City of Sin

Book 8, 37

Cleaning Up(3)

A chain of light flew out from Richard’s hands, connecting to the planar portal, which in turn rumbled and emitting powerful light as it slowly grew wider alongside its frame. By the time he was done, the passage was now double the width; it took quite a bit of his divine grace with the Eternal Dragon, but transporting things would now be much cheaper.

The first batch to come through the modified portal were Richard’s remaining followers and the rest of the Archeron saints, followed by thirty other saints who had volunteered their participation. Behind them were powerful members of the clergy and combat mages, and then his rune knights, winter soldiers, and arrowbeasts. The army stunned all of the participants into silence.

Up in the sky, Tannan was still engaged in battle with his opponent. It would have been easy for him to just destroy the dragon, but needing some of its internals intact he had to be careful with his power, which drew out the battle.

However, there were a total of six dragons on the ground, all of their movements extremely sluggish! Phaser and Zangru were even berating a few who could crawl while herding them together. Tiramisu had gotten a huge chain out from somewhere and was tying a dragon up, a bound one already by his side wiggling its fastened wings in despair. Another metallic dragon nearby was completely motionless, evidently dead.

These powerful warriors all knew that Tannan had been the first one to enter the portal, but very little time had passed before they had come through themselves. It should have been impossible for him to defeat six dragons in this time; even considering how time could mess up when travelling between planes, there was no way to explain this.

The mindsets of many saints changed in an instant, going from self-preservation to reckless abandon. They had to charge right away, or the large formation of soldiers behind them would leave no room for glory. Seeing their expressions, Richard smiled faintly before organising everyone.

More than half of the saints involved were assigned to scouting duties, fanning out for a hundred kilometres around the core army to locate the dragons. They were explicitly ordered not to fight if they came across any danger; they were to either lead the threat back to the main group of rune knights and battle elite drones, or return themselves in case it was a significant force. Richard made the purpose of this expedition clear: they weren’t here to hunt, but to fight a war.

While the rune knights entered square formation and started advancing inwards, Tannan was still struggling with his target. Capturing a creature alive or preserving some of their body was much more difficult than just killing them quickly, but given his status as a legendary being no one dared step forward rashly to offer assistance. Richard didn’t bother himself either, directing his troops to set off.

Dozens of saints flew out in all directions, rushing towards the depths of the Dragon Plane. Richard floated a hundred metres above ground, advancing with the rest of his forces while Nasia fiddled with her dagger beside him. Watching the sharp blade dance around her ten fingers, he asked casually, “You added something to King of War, didn’t you.”

Nasia shrugged, “Good observation. It would only be the level boost normally, but given how you’re transferring the offerings to me I wanted you to enjoy a real upgrade.”

“Thank you,” he nodded.

“Don’t thank me. Aren’t you afraid that it’ll destabilise your foundation and stunt future development?”

“Heh, maybe for someone else.”

“Ugh... It seems like you have a lot of secrets.”

Richard sighed at that statement, “Not nearly enough.”

The blessing of truth allowed him to bring out the best of any ability, and his blessing of wisdom allowed him to analyse everything he had. The concept of unstable foundations didn’t really apply to him in the same way as to others; the only reason he’d held himself back before sainthood and the legendary realm was to improve the abilities he gained. As long as there was enough time, he could gain full control of anything he had access to; there was no need to worry about not understanding something completely.

Even now, he had already recorded all of the divine spells he’d used in his mind; after some time, they would be analysed completely. Even without the Apocalyptic Triad activated, he would soon be able to use the spells themselves. At one point, he could even try to learn the entirety of the language of power. Unfortunately, that would take an inordinate amount of time; this was an advanced law even more powerful than the Godnest in the Resting Orchid Plane.

At the same time, he had also remembered all of the boosts he had obtained from King of War; one of his minds was already focused on analysing them. When the time came, he only had to get to level 22 in terms of mana. Just like with the flame potion, this temporary boost had given him a clear path to take for future development.

“Hey, don’t get distracted now!” Nasia interrupted his train of thought, “We have a battle to fight!”

“A battle?” Richard snapped out of his ruminations and looked around, finding nothing nearby.

She pointed off into the distance, “That direction, there are a dozen dragons there.”

Richard followed her direction, but he couldn’t see even a glimpse of a dragon nearby. However, he still had his troops turn around and had them advance in that direction. It took 200 kilometres before they came across a very tall mountain, a number of nests constructed at its various peaks with a few dragons flying around.

Seeing the army approach, the dragons immediately bellowed and called their kin out from the caves. It wasn’t long before a dozen of them were looming in the sky, roaring threateningly. Watching the mountain peak, Richard leaned towards Nasia and asked, “Are these the dragons you saw?”

“Why, are the numbers wrong?”

He smiled bitterly, “No, the numbers are right, but what about the distance? How did you see them from 200 kilometres away?”

“Not your business. Let me be clear; the eggs are mine, and all the other treasure is for you.”

He shook his head begrudgingly, waving his hands to have the troops advance. However, Tannan and the other saints didn’t wait for any assistance from the rune knights, surging right into the midst of the group and engaging in battle. The saints especially seemed to have been drugged, ignoring all but the most dangerous attacks as they tried to kill.

Once Richard’s followers joined the battle, dragons started falling from the sky one by one. Tiramisu was filled with excitement at first, but the ogre warlord was soon disappointed as he realised that the dragons who fell were covered in injuries and not far from death; there was no need for him to do anything.

Still in the sky, Richard watched the situation silently. It seemed like he wouldn’t need to get involved in this battle at all.