Under the Red Dragon

The fourteenth year of the Dragon Era, during the Spring Festival.

It was the rainy season, and continuous rain clouds shrouded most of the eastern part of the Golden Empire.

In the drizzling rain, many citizens of the Golden Empire became quite leisurely.

The moons in the cities were gradually lit, illuminating the dark empire in a soft moonlight.

The traffic in the shops and trade areas along the main roads in the city became sparse, with only the kobold guards, who maintained permanent loyalty to the dragons, patrolling the streets, but other entertainment venues became crowded.

The empire's opera house was not a noble place; ordinary citizens could buy a seat in the last row for only ten or so copper coins.

Moreover, in weather where the dampness could penetrate the bones, the dragons of the empire did not like staying in their nests but preferred to come to such lively public places.

Like some special people, they particularly liked standing in the crowd on rainy days, enjoying the self-imposed solitude in the midst of the hustle and bustle.

Many tourists from other places and nobles and merchants on vacation were also happy to go to such occasions, not only to admire some dragons that were difficult to approach but also, with luck, some representatives of the nobles could connect with the rulers of the empire.

The empire's grand bathhouse, steaming with rich heat, was also one of the favorite places for outsiders to spend money.

Such basic public entertainment venues were rare in other noble territories. Some noble territories in the northern and southern lands emulated the Golden Empire and built bathhouses, but they were only for people with a certain status to enter.

Moreover, in many regions in the south, such bathhouses had begun to form meeting places for interest groups.

According to intelligence obtained by the empire's 'Eyes of the Dark Raven', small groups such as 'Naked Meetings' had appeared in the Hobbes Empire. These members took pride in being honest with each other, proving their sincerity and trust.

The magical constant water source drew out geothermal energy to envelop the entire spacious bathhouse in a misty high temperature, which was a pleasure in the continuous rainy weather.

Especially many people coming out of the sauna felt a sense of physical and mental comfort when breathing in the spring rain.

Occasionally, some dragons would set foot in this place, especially some who were embarrassed or afraid to step into the Dragon King's Court to enjoy the hot springs in the ancestral red dragon's backyard.

The taverns and dragon card halls in the imperial cities presented a lively scene.

Not only did various races from the empire appear here, but races from other continents were also frequently seen. Even the vampire species and elves, who were always regarded as very aloof and proud by outsiders, were not uncommon.

The dragons of the empire also frequented here, and intellectual games were very popular among the dragons. The little sprite Raven was a regular at the card hall in the King's Capital, after all, the little sprite could be regarded as one of the major shareholders of the card hall. Many attendants who guided novice tutorials and attracted tourists were from the same race bewitched by the pixie Raven.

More than one dragon had gone crazy opening packs in the dragon card hall, not only losing all the small treasury they had accumulated but even the scales that the foreign dragons had occasionally shed when they were young were forced to be sold at a low price in order to make a comeback.

One of the most famous examples was a rare gem dragon, the amethyst dragon Loya.

Amethyst dragons are not only intelligent but also have a natural tendency to be arbitrators.

Some older amethyst dragons would act as arbitrators and mediators when other dragons fought. Even when large-scale wars broke out between humans, occasionally a warm-hearted amethyst dragon would mediate the war between the two sides.

However, the young amethyst dragon Loya was obviously unable to control himself in such gambling activities. His former intelligence had disappeared, and he had to auction off his precious old scales at the dragon auction house.

The scales of the amethyst dragon are like light purple natural amethysts, especially the scales shed when they were young are even more vivid, and they are also of superior quality among ornamental gems.

Moreover, the amethyst dragon species often appears in the earth element plane all year round, absorbing abundant earth element energy, which leads to its scales also being used as casting materials for elemental spells, which are also of superior quality among dragons.

Although it cannot be compared with the scales of the most powerful red dragons and gold dragons among the ten true dragons in the material world, it is more popular with those spellcasters than the scales of true dragons such as white dragons and copper dragons.

When the amethyst dragon Loya stepped into the dragon card hall, the noisy dragon card hall instantly became quiet.

Although the humanoid form of this dragon looked very ordinary, like a tall and thin young man, the amethyst dragon Loya had spent less than one-tenth of the time in other places after coming to the Golden Empire than he had spent in the dragon card hall, and had long become a regular in the dragon card hall.

Almost all the card players laughed when they saw him, and an ogre shouted, "Loya, you went to the dragon auction house to pawn your scales again!"

Loya did not answer, but walked to the counter next to the fireplace and said to the gentle snake woman attendant, "Give me ten more classic editions of the Floating Life card, and one hundred more expansion packs of the Floating Life card."

Then Loya placed dozens of gold coins on the counter and rubbed his hands.

Some card players deliberately shouted loudly, "Loya, be careful this time, you won't get anything good, you won't be able to get your money back, and you'll have to pull off your current scales to pawn them."

However, the card player who shouted this was a delicate and lively girl, with gray and shiny eyes, looking quite lively.

Her steel-colored short hair, like some cosplayers, and the steel jewelry-like decorations worn on her chest and waist, highlighted this feature even more.

Although the quirky girl's tone was very charming, the meaning of ridicule was self-evident.

Loya couldn't bear it any longer when he heard this. He widened his eyes and looked at the mocking card players and said, "Why are you slandering my innocence out of thin air? I am a noble dragon, and I have a lot of wealth..."

"What innocence? I saw you pawn your scales in the dragon pawn shop with my own eyes, and you even argued with those greedy goblin merchants about the price."

The steel dragon Midir hid behind a troll, pretending that the other party couldn't see her, and continued to stab this amethyst dragon in the heart.

The amethyst dragon Loya immediately turned red, and the veins on his forehead burst out, arguing, "That's because my other treasures are too expensive to sell. Besides, the dragon's old scales are useless to the dragon anyway. I'm just making the most of waste."

Then there were some strange mumbles, such as "transfer magic" and "this time I will definitely get my money back", which caused the card players in the card hall to burst into laughter, and the whole card hall was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Even greedy guys like dragons can't keep their treasures under the influence of gambling.

With the amethyst dragon Loya as a lesson, a large sign has been set up in front of every dragon card hall in the empire - gambling is harmful to physical and mental health, and opening packs should be done within your means!

Of course, this is not because the empire is thinking about those dragons, but because some dragons' wildness cannot be controlled. Although they are afraid of the power of the empire, it is inevitable that they will become angry and cause trouble after their wealth is wasted.

At least in the patrol corps of the King's Capital, at least ten such farces have been dealt with.

The arena located on the outer ring of the central square of the King's Capital is also a popular entertainment project.

Beasts and warriors, the strong and the strong, the catharsis of violence has always been the worship and yearning rooted in the origin of living beings.

The Glory Arena in the King's Capital adopts a semi-dome design. On each huge white stone pillar, there are sculptures and paintings of heroes from stories and legends circulating in the mortal world in the ancient era.

From the ancient First Era to the end of the Sixth Era, memories that have long disappeared in the river of time are presented here.

The legendary King of the Mortal World, Quentis, the King of War who shook the gods in the Sixth Era with the body of a mortal, held a magic spear, was naked, his sculpted muscles bulged, and he issued a final roar to the divine light in the sky.

The pattern representing the Seventh Era is a mural of dragons soaring in the sky painted on the dome.

In the mural of dragons soaring in the sky, a unique red dragon lowered its head, watching the various dragons surrounding it, and also watching all the people under the dome.

The era is changing, and now is the new sky.

The entire huge arena looks like a huge eggshell that has been hollowed out in the middle. The space inside is huge enough to accommodate at least 200,000 spectators.

The main body constructed of marble and green stone, plus the protection of magic runes, allows this re-expanded arena to not have to worry about being damaged by the dangerous power of those powerful gladiators.

One after another, ancient-style chariots drove out of the Taiping Gate at the bottom of the arena. These ancient chariots were driven around the huge arena.

The gladiators on the chariots were naked, exposing their beautiful muscles, almost exactly the same as the heroes carved on the pillars.

These strong gladiators waved the spears in their hands, eliciting enthusiastic cheers from hundreds of thousands of spectators, and the warm-up effect was extremely good.

Among the many spectators, there were many nobles from all over the world who abandoned their usual elegance and nobility and sat in the VIP area, venting their emotions frantically.

The usually reserved noble women no longer restrained themselves, and their screams were even louder and sharper than when they were pinned down by their husbands.

Even members of the frost giant tribe on the northern grasslands appeared here, as well as the snowmen from the extremely frozen frost plains, and even nagas and sea giants from the sea could be seen in the crowd.

The arena is divided into ordinary viewing areas and exclusive seating areas. The ordinary viewing areas are free of charge, and everyone can stand in the crowd to watch the gladiator matches.

The exclusive seating areas are provided for merchants, nobles, and slave owners who have purchasing power, and a not very expensive fee is required to enter.

The box VIP area, which is more expensive than the exclusive seating area, is only available to people with strong strength or those who have very close social relations with the Golden Empire.

Even so, these box VIP areas and seating areas were already full of spectators, and the standing spectators were surging like a tide.

In the early days of the establishment of the Glory Arena, in order to create momentum for the various industries in the territory, more than one dragon in the Kog'Mora dragon group showed up in the arena.

Among them, some members of the dragon group had fought with strong warriors from other regions in order to experience the feeling of the past. The white dragon Kamide had also thought of earning extra money as a gladiator, even though this white dragon had earned a lot of wealth by selling ice from his mountain.

Even the emperor of the empire, the ancestral red dragon, had visited this largest gladiator arena in the empire, so this activity is no longer a rare thing in the empire.

However, the members of the dragon group still maintain their old habits.

Every once in a while, different members will come to this arena to watch gladiator performances, to support the industry and promote the empire's martial spirit.

Today's gladiator match is also the first match in which the goblin Sparkle and other forces have negotiated a result and established the empire's dominance, so it has received much attention.

The voice of the goblin, who announced the opening with an amplification magic circle, rang out after the opening performance gladiators retreated, "Please welcome the undefeated warrior from the north, the powerful warrior who has won ten consecutive victories, the unstoppable Northern Eagle Vick,"

"The war god who took the helmet of glory from the head of the Sword of Dawn!"

A tall warrior wearing half-body armor, a fully enclosed deer helmet, and holding a short sword and shield slowly stepped out of the passage, raised his short sword to signal to the audience, and finally gently bowed to the several dragon lords sitting in the special VIP seats of the arena.

Cheers rang out throughout the arena, but were easily suppressed by the goblin host's voice,

"Then there's Kato, the challenger known as the Lion Hunter. This brave warrior is as brave and strong as a lion on the prairie, treating all enemies as his prey!"

A sturdy warrior with thick braids, also wearing half-body armor but without a helmet, slowly stepped out of the passage, parading around the arena, holding short-handled battle axes in both hands and raising them high, enjoying the cheers of the audience.

"Go Kato!"

"Go Vick!"

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In the noisy shouts, golden goblins shuttled through the crowd, accepting bets from those enthusiastic spectators, and selling snacks and drinks produced by the Imperial Winery.

The green dragon lord Antajena and the bronze dragon lord Arina were perched in the highest VIP area of the arena, overlooking the scene below.

This area had already been cleared, and the dragon guards with their spears and halberds stood sternly, surrounding the two dragon lords, performing their guarding duties meticulously.

The bronze dragon lord Arina and the green dragon Antajena were appointed as the plane governors of the empire to open up other plane worlds, and they were in charge of all the power to supervise the Ice and Fire Plane and the Dune Plane.

Because the Dune Plane is still in a state of war.

The God's Warrior of the Ancestral Red Dragon, Paul Atreides, with the help of millions of Fremen, defeated and captured the emperor of the Golden Lion Empire through a conspiracy with the United Universe Navigation Committee.

Paul Atreides' family, which was destroyed by the emperor, returned to the world stage. Under threat and exchange, Paul Atreides married the princess of the Golden Lion Emperor and ascended the throne as the Golden Lion Emperor after obtaining the legal right to inherit the empire.

However, after Paul Atreides ascended the Golden Lion Throne, he declared his revered Ancestral Red Dragon, Karun Kogge-Mora, the Lord of Humanity and King of Dragons, as the God-Emperor of the Golden Lion Empire. He was both the Emperor ruling the Golden Lion Empire and the deity whom the Golden Lion Empire should venerate.

Consequently, Paul Atreides abdicated part of his imperial authority, becoming the Regent of the Golden Lion Empire, temporarily managing the empire on behalf of the Ancestral Red Dragon.

With the assistance of the Ancestral Red Dragon's bloodline angel, Gabriel, and the ogre giant Fafner, this Regent of the Golden Lion Empire led millions of Fremen in a great interstellar crusade across the Dune universe, igniting a holy war that spread throughout the cosmos.

Hundreds of billions, even trillions, of humans in the Dune universe were engulfed by the flames of this universe-spanning holy war.

This time, Paul Atreides, leveraging the unified faith power of the Ancestral Red Dragon, firmly controlled all Fremen, aiming to eliminate all aristocratic old forces in the universe.

He sought to destroy all shackles and institutional constraints hindering the progress of human civilization, with the goal of establishing a new imperial order modeled after a golden empire.

It was under these circumstances that the Green Dragon Antagena communicated and consulted with the Bronze Dragon Lord Alina.

These two dragons, following Karun's instructions, were to quickly rely on the local civilization's forces to consolidate all resources and transport benefits to the Golden Empire's main base.

However, the Green Dragon Antagena was unwilling to visit the Governor-General's mansion where the Bronze Dragon Alina was temporarily residing, even though the dragons within the Kogge-Mora Dragon Clan generally had good relationships.

The pride of a Green Dragon made Antagena dislike discussing matters in Alina's territory.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to support the Imperial Arena, the two female dragons conveniently conducted their communication and exchange here.

However, the specific matters had largely been communicated in the royal court, with the remaining discussions focusing on methodologies to better deliver benefits to the empire.

"Recently, the empire has become somewhat chaotic. I heard Rosani had arrested those little mice, but you released them?" The Bronze Dragon Alina paused the previous topic and suddenly asked.

Antagena was slightly taken aback, her slender tail gently sweeping, revealing a smug smile. "Those little mice are of little use. The members of the Harpers are generally connected in a one-way fashion, making it impossible to dig out the mastermind behind them through them."

"So I plan to release these mice back. A long line can catch a big fish. Even if it doesn't catch a big fish, these mice can serve as my eyes and ears in the Harpers' strongholds."

The Bronze Dragon Alina nodded slightly. "Be careful not to, as those mortals say, lose the rice while trying to steal a chicken. In my opinion, these mice should be imprisoned and hanged at a suitable opportunity. The mastermind behind them is not important; anyway, there will be plenty of opportunities to completely eliminate them later."

The Green Dragon narrowed her eyes slightly and nodded slowly.

She didn't necessarily agree with Alina's words, but she approved of Alina's style.

Even a Chromatic Dragon occasionally appeared conservative in front of this Bronze Dragon, making Alina one of the members of the Kogge-Mora Dragon Clan who was never questioned.

…

The dripping of water echoed in the towering, crisscrossing underground tunnels, the sound of water splashing on the ground carrying a sense of silence.

The sound of footsteps came from the deep, complex underground pipes, the sound of deerskin boots hitting the ground particularly clear.

As a lurker who wielded the power of shadow, Tor could move without making a sound even when stepping on leaves. This action was merely to remind his partner that he had arrived.

The watcher of the team, the half-elf archer Kyle, revealed his face at the corner. Seeing that it was indeed his companion, he quickly retreated.

Tor restrained his steps, silently slipped into the corner, and nodded slightly to his companion's gaze.

This was the sewer of the Royal Capital of the Golden Empire—the City Below the Throne.

The spacious and tall sewer was constructed entirely of sturdy stone slabs, with a total length of dozens of kilometers, including twenty giant vertical shafts sixty-five meters deep and thirty-two meters wide.

The rainwater imported by the first nineteen vertical shafts flowed into the last vertical shaft through the city's sewer system, concentrating into a huge reservoir supported by one hundred and eight large pillars thirty-six meters high and weighing thousands of tons.

The wastewater and sewage discharged from these cities were connected to the sewage treatment plant outside the City Below the Throne through those ten-meter-wide pipes.

Some people from the gray areas of the capital, after frequenting this wide sewer, called the space supported by those huge pillars the 'Underground Temple'.

Because an ordinary creature looked particularly small in front of these huge pillars.

These accidental visitors were also like that.

In the space at this corner, all the team members had arrived.

The team's Archmage Lor stood on a huge six-pointed star magic array, quietly drawing the final magic rune nodes.

This huge six-pointed star array had been largely completed, with one thousand two hundred and fifty magic rune veins drawn and outlined by Archmage Lor.

At this moment, the magical rune veins under Lor's feet had faintly begun to communicate and converge, flowing with a little magical aura, making Archmage Lor's figure appear particularly sacred.

The remaining team members waited quietly. When this huge magic array was fully lit, it meant they had no choice left.

Jesse repeatedly rubbed his weapon, as if this behavior could help him calm down and dispel those anxieties and unease.

Tor looked at his companions' serious expressions and said, "Don't worry too much. According to the confirmed pattern, the servants and retainers of those dragons only patrol this sewer once every three days. We still have enough time."

The Ranger Naiyole nodded, as if comforting himself, and laughed, "It's not easy to find this opportunity, that terrifying Red Dragon is temporarily not in his lair,"

"Perhaps he is still dealing with those monsters in the distant West Hammer. We have full confidence that we can escape this complex city through the sewer after completing this ritual."

"As long as we can escape this city, we are birds flying in the sky, and we don't have to be afraid of being trapped by the dragon's legions."

Jesse suddenly asked, "But are we really going to do this? The Golden Empire ruled by these Chromatic Dragons is a rare civilized place in the Northern Continent. Even as a dragon slayer, I must admit that the dragon kingdom is not without its merits."

"Moreover, once those dragons go mad, the people here will also be hurt. It's hard to say whether our actions are just."

The White Knight Gore interrupted his companion's words. He said righteously, "You're wrong, Jesse. The dragon empire should not exist. Those dragons are just waiting for an opportunity. They will not give up their ambitions."

"Rather than waiting for those dragons to start a war that spreads throughout the entire world of Akania in the future because of their immortal ambitions and desires, it is better for us to end their ambitions in advance."

Hart slowly said, "Justice will always bring some temporary pain, Jesse. Don't think too much. We are legendary dragon-slaying heroes and a righteous dragon-slaying team. We are not only for money and benefits, but also for eternal justice!"

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