and shared facts. Seras alone had reached that verdict.

Seras offered a subtle grin, easing her head from side to side.

"It's an instinct... though clues exist if you're familiar... " She swept her locks aside and reclined further, arching her spine while talking.

"The clearest indicator was the eerie quiet in that woodland zone, yet it held some vitality. The Evil Forest hadn't spread too far into it..." Her features grew a shade grimmer.

"Which concerns me that we could face a dreadful dragon breed..."

Renata's spirit dropped. A drop of perspiration nearly traced her forehead.

"Yo... you mean something like Ashergon..." she ventured cautiously.

Seras halted, propping her jaw in reflection.

"Like Ashergon... nothing equals Ashergon. Though certain ones approach it. Still, that's merely my view... perhaps worse ones lurk out there..."

Renata drew in a steadying breath, tilting her head as if dismissing the idea.

"You know of other dragons... ancient ones." She longed to name a few from memory but worried the nearby beast might catch its title.

"You speak like Ashergon is youthful. It's an elder dragon, said to roam since the dawn of the Path of Kings..." Seras's stare fixed on Renata, seemingly appraising her in quiet.

"You know, a fascinating myth ties Ashergon to Ashcroft. Are you familiar?"

Renata shifted uneasily, sensing one slip could reveal her demonic nature.

"All dragons brim with arrogance. They earn it fully..." she started, her tone hushed, as if wary of rousing the tale.

"Long ago, in the Second Epoch, Ashcroft the Dominator hunted for a steed. He scoured the vast world, through empires and forgotten sites, but discovered no creature fit to support his presence..."

She stopped, her eyes wandering as though specters glided along the canvas walls.

"Then tales reached him of a dragon that ruled the Everlasting Peaks on the Demon Continent from its perch. A beast whose span blotted out settlements, whose teeth outstripped lances. Its roar mimicked storms, and even peaks yielded before it... but it yielded to none."

This version came from whispers and ballads she recalled. Truth or embellishment, she couldn't judge.

"Thus Ashcroft ventured to the Everlasting Peaks, ascending amid tempests and hush until he gained the icy pinnacle where human reach grazed the divine. The overhead void stretched infinite dark, dotted with chill lights... and amid those desolate elevations, Ashergon claimed its lair."

The Everlasting Peak rose as the supreme height across the Demon Continent and beyond. Perilous, merciless. Though she'd never beheld it, picturing it evoked a void's edge.

"Gaining its top was legend enough," she murmured. "Defying its guardian... pure folly."

"When he arrived, Ashcroft confronted the dragon and commanded submission. He declared not as a beggar, but as sovereign. Serve as my ride, he urged. Bear my command through the clouds."

Seras absorbed the account wordlessly, the fire's snap bridging Renata's pauses.

"And Ashergon replied..."

Renata's pitch dipped, gaining a faraway resonance.

'I kneel to no deity, nor to a simple fiend. I won't touch the ground in fealty or serve as a weapon. You perish... or I turn to cinders.'

"The skies quaked at that defiance."

Legends claimed their clash spanned just one evening. An evening etched forever in annals.

"Smoke and inferno consumed the night. The dragon's fire thawed the peak's glacial cap, and the Everlasting Peaks bellowed like a fresh eruption. Streams of lava plunged to the depths below, twisting peace into devastation."

She moistened her lips quietly before pressing on.

"Ultimately, Ashcroft failed to shatter the dragon's resolve. Ashergon unfurled its immense sails and fled the Demon Continent in rage, bearing the sting of defeat... and the trace of its would-be master."

Renata's digits tightened a touch as she reached the close.

"Yet Ashcroft didn't leave barren-handed. He departed the heights triumphant on his terms. In his hold lay shards ripped from Ashergon's hide, plus a flask brimming with draconic essence."

She lingered, her whisper faint.

"And buried deeper, he bore an invisible burden. A draconic toxin, planted in his core."

"Even after Ashcroft's fall, Ashergon shunned the Everlasting Peaks. The range endured... but its ruler vanished."

Her eyes rose gradually.

"Thus the realm turned into its domain."

Seras's focus stayed on the flames, their flicker mirrored in her stare.

"From Damon's accounts, Ashergon now resides beyond the Duhu Mountains. Let's pray it hasn't chosen the Evil Forest as a new haunt..."

Renata agreed with a gradual nod.

"Yes... and the cause for my lingering... if Damon rouses, could you withhold that we might confront a dragon? It's simply that he's—"

"Acting a bit overly cautious these days." Seras interrupted.

"Exactly." Renata answered gently.

Seras curved her lips in a light smile.

"Wise choice... we ought to alert the rest..."