Chapter 174: The Dragon’s Tomb

After meeting his two subordinates, Donald approached the entrance to the Black Dragon’s tomb, intending to test the barrier mentioned by the little demon Pachi.
Through his divine vision, he saw that the entrance to the tomb, hundreds of feet wide, was covered by a thick red light barrier with no gaps. Beneath the barrier were several red light bands, like meridians, extending to the other side of the cave, connecting to the lava area.
Wow! Drawing on his knowledge of arcane arrays, Donald quickly realized that the defensive barrier of the Black Dragon’s tomb relied on the energy from the magma veins behind it as its power source.
But just recognizing it didn’t mean he could break it or create one. Such barriers, which drew strength from natural forces, were extremely difficult to set up, yet once established, they were also very hard to break.
No wonder there had been volcanic eruptions near Mount Izumo some time ago—likely because the demon baron tried to forcefully break the protective barrier or cut off its energy source, resulting in seismic vibrations that awakened dormant volcanoes, causing them to show signs of eruption again.
Later, when the demon baron went to the volcano, he probably intended to trigger a full-scale eruption, unleashing its energy to even overwhelm the tomb’s defensive barrier. But obviously, he lacked the means to harness the volcanic magma, so he still failed.
Looking at the barrier, Donald felt helpless. If given a few years, he might be able to use arrays to gradually break it down. “Master, let me give it a try!”
Uther stepped forward voluntarily.
Donald nodded and watched as Uther approached the barrier, swung his sword, and sent a beam of silver sword energy at it. The attack only caused a slight disturbance before disappearing without a sound.
Kaelthas also came up with an idea, and Donald allowed him to give it a try.
Kaelthas walked to a spot not far from the flames, stopped in front of the lava pool, and waved his hand, saying, “Come out!”
At Kaelthas’s call, an egg wrapped in red light appeared in the lava pool. Instantly, its shell shattered, revealing a large red bird over five feet long.
This red bird was entirely composed of concentrated flame—it was the ultimate spell of the blood elf mages: summoning a Fire Phoenix.
Indeed, it was a phoenix rising from the flames. The extremely hot volcanic magma caused no harm to this pure fire elemental being; instead, it was beneficial to it.

The Phoenix of Fire played merrily in the pool of magma, absorbing some of the power of fire elements through the water. Its size gradually increased, while the temperature of the lava pool kept dropping—the magma dimming at a visible pace.

Kaelthas planned to use the Phoenix of Fire to draw power from the earth’s fire, temporarily cutting off the energy supply to the protective barrier, allowing the others to take advantage of the weakened barrier and enter the tomb.

However, after just over ten minutes, Donald waved his hand to stop them. By then, the Phoenix of Fire had grown to ten feet in size and was struggling to absorb the lava’s power. This was because Kaelthas had only just reached the Silver rank. If he became a Gold-tier warrior, the Phoenix of Fire, as his companion beast, would gain more than ten times greater strength.

“This won’t work! At this stage, the Phoenix of Fire can only absorb a limited amount of fire elements. The barrier is directly connected to the earth’s fire deep underground, so such a loss of energy has little impact on it!”

After saying this, Donald ordered Kaelthas to step back and went alone in front of the barrier, thinking of ways to break it. After much consideration, he realized there was only one way to destroy the barrier immediately.

“If nothing else works, I’ll try using the Dissolution Spell from that Silver Moon Coin of the Ancient Arcane Empire! Though I don’t know exactly how strong this barrier is, Dissolution is still a Level 9 spell—a magic designed to disrupt all magical defenses. It should at least weaken the barrier’s power.”

With that thought, Donald took out the Silver Moon Coin and was about to cast the spell when he heard a weak voice from the other side—Pachi, the little demon intimidated by their powerful presence—say, “Lord Derry said this tomb can only be entered by those with dragon blood; otherwise, forceful destruction is the only option!”

Dragon blood? He had it!

Donald suddenly became excited and smiled approvingly at Pachi. Then he stood still, and a beam of light appeared before him. When the light vanished, a creature the size of a dog with wings appeared out of thin air.

Pachi was very curious about this strange creature. Sensing the little demon’s gaze, the creature suddenly opened its mouth and roared at it. The roar was unpleasant, like a duck with its neck squeezed, but to Pachi’s ears, it sounded like that of a fierce beast, its majestic aura filling him with fear, causing him to sit down in terror.

“Ah! What kind of monster is this?”

Seeing this, Donald smiled and said, “Since one needs dragon blood to enter, of course I’ll summon a dragon!”
“A dragon?”
The little demon Pachi looked incredulous. Though it had never seen a living dragon, it had encountered bone dragons—immortal creatures that transformed from dragons—near the boundary between the eighth and ninth layers of the abyss. Just by looking at the massive size and terrifying appearance of those bone dragons, it could tell they must have been extremely majestic in life. But looking at this tiny creature before it, aside from its unopened wings, there was nothing resembling such a powerful being as a dragon!
Seeing Pachi’s skeptical expression, Donald couldn’t help but shake his head and smile.
Indeed, dragon hatchlings don’t look very impressive. Their scales aren’t fully developed, their bald heads lack horns, and from a distance, they resemble hairless dogs.
Earlier, the little demon had mentioned that the unique defensive barrier of dragons could only be passed through by those with dragon blood, unless it was forced open. Donald then had an idea: could summoning a dragon allow him to enter the barrier successfully?
He acted on his thought immediately, summoning a young dragon. Since the summoned creature, which appeared momentarily, might not be recognized by the barrier, he spent some soul energy to summon a young dragon permanently.
As a highly intelligent being on par with humans and elves, summoning a dragon required more soul energy and power than ordinary troops. A level-3 red young dragon required as much soul energy as a level-4 human soldier. A young adult dragon, though only a level-6 wild creature, demanded nearly 3,500 units of soul energy—almost as much as a hero. As for a level-10 dragon at the golden tier, its requirement was on par with that of a hero, and creating its body also consumed enormous amounts of energy.
After summoning the young dragon, Donald ordered it to approach the protective barrier.
To their surprise, the strong resistance that usually appeared whenever they got close seemed to vanish entirely. Ignoring the young dragon, they stepped forward and successfully entered the tomb.
After entering the barrier, the young dragon remembered Donald’s instructions and immediately retreated.
“Well done! What did you see inside after you went in?”
Donald praised the young dragon through telepathy before asking about the situation inside the tomb.
After listening to the young dragon’s fragmented description, Donald got a general idea of what was going on and ordered it to enter the tomb again.

This time, it took a longer time to enter—several minutes passed before people outside heard a cracking sound, followed by the excited cries of the young dragon. As the sounds arose, the red light screen in front of Donald faded away like a tide, revealing the entrance to the Black Dragon’s tomb. The young dragon was holding a fist-sized crystal in its front claws, looking at Donald with an eager expression, just like a puppy waiting for its master’s reward. Donald immediately smiled, stepped forward, patted its head, took the crystal, and then took out some dried meat from his space for it. The young dragon affectionately rubbed its big head against Donald’s hand, opened its mouth to accept its master’s reward, and swallowed it without chewing, happily. Looking at the crystal in his hand, Donald sensed properties similar to those of magic crystals, but this one contained a vast and intense energy. It was a hub in the barrier set up by the Black Dragon, serving to store the power drawn from lava and supply it to keep the barrier functioning. With such properties, capable of containing such massive and fierce forces as geothermal energy, this crystal’s value was no less than 100,000 gold sols. It was an essential item for building large mage structures or devices in the future. Donald happily stored it in his storage space right away. Then, leading everyone, he ordered the young dragon to take the lead as they officially entered the Black Dragon’s burial ground. The Black Dragon’s tomb was much neater than Donald had imagined—there were no dark caves or foul odors. It resembled the hall of a human noble, with the sharp edges of the cave walls smoothed out. Hundreds of luminous crystals, like night pearls, were embedded in the stone walls, making the entire hall brightly lit. In the hall stood a square stone platform about a hundred feet across, smooth and flat. Along the walls on both sides were piled up various gold and silver utensils, gold coins, and other treasures, as well as shiny weapons and armor, along with various beautiful, sparkling crystals, giving the hall a magnificent and splendid appearance. On top of the stone platform lay a huge creature, estimated to be over a hundred feet long from head to tail. Its body was covered in dark scales, the largest of which were as big as small shields, while the smallest were the size of a palm. On either side of its back were a pair of massive fleshy wings, similar to bat wings but even more majestic. The most striking feature was the creature’s terrifying, skull-like head. Even with its eyes closed, it exuded a very oppressive aura.

This is precisely the unique appearance of black dragons. Some people call them skeleton dragons due to their deeply sunken eye sockets and distinctive nostrils. Moreover, as they age, the skin around the roots of their horns and cheekbones ossifies, making their appearance even more like that of skeletons without flesh. Of course, this unattractive nickname is also related to their fierce temper and evil, cunning nature.