After a conquest, Ethan finally felt satisfied.
He activated the Heartbane spell, the three runes respectively branded on the foreheads of the three girls without much resistance.
“Ding! Congratulations to the host for subduing hero Amelia Thomas, loyalty 95%.”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host for subduing hero Olivia Brown, loyalty 95%.”
“Ding! Congratulations to the host for subduing hero Isabella Jones, loyalty 95%.”
After glancing at the system prompt that appeared, Ethan nodded with satisfaction.
The power of magic indeed triumphs over everything.
Generally, increasing loyalty is quite challenging as human beings are notoriously unpredictable.
Money, power, and status… all these could ignite their loyalty, but often not for long.
However, relying on the power of magic, Ethan managed to make the three women utterly devoted to him without much effort. “It would be even better if there were more of such useful magic.”
After successfully subduing the three women and arranging for them to assist Eluna in the Treant Village, Ethan returned to the dungeon.
The first thing he did was to summon the newly obtained Dragon Tower, placing it beside the hatchery.
Having had the most firepower in the Riverside war, he had a huge amount of resources filling his warehouse. “Let’s summon a Bipedal Wyvern for fun.”
After consuming sufficient resources, an image of a monstrous creature covered in scales, terrifying and ferocious, slowly emerged before him and then materialized.
It was a colossal beast over ten meters tall, covered in fine green scales.
Unlike dragons, its forelimbs were connected to its wings.
Its head was similar to that of a dragon, sans the dragon horns.
In terms of size, the Bipedal Wyvern was undoubtedly the largest of all the species that Ethan had summoned to date.
[Name: Bipedal Wyvern]
[Intelligence: Adult Male]
[Strength: B-rank]
[Special Ability: Dragon Might (Non-dragon species will feel fear upon seeing Bipedal Wyvern.)]
[Enhancement Directions: Wyvern, Poison Dragon, Ground Dragon]
[Acid Dragon Flame: Bipedal Wyvern can spray a highly corrosive Dragon Flame for attack, doubling the damage to the enemy’s metal armor.]
“Just not sure about the actual combat power…”
“Attack me,” Ethan ordered the Bipedal Wyvern.
Although a bit puzzled, the Wyvern obeyed Ethan’s order.
It opened its mouth wide and a thick green acid was instantly spat out at Ethan.
Sizzle…
Smoke rose, and Ethan’s clothes were quickly corroded, even his skin began to feel a strong burning sensation.
Considering Ethan’s A-rank defense, the corrosive Dragon Flame had this effect; if the Wyvern faced knights clad in heavy armor, its Dragon Flame would definitely be their nightmare.
Ethan looked at his remaining resources.
Even after capturing a main city, the resources he seized could only summon five Bipedal Wyverns.
“No time to rest on our laurels,” sighed Ethan, who was once again reminded of his actual poverty despite feeling wealthy for a brief moment.
This only strengthened his resolve to seize control of Riverside.
More than the riches and food, it was the human resources that truly mattered.
Once Riverside was under his full control, the annual output of resources would be substantial enough to support a vast army.
“Need to make every penny count,” Ethan said, making a decision.
Instead of being frugal, Ethan exchanged most of the resources he had accumulated for Bipedal Wyverns.
The five enormous creatures, each longer than ten meters, exuded an intimidating aura even when viewed from a distance.
“Roar!”
The five Bipedal Wyverns observed each other while letting out roars.
The smaller monsters in the dungeon, especially the goblins, were terrified and kept their distance.
Other monsters voluntarily started moving away from the Dragon Tower’s vicinity.
It was the first sign of territory division within the dungeon.
“I really need more space…” Ethan sighed, patting the head of one of the Bipedal Wyverns.
If he summoned a few more, he feared that his dungeon would not be large enough.
“Killing the lord of Riverside would immediately elevate my resource and territory standing,” Ethan thought, growing impatient with his desire to kill the lord.
Riverside was currently dealing with the Black Dragon…
“No better day than today. I’ll go meet this ‘kin’ of mine,” he decided, having not yet seen a native dragon of this world other than himself.
After instructing little Ya and the others to watch over the house, and to release the Bipedal Wyverns on anyone causing trouble, Ethan left the dungeon under the cover of night and began his journey towards the Mist Forest.
…
Meanwhile, at the Riverside coalition camp within the Mist Forest, Riverside’s lord Ghöst Hughes angrily shattered the dining ware within his tent.
Even from a distance, his furious roar could be heard.
“What on earth is Mark Cooper doing? Claiming to be Riverside’s strongest warrior? He assured me that Riverside would be secure before I left. And now? How could it be so easily invaded by a few Dark Lords?”
“And where is Anna, that damn wretch? I entrusted her with the main control of the Riverside Barrier, and now she has disappeared without a trace, and even the Barrier has collapsed…”
“Without the Barrier, how are we to resist the monsters’ attacks? Do we use human lives to build up defenses?”
Ghöst Hughes raged, with all the generals and heroes within the tent keeping their heads low, daring not to retort.
After Ghöst Hughes had cooled down a bit, one of his staff officers murmured, “Lord Ghöst Hughes, it’s true that those Dark Lords have caused irreparable damage to Riverside… But the silver lining is that Miss Rose led Riverside’s heroes and successfully repelled the Dark Lord’s forces, even severely wounding that sudden golden dragon.”𝑂𝓋𝗅xt.𝑐𝞸𝓂
“We’re running out of time, Lord Ghöst Hughes. Right now, one Black Dragon has already put us in a tight spot. If another one shows up… Without the Riverside Barrier, we need to eliminate this Black Dragon beforehand, otherwise we’ll be caught between a rock and a hard place.”
“Humph, I’m well aware of that,” Ghöst Hughes responded, a murderous glint in his eyes.
“It’s nothing more than another flying insect. What is there to fear? I have the Dragon Crossbow in my hand. Even without the Riverside Barrier, if that foolish creature dares to approach Riverside, I’ll ensure it never leaves!”
“Right now, with our main forces deployed and our base in chaos, there’s no telling how long Rose could hold off another attack from those Dark Lords… We need to wrap up the current battle as swiftly as possible.”
“We’ve located that Black Dragon’s lair, there’s no need to wait any longer. We almost got it the last time, this time I’m hell-bent on chopping off its head and delivering it to the capital, as a trophy for His Majesty!”
“Deliver my orders, we set off immediately!”
“As you command!”
His staff saluted and dispersed.
The massive Riverside army, like a revved up war machine, began to gear up for battle.
…
Ethan, as if a shadow, weaved his way through the Mist Forest.
With his current strength, he quickly located the lair of the Black Dragon.
Deep in a swampy area radiating a miasma, Ethan found a large community of monsters, presumably minions of the Black Dragon…
Just a glance left Ethan rather impressed.
The Black Dragon had the guts to fight Riverside for so long, it indeed had some serious muscle.
Nearly all the monsters in the Mist Forest seemed to be its followers.
Their ranks, numbering in the tens of thousands, comprised a mixture of high-rank monsters like Two-headed Serpents and Giant Crabs.
This Black Dragon didn’t have the same advantage as the Dark Lords; it had no altar.
The fact that it commanded such a massive army was testament enough to its might.
Reaching the depth of the swamp, Ethan closed his eyes to sense his surroundings.
He found a hidden cave behind the swamp, a terrifying aura emanating from within…
Looks like dragons have a thing for places like this, Ethan thought, though he found his dungeon far more comfortable.
Following the cave downward, the space gradually opened up before him.
Illuminated by patches of bioluminescence, a gigantic cavern came into view.
In the middle of the cavern lay a massive pool, the floor of which glittered with a vast treasure.
Typical dragon hoarders, Ethan smirked.
A quick estimate of the value of the treasures at the bottom of the pool, and a staggering number popped up in his head.
“Why does it have to be dragons… Why am I the only poor one?”
“With this much gold and silver, if I exchange them for resources, I could summon at least a dozen Bipedal Wyverns…”
Ethan squatted down, picking up a shiny gold coin by the edge of the pool.
Rumble…
A loud noise echoed from within the pool.
A massive shadow loomed over Ethan.
Looking up, he found himself staring into a pair of green vertical pupils.