That moist and scorching dragon tongue slowly withdrew from the skin Serenity was pressing against, pulling up a few strands of crystalline saliva, and was subsequently swallowed back into that huge mouth filled with sharp teeth.
With that heart-stopping swallowing sound, Balthazar raised his head high, looking down at the assassin girl who was still intoxicated by the lingering warmth.
“Show… value…”
The dark red slit pupils contracted slightly, and that sound, like rusted gears meshing, rang out again; every syllable was like a heavy iron ingot slamming onto the rocky ground, making the air buzz.
“Your poison blade… must be stained with blood for me…”
The massive dragon head paused slightly, seemingly organizing the not-yet-proficient world language vocabulary; subsequently, that suffocating dragon might slightly receded, turning into a low, deep promise like the eve of a storm.
“At that time… I will bestow upon you… the touch.”
“Ye… yes! As long as it is your will!”
Serenity Hassan knelt on the ground almost immediately, her forehead pressed against the cold rocky ground, her voice becoming sharp due to extreme joy.
She raised that face with an abnormal flush, her purple eyes flickering with fanatical light.
“Regardless of whose head it is, or what kind of impregnable fortress, as long as it is to exchange for that ‘warmth’… Serenity will definitely do it for you!”
Just at this moment, Olga, who had been standing not far away maintaining the magic barrier, finally took a step.
She removed that layer of purple shield, and the crisp sound of her high-heeled boots stepping on the gravel was exceptionally clear in the cave.
This Dark Elves queen who once ruled the City of Darkness did not have much vigilance on her face at this moment, but instead was full of the curiosity peculiar to spellcasters.
She walked behind Serenity Hassan, not keeping a safe distance like those Kobolds who instinctively sensed Serenity’s terrifying constitution.
Instead, she directly extended those equally slender hands.
“Is this… a Heroic Spirit from another world?”
Her palm passed through the faint, shimmering mist of poison surrounding the body of Serenity Hassan without any resistance, pressing directly onto the girl’s smooth, tan shoulder.
Through the mental link concealed by Balthazar’s [Communication Magic], the moment Balthazar formed a contract with Serenity Hassan, Olga vaguely sensed and understood the meaning of a Heroic Spirit’s existence.
Devoid of physical flesh and blood, its essence was a high-density aggregate of magical energy.
“To think… there really is no flesh at all, a product purely constructed of magical energy?”
A flash of surprise crossed Olga’s eyes as her fingers slid down Serenity’s shoulder line, even pinching it with a bit of force.
The sensation was firm and elastic, exactly the touch one would expect from the skin of a top-tier beauty, but to Olga, who had cultivated for a thousand years and possessed vision capable of perceiving magical energy, Serenity Hassan was merely a mass of precisely woven magic.
“What an exquisite existence… Even in the most ancient grimoires of Nidavellir, there is no record of an existence known as a ‘Servant’.”
Meanwhile, the body of Serenity Hassan, who was kneeling respectfully before Balthazar, suddenly stiffened.
She instinctively wanted to dodge; after all, except for the Master who had just concluded a contract with her, anyone who touched her would instantly turn into pus and blood.
But when that slightly cool palm truly landed on her shoulder and remained there for several seconds without any signs of festering, she turned her head in surprise.
“You aren’t afraid of me?”
Serenity looked at the woman before her, who, despite her tattered clothing, still exuded a noble aura, her eyes filled with disbelief.
She could feel the potent poison on her body’s surface continuously attempting to corrode the other’s skin, but the moment those toxins touched Olga’s skin, they slid off uselessly, like water meeting a solid rock.
“Afraid?”
Olga chuckled, her smile carrying the arrogance unique to the Dark Elves.
“Little girl, I am a pure-blooded Dark Elf, formed from the brains of the Father God, one of the creator deities of this world.”
She even turned her hand over to grasp Serenity’s hand, which had not yet had the chance to put on a glove, and raised it before her eyes to examine it closely.
“Even if my head were cut off, I would still live; fire cannot scorch my skin, the deep sea cannot crush my bones, and as for toxins…”
Olga raised an eyebrow.
“For us, who have already been endowed with the attribute of ‘Eternity’ by the laws of nature, that is nothing more than slightly pungent perfume.”
“That… that’s wonderful.”
Serenity Hassan grasped Olga’s hand back, a light of pleasant surprise shining in her purple eyes.
“Besides my Master, there is someone else… who can touch me.”
She looked at Olga as if looking at a long-lost sister; the sense of loneliness born from her own constitution was completely washed away in that moment.
“This must be the final destination I have always wanted…”
Those clear, purple eyes darted back and forth between Balthazar and Olga, and Serenity Hassan’s face beamed with the pure joy of having found a place to belong.
She held Olga’s hand and asked curiously in a soft voice:
“Um… Lady Olga, what kind of relationship do you and my Master have?”
“Us?”
Upon hearing this, the corners of Olga’s mouth curled into a meaningful arc.
She raised her other hand, gently pushing aside a lock of long black hair hanging by her cheek, her gaze passing over Serenity to look directly at the behemoth coiled in the depths of the cave.
“He and I are partners. We are accomplices about to join forces to trample this filthy world underfoot and turn all our enemies into ashes.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a blast of scorching air erupted suddenly from Balthazar’s nostrils.
It was not a flame of rage, but a loud snort filled with displeasure and possessiveness; the sudden gust of wind caused Serenity’s short hair to blow backward.
“Part… ners?”
That hoarse voice, like metal grinding, echoed in the cave, syllable by syllable, carrying a hint of mockery.
Balthazar slowly raised his head, which was already larger than a carriage, his dark red slit pupils locked tightly onto Olga.
“You are my Dragon Consort… you just haven’t recognized… your own position yet.”
Facing this undisguised declaration, Olga was not only unafraid, but instead smiled even more charmingly.
She released Serenity’s hand, took two steps forward, and lifted her proud chin, allowing the dragon’s shadow to completely envelop her.
“Dragon Consort, is it? Your thinking really hasn’t changed at all, Dragon.”
Her voice was smooth as silk, yet possessed sharp edges.
“If Your Majesty can truly help me burn those scumbags who took everything from me into charcoal, and let them wail in eternal damnation… never mind the title of Dragon Consort, even if you wanted me to bear you a litter of octuplets, what difficulty would there be in that?”
This extremely bold provocation caused Serenity, who was standing to the side, to cover her mouth in surprise.
Balthazar’s pupils instantly contracted into two thin lines.
His giant maw opened slowly, revealing teeth capable of tearing through city walls, a low growl brewing deep in his throat.
“You will have… your revenge.”
He promised, syllable by syllable, the majesty in his voice enough to make the mountain rock tremble.
“And then I will… fill… every… inch… of… you… with… my… dragon… essence…”
“Just wait…”
This vulgar declaration, filled with primitive possessiveness, did not make Olga shrink back; on the contrary, it made her burst into a crisp, melodious laughter, like silver bells.
“Hehe… Hahahaha…” She laughed until she was trembling, her eyes sparkling with victory and anticipation, “Then I am truly… looking forward to the arrival of that day, my ‘Your Majesty’.”
“Because that will mean my long-cherished wish has been fulfilled.”
Serenity stood to the side, blankly watching this confrontation she completely failed to understand, watching the proud queen laugh so happily under the dragon’s threat.
She blinked, and finally silently defined their relationship in her heart.
[So… they are husband and wife.]
After a brief exclamation, Hassan immediately set her own position straight.
As an assassin, a poison blade, she possessed value that could bring benefits to Balthazar, the conqueror.
Thinking of this, Serenity Hassan’s body trembled slightly from extreme excitement.
Then, she dropped suddenly to one knee, her knee striking the rock with a crisp sound, her hands clasped tightly against her chest, as if a raging fire were burning there.
“Master… no, Your Supreme Majesty!”
The girl raised her head, her delicate face flushed with fanatical fervor, her purple eyes shining with the determination to offer everything without reservation since she had been accepted.
“Since your will is to make the world submit… then please allow Serenity to become your vanguard!”
“Although I am just the most mediocre waste in the history of The Order of The Hassans, useless for anything other than carrying poison… I am willing to turn into the toxic poison in the wind and infiltrate the enemy camp.”
She kneeled forward half a step, looking up at the giant dragon head, her voice carrying a sweet, trembling tone born of desire.
“As a Heroic Spirit, I was granted common sense when I descended into this world. Whether it is any general of the ‘Seven Shields’ or the leader of that mercenary group…”
“As long as you nod, I will place their heads before your sleeping quarters tonight.”
“As long as… as long as I can receive a single touch from you afterward, even if I am crushed to pieces, Serenity is willing!”
Balthazar’s dark red slit pupils narrowed slightly, his massive nostrils flared, seemingly savoring this loyalty that was almost overflowing.
He extended a sharp fingertip, tracing it extremely slowly across Serenity’s defenseless neck; although the touch was cold and hard, it made the girl let out a sigh of satisfaction.
“Very good… but no rush.”
That hoarse and magnetic voice was like sandpaper grinding against the eardrums, carrying unquestionable majesty.
“The hunting dogs are still… biting their master.”
Olga, standing to the side, took over the conversation at the right moment.
She crossed her arms, her eyes, which had seen through countless court conspiracies, flashing with a chilling, cold light.
“The Dragon is right. That group of ‘Black Dogss’… is simply a pack of ungrateful wolves.”
She paced to a flat rock, extended her finger, and drew a simple map on it, the dark purple magic igniting at her fingertip leaving clear trails in the dim light.
“Since breaking into my City of Darkness, that man Vult did not hand the city over to the officials of the Seven Shield Alliance according to the agreement.”
“Instead, he used the military supplies provided by the Alliance, under the guise of ‘pursuing the remnants to the north,’ but was actually secretly transferring his elite forces to the south.”
Olga sneered, her finger tapping heavily on the location on the map representing the Seven Shields fortress.
“Their appetites are huge; money can no longer satisfy them. What they want is total domination, turning their original employers—those foolish administrators of the seven fortresses—into prisoners.”
Speaking of this, she turned around, her gaze lingering on Serenity Hassan for a moment, the corners of her mouth curling into a cruel yet elegant smile.
“So, Steel Dragon Emperor, rather than killing a few insignificant commanders now and alerting the enemy, why not… sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.”
The queen’s voice became low and seductive, like a devil’s whisper.
“We can completely utilize this lovely young lady’s abilities to ‘add some ingredients’ for both sides at the critical moment.”
“Create chaos before the mercenary group is ready to act, send ‘evidence’ when the Alliance army becomes suspicious… and when they have torn each other to shreds, bleeding and mutually crippled…”
Olga clenched her fist suddenly, as if holding the entire battle situation in the palm of her hand.
“That will be the best time for us to enter, reap the harvest, and sweep across the lands.”
Hearing this ingenious and venomous plan, Balthazar let out a deep, muffled growl, his giant dragon tail sweeping lightly across the ground, kicking up a spray of gravel.
Then, Balthazar said:
“No…”
“No?!”
Olga’s slender, delicate eyebrows knitted tightly together.
The excited flush that had risen at the prospect of seeing her enemies bleed to death faded rapidly, replaced by obvious anxiety.
Her queenly demeanor, which she had always maintained so well, even showed a crack.
She stepped forward involuntarily, looking up at that massive black dragon head.
“Dragon!” Her voice lost some of its charm and gained some of the sharpness of a politician.
“I understand that your power now is unparalleled; even if those seven fortresses were added together, I fear they would hardly be able to withstand your Dragon Breath.”
“But… humans are creatures whose malice is not just simple blades and swords.”
She took a deep breath, as if trying to suppress the inexplicable panic in her heart.
“They will burrow like maggots, using the vilest poisons, the most underhanded traps, and may even use so-called ‘justice’ to rally the power of the entire continent to surround and exterminate you.”
“Although I am proud of who you are now, if you only blindly use brute force to crush them, in the end, you will only be dragged down by an endless war of attrition.”
“Balthazar, do you… really want to place our great cause of revenge in jeopardy for that momentary gratification?”
Serenity Hassan, standing in the shadows to the side, did not speak, but a thin layer of worry also appeared in her fanatical eyes, which had previously been following Balthazar constantly.
She nodded silently.
As an assassin who had witnessed the fall of countless heroes, she had a deep understanding of the limitations of pure force.
Facing the skepticism of both, Balthazar’s massive body did not waver in the slightest.
He slowly lowered his head, his slit pupils, like burning lava, tracing two heart-palpitating trails of light in the dim cave, finally resting on Olga’s stubborn and beautiful face.
The muffled syllables squeezed out from that giant maw filled with sharp teeth, as if the shell of some ancient and cruel truth had been shattered.
“Is not just… slaughter.”
Balthazar shook his neck slightly, his thick cervical vertebrae emitting a bone-popping sound that set one’s teeth on edge.
His gaze became profound, as if penetrating the thick rock walls to see a more distant future.
“Even if… I kill all of those who dare to resist… what remains is only ruins.”
This hoarse, sluggish, yet strangely magnetic voice caused the words of admonition Olga had originally prepared to be stuck hard in her throat.
“True… domination.”
Balthazar extended a giant sharp claw, tapping it lightly on the ground; the sharp fingertip easily pierced the rock, just as if piercing a thin sheet of paper.
“It is the ruler accepting the routine of ruling… the ruled accepting the routine of being ruled… this routine… is how domination can continue.”
Balthazar tilted his head slightly, as if scrutinizing a delicate piece of art, or perhaps watching Olga as one would watch an ant.
An ant in thought.
“Domination is… a habit.”
“It is the instinct of a flock of sheep to lower their heads and graze when they see a sheepdog.”
“It is making them feel… that being trampled under my feet… is the routine… and resistance is the madness.”
For Olga Discordia, who had long been accustomed to deceit and the shifting tides of power, these words were both familiar and strange.
She stared blankly at Balthazar, her red lips slightly parted, as if wanting to refute him but unable to find the right words.
This almost philosophical statement completely overturned her thoughts on governance.
Without giving Olga Discordia more time to think, Balthazar’s rough voice sounded again, this time carrying a hint of unquestionable inquiry.
“Those Black Dogss… have they already started?”
His massive vertical pupils contracted slightly, possessing the keenness peculiar to a predator.
“Under the guise of… hunting you down…”
“To rob those… villages that should be… protected?”
Olga Discordia was stunned for a moment; she didn’t quite understand, but she had no choice but to say what she knew.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
She took a deep breath, recovering her haughty queenly posture, though a trace of confusion still remained in her eyes.
“According to the intelligence I gathered from the fleeing Kobolds… that fellow Vult is indeed insatiably greedy.”
“Several squads under his command have recently been frequently appearing at the border between the Seven Shields Alliance and the City of Darkness I used to rule.”
“They claim to be hunting down ‘an extremely dangerous fugitive’—me—but in reality, they are wantonly pillaging the border villages under the Seven Shields’ jurisdiction, stealing food and women, and even stuffing the taxes that originally belonged to the Alliance into their own pockets.”
At this point, a cold sneer curled the corners of Olga Discordia’s lips, a mockery of her enemy’s foolish behavior.
“Although officials from the Seven Shields Alliance have heard rumors, they fear the combat power of the Black Dogss. Furthermore, they need them to fight the magical beasts from my former forces that fled to the south, so they dare not speak out and can only turn a blind eye.”
“What… what do you intend to do?”
The heavy dragon wings suddenly spread to both sides, the massive wing membranes like dark clouds blocking out the sky, instantly cutting off the light from the top of the cave.
The gust of wind stirred up rocks and dust from the ground, forcing the unprepared Serenity to lower her center of gravity to barely stand steady.
Balthazar’s massive body stretched out completely at this moment, each black iron scale refracting a heart-stopping cold light in the gloom, and the low growl deep in his throat, like muffled thunder, made the entire Iron Imperial Palace tremble slightly.
“Since… my first child… has been born…”
In those dark red vertical pupils burned a fire that was a mix of almost fanatical fatherhood and tyranny.
He slowly lowered his head, his massive shadow enveloping Olga Discordia, his voice hoarse and filled with a certain twisted sense of sanctity.
“Then it requires… a celebration.”
“This will become… a law.”
His massive claws gouged deep trenches into the rocky ground, and with every breath of his enormous body, the temperature of the surrounding air rose sharply.
“For the mercenaries… who raid the villages under the Seven Shields Alliance…”
“One hundred… heads.”
Balthazar opened his massive maw, revealing those two rows of serrated teeth.
Every word was like an iron block fished out of magma, carrying scorching killing intent.
“I will turn… those scum who are robbing… my future kingdom… into a gift.”
“Using… their blood, to baptize… my child.”
These words made Olga Discordia’s pupils contract violently, and the words she originally wanted to use to dissuade him stuck in her throat.
In this world, this was the first time she had seen someone like this Dragon King, who spoke of such bloody acts as a matter of course, so filled with a sense of ritual.
“Then I will immediately have Serenity assemble the Kobolds—” Olga Discordia subconsciously wanted to mobilize troops to cooperate.
“No.”
A short, majestic roar interrupted her deployment.
Balthazar raised his head high, his gaze passing through the cave entrance.
“I… will go myself.”
As his voice fell, those dragon wings, fifteen meters long, flapped forcefully again, and the terrifying airflow formed a small storm within the enclosed space.
“For Chloe… and for my child.”
“This is a father’s… duty.”
Though the voice remained raw, it carried an undeniable sense of determination.
“You… stay here and guard… them.”
“Wait for me to return… with the spoils.”
Watching the black dragon gradually moving toward the cave entrance, the worry in Serenity’s eyes ultimately transformed into an even deeper adoration.
She knelt on one knee, deeply lowering her head toward that majestic back.
“I wish you glorious victory in battle, great Father, supreme Your Majesty, my Master.”