The Dragon God Race's Desperate Gamble
The Otherworld War and the Origin of the Mage God watched the unfolding scene. He spoke up.
“His power certainly matches the tenth rank. However, he still has no faction to speak of…”
Praise for his clan from the Origin was an honor, but this was too much to handle. The being who had become Grey—the past Magic God of Dimensions—had never intended to create a clan in the first place. It seemed he planned to handle everything with nothing but his own power. For an ordinary existence, such a thing would be impossible. But because he was so specialized in wide-area authority, that absurdity actually worked.
Whether the opponent was one or an entire group, he would annihilate them in an instant with wide-area authority and then move using dimensional authority. Naturally, there was no way to stop him. He had scoured the vast Gray Realm from corner to corner and eradicated every last being who resisted until the end.
‘To turn such a massive territory into a wasteland in just one week is something the other Ten Centers could never achieve.’
Of course, it had gone according to plan, but he hadn’t expected such thoroughness. Thanks to that, he had earned the title “Mad Grey.” Still, it wasn’t exactly a fitting name for one of the great Ten Centers of the Absolute Realm.
‘Ugh… Since Grandfather Truth will praise me, it doesn’t matter, but this is getting harder to manage. And the past Magic God of Dimensions is running wild too. I have no idea how far he intends to escalate this. I’m a Mage God myself, but these guys have absolutely no restraint. What a headache.’
A groan escaped him involuntarily. He could more or less guess what would happen next. The Black Flame Absolute wouldn’t just take a hit and end it there—he might go completely berserk. In the worst case, they might end up fighting an all-out war instead of a simple ranking battle.
Not that he was afraid of that. Although his power was slightly inferior, there wasn’t a single member of the Wind Family who feared combat. The words he had heard countless times from Grandfather Truth remained an unchanging law even now.
The Wind Family is a martial house. Prove yourself with strength.
That was why he had grown this strong and continued to challenge others. Even if the opponent was one of the Ten Centers, anyone who would flee in fear had no right to have passed their coming-of-age ceremony.
However, if the total vitality of the Absolute Realm and the Main Universe decreased because of this, being punished by Grandfather Truth was terrifying. No, what he truly wanted to avoid was disappointing him.
While the Origin of the Mage God of the Wind Family was lost in thought, several beings appeared in the ranking battle space via spatial teleportation.
Pop pop pop pop pop pop—!
They were Dragon God race members of various colors, each one nearly the size of a mountain range. What stood out was the presence of relatively small Dragon God race members scattered here and there, no bigger than hills.
Seeing this, the Origin of the Divine Race nodded.
‘So the insane threat of total extermination unless they all participated actually worked.’
Indeed, when some of the ruling class had rebelled against him, the Grey Absolute had mobilized the Substitute Gods to slowly eradicate the entire clan across the Gray Realm. Receiving such a threat from him made it impossible to ignore.
Moreover, if the Origin—Yuil Yongsinje—remained silent and the other Ten Centers couldn’t intervene in the ranking battle, there was no choice. Considering the Grey Absolute’s wide-area authority and mobility that had turned his enormously vast Gray Realm into scorched earth in just one week, holding out until the ranking battle was simply not an option.
What was disappointing, however, was the sight of the Dragon God race, who had previously shown no sincerity whatsoever, constantly making excuses that they were too weak to be of any help. The others had watched Grandfather Yuil Yongsinje participate alone while most of the Ten Centers brought their entire clans. There was no way they would tolerate it any longer.
Refusing the ranking battle and avoiding orders was already a grave crime that would have resulted in the extermination of their clan countless times if they themselves had been the Origin.
This was the honest assessment the Origin of the Wind Family’s Mage God made upon seeing the arriving Dragon God race. They were at least one circle lower than their fellow clansmen. At that level, they weren’t a fighting force—they were literally nothing but hindrances.
However, the moment they teleported in, the Dragon God race elders immediately unleashed their breath toward the eight Absolutes.
Fwoooooooosh—!
Haaaaaaaaaaaaah—!
Breaths of every color poured forth and merged, instantly transforming into a colorless breath. It was Yuil Yongsinje’s Infinite Breath. The moment they teleported, they had activated the racial authority granted to the Ten Centers’ clans, temporarily raising their power to Yuil Yongsinje’s level.
And the Infinite Breath unleashed simultaneously by eight individuals shook even the Golden Absolute’s Golden Age.
The Golden Absolute let out a groan under the sudden eightfold pressure.
‘Even though the Dragon God race only gained raw power, there’s no choice but to endure such a brutish wide-area attack.’
The other eight Absolutes, watching the struggling Golden Absolute, exploded with fury.
‘We never expected the clan of Yuil Yongsinje—who had fallen so far we stopped paying them any attention—to bare their fangs at a time like this and charge in with full force.’
Because they had always known their place and bowed their heads accordingly, the current situation felt like a stab in the back.
The situation was enough to make their teeth grind.
In the early stages, half their clans had died to Grey’s surprise attack. Then they had been caught in the self-destruction and wiped out entirely, leaving no clan members behind. Once someone participated and died, re-entry was not permitted. Moreover, they had brought every single combat-capable clan member under strict orders. The only ones left who could participate now were infants too weak to fight.
At this rate, there was no one left to stop the Dragon God race.
The Golden Absolute chanted an additional spell. Inside the golden pyramid, a silver pyramid formed as reinforcement. The Dragon God race’s breath that had been boring in from outside suddenly froze in place, its influence halted.
It was the simultaneous activation of the absolute authority Golden Age and the absolute-level authority Silver Age. Even for Yuil Yongsinje, it would not be easy to pierce through with an avatar body. Therefore, the breath of the Dragon God race—who had only gained power—could not affect it.
The eight Absolutes’ faces stiffened at the display of maximum authority, something only shown at the very end of ranking battles.
‘If he activates two or more absolute-level authorities at once, recovering from the curse caused by Grey’s self-destruction becomes impossible.’
‘Even if he fully recovers and defeats Yuil Yongsinje, the next step would be determining superiority among ourselves.’
Although Golden was strong, they were all Ten Centers, so their powers were nearly equal. At this point, the Golden Absolute’s loss of first place was all but certain.
The exhausted-looking Golden made his decision.
The Ten Center of the Divine Race, who possessed a dignified appearance, nodded. There was no other choice. If they handed first place to the Unique Dragon God Race like this, the Wind Family would immediately expand their intervention. No matter how powerful they were, they could not withstand the aftermath.
Until now, if Golden held first place, second belonged to Yuil Yongsinje, and third to the Great God. Even if the lower ranks shifted—with the Black Flame taking fourth, for example—these three had maintained their unshakable positions. That was the order of the Absolute Realm.
Yet this time, an ominous premonition arose that Grey’s rampage would cause a cataclysmic shift.
Fwoooooooosh—!
As expected, maintaining the racial authority seemed difficult. The breaths that had been fiercely assaulting the outskirts of the Golden Age began to subside.
‘Just as Golden predicted.’
‘The Dragon God race is incredibly powerful, but they cannot endure the immense physical burden of a Ten Center’s racial authority.’
That was why they had refused to participate in the ranking battle. Although they had come for some unknown reason, they could not escape this outcome.
The faces of the Ten Centers, who had been speaking, turned deathly pale. Behind the exhausted and collapsed Dragon God race elders, another eight elders had stepped forward and unleashed their breath once more.
Fwoooooooosh—!
Baaaaaaaang—!
Eight streams of Infinite Breath struck the Golden Age again.
If they kept firing wide-area attacks from that distance in this manner, there was no way to go out. The Infinite Breath, manifested with power equal to their own, was not an authority that could be endured with the body. Once activated, it endlessly eroded and erased any technique or authority. The only way to block it was with endless activation of their own authorities.
That would mean competing in endurance against the Dragon God race, who had once been the strongest physically. There was no way to win. This was precisely why Yuil Yongsinje could maintain second place even when participating alone without his clan.
The fact that they had deployed all the Dragon God race in a time-delay attack using that very authority meant they intended to see this through to the end. Seeing them already lined up in eight rows and the previous elders who had been burned out moving to the back, it was clear this would not end anytime soon.
‘Their numbers are small, but there are still close to a hundred million Dragon God race members.’
If individuals could hold out for just a few minutes, even if exhausted, they could recover and fire indefinitely. At this rate, even the Golden Absolute would be pushed beyond what he could endure with full power. Now, not only Golden but all of them would have to focus entirely on defense.
There was no need to say who was behind it. Although the Dragon God race had fallen and no longer possessed power befitting their status, they were still the clan of Yuil Yongsinje.
‘Only another Ten Center would dare touch the clan of a Ten Center.’
‘Therefore, it is obvious who could be doing this.’
When the racial authority was activated and they became completely exhausted, hellish pain would follow. Their bodies and minds were forcibly elevated to a transcendent state, then dropped back to their original level. There was no way that would feel normal. It was pain so intense that even the strongest would vomit blood and scream in agony.
That was why even they tried to avoid using it if possible and would end the ranking battle quickly. For an entire clan to endure such a thing was unheard of.
But even now, the Dragon God race members kept hearing something colliding in their ears.
Clatter—! Clatter—!
The Grey Absolute had appeared before them as they desperately tried to contact Lord Yuil Yongsinje and the Dragon God Empress to beg for mercy. The moment they saw what he was rolling in his hand, they had no choice but to submit without a word.
The jewels shining in the Grey Absolute’s grip were the eggs of the next-generation Dragon God race, hidden in the deepest sanctuary. They were the seeds that would become the Origins of each detailed sub-clan and restore the glory of being the strongest once more.
Compared to the clans of the other Ten Centers, the Dragon God race had grown pathetically weak, but they still possessed the pride of having once been the strongest. These eggs represented the future of their clan that they had poured everything into creating in order to reclaim their rightful place.
‘They are the final hope, created by consuming nearly all the vitality and authority received as a Ten Center clan.’
‘He somehow knew about them and was holding them in his grasp, ready to crush them at any moment. There was no choice.’
Some ancient dragons had refused to participate, but after the clan elders made examples of them by executing them publicly, the rest fell silent. Even the young clan members who could barely endure the racial authority for a few dozen seconds were forced onto the battlefield with gritted teeth.
‘We elders knew all too well that there was no future for the Dragon God race as they currently were.’
‘Their will to overcome trials and their numbers were both far too lacking.’
No matter how much the elders encouraged them, the overall atmosphere of the race made it impossible. In the end, when even the clan that had declared they would follow Yuil Yongsinje into the ranking battle disappeared, they had been utterly bewildered.
Although Lord Yuil Yongsinje was a person of great character, there was a limit to his patience. Moreover, if their level continued to decline like this, they would eventually be directly disposed of by Truth.
Although they had been spared thanks to Yuil Yongsinje and the Dragon God Empress, none of the elders believed it could last forever.
‘The moment Truth’s patience reaches its limit will be the moment of our clan’s extermination.’
That was why they had always lived with an overwhelming sense of crisis. There was only one way to prevent it: to create and show Dragon God race members with the potential to overwhelm the clans of the other Ten Centers.
That was why they had refused to participate in the ranking battle, avoided external intervention, and devoted all their power to nurturing these eggs over an enormous amount of time. However, because they were so powerful, it was unknown when they would mature and hatch. It had been an endless wait.
‘Once born, they will definitely possess the power to overwhelm the other clans.’
‘Therefore, no matter what it takes, the next generation’s Dragon God race eggs must be protected.’
This was the reason for the first full-scale participation in the history of the Dragon God race.
And that was not all.
At that moment, the Grey Absolute spoke in a cold voice.
Crack—!
More than a thousand trillion units of dimensional authority concentrated in his hand. The surface of the Dragon God race eggs, which had shown no reaction until now, suddenly developed cracks.
It was not broken.
‘They were hatching!’
Gooooooo—!
Oooooooong—!
An intense reaction of life flowed out from between the cracks in the eggs. The door that signaled the beginning of the next-generation Dragon God race’s glory—one that had refused to budge no matter what was done—had opened, if only by the slightest amount.
This was why the Dragon God race could not possibly retreat.