Chapter 60#

His Holiness the Pope Who Brought Down Sacred Light#

Upon hearing that a dragon was attacking, Sari’s expression changed drastically.

The dragon race was not particularly friendly toward humanity.

Dragons by nature loved all things extravagant and opulent. Almost every dragon possessed a treasure vault of incomprehensible size, piled high with priceless riches. In the earliest days, dragons did not confine themselves solely to Dragon Island—Dragon Island was actually a bit cramped for beings of such enormous size. Every dragon possessed a powerful territorial awareness; the stronger a dragon, the more imposing its aura.

Back when the dragon race still inhabited the continent, not a single wild beast would appear in the entire mountain range where dragons resided. If members of their own kind dwelled too close together, it was nothing short of torment for one another. But in the end, the dragon race vanished from this continent.

The reason was simple: dragons had a serious flaw. They loved to sleep, and sleeping for a hundred years or more was perfectly normal. Moreover, a dragon in deep slumber was extremely difficult to rouse. A sleep-loving dragon and a treasury that rivaled the wealth of nations—what would inevitably happen goes without saying.

And so, many dragons awoke from their slumber to find half their treasure hoards emptied. Flying into towering rage, the dragons, even if they wished to retaliate, could not track down those shameless thieves. Beyond that, there were also those hot-blooded young men obsessed with tales of dragon-slaying, who frequently overestimated their abilities and challenged dragons.

Though a dragon could crush these little ants with a single paw, having their sleep disturbed time and again was hardly a pleasant experience. After enduring the harassment for a long period, the remaining dragons on the continent all migrated back to Dragon Island, virtually never showing their faces again.

As the dragon race faded into obscurity, stories of dragon-slaying or dragon knights gradually lost their heat in the verses of bards. Some dragons whose treasures had been stolen destroyed several towns as retaliation upon their departure. Had dragons not been almost entirely unseen, they would probably have been relegated to the evil faction.

On this day—the coronation of the new Emperor of the Vega Empire—what was the intention behind this dragon’s sudden appearance?

“Holiness, we do not know whether this dragon is friend or foe. There are many ordinary people here who have not cultivated battle qi or magic. I fear that relying solely on the palace guard is not enough to protect them,” Sari said to Lu Heng.

“I shall go with you,” Lu Heng nodded.

“Return to your room,” Sari said to Princess Windsor beside him, and then hurried out of the banquet hall together with Lu Heng.

In the garden, the Royal Guard formed a protective inner ring around the nobles attending the banquet, their gleaming swords all raised toward the sky.

In the air above, a massive dark shadow hovered. The shadow descended slowly, and the nearby Griffin Knight Squadron immediately mounted their griffins and flew into midair, keeping their distance in a defensive posture.

It was a golden dragon.

The moment Lu Heng stepped outside, he recognized the dragon in the sky. The dragon race had many different branches, and each branch specialized in different kinds of dragon language magic. Blue dragons excelled in ice magic, red dragons in fire magic, bronze dragons possessed bodies of incomprehensible strength, emerald dragons commanded the power of space, and so on.

As for the golden dragon—it mastered all schools of dragon language magic, was immune to magic, and possessed overwhelmingly powerful physical attacks.

“I am the Guardian of Time, the Weave-Shaper, the Lord of the Earth, the Administrator of Space, the Master of the Storm, the Sovereign of Dragons—Aionas.”

Complex and tongue-twisting dragon speech rang through the air. Not a single person present could understand the words, but the meaning of the speech entered every person’s mind directly.

As expected, it was him—the only golden dragon on the continent, the demigod Aionas. Had he come with hostile intent, a single breath of dragon fire would have been enough to obliterate everyone present.

Lu Heng gripped his staff tightly. Fortunately, today’s evening prayers had replenished a large amount of faith power. It would still be possible, if barely, to shield a portion of the people from beneath this golden dragon’s claws. At the very least, the seven cardinals behind him could not be allowed to come to any harm—they were the pillars of the Holy Papacy.

“Ah.”

Lu Heng heard a very faint gasp beside him. It was Princess Windsor—she hadn’t returned to her room after all, but had followed them out.

That very faint sound caught the attention of the dragon in the air. His golden slit-pupiled eyes immediately turned toward it.

Princess Windsor was, after all, only a teenager of a dozen years, and had hardly ever left the capital. Swept by the gaze of that golden dragon, she was instantly overwhelmed by its imposing aura and took a step back. Directly behind where she stood was a fountain. As she stepped back, she caught her foot on the edge of the fountain.

“Your Highness!” The maid beside her cried out and reached to grab her.

It turned out that when Princess Windsor tripped on the fountain’s edge, her body lost its balance and tilted backward, about to fall into the water. Though the maid managed to catch her sleeve in time, she was pulled along and toppled toward the fountain as well.

Lu Heng could not simply watch two young women plunge into the fountain. He stepped forward, seized Princess Windsor’s left hand—flailing wildly in the air—and pulled her back to safety.

“Thank you,” Princess Windsor said, steadying herself, and hurriedly expressed her gratitude to Lu Heng.

“So this is your human princess?” Before Lu Heng could say anything, a deep, resonant voice came from the air.

“Protect Her Highness!” Following that came Sari’s stern—somewhat flustered—command.

Lu Heng turned around to see the dragon in the sky diving straight toward Princess Windsor behind him. Lu Heng moved his staff; the Holy Stone atop the staff blazed with brilliant radiance, forming a shield that protected Princess Windsor behind him.

The reason for Aionas’ appearance here had to be traced back to a few days prior. As the most powerful golden dragon of the dragon race, Aionas possessed the largest territory, the greatest treasure hoard, and the longest sleep.

This was the first time in a thousand years that Aionas had awakened, and it happened to coincide with a Dragon Assembly—a gathering that was generally held when the majority of dragons were awake. The content of the Dragon Assembly was quite simple: everyone showed off the new treasures they had acquired since the last gathering.

The lives of dragons were actually very boring. Apart from sleeping, there was nothing else to do. After all, a dragon’s power came from racial talent and inherited memories—it generally grew stronger slowly with age, without needing to toil desperately like humans to trade hard cultivation for strength. Many dragons would awaken from a slumber to find their power had grown by another large measure.

A green dragon named Lichicas had recently acquired a new treasure. Lichicas was only a little over two thousand years old—a brash, headstrong young dragon who had been traveling the continent in human form of late. Upon obtaining his new treasure, he had enthusiastically brought it back to attend this Dragon Assembly, which only occurred once every who knew how many years.

Lichicas’ treasure was a person—a bard. By human standards, this bard was indeed extraordinarily outstanding. By dragon standards, he was passable as well. After all, he had golden hair more radiant than gold itself, and a pair of eyes more dazzling than sapphires.

However, if piled together with great heaps of gold coins and jewels, this person would be far less attractive by comparison.

Seeing the dragons’ lackluster reactions, Lichicas grew indignant. His treasure had the most melodious singing voice—better than any nightingale.

“Lance, sing them a verse, would you?” Lichicas said huffily.

“At once, my dear little green dragon.” The bard called Lance bowed slightly, then took out a lute.

The bard’s singing voice was truly like heavenly music, more beautiful and moving even than what the White Elves sang. It was so soothing that all the dragons present began to nod off. Mm. This was the dragon race’s highest praise for something beautiful.

For instance, I slept wonderfully using this pile of treasure as a pillow. This was a dragon’s highest compliment to a treasure.

However, Aionas was not pleased—for he heard his own name within this long epic.

The epic said that Aionas, a demigod, had not gone to the Divine Realm and instead chose to remain on the continent because of the Rose Princess, the most beautiful among humans.

The dragon had fallen in love with the Rose Princess’s smile, more radiant than any treasure, and forcibly abducted the princess back to his lair, presenting all his treasures before her. But no amount of treasure could buy even a single smile from the princess, and the dragon refused to give her up. In the end, the princess, consumed by longing for her homeland and loved ones, pined away and died. The grief-stricken dragon, to punish himself, abandoned his chance to enter the Divine Realm and instead remained forever on this land that had raised the Rose Princess.

Aionas was furious.

He was a dragon with refined taste—every treasure in his lair had been painstakingly selected. What human princess? She was utterly unworthy of entering his cave as a treasure. These foolish humans dared to slander the noble Sovereign of Dragons in such a way.

Dragons were all short-tempered; calling them ill-tempered would not have been an exaggeration. What more when it came to the slander of the Sovereign of Dragons? Aionas, burning with rage, immediately decided that he would go and see the most beautiful princess among humans. If she truly was more beautiful than his own collection, then he would take her as one of his treasures.

In that case, the epic would not count as a slander of the noble Sovereign of Dragons, and he could reluctantly forgive those humans. But if that princess could not even compare to his ugliest treasure, then Aionas, the Sovereign of Dragons, would surely make humanity pay the price.

Princess Windsor was, at this very moment, the most beautiful human princess being sung about by bards across the land.

The moment Aionas heard someone calling out “princess” from that direction, he looked over. One look, and even the noble Sovereign of Dragons was struck dumb. Hair the color of pale gold, warmer than morning sunlight; eyes of green, more translucent than the freshest leaf on the Ancient Tree of Life; lips softer and more alluring than the Eternal Blossoms of the Divine Realm.

Aionas felt he had discovered the most precious treasure in all the world.

Seeing the golden dragon dive downward, the Griffin Knights moved to intercept—but their mounts beneath them completely refused to obey command, landing on the ground, prostrating, trembling all over. Even powerful griffins were utterly helpless before dragon’s might.

Sari drew his longsword and placed himself in the golden dragon’s path, attempting to protect his sister—but a single breath from the dragon’s nostrils sent him flying to the side. The dragon drew ever closer to Princess Windsor.

Some timorous nobles even covered their faces, unable to watch the beautiful Princess Windsor being taken by the dragon.

The powerful gusts of wind stirred by the dragon’s broad wings swept across the ground, forcing everyone to squeeze their eyes shut. Only after the dragon departed did the scene return to calm.

Sari sprang to his feet and urgently barked commands: “Griffin Knight Squadron! Form up and depart at once—we rescue the princess—Windsor, what are you still doing here?”

The pure and beautiful Princess Windsor snatched the broadsword from Sari’s hand, gathered up her skirt, and charged in a single direction: “Evil dragon! Release His Holiness!”