Chapter 453: Prelude to the Storm

After deciding to seek help, the God of the Dark Titans sent a divine avatar directly to Glory Fort, meeting the Luminous Titan within his resplendent Divine Kingdom.

"Augustine, I've run into trouble. That white dragon has joined the battle, and our people are being routed. I need your help."

The Luminous Titan shook his head. "It's useless, Astraeus. If I enter the war, Bahamut won't just sit back and watch. In the end, it won't accomplish anything."

"Then what do you suggest? Bow to the enemy? Just calmly accept defeat?!" The consecutive days of defeat had left the God of the Dark Titans irritable. "I would rather die in battle! I will never bow to that bitch, Tiamat!"

"Calm down, my brother. Have you closely observed the course of the recent battles?" the Luminous Titan asked. He extended a finger, firing a beam of divine light from its tip that formed an image of the battlefield in the air, depicting the clash between the Titan Race and the Dragon Race.

The God of the Dark Titans looked at the projection. Both the dragons and the titans had fielded an Abomination-tier powerhouse; on the dragons' side was the White Dragon Lord, and on the titans' side was a Rock Titan—the Pillar of the Sky.

"This battle happened yesterday. What are you trying to say? Is it the white dragon? I know this is his avatar! His true body and that Floating City are nowhere to be found." A hint of apprehension flashed through the eyes of the God of the Dark Titans at the mention of the Floating City.

According to intelligence from the Star Titans, the white dragon occupying the Floating City possessed combat power equal to a Dragon King, making him a major threat to the Titan Race.

Most crucially, aside from the three great titan leaders, no one in the current Titan Race could contend with the white dragon. Coupled with the fact that the Dragon Race also had three great Dragon Kings, it was enough to keep him awake at night.

"Can we find a chance to kill him?"

"I want to kill him too, but he and his Floating City are still in the Monkenado Titan World. We don't have a chance," the Luminous Titan continued. "Furthermore, you still haven't noticed the main point."

He pointed at the footage of the two armies. "Haven't you realized? These dragons are different!"

Following the Luminous Titan's gesture, the God of the Dark Titans looked at the dragon army and immediately spotted the difference. "They coordinate well. They are vastly different from the dragons of the past—but so what?"

The God of the Dark Titans looked at the Luminous Titan. "What ultimately determines the outcome of a battle is not Legendary Rank Level combat power, but powerhouses like us."

"Yes, we powerhouses decide the victor of a war," the Luminous Titan agreed, before shifting his tone. "But in a situation where the High Tier combatants cannot gain an advantage, those Legendary Rank Level forces become the key to deciding the outcome."

"Alright, what are you trying to say?"

The Luminous Titan's expression turned stern, enunciating every word. "The dragons are changing, while we are standing still. We must make changes too! Otherwise, the Titan Race will eventually be left behind by the times."

The God of the Dark Titans frowned. "You're exaggerating! How is that possible?"

"Look closer. Calculate how many of our people we lost in this brief one-minute battle, and how many the Dragon Race lost."

The God of the Dark Titans frowned as he looked at the divine projection, growing increasingly alarmed the longer he watched.

At his level, a battle of this caliber was akin to children fighting, so it hadn't drawn his attention. Only after the Luminous Titan's reminder did he realize just how badly their own children were getting beaten.

In just one minute, over a hundred titans had died in battle. While the Dragon Race also suffered injuries, their wounded were all rescued by their comrades.

Seeing the astonished expression on the God of the Dark Titans' face, the Luminous Titan knew his violent brother finally understood.

"I think you see it now. If this continues, the Dragon Race will sooner or later suppress the Titan Race to the point where we can't even lift our heads. We must make a change!"

The God of the Dark Titans fell silent. After a long while, he replied, "Perhaps you are right. But how do we change?"

"By learning from our enemies and studying their tactics. This is a prime example. I have already been studying them for some time." The Luminous Titan sighed. "I have to admit, these dragons are far ahead of us in both individual strength and teamwork. The Titan Race must strengthen our training in these areas."

"Very well, I'll leave the training to you. You're better at these things anyway. But let's put that aside for now." The God of the Dark Titans waved his hand, scattering the infinitely looping battle projection. "Right now, I only want to know your intentions. Will you help or not?!"

Faced with his brother's aggressive demands, the Luminous Titan felt a headache coming on. "If my help could truly make a difference, I would gladly fight alongside you to defeat the dragons, my brother."

"However, as things stand, I see no hope of victory. I want you to exercise some restraint and retreat for the time being, wait until—"

The God of the Dark Titans cut the Luminous Titan off. "So! You don't intend to help me?!"

"Fine! How do you want me to help you?! Send my army to fight, prompt Bahamut to join the fray, blow the whole matter out of proportion, and ultimately reap defeat?! Wake up, my brother! Until we find a way to counter that white dragon and his Floating City, we cannot achieve victory!"

After a fierce argument, the two great titan leaders parted on bad terms.

However, unable to secure outside support, the God of the Dark Titans accepted the Luminous Titan's suggestion. He voluntarily backed down, adopted a defensive posture, and had the titan army undergo training in batches.

After the Titan Race retreated, the White Dragon Lord on the front lines quickly noticed the anomaly and fell into deep thought. Shrinking back after a battlefield defeat didn't fit the personality of that supreme titan existence at all.

Given his volatile temper and refusal to suffer a loss, it would make sense for him to immediately gather his forces and retaliate. Yet now...

The White Dragon Lord summoned Willy.

"Willy! Assemble the Dragon Legion and head to the titan camp."

The White Dragon Lord led the dragon army to the titan camp.

Just like the dragon camp, the titan camp was a strategic fortress built by the Titan Race at great expense, providing certain buffs to its defenders. Furthermore, the dragons outside couldn't see the titans inside the camp, but the titans could see everything outside.

Under the White Dragon Lord's orders, the Dragon Legion maintained a safe distance from the titan camp. Willy stood at the entrance to the titan army's camp and hurled curses, but the titan camp showed no reaction.

"Brother, my throat is dry, and these titans still aren't reacting. Could they have secretly withdrawn? Let's go in and take a look."

"Wait, throw in a few golems to scout the way first."

The Yafeiawei Empire was rich in magical constructs, and the golems the White Dragon Lord requested were quickly prepared.

Five Diamond Automatons led a large swarm of Steel Golems charging into the titan camp, which was protected by a Magic Barrier. The moment the constructs stepped through the barrier, the White Dragon Lord felt his connection with them sever.

The constructs had been destroyed.

"Entire army, raise your guard. The titans are still inside." The White Dragon Lord turned back to Willy. "Keep cursing! Curse them out!"

Willy could swear he had screamed every foul word he could think of, but the titan camp still gave no response.

Seeing this, the White Dragon Lord realized this wasn't going to work. He called for his Murloc subordinates, planning to send them into the camp to scout.

"Bucky Darkscale, send some Fishman Nightstalkers to see what's going on with these titans."

"As you wish." The Murloc subordinate accepted the order and retreated into the shadows.

With their petite builds, Fishman Nightstalkers were indeed suited for reconnaissance and infiltration missions. However, it also depended on the target. Against a heavily guarded stronghold like the titan camp, even a High-Tier Legend rogue would be useless. The Fishman Nightstalkers were using their lives to scout the path.

The White Dragon Lord watched the Murloc souls drift toward the River Styx. Soon, he received intel from the New God of Fishmen.

The sacrificed Murlocs had seen the interior of the titan camp, and Feixi Darkscale forwarded the memories of those believers to the White Dragon Lord—the Titan Race was waiting in strict formation behind the barrier, guarding against a dragon assault.

The White Dragon Lord also understood why the titans could endure Willy's insults; a soundproofing barrier had blocked out all noise.

Ultimately, the White Dragon Lord retreated. Charging the titan camp would cause immense casualties, and to him, to kill a thousand enemies and lose eight hundred of one's own was not a victory.

Back in the dragon camp, the White Dragon Lord called out to the Five-Headed Dragon Queen, and Tiamat sent down an avatar.

"Her Majesty the Dragon Queen, these titans have shut their doors and refuse to come out. I have no way to deal with them. Does Her Majesty the Dragon Queen have any instructions?" The White Dragon Lord passed the buck to Tiamat.

Tiamat felt somewhat exasperated, but mostly amazed. "Since when did that old bastard Astraeus learn forbearance?!"

A drop of cold sweat slid down the White Dragon Lord's forehead. Tiamat was insulting the God of the Dark Titans by name; of course the God of the Dark Titans could hear her.

Sure enough, the expression on Tiamat's avatar changed. The God of the Dark Titans must have cursed back.

Just like that, the Five-Headed Dragon Queen and the God of the Dark Titans staged a long-distance shouting match right in front of the White Dragon Lord. For the first time, he realized that not only was Tiamat formidable in combat, she was also excellent at arguing.

Willy, who had come halfway through to ask the White Dragon Lord a question, watched in stunned disbelief. The look in his eyes as he gazed at the Five-Headed Dragon Queen shifted, growing increasingly reverent.

Look at that! A dragon god is a dragon god! She's even better at arguing than us mortal dragons!

Willy picked up quite a few fresh vocabulary words.

Two hours later, this shouting match of the century came to an end. Judging by Tiamat's relaxed expression, she must have gained the upper hand. After all, the Dragon Race was the victor in this battle, and Tiamat wouldn't miss the chance to use that to blast her old rival.

"That's the first time I've seen that old bastard back down. Amos, you did well."

I did well, yet a cheapskate like you won't give any reward.

He kept the thought to himself, knowing better than to say it aloud.

"Thank you for the praise, Her Majesty the Dragon Queen. But the problem is, what do we do next? Just waste time in a standoff?"

"Let me think..." After pondering for a moment, Tiamat came up with an idea. "Since the Titan Race refuses to come out, we'll go make trouble at those titan settlements. I don't believe they'll still be able to sit still."

Ruthless enough. Truly worthy of being the Mother of Evil Dragons.

The White Dragon Lord nodded in agreement. This was indeed a good way to force the titans out, but planes with titan settlements were not that easy to find.

"But, Her Majesty the Dragon Queen, do you have any intelligence on titan settlements?"

"I don't know much either, but we can ask around in the Star Realm. Some planes have both titans and other intelligent creatures; we should be able to gather information from those other races."

Just like on Nordhill, where humans were the overlords of the continent and the Dragon Race also lived there. If someone in the Star Realm offered a bounty for intelligence on the dragons, some humans might actually sell the Dragon Race out.

The same logic applied to the Titan Race.

"Good idea." The White Dragon Lord held his palm out toward Tiamat, his meaning self-evident: Hand over the money!

Buying information cost money.

"Oh! Amos! You're actually asking me for money?!" Tiamat looked as if she had seen a ghost.

The White Dragon Lord rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you expect me to pay out of pocket! Where's the logic in that! Besides, I'm still saddled with a massive debt right now."

Ultimately, the White Dragon Lord managed to get gold coins from Tiamat.

Although this amount of gold was nothing much to him, it was an incredibly satisfying achievement. After all, Tiamat was a famously stingy miser throughout the multiverse.

In the Monkenado Titan World, within the Floating City, the White Dragon Lord looked at the news transmitted back by his avatar. His expression was colorful. Especially when he saw Tiamat's constipated expression, he burst into laughter.

"Her Majesty the Dragon Queen, so even you have moments where you're forced to part with your gold."

At that moment, the Prime Minister of the empire—Gurgalu—teleported in front of the White Dragon Lord.

"Your Majesty, the supplies have been teleported to the designated coordinates as per your instructions."

"Mhm, you've done well."

The White Dragon Lord calculated in his mind. Having sent all the profits from this expedition in the Monkenado Titan World to the City of Truth, he had already paid off seventy percent of his debt to the City of Truth and fifty percent of his total debt. He let out a breath of relief.

The City of Truth was different from the Gem Dragon King. The Gem Dragon King charged no interest and didn't press for repayment. The City of Truth, however, required more repayment the longer the debt was owed, so it was better to pay it off entirely as early as possible.

However, an opportunity like the Monkenado Titan World, where one huge score could feed him for years, would probably be rare moving forward. One had to realize that this was a Large Material Plane. Aside from the plane's own resources, there were also the resources Frostwhisper had acquired through various means over the years.

With so much wealth added up, it had still only paid off fifty percent of his total debt.

However, this also showed just how much knowledge the White Dragon Lord had studied in the City of Truth.

"Gurgalu, continue to supervise the construction of the Magic Tower Defense System. We cannot afford any mistakes in the Monkenado Titan World."

"Understood." Gurgalu teleported away.

The White Dragon Lord sat alone in the Floating City's control room, lost in thought. Right now, what worried him the most wasn't his debt, but the progression of the war between the dragons and the titans.

This was a war neither the dragons nor the titans could afford to lose.

For this reason, the God of the Dark Titans had suppressed his violent temper, which left the White Dragon Lord feeling slightly anxious. He smelled the scent of danger from this situation.

An angry, impulsive enemy wasn't terrifying; what was terrifying was an enemy who could think calmly.

The White Dragon Lord didn't know what the titans were plotting, but he knew that boosting their own side's strength could never be wrong.

"The Dragon Academy's recruitment range must be expanded, and the training intensity of the Adult Giant Dragon army can be increased as well."