Chapter 323: Maternal Grandmother

"Autolycus, Fiona, from today onwards, you will follow Renata," Muria said groggily as he watched Autolycus beating up the old blue dragon and Fiona standing by, "and temporarily obey her commands."

Muria had noticed the old blue dragon's overly obvious behavior. Clearly, even though Bronya had granted Renata the authority to lead all the monster clans under her command, Renata's own strength was insufficient to fully wield this power.

This was a classic case of a title that outweighed capabilities. Despite her impressive command abilities, Renata only had the strength of a gold-tier, which was inadequate.

Strictly speaking, a dragon with command talents but lacking sufficient strength wasn't suited to be a commander but rather a strategist or an advisor. In a world where power is paramount, mere wisdom is hardly enough to command respect.

Evidently, the soul-tier old dragon did not respect Renata, maintaining only the bare minimum of respect in his words, and not treating her as a commander in his actions.

This surely wasn't an isolated case. Judging by the blue dragon's behavior, it could be inferred that all of Bronya's soul-tier giant dragons, or soul-tier monsters, held reservations about Renata and showed a lack of respect.

When a commander's generals no longer follow his orders, no matter how skilled he is, it's all in vain.

Seeing Renata's current predicament, Muria of course had to support her; he couldn't allow his dragon to be undermined by other creatures.

"Understood." Upon hearing Muria's order, Autolycus grinned, sure of one thing: betting on Renata, considering the level of Muria's concern for her, was definitely not going to be a loss.

"As you command, Prince Muria," Fiona bowed slightly, her gaze complex as she looked at Renata.

Seeing the two soul-tier five-color dragons following his orders, Muria nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, you stay with Renata. I and Troy are going to visit the creator of the dense forest, Bronya."

The title of the ancient red dragon Bronya had changed from the creator of volcanoes to the creator of dense forests, a rather shameful title for a red dragon, as she had used her power to create a fertile forest that ranked among the top on the continent of Osnilos.

...

"This is the volcano influenced by the power of an ancient red dragon for nearly three hundred years," Muria said as he sat on the large cat, Troy, looking up at the towering volcano, which lacked the expected billowing smoke.

Although Muria could feel the massive amount of fire elements contained within the volcano that had evolved from a hill, the volcano felt remarkably stable to him. A powerful force suppressed the volcanic activity, allowing it to retain its energy without erupting.

"Why are there no guards?" After appreciating the volcano for a moment, Muria and Troy entered the volcano, which stood over two thousand meters high. Bronya's dragon's nest was inside.

Throughout this process, Muria saw many grand buildings made of volcanic rock at the mouth and middle-upper part of the volcano.

Using grand buildings to showcase the ruler's authority wasn't just a preference of rulers in Muria's past life; intelligent beings of Erathia also favored this method as the simplest and most direct way to display power and authority.

However, it was odd that such grand constructions were unguarded, apart from the sound of rolling magma inside the volcano, there was no other sound, making it feel empty and lonely.

Although monster guards would be almost ornamental for an ancient red dragon, as a lord dragon, some semblance of lordly dignity seemed necessary.

"Muria, this palace is much larger than your residence," Troy commented as they flew into the mouth of the volcano, seeing the black palace standing in the lake of magma, far more magnificent than the buildings outside.

"It's not bigger than my White Jade Palace," Muria patted Troy, looking at the nearly still magma around the black stone palace, "Let's go down, the ancient dragon knows we're here."

"Are you sure? This is an ancient red dragon." Seeing the suddenly calm magma lake below, Troy hesitated, "We can still leave now, but once we go in, we won't be able to escape."

"Let's go in. We're here now, and if Lady Bronya truly had ill intentions, we wouldn't be able to escape anyway," Muria caressed Troy's snowy white neck, "Don't let a dragon look down on us."

"Humph!" Troy huffed displeasedly and landed on the base in front of the palace. His four white tiger paws stepped on the thin layer of lava covering the base.

"Let's go!" Muria jumped down, walking on the lava, which felt no different to him than warm water, into the black stone palace, toward the powerful presence he felt inside.

"Muria, you've finally come to rescue me," just a few steps inside, Muria saw a red dragon soaking in crimson-gold lava, looking somewhat emaciated.

"Auston?" Muria uncertainly addressed the listless red dragon in front of him, who was a far cry from the robust and proud red dragon he remembered; it was almost like looking at a different dragon.

If not for the unchanged aura, Muria would never have recognized this emaciated dragon, whose bones were almost protruding, as the one he had raised.

"It's me." Seeing Muria, Auston's eyes lit up with the excitement of being rescued, "Muria, take me away quickly, this place is no place for a dragon."

"Young man, even if you are a descendant of Yalistar, you have no right to take away my mate," the grand palace trembled slightly as a huge mountain-like red dragon emerged from the palace, stepping forward like a magma ball, its large dragon eyes looking down at him with oppressive power.

"Good day, Lady Bronya," hearing the ancient red dragon's reference to himself, Muria completely calmed down, now certain that this red dragon would not harm him.

"What is your relationship with Atreus?" The ancient red dragon, exuding an aura of antiquity, scrutinized Muria, her gaze growing stranger as she seemed to realize something.

"My mother," Muria looked at the ancient dragon, whose size easily exceeded a hundred meters, and couldn't help but marvel. Then he silently mourned for Auston for three seconds, given the size difference; it was hard to imagine how he managed to withstand the ancient dragon.

"So, you are the grandson of Yalistar Falganiro," after clarifying Muria's identity, Bronya nodded slightly, her eyes showing a trace of reminiscence and nostalgia.

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