Just as Ize and the others left the Casipe Forest and headed toward the Raymond Territory, the goblin nest that Ize had cleared out welcomed an uninvited guest.
A figure shrouded in a voluminous black robe appeared deep within the cave, silent as a ghost.
He ignored the charred remains of goblins and shattered bones scattered across the ground. His gaze fell directly on the spot where the Lord-tier goblin had been pierced through by Ize’s fist. A low hum of surprise came from the shadows beneath his hood.
“Oh? This test subject… was actually completely destroyed.”
The man’s voice carried a rasp like grinding metal, as if he were assessing a loss.
“It seems that several decent little fellows have emerged from this generation’s magic academies, capable of handling a creation that had undergone preliminary fusion with dragon scale power.”
He stepped forward slowly and crouched down. A hand covered in a delicate black leather glove reached out, hovering in the air as if sensing the lingering traces of mana.
However, a moment later, the aura around him visibly faltered.
“Hmm? What is this…?”
He muttered to himself, his tone revealing a hint of rare confusion.
“Such strong elemental residue… yet it’s all traces of the most basic second-tier magic? Fire Wall, Earth Wall, Wind Blade, Water Arrow… there isn’t even a single fluctuation from a spell above the third tier?”
This discovery plunged him into a brief silence.
Drowning a Lord-tier monster with a massive amount of low-tier magic?
As soon as the thought occurred to him, even he found it preposterous.
-What kind of nearly infinite mana reserves would that require, and what a… boring and inefficient fighting style?
“Absurd.” He finally shook his head, dismissing the overly bizarre speculation.
“Perhaps it was a test using some new type of special magic tool that can simulate low-tier magic fluctuations? Those brats from the Four Academies always love to make flash-over-substance things.”
His attention quickly shifted elsewhere. After sensing carefully for a while, he confirmed another matter: “The dragon scale fragments implanted in their bodies have been recovered… but it doesn’t matter. That amount of mana is just a drop in the bucket. These goblins were low-level test subjects with extremely high failure rates, used merely as bulk material for research.”
He stood up and instinctively flexed his fingers.
Following his movement, a faint sound similar to the friction of keratin came from his knuckles under the glove.
If Ize were here, he might have discovered with his extraordinary perception that it wasn’t leather, but dragon scales—shimmering with a dark metallic luster and tightly adhered to the skin!
Hidden beneath those black robes was a body that was gradually departing from the human realm.
He was Jeral, the first-generation Dragon Slayer Hero whom the outside world believed had fallen in the world-shaking battle against the dragon a hundred years ago.
However, the truth was far crueler than the legend.
That battle was not a simple victory, but a “theft” meticulously planned by Jeral.
He did not die. Instead, he used a forbidden secret technique to forcibly plunder and fuse parts of the dragon’s blood and flesh essence. Over these hundred years, he had transformed himself into a non-human, non-dragon monster—a Half-Dragon.
After decades of dormancy and fusion, he was only one step away from evolving into a true dragon with eternal life… and world-destroying power.
Only the last and most critical step remained—to find and devour Igneel’s dragon soul that remained in the world, which contained its origin power and consciousness!
“Igneel’s dragon soul… just where have those stubborn fellows from the Raymond family hidden it…?” Jeral’s low voice echoed in the empty cave, carrying a trace of imperceptible irritability and longing.
The Raymond family were the accomplices who had helped him plot against Igneel a hundred years ago.
Igneel’s dragon soul was likely on someone from the Raymond family.
After he had exterminated the Raymond clan, he searched every corner of the Raymond Territory but found no trace of the dragon soul.
His gaze seemed to penetrate the thick rock walls as he looked in the direction of the Raymond Territory. A cruel sneer appeared under his hood.
“Forget it. The brats from the Four Academies should be arriving at the Raymond Territory soon as well… Fine then, I’ll let you see the… ‘artwork’ I left there.
“Surely, when you see those ‘magnificent’ sights blooming in despair, you will be very surprised. Hehehe… It’s time for these hopes of the Empire’s future to personally experience how fragile and small humans are in the face of true power.”
***
Several days later, after crossing the long and oppressive monster forest, Ize’s group finally arrived at the final destination of this trip—the Raymond Territory.
The sight that met their eyes caused even those who were mentally prepared to feel a pang of dread.
The main city of the Raymond family, which once symbolized border prosperity and glory, was now a stretch of broken walls and ruins.
Charred timber, collapsed city walls, and shattered family crests could be seen everywhere, silently recounting the tragedy of the disaster that had occurred not long ago.
The air was thick with a mixture of dust, decay, and a faint scent of blood.
Hardly any intact buildings could be seen on the streets. Most of the houses that had luckily escaped total collapse had their doors and windows tightly shut, like silent tombstones.
Occasionally, some emaciated and ragged paupers could be seen curled up in corners, stealing glances at the group of uninvited guests with numb and fearful eyes.
When someone tried to approach and ask questions, they would hide as quickly as startled rabbits, their eyes filled with unyielding wariness and terror.
“It seems people with money and power fled here long ago.” Roger pushed his glasses up, analyzing calmly. “Those left behind are the paupers with nowhere else to go.”
Watching all this, Sarah’s emerald eyes were filled with pity and a sense of responsibility.
She signaled the group to stop, then took out some easy-to-store food and water from her bag. She took the initiative to walk toward the children who were peeking at them timidly from behind the ruins.
At first, the children were very afraid and didn’t dare to step forward.
But Sarah’s innate affinity and sincere smile gradually dispelled some of their fear like sunlight.
She patiently distributed food to a few bolder children and gently asked about the situation here.
After a thin, weak young boy cautiously took a piece of bread, perhaps moved by Sarah’s kindness or perhaps because his long-suppressed fear needed an outlet, he began to speak. While devouring the food, he spoke in a trembling, tearful voice, intermittently revealing a hair-raising fact:
“Thank… thank you, big sister… There, there are monsters in the city…” The boy’s eyes were wide with terror. “They… monsters wearing human clothes… they come out at night. They like to suck human blood! My… my mom and dad… they were caught by them… after their blood was sucked dry… they, they turned into monsters that only know how to bite! Waaaah…”
The boy’s words were like a thunderclap exploding in everyone’s ears.
Monsters in human skin? Blood sucking? Turning victims into mindless monsters?
Ize stood at the back of the team, his brow furrowing deeply as he listened to the boy’s account.
This setting…
He rubbed his chin, and images he had seen in certain games and anime from his previous life instantly flashed through his mind. He instinctively muttered under his breath:
“It sounds… why does it sound so much like the ‘Blood Clan’?”
This déjà vu…”