Chapter 413: Giants and Dragons

[TL/N: Yes, I know it’s confusing, but this chapter doesn’t follow the previous chapter’s end at all. While the author does this on occasion, it’s usually not this bad of a jump.] [1] ¹

The Ash Plains were located at the very center of Dragon World, a forbidden zone no ordinary lifeform would ever want to visit.

The reason? Dragon World had ten times the Elemental Tide density than the mortal plane, but in the Ash Plains the density would randomly fluctuate between one and one thousand times, thus sinking this entire location into chaotic insanity.

It would drive one insane to use magic or fight there because nobody could know if the fireball they’d prepared would suddenly enlarge itself by ten times and explode them to death. Or perhaps one would spend great effort in preparing a forbidden spell that would mysteriously become nothing more than a tiny spark that sputtered out.

Even the highest-level Concepts of Space and Time were in utter chaos in the Ash Plains. Dimensional tears could be seen all over the place. Nobody knew what would happen if you were caught by a dimensional tear that trapped even light.

While it might seem that this place robbed even the colors, more accurately it had robbed all the “natural laws.” The lack of natural laws here made it impossible to use most abilities. If one got tangled up by the “lack of rules” here, their physical body and soul would also be drained of color. And if one was infected with “Color Loss Disease,” even a powerful dragon that didn’t retreat in time would be reduced to nothing but tiny particles.

However, the Ash Plains just happened to be the site of a battlefield.

“Although it’s said that you can’t choose all of your battlefields, this is literally the worst battlefield I’ve ever seen.”

Blue Dragon Evelyn was soaring through the sky. Although her Blue Dragon combat maniac instincts were summoning her to join the battle, her logic and reason made her stay as far away as possible.

The giants had constructed their campground next to tremendously tall “statues” I couldn’t even see the tops of. Magma Giants and Storm Giants were modifying the terrain together and constructing defenses. Mountain Giants were using their racial talent to summon giant stone spheres and hammers. These crude weapons would then be enchanted by Frost Giants and Fire Giants, transforming them into powerful magic weapons more than capable of slaying dragons.

The earliest chaotic period right after these giants awakened was over. These giants here had regained their Intelligence and were no longer under the effects of the Intelligence-lowering curse. They would no longer instinctively try to climb their ancestor Titans’ bodies like ants. For the dragons, however, this was doubtlessly a bad piece of news.

Dragons roared in the skies as they patrolled like vultures, searching for weak points to strike. When battle had first broke out here, the dragons had suffered tremendous losses.

In this unique environment of the Ash Plains, mages became ticking time bombs that might blow both sides up at any moment. Purely physical melee battles became the most useful method of fighting. However, the dragons never expected that their melee fighting abilities that they were so proud of would lose so pitifully to the giants.

“…Ashpis just died in battle. He’s a mixed-blood Rainbow Dragon with the glorious nickname of ‘Perfect Rainbow Wings.’ Even he died here, quietly and without a ripple.”

“Perfect Rainbow Wings was his nickname? In such a battlefield, only the strongest at melee fights will survive. I heard he was pulled down by a chain and then had his head chopped off by the giants.”

“Rainbow Dragons are renowned as the number one dragon species at melee fighting. Are you confident enough to defeat Ashpis in melee fighting even if he had a flowery nickname?”

Every famous and powerful dragon’s death would cause ripples of astonishment in the dragons. In such a battlefield, their magic talents, which they were so proud of, became utterly useless. While dragons were powerful enough to simply abuse their natural talents and suppress other smaller species in melee combat, it was now their turn to suffer. They met the giants, who were well experienced in battle and had excellent cooperation. It was as if the dragons had met a real military organization for the first time, and they had only been bullying grade schoolers before.

Indeed, large numbers of giants perished, but many dragons were knocked down from the skies as well. Any dragon unfortunate enough to crash into the ground would almost never get the chance to fly again.

Right now, some on the giants’ side consisted of local species with the Titans’ Bloodline that were summoned through their bloodline. But most were the giant armies that had been sealed here with the Titans. These giants would have the highest combat strength and morale for their generation. If it weren’t for the fact that the dragons had the advantage of flight, they would have long since lost.

Of course, the dragons had one other major advantage, which was…

“It’s the ‘Black Mist King!’ The Supreme Immemorial Black Dragon!”

A colossal pitch-black dragon glided across the sky. His very existence caused the sky to lose its calmness as black mist covered all light and the dragon itself. Once he started inhaling a deep breath, even an idiot would realize that a major catastrophe was about to befall this place.

*Whoosh!*

The Black Mist King exhaled black flames that covered the skies. All the giants that came into contact with these flames howled in pain as they were transformed into nothing but ash. The land was scorched by the dark flames, and huge patches of the giants’ campground collapsed.

That’s right—the dragons’ greatest advantage was the fact that there were Great and Supreme Immemorial Dragons living here. If this was any other location, these ancient monsters wouldn’t even bother helping their own species. But they would have plenty of descendants after staying for so long in Dragon World. And since their own territory was being invaded, even the Supreme Immemorial Dragons would find it impossible to stand on the sidelines.

Of course, the reviving giant army also had existences on par with the Supreme Immemorial Dragons. However, the natural law of seals was that the more powerful an existence was, the more difficult it was to break out. The military commanders and heroes of the giant army were still stuck in hibernation, and the seals on the Titans themselves were the strongest.

Of course, if the giants were unable to resist against such a powerful dragon scorching the land, this war wouldn’t even need to be fought.

“Ahhhh! Damned Titans!”

A flash of lightning streaked through the sky and struck the Supreme Immemorial Black Dragon through the black mist! His wail of pain reverberated through the entire battlefield.

“That’s our Titan Lord Alfredo’s Judgement of Thunder!”

A green aura spread out from a certain statue, immediately vanquishing the simmering black flames on the plains. Simultaneously, the giants that had just been burned to ashes came back to life.

“…Titan Lord Freya! She’s awoken as well!”

If the most powerful dragons forced them too much, the still-sealed Titans would pay a price and counterattack.

There were only thirty-four Titan statues here, of which seventeen had displayed their special abilities. And these seventeen were all higher-ranking ones. Judging by how they all had to take turns to use their powers, for them to attack through the seal would require them to pay at least a decent price. For sure, this meant that that Titan would be delayed in breaking out of the seal.

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The Supreme Immemorial Dragon named the Black Mist King glared at the statues and spat out another dragonbreath in anger before leaving the battlefield.

Theoretically speaking, a Supreme Immemorial Black Dragon’s combat strength wouldn’t be any lower than an ordinary Titan’s. However, there were only five Supreme Immemorial Dragons in Dragon World. In fact, four Supreme Immemorial Dragons had previously combined their attacks but were still forced back by the Titans’ mysterious powers. And even if they destroyed these giants, new giants would constantly revive in an ocean of unstoppable blood. So-called efforts at trying to “recover lost ground” were meaningless.

Why did I say “theoretically speaking?” That’s because nobody would know who was more powerful without an actual fight. Once existences reached a certain level, they would all have their own way of fighting, and it would be incredibly difficult to say who was stronger or who was weaker. There were also great differences amongst the individual Titans in terms of combat strength, so it was unknown which type of existence would be stronger without them actually fighting. As for whether these Supreme Immemorial Dragons had once fought against the Titans in the first generation, they must have—but it was impossible for me to know the results of such battles.

Both sides’ battle was apparently at a stalemate. It was impossible for the dragons to destroy all the giants as they would constantly revive, but the giants were unable to break out of the dragons’ encirclement and leave the Ash Plains. Both sides thus sunk into a helpless battle of attrition.

Since both sides were at a situation where it was impossible to deal a deciding blow to the other side, it would obviously be foolish to invest large amounts of resources and personnel in this battle. So, in the end, the dragons could only keep up this battle of attrition.

Meanwhile, on the Borealis, my warriors and I could only exclaim in awe at the images of combat that Blue Dragon Evelyn brought to us in memory crystals.

This scene gave my mortal warriors a tremendous impact. The arrogant dragons that were almost undefeatable by humans were being swatted out of the sky as easily as if they were sparrows. In human society, slaying a dragon was a majestic accomplishment that would be accoladed for ten generations, but for the giants it was as simple as slaughtering chickens.

“Do we even have the ability to interfere in such a level of battle…?

Even the weakest giants down there, the Mountain Giants, would naturally be born with power equivalent to Silver. And Silver was the power level that most ordinary humans could only achieve after working hard for their entire lives. If such giants were nothing but cannon fodder in this battle, how could human armies achieve any different results even if every country’s elite royal knights entered this battle?

“…Will all the future battles be at such a level?”

Even Harloys was no longer able to remain calm at the sight. She knew through our soul connection and my knowledge that future battles would escalate in scale. Still, it was quite difficult for her to accept the scene before her, of the normal dragons and giants becoming nothing more than cannon fodder.

I first shook my head, but then I nodded.

I shook my head because Titans and Supreme Immemorial Dragons would be considered the strongest of the strong throughout all the planes. They were already extraordinary existences, so it was impossible for large numbers of such extraordinary existences to appear any time in the near future.

I nodded due to my predictions for the future. It was impossible for anyone to accurately guess the future, but as the Elemental Tide continued increasing, stronger and stronger evil existences would descend to the mortal plane. Such battles were indeed possible several hundred years after the beginning of the Holy War.

“…The Holy War is a slow and long process. Such battles are indeed possible during the later stages. But by that time we should have enough power to control our own fates—at least.”

And this battlefield also caused me to cancel some of my original plans.

“I initially wanted to have my warriors gain some experience on the outskirts of the battlefield, but now…”

“That would be nothing more than sending them to their deaths.”

“Indeed. There’s such a big difference that it’s not even possible for them to gain any experience. It would be tantamount to suicide for them.”

As I watched the scene before me, my impression of dragons became even worse.

This battle’s stalemate wasn’t because the giants and Titans were stronger than dragons and dragon descendants. Actually, since the dragons had so many eons to rest or do whatever they wanted, their overall power was far stronger than the Titans.

For instance, let’s talk about the difference between ordinary giants and ordinary dragons. Giants typically had a Silver Bloodline, and their adult warriors would only be at Silver power. Dragons, however, had Gold Bloodlines and their Adult Dragons would be Gold at the very weakest. In individual combat, dragons would absolutely dominate. However, when the two species clashed as a whole, the giants had a much greater advantage.

Apart from the fact that giants had much stronger reproductive abilities than dragons, more importantly the giants had a well-organized social structure. They had excellent cooperation when facing their enemies and were willing to sacrifice themselves. Meanwhile, the dragons didn’t know anything about cooperation because they were all used to fighting as individuals. It was only natural that the dragons would get badly beaten in these large-scale team fights.

This wasn’t even a hypothesis of mine. The battle we watched was the best example.

When a dragon attacked, a Cyclops Giant and Magma Giant acted as the tank as they had the highest durability. A Fire Giant, who would be more skilled at using weapons, used chains and flying axes to limit the dragon’s maneuverability. The chains it tossed out eventually succeeded in pinning the dragon onto the ground, at which a strong and dexterous Frost Giant suddenly leaped out in an ambush and cut off the dragon’s head.

This dragon died in basically one exchange of blows. Meanwhile, this small giant squadron was unscathed. Unlike these giants that were forced into hibernation right after their battles in the immemorial generation, the dragons had nothing threaten them for far too long and lacked combat experience, especially top-level combat experience now that they were on a cruel battlefield against equal existences.

That was how the situation was for the low and mid-ranked giants and dragons. But actually the situation was the same for the top-level existences.

There were only a total of thirty-four Titans in existence. If you counted the number of Supreme Immemorial Dragons still alive, they would far exceed the number of Titans. However, asking all of them to help would be basically impossible.

Even now, the Supreme Immemorial Dragons that attacked and helped here did so only because their descendants were in Dragon World. And whenever they attacked, they would never do so with full force, leaving plenty of strength in reserve and staying on guard against the other Supreme Immemorial Dragons. After all, the grudges that these ancient existences had against each other could make for countless television dramas.

Just as Evelyn had said, dragons didn’t at all care about their own species. Unlike the tribal giants, dragons were accustomed to living by themselves and having only one dragon per territory. The Supreme Immemorial Dragons in the outside world wouldn’t possibly come over here and fight the Titans with all they had for the sake of the Dragon World which didn’t have anything to do with them.

The giants had high morale and were unified as they fought for the cause of their species. Meanwhile, the dragons didn’t care about each other, wouldn’t fight with their full power, thought only about keeping themselves safe and always looked for opportunities to escape. The difference in the will to fight on both sides would become an important factor on the battlefield.

In fact, I even felt like the still-sealed Titans had the advantage here with such factors tipping the scales. However, the dragons weren’t idiots. They noticed that the situation was worsening as time passed. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have requested for help from the human mages or prepared to evacuate Dragon World.

Despite all this, when I saw this scene, I laughed.

“It seems I’m quite lucky. Only in such a stalemate situation will it be easy for me to be hired as a mercenary.”

Note:

[1] ED/N: I’ve left this note because I feel it’s important to read it in place.