Chapter 122 Cataclysmic Change
"What's that ...?"
Outside the castle, a group of spellcasters, professionals who were struggling to rescue the refugees, looked up into the distance.
One by one, they cast their eagle eye spell and looked towards the fire cloud.
But this cloud of fire was so dense and distant that even with the Eagle Eye technique, they couldn't see it completely for a while.
"Roar !!!!!"
It was also at this moment that a terrifying roar, piercing through the torrential rain, gale, earthquake and the wailing of countless people, reached the ears of these spellcasters, the professionals.
They were shaken to the core.
One of them exclaimed, "This ... seems to be ... a dragon roar!"
"A dragon roar?"
"No, it can't be! You've heard it wrong! How can a giant dragon come to our Lain royal capital in such a stance ..."
A group of people were in a state of shock.
Within the entire kingdom, a natural disaster was raging, and the Sword Saint and Law Saint were both absent.
It couldn't withstand the devastation at this time!
"Roar !!!!"
The dragon roar burst out, constantly coming out also more and more clearly.
Some of the more knowledgeable spell casters and professionals were already 80% or 90% sure that this was indeed a dragon roar!
"It's over! It's over! If this dragon is hostile to us, how should we fight back at this point?"
"Don't be in a hurry! No matter what time it is, the dragon hunting crossbowmen on the walls will stay there, they must have sensed the approaching danger at this moment!"
"Exactly! As long as an unknown aerial monster is approaching, the Dragon Hunters' crossbows will shoot it down, so everyone can just continue with the rescue without fear!"
The group said loudly, just as they were about to put their energy back into the rescue.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several terrifying sonic booms rang out.
On the city walls, at least a dozen Dragon Hunting Crossbow Cannons shot out Dragon Hunting Crossbow arrows with terrifying might, shooting into the fire clouds!
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh~
One after another, the arrows from the Dragon Hunting Crossbows passed through the sea of fire, opening up a path through the entire cloud of fire!
It was also at this moment that they could barely see some strange images in the flaming cloud.
A dragon wing entwined with flames flapped gently, and a tail-like object appeared and disappeared in the flaming cloud.
It was but a few breaths away.
A few dragon hunting crossbow arrows, cutting through the sea of flaming clouds closed again!
And just then, several more dragon hunting crossbows shot out!
Straight down on the position of the monster that had just been positioned!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three dragon hunting crossbows, after cutting through the sea of flames, landed straight on the monster's body.
The shockwave from the impact between the two dispersed all the fire clouds around them!
It was then that everyone saw the true face of the monster in the clouds of fire!
It was indeed a dragon!
Its body was covered in black scales, red against the clouds of fire, and its chest and belly glowed with a strange red light.
Its fishy red eyes glittered and glimmered, and even from a distance of several kilometres, it was clearly visible, so ferocious that it sent chills down the spine.
But fortunately, this dragon, having been hit by the dragon hunting crossbow cannon, must have been seriously injured and unable to come to the royal capital, right?
Such a thought came to the minds of many people.
But immediately, they realised that something was wrong.
The distance between them was several kilometres.
Why did the dragon hunting crossbow cannon look so small?
Sticking it on this dragon's chest, forelimbs and other parts, it was almost like holding a small branch through a person's chest, it was too small, right?
Didn't they say that the arrows of a dragon hunting crossbow are at least several metres long? The longest ones were even over ten metres long? But what is this?
Were there treacherous merchants who cut corners in this area? Damn it! Were they tired of living?
But, just the next moment, they would no longer have such doubts!
The dragon that had been hit by the three crossbows was once again beating its wings and heading for the kingdom!
And there wasn't even a trace of blood seen on the few parts that were hit ...
This, how is it possible? How could this be?
Was it the treacherous merchant's problem or the dragon's?
Everyone was shocked, scared and angry!
"Roar !!!!"
The dragon roared again, this time with a clear and intense anger in its roar!
Rumble !!!!
And it was at that moment.
Throughout the gloomy sky, a bolt of lightning slashed violently across!
It was accompanied by a roar.
A dragon hunting crossbow cannon, which was on the city wall, was struck straight on!
It then burst into a shower of sparks!
Is this, by coincidence?
Boom!!!
Another bolt of lightning struck.
A nearby crossbow burst into fireworks!
Is it really a coincidence?
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Lightning after lightning fell, each time landing precisely on a single Dragon Hunter crossbow cannon, blasting them all into fireworks!
In a matter of a few breaths, all the Dragon Hunter crossbows on the city walls were cleared!
This was no coincidence!
Everyone's mind was clearly aware of this terrifying reality!
These lightning bolts may have been manipulated by that giant dragon!
What about the ... gale? This rainstorm? This earthquake? Are they all controlled by this dragon? If that was the case, what kind of being could have done it?
Their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.
The fire cloud was getting closer and closer.
Until it swept past the city walls.
"We can't let him get any closer! Attack! All of you, attack!"
Someone shouted at this moment.
Groups of spell casters, professionals, launched attacks towards the fire cloud.
Countless ice spikes, wind blades, azure missiles, five-coloured rays, spider webs made of energy, ropes and arrows all blasted at the fire cloud.
But.
Many of these spells and attacks were scorched by the flames to dissipation the moment they approached the fire cloud, and only a few spells actually landed in the fire cloud.
Only a few spells actually landed in the fire cloud, but they were like lumps of mud falling into the sea, unable to make a single ripple!
Hoo!!!
The cloud of fire swept over the heads of the spellcasters and professionals!
Countless showers of fire fell, setting fire to the already crumbling houses!
The flames rise to the sky!
The disaster escalates! The professionals, the spell casters, had no time to continue blocking the area and could only temporarily flee the area.
They watched.
The cloud of fire came over the royal castle in the centre!
It then dissipated.
The next moment!
The dragon came down with a bang, its hind legs stomping straight down on the earth!
The whole ground shook wildly.
A pair of forelimbs were propped up on the watchtowers that looked like chimney pipes at the ends of the castle! A pair of huge dragon wings spread out completely, covering the castle completely!
Red-red starbursts drifted down in dots.
Fishy red eyes sweep around.
The aura of invisible terror surges wildly!
The professionals who had approached the castle stared blankly at the dragon, and some of those who were weak and not strong-willed enough simply fainted with their eyes rolled back.
Even those who were left were in a state of trembling, feeling that they could not breathe.
It was huge! It was huge! It was too big! It was beyond imagination!
No one could even imagine that a giant dragon could be so huge as to rival the forty metre high castle of the royal capital! Was this ... really a gargoyle? A creature of flesh and blood like them?
No, it couldn't be!
What kind of monster is this? And why had it descended upon the royal capital of Lain?
"My name is Rand Sapphis Oakburn!
The great dragon of dragons!
Destroyer of destinies! Destroyer of all things!
Unstoppable! Irrepressible!
The embodiment of natural disaster!
Suffering of the world!
I am! The Great! Calamity! Transformation!"
The dragon's immense head tilted forward, its scarlet eyes fierce and vicious.
Opening its mouth to let out a thunderous roar, the terrifying sound waves were accompanied by gusts of hurricane wind that kept encroaching in all directions.
Within a thousand metres, some of the weaker professionals, ordinary citizens and guards who were lucky enough not to be affected by the dragon's power could not help but cover their ears and scream in agony.
The sound waves had shattered their eardrums!
They, who were already barely able to withstand the hurricane, finally couldn't hold on.
Swept up whole, they drifted into the distance like a pile of rubbish!
"Ooohhhhhh! Help! Help! Someone help me!"
"O God! Save your devotees!"
They were like a bunch of ants, flying, colliding and howling as they were wrapped in the hurricane wind.
Boom!!!
The ground shook wildly and the tearing gaps grew bigger and bigger.
Those who didn't check at one point fell whole, down into the chasm's abyss! A heart-rending wail!
But the screams didn't last long.
A column of crimson lava gushed out of the abyss! It engulfed them completely!
The pillar of magma shot up to a hundred metres above and burst apart again, turning the unlucky ones into charcoal and drops of magma raining down in all directions!
Snort, snort, snort!
The magma landed on the ground, emitting white smoke continuously.
Some of those who couldn't avoid it were caught in the rain of hot lava and rolled on the ground, screaming in dismay!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
All over the city, lava began to spew from the fissured crevices of the abyss.
The sky was crimson red.
Countless rains of magma rolled down!
It was as if the entire kingdom had turned into a true abyssal demon realm!
At this moment, every minute, every second, hundreds and thousands of the citizens of the King's Capital were dying in despair!
And all this in mere celebration of the birth of this incarnation of the Heavenly Calamity before them!
"Lan ... Rand Sapphis Oakburn? No! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
How could you possibly be Rand Sapphius Oakburn the evil dragon!"
The horrified professionals, struggling against a world of natural disasters, fell into a frenzy, covering their heads and shouting after hearing the roar of the dragon in front of them and hearing him explode his great name to himself.
For they knew very well what that one name meant.
If this dragon had appeared before their eyes at the very beginning, they would have been intimidated by his power, but at the same time they would have inevitably held on to that slightest illusion.
Perhaps, this dragon was just passing by, not their enemy, and they would not necessarily die.
But after learning that this dragon was Randburn's dragon, they knew that they were bound to die!
This wasn't some passing dragon at all! This was coming for them! It was coming for revenge!
"That's right! It can't be Rand Sapphius Oakbourne, the dragon!
That dragon has been slain by three legends by now!
Ha ha ha! He's already dead! Dead! How can a dead dragon appear before us! It's a lie! It's all a lie!"
Another man shouted back, only to howl as lava fell on him in a careless manner, followed by a blowing of debris on his head, causing him to faint.
He lost his chance to hold a boulder in front of him and was swept up by the whole of the terrifying hurricane and disappeared ...
The other professionals next to him, one by one, watched in horror, no longer daring to be distracted.
"Pain! Suffering! Hate! Madness!
Your intellects burn in flames!
Souls tremble at my coming!
Wretched mortals! You will crumble in my fury!
And ultimately perish with the whole kingdom of Lain!
Under the realm of the Calamity! Ashes to ashes!"
The dragon roared, and magic so vast that it was visible to the naked eye surged wildly, radiating out in all directions!
The next moment!
Rumble!
Endless thunder streaked down! The whole dark world instantly became as bright as day, and the royal capital seemed to turn into a sea of thunder at that moment!
Each and every one of the lingering citizens was turned into charcoal!
The earth roared and the tremors in the entire capital grew several degrees stronger, a great rift in the abyss spanning thousands of metres!
Magma gushed out, engulfing everything! The entire ground seemed to be carpeted in crimson!
A hurricane swept up, connecting heaven and earth in a tornado that swallowed everything!
Countless people, houses, were swept up into the sky! The wail of despair became the final strains of despair.
The whole world seems to be counting down to destruction!
The crowd of professionals around them were like a bunch of ants, frantically dodging the natural disaster.
Even for professionals of level 10 or above, there was a chance that they might die without a burial place if they were not careful ...
As for the rest of the ordinary collar people, they are facing the double test of the goddess of fortune and death every moment!
The only place that is still a clean slate is the castle beneath the dragon.
The castle, which was augmented by countless defence spells, was not damaged at the moment, apart from shaking, and it could even withstand the weight of the giant dragon's body of nearly ten thousand tons!
Inside the castle.
The king and several of his cronies stood at the window opening, where they could just see most of the scene outside, as well as the dragon's flickering chest and belly.
All of them, deeply appalled, terrified, even desperate at the unfathomable might of the dragon before them.
"This monster, it's actually Rand Sapphius Oakburn this is going to be a problem!"
His Majesty the King looked out of the window, his face sullen, his left hand subconsciously resting on a dragon's head ring in his right hand.
"Why! Why is this evil dragon not dead, and where are the Lord Holy Envoy, the Lord Archbishop and the Lord Sword Saint? Haven't they gone to crush this evil dragon?"
"It's dead! They must all be dead! How can this monster that has mastered the natural disaster be something we can deal with? A legend ... is, in the end, only a legend for mortals like us.
This monster before us, perhaps only the gods can destroy it!"
"Damn it! Where are the priests in the city? Where are those priests of the Morning Sun? Why don't they contact the Morning Sun and ask him to send down a doppelganger to deal with this monster!"
Several noble ministers, who had been on the wrong side of poise, looked horrified, their clothes long since soaked through, and shouted.
Buzz !!!!
It was also at this moment.
Somewhere in the direction of the city, a holy golden glow suddenly erupted.
Seeing this, the king and several of his close noble ministers were overjoyed.
"That's the direction of the Morninglord's Temple! Could it be that the Morning Reign has descended? We are saved! There is salvation!"
They laughed out loud in ecstasy.
The golden light slowly gathered.
Several white figures with feathery wings on their backs flew out of it.
"Angels! These are the messengers of God! They will be able to deal with the dragon!" A nobleman shouted excitedly.
Then they saw these angels, with their golden swords in their hands, cutting beautiful arcs across the sky and charging towards the dragon!
Brush, brush, brush!
These angels, compared to the huge body of the dragon, looked like tiny insects, but they were extremely nimble, constantly using their holy swords to attack around the dragon.
Or they used holy light to bombard the dragon's body.
The dragon slapped several claws in succession, and even used its dragon wings to slap, but they were all dodged.
This made the king and the others in the house watch the battle, as well as some professionals outside the house who had barely avoided the natural disaster and had left some energy to watch the battle!
Yes! That's it! If they keep it up, they might be able to kill this evil dragon! Then they can live!
Rumble!
At that very moment, a thunderbolt suddenly broke through the sky and landed on an angel, sending shivers down his spine and causing him to stagger in place for a moment!
The dragon's claws, several times larger than the angel's, then struck!
Pang!
It was like swatting a fly!
The angel, surrounded by holy light, exploded in a wave of air and fell diagonally towards the ground!
Rumble!
The angel's body scraped against the ground, ploughing a furrow half a metre deep, a metre wide and nearly a thousand metres long before it came to a halt!
Everything along the way was knocked away, scattered and swept up into the sky by the fierce wind!
Doomsday! Never stopping for even a moment!
And where was the angel at the moment?
No one continued to see it after half a second ...
Only a few that happened to be nearby saw it.
This angel, covered in golden holy light that broke, its body torn and tattered and not able to stop spilling blood, lay motionless on the ground, and after half a second, disappeared in a stream of golden particles!
With the first, there would be a second, a third, and soon, all of these angels who had been expected to return to the divine kingdom were lightly slapped to death by the giant dragon.
"Dead, dead? The messengers of the gods just died?"
Inside the castle, a nobleman looked a little dumbfounded.
"Angels are no better than that, although they are called God's messengers, their general strength is only about level 17-18, and only the elite among them would be just at the legendary level.
Isn't it normal to be defeated? Even if they were legends, I'm afraid they wouldn't even be a match for that evil dragon outside." Another nobleman sighed and said.
Yes, were they stupid enough to expect a group of guys who were perhaps not even legends to clean up the evil dragon in front of them? That was simply impossible!
"It's over! It's over! Let's wait for death!"
A nobleman sat paralyzed on the ground, his face full of despair.
"Huh! Wait for death!"
Another sighed silently and sat down on a seat to one side.
"Your Majesty! As a nation with a centuries-old heritage that has produced at least three legends, I believe you should still have some cards up your sleeve!
Now at this time, it's time to use them!"
Suddenly, a nobleman turned his head to look at His Majesty who had a sullen expression and said.
When the others heard this, their spirits immediately lifted and they turned their hopeful eyes towards His Majesty again.
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty ..."
"I do have a bottom card, but the cost is too great." His Majesty the King said softly.
"Your Majesty! It's not a question of whether the cost is too great now! Rather, it is a question of the destruction of the entire kingdom if we don't do this! This is the moment of life and death for the Kingdom of Laine!"
Several nobles and ministers persuaded excitedly.
"Yes! I don't have a choice now either! Since you, Rand Sapphis Oakburn, you evil dragon, want to destroy my kingdom!
Then let it be destroyed with my kingdom!"
His Majesty the King.
The entire golden dragon's head, at once, lurched to one side.
The other nobles and ministers were at first delighted, then astonished.
"Destroy together? Your Majesty! What do you mean by that?"
"It means literally! My card! It means that the whole kingdom will be destroyed together! Ha ha ha ha! Die together! All die!"
The king laughed madly, looking out of the window with a fierce and wild expression.
He saw that beyond the castle, where the natural disaster had been constant.
A long, thick red line had suddenly appeared, and a spell formation so huge that it completely enveloped the entire city was slowly rising.
Some of the lords and professionals who had been hiding in hidden places suddenly strangled their necks and howled.
Countless white particles floated out from their bodies and into the spell formation in mid-air.
"What is this ...? Your Majesty! What have you done?" Inside the castle, a nobleman stared in horror at what was happening before him.
"This is the last of the twilight.
Hahahahaha!
The founding ancestor of my kingdom of Lain, the original legendary spellcaster, was originally from the most powerful power in the centre, the Arcane Empire!
He came to this island and founded the Kingdom of Laine, and left us descendants the ultimate, the spell called [God's Twilight]!
This is a legendary spell that transcends the Nine Rings and reaches the Ten Rings!
This spell, which I've always known only from my father's mouth, is finally going to blossom today! I think it must be the most beautiful in this world! You will have the honour of watching this God-destroying spell with me!"
The kingdom laughed out loud.
The noble ministers on one side of the room said, first with joy and then with surprise.
"A ten-ring spell? That must be enough to destroy this evil dragon! But what is all this before us, again?"
"A ten-ring spell! That's the ultimate spell that no ordinary legendary spellcaster can cast.
The cost of casting it is huge!
He needs to drain the magic power of at least five hundred Archmages!"
"That condition is simply impossible! There are only about a hundred Archmages in total in the entire kingdom, and nearly half of them have been sent to the Black King City ..."
"That's right! We really don't have this condition, so we'll have to rely on something else to meet this condition!
You know what? Whether they are human, or elves, or dwarves, or subhumans, or halflings, or orcs, as long as they are living beings, they actually possess magic within their souls!"
His Majesty turned, and outside the window, a thunderbolt flashed, lighting up his somewhat grim face at the moment.
"What ... does that ... mean?"
A nobleman asked, gulping, his mind already vaguely aware of something unpleasant.
"Don't you already understand? Since we don't have the magic power of five hundred Archmages, wouldn't it be better to use the souls of everyone in the entire city, as an energy source to release it! Wouldn't it?"
His Majesty the King said in a cold voice.
The words seemed like a gust of gloomy wind sweeping towards everyone, causing them to shiver unconsciously.
"Your Majesty ... you!"
"Watch well! This is the ultimate spell that no ordinary person will ever see in their lifetime!"
The king turned his head once again to look out the window.
Countless streams of white particles, flecked and drifted into the air.
The spell began to emit a pure white glow.
"Almost there, almost there, almost there, almost there! Almost there ..." murmured the king.
But a moment later, the originally dense stream of photons instantly became sparse.
His Majesty the King glanced at the ring of the dragon's head in his hand and his face changed dramatically.
"Damn! The energy is actually still that little bit short! Just that little bit! There aren't enough souls left!
Damn it! In such a short period of time, 500,000 to 600,000 people in the entire kingdom have died, not even 100,000 at once! Damn it! Damn it!
We can't wait any longer! Even if it's not as powerful as the full form, it's still enough to have about 80% of the power!
Hahahahaha! All of it! Bury it all with me!"
His Majesty roared hideously and twisted the dragon's head once again.
The next moment.
The spell in the sky burst into an intense white light!
What is this?
Outside the castle, Rand looked at the spell formation with some surprise, but did not do anything.
He was curious to see what other small moves the rest of the Lane Kingdom had in store for them.
This was his absolute confidence in his own strength!
At this moment, he was convinced that he was invincible! At least in this Aeo Continent!
It was also because of this confidence that he had missed the possibility of escaping.
The spell formation in mid-air roared, and in an instant.
With the spell formation as the centre, everything in a radius of nearly ten kilometres was covered!
The fierce wind formed by the impact raged.
Several kilometres away.
The three professionals kept running.
Hoping to get as far away from the royal capital as possible.
They were professionals who had just run out of the royal capital.
The moment they encountered the natural disaster and saw Rand, the first thing they felt was that something was wrong.
"How much farther do we have to run? We've stayed here for almost as long, right? The whole cataclysm, it seems, has just covered the kingdom! That evil dragon shouldn't be interested in coming after a few of us little crickets either."
A professional turned his head to look in the direction of the royal capital and couldn't help but say.
"Then let's stop and catch our breath for now! Alas! When this disaster passes, I don't know what will become of the royal capital when we return."
Another professional sighed and lamented.
"Look guys, what's that?"
Suddenly, one of the professionals pointed to the royal capital, and at this moment, a red spell formation had appeared in mid-air, constantly absorbing the stream of white particles.
"It feels like things are getting worse and worse!"
One of the professionals secretly cried out in disgust.
They stayed in place for a while.
Suddenly, a white light flashed.
A terrifying hurricane of impact, scraping out a layer of ground, carrying countless remnants of wood, broken rocks, towards their side!
This startled the few professionals and they turned their heads to continue their escape.
But the impact quickly swept over their bodies.
It sent them flying backwards for dozens of metres before they landed in disarray!
Wow!!!
Some people spat out a mouthful of blood in pain, trembling as they rose from the ground and looked in the direction of the original royal capital.
There was nothing there, the royal capital had completely disappeared.
The houses, the castle, the roads, the pedestrians, everything had disappeared.
What remained was a huge sinkhole!
The dark clouds that had covered the sky disappeared, and the fierce winds and torrential rains ceased.
The entire sky was dispersed and a hollow with a radius of a dozen kilometres appeared!
The sky was filled with smoke and dust.
The sunlight poured down, piercing through the smoke and seemingly dispelling the darkness.
But seeing this scene, one professional had chills down his back and couldn't help but tremble all over.
"What the ... hell is this? Is this a spell? Are spells this terrifying?"
"Even if it's a ninth ring spell, it can't have this kind of power, it's divine punishment! It must be divine punishment!"
"What have we done wrong in the Kingdom of Laine! Why is God punishing us?" Someone said sadly.
"It's that evil dragon! He has killed so many people! He must have angered the gods! That's why the gods sent down divine punishment! The dragon is dead!"
"It's good that the dragon is dead, but this is too great a price to pay, isn't it? My house! My property! Everything I own! There was still a lot buried under the land of the house, and now I'm afraid there's nothing left!"
The men looked a little broken, unable to accept what was before them.
But, all this, was not the most despairing of all!
In the distance, at the very centre of the explosion.
Perhaps it was because the depression was so deep that it could not be seen.
A giant dragon, actually slowly flapping its wings, rose from it!
So people were instantly shocked, the chill went straight to their heads, and some even sat down directly on the ground.
"It's over ... It's over! This world, finished! This evil dragon is not dead! It's over! It's really over!"
"This evil dragon, I'm afraid, is really going to rule the world, his power is completely beyond mortal resistance ... Perhaps it's already comparable to that of a god?"
"Illusion! It's all an illusion! I don't believe it! I don't believe he's still alive! This is simply not possible!"
Some of those who had managed to escape stared dumbfounded at the scene before them, some muttering under their breath, others shouting madly.