After eating and drinking his fill and fully recovering, Ke Xiu Si once again arrived before the heavy stone door.
He didn't push the door open but instead cast several spells:
【Bear's Endurance】
【Cat's Grace】
【Owl's Wisdom】
Bear's Endurance made his physique tougher, Cat's Grace made his movements more agile, and Owl's Wisdom enhanced his senses, giving the Red Dragon an all-around improvement.
After casting a set of spells, jokingly called the “Zoo Series,” on himself, Ke Xiu Si still felt uneasy. After all, it was the legacy of a legendary druid, and he didn't know what kind of hidden traps might be waiting.
【Gilded Shell】
The accumulated golden elements within his body gathered on the Red Dragon's surface, making his scales a metallic, lustrous golden color. If one didn't look closely, they might even mistake him for a Gold Dragon.
【Protection from Lightning Damage】
As Ke Xiu Si let out a soft roar, an invisible field gradually formed around his body, protecting him from lightning attacks.
“After all, I'm a spellcaster.”
“How can I not put on a show?”
After this whole set of 'monkey business' on the spot, looking down at the magical aura covering his body, Ke Xiu Si felt much more at ease and finally had some confidence.
The Red Dragon gazed at the stone door before him, took a deep breath, and then stepped forward with determination.
【Knock】
His claws, shimmering with magical energy, touched the stone door.
“Boom…”
With a loud knocking sound, the heavy stone door let out a muffled rumble and then slowly lifted.
The space before him suddenly opened up.
And the sight before him left the Red Dragon shaken.
This was a colossal, expansive space, large enough to contain a mountain.
But in front, there was only a narrow, suspended stone bridge, while the rest of the ground had sunk dozens of meters.
The cliff walls were flat and straight, as if cut from top to bottom by a sharp blade.
Looking down from the stone bridge, illuminated by the unceasing, eerie blue flame lamps, he could see the ground below filled with various debris: shattered colossal statues; broken walls and ruins of magnificent structures; indistinct inscriptions; old, broken weapons of all kinds; and even the enormous skeletons of Giants.
And looking up, the high, distant dome was covered with murals, not exquisite, but filled with a sense of savage power.
He could see the ancient war between Giants and Dragons; the glorious territory of the former Giant Empire; the majestic figures of the Giant Gods; and also the tragic scene of the empire's downfall.
This was not merely a mural; it was clearly a history book.
“This is the legacy of the Giant Empire he collected.”
Ke Xiu Si walked cautiously on the stone bridge, sighing with emotion.
His wings were slightly spread, his steps light, constantly observing his surroundings, ready to deal with any danger that might arise at any moment.
The Red Dragon looked towards the end of the stone bridge.
There was a throne.
It was still made of stone, over twenty meters high.
It had no excessive decoration, only ancient, mysterious patterns carved upon it.
And a Storm Giant's remains, long devoid of life, sat there, his purplish-gray skin covered with a thick layer of dust, seemingly having rested there for tens of thousands of years, silently observing the arrival of visitors.
It was just unclear why it hadn't decayed into a skeleton.
“The last Storm Giant prophet…”
“Is that Lándétǎ?”
The Red Dragon was quite curious about this Storm Giant.
He wondered how he managed to create such a magnificent tomb by himself, but this marvel alone was enough to show his immense power during his lifetime.
Ke Xiu Si continued walking along the stone bridge, arriving within dozens of meters of the corpse.
However, in an instant, a sudden change occurred.
One of the Giant's eyes suddenly opened!
That eye contained an endless storm, as if glaring at the disrespectful visitor!
Unknown crystals all around flickered incessantly, filled with violent and abundant elemental energy.
And those violent elements were rapidly converging.
“Not good!”
Ke Xiu Si felt an incomparably terrifying magical fluctuation suddenly spread out.
“This power…”
The Red Dragon slightly raised his head.
He saw a swirling, churning dark cloud, centered on the Giant's remains, spreading and multiplying almost frantically, like a terrifying man-eating beast about to devour everything in the cavern.
It was filled with lightning, thunder, and howling winds.
“Vengeance Storm!”
Thunder roared!
It was a wild roar from ancient times.
“Boom!”
Just the aftermath of this thunder caused the rocks on the cavern ceiling to shatter one after another, crashing down.
“Ohm—”
And this roar also caused Ke Xiu Si's ears to ring continuously, as if struck by a giant hammer, making him temporarily deaf.
The dark cloud also rapidly expanded, about to engulf him.
Seeing the situation was dire, the Red Dragon, despite his headache and ringing ears, endured the thunder damage and cast a spell.
“Instant Blink!”
Ke Xiu Si mentally willed the spell to activate, while praying in his heart that the spell would succeed. The “destruction” brought by this druid had far exceeded his imagination.
After all, Blink only had a fifty percent chance of prying open the barrier of the Main Material Plane and successfully entering the Ether Plane. If it was the other half, he would have to endure this chaotic storm head-on.
“It worked!”
The Red Dragon was overjoyed, suddenly feeling his body break through the boundary between reality and nothingness.
【You cast 【Blink】】
【Gained special status “Ethereal Jaunt”】
The Ether Plane is a conduit connecting the Main Material Plane and the Inner Planes. The Main Material Plane is constantly touched by the emptiness of the Ether Plane; the two are like two parallel but non-overlapping planes. One can see scenes from the adjacent plane.
And he was currently at the edge of the plane.
In an instant, everything before Ke Xiu Si turned black and white, and swirling lines appeared in his vision.
His body was in a disabled state, unable to move easily, only able to float quietly in this void.
The next moment, he saw his original position enveloped and swallowed by the chaotic dark clouds.
First, torrential acid rain poured from the clouds, corroding countless pits into the stone bridge.
Then, hailstones poured down from the cloud mass, the chunks of ice striking the stone surface with crisp sounds.
Streaks of incomparably powerful lightning descended from the sky, blasting holes several meters deep into the stone surface, and also forming a terrifying lightning storm that instantly swept over the Red Dragon's original location.
For a time, lightning was dense, and thunder light filled the sky.
The crisscrossing lightning formed a terrifying lightning prison, incinerating everything that stumbled into it to ash.
“Boom!”
“Boom! Boom!”
Several bolts of lightning struck, directly blasting the stone bridge apart, causing the heavy boulders to collapse with a roar. If such lightning had struck the Red Dragon, he would likely not have survived.
Endless gales and freezing rain lashed the area beneath the clouds, turning it into a complete ruin.
And in Ke Xiu Si's eyes, the once magnificent tomb had become a black and white grave for all beings.
After dodging this terrifying storm in the Ether Plane using Blink, Ke Xiu Si felt nothing but lingering fear.
If the Red Dragon had remained in his original spot just now, even with Protection from Energy Damage, he would not have been able to withstand the furious lightning and endless freezing rain.
“This is…”
Ke Xiu Si felt a powerful gravitational pull trying to drag him back to the Main Material Plane, to mend the loophole in the planar barrier.
Although he resisted desperately, it was futile. Ke Xiu Si was still too weak to resist the planar rules in the slightest, and could only let them have their way.
【Lost special status “Ethereal Jaunt”】
The Red Dragon reappeared in his original spot, instantly dumbfounded.
“What the hell—!”
Immediately, the elements became agitated once more.
Endless gales and freezing rain washed over his body, and the flickering electric arcs on the ground immediately converged, surging towards his limbs.
And in the rolling dark clouds above, terrifying thunder gathered again, the sound like a low, long-suppressed roar.
The most terrifying wave of spells had passed, and these were merely its lingering aftershocks.