Chapter 242: The Divided Human Race

The White Dragon Lord flew west, finally arriving at his destination: a city on the Vinock Plain.

Looking down from the sky, a single hill stood out on the completely flat plain.

A sizable city sat atop that hill. Judging by its exceptionally tall walls, the ballistae mounted on the gates, and the sheer number of defending soldiers, it was a military fortress.

This was Watch Keep, the Kingdom Alliance's frontline against the Luonan Empire.

The flat expanse of the Vinock Plain offered no cover for a large army to hide behind. If the Luonan Empire wanted to attack the Kingdom Alliance behind Watch Keep, they had to conquer this fortress.

Otherwise, Watch Keep would become a nightmare for the Luonan Empire. It could coordinate pincer attacks with the Alliance army, sever the imperial army's supply lines from the rear, and more.

In short, a nail planted in the enemy's rear could do far too much damage.

Given Watch Keep's importance, the fortress was jointly defended by all the kingdoms. They had each sent their most elite troops to garrison the stronghold.

Therefore, Watch Keep could contact all twelve kingdoms simultaneously.

Roar!

After a dragon's roar resounded through the clouds, the White Dragon Lord dived toward the fortress below.

On the city walls, the fortress defenders spotted the behemoth. They manned the defensive ballistae and fired at the White Dragon Lord.

Since arriving in the Madilan World, the White Dragon Lord had faced showers of arrows more than once. He dealt with them with practiced ease; a single shield of ice blocked the ballista bolts the human soldiers relied on.

A moment later, the White Dragon Lord landed on the city walls, and his overwhelming dragon might swept out to blanket the fortress.

The battle was over!

The White Dragon Lord's sharp claws gripped the city wall, his talons sinking deep into the brick and stone as crushed rock clattered down.

He looked down at the defending guards immobilized by the pressure of his dragon might. Most of the soldiers had fainted from terror, and of those still awake, the majority had given up resisting in despair.

Only a very few soldiers, their faces pressed against the dusty ground, gritted their teeth and tried to climb up to continue fighting. But the gap between them and the White Dragon Lord could not be bridged by willpower alone.

The White Dragon Lord swept his gaze around and withdrew his dragon might. Once the soldiers had climbed to their feet, he raised his head high, his tone low but his voice like thunder.

"Who? Who is the commander here?!"

The thunderous voice rang in the human soldiers' ears. Staring fixedly at the White Dragon Lord, they flinched, and some even fell to the ground again. The soldiers still standing looked at one another in dismay, no one daring to speak.

The White Dragon Lord raised an eyebrow. He released his mental energy, lifting several nearby soldiers into the air.

The soldiers of Watch Keep were horrified to see their comrades floating in midair, their limbs grasping painfully at empty space.

"I will ask one last time! Who is the commander here?!"

Between his low tone and their comrades struggling in the air, the White Dragon Lord's image as a brutal, evil dragon instantly took root in the soldiers' minds.

"Let them go! I am the one you are looking for!"

Finally, a man dressed in an officer's casual clothes walked out of a building by the street.

"Very well!"

The White Dragon Lord released his mental energy, and the unfortunate soldiers screamed as they plummeted three or four meters to the ground.

The middle-aged man with a full beard looked at the dragon, whose head alone was larger than a carriage. His throat bobbed as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, taking a deep breath.

"I am Gross..."

"Shut up! I have no interest in your name!"

The White Dragon Lord interrupted Gross's self-introduction. Raising his head, he looked down arrogantly at the military stronghold's highest-ranking commander and spoke in an equally arrogant tone.

"I need you to deliver a message to every king for me. Of course, you may choose to refuse."

The White Dragon Lord swept his gaze across the area.

"Every one of you has the right to choose death."

Hearing the White Dragon's flat tone, as if he had just said something trivial, the soldiers could not help but shiver. They looked at the White Dragon with eyes full of dread.

Seeing this, the White Dragon Lord felt satisfied.

Although he was not a cruel dragon, he had to admit that fear was usually more persuasive.

People might not respect good men, but they would definitely fear evil ones.

To force the Kingdom Alliance to submit as quickly as possible, he needed to plant the seeds of fear in humanity's hearts.

"Of course, you can also choose to fight back and use your ridiculous toys to challenge my fury."

As soon as he spoke, the White Dragon Lord grabbed a bundle of steel ballista bolts from the city wall, shoved them into his mouth, and snapped his jaws shut.

Crunch!

Forged from fine steel, the bolts were as fragile as spicy snack strips under the White Dragon Lord's sharp teeth, instantly snapping in two.

The White Dragon chewed and swallowed the portion in his mouth, then threw the remaining pieces in front of the soldiers.

Watch Keep's commander, Gross, stared at the sheared ends of the steel bolts, sliced cleanly through by sharp teeth, and felt utterly shocked.

These were steel bolts forged from fine steel by the Madilan World's most outstanding artisans, meant for dealing with large creatures!

Every single one was as thick as a baby's arm. Yet an entire bundle of them took nothing but a single bite...

"You! Notify every king and tell them I am waiting for them here. If they do not arrive within three days, I will personally visit their royal capitals and have a 'nice' chat with them."

The White Dragon Lord's flat voice snapped the stunned commander, Gross, back to his senses.

"Yes! I will go immediately."

Knowing the Kingdom Alliance was powerless against this terrifying monster, Gross decisively turned and ran toward the center of Watch Keep.

A moment later, a flock of messenger eagles flew up into the sky from Watch Keep.

Not far outside Watch Keep, the White Dragon Lord watched the messenger eagles fly away and lay down on the ground in satisfaction. He had not rested once since leaving Blade Fortress.

Although it wouldn't matter if he didn't sleep for years, lying down was simply comfortable.

Succumbing to a severe bout of laziness that was by no means unique to dragons, the White Dragon Lord soon began to snore.

As for the human soldiers on the city walls, having been so thoroughly frightened by the White Dragon, they wouldn't dare attack him even if given ten times the courage.

Three days passed, and the dragon's precise biological clock woke the White Dragon Lord. He slowly opened his eyes and saw several military tents pitched at the foot of the city walls.

Seeing the White Dragon Lord awaken, the soldiers outside the tents hurriedly ran inside. A moment later, twelve crown-wearing men—elders, middle-aged men, and youths—walked out of the tents and approached the White Dragon Lord.

The White Dragon Lord looked at the twelve kings coming his way and felt satisfied.

In truth, the twelve kings had rushed over on fast horses and arrived one after another by the second day. By noon of the second day, they had all assembled.

The White Dragon Lord had sensed the kings' arrival, but he deliberately left them hanging to see if they had truly submitted.

As a result, the twelve kings, who had traveled through the night, looked at the sleeping White Dragon on the plain and didn't dare step forward to disturb him. Out of fear that he might wake up suddenly, they didn't dare turn around to rest inside the fortress either. They just stood there, watching the sleeping White Dragon.

Consequently, a relatively older king, having endured a day and a night of travel followed by standing constantly without rest, was the first to give out.

Watch Keep's commander, Gross, cleverly brought out twelve military tents for the kings to rest in, dispatching soldiers to stand guard outside the tents in shifts to keep watch on the White Dragon Lord for them.

Thus came the scene before him.

The twelve kings straightened their attire as they walked, stopping before the White Dragon Lord.

"Good day, esteemed Lord Dragon."

"Hmm, good morning."

Having just woken up, his head still a bit groggy, the White Dragon Lord reflexively replied to the greeting kings.

The king who had greeted him never expected the evil dragon to actually respond. A look of astonishment crossed his face.

Soon after, the White Dragon Lord came back to his senses.

"Ahem! Let's get down to business. I ask you, who is the true master of this world?!"

The White Dragon Lord's tone gradually rose, until by the end, he was almost roaring.

At the same time, he spread his massive dragon wings. The wings blotted out the morning sun, shrouding the twelve kings in shadow—just like the shadow looming over the Madilan World.

The twelve kings stared at those exaggerated, thirty-plus-meter-long dragon wings, their throats bobbing.

Even though they had long known from intelligence reports that this terrifying behemoth was gigantic, that was only a number. Only by witnessing it with their own eyes could they truly feel just how exaggerated the concept of thirty meters was.

The twelve kings bowed their heads in submission.

"It is you!"

"Very well!"

The White Dragon Lord nodded in satisfaction and folded his dragon wings.

"Within three days, I want to see the Kingdom Alliance declare war on the Luonan Empire and dispatch soldiers to attack the Luonan Empire's cities."

The twelve kings were shocked. Not long ago, they had been discussing with the Luonan Empire's envoys how to defeat the Orcs and maintain humanity's dominance. Yet now, the White Dragon Lord was demanding they send troops to attack the Luonan Empire. Wouldn't that make them traitors to humanity?

"Lord Dragon, if we help the Orcs, I am afraid that in the end, the Orcs will turn their weapons against us instead!"

The White Dragon Lord snorted two streams of white breath from his massive nostrils.

"You do not need to worry about that. The Orcs will only occupy the Luonan Empire's territory. That land is enough for them to multiply and thrive."

The king who had taken the risk of probing the White Dragon received a satisfactory answer. He secretly wiped the cold sweat from his palms on his clothes, while all the other kings secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Ever since receiving the intelligence, they had already concluded that the Dragon Race would dominate the continent. Their biggest worry was that the dragons would help the Orcs drive humanity to extinction.

Fortunately, the dragons apparently also worried that the Orcs would grow too dominant on their own.

The kings' little movements could not escape the White Dragon Lord's eyes. He sneered.

"Put away your petty schemes. My thoughts and my power are not something your feeble minds can comprehend."

The White Dragon Lord raised a claw, and a five-meter-long ice spear quickly condensed into shape in his grip. Right in front of all the kings, he fired the spear into the ground.

The kings stared at the bottomless little black hole in the ground, their hearts filled with horror.

A young king was the first to state his stance.

"Ahem. Within one day, the Kingdom of Cid will dispatch troops to demand the return of the territory forcibly seized by the Luonan Empire a hundred years ago."

Another grey-haired elder also reacted and spoke up with righteous indignation.

"Yes, the Kingdom of Sambala will likewise send troops as soon as possible to demand the return of the princess forcibly married off to the Luonan Empire thirty years ago—my esteemed elder sister!"

A white-haired elder king silently cursed the man's shamelessness. 'You were clearly the one who happily sent your own sister away back then!' But the words that came out of his own mouth were the exact opposite.

"As a steadfast ally of the Kingdom of Sambala, the Qisa Kingdom will dispatch troops to support our close ally's righteous actions!"

"The Kingdom Alliance ought to advance and retreat together...!"

"...!"

In an instant, the twelve kings became united against a common enemy.