𝗈𝗏𝓛xt.𝗇𝓔t
After ending his conversation with Ethan, the Lizard Dark Lord sneered and sent a private message to the Giant Dragon Dark Lord.
[Lizard Dark Lord: Ethan has taken the bait. I will lead him to the ruins as you instructed. Just remember to fulfill your promise once we succeed.]
[Giant Dragon Dark Lord: Rest assured, I’ve shown you all the details of the ritual. As long as we sacrifice a dragonkin, your lizard bloodline will evolve into a Giant Dragon bloodline.]
The Lizard Dark Lord’s heart started to heat up after reading the Giant Dragon Dark Lord’s message.
He had just met the Giant Dragon Dark Lord on the world channel not long ago.
Since his territory was too close to Ethan’s and he didn’t want to become Ethan’s subordinate, he hatched a plan to make the two parties fight, and he would profit from their conflict.
He revealed to the Giant Dragon Dark Lord that Ethan was the first to break through to A-rank and that Ethan was also a dragonkin.
The Giant Dragon Dark Lord was immediately interested in this information.
After meeting privately, in order to provoke a conflict between the Giant Dragon Dark Lord and Ethan, the Lizard Dark Lord deliberately belittled Ethan, painting him as a lucky, undeserving A-rank.
In his eyes, Ethan was just that — due to the natural repression Ethan had over him because of his bloodline, the Lizard Dark Lord had been paying close attention to Ethan and felt no respect for him.
In the Battle of Riverside, they had a great victory, but everyone chose to retreat.
Occupying the city meant the risk of being besieged by the imperial forces, so the gain wouldn’t be worth the loss.
But Ethan was excessively greedy, he stayed behind in Riverside alone and ended up heavily injured by a sudden hero, fleeing in disgrace.
And it didn’t end there.
Not long ago, he heard that Ethan took advantage of the battle between the Riverside forces and the Black Dragon, tried a sneak attack but ended up beaten once again and fled.
After two failures, Ethan was nothing more than a waste in the eyes of the Lizard Dark Lord who got lucky with his dragonkin starting position.
Moreover, after finding out that the Giant Dragon Dark Lord had always been pursuing the Dark Elf Dark Lord, Tessa Barron, he masterfully fabricated the story of the Riverside battle.
In his story, the Dark Elf Dark Lord was the organizer of the alliance, and Ethan was just a sidekick, leeching off her.
The Dark Elf Dark Lord was very protective of Ethan, giving him most of the benefits from the battle.
That’s why Ethan leveled up from B-rank to A-rank so quickly.
The two were also often seen together, implying an intimate relationship…
After the Lizard Dark Lord’s manipulative account, the Giant Dragon Dark Lord was burning with anger.
From the moment he first laid eyes on the Dark Elf Dark Lord, he had seen her as his destined partner, and now some upstart dared to snatch her away.
After his transmigration, Giant Dragon Dark Lord always considered himself to be the chosen one, the protagonist of this world.
He not only obtained the Giant Dragon bloodline at the start, but also was born within the ruins of a Giant Dragon, which contained vast treasures and many dragon-Bloodline inheritances.
His opening move was a royal flush amongst royal flushes.
Just by integrating the inheritances within the ruins, his power had already elevated to B+ rank.
Not long ago, after ransacking several Hero villages, he officially broke through to A-rank, becoming peerless in his time.
But why would he allow others to sleep by his side?
The Dark Lord faction doesn’t need another dragon clan.
So, to make Lizard Dark Lord wholeheartedly serve him, he handed him an inheritance excavated from the ruins — Blood Ritual.
Through this ritual, non-dragon races could obtain dragon bloodline.
Lizard Dark Lord, of course, was tempted.
Due to the hierarchy of races, he inherently felt strongly inferior when facing Ethan, which persistently stirred his inner turmoil.
Given a chance to change his status and gain a higher-grade bloodline, Lizard Dark Lord naturally wouldn’t miss it!
After their first meeting, they entered into a pact.
“Ethan… I want to see, when you fall from grace and I trample on you, whether you can still maintain that haughty attitude,” Lizard Dark Lord showed the killing intent in his eyes without any concealment.
As long as he sacrifices Ethan, he could turn into a dragon!
…
The following day, Lizard Dark Lord arrived early in the morning to wait outside the temple Dungeon.
Ethan was quite surprised at his enthusiasm.
Upon meeting, Lizard Dark Lord, humbly and voluntarily said, “Big brother Ethan, do you have any plans or programs for future development?”
“There’s a Giant Dragon Dark Lord in East Sea who’s getting restless. I’ve been gathering a lot of information, and this guy’s ambitions aren’t small… East Sea is at the easternmost point of Sunset Empire. Once East Sea falls, he could rely on the sea, using East Sea as a base, and start attacking Sunset Empire.”
“And in his line of attack, the first to bear the brunt would be Riverside, and you, big brother Ethan!”
“We Dark Lords have formed an alliance, and our power isn’t insignificant, but that Giant Dragon Dark Lord has also gathered many Dark Lords. His army is definitely not weaker than ours, even stronger.”
“You can’t be too careful. I believe this Giant Dragon Dark Lord will be our biggest enemy in the future. Big brother Ethan, do you have any plans for this guy?”
Ethan glanced at Lizard Dark Lord and nodded.
His concern was not without reason.
But right now, all he needed was time.
As long as he could integrate the newly acquired dragon Bloodline, he would be able to advance to S-rank.
Moreover, the resource ratio in his hands was seriously imbalanced at the moment.
Large amounts of gold and jewels needed to be exchanged for food and other resources so he could summon more armies.
As for the attack of Giant Dragon Dark Lord, he wasn’t too worried.
Even without considering the armies of other Dark Lords, ten two-legged flying dragons were equivalent to ten B-rank Dark Lords.
More than enough to give them a run for their money.
“You don’t need to worry about Giant Dragon Dark Lord for now. Our current goal is to consolidate our gains. Giant Dragon Dark Lord is indeed a threat as you mentioned, but before he attacks us, his primary target should be East Sea, right? You just need to focus on your growth.”
“Anyone who dares to infringe upon us will pay a bloody price.”
“Big brother Ethan, you’re right. As the leader of our alliance, I naturally follow your lead,” Lizard Dark Lord quickly agreed, while surreptitiously observing Ethan’s Dungeon.
He found that Ethan’s Dungeon was quite different from what he had imagined…
The number and quality of monsters in a Dungeon greatly reflect a Dark Lord’s strength, yet in Ethan’s Dungeon, powerful monsters were a rare sight.
The most common creature was the lowly goblin, and even they were not numerous.
Unable to hide his confusion and seeking to gather information, Lizard Dark Lord casually asked, “Big Brother Ethan, why do you only have goblins left in your Dungeon? After the Riverside battle, the resources you captured should have been enough to recruit a high-quality army, right?”
Ethan, of course, would not reveal all his secrets to Lizard Dark Lord and tell him that his forces had been dispatched to sweep the surroundings.
After thinking for a moment, Ethan said, “It makes my blood boil just thinking about it. During the Riverside battle, we should have had a major victory. Yet some hero popped out of nowhere and nearly killed me. I barely managed to escape.”
“After I returned, the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Riverside is at war with that Black Dragon, right? So, I decided to stab them in the back and get my revenge. Who would have known that the Black Dragon was such a pushover? It got caught alive, and my troops were almost entirely annihilated because of it.”
After finishing his story, Ethan couldn’t help but sigh, his eyes filled with indignation and anger.
After hearing Ethan’s words, it finally clicked for Lizard Dark Lord: Ethan was not trying to grow and avoid conflict with Giant Dragon Dark Lord, he simply had no strength left.
With Ethan’s interior so empty now… wasn’t this a golden opportunity?
Excitedly plotting in his heart, Lizard Dark Lord hurriedly returned to the main point of this journey, “Big Brother Ethan, let’s put the matter of Giant Dragon Dark Lord aside for now. I haven’t told you in detail about the Giant Dragon ruins.”
“My lizardman soldiers discovered it by chance, located downstream of the Furious River. There’s a large cave under the riverbed containing a large area of dragon ruins.”
“Based on the discovered stone carvings and the NPCs I’ve had studying them, we’ve found out that it is likely the lair of a blue dragon. This blue dragon must have been of high rank, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to build a lair underwater.”
“In addition to some treasures, there are also many dragon inheritances inside, which indirectly proves that this blue dragon held a high status among the dragon clan.”
“Big Brother Ethan, although you’re a dragon, you probably don’t know much about the dragons that originally lived in this world. The things inside this dragon ruin should be very useful to you.”